Concept dictionary creation and maintenance under resource constraints: lessons from the AMPATH Medical Record System.

PubMed

Were, Martin C; Mamlin, Burke W; Tierney, William M; Wolfe, Ben; Biondich, Paul G

2007-10-11

The challenges of creating and maintaining concept dictionaries are compounded in resource-limited settings. Approaches to alleviate this burden need to be based on information derived in these settings. We created a concept dictionary and evaluated new concept proposals for an open source EMR in a resource-limited setting. Overall, 87% of the concepts in the initial dictionary were used. There were 5137 new concepts proposed, with 77% of these proposed only once. Further characterization of new concept proposals revealed that 41% were due to deficiency in the existing dictionary, and 19% were synonyms to existing concepts. 25% of the requests contained misspellings, 41% were complex terms, and 17% were ambiguous. Given the resource-intensive nature of dictionary creation and maintenance, there should be considerations for centralizing the concept dictionary service, using standards, prioritizing concept proposals, and redesigning the user-interface to reduce this burden in settings with limited resources.

Concept Dictionary Creation and Maintenance Under Resource Constraints: Lessons from the AMPATH Medical Record System

PubMed Central

Were, Martin C.; Mamlin, Burke W.; Tierney, William M.; Wolfe, Ben; Biondich, Paul G.

2007-01-01

The challenges of creating and maintaining concept dictionaries are compounded in resource-limited settings. Approaches to alleviate this burden need to be based on information derived in these settings. We created a concept dictionary and evaluated new concept proposals for an open source EMR in a resource-limited setting. Overall, 87% of the concepts in the initial dictionary were used. There were 5137 new concepts proposed, with 77% of these proposed only once. Further characterization of new concept proposals revealed that 41% were due to deficiency in the existing dictionary, and 19% were synonyms to existing concepts. 25% of the requests contained misspellings, 41% were complex terms, and 17% were ambiguous. Given the resource-intensive nature of dictionary creation and maintenance, there should be considerations for centralizing the concept dictionary service, using standards, prioritizing concept proposals, and redesigning the user-interface to reduce this burden in settings with limited resources. PMID:18693945

Managing Nicaraguan Water Resources Definition and Relative Importance of Information Needs

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

Engi, D.; Guillen, S.M.; Vammen, K.

1999-01-01

This report provides an overview of the results of the Vital the Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative, Issues process as implemented for a collaborative effort between the Nicaraguan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Sandia National Laboratories. This initiative is being developed to assist in the development of an efficient and sustainable water resources management system for Nicamgua. The Vital Issues process was used to provide information for developing a project that will develop and implement an advanced information system for managing Nicaragua's water resources. Three Vital Issues panel meetings were convened to 1) develop a mission statement andmore » evaluation criteria for identifying and ranking the issues vital to water resources management in Nicaragua 2) define and rank the vital issues; and 3) identify a preliminary list of information needed to address the vital issues. The selection of panelists from the four basic institutional perspectives- government, industiy, academe, and citizens' groups (through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs))-ensured a high level of stakeholder representation on the panels. The already existing need for a water resource management information system has been magnified in the aftemnath of Hurricane Mitch. This information system would be beneficial for an early warning system in emergencies, and the modeling and simulation capabilities of the system would allow for advanced planning. Additionally, the outreach program will provide education to help Nicaraguan improve their water hygiene practices.« less

Natural resource inventory and monitoring for Ulaan Taiga Specially Protected Areas—An assessment of needs and opportunities in northern Mongolia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moore, Peggy E.; Meyer, Joseph B.; Chow, Leslie S.

2017-03-10

Between 1997 and 2011, Mongolia established three specially protected areas in the north-central part of the country to protect various high-value resources. These areas are jointly referred to as the Ulaan Taiga Specially Protected Areas. In accordance with the goals of the draft general management plan, this report identifies options for initiating an inventory and monitoring program for the three protected areas. Together, the three areas comprise over 1.5 million hectares of mountainous terrain west of Lake Hovsgol and bordering the Darkhad Valley. The area supports numerous rare ungulates, endangered fish, and over 40 species of threatened plants. Illegal mining, illegal logging, and poaching pose the most immediate threats to resources. As a first step, a review of published literature would inform natural resource management at the Ulaan Taiga Specially Protected Areas because it would inform other inventories.Vegetation classification and mapping also would inform other inventory efforts because the process incorporates geographic analysis to identify environmental gradients, fine-scale sampling that captures species composition and structure, and landscape-scale results that represent the variety and extent of habitats for various organisms. Mapping using satellite imagery reduces the cost per hectare.Following a determination of existing knowledge, field surveys of vertebrates and vascular plants would serve to build species lists and fill in gaps in existing knowledge. For abiotic resources, a focus on monitoring air quality, evaluating and monitoring water quality, and assembling and storing weather data would provide information for correlating resource response status with changing environmental conditions.Finally, we identify datasets that, if incorporated into a geographic information system, would inform resource management. They include political boundaries, infrastructure, topography, surficial geology, hydrology, fire history, and soils.In terms of tracking high-value resources, vegetation monitoring at the plot scale would provide a basis for detecting change in such characteristics as plant species composition, vegetation structure, and productivity that are associated with landscape-scale factors such as climate change or biotic interactions. Continued population monitoring of rare ungulates, particularly argali or wild sheep (Ovis ammon), would provide information on how populations are responding to natural and anthropogenic stressors. Siberian taimen (Hucho taimen) also is an important monitoring target given ongoing threats of poaching and climate change.

Clean Air Technology Center

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Clean Air Technology Center provides resources for emerging and existing air pollution prevention and control technologies and provides public access to data and information on their use, effectiveness and cost.

Training of Existing Workers: Issues, Incentives and Models. Support Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mawer, Giselle; Jackson, Elaine

2005-01-01

This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report, "Training of Existing Workers: Issues, Incentives and Models," (ED495138) and is an added resource for further information. This support document is divided into the following sections: (1) The Retail Industry--A Snapshot; (2) Case Studies--Hardware, Retail…

Engineering properties of douglas-fir lumber reclaimed from deconstructed buildings

Treesearch

Robert Falk; Derek Maul; Steven Cramer; James Evans; Victoria Herian

2008-01-01

A vast wood resource exists in our Nation's wood-framed building infrastructure. As the buildings in this infrastructure age and are remodeled or removed for redevelopment, the wood framing residing in these buildings has the potential to be recovered for reuse. However, little technical information exists on the residual engineering properties of reclaimed...

Infusing Alcohol and Drug Prevention with Existing Classroom Study Units: Health.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valencia Community Coll., Orlando, FL.

This curriculum module, one of seven in Infusion Project, offers information and lessons on drug use prevention for integration into an existing seventh grade middle school health curriculum. The module, based on a type of interactive learning called infusion learning, contains 10 lessons each providing objectives, a list of resource materials,…

Computing and Communications Infrastructure for Network-Centric Warfare: Exploiting COTS, Assuring Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

remote databases, has seen little vendor acceptance. Each database ( Oracle , DB2, MySQL , etc.) has its own client- server protocol. Therefore each...existing standards – SQL , X.500/LDAP, FTP, etc. • View information dissemination as selective replication – State-oriented vs . message-oriented...allowing the 8 application to start. The resource management system would serve as a broker to the resources, making sure that resources are not

Modernization and unification: Strategic goals for NASA STI program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blados, W.; Cotter, Gladys A.

1993-01-01

Information is increasingly becoming a strategic resource in all societies and economies. The NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program has initiated a modernization program to address the strategic importance and changing characteristics of information. This modernization effort applies new technology to current processes to provide near-term benefits to the user. At the same time, we are developing a long-term modernization strategy designed to transition the program to a multimedia, global 'library without walls.' Notwithstanding this modernization program, it is recognized that no one information center can hope to collect all the relevant data. We see information and information systems changing and becoming more international in scope. We are finding that many nations are expending resources on national systems which duplicate each other. At the same time that this duplication exists, many useful sources of aerospace information are not being collected because of resource limitations. If nations cooperate to develop an international aerospace information system, resources can be used efficiently to cover expanded sources of information. We must consider forming a coalition to collect and provide access to disparate, multidisciplinary sources of information, and to develop standardized tools for documenting and manipulating this data and information. In view of recent technological developments in information science and technology, as well as the reality of scarce resources in all nations, it is time to explore the mutually beneficial possibilities offered by cooperation and international resource sharing. International resources need to be mobilized in a coordinated manner to move us towards this goal. This paper reviews the NASA modernization program and raises for consideration new possibilities for unification of the various aerospace database efforts toward a cooperative international aerospace database initiative that can optimize the cost/benefit equation for all participants.

The past, present and future of HIV, AIDS and resource allocation

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background How should HIV and AIDS resources be allocated to achieve the greatest possible impact? This paper begins with a theoretical discussion of this issue, describing the key elements of an "evidence-based allocation strategy". While it is noted that the quality of epidemiological and economic data remains inadequate to define such an optimal strategy, there do exist tools and research which can lead countries in a way that they can make allocation decisions. Furthermore, there are clear indications that most countries are not allocating their HIV and AIDS resources in a way which is likely to achieve the greatest possible impact. For example, it is noted that neighboring countries, even when they have a similar prevalence of HIV, nonetheless often allocate their resources in radically different ways. These differing allocation patterns appear to be attributable to a number of different issues, including a lack of data, contradictory results in existing data, a need for overemphasizing a multisectoral response, a lack of political will, a general inefficiency in the use of resources when they do get allocated, poor planning and a lack of control over the way resources get allocated. Methods There are a number of tools currently available which can improve the resource-allocation process. Tools such as the Resource Needs Model (RNM) can provide policymakers with a clearer idea of resource requirements, whereas other tools such as Goals and the Allocation by Cost-Effectiveness (ABCE) models can provide countries with a clearer vision of how they might reallocate funds. Results Examples from nine different countries provide information about how policymakers are trying to make their resource-allocation strategies more "evidence based". By identifying the challenges and successes of these nine countries in making more informed allocation decisions, it is hoped that future resource-allocation decisions for all countries can be improved. Conclusion We discuss the future of resource allocation, noting the types of additional data which will be required and the improvements in existing tools which could be made. PMID:19922688

Clean Air Technology Center Products

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Clean Air Technology Center provides resources for emerging and existing air pollution prevention and control technologies and provides public access to data and information on their use, effectiveness and cost.

The use of social media and mobile device applications to disseminate natural hazard information by Natural Resources Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bird, A. L.; Ulmi, M.; Majewski, C.; Hayek, K.; Edwards, W.; McCormack, D. A.; Cole, R. T.; de Paor, D. R.

2011-12-01

Public expectation of near-instant and reliable information is constantly rising. Such expectation puts increasing demands on organizations charged with providing the public with information on hazard events in near-real-time, while ensuring quality and accuracy of content. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has responded by augmenting existing methods for earthquake information distribution with new and varied methods for relaying natural hazards information. We profile tools now employed operationally by NRCan to distribute earthquake information to emergency measures organizations, news media and the public. Also presented will be an example of a smart-'phone application which includes several tools for natural hazard preparedness and response, supplemented with automated real-time alerts.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Internet Review Sites.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooke, Alison; McNab, Alison; Anagnostelis, Betsy

In response to the increased use of the Internet for information access and dissemination, and the explosion in the availability of resources which may be of interest to end-users, a number of services are now available which provide access to selected and evaluated resources. Many existing Internet search tools are inadequate due to the high rate…

Trends in private and commercial recreation

Treesearch

Arlin F. Epperson

1980-01-01

Although there has been substantial growth in the supply of outdoor recreation resources, there is no existing system or program to track annual changes in private and commercial facilities or enterprises. This paper traces efforts to assess the supply of private recreation resources and provides the reader with information on where to look for data on the private...

Iowa Water Center | Iowa Water Center

Science.gov Websites

:42 Advancing the state of water knowledge and management The Iowa Water Center is a part of a 10% of that original resource remains, and little to no information exists on the current status or information to assess the condition of wetlands. Information gathered from monitoring wetlands may help answer

The integrated business information system: using automation to monitor cost-effectiveness of park operations

Treesearch

Dick Stanley; Bruce Jackson

1995-01-01

The cost-effectiveness of park operations is often neglected because information is laborious to compile. The information, however, is critical if we are to derive maximum benefit from scarce resources. This paper describes an automated system for calculating cost-effectiveness ratios with minimum effort using data from existing data bases.

Determining Optimal Nursing Resources in Relation to Functions During the Oulu University Hospital Nurse Staffing Management Project.

PubMed

Liljamo, Pia; Lavander, Päivi; Kejonen, Pirjo

2016-01-01

The Oulu University Hospital's staffing management project sought information on the number of nursing staff in relation to treatment days and visits, using existing indicators to describe the activities involved. The retrospective data obtained was compared to human resources and the personnel structure. On this basis an optimal number of staff was determined for the units, taking account of a range of explanatory indicator data. The project made use of the computational model for nurse staffing and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) method. The project provided extensive information on human resources issues within the units. Its results indicated the differences between wards with respect to the number and structure of resources. In addition, the nurse administrators lacked skills in gathering and using data from administrative datasets. This information will provide support for the further development of nursing operations and nursing management decision-making.

Infrastructure of electronic information management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Twitchell, G.D.

2004-01-01

The information technology infrastructure of an organization, whether it is a private, non-profit, federal, or academic institution, is key to delivering timely and high-quality products and services to its customers and stakeholders. With the evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web, resources that were once "centralized" in nature are now distributed across the organization in various locations and often remote regions of the country. This presents tremendous challenges to the information technology managers, users, and CEOs of large world-wide corporations who wish to exchange information or get access to resources in today's global marketplace. Several tools and technologies have been developed over recent years that play critical roles in ensuring that the proper information infrastructure exists within the organization to facilitate this global information marketplace Such tools and technologies as JAVA, Proxy Servers, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), multi-platform database management solutions, high-speed telecommunication technologies (ATM, ISDN, etc.), mass storage devices, and firewall technologies most often determine the organization's success through effective and efficient information infrastructure practices. This session will address several of these technologies and provide options related to those that may exist and can be readily applied within Eastern Europe. ?? 2004 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

About the Clean Air Technology Center

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Clean Air Technology Center provides resources for emerging and existing air pollution prevention and control technologies and provides public access to data and information on their use, effectiveness and cost.

An Integrative Review of Pain Resource Nurse Programs.

PubMed

Crawford, Cecelia L; Boller, Jan; Jadalla, Ahlam; Cuenca, Emma

2016-01-01

Mismanaged pain challenges health care systems. In the early 1990s, pain resource nurse programs were developed by Ferrell and colleagues. Variations of the model have existed for more than 20 years. While results of these programs have been disseminated, conclusive evidence has not been examined via a synthesis of the literature. A structured systematic search using multiple databases was conducted for research studies published 2005-2012. The search identified 11 studies on effective use of a pain resource nurse and/or a pain resource nurse program. The results revealed wide variations existing in program design, research methodology, practice settings, and reported outcomes. Overall, the strength of the evidence on pain resource nurse programs was determined to range from low to moderate quality for making generalizable conclusions. However, 4 key elements were identified as integral to effective pain resource nurse programs and useful for the program design and development: leadership commitment and active involvement in embedding a culture of effective pain management throughout the organization; addressing staff-related and organization-related challenges and barriers to pain management; a combination of strategies to overcome these barriers; and collaborative multidisciplinary teamwork and communication. Specific recommendations are provided for program implementation. Although the evidence was inconclusive, useful information exists to create the design of effective pain resource nurse programs. Collaborative multisite studies on the long-term effects of pain resource nurse programs are recommended.

On standardization of basic datasets of electronic medical records in traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Zhang, Hong; Ni, Wandong; Li, Jing; Jiang, Youlin; Liu, Kunjing; Ma, Zhaohui

2017-12-24

Standardization of electronic medical record, so as to enable resource-sharing and information exchange among medical institutions has become inevitable in view of the ever increasing medical information. The current research is an effort towards the standardization of basic dataset of electronic medical records in traditional Chinese medicine. In this work, an outpatient clinical information model and an inpatient clinical information model are created to adequately depict the diagnosis processes and treatment procedures of traditional Chinese medicine. To be backward compatible with the existing dataset standard created for western medicine, the new standard shall be a superset of the existing standard. Thus, the two models are checked against the existing standard in conjunction with 170,000 medical record cases. If a case cannot be covered by the existing standard due to the particularity of Chinese medicine, then either an existing data element is expanded with some Chinese medicine contents or a new data element is created. Some dataset subsets are also created to group and record Chinese medicine special diagnoses and treatments such as acupuncture. The outcome of this research is a proposal of standardized traditional Chinese medicine medical records datasets. The proposal has been verified successfully in three medical institutions with hundreds of thousands of medical records. A new dataset standard for traditional Chinese medicine is proposed in this paper. The proposed standard, covering traditional Chinese medicine as well as western medicine, is expected to be soon approved by the authority. A widespread adoption of this proposal will enable traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and institutions to easily exchange information and share resources. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Path of New Information Technology Affecting Educational Equality in the New Digital Divide--Based on Information System Success Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Qian; Liang, Chang-Yong

2017-01-01

New information technology (new IT) plays an increasingly important role in the field of education, which greatly enriches the teaching means and promotes the sharing of education resources. However, because of the New Digital Divide existing, the impact of new IT on educational equality has yet to be discussed. Based on Information System Success…

77 FR 75410 - Request for Information Regarding Credit Card Market

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-20

... Regarding Credit Card Market AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. ACTION: Notice and request for information. SUMMARY: Section 502(a) of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of... review (Review) of the consumer credit card market, within the limits of its existing resources available...

76 FR 32367 - Agency Information Collection Activities, Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Integrated Public...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-06

...; Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems (IPAWS) Inventory AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency... proposed revision of the information collection concerning public alert and warning systems at the Federal... evaluation and assessment of existing public alert and warning resources and their integration with the...

77 FR 58173 - Proposed Extension of Existing Information Collection; Explosive Materials and Blasting Units...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-19

... requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is... mining industry. However, since there are no permissible explosives or blasting units available that have..., or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology (e.g...

Information Architecture for Bilingual Web Sites.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunliffe, Daniel; Jones, Helen; Jarvis, Melanie; Egan, Kevin; Huws, Rhian; Munro, Sian

2002-01-01

Discusses creating an information architecture for a bilingual Web site and reports work in progress on the development of a content-based bilingual Web site to facilitate shared resources between speech and language therapists. Considers a structural analysis of existing bilingual Web designs and explains a card-sorting activity conducted with…

50 CFR 263.53 - Other funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... distribute these funds after he or she has made a thorough evaluation of the scientific information submitted... only by existing methods and technology. Any fishery resource used in computing the states' amount...

50 CFR 263.53 - Other funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... distribute these funds after he or she has made a thorough evaluation of the scientific information submitted... only by existing methods and technology. Any fishery resource used in computing the states' amount...

50 CFR 263.53 - Other funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... distribute these funds after he or she has made a thorough evaluation of the scientific information submitted... only by existing methods and technology. Any fishery resource used in computing the states' amount...

50 CFR 263.53 - Other funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... distribute these funds after he or she has made a thorough evaluation of the scientific information submitted... only by existing methods and technology. Any fishery resource used in computing the states' amount...

Postprocessing classification images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kan, E. P.

1979-01-01

Program cleans up remote-sensing maps. It can be used with existing image-processing software. Remapped images closely resemble familiar resource information maps and can replace or supplement classification images not postprocessed by this program.

User's Guide to the Water-Analysis Screening Tool (WAST): A Tool for Assessing Available Water Resources in Relation to Aquatic-Resource Uses

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuckey, Marla H.; Kiesler, James L.

2008-01-01

A water-analysis screening tool (WAST) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to provide an initial screening of areas in the state where potential problems may exist related to the availability of water resources to meet current and future water-use demands. The tool compares water-use information to an initial screening criteria of the 7-day, 10-year low-flow statistic (7Q10) resulting in a screening indicator for influences of net withdrawals (withdrawals minus discharges) on aquatic-resource uses. This report is intended to serve as a guide for using the screening tool. The WAST can display general basin characteristics, water-use information, and screening-indicator information for over 10,000 watersheds in the state. The tool includes 12 primary functions that allow the user to display watershed information, edit water-use and water-supply information, observe effects downstream from edited water-use information, reset edited values to baseline, load new water-use information, save and retrieve scenarios, and save output as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Improving Access to HIV and AIDS Information Resources for Patients, Caregivers, and Clinicians: Results from the SHINE Project.

PubMed

Dixon, Brian E; Kaneshiro, Kellie

2012-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) remains a significant international public health challenge. The Statewide HIV/AIDS Information Network (SHINE) Project was created to improve HIV/AIDS health information use and access for health care professionals, patients, and affected communities in Indiana. Our objective was to assess the information-seeking behaviors of health care professionals and consumers who seek information on the testing, treatment, and management of HIV/AIDS and the usability of the SHINE Project's resources in meeting end user needs. The feedback was designed to help SHINE Project members improve and expand the SHINE Project's online resources. A convenience sample of health care professionals and consumers participated in a usability study. Participants were asked to complete typical HIV/AIDS information-seeking tasks using the SHINE Project website. Feedback was provided in the form of standardized questionnaire and usability "think-aloud" responses. Thirteen participants took part in the usability study. Clinicians generally reported the site to be "very good," while consumers generally found it to be "good." Health care professionals commented that they lack access to comprehensive resources for treating patients with HIV/AIDS. They requested new electronic resources that could be integrated in clinical practice and existing information technology infrastructures. Consumers found the SHINE website and its collected information resources overwhelming and difficult to navigate. They requested simpler, multimedia-content rich resources to deliver information on HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and disease management. Accessibility, usability, and user education remain important challenges that public health and information specialists must address when developing and deploying interventions intended to empower consumers and support coordinated, patient-centric care.

The internet and the physician-patient relationship.

PubMed

Sechrest, Randale C

2010-10-01

Since the emergence of the public Internet in the early 1990s, the healthcare industry has been struggling to understand how best to utilize this resource. During the last decade there has been an increase in both the interest and participation by healthcare providers in the Internet space, but many observers continue to push for more development of healthcare resources to better support the provider-patient relationship. This paper will review the historical development of the Internet, the core concepts that have driven the emergence and evolution of the Internet as a mass medium of information exchange, and how the healthcare industry can harness the Internet to improve the provider patient relationship. WHERE ARE WE NOW?: The healthcare industry continues to lag behind other industries that have been transformed by the Internet. Numerous industries including travel, real estate, retail sales, and banking have migrated both comprehensive information resources and transactions to the Internet in order to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. That same process is occurring now in the healthcare industry. Credible and comprehensive Information resources are beginning to mature. Transactions are still in their infancy, reflecting a continued concern about privacy and security. WHERE DO WE NEED TO GO?: We need to improve information resources to educate and inform patients. Improving the availability and credibility of information resources will empower patients to make better healthcare decisions and I contend will ultimately reduce the cost of delivering care. HOW DO WE GET THERE?: Orthopaedists must first recognize the value of information resources to the patient. Effective communication with patients is a critical component of providing healthcare services. All healthcare providers should reflect on the importance of developing an effective communications strategy for their own practice and consider the benefits of participating in efforts by professional organizations to improve existing information resources.

Evolution of natural agents: preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information.

PubMed

Sharov, Alexei A

2016-04-01

Biological evolution is often viewed narrowly as a change of morphology or allele frequency in a sequence of generations. Here I pursue an alternative informational concept of evolution, as preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information in natural agents. Functional information is a network of signs (e.g., memory, transient messengers, and external signs) that are used by agents to preserve and regulate their functions. Functional information is preserved in evolution via complex interplay of copying and construction processes: the digital components are copied, whereas interpreting subagents together with scaffolds, tools, and resources, are constructed. Some of these processes are simple and invariant, whereas others are complex and contextual. Advance of functional information includes improvement and modification of already existing functions. Although the genome information may change passively and randomly, the interpretation is active and guided by the logic of agent behavior and embryonic development. Emergence of new functions is based on the reinterpretation of already existing information, when old tools, resources, and control algorithms are adopted for novel functions. Evolution of functional information progressed from protosemiosis, where signs correspond directly to actions, to eusemiosis, where agents associate signs with objects. Language is the most advanced form of eusemiosis, where the knowledge of objects and models is communicated between agents.

Evolution of natural agents: preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information

PubMed Central

Sharov, Alexei A.

2016-01-01

Biological evolution is often viewed narrowly as a change of morphology or allele frequency in a sequence of generations. Here I pursue an alternative informational concept of evolution, as preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information in natural agents. Functional information is a network of signs (e.g., memory, transient messengers, and external signs) that are used by agents to preserve and regulate their functions. Functional information is preserved in evolution via complex interplay of copying and construction processes: the digital components are copied, whereas interpreting subagents together with scaffolds, tools, and resources, are constructed. Some of these processes are simple and invariant, whereas others are complex and contextual. Advance of functional information includes improvement and modification of already existing functions. Although the genome information may change passively and randomly, the interpretation is active and guided by the logic of agent behavior and embryonic development. Emergence of new functions is based on the reinterpretation of already existing information, when old tools, resources, and control algorithms are adopted for novel functions. Evolution of functional information progressed from protosemiosis, where signs correspond directly to actions, to eusemiosis, where agents associate signs with objects. Language is the most advanced form of eusemiosis, where the knowledge of objects and models is communicated between agents. PMID:27525048

Intimate partner violence among female service members and veterans: information and resources available through military and non-military websites.

PubMed

Brown, Amy; Joshi, Manisha

2014-01-01

With the expansion of women's roles in the military, the number of female service members and veterans has increased. Considerable knowledge about intimate partner violence (IPV) in civilian couples exists but little is known about IPV among female service members and veterans. Prevalence rates of IPV range from 17% to 39% for female service members, and 21.9% to 74% for veterans. Most service members and veterans indicated using the Internet at least occasionally and expressed willingness to seek information about services via the Internet. Informed by data, we conducted a systematic review of military (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) and non-military (Veterans Affairs and Google) websites to explore the availability and presentation of information and resources related to IPV. The websites search revealed a variety of resources and information available, and important differences between sites with regard to what and how information is presented. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

Monitoring global vegetation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macdonald, R. B.; Houston, A. G.; Heydorn, R. P.; Botkin, D. B.; Estes, J. E.; Strahler, A. H.

1981-01-01

An attempt is made to identify the need for, and the current capability of, a technology which could aid in monitoring the Earth's vegetation resource on a global scale. Vegetation is one of our most critical natural resources, and accurate timely information on its current status and temporal dynamics is essential to understand many basic and applied environmental interrelationships which exist on the small but complex planet Earth.

Linking Resource Allocation to Student Achievement: A Study of Title 1 and Title 1 Stimulus Utilization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krumpe, Kati P.

2012-01-01

With the emphasis on high standards and fiscal accountability, there is a heightened need to inform the research linking student achievement to the allocation of resources. This mixed methods inquiry sought to study how schools utilized Title 1 and Title 1 stimulus funding from 2009-2011 to determine if correlations existed between areas of…

Engaging the optics community in the development of informative, accessible resources focusing on careers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poulin-Girard, Anne-Sophie; Gingras, F.; Zambon, V.; Thériault, G.

2014-09-01

Young people often have biased and pre-conceived ideas about scientists and engineers that can dissuade them from considering a career in optics. This situation is compounded by the fact that existing resources on careers in optics are not suitable since they mostly focus on more general occupations such as a physicist and an electrical engineer. In addition, the linguistic register is not adapted for students, and many of these resources are only available to guidance counselors. To create appropriate resources that will inform high school students on different career opportunities in optics and photonics, we sought the collaboration of our local optics community. We selected seven specific occupations: entrepreneur in optics, university professor, teacher, technician, research and development engineer, sales representative and graduate student in optics. For each career, a list of daily tasks was created from the existing documentation by a guidance counselor and was validated by an expert working in the field of optics. Following a process of validation, we built surveys in which professionals were asked to select the tasks that best represented their occupation. The surveys were also used to gather other information such as level of education and advice for young people wishing to pursue careers in optics. Over 175 professionals answered the surveys. With these results, we created a leaflet and career cards that are available online and depict the activities of people working in optics and photonics. We hope that these resources will help counter the negative bias against scientific careers and inform teenagers and young adults on making career choices that are better suited to their preferences and aspirations.

Theory of Mind is Related to Children’s Resource Allocations in Gender Stereotypic Contexts

PubMed Central

Rizzo, Michael T.; Killen, Melanie

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the relations between 4- to 6-year-old children’s (N = 67) gender stereotypes, resource allocations, and mental state knowledge in gender stereotypic contexts. Participants were told vignettes about female and male characters completing gender-stereotyped activities (making dolls or trucks). Children held stereotypic expectations regarding doll- and truck-making abilities, and these expectations predicted the degree of bias in their allocations of resources to the characters. Critically, children’s performance on a ToM scale (Diverse Desires, Contents False-Belief, Belief-Emotion) was significantly related to their allocations of resources to individuals whose effort did not fit existing gender stereotypes (e.g., a boy who was good at making dolls). With increasing ToM competence, children allocated resources based on merit (even when the character’s effort did not fit existing gender stereotypes) rather than based on stereotypes. The present results provide novel information regarding the emergence of gender stereotypes about abilities, the influence of stereotypes on children’s resource allocations, and the role of ToM in children’s ability to challenge gender stereotypes when allocating resources. PMID:29083217

Robot-Beacon Distributed Range-Only SLAM for Resource-Constrained Operation

PubMed Central

Torres-González, Arturo; Martínez-de Dios, Jose Ramiro; Ollero, Anibal

2017-01-01

This work deals with robot-sensor network cooperation where sensor nodes (beacons) are used as landmarks for Range-Only (RO) Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Most existing RO-SLAM techniques consider beacons as passive devices disregarding the sensing, computational and communication capabilities with which they are actually endowed. SLAM is a resource-demanding task. Besides the technological constraints of the robot and beacons, many applications impose further resource consumption limitations. This paper presents a scalable distributed RO-SLAM scheme for resource-constrained operation. It is capable of exploiting robot-beacon cooperation in order to improve SLAM accuracy while meeting a given resource consumption bound expressed as the maximum number of measurements that are integrated in SLAM per iteration. The proposed scheme combines a Sparse Extended Information Filter (SEIF) SLAM method, in which each beacon gathers and integrates robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, and a distributed information-driven measurement allocation tool that dynamically selects the measurements that are integrated in SLAM, balancing uncertainty improvement and resource consumption. The scheme adopts a robot-beacon distributed approach in which each beacon participates in the selection, gathering and integration in SLAM of robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, resulting in significant estimation accuracies, resource-consumption efficiency and scalability. It has been integrated in an octorotor Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and evaluated in 3D SLAM outdoor experiments. The experimental results obtained show its performance and robustness and evidence its advantages over existing methods. PMID:28425946

Robot-Beacon Distributed Range-Only SLAM for Resource-Constrained Operation.

PubMed

Torres-González, Arturo; Martínez-de Dios, Jose Ramiro; Ollero, Anibal

2017-04-20

This work deals with robot-sensor network cooperation where sensor nodes (beacons) are used as landmarks for Range-Only (RO) Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Most existing RO-SLAM techniques consider beacons as passive devices disregarding the sensing, computational and communication capabilities with which they are actually endowed. SLAM is a resource-demanding task. Besides the technological constraints of the robot and beacons, many applications impose further resource consumption limitations. This paper presents a scalable distributed RO-SLAM scheme for resource-constrained operation. It is capable of exploiting robot-beacon cooperation in order to improve SLAM accuracy while meeting a given resource consumption bound expressed as the maximum number of measurements that are integrated in SLAM per iteration. The proposed scheme combines a Sparse Extended Information Filter (SEIF) SLAM method, in which each beacon gathers and integrates robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, and a distributed information-driven measurement allocation tool that dynamically selects the measurements that are integrated in SLAM, balancing uncertainty improvement and resource consumption. The scheme adopts a robot-beacon distributed approach in which each beacon participates in the selection, gathering and integration in SLAM of robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, resulting in significant estimation accuracies, resource-consumption efficiency and scalability. It has been integrated in an octorotor Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and evaluated in 3D SLAM outdoor experiments. The experimental results obtained show its performance and robustness and evidence its advantages over existing methods.

78 FR 37537 - Centralized Capacity Markets in Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-21

... existing centralized capacity markets (e.g., resource adequacy, long-term price signals, fixed-cost[email protected] . Sarah McKinley (Logistical Information), Office of External Affairs, Federal Energy...

TENORM Resources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Studies of existing TENORM sites provide information needed to select appropriate methods for estimating risks from these sites, the best ways to clean up the sites, and the most economical and environmentally friendly ways to dispose of the TENORM.

30 CFR 285.641 - What must I demonstrate in my GAP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Plans and Information... harm or damage to natural resources; life (including human and wildlife); property; the marine, coastal...

Capabilities of the RENEB network for research and large scale radiological and nuclear emergency situations.

PubMed

Monteiro Gil, Octávia; Vaz, Pedro; Romm, Horst; De Angelis, Cinzia; Antunes, Ana Catarina; Barquinero, Joan-Francesc; Beinke, Christina; Bortolin, Emanuela; Burbidge, Christopher Ian; Cucu, Alexandra; Della Monaca, Sara; Domene, Mercedes Moreno; Fattibene, Paola; Gregoire, Eric; Hadjidekova, Valeria; Kulka, Ulrike; Lindholm, Carita; Meschini, Roberta; M'Kacher, Radhia; Moquet, Jayne; Oestreicher, Ursula; Palitti, Fabrizio; Pantelias, Gabriel; Montoro Pastor, Alegria; Popescu, Irina-Anca; Quattrini, Maria Cristina; Ricoul, Michelle; Rothkamm, Kai; Sabatier, Laure; Sebastià, Natividad; Sommer, Sylwester; Terzoudi, Georgia; Testa, Antonella; Trompier, François; Vral, Anne

2017-01-01

To identify and assess, among the participants in the RENEB (Realizing the European Network of Biodosimetry) project, the emergency preparedness, response capabilities and resources that can be deployed in the event of a radiological or nuclear accident/incident affecting a large number of individuals. These capabilities include available biodosimetry techniques, infrastructure, human resources (existing trained staff), financial and organizational resources (including the role of national contact points and their articulation with other stakeholders in emergency response) as well as robust quality control/assurance systems. A survey was prepared and sent to the RENEB partners in order to acquire information about the existing, operational techniques and infrastructure in the laboratories of the different RENEB countries and to assess the capacity of response in the event of radiological or nuclear accident involving mass casualties. The survey focused on several main areas: laboratory's general information, country and staff involved in biological and physical dosimetry; retrospective assays used, the number of assays available per laboratory and other information related to biodosimetry and emergency preparedness. Following technical intercomparisons amongst RENEB members, an update of the survey was performed one year later concerning the staff and the available assays. The analysis of RENEB questionnaires allowed a detailed assessment of existing capacity of the RENEB network to respond to nuclear and radiological emergencies. This highlighted the key importance of international cooperation in order to guarantee an effective and timely response in the event of radiological or nuclear accidents involving a considerable number of casualties. The deployment of the scientific and technical capabilities existing within the RENEB network members seems mandatory, to help other countries with less or no capacity for biological or physical dosimetry, or countries overwhelmed in case of a radiological or nuclear accident involving a large number of individuals.

The Role of the United States Book Exchange in the Nationwide Library and Information Services Network. National Program for Libraries and Information Services Related Paper No. 27.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ball, Alice Dulany

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science's (NCLIS) nationwide information program is based in part on the sharing of resources. The United States Book Exchange (USBE) and its existing services may have a role in this program, since the USBE's major function is the preservation and maximum utilization of publications through…

Building a Digital Library from the Ground Up: an Examination of Emergent Information Resources in the Machine Learning Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunningham, Sally Jo

The current crop of digital libraries for the computing community are strongly grounded in the conventional library paradigm: they provide indexes to support searching of collections of research papers. As such, these digital libraries are relatively impoverished; the present computing digital libraries omit many of the documents and resources that are currently available to computing researchers, and offer few browsing structures. These computing digital libraries were built 'top down': the resources and collection contents are forced to fit an existing digital library architecture. A 'bottom up' approach to digital library development would begin with an investigation of a community's information needs and available documents, and then design a library to organize those documents in such a way as to fulfill the community's needs. The 'home grown', informal information resources developed by and for the machine learning community are examined as a case study, to determine the types of information and document organizations 'native' to this group of researchers. The insights gained in this type of case study can be used to inform construction of a digital library tailored to this community.

Using sampling theory as the basis for a conceptual data model

Treesearch

Fred C. Martin; Tonya Baggett; Tom Wolfe

2000-01-01

Greater demands on forest resources require that larger amounts of information be readily available to decisionmakers. To provide more information faster, databases must be developed that are more comprehensive and easier to use. Data modeling is a process for building more complete and flexible databases by emphasizing fundamental relationships over existing or...

Review and Analysis of Curricula for Occupations in Food Processing and Distribution. Information Series No. 32.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Wiley B.

A review and analysis of Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) publications and non-ERIC publications was made to assess availability and identify major findings, promising developments, strategies, and methodological strengths and weaknesses which exist in curricula designed for preparing food industry workers. Project national figures…

Informing and Equipping Parents of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilson, Cathy B.; Bethun, Lauren K.; Carter, Erik W.; McMillan, Elise D.

2017-01-01

The importance of supporting families with members who have intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is well established in both policy and research. Yet little is known about how familiar parents are with existing resources (e.g., programs, supports, trainings), what information they would consider most helpful, and how they would prefer…

76 FR 589 - Proposed Extension of Existing Information Collection; Mine Accident, Injury, Illness, Mine...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-05

... safety efforts of MSHA and the mining industry. Accident, injury, and illness data, when correlated with... requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is... provides for uniform information gathering across the mining industry. Section 50.30 requires mine...

Review and Analysis of Curricula For Occupations in Public Services. Information Series No. 29.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Wiley B.

To identify major findings, promising developments, strategies, and methodological strengths and weaknesses which exist in curricula designed for training paraprofessional public service workers in the fields of education, social work, law enforcement, and fire fighting, a review and analysis was made of Educational Resources Information Center…

External Labeling as a Framework for Access Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rozenbroek, Thomas H.

2012-01-01

With the ever increasing volume of data existing on and passing through on-line resources together with a growing number of legitimate users of that information and potential adversaries, the need for better security and safeguards is immediate and critical. Currently, most of the security and safeguards afforded on-line information are provided…

GeoSearch: A lightweight broking middleware for geospatial resources discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gui, Z.; Yang, C.; Liu, K.; Xia, J.

2012-12-01

With petabytes of geodata, thousands of geospatial web services available over the Internet, it is critical to support geoscience research and applications by finding the best-fit geospatial resources from the massive and heterogeneous resources. Past decades' developments witnessed the operation of many service components to facilitate geospatial resource management and discovery. However, efficient and accurate geospatial resource discovery is still a big challenge due to the following reasons: 1)The entry barriers (also called "learning curves") hinder the usability of discovery services to end users. Different portals and catalogues always adopt various access protocols, metadata formats and GUI styles to organize, present and publish metadata. It is hard for end users to learn all these technical details and differences. 2)The cost for federating heterogeneous services is high. To provide sufficient resources and facilitate data discovery, many registries adopt periodic harvesting mechanism to retrieve metadata from other federated catalogues. These time-consuming processes lead to network and storage burdens, data redundancy, and also the overhead of maintaining data consistency. 3)The heterogeneous semantics issues in data discovery. Since the keyword matching is still the primary search method in many operational discovery services, the search accuracy (precision and recall) is hard to guarantee. Semantic technologies (such as semantic reasoning and similarity evaluation) offer a solution to solve these issues. However, integrating semantic technologies with existing service is challenging due to the expandability limitations on the service frameworks and metadata templates. 4)The capabilities to help users make final selection are inadequate. Most of the existing search portals lack intuitive and diverse information visualization methods and functions (sort, filter) to present, explore and analyze search results. Furthermore, the presentation of the value-added additional information (such as, service quality and user feedback), which conveys important decision supporting information, is missing. To address these issues, we prototyped a distributed search engine, GeoSearch, based on brokering middleware framework to search, integrate and visualize heterogeneous geospatial resources. Specifically, 1) A lightweight discover broker is developed to conduct distributed search. The broker retrieves metadata records for geospatial resources and additional information from dispersed services (portals and catalogues) and other systems on the fly. 2) A quality monitoring and evaluation broker (i.e., QoS Checker) is developed and integrated to provide quality information for geospatial web services. 3) The semantic assisted search and relevance evaluation functions are implemented by loosely interoperating with ESIP Testbed component. 4) Sophisticated information and data visualization functionalities and tools are assembled to improve user experience and assist resource selection.

Can snag creation benefit a primary cavity nester: response to an experimental pulse in snag abundance

Treesearch

John Kilgo; Mark Vukovich

2014-01-01

Thresholds in response by cavity-nesting bird populations to variations in the snag resource are poorly understood. In addition, limited information exists on the value of artificially created snags for cavity-nesting birds. Therefore, uncertainty exists in whether artificially created snags can yield a positive population response among snag-dependent birds. We used...

Current Activities of the Ministry of Mines, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adel, M.

2008-12-01

Beginning in late 2001, the Afghanistan government started developing plans for the revitalization of the Natural Resources sector. This revitalization included the rebuilding and reorganization of the capabilities of the Ministry of Mines and Industries (now the Ministry of Mines) and the Afghan Geological Survey and several other Afghan ministries. The initial focus was on the development of new mining and hydrocarbon laws, which were supported by the World Bank. Concurrent with these activities was the recognized need to identify, organize and compile existing data and information on the natural resources of the country. This has been followed by the use of these data and information to provide preliminary assessments of the oil and gas resources, mineral resources, water resources, coal resources, and earthquake hazards, all based on existing data. A large part of these assessment efforts required the development of a geospatial infrastructure through the use of satellite imagery and other remote sensing technologies. Institutional and capacity building were integral parts of all efforts. With the assessment and law activities ongoing, the Ministry of Mine has now turned to the development of a leasing framework, which address the critical need of transparency of leasing, lease management, and royalty collection. This new leasing system was implemented in spring 2008 with the leasing of the Aynak Copper Deposit, which is located about 25 miles south of Kabul. At the moment, a second world class mineral deposit is being considered for leasing within the next year. Oil and gas lease tracts are also under development in the northern oil and gas basins of Afghanistan. With the support of the Afghan government, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has recently completed the gathering of new data and information in support of the Natural Resources Sector. These data gathering missions include gravity, magnetics, radar, and hyperspectral data, which were gathered through the use of airborne platforms. These data will be used to produce final resource assessments for all of Afghanistan.

Disaster risk reduction capacity assessment for precarious settlements in Guatemala City.

PubMed

Miles, Scott B; Green, Rebekah A; Svekla, Walter

2012-07-01

This study presents findings of an institutional capacity analysis of urban disaster risk reduction for informal settlements in the Guatemala Metropolitan Region. It uses a resource access perspective of vulnerability, actor-network theory, and qualitative data collection. The analysis reveals that there is interest in disaster risk reduction for the informal settlements; however, there is little in the way of direct financial or oversight relationships between informal settlement residents and all other actors. Respondents observed that informal settlements would probably remain inhabited; thus, there is a need for disaster risk reduction within these settlements. Disaster risk reduction capacity for informal settlements exists and can be further leveraged, as long as steps are taken to ensure appropriate access to and control of resources and oversight. Further, the nascent institutional arrangements should be strengthened through increased communication and coordination between actors, a decentralization of oversight and financial relationships, and mediation of identified resource conflicts. © 2012 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2012.

Primary Aluminum Reduction Industry - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

National emission standards for each new or existing potline, paste production operation, and anode bake furnace associated with a primary aluminum reduction plant. Includes rule history, implementation information and additional resources.

Cross border waters: Fragile treasures for the 21st Century; Ninth U.S./Mexico Border States Conference on Recreation, Parks, and Wildlife; 1998, June 3-6

Treesearch

G. J. Gottfried; C. B. Edminster; Madelyn C. Dillon

1998-01-01

This conference brought together scientists and resource managers from government, universities, and private organizations in the United States and Mexico. In a continuing international forum, participants exchanged information on existing or potential cooperative projects, agency functions and programs, and issues were concerning natural and cultural resource...

A Nutrition Education Bibliography for Teachers of All Subjects and Grade Levels. Revised Edition, 1978. Developed through an ESEA Title IVC Project in Nutrition Education for Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18, Kingston, PA.

This bibliography lists a library collection of educational resources on topics in nutrition which are available to elementary and secondary teachers who need information and instructional aids to help them implement nutrition education into the existing curriculum. Two hundred seven entries of nutrition education resources comprise this…

Text mining resources for the life sciences.

PubMed

Przybyła, Piotr; Shardlow, Matthew; Aubin, Sophie; Bossy, Robert; Eckart de Castilho, Richard; Piperidis, Stelios; McNaught, John; Ananiadou, Sophia

2016-01-01

Text mining is a powerful technology for quickly distilling key information from vast quantities of biomedical literature. However, to harness this power the researcher must be well versed in the availability, suitability, adaptability, interoperability and comparative accuracy of current text mining resources. In this survey, we give an overview of the text mining resources that exist in the life sciences to help researchers, especially those employed in biocuration, to engage with text mining in their own work. We categorize the various resources under three sections: Content Discovery looks at where and how to find biomedical publications for text mining; Knowledge Encoding describes the formats used to represent the different levels of information associated with content that enable text mining, including those formats used to carry such information between processes; Tools and Services gives an overview of workflow management systems that can be used to rapidly configure and compare domain- and task-specific processes, via access to a wide range of pre-built tools. We also provide links to relevant repositories in each section to enable the reader to find resources relevant to their own area of interest. Throughout this work we give a special focus to resources that are interoperable-those that have the crucial ability to share information, enabling smooth integration and reusability. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Text mining resources for the life sciences

PubMed Central

Shardlow, Matthew; Aubin, Sophie; Bossy, Robert; Eckart de Castilho, Richard; Piperidis, Stelios; McNaught, John; Ananiadou, Sophia

2016-01-01

Text mining is a powerful technology for quickly distilling key information from vast quantities of biomedical literature. However, to harness this power the researcher must be well versed in the availability, suitability, adaptability, interoperability and comparative accuracy of current text mining resources. In this survey, we give an overview of the text mining resources that exist in the life sciences to help researchers, especially those employed in biocuration, to engage with text mining in their own work. We categorize the various resources under three sections: Content Discovery looks at where and how to find biomedical publications for text mining; Knowledge Encoding describes the formats used to represent the different levels of information associated with content that enable text mining, including those formats used to carry such information between processes; Tools and Services gives an overview of workflow management systems that can be used to rapidly configure and compare domain- and task-specific processes, via access to a wide range of pre-built tools. We also provide links to relevant repositories in each section to enable the reader to find resources relevant to their own area of interest. Throughout this work we give a special focus to resources that are interoperable—those that have the crucial ability to share information, enabling smooth integration and reusability. PMID:27888231

Determining climate change management priorities: A case study from Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

LeDee, Olivia E.; Ribic, Christine

2015-01-01

A burgeoning dialogue exists regarding how to allocate resources to maximize the likelihood of long-term biodiversity conservation within the context of climate change. To make effective decisions in natural resource management, an iterative, collaborative, and learning-based decision process may be more successful than a strictly consultative approach. One important, early step in a decision process is to identify priority species or systems. Although this promotes the conservation of select species or systems, it may inadvertently alter the future of non-target species and systems. We describe a process to screen terrestrial wildlife for potential sensitivity to climate change and then use the results to engage natural resource professionals in a process of identifying priorities for monitoring, research, and adaptation strategy implementation. We demonstrate this approach using a case study from Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, experts identified 23 out of 353 species with sufficient empirical research and management understanding to inform targeted action. Habitat management and management of hydrological conditions were the common strategies for targeted action. Although there may be an interest in adaptation strategy implementation for many species and systems, experts considered existing information inadequate to inform targeted action. According to experts, 40% of the vertebrate species in Wisconsin will require near-term intervention for climate adaptation. These results will inform state-wide conservation planning as well as regional efforts.

Sustainability of health information systems in developing countries: the case of Fiji.

PubMed

Soar, Jeffrey; Gow, Jeff; Caniogo, Vili

This paper examines the future sustainability of the Fijian Ministry of Health's (MoH) information and communication technology (ITC) system for patient management (PATIS). PATIS was developed with AusAID funding and, as the owner of the system, AusAID has no commercial competence or interest in further development of the system. Thus, the question that arises is: should Fiji adopt a commercially available patient administration system or retain the existing PATIS? In-depth consultations with senior executives and line managers of units that were major users of PATIS were undertaken. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussion approaches were utilised. The consensus or majority views of the users were that the existing PATIS performed more than adequately. The future sustainability of the system is threatened by the lack of investment in resources (e.g. hardware maintenance and human resources) required to keep the system operating at its optimum. It was found that PATIS provides Fiji with a satisfactory patient administration system. The identified problems with the system are not related to the application per se but rather to an under-investment in resources for its utilisation.

Tactical approach for determining impact of energy development on wildlife in Wyoming: special report number 1

USGS Publications Warehouse

Keenlyne, Kent D.

1977-01-01

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, within the Department of Interior, is responsible for providing national leadership in the management and protection of the nation's fish and wildlife resources, their habitat, and environment. Specifically, the Office of Biological Services obtains and assimilates biological and environmental data and identifies additional informational needs and means necessary to provide biological input into major natural resource decisions. The Wyoming Coal Coordinator for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is assigned the duty of becoming attuned to the ramifications of energy development within the State and its potential impact upon wildlife. In order for the Coal Coordinator to fulfill his obligations in becoming an "energy expert" for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Wyoming, it will be necessary for him to develop a means of obtaining an overview of the energy development situation. Similarly, in order for him to identify those area of critical concern to wildlife resources, it will be necessary that he determine or predict where energy development will occur, the nature of this development, and the cumulative effects of energy development upon wildlife. Likewise, in order to identify where wildlife data gaps occur and to determine future wildlife information needs, it will be necessary for him to compile and synthesize relevant existing data resources. It therefore becomes apparent that a need exists for him to gather and interpret pertinent information in a systematic way to meet these ends. The following is an account of the tactical number in which the Wyoming Coal Coordinator intends to approach the duties outlined above the rationale to be followed in meeting these needs. First, a general discussion on assessing impacts on wildlife is provided to form a basis for obtaining an overview. Secondly, a series of reports which will be generated to summarize existing information and to help identify potential problem areas is outlined. These reports will be further utilized to determine wildlife data gaps and future information needs related to wildlife and future energy development.

The Conterminous United States Mineral Assessment Program; background information to accompany folio of geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral resource maps of the Ajo and Lukeville 1 degree x 2 degrees quadrangles, Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gray, Floyd; Tosdal, R.M.; Peterson, J.A.; Cox, D.P.; Miller, R.J.; Klein, D.P.; Theobald, P.K.; Haxel, G.B.; Grubensky, M.J.; Raines, G.L.; Barton, H.N.; Singer, D.A.; Eppinger, R.G.

1992-01-01

Encompassing about 21,000 km 2 in southwestern Arizona, the Ajo and Lukeville 1 ? by 2 ? quadrangles have been the subject of mineral resource investigations utilizing field and laboratory studies in the disciplines of geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and Landsat imagery. The results of these studies are published as a folio of maps, figures, and tables, with accompanying discussions. Past mineral production has been limited to copper from the Ajo Mining District. In addition to copper, the quadrangles contain potentially significant resources of gold and silver; a few other commodities, including molybdenum and evaporites, may also exist in the area as appreciable resources. This circular provides background information on the mineral deposits and on the investigations and integrates the information presented in the folio. The bibliography cites references to the geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and mineral deposits of the two quadrangles.

Community mental health care in India.

PubMed

Padmavati, R

2005-04-01

Recent times are witnessing methods in the various forms of community care for the mentally ill in India. Non-governmental organizations (NGO) play a pivotal role in filling the gap in the existing mental health services in India and the substantial need for these services. Various strategies that have been employed in community care have attempted to utilize existing community resources for implementation. Informal manpower resources incorporated with specialist psychiatric care and integrated with existing health care facilities have been general strategies. While the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the NGO operated community outreach programs for the mentally ill have been demonstrated, various factors are seen to influence the planning and execution of such programs. This paper elucidates some critical factors that would need to be considered in community mental health care in India.

Geothermal Potential for China, Poland and Turkey with/Financing Workbook

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

Keller, J G

This collection of documents presents the results of assessments of the geothermal power potential in three countries: China, Poland, and Turkey. Also included is a Geothermal Financing Workbook, which is intended to provide a comprehensive package of information on financing, financing plans, financial analysis, and financial sources for smaller geothermal resource developers. All three countries are facing ever increasing demands for power in the coming decades, but each has some barriers to fully developing existing resources. For Poland and Turkey, it is important that legislation specific to geothermal resource development be enacted. For China, a crucial step is to developmore » more detailed and accurate estimates of resource potential. All three countries could benefit from the expertise of U.S. geothermal companies, and this collection of material provides crucial information for those interested companies.« less

Use of poisons information resources and satisfaction with electronic products by Victorian emergency department staff.

PubMed

Luke, Stephen; Fountain, John S; Reith, David M; Braitberg, George; Cruickshank, Jaycen

2014-10-01

ED staff use a range of poisons information resources of varying type and quality. The present study aims to identify those resources utilised in the state of Victoria, Australia, and assess opinion of the most used electronic products. A previously validated self-administered survey was conducted in 15 EDs, with 10 questionnaires sent to each. The survey was then repeated following the provision of a 4-month period of access to Toxinz™, an Internet poisons information product novel to the region. The study was conducted from December 2010 to August 2011. There were 117 (78%) and 48 (32%) responses received from the first and second surveys, respectively, a 55% overall response rate. No statistically significant differences in professional group, numbers of poisoned patients seen or resource type accessed were identified between studies. The electronic resource most used in the first survey was Poisindex® (48.68%) and Toxinz™ (64.1%) in the second. There were statistically significant (P < 0.01) improvements in satisfaction in 26 of 42 questions between surveys, and no decrements. Although the majority of responders possessed mobile devices, less than half used them for poisons information but would do so if a reputable product was available. The order of poisons information sources most utilised was: consultation with a colleague, in-house protocols and electronic resources. There was a significant difference in satisfaction with electronic poisons information resources and a movement away from existing sources when choice was provided. Interest in increased use of mobile solutions was identified. © 2014 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

75 FR 67993 - Hydropower Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation Facilities-Draft Report

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-04

... largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, and is actively engaged in looking for... Web site: http://www.usbr.gov/power/ . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Pulskamp, 303-445...

Mining Genotype-Phenotype Associations from Public Knowledge Sources via Semantic Web Querying.

PubMed

Kiefer, Richard C; Freimuth, Robert R; Chute, Christopher G; Pathak, Jyotishman

2013-01-01

Gene Wiki Plus (GeneWiki+) and the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) are publicly available resources for sharing information about disease-gene and gene-SNP associations in humans. While immensely useful to the scientific community, both resources are manually curated, thereby making the data entry and publication process time-consuming, and to some degree, error-prone. To this end, this study investigates Semantic Web technologies to validate existing and potentially discover new genotype-phenotype associations in GWP and OMIM. In particular, we demonstrate the applicability of SPARQL queries for identifying associations not explicitly stated for commonly occurring chronic diseases in GWP and OMIM, and report our preliminary findings for coverage, completeness, and validity of the associations. Our results highlight the benefits of Semantic Web querying technology to validate existing disease-gene associations as well as identify novel associations although further evaluation and analysis is required before such information can be applied and used effectively.

An ontology-based semantic configuration approach to constructing Data as a Service for enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Hongming; Xie, Cheng; Jiang, Lihong; Fang, Lu; Huang, Chenxi

2016-03-01

To align business strategies with IT systems, enterprises should rapidly implement new applications based on existing information with complex associations to adapt to the continually changing external business environment. Thus, Data as a Service (DaaS) has become an enabling technology for enterprise through information integration and the configuration of existing distributed enterprise systems and heterogonous data sources. However, business modelling, system configuration and model alignment face challenges at the design and execution stages. To provide a comprehensive solution to facilitate data-centric application design in a highly complex and large-scale situation, a configurable ontology-based service integrated platform (COSIP) is proposed to support business modelling, system configuration and execution management. First, a meta-resource model is constructed and used to describe and encapsulate information resources by way of multi-view business modelling. Then, based on ontologies, three semantic configuration patterns, namely composite resource configuration, business scene configuration and runtime environment configuration, are designed to systematically connect business goals with executable applications. Finally, a software architecture based on model-view-controller (MVC) is provided and used to assemble components for software implementation. The result of the case study demonstrates that the proposed approach provides a flexible method of implementing data-centric applications.

REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR DECISION ANALYSIS IN PUBLIC RESOURCE ADMINISTRATION: A CASE STUDY OF 25 YEARS OF LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN A SOUTHWESTERN WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

Alternative futures analysis is a scenario-based approach to regional land planning that attempts to synthesize existing scientific information in a format useful to community decision-makers. Typically, this approach attempts to investigate the impacts of several alternative set...

A Review of Qualitative Data Gathering Methods and Their Applications To Support Organizational Strategic Planning Processes. Study Number Six.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Phillip C.; Geroy, Gary D.

Exploring existing methodologies to determine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategic goal setting, this paper focuses on information gathering techniques as they relate to the human resource development professional's input into strategic planning processes. The information gathering techniques are all qualitative methods and…

Geothermal resources in Oregon: site data base and development status

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

Justus, D.L.

An inventory of resources based on available information is presented. Potential for utilization and the legal and institutional environment in which development is likely to occur were also considered. Sites selected for this investigation include the 13 identified KGRA's, one PGRA which was chosen because of substantial local interest expressed in favor of development, and one major geologic fault zone which shows indications of high potential. Each chapter represents a planning region and is introduced by a regional overview of the physical setting followed by a narrative summary statement of the specific resource location and characteristics, existing utilization and potentialmore » end-uses for future development. Detailed site information in the form of data sheets follows each narrative. (MHR)« less

Remote sensing: The application of space technology to the survey of the earth and its environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schertler, R. J.

1973-01-01

Research in the earth sciences and management of both natural and man-made resources has been hindered by the difficulty of obtaining accurate and timely information on regional and global scale. Space surveys with remote sensing instruments are simply another means of attempting to attain the total knowledge of the resources needed for sound planning, development, and conservation. The use of earth orbiting satellites will greatly expand the ability to collect this information. The collection and use of these data and imagery, however, are now an end in itself, but only the means to an end, that of achieving total resource knowledge. Satellite systems will provide a valuable supplement to existing aerial and ground based observation techniques.

Health sciences libraries in Kuwait: a study of their resources, facilities, and services

PubMed Central

Al-Ansari, Husain A.; Al-Enezi, Sana

2001-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of health sciences libraries in Kuwait in terms of their staff, collections, facilities, use of information technology, information services, and cooperation. Seventeen libraries participated in the study. Results show that the majority of health sciences libraries were established during the 1980s. Their collections are relatively small. The majority of their staff is nonprofessional. The majority of libraries provide only basic information services. Cooperation among libraries is limited. Survey results also indicate that a significant number of health sciences libraries are not automated. Some recommendations for the improvement of existing resources, facilities, and services are made. PMID:11465688

The quality of websites addressing fibromyalgia: an assessment of quality and readability using standardised tools

PubMed Central

MacDermid, Joy C; Wilkins, Seanne; Gibson, Jane; Shaw, Lynn

2011-01-01

Background Patients living with fibromyalgia strongly prefer to access health information on the web. However, the majority of subjects in previous studies strongly expressed their concerns about the quality of online information resources. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate existing online fibromyalgia information resources for content, quality and readability by using standardised quality and readability tools. Methods The first 25 websites were identified using Google and the search keyword ‘fibromyalgia’. Pairs of raters independently evaluated website quality using two structured tools (DISCERN and a quality checklist). Readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score maps. Results Ranking of the websites' quality varied by the tool used, although there was general agreement about the top three websites (Fibromyalgia Information, Fibromyalgia Information Foundation and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases). Content analysis indicated that 72% of websites provided information on treatment options, 68% on symptoms, 60% on diagnosis and 40% on coping and resources. DISCERN ratings classified 32% websites as ‘very good’, 32% as ‘good and 36% as ‘marginal’. The mean overall DISCERN score was 36.88 (good). Only 16% of websites met the recommended literacy level grade of 6–8 (range 7–15). Conclusion Higher quality websites tended to be less readable. Online fibromyalgia information resources do not provide comprehensive information about fibromyalgia, and have low quality and poor readability. While information is very important for those living with fibromyalgia, current resources are unlikely to provide necessary or accurate information, and may not be usable for most people. PMID:22021777

The quality of websites addressing fibromyalgia: an assessment of quality and readability using standardised tools.

PubMed

Daraz, Lubna; Macdermid, Joy C; Wilkins, Seanne; Gibson, Jane; Shaw, Lynn

2011-07-31

Background Patients living with fibromyalgia strongly prefer to access health information on the web. However, the majority of subjects in previous studies strongly expressed their concerns about the quality of online information resources. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate existing online fibromyalgia information resources for content, quality and readability by using standardised quality and readability tools. Methods The first 25 websites were identified using Google and the search keyword 'fibromyalgia'. Pairs of raters independently evaluated website quality using two structured tools (DISCERN and a quality checklist). Readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score maps. Results Ranking of the websites' quality varied by the tool used, although there was general agreement about the top three websites (Fibromyalgia Information, Fibromyalgia Information Foundation and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases). Content analysis indicated that 72% of websites provided information on treatment options, 68% on symptoms, 60% on diagnosis and 40% on coping and resources. DISCERN ratings classified 32% websites as 'very good', 32% as 'good and 36% as 'marginal'. The mean overall DISCERN score was 36.88 (good). Only 16% of websites met the recommended literacy level grade of 6-8 (range 7-15). Conclusion Higher quality websites tended to be less readable. Online fibromyalgia information resources do not provide comprehensive information about fibromyalgia, and have low quality and poor readability. While information is very important for those living with fibromyalgia, current resources are unlikely to provide necessary or accurate information, and may not be usable for most people.

Measuring Impact of U.S. DOE Geothermal Technologies Office Funding: Considerations for Development of a Geothermal Resource Reporting Metric

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

Young, Katherine R.; Wall, Anna M.; Dobson, Patrick F.

This paper reviews existing methodologies and reporting codes used to describe extracted energy resources such as coal and oil and describes a comparable proposed methodology to describe geothermal resources. The goal is to provide the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) with a consistent and comprehensible means of assessing the impacts of its funding programs. This framework will allow for GTO to assess the effectiveness of research, development, and deployment (RD&D) funding, prioritize funding requests, and demonstrate the value of RD&D programs to the U.S. Congress. Standards and reporting codes used in other countries and energy sectorsmore » provide guidance to inform development of a geothermal methodology, but industry feedback and our analysis suggest that the existing models have drawbacks that should be addressed. In order to formulate a comprehensive metric for use by GTO, we analyzed existing resource assessments and reporting methodologies for the geothermal, mining, and oil and gas industries, and we sought input from industry, investors, academia, national labs, and other government agencies. Using this background research as a guide, we describe a methodology for assessing and reporting on GTO funding according to resource knowledge and resource grade (or quality). This methodology would allow GTO to target funding or measure impact by progression of projects or geological potential for development.« less

Wildland inventory and resource modeling for Douglas and Carson City Counties, Nevada, using LANDSAT and digital terrain data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brass, J. A.; Likens, W. C.; Thornhill, R. R.

1983-01-01

The potential of using LANDSAT satellite imagery to map and inventory pinyon-juniper desert forest types in Douglas and Carson City Counties, Nevada was demonstrated. Specific map and statistical products produced include land cover, mechanical operations capability, big game winter range habitat, fire hazard, and forest harvestability. The Nevada Division of Forestry determined that LANDSAT can produce a reliable and low-cost resource data. Added benefits become apparent when the data are linked to a geographical information system (GIS) containing existing ownership, planning, elevation, slope, and aspect information.

GRBOX: A New Online Catalog of GRBs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perley, Daniel; Kemper, Yvonne

2008-05-01

With Swift detecting close to 100 new gamma-ray bursts each year, cataloging past bursts is more important than ever. To this end, we present a new online database (GRBOX: Gamma Ray Burst Online IndeX) indexing properties of every well-localized GRB since 1997. Unlike existing resources, the information in the catalog is presented to the user in the form of a sortable, filterable table and derives information for each burst from published catalogs as well as the GCN circulars and refereed publications. Short text summaries and links to other resources are also provided for every event.

Report of Workshop on Methodology for Evaluating Potential Lunar Resources Sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, R. J.; Hubbard, N.

1981-01-01

The type and quantity of lunar materials needed to support a space power satellite program was used to define the type and quality of geological information required to certify a site for exploitation. The existing geological, geochemical, and geophysical data are summarized. The difference between these data and the required data for exploitation is used to define program requirements. Most of these requirements involve linear extensions of existing capabilities, fuller utilization of existing data, or expanded use of automated systems.

Forest Resource Information System (FRIS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The technological and economical feasibility of using multispectral digital image data as acquired from the LANDSAT satellites in an ongoing operational forest information system was evaluated. Computer compatible multispectral scanner data secured from the LANDSAT satellites were demonstrated to be a significant contributor to ongoing information systems by providing the added dimensions of synoptic and repeat coverage of the Earth's surface. Major forest cover types of conifer, deciduous, mixed conifer-deciduous and non-forest, were classified well within the bounds of the statistical accuracy of the ground sample. Further, when overlayed with existing maps, the acreage of cover type retains a high level of positional integrity. Maps were digitized by a graphics design system, overlayed and registered onto LANDSAT imagery such that the map data with associated attributes were displayed on the image. Once classified, the analysis results were converted back to map form as a cover type of information. Existing tabular information as represented by inventory is registered geographically to the map base through a vendor provided data management system. The notion of a geographical reference base (map) providing the framework to which imagery and tabular data bases are registered and where each of the three functions of imagery, maps and inventory can be accessed singly or in combination is the very essence of the forest resource information system design.

Databases, Repositories and Other Data Resources in Structural Biology

PubMed Central

Zheng, Heping; Porebski, Przemyslaw J.; Grabowski, Marek; Cooper, David R.; Minor, Wladek

2017-01-01

Structural biology, like many other areas of modern science, produces an enormous amount of primary, derived, and “meta” data with a high demand on data storage and manipulations. Primary data comes from various steps of sample preparation, diffraction experiments, and functional studies. These data are not only used to obtain tangible results, like macromolecular structural models, but also to enrich and guide our analysis and interpretation of existing biomedical studies. Herein we define several categories of data resources, (a) Archives, (b) Repositories, (c) “Databases” and (d) Advanced Information Systems, that can accommodate primary, derived, or reference data. Data resources may be used either as web portals or internally by structural biology software. To be useful, each resource must be maintained, curated, and be integrated with other resources. Ideally, the system of interconnected resources should evolve toward comprehensive “hubs” or Advanced Information Systems. Such systems, encompassing the PDB and UniProt, are indispensable not only for structural biology, but for many related fields of science. The categories of data resources described herein are applicable well beyond our usual scientific endeavors. PMID:28573593

An assessment of food safety information provision for UK chemotherapy patients to reduce the risk of foodborne infection.

PubMed

Evans, E W; Redmond, E C

2017-12-01

Given the increased risk of foodborne infection to cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment, and the risk of listeriosis reportedly five-times greater to this immunocompromised patient group, there is a need to ensure the implementation of domestic food safety practices among chemotherapy patients and their family caregivers. However, information regarding the adequacy of resources to inform and enable patients to implement domestic food safety practices to reduce the risk of foodborne infection is limited. Consequently, this study aimed to evaluate the provision of food safety information available to UK chemotherapy patients. In-depth semi-structured interviews and content analysis of online patient information resources. Interviews with patients and family caregivers (n = 15) were conducted to explore food-related experiences during chemotherapy treatment. Online food-related information resources for chemotherapy patients (n = 45) were obtained from 35 of 154 National Health Service chemotherapy providers in England, Scotland, and Wales, the Department of Health (DoH) and three of 184 identified UK cancer charities. Identified food-related information resources were reviewed using a content-analysis approach to assess the inclusion of food safety information for chemotherapy patients. In-depth interviews established that many patients indicated awareness of immunosuppression during treatment. Although patients reported practicing caution to reduce the risk of communicable diseases by avoiding crowded spaces/public transport, food safety was reported to be of minimal concern during treatment and the risk of foodborne infection was often underestimated. The review of online food-related patient information resources established that many resources failed to highlight the increased risk of foodborne infection and emphasize the importance of food safety for patients during chemotherapy treatment. Considerable information gaps exist, particularly in relation to listeriosis prevention practices. Cumulatively, information was inconsistent, insufficient, and varied between resources. The study has identified the need for an effective, standardized food safety resource specifically targeting chemotherapy patients and family caregivers. Such intervention is essential to assist efforts in reducing the risks associated with foodborne infection among chemotherapy patients. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An overview of suite for automated global electronic biosurveillance (SAGES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Sheri L.; Feighner, Brian H.; Loschen, Wayne A.; Wojcik, Richard A.; Skora, Joseph F.; Coberly, Jacqueline S.; Blazes, David L.

2012-06-01

Public health surveillance is undergoing a revolution driven by advances in the field of information technology. Many countries have experienced vast improvements in the collection, ingestion, analysis, visualization, and dissemination of public health data. Resource-limited countries have lagged behind due to challenges in information technology infrastructure, public health resources, and the costs of proprietary software. The Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES) is a collection of modular, flexible, freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings. One or more SAGES tools may be used in concert with existing surveillance applications or the SAGES tools may be used en masse for an end-to-end biosurveillance capability. This flexibility allows for the development of an inexpensive, customized, and sustainable disease surveillance system. The ability to rapidly assess anomalous disease activity may lead to more efficient use of limited resources and better compliance with World Health Organization International Health Regulations.

Using information technology to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical trial research in academic medical centers.

PubMed

Hardison, C D; Schnetzer, T

1999-01-01

In the area of clinical trial research, academic medical centers (AMCs) need to create additional capacity and improve performance on vital indicators to attract more studies, as they are currently losing their share to stand-alone research sites. Through the utilization of information technology, AMCs will be in a better position to fend off the competitive threats to their clinical research dollars. Most AMCs are in an enviable position to leverage the value of information technology because of the existing people, processes, and technologies that probably already exist throughout the AMC. The challenge, then, is to deploy these resources in a different manner to support clinical trial research.

A "building block" approach to application development for education and decision support in radiology: implications for integrated clinical information systems environments.

PubMed

Greenes, R A

1991-11-01

Education and decision-support resources useful to radiologists are proliferating for the personal computer/workstation user or are potentially accessible via high-speed networks. These resources are typically made available through a set of application programs that tend to be developed in isolation and operate independently. Nonetheless, there is a growing need for an integrated environment for access to these resources in the context of professional work, during clinical problem-solving and decision-making activities, and for use in conjunction with other information resources. New application development environments are required to provide these capabilities. One such architecture for applications, which we have implemented in a prototype environment called DeSyGNER, is based on separately delineating the component information resources required for an application, termed entities, and the user interface and organizational paradigms, or composition methods, by which the entities are used to provide particular kinds of capability. Examples include composition methods to support query, book browsing, hyperlinking, tutorials, simulations, or question/answer testing. Future steps must address true integration of such applications with existing clinical information systems. We believe that the most viable approach for evolving this capability is based on the use of new software engineering methodologies, open systems, client-server communication, and delineation of standard message protocols.

SAGES: A Suite of Freely-Available Software Tools for Electronic Disease Surveillance in Resource-Limited Settings

PubMed Central

Lewis, Sheri L.; Feighner, Brian H.; Loschen, Wayne A.; Wojcik, Richard A.; Skora, Joseph F.; Coberly, Jacqueline S.; Blazes, David L.

2011-01-01

Public health surveillance is undergoing a revolution driven by advances in the field of information technology. Many countries have experienced vast improvements in the collection, ingestion, analysis, visualization, and dissemination of public health data. Resource-limited countries have lagged behind due to challenges in information technology infrastructure, public health resources, and the costs of proprietary software. The Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES) is a collection of modular, flexible, freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings. One or more SAGES tools may be used in concert with existing surveillance applications or the SAGES tools may be used en masse for an end-to-end biosurveillance capability. This flexibility allows for the development of an inexpensive, customized, and sustainable disease surveillance system. The ability to rapidly assess anomalous disease activity may lead to more efficient use of limited resources and better compliance with World Health Organization International Health Regulations. PMID:21572957

Urban forest ecosystem services: A case study in Corvallis,Oregon

EPA Science Inventory

Background/Questions/Methods One EPA research focus is quantifying ecosystem services, benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, in order to promote informed natural resource management decisions and to assess the effectiveness of existing environmental policies. A case study...

Geographic Information System Data Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Billings, Chad; Casad, Christopher; Floriano, Luis G.; Hill, Tracie; Johnson, Rashida K.; Locklear, J. Mark; Penn, Stephen; Rhoulac, Tori; Shay, Adam H.; Taylor, Antone;

Automated RTOP Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayes, P.

1984-01-01

The structure of NASA's Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology electronic information system network from 1983 to 1985 is illustrated. The RTOP automated system takes advantage of existing hardware, software, and expertise, and provides: (1) computerized cover sheet and resources forms; (2) electronic signature and transmission; (3) a data-based information system; (4) graphics; (5) intercenter communications; (6) management information; and (7) text editing. The system is coordinated with Headquarters efforts in codes R,E, and T.

Developing integrated benchmarks for DOE performance measurement

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

Barancik, J.I.; Kramer, C.F.; Thode, Jr. H.C.

1992-09-30

The objectives of this task were to describe and evaluate selected existing sources of information on occupational safety and health with emphasis on hazard and exposure assessment, abatement, training, reporting, and control identifying for exposure and outcome in preparation for developing DOE performance benchmarks. Existing resources and methodologies were assessed for their potential use as practical performance benchmarks. Strengths and limitations of current data resources were identified. Guidelines were outlined for developing new or improved performance factors, which then could become the basis for selecting performance benchmarks. Data bases for non-DOE comparison populations were identified so that DOE performance couldmore » be assessed relative to non-DOE occupational and industrial groups. Systems approaches were described which can be used to link hazards and exposure, event occurrence, and adverse outcome factors, as needed to generate valid, reliable, and predictive performance benchmarks. Data bases were identified which contain information relevant to one or more performance assessment categories . A list of 72 potential performance benchmarks was prepared to illustrate the kinds of information that can be produced through a benchmark development program. Current information resources which may be used to develop potential performance benchmarks are limited. There is need to develop an occupational safety and health information and data system in DOE, which is capable of incorporating demonstrated and documented performance benchmarks prior to, or concurrent with the development of hardware and software. A key to the success of this systems approach is rigorous development and demonstration of performance benchmark equivalents to users of such data before system hardware and software commitments are institutionalized.« less

Determining Water Quality Trends in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watershed in the Face of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kynett, K.; Azimi-Gaylon, S.; Doidic, C.

2014-12-01

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh (Delta) is the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas and is a resource of local, State, and national significance. The Delta is simultaneously the most critical component of California's water supply, a primary focus of the state's ecological conservation measures, and a vital resource deeply imperiled by degraded water quality. Delta waterbodies are identified as impaired by salinity, excess nutrients, low dissolved oxygen, pathogens, pesticides, heavy metals, and other contaminants. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the impacts of existing stressors in the Delta and magnify the challenges of managing this natural resource. A clear understanding of the current state of the watershed is needed to better inform scientists, decision makers, and the public about potential impacts from climate change. The Delta Watershed Initiative Network (Delta WIN) leverages the ecological benefits of healthy watersheds, and enhances, expands and creates opportunities for greater watershed health by coordinating with agencies, established programs, and local organizations. At this critical junction, Delta WIN is coordinating data integration and analysis to develop better understanding of the existing and emerging water quality concerns. As first steps, Delta WIN is integrating existing water quality data, analyzing trends, and monitoring to fill data gaps and to evaluate indicators of climate change impacts. Available data will be used for trend analysis; Delta WIN will continue to monitor where data is incomplete and new questions arise. Understanding how climate change conditions may affect water quality will be used to inform efforts to build resilience and maintain water quality levels which sustain aquatic life and human needs. Assessments of historical and new data will aid in recognition of potential climate change impacts and in initiating implementation of best management practices in collaboration with State and local agencies. Ultimately, Delta WIN can inform responsive science and adaptive management in other estuaries and critical natural resource areas facing times of change.

Medication-indication knowledge bases: a systematic review and critical appraisal.

PubMed

Salmasian, Hojjat; Tran, Tran H; Chase, Herbert S; Friedman, Carol

2015-11-01

Medication-indication information is a key part of the information needed for providing decision support for and promoting appropriate use of medications. However, this information is not readily available to end users, and a lot of the resources only contain this information in unstructured form (free text). A number of public knowledge bases (KBs) containing structured medication-indication information have been developed over the years, but a direct comparison of these resources has not yet been conducted. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify all medication-indication KBs and critically appraised these resources in terms of their scope as well as their support for complex indication information. We identified 7 KBs containing medication-indication data. They notably differed from each other in terms of their scope, coverage for on- or off-label indications, source of information, and choice of terminologies for representing the knowledge. The majority of KBs had issues with granularity of the indications as well as with representing duration of therapy, primary choice of treatment, and comedications or comorbidities. This is the first study directly comparing public KBs of medication indications. We identified several gaps in the existing resources, which can motivate future research. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

YouTube as a source of information on rhinosinusitis: the good, the bad and the ugly.

PubMed

Biggs, T C; Bird, J H; Harries, P G; Salib, R J

2013-08-01

YouTube is an internet-based repository of user-generated content. This study aimed to determine whether YouTube represented a valid and reliable patient information resource for the lay person on the topic of rhinosinusitis. The study included the first 100 YouTube videos found using the search term 'sinusitis'. Videos were graded on their ability to inform the lay person on the subject of rhinosinusitis. Forty-five per cent of the videos were deemed to provide some useful information. Fifty-five per cent of the videos contained little or no useful facts, 27 per cent of which contained potentially misleading or even dangerous information. Videos uploaded by medical professionals or those from health information websites contained more useful information than those uploaded by independent users. YouTube appears to be an unreliable resource for accurate and up to date medical information relating to rhinosinusitis. However, it may provide some useful information if mechanisms existed to direct lay people to verifiable and credible sources.

Creating the first MedlinePlus "Go Local" service: lessons and recommendations from the evaluation of NC Health Info.

PubMed

Silbajoris, Christie; McDuffee, Diana; Olney, Cynthia

2007-01-01

NC Health Info is an online collection of North Carolina based health services Web sites that seamlessly links local health resources to topical health information on MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine's consumer health information Web site. NC Health Info was the first project to connect local resources with MedlinePlus in the "Go Local" initiative. As such, NC Health Info serves as a model for other states to follow in connecting their own local information with Medline- Plus. This paper describes the processes used and lessons learned during a year-long evaluation of NC Health Info. Evaluation results may be of interest and applicable to any existing or planned "Go Local" project.

Acquisition and evaluation of verb subcategorization resources for biomedicine.

PubMed

Rimell, Laura; Lippincott, Thomas; Verspoor, Karin; Johnson, Helen L; Korhonen, Anna

2013-04-01

Biomedical natural language processing (NLP) applications that have access to detailed resources about the linguistic characteristics of biomedical language demonstrate improved performance on tasks such as relation extraction and syntactic or semantic parsing. Such applications are important for transforming the growing unstructured information buried in the biomedical literature into structured, actionable information. In this paper, we address the creation of linguistic resources that capture how individual biomedical verbs behave. We specifically consider verb subcategorization, or the tendency of verbs to "select" co-occurrence with particular phrase types, which influences the interpretation of verbs and identification of verbal arguments in context. There are currently a limited number of biomedical resources containing information about subcategorization frames (SCFs), and these are the result of either labor-intensive manual collation, or automatic methods that use tools adapted to a single biomedical subdomain. Either method may result in resources that lack coverage. Moreover, the quality of existing verb SCF resources for biomedicine is unknown, due to a lack of available gold standards for evaluation. This paper presents three new resources related to verb subcategorization frames in biomedicine, and four experiments making use of the new resources. We present the first biomedical SCF gold standards, capturing two different but widely-used definitions of subcategorization, and a new SCF lexicon, BioCat, covering a large number of biomedical sub-domains. We evaluate the SCF acquisition methodologies for BioCat with respect to the gold standards, and compare the results with the accuracy of the only previously existing automatically-acquired SCF lexicon for biomedicine, the BioLexicon. Our results show that the BioLexicon has greater precision while BioCat has better coverage of SCFs. Finally, we explore the definition of subcategorization using these resources and its implications for biomedical NLP. All resources are made publicly available. The SCF resources we have evaluated still show considerably lower accuracy than that reported with general English lexicons, demonstrating the need for domain- and subdomain-specific SCF acquisition tools for biomedicine. Our new gold standards reveal major differences when annotators use the different definitions. Moreover, evaluation of BioCat yields major differences in accuracy depending on the gold standard, demonstrating that the definition of subcategorization adopted will have a direct impact on perceived system accuracy for specific tasks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving education and resources for health care providers.

PubMed Central

Paul, M; Welch, L

1993-01-01

Workers and citizens are turning increasingly to the health care system for information about occupational and environmental reproductive hazards, yet most primary care providers and specialists know little about the effects of occupational/environmental toxicants on the reproductive system or how to evaluate and manage patients at potential risk. Although it is unrealistic to expect all clinicians to become experts in this area, practitioners should know how to take a basic screening history, identify patients at potential risk, and make appropriate referrals. At present, occupational and environmental health issues are not well integrated into health professional education in the United States, and clinical information and referral resources pertaining to reproductive hazards are inadequate. In addressing these problems, the conference "Working Group on Health Provider Education and Resources" made several recommendations that are detailed in this report. Short-term goals include enhancement of existing expertise and resources at a regional level and better integration of information on occupational/environmental reproductive hazards into curricula, meetings, and publications of medical and nursing organizations. Longer term goals include development of a comprehensive, single-access information and referral system for clinicians and integration of occupational and environmental medicine into formal health professional education curricula at all levels. PMID:8243391

Enterprise tools to promote interoperability: MonitoringResources.org supports design and documentation of large-scale, long-term monitoringprograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weltzin, J. F.; Scully, R. A.; Bayer, J.

2016-12-01

Individual natural resource monitoring programs have evolved in response to different organizational mandates, jurisdictional needs, issues and questions. We are establishing a collaborative forum for large-scale, long-term monitoring programs to identify opportunities where collaboration could yield efficiency in monitoring design, implementation, analyses, and data sharing. We anticipate these monitoring programs will have similar requirements - e.g. survey design, standardization of protocols and methods, information management and delivery - that could be met by enterprise tools to promote sustainability, efficiency and interoperability of information across geopolitical boundaries or organizational cultures. MonitoringResources.org, a project of the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership, provides an on-line suite of enterprise tools focused on aquatic systems in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States. We will leverage on and expand this existing capacity to support continental-scale monitoring of both aquatic and terrestrial systems. The current stakeholder group is focused on programs led by bureaus with the Department of Interior, but the tools will be readily and freely available to a broad variety of other stakeholders. Here, we report the results of two initial stakeholder workshops focused on (1) establishing a collaborative forum of large scale monitoring programs, (2) identifying and prioritizing shared needs, (3) evaluating existing enterprise resources, (4) defining priorities for development of enhanced capacity for MonitoringResources.org, and (5) identifying a small number of pilot projects that can be used to define and test development requirements for specific monitoring programs.

Micro*scope: a new internet resources for microbiology teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patterson, D. J.; Sogin, M. L.

Micro-organisms are major players in all natural ecosystems, have dominated the Earth's biosphere for most of its existence, and have determined the character of the habitable planet. Yet a lack of adequate educational resources hinders the appreciation of microbial diversity and ecology. micro*scope is a new internet initiative which aims to provide resources to students and teachers. The site has five major domains. Classification: A comprehensive hierarchical classification of all prokaryotes and protists to the level of genus. The classification is used to navigate to further information. UbIO sofware new software for the management of names and classification schemes, allowing all known names for the same organisms to be mapped against each other so maximize the recovery of information. Images: about 3500 images are available, with high quality versions available to be downloaded. Outward internet links, the web site prompts the user to explore more authoritative or specialist sites to find further information on any species or taxon being visited. Educational resources, we include simple to use Lucid guides to help students and scientists identify micro-organisms are available through the internet. Other resources are also being assembled. The site is still under development.

Building a reference inventory of Great Lakes aquatic fauna

EPA Science Inventory

Despite the existence of numerous publications and web-pages that address aspects of species composition and distribution in the Great Lakes, there is at present no single resource that brings all this information together. This poster describes our progress towards generating a ...

30 CFR 285.207-285.209 - [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

....209 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information §§ 285.207—285.209 [Reserved] Competitive Lease Process ...

Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Post van der Burg, Max; Vining, Kevin C.; Frankforter, Jill D.

2017-09-28

The Williston Basin, which includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States, has been a leading domestic oil and gas producing area. To better understand the potential effects of energy development on environmental resources in the Williston Basin, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, and in support of the needs identified by the Bakken Federal Executive Group (consisting of representatives from 13 Federal agencies and Tribal groups), began work to synthesize existing information on science topics to support management decisions related to energy development. This report is divided into four chapters (A–D). Chapter A provides an executive summary of the report and principal findings from chapters B–D. Chapter B provides a brief compilation of information regarding the history of energy development, physiography, climate, land use, demographics, and related studies in the Williston Basin. Chapter C synthesizes current information about water resources, identifies potential effects from energy development, and summarizes water resources research and information needs in the Williston Basin. Chapter D summarizes information about ecosystems, species of conservation concern, and potential effects to those species from energy development in the Williston Basin.

Western Energy Corridor -- Energy Resource Report

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

Leslie Roberts; Michael Hagood

2011-06-01

The world is facing significant growth in energy demand over the next several decades. Strategic in meeting this demand are the world-class energy resources concentrated along the Rocky Mountains and northern plains in Canada and the U.S., informally referred to as the Western Energy Corridor (WEC). The fossil energy resources in this region are rivaled only in a very few places in the world, and the proven uranium reserves are among the world's largest. Also concentrated in this region are renewable resources contributing to wind power, hydro power, bioenergy, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Substantial existing and planned energy infrastructure,more » including refineries, pipelines, electrical transmission lines, and rail lines provide access to these resources.« less

Sharing data is a shared responsibility: Commentary on: "The essential nature of sharing in science".

PubMed

Giffels, Joe

2010-12-01

Research data should be made readily available. A robust data-sharing plan, led by the principal investigator of the research project, requires considerable administrative and operational resources. Because external support for data sharing is minimal, principal investigators should consider engaging existing institutional information experts, such as librarians and information systems personnel, to participate in data-sharing efforts.

Leveraging Web 2.0 in the Redesign of a Graduate-Level Technology Integration Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Kevin

2007-01-01

In the emerging era of the "read-write" web, students can not only research and collect information from existing web resources, but also collaborate and create new information on the web in a surprising number of ways. Web 2.0 is an umbrella term for many individual tools that have been created with web collaboration, sharing, and/or new…

Super Searchers Go to the Source: The Interviewing and Hands-On Information Strategies of Top Primary Researchers--Online, on the Phone, and in Person. Super Searchers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sacks, Risa

This book presents interviews with 12 of the best primary researchers in the business. These research professionals reveal their strategies for integrating online and offline resources, identifying experts, and getting past gatekeepers to obtain information that exists only in someone's head. Topics include how searchers use a combination of…

A content analysis of the consumer-facing online information about My Health Record: Implications for increasing knowledge and awareness to facilitate uptake and use.

PubMed

Walsh, Louisa; Hill, Sophie; Allan, Meredith; Balandin, Susan; Georgiou, Andrew; Higgins, Isabel; Kraal, Ben; McCarthy, Shaun; Hemsley, Bronwyn

2017-01-01

Low health literacy, low levels of positive belief and privacy and security concerns have been identified as a significant barrier to personal electronic health record uptake and use. An important tool for overcoming these barriers is the consumer-facing information which accompanies the system. My Health Record (MyHR) is the Australian national e-health record system, for which a large suite of online resources exists to facilitate consumer registration and use. This study uses a number of different measures of health resource quality to assess the MyHR online consumer-facing information and identify any gaps or areas for improvement. To analyse the quality and content of the online consumer-facing resources which support the uptake and use of MyHR. Australian information resources aimed at healthcare consumers about the MyHR were included in this study. A comprehensive search using Internet search engines was conducted to locate all online consumer-facing resources about MyHR from both government and non-government sources. Readability (measured by Flesch-Kincaid grade level), year of publication/review, publishing organisation type, presentation style, linked websites, target audience, and themes were identified as important measures of health information quality, and these were recorded and reported on for each resource. Eighty resources met the inclusion criteria. The mean Flesch-Kincaid grade level was 11.8. Most resources were created by Australian government sources ( n = 55), and the most common target audience was the general public ( n = 65). Registration ( n = 51), privacy/security ( n = 49), and benefits of use ( n = 46) were the most common resource themes. The authors identified a number of gaps and areas for improvement in the provision of consumer-facing information about MyHR. Readability is too high for the general Australian population, and there are few translated resources, which means that the information provided does not cater to people with low literacy levels, communication disability, and/or difficulties in understanding written English. The target audiences for resources do not reflect priority groups that were identified during the MyHR development processes. There are also gaps in information provision about how consumers can use MyHR as a tool to meaningfully engage with health professionals and services to support their own person-centred care.

Evaluation of existing district health management information systems a case study of the district health systems in Kenya.

PubMed

Odhiambo-Otieno, George W

2005-09-01

This paper discusses some of the issues and challenges of implementing appropriate and coordinated District Health Management Information System (DHMIS) in environments dependent on external support especially when insufficient attention has been given to the sustainability of systems. It also discusses fundamental issues which affect the usability of DHMIS to support District Health System (DHS), including meeting user needs and user education in the use of information for management; and the need for integration of data from all health-providing and related organizations in the district. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in three DHSs in Kenya. Data was collected through use of questionnaires, focus group discussions and review of relevant literature, reports and operational manuals of the studied DHMISs. Key personnel at the DHS level were not involved in the development and implementation of the established systems. The DHMISs were fragmented to the extent that their information products were bypassing the very levels they were created to serve. None of the DHMISs was computerized. Key resources for DHMIS operation were inadequate. The adequacy of personnel was 47%, working space 40%, storage space 34%, stationery 20%, 73% of DHMIS staff were not trained, management support was 13%. Information produced was 30% accurate, 19% complete, 26% timely, 72% relevant; the level of confidentiality and use of information at the point of collection stood at 32% and 22% respectively and information security at 48%. Basic DHMIS equipment for information processing was not available. This inhibited effective and efficient provision of information services. An effective DHMIS is essential for DHS planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities. Without accurate, timely, relevant and complete information the existing information systems are not capable of facilitating the DHS managers in their day-today operational management. The existing DHMISs were found not supportive of the DHS managers' strategic and operational management functions. Consequently DHMISs were found to be plagued by numerous designs, operational, resources and managerial problems. There is an urgent need to explore the possibilities of computerizing the existing manual systems to take advantage of the potential uses of microcomputers for DHMIS operations within the DHS. Information system designers must also address issues of cooperative partnership in information activities, systems compatibility and sustainability.

[Do regional and generational differences in attitudes toward "Luck Resource Belief" exist?].

PubMed

Murakami, Koshi

2016-04-01

This article examines whether belief in superstitions and folklore differs by age and degree of modernization specifically. This study investigated regional and generational differences in attitudes toward "Luck Resource Belief," a notion regarding luck. The 500 Japanese participants in our sample were stratified by place of residence, age, and income. The results reflected gender differences, but not regional or generational differences with regard to the "Luck Resource Belief" scale scores. Based on these results, the hypothesis that the mass media plays a major role in the dissemination of information about superstitions and folklore is discussed in this context.

Forest inventory: Peter T. Johnson Wildlife Mitigation Unit, Craig Mountain, Idaho. Final Report.

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

Narolski, Steven W.

The primary objective of this report is to determine the quantity and quality of existing forest habitat types on the 59,991-acre Peter T. Johnson Wildlife Mitigation Unit (WMU). Products from this effort include a description of the ecological condition, a map of habitat types, and an inventory of forest resources on the WMU lands. The purpose of this and other resource inventories (plant and wildlife) is to assess the current resources condition of the WMU and to provide necessary information to generate a long-term management for this area.

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

USGS Publications Warehouse

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

2012-01-01

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

The dynamic influence of human resources on evidence-based intervention sustainability and population outcomes: an agent-based modeling approach.

PubMed

McKay, Virginia R; Hoffer, Lee D; Combs, Todd B; Margaret Dolcini, M

2018-06-05

Sustaining evidence-based interventions (EBIs) is an ongoing challenge for dissemination and implementation science in public health and social services. Characterizing the relationship among human resource capacity within an agency and subsequent population outcomes is an important step to improving our understanding of how EBIs are sustained. Although human resource capacity and population outcomes are theoretically related, examining them over time within real-world experiments is difficult. Simulation approaches, especially agent-based models, offer advantages that complement existing methods. We used an agent-based model to examine the relationships among human resources, EBI delivery, and population outcomes by simulating provision of an EBI through a hypothetical agency and its staff. We used data from existing studies examining a widely implemented HIV prevention intervention to inform simulation design, calibration, and validity. Once we developed a baseline model, we used the model as a simulated laboratory by systematically varying three human resource variables: the number of staff positions, the staff turnover rate, and timing in training. We tracked the subsequent influence on EBI delivery and the level of population risk over time to describe the overall and dynamic relationships among these variables. Higher overall levels of human resource capacity at an agency (more positions) led to more extensive EBI delivery over time and lowered population risk earlier in time. In simulations representing the typical human resource investments, substantial influences on population risk were visible after approximately 2 years and peaked around 4 years. Human resources, especially staff positions, have an important impact on EBI sustainability and ultimately population health. A minimum level of human resources based on the context (e.g., size of the initial population and characteristics of the EBI) is likely needed for an EBI to have a meaningful impact on population outcomes. Furthermore, this model demonstrates how ABMs may be leveraged to inform research design and assess the impact of EBI sustainability in practice.

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

Boucher, Laurel

In an era of budget cuts and declining resources, an increased need exists for government agencies to develop formal and informal partnerships. Such partnerships are a means through which government agencies can use their resources to accomplish together what they cannot accomplish on their own. Interagency partnerships may involve multiple government agencies, private contractors, national laboratories, technology developers, public representatives, and other stakeholders. Four elements of strong and healthy interagency partnerships are presented as well as three needs that must be satisfied for the partnership to last. A diagnostic tool to measure the strength of these building blocks within anmore » existing partnership is provided. Tools, techniques, and templates to develop these fundamental elements within a new partnership or to strengthen those within an already existing partnership are presented. This includes a comprehensive template for a partnership agreement along with practical suggestions as membership, operations, and decisions-making. (authors)« less

30 CFR 585.207-585.209 - [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

....209 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information §§ 585.207-585.209 [Reserved] Competitive Lease Process ...

30 CFR 285.207-285.209 - [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....209 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information §§ 285.207—285.209 [Reserved...

30 CFR 285.205 - How will leases be mapped?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....205 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.205 How will leases be...

30 CFR 285.201 - How will MMS issue leases?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....201 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.201 How will MMS issue...

30 CFR 585.207-585.209 - [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....209 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information §§ 585.207-585.209 [Reserved] Competitive Lease Process ...

30 CFR 585.207-585.209 - [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....209 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information §§ 585.207-585.209 [Reserved] Competitive Lease Process ...

Mining Genotype-Phenotype Associations from Public Knowledge Sources via Semantic Web Querying

PubMed Central

Kiefer, Richard C.; Freimuth, Robert R.; Chute, Christopher G; Pathak, Jyotishman

Gene Wiki Plus (GeneWiki+) and the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) are publicly available resources for sharing information about disease-gene and gene-SNP associations in humans. While immensely useful to the scientific community, both resources are manually curated, thereby making the data entry and publication process time-consuming, and to some degree, error-prone. To this end, this study investigates Semantic Web technologies to validate existing and potentially discover new genotype-phenotype associations in GWP and OMIM. In particular, we demonstrate the applicability of SPARQL queries for identifying associations not explicitly stated for commonly occurring chronic diseases in GWP and OMIM, and report our preliminary findings for coverage, completeness, and validity of the associations. Our results highlight the benefits of Semantic Web querying technology to validate existing disease-gene associations as well as identify novel associations although further evaluation and analysis is required before such information can be applied and used effectively. PMID:24303249

Scholarly Information Extraction Is Going to Make a Quantum Leap with PubMed Central (PMC).

PubMed

Matthies, Franz; Hahn, Udo

2017-01-01

With the increasing availability of complete full texts (journal articles), rather than their surrogates (titles, abstracts), as resources for text analytics, entirely new opportunities arise for information extraction and text mining from scholarly publications. Yet, we gathered evidence that a range of problems are encountered for full-text processing when biomedical text analytics simply reuse existing NLP pipelines which were developed on the basis of abstracts (rather than full texts). We conducted experiments with four different relation extraction engines all of which were top performers in previous BioNLP Event Extraction Challenges. We found that abstract-trained engines loose up to 6.6% F-score points when run on full-text data. Hence, the reuse of existing abstract-based NLP software in a full-text scenario is considered harmful because of heavy performance losses. Given the current lack of annotated full-text resources to train on, our study quantifies the price paid for this short cut.

Critical review of real-time methods for solid waste characterisation: Informing material recovery and fuel production.

PubMed

Vrancken, C; Longhurst, P J; Wagland, S T

2017-03-01

Waste management processes generally represent a significant loss of material, energy and economic resources, so legislation and financial incentives are being implemented to improve the recovery of these valuable resources whilst reducing contamination levels. Material recovery and waste derived fuels are potentially valuable options being pursued by industry, using mechanical and biological processes incorporating sensor and sorting technologies developed and optimised for recycling plants. In its current state, waste management presents similarities to other industries that could improve their efficiencies using process analytical technology tools. Existing sensor technologies could be used to measure critical waste characteristics, providing data required by existing legislation, potentially aiding waste treatment processes and assisting stakeholders in decision making. Optical technologies offer the most flexible solution to gather real-time information applicable to each of the waste mechanical and biological treatment processes used by industry. In particular, combinations of optical sensors in the visible and the near-infrared range from 800nm to 2500nm of the spectrum, and different mathematical techniques, are able to provide material information and fuel properties with typical performance levels between 80% and 90%. These sensors not only could be used to aid waste processes, but to provide most waste quality indicators required by existing legislation, whilst offering better tools to the stakeholders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenology research for natural resource management in the United States.

PubMed

Enquist, Carolyn A F; Kellermann, Jherime L; Gerst, Katharine L; Miller-Rushing, Abraham J

2014-05-01

Natural resource professionals in the United States recognize that climate-induced changes in phenology can substantially affect resource management. This is reflected in national climate change response plans recently released by major resource agencies. However, managers on-the-ground are often unclear about how to use phenological information to inform their management practices. Until recently, this was at least partially due to the lack of broad-based, standardized phenology data collection across taxa and geographic regions. Such efforts are now underway, albeit in very early stages. Nonetheless, a major hurdle still exists: phenology-linked climate change research has focused more on describing broad ecological changes rather than making direct connections to local to regional management concerns. To help researchers better design relevant research for use in conservation and management decision-making processes, we describe phenology-related research topics that facilitate "actionable" science. Examples include research on evolution and phenotypic plasticity related to vulnerability, the demographic consequences of trophic mismatch, the role of invasive species, and building robust ecological forecast models. Such efforts will increase phenology literacy among on-the-ground resource managers and provide information relevant for short- and long-term decision-making, particularly as related to climate response planning and implementing climate-informed monitoring in the context of adaptive management. In sum, we argue that phenological information is a crucial component of the resource management toolbox that facilitates identification and evaluation of strategies that will reduce the vulnerability of natural systems to climate change. Management-savvy researchers can play an important role in reaching this goal.

USGS Mineral Resources Program; national maps and datasets for research and land planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nicholson, S.W.; Stoeser, D.B.; Ludington, S.D.; Wilson, Frederic H.

2001-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, the Nation’s leader in producing and maintaining earth science data, serves as an advisor to Congress, the Department of the Interior, and many other Federal and State agencies. Nationwide datasets that are easily available and of high quality are critical for addressing a wide range of land-planning, resource, and environmental issues. Four types of digital databases (geological, geophysical, geochemical, and mineral occurrence) are being compiled and upgraded by the Mineral Resources Program on regional and national scales to meet these needs. Where existing data are incomplete, new data are being collected to ensure national coverage. Maps and analyses produced from these databases provide basic information essential for mineral resource assessments and environmental studies, as well as fundamental information for regional and national land-use studies. Maps and analyses produced from the databases are instrumental to ongoing basic research, such as the identification of mineral deposit origins, determination of regional background values of chemical elements with known environmental impact, and study of the relationships between toxic elements or mining practices to human health. As datasets are completed or revised, the information is made available through a variety of media, including the Internet. Much of the available information is the result of cooperative activities with State and other Federal agencies. The upgraded Mineral Resources Program datasets make geologic, geophysical, geochemical, and mineral occurrence information at the state, regional, and national scales available to members of Congress, State and Federal government agencies, researchers in academia, and the general public. The status of the Mineral Resources Program datasets is outlined below.

A resource management architecture based on complex network theory in cloud computing federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zehua; Zhang, Xuejie

2011-10-01

Cloud Computing Federation is a main trend of Cloud Computing. Resource Management has significant effect on the design, realization, and efficiency of Cloud Computing Federation. Cloud Computing Federation has the typical characteristic of the Complex System, therefore, we propose a resource management architecture based on complex network theory for Cloud Computing Federation (abbreviated as RMABC) in this paper, with the detailed design of the resource discovery and resource announcement mechanisms. Compare with the existing resource management mechanisms in distributed computing systems, a Task Manager in RMABC can use the historical information and current state data get from other Task Managers for the evolution of the complex network which is composed of Task Managers, thus has the advantages in resource discovery speed, fault tolerance and adaptive ability. The result of the model experiment confirmed the advantage of RMABC in resource discovery performance.

Development of a technical assistance framework for building organizational capacity of health programs in resource-limited settings.

PubMed

Reyes, E Michael; Sharma, Anjali; Thomas, Kate K; Kuehn, Chuck; Morales, José Rafael

2014-09-17

Little information exists on the technical assistance needs of local indigenous organizations charged with managing HIV care and treatment programs funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This paper describes the methods used to adapt the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) framework, which has successfully strengthened HIV primary care services in the US, into one that could strengthen the capacity of local partners to deliver priority health programs in resource-constrained settings by identifying their specific technical assistance needs. Qualitative methods and inductive reasoning approaches were used to conceptualize and adapt the new Clinical Assessment for Systems Strengthening (ClASS) framework. Stakeholder interviews, comparisons of existing assessment tools, and a pilot test helped determine the overall ClASS framework for use in low-resource settings. The framework was further refined one year post-ClASS implementation. Stakeholder interviews, assessment of existing tools, a pilot process and the one-year post- implementation assessment informed the adaptation of the ClASS framework for assessing and strengthening technical and managerial capacities of health programs at three levels: international partner, local indigenous partner, and local partner treatment facility. The PCAT focus on organizational strengths and systems strengthening was retained and implemented in the ClASS framework and approach. A modular format was chosen to allow the use of administrative, fiscal and clinical modules in any combination and to insert new modules as needed by programs. The pilot led to refined pre-visit planning, informed review team composition, increased visit duration, and restructured modules. A web-based toolkit was developed to capture three years of experiential learning; this kit can also be used for independent implementation of the ClASS framework. A systematic adaptation process has produced a qualitative framework that can inform implementation strategies in support of country led HIV care and treatment programs. The framework, as a well-received iterative process focused on technical assistance, may have broader utility in other global programs.

Barriers to delivering mental health services in Georgia with an economic and financial focus: informing policy and acting on evidence.

PubMed

Sulaberidze, Lela; Green, Stuart; Chikovani, Ivdity; Uchaneishvili, Maia; Gotsadze, George

2018-02-13

Whilst there is recognition that the global burden of disease associated with mental health disorders is significant, the economic resources available, especially in Low and Middle Income Countries, are particularly scarce. Identifying the economic (system) and financial (individual) barriers to delivering mental health services and assessing the opportunities for reform can support the development of strategies for change. A mixed methods study was developed, which engaged with a range of stakeholders from mental health services, including key informants, service managers, healthcare professional and patients and their care-takers. Data generated from interviews and focus groups were analysed using an existing framework that outlines a range of economic and financial barriers to improving mental health practice. In addition, the study utilised health financing and programmatic data. The analysis identified a variety of local economic barriers, including: the inhibition of the diversification of the mental health workforce and services due to inflexible resources; the variable and limited provision of services across the country; and the absence of mechanisms to assess the delivery and quality of existing services. The main financial barriers identified were related to out-of pocket payments for purchasing high quality medications and transportation to access mental health services. Whilst scarcity of financial resources exists in Georgia, as in many other countries, there are clear opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the current mental health programme. Addressing system-wide barriers could enable the delivery of services that aim to meet the needs of patients. The use of existing data to assess the implementation of the mental health programme offers opportunities to benchmark and improve services and to support the appropriate commissioning and reconfiguration of services.

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

Not Available

Small Wind Electric Systems: A Colorado Consumer's Guide provides consumers with information to help them determine whether a small wind electric system can provide all or a portion of the energy they need for their home or business based on their wind resource, energy needs, and their economics. Topics discussed in the guide include how to make a home more energy efficient, how to choose the correct turbine size, the parts of a wind electric system, how to determine whether enough wind resource exists, how to choose the best site for a turbine, how to connect a system to themore » utility grid, and whether it's possible to become independent of the utility grid using wind energy. In addition, the cover of the guide contains a regional wind resource map and a list of incentives and contacts for more information.« less

Hydrographic Data Curation and Stewardship: GO-SHIP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephen, Diggs; Lynne, Talley; Martin, Kramp; Bernadette, Sloyan

2014-05-01

Expert data management (access, formats, data life-cycle) facilitates the successful re-use of information which address many important scientific questions such as detecting decadal and longer-term changes in global ocean heat and freshwater content. Modern hydrographic data management has its origins in the WOCE program where new and existing distributed resources were identified and organized into an effective "super DAC". Data from this program are referenced in hundreds of scientific papers. The distributed hydrographic data system, now under the name GO-SHIP, exists today and has adapted to the new geoscience demands of the 21st century. This presentation will describe science drivers and the required data center resources (CCHDO, CDIAC, JCOMMOPS) which together provide reliable access for the global research community.

How primary care physicians' attitudes toward risk and uncertainty affect their use of electronic information resources.

PubMed

McKibbon, K Ann; Fridsma, Douglas B; Crowley, Rebecca S

2007-04-01

The research sought to determine if primary care physicians' attitudes toward risk taking or uncertainty affected how they sought information and used electronic information resources when answering simulated clinical questions. Using physician-supplied data collected from existing risk and uncertainty scales, twenty-five physicians were classified as risk seekers (e.g., enjoying adventure), risk neutral, or risk avoiders (e.g., cautious) and stressed or unstressed by uncertainty. The physicians then answered twenty-three multiple-choice, clinically focused questions and selected two to pursue further using their own information resources. Think-aloud protocols were used to collect searching process and outcome data (e.g., searching time, correctness of answers, searching techniques). No differences in searching outcomes were observed between the groups. Physicians who were risk avoiding and those who reported stress when faced with uncertainty each showed differences in searching processes (e.g., actively analyzing retrieval, using searching heuristics or rules). Physicians who were risk avoiding tended to use resources that provided answers and summaries, such as Cochrane or UpToDate, less than risk-seekers did. Physicians who reported stress when faced with uncertainty showed a trend toward less frequent use of MEDLINE, when compared with physicians who were not stressed by uncertainty. Physicians' attitudes towards risk taking and uncertainty were associated with different searching processes but not outcomes. Awareness of differences in physician attitudes may be key in successful design and implementation of clinical information resources.

Geospatial Data Standards for Indian Water Resources Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goyal, A.; Tyagi, H.; Gosain, A. K.; Khosa, R.

2016-12-01

Sustainable management of water resources is fundamental to the socio-economic development of any nation. There is an increasing degree of dependency on digital geographical data for monitoring, planning, managing and preserving the water resources and environmental quality. But the rising sophistication associated with the sharing of geospatial data among organizations or users, demands development of data standards for seamless information exchange among collaborators. Therefore, due to the realization that these datasets are vital for efficient use of Geographical Information Systems, there is a growing emphasis on data standards for modeling, encoding and communicating spatial data. Real world hydrologic interactions represented in a digital framework requires geospatial standards that may vary in contexts like: governance, resource inventory, cultural diversity, identifiers, role and scale. Though the prevalent standards for the hydrology data facilitate a particular need in a particular context but they lack a holistic approach. However, several worldwide initiatives such as Consortium for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences Inc. (USA), Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (Europe), Australian Water Resources Information System, etc., endeavour to address this issue of hydrology specific spatial data standards in a wholesome manner. But unfortunately there is no such provision for hydrology data exchange within the Indian community. Moreover, these standards somehow fail in providing powerful communication of the spatial hydrologic data. This study thus investigates the shortcomings of the existing industry standards for the hydrologic data models and then demonstrates a set of requirements for effective exchange of the hydrologic information in the Indian scenario.

Digital data in support of studies and assessments of coal and petroleum resources in the Appalachian basin: Chapter I.1 in Coal and petroleum resources in the Appalachian basin: distribution, geologic framework, and geochemical character

USGS Publications Warehouse

Trippi, Michael H.; Kinney, Scott A.; Gunther, Gregory; Ryder, Robert T.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Ryder, Robert T.

2014-01-01

Metadata for these datasets are available in HTML and XML formats. Metadata files contain information about the sources of data used to create the dataset, the creation process steps, the data quality, the geographic coordinate system and horizontal datum used for the dataset, the values of attributes used in the dataset table, information about the publication and the publishing organization, and other information that may be useful to the reader. All links in the metadata were valid at the time of compilation. Some of these links may no longer be valid. No attempt has been made to determine the new online location (if one exists) for the data.

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events) involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. Results This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized) together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is modelled using the Lexical Markup Framework, an ISO standard. Conclusions The BioLexicon contains over 2.2 M lexical entries and over 1.8 M terminological variants, as well as over 3.3 M semantic relations, including over 2 M synonymy relations. Its exploitation can benefit both application developers and users. We demonstrate some such benefits by describing integration of the resource into a number of different tools, and evaluating improvements in performance that this can bring. PMID:21992002

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining.

PubMed

Thompson, Paul; McNaught, John; Montemagni, Simonetta; Calzolari, Nicoletta; del Gratta, Riccardo; Lee, Vivian; Marchi, Simone; Monachini, Monica; Pezik, Piotr; Quochi, Valeria; Rupp, C J; Sasaki, Yutaka; Venturi, Giulia; Rebholz-Schuhmann, Dietrich; Ananiadou, Sophia

2011-10-12

Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events) involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized) together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is modelled using the Lexical Markup Framework, an ISO standard. The BioLexicon contains over 2.2 M lexical entries and over 1.8 M terminological variants, as well as over 3.3 M semantic relations, including over 2 M synonymy relations. Its exploitation can benefit both application developers and users. We demonstrate some such benefits by describing integration of the resource into a number of different tools, and evaluating improvements in performance that this can bring.

30 CFR 285.201 - How will MMS issue leases?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

....201 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.201 How will MMS issue leases? The MMS will issue leases on...

30 CFR 285.205 - How will leases be mapped?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

....205 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.205 How will leases be mapped? The MMS will prepare leasing...

30 CFR 285.206 - What is the lease size?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.206 What is the lease size? (a) The...

78 FR 52518 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-23

... resource, accounting, financial and other business functions into a comprehensive management information... notice, T7335b, entitled ``Business Management Redesign (E-BIZ)'' in its existing inventory of record... submitting comments. * Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 4800 Mark Center Drive, East Tower, 2nd...

E-Learning in Small Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sambrook, Sally

2003-01-01

This paper focuses on the existing and potential role of electronic learning in small and medium-sized organisations (SMEs). Innovations in information and communication technologies (ICTs) could create new forms of learning, particularly appealing to small organisations, to overcome traditional barriers such as lack of financial resources, time,…

30 CFR 285.642 - How do I submit my GAP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF... submit information on any project easement as part of your original GAP submission or as a revision to...

A comparison of cover pole with standard vegetation monitoring methods

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The ability of resource managers to make informed decisions regarding wildlife habitat could be improved with the use of existing datasets and the use of cost effective, standardized methods to simultaneously quantify vertical and horizontal cover. The objectives of this study were to (1) characteri...

Multinational Exchange Mechanisms of Educational Audio-Visual Materials. Appendixes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center of Studies and Realizations for Permanent Education, Paris (France).

These appendixes contain detailed information about the existing audiovisual material exchanges which served as the basis for the analysis contained in the companion report. Descriptions of the objectives, structure, financing and services of the following national and international organizations are included: (1) Educational Resources Information…

Drug information resources used by nurse practitioners and collaborating physicians at the point of care in Nova Scotia, Canada: a survey and review of the literature

PubMed Central

Murphy, Andrea L; Fleming, Mark; Martin-Misener, Ruth; Sketris, Ingrid S; MacCara, Mary; Gass, David

2006-01-01

Background Keeping current with drug therapy information is challenging for health care practitioners. Technologies are often implemented to facilitate access to current and credible drug information sources. In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, legislation was passed in 2002 to allow nurse practitioners (NPs) to practice collaboratively with physician partners. The purpose of this study was to determine the current utilization patterns of information technologies by these groups of practitioners. Methods Nurse practitioners and their collaborating physician partners in Nova Scotia were sent a survey in February 2005 to determine the frequency of use, usefulness, accessibility, credibility, and current/timeliness of personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, and print drug information resources. Two surveys were developed (one for PDA users and one for computer users) and revised based on a literature search, stakeholder consultation, and pilot-testing results. A second distribution to nonresponders occurred two weeks following the first. Data were entered and analysed with SPSS. Results Twenty-seven (14 NPs and 13 physicians) of 36 (75%) recipients responded. 22% (6) returned personal digital assistant (PDA) surveys. Respondents reported print, health professionals, and online/electronic resources as the most to least preferred means to access drug information, respectively. 37% and 35% of respondents reported using "both print and electronic but print more than electronic" and "print only", respectively, to search monograph-related drug information queries whereas 4% reported using "PDA only". Analysis of respondent ratings for all resources in the categories print, health professionals and other, and online/electronic resources, indicated that the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties and pharmacists ranked highly for frequency of use, usefulness, accessibility, credibility, and current/timeliness by both groups of practitioners. Respondents' preferences and resource ratings were consistent with self-reported methods for conducting drug information queries. Few differences existed between NP and physician rankings of resources. Conclusion The use of computers and PDAs remains limited, which is also consistent with preferred and frequent use of print resources. Education for these practitioners regarding available electronic drug information resources may facilitate future computer and PDA use. Further research is needed to determine methods to increase computer and PDA use and whether these technologies affect prescribing and patient outcomes. PMID:16822323

Improving User Experience by Taking Advance of Semantic Information of Microformats on Municipal Websites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez, Rocío; Vera, Pablo; Estevez, Elsa; Giulianelli, Daniel; Welicki, León; Trigueros, Artemisa

This research regards about the use of microformats as a tool to add semantic information to government web sites. The use of microformats allows the developer to add different resources such as maps, calendars, etc, in an easy way. The paper also shows a survey of the already existing microformats and which of them are useful to be applied to government web sites.

A Case Study in Transnational Crime: Ukraine and Modern Slavery

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

remained unable to appropriate resources or plan efficiently. The full extent of the decline remains unknown, because statistics were manipulated to hide...information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and...maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of

Integrating In Silico Resources to Map a Signaling Network

PubMed Central

Liu, Hanqing; Beck, Tim N.; Golemis, Erica A.; Serebriiskii, Ilya G.

2013-01-01

The abundance of publicly available life science databases offer a wealth of information that can support interpretation of experimentally derived data and greatly enhance hypothesis generation. Protein interaction and functional networks are not simply new renditions of existing data: they provide the opportunity to gain insights into the specific physical and functional role a protein plays as part of the biological system. In this chapter, we describe different in silico tools that can quickly and conveniently retrieve data from existing data repositories and discuss how the available tools are best utilized for different purposes. While emphasizing protein-protein interaction databases (e.g., BioGrid and IntAct), we also introduce metasearch platforms such as STRING and GeneMANIA, pathway databases (e.g., BioCarta and Pathway Commons), text mining approaches (e.g., PubMed and Chilibot), and resources for drug-protein interactions, genetic information for model organisms and gene expression information based on microarray data mining. Furthermore, we provide a simple step-by-step protocol to building customized protein-protein interaction networks in Cytoscape, a powerful network assembly and visualization program, integrating data retrieved from these various databases. As we illustrate, generation of composite interaction networks enables investigators to extract significantly more information about a given biological system than utilization of a single database or sole reliance on primary literature. PMID:24233784

eMental Health Experiences and Expectations: A Survey of Youths' Web-Based Resource Preferences in Canada

PubMed Central

Mar, Marissa Y; Neilson, Erika K; Werker, Gregory R; Krausz, Michael

2014-01-01

Background Due to the high prevalence of psychological disorders and the lack of access to care among Canadian youth, the development of accessible services is increasingly important. eMental Health is an expanding field that may help to meet this need through the provision of mental health care using technology. Objective The primary goals of the study are to explore youth experiences with traditional and online mental health resources, and to investigate youth expectations for mental health websites. Methods A Web-based survey containing quantitative and qualitative questions was delivered to youth aged 17-24 years. Participants were surveyed to evaluate their use of mental health resources as well as their preferences for various components of a potential mental health website. Results A total of 521 surveys were completed. Most participants (61.6%, 321/521) indicated that they had used the Internet to seek information or help for feelings they were experiencing. If they were going through a difficult time, 82.9% (432/521) of participants were either “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to use an information-based website and 76.8% (400/521) reported that they were either “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” to visit social media websites for information or help-seeking purposes during this time. Most (87.7%, 458/521) participants rated their online privacy as very important. Descriptions of interventions and treatments was the most highly rated feature to have in a mental health-related website, with 91.9% (479/521) of participants regarding it as “important” or “very important”. When presented a select list of existing Canadian mental health-related websites, most participants had not accessed any of the sites. Of the few who had, the Canadian Mental Health Association website was the most accessed website (5.8%, 30/521). Other mental health-related websites were accessed by only 10.9% of the participants (57/521). Conclusions The findings suggest that despite interest in these tools, current eMental Health resources either do not meet the needs of or are not widely accessed by youth with mental health problems. In order to improve access to these resources for Canadian youth, Web-based platforms should provide information about mental health problems, support for these problems (peer and professional), and information about resources (self-help as well as ability to locate nearby resources), while protecting the privacy of the user. These findings will not only assist in the development of new mental health platforms but may also help improve existing ones. PMID:25519847

eMental health experiences and expectations: a survey of youths' Web-based resource preferences in Canada.

PubMed

Wetterlin, Felicia M; Mar, Marissa Y; Neilson, Erika K; Werker, Gregory R; Krausz, Michael

2014-12-17

Due to the high prevalence of psychological disorders and the lack of access to care among Canadian youth, the development of accessible services is increasingly important. eMental Health is an expanding field that may help to meet this need through the provision of mental health care using technology. The primary goals of the study are to explore youth experiences with traditional and online mental health resources, and to investigate youth expectations for mental health websites. A Web-based survey containing quantitative and qualitative questions was delivered to youth aged 17-24 years. Participants were surveyed to evaluate their use of mental health resources as well as their preferences for various components of a potential mental health website. A total of 521 surveys were completed. Most participants (61.6%, 321/521) indicated that they had used the Internet to seek information or help for feelings they were experiencing. If they were going through a difficult time, 82.9% (432/521) of participants were either "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to use an information-based website and 76.8% (400/521) reported that they were either "somewhat unlikely" or "very unlikely" to visit social media websites for information or help-seeking purposes during this time. Most (87.7%, 458/521) participants rated their online privacy as very important. Descriptions of interventions and treatments was the most highly rated feature to have in a mental health-related website, with 91.9% (479/521) of participants regarding it as "important" or "very important". When presented a select list of existing Canadian mental health-related websites, most participants had not accessed any of the sites. Of the few who had, the Canadian Mental Health Association website was the most accessed website (5.8%, 30/521). Other mental health-related websites were accessed by only 10.9% of the participants (57/521). The findings suggest that despite interest in these tools, current eMental Health resources either do not meet the needs of or are not widely accessed by youth with mental health problems. In order to improve access to these resources for Canadian youth, Web-based platforms should provide information about mental health problems, support for these problems (peer and professional), and information about resources (self-help as well as ability to locate nearby resources), while protecting the privacy of the user. These findings will not only assist in the development of new mental health platforms but may also help improve existing ones.

Features of effective medical knowledge resources to support point of care learning: a focus group study.

PubMed

Cook, David A; Sorensen, Kristi J; Hersh, William; Berger, Richard A; Wilkinson, John M

2013-01-01

Health care professionals access various information sources to quickly answer questions that arise in clinical practice. The features that favorably influence the selection and use of knowledge resources remain unclear. We sought to better understand how clinicians select among the various knowledge resources available to them, and from this to derive a model for an effective knowledge resource. We conducted 11 focus groups at an academic medical center and outlying community sites. We included a purposive sample of 50 primary care and subspecialist internal medicine and family medicine physicians. We transcribed focus group discussions and analyzed these using a constant comparative approach to inductively identify features that influence the selection of knowledge resources. We identified nine features that influence users' selection of knowledge resources, namely efficiency (with sub-features of comprehensiveness, searchability, and brevity), integration with clinical workflow, credibility, user familiarity, capacity to identify a human expert, reflection of local care processes, optimization for the clinical question (e.g., diagnosis, treatment options, drug side effect), currency, and ability to support patient education. No single existing resource exemplifies all of these features. The influential features identified in this study will inform the development of knowledge resources, and could serve as a framework for future research in this field.

Features of Effective Medical Knowledge Resources to Support Point of Care Learning: A Focus Group Study

PubMed Central

Cook, David A.; Sorensen, Kristi J.; Hersh, William; Berger, Richard A.; Wilkinson, John M.

2013-01-01

Objective Health care professionals access various information sources to quickly answer questions that arise in clinical practice. The features that favorably influence the selection and use of knowledge resources remain unclear. We sought to better understand how clinicians select among the various knowledge resources available to them, and from this to derive a model for an effective knowledge resource. Methods We conducted 11 focus groups at an academic medical center and outlying community sites. We included a purposive sample of 50 primary care and subspecialist internal medicine and family medicine physicians. We transcribed focus group discussions and analyzed these using a constant comparative approach to inductively identify features that influence the selection of knowledge resources. Results We identified nine features that influence users' selection of knowledge resources, namely efficiency (with sub-features of comprehensiveness, searchability, and brevity), integration with clinical workflow, credibility, user familiarity, capacity to identify a human expert, reflection of local care processes, optimization for the clinical question (e.g., diagnosis, treatment options, drug side effect), currency, and ability to support patient education. No single existing resource exemplifies all of these features. Conclusion The influential features identified in this study will inform the development of knowledge resources, and could serve as a framework for future research in this field. PMID:24282535

Land status and federal mineral ownership in the Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana; a digital data set for geographic information systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Biewick, Laura; Urbanowski, Shayne R.; Cain, Sheila; Neasloney, Larry

1998-01-01

As the Nation's energy resources continue to be examined for development, it is critical that a digital database exist that contains location data for all Federal land and mineral resources. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is collecting these ownership files and compiling them in Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) ARC/INFO coverages, to form a standardized data library. A coverage is a digital version of a map in the form of vector data storage. These coverages are combined with models of coal deposits from the USGS National Coal Resource Assessment project, a five-year effort to identify and characterize the coal beds and coal zones that will provide fuel for the Nation’s energy needs during the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Geographic and geologic data layers are integrated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to answer complex geo-spatial questions concerning coal resource occurrence.

Anatomical information in radiation treatment planning.

PubMed

Kalet, I J; Wu, J; Lease, M; Austin-Seymour, M M; Brinkley, J F; Rosse, C

1999-01-01

We report on experience and insights gained from prototyping, for clinical radiation oncologists, a new access tool for the University of Washington Digital Anatomist information resources. This access tool is designed to integrate with a radiation therapy planning (RTP) system in use in a clinical setting. We hypothesize that the needs of practitioners in a clinical setting are different from the needs of students, the original targeted users of the Digital Anatomist system, but that a common knowledge resource can serve both. Our prototype was designed to help define those differences and study the feasibility of a full anatomic reference system that will support both clinical radiation therapy and all the existing educational applications.

[Open access to academic scholarship as a public policy resource: a study of the Capes database on Brazilian theses and dissertations].

PubMed

da Silva Rosa, Teresa; Carneiro, Maria José

2010-12-01

Access to scientific knowledge is a valuable resource than can inform and validate positions taken in formulating public policy. But access to this knowledge can be challenging, given the diversity and breadth of available scholarship. Communication between the fields of science and of politics requires the dissemination of scholarship and access to it. We conducted a study using an open-access search tool in order to map existent knowledge on a specific topic: agricultural contributions to the preservation of biodiversity. The present article offers a critical view of access to the information available through the Capes database on Brazilian theses and dissertations.

A framework for assessing water and proppant use and flowback water extraction associated with development of continuous petroleum resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haines, Seth S.; Cook, Troy; Thamke, Joanna N.; Davis, Kyle W.; Long, Andrew J.; Healy, Richard W.; Hawkins, Sarah J.; Engle, Mark A.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing approaches for the quantitative assessment of water and proppant involved with possible future production of continuous petroleum deposits. The assessment approach is an extension of existing U.S. Geological Survey petroleum-assessment methods, and it aims to provide objective information that helps decision makers understand the tradeoffs inherent in resource-development decisions. This fact sheet provides an overview of U.S. Geological Survey assessments for quantities of water and proppant required for drilling and hydraulic fracturing and for flowback water extracted with petroleum; the report also presents the form of the intended assessment output information.

An inventory and monitoring plan for a Sonoran Desert ecosystem; Barry M. Goldwater Range-West

USGS Publications Warehouse

Villarreal, Miguel L.; van Riper, Charles; Lovich, Robert E.; Palmer, Robert L.; Nauman, Travis; Studd, Sarah E.; Drake, Sam; Rosenberg, Abigail S.; Malusa, Jim; Pearce, Ronald L.

2011-01-01

Marine Corps Air Station Yuma manages the Barry M. Goldwater Range-West, which encompasses approximately 2,800 square kilometers of Sonoran Desert habitat in southwestern Arizona. The Barry M. Goldwater Range is a major U.S. military installation designed as an air combat training location for the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, but it also includes some of the most pristine desert habitat in the United States. In an effort to ensure the long-term viability of this unique natural resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan and Inventory and Monitoring Plan to guide natural resource management of the Barry M. Goldwater Range-West. This Inventory and Monitoring Plan provides a framework for long-term ecosystem monitoring on Barry M. Goldwater Range-West lands by identifying existing and potential threats to ecosystem function, prioritizing resources for monitoring, and providing information and protocols necessary to initiate a long-term ecosystem monitoring program. The Inventory and Monitoring Plan and related protocols were developed through extensive review of existing Sonoran Desert monitoring programs and monitoring literature and through a 2-day workshop with resource managers, monitoring experts, and other stakeholders. The Barry M. Goldwater Range-West Inventory and Monitoring Plan stresses the importance of regional monitoring partnerships and protocol standardization for understanding landscape-scale ecosystem changes in the Sonoran Desert; information and protocols contained within the plan may also be of interest to land managers engaged in large-scale ecosystem monitoring and adaptive management of other arid regions.

Developing a Health Information Technology Systems Matrix: A Qualitative Participatory Approach

PubMed Central

Chavez, Margeaux; Nazi, Kim M; Antinori, Nicole

2016-01-01

Background The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has developed various health information technology (HIT) resources to provide accessible veteran-centered health care. Currently, the VA is undergoing a major reorganization of VA HIT to develop a fully integrated system to meet consumer needs. Although extensive system documentation exists for various VA HIT systems, a more centralized and integrated perspective with clear documentation is needed in order to support effective analysis, strategy, planning, and use. Such a tool would enable a novel view of what is currently available and support identifying and effectively capturing the consumer’s vision for the future. Objective The objective of this study was to develop the VA HIT Systems Matrix, a novel tool designed to describe the existing VA HIT system and identify consumers’ vision for the future of an integrated VA HIT system. Methods This study utilized an expert panel and veteran informant focus groups with self-administered surveys. The study employed participatory research methods to define the current system and understand how stakeholders and veterans envision the future of VA HIT and interface design (eg, look, feel, and function). Directed content analysis was used to analyze focus group data. Results The HIT Systems Matrix was developed with input from 47 veterans, an informal caregiver, and an expert panel to provide a descriptive inventory of existing and emerging VA HIT in four worksheets: (1) access and function, (2) benefits and barriers, (3) system preferences, and (4) tasks. Within each worksheet is a two-axis inventory. The VA’s existing and emerging HIT platforms (eg, My HealtheVet, Mobile Health, VetLink Kiosks, Telehealth), My HealtheVet features (eg, Blue Button, secure messaging, appointment reminders, prescription refill, vet library, spotlight, vitals tracker), and non-VA platforms (eg, phone/mobile phone, texting, non-VA mobile apps, non-VA mobile electronic devices, non-VA websites) are organized by row. Columns are titled with thematic and functional domains (eg, access, function, benefits, barriers, authentication, delegation, user tasks). Cells for each sheet include descriptions and details that reflect factors relevant to domains and the topic of each worksheet. Conclusions This study provides documentation of the current VA HIT system and efforts for consumers’ vision of an integrated system redesign. The HIT Systems Matrix provides a consumer preference blueprint to inform the current VA HIT system and the vision for future development to integrate electronic resources within VA and beyond with non-VA resources. The data presented in the HIT Systems Matrix are relevant for VA administrators and developers as well as other large health care organizations seeking to document and organize their consumer-facing HIT resources. PMID:27713112

Developing a Health Information Technology Systems Matrix: A Qualitative Participatory Approach.

PubMed

Haun, Jolie N; Chavez, Margeaux; Nazi, Kim M; Antinori, Nicole

2016-10-06

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has developed various health information technology (HIT) resources to provide accessible veteran-centered health care. Currently, the VA is undergoing a major reorganization of VA HIT to develop a fully integrated system to meet consumer needs. Although extensive system documentation exists for various VA HIT systems, a more centralized and integrated perspective with clear documentation is needed in order to support effective analysis, strategy, planning, and use. Such a tool would enable a novel view of what is currently available and support identifying and effectively capturing the consumer's vision for the future. The objective of this study was to develop the VA HIT Systems Matrix, a novel tool designed to describe the existing VA HIT system and identify consumers' vision for the future of an integrated VA HIT system. This study utilized an expert panel and veteran informant focus groups with self-administered surveys. The study employed participatory research methods to define the current system and understand how stakeholders and veterans envision the future of VA HIT and interface design (eg, look, feel, and function). Directed content analysis was used to analyze focus group data. The HIT Systems Matrix was developed with input from 47 veterans, an informal caregiver, and an expert panel to provide a descriptive inventory of existing and emerging VA HIT in four worksheets: (1) access and function, (2) benefits and barriers, (3) system preferences, and (4) tasks. Within each worksheet is a two-axis inventory. The VA's existing and emerging HIT platforms (eg, My HealtheVet, Mobile Health, VetLink Kiosks, Telehealth), My HealtheVet features (eg, Blue Button, secure messaging, appointment reminders, prescription refill, vet library, spotlight, vitals tracker), and non-VA platforms (eg, phone/mobile phone, texting, non-VA mobile apps, non-VA mobile electronic devices, non-VA websites) are organized by row. Columns are titled with thematic and functional domains (eg, access, function, benefits, barriers, authentication, delegation, user tasks). Cells for each sheet include descriptions and details that reflect factors relevant to domains and the topic of each worksheet. This study provides documentation of the current VA HIT system and efforts for consumers' vision of an integrated system redesign. The HIT Systems Matrix provides a consumer preference blueprint to inform the current VA HIT system and the vision for future development to integrate electronic resources within VA and beyond with non-VA resources. The data presented in the HIT Systems Matrix are relevant for VA administrators and developers as well as other large health care organizations seeking to document and organize their consumer-facing HIT resources.

Review of the Water Resources Information System of Argentina

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hutchison, N.E.

1987-01-01

A representative of the U.S. Geological Survey traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 1986, to discuss water information systems and data bank implementation in the Argentine Government Center for Water Resources Information. Software has been written by Center personnel for a minicomputer to be used to manage inventory (index) data and water quality data. Additional hardware and software have been ordered to upgrade the existing computer. Four microcomputers, statistical and data base management software, and network hardware and software for linking the computers have also been ordered. The Center plans to develop a nationwide distributed data base for Argentina that will include the major regional offices as nodes. Needs for continued development of the water resources information system for Argentina were reviewed. Identified needs include: (1) conducting a requirements analysis to define the content of the data base and insure that all user requirements are met, (2) preparing a plan for the development, implementation, and operation of the data base, and (3) developing a conceptual design to inform all development personnel and users of the basic functionality planned for the system. A quality assurance and configuration management program to provide oversight to the development process was also discussed. (USGS)

Capturing patients' needs in casemix: a systematic literature review on the value of adding functioning information in reimbursement systems.

PubMed

Hopfe, Maren; Stucki, Gerold; Marshall, Ric; Twomey, Conal D; Üstün, T Bedirhan; Prodinger, Birgit

2016-02-03

Contemporary casemix systems for health services need to ensure that payment rates adequately account for actual resource consumption based on patients' needs for services. It has been argued that functioning information, as one important determinant of health service provision and resource use, should be taken into account when developing casemix systems. However, there has to date been little systematic collation of the evidence on the extent to which the addition of functioning information into existing casemix systems adds value to those systems with regard to the predictive power and resource variation explained by the groupings of these systems. Thus, the objective of this research was to examine the value of adding functioning information into casemix systems with respect to the prediction of resource use as measured by costs and length of stay. A systematic literature review was performed. Peer-reviewed studies, published before May 2014 were retrieved from CINAHL, EconLit, Embase, JSTOR, PubMed and Sociological Abstracts using keywords related to functioning ('Functioning', 'Functional status', 'Function*, 'ICF', 'International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health', 'Activities of Daily Living' or 'ADL') and casemix systems ('Casemix', 'case mix', 'Diagnosis Related Groups', 'Function Related Groups', 'Resource Utilization Groups' or 'AN-SNAP'). In addition, a hand search of reference lists of included articles was conducted. Information about study aims, design, country, setting, methods, outcome variables, study results, and information regarding the authors' discussion of results, study limitations and implications was extracted. Ten included studies provided evidence demonstrating that adding functioning information into casemix systems improves predictive ability and fosters homogeneity in casemix groups with regard to costs and length of stay. Collection and integration of functioning information varied across studies. Results suggest that, in particular, DRG casemix systems can be improved in predicting resource use and capturing outcomes for frail elderly or severely functioning-impaired patients. Further exploration of the value of adding functioning information into casemix systems is one promising approach to improve casemix systems ability to adequately capture the differences in patient's needs for services and to better predict resource use.

Toward better public health reporting using existing off the shelf approaches: A comparison of alternative cancer detection approaches using plaintext medical data and non-dictionary based feature selection.

PubMed

Kasthurirathne, Suranga N; Dixon, Brian E; Gichoya, Judy; Xu, Huiping; Xia, Yuni; Mamlin, Burke; Grannis, Shaun J

2016-04-01

Increased adoption of electronic health records has resulted in increased availability of free text clinical data for secondary use. A variety of approaches to obtain actionable information from unstructured free text data exist. These approaches are resource intensive, inherently complex and rely on structured clinical data and dictionary-based approaches. We sought to evaluate the potential to obtain actionable information from free text pathology reports using routinely available tools and approaches that do not depend on dictionary-based approaches. We obtained pathology reports from a large health information exchange and evaluated the capacity to detect cancer cases from these reports using 3 non-dictionary feature selection approaches, 4 feature subset sizes, and 5 clinical decision models: simple logistic regression, naïve bayes, k-nearest neighbor, random forest, and J48 decision tree. The performance of each decision model was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Decision models parameterized using automated, informed, and manual feature selection approaches yielded similar results. Furthermore, non-dictionary classification approaches identified cancer cases present in free text reports with evaluation measures approaching and exceeding 80-90% for most metrics. Our methods are feasible and practical approaches for extracting substantial information value from free text medical data, and the results suggest that these methods can perform on par, if not better, than existing dictionary-based approaches. Given that public health agencies are often under-resourced and lack the technical capacity for more complex methodologies, these results represent potentially significant value to the public health field. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

30 CFR 285.202 - What types of leases will MMS issue?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Section 285.202 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 285.202 What types of...

30 CFR 585.205 - How will leases be mapped?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....205 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.205 How will leases be mapped? BOEM will prepare leasing...

30 CFR 585.206 - What is the lease size?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.206 What is the lease size? (a) BOEM will determine the...

30 CFR 585.201 - How will BOEM issue leases?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....201 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.201 How will BOEM issue leases? BOEM will issue leases on a...

30 CFR 585.205 - How will leases be mapped?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....205 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.205 How will leases be mapped? BOEM will prepare leasing...

30 CFR 585.205 - How will leases be mapped?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

....205 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.205 How will leases be mapped? BOEM will prepare leasing...

30 CFR 585.201 - How will BOEM issue leases?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....201 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.201 How will BOEM issue leases? BOEM will issue leases on a...

30 CFR 585.206 - What is the lease size?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.206 What is the lease size? (a) BOEM will determine the...

30 CFR 585.206 - What is the lease size?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.206 What is the lease size? (a) BOEM will determine the...

30 CFR 285.116 - Requests for information on the state of the offshore renewable energy industry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... offshore renewable energy industry. 285.116 Section 285.116 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER... the state of the offshore renewable energy industry, including the identification of potential...

30 CFR 585.201 - How will BOEM issue leases?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

....201 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Issuance of OCS Renewable Energy Leases General Lease Information § 585.201 How will BOEM issue leases? BOEM will issue leases on a...

Growing Healing One Garden at a Time.

PubMed

Ashman, Julann

2016-01-01

Evidence exists regarding the effect of horticultural therapy on improving human well-being, including promotion of overall health and quality of life, physical strength, and cardiac function. This article shares how a nurse created a healing garden at Lourdes Hospital, where she works. Resource information about therapeutic gardens is included.

Critical Issues in Large-Scale Assessment: A Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redfield, Doris

The purpose of this document is to provide practical guidance and support for the design, development, and implementation of large-scale assessment systems that are grounded in research and best practice. Information is included about existing large-scale testing efforts, including national testing programs, state testing programs, and…

30 CFR 585.601 - When am I required to submit my plans to BOEM?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...? 585.601 Section 585.601 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF... significant new information becomes available after you complete your site assessment activities or you revise...

30 CFR 585.601 - When am I required to submit my plans to BOEM?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...? 585.601 Section 585.601 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF... conduct additional reviews, including NEPA analysis, if significant new information becomes available...

30 CFR 285.601 - When am I required to submit my plans to MMS?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...? 285.601 Section 285.601 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE... additional reviews, including NEPA analysis, if significant new information becomes available after you...

30 CFR 585.601 - When am I required to submit my plans to BOEM?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...? 585.601 Section 585.601 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF... significant new information becomes available after you complete your site assessment activities or you revise...

30 CFR 285.633 - How do I comply with my COP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 285.633 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Plans and Information... recommendations for new mitigation measures or monitoring methods. (c) As provided at § 285.105(i), MMS may...

30 CFR 285.622 - How do I submit my COP?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF... at the address listed in § 285.110(a). (b) You may submit information and a request for any project...

30 CFR 285.620 - What is a Construction and Operations Plan (COP)?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...)? 285.620 Section 285.620 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE... project easement. The MMS will withhold trade secrets and commercial or financial information that is...

78 FR 77170 - Division of Federal Employees' Compensation Proposed Extension of Existing Collection; Comment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-20

... can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can... Party Settlement (CA- 1032). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by...

Professional Discussion Groups: Informal Learning in a Third Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordan, Robert A.

2013-01-01

In this ethnographic study, I explored two discussion groups and discovered Third Space elements such as cultural hybridity, counterscript, and sharing of experiences and resources contributed to a safe learning environment existing at the boundaries between participant personal and professional spaces. The groups operated under the auspices of a…

Design Standards for School Art Facilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Art Education Association, 2015

2015-01-01

"Design Standards for School Art Facilities" is an invaluable resource for any school or school district looking to build new facilities for the visual arts or renovate existing ones. Discover detailed information about spaces for the breadth of media used in the visual arts. Photographs illustrate all types of features including…

Planning Report, 1999-2003.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nevada Univ. and Community Coll. System, Reno. Office of the Chancellor.

This report, submitted by the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN), outlines anticipated programs and expansion of existing programs, anticipated costs and resources, and other information concerning the comprehensive planning of the UCCSN for the next 4 years. The first section of the report includes…

Dimensional discontinuity in quantum communication complexity at dimension seven

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavakoli, Armin; Pawłowski, Marcin; Żukowski, Marek; Bourennane, Mohamed

2017-02-01

Entanglement-assisted classical communication and transmission of a quantum system are the two quantum resources for information processing. Many information tasks can be performed using either quantum resource. However, this equivalence is not always present since entanglement-assisted classical communication is sometimes known to be the better performing resource. Here, we show not only the opposite phenomenon, that there exist tasks for which transmission of a quantum system is a more powerful resource than entanglement-assisted classical communication, but also that such phenomena can have a surprisingly strong dependence on the dimension of Hilbert space. We introduce a family of communication complexity problems parametrized by the dimension of Hilbert space and study the performance of each quantum resource. Under an additional assumption of a linear strategy for the receiving party, we find that for low dimensions the two resources perform equally well, whereas for dimension seven and above the equivalence is suddenly broken and transmission of a quantum system becomes more powerful than entanglement-assisted classical communication. Moreover, we find that transmission of a quantum system may even outperform classical communication assisted by the stronger-than-quantum correlations obtained from the principle of macroscopic locality.

[Intellectual property rights in Costa Rica in the light of the Biodiversity Convention].

PubMed

Salazar, R; Cabrera, J A

1996-04-01

This report analyzes intellectual property rights and acquisition of biological samples in light of the Biological Diversity Convention, with emphasis on Costa Rica. It examines the legal framework which exists for the protection of biological resources in this country, especially evaluating the law regarding protection of biota, which was approved in 1992. This includes information regarding access to genetic resources, and regulation for the aforementioned law. It examines the Biological Diversity Convention which was signed at the Rio Summit in 1992, whose objectives and goals, above all, emphasize the subject of distribution of benefits to be derived from the utilization of biological resources.

Fiscal mapping autism spectrum disorder funds: a case study of Ohio.

PubMed

Joyce, Hilary D; Hoffman, Jill; Anderson-Butcher, Dawn; Moodie-Dyer, Amber

2014-01-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have complex needs requiring regular service utilization. Policymakers, administrators, and community leaders are looking for ways to finance ASD services and systems. Understanding the fiscal resources that support ASD services is essential. This article uses fiscal mapping to explore ASD funding streams in Ohio. Fiscal mapping steps are overviewed to assist ASD stakeholders in identifying and examining ASD-related funding. Implications are drawn related to how fiscal mapping could be used to identify and leverage funding for ASD services. The resulting information is critical to utilizing existing resources, advocating for resources, and leveraging available funds.

Design-for-Six-Sigma To Develop a Bioprocess Knowledge Management Framework.

PubMed

Junker, Beth; Maheshwari, Gargi; Ranheim, Todd; Altaras, Nedim; Stankevicz, Michael; Harmon, Lori; Rios, Sandra; D'anjou, Marc

2011-01-01

Owing to the high costs associated with biopharmaceutical development, considerable pressure has developed for the biopharmaceutical industry to increase productivity by becoming more lean and flexible. The ability to reuse knowledge was identified as one key advantage to streamline productivity, efficiently use resources, and ultimately perform better than the competition. A knowledge management (KM) strategy was assembled for bioprocess-related information using the technique of Design-for-Six-Sigma (DFSS). This strategy supported quality-by-design and process validation efforts for pipeline as well as licensed products. The DFSS technique was selected because it was both streamlined and efficient. These characteristics permitted development of a KM strategy with minimized team leader and team member resources. DFSS also placed a high emphasis on the voice of the customer, information considered crucial to the selection of solutions most appropriate for the current knowledge-based challenges of the organization. The KM strategy developed was comprised of nine workstreams, constructed from related solution buckets which in turn were assembled from the individual solution tasks that were identified. Each workstream's detailed design was evaluated against published and established best practices, as well as the KM strategy project charter and design inputs. Gaps and risks were identified and mitigated as necessary to improve the robustness of the proposed strategy. Aggregated resources (specifically expense/capital funds and staff) and timing were estimated to obtain vital management sponsorship for implementation. Where possible, existing governance and divisional/corporate information technology efforts were leveraged to minimize the additional bioprocess resources required for implementation. Finally, leading and lagging indicator metrics were selected to track the success of pilots and eventual implementation. A knowledge management framework was assembled for bioprocess-related information using a streamlined and efficient technique that minimized team leader and member resources. The technique also highly emphasized input from the staff, who generated and used the knowledge, information considered crucial to selection of solutions most appropriate for the current knowledge-based challenges in the organization. The framework developed was comprised of nine workstreams, constructed from related solution buckets which were assembled from individual solution tasks that were identified. Each workstream's detailed design was evaluated against published and established best practices, as well as the project charter and design inputs. Gaps and risks were identified and mitigated to improve robustness of the proposed framework. Aggregated resources (specifically expense/capital funds and staff) and timing were estimated to obtain vital management sponsorship for implementation. Where possible, existing governance and information technology efforts were leveraged to minimize additional bioprocess resources required for implementation. Finally, metrics were selected to track the success of pilots and eventual implementation.

Wetland resources investigation based on 3S technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Hui; Jing, Haitao; Zhang, Lianpeng

2008-10-01

Wetland is a special ecosystem between land and water . It can provide massive foods, raw material, water resources and habitat for human being, animals and plants, Wetlands are so important that wetlands' development, management and protection have become the focus of public attention ."3S" integration technology was applied to investigate wetland resources in Shandong Province ,the investigation is based on remote sensing(RS) information, combining wetlandrelated geographic information system(GIS) data concerning existing geology, hydrology, land, lakes, rivers, oceans and environmental protection, using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location accurately and conveniently , as well as multi-source information to demonstrate each other based on "3S" integration technology. In addition, the remote sensing(RS) interpretation shall be perfected by combining house interpretation with field survey and combining interpretation results with known data.By contrasting various types of wetland resources with the TM, ETM, SPOT image and combining with the various types of information, remote sensing interpretation symbols of various types of wetland resources are established respectively. According to the interpretation symbols, we systematically interpret the wetland resources of Shandong Province. In accordance with the purpose of different work, we interpret the image of 1987, 1996 and 2000. Finally, various interpretation results are processed by computer scanning, Vectored, projection transformation and image mosaic, wetland resources distribution map is worked out and wetland resources database of Shandong Province is established in succession. Through the investigation, wetland resource in Shandong province can be divided into 4 major categories and 17 sub-categories. we have ascertained the range and area of each category as well as their present utilization status.. By investigating and calculating, the total area of wetland in Shandong Province is 1,712,200 hm2,which accounts for 7.58% of the total area of land in Shandong Province (not including the wetland in the shallow waters along the coast). Among them, area of river wetland is 286,746 hm2, area of lakes wetland is143,490 hm2, area of reservoir and pond wetland is 118,693 hm2, area of offshore and coastal wetland is 994,100 hm2, and area of other wetland is 169,171 hm2. On the basis of this, we can analyze the dynamic changes trend and the reasons: steady degenerating for natural wetlands, increasing year by year for artificial wetland, and the distribution pattern takes shape that the existing natural wetlands are being protected and the increase of new artificial wetlands is in conformity with the social development, so the situation of the wetland resources is developing towards a virtuous circle direction.

Introducing the ICF: the development of an online resource to support learning, teaching and curriculum design.

PubMed

Jones, Lester E

2011-03-01

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was adopted as one of the key models to support early health professional learning across a suite of new preregistration health science courses. It was decided that an online resource should be developed to enable students, course designers and teaching staff, across all disciplines, to have access to the same definitions, government policies and other supporting information on disability. As part of the comprehensive curriculum review, enquiry-based learning was adopted as the educational approach. Enquiry-based learning promotes deeper learning by encouraging students to engage in authentic challenges. As such, it was important that the online resource was not merely a site for accessing content, but enabled students to make decisions about where else to explore for credible information about the ICF. The selection of a host location that all students and staff could access meant that the resource could not be located in the existing online learning management system. Construction using software being trialled by the library at La Trobe University allowed for the required access, as well as alignment with an enquiry-based learning approach. Consultation for the content of the online resource included formal and informal working groups on curriculum review. The published version included resources from the World Health Organization, examples of research completed within different disciplines, a test of knowledge and a preformatted search page. The format of the online resource allows for updating of information, and feedback on the utilisation of the software has been used to enhance the student experience. The key issues for the development of this online resource were accessibility for students and staff, alignment with the adopted educational approach, consultation with all disciplines, and ease of modification of information and format once published. Copyright © 2010 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alaska Natives assessing the health of their environment.

PubMed

Garza, D

2001-11-01

The changes in Alaska's ecosystems caused by pollution, contaminants and global climate change are negatively impacting Alaska Natives and rural residents who rely on natural resources for food, culture and community identity. While Alaska commerce has contributed little to these global changes and impacts, Alaska and its resources are nonetheless affected by the changes. While Alaska Natives have historically relied on Alaska's land, water and animals for survival and cultural identity, today their faith in the safety and quality of these resources has decreased. Alaska Natives no longer believe that these wild resources are the best and many are turning to alternative store-bought foods. Such a change in diet and activity may be contributing to a decline in traditional activities and a decline in general health. Contaminants are showing up in the animals, fish and waters that Alaska Natives use. Efforts need to be expanded to empower Alaska Native Tribes to collect and analyze local wild foods for various contaminants. In addition existing information on contaminants and pollution should be made readily available to Alaska residents. Armed with this type of information Alaska Native residents will be better prepared to make informed decisions on using wild foods and materials.

Structure of the thermodynamic arrow of time in classical and quantum theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korzekwa, Kamil

2017-05-01

In this work we analyze the structure of the thermodynamic arrow of time, defined by transformations that leave the thermal equilibrium state unchanged, in classical (incoherent) and quantum (coherent) regimes. We note that in the infinite-temperature limit, the thermodynamic ordering of states in both regimes exhibits a lattice structure. This means that when energy does not matter and the only thermodynamic resource is given by information, the thermodynamic arrow of time has a very specific structure. Namely, for any two states at present there exists a unique state in the past consistent with them and with all possible joint pasts. Similarly, there also exists a unique state in the future consistent with those states and with all possible joint futures. We also show that the lattice structure in the classical regime is broken at finite temperatures, i.e., when energy is a relevant thermodynamic resource. Surprisingly, however, we prove that in the simplest quantum scenario of a two-dimensional system, this structure is preserved at finite temperatures. We provide the physical interpretation of these results by introducing and analyzing the history erasure process, and point out that quantum coherence may be a necessary resource for the existence of an optimal erasure process.

A medical book collection for physician assistants.

PubMed

Grodzinski, A

2001-07-01

Selecting resources for physician assistants is challenging and can be overwhelming. Although several core lists exist for nursing, allied health, and medical libraries, judging the scope and level of these resources in relation to the information needs of the physician assistant is difficult. Medical texts can be highly specialized and very expensive, in essence, "overkill" for the needs of the physician assistant. This bibliography is meant to serve as a guide to appropriate medical texts for physician assistants. Titles were selected from the Brandon/Hill list, Doody's Electronic Journal, and various other reference resources. Resources were evaluated based on the subject and scope, audience, authorship, cost, and currency. The collection includes 195 titles from 33 specialty areas. Standard texts in each area are also included.

Remote sensing inputs to National Model Implementation Program for water resources quality improvement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eidenshink, J. C.; Schmer, F. A.

1979-01-01

The Lake Herman watershed in southeastern South Dakota has been selected as one of seven water resources systems in the United States for involvement in the National Model Implementation Program (MIP). MIP is a pilot program initiated to illustrate the effectiveness of existing water resources quality improvement programs. The Remote Sensing Institute (RSI) at South Dakota State University has produced a computerized geographic information system for the Lake Herman watershed. All components necessary for the monitoring and evaluation process were included in the data base. The computerized data were used to produce thematic maps and tabular data for the land cover and soil classes within the watershed. These data are being utilized operationally by SCS resource personnel for planning and management purposes.

Small Wind Electric Systems: A Guide Produced for the Tennessee Valley Authority (Revised) (Brochure)

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

Not Available

2009-06-01

Small Wind Electric Systems: A Guide Produced for the Tennessee Valley Authority provides consumers with information to help them determine whether a small wind electric system can provide all or a portion of the energy they need for their home or business based on their wind resource, energy needs, and their economics. Topics discussed in the guide include how to make a home more energy efficient, how to choose the correct turbine size, the parts of a wind electric system, how to determine whether enough wind resource exists, how to choose the best site for a turbine, how to connectmore » a system to the utility grid, and whether it's possible to become independent of the utility grid using wind energy. In addition, the cover of the guide contains a regional wind resource map and a list of incentives and contacts for more information.« less

Online Mental Health Resources in Rural Australia: Clinician Perceptions of Acceptability

PubMed Central

Holloway, Kristi; Riley, Geoffrey; Auret, Kirsten

2013-01-01

Background Online mental health resources have been proposed as an innovative means of overcoming barriers to accessing rural mental health services. However, clinicians tend to express lower satisfaction with online mental health resources than do clients. Objective To understand rural clinicians’ attitudes towards the acceptability of online mental health resources as a treatment option in the rural context. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 rural clinicians (general practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers). Interviews were supplemented with rural-specific vignettes, which described clinical scenarios in which referral to online mental health resources might be considered. Symbolic interactionism was used as the theoretical framework for the study, and interview transcripts were thematically analyzed using a constant comparative method. Results Clinicians were optimistic about the use of online mental health resources into the future, showing a preference for integration alongside existing services, and use as an adjunct rather than an alternative to traditional approaches. Key themes identified included perceptions of resources, clinician factors, client factors, and the rural and remote context. Clinicians favored resources that were user-friendly and could be integrated into their clinical practice. Barriers to use included a lack of time to explore resources, difficulty accessing training in the rural environment, and concerns about the lack of feedback from clients. Social pressure exerted within professional clinical networks contributed to a cautious approach to referring clients to online resources. Conclusions Successful implementation of online mental health resources in the rural context requires attention to clinician perceptions of acceptability. Promotion of online mental health resources to rural clinicians should include information about resource effectiveness, enable integration with existing services, and provide opportunities for renegotiating the socially defined role of the clinician in the eHealth era. PMID:24007949

Online mental health resources in rural Australia: clinician perceptions of acceptability.

PubMed

Sinclair, Craig; Holloway, Kristi; Riley, Geoffrey; Auret, Kirsten

2013-09-05

Online mental health resources have been proposed as an innovative means of overcoming barriers to accessing rural mental health services. However, clinicians tend to express lower satisfaction with online mental health resources than do clients. To understand rural clinicians' attitudes towards the acceptability of online mental health resources as a treatment option in the rural context. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 rural clinicians (general practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers). Interviews were supplemented with rural-specific vignettes, which described clinical scenarios in which referral to online mental health resources might be considered. Symbolic interactionism was used as the theoretical framework for the study, and interview transcripts were thematically analyzed using a constant comparative method. Clinicians were optimistic about the use of online mental health resources into the future, showing a preference for integration alongside existing services, and use as an adjunct rather than an alternative to traditional approaches. Key themes identified included perceptions of resources, clinician factors, client factors, and the rural and remote context. Clinicians favored resources that were user-friendly and could be integrated into their clinical practice. Barriers to use included a lack of time to explore resources, difficulty accessing training in the rural environment, and concerns about the lack of feedback from clients. Social pressure exerted within professional clinical networks contributed to a cautious approach to referring clients to online resources. Successful implementation of online mental health resources in the rural context requires attention to clinician perceptions of acceptability. Promotion of online mental health resources to rural clinicians should include information about resource effectiveness, enable integration with existing services, and provide opportunities for renegotiating the socially defined role of the clinician in the eHealth era.

Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Coastal habitats, artificial reefs, wrecks, dumping grounds, harbor obstructions and offshore sand resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, coastal habitats, artificial reefs, shipwrecks, dumping grounds, and harbor obstructions. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map may be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided as attached xml files for all geographic information system (GIS) layers.

Status Review of Wildlife Mitigation at 14 of 27 Major Hydroelectric Projects in Idaho, 1983-1984 Final Report.

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

Martin, Robert C.; Mehrhoff, L.A.

1985-01-01

The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act and wildlife and their habitats in the Columbia River Basin and to compliance with the Program, the wildlife mitigation status reports coordination with resource agencies and Indian Tribes. developed the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program development, operation, and maintenance of hydroelectric projects on existing agreements; and past, current, and proposed wildlife factual review and documentation of existing information on wildlife meet the requirements of Measure 1004(b)(l) of the Program. The mitigation, enhancement, and protection activities were considered. In mitigate for the losses to those resources resulting from the purposemore » of these wildlife mitigation status reports is to provide a resources at some of the Columbia River Basin hydroelectric projects the river and its tributaries. To accomplish this goal, the Council were written with the cooperation of project operators, and in within Idaho.« less

Land-use planning of Volyn region (Ukraine) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strielko, Irina; Pereira, Paulo

2014-05-01

Land-use development planning is carried out in order to create a favourable environment for human life, sustainable socioeconomic and spatial development. Landscape planning is an important part of land-use development that aims to meet the fundamental principles of sustainable development. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a fundamental tool to make a better landscape planning at different territorial levels, providing data and maps to support decision making. The objective of this work is to create spatio-temporal, territorial and ecological model of development of Volyn region (Ukraine). It is based on existing spatial raster and vector data and includes the analysis of territory dynamics as the aspects responsible for it. A spatial analyst tool was used to zone the areas according to their environmental components and economic activity. This analysis is fundamental to define the basic parameters of sustainability of Volyn region. To carry out this analysis, we determined the demographic capacity of districts and the analysis of spatial parameters of land use. On the basis of the existing natural resources, we observed that there is a need of landscape protection and integration of more are natural areas in the Pan-European Ecological Network. Using GIS technologies to landscape planning in Volyn region, allowed us to identify, natural areas of interest, contribute to a better resource management and conflict resolution. Geographic Information Systems will help to formulate and implement landscape policies, reform the existing administrative system of Volyn region and contribute to a better sustainable development.

The Impact of Varying Statutory Arrangements on Spatial Data Sharing and Access in Regional NRM Bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paudyal, D. R.; McDougall, K.; Apan, A.

2014-12-01

Spatial information plays an important role in many social, environmental and economic decisions and increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for wider societal and environmental benefits. Natural Resource Management is one area where spatial information can be used for improved planning and decision making processes. In Australia, state government organisations are the custodians of spatial information necessary for natural resource management and regional NRM bodies are responsible to regional delivery of NRM activities. The access and sharing of spatial information between government agencies and regional NRM bodies is therefore as an important issue for improving natural resource management outcomes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the current status of spatial information access, sharing and use with varying statutory arrangements and its impacts on spatial data infrastructure (SDI) development in catchment management sector in Australia. Further, it critically examined whether any trends and significant variations exist due to different institutional arrangements (statutory versus non-statutory) or not. A survey method was used to collect primary data from 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies responsible for catchment management in Australia. Descriptive statistics method was used to show the similarities and differences between statutory and non-statutory arrangements. The key factors which influence sharing and access to spatial information are also explored. The results show the current statutory and administrative arrangements and regional focus for natural resource management is reasonable from a spatial information management perspective and provides an opportunity for building SDI at the catchment scale. However, effective institutional arrangements should align catchment SDI development activities with sub-national and national SDI development activities to address catchment management issues. We found minor differences in spatial information access, use and sharing due to varying institutional environment (statutory versus non-statutory). The non-statutory group appears to be more flexible and selfsufficient whilst statutory regional NRM bodies may lack flexibility in their spatial information management practices. We found spatial information access, use and sharing has significant impacts on spatial data infrastructure development in catchment management sector in Australia.

Spacetime Replication of Quantum Information Using (2 , 3) Quantum Secret Sharing and Teleportation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yadong; Khalid, Abdullah; Davijani, Masoud; Sanders, Barry

The aim of this work is to construct a protocol to replicate quantum information in any valid configuration of causal diamonds and assess resources required to physically realize spacetime replication. We present a set of codes to replicate quantum information along with a scheme to realize these codes using continuous-variable quantum optics. We use our proposed experimental realizations to determine upper bounds on the quantum and classical resources required to simulate spacetime replication. For four causal diamonds, our implementation scheme is more efficient than the one proposed previously. Our codes are designed using a decomposition algorithm for complete directed graphs, (2 , 3) quantum secret sharing, quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping. These results show the simulation of spacetime replication of quantum information is feasible with existing experimental methods. Alberta Innovates, NSERC, China's 1000 Talent Plan and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, which is an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (NSF Grant PHY-1125565) with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF-2644).

Contamination of water resources by pathogenic bacteria

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Water-borne pathogen contamination in water resources and related diseases are a major water quality concern throughout the world. Increasing interest in controlling water-borne pathogens in water resources evidenced by a large number of recent publications clearly attests to the need for studies that synthesize knowledge from multiple fields covering comparative aspects of pathogen contamination, and unify them in a single place in order to present and address the problem as a whole. Providing a broader perceptive of pathogen contamination in freshwater (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, groundwater) and saline water (estuaries and coastal waters) resources, this review paper attempts to develop the first comprehensive single source of existing information on pathogen contamination in multiple types of water resources. In addition, a comprehensive discussion describes the challenges associated with using indicator organisms. Potential impacts of water resources development on pathogen contamination as well as challenges that lie ahead for addressing pathogen contamination are also discussed. PMID:25006540

Citizen Science & MPA Monitoring: Informing adaptive management through enriched local knowledge systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, R.; Freitag, A.; McGregor, A.; Whiteman, E.

2013-12-01

Along the California coast, a wealth of capacity exists among individuals, groups and organizations collecting scientific data. This citizen science can take many forms, from spontaneous observations of seabirds to organized surveys of nearshore reefs. Yet, as is often the case, state resource managers have struggled to find ways to access and use this scientific information in decision-making. A unique opportunity exists to alter this status-quo. California has the largest network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the nation with more than 100 MPAs statewide. Monitoring is essential to inform adaptive management of this network. Traditionally, MPA monitoring has been the purview of academic or agency scientists. Yet, there is increasing recognition that this approach, while playing an important role, is unlikely by itself to provide a sustainable path forward. An opportunity therefore exists to understand how to sustainably and cost-effectively expand the capacity or human capital invested in monitoring and ocean stewardship. In this presentation we will share our collaborative approach to development of a new framework for incorporating citizen science into a partnerships-based portfolio of MPA monitoring in California. We will present initial findings and lessons learned from a broad review of published and gray literature, as well as reflections from interviews and participant observations with citizen science groups in the Central Coast region of California's MPA network. Through research, engagement with existing citizen science programs, and involvement of natural resource managers, we are identifying general best practices and specific opportunities for these groups to collaborate effectively, and for citizen science to play a constructive ongoing role in adaptive management of MPAs.

International Polar Year Information Resources: Science Librarians Behind the Scenes and in the Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hicks, G. J.; Sommer, S.

2006-12-01

As the International Polar Year approaches, research institutes, scientists, and students are preparing for the challenges of field research and the resulting reports and papers. In support of these researchers, libraries and information centers are developing programs and special projects to provide the information and repositories vital to dissemination of the resulting data and reports. From the National Snow and Ice Data Center's DAHLI project to Scott Polar Research Institute's Discovering the Poles, polar science librarians around the world are gearing up to provide service and information to researchers at home and in the field. Not only will these information specialists and librarians provide resources or answer questions for the scientist in the office, they will also provide much of those same services to the researcher in the field. IPY resources are a special case of the on-demand services science librarians typically provide. They help scientists formulate search strategies and take advantage of new developments in scientific databases at their home institutes. They provide many of the same services to researchers in the field. Whether sitting on an ice breaker in the Southern Ocean or in a tent on a glacier in Spitsbergen, field scientists can email or IM a question to a librarian for digital copies of papers, answers to reference questions, or information from a source in the office. IPY data and publications will be distributed among many existing and a few new clearinghouses and article databases. Science librarians will ensure that their researchers can locate and use these resources, providing a vital service and many important resources for this global effort to understand the current status of climate change and its effect around the globe.

Management and Care of Women With Invasive Cervical Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline.

PubMed

Chuang, Linus T; Temin, Sarah; Camacho, Rolando; Dueñas-Gonzalez, Alfonso; Feldman, Sarah; Gultekin, Murat; Gupta, Vandana; Horton, Susan; Jacob, Graciela; Kidd, Elizabeth A; Lishimpi, Kennedy; Nakisige, Carolyn; Nam, Joo-Hyun; Ngan, Hextan Yuen Sheung; Small, William; Thomas, Gillian; Berek, Jonathan S

2016-10-01

To provide evidence-based, resource-stratified global recommendations to clinicians and policymakers on the management and palliative care of women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. ASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational panel of cancer control, medical and radiation oncology, health economic, obstetric and gynecologic, and palliative care experts to produce recommendations reflecting resource-tiered settings. A systematic review of literature from 1966 to 2015 failed to yield sufficiently strong quality evidence to support basic- and limited-resource setting recommendations; a formal consensus-based process was used to develop recommendations. A modified ADAPTE process was also used to adapt recommendations from existing guidelines. Five existing sets of guidelines were identified and reviewed, and adapted recommendations form the evidence base. Eight systematic reviews, along with cost-effectiveness analyses, provided indirect evidence to inform the consensus process, which resulted in agreement of 75% or greater. Clinicians and planners should strive to provide access to the most effective evidence-based antitumor and palliative care interventions. If a woman cannot access these within her own or neighboring country or region, she may need to be treated with lower-tier modalities, depending on capacity and resources for surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and supportive and palliative care. For women with early-stage cervical cancer in basic settings, cone biopsy or extrafascial hysterectomy may be performed. Fertility-sparing procedures or modified radical or radical hysterectomy may be additional options in nonbasic settings. Combinations of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (including brachytherapy) should be used for women with stage IB to IVA disease, depending on available resources. Pain control is a vital component of palliative care. Additional information is available at www.asco.org/rs-cervical-cancer-treatment-guideline and www.asco.org/guidelineswiki. It is the view of ASCO that health care providers and health care system decision makers should be guided by the recommendations for the highest stratum of resources available. The guideline is intended to complement but not replace local guidelines.

Gauging User Interest in Non-Traditional Library Resources

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

Sandberg, Tami; Abbott, Jennifer

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a government funded research laboratory based in Golden, Colorado. In addition to collecting traditional library resources such as journals, conference proceedings, and print and electronic books, the library also spends a significant portion of its collection development funds on resources not often found in many libraries: technical industry standards (e.g., ISO, IEC, ASTM, IEEE) and energy-related market reports. Assessing user needs for these resources is difficult for a number of reasons, particularly because standardized usage statistics are lacking or non-existent. Standards and market reports are generally costly and include fairly restrictive license agreements,more » which increase the importance of making informed collection development decisions. This presentation will discuss the NREL Library's current collection assessment and development practices as they relate to these unique resources.« less

Facilitating the inclusion of nonmarket values in Bureau of Land Management planning and project assessments—Final report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huber, Chris; Richardson, Leslie

2016-11-23

Executive SummaryThis report summarizes the results of a series of field-based case studies conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to (1) evaluate the use of nonmarket values in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planning and project assessments, (2) update existing technical resources for measuring those values, and (3) provide guidance to field staff on the use of nonmarket values. Four BLM pilot sites participated in this effort: Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, Red Cliffs and Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Areas in Utah, BLM’s Taos Field Office in New Mexico, and BLM's Tuscarora Field Office in Nevada. The focus of the case studies was on practical applications of nonmarket valuation. USGS worked directly with BLM field staff at the pilot sites to demonstrate the process of considering nonmarket values in BLM decisionmaking and document the questions, challenges, and opportunities that arise when tying economic language to projects.As part of this effort, a Web-based toolkit, available at https://my.usgs.gov/benefit-transfer/, was updated and expanded to help facilitate benefit transfers (that is, the use of existing economic data to quantify nonmarket values) and qualitative discussions of nonmarket values. A total of 53 new or overlooked nonmarket valuation studies comprising 494 nonmarket value estimates for various recreational activities and the preservation of threatened, endangered, and rare species were added to existing databases within this Benefit Transfer Toolkit. In addition, four meta-regression functions focused on hunting, wildlife viewing, fishing, and trail use recreation were developed and added to the Benefit Transfer Toolkit.Results of this effort demonstrate that there are two main roles for nonmarket valuation in BLM planning. The first is to improve the decisionmaking process by contributing to a more comprehensive comparison of economic benefits and cost when evaluating resource tradeoffs for National Environmental Policy Act analyses. The second is to use economic language and information on economic values, either qualitative or quantitative, to improve the ability to communicate the economic significance of the resources provided by BLM-managed lands. Findings also indicate that the use of existing economic data to quantify nonmarket values (that is, benefit transfer) poses unique challenges because of the scarcity of both resource data and existing valuation studies focused on resources and sites managed by BLM. This highlights the need for improvements in the collection of resource data at BLM sites, especially visitor use data, as well as an opportunity for BLM’s Socioeconomics Program to strategically identify priority areas, in terms of both resources and geographic locations, where primary valuation studies could be conducted and the results used for future benefit transfers. Finally, whereas qualitative discussions of nonmarket values do not facilitate the comparison of monetized values, they can provide a manageable next step forward in providing more comprehensive information on nonmarket values for BLM plans and project assessments. 

Identifying individuals for primary cardiovascular disease prevention in UK general practice: priorities and resource implications

PubMed Central

Holt, Tim A; Thorogood, Margaret; Griffiths, Frances; Munday, Stephen; Stables, David

2008-01-01

Targeted cardiovascular disease prevention relies on risk-factor information held in primary care records. A risk algorithm, the ‘e-Nudge’, was applied to data from a population of ≥50-year-olds in 19 West Midlands practices, to identify those individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease. Altogether, 5.9% were identified aged 50–74 years at ≥20% 10-year risk based on existing data, and a further 26.4% were potentially at risk but had missing risk-factor information; 9.2% of patients aged over 50 years with established cardiovascular disease had at least one modifiable risk factor outside the audit target of the Quality and Outcomes Framework. Implications for resource allocation are discussed. PMID:18611316

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

Not Available

Small Wind Electric Systems: A Colorado Consumer's Guide provides consumers with information to help them determine whether a small wind electric system can provide all or a portion of the energy they need for their home or business based on their wind resource, energy needs, and economics. Topics include how to make a home more energy efficient, how to choose the correct turbine size, the parts of a wind electric system, how to determine whether enough wind resource exists, how to choose the best site for a turbine, how to connect a system to the utility grid, and whether it'smore » possible to become independent of the utility grid using wind energy. In addition, the cover of the guide contains a list of contacts for more information.« less

Global Issues for the '90s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fore, Jonathan N.; Hursh, Heidi

This document is an activity book on global issues to be used as a supplement to existing curricula, and to offer varied and different information, perspectives, and teaching methods. The book is divided into 10 units. Each contains learning activities, handouts, and a list of additional resources. Unit 1, "Introducing the Concept of Global…

30 CFR 585.116 - Requests for information on the state of the offshore renewable energy industry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... offshore renewable energy industry. 585.116 Section 585.116 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON... offshore renewable energy industry. (a) The Director may, from time to time, and at his discretion, solicit...

30 CFR 585.116 - Requests for information on the state of the offshore renewable energy industry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... offshore renewable energy industry. 585.116 Section 585.116 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON... offshore renewable energy industry. (a) The Director may, from time to time, and at his discretion, solicit...

30 CFR 585.116 - Requests for information on the state of the offshore renewable energy industry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... offshore renewable energy industry. 585.116 Section 585.116 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON... offshore renewable energy industry. (a) The Director may, from time to time, and at his discretion, solicit...

Rural Interagency Collaboration: A Resource Handbook for Schools and Human Service Agency Providers, Planners, and Policy Makers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Syracuse Univ., NY. School of Education.

This handbook provides information about interagency collaboration and educational partnerships in rural New York to service providers, planners, and policymakers. A survey identified 52 existing collaborative programs involving approximately 190 New York school districts and 100 nondistrict agencies and examined size and configuration of…

Assessment of ecosystem services provided by urban forests: public lands withinthe Urban Growth Boundary of Corvallis, Oregon

EPA Science Inventory

One recent research focus of EPA is quantifying a range of ecosystem services, the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, in order to promote informed natural resource management decisions and to assess the effectiveness of existing environmental policies. A case study is u...

Developing and Deploying OERs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Building on the Present

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Clayton R.; Reju, Sunday A.

2012-01-01

Open educational resources (OERs) have the potential to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase access to educational opportunities. OER development and deployment is one path that could contribute to achieving education for all. This article builds on existing information and communication technology (ICT) implementation plans in Africa and…

76 FR 64976 - Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Proposed Renewal of Existing Collection...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-19

... requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is... respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) is...-207). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office...

76 FR 24918 - Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation Proposed Renewal of Existing Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-03

... can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can... Employment History (CM- 911A). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by...

77 FR 13636 - Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation; Proposed Extension of Existing Collection; Comment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-07

... requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is... respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is soliciting... Benefit Payments (CM-908). A copy of the information collection request can be obtained by contacting the...

Using Participatory Design to Improve Web Sites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikolova-Houston, Tatiana

2005-01-01

In this article, the author, a doctoral candidate from the School of Information at the University of Texas-Austin, describes the experience gathered from her attempt to redesign her existing Web sites in order to supply online resources for Slavic and Byzantine studies. The use of participatory design, which involves the users in creating the…

Existing and Emerging Technologies in Education: A Descriptive Overview. CREATE Monograph Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bakke, Thomas W.

Second in a series of six monographs on the use of new technologies in the instruction of learning disabled students, the paper offers a descriptive overview of new technologies. Topics addressed include the following: (1) techniques for sharing computer resources (including aspects of networking, sharing information through databases, and the use…

A Survey of Reading Programs for the Institutionalized Elderly.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Carole L.; Miller, Marilyn J.

Noting that very few reading programs exist in nursing homes, a study surveyed the need for and content of reading services for residents of skilled and intermediate care facilities. The facilities responding to the survey represented 1,800 residents and provided information on their reading activities, available resources, special equipment,…

Exploring Why Students Self-Injure: The Functions of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darosh, Angela G.; Lloyd-Richardson, Elizabeth E.

2013-01-01

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a relatively common behavior engaged in by adolescents. School mental health professionals have identified NSSI as a behavior for which they need more information and practice guidelines. Despite a clear need, few resources exist to help with understanding the development and maintenance of NSSI in adolescents.…

Assessment of ecosystem services provided by urban forests: Public lands within the Urban growth Boundary of Corvallis, oregon

EPA Science Inventory

One recent research focus of EPA is quantifying a range of ecosystem services, the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, in order to promote informed natural resource management decisions and to assess the effectiveness of existing environmental policies. A case study is u...

Required Skill Sets of Information Technology Workers in Managed Hosting Environments in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Scott

2017-01-01

Through the rise of online learning, the playing field has been leveled for colleges across the globe. As costs continue to increase, greater emphasis is being placed on higher education institutions to maximize existing resources while adapting to technological advances. Building on Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation, and further…

Dismissal of Tenured Faculty--the College Administrator's Ugly Responsibility.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fusch, Gene E.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the proper procedures that must be followed in the dismissal of tenured faculty at a technical community college. While many resources on motivating and managing employees exist, little information is available pertaining to strategies for coping with unsatisfactory instructors who are unresponsive to…

Transition Toolkit 3.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System. Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Heather Griller; Mathur, Sarup; Brock, Leslie; O'Cummings, Mindee; Milligan, DeAngela

2016-01-01

The third edition of the National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth's (NDTAC's) "Transition Toolkit" provides updated information on existing policies, practices, strategies, and resources for transition that build on field experience and research. The "Toolkit" offers…

USDA Climate Hubs - delivering usable information and tools to farmers, ranchers and forest land managers - Communication insights from the Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R.; Steele, R.

2016-12-01

The USDA Climate Hubs were established in 2014 to develop and deliver science-based, region-specific information and technologies, with USDA agencies and partners, to agricultural and natural resource managers to enable climate-informed decision-making. In the two and half years of existence, our regional leads have gained insights into communicating with the agricultural and forestry communities throughout the different regions of the country. Perspectives differ somewhat among regions and sectors. This talk will share those various insights.

Design and Applications of a GeoSemantic Framework for Integration of Data and Model Resources in Hydrologic Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elag, M.; Kumar, P.

2016-12-01

Hydrologists today have to integrate resources such as data and models, which originate and reside in multiple autonomous and heterogeneous repositories over the Web. Several resource management systems have emerged within geoscience communities for sharing long-tail data, which are collected by individual or small research groups, and long-tail models, which are developed by scientists or small modeling communities. While these systems have increased the availability of resources within geoscience domains, deficiencies remain due to the heterogeneity in the methods, which are used to describe, encode, and publish information about resources over the Web. This heterogeneity limits our ability to access the right information in the right context so that it can be efficiently retrieved and understood without the Hydrologist's mediation. A primary challenge of the Web today is the lack of the semantic interoperability among the massive number of resources, which already exist and are continually being generated at rapid rates. To address this challenge, we have developed a decentralized GeoSemantic (GS) framework, which provides three sets of micro-web services to support (i) semantic annotation of resources, (ii) semantic alignment between the metadata of two resources, and (iii) semantic mediation among Standard Names. Here we present the design of the framework and demonstrate its application for semantic integration between data and models used in the IML-CZO. First we show how the IML-CZO data are annotated using the Semantic Annotation Services. Then we illustrate how the Resource Alignment Services and Knowledge Integration Services are used to create a semantic workflow among TopoFlow model, which is a spatially-distributed hydrologic model and the annotated data. Results of this work are (i) a demonstration of how the GS framework advances the integration of heterogeneous data and models of water-related disciplines by seamless handling of their semantic heterogeneity, (ii) an introduction of new paradigm for reusing existing and new standards as well as tools and models without the need of their implementation in the Cyberinfrastructures of water-related disciplines, and (iii) an investigation of a methodology by which distributed models can be coupled in a workflow using the GS services.

A resource-oriented architecture for a Geospatial Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzetti, Paolo; Nativi, Stefano

2010-05-01

In this presentation we discuss some architectural issues on the design of an architecture for a Geospatial Web, that is an information system for sharing geospatial resources according to the Web paradigm. The success of the Web in building a multi-purpose information space, has raised questions about the possibility of adopting the same approach for systems dedicated to the sharing of more specific resources, such as the geospatial information, that is information characterized by spatial/temporal reference. To this aim an investigation on the nature of the Web and on the validity of its paradigm for geospatial resources is required. The Web was born in the early 90's to provide "a shared information space through which people and machines could communicate" [Berners-Lee 1996]. It was originally built around a small set of specifications (e.g. URI, HTTP, HTML, etc.); however, in the last two decades several other technologies and specifications have been introduced in order to extend its capabilities. Most of them (e.g. the SOAP family) actually aimed to transform the Web in a generic Distributed Computing Infrastructure. While these efforts were definitely successful enabling the adoption of service-oriented approaches for machine-to-machine interactions supporting complex business processes (e.g. for e-Government and e-Business applications), they do not fit in the original concept of the Web. In the year 2000, R. T. Fielding, one of the designers of the original Web specifications, proposes a new architectural style for distributed systems, called REST (Representational State Transfer), aiming to capture the fundamental characteristics of the Web as it was originally conceived [Fielding 2000]. In this view, the nature of the Web lies not so much in the technologies, as in the way they are used. Maintaining the Web architecture conform to the REST style would then assure the scalability, extensibility and low entry barrier of the original Web. On the contrary, systems using the same Web technologies and specifications but according to a different architectural style, despite their usefulness, should not be considered part of the Web. If the REST style captures the significant Web characteristics, then, in order to build a Geospatial Web it is necessary that its architecture satisfies all the REST constraints. One of them is of particular importance: the adoption of a Uniform Interface. It prescribes that all the geospatial resources must be accessed through the same interface; moreover according to the REST style this interface must satisfy four further constraints: a) identification of resources; b) manipulation of resources through representations; c) self-descriptive messages; and, d) hypermedia as the engine of application state. In the Web, the uniform interface provides basic operations which are meaningful for generic resources. They typically implement the CRUD pattern (Create-Retrieve-Update-Delete) which demonstrated to be flexible and powerful in several general-purpose contexts (e.g. filesystem management, SQL for database management systems, etc.). Restricting the scope to a subset of resources it would be possible to identify other generic actions which are meaningful for all of them. For example for geospatial resources, subsetting, resampling, interpolation and coordinate reference systems transformations functionalities are candidate functionalities for a uniform interface. However an investigation is needed to clarify the semantics of those actions for different resources, and consequently if they can really ascend the role of generic interface operation. Concerning the point a), (identification of resources), it is required that every resource addressable in the Geospatial Web has its own identifier (e.g. a URI). This allows to implement citation and re-use of resources, simply providing the URI. OPeNDAP and KVP encodings of OGC data access services specifications might provide a basis for it. Concerning point b) (manipulation of resources through representations), the Geospatial Web poses several issues. In fact, while the Web mainly handles semi-structured information, in the Geospatial Web the information is typically structured with several possible data models (e.g. point series, gridded coverages, trajectories, etc.) and encodings. A possibility would be to simplify the interchange formats, choosing to support a subset of data models and format(s). This is what actually the Web designers did choosing to define a common format for hypermedia (HTML), although the underlying protocol would be generic. Concerning point c), self-descriptive messages, the exchanged messages should describe themselves and their content. This would not be actually a major issue considering the effort put in recent years on geospatial metadata models and specifications. The point d), hypermedia as the engine of application state, is actually where the Geospatial Web would mainly differ from existing geospatial information sharing systems. In fact the existing systems typically adopt a service-oriented architecture, where applications are built as a single service or as a workflow of services. On the other hand, in the Geospatial Web, applications should be built following the path between interconnected resources. The link between resources should be made explicit as hyperlinks. The adoption of Semantic Web solutions would allow to define not only the existence of a link between two resources, but also the nature of the link. The implementation of a Geospatial Web would allow to build an information system with the same characteristics of the Web sharing its points-of-strength and weaknesses. The main advantages would be the following: • The user would interact with the Geospatial Web according to the well-known Web navigation paradigm. This would lower the barrier to the access to geospatial applications for non-specialists (e.g. the success of Google Maps and other Web mapping applications); • Successful Web and Web 2.0 applications - search engines, feeds, social network - could be integrated/replicated in the Geospatial Web; The main drawbacks would be the following: • The Uniform Interface simplifies the overall system architecture (e.g. no service registry, and service descriptors required), but moves the complexity to the data representation. Moreover since the interface must stay generic, it results really simple and therefore complex interactions would require several transfers. • In the geospatial domain one of the most valuable resources are processes (e.g. environmental models). How they can be modeled as resources accessed through the common interface is an open issue. Taking into account advantages and drawback it seems that a Geospatial Web would be useful, but its use would be limited to specific use-cases not covering all the possible applications. The Geospatial Web architecture could be partly based on existing specifications, while other aspects need investigation. References [Berners-Lee 1996] T. Berners-Lee, "WWW: Past, present, and future". IEEE Computer, 29(10), Oct. 1996, pp. 69-77. [Fielding 2000] Fielding, R. T. 2000. Architectural styles and the design of network-based software architectures. PhD Dissertation. Dept. of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine

Is E-health Progressing Faster Than E-health Researchers?

PubMed Central

2006-01-01

Formal Internet interventions exist in a broad context of diverse online health resources, which share elements in common like information, advice and peer support. However, most online health resources are not created by healthcare professionals. Internet interventions need to be designed to “compete” in that wider context. The democratization of production and distribution is central to the transformative effect of the Internet on society, yet potentially conflicts with healthcare’s need for an evidence base and safe practice. This is a core challenge for healthcare on the Internet. PMID:17032640

Anonymous broadcasting of classical information with a continuous-variable topological quantum code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menicucci, Nicolas C.; Baragiola, Ben Q.; Demarie, Tommaso F.; Brennen, Gavin K.

2018-03-01

Broadcasting information anonymously becomes more difficult as surveillance technology improves, but remarkably, quantum protocols exist that enable provably traceless broadcasting. The difficulty is making scalable entangled resource states that are robust to errors. We propose an anonymous broadcasting protocol that uses a continuous-variable surface-code state that can be produced using current technology. High squeezing enables large transmission bandwidth and strong anonymity, and the topological nature of the state enables local error mitigation.

Integrating Information Networks for Collective Planetary Stewardship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiwari, A.

2016-12-01

Responsible behaviour resulting from climate literacy in global environmental movement is limited to policy and planning institutions in the Global South, while remaining absent for ends-user. Thus, planetary stewardship exists only at earth system boundaries where pressures sink to the local scale while ethics remains afloat. Existing citizen participation is restricted within policy spheres, appearing synonymous to enforcements in social psychology. Much, accounted reason is that existing information mechanisms operate mostly through linear exchanges between institutions and users, therefore reinforcing only hierarchical relationships. This study discloses such relationships that contribute to broad networking gaps through information demand assessment of stakeholders in a dozen development projects based in South Asia. Two parameters widely used for this purpose are: a. Feedback: Ends-user feedback to improve consumption literacy of climate sensitive resources (through consumption displays, billing, advisory services ecolabelling, sensors) and, b. Institutional Policy: Rewarding punishing to enforce desired behaviour (subsidies, taxation). Research answered: 1. Who gets the information (Equity in Information Distribution)? As existing information publishing mechanisms are designed by and for analysts, 2. How information translates to climate action Transparency of Execution)? Findings suggested that climate goals manifested in economic policy, than environmental policy, have potential clear short-term benefits and costs, and coincide with people's economic goals Also grassroots roles for responsible behaviour are empowered with presence of end user information. Barier free climate communication process and decision making is ensured among multiplicity of stakeholders with often conflicting perspectives. Research finds significance where collaboration among information networks can better translate regional policies into local action for climate adaptation and resilience capacity building.

Modernization and new technologies: Coping with the information explosion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blados, Walter R.; Cotter, Gladys A.

1993-01-01

Information has become a valuable and strategic resource in all societies and economies. Scientific and technical information is especially important in developing and maintaining a strong national science and technology base. The expanding use of information technology, the growth of interdisciplinary research, and an increase in international collaboration are changing characteristics of information. This modernization effort applies new technology to current processes to provide near-term benefits to the user. At the same time, we are developing a long-term modernization strategy designed to transition the program to a multimedia, global 'library without walls'. Notwithstanding this modernization program, it is recogized that no one information center can hope to collect all the relevant data. We see information and information systems changing and becoming more international in scope. We are finding that many nations are expending resources on national systems which duplicate each other. At the same time that this duplication exists, many useful sources of aerospace information are not being collected to cover expanded sources of information. This paper reviews the NASA modernization program and raises for consideration new possibilities for unification of the various aerospace database efforts toward a cooperative international aerospace database initiative, one that can optimize the cost/benefit equation for all participants.

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Cultural environment and aesthetic resources

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

Trettin, L.D.; Petrich, C.H.; Saulsbury, J.W.

This report has been prepared to make available and archive the background scientific data and related information collected on the cultural environment and aesthetic resources during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The cultural environment in the Geothermal Resource Zone (GRZ) and associated study area consists of Native Hawaiian cultural and religious practices and both Native Hawaiian and non-Native Hawaiian cultural resources. This report consists of three sections: (1) a description of Nativemore » Hawaiian cultural and religious rights, practices, and values; (2) a description of historic, prehistoric, and traditional Native Hawaiian sites; and (3) a description of other (non-native) sites that could be affected by development in the study area. Within each section, the level of descriptive detail varies according to the information currently available. The description of the cultural environment is most specific in its coverage of the Geothermal Resource Subzones in the Puna District of the island of Hawaii and the study area of South Maui. Ethnographic and archaeological reports by Cultural Advocacy Network Developing Options and International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., respectively, supplement the descriptions of these two areas with new information collected specifically for this study. Less detailed descriptions of additional study areas on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and the island of Hawaii are based on existing archaeological surveys.« less

Environmental Resources of Selected Areas of Hawaii: Socioeconomics (DRAFT)

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

Saulsbury, J.W.; Sorensen, B.M.; Schexnayder, S.M.

1994-06-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive the background information on socioeconomic resources collected during the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice in the Federal Register on May 17, 1994 (Fed. Regis. 5925638), withdrawing its Notice of Intent (Fed Regis. 57:5433), of February 14, 1992, to prepare the HGPEIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursuemore » the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. This document provides background information on socioeconomic resources in Hawaii County, with particular emphasis on the Puna District (Fig. 1). Information is being made available for use by others in conducting future socioeconomic impact assessments in this area. This report describes existing socioeconomic resources in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts. The socioeconomic resources described are primarily those that would be affected by employment and population growth associated with any future large-scale development. These resource categories are (1) population, (2) housing, (3) land use, (4) economic structure (primarily employment and income), (5) infrastructure and public services (education, ground transportation, police and fire protection, water, wastewater, solid waste disposal, electricity, and emergency planning), (6) local government revenues and expenditures, and (7) tourism and recreation.« less

The Space From Heart Disease Intervention for People With Cardiovascular Disease and Distress: A Mixed-Methods Study

PubMed Central

Clifton, Abigail; Lee, Geraldine; Norman, Ian J; O'Callaghan, David; Tierney, Karen; Richards, Derek

2015-01-01

Background Poor self-management of symptoms and psychological distress leads to worse outcomes and excess health service use in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Online-delivered therapy is effective, but generic interventions lack relevance for people with specific long-term conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. Objective To develop a comprehensive online CVD-specific intervention to improve both self-management and well-being, and to test acceptability and feasibility. Methods Informed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for the development of complex interventions, we adapted an existing evidence-based generic intervention for depression and anxiety for people with CVD. Content was informed by a literature review of existing resources and trial evidence, and the findings of a focus group study. Think-aloud usability testing was conducted to identify improvements to design and content. Acceptability and feasibility were tested in a cross-sectional study. Results Focus group participants (n=10) agreed that no existing resource met all their needs. Improvements such as "collapse and expand" features were added based on findings that participants’ information needs varied, and specific information, such as detecting heart attacks and when to seek help, was added. Think-aloud testing (n=2) led to changes in font size and design changes around navigation. All participants of the cross-sectional study (10/10, 100%) were able to access and use the intervention. Reported satisfaction was good, although the intervention was perceived to lack relevance for people without comorbid psychological distress. Conclusions We have developed an evidence-based, theory-informed, user-led online intervention for improving self-management and well-being in CVD. The use of multiple evaluation tests informed improvements to content and usability. Preliminary acceptability and feasibility has been demonstrated. The Space from Heart Disease intervention is now ready to be tested for effectiveness. This work has also identified that people with CVD symptoms and comorbid distress would be the most appropriate sample for a future randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness. PMID:26133739

Quality tools and resources to support organisational improvement integral to high-quality primary care: a systematic review of published and grey literature.

PubMed

Janamian, Tina; Upham, Susan J; Crossland, Lisa; Jackson, Claire L

2016-04-18

To conduct a systematic review of the literature to identify existing online primary care quality improvement tools and resources to support organisational improvement related to the seven elements in the Primary Care Practice Improvement Tool (PC-PIT), with the identified tools and resources to progress to a Delphi study for further assessment of relevance and utility. Systematic review of the international published and grey literature. CINAHL, Embase and PubMed databases were searched in March 2014 for articles published between January 2004 and December 2013. GreyNet International and other relevant websites and repositories were also searched in March-April 2014 for documents dated between 1992 and 2012. All citations were imported into a bibliographic database. Published and unpublished tools and resources were included in the review if they were in English, related to primary care quality improvement and addressed any of the seven PC-PIT elements of a high-performing practice. Tools and resources that met the eligibility criteria were then evaluated for their accessibility, relevance, utility and comprehensiveness using a four-criteria appraisal framework. We used a data extraction template to systematically extract information from eligible tools and resources. A content analysis approach was used to explore the tools and resources and collate relevant information: name of the tool or resource, year and country of development, author, name of the organisation that provided access and its URL, accessibility information or problems, overview of each tool or resource and the quality improvement element(s) it addresses. If available, a copy of the tool or resource was downloaded into the bibliographic database, along with supporting evidence (published or unpublished) on its use in primary care. This systematic review identified 53 tools and resources that can potentially be provided as part of a suite of tools and resources to support primary care practices in improving the quality of their practice, to achieve improved health outcomes.

A qualitative exploration of how Canadian informal caregivers in medical tourism use experiential resources to cope with providing transnational care.

PubMed

Whitmore, Rebecca; Crooks, Valorie A; Snyder, Jeremy

2017-01-01

Canadians travelling abroad for privately arranged surgeries paid for out-of-pocket are engaging in what has come to be known as medical tourism. They are often accompanied by friends or family members, who we call caregiver-companions. Caregiver-companions provide care in and across a variety of formal and informal settings, such as in hotels, airplanes and at home. This qualitative study examines the experiences of informal caregivers in medical tourism to learn more about the lived experiences or 'experiential resources' they draw upon to cope with providing care and avoiding caregiver burden. The care-giving literature has demonstrated that such burden can negatively impact caregivers' well-being. The unique, transnational context of care-giving in medical tourism and recent growth in popularity of this practice means that there are few supports or resources currently in place to assist informal caregivers. In this article, we report on an analysis that sought to detail how caregiver-companions draw upon their previous lived experiences to cope with providing transnational care and to minimise or avoid the onset of caregiver burden. We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 20 Canadians who had accompanied their friends or family members abroad for surgery between September 2013 and January 2014. Thematic analysis revealed the ways that participants had developed practical strategies to deal with the challenges they faced in medical tourism. The interviews revealed three important experiential resources drawn upon by participants: (i) previous experiences of international travel; (ii) previous experiences of informal care-giving; and (iii) dimensions of the existing relationship with the care recipient. Differences in access to and use of these experiential resources related to participants' perspectives on medical tourism and the outcomes of the trip. By identifying the experiential resources drawn upon by informal caregivers in medical tourism, we can more effectively identify supportive interventions. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

BioEarth: Envisioning and developing a new regional earth system model to inform natural and agricultural resource management

DOE PAGES

Adam, Jennifer C.; Stephens, Jennie C.; Chung, Serena H.; ...

2014-04-24

Uncertainties in global change impacts, the complexities associated with the interconnected cycling of nitrogen, carbon, and water present daunting management challenges. Existing models provide detailed information on specific sub-systems (e.g., land, air, water, and economics). An increasing awareness of the unintended consequences of management decisions resulting from interconnectedness of these sub-systems, however, necessitates coupled regional earth system models (EaSMs). Decision makers’ needs and priorities can be integrated into the model design and development processes to enhance decision-making relevance and “usability” of EaSMs. BioEarth is a research initiative currently under development with a focus on the U.S. Pacific Northwest region thatmore » explores the coupling of multiple stand-alone EaSMs to generate usable information for resource decision-making. Direct engagement between model developers and non-academic stakeholders involved in resource and environmental management decisions throughout the model development process is a critical component of this effort. BioEarth utilizes a bottom-up approach for its land surface model that preserves fine spatial-scale sensitivities and lateral hydrologic connectivity, which makes it unique among many regional EaSMs. Here, we describe the BioEarth initiative and highlights opportunities and challenges associated with coupling multiple stand-alone models to generate usable information for agricultural and natural resource decision-making.« less

A Knowledge Portal and Collaboration Environment for the Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Agnese, F. A.

2008-12-01

Earth Knowledge is developing a web-based 'Knowledge Portal and Collaboration Environment' that will serve as the information-technology-based foundation of a modular Internet-based Earth-Systems Monitoring, Analysis, and Management Tool. This 'Knowledge Portal' is essentially a 'mash- up' of web-based and client-based tools and services that support on-line collaboration, community discussion, and broad public dissemination of earth and environmental science information in a wide-area distributed network. In contrast to specialized knowledge-management or geographic-information systems developed for long- term and incremental scientific analysis, this system will exploit familiar software tools using industry standard protocols, formats, and APIs to discover, process, fuse, and visualize existing environmental datasets using Google Earth and Google Maps. An early form of these tools and services is being used by Earth Knowledge to facilitate the investigations and conversations of scientists, resource managers, and citizen-stakeholders addressing water resource sustainability issues in the Great Basin region of the desert southwestern United States. These ongoing projects will serve as use cases for the further development of this information-technology infrastructure. This 'Knowledge Portal' will accelerate the deployment of Earth- system data and information into an operational knowledge management system that may be used by decision-makers concerned with stewardship of water resources in the American Desert Southwest.

Methods for Monitoring Fish Communities of Buffalo National River and Ozark National Scenic Riverways in the Ozark Plateaus of Arkansas and Missouri: Version 1.0

USGS Publications Warehouse

Petersen, James C.; Justus, B.G.; Dodd, H.R.; Bowles, D.E.; Morrison, L.W.; Williams, M.H.; Rowell, G.A.

2008-01-01

Buffalo National River located in north-central Arkansas, and Ozark National Scenic Riverways, located in southeastern Missouri, are the two largest units of the National Park Service in the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province. The purpose of this report is to provide a protocol that will be used by the National Park Service to sample fish communities and collect related water-quality, habitat, and stream discharge data of Buffalo National River and Ozark National Scenic Riverways to meet inventory and long-term monitoring objectives. The protocol includes (1) a protocol narrative, (2) several standard operating procedures, and (3) supplemental information helpful for implementation of the protocol. The protocol narrative provides background information about the protocol such as the rationale of why a particular resource or resource issue was selected for monitoring, information concerning the resource or resource issue of interest, a description of how monitoring results will inform management decisions, and a discussion of the linkages between this and other monitoring projects. The standard operating procedures cover preparation, training, reach selection, water-quality sampling, fish community sampling, physical habitat collection, measuring stream discharge, equipment maintenance and storage, data management and analysis, reporting, and protocol revision procedures. Much of the information in the standard operating procedures was gathered from existing protocols of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment program or other sources. Supplemental information that would be helpful for implementing the protocol is included. This information includes information on fish species known or suspected to occur in the parks, sample sites, sample design, fish species traits, index of biotic integrity metrics, sampling equipment, and field forms.

Business Process-Based Resource Importance Determination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenz, Stefan; Ekelhart, Andreas; Neubauer, Thomas

Information security risk management (ISRM) heavily depends on realistic impact values representing the resources’ importance in the overall organizational context. Although a variety of ISRM approaches have been proposed, well-founded methods that provide an answer to the following question are still missing: How can business processes be used to determine resources’ importance in the overall organizational context? We answer this question by measuring the actual importance level of resources based on business processes. Therefore, this paper presents our novel business process-based resource importance determination method which provides ISRM with an efficient and powerful tool for deriving realistic resource importance figures solely from existing business processes. The conducted evaluation has shown that the calculation results of the developed method comply to the results gained in traditional workshop-based assessments.

Mapping and vessel-based capabilities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Raabe, Ellen A.; Robbins, Lisa L.

2007-01-01

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists from the Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) conduct scientific investigations of submerged coastal and marine resources using new and existing technologies. Each contributing technique, method, or product adds to our understanding of coastal and marine resources and provides information for resource-management decisionmaking. In support of this mission, the USGS St. Petersburg office maintains a fleet of research vessels used for inland, coastal, and open-water marine surveys and investigations. Each vessel has advantages and limitations related to water depth, carrying capacity, speed, operation in open water, and other functions. These research platforms are staffed by experienced technical and scientific professionals with expertise in marine navigation, geology, geophysics, engineering, biology, and oceanography.

Earth resources mission performance studies. Volume 1: Requirements definition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

The need for a realistic set of earth resources collection requirements to test and maximize the data gathering capabilities of the EOS remote sensor systems is considered. The collection requirements will be derived from established user requirements. In order to confine and bound the requirements study, some baseline assumptions were established. These are: (1) image acquisition is confined to the contiguous United States, (2) the fundamental data users are select participating federal agencies, (3) the acquired data will be applied to generating information necessary or in support of existing federal agency charters, and (4) the most pressing or desired federal agency earth resources data requirements have been defined, suggested, or implied in current available literature.

Evidence to inform resource allocation for tuberculosis control in Myanmar: a systematic review based on the SYSRA framework.

PubMed

Khan, Mishal S; Schwanke Khilji, Sara U; Saw, Saw; Coker, Richard J

2017-02-01

Myanmar represents an extreme example of the difficulties in optimally allocating resources for maximum public health benefit, on the basis of limited information. At the recent Myanmar Health Forum 'Investing in Health' much of the discussion revolved around what to invest in, how health systems could be strengthened, and what research and capacity building areas the international donor community should prioritise for support. Funding for infectious disease control, particularly HIV and tuberculosis, is being channelled to the country at an unprecedented rate, but very little research has been conducted in recent years, and existing information has not yet been synthesised. This paper presents findings of the first systematic literature review on tuberculosis control and the health system in Myanmar, with the aim of informing the development of optimal research priorities and strategies. Medline and grey literature were searched for relevant papers. Inclusion criteria and analyses were structured to capture data on the Myanmar health system, healthcare delivery, financing, tuberculosis control indicators and information systems. A total of 77 papers were included in the analysis. The results indicate that there has been a large increase in the number of peer-reviewed articles published on tuberculosis in Myanmar over the past decade, although the absolute number of studies remains small. We identified several areas in which evidence to inform policy and resource allocation decisions is lacking, including research focused on rural and/or vulnerable populations, analyses of risk factors for TB and drug resistance that can inform prevention strategies and economic analyses for optimising resource allocation. The gaps in research to inform policy identified through this study may be relevant to other low resource settings with extremely limited research capacity. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Social exchange as a framework for client-nurse interaction during public health nursing maternal-child home visits.

PubMed

Byrd, Mary E

2006-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to develop a nursing-focused use of social exchange theory within the context of maternal-child home visiting. The nature of social exchange theory, its application to client-nurse interaction, and its fit with an existing data set from a field research investigation were examined. Resources exchanged between the nurse and clients were categorized and compared across the patterns of home visiting, nursing strategies based on exchange notions were identified, and variations in exchange were linked with client outcomes. The nurse provided resources within the categories of information, status, service, and goods. Clients provided time, access to the home, space within the home to conduct the visit, opportunities to observe maternal-child interaction, access to the infant, and information. The ease and breadth of resource exchange varied across the patterns of home visiting. The social exchange perspective was useful in categorizing resources, specifying and uncovering new resource categories, understanding nursing strategies to initiate and maintain the client-nurse relationship, and linking client-nurse interactive phenomena with client outcomes. Social exchange theory is potentially useful for understanding client-nurse interaction in the context of maternal-child home visits.

Training strategies for laboratory animal veterinarians: challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Colby, Lesley A; Turner, Patricia V; Vasbinder, Mary Ann

2007-01-01

The field of laboratory animal medicine is experiencing a serious shortage of appropriately trained veterinarians for both clinically related and research-oriented positions within academia, industry, and government. Recent outreach efforts sponsored by professional organizations have stimulated increased interest in the field. It is an opportune time to critically review and evaluate postgraduate training opportunities in the United States and Canada, including formal training programs, informal training, publicly accessible training resources and educational opportunities, and newly emerging training resources such as Internet-based learning aids. Challenges related to each of these training opportunities exist and include increasing enrollment in formal programs, securing adequate funding support, ensuring appropriate content between formal programs that may have diverse objectives, and accommodating the training needs of veterinarians who enter the field by the experience route. Current training opportunities and resources that exist for veterinarians who enter and are established within the field of laboratory animal science are examined. Strategies for improving formal laboratory animal medicine training programs and for developing alternative programs more suited to practicing clinical veterinarians are discussed. In addition, the resources for high-quality continuing education of experienced laboratory animal veterinarians are reviewed.

An analysis of water data systems to inform the Open Water Data Initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blodgett, David L.; Read, Emily K.; Lucido, Jessica M.; Slawecki, Tad; Young, Dwane

2016-01-01

Improving access to data and fostering open exchange of water information is foundational to solving water resources issues. In this vein, the Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Water and Science put forward the charge to undertake an Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) that would prioritize and accelerate work toward better water data infrastructure. The goal of the OWDI is to build out the Open Water Web (OWW). We therefore considered the OWW in terms of four conceptual functions: water data cataloging, water data as a service, enriching water data, and community for water data. To describe the current state of the OWW and identify areas needing improvement, we conducted an analysis of existing systems using a standard model for describing distributed systems and their business requirements. Our analysis considered three OWDI-focused use cases—flooding, drought, and contaminant transport—and then examined the landscape of other existing applications that support the Open Water Web. The analysis, which includes a discussion of observed successful practices of cataloging, serving, enriching, and building community around water resources data, demonstrates that we have made significant progress toward the needed infrastructure, although challenges remain. The further development of the OWW can be greatly informed by the interpretation and findings of our analysis.

Reviewing innovative Earth observation solutions for filling science-policy gaps in hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehmann, Anthony; Giuliani, Gregory; Ray, Nicolas; Rahman, Kazi; Abbaspour, Karim C.; Nativi, Stefano; Craglia, Massimo; Cripe, Douglas; Quevauviller, Philippe; Beniston, Martin

2014-10-01

Improved data sharing is needed for hydrological modeling and water management that require better integration of data, information and models. Technological advances in Earth observation and Web technologies have allowed the development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) for improved data sharing at various scales. International initiatives catalyze data sharing by promoting interoperability standards to maximize the use of data and by supporting easy access to and utilization of geospatial data. A series of recent European projects are contributing to the promotion of innovative Earth observation solutions and the uptake of scientific outcomes in policy. Several success stories involving different hydrologists' communities can be reported around the World. Gaps still exist in hydrological, agricultural, meteorological and climatological data access because of various issues. While many sources of data exists at all scales it remains difficult and time-consuming to assemble hydrological information for most projects. Furthermore, data and sharing formats remain very heterogeneous. Improvements require implementing/endorsing some commonly agreed standards and documenting data with adequate metadata. The brokering approach allows binding heterogeneous resources published by different data providers and adapting them to tools and interfaces commonly used by consumers of these resources. The challenge is to provide decision-makers with reliable information, based on integrated data and tools derived from both Earth observations and scientific models. Successful SDIs rely therefore on various aspects: a shared vision between all participants, necessity to solve a common problem, adequate data policies, incentives, and sufficient resources. New data streams from remote sensing or crowd sourcing are also producing valuable information to improve our understanding of the water cycle, while field sensors are developing rapidly and becoming less costly. More recent data standards are enhancing interoperability between hydrology and other scientific disciplines, while solutions exist to communicate uncertainty of data and models, which is an essential pre-requisite for decision-making. Distributed computing infrastructures can handle complex and large hydrological data and models, while Web Processing Services bring the flexibility to develop and execute simple to complex workflows over the Internet. The need for capacity building at human, infrastructure and institutional levels is also a major driver for reinforcing the commitment to SDI concepts.

Web resources for rare auto-inflammatory diseases: towards a common patient registry.

PubMed

Touitou, Isabelle; Hentgen, Véronique; Koné-Paut, Isabelle

2009-06-01

To review information resources on rare auto-inflammatory disorders (AIDs) for use by health care professionals, focusing particularly on patient registries. Using relevant key words, we surveyed the websites of several scientific societies of immunology, paediatrics and rheumatology, as well as Pubmed and specialized databases for AIDs. The Internet provides a wide variety of information related to AIDs. Moreover, several other initiatives have been undertaken to create new resources for professionals. We reviewed six patient registries for rare AIDs, taking a special interest in the submission questionnaire. We revealed a wide overlap between the items used in the questionnaires, whereas the currently available registries appeared inappropriate for AIDs patients with complex or undefined diagnosis. AIDs share common clinical features, pathophysiological pathways and therapeutic approaches. Although several resources are now available for rare AIDs, a unique and dedicated site gathering all aspects of these diseases as a whole is still lacking, i.e. covering research as well as the needs of AIDs patients and health care professionals. Our study thus advocates a merging of existing patient registries or the creation of a common database.

Environmental effects of off-highway vehicles on Bureau of Land Management lands: A literature synthesis, annotated bibliographies, extensive bibliographies, and internet resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ouren, Douglas S.; Haas, Christopher; Melcher, Cynthia P.; Stewart, Susan C.; Ponds, Phadrea D.; Sexton, Natalie R.; Burris, Lucy; Fancher, Tammy; Bowen, Zachary H.

2007-01-01

This report and its associated appendixes compile and synthesize the results of a comprehensive literature and Internet search conducted in May 2006. The literature search was undertaken to uncover information regarding the effects of off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on land health, or “natural resource attributes,” and included databases archiving information from before OHVs came into existence to May 2006. Information pertaining to socioeconomic implications of OHV activities is included as well. The literature and Internet searches yielded approximately 700 peer-reviewed papers, magazine articles, agency and non-governmental reports, and internet websites regarding effects of OHV use as they relate to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) standards of land health. Discussions regarding OHV effects are followed by brief syntheses of potential indicators of OHV effects, as well as OHV-effects mitigation, site-restoration techniques, and research needs.

Semantic biomedical resource discovery: a Natural Language Processing framework.

PubMed

Sfakianaki, Pepi; Koumakis, Lefteris; Sfakianakis, Stelios; Iatraki, Galatia; Zacharioudakis, Giorgos; Graf, Norbert; Marias, Kostas; Tsiknakis, Manolis

2015-09-30

A plethora of publicly available biomedical resources do currently exist and are constantly increasing at a fast rate. In parallel, specialized repositories are been developed, indexing numerous clinical and biomedical tools. The main drawback of such repositories is the difficulty in locating appropriate resources for a clinical or biomedical decision task, especially for non-Information Technology expert users. In parallel, although NLP research in the clinical domain has been active since the 1960s, progress in the development of NLP applications has been slow and lags behind progress in the general NLP domain. The aim of the present study is to investigate the use of semantics for biomedical resources annotation with domain specific ontologies and exploit Natural Language Processing methods in empowering the non-Information Technology expert users to efficiently search for biomedical resources using natural language. A Natural Language Processing engine which can "translate" free text into targeted queries, automatically transforming a clinical research question into a request description that contains only terms of ontologies, has been implemented. The implementation is based on information extraction techniques for text in natural language, guided by integrated ontologies. Furthermore, knowledge from robust text mining methods has been incorporated to map descriptions into suitable domain ontologies in order to ensure that the biomedical resources descriptions are domain oriented and enhance the accuracy of services discovery. The framework is freely available as a web application at ( http://calchas.ics.forth.gr/ ). For our experiments, a range of clinical questions were established based on descriptions of clinical trials from the ClinicalTrials.gov registry as well as recommendations from clinicians. Domain experts manually identified the available tools in a tools repository which are suitable for addressing the clinical questions at hand, either individually or as a set of tools forming a computational pipeline. The results were compared with those obtained from an automated discovery of candidate biomedical tools. For the evaluation of the results, precision and recall measurements were used. Our results indicate that the proposed framework has a high precision and low recall, implying that the system returns essentially more relevant results than irrelevant. There are adequate biomedical ontologies already available, sufficiency of existing NLP tools and quality of biomedical annotation systems for the implementation of a biomedical resources discovery framework, based on the semantic annotation of resources and the use on NLP techniques. The results of the present study demonstrate the clinical utility of the application of the proposed framework which aims to bridge the gap between clinical question in natural language and efficient dynamic biomedical resources discovery.

Knowledge gaps among public librarians seeking vaccination information: A qualitative study

PubMed Central

Smith, Catherine Arnott; Hundal, Savreen; Keselman, Alla

2014-01-01

Public libraries have been called the “first responders” to the specialized health information needs of the general public. The challenges inherent in consumer health information (CHI) service are centered around the Patron, the Librarian, the Information Resources, and the Library itself. The pilot study involved interviews with nine individual library workers in eight public libraries in four library systems: the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, and Fairfax County in Virginia. Library workers were asked about common consumer health information requests, the nature of their collections, and the role of public libraries in meeting these information needs. The subjects were also presented with a hypothetical scenario, and their responses suggest knowledge gaps. The findings point to the increasing necessity and importance of training and support for public librarians, as well as the importance of understanding where the medical knowledge gaps exist. Public librarians need to commit to formal evaluation of their skill sets and knowledge gaps, in order to identify areas to which libraries can devote limited resources. PMID:26550002

The Online Parent Information and Support project, meeting parents' information and support needs for home-based management of childhood chronic kidney disease: research protocol.

PubMed

Swallow, Veronica; Knafl, Kathleen; Sanatacroce, Sheila; Hall, Andrew; Smith, Trish; Campbell, Malcolm; Webb, Nicholas J A

2012-09-01

This article is a report of a protocol for studying the development and evaluation of an online parent information and support package for home-based care of children with chronic kidney disease stages 3-5. The study is funded by a National Institute of Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit Grant awarded (December 2010). Approval to undetake the study was obtained from the Department of Health National Research Ethics Service (June 2011). Children with chronic kidney disease require skilled, home-based care by parents, supported by professionals. Parents have identified a need for continuously available online resources to supplement professional support, and structured resources tailored to parents' needs are highlighted by policy makers as key to optimizing care; yet, online resource provision is patchy with little evidence base. Using mixed methods, we will (i) conduct parent/child/young person/professional/patient and parent volunteer focus groups to explore views on existing resources, (ii) collaboratively define gaps in provision, identify desirable components, develop/test resources and conduct a feasibility randomized controlled trial, and (iii) of usual professional support versus usual support supplemented by the package. Eighty parents of children with chronic kidney disease will be randomized. Primary outcomes will assess parents' self-efficacy and views of resources, using standardized measures at entry and 24 weeks, and semi-structured interviews at 24 weeks. We will finalize trial components for a later definitive trial. By working collaboratively, we will derive a detailed insight into parents' information and support needs and experiences of using the package, and should see improved parental self-efficacy. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Distribution of important habitats for coastal and offshore biological resources and offshore sand resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, and locations of important habitats (for example, Essential Fish Habitats (EFH), nesting areas, strandings) for marine invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and marine mammals. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map can be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided as attached xml files for all geographic information system (GIS) layers.

Development of a web-based toolkit to support improvement of care coordination in primary care.

PubMed

Ganz, David A; Barnard, Jenny M; Smith, Nina Z Y; Miake-Lye, Isomi M; Delevan, Deborah M; Simon, Alissa; Rose, Danielle E; Stockdale, Susan E; Chang, Evelyn T; Noël, Polly H; Finley, Erin P; Lee, Martin L; Zulman, Donna M; Cordasco, Kristina M; Rubenstein, Lisa V

2018-05-23

Promising practices for the coordination of chronic care exist, but how to select and share these practices to support quality improvement within a healthcare system is uncertain. This study describes an approach for selecting high-quality tools for an online care coordination toolkit to be used in Veterans Health Administration (VA) primary care practices. We evaluated tools in three steps: (1) an initial screening to identify tools relevant to care coordination in VA primary care, (2) a two-clinician expert review process assessing tool characteristics (e.g. frequency of problem addressed, linkage to patients' experience of care, effect on practice workflow, and sustainability with existing resources) and assigning each tool a summary rating, and (3) semi-structured interviews with VA patients and frontline clinicians and staff. Of 300 potentially relevant tools identified by searching online resources, 65, 38, and 18 remained after steps one, two and three, respectively. The 18 tools cover five topics: managing referrals to specialty care, medication management, patient after-visit summary, patient activation materials, agenda setting, patient pre-visit packet, and provider contact information for patients. The final toolkit provides access to the 18 tools, as well as detailed information about tools' expected benefits, and resources required for tool implementation. Future care coordination efforts can benefit from systematically reviewing available tools to identify those that are high quality and relevant.

Geothermal Exploration in Hot Springs, Montana

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

Toby McIntosh, Jackola Engineering

2012-09-26

The project involves drilling deeper in the Camp Aqua well dri lled in June 1982 as part of an effort to develop an ethanol plant. The purpose of the current drill ing effort is to determine if water at or above 165°F exists for the use in low temperature resource power generation. Previous geothermal resource study efforts in and around Hot Springs , MT and the Camp Aqua area (NE of Hot Springs) have been conducted through the years. A confined gravel aquifer exists in deep alluvium overlain by approximately 250 of si lt and c lay deposits from Glacialmore » Lake Missoula. This gravel aquifer overlies a deeper bedrock aquifer. In the Camp Aqua area several wel l s exist in the gravel aquifer which receives hot water f rom bedrock fractures beneath the area. Prior to this exploration, one known well in the Camp Aqua area penetrated into the bedrock without success in intersecting fractures transporting hot geothermal water. The exploration associated with this project adds to the physical knowledge database of the Camp Aqua area. The dri l l ing effort provides additional subsurface information that can be used to gain a better understanding of the bedrock formation that i s leaking hot geothermal water into an otherwise cold water aquifer. The exi s t ing well used for the explorat ion is located within the center of the hottest water within the gravel aquifer. This lent i t sel f as a logical and economical location to continue the exploration within the existing well. Faced with budget constraints due to unanticipated costs, changing dril l ing techniques stretched the limited project resources to maximize the overa l l well depth which f e l l short of original project goals. The project goal of finding 165°F or hotter water was not achieved; however the project provides additional information and understanding of the Camp Aqua area that could prove valuable in future exploration efforts« less

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

Adam, J. C.; Stephens, J. C.; Chung, Serena

As managers of agricultural and natural resources are confronted with uncertainties in global change impacts, the complexities associated with the interconnected cycling of nitrogen, carbon, and water present daunting management challenges. Existing models provide detailed information on specific sub-systems (land, air, water, economics, etc). An increasing awareness of the unintended consequences of management decisions resulting from interconnectedness of these sub-systems, however, necessitates coupled regional earth system models (EaSMs). Decision makers’ needs and priorities can be integrated into the model design and development processes to enhance decision-making relevance and "usability" of EaSMs. BioEarth is a current research initiative with a focusmore » on the U.S. Pacific Northwest region that explores the coupling of multiple stand-alone EaSMs to generate usable information for resource decision-making. Direct engagement between model developers and non-academic stakeholders involved in resource and environmental management decisions throughout the model development process is a critical component of this effort. BioEarth utilizes a "bottom-up" approach, upscaling a catchment-scale model to basin and regional scales, as opposed to the "top-down" approach of downscaling global models utilized by most other EaSM efforts. This paper describes the BioEarth initiative and highlights opportunities and challenges associated with coupling multiple stand-alone models to generate usable information for agricultural and natural resource decision-making.« less

Fort Collins Science Center: Fiscal Year 2007 Accomplishments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, J.T.

2008-01-01

In Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) continued research vital to U.S. Department of the Interior science and management needs and associated USGS programmatic goals. FORT work also supported the science needs of other government agencies as well as private cooperators. Specifically, FORT scientific research and technical assistance focused on client and partner needs and goals in the areas of biological information management, fisheries and aquatic systems, invasive species, status and trends of biological resources, terrestrial ecosystems, and wildlife resources. In addition, FORT's 5-year strategic plan was refined to incorporate focus areas identified in the USGS strategic science plan, including ecosystem-landscape analysis, global climate change, and energy and mineral resource development. As a consequence, several science projects initiated in FY07 were either entirely new research dor amplifications of existing work. Highlights of FORT project accomplishments are described below under the USGS science program with which each task is most closely associated. The work of FORT's 6 branches (Aquatic Systems and Technology Applications, Ecosystem Dynamics, Information Science, Invasive Species Science, Policy Analysis and Science Assistance, and Species and Habitats of Federal Interest) often involves major partnerships with other agencies or cooperation with other USGS disciplines (Geology, Geography, Water Resources) and the Geospatial Information Office.

Use of diabetes resources in adults attending a self-management education program.

PubMed

Gucciardi, Enza; Smith, Patricia L; DeMelo, Margaret

2006-12-01

To identify the types of resources used to acquire information or assistance in the management of diabetes, and to identify persons who are more or less likely to use a variety of diabetes resources. Through the use of a questionnaire and review of patient records, sociodemographic, clinical, and health care service utilization characteristics were obtained for 267 individuals with type 2 diabetes from a culturally diverse diabetes education centre. Descriptive analyses were performed to provide information on the types of diabetes resources used by age, sex and primary language spoken. Multivariable Poisson regression was used to predict low from high users of a variety of diabetes resources. On average, most patients used four different resources. The most commonly cited were physicians or endocrinologists; diabetes educators; and magazines, newspapers, books or television. Those who did not speak English, were born outside of Canada, had a lower level of education, or who were older used fewer diabetes resources. Notably, the characteristics of individuals who are less likely to use resources or a variety of resources reflect the basic determinants of health (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity or primary language spoken, and education). We need to develop resources that are equitably accessible and of interest to all patients, particularly for individuals who do not speak English, who have lower education and literacy levels, and who are older. Furthermore, imparting the skills on how to find and utilize currently existing resources to assist in chronic disease self-management should be promoted as a core aspect of self-management education.

An asset-focused health needs assessment in a rural community in North India.

PubMed

Mathias, Kaaren R; Mathias, Joseph M P; Hill, Philip C

2015-03-01

Health needs assessment (HNA) targets health resources to needs yet is rarely used in low-resource contexts such as the Indian villages. The authors combined rapid participatory appraisal (RPA) and HNA tools into 4 steps: (a) define HNA parameters, objectives, and community; (b) describe community demographics, health status, felt needs, assets, and health services; (c) analysis; and (d) design interventions considering felt needs, assets, impact potential, and organizational resources. Community felt needs focused on lack of access to personal health services. Major morbidities included respiratory and diarrheal disease and maternal/child health problems. Formal anthropometry revealed high prevalence of underweight and stunting. Community assets included high land ownership, educated unmarried women, and operational government services. In low-resource developing country contexts with poor information systems, HNA is possible and useful. Including RPA and community participation to also assess assets resulted in programs responding to communities' needs using existing resources. © 2011 APJPH.

An overview of biomedical literature search on the World Wide Web in the third millennium.

PubMed

Kumar, Prince; Goel, Roshni; Jain, Chandni; Kumar, Ashish; Parashar, Abhishek; Gond, Ajay Ratan

2012-06-01

Complete access to the existing pool of biomedical literature and the ability to "hit" upon the exact information of the relevant specialty are becoming essential elements of academic and clinical expertise. With the rapid expansion of the literature database, it is almost impossible to keep up to date with every innovation. Using the Internet, however, most people can freely access this literature at any time, from almost anywhere. This paper highlights the use of the Internet in obtaining valuable biomedical research information, which is mostly available from journals, databases, textbooks and e-journals in the form of web pages, text materials, images, and so on. The authors present an overview of web-based resources for biomedical researchers, providing information about Internet search engines (e.g., Google), web-based bibliographic databases (e.g., PubMed, IndMed) and how to use them, and other online biomedical resources that can assist clinicians in reaching well-informed clinical decisions.

Environmental Action Guide for New York City Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Advocates for Children of New York, Inc., Long Island City.

The purpose of this guide is to inform parents, advocates, and school personnel about existing laws and resources available to ensure that every child and every school employee has an environmentally safe and healthy school that is clean and in good repair. An environmentally safe and healthy school is one of the principles adopted by the New York…

The Industrial Training Yearbook, 1970; A Comprehensive Guide for Training Officers and Their Managements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kogan Page, Ltd., London (England).

This yearbook is designed as a comprehensive guide to British industrial training. Section 1 describes existing resources, information, and obligations in the light of the Industrial Training Act of 1964. Sections 2-6 deal with the scope of training; the Department of Education and Productivity and the Central Training Council; the 27 regional…

The Industrial Training Yearbook, 1971; A Comprehensive Guide for Training Officers and their Managements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kogan Page, Ltd., London (England).

This yearbook is designed as a comprehensive guide to British Industrial Training. Section 1 describes existing resources, information, and obligations in the light of the Industrial Training Act of 1964. Sections 2-6 cover the scope of training; the Department of Education and Productivity and the Central Training Council; the 30 Industrial…

76 FR 16732 - Updates to List of National System of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-25

... and 32 from the California Department of Fish and Game. Following a 30-day public review period, no... Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources and the California Department of Fish and Game, as the... objectives and design principles described in the Framework. The MPA Center used existing information in the...

Contemporary Spheres for the Teaching Education: Freire's Principles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez, Margarita Victoria

2006-01-01

Freire's cogitation on Information Technology (IT), resources for education have been known since the decade of the 50s. And now, within the current context, this analysis outlines the literacy problem as an issue of gnosis and anthropology while existing in a virtual dimension. Based on research/experiences that also were carried out in Brazil,…

30 CFR 285.107 - How do I show that I am qualified to be a lessee or grant holder?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... projects or other types of electric-energy-related projects; and (2) Information establishing access to... lessee or grant holder? 285.107 Section 285.107 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING...

Using an Interactive Computer Program to Communicate With the Wilderness Visitor

Treesearch

David W. Harmon

1992-01-01

The Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, identified a need for a tool to communicate with wilderness visitors, managers, and decisionmakers regarding wilderness values and existing resource information in 87 wilderness study areas. An interactive computer program was developed using a portable Macintosh computer, a touch screen monitor, and laser disk player...

Assessing the accuracy of a regional land cover classification

Treesearch

William Clerke; Raymond Czaplewski; Jeff Campbell; Janet Fahringer

1996-01-01

The Southern Region USDA Forest Service recently completed the Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAA). The Assessment is a broad scale interagency analysis and sharing of existing information relative to the natural and human resources of the region. The SAA encompasses over 36 million acres extending from Northern Virginia to Northern Alabama. It was clear early in the...

Open Learning: Resource Allocation and Control. Coombe Lodge Working Paper. Information Bank Number 1610.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latcham, Jack

In an effort to demonstrate that open learning can be accommodated within existing funding mechanisms in British colleges of further and higher education, this paper discusses issues concerned with determining the cost of Flexistudy and open learning delivery systems. After a review of the difficulties of estimating precisely the costs of various…

How To Select an Event Management System: A Guide to Selecting the Most Effective Resource Management System for College Union and Student Activities Professionals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Scott; Raasch, Kevin

2002-01-01

Provides an evaluation template for student activities professionals charged with evaluating competitive event scheduling software. Guides staff in making an informed decision on whether to retain event management technology provided through an existing vendor or choose "best-of-breed" scheduling software. (EV)

Invertabrates Associated with Woody Debris in a Southeastern U.S. Forested Floodplain Wetland

Treesearch

Amy Braccia; Darold P. Batzer

2001-01-01

Woody debris is an ecologically important resource in upland forests and stream ecosystems. Although much is known about invertebrate-woody debris interactions in forests and streams, little information exists for forested wetlands. In this study, invertebrates associated with woody debris in a Southeastern U. S. forested floodplain are described and factors that shape...

Community College Programs for Older Adults: A Resource Directory of Guidelines, Comprehensive Programming Models, and Selected Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckman, Brenda Marshall; Ventura-Merkel, Catherine

In an effort to more effectively disseminate information about community college programs for older adults, this directory was developed for three purposes: to make guidelines available for establishing, expanding, or revising programs; to offer a selection of successful programming models; and to provide a compendium of existing programs. Part I…

An Introduction To PC-TRIM.

Treesearch

John R. Mills

1989-01-01

The timber resource inventory model (TRIM) has been adapted to run on person al computers. The personal computer version of TRIM (PC-TRIM) is more widely used than its mainframe parent. Errors that existed in previous versions of TRIM have been corrected. Information is presented to help users with program input and output management in the DOS environment, to...

An Administrator's Guide to Microcomputer Resources. Research & Development Series No. 239B.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zahniser, Gale; And Others

This guide is designed to help educators sort through the vast amount of information that exists about the educational use of microcomputers. The first of five chapters takes the educational administrator through the decision process that is typically associated with choosing and adopting microcomputers for the school. For each point in this…

Design and Development of a Prototype Organizational Effectiveness Information System

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-11-01

information from a large number of people. The existing survey support process for the GOQ is not satisfac- * tory. Most OESOs elect not to use it, because...reporting process uses screen queries and menus to simplify data entry, it is estimated that only 4-6 hours of data entry time would be required for ...description for the file named EVEDIR. The Resource System allows users of the Event Directory to select from the following processing options. o Add a new

Migrating from Informal to Formal Consortium — COSTLI Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birdie, C.; Patil, Y. M.

2010-10-01

There are many models of library consortia which have come into existence due to various reasons and compulsions. FORSA (Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy) is an informal consortium born from the links between academic institutions specializing in astronomy in India. FORSA is a cooperative venture initiated by library professionals. Though this consortium was formed mainly for inter-lending activities and bibliographic access, it has matured over the years to adopt the consortium approach on cooperative acquisitions, due to increased requirements.

A palliative care needs assessment of rural hospitals.

PubMed

Fink, Regina M; Oman, Kathleen S; Youngwerth, Jeanie; Bryant, Lucinda L

2013-06-01

Palliative care services are lacking in rural hospitals. Implementing palliative care services in rural and remote areas requires knowledge of available resources, specific barriers, and a commitment from the hospital and community. The purpose of the study was to determine awareness, knowledge, barriers, and resources regarding palliative care services in rural hospitals. A descriptive survey design used an investigator-developed needs assessment to survey 374 (40% response rate) health care providers (chief executive officers, chiefs of medical staff, chief nursing officers, and social worker directors) at 236 rural hospitals (<100 beds) in seven Rocky Mountain states. Significant barriers to integrating palliative care exist: lack of administrative support, mentorship, and access to palliative care resources; inadequate basic knowledge about palliative care strategies; and limited training/skills in palliative care. Having contractual relationships with local hospices is a key facilitator. Respondents (56%) want to learn more about palliative care, specifically focusing on pain management, communication techniques, and end-of-life care issues. Webinar and online courses were suggested as strategies to promote long distance learning. It is imperative for quality of care that rural hospitals have practitioners who are up to date on current evidence and practice within a palliative care framework. Unique challenges exist to implementing palliative care services in rural hospitals. Opportunities for informing rural areas focus around utilizing existing hospice resources and relationships, and favoring Web-based classes and online courses. The development of a multifaceted intervention to facilitate education about palliative care and cultivate palliative care services in rural settings is indicated.

Survey of ecological resources at selected US Department of Energy sites

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

McAllister, C.; Beckert, H.; Abrams, C.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owns and manages a wide range of ecological resources. During the next 30 years, DOE Headquarters and Field Offices will make land-use planning decisions and conduct environmental remediation and restoration activities in response to federal and state statutes. This document fulfills, in part, DOE`s need to know what types of ecological resources it currently owns and manages by synthesizing information on the types and locations of ecological resources at 10 DOE sites: Hanford Site, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Rocky Flats Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, savannah Rivermore » Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fernald Environmental Management Project. This report summarizes information on ecosystems, habitats, and federally listed threatened, endangered, and candidate species that could be stressed by contaminants or physical activity during the restoration process, or by the natural or anthropogenic transport of contaminants from presently contaminated areas into presently uncontaminated areas. This report also provides summary information on the ecosystems, habitats, and threatened and endangered species that exist on each of the 10 sites. Each site chapter contains a general description of the site, including information on size, location, history, geology, hydrology, and climate. Descriptions of the major vegetation and animal communities and of aquatic resources are also provided, with discussions of the treatened or endangered plant or animal species present. Site-specific ecological issues are also discussed in each site chapter. 106 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.« less

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

Not Available

This Spanish version of the popular Small Wind Electric Systems: A U.S. Consumer's Guide provides consumers with information to help them determine whether a small wind electric system can provide all or a portion of the energy they need for their home or business based on their wind resource, energy needs, and economics. Topics include how to make a home more energy efficient, how to choose the correct turbine size, the parts of a wind electric system, how to determine whether enough wind resource exists, how to choose the best site for a turbine, how to connect a system tomore » the utility grid, and whether it's possible to become independent of the utility grid using wind energy. In addition, the cover of the guide contains a list of contacts for more information.« less

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

Not Available

This Spanish version of the popular Small Wind Electric Systems: A New Mexico Consumer's Guide provides consumers with information to help them determine whether a small wind electric system can provide all or a portion of the energy they need for their home or business based on their wind resource, energy needs, and economics. Topics include how to make a home more energy efficient, how to choose the correct turbine size, the parts of a wind electric system, how to determine whether enough wind resource exists, how to choose the best site for a turbine, how to connect a systemmore » to the utility grid, and whether it's possible to become independent of the utility grid using wind energy. In addition, the cover of the guide contains a list of contacts for more information.« less

A study of actions in operative notes.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Pakhomov, Serguei; Burkart, Nora E; Ryan, James O; Melton, Genevieve B

2012-01-01

Operative notes contain rich information about techniques, instruments, and materials used in procedures. To assist development of effective information extraction (IE) techniques for operative notes, we investigated the sublanguage used to describe actions within the operative report 'procedure description' section. Deep parsing results of 362,310 operative notes with an expanded Stanford parser using the SPECIALIST Lexicon resulted in 200 verbs (92% coverage) including 147 action verbs. Nominal action predicates for each action verb were gathered from WordNet, SPECIALIST Lexicon, New Oxford American Dictionary and Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Coverage gaps were seen in existing lexical, domain, and semantic resources (Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, SPECIALIST Lexicon, WordNet and FrameNet). Our findings demonstrate the need to construct surgical domain-specific semantic resources for IE from operative notes.

Tiered Approach to Resilience Assessment.

PubMed

Linkov, Igor; Fox-Lent, Cate; Read, Laura; Allen, Craig R; Arnott, James C; Bellini, Emanuele; Coaffee, Jon; Florin, Marie-Valentine; Hatfield, Kirk; Hyde, Iain; Hynes, William; Jovanovic, Aleksandar; Kasperson, Roger; Katzenberger, John; Keys, Patrick W; Lambert, James H; Moss, Richard; Murdoch, Peter S; Palma-Oliveira, Jose; Pulwarty, Roger S; Sands, Dale; Thomas, Edward A; Tye, Mari R; Woods, David

2018-04-25

Regulatory agencies have long adopted a three-tier framework for risk assessment. We build on this structure to propose a tiered approach for resilience assessment that can be integrated into the existing regulatory processes. Comprehensive approaches to assessing resilience at appropriate and operational scales, reconciling analytical complexity as needed with stakeholder needs and resources available, and ultimately creating actionable recommendations to enhance resilience are still lacking. Our proposed framework consists of tiers by which analysts can select resilience assessment and decision support tools to inform associated management actions relative to the scope and urgency of the risk and the capacity of resource managers to improve system resilience. The resilience management framework proposed is not intended to supplant either risk management or the many existing efforts of resilience quantification method development, but instead provide a guide to selecting tools that are appropriate for the given analytic need. The goal of this tiered approach is to intentionally parallel the tiered approach used in regulatory contexts so that resilience assessment might be more easily and quickly integrated into existing structures and with existing policies. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Summary appraisal of water resources in the Redmond Quadrangle, Sanpete and Sevier counties, Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Price, Don

1981-01-01

This map was compiled in conjunction with an energy-related geologic-mapping project on the Redmond Quadrangle (Witkind, 1980) in order to show the general availability and chemical quality of water in the area. The map is based chiefly on data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey under a continuing cooperative program with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and on cursory field observations by the writer. Most of the existing fata are in reports of Carpenter and Young (1963), Hahl and Cabell (1965), Young and Carpenter (1965) and Hahl and Mundorff (1968). Additional information about water and related land resources in the map area may be found in a report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1969).The map is intended for general planning purposes only and needs to be used with discretion. Detailed site-specific information about the availability and quality of water or about water-related problems can be gained only by special on-site investigations.

Bridging the Gap between HL7 CDA and HL7 FHIR: A JSON Based Mapping.

PubMed

Rinner, Christoph; Duftschmid, Georg

2016-01-01

The Austrian electronic health record (EHR) system ELGA went live in December 2016. It is a document oriented EHR system and is based on the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA). The HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a relatively new standard that combines the advantages of HL7 messages and CDA Documents. In order to offer easier access to information stored in ELGA we present a method based on adapted FHIR resources to map CDA documents to FHIR resources. A proof-of-concept tool using Java, the open-source FHIR framework HAPI-FHIR and publicly available FHIR servers was created to evaluate the presented mapping. In contrast to other approaches the close resemblance of the mapping file to the FHIR specification allows existing FHIR infrastructure to be reused. In order to reduce information overload and facilitate the access to CDA documents, FHIR could offer a standardized way to query CDA data on a fine granular base in Austria.

The internet

PubMed Central

Al-Shahi, R; Sadler, M; Rees, G; Bateman, D

2002-01-01

The growing use of email and the world wide web (WWW), by the public, academics, and clinicians—as well as the increasing availability of high quality information on the WWW—make a working knowledge of the internet important. Although this article aims to enhance readers' existing use of the internet and medical resources on the WWW, it is also intelligible to someone unfamiliar with the internet. A web browser is one of the central pieces of software in modern computing: it is a window on the WWW, file transfer protocol sites, networked newsgroups, and your own computer's files. Effective use of the internet for professional purposes requires an understanding of the best strategies to search the WWW and the mechanisms for ensuring secure data transfer, as well as a compendium of online resources including journals, textbooks, medical portals, and sites providing high quality patient information. This article summarises these resources, available to incorporate into your web browser as downloadable "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" from www.jnnp.com, where there are also freely accessible hypertext links to the recommended sites. PMID:12438460

FASTER - A tool for DSN forecasting and scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werntz, David; Loyola, Steven; Zendejas, Silvino

1993-01-01

FASTER (Forecasting And Scheduling Tool for Earth-based Resources) is a suite of tools designed for forecasting and scheduling JPL's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN is a set of antennas and other associated resources that must be scheduled for satellite communications, astronomy, maintenance, and testing. FASTER consists of MS-Windows based programs that replace two existing programs (RALPH and PC4CAST). FASTER was designed to be more flexible, maintainable, and user friendly. FASTER makes heavy use of commercial software to allow for customization by users. FASTER implements scheduling as a two pass process: the first pass calculates a predictive profile of resource utilization; the second pass uses this information to calculate a cost function used in a dynamic programming optimization step. This information allows the scheduler to 'look ahead' at activities that are not as yet scheduled. FASTER has succeeded in allowing wider access to data and tools, reducing the amount of effort expended and increasing the quality of analysis.

18 CFR 701.102 - Existing committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Existing committees. 701.102 Section 701.102 Conservation of Power and Water Resources WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL COUNCIL... Resources Council (formerly under the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources) are as follows: Pacific...

18 CFR 701.102 - Existing committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Existing committees. 701.102 Section 701.102 Conservation of Power and Water Resources WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL COUNCIL... Resources Council (formerly under the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources) are as follows: Pacific...

18 CFR 701.102 - Existing committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2013-04-01 2012-04-01 true Existing committees. 701.102 Section 701.102 Conservation of Power and Water Resources WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL COUNCIL... Resources Council (formerly under the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources) are as follows: Pacific...

18 CFR 701.102 - Existing committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Existing committees. 701.102 Section 701.102 Conservation of Power and Water Resources WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL COUNCIL... Resources Council (formerly under the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources) are as follows: Pacific...

18 CFR 701.102 - Existing committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Existing committees. 701.102 Section 701.102 Conservation of Power and Water Resources WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL COUNCIL... Resources Council (formerly under the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources) are as follows: Pacific...

Medication incident reporting in residential aged care facilities: Limitations and risks to residents’ safety

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Medication incident reporting (MIR) is a key safety critical care process in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Retrospective studies of medication incident reports in aged care have identified the inability of existing MIR processes to generate information that can be used to enhance residents’ safety. However, there is little existing research that investigates the limitations of the existing information exchange process that underpins MIR, despite the considerable resources that RACFs’ devote to the MIR process. The aim of this study was to undertake an in-depth exploration of the information exchange process involved in MIR and identify factors that inhibit the collection of meaningful information in RACFs. Methods The study was undertaken in three RACFs (part of a large non-profit organisation) in NSW, Australia. A total of 23 semi-structured interviews and 62 hours of observation sessions were conducted between May to July 2011. The qualitative data was iteratively analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results The findings highlight significant gaps in the design of the MIR artefacts as well as information exchange issues in MIR process execution. Study results emphasized the need to: a) design MIR artefacts that facilitate identification of the root causes of medication incidents, b) integrate the MIR process within existing information systems to overcome key gaps in information exchange execution, and c) support exchange of information that can facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach to medication incident management in RACFs. Conclusions This study highlights the advantages of viewing MIR process holistically rather than as segregated tasks, as a means to identify gaps in information exchange that need to be addressed in practice to improve safety critical processes. PMID:23122411

Hydrological education and training needs in sub-Saharan Africa: requirements, constraints and progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, D. A.

2012-03-01

This paper represents a perspective on the education and training needs related to hydrology and water resources science within the sub-Saharan Africa region and discusses the requirements of the region, some of the relatively recent developments and initiatives and some of the constraints that exist and remain difficult to surmount. The requirements include the development of academic research capacity and technical skill for both the private and public sector at a variety of levels. Some of the constraints that exist include a lack of adequate funding, lack of follow-up after short training courses, lack of institutional support to continue training, and competition for major water resources development projects from organizations outside the region. One of the main conclusions is that to sustain both educational and practical expertise in hydrology and water resources science within the region there is a need to build a "critical mass" of local expertise. Part of this could be achieved by increasing networking within the region and promoting the sharing of information, tools and expertise. There is also a need to promote institutional support.

Hydrological education and training needs in Sub-Saharan Africa: requirements, constraints and progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, D. A.

2011-12-01

This paper represents a perspective on the education and training needs related to hydrology and water resources science within the sub-Saharan Africa region and discusses the requirements of the region, some of the relatively recent developments and initiatives and some of the constraints that exist and remain difficult to surmount. The requirements include the development of academic research capacity and technical skill for both the private and public sector at a variety of levels. Some of the constraints that exist include a lack of adequate funding, lack of follow-up after short training courses, lack of institutional support to continue training, and competition for major water resources development projects from organizations outside the region. One of the main conclusions is that to sustain both educational and practical expertise in hydrology and water resources science within the region there is a need to build a "critical mass" of local expertise. Part of this could be achieved by increasing networking within the region and promoting the sharing of information, tools and expertise. There is also a need to promote institutional support.

Setting targets for human resources for eye health in sub-Saharan Africa: what evidence should be used?

PubMed

Courtright, Paul; Mathenge, Wanjiku; Kello, Amir Bedri; Cook, Colin; Kalua, Khumbo; Lewallen, Susan

2016-03-16

With a global target set at reducing vision loss by 25% by the year 2019, sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 4.8 million blind persons will require human resources for eye health (HReH) that need to be available, appropriately skilled, supported, and productive. Targets for HReH are useful for planning, monitoring, and resource mobilization, but they need to be updated and informed by evidence of effectiveness and efficiency. Supporting evidence should take into consideration (1) ever-changing disease-specific issues including the epidemiology, the complexity of diagnosis and treatment, and the technology needed for diagnosis and treatment of each condition; (2) the changing demands for vision-related services of an increasingly urbanized population; and (3) interconnected health system issues that affect productivity and quality. The existing targets for HReH and some of the existing strategies such as task shifting of cataract surgery and trichiasis surgery, as well as the scope of eye care interventions for primary eye care workers, will need to be re-evaluated and re-defined against such evidence or supported by new evidence.

Multi-service terminal adapter based on IP technology applications in rural area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Li; Li, Xiaobo; Yan, Juntao; Ren, Xupeng

Take advantage of ample modern existing telecom network resources to rural areas may achieve it's information society gradually. This includes the establishment of integrated rural information service platform, modern remote education center and electronic administration management platform for rural areas. The geographical and economic constraints must be overcome for structuring the rural service support system, in order to provide technical support, information products and information services to modern rural information service system. It is important that development an access platform based IP technology, which supports multi-service access in order to implement a variety of types of mobile terminal equipment adapter access and to reduce restrictions on mobile terminal equipment.

Identifying strategies to improve access to credible and relevant information for public health professionals: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

LaPelle, Nancy R; Luckmann, Roger; Simpson, E Hatheway; Martin, Elaine R

2006-01-01

Background Movement towards evidence-based practices in many fields suggests that public health (PH) challenges may be better addressed if credible information about health risks and effective PH practices is readily available. However, research has shown that many PH information needs are unmet. In addition to reviewing relevant literature, this study performed a comprehensive review of existing information resources and collected data from two representative PH groups, focusing on identifying current practices, expressed information needs, and ideal systems for information access. Methods Nineteen individual interviews were conducted among employees of two domains in a state health department – communicable disease control and community health promotion. Subsequent focus groups gathered additional data on preferences for methods of information access and delivery as well as information format and content. Qualitative methods were used to identify themes in the interview and focus group transcripts. Results Informants expressed similar needs for improved information access including single portal access with a good search engine; automatic notification regarding newly available information; access to best practice information in many areas of interest that extend beyond biomedical subject matter; improved access to grey literature as well as to more systematic reviews, summaries, and full-text articles; better methods for indexing, filtering, and searching for information; and effective ways to archive information accessed. Informants expressed a preference for improving systems with which they were already familiar such as PubMed and listservs rather than introducing new systems of information organization and delivery. A hypothetical ideal model for information organization and delivery was developed based on informants' stated information needs and preferred means of delivery. Features of the model were endorsed by the subjects who reviewed it. Conclusion Many critical information needs of PH practitioners are not being met efficiently or at all. We propose a dual strategy of: 1) promoting incremental improvements in existing information delivery systems based on the expressed preferences of the PH users of the systems and 2) the concurrent development and rigorous evaluation of new models of information organization and delivery that draw on successful resources already operating to deliver information to clinical medical practitioners. PMID:16597331

Factors shaping effective utilization of health information technology in urban safety-net clinics.

PubMed

George, Sheba; Garth, Belinda; Fish, Allison; Baker, Richard

2013-09-01

Urban safety-net clinics are considered prime targets for the adoption of health information technology innovations; however, little is known about their utilization in such safety-net settings. Current scholarship provides limited guidance on the implementation of health information technology into safety-net settings as it typically assumes that adopting institutions have sufficient basic resources. This study addresses this gap by exploring the unique challenges urban resource-poor safety-net clinics must consider when adopting and utilizing health information technology. In-depth interviews (N = 15) were used with key stakeholders (clinic chief executive officers, medical directors, nursing directors, chief financial officers, and information technology directors) from staff at four clinics to explore (a) nonhealth information technology-related clinic needs, (b) how health information technology may provide solutions, and (c) perceptions of and experiences with health information technology. Participants identified several challenges, some of which appear amenable to health information technology solutions. Also identified were requirements for effective utilization of health information technology including physical infrastructural improvements, funding for equipment/training, creation of user groups to share health information technology knowledge/experiences, and specially tailored electronic billing guidelines. We found that despite the potential benefit that can be derived from health information technologies, the unplanned and uninformed introduction of these tools into these settings might actually create more problems than are solved. From these data, we were able to identify a set of factors that should be considered when integrating health information technology into the existing workflows of low-resourced urban safety-net clinics in order to maximize their utilization and enhance the quality of health care in such settings.

Cervical cancer data and data systems in limited-resource settings: Challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Drummond, Jennifer L; Were, Martin C; Arrossi, Silvina; Wools-Kaloustian, Kara

2017-07-01

Appropriate collection and use of health information is critical to the planning, scaling up, and improvement of cervical cancer programs. The health information systems implementation landscape is unique to each country; however, systems serving cervical cancer programs in low-resource settings share characteristics that present common challenges. In response, many programs have taken innovative approaches to generating the quality information needed for decision making. Recent advances in health information technology also provide feasible solutions to challenges. This article draws from the experiences of the authors and from current literature to describe outstanding challenges and promising practices in the implementation of cervical cancer data systems, and to make recommendations for next steps. Recommendations include engaging all stakeholders-including providers, program managers, implementing partners, and donors-in promoting national, district, and community information systems; building on existing systems and processes, as well as introducing new technologies; and evolving data collection and data systems as programs advance. © 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

The human resource information system: a rapid appraisal of Pakistan’s capacity to employ the tool

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Human resources are an important building block of the health system. During the last decade, enormous investment has gone into the information systems to manage human resources, but due to the lack of a clear vision, policy, and strategy, the results of these efforts have not been very visible. No reliable information portal captures the actual state of human resources in Pakistan’s health sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided technical support for the assessment of the existing system and development of a comprehensive Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in Pakistan. Methods The questions in the WHO-HRIS Assessment tool were distributed into five thematic groups. Purposively selected (n=65) representatives from the government, private sector, and development partners participated in this cross sectional study, based on their programmatic affiliations. Results Fifty-five percent of organizations and departments have an independent Human Resources (HR) section managed by an establishment branch and are fully equipped with functional computers. Forty-five organizations (70%) had HR rules, regulations and coordination mechanisms, yet these are not implemented. Data reporting is mainly in paper form, on prescribed forms (51%), registers (3%) or even plain papers (20%). Data analysis does not give inputs to the decision making process and dissemination of information is quite erratic. Most of the organizations had no feedback mechanism for cross checking the HR data, rendering it unreliable. Conclusion Pakistan is lacking appropriate HRIS management. The current HRIS indeed has a multitude of problems. In the wake of 2011 reforms within the health sector, provinces are even in a greater need for planning their respective health department services and must work on the deficiencies and inefficiencies of their HRIS so that the gaps and HR needs are better aligned for reaching the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets. PMID:24016066

Resource theory for work and heat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparaciari, Carlo; Oppenheim, Jonathan; Fritz, Tobias

2017-11-01

Several recent results on thermodynamics have been obtained using the tools of quantum information theory and resource theories. So far, the resource theories utilized to describe thermodynamics have assumed the existence of an infinite thermal reservoir, by declaring that thermal states at some background temperature come for free. Here, we propose a resource theory of quantum thermodynamics without a background temperature, so that no states at all come for free. We apply this resource theory to the case of many noninteracting systems and show that all quantum states are classified by their entropy and average energy, even arbitrarily far away from equilibrium. This implies that thermodynamics takes place in a two-dimensional convex set that we call the energy-entropy diagram. The answers to many resource-theoretic questions about thermodynamics can be read off from this diagram, such as the efficiency of a heat engine consisting of finite reservoirs, or the rate of conversion between two states. This allows us to consider a resource theory which puts work and heat on an equal footing, and serves as a model for other resource theories.

Use of Electronic Resources for Psychiatry Clerkship Learning: A Medical Student Survey.

PubMed

Snow, Caitlin E; Torous, John; Gordon-Elliott, Janna S; Penzner, Julie B; Meyer, Fermonta; Boland, Robert

2017-10-01

The primary aim of this study is to examine medical students' use patterns, preferences, and perceptions of electronic educational resources available for psychiatry clerkship learning. Eligible participants included medical students who had completed the psychiatry clerkship during a 24-month period. An internet-based questionnaire was used to collect information regarding the outcomes described above. A total of 68 medical students responded to the survey. Most respondents reported high utilization of electronic resources on an array of devices for psychiatry clerkship learning and indicated a preference for electronic over print resources. The most commonly endorsed barriers to the use of electronic resources were that the source contained irrelevant and non-specific content, access was associated with a financial cost, and faculty guidance on recommended resources was insufficient. Respondents indicated a wish for more psychiatry-specific electronic learning resources. The authors' results suggest that a demand exists for high-quality electronic and portable learning tools that are relevant to medical student education in psychiatry. Psychiatry educators are usefully positioned to be involved in the development of such resources.

[Knowledge of support and aid after first stroke].

PubMed

Schlote, A; Poppendick, U; Möller, C; Wessel, K; Wunderlich, M; Wallesch, C-W

2008-06-01

The literature predicts a considerable demand of support and aid for stroke patients and their caregivers. It is not known to what extent existing resources are used by these groups. The present study aimed at a survey of knowledge of and acquaintance with institutions and organizations offering support after stroke and actual use of these resources. Six and twelve months after stroke, 84 patients and their nearest others were questioned concerning their acquaintance with and use of professional and institutional resources for support and also with respect to social support and self-efficacy. Six and twelve months after stroke, actual use of the various resources for support varied between 0 and 13%. Only part of the patients (11-65%) and relatives (up to 78%) knew about the professional and institutional resource available. Information about resources for support after stroke is unsatisfactory and should be established at a point in the delivery of care chain where all those affected by stroke and their caregivers are accessed.

Enhancing Leadership and Governance Competencies to Strengthen Health Systems in Nigeria: Assessment of Organizational Human Resources Development

PubMed Central

Uneke, Chigozie J.; Ezeoha, Abel E.; Ndukwe, Chinwendu D.; Oyibo, Patrick G.; Onwe, Fri Day

2012-01-01

The lack of effective leadership and governance in the health sector has remained a major challenge in Nigeria and contributes to the failure of health systems and poor development of human resources. In this cross-sectional intervention study, leadership and governance competencies of policy makers were enhanced through a training workshop, and an assessment was conducted of organizational activities designed to promote evidence-informed leadership and governance to improve human resources for health (HRH). The training workshop increased the understanding of policy makers with regard to leadership and governance factors that ensure the functionality of health systems and improve human resources development, including policy guidance, intelligence and oversight, collaboration and coalition building, regulation, system design and accountability. Findings indicated that systems for human resources development exist in all participants' organizations, but the functionality of these systems was suboptimal. More systematic and standardized processes are required to improve competencies of leadership and governance for better human resources development in low-income settings. PMID:23372582

AgRISTARS: Agriculture and resources inventory surveys through aerospace remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The major objectives and FY 1980 accomplishments are described of a long term program designed to determine the usefulness, cost, and extent to which aerospace remote sensing data can be integrated into existing or future USDA systems to improve the objectivity, reliability, timeliness, and adequacy of information. A general overview, the primary and participating agencies, and the technical highlights of each of the following projects are presented: early warning/crop condition assessment; foreign commodity production forecasting; yield model development; supporting research; soil moisture; domestic crops and land cover; renewable resources inventory; and conservation and pollution.

Efficient resource allocation scheme for visible-light communication system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Woo-Chan; Bae, Chi-Sung; Cho, Dong-Ho; Shin, Hong-Seok; Jung, D. K.; Oh, Y. J.

2009-01-01

A visible-light communication utilizing LED has many advantagies such as visibility of information, high SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio), low installation cost, usage of existing illuminators, and high security. Furthermore, exponentially increasing needs and quality of LED have helped the development of visible-light communication. The visibility is the most attractive property in visible-light communication system, but it is difficult to ensure visibility and transmission efficiency simultaneously during initial access because of the small amount of initial access process signals. In this paper, we propose an efficient resource allocation scheme at initial access for ensuring visibility with high resource utilization rate and low data transmission failure rate. The performance has been evaluated through the numerical analysis and simulation results.

Health economic evaluations help inform payers of the best use of scarce health care resources.

PubMed

O'Reilly, Daria; Gaebel, Kathryn; Xie, Feng; Tarride, Jean-Eric; Goeree, Ron

2011-09-01

The number of new health technologies has risen over the past decade. These new technologies usually are more effective but they also cost more compared to existing ones. In a publicly funded health care system such as Canada, the aim is to maximize the health of the population within the resources available. As a result, it is unavoidable that choices and trade-offs have to be made because there will always be more treatment options than resources will allow (i.e., scarcity of resources) as well as alternative uses for those resources (i.e., opportunity costs). The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of economic evaluations and how these tools can be used to help inform payers of the best use of scarce health care resources. This descriptive paper includes a summary of key consepts and definitions in economic appraisal and draws upon recently published papers as illustrations. Background on the necessity and role of economic evaluations is provided, followed by a description of the approaches for, and types of, economic evaluations. Two illustrative examples are used and some implications for rural, remote and circumpolar communities are discussed. There are 2 main approaches for conducting an economic evaluation (trial- and model-based) and 3 types of evaluations which can be considered to inform payers of the best use of health care resources (cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and cost-benefit analyses). Techniques of economic evaluation are useful tools and an important input into the decision-making process. Although these techniques have universal application, there are issues specific to rural, remote and circumpolar communities which can affect the results of economic appraisals.

Sustainability in Health care by Allocating Resources Effectively (SHARE) 2: identifying opportunities for disinvestment in a local healthcare setting.

PubMed

Harris, Claire; Allen, Kelly; King, Richard; Ramsey, Wayne; Kelly, Cate; Thiagarajan, Malar

2017-05-05

This is the second in a series of papers reporting a program of Sustainability in Health care by Allocating Resources Effectively (SHARE) in a local healthcare setting. Rising healthcare costs, continuing advances in health technologies and recognition of ineffective practices and systematic waste are driving disinvestment of health technologies and clinical practices that offer little or no benefit in order to maximise outcomes from existing resources. However there is little information to guide regional health services or individual facilities in how they might approach disinvestment locally. This paper outlines the investigation of potential settings and methods for decision-making about disinvestment in the context of an Australian health service. Methods include a literature review on the concepts and terminology relating to disinvestment, a survey of national and international researchers, and interviews and workshops with local informants. A conceptual framework was drafted and refined with stakeholder feedback. There is a lack of common terminology regarding definitions and concepts related to disinvestment and no guidance for an organisation-wide systematic approach to disinvestment in a local healthcare service. A summary of issues from the literature and respondents highlight the lack of theoretical knowledge and practical experience and provide a guide to the information required to develop future models or methods for disinvestment in the local context. A conceptual framework was developed. Three mechanisms that provide opportunities to introduce disinvestment decisions into health service systems and processes were identified. Presented in order of complexity, time to achieve outcomes and resources required they include 1) Explicit consideration of potential disinvestment in routine decision-making, 2) Proactive decision-making about disinvestment driven by available evidence from published research and local data, and 3) Specific exercises in priority setting and system redesign. This framework identifies potential opportunities to initiate disinvestment activities in a systematic integrated approach that can be applied across a whole organisation using transparent, evidence-based methods. Incorporating considerations for disinvestment into existing decision-making systems and processes might be achieved quickly with minimal cost; however establishment of new systems requires research into appropriate methods and provision of appropriate skills and resources to deliver them.

NASA Remote Sensing Observations for Water Resource and Infrastructure Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Granger, S. L.; Armstrong, L.; Farr, T.; Geller, G.; Heath, E.; Hyon, J.; Lavoie, S.; McDonald, K.; Realmuto, V.; Stough, T.; Szana, K.

2008-12-01

Decision support tools employed by water resource and infrastructure managers often utilize data products obtained from local sources or national/regional databases of historic surveys and observations. Incorporation of data from these sources can be laborious and time consuming as new products must be identified, cleaned and archived for each new study site. Adding remote sensing observations to the list of sources holds promise for a timely, consistent, global product to aid decision support at regional and global scales by providing global observations of geophysical parameters including soil moisture, precipitation, atmospheric temperature, derived evapotranspiration, and snow extent needed for hydrologic models and decision support tools. However, issues such as spatial and temporal resolution arise when attempting to integrate remote sensing observations into existing decision support tools. We are working to overcome these and other challenges through partnerships with water resource managers, tool developers and other stakeholders. We are developing a new data processing framework, enabled by a core GIS server, to seamlessly pull together observations from disparate sources for synthesis into information products and visualizations useful to the water resources community. A case study approach is being taken to develop the system by working closely with water infrastructure and resource managers to integrate remote observations into infrastructure, hydrologic and water resource decision tools. We present the results of a case study utilizing observations from the PALS aircraft instrument as a proxy for NASA's upcoming Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission and an existing commercial decision support tool.

Remote sensing applications for sustainable agriculture in South Africa (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarmain, Caren; Van Niekerk, Adriaan; Goudriaan, Ruben

2016-10-01

Agriculture contributes greatly to the economy of South Africa (SA), through job creation and produce exports. SA is classified as a semi-arid country and due to its low rainfall, fierce competition exists for the available water resources. Balancing the need for water resources on the one hand, with the importance of agricultural production on the other, is often challenging. A lot of emphasis is placed on prudent water management and enhanced crop water use efficiency. Suitable information and tools are key in empowering both water resources managers and (crop) producers for sustainable agricultural production. Information and tools available at frequent intervals throughout the production season and at a range of levels - from the field to the catchment and for the entire country - has become essential. The frequency and availability of remote sensing data, developments in algorithms to produce information related to the water cycle and crop growth and hence the actual information sets produced over time, makes for fitting solutions. Though much progress has been made over the past years to integrate these spatial data products into water management and agricultural systems, it is likely still in its infancy. In the paper, some flagship projects related to sustainable agriculture and water management - both research and applied - are showcased.

SSMap: a new UniProt-PDB mapping resource for the curation of structural-related information in the UniProt/Swiss-Prot Knowledgebase.

PubMed

David, Fabrice P A; Yip, Yum L

2008-09-23

Sequences and structures provide valuable complementary information on protein features and functions. However, it is not always straightforward for users to gather information concurrently from the sequence and structure levels. The UniProt knowledgebase (UniProtKB) strives to help users on this undertaking by providing complete cross-references to Protein Data Bank (PDB) as well as coherent feature annotation using available structural information. In this study, SSMap - a new UniProt-PDB residue-residue level mapping - was generated. The primary objective of this mapping is not only to facilitate the two tasks mentioned above, but also to palliate a number of shortcomings of existent mappings. SSMap is the first isoform sequence-specific mapping resource and is up-to-date for UniProtKB annotation tasks. The method employed by SSMap differs from the other mapping resources in that it stresses on the correct reconstruction of the PDB sequence from structures, and on the correct attribution of a UniProtKB entry to each PDB chain by using a series of post-processing steps. SSMap was compared to other existing mapping resources in terms of the correctness of the attribution of PDB chains to UniProtKB entries, and of the quality of the pairwise alignments supporting the residue-residue mapping. It was found that SSMap shared about 80% of the mappings with other mapping sources. New and alternative mappings proposed by SSMap were mostly good as assessed by manual verification of data subsets. As for local pairwise alignments, it was shown that major discrepancies (both in terms of alignment lengths and boundaries), when present, were often due to differences in methodologies used for the mappings. SSMap provides an independent, good quality UniProt-PDB mapping. The systematic comparison conducted in this study allows the further identification of general problems in UniProt-PDB mappings so that both the coverage and the quality of the mappings can be systematically improved for the benefit of the scientific community. SSMap mapping is currently used to provide PDB cross-references in UniProtKB.

An intelligent content discovery technique for health portal content management.

PubMed

De Silva, Daswin; Burstein, Frada

2014-04-23

Continuous content management of health information portals is a feature vital for its sustainability and widespread acceptance. Knowledge and experience of a domain expert is essential for content management in the health domain. The rate of generation of online health resources is exponential and thereby manual examination for relevance to a specific topic and audience is a formidable challenge for domain experts. Intelligent content discovery for effective content management is a less researched topic. An existing expert-endorsed content repository can provide the necessary leverage to automatically identify relevant resources and evaluate qualitative metrics. This paper reports on the design research towards an intelligent technique for automated content discovery and ranking for health information portals. The proposed technique aims to improve efficiency of the current mostly manual process of portal content management by utilising an existing expert-endorsed content repository as a supporting base and a benchmark to evaluate the suitability of new content A model for content management was established based on a field study of potential users. The proposed technique is integral to this content management model and executes in several phases (ie, query construction, content search, text analytics and fuzzy multi-criteria ranking). The construction of multi-dimensional search queries with input from Wordnet, the use of multi-word and single-word terms as representative semantics for text analytics and the use of fuzzy multi-criteria ranking for subjective evaluation of quality metrics are original contributions reported in this paper. The feasibility of the proposed technique was examined with experiments conducted on an actual health information portal, the BCKOnline portal. Both intermediary and final results generated by the technique are presented in the paper and these help to establish benefits of the technique and its contribution towards effective content management. The prevalence of large numbers of online health resources is a key obstacle for domain experts involved in content management of health information portals and websites. The proposed technique has proven successful at search and identification of resources and the measurement of their relevance. It can be used to support the domain expert in content management and thereby ensure the health portal is up-to-date and current.

Integrated design strategy for product life-cycle management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, G. Patrick

2001-02-01

Two major trends suggest new considerations for environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM) -- the continuation of dematerialization and the growing trend toward goods becoming services. A diversity of existing research could be integrated around those trends in ways that can enhance ECM. Major research-based achievements in information, computation, and communications systems, sophisticated and inexpensive sensing capabilities, highly automated and precise manufacturing technologies, and new materials continue to drive the phenomenon of dematerialization - the reduction of the material and energy content of per capita GDP. Knowledge is also growing about the sociology, economics, mathematics, management and organization of complex socio-economic systems. And that has driven a trend towards goods evolving into services. But even with these significant trends, the value of material, energy, information and human resources incorporated into the manufacture, use and disposal of modern products and services often far exceeds the benefits realized. Multi-disciplinary research integrating these drivers with advances in ECM concepts could be the basis for a new strategy of production. It is argued that a strategy of integrating information resources with physical and human resources over product life cycles, together with considering products as streams of service over time, could lead to significant economic payoff. That strategy leads to an overall design concept to minimize costs of all resources over the product life cycle to more fully capture benefits of all resources incorporated into modern products. It is possible by including life cycle monitoring, periodic component replacement, re-manufacture, salvage and human factor skill enhancement into initial design.

Investigation of the geology and hydrology of the Coconino Plateau of northern Arizona: a project of the Arizona Rural Watershed Initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Flynn, Marilyn E.; Bills, Donald J.

2002-01-01

The water resources of the Coconino Plateau in northern Arizona are under increasing demand as a result of development. The population of this arid region continues to grow, and the number of visitors to the many national and state parks and monuments in the region has increased annually. The sustainability, protection, and maintenance of springs and seeps and associated riparian habitat on the Coconino Plateau are major issues that have broad public and governmental support. Regional stakeholders agree that an improved understanding of the regional hydrogeologic system is needed to address the concerns of water supply and ground-water sustainability. The base of information required to adequately describe the hydrogeology of the Coconino Plateau currently does not exist. Hydrogeologic data is most abundant for large population centers like Flagstaff and Sedona, but is sparse for less populated areas like Williams, Tusayan, Valle, and Cameron. There are still large parts of the Coconino Plateau for which there is no basic geologic or hydrologic information available. In order to develop a hydrogeologic framework for the Coconino Plateau, a comprehensive effort is needs to compile existent data and collect additional data to fill in data gaps and reinforce limited information. In 1999, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began an assessment of the hydrogeology of the Coconino Plateau in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) as part of the Rural Watershed Initiative, a program established by the State of Arizona and managed by the ADWR. Assessments also are underway in the upper-middle Verde River watershed (Woodhouse and others, 2002) to the south and in the Mogollon Highlands to the southeast (Parker and Flynn, 2000). Each study has as its objectives: (1) the collection, compilation, and evaluation of all existing geologic, hydrologic, and related data pertaining to the study area and the creation of a database that is readily accessible to the public and (2) the development of an understanding of the hydrogeologic framework, which is the relation between hydrologic and geologic properties, that can be used for water-resources management purposes and that will support the development of conceptual and interpretive models that can be used to evaluate the effects of climate and water use on regional water resources.

Forgotten resources of older home care clients: focus group study in Finland.

PubMed

Turjamaa, Riitta; Hartikainen, Sirpa; Pietilä, Anna-Maija

2013-09-01

In this qualitative focus group study, the resources available to older home-dwelling people, particularly incoming and existing home care clients, are described from the viewpoint of home care professionals (n = 32). The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. There were three categories of older people requiring resources from the viewpoint of interviewers: home-dwelling people, incoming home care clients, and existing home care clients. Based on the analysis, the resources of older home-dwelling people were categorized in terms of support, meaningful life, everyday activities, and environment. Incoming home care client resources were support, out-of-home activities, in-home activities, and environment. Existing client resources were described in terms of support, everyday activities, and environment. Home care professionals described the resources of the older home-dwelling people in diverse ways, but those of the perspective of existing clients were reduced. The biggest difference was in everyday activities. Psychological and social resources, including meaningful life and social relationships, seemed to be forgotten. All available resources must be taken into account, especially in the everyday home care services for existing home care clients. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

18 CFR 16.7 - Information to be made available to the public at the time of notification of intent under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... wildlife resources; (B) Any existing report on any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat... available to the public at the time of notification of intent under section 15(b) of the Federal Power Act..., DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT PROCEDURES RELATING TO TAKEOVER AND RELICENSING...

18 CFR 16.7 - Information to be made available to the public at the time of notification of intent under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... wildlife resources; (B) Any existing report on any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat... available to the public at the time of notification of intent under section 15(b) of the Federal Power Act..., DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT PROCEDURES RELATING TO TAKEOVER AND RELICENSING...

18 CFR 16.7 - Information to be made available to the public at the time of notification of intent under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... wildlife resources; (B) Any existing report on any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat... available to the public at the time of notification of intent under section 15(b) of the Federal Power Act..., DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT PROCEDURES RELATING TO TAKEOVER AND RELICENSING...

18 CFR 16.7 - Information to be made available to the public at the time of notification of intent under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... wildlife resources; (B) Any existing report on any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat... available to the public at the time of notification of intent under section 15(b) of the Federal Power Act..., DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT PROCEDURES RELATING TO TAKEOVER AND RELICENSING...

18 CFR 16.7 - Information to be made available to the public at the time of notification of intent under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... wildlife resources; (B) Any existing report on any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat... available to the public at the time of notification of intent under section 15(b) of the Federal Power Act..., DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT PROCEDURES RELATING TO TAKEOVER AND RELICENSING...

Knots as an incongruent product feature: a demonstration of the potential for character-marked hardwood furniture

Treesearch

M.S. Bumgardner; R.J. Bush; C.D. West; C.D. West

2001-01-01

Increased use of character-marks, or naturally occurring features of wood such as knots, in wood household furniture has received attention recently as a means for U.S. furniture manufacturers to make more efficient use of forest resources. However, little information exists concerning furniture retailers' perceptions of character-marked wood. Propositions that...

Finding Money on the Table: Information, Financial Aid, and Access to College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tierney, William G.; Venegas, Kristan M.

2009-01-01

The authors do not quarrel with the assumption that increasing financial aid would boost college going. Yet a conundrum exists. Some state agencies have the potential to provide more resources than what college-bound students request. The federal government also has an excess of money in various aid programs. Of course, the authors do not ignore…

Teaching about Frederick Douglass: A Resource Guide for Teachers of Cultural Diversity. Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. Volume 406

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanelli, Maria, Ed.; Rodriquez, Louis, Ed.

2012-01-01

"Teaching about Frederick Douglass" will stimulate conversation among liberal arts and education professionals as well as inform public school teachers about the life and times of Frederick Douglass. Tension exists at many institutions of higher education between liberal arts faculties who do not completely understand the function of education…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Natriello, Gary; And Others

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

Army Leadership. Competent, Confident, and Agile

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-01

instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send...Soldiers will do their jobs because their leader has earned their trust. MOTIVATION 1-12. Motivation supplies the will to do what is necessary to...incomplete data , make decisions, and generate support. However, strategic leaders’ decisions affect more people, commit more resources, and have wider

Integrating the distributed data resources of the bird monitoring community using information technology strategies

Treesearch

Steve Kelling; Craig Stewart

2005-01-01

An increasing number of bird monitoring projects are assembling massive quantities of data into numerous decentralized and locally administered storage systems. These data sources have enormous significance to a wide range of disciplines, but knowing that they exist and gaining access to them is difficult if not impossible. Attempts are being made to organize these...

Design of a Rich-Prospect Browsing Interface for Seniors: A Qualitative Study of Image Similarity Clustering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruecker, Stan; Given, Lisa M.; Sadler, Elizabeth; Ruskin, Andrea; Simpson, Heather

2007-01-01

This paper examines inclusive design delivery through interface design, with a particular focus on access to healthcare resources for seniors. The goal of the project was to examine how seniors are able to access drug information using two different online systems. In the existing retrieval system, pills are identified using a standard search…

Guide to Operating and Maintaining EnergySmart Schools

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

None

Through a commitment to high performance, school districts are discovering that smart energy choices can create lasting benefits for students, communities, and the environment. For example, an energy efficient school district with 4,000 students can save as much as $160,000 a year in energy costs. Over 10 years, those savings can reach $1.6 million, translating into the ability to hire more teachers, purchase more textbooks and computers, or invest in additional high performance facilities. Beyond these bottomline benefits, schools can better foster student health, decrease absenteeism, and serve as centers of community life. The U.S. Department of Energy's EnergySmart Schoolsmore » Program promotes a 30 percent improvement in existing school energy use. It also encourages the building of new schools that exceed code (ASHRAE 90.11999) by 50 percent or more. The program provides resources like this Guide to Operating and Maintaining EnergySmart Schools to assist school decisionmakers in planning, financing, operating, and maintaining energy efficient, high performance schools. It also offers education and training for building industry professionals. Operations and maintenance refer to all scheduled and unscheduled actions for preventing equipment failure or decline with the goal of increasing efficiency, reliability, and safety. A preventative maintenance program is the organized and planned performance of maintenance activities in order to prevent system or production problems or failures from occurring. In contrast, deferred maintenance or reactive maintenance (also called diagnostic or corrective maintenance) is conducted to address an existing problem. This guide is a primary resource for developing and implementing a districtor schoolwide operations and maintenance (O&M) program that focuses on energy efficiency. The EnergySmart Schools Solutions companion CD contains additional supporting information for design, renovation, and retrofit projects. The objective of this guide is to provide organizational and technical information for integrating energy and high performance facility management into existing O&M practices. The guide allows users to adapt and implement suggested O&M strategies to address specific energy efficiency goals. It recognizes and expands on existing tools and resources that are widely used throughout the high performance school industry. External resources are referenced throughout the guide and are also listed within the EnergySmart Schools O&M Resource List (Appendix J). While this guide emphasizes the impact of the energy efficiency component of O&M, it encourages taking a holistic approach to maintaining a high-performance school. This includes considering various environmental factors where energy plays an indirect or direct role. For example, indoor air quality, site selection, building orientation, and water efficiency should be considered. Resources to support these overlapping aspects will be cited throughout the guide.« less

Natural Language Processing Methods and Systems for Biomedical Ontology Learning

PubMed Central

Liu, Kaihong; Hogan, William R.; Crowley, Rebecca S.

2010-01-01

While the biomedical informatics community widely acknowledges the utility of domain ontologies, there remain many barriers to their effective use. One important requirement of domain ontologies is that they must achieve a high degree of coverage of the domain concepts and concept relationships. However, the development of these ontologies is typically a manual, time-consuming, and often error-prone process. Limited resources result in missing concepts and relationships as well as difficulty in updating the ontology as knowledge changes. Methodologies developed in the fields of natural language processing, information extraction, information retrieval and machine learning provide techniques for automating the enrichment of an ontology from free-text documents. In this article, we review existing methodologies and developed systems, and discuss how existing methods can benefit the development of biomedical ontologies. PMID:20647054

The Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO): Science at Your Fingertips

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jennings, L. N.; Treasure, E.; Moore Myers, J.; McNulty, S.

2012-12-01

There is an ever-increasing volume of useful scientific knowledge about climate change effects and management options for natural ecosystems. Agencies such as the USDA Forest Service have been charged with the need to evaluate this body of knowledge and if necessary adapt to the impacts of climate change in their forest planning and management. However, the combined volume of existing information and rate of development of new information, lack of climate change specialists, and limited technology transfer mechanisms make efficient access and use difficult. The Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO) addresses this difficulty through its publically accessible web-based tool that puts current and concise climate change science at the fingertips of forest planners and managers. A collaborative product of the USDA Forest Service Research Stations and the National Forest System, TACCIMO integrates peer-reviewed research with management and planning options through search and reporting tools that connect land managers with information they can trust. TACCIMO highlights elements from the wealth of climate change science with attention to what natural resource planners and managers need through a searchable repository of over 4,000 effects of climate change and close to 1,000 adaptive management options, all excerpted from a growing body of peer-reviewed scientific literature. A geospatial mapping application provides downscaled climate data for the nation and other spatially explicit models relevant to evaluating climate change impacts on forests. Report generators assist users in capturing outputs specific to a given location and resource area in a consistent and organized manner. For USDA Forest Service users, science findings can be readily linked with management conditions and capabilities from national forest management plans. The development of TACCIMO was guided by interactions with natural resource professionals, resulting in a flexible framework that allows new information to be added routinely and existing information to be reorganized as new science emerges and management needs change. TACCIMO is currently being used to support climate change science assessments for national forest land and management plan revisions in El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, the Southern Sierra national forests in California, and Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina. The tool is also being actively used by state, extension, and private natural resource professionals for climate change education and outreach. For all users, TACCIMO provides a fast, concise, and creditable starting point to guide critical thinking, additional analysis, and expert consultation to support all aspects of natural resource management decision making.

Management and Care of Women With Invasive Cervical Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline

PubMed Central

Chuang, Linus T.; Temin, Sarah; Camacho, Rolando; Dueñas-Gonzalez, Alfonso; Feldman, Sarah; Gultekin, Murat; Gupta, Vandana; Horton, Susan; Jacob, Graciela; Kidd, Elizabeth A.; Lishimpi, Kennedy; Nakisige, Carolyn; Nam, Joo-Hyun; Ngan, Hextan Yuen Sheung; Small, William; Thomas, Gillian; Berek, Jonathan S.

2016-01-01

Purpose To provide evidence-based, resource-stratified global recommendations to clinicians and policymakers on the management and palliative care of women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. Methods ASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational panel of cancer control, medical and radiation oncology, health economic, obstetric and gynecologic, and palliative care experts to produce recommendations reflecting resource-tiered settings. A systematic review of literature from 1966 to 2015 failed to yield sufficiently strong quality evidence to support basic- and limited-resource setting recommendations; a formal consensus-based process was used to develop recommendations. A modified ADAPTE process was also used to adapt recommendations from existing guidelines. Results Five existing sets of guidelines were identified and reviewed, and adapted recommendations form the evidence base. Eight systematic reviews, along with cost-effectiveness analyses, provided indirect evidence to inform the consensus process, which resulted in agreement of 75% or greater. Recommendations Clinicians and planners should strive to provide access to the most effective evidence-based antitumor and palliative care interventions. If a woman cannot access these within her own or neighboring country or region, she may need to be treated with lower-tier modalities, depending on capacity and resources for surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and supportive and palliative care. For women with early-stage cervical cancer in basic settings, cone biopsy or extrafascial hysterectomy may be performed. Fertility-sparing procedures or modified radical or radical hysterectomy may be additional options in nonbasic settings. Combinations of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (including brachytherapy) should be used for women with stage IB to IVA disease, depending on available resources. Pain control is a vital component of palliative care. Additional information is available at www.asco.org/rs-cervical-cancer-treatment-guideline and www.asco.org/guidelineswiki. It is the view of ASCO that health care providers and health care system decision makers should be guided by the recommendations for the highest stratum of resources available. The guideline is intended to complement but not replace local guidelines. PMID:28717717

Integrated Forecast-Decision Systems For River Basin Planning and Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgakakos, A. P.

2005-12-01

A central application of climatology, meteorology, and hydrology is the generation of reliable forecasts for water resources management. In principle, effective use of forecasts could improve water resources management by providing extra protection against floods, mitigating the adverse effects of droughts, generating more hydropower, facilitating recreational activities, and minimizing the impacts of extreme events on the environment and the ecosystems. In practice, however, realization of these benefits depends on three requisite elements. First is the skill and reliability of forecasts. Second is the existence of decision support methods/systems with the ability to properly utilize forecast information. And third is the capacity of the institutional infrastructure to incorporate the information provided by the decision support systems into the decision making processes. This presentation discusses several decision support systems (DSS) using ensemble forecasting that have been developed by the Georgia Water Resources Institute for river basin management. These DSS are currently operational in Africa, Europe, and the US and address integrated water resources and energy planning and management in river basins with multiple water uses, multiple relevant temporal and spatial scales, and multiple decision makers. The article discusses the methods used and advocates that the design, development, and implementation of effective forecast-decision support systems must bring together disciplines, people, and institutions necessary to address today's complex water resources challenges.

GAP Analysis Bulletin Number 15

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maxwell, Jill; Gergely, Kevin; Aycrigg, Jocelyn; Canonico, Gabrielle; Davidson, Anne; Coffey, Nicole

2008-01-01

The Mission of the Gap Analysis Program (GAP) is to promote conservation by providing broad geographic information on biological diversity to resource managers, planners, and policy makers who can use the information to make informed decisions. As part of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) ?a collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation?s biological resources--GAP data and analytical tools have been used in hundreds of applications: from basic research to comprehensive state wildlife plans; from educational projects in schools to ecoregional assessments of biodiversity. The challenge: keeping common species common means protecting them BEFORE they become threatened. To do this on a state or regional basis requires key information such as land cover descriptions, predicted distribution maps for native animals, and an assessment of the level of protection currently given to those plants and animals. GAP works cooperatively with Federal, state, and local natural resource professionals and academics to provide this kind of information. GAP activities focus on the creation of state and regional databases and maps that depict patterns of land management, land cover, and biodiversity. These data can be used to identify ?gaps? in conservation--instances where an animal or plant community is not adequately represented on the existing network of conservation lands. GAP is administered through the U.S. Geological Survey. Through building partnerships among disparate groups, GAP hopes to foster the kind of collaboration that is needed to address conservation issues on a broad scale. For more information, contact: John Mosesso National GAP Director 703-648-4079 Kevin Gergely National GAP Operations Manager 208-885-3565

Fish Ontology framework for taxonomy-based fish recognition

PubMed Central

Ali, Najib M.; Khan, Haris A.; Then, Amy Y-Hui; Ving Ching, Chong; Gaur, Manas

2017-01-01

Life science ontologies play an important role in Semantic Web. Given the diversity in fish species and the associated wealth of information, it is imperative to develop an ontology capable of linking and integrating this information in an automated fashion. As such, we introduce the Fish Ontology (FO), an automated classification architecture of existing fish taxa which provides taxonomic information on unknown fish based on metadata restrictions. It is designed to support knowledge discovery, provide semantic annotation of fish and fisheries resources, data integration, and information retrieval. Automated classification for unknown specimens is a unique feature that currently does not appear to exist in other known ontologies. Examples of automated classification for major groups of fish are demonstrated, showing the inferred information by introducing several restrictions at the species or specimen level. The current version of FO has 1,830 classes, includes widely used fisheries terminology, and models major aspects of fish taxonomy, grouping, and character. With more than 30,000 known fish species globally, the FO will be an indispensable tool for fish scientists and other interested users. PMID:28929028

Natural language processing and visualization in the molecular imaging domain.

PubMed

Tulipano, P Karina; Tao, Ying; Millar, William S; Zanzonico, Pat; Kolbert, Katherine; Xu, Hua; Yu, Hong; Chen, Lifeng; Lussier, Yves A; Friedman, Carol

2007-06-01

Molecular imaging is at the crossroads of genomic sciences and medical imaging. Information within the molecular imaging literature could be used to link to genomic and imaging information resources and to organize and index images in a way that is potentially useful to researchers. A number of natural language processing (NLP) systems are available to automatically extract information from genomic literature. One existing NLP system, known as BioMedLEE, automatically extracts biological information consisting of biomolecular substances and phenotypic data. This paper focuses on the adaptation, evaluation, and application of BioMedLEE to the molecular imaging domain. In order to adapt BioMedLEE for this domain, we extend an existing molecular imaging terminology and incorporate it into BioMedLEE. BioMedLEE's performance is assessed with a formal evaluation study. The system's performance, measured as recall and precision, is 0.74 (95% CI: [.70-.76]) and 0.70 (95% CI [.63-.76]), respectively. We adapt a JAVA viewer known as PGviewer for the simultaneous visualization of images with NLP extracted information.

Technical and organisational aspects in enterprise resource planning systems implementation: lessons from a Spanish public hospital

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escobar-Rodriguez, Tomas; Escobar-Pérez, Bernabe; Monge-Lozano, Pedro

2014-09-01

Public resources should always be managed efficiently, more so in times of crisis. Due to the specific characteristics of the healthcare sector, there is a need for special attention, especially in regards to hospitals. Administrators need useful tools to be able to efficiently manage available resources, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Therefore, an analysis of the effects of their implementation and use in hospitals is valuable. This study has two purposes. One is to analyse the role ERP systems play in aiding the integration of hospital data, with focus on user satisfaction as well as possible resistance to change. The other purpose is to analyse the effects of implanting and using ERP systems in the hospital environment and identifying how certain variables influence the process, especially the existence of different organisational cultures. Results indicate that clinical information has become notably more integrated, despite the lack of flow in the economic-financial area. The heterogeneous nature of the different groups, clinical (Medical, Nursing) and non-clinical (Economic-Financial, Accounting), had a negative influence on the implementation process, and limited the integration of information as well as the system's performance.

Information retrieval and terminology extraction in online resources for patients with diabetes.

PubMed

Seljan, Sanja; Baretić, Maja; Kucis, Vlasta

2014-06-01

Terminology use, as a mean for information retrieval or document indexing, plays an important role in health literacy. Specific types of users, i.e. patients with diabetes need access to various online resources (on foreign and/or native language) searching for information on self-education of basic diabetic knowledge, on self-care activities regarding importance of dietetic food, medications, physical exercises and on self-management of insulin pumps. Automatic extraction of corpus-based terminology from online texts, manuals or professional papers, can help in building terminology lists or list of "browsing phrases" useful in information retrieval or in document indexing. Specific terminology lists represent an intermediate step between free text search and controlled vocabulary, between user's demands and existing online resources in native and foreign language. The research aiming to detect the role of terminology in online resources, is conducted on English and Croatian manuals and Croatian online texts, and divided into three interrelated parts: i) comparison of professional and popular terminology use ii) evaluation of automatic statistically-based terminology extraction on English and Croatian texts iii) comparison and evaluation of extracted terminology performed on English manual using statistical and hybrid approaches. Extracted terminology candidates are evaluated by comparison with three types of reference lists: list created by professional medical person, list of highly professional vocabulary contained in MeSH and list created by non-medical persons, made as intersection of 15 lists. Results report on use of popular and professional terminology in online diabetes resources, on evaluation of automatically extracted terminology candidates in English and Croatian texts and on comparison of statistical and hybrid extraction methods in English text. Evaluation of automatic and semi-automatic terminology extraction methods is performed by recall, precision and f-measure.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in Colorado, 2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Fancher, Tammy S.; Latysh, Natalie E.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne-Marie; Turner, Christine

2011-01-01

The Colorado wind-turbine data series provides geospatial data for all wind turbines established within the State as of August 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, and county. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, year the facility went online, and development status of wind facility. Turbine locations were derived from August 2009 1-meter true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program; the photographs have a positional accuracy of about + or - 5 meters. The location of turbines under construction during August 2009 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas currently (2011) in development by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Energy Atlas will synthesize data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and will include additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools will be included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas will facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in New Mexico, 2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Fancher, Tammy S.; Latysh, Natalie E.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne-Marie; Turner, Christine

2011-01-01

The New Mexico wind-turbine data series provides geospatial data for all wind turbines established within the State as of August 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, and county. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, year the facility went online, and development status of wind facility. Turbine locations were derived from 1-meter August 2009 true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program; the photographs have a positional accuracy of about + or - 5 meters. The location of turbines under construction during August 2009 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas currently (2011) in development by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Energy Atlas will synthesize data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and will include additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools will be included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas will facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

XML-based information system for planetary sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, F.; Fonte, S.; Turrini, D.

2009-04-01

EuroPlaNet (EPN in the following) has been developed by the planetological community under the "Sixth Framework Programme" (FP6 in the following), the European programme devoted to the improvement of the European research efforts through the creation of an internal market for science and technology. The goal of the EPN programme is the creation of a European network aimed to the diffusion of data produced by space missions dedicated to the study of the Solar System. A special place within the EPN programme is that of I.D.I.S. (Integrated and Distributed Information Service). The main goal of IDIS is to offer to the planetary science community a user-friendly access to the data and information produced by the various types of research activities, i.e. Earth-based observations, space observations, modeling, theory and laboratory experiments. During the FP6 programme IDIS development consisted in the creation of a series of thematic nodes, each of them specialized in a specific scientific domain, and a technical coordination node. The four thematic nodes are the Atmosphere node, the Plasma node, the Interiors & Surfaces node and the Small Bodies & Dust node. The main task of the nodes have been the building up of selected scientific cases related with the scientific domain of each node. The second work done by EPN nodes have been the creation of a catalogue of resources related to their main scientific theme. Both these efforts have been used as the basis for the development of the main IDIS goal, i.e. the integrated distributed service. An XML-based data model have been developed to describe resources using meta-data and to store the meta-data within an XML-based database called eXist. A search engine has been then developed in order to allow users to search resources within the database. Users can select the resource type and can insert one or more values or can choose a value among those present in a list, depending on selected resource. The system searches for all the resources containing the inserted values within the resources descriptions. An important facility of the IDIS search system is the multi-node search capability. This is due to the capacity of eXist to make queries on remote databases. This allows the system to show all resources which satisfy the search criteria on local node and to show how many resources are found on remote nodes, giving also a link to open the results page on remote nodes. During FP7 the development of the IDIS system will have the main goal to make the service Virtual Observatory compliant.

Mapping wetlands in the Lower Mekong Basin for wetland resource and conservation management using Landsat ETM images and field survey data.

PubMed

MacAlister, Charlotte; Mahaxay, Manithaphone

2009-05-01

The Mekong River Basin is considered to be the second most species rich river basin in the world. The 795,000 km(2) catchment encompasses several ecoregions, incorporating biodiverse and productive wetland systems. Eighty percent of the rapidly expanding population of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), made up in part by Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam, live in rural areas and are heavily reliant on wetland resources. As the populations of Cambodia and Lao PDR will double in the next 20 years, pressure on natural resources and particularly wetlands can only increase. For development planning, resource and conservation management to incorporate wetland issues, information on the distribution and character of Mekong wetlands is essential. The existing but outdated wetland maps were compiled from secondary landuse-landcover data, have limited coverage, poor thematic accuracy and no meta-data. Therefore the Mekong River Commission (MRC) undertook to produce new wetland coverage for the LMB. As resources, funding and regional capacity are limited, it was determined that the method applied should use existing facilities, be easily adaptable, and replicable locally. For the product to be useful it must be accepted by local governments and decision makers. The results must be of acceptable accuracy (>75%) and the methodology should be relatively understandable to non-experts. In the first stage of this exercise, field survey was conducted at five pilot sites covering a range of typical wetland habitats (MRC wetland classification) to supply data for a supervised classification of Landsat ETM images from the existing MRC archive. Images were analysed using ERDAS IMAGINE and applying Maximum Likelihood Classification. Field data were reserved to apply formal accuracy assessment to the final wetland habitat maps, with resulting accuracy ranging from 77 to 94%. The maps produced are now in use at a Provincial and National level in three countries for resource and conservation planning and management applications, including designation of a Ramsar wetland site of international importance.

REFOLDdb: a new and sustainable gateway to experimental protocols for protein refolding.

PubMed

Mizutani, Hisashi; Sugawara, Hideaki; Buckle, Ashley M; Sangawa, Takeshi; Miyazono, Ken-Ichi; Ohtsuka, Jun; Nagata, Koji; Shojima, Tomoki; Nosaki, Shohei; Xu, Yuqun; Wang, Delong; Hu, Xiao; Tanokura, Masaru; Yura, Kei

2017-04-24

More than 7000 papers related to "protein refolding" have been published to date, with approximately 300 reports each year during the last decade. Whilst some of these papers provide experimental protocols for protein refolding, a survey in the structural life science communities showed a necessity for a comprehensive database for refolding techniques. We therefore have developed a new resource - "REFOLDdb" that collects refolding techniques into a single, searchable repository to help researchers develop refolding protocols for proteins of interest. We based our resource on the existing REFOLD database, which has not been updated since 2009. We redesigned the data format to be more concise, allowing consistent representations among data entries compared with the original REFOLD database. The remodeled data architecture enhances the search efficiency and improves the sustainability of the database. After an exhaustive literature search we added experimental refolding protocols from reports published 2009 to early 2017. In addition to this new data, we fully converted and integrated existing REFOLD data into our new resource. REFOLDdb contains 1877 entries as of March 17 th , 2017, and is freely available at http://p4d-info.nig.ac.jp/refolddb/ . REFOLDdb is a unique database for the life sciences research community, providing annotated information for designing new refolding protocols and customizing existing methodologies. We envisage that this resource will find wide utility across broad disciplines that rely on the production of pure, active, recombinant proteins. Furthermore, the database also provides a useful overview of the recent trends and statistics in refolding technology development.

Online information and support needs of women with advanced breast cancer: a qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Kemp, Emma; Koczwara, Bogda; Butow, Phyllis; Turner, Jane; Girgis, Afaf; Schofield, Penelope; Hulbert-Williams, Nicholas; Levesque, Janelle; Spence, Danielle; Vatandoust, Sina; Kichenadasse, Ganessan; Roy, Amitesh; Sukumaran, Shawgi; Karapetis, Christos S; Richards, Caroline; Fitzgerald, Michael; Beatty, Lisa

2018-04-24

Women with advanced breast cancer (ABC) face significant adjustment challenges, yet few resources provide them with information and support, and attendance barriers can preclude access to face-to-face psychosocial support. This paper reports on two qualitative studies examining (i) whether information and support-seeking preferences of women with ABC could be addressed in an online intervention, and (ii) how an existing intervention for patients with early stage cancer could be adapted for women with ABC. Women with ABC participated in telephone interviews about their information and support-seeking preferences (N = 21) and evaluated an online intervention focused on early-stage cancer (N = 15). Interviews were transcribed and underwent thematic analysis using the framework method to identify salient themes. Participants most commonly sought medical, lifestyle-related, and practical information/support; however, when presented with an online intervention, participants most commonly gave positive feedback on content on coping with emotional distress. Difficulty finding information and barriers to using common sources of information/support including health professionals, family and friends, and peers were reported; however, some women also reported not wanting information or support. All participants evaluating the existing intervention gave positive feedback on various components, with results suggesting an online intervention could be an effective means of providing information/support to women with ABC, given improved specificity/relevance to ABC and increased tailoring to individual circumstances and preferences. Adaptation of an existing online intervention for early stage cancer appears to be a promising avenue to address the information and support needs of women with ABC.

Integrating all medical records to an enterprise viewer.

PubMed

Li, Haomin; Duan, Huilong; Lu, Xudong; Zhao, Chenhui; An, Jiye

2005-01-01

The idea behind hospital information systems is to make all of a patient's medical reports, lab results, and images electronically available to clinicians, instantaneously, wherever they are. But the higgledy-piggledy evolution of most hospital computer systems makes it hard to integrate all these clinical records. Although several integration standards had been proposed to meet this challenger, none of them is fit to Chinese hospitals. In this paper, we introduce our work of implementing a three-tiered architecture enterprise viewer in Huzhou Central Hospital to integration all existing medical information systems using limited resource.

Enhancing to method for extracting Social network by the relation existence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elfida, Maria; Matyuso Nasution, M. K.; Sitompul, O. S.

2018-01-01

To get the trusty information about the social network extracted from the Web requires a reliable method, but for optimal resultant required the method that can overcome the complexity of information resources. This paper intends to reveal ways to overcome the constraints of social network extraction leading to high complexity by identifying relationships among social actors. By changing the treatment of the procedure used, we obtain the complexity is smaller than the previous procedure. This has also been demonstrated in an experiment by using the denial sample.

Automating concept identification in the electronic medical record: an experiment in extracting dosage information.

PubMed Central

Evans, D. A.; Brownlow, N. D.; Hersh, W. R.; Campbell, E. M.

1996-01-01

We discuss the development and evaluation of an automated procedure for extracting drug-dosage information from clinical narratives. The process was developed rapidly using existing technology and resources, including categories of terms from UMLS96. Evaluations over a large training and smaller test set of medical records demonstrate an approximately 80% rate of exact and partial matches' on target phrases, with few false positives and a modest rate of false negatives. The results suggest a strategy for automating general concept identification in electronic medical records. PMID:8947694

Recommended System Design for the Occupational Health Management Information System (OHMIS). Volume 1.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-04-01

Management Information System (OHMIS). The system design includes: detailed function data flows for each of the core data processing functions of OHMIS, in the form of input/processing/output algorithms; detailed descriptions of the inputs and outputs; performance specifications of OHMIS; resources required to develop and operate OHMIS (Vol II). In addition, the report provides a summary of the rationale used to develop the recommended system design, a description of the methodology used to develop the recommended system design, and a review of existing

Space Science Education Resource Directory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, C. A.; Scollick, K.

The Office of Space Science (OSS) of NASA supports educational programs as a by-product of the research it funds through missions and investigative programs. A rich suite of resources for public use is available including multimedia materials, online resources, hardcopies and other items. The OSS supported creation of a resource catalog through a group lead by individuals at STScI that ultimately will provide an easy-to-use and user-friendly search capability to access products. This paper describes the underlying architecture of that catalog, including the challenge to develop a system for characterizing education products through appropriate metadata. The system must also be meaningful to a large clientele including educators, scientists, students, and informal science educators. An additional goal was to seamlessly exchange data with existing federally supported educational systems as well as local systems. The goals, requirements, and standards for the catalog will be presented to illuminate the rationale for the implementation ultimately adopted.

Water resources planning based on complex system dynamics: A case study of Tianjin city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. H.; Zhang, H. W.; Chen, B.; Chen, G. Q.; Zhao, X. H.

2008-12-01

A complex system dynamic (SD) model focusing on water resources, termed as TianjinSD, is developed for the integrated and scientific management of the water resources of Tianjin, which contains information feedback that governs interactions in the system and is capable of synthesizing component-level knowledge into system behavior simulation at an integrated level, thus presenting reasonable predictive results for policy-making on water resources allocation and management. As for the Tianjin city, interactions among 96 components for 12 years are explored and four planning alternatives are chosen, one of which is based on the conventional mode assuming that the existing pattern of human activities will be prevailed, while the others are alternative planning designs based on the interaction of local authorities and planning researchers. Optimal mode is therefore obtained according to different scenarios when compared the simulation results for evaluation of different decisions and dynamic consequences.

Choosing a genome browser for a Model Organism Database: surveying the Maize community

PubMed Central

Sen, Taner Z.; Harper, Lisa C.; Schaeffer, Mary L.; Andorf, Carson M.; Seigfried, Trent E.; Campbell, Darwin A.; Lawrence, Carolyn J.

2010-01-01

As the B73 maize genome sequencing project neared completion, MaizeGDB began to integrate a graphical genome browser with its existing web interface and database. To ensure that maize researchers would optimally benefit from the potential addition of a genome browser to the existing MaizeGDB resource, personnel at MaizeGDB surveyed researchers’ needs. Collected data indicate that existing genome browsers for maize were inadequate and suggest implementation of a browser with quick interface and intuitive tools would meet most researchers’ needs. Here, we document the survey’s outcomes, review functionalities of available genome browser software platforms and offer our rationale for choosing the GBrowse software suite for MaizeGDB. Because the genome as represented within the MaizeGDB Genome Browser is tied to detailed phenotypic data, molecular marker information, available stocks, etc., the MaizeGDB Genome Browser represents a novel mechanism by which the researchers can leverage maize sequence information toward crop improvement directly. Database URL: http://gbrowse.maizegdb.org/ PMID:20627860

Water Resources Risks and the Climate Resilience Toolkit: Tools, Case Studies, and Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Read, E. K.; Blodgett, D. L.; Booth, N.

2014-12-01

The Water Resources Risk topic of the Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) is designed to provide decision support, technical, and educational resources to communities, water resource managers, policy analysts, and water utilities working to increase the resilience of water resources to climate change. We highlight the partnerships (between federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private partners), tools (e.g., downscaled climate products, historical and real-time water data, and decision support) and success stories that are informing the CRT Water Resources Risks Theme content, and identify remaining needs in available resources for building resilience of water resources to climate change. The following questions will frame the content of the Water Resources Risk CRT: How are human and natural components of the hydrologic cycle changing? How can communities and water managers plan for uncertain future conditions? How will changing water resources impact food production, energy resources, ecosystems, and human health? What water resources data are of high value to society and are they easily accessible? Input on existing tools, resources, or potential partnerships that could be used to further develop content and fill gaps in the Water Resources CRT is welcome. We also invite ideas for water resources 'innovation challenges', in which technology developers work to create tools to that enhance the capacity of communities and managers to increase resilience of water resources at the local and regional scales.

Toolboxes for a standardised and systematic study of glycans

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Recent progress in method development for characterising the branched structures of complex carbohydrates has now enabled higher throughput technology. Automation of structure analysis then calls for software development since adding meaning to large data collections in reasonable time requires corresponding bioinformatics methods and tools. Current glycobioinformatics resources do cover information on the structure and function of glycans, their interaction with proteins or their enzymatic synthesis. However, this information is partial, scattered and often difficult to find to for non-glycobiologists. Methods Following our diagnosis of the causes of the slow development of glycobioinformatics, we review the "objective" difficulties encountered in defining adequate formats for representing complex entities and developing efficient analysis software. Results Various solutions already implemented and strategies defined to bridge glycobiology with different fields and integrate the heterogeneous glyco-related information are presented. Conclusions Despite the initial stage of our integrative efforts, this paper highlights the rapid expansion of glycomics, the validity of existing resources and the bright future of glycobioinformatics. PMID:24564482

Current decision-making in prostate cancer therapy.

PubMed

Cox, Jared; Amling, Christopher L

2008-05-01

Prostate cancer continues to be the most prevalent cancer among American men. Localized prostate cancer is commonly diagnosed because of improved screening practices nationwide. Several options exist for the treatment of localized prostate cancer, and this review discusses the decision-making process facing patients diagnosed with this disease. No one treatment for localized prostate cancer has proven superior to date. For this reason patients have been found to use a number of resources to make an informed decision. These include physicians, spouses, family, friends, and different media. Urologists serve as the primary and most influential physicians and play an important role in the decision-making process. Patients, however, are assuming a more active role in this process as time evolves, especially with ease of access to multiple information resources. In deciding on a treatment for localized prostate cancer, patients must weigh the risks and benefits of each option. Urologists must provide patients with up-to-date information on these options and be aware of the different influences that surround these men during the decision-making process.

Geographic Information Systems for Assessing Existing and Potential Bio-energy Resources: Their Use in Determining Land Use and Management Options which Minimize Ecological and Landscape Impacts in Rural Areas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackman, A. E.; Fabos, J. G.; Carlozzi, C. C.

1982-01-01

A management construct is described which forms part of an overall landscape ecological planning model which has as a principal objective the extension of the traditional descriptive land use mapping capabilities of geographic information systems into land management realms. It is noted that geographic information systems appear to be moving to more comprehensive methods of data handling and storage, such as relational and hierarchical data management systems, and a clear need has simultaneously arisen therefore for planning assessment techniques and methodologies which can actually use such complex levels of data in a systematic, yet flexible and scenario dependent way. The descriptive of mapping method proposed broaches such issues and utilizes a current New England bioenergy scenario, stimulated by the use of hardwoods for household heating purposes established in the post oil crisis era and the increased awareness of the possible landscape and ecological ramifications of the continued increasing use of the resource.

Design and implementation of an institutional case report form library.

PubMed

Nahm, Meredith; Shepherd, John; Buzenberg, Ann; Rostami, Reza; Corcoran, Andrew; McCall, Jonathan; Pietrobon, Ricardo

2011-02-01

Case report forms (CRFs) are used to collect data in clinical research. Case report form development represents a significant part of the clinical trial process and can affect study success. Libraries of CRFs can preserve the organizational knowledge and expertise invested in CRF development and expedite the sharing of such knowledge. Although CRF libraries have been advocated, there have been no published accounts reporting institutional experiences with creating and using them. We sought to enhance an existing institutional CRF library by improving information indexing and accessibility. We describe this CRF library and discuss challenges encountered in its development and implementation, as well as future directions for continued work in this area. We transformed an existing but underused and poorly accessible CRF library into a resource capable of supporting and expediting clinical and translational investigation at our institution by (1) expanding access to the entire institution; (2) adding more form attributes for improved information retrieval; and (3) creating a formal information curation and maintenance process. An open-source content management system, Plone (Plone.org), served as the platform for our CRF library. We report results from these three processes. Over the course of this project, the size of the CRF library increased from 160 CRFs comprising an estimated total of 17,000 pages, to 177 CRFs totaling 1.5 gigabytes. Eighty-two of these CRFs are now available to researchers across our institution; 95 CRFs remain within a contractual confidentiality window (usually 5 years from database lock) and are not available to users outside of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). Conservative estimates suggest that the library supports an average of 37 investigators per month. The resources needed to curate and maintain the CRF library require less than 10% of the effort of one full-time equivalent employee. Although we succeeded in expanding use of the CRF library, creating awareness of such institutional resources among investigators and research teams remains challenging and requires additional efforts to overcome. Institutions that have not achieved a critical mass of attractive research resources or effective dissemination mechanisms may encounter persistent difficulty attracting researchers to use institutional resources. Further, a useful CRF library requires both an initial investment of resources for development, as well as ongoing maintenance once it is established. CRF libraries can be established and made broadly available to institutional researchers. Curation - that is, indexing newly added forms - is required. Such a resource provides knowledge management capacity for institutions until standards and software are available to support widespread exchange of data and form definitions.

School Mental Health Resources and Adolescent Mental Health Service Use

PubMed Central

Green, Jennifer Greif; McLaughlin, Katie A.; Alegría, Margarita; Costello, E. Jane; Gruber, Michael J.; Hoagwood, Kimberly; Leaf, Philip J.; Olin, Serene; Sampson, Nancy A,; Kessler, Ronald C.

2014-01-01

Objective Although schools are identified as critical for detecting youth mental disorders, little is known about whether the number of mental health providers and types of resources they offer influence student mental health service use. Such information could inform the development and allocation of appropriate school-based resources to increase service use. This paper examines associations of school resources with past-year mental health service use among students with 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders. Method Data come from the U.S. National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a national survey of adolescent mental health that included 4,445 adolescent-parent pairs in 227 schools in which principals and mental health coordinators completed surveys about school resources-policies for addressing student emotional problems. Adolescents and parents completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and reported mental health service use across multiple sectors. Multilevel multivariate regression was used to examine associations of school mental health resources and individual-level service use. Results Roughly half (45.3%) of adolescents with a 12-month DSM-IV disorder received past-year mental health services. Substantial variation existed in school resources. Increased school engagement in early identification was significantly associated with mental health service use for adolescents with mild/moderate mental and behavior disorders. The ratio of students-to-mental health providers was not associated with overall service use, but was associated with sector of service use. Conclusions School mental health resources, particularly those related to early identification, may facilitate mental health service use and influence sector of service use for youths with DSM disorders. PMID:23622851

Amounts of Down Woody Materials for Mixed-Oak Forests in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina

Treesearch

David C. Chojnacky; Thomas M. Schuler

2004-01-01

Fallen or down dead wood is a key element in healthy forest ecosystems. Although the amount of down wood and shrubs can provide critical information to forest resource managers for assessing fire fuel build up, data on biomass of down woody materials (DWM) are not readily accessible using existing databases. We summarized data collected by the USDA Forest Service'...

A Historical Study of Operational Command: A Resource for Researchers

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

PJHQ) in the United Kingdom. Control, the impact of command arrangements on the proper functioning of operational level headquarters is shown...might interact in a joint environment, identifying the different types of communication and social networks that exist, determining the influence of...introduction of information technology and its tools has spawned ideas such as Network Centric Warfare (NCW) or Network Enabled Warfare (NEW), there is

A Historical Study of Operational: A Resource for Researches

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

PJHQ) in the United Kingdom. Control, the impact of command arrangements on the proper functioning of operational level headquarters is shown...might interact in a joint environment, identifying the different types of communication and social networks that exist, determining the influence of...introduction of information technology and its tools has spawned ideas such as Network Centric Warfare (NCW) or Network Enabled Warfare (NEW), there is

DMCA, CTEA, UCITA ... Oh My! An Overview of Copyright Law and Its Impact on Library Acquisitions and Collection Development of Electronic Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Leslie A.; Wu, Michelle M.

2007-01-01

The purpose of traditional copyright law was to encourage the creation of works based on and to ensure reasonable access to original thought. Despite this harmonious intent, an intrinsic tension exists between libraries and copyright holders, as the former promotes "free" access to information that ultimately reduces the income of the…

Tackling the Phenomenon of Elder Abuse in Italy: A Review of Existing Legislation and Policies as a Learning Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melchiorre, Maria Gabriella; Chiatti, Carlos; Lamura, Giovanni

2012-01-01

In Italy, data and information on prevalence and characteristics of elder abuse are very limited, and a specific legal and policy framework is lacking. Some articles of the Penal Code refer to the larger context of violence against disadvantaged groups, and some general support services not specifically dedicated to this issue are managed by local…

Secondary Prevention of Cervical Cancer: ASCO Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline.

PubMed

Jeronimo, Jose; Castle, Philip E; Temin, Sarah; Denny, Lynette; Gupta, Vandana; Kim, Jane J; Luciani, Silvana; Murokora, Daniel; Ngoma, Twalib; Qiao, Youlin; Quinn, Michael; Sankaranarayanan, Rengaswamy; Sasieni, Peter; Schmeler, Kathleen M; Shastri, Surendra S

2017-10-01

To provide resource-stratified, evidence-based recommendations on the secondary prevention of cervical cancer globally. ASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational panel of oncology, primary care, epidemiology, health economic, cancer control, public health, and patient advocacy experts to produce recommendations reflecting four resource-tiered settings. A review of existing guidelines, a formal consensus-based process, and a modified ADAPTE process to adapt existing guidelines were conducted. Other experts participated in formal consensus. Seven existing guidelines were identified and reviewed, and adapted recommendations form the evidence base. Four systematic reviews plus cost-effectiveness analyses provided indirect evidence to inform consensus, which resulted in ≥ 75% agreement. Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is recommended in all resource settings; visual inspection with acetic acid may be used in basic settings. Recommended age ranges and frequencies by setting are as follows: maximal: ages 25 to 65, every 5 years; enhanced: ages 30 to 65, if two consecutive negative tests at 5-year intervals, then every 10 years; limited: ages 30 to 49, every 10 years; and basic: ages 30 to 49, one to three times per lifetime. For basic settings, visual assessment is recommended as triage; in other settings, genotyping and/or cytology are recommended. For basic settings, treatment is recommended if abnormal triage results are present; in other settings, colposcopy is recommended for abnormal triage results. For basic settings, treatment options are cryotherapy or loop electrosurgical excision procedure; for other settings, loop electrosurgical excision procedure (or ablation) is recommended. Twelve-month post-treatment follow-up is recommended in all settings. Women who are HIV positive should be screened with HPV testing after diagnosis and screened twice as many times per lifetime as the general population. Screening is recommended at 6 weeks postpartum in basic settings; in other settings, screening is recommended at 6 months. In basic settings without mass screening, infrastructure for HPV testing, diagnosis, and treatment should be developed.Additional information can be found at www.asco.org/rs-cervical-cancer-secondary-prev-guideline and www.asco.org/guidelineswiki.It is the view of of ASCO that health care providers and health care system decision makers should be guided by the recommendations for the highest stratum of resources available. The guideline is intended to complement, but not replace, local guidelines.

Secondary Prevention of Cervical Cancer: ASCO Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline

PubMed Central

Jeronimo, Jose; Castle, Philip E.; Temin, Sarah; Denny, Lynette; Gupta, Vandana; Kim, Jane J.; Luciani, Silvana; Murokora, Daniel; Ngoma, Twalib; Qiao, Youlin; Quinn, Michael; Sankaranarayanan, Rengaswamy; Sasieni, Peter; Schmeler, Kathleen M.; Shastri, Surendra S.

2017-01-01

Purpose To provide resource-stratified, evidence-based recommendations on the secondary prevention of cervical cancer globally. Methods ASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational panel of oncology, primary care, epidemiology, health economic, cancer control, public health, and patient advocacy experts to produce recommendations reflecting four resource-tiered settings. A review of existing guidelines, a formal consensus-based process, and a modified ADAPTE process to adapt existing guidelines were conducted. Other experts participated in formal consensus. Results Seven existing guidelines were identified and reviewed, and adapted recommendations form the evidence base. Four systematic reviews plus cost-effectiveness analyses provided indirect evidence to inform consensus, which resulted in ≥ 75% agreement. Recommendations Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is recommended in all resource settings; visual inspection with acetic acid may be used in basic settings. Recommended age ranges and frequencies by setting are as follows: maximal: ages 25 to 65, every 5 years; enhanced: ages 30 to 65, if two consecutive negative tests at 5-year intervals, then every 10 years; limited: ages 30 to 49, every 10 years; and basic: ages 30 to 49, one to three times per lifetime. For basic settings, visual assessment is recommended as triage; in other settings, genotyping and/or cytology are recommended. For basic settings, treatment is recommended if abnormal triage results are present; in other settings, colposcopy is recommended for abnormal triage results. For basic settings, treatment options are cryotherapy or loop electrosurgical excision procedure; for other settings, loop electrosurgical excision procedure (or ablation) is recommended. Twelve-month post-treatment follow-up is recommended in all settings. Women who are HIV positive should be screened with HPV testing after diagnosis and screened twice as many times per lifetime as the general population. Screening is recommended at 6 weeks postpartum in basic settings; in other settings, screening is recommended at 6 months. In basic settings without mass screening, infrastructure for HPV testing, diagnosis, and treatment should be developed. Additional information can be found at www.asco.org/rs-cervical-cancer-secondary-prev-guideline and www.asco.org/guidelineswiki. It is the view of of ASCO that health care providers and health care system decision makers should be guided by the recommendations for the highest stratum of resources available. The guideline is intended to complement, but not replace, local guidelines. PMID:29094101

Medical resource preparation and allocation for humanitarian assistance based on module organization.

PubMed

Zhu, Min; Chen, Ruxue; Zhong, Shaobo; Qian, Yangming; Huang, Quanyi

2017-02-01

This research aims to associate the allocation of medical resources with the function of the modular organization and the possible needs for humanitarian assistance missions. The overseas humanitarian medical assistance mission, which was sent after a disaster on the hospital ship Peace Ark, part of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, was considered as study model. The cases used for clustering and matching sample formation were randomly selected from the existing information related to Peace Ark's mission. Categories of the reusable resources clustered by this research met the requirement of the actual consumption almost completely (more than 95%) and the categories of non-reusable resources met the requirement by more than 80%. In the mission's original resource preparing plan, more than 30% of the non-reusable resource categories remained unused during the mission. In the original resource preparing plan, some key non-reusable resources inventories were completely exhausted at the end of the mission, while 5% to 30% of non-reusable resources remained in the resource allocation plan generated by this research at the end of the mission. The medical resource allocation plan generated here can enhance the supporting level for the humanitarian assistance mission. This research could lay the foundation for an assistant decision-making system for humanitarian assistance mission.

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

Deshmukh, Ranjit; Wu, Grace

The MapRE (Multi-criteria Analysis for Planning Renewable Energy) GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Tools are a set of ArcGIS tools to a) conduct site suitability analysis for wind and solar resources using inclusion and exclusion criteria, and create resource maps, b) create project opportunity areas and compute various attributes such as cost, distances to existing and planned infrastructure. and environmental impact factors; and c) calculate and update various attributes for already processed renewable energy zones. In addition, MapRE data sets are geospatial data of renewable energy project opportunity areas and zones with pre-calculated attributes for several countries. These tools and datamore » are available at mapre.lbl.gov.« less

Building HR capability in health care organizations.

PubMed

Khatri, Naresh

2006-01-01

The current human resource (HR) management practices in health care are consistent with the industrial model of management. However, health care organizations are not factories. They are highly knowledge-intensive and service-oriented entities and thus require a different set of HR practices and systems to support them. Drawing from the resource-based theory, I argue that HRs are a potent weapon of competitive advantage for health care organizations and propose a five-dimensional conception of HR capability for harnessing HRs in health care organizations. The significant complementarities that exist between HRs and information technologies for delivering safer and better quality of patient care are also discussed.

Goal Based Testing: A Risk Informed Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Everline, Chester; Smith, Clayton; Distefano, Sal; Goldin, Natalie

2014-01-01

A process for life demonstration testing is developed, which can reduce the number of resources required by conventional sampling theory while still maintaining the same degree of rigor and confidence level. This process incorporates state-of-the-art probabilistic thinking and is consistent with existing NASA guidance documentation. This view of life testing changes the paradigm of testing a system for many hours to show confidence that a system will last for the required number of years to one that focuses efforts and resources on exploring how the system can fail at end-of-life and building confidence that the failure mechanisms are understood and well mitigated.

Quantification of water resources uncertainties in the Luvuvhu sub-basin of the Limpopo river basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oosthuizen, N.; Hughes, D.; Kapangaziwiri, E.; Mwenge Kahinda, J.; Mvandaba, V.

2018-06-01

In the absence of historical observed data, models are generally used to describe the different hydrological processes and generate data and information that will inform management and policy decision making. Ideally, any hydrological model should be based on a sound conceptual understanding of the processes in the basin and be backed by quantitative information for the parameterization of the model. However, these data are often inadequate in many sub-basins, necessitating the incorporation of the uncertainty related to the estimation process. This paper reports on the impact of the uncertainty related to the parameterization of the Pitman monthly model and water use data on the estimates of the water resources of the Luvuvhu, a sub-basin of the Limpopo river basin. The study reviews existing information sources associated with the quantification of water balance components and gives an update of water resources of the sub-basin. The flows generated by the model at the outlet of the basin were between 44.03 Mm3 and 45.48 Mm3 per month when incorporating +20% uncertainty to the main physical runoff generating parameters. The total predictive uncertainty of the model increased when water use data such as small farm and large reservoirs and irrigation were included. The dam capacity data was considered at an average of 62% uncertainty mainly as a result of the large differences between the available information in the national water resources database and that digitised from satellite imagery. Water used by irrigated crops was estimated with an average of about 50% uncertainty. The mean simulated monthly flows were between 38.57 Mm3 and 54.83 Mm3 after the water use uncertainty was added. However, it is expected that the uncertainty could be reduced by using higher resolution remote sensing imagery.

GIS Representation of Coal-Bearing Areas in North, Central, and South America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tewalt, Susan J.; Kinney, Scott A.; Merrill, Matthew D.

2008-01-01

Worldwide coal consumption and international coal trade are projected to increase in the next several decades (Energy Information Administration, 2007). A search of existing literature indicates that in the Western Hemisphere, coal resources are known to occur in about 30 countries. The need exists to be able to depict these areas in a digital format for use in Geographic Information System (GIS) applications at small scales (large areas) and in visual presentations. Existing surficial geology GIS layers of the appropriate geologic age have been used as an approximation to depict the extent of coal-bearing areas in North, Central, and South America, as well as Greenland (fig. 1). Global surficial geology GIS data were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for use in world petroleum assessments (Hearn and others, 2003). These USGS publications served as the major sources for the selection and creation of polygons to represent coal-bearing areas. Additional publications and maps by various countries and agencies were also used as sources of coal locations. GIS geologic polygons were truncated where literature or hardcopy maps did not indicate the presence of coal. The depicted areas are not adequate for use in coal resource calculations, as they were not adjusted for geologic structure and do not include coal at depth. Additionally, some coal areas in Central America could not be represented by the mapped surficial geology and are shown only as points based on descriptions or depictions from scientific publications or available maps. The provided GIS files are intended to serve as a backdrop for display of coal information. Three attributes of the coal that are represented by the polygons or points include geologic age (or range of ages), published rank (or range of ranks), and information source (published sources for age, rank, or physical location, or GIS geology base).

Preliminary Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Mineral Deposit Types in Afghanistan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ludington, Steve; Orris, Greta J.; Bolm, Karen S.; Peters, Stephen G.; ,

2007-01-01

INTRODUCTION Wise decision-making and management of natural resources depend upon credible and reliable scientific information about the occurrence, distribution, quantity and quality of a country's resource base. Economic development decisions by governments require such information to be part of a Mineral Resource Assessment. Such Mineral Assessments are also useful to private citizens and international investors, consultants, and companies prior to entry and investment in a country. Assessments can also be used to help evaluate the economic risks and impact on the natural environment associated with development of resources. In February 2002, at the request of the Department of State and the then U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (Robert P. Finn), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) prepared a detailed proposal addressing natural resources issues critical to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The proposal was refined and updated in December 2003 and was presented as a 5-year work plan to USAID-Kabul in February 2004. USAID-Kabul currently funds this plan and this report presents a part of the preliminary results obligated for fiscal year 2006. A final Preliminary Assessment of the Non Fuel Mineral Resource of Afghanistan will be completed and delivered at the end of fiscal year 2007. Afghanistan has abundant metallic and non-metallic resources, but the potential resources have never been systematically assessed using modern methods. Much of the existing mineral information for Afghanistan was gathered during the 1950s and continued in the late 1980s until the departure of the geologic advisors from the Soviet Union. During this period, there were many mineral-related activities centered on systematic geologic mapping of the country, collection of geochemical and rock samples, implementation of airborne geophysical surveys, and exploration focused on the discovery of large mineral deposits. Many reports, maps, charts, and tables were produced at that time. Some of this information remains in the libraries of the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industry (MMI) and the Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS), but much of these data and materials were shipped to the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries, or elsewhere. These materials have been acquired within Afghanistan and outside the country and compiled to form the foundation for this Preliminary Assessment of Non Fuel Mineral Resources.