The effects of concurrent cognitive load on phonological processing in adults who stutter.

PubMed

Jones, Robin M; Fox, Robert A; Jacewicz, Ewa

2012-12-01

To determine whether phonological processing in adults who stutter (AWS) is disrupted by increased amounts of cognitive load in a concurrent attention-demanding task. Nine AWS and 9 adults who do not stutter (AWNS) participated. Using a dual-task paradigm, the authors presented word pairs for rhyme judgments and, concurrently, letter strings for memory recall. The rhyme judgment task manipulated rhyming type (rhyming/nonrhyming) and orthographic representation (similar/dissimilar). The memory recall task varied stimulus complexity (no letters, 3 letters, 5 letters). Rhyme judgment accuracy and reaction time (RT) were used to assess phonological processing, and letter recall accuracy was used to measure memory recall. For rhyme judgments, AWS were as accurate as AWNS, and the increase in the cognitive load did not affect rhyme judgment accuracy of either group. Significant group differences were found in RTs (delays by AWS were 241 ms greater). RTs of AWS were also slower in the most demanding rhyme condition and varied with the complexity of the memory task. Accuracy of letter recall of AWS was comparatively worse in the most demanding 5-letter condition. Phonological and cognitive processing of AWS is more vulnerable to disruptions caused by increased amounts of cognitive load in concurrent attention-demanding tasks.

Closing data gaps for LCA of food products: estimating the energy demand of food processing.

PubMed

Sanjuán, Neus; Stoessel, Franziska; Hellweg, Stefanie

2014-01-21

Food is one of the most energy and CO2-intensive consumer goods. While environmental data on primary agricultural products are increasingly becoming available, there are large data gaps concerning food processing. Bridging these gaps is important; for example, the food industry can use such data to optimize processes from an environmental perspective, and retailers may use this information for purchasing decisions. Producers and retailers can then market sustainable products and deliver the information demanded by governments and consumers. Finally, consumers are increasingly interested in the environmental information of foods in order to lower their consumption impacts. This study provides estimation tools for the energy demand of a representative set of food process unit operations such as dehydration, evaporation, or pasteurization. These operations are used to manufacture a variety of foods and can be combined, according to the product recipe, to quantify the heat and electricity demand during processing. In combination with inventory data on the production of the primary ingredients, this toolbox will be a basis to perform life cycle assessment studies of a large number of processed food products and to provide decision support to the stakeholders. Furthermore, a case study is performed to illustrate the application of the tools.

The Supply of and Demand for Graduates of Post-Secondary School Institutions in the Next Decade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, F. V. S.

1969-01-01

Joint responsibility of education authorities and the Department of Manpower and Immigration is to accelerate research and to develop programs which will ease the process of adjustment to changing conditions in manpower demand. The inevitable prerequisite of closer matching of demand for and supply of qualified manpower is increased specialization…

Simulation modelling of central order processing system under resource sharing strategy in demand-driven garment supply chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, K.; Thomassey, S.; Zeng, X.

2017-10-01

In this paper we proposed a central order processing system under resource sharing strategy for demand-driven garment supply chains to increase supply chain performances. We examined this system by using simulation technology. Simulation results showed that significant improvement in various performance indicators was obtained in new collaborative model with proposed system.

Intelligence related upper alpha desynchronization in a semantic memory task.

PubMed

Doppelmayr, M; Klimesch, W; Hödlmoser, K; Sauseng, P; Gruber, W

2005-07-30

Recent evidence shows that event-related (upper) alpha desynchronization (ERD) is related to cognitive performance. Several studies observed a positive, some a negative relationship. The latter finding, interpreted in terms of the neural efficiency hypothesis, suggests that good performance is associated with a more 'efficient', smaller extent of cortical activation. Other studies found that ERD increases with semantic processing demands and that this increase is larger for good performers. Studies supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis used tasks that do not specifically require semantic processing. Thus, we assume that the lack of semantic processing demands may at least in part be responsible for the reduced ERD. In the present study we measured ERD during a difficult verbal-semantic task. The findings demonstrate that during semantic processing, more intelligent (as compared to less intelligent) subjects exhibited a significantly larger upper alpha ERD over the left hemisphere. We conclude that more intelligent subjects exhibit a more extensive activation in a semantic processing system and suggest that divergent findings regarding the neural efficiency hypotheses are due to task specific differences in semantic processing demands.

Transfer-appropriate processing in recognition memory: perceptual and conceptual effects on recognition memory depend on task demands.

PubMed

Parks, Colleen M

2013-07-01

Research examining the importance of surface-level information to familiarity in recognition memory tasks is mixed: Sometimes it affects recognition and sometimes it does not. One potential explanation of the inconsistent findings comes from the ideas of dual process theory of recognition and the transfer-appropriate processing framework, which suggest that the extent to which perceptual fluency matters on a recognition test depends in large part on the task demands. A test that recruits perceptual processing for discrimination should show greater perceptual effects and smaller conceptual effects than standard recognition, similar to the pattern of effects found in perceptual implicit memory tasks. This idea was tested in the current experiment by crossing a levels of processing manipulation with a modality manipulation on a series of recognition tests that ranged from conceptual (standard recognition) to very perceptually demanding (a speeded recognition test with degraded stimuli). Results showed that the levels of processing effect decreased and the effect of modality increased when tests were made perceptually demanding. These results support the idea that surface-level features influence performance on recognition tests when they are made salient by the task demands. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

A FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLES OF STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY AND TASK-DEMAND DURING AUDITORY SENTENCE PROCESSING

PubMed Central

Love, Tracy; Haist, Frank; Nicol, Janet; Swinney, David

2009-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study directly examined an issue that bridges the potential language processing and multi-modal views of the role of Broca’s area: the effects of task-demands in language comprehension studies. We presented syntactically simple and complex sentences for auditory comprehension under three different (differentially complex) task-demand conditions: passive listening, probe verification, and theme judgment. Contrary to many language imaging findings, we found that both simple and complex syntactic structures activated left inferior frontal cortex (L-IFC). Critically, we found activation in these frontal regions increased together with increased task-demands. Specifically, tasks that required greater manipulation and comparison of linguistic material recruited L-IFC more strongly; independent of syntactic structure complexity. We argue that much of the presumed syntactic effects previously found in sentence imaging studies of L-IFC may, among other things, reflect the tasks employed in these studies and that L-IFC is a region underlying mnemonic and other integrative functions, on which much language processing may rely. PMID:16881268

Recovery of Uranium from Wet Phosphoric Acid by Solvent Extraction Processes

DOE PAGES

Beltrami, Denis; Cote, Gérard; Mokhtari, Hamid; ...

2014-11-17

Between 1951 and 1991, we developed about 17 processes to recover uranium from wet phosphoric acid (WPA), but the viability of these processes was subject to the variation of the uranium price market. Nowadays, uranium from WPA appears to be attractive due to the increase of the global uranium demand resulting from the emergence of developing countries. Moreover, the increasing demand provides impetus for a new look at the applicable technology with a view to improvements as well as altogether new approaches. This paper gives an overview on extraction processes developed in the past to recover uranium from wet phosphoricmore » acid (WPA) as well as the physicochemistry involved in these processes. Recent advances concerning the development of new extraction systems are also reported and discussed.« less

Job demands-resources, burnout and intention to leave the nursing profession: a questionnaire survey.

PubMed

Jourdain, Geneviève; Chênevert, Denis

2010-06-01

The aims of the paper are to examine the role of burnout in the relationship between stress factors related to nurses' work and social environment and intention to leave the profession and to investigate the nature of the relationship between burnout and intention to leave the nursing profession. A postulate of the job demands-resources model is that two distinct yet related processes contribute to the development of burnout. The energetic process originates from demands and is mainly centered on emotional exhaustion; the motivational process originates from resources and is mainly centered on depersonalization. Moreover, we postulated that the two components of burnout are linked indirectly to intention to leave the profession via psychosomatic complaints, associated with the energetic process, and via professional commitment, associated with the motivational process. The research model was tested on cross-sectional data collected in 2005 from 1636 registered nurses working in hospitals who responded to a self-administrated questionnaire. Demands are the most important determinants of emotional exhaustion and indirectly induce depersonalization via emotional exhaustion, whereas resources mainly predict depersonalization. Moreover, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are linked to psychosomatic complaints and professional commitment, which are in turn associated with intention to leave the profession. The results suggest that a dual strategy is needed in order to retain nurses within the profession: a decrease in job demands, coupled with an increase in available job resources. In particular, nurses' tasks and role should be restructured to reduce work overload and increase the meaning of their work. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The involvement of central attention in visual search is determined by task demands.

PubMed

Han, Suk Won

2017-04-01

Attention, the mechanism by which a subset of sensory inputs is prioritized over others, operates at multiple processing stages. Specifically, attention enhances weak sensory signal at the perceptual stage, while it serves to select appropriate responses or consolidate sensory representations into short-term memory at the central stage. This study investigated the independence and interaction between perceptual and central attention. To do so, I used a dual-task paradigm, pairing a four-alternative choice task with a visual search task. The results showed that central attention for response selection was engaged in perceptual processing for visual search when the number of search items increased, thereby increasing the demand for serial allocation of focal attention. By contrast, central attention and perceptual attention remained independent as far as the demand for serial shifting of focal attention remained constant; decreasing stimulus contrast or increasing the set size of a parallel search did not evoke the involvement of central attention in visual search. These results suggest that the nature of concurrent visual search process plays a crucial role in the functional interaction between two different types of attention.

Alpha power increases in right parietal cortex reflects focused internal attention

PubMed Central

Benedek, Mathias; Schickel, Rainer J.; Jauk, Emanuel; Fink, Andreas; Neubauer, Aljoscha C.

2014-01-01

This study investigated the functional significance of EEG alpha power increases, a finding that is consistently observed in various memory tasks and specifically during divergent thinking. It was previously shown that alpha power is increased when tasks are performed in mind—e.g., when bottom-up processing is prevented. This study aimed to examine the effect of task-immanent differences in bottom-up processing demands by comparing two divergent thinking tasks, one intrinsically relying on bottom-up processing (sensory-intake task) and one that is not (sensory-independence task). In both tasks, stimuli were masked in half of the trials to establish conditions of higher and lower internal processing demands. In line with the hypotheses, internal processing affected performance and led to increases in alpha power only in the sensory-intake task, whereas the sensory-independence task showed high levels of task-related alpha power in both conditions. Interestingly, conditions involving focused internal attention showed a clear lateralization with higher alpha power in parietal regions of the right hemisphere. Considering evidence from fMRI studies, right-parietal alpha power increases may correspond to a deactivation of the right temporoparietal junction, reflecting an inhibition of the ventral attention network. Inhibition of this region is thought to prevent reorienting to irrelevant stimulation during goal-driven, top-down behavior, which may serve the executive function of task shielding during demanding cognitive tasks such as idea generation and mental imagery. PMID:24561034

Expanding Rational Molecular Design beyond Pharma: Metrics to Guide Safer Chemical Design

EPA Science Inventory

The demand for safer, healthier and sustainable products, materials and processes has been increasing over the past several years. Differentiating which chemicals are relatively less hazardous than others, often referred to as “greener” or “sustainable, demands a comprehensive, h...

Expanding Rational Molecular Design beyond Pharma: Metrics toGuide Safer Chemical Design

EPA Science Inventory

The demand for safer, healthier and sustainable products, materials and processes has been increasing over the past several years. Differentiating which chemicals are relatively less hazardous than others, often referred to as “greener” or “sustainable, demands a comprehensive, h...

Technological demands of meat processing-An Asian perspective.

PubMed

Zhang, Wangang; Naveena, B Maheswarappa; Jo, Cheorun; Sakata, Ryoichi; Zhou, Guanghong; Banerjee, Rituparna; Nishiumi, Tadayuki

2017-10-01

A rapid increase in the economy, population, industrialization, and urbanization of Asian countries has driven the fast development of their meat industries over recent decades. This consistent increase in meat production and consumption in Asia has been the major cause for the development of the global meat industry. Meat production methods and consumption are very diverse across different regions and countries in Asia, and thus, it is impossible to cover the technological demands of all Asian countries in this review. Here, we have mainly highlighted the differences in meat production methods and consumption in Asia during recent decades and the meat technology demands of three east Asian countries, namely China, Korea, and Japan, and one south Asian country, India. A brief introduction of the meat industry, in particular the production and consumption trend in these countries, is provided in this article. The technology demands for fresh and processed meat products are then reviewed. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Positive Aging in Demanding Workplaces: The Gain Cycle between Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement.

PubMed

Guglielmi, Dina; Avanzi, Lorenzo; Chiesa, Rita; Mariani, Marco G; Bruni, Ilaria; Depolo, Marco

2016-01-01

Nowadays organizations have to cope with two related challenges: maintaining an engaged and highly performing workforce and, at the same time, protecting and increasing employees' well-being and job satisfaction under conditions of a generalized increase of job demand, in an increasingly growing older population. According to the motivational process of the JD-R model, a work environment with many organizational resources will foster work engagement, which in turn will increase the likelihood of positive personal and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, and intention to stay. However, it is not clear how this motivational process could work in different age cohorts, as older workers may have different priorities to those of younger colleagues. Postulating the existence of a gain-cycle in the relationship between work engagement and outcomes, in this study we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which job satisfaction increases over time through an increment in work engagement. We hypothesized that this process is moderated by job demand and aging. We collected data in public administrations in Northern Italy in order to measure work engagement and job satisfaction. 556 workers aged between 50 and 64 replied to the survey twice (the first time and 8 months later). The findings confirmed a moderated mediation model, in which job satisfaction at time 1 increased work engagement, which in turn fostered job satisfaction 8 months later, confirming the hypothesized gain-cycle. This relationship was shown to be moderated by the joint influence of job demand intensity and age: higher job demands and younger age are related to the maximum level of level gain cycle, while the same high level of job demands, when associated with older age, appears unable to stimulate a similar effect. The results confirm that, on one hand, older workers cannot be seen as a homogeneous group and, on the other hand, the importance of considering the role played by the gain cycle of resources. Our findings show that age matters, and that greater consideration should be devoted to age differences in order to design appropriate human resources practices that foster work engagement and satisfaction.

Positive Aging in Demanding Workplaces: The Gain Cycle between Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement

PubMed Central

Guglielmi, Dina; Avanzi, Lorenzo; Chiesa, Rita; Mariani, Marco G.; Bruni, Ilaria; Depolo, Marco

2016-01-01

Nowadays organizations have to cope with two related challenges: maintaining an engaged and highly performing workforce and, at the same time, protecting and increasing employees’ well-being and job satisfaction under conditions of a generalized increase of job demand, in an increasingly growing older population. According to the motivational process of the JD-R model, a work environment with many organizational resources will foster work engagement, which in turn will increase the likelihood of positive personal and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, and intention to stay. However, it is not clear how this motivational process could work in different age cohorts, as older workers may have different priorities to those of younger colleagues. Postulating the existence of a gain-cycle in the relationship between work engagement and outcomes, in this study we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which job satisfaction increases over time through an increment in work engagement. We hypothesized that this process is moderated by job demand and aging. We collected data in public administrations in Northern Italy in order to measure work engagement and job satisfaction. 556 workers aged between 50 and 64 replied to the survey twice (the first time and 8 months later). The findings confirmed a moderated mediation model, in which job satisfaction at time 1 increased work engagement, which in turn fostered job satisfaction 8 months later, confirming the hypothesized gain-cycle. This relationship was shown to be moderated by the joint influence of job demand intensity and age: higher job demands and younger age are related to the maximum level of level gain cycle, while the same high level of job demands, when associated with older age, appears unable to stimulate a similar effect. The results confirm that, on one hand, older workers cannot be seen as a homogeneous group and, on the other hand, the importance of considering the role played by the gain cycle of resources. Our findings show that age matters, and that greater consideration should be devoted to age differences in order to design appropriate human resources practices that foster work engagement and satisfaction. PMID:27574514

A Novel Process for Recovering Valuable Materials from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodbiba, Gjergj; Yamaji, Yuta; Murata, Kenji; Okaya, Katsunori; Shibayama, Atsushi; Fujita, Toyohisa

The demand for lithium-ion batteries has been increasing due to the increasing demand for laptop computers, cellular phones, automobiles, etc. The positive electrode of the lithium-ion secondary battery is mainly made of lithium oxides well as cobalt, nickel, manganese, etc. Thus, an effective recycling method not only would collect cobalt and lithium, but also would enable the separation of other materials from the spent batteries. In this work, a novel processing flow sheet is put forward and its efficiency is evaluated. The aim was to obtain pure fractions of various constituents.

Designing cost effective water demand management programs in Australia.

PubMed

White, S B; Fane, S A

2002-01-01

This paper describes recent experience with integrated resource planning (IRP) and the application of least cost planning (LCP) for the evaluation of demand management strategies in urban water. Two Australian case studies, Sydney and Northern New South Wales (NSW) are used in illustration. LCP can determine the most cost effective means of providing water services or alternatively the cheapest forms of water conservation. LCP contrasts to a traditional approach of evaluation which looks only at means of increasing supply. Detailed investigation of water usage, known as end-use analysis, is required for LCP. End-use analysis allows both rigorous demand forecasting, and the development and evaluation of conservation strategies. Strategies include education campaigns, increasing water use efficiency and promoting wastewater reuse or rainwater tanks. The optimal mix of conservation strategies and conventional capacity expansion is identified based on levelised unit cost. IRP uses LCP in the iterative process, evaluating and assessing options, investing in selected options, measuring the results, and then re-evaluating options. Key to this process is the design of cost effective demand management programs. IRP however includes a range of parameters beyond least economic cost in the planning process and program designs, including uncertainty, benefit partitioning and implementation considerations.

Airport Planning and Development Process: Analysis and Documentation Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is facing extreme resource constraints : and increasing demands on the aviation system. The Airport Planning and : Development Process (APDP) links organizations, people, and processes together : to provide c...

The increasing importance of atmospheric demand in regulating ecosystem functioning

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The profound effects of hydrologic stress on ecosystem productivity, water use, and mortality are driven by two variables – soil moisture supply and atmospheric demand for water. The impact of these two drivers on ecosystem processes has historically been difficult to disentangle, and often the rol...

Processing Demands Impact 3-Year-Olds' Performance in a Spontaneous-Response Task: New Evidence for the Processing-Load Account of Early False-Belief Understanding.

PubMed

Scott, Rose M; Roby, Erin

2015-01-01

Prior to age four, children succeed in non-elicited-response false-belief tasks but fail elicited-response false-belief tasks. To explain this discrepancy, the processing-load account argues that the capacity to represent beliefs emerges in infancy, as indicated by early success on non-elicited-response tasks, but that children's ability to demonstrate this capacity depends on the processing demands of the task and children's processing skills. When processing demands exceed young children's processing abilities, such as in standard elicited-response tasks, children fail despite their capacity to represent beliefs. Support for this account comes from recent evidence that reducing processing demands improves young children's performance: when demands are sufficiently reduced, 2.5-year-olds succeed in elicited-response tasks. Here we sought complementary evidence for the processing-load account by examining whether increasing processing demands impeded children's performance in a non-elicited-response task. 3-year-olds were tested in a preferential-looking task in which they heard a change-of-location false-belief story accompanied by a picture book; across children, we manipulated the amount of linguistic ambiguity in the story. The final page of the book showed two images: one that was consistent with the main character's false belief and one that was consistent with reality. When the story was relatively unambiguous, children looked reliably longer at the false-belief-consistent image, successfully demonstrating their false-belief understanding. When the story was ambiguous, however, this undermined children's performance: looking times to the belief-consistent image were correlated with verbal ability, and only children with verbal skills in the upper quartile of the sample demonstrated a significant preference for the belief-consistent image. These results support the processing-load account by demonstrating that regardless of whether a task involves an elicited response, children's performance depends on the processing demands of the task and their processing skills. These findings also have implications for alternative, deflationary accounts of early false-belief understanding.

Processing Demands Impact 3-Year-Olds’ Performance in a Spontaneous-Response Task: New Evidence for the Processing-Load Account of Early False-Belief Understanding

PubMed Central

Scott, Rose M.; Roby, Erin

2015-01-01

Prior to age four, children succeed in non-elicited-response false-belief tasks but fail elicited-response false-belief tasks. To explain this discrepancy, the processing-load account argues that the capacity to represent beliefs emerges in infancy, as indicated by early success on non-elicited-response tasks, but that children’s ability to demonstrate this capacity depends on the processing demands of the task and children’s processing skills. When processing demands exceed young children’s processing abilities, such as in standard elicited-response tasks, children fail despite their capacity to represent beliefs. Support for this account comes from recent evidence that reducing processing demands improves young children’s performance: when demands are sufficiently reduced, 2.5-year-olds succeed in elicited-response tasks. Here we sought complementary evidence for the processing-load account by examining whether increasing processing demands impeded children’s performance in a non-elicited-response task. 3-year-olds were tested in a preferential-looking task in which they heard a change-of-location false-belief story accompanied by a picture book; across children, we manipulated the amount of linguistic ambiguity in the story. The final page of the book showed two images: one that was consistent with the main character’s false belief and one that was consistent with reality. When the story was relatively unambiguous, children looked reliably longer at the false-belief-consistent image, successfully demonstrating their false-belief understanding. When the story was ambiguous, however, this undermined children’s performance: looking times to the belief-consistent image were correlated with verbal ability, and only children with verbal skills in the upper quartile of the sample demonstrated a significant preference for the belief-consistent image. These results support the processing-load account by demonstrating that regardless of whether a task involves an elicited response, children’s performance depends on the processing demands of the task and their processing skills. These findings also have implications for alternative, deflationary accounts of early false-belief understanding. PMID:26562840

Work-induced changes in feelings of mastery.

PubMed

Bradley, Graham L

2010-01-01

Past theory and research indicate that conditions of work can have lasting effects on job incumbents. R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell (1990), for example, proposed that workers' feelings of mastery increase with levels of job demands and job control, and that these effects are mediated by the process of active learning. To test these propositions, 657 school teachers completed scales assessing job demands, control, active learning, and mastery on 2 occasions, 8 months apart. As hypothesized, job control predicted change in mastery, an effect that was mediated by active learning. Job demands had a weaker effect on change in mastery. The demands-mastery relationship was moderated by job control, so that under conditions of high control, but not low control, increasing job demands were associated with gains in mastery. The findings partially support R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell's (1990) predictions regarding the main, interactive, and mediated effects of job conditions on employee mastery.

Rethinking the connection between working memory and language impairment.

PubMed

Archibald, Lisa M D; Harder Griebeling, Katherine

2016-05-01

Working memory deficits have been found for children with specific language impairment (SLI) on tasks imposing increasing short-term memory load with or without additional, consistent (and simple) processing load. To examine the processing function of working memory in children with low language (LL) by employing tasks imposing increasing processing loads with constant storage demands individually adjusted based on each participant's short-term memory capacity. School-age groups with LL (n = 17) and typical language with either average (n = 28) or above-average nonverbal intelligence (n = 15) completed complex working memory-span tasks varying processing load while keeping storage demands constant, varying storage demands while keeping processing load constant, simple storage-span tasks, and measures of language and nonverbal intelligence. Teachers completed questionnaires about cognition and learning. Significantly lower scores were found for the LL than either matched group on storage-based tasks, but no group differences were found on the tasks varying processing load. Teachers' ratings of oral expression and mathematics abilities discriminated those who did or did not complete the most challenging cognitive tasks. The results implicate a deficit in the phonological storage but not in the central executive component of working memory for children with LL. Teacher ratings may reveal personality traits related to perseverance of effort in cognitive research. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Volatile, anthocyanidin, quality and sensory changes in rabbiteye blueberry from whole fruit through pilot plant juice processing.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

BACKGROUND: High antioxidant content and keen marketing have increased blueberry demand and increased local production which in turn mandates new uses for abundant harvests. Pilot scale processes were employed to investigate the anthocyanidin profiles, qualitative volatile compositions, and sensori...

In-Class Simulation of Pooling Safety Stock

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandy, D. Brent

2005-01-01

In managing business process flows, safety stock can be used to protect against stockouts due to demand variability. When more than one location is involved, the concept of aggregation enables the pooling of demands and associated inventories, resulting in improved service levels without increasing the total level of safety stock. This pooling of…

Individual Differences in Sentence Comprehension: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Syntactic and Lexical Processing Demands

PubMed Central

Prat, Chantel S.; Keller, Timothy A.; Just, Marcel Adam

2008-01-01

Language comprehension is neurally underpinned by a network of collaborating cortical processing centers; individual differences in comprehension must be related to some set of this network’s properties. This study investigated the neural bases of individual differences during sentence comprehension by examining the network’s response to two variations in processing demands: reading sentences containing words of high versus low lexical frequency and having simpler versus more complex syntax. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, readers who were independently identified as having high or low working memory capacity for language exhibited three differentiating properties of their language network, namely, neural efficiency, adaptability, and synchronization. First, greater efficiency (defined as a reduction in activation associated with improved performance) was manifested as less activation in the bilateral middle frontal and right lingual gyri in high-capacity readers. Second, increased adaptability was indexed by larger lexical frequency effects in high-capacity readers across bilateral middle frontal, bilateral inferior occipital, and right temporal regions. Third, greater synchronization was observed in high-capacity readers between left temporal and left inferior frontal, left parietal, and right occipital regions. Synchronization interacted with adaptability, such that functional connectivity remained constant or increased with increasing lexical and syntactic demands in high-capacity readers, whereas low-capacity readers either showed no reliable differentiation or a decrease in functional connectivity with increasing demands. These results are among the first to relate multiple cortical network properties to individual differences in reading capacity and suggest a more general framework for understanding the relation between neural function and individual differences in cognitive performance. PMID:17892384

Individual differences in sentence comprehension: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of syntactic and lexical processing demands.

PubMed

Prat, Chantel S; Keller, Timothy A; Just, Marcel Adam

2007-12-01

Language comprehension is neurally underpinned by a network of collaborating cortical processing centers; individual differences in comprehension must be related to some set of this network's properties. This study investigated the neural bases of individual differences during sentence comprehension by examining the network's response to two variations in processing demands: reading sentences containing words of high versus low lexical frequency and having simpler versus more complex syntax. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, readers who were independently identified as having high or low working memory capacity for language exhibited three differentiating properties of their language network, namely, neural efficiency, adaptability, and synchronization. First, greater efficiency (defined as a reduction in activation associated with improved performance) was manifested as less activation in the bilateral middle frontal and right lingual gyri in high-capacity readers. Second, increased adaptability was indexed by larger lexical frequency effects in high-capacity readers across bilateral middle frontal, bilateral inferior occipital, and right temporal regions. Third, greater synchronization was observed in high-capacity readers between left temporal and left inferior frontal, left parietal, and right occipital regions. Synchronization interacted with adaptability, such that functional connectivity remained constant or increased with increasing lexical and syntactic demands in high-capacity readers, whereas low-capacity readers either showed no reliable differentiation or a decrease in functional connectivity with increasing demands. These results are among the first to relate multiple cortical network properties to individual differences in reading capacity and suggest a more general framework for understanding the relation between neural function and individual differences in cognitive performance.

Role of primary sedimentation on plant-wide energy recovery and carbon footprint.

PubMed

Gori, Riccardo; Giaccherini, Francesca; Jiang, Lu-Man; Sobhani, Reza; Rosso, Diego

2013-01-01

The goal of this paper is to show the effect of primary sedimentation on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and solids fractionation and consequently on the carbonaceous and energy footprints of wastewater treatment processes. Using a simple rational procedure for COD and solids fraction quantification, we quantify the effects of varying fractions on CO2 and CO2-equivalent mass flows, process energy demand and energy recovery. Then we analysed two treatment plants with similar biological nutrient removal processes in two different climatic regions and quantified the net benefit of gravity separation before biological treatment. In the cases analysed, primary settling increases the solid fraction of COD that is processed in anaerobic digestion, with an associated increase in biogas production and energy recovery, and a reduction in overall emissions of CO2 and CO2-equivalent from power importation.

Optical Computers and Space Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abdeldayem, Hossin A.; Frazier, Donald O.; Penn, Benjamin; Paley, Mark S.; Witherow, William K.; Banks, Curtis; Hicks, Rosilen; Shields, Angela

1995-01-01

The rapidly increasing demand for greater speed and efficiency on the information superhighway requires significant improvements over conventional electronic logic circuits. Optical interconnections and optical integrated circuits are strong candidates to provide the way out of the extreme limitations imposed on the growth of speed and complexity of nowadays computations by the conventional electronic logic circuits. The new optical technology has increased the demand for high quality optical materials. NASA's recent involvement in processing optical materials in space has demonstrated that a new and unique class of high quality optical materials are processible in a microgravity environment. Microgravity processing can induce improved orders in these materials and could have a significant impact on the development of optical computers. We will discuss NASA's role in processing these materials and report on some of the associated nonlinear optical properties which are quite useful for optical computers technology.

Determining Regional Sensitivity to Energy-Related Water Withdrawals in Minnesota

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCulloch, A.; Brauman, K. A.

2015-12-01

Minnesota has abundant freshwater resources, yet concerns about water-impacts of energy and mining development are increasing. Statewide, total annual water withdrawals have increased, and, in some watersheds, withdrawals make up a large fraction of available water. The energy and mining sectors play a critical role in determining water availability, as water is used to irrigate biofuel feedstock crops, cool thermoelectric plants, and process and transport fuels and iron ore. We evaluated the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Water and Reporting System (MPARS) dataset (1988-2014) to identify regions where energy and mining-related water withdrawals are high or where they are increasing. The energy and mining sectors account for over 65 percent of total water extractions in Minnesota, but this percentage is greater in some regions. In certain southern and northeastern Minnesota watersheds, these extractions account for 90 percent of total water demand. Sensitivity to these demands is not dependent on total water demand alone, and is also not uniform among watersheds. We identified and evaluated factors influencing sensitivity, including population, extraction type (surface water or groundwater), percentage of increased demand, and whether withdrawals are consumptive or not. We determined that southern Minnesota is particularly sensitive to increased water demands, because of growing biofuel and sand extraction industries (the products of which are used in hydraulic fracturing). In the last ten years, ethanol production in Minnesota has increased by 440 percent, and over fifteen refineries (each with a capacity over 1.1 billion gallons), have been built. These users primarily extract from surface water bodies within a few watersheds, compromising local supplies. As these energy-related industries continue to grow, so will the demand for freshwater resources. Determining regional sensitivity to increased demands will allow policy-makers to manage the increased competition for Minnesota's future water supplies.

Can Rural Employment Benefit from Changing Labor Skills in U.S. Processed Food Trade?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schluter, Gerald; Lee, Chinkook

2002-01-01

The 1990s saw a gain in rural food-processing employment, particularly meat packing and poultry processing, as the industry's demand for low-skilled workers increased. Analysis links the change in worker skills to international trade. While increased rural employment may seem beneficial, the jobs often do not appeal to rural domestic workers, and…

A novel microgrid demand-side management system for manufacturing facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harper, Terance J.

Thirty-one percent of annual energy consumption in the United States occurs within the industrial sector, where manufacturing processes account for the largest amount of energy consumption and carbon emissions. For this reason, energy efficiency in manufacturing facilities is increasingly important for reducing operating costs and improving profits. Using microgrids to generate local sustainable power should reduce energy consumption from the main utility grid along with energy costs and carbon emissions. Also, microgrids have the potential to serve as reliable energy generators in international locations where the utility grid is often unstable. For this research, a manufacturing process that had approximately 20 kW of peak demand was matched with a solar photovoltaic array that had a peak output of approximately 3 KW. An innovative Demand-Side Management (DSM) strategy was developed to manage the process loads as part of this smart microgrid system. The DSM algorithm managed the intermittent nature of the microgrid and the instantaneous demand of the manufacturing process. The control algorithm required three input signals; one from the microgrid indicating the availability of renewable energy, another from the manufacturing process indicating energy use as a percent of peak production, and historical data for renewable sources and facility demand. Based on these inputs the algorithm had three modes of operation: normal (business as usual), curtailment (shutting off non-critical loads), and energy storage. The results show that a real-time management of a manufacturing process with a microgrid will reduce electrical consumption and peak demand. The renewable energy system for this research was rated to provide up to 13% of the total manufacturing capacity. With actively managing the process loads with the DSM program alone, electrical consumption from the utility grid was reduced by 17% on average. An additional 24% reduction was accomplished when the microgrid and DSM program was enabled together, resulting in a total reduction of 37%. On average, peak demand was reduced by 6%, but due to the intermittency of the renewable source and the billing structure for peak demand, only a 1% reduction was obtained. During a billing period, it only takes one day when solar irradiance is poor to affect the demand reduction capabilities. To achieve further demand reduction, energy storage should be introduced and integrated.

Does job burnout mediate negative effects of job demands on mental and physical health in a group of teachers? Testing the energetic process of Job Demands-Resources model.

PubMed

Baka, Łukasz

2015-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the direct and indirect - mediated by job burnout - effects of job demands on mental and physical health problems. The Job Demands-Resources model was the theoretical framework of the study. Three job demands were taken into account - interpersonal conflicts at work, organizational constraints and workload. Indicators of mental and physical health problems included depression and physical symptoms, respectively. Three hundred and sixteen Polish teachers from 8 schools participated in the study. The hypotheses were tested with the use of tools measuring job demands (Interpersonal Conflicts at Work, Organizational Constraints, Quantitative Workload), job burnout (the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory), depression (the Beck Hopelessness Scale), and physical symptoms (the Physical Symptoms Inventory). The regression analysis with bootstrapping, using the PROCESS macros of Hayes was applied. The results support the hypotheses partially. The indirect effect and to some extent the direct effect of job demands turned out to be statistically important. The negative impact of 3 job demands on mental (hypothesis 1 - H1) and physical (hypothesis 2 - H2) health were mediated by the increasing job burnout. Only organizational constraints were directly associated with mental (and not physical) health. The results partially support the notion of the Job Demands-Resources model and provide further insight into processes leading to the low well-being of teachers in the workplace. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Decision-Making Processes in the Workplace: How Exhaustion, Lack of Resources and Job Demands Impair Them and Affect Performance

PubMed Central

Ceschi, Andrea; Demerouti, Evangelia; Sartori, Riccardo; Weller, Joshua

2017-01-01

The present study aims to connect more the I/O and the decision-making psychological domains, by showing how some common components across jobs interfere with decision-making and affecting performance. Two distinct constructs that can contribute to positive workplace performance have been considered: decision-making competency (DMCy) and decision environment management (DEM). Both factors are presumed to involve self-regulatory mechanisms connected to decision processes by influencing performance in relation to work environment conditions. In the framework of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study tested how such components as job demands, job resources and exhaustion can moderate decision-making processes and performance, where high resources are advantageous for decision-making processes and performance at work, while the same effect happens with low job demands and/or low exhaustion. In line with the formulated hypotheses, results confirm the relations between both the decision-making competences, performance (i.e., in-role and extra-role) and moderators considered. In particular, employees with low levels of DMCy show to be more sensitive to job demands toward in-role performance, whereas high DEM levels increase the sensitivity of employees toward job resources and exhaustion in relation to extra-role performance. These findings indicate that decision-making processes, as well as work environment conditions, are jointly related to employee functioning. PMID:28529491

Decision-Making Processes in the Workplace: How Exhaustion, Lack of Resources and Job Demands Impair Them and Affect Performance.

PubMed

Ceschi, Andrea; Demerouti, Evangelia; Sartori, Riccardo; Weller, Joshua

2017-01-01

The present study aims to connect more the I/O and the decision-making psychological domains, by showing how some common components across jobs interfere with decision-making and affecting performance. Two distinct constructs that can contribute to positive workplace performance have been considered: decision-making competency (DMCy) and decision environment management (DEM). Both factors are presumed to involve self-regulatory mechanisms connected to decision processes by influencing performance in relation to work environment conditions. In the framework of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study tested how such components as job demands, job resources and exhaustion can moderate decision-making processes and performance, where high resources are advantageous for decision-making processes and performance at work, while the same effect happens with low job demands and/or low exhaustion. In line with the formulated hypotheses, results confirm the relations between both the decision-making competences, performance (i.e., in-role and extra-role) and moderators considered. In particular, employees with low levels of DMCy show to be more sensitive to job demands toward in-role performance, whereas high DEM levels increase the sensitivity of employees toward job resources and exhaustion in relation to extra-role performance. These findings indicate that decision-making processes, as well as work environment conditions, are jointly related to employee functioning.

Performance Study of Ceramic Filter Module in Recirculated Aquaculture System (RAS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ng, L. Y.; Ng, C. Y.

2017-06-01

The growth of world population has led to significant increase in seafood demand over the world. Aquaculture has been widely accepted by many countries to increase the seafood production owing to the decline of natural seafood resources. The aquaculture productivity, however, is directly linked to the pond water quality. In this study, attempts were made to employ ceramic micro-filter to improve the pond water quality through filtration processes. There were two batches of filtration processes, short term (1 hour) and long term (48 hours). Significant improvements on real pond water quality were recorded through the short term microfiltration process, which reduced turbidity (96%), total suspended solids (TSS) (80%), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (72%), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (55%), ammonia (60%), nitrate (96%) and phosphorus (83%). The long term filtration process also showed high efficiency in the removal of solid particle and organic matters. The results showed that all of the parameters were successfully reduced to acceptable ranges (turbidity<80 NTU, TSS<400 mg/L, BOD<5 mg/L, COD<70 mg/L, phosphate<3 mg/L and ammonia<0.05 mg/L) for fish culturing activity. Based on current study, there was a drastic increase in nitrate content after 24 hours due to the nitrification process by regenerated bacteria in the filtered pond water. Current study showed that the microfiltration using ceramic micro-filter has high potential to be used in recirculating aquaculture system throughout the aquaculture activities in order to maintain the pond water quality, thus, increase the survival rate of cultured species.

Low cost solar silicon production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mede, Matt

2009-08-01

The worldwide demand for solar grade silicon reached an all time high between 2007 and 2008. Although growth in the solar industry is slowing due to the current economic downturn, demand is expected to rebound in 2011 based on current cost models. However, demand will increase even more than currently anticipated if costs are reduced. This situation creates an opportunity for new and innovative approaches to the production of photovoltaic grade silicon, especially methods which can demonstrate cost reductions over currently utilized processes.

Using Automatic Item Generation to Meet the Increasing Item Demands of High-Stakes Educational and Occupational Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arendasy, Martin E.; Sommer, Markus

2012-01-01

The use of new test administration technologies such as computerized adaptive testing in high-stakes educational and occupational assessments demands large item pools. Classic item construction processes and previous approaches to automatic item generation faced the problems of a considerable loss of items after the item calibration phase. In this…

Alternative silvicultural practices in Appalachian forest ecosystems: implications for species diversity, ecosystem resilience, and commercial timber production

Treesearch

Thomas R. Fox; Carola A. Haas; David W. Smith; David L. Loftis; Shepard M. Zedaker; Robert H. Jones; A.L. Hammett

2007-01-01

Increasing demands for timber and non-timber forest products often conflict with demands to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem processes. To examine tradeoffs between these goals, we implemented six alternative management systems using a stand-level, replicated experiment. The treatments included four silvicultural regeneration methods designed to sustain timber...

Information on Demand in the Recording Studio: Building the Case for Teaching Music Technology with an Interactive Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voss, Brett

2016-01-01

Education in a contemporary context increasingly requires students to engage with learning technologies. This can present a challenge to both students and teachers who at times struggle to engage with the technical processes involved in navigating these technologies. Outside of formal education settings, on-demand information facilitated through…

The Scholarly Process: A Grounded Theory Exploring How Counselor Educators Promote Scholarship of Counselors-in-Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michalak, Megan B.

2013-01-01

The demand for master's level counseling scholarship is on the rise as a call for evidenced based practices persist (Benishek, 1998; Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008; Huber & Savage, 2009). Although there is a demand to increase the amount of counseling produced scholarship, little examination exists regarding how the profession can begin to…

Sustainable manufacturing by calculating the energy demand during turning of AISI 1045 steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, R.; Nasrullah, B.; Suyuti, M. A.; Apollo

2018-01-01

Sustainable development will become important issues for many fields, including production, industry, and manufacturing. In order to achieve sustainable development, industry should be able to perform of sustainable production processes and environmentally friendly. Therefore, there is need to minimize the energy demand in the machining process. This paper presents a calculation method of energy consumption in the machining process, especially turning process which calculated by summing the number of energy consumption, such as the electric energy consumed during the machining preparation, the electrical energy during the cutting processes, and the electrical energy to produce a cutting tool. A case study was performed on dry turning of mild carbon steel using coated carbide. This approach can be used to determine the total amount of electrical energy consumed in the specific machining process. It concluded that the energy consumption will be an increase for using the high cutting speed as well as for the feed rate was increased.

An fMRI investigation of analogical mapping in metaphor comprehension: the influence of context and individual cognitive capacities on processing demands.

PubMed

Prat, Chantel S; Mason, Robert A; Just, Marcel Adam

2012-03-01

This study used fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of analogical mapping during metaphor comprehension, with a focus on dynamic configuration of neural networks with changing processing demands and individual abilities. Participants with varying vocabulary sizes and working memory capacities read 3-sentence passages ending in nominal critical utterances of the form "X is a Y." Processing demands were manipulated by varying preceding contexts. Three figurative conditions manipulated difficulty by varying the extent to which preceding contexts mentioned relevant semantic features for relating the vehicle and topic of the critical utterance to one another. In the easy condition, supporting information was mentioned. In the neutral condition, no relevant information was mentioned. In the most difficult condition, opposite features were mentioned, resulting in an ironic interpretation of the critical utterance. A fourth, literal condition included context that supported a literal interpretation of the critical utterance. Activation in lateral and medial frontal regions increased with increasing contextual difficulty. Lower vocabulary readers also had greater activation across conditions in the right inferior frontal gyrus. In addition, volumetric analyses showed increased right temporo-parietal junction and superior medial frontal activation for all figurative conditions over the literal condition. The results from this experiment imply that the cortical regions are dynamically recruited in language comprehension as a function of the processing demands of a task. Individual differences in cognitive capacities were also associated with differences in recruitment and modulation of working memory and executive function regions, highlighting the overlapping computations in metaphor comprehension and general thinking and reasoning. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Central Executive Dysfunction and Deferred Prefrontal Processing in Veterans with Gulf War Illness.

PubMed

Hubbard, Nicholas A; Hutchison, Joanna L; Motes, Michael A; Shokri-Kojori, Ehsan; Bennett, Ilana J; Brigante, Ryan M; Haley, Robert W; Rypma, Bart

2014-05-01

Gulf War Illness is associated with toxic exposure to cholinergic disruptive chemicals. The cholinergic system has been shown to mediate the central executive of working memory (WM). The current work proposes that impairment of the cholinergic system in Gulf War Illness patients (GWIPs) leads to behavioral and neural deficits of the central executive of WM. A large sample of GWIPs and matched controls (MCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a varied-load working memory task. Compared to MCs, GWIPs showed a greater decline in performance as WM-demand increased. Functional imaging suggested that GWIPs evinced separate processing strategies, deferring prefrontal cortex activity from encoding to retrieval for high demand conditions. Greater activity during high-demand encoding predicted greater WM performance. Behavioral data suggest that WM executive strategies are impaired in GWIPs. Functional data further support this hypothesis and suggest that GWIPs utilize less effective strategies during high-demand WM.

Central Executive Dysfunction and Deferred Prefrontal Processing in Veterans with Gulf War Illness

PubMed Central

Hubbard, Nicholas A.; Hutchison, Joanna L.; Motes, Michael A.; Shokri-Kojori, Ehsan; Bennett, Ilana J.; Brigante, Ryan M.; Haley, Robert W.; Rypma, Bart

2015-01-01

Gulf War Illness is associated with toxic exposure to cholinergic disruptive chemicals. The cholinergic system has been shown to mediate the central executive of working memory (WM). The current work proposes that impairment of the cholinergic system in Gulf War Illness patients (GWIPs) leads to behavioral and neural deficits of the central executive of WM. A large sample of GWIPs and matched controls (MCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a varied-load working memory task. Compared to MCs, GWIPs showed a greater decline in performance as WM-demand increased. Functional imaging suggested that GWIPs evinced separate processing strategies, deferring prefrontal cortex activity from encoding to retrieval for high demand conditions. Greater activity during high-demand encoding predicted greater WM performance. Behavioral data suggest that WM executive strategies are impaired in GWIPs. Functional data further support this hypothesis and suggest that GWIPs utilize less effective strategies during high-demand WM. PMID:25767746

Study of the degradation in aqueous solution of a refractory organic compound: avermectin type used as pesticide in agriculture.

PubMed

Boukhrissa, Athir; Ferrag-Siagh, Fatiha; Rouidi, Lina-Mounia; Chemat, Smaïn; Aït-Amar, Hamid

2017-10-01

We examined the removal of abamectin by the electro-Fenton (EF) process and the feasibility of biological treatment after degradation. The effect of the operating parameters showed that abamectin (Aba) degradation was enhanced with increasing temperature. Response surface analysis of the central composite design led to the following optimal conditions for the abatement of chemical oxygen demand: 45.5 °C, 5 mg L -1 , 150 mA, and 0.15 mmol L -1 for the temperature, initial Aba concentration, current intensity, and catalyst concentration, respectively. Under these conditions, 68.01% of the organic matter was removed and 94% of Aba was degraded after 5 h and 20 min of electrolysis, respectively. A biodegradability test, which was performed on a solution electrolyzed at 47 °C, 9 mg L -1 , 150 mA, and 0.15 mmol L -1 , confirms that the ratio of biological oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand increased appreciably from 0.0584 to 0.64 after 5 h of electrolysis. This increased ratio is slightly above the limit of biodegradability (0.4). These results show the relevance of the EF process and its effectiveness for abamectin degradation. We conclude that biological treatment can be combined with the EF process for total mineralization.

Outsourcing Support Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClure, James A.

2000-01-01

Successful outsourcing is a learning process demanding careful planning, commitment, and heavy communication. The process also requires a strong leadership and a cohesive school board ready to weather a cultural change. Service employee options, contractors' managerial expertise, increased efficiency, and partnership opportunities are possible…

How job demands affect an intimate partner: a test of the spillover-crossover model in Japan.

PubMed

Shimazu, Akihito; Bakker, Arnold B; Demerouti, Evangelia

2009-01-01

The present study examined how job demands affect an intimate partner's well-being. We hypothesized that job demands have a negative influence on partner well-being through the experience of work-family conflict (WFC) and an impaired quality of the relationship (reduced social support and increased social undermining towards the partner). The participants of this study were 99 couples of dual-earner parents in Japan. Consistent with hypotheses, men's job demands (i.e. overload and emotional demands) were positively related to their own reports of WFC, and indirectly to women's ratings of men's WFC. Consequently, women's ratings of men's WFC were negatively related to the quality of the relationship (i.e. decreased social support from and increased social undermining by men), which, in turn, led to women's ill-health (i.e. depressive symptoms and physical complaints). We found similar findings for the model starting with women's job demands; gender did not affect the strength of the relationships in the model. These findings suggest that high job demands initiate a process of work-family conflict and poor relationship quality, which may eventually affect the intimate partner's well-being in an unfavorable way.

Research on Demand Analysis of the Users of the Senior English Diagnostic System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Chen; Zhang, Hui; Yao, Qian; Wu, Min

2013-01-01

As the significance of learning English is becoming increasingly apparent, more and more English online practice systems are used by English learners. However, a thorough process of research and detailed analysis of user demand have not fully implemented before the design of these systems. As a result, these systems may suffer the defects of low…

A Probability Model for Belady's Anomaly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMaster, Kirby; Sambasivam, Samuel E.; Anderson, Nicole

2010-01-01

In demand paging virtual memory systems, the page fault rate of a process varies with the number of memory frames allocated to the process. When an increase in the number of allocated frames leads to an increase in the number of page faults, Belady's anomaly is said to occur. In this paper, we present a probability model for Belady's anomaly. We…

Task difficulty modulates brain-behavior correlations in language production and cognitive control: Behavioral and fMRI evidence from a phonological go/no-go picture-naming paradigm.

PubMed

Zhang, Haoyun; Eppes, Anna; Beatty-Martínez, Anne; Navarro-Torres, Christian; Diaz, Michele T

2018-06-19

Language production and cognitive control are complex processes that involve distinct yet interacting brain networks. However, the extent to which these processes interact and their neural bases have not been thoroughly examined. Here, we investigated the neural and behavioral bases of language production and cognitive control via a phonological go/no-go picture-naming task. Naming difficulty and cognitive control demands (i.e., conflict monitoring and response inhibition) were manipulated by varying the proportion of naming trials (go trials) and inhibition trials (no-go trials) across task runs. The results demonstrated that as task demands increased, participants' behavioral performance declined (i.e., longer reaction times on naming trials, more commission errors on inhibition trials) whereas brain activation generally increased. Increased activation was found not only within the language network but also in domain-general control regions. Additionally, right superior and inferior frontal and left supramarginal gyri were sensitive to increased task difficulty during both language production and response inhibition. We also found both positive and negative brain-behavior correlations. Most notably, increased activation in sensorimotor regions, such as precentral and postcentral gyri, was associated with better behavioral performance, in both successful picture naming and successful inhibition. Moreover, comparing the strength of correlations across conditions indicated that the brain-behavior correlations in sensorimotor regions that were associated with improved performance became stronger as task demands increased. Overall, our results suggest that cognitive control demands affect language production, and that successfully coping with increases in task difficulty relies on both language-specific and domain-general cognitive control regions.

Subvocal articulatory rehearsal during verbal working memory in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Sweet, Lawrence H; Vanderhill, Susan D; Jerskey, Beth A; Gordon, Norman M; Paul, Robert H; Cohen, Ronald A

2010-10-01

This study was designed to examine verbal working memory (VWM) components among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and determine the influence of information processing speed. Of two frequently studied VWM sub-components, subvocal rehearsal was expected to be more affected by MS than short-term memory buffering. Furthermore, worse subvocal rehearsal was predicted to be specifically related to slower cognitive processing. Fifteen MS patients were administered a neuropsychological battery assessing VWM, processing speed, mood, fatigue, and disability. Participants performed a 2-Back VWM task with modified nested conditions designed to increase subvocal rehearsal (via inter-stimulus interval) and short-term memory buffering demands (via phonological similarity). Performance during these 2-Back conditions did not significantly differ and both exhibited strong positive correlations with disability. However, only scores on the subvocal rehearsal 2-Back were significantly related to performance on the remaining test battery, including processing speed and depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that performance during increased subvocal rehearsal demands is specifically influenced by cognitive processing speed and depressive symptoms.

Transition of the functional brain network related to increasing cognitive demands.

PubMed

Finc, Karolina; Bonna, Kamil; Lewandowska, Monika; Wolak, Tomasz; Nikadon, Jan; Dreszer, Joanna; Duch, Włodzisław; Kühn, Simone

2017-04-22

Network neuroscience provides tools that can easily be used to verify main assumptions of the global workspace theory (GWT), such as the existence of highly segregated information processing during effortless tasks performance, engagement of multiple distributed networks during effortful tasks and the critical role of long-range connections in workspace formation. A number of studies support the assumptions of GWT by showing the reorganization of the whole-brain functional network during cognitive task performance; however, the involvement of specific large scale networks in the formation of workspace is still not well-understood. (1) to examine changes in the whole-brain functional network under increased cognitive demands of working memory during an n-back task, and their relationship with behavioral outcomes; and (2) to provide a comprehensive description of local changes that may be involved in the formation of the global workspace, using hub detection and network-based statistic. Our results show that network modularity decreased with increasing cognitive demands, and this change allowed us to predict behavioral performance. The number of connector hubs increased, whereas the number of provincial hubs decreased when the task became more demanding. We also found that the default mode network (DMN) increased its connectivity to other networks while decreasing connectivity between its own regions. These results, apart from replicating previous findings, provide a valuable insight into the mechanisms of the formation of the global workspace, highlighting the role of the DMN in the processes of network integration. Hum Brain Mapp, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

General practitioner workforce planning: assessment of four policy directions.

PubMed

Teljeur, Conor; Thomas, Stephen; O'Kelly, Fergus D; O'Dowd, Tom

2010-06-02

Estimating the supply of GPs into the future is important in forecasting shortages. The lengthy training process for medicine means that adjusting supply to meet demand in a timely fashion is problematic. This study uses Ireland as a case study to determine the future demand and supply of GPs and to assess the potential impact of several possible interventions to address future shortages. Demand was estimated by applying GP visit rates by age and sex to national population projections. Supply was modelled using a range of parameters derived from two national surveys of GPs. A stochastic modelling approach was adopted to determine the probable future supply of GPs. Four policy interventions were tested: increasing vocational training places; recruiting GPs from abroad; incentivising later retirement; increasing nurse substitution to enable practice nurses to deliver more services. Relative to most other European countries, Ireland has few GPs per capita. Ireland has an ageing population and demand is estimated to increase by 19% by 2021. Without intervention, the supply of GPs will be 5.7% less than required in 2021. Increasing training places will enable supply to meet demand but only after 2019. Recruiting GPs from overseas will enable supply to meet demand continuously if the number recruited is approximately 0.8 per cent of the current workforce per annum. Later retirement has only a short-term impact. Nurse substitution can enable supply to meet demand but only if large numbers of practice nurses are recruited and allowed to deliver a wide range of GP services. A significant shortfall in GP supply is predicted for Ireland unless recruitment is increased. The shortfall will have numerous knock-on effects including price increases, longer waiting lists and an increased burden on hospitals. Increasing training places will not provide an adequate response to future shortages. Foreign recruitment has ethical considerations but may provide a rapid and effective response. Increased nurse substitution appears to offer the best long-term prospects of addressing GP shortages and presents the opportunity to reshape general practice to meet the demands of the future.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine: A global assessment of demand and supply balance.

PubMed

Cernuschi, Tania; Malvolti, Stefano; Nickels, Emily; Friede, Martin

2018-01-25

Over the past decade, several countries across all regions, income groups and procurement methods have been unable to secure sufficient BCG vaccine supply. While the frequency of stock-outs has remained rather stable, duration increased in 2014-2015 due to manufacturing issues and attracted the attention of national, regional and global immunization stakeholders. This prompted an in-depth analysis of supply and demand dynamics aiming to characterize supply risks. This analysis is unique as it provides a global picture, where previous analyses have focused on a portion of the market procuring through UN entities. Through literature review, supplier interviews, appraisal of shortages, stock-outs and historical procurement data, and through demand forecasting, this analysis shows an important increase in global capacity in 2017: supply is sufficient to meet forecasted BCG vaccine demand and possibly buffer market shocks. Nevertheless, risks remain mainly due to supply concentration and limited investment in production process improvements, as well as inflexibility in demand. Identification of these market risks will allow implementation of risk-mitigating interventions in three areas: (1) enhancing information sharing between major global health actors, countries and suppliers, (2) identifying interests and incentives to expand product registration and investment in the BCG manufacturing process, and (3) working with countries for tighter vaccine management. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Working Memory and Motor Activity: A Comparison Across Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Healthy Control Groups.

PubMed

Lea, Sarah E; Matt Alderson, R; Patros, Connor H G; Tarle, Stephanie J; Arrington, Elaine F; Grant, DeMond M

2018-05-01

Converging findings from recent research suggest a functional relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related hyperactivity and demands on working memory (WM) in both children and adults. Excessive motor activity such as restlessness and fidgeting are not pathognomonic symptoms of ADHD, however, and are often associated with other diagnoses such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Further, previous research indicates that anticipatory processing associated with anxiety can directly interfere with storage and rehearsal processes of WM. The topographical similarity of excessive motor activity seen in both ADHD and anxiety disorders, as well as similar WM deficits, may indicate a common relationship between WM deficits and increased motor activity. The relationship between objectively measured motor activity (actigraphy) and PH and visuospatial WM demands in adults with ADHD (n = 21), adults with GAD (n = 21), and healthy control adults (n = 20) was examined. Although all groups exhibited significant increases in activity from control to WM conditions, the ADHD group exhibited a disproportionate increase in activity, while activity exhibited by the GAD and healthy control groups was not different. Findings indicate that ADHD-related hyperactivity is uniquely related to WM demands, and appear to suggest that adults with GAD are no more active relative to healthy control adults during a cognitively demanding laboratory task. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Chilled storage of foods - principles

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Chilled storage is the most common method for preserving perishable foods. The consumers’ increasing demand for convenient, minimally processed foods has caused food manufacturers to increase production of refrigerated foods worldwide. This book chapter reviews the development of using low tempera...

Costs and benefits of integrating information between the cerebral hemispheres: a computational perspective.

PubMed

Belger, A; Banich, M T

1998-07-01

Because interaction of the cerebral hemispheres has been found to aid task performance under demanding conditions, the present study examined how this effect is moderated by computational complexity, the degree of lateralization for a task, and individual differences in asymmetric hemispheric activation (AHA). Computational complexity was manipulated across tasks either by increasing the number of inputs to be processed or by increasing the number of steps to a decision. Comparison of within- and across-hemisphere trials indicated that the size of the between-hemisphere advantage increased as a function of task complexity, except for a highly lateralized rhyme decision task that can only be performed by the left hemisphere. Measures of individual differences in AHA revealed that when task demands and an individual's AHA both load on the same hemisphere, the ability to divide the processing between the hemispheres is limited. Thus, interhemispheric division of processing improves performance at higher levels of computational complexity only when the required operations can be divided between the hemispheres.

Multiyear Subcontractor Selection Criteria Analysis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

advancement are program instability, higher costs, and increased lead-times. Compounding the instability created by advancing technology are changes in...drive smaller firms out of business (17:46). Technology is advancing at an ever increasing pace, demanding higher performance and larger amounts of engi...Process Adding to the external factors mentioned above, the weapon systems acquisition process tends to retard pro- ductivity advancements by its very

Policy impacts on agricultural irrigation electricity demand in the Columbia Basin

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

Martin, M.; Cox, L.; Nakamoto, S.

Accurately estimating the price elasticity of demand for irrigation electricity is important to major electricity suppliers such as the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) of the Pacific Northwest. The BPA has a revenue maximization objective, and the elasticity of demand is central to its rate setting process. Several studies have attempted to estimate demand for irrigation electricity, but none has explicitly included federal agricultural policy and program variables. Tins paper discusses how agricultural programs may influence farmers' irrigation decisions and thus their demand for irrigation electricity. It suggests that existing programs serve to make farmers more responsive to electricity rate increasesmore » than would otherwise be the case. Thus, studies that fail to include them may underestimate the responsiveness of farmers to electricity rate increases.« less

Videogame distraction using virtual reality technology for children experiencing cold pressor pain: the role of cognitive processing.

PubMed

Law, Emily F; Dahlquist, Lynnda M; Sil, Soumitri; Weiss, Karen E; Herbert, Linda Jones; Wohlheiter, Karen; Horn, Susan Berrin

2011-01-01

This study examined whether increasing the demand for central cognitive processing involved in a distraction task, by involving the child in ongoing, effortful interaction with the distraction stimulus, would increase children's tolerance for cold pressor pain. Seventy-nine children ages 6-15 years underwent a baseline cold pressor trial followed by two cold pressor trials in which they received interactive distraction (i.e., used voice commands to play a videogame) or passive distraction (in which they merely watched the output from the same videogame segment) in counterbalanced order. Both distraction conditions were presented via a virtual reality-type helmet. As expected, children demonstrated significant improvement in pain tolerance during distraction relative to baseline. Children showed the greatest improvement during the interactive distraction task. The effects of distraction on children's cold pressor pain tolerance are significantly enhanced when the distraction task also includes greater demands for central cognitive processing.

The challenge of selecting tomorrow's police officers from Generations X and Y.

PubMed

McCafferty, Francis L

2003-01-01

Demands on police officers in the past 30 years have grown dramatically with the increasing threats to social order and personal security. Selection of police officers has always been difficult, but now with the increasing demand and complexity of police work, along with the candidates applying from Generation X and even Generation Y, the selection process has become more critical. The personal characteristics attributed to Generation X--and in the future, to Generation Y--should be factored into the selection process to ensure that those individuals selected as police officers will be able to cope with what has been described as the impossible mandate of police work in a free society. Background information on the X and Y generations is imperative for psychiatrists working with police departments and other law enforcement agencies. This article will explore these areas and construct a paradigm selection process.

Water Supply Treatment Sustainability of Panching Water Supply Treatment Process - Water Footprint Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aziz, Edriyana A.; Malek, Marlinda Abdul; Moni, Syazwan N.; Zulkifli, Nabil F.; Hadi, Iqmal H.

2018-03-01

In many parts of the world, freshwater is scarce and overexploited. The purpose of this study is to determine the water footprint of Water Supply Treatment Process (WSTP) at Panching Water Treatment Plant (WTP) as well as to identify the sustainability of the Sg. Kuantan as an intake resource due to the effect of land use development. The total water footprint (WF) will be calculated by using WF accounting manual. The results obtained shows that the water intake resource is still available but it is believed that it will not be able to cope with the increasing WF. The increment of water demand percentage by 1.8% from 2015 to 2016 has increased 11 times higher of the water footprint percentage, 19.9%. This result shows that the water consumption during the water supply treatment process is two times higher than the demand thus it shows the inefficient of the water management

Public hospital bed crisis: too few or too misused?

PubMed

Scott, Ian A

2010-08-01

* Increasing demand on public hospital beds has led to what many see as a hospital bed crisis requiring substantial increases in bed numbers. By 2050, if current bed use trends persist and as the numbers of frail older patients rise exponentially, a 62% increase in hospital beds will be required to meet expected demand, at a cost almost equal to the entire current Australian healthcare budget. * This article provides an overview of the effectiveness of different strategies for reducing hospital demand that may be viewed as primarily (although not exclusively) targeting the hospital sector - increasing capacity and throughput and reducing readmissions - or the non-hospital sector - facilitating early discharge or reducing presentations and admissions to hospital. Evidence of effectiveness was retrieved from a literature search of randomised trials and observational studies using broad search terms. * The principal findings were as follows: (1) within the hospital sector, throughput could be substantially improved by outsourcing public hospital clinical services to the private sector, undertaking whole-of-hospital reform of care processes and patient flow that address both access and exit block, separating acute from elective beds and services, increasing rates of day-only or short stay admissions, and curtailing ineffective or marginally effective clinical interventions; (2) in regards to the non-hospital sector, potentially the biggest gains in reducing hospital demand will come from improved access to residential care, rehabilitation services, and domiciliary support as patients awaiting such services currently account for 70% of acute hospital bed-days. More widespread use of acute care and advance care planning within residential care facilities and population-based chronic disease management programs can also assist. * This overview concludes that, in reducing hospital bed demand, clinical process redesign within hospitals and capacity enhancement of non-hospital care services and chronic disease management programs are effective strategies that should be considered before investing heavily in creating additional hospital beds devoid of any critical reappraisal of current models of care.

Cue-elicited increases in incentive salience for marijuana: Craving, demand, and attentional bias.

PubMed

Metrik, Jane; Aston, Elizabeth R; Kahler, Christopher W; Rohsenow, Damaris J; McGeary, John E; Knopik, Valerie S; MacKillop, James

2016-10-01

Incentive salience is a multidimensional construct that includes craving, drug value relative to other reinforcers, and implicit motivation such as attentional bias to drug cues. Laboratory cue reactivity (CR) paradigms have been used to evaluate marijuana incentive salience with measures of craving, but not with behavioral economic measures of marijuana demand or implicit attentional processing tasks. This within-subjects study used a new CR paradigm to examine multiple dimensions of marijuana's incentive salience and to compare CR-induced increases in craving and demand. Frequent marijuana users (N=93, 34% female) underwent exposure to neutral cues then to lit marijuana cigarettes. Craving, marijuana demand via a marijuana purchase task, and heart rate were assessed after each cue set. A modified Stroop task with cannabis and control words was completed after the marijuana cues as a measure of attentional bias. Relative to neutral cues, marijuana cues significantly increased subjective craving and demand indices of intensity (i.e., drug consumed at $0) and Omax (i.e., peak drug expenditure). Elasticity significantly decreased following marijuana cues, reflecting sustained purchase despite price increases. Craving was correlated with demand indices (r's: 0.23-0.30). Marijuana users displayed significant attentional bias for cannabis-related words after marijuana cues. Cue-elicited increases in intensity were associated with greater attentional bias for marijuana words. Greater incentive salience indexed by subjective, behavioral economic, and implicit measures was observed after marijuana versus neutral cues, supporting multidimensional assessment. The study highlights the utility of a behavioral economic approach in detecting cue-elicited changes in marijuana incentive salience. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Cue-Elicited Increases in Incentive Salience for Marijuana: Craving, Demand, and Attentional Bias

PubMed Central

Metrik, Jane; Aston, Elizabeth R.; Kahler, Christopher W.; Rohsenow, Damaris J.; McGeary, John E.; Knopik, Valerie S.; MacKillop, James

2016-01-01

Background Incentive salience is a multidimensional construct that includes craving, drug value relative to other reinforcers, and implicit motivation such as attentional bias to drug cues. Laboratory cue reactivity (CR) paradigms have been used to evaluate marijuana incentive salience with measures of craving, but not with behavioral economic measures of marijuana demand or implicit attentional processing tasks. Methods This within-subjects study used a new CR paradigm to examine multiple dimensions of marijuana’s incentive salience and to compare CR-induced increases in craving and demand. Frequent marijuana users (N=93, 34% female) underwent exposure to neutral cues then to lit marijuana cigarettes. Craving, marijuana demand via a marijuana purchase task, and heart rate were assessed after each cue set. A modified Stroop task with cannabis and control words was completed after the marijuana cues as a measure of attentional bias. Results Relative to neutral cues, marijuana cues significantly increased subjective craving and demand indices of intensity (i.e., drug consumed at $0) and Omax (i.e., peak drug expenditure). Elasticity significantly decreased following marijuana cues, reflecting sustained purchase despite price increases. Craving was correlated with demand indices (r’s: 0.23–0.30). Marijuana users displayed significant attentional bias for cannabis-related words after marijuana cues. Cue-elicited increases in intensity were associated with greater attentional bias for marijuana words. Conclusions Greater incentive salience indexed by subjective, behavioral economic, and implicit measures was observed after marijuana versus neutral cues, supporting multidimensional assessment. The study highlights the utility of a behavioral economic approach in detecting cue-elicited changes in marijuana incentive salience. PMID:27515723

Increased Reliability of Gas Turbine Components by Robust Coatings Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, A.; Dudykevych, T.; Sansom, D.; Subramanian, R.

2017-08-01

The expanding operational windows of the advanced gas turbine components demand increasing performance capability from protective coating systems. This demand has led to the development of novel multi-functional, multi-materials coating system architectures over the last years. In addition, the increasing dependency of components exposed to extreme environment on protective coatings results in more severe penalties, in case of a coating system failure. This emphasizes that reliability and consistency of protective coating systems are equally important to their superior performance. By means of examples, this paper describes the effects of scatter in the material properties resulting from manufacturing variations on coating life predictions. A strong foundation in process-property-performance correlations as well as regular monitoring and control of the coating process is essential for robust and well-controlled coating process. Proprietary and/or commercially available diagnostic tools can help in achieving these goals, but their usage in industrial setting is still limited. Various key contributors to process variability are briefly discussed along with the limitations of existing process and product control methods. Other aspects that are important for product reliability and consistency in serial manufacturing as well as advanced testing methodologies to simplify and enhance product inspection and improve objectivity are briefly described.

Insula Demonstrates a Non-Linear Response to Varying Demand for Cognitive Control and Weaker Resting Connectivity With the Executive Control Network in Smokers.

PubMed

Fedota, John R; Matous, Allison L; Salmeron, Betty Jo; Gu, Hong; Ross, Thomas J; Stein, Elliot A

2016-09-01

Deficits in cognitive control processes are a primary characteristic of nicotine addiction. However, while network-based connectivity measures of dysfunction have frequently been observed, empirical evidence of task-based dysfunction in these processes has been inconsistent. Here, in a sample of smokers (n=35) and non-smokers (n=21), a previously validated parametric flanker task is employed to characterize addiction-related alterations in responses to varying (ie, high, intermediate, and low) demands for cognitive control. This approach yields a demand-response curve that aims to characterize potential non-linear responses to increased demand for control, including insensitivities or lags in fully activating the cognitive control network. We further used task-based differences in activation between groups as seeds for resting-state analysis of network dysfunction in an effort to more closely link prior inconsistencies in task-related activation with evidence of impaired network connectivity in smokers. For both smokers and non-smokers, neuroimaging results showed similar increases in activation in brain areas associated with cognitive control. However, reduced activation in right insula was seen only in smokers and only when processing intermediate demand for cognitive control. Further, in smokers, this task-modulated right insula showed weaker functional connectivity with the superior frontal gyrus, a component of the task-positive executive control network. These results demonstrate that the neural instantiation of salience attribution in smokers is both more effortful to fully activate and has more difficulty communicating with the exogenous, task-positive, executive control network. Together, these findings further articulate the cognitive control dysfunction associated with smoking and illustrate a specific brain circuit potentially responsible.

Institutional Authority and Traces of Intergenerational Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tufan, Ismail; Kilic, Sultan; Tokgoz, Nimet; Howe, Jurgen; Yaman, Hakan

2010-01-01

While society's level of education increases in a modernization process, the knowledge monopoly is taken over by the young. Increasing demand on knowledge attained through organized education leads to increasing power by the young. In the modernizing society of Turkey, this kind of struggle will occur between intellectual groups. Results of this…

Treatment of amoxicillin by O3/Fenton process in a rotating packed bed.

PubMed

Li, Mo; Zeng, Zequan; Li, Yingwen; Arowo, Moses; Chen, Jianfeng; Meng, Hong; Shao, Lei

2015-03-01

In this study, simulated amoxicillin wastewater was treated by the O3/Fenton process in a rotating packed bed (RPB) and the results were compared with the Fenton process and the O3 followed by Fenton (O3 + Fenton) process. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate and the ratio of 5-day biological oxygen demand to chemical oxygen demand (BOD5/COD) in the O3/Fenton process were approximately 17% and 26%, respectively, higher than those in the O3 + Fenton process with an initial pH of 3. The COD removal rate of the amoxicillin solution reached maximum at the Fe(II) concentration of 0.6 mM, temperature of 25 °C, rotation speed of 800 rpm and initial pH of 3. The BOD5/COD of the amoxicillin solution increased from 0 to 0.38 after the solution was treated by the O3/Fenton process. Analysis of the intermediates indicated that the pathway of amoxicillin degradation in the O3/Fenton process was similar to that in the O3 + Fenton process. Contrast experiment results showed that amoxicillin degradation was significantly intensified in the RPB. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Levels of Information Processing in a Fitts law task (LIPFitts)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mosier, K. L.; Hart, S. G.

1986-01-01

State-of-the-art flight technology has restructured the task of human operators, decreasing the need for physical and sensory resources, and increasing the quantity of cognitive effort required, changing it qualitatively. Recent technological advances have the most potential for impacting a pilot in two areas: performance and mental workload. In an environment in which timing is critical, additional cognitive processing can cause performance decrements, and increase a pilot's perception of the mental workload involved. The effects of stimulus processing demands on motor response performance and subjective mental workload are examined, using different combinations of response selection and target acquisition tasks. The information processing demands of the response selection were varied (e.g., Sternberg memory set tasks, math equations, pattern matching), as was the difficulty of the response execution. Response latency as well as subjective workload ratings varied in accordance with the cognitive complexity of the task. Movement times varied according to the difficulty of the response execution task. Implications in terms of real-world flight situations are discussed.

Empowering leaders optimize working conditions for engagement: a multilevel study.

PubMed

Tuckey, Michelle R; Bakker, Arnold B; Dollard, Maureen F

2012-01-01

Using a multilevel framework, this study examined the role of empowering leadership at the group level by fire brigade captains in facilitating the individual level motivational processes that underpin work engagement in volunteer firefighters. Anonymous mail surveys were completed by 540 volunteer firefighters from 68 fire brigades and, separately, by 68 brigade captains. As predicted on the basis of the Job Demands-Resources model, increased levels of cognitive demands and cognitive resources partially mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and work engagement. In a three-way Leadership × Demands × Resources interaction, empowering leadership also had the effect of optimizing working conditions for engagement by strengthening the positive effect of a work context in which both cognitive demands and cognitive resources were high. Our findings shed light on a process through which leaders can empower workers and enhance well-being: via their influence on and interaction with the work environment. They also underscore the need to examine work engagement from a multilevel theoretical perspective.

Three essays on energy and economic growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peach, Nathanael David

2011-12-01

This dissertation explores the relationship between energy and economic growth. Chapter Two, Three, and Four examine the interaction of energy-related measures and economic outcomes by applying different methodologies across various spatial dimensions. Chapter Two shows that increases in energy consumption are necessary for increases in state level economic growth to occur. Chapter Three estimates a simultaneous supply and demand energy market at the state level. This system allows for estimates of structural elasticities to be obtained. Findings indicate that energy supply is considerably more elastic than energy demand. Energy demand is found to be determined by responses to short run shocks rather than long run processes. Chapter Four estimates the impact of changes in various elements of governance and institutional quality impact genuine investment within an economy. Increases in democracy are predicted to decrease genuine investment in energy-rich nations. The dissertation concludes with Chapter Five.

Two-and-a-half-year-olds succeed at a traditional false-belief task with reduced processing demands.

PubMed

Setoh, Peipei; Scott, Rose M; Baillargeon, Renée

2016-11-22

When tested with traditional false-belief tasks, which require answering a standard question about the likely behavior of an agent with a false belief, children perform below chance until age 4 y or later. When tested without such questions, however, children give evidence of false-belief understanding much earlier. Are traditional tasks difficult because they tap a more advanced form of false-belief understanding (fundamental-change view) or because they impose greater processing demands (processing-demands view)? Evidence that young children succeed at traditional false-belief tasks when processing demands are reduced would support the latter view. In prior research, reductions in inhibitory-control demands led to improvements in young children's performance, but often only to chance (instead of below-chance) levels. Here we examined whether further reductions in processing demands might lead to success. We speculated that: (i) young children could respond randomly in a traditional low-inhibition task because their limited information-processing resources are overwhelmed by the total concurrent processing demands in the task; and (ii) these demands include those from the response-generation process activated by the standard question. This analysis suggested that 2.5-y-old toddlers might succeed at a traditional low-inhibition task if response-generation demands were also reduced via practice trials. As predicted, toddlers performed above chance following two response-generation practice trials; toddlers failed when these trials either were rendered less effective or were used in a high-inhibition task. These results support the processing-demands view: Even toddlers succeed at a traditional false-belief task when overall processing demands are reduced.

Parallel Demand-Withdraw Processes in Family Therapy for Adolescent Drug Abuse

PubMed Central

Rynes, Kristina N.; Rohrbaugh, Michael J.; Lebensohn-Chialvo, Florencia; Shoham, Varda

2013-01-01

Isomorphism, or parallel process, occurs in family therapy when patterns of therapist-client interaction replicate problematic interaction patterns within the family. This study investigated parallel demand-withdraw processes in Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) for adolescent drug abuse, hypothesizing that therapist-demand/adolescent-withdraw interaction (TD/AW) cycles observed early in treatment would predict poor adolescent outcomes at follow-up for families who exhibited entrenched parent-demand/adolescent-withdraw interaction (PD/AW) before treatment began. Participants were 91 families who received at least 4 sessions of BSFT in a multi-site clinical trial on adolescent drug abuse (Robbins et al., 2011). Prior to receiving therapy, families completed videotaped family interaction tasks from which trained observers coded PD/AW. Another team of raters coded TD/AW during two early BSFT sessions. The main dependent variable was the number of drug use days that adolescents reported in Timeline Follow-Back interviews 7 to 12 months after family therapy began. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression analyses supported the main hypothesis, showing that PD/AW and TD/AW interacted to predict adolescent drug use at follow-up. For adolescents in high PD/AW families, higher levels of TD/AW predicted significant increases in drug use at follow-up, whereas for low PD/AW families, TD/AW and follow-up drug use were unrelated. Results suggest that attending to parallel demand-withdraw processes in parent/adolescent and therapist/adolescent dyads may be useful in family therapy for substance-using adolescents. PMID:23438248

Hydrographic processing considerations in the “Big Data” age: An overview of technology trends in ocean and coastal surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holland, M.; Hoggarth, A.; Nicholson, J.

2016-04-01

The quantity of information generated by survey sensors for ocean and coastal zone mapping has reached the “Big Data” age. This is influenced by the number of survey sensors available to conduct a survey, high data resolution, commercial availability, as well as an increased use of autonomous platforms. The number of users of sophisticated survey information is also growing with the increase in data volume. This is leading to a greater demand and broader use of the processed results, which includes marine archeology, disaster response, and many other applications. Data processing and exchange techniques are evolving to ensure this increased accuracy in acquired data meets the user demand, and leads to an improved understanding of the ocean environment. This includes the use of automated processing, models that maintain the best possible representation of varying resolution data to reduce duplication, as well as data plug-ins and interoperability standards. Through the adoption of interoperable standards, data can be exchanged between stakeholders and used many times in any GIS to support an even wider range of activities. The growing importance of Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) is also contributing to the increased access of marine information to support sustainable use of ocean and coastal environments. This paper offers an industry perspective on trends in hydrographic surveying and processing, and the increased use of marine spatial data.

The Role of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Sustainable Production of Biofuels

PubMed Central

Biswas, Bandana; Gresshoff, Peter M.

2014-01-01

With the ever-increasing population of the world (expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050), and altered life style, comes an increased demand for food, fuel and fiber. However, scarcity of land, water and energy accompanied by climate change means that to produce enough to meet the demands is getting increasingly challenging. Today we must use every avenue from science and technology available to address these challenges. The natural process of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, whereby plants such as legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen gas to ammonia, usable by plants can have a substantial impact as it is found in nature, has low environmental and economic costs and is broadly established. Here we look at the importance of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in the production of biofuel feedstocks; how this process can address major challenges, how improving nitrogen fixation is essential, and what we can do about it. PMID:24786096

Earth Science Informatics Comes of Age

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jodha, Siri; Khalsa, S.; Ramachandran, Rahul

2014-01-01

The volume and complexity of Earth science data have steadily increased, placing ever-greater demands on researchers, software developers and data managers tasked with handling such data. Additional demands arise from requirements being levied by funding agencies and governments to better manage, preserve and provide open access to data. Fortunately, over the past 10-15 years significant advances in information technology, such as increased processing power, advanced programming languages, more sophisticated and practical standards, and near-ubiquitous internet access have made the jobs of those acquiring, processing, distributing and archiving data easier. These advances have also led to an increasing number of individuals entering the field of informatics as it applies to Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Informatics is the science and technology of applying computers and computational methods to the systematic analysis, management, interchange, and representation of data, information, and knowledge. Informatics also encompasses the use of computers and computational methods to support decisionmaking and other applications for societal benefits.

The Accounting Classroom--People, Activities, Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayne, F. Blair

1969-01-01

Discusses the classroom components of students, learning activities, and program content in relation to the increased demand for more extensive and detailed analysis of financial information, the increased use of automated data processing equipment, and resulting job shifts and the upgrading of skills. (CH)

The pharmacist Aggregate Demand Index to explain changing pharmacist demand over a ten-year period.

PubMed

Knapp, Katherine K; Shah, Bijal M; Barnett, Mitchell J

2010-12-15

To describe Aggregate Demand Index (ADI) trends from 1999-2010; to compare ADI time trends to concurrent data for US unemployment levels, US entry-level pharmacy graduates, and US retail prescription growth rate; and to determine which variables were significant predictors of ADI. Annual ADI data (dependent variable) were analyzed against annual unemployment rates, annual number of pharmacy graduates, and annual prescription growth rate (independent variables). ADI data trended toward lower demand levels for pharmacists since late 2006, paralleling the US economic downturn. National ADI data were most highly correlated with unemployment (p < 0.001), then graduates (p < 0.006), then prescription growth rate (p < 0.093). A hierarchical model with the 3 variables was significant (p = 0.019), but only unemployment was a significant ADI predictor. Unemployment and ADI also were significantly related at the regional, division, and state levels. The ADI is strongly linked to US unemployment rates. The relationship suggests that an improving economy might coincide with increased pharmacist demand. Predictable increases in future graduates and other factors support revisiting the modeling process as new data accumulate.

Biocatalysis in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Need for Speed

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The use of biocatalysis in the pharmaceutical industry continues to expand as a result of increased access to enzymes and the ability to engineer those enzymes to meet the demands of industrial processes. However, we are still just scratching the surface of potential biocatalytic applications. The time pressures present in pharmaceutical process development are incompatible with the long lead times required for engineering a suitable biocatalyst. Dramatic increases in the speed of protein engineering are needed to deliver on the ever increasing opportunities for industrial biocatalytic processes. PMID:28523096

Biocatalysis in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Need for Speed.

PubMed

Truppo, Matthew D

2017-05-11

The use of biocatalysis in the pharmaceutical industry continues to expand as a result of increased access to enzymes and the ability to engineer those enzymes to meet the demands of industrial processes. However, we are still just scratching the surface of potential biocatalytic applications. The time pressures present in pharmaceutical process development are incompatible with the long lead times required for engineering a suitable biocatalyst. Dramatic increases in the speed of protein engineering are needed to deliver on the ever increasing opportunities for industrial biocatalytic processes.

Dissolved oxygen in the Tualatin River, Oregon, during winter flow conditions, 1991 and 1992

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kelly, V.J.

1996-01-01

Throughout the winter period, November through April, wastewater treatment plants in the Tualatin River Basin discharge from 10,000 to 15,000 pounds per day of biochemical oxygen demand to the river. These loads often increase substantially during storms when streamflow is high. During the early winter season, when streamflow is frequently less than the average winter flow, the treatment plants discharge about 2,000 pounds per day of ammonia. This study focused on the capacity of the Tualatin River to assimilat oxygen-demanding loads under winter streamflow conditions during the 1992 water year, with an emphasis on peak-flow conditions in the river, and winter-base-flow conditions during November 1992. Concentrations of dissolved oxygen throughout the main stem of the river during the winter remained generally high relative to the State standard for Oregon of 6 milligrams per liter. The most important factors controlling oxygen consumption during winter-low-flow conditions were carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand and input of oxygen-depleted waters from tributaries. During peak-flow conditions, reduced travel time and increased dilution associated with the increased streamflow minimized the effect of increased oxygen-demanding loads. During the base-flow period in November 1992, concentrations of dissolved oxygen were consistently below 6 milligrams per liter. A hydrodynamic water-quality model was used to identify the processes depleting dissolved oxygen, including sediment oxygen demand, nitrification, and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand. Sediment oxygen demand was the most significant factor; nitrification was also important. Hypothetical scenarios were posed to evaluate the effect of different wastewater treatment plant loads during winter-base-flow conditions. Streamflow and temperature were significant factors governing concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the main-stem river.

Tier-2 Optimisation for Computational Density/Diversity and Big Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fay, R. B.; Bland, J.

2014-06-01

As the number of cores on chip continues to trend upwards and new CPU architectures emerge, increasing CPU density and diversity presents multiple challenges to site administrators. These include scheduling for massively multi-core systems (potentially including Graphical Processing Units (GPU), integrated and dedicated) and Many Integrated Core (MIC)) to ensure a balanced throughput of jobs while preserving overall cluster throughput, as well as the increasing complexity of developing for these heterogeneous platforms, and the challenge in managing this more complex mix of resources. In addition, meeting data demands as both dataset sizes increase and as the rate of demand scales with increased computational power requires additional performance from the associated storage elements. In this report, we evaluate one emerging technology, Solid State Drive (SSD) caching for RAID controllers, with consideration to its potential to assist in meeting evolving demand. We also briefly consider the broader developing trends outlined above in order to identify issues that may develop and assess what actions should be taken in the immediate term to address those.

Biodegradation of pulp and paper mill effluent using anaerobic followed by aerobic digestion.

PubMed

Bishnoi, Narsi R; Khumukcham, R K; Kumar, Rajender

2006-05-01

An experimental study was carried to find out the degradability of black liquor of pulp and paper mill wastewater for biomethanogenesis in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and followed by activated sludge process (ASP). Continuous stirred tank reactor was used in present study for anaerobic digestion of black liquor, while completely mixed activated sludge system was used for aerobic digestion. A maximum methane production was found up to 430 ml/day, chemical oxygen demand was reduced up to 64% and total volatile fatty acid increased up to 1500 mg/l from 975 mg/l at 7.3 pH, 37 degrees C temperature and 8 days hydraulic retention time during anaerobic digestion. In activated sludge process (aerobic digestion) chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand reduction were 81% and 86% respectively at 72 hr hydraulic retention time.

Changes in Composition and Phosphorus Profile during Dry Grind Process of Corn into Ethanol and DDGS

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Demand for alternatives to fossil fuels has resulted in a dramatic increase in ethanol production from corn. Dry grind method has been a major process, resulting in a large volume of dried distiller grains with solubles (DDGS) as a co-product. The process consists of grinding, cooking, liquefactio...

The impact of managed care contracts on the admission and registration process.

PubMed

Tilley, B G

1993-04-01

With increasing demand placed on the admission and registration process, hospitals are undergoing dramatic operational changes. These changes are necessary to maintain the vital cash flow of the hospitals. A major factor forcing hospitals to rethink the front line process in the admission and registration area is the impact of managed care.

[Quality control of laser imagers].

PubMed

Winkelbauer, F; Ammann, M; Gerstner, N; Imhof, H

1992-11-01

Multiformat imagers based on laser systems are used for documentation in an increasing number of investigations. The specific problems of quality control are explained and the persistence of film processing in these imager systems of different configuration with (Machine 1: 3M-Laser-Imager-Plus M952 with connected 3M Film-Processor, 3M-Film IRB, X-Rax Chemical Mixer 3M-XPM, 3M-Developer and Fixer) or without (Machine 2: 3M-Laser-Imager-Plus M952 with separate DuPont-Cronex Film-processor, Kodak IR-Film, Kodak Automixer, Kodak-Developer and Fixer) connected film processing unit are investigated. In our checking based on DIN 6868 and ONORM S 5240 we found persistence of film processing in the equipment with directly adapted film processing unit according to DIN and ONORM. The checking of film persistence as demanded by DIN 6868 in these equipment could therefore be performed in longer periods. Systems with conventional darkroom processing comparatively show plain increased fluctuation, and hence the demanded daily control is essential to guarantee appropriate reaction and constant quality of documentation.

Two-and-a-half-year-olds succeed at a traditional false-belief task with reduced processing demands

PubMed Central

Scott, Rose M.; Baillargeon, Renée

2016-01-01

When tested with traditional false-belief tasks, which require answering a standard question about the likely behavior of an agent with a false belief, children perform below chance until age 4 y or later. When tested without such questions, however, children give evidence of false-belief understanding much earlier. Are traditional tasks difficult because they tap a more advanced form of false-belief understanding (fundamental-change view) or because they impose greater processing demands (processing-demands view)? Evidence that young children succeed at traditional false-belief tasks when processing demands are reduced would support the latter view. In prior research, reductions in inhibitory-control demands led to improvements in young children’s performance, but often only to chance (instead of below-chance) levels. Here we examined whether further reductions in processing demands might lead to success. We speculated that: (i) young children could respond randomly in a traditional low-inhibition task because their limited information-processing resources are overwhelmed by the total concurrent processing demands in the task; and (ii) these demands include those from the response-generation process activated by the standard question. This analysis suggested that 2.5-y-old toddlers might succeed at a traditional low-inhibition task if response-generation demands were also reduced via practice trials. As predicted, toddlers performed above chance following two response-generation practice trials; toddlers failed when these trials either were rendered less effective or were used in a high-inhibition task. These results support the processing-demands view: Even toddlers succeed at a traditional false-belief task when overall processing demands are reduced. PMID:27821728

Methods of Labor Economy Increasing in Educational Organization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorozhkin, Evgenij M.; Krotov, Yakov E.; Tkacheva, Oksana N.; Kruchkov, Konstantin V.; Korotaev, Ivan S.

2016-01-01

The urgency of problem under investigation due to fact that increasing demand of the information technology infrastructure development in current conditions of educational institutions functioning, including formation of the information-educational environment point of view. Offered organizational and economic model of constructing processes for…

Skin bank development and critical incident response.

PubMed

Hamilton, Kellie T; Herson, Marisa R

2011-05-01

The Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria (DTBV), situated in Melbourne, Australia developed a skin banking program in 1994. It remains Australia's only operational skin bank, processing cryopreserved human cadaveric skin for the treatment of burns. The demand for allograft skin in Australia has steadily increased since the development of the program. The bank has been involved in the provision of skin for a number of critical incidences or disasters both in Australia and overseas. Demand always exceeds supply, and in the absence of other local skin banks, the DTBV has needed to develop strategies to enable increased provision of allograft skin nationally.

Speech-based E-mail and driver behavior: effects of an in-vehicle message system interface.

PubMed

Jamson, A Hamish; Westerman, Stephen J; Hockey, G Robert J; Carsten, Oliver M J

2004-01-01

As mobile office technology becomes more advanced, drivers have increased opportunity to process information "on the move." Although speech-based interfaces can minimize direct interference with driving, the cognitive demands associated with such systems may still cause distraction. We studied the effects on driving performance of an in-vehicle simulated "E-mail" message system; E-mails were either system controlled or driver controlled. A high-fidelity, fixed-base driving simulator was used to test 19 participants on a car-following task. Virtual traffic scenarios varying in driving demand. Drivers compensated for the secondary task by adopting longer headways but showed reduced anticipation of braking requirements and shorter time to collision. Drivers were also less reactive when processing E-mails, demonstrated by a reduction in steering wheel inputs. In most circumstances, there were advantages in providing drivers with control over when E-mails were opened. However, during periods without E-mail interaction in demanding traffic scenarios, drivers showed reduced braking anticipation. This may be a result of increased cognitive costs associated with the decision making process when using a driver-controlled interface when the task of scheduling E-mail acceptance is added to those of driving and E-mail response. Actual or potential applications of this research include the design of speech-based in-vehicle messaging systems.

The influence of speech rate and accent on access and use of semantic information.

PubMed

Sajin, Stanislav M; Connine, Cynthia M

2017-04-01

Circumstances in which the speech input is presented in sub-optimal conditions generally lead to processing costs affecting spoken word recognition. The current study indicates that some processing demands imposed by listening to difficult speech can be mitigated by feedback from semantic knowledge. A set of lexical decision experiments examined how foreign accented speech and word duration impact access to semantic knowledge in spoken word recognition. Results indicate that when listeners process accented speech, the reliance on semantic information increases. Speech rate was not observed to influence semantic access, except in the setting in which unusually slow accented speech was presented. These findings support interactive activation models of spoken word recognition in which attention is modulated based on speech demands.

Agronomic and environmental impacts of pasture-crop rotations intemperate North and South America

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agriculture has become increasingly specialized in response to political, regulatory, sociological, and economic pressures to meet market demands of an ever-larger food and fiber processing sector. However, there is a growing concern with specialized agricultural systems, because of increasingly ne...

Model for Assembly Line Re-Balancing Considering Additional Capacity and Outsourcing to Face Demand Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadhi, TMAA; Sumihartati, Atin

2016-02-01

The most critical stage in a garment industry is sewing process, because generally, it consists of a number of operations and a large number of sewing machines for each operation. Therefore, it requires a balancing method that can assign task to work station with balance workloads. Many studies on assembly line balancing assume a new assembly line, but in reality, due to demand fluctuation and demand increased a re-balancing is needed. To cope with those fluctuating demand changes, additional capacity can be carried out by investing in spare sewing machine and paying for sewing service through outsourcing. This study develops an assembly line balancing (ALB) model on existing line to cope with fluctuating demand change. Capacity redesign is decided if the fluctuation demand exceeds the available capacity through a combination of making investment on new machines and outsourcing while considering for minimizing the cost of idle capacity in the future. The objective of the model is to minimize the total cost of the line assembly that consists of operating costs, machine cost, adding capacity cost, losses cost due to idle capacity and outsourcing costs. The model develop is based on an integer programming model. The model is tested for a set of data of one year demand with the existing number of sewing machines of 41 units. The result shows that additional maximum capacity up to 76 units of machine required when there is an increase of 60% of the average demand, at the equal cost parameters..

Sodium metasilicate based fiber opening for greener leather processing.

PubMed

Saravanabhavan, Subramani; Thanikaivelan, Palanisamy; Rao, Jonnalagadda Raghava; Nair, Balachandran Unni; Ramasamit, Thirumalachari

2008-03-01

Growing environmental regulations propound the need for a transformation in the current practice of leather making. The conventional dehairing and fiber opening process results in high negative impact on the environment because of its uncleanliness. This process accounts for most of the biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand in tannery wastewater and generation of H2S gas. Hence, this study explores the use of a biological material and a nontoxic chemical for performing the above process more cleanly. In this study, the dehairing and fiber opening processes has been designed using enzyme and sodium metasilicate. The amount of sodium metasilicate required for fiber opening is standardized through the removal of proteoglycan, increase in weight, and bulk properties of leathers. It has been found that the extent of opening up of fiber bundles is comparable to that of conventionally processed leathers using a 2% sodium metasilicate solution. This has been substantiated through scanning electron microscopic analysis and softness measurements. The presence of silica in the crust leather enhances the bulk properties of the leather. This has been confirmed from the energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Performance of the leathers is shown to be on par with conventionally processed leathers through physical and hand evaluation. The process also exhibits significant reduction in chemical oxygen demand and total solid loads by 55 and 24%, respectively. Further, this newly developed process seems to be economically beneficial.

Gaps in the Substance Use Disorder Treatment Referral Process: Provider Perceptions.

PubMed

Blevins, Claire E; Rawat, Nishi; Stein, Michael D

2018-05-07

The demand for substance use disorder treatment is increasing, fueled by the opioid epidemic and the Affordable Care Act mandate to treat substance use disorders. The increased demand for treatment, however, is not being met by a corresponding increase in access to or availability of treatment. This report focuses specifically on the treatment referral process, which we have identified as 1 of the key barriers to timely and effective treatment. Difficulties in referral to substance use disorder treatment are examined through the lens of providers who make referrals (ie, referral source) and individuals who work in substance use disorder facilities (ie, referral recipient). Administrative officials, emergency department physicians, addiction physicians, government officials, providers, insurance officials, and mental health advocates (n = 59) were interviewed on the referral process protocol, challenges for providers and others making referrals, and issues with substance use treatment facility intake procedures. Several main themes were identified as barriers in the process: difficulties in determining patient eligibility, lack of transparency regarding treatment capacity, referral source knowledge/understanding of options, and issues with communication between referral source and recipient. We then proposed several solutions to address specific barriers. Current gaps in the referral process cause delays to care. Improving systems would involve addressing these themes and expanding the use of appropriate treatments for the many patients in need.

Dealing with Prospective Memory Demands While Performing an Ongoing Task: Shared Processing, Increased On-Task Focus, or Both?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rummel, Jan; Smeekens, Bridget A.; Kane, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Prospective memory (PM) is the cognitive ability to remember to fulfill intended action plans at the appropriate future moment. Current theories assume that PM fulfillment draws on attentional processes. Accordingly, pending PM intentions interfere with other ongoing tasks to the extent to which both tasks rely on the same processes. How do people…

Effects of Nano Additives in engine emission Characteristics using Blends of Lemon Balm oil with Diesel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senthil kumar, J.; Ganesan, S.; Sivasaravanan, S.; Padmanabhan, S.; Krishnan, L.; Aniruthan, V. C.

2017-05-01

Economic growth in developing countries has led to enormous increase in energy demand. In India the energy demand is increasing at a rate of 6.5% every year. The crude oil demand of country is meet by bring in of about 70%. Thus the energy safety measures have become key issue for our country. Bio diesel an eco-friendly and renewable fuel alternate for diesel has been getting the consideration of researcher’s entire world. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the engine parameters using blend of pure lemon balm oil with diesel. Also nano Additives is used as a catalyst with blends of bio fuel to enhance the Emission Characteristics of various effective gases like CO2, NOx, CO and UHC with various levels of engine process parameters.

Listening Effort: How the Cognitive Consequences of Acoustic Challenge Are Reflected in Brain and Behavior

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Everyday conversation frequently includes challenges to the clarity of the acoustic speech signal, including hearing impairment, background noise, and foreign accents. Although an obvious problem is the increased risk of making word identification errors, extracting meaning from a degraded acoustic signal is also cognitively demanding, which contributes to increased listening effort. The concepts of cognitive demand and listening effort are critical in understanding the challenges listeners face in comprehension, which are not fully predicted by audiometric measures. In this article, the authors review converging behavioral, pupillometric, and neuroimaging evidence that understanding acoustically degraded speech requires additional cognitive support and that this cognitive load can interfere with other operations such as language processing and memory for what has been heard. Behaviorally, acoustic challenge is associated with increased errors in speech understanding, poorer performance on concurrent secondary tasks, more difficulty processing linguistically complex sentences, and reduced memory for verbal material. Measures of pupil dilation support the challenge associated with processing a degraded acoustic signal, indirectly reflecting an increase in neural activity. Finally, functional brain imaging reveals that the neural resources required to understand degraded speech extend beyond traditional perisylvian language networks, most commonly including regions of prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and the cingulo-opercular network. Far from being exclusively an auditory problem, acoustic degradation presents listeners with a systems-level challenge that requires the allocation of executive cognitive resources. An important point is that a number of dissociable processes can be engaged to understand degraded speech, including verbal working memory and attention-based performance monitoring. The specific resources required likely differ as a function of the acoustic, linguistic, and cognitive demands of the task, as well as individual differences in listeners’ abilities. A greater appreciation of cognitive contributions to processing degraded speech is critical in understanding individual differences in comprehension ability, variability in the efficacy of assistive devices, and guiding rehabilitation approaches to reducing listening effort and facilitating communication. PMID:28938250

Listening Effort: How the Cognitive Consequences of Acoustic Challenge Are Reflected in Brain and Behavior.

PubMed

Peelle, Jonathan E

Everyday conversation frequently includes challenges to the clarity of the acoustic speech signal, including hearing impairment, background noise, and foreign accents. Although an obvious problem is the increased risk of making word identification errors, extracting meaning from a degraded acoustic signal is also cognitively demanding, which contributes to increased listening effort. The concepts of cognitive demand and listening effort are critical in understanding the challenges listeners face in comprehension, which are not fully predicted by audiometric measures. In this article, the authors review converging behavioral, pupillometric, and neuroimaging evidence that understanding acoustically degraded speech requires additional cognitive support and that this cognitive load can interfere with other operations such as language processing and memory for what has been heard. Behaviorally, acoustic challenge is associated with increased errors in speech understanding, poorer performance on concurrent secondary tasks, more difficulty processing linguistically complex sentences, and reduced memory for verbal material. Measures of pupil dilation support the challenge associated with processing a degraded acoustic signal, indirectly reflecting an increase in neural activity. Finally, functional brain imaging reveals that the neural resources required to understand degraded speech extend beyond traditional perisylvian language networks, most commonly including regions of prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and the cingulo-opercular network. Far from being exclusively an auditory problem, acoustic degradation presents listeners with a systems-level challenge that requires the allocation of executive cognitive resources. An important point is that a number of dissociable processes can be engaged to understand degraded speech, including verbal working memory and attention-based performance monitoring. The specific resources required likely differ as a function of the acoustic, linguistic, and cognitive demands of the task, as well as individual differences in listeners' abilities. A greater appreciation of cognitive contributions to processing degraded speech is critical in understanding individual differences in comprehension ability, variability in the efficacy of assistive devices, and guiding rehabilitation approaches to reducing listening effort and facilitating communication.

Orexin-1 receptor signaling increases motivation for cocaine-associated cues

PubMed Central

Bentzley, Brandon S.; Aston-Jones, Gary

2015-01-01

The orexin/hypocretin system is involved in multiple cocaine addiction processes that involve drug-associated environmental cues, including cue-induced reinstatement of extinguished cocaine seeking and expression of conditioned place preference. However, the orexin system does not play a role in several behaviors that are less cue-dependent, such as cocaine-primed reinstatement of extinguished cocaine seeking and low-effort cocaine self-administration. We hypothesized that cocaine-associated cues, but not cocaine alone, engage signaling at orexin-1 receptors (OX1R), and this cue-engaged OX1R signaling increases motivation for cocaine. Motivation for cocaine was measured in Sprague-Dawley rats with behavioral-economic demand curve analysis after pretreatment with the OX1R antagonist SB-334867 (SB) or vehicle with and without light+tone cues. Demand for cocaine was higher when cocaine-associated cues were present, and SB only reduced cocaine demand in the presence of these cues. We then asked if cocaine demand is linked to cued-reinstatement of cocaine seeking, as both procedures are partially driven by cocaine-associated cues in an orexin-dependent manner. SB blocked cue-induced reinstatement behavior, and baseline demand predicted SB efficacy with the largest effect in high demand animals, i.e., animals with the greatest cue-dependent behavior. We conclude that OX1R signaling increases the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine-associated cues but not for cocaine alone. This supports our view that orexin plays a prominent role in the ability of conditioned cues to activate motivational responses. PMID:25754681

Dealing with prospective memory demands while performing an ongoing task: Shared processing, increased on-task focus, or both?

PubMed

Rummel, Jan; Smeekens, Bridget A; Kane, Michael J

2017-07-01

Prospective memory (PM) is the cognitive ability to remember to fulfill intended action plans at the appropriate future moment. Current theories assume that PM fulfillment draws on attentional processes. Accordingly, pending PM intentions interfere with other ongoing tasks to the extent to which both tasks rely on the same processes. How do people manage the competition between PM and ongoing-task demands? Based on research relating mind wandering and attentional control (Kane & McVay, 2012), we argue that people may not only change the way they process ongoing-task stimuli when given a PM intention, but they may also engage in less off-task thinking than they otherwise would. That is, people focus more strongly on the tasks at hand and dedicate considerable conscious thought to the PM goal. We tested this hypothesis by asking subjects to periodically report on their thoughts during prototypical PM (and control) tasks. Task-unrelated thought rates dropped when participants performed an ongoing task while holding a PM intention versus performing the ongoing task alone (Experiment 1), even when PM demands were minimized (Experiment 2) and more so when PM execution was especially rewarded (Experiment 3). Our findings suggest that PM demands not only elicit a cost to ongoing-task processing, but they also induce a stronger on-task focus and promote conscious thoughts about the PM intention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Chemical composition of distillers grains, a review

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In recent years, increasing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive and decreasing dependency on fossil fuels have resulted in a dramatic increase in the amount of grains used for ethanol production. Dry-grind is the major process, resulting in distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a major ...

Identification of Biokinetic Models Using the Concept of Extents.

PubMed

Mašić, Alma; Srinivasan, Sriniketh; Billeter, Julien; Bonvin, Dominique; Villez, Kris

2017-07-05

The development of a wide array of process technologies to enable the shift from conventional biological wastewater treatment processes to resource recovery systems is matched by an increasing demand for predictive capabilities. Mathematical models are excellent tools to meet this demand. However, obtaining reliable and fit-for-purpose models remains a cumbersome task due to the inherent complexity of biological wastewater treatment processes. In this work, we present a first study in the context of environmental biotechnology that adopts and explores the use of extents as a way to simplify and streamline the dynamic process modeling task. In addition, the extent-based modeling strategy is enhanced by optimal accounting for nonlinear algebraic equilibria and nonlinear measurement equations. Finally, a thorough discussion of our results explains the benefits of extent-based modeling and its potential to turn environmental process modeling into a highly automated task.

Videogame Distraction using Virtual Reality Technology for Children Experiencing Cold Pressor Pain: The Role of Cognitive Processing

PubMed Central

Law, Emily F.; Sil, Soumitri; Weiss, Karen E.; Herbert, Linda Jones; Wohlheiter, Karen; Horn, Susan Berrin

2011-01-01

Objective This study examined whether increasing the demand for central cognitive processing involved in a distraction task, by involving the child in ongoing, effortful interaction with the distraction stimulus, would increase children's tolerance for cold pressor pain. Methods Seventy-nine children ages 6–15 years underwent a baseline cold pressor trial followed by two cold pressor trials in which they received interactive distraction (i.e., used voice commands to play a videogame) or passive distraction (in which they merely watched the output from the same videogame segment) in counterbalanced order. Both distraction conditions were presented via a virtual reality-type helmet. Results As expected, children demonstrated significant improvement in pain tolerance during distraction relative to baseline. Children showed the greatest improvement during the interactive distraction task. Conclusion The effects of distraction on children's cold pressor pain tolerance are significantly enhanced when the distraction task also includes greater demands for central cognitive processing. PMID:20656761

Adjusting process count on demand for petascale global optimization

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

Sosonkina, Masha; Watson, Layne T.; Radcliffe, Nicholas R.

2012-11-23

There are many challenges that need to be met before efficient and reliable computation at the petascale is possible. Many scientific and engineering codes running at the petascale are likely to be memory intensive, which makes thrashing a serious problem for many petascale applications. One way to overcome this challenge is to use a dynamic number of processes, so that the total amount of memory available for the computation can be increased on demand. This paper describes modifications made to the massively parallel global optimization code pVTdirect in order to allow for a dynamic number of processes. In particular, themore » modified version of the code monitors memory use and spawns new processes if the amount of available memory is determined to be insufficient. The primary design challenges are discussed, and performance results are presented and analyzed.« less

JPRS Report, Science & Technology. Europe, Economic Competitiveness.

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-01

billion guilders compared to the leading coun- tries. The report concludes that the Dutch breeding ground for S &T is apparently less favorable than in...for these subjects, and by the lack of attention for S &T in the media. France: State Agency Increases Research Funding 92BR0251 Paris ELECTRONIQUE...second quarter of 1992. "This strategy meets the demand of users for exotic processes," ES2’ s European chief con- firmed, saying that demand was very

Nuclear electric generation: Political, social, and economic cost and benefit to Indonesia. Master`s thesis

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

Waliyo

Indonesia, the largest archipelagic country with a population the fourth biggest in the world, is now in the process of development. It needs a large quantity of energy electricity to meet the industrial and household demands. The currently available generating capacity is not sufficient to meet the electricity demand for the rapidly growing industries and the increasing population. In order to meet the future demand for electricity, new generating capacity is required to be added to the current capacity. Nuclear electricity generation is one possible alternative to supplement Indonesia`s future demand of electricity. This thesis investigates the possibility of developingmore » nuclear electricity generation in Indonesia, considering the political, social, and economic cost and benefit to Indonesia.« less

The dissociation of subjective measures of mental workload and performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yeh, Y. H.; Wickens, C. D.

1984-01-01

Dissociation between performance and subjective workload measures was investigated in the theoretical framework of the multiple resources model. Subjective measures do not preserve the vector characteristics in the multidimensional space described by the model. A theory of dissociation was proposed to locate the sources that may produce dissociation between the two workload measures. According to the theory, performance is affected by every aspect of processing whereas subjective workload is sensitive to the amount of aggregate resource investment and is dominated by the demands on the perceptual/central resources. The proposed theory was tested in three experiments. Results showed that performance improved but subjective workload was elevated with an increasing amount of resource investment. Furthermore, subjective workload was not as sensitive as was performance to differences in the amount of resource competition between two tasks. The demand on perceptual/central resources was found to be the most salient component of subjective workload. Dissociation occurred when the demand on this component was increased by the number of concurrent tasks or by the number of display elements. However, demands on response resources were weighted in subjective introspection as much as demands on perceptual/central resources. The implications of these results for workload practitioners are described.

New Methodology for Measuring Semantic Functional Similarity Based on Bidirectional Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeong, Jong Cheol

2013-01-01

1.2 billion users in Facebook, 17 million articles in Wikipedia, and 190 million tweets per day have demanded significant increase of information processing through Internet in recent years. Similarly life sciences and bioinformatics also have faced issues of processing Big data due to the explosion of publicly available genomic information…

Pathways to College and STEM Careers: Enhancing the High School Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Barbara; Broda, Michael; Judy, Justina; Burkander, Kri

2013-01-01

With a rising demand for a college degree and an increasingly complicated college search, application, and selection process, there are a number of interventions designed to ease the college-going process for adolescents and their families. One such intervention, the College Ambition Program (CAP), is specifically designed to be a whole-school…

Structure and Process in Ethnic Relations: Increased Knowledge and Unanswered Questions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Robin M., Jr.

Sociological interpretations of racial and ethnic relations in modern industrialized societies are examined. Ethnic and racial relations are interpreted as areas of study within the discipline of sociology which focus on interaction of ethnic and/or racial aims and demands with social processes and cultural phenomena. To clarify the state of the…

Disaggregating residential water demand for improved forecasts and decision making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woodard, G.; Brookshire, D.; Chermak, J.; Krause, K.; Roach, J.; Stewart, S.; Tidwell, V.

2003-04-01

Residential water demand is the product of population and per capita demand. Estimates of per capita demand often are based on econometric models of demand, usually based on time series data of demand aggregated at the water provider level. Various studies have examined the impact of such factors as water pricing, weather, and income, with many other factors and details of water demand remaining unclear. Impacts of water conservation programs often are estimated using simplistic engineering calculations. Partly as a result of this, policy discussions regarding water demand management often focus on water pricing, water conservation, and growth control. Projecting water demand is often a straight-forward, if fairly uncertain process of forecasting population and per capita demand rates. SAHRA researchers are developing improved forecasts of residential water demand by disaggregating demand to the level of individuals, households, and specific water uses. Research results based on high-resolution water meter loggers, household-level surveys, economic experiments and recent census data suggest that changes in wealth, household composition, and individual behavior may affect demand more than changes in population or the stock of landscape plants, water-using appliances and fixtures, generally considered the primary determinants of demand. Aging populations and lower fertility rates are dramatically reducing household size, thereby increasing the number of households and residences for a given population. Recent prosperity and low interest rates have raised home ownership rates to unprecented levels. These two trends are leading to increased per capita outdoor water demand. Conservation programs have succeeded in certain areas, such as promoting drought-tolerant native landscaping, but have failed in other areas, such as increasing irrigation efficiency or curbing swimming pool water usage. Individual behavior often is more important than the household's stock of water-using fixtures, and ranges from hedonism (installing pools and whirlpool tubs) to satisficing (adjusting irrigation timers only twice per year) to acting on deeply-held conservation ethics in ways that not only fail any benefit-cost test, but are discouraged, or even illegal (reuse of gray water and black water). Research findings are being captured in dynamic simulation models that integrate social and natural science to create tools to assist water resource managers in providing sustainable water supplies and improving residential water demand forecasts. These models feature simple, graphical user interfaces and output screens that provide decision makers with visual, easy-to-understand information at the basin level. The models reveal connections between various supply and demand components, and highlight direct impacts and feedback mechanisms associated with various policy options.

Pc-Based Floating Point Imaging Workstation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzak, Chris J.; Pier, Richard M.; Chinn, Patty; Kim, Yongmin

1989-07-01

The medical, military, scientific and industrial communities have come to rely on imaging and computer graphics for solutions to many types of problems. Systems based on imaging technology are used to acquire and process images, and analyze and extract data from images that would otherwise be of little use. Images can be transformed and enhanced to reveal detail and meaning that would go undetected without imaging techniques. The success of imaging has increased the demand for faster and less expensive imaging systems and as these systems become available, more and more applications are discovered and more demands are made. From the designer's perspective the challenge to meet these demands forces him to attack the problem of imaging from a different perspective. The computing demands of imaging algorithms must be balanced against the desire for affordability and flexibility. Systems must be flexible and easy to use, ready for current applications but at the same time anticipating new, unthought of uses. Here at the University of Washington Image Processing Systems Lab (IPSL) we are focusing our attention on imaging and graphics systems that implement imaging algorithms for use in an interactive environment. We have developed a PC-based imaging workstation with the goal to provide powerful and flexible, floating point processing capabilities, along with graphics functions in an affordable package suitable for diverse environments and many applications.

Divided versus selective attention: evidence for common processing mechanisms

PubMed Central

Hahn, Britta; Wolkenberg, Frank A.; Ross, Thomas J.; Myers, Carol S.; Heishman, Stephen J.; Stein, Dan J.; Kurup, Pradeep K.; Stein, Elliot A.

2008-01-01

The current study revisited the question of whether there are brain mechanisms specific to divided attention that differ from those used in selective attention. Increased neuronal activity required to simultaneously process two stimulus dimensions as compared with each separate dimension has often been observed, but rarely has activity induced by a divided attention condition exceeded the sum of activity induced by the component tasks. Healthy participants performed a selective-divided attention paradigm while undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The task required participants to make a same-different judgment about either one of two simultaneously presented stimulus dimensions, or about both dimensions. Performance accuracy was equated between tasks by dynamically adjusting the stimulus display time. Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal differences between tasks were identified by whole-brain voxel-wise comparisons and by region-specific analyses of all areas modulated by the divided attention task (DIV). No region displayed greater activation or deactivation by DIV than the sum of signal change by the two selective attention tasks. Instead, regional activity followed the tasks’ processing demands as reflected by reaction time. Only a left cerebellar region displayed a correlation between participants’ BOLD signal intensity and reaction time that was selective for DIV. The correlation was positive, reflecting slower responding with greater activation. Overall, the findings do not support the existence of functional brain activity specific to DIV. Increased activity appears to reflect additional processing demands by introducing a secondary task, but those demands do not appear to qualitatively differ from processes of selective attention. PMID:18479670

Divided versus selective attention: evidence for common processing mechanisms.

PubMed

Hahn, Britta; Wolkenberg, Frank A; Ross, Thomas J; Myers, Carol S; Heishman, Stephen J; Stein, Dan J; Kurup, Pradeep K; Stein, Elliot A

2008-06-18

The current study revisited the question of whether there are brain mechanisms specific to divided attention that differ from those used in selective attention. Increased neuronal activity required to simultaneously process two stimulus dimensions as compared with each separate dimension has often been observed, but rarely has activity induced by a divided attention condition exceeded the sum of activity induced by the component tasks. Healthy participants performed a selective-divided attention paradigm while undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The task required participants to make a same-different judgment about either one of two simultaneously presented stimulus dimensions, or about both dimensions. Performance accuracy was equated between tasks by dynamically adjusting the stimulus display time. Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal differences between tasks were identified by whole-brain voxel-wise comparisons and by region-specific analyses of all areas modulated by the divided attention task (DIV). No region displayed greater activation or deactivation by DIV than the sum of signal change by the two selective attention tasks. Instead, regional activity followed the tasks' processing demands as reflected by reaction time. Only a left cerebellar region displayed a correlation between participants' BOLD signal intensity and reaction time that was selective for DIV. The correlation was positive, reflecting slower responding with greater activation. Overall, the findings do not support the existence of functional brain activity specific to DIV. Increased activity appears to reflect additional processing demands by introducing a secondary task, but those demands do not appear to qualitatively differ from processes of selective attention.

Academic food-supply veterinarians: future demand and likely shortages.

PubMed

Bruce Prince, J; Andrus, David M; Gwinner, Kevin

2006-01-01

The future demand for and potential shortages of food-supply veterinarians have been the subject of much concern. Using the Delphi forecasting method in a three-phase Web-based survey process, a panel of experts identified the trends and issues shaping the demand for and supply of academic food-animal veterinarians, then forecasted the likely future demand and shortages of food-supply veterinarians employed in academic institutions in the United States and Canada through 2016. The results indicate that there will be increasing future demand and persistent shortages of academic food-supply veterinarians unless current trends are countered with targeted, strategic action. The Delphi panel also evaluated the effectiveness of several strategies for reversing current trends and increasing the number of food-supply veterinarians entering into academic careers. Academic food-supply veterinarians are a key link in the system that produces food-supply veterinarians for all sectors (private practice, government service, etc.); shortages in the academic sector will amplify shortages wherever food-supply veterinarians are needed. Even fairly small shortages have significant public-health, food-safety, animal-welfare, and bio-security implications. Recent events demonstrate that in an increasingly interconnected global economic food supply system, national economies and public health are at risk unless an adequate supply of appropriately trained food-supply veterinarians is available to counter a wide variety of threats ranging from animal and zoonotic diseases to bioterrorism.

Functional correlates of preserved naming performance in amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Catricalà, Eleonora; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Parisi, Laura; Zippo, Antonio G; Borsa, Virginia M; Iadanza, Antonella; Castiglioni, Isabella; Falini, Andrea; Cappa, Stefano F

2015-09-01

Naming abilities are typically preserved in amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), a condition associated with increased risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared the functional correlates of covert picture naming and word reading between a group of aMCI subjects and matched controls. Unimpaired picture naming performance was associated with more extensive activations, in particular involving the parietal lobes, in the aMCI group. In addition, in the condition associated with higher processing demands (blocks of categorically homogeneous items, living items), increased activity was observed in the aMCI group, in particular in the left fusiform gyrus. Graph analysis provided further evidence of increased modularity and reduced integration for the homogenous sets in the aMCI group. The functional modifications associated with preserved performance may reflect, in the case of more demanding tasks, compensatory mechanisms for the subclinical involvement of semantic processing areas by AD pathology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Higher Language Ability is Related to Angular Gyrus Activation Increase During Semantic Processing, Independent of Sentence Incongruency.

PubMed

Van Ettinger-Veenstra, Helene; McAllister, Anita; Lundberg, Peter; Karlsson, Thomas; Engström, Maria

2016-01-01

This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic processing abilities. Our aim was to explore whether high-level language ability would correlate to decreased activation in language-specific regions or rather increased activation in supporting language regions during processing of sentences. Moreover, we were interested if observed neural activation patterns are modulated by semantic incongruency similarly to previously observed changes upon syntactic congruency modulation. We investigated 27 healthy adults with a sentence reading task-which tapped language comprehension and inference, and modulated sentence congruency-employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed the relation between neural activation, congruency modulation, and test performance on a high-level language ability assessment with multiple regression analysis. Our results showed increased activation in the left-hemispheric angular gyrus extending to the temporal lobe related to high language ability. This effect was independent of semantic congruency, and no significant relation between language ability and incongruency modulation was observed. Furthermore, there was a significant increase of activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) bilaterally when the sentences were incongruent, indicating that processing incongruent sentences was more demanding than processing congruent sentences and required increased activation in language regions. The correlation of high-level language ability with increased rather than decreased activation in the left angular gyrus, a region specific for language processing, is opposed to what the neural efficiency hypothesis would predict. We can conclude that no evidence is found for an interaction between semantic congruency related brain activation and high-level language performance, even though the semantic incongruent condition shows to be more demanding and evoking more neural activation.

Higher Language Ability is Related to Angular Gyrus Activation Increase During Semantic Processing, Independent of Sentence Incongruency

PubMed Central

Van Ettinger-Veenstra, Helene; McAllister, Anita; Lundberg, Peter; Karlsson, Thomas; Engström, Maria

2016-01-01

This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic processing abilities. Our aim was to explore whether high-level language ability would correlate to decreased activation in language-specific regions or rather increased activation in supporting language regions during processing of sentences. Moreover, we were interested if observed neural activation patterns are modulated by semantic incongruency similarly to previously observed changes upon syntactic congruency modulation. We investigated 27 healthy adults with a sentence reading task—which tapped language comprehension and inference, and modulated sentence congruency—employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed the relation between neural activation, congruency modulation, and test performance on a high-level language ability assessment with multiple regression analysis. Our results showed increased activation in the left-hemispheric angular gyrus extending to the temporal lobe related to high language ability. This effect was independent of semantic congruency, and no significant relation between language ability and incongruency modulation was observed. Furthermore, there was a significant increase of activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) bilaterally when the sentences were incongruent, indicating that processing incongruent sentences was more demanding than processing congruent sentences and required increased activation in language regions. The correlation of high-level language ability with increased rather than decreased activation in the left angular gyrus, a region specific for language processing, is opposed to what the neural efficiency hypothesis would predict. We can conclude that no evidence is found for an interaction between semantic congruency related brain activation and high-level language performance, even though the semantic incongruent condition shows to be more demanding and evoking more neural activation. PMID:27014040

Options and Consequences: Water Banking/Leasing Issues Explored for the Rio Grande in Southern New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brookshire, D. S.; Coursey, D.; Dimint, A.; Tidwell, V.

2004-12-01

Since 1950, the demand for water has more than doubled in the United States. Historically, growing demands have been met by increasing reservoir capacity and through groundwater mining, often at the expense of environmental and cultural concerns. The future is expected to hold much the same. Demand for water will continue to increase particularly in response to the expanding urban sector, while growing concerns over the environment are prompting interest in allocating more water for in-stream uses. So, where will this water come from? Virtually all water supplies are allocated. Providing for new uses requires a reduction in the amount of water dedicated to existing uses. The water banking/leasing model is formulated within a system dynamics context using the object oriented commercial software package, Powersimä Studio 2003. System dynamics provides a unique mathematical framework for integrating the natural and social processes important to managing natural resources and can provide an interactive interface for engaging the public in the decision process. These system level models focus on capturing the broad structure of the system, specifically the feedback and time delays between interacting subsystems. The spatially aggregated models are computationally efficient allowing simulations to be conducted on a PC in a matter of seconds to minutes. By employing interactive interfaces, these models can be taken directly to the public or decision maker. To demonstrate the water banking/leasing model, application has been made to potential markets on the Rio Grande. Specifically, the model spans the reach between Elephant Butte Reservoir (central New Mexico) and the New Mexico/Texas state line. Primary sectors in the model include climate, surface and groundwater, riparian and aquatic habitat, watershed processes, water quality, water demand (residential, commercial, industrial, institution, and agricultural), economics, policy, and legal institutions. Within the model the basin is divided into four distinct but interacting reaches and a monthly time-step is employed. River operations and water demand trends have been calibrated to historical data.

Visual information processing in the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus): mental rotation or rotational invariance?

PubMed

Burmann, Britta; Dehnhardt, Guido; Mauck, Björn

2005-01-01

Mental rotation is a widely accepted concept indicating an image-like mental representation of visual information and an analogue mode of information processing in certain visuospatial tasks. In the task of discriminating between image and mirror-image of rotated figures, human reaction times increase with the angular disparity between the figures. In animals, tests of this kind yield inconsistent results. Pigeons were found to use a time-independent rotational invariance, possibly indicating a non-analogue information processing system that evolved in response to the horizontal plane of reference birds perceive during flight. Despite similar ecological demands concerning the visual reference plane, a sea lion was found to use mental rotation in similar tasks, but its processing speed while rotating three-dimensional stimuli seemed to depend on the axis of rotation in a different way than found for humans in similar tasks. If ecological demands influence the way information processing systems evolve, hominids might have secondarily lost the ability of rotational invariance while retreating from arboreal living and evolving an upright gait in which the vertical reference plane is more important. We therefore conducted mental rotation experiments with an arboreal living primate species, the lion-tailed macaque. Performing a two-alternative matching-to-sample procedure, the animal had to decide between rotated figures representing image and mirror-image of a previously shown upright sample. Although non-rotated stimuli were recognized faster than rotated ones, the animal's mean reaction times did not clearly increase with the angle of rotation. These results are inconsistent with the mental rotation concept but also cannot be explained assuming a mere rotational invariance. Our study thus seems to support the idea of information processing systems evolving gradually in response to specific ecological demands.

EEG alpha synchronization is related to top-down processing in convergent and divergent thinking

PubMed Central

Benedek, Mathias; Bergner, Sabine; Könen, Tanja; Fink, Andreas; Neubauer, Aljoscha C.

2011-01-01

Synchronization of EEG alpha activity has been referred to as being indicative of cortical idling, but according to more recent evidence it has also been associated with active internal processing and creative thinking. The main objective of this study was to investigate to what extent EEG alpha synchronization is related to internal processing demands and to specific cognitive process involved in creative thinking. To this end, EEG was measured during a convergent and a divergent thinking task (i.e., creativity-related task) which once were processed involving low and once involving high internal processing demands. High internal processing demands were established by masking the stimulus (after encoding) and thus preventing further bottom-up processing. Frontal alpha synchronization was observed during convergent and divergent thinking only under exclusive top-down control (high internal processing demands), but not when bottom-up processing was allowed (low internal processing demands). We conclude that frontal alpha synchronization is related to top-down control rather than to specific creativity-related cognitive processes. Frontal alpha synchronization, which has been observed in a variety of different creativity tasks, thus may not reflect a brain state that is specific for creative cognition but can probably be attributed to high internal processing demands which are typically involved in creative thinking. PMID:21925520

Screening of Natural Antimicrobials for Inhibition of E. coli O157:H7 in a Solidified Apple Juice Medium

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Introduction: Naturally occurring antimicrobials such as plant extracts and essential oils have been used in the food industry for years. Due to increased consumer demand for minimally processed juices there has been increased interest in the use of novel antimicrobial compounds isolated from natur...

A Case Study of Online Degree Course Design and Performance of Online Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saul, Robert

2013-01-01

The increasing demand of learners in online higher education courses currently presents a challenge to online course designs in increasing the performance of learners. The online course design process involves many challenges, including a new delivery system, understanding online drivers for success, and an emerging profession of online…

Influences of water quality and climate on the water-energy nexus: A spatial comparison of two water systems.

PubMed

Stang, Shannon; Wang, Haiying; Gardner, Kevin H; Mo, Weiwei

2018-07-15

As drinking water supply systems plan for sustainable management practices, impacts from future water quality and climate changes are a major concern. This study aims to understand the intraannual changes of energy consumption for water treatment, investigate the relative importance of water quality and climate indicators on energy consumption for water treatment, and predict the effects of climate change on the embodied energy of treated, potable water at two municipal drinking water systems located in the northeast and southeast US. To achieve this goal, a life cycle assessment was first performed to quantify the monthly energy consumption in the two drinking water systems. Regression and relative importance analyses were then performed between climate indicators, raw water quality indicators, and chemical and energy usages in the treatment processes to determine their correlations. These relationships were then used to project changes in embodied energy associated with the plants' processes, and the results were compared between the two regions. The projections of the southeastern US water plant were for an increase in energy demand resulted from an increase of treatment chemical usages. The northeastern US plant was projected to decrease its energy demand due to a reduced demand for heating the plant's infrastructure. The findings indicate that geographic location and treatment process may determine the way climate change affects drinking water systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Moving code - Sharing geoprocessing logic on the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Matthias; Bernard, Lars; Kadner, Daniel

2013-09-01

Efficient data processing is a long-standing challenge in remote sensing. Effective and efficient algorithms are required for product generation in ground processing systems, event-based or on-demand analysis, environmental monitoring, and data mining. Furthermore, the increasing number of survey missions and the exponentially growing data volume in recent years have created demand for better software reuse as well as an efficient use of scalable processing infrastructures. Solutions that address both demands simultaneously have begun to slowly appear, but they seldom consider the possibility to coordinate development and maintenance efforts across different institutions, community projects, and software vendors. This paper presents a new approach to share, reuse, and possibly standardise geoprocessing logic in the field of remote sensing. Drawing from the principles of service-oriented design and distributed processing, this paper introduces moving-code packages as self-describing software components that contain algorithmic code and machine-readable descriptions of the provided functionality, platform, and infrastructure, as well as basic information about exploitation rights. Furthermore, the paper presents a lean publishing mechanism by which to distribute these packages on the Web and to integrate them in different processing environments ranging from monolithic workstations to elastic computational environments or "clouds". The paper concludes with an outlook toward community repositories for reusable geoprocessing logic and their possible impact on data-driven science in general.

The role of production and teamwork practices in construction safety: a cognitive model and an empirical case study.

PubMed

Mitropoulos, Panagiotis Takis; Cupido, Gerardo

2009-01-01

In construction, the challenge for researchers and practitioners is to develop work systems (production processes and teams) that can achieve high productivity and high safety at the same time. However, construction accident causation models ignore the role of work practices and teamwork. This study investigates the mechanisms by which production and teamwork practices affect the likelihood of accidents. The paper synthesizes a new model for construction safety based on the cognitive perspective (Fuller's Task-Demand-Capability Interface model, 2005) and then presents an exploratory case study. The case study investigates and compares the work practices of two residential framing crews: a 'High Reliability Crew' (HRC)--that is, a crew with exceptional productivity and safety over several years, and an average performing crew from the same company. The model explains how the production and teamwork practices generate the work situations that workers face (the task demands) and affect the workers ability to cope (capabilities). The case study indicates that the work practices of the HRC directly influence the task demands and match them with the applied capabilities. These practices were guided by the 'principle' of avoiding errors and rework and included work planning and preparation, work distribution, managing the production pressures, and quality and behavior monitoring. The Task Demand-Capability model links construction research to a cognitive model of accident causation and provides a new way to conceptualize safety as an emergent property of the production practices and teamwork processes. The empirical evidence indicates that the crews' work practices and team processes strongly affect the task demands, the applied capabilities, and the match between demands and capabilities. The proposed model and the exploratory case study will guide further discovery of work practices and teamwork processes that can increase both productivity and safety in construction operations. Such understanding will enable training of construction foremen and crews in these practices to systematically develop high reliability crews.

Self-reported tolerance influences prefrontal cortex hemodynamics and affective responses.

PubMed

Tempest, Gavin; Parfitt, Gaynor

2016-02-01

The relationship between cognitive and sensory processes in the brain contributes to the regulation of affective responses (pleasure-displeasure). Exercise can be used to manipulate sensory processes (by increasing physiological demand) in order to examine the role of dispositional traits that may influence an individual's ability to cognitively regulate these responses. With the use of near infrared spectroscopy, in this study we examined the influence of self-reported tolerance upon prefrontal cortex (PFC) hemodynamics and affective responses. The hemodynamic response was measured in individuals with high or low tolerance during an incremental exercise test. Sensory manipulation was standardized against metabolic processes (ventilatory threshold [VT] and respiratory compensation point [RCP]), and affective responses were recorded. The results showed that the high-tolerance group displayed a larger hemodynamic response within the right PFC above VT (which increased above RCP). The low-tolerance group showed a larger hemodynamic response within the left PFC above VT. The high-tolerance group reported a more positive/less negative affective response above VT. These findings provide direct neurophysiological evidence of differential hemodynamic responses within the PFC that are associated with tolerance in the presence of increased physiological demands. This study supports the role of dispositional traits and previous theorizing into the underlying mechanisms (cognitive vs. sensory processes) of affective responses.

The Effects of Concurrent Cognitive Load on Phonological Processing in Adults Who Stutter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Robin M.; Fox, Robert A.; Jacewicz, Ewa

2012-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether phonological processing in adults who stutter (AWS) is disrupted by increased amounts of cognitive load in a concurrent attention-demanding task. Method: Nine AWS and 9 adults who do not stutter (AWNS) participated. Using a dual-task paradigm, the authors presented word pairs for rhyme judgments and, concurrently,…

Towards an Understanding of the Business Process Analyst: An Analysis of Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sonteya, Thembela; Seymour, Lisa

2012-01-01

The increase in adoption of business process management (BPM) and service oriented architecture (SOA) has created a high demand for qualified professionals with a plethora of skills. However, despite the growing amount of literature available on the topics of BPM and SOA, little research has been conducted around developing a detailed list of…

University Students With Poor Reading Comprehension: The Hidden Cognitive Processing Deficit.

PubMed

Georgiou, George K; Das, J P

2015-01-01

The present study aimed to examine the nature of the working memory and general cognitive ability deficits experienced by university students with a specific reading comprehension deficit. A total of 32 university students with poor reading comprehension but average word-reading skills and 60 age-matched controls with no comprehension difficulties participated in the study. The participants were assessed on three verbal working memory tasks that varied in terms of their processing demands and on the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System, which was used to operationalize intelligence. The results indicated first that the differences between poor and skilled comprehenders on working memory were amplified as the processing demands of the tasks increased. In addition, although poor comprehenders as a group had average intelligence, they experienced significant difficulties in simultaneous and successive processing. Considering that working memory and general cognitive ability are highly correlated processes, these findings suggest that the observed differences between poor and skilled comprehenders are likely a result of a deficient information processing system. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013.

Effects of Biofuel and Variant Ambient Pressure on FlameDevelopment and Emissions of Gasoline Engine.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashim, Akasha; Khalid, Amir; Sapit, Azwan; Samsudin, Dahrum

2016-11-01

There are many technologies about exhaust emissions reduction for wide variety of spark ignition (SI) engine have been considered as the improvement throughout the combustion process. The stricter on legislation of emission and demands of lower fuel consumption needs to be priority in order to satisfy the demand of emission quality. Besides, alternative fuel such as methanol-gasoline blends is used as working fluid in this study due to its higher octane number and self-sustain concept which capable to contribute positive effect to the combustion process. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of methanol-gasoline fuel with different blending ratio and variant ambient pressures on flame development and emission for gasoline engine. An experimental study is carried towards to the flame development of methanol-gasoline fuel in a constant volume chamber. Schlieren optical visualization technique is a visual process that used when high sensitivity is required to photograph the flow of fluids of varying density used for captured the combustion images in the constant volume chamber and analysed through image processing technique. Apart from that, the result showed combustion burn rate increased when the percentage of methanol content in gasoline increased. Thus, high percentage of methanol-gasoline blends gave greater flame development area. Moreover, the emissions of CO, NOX and HC are performed a reduction when the percentage of methanol content in gasoline is increased. Contrarily, the emission of Carbon dioxide, CO2 is increased due to the combustion process is enhanced.

Integrated modelling to assess long-term water supply capacity of a meso-scale Mediterranean catchment.

PubMed

Collet, Lila; Ruelland, Denis; Borrell-Estupina, Valérie; Dezetter, Alain; Servat, Eric

2013-09-01

Assessing water supply capacity is crucial to meet stakeholders' needs, notably in the Mediterranean region. This region has been identified as a climate change hot spot, and as a region where water demand is continuously increasing due to population growth and the expansion of irrigated areas. The Hérault River catchment (2500 km(2), France) is a typical example and a negative trend in discharge has been observed since the 1960s. In this context, local stakeholders need first to understand the processes controlling the evolution of water resources and demands in the past to latter evaluate future water supply capacity and anticipate the tensions users could be confronted to in the future. A modelling framework is proposed at a 10-day time step to assess whether water resources have been able to meet water demands over the last 50 years. Water supply was evaluated using hydrological modelling and a dam management model. Water demand dynamics were estimated for the domestic and agricultural sectors. A water supply capacity index is computed to assess the extent and the frequency to which water demand has been satisfied at the sub-basin scale. Simulated runoff dynamics were in good agreement with observations over the calibration and validation periods. Domestic water demand has increased considerably since the 1980s and is characterized by a seasonal peak in summer. Agricultural demand has increased in the downstream sub-basins and decreased upstream where irrigated areas have decreased. As a result, although most water demands were satisfied between 1961 and 1980, irrigation requirements in summer have sometimes not been satisfied since the 1980s. This work is the first step toward evaluating possible future changes in water allocation capacity in the catchment, using future climate change, dam management and water use scenarios. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

GEOS Atmospheric Model: Challenges at Exascale

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Putman, William M.; Suarez, Max J.

2017-01-01

The Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) is used to simulate the multi-scale variability of the Earth's weather and climate, and is used primarily to assimilate conventional and satellite-based observations for weather forecasting and reanalysis. In addition, assimilations coupled to an ocean model are used for longer-term forecasting (e.g., El Nino) on seasonal to interannual times-scales. The GMAO's research activities, including system development, focus on numerous time and space scales, as detailed on the GMAO website, where they are tabbed under five major themes: Weather Analysis and Prediction; Seasonal-Decadal Analysis and Prediction; Reanalysis; Global Mesoscale Modeling, and Observing System Science. A brief description of the GEOS systems can also be found at the GMAO website. GEOS executes as a collection of earth system components connected through the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). The ESMF layer is supplemented with the MAPL (Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction Layer) software toolkit developed at the GMAO, which facilitates the organization of the computational components into a hierarchical architecture. GEOS systems run in parallel using a horizontal decomposition of the Earth's sphere into processing elements (PEs). Communication between PEs is primarily through a message passing framework, using the message passing interface (MPI), and through explicit use of node-level shared memory access via the SHMEM (Symmetric Hierarchical Memory access) protocol. Production GEOS weather prediction systems currently run at 12.5-kilometer horizontal resolution with 72 vertical levels decomposed into PEs associated with 5,400 MPI processes. Research GEOS systems run at resolutions as fine as 1.5 kilometers globally using as many as 30,000 MPI processes. Looking forward, these systems can be expected to see a 2 times increase in horizontal resolution every two to three years, as well as less frequent increases in vertical resolution. Coupling these resolution changes with increases in complexity, the computational demands on the GEOS production and research systems should easily increase 100-fold over the next five years. Currently, our 12.5 kilometer weather prediction system narrowly meets the time-to-solution demands of a near-real-time production system. Work is now in progress to take advantage of a hybrid MPI-OpenMP parallelism strategy, in an attempt to achieve a modest two-fold speed-up to accommodate an immediate demand due to increased scientific complexity and an increase in vertical resolution. Pursuing demands that require a 10- to 100-fold increases or more, however, would require a detailed exploration of the computational profile of GEOS, as well as targeted solutions using more advanced high-performance computing technologies. Increased computing demands of 100-fold will be required within five years based on anticipated changes in the GEOS production systems, increases of 1000-fold can be anticipated over the next ten years.

Integrated Resources Management Approach to Ensuring Sustainable Food Security in Nigeria-The Nexus of Rice Production in Niger State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omotoso, T.

2015-12-01

By 2050, the world will need to feed 9 billion people. This will require a 60% increase in agricultural production and subsequently a 6% increase in water use by the agricultural sector alone. By 2030, global water demand is expected to increase by 40%, mostly in developing countries like Nigeria (Addams, Boccaletti, Kerlin, & Stuchtey, 2009) and global energy demand is expected to increase by 33% in 2035, also, mostly in emerging economies (IEA, 2013). These resources have to be managed efficiently in preparation for these future demands. Population growth leads to increased demand for water, energy and food. More food production will lead to more water-for-food and energy-for-food usage; and more demand for energy will lead to more water-for-energy needs. This nexus between water, energy and food is poorly understood and furthermore, complicated by external drivers such as climate change. Niger State Nigeria, which is blessed with abundant water and arable land resources, houses the three hydropower dams in Nigeria and one of the governments' proposed Staple Crops Processing Zones (SCPZ) for rice production. Both of these capital intensive investments depend heavily on water resources and are all highly vulnerable to changes in climate. Thus, it is essential to know how the local climate in this state will likely change and its impacts on water, energy and food security, so that policy makers can make informed mitigation/adaptation plans; operational and investment decisions. The objective of this project is to provide information, using an integrated resources management approach, on the effects of future climate changes on water, energy (hydropower) and food resources in Niger State, Nigeria and improve knowledge on the interlinkages between water, energy and food at a local scale.

Dissociation between dorsal and ventral hippocampal theta oscillations during decision-making.

PubMed

Schmidt, Brandy; Hinman, James R; Jacobson, Tara K; Szkudlarek, Emily; Argraves, Melissa; Escabí, Monty A; Markus, Etan J

2013-04-03

Hippocampal theta oscillations are postulated to support mnemonic processes in humans and rodents. Theta oscillations facilitate encoding and spatial navigation, but to date, it has been difficult to dissociate the effects of volitional movement from the cognitive demands of a task. Therefore, we examined whether volitional movement or cognitive demands exerted a greater modulating factor over theta oscillations during decision-making. Given the anatomical, electrophysiological, and functional dissociations along the dorsal-ventral axis, theta oscillations were simultaneously recorded in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus in rats trained to switch between place and motor-response strategies. Stark differences in theta characteristics were found between the dorsal and ventral hippocampus in frequency, power, and coherence. Theta power increased in the dorsal, but decreased in the ventral hippocampus, during the decision-making epoch. Interestingly, the relationship between running speed and theta power was uncoupled during the decision-making epoch, a phenomenon limited to the dorsal hippocampus. Theta frequency increased in both the dorsal and ventral hippocampus during the decision epoch, although this effect was greater in the dorsal hippocampus. Despite these differences, ventral hippocampal theta was responsive to the navigation task; theta frequency, power, and coherence were all affected by cognitive demands. Theta coherence increased within the dorsal hippocampus during the decision-making epoch on all three tasks. However, coherence selectively increased throughout the hippocampus (dorsal to ventral) on the task with new hippocampal learning. Interestingly, most results were consistent across tasks, regardless of hippocampal-dependent learning. These data indicate increased integration and cooperation throughout the hippocampus during information processing.

Aging effects on functional auditory and visual processing using fMRI with variable sensory loading.

PubMed

Cliff, Michael; Joyce, Dan W; Lamar, Melissa; Dannhauser, Thomas; Tracy, Derek K; Shergill, Sukhwinder S

2013-05-01

Traditionally, studies investigating the functional implications of age-related structural brain alterations have focused on higher cognitive processes; by increasing stimulus load, these studies assess behavioral and neurophysiological performance. In order to understand age-related changes in these higher cognitive processes, it is crucial to examine changes in visual and auditory processes that are the gateways to higher cognitive functions. This study provides evidence for age-related functional decline in visual and auditory processing, and regional alterations in functional brain processing, using non-invasive neuroimaging. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), younger (n=11; mean age=31) and older (n=10; mean age=68) adults were imaged while observing flashing checkerboard images (passive visual stimuli) and hearing word lists (passive auditory stimuli) across varying stimuli presentation rates. Younger adults showed greater overall levels of temporal and occipital cortical activation than older adults for both auditory and visual stimuli. The relative change in activity as a function of stimulus presentation rate showed differences between young and older participants. In visual cortex, the older group showed a decrease in fMRI blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal magnitude as stimulus frequency increased, whereas the younger group showed a linear increase. In auditory cortex, the younger group showed a relative increase as a function of word presentation rate, while older participants showed a relatively stable magnitude of fMRI BOLD response across all rates. When analyzing participants across all ages, only the auditory cortical activation showed a continuous, monotonically decreasing BOLD signal magnitude as a function of age. Our preliminary findings show an age-related decline in demand-related, passive early sensory processing. As stimulus demand increases, visual and auditory cortex do not show increases in activity in older compared to younger people. This may negatively impact on the fidelity of information available to higher cognitive processing. Such evidence may inform future studies focused on cognitive decline in aging. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain biomarkers based assessment of cognitive workload in pilots under various task demands.

PubMed

Gentili, Rodolphe J; Rietschel, Jeremy C; Jaquess, Kyle J; Lo, Li-Chuan; Prevost, Michael; Miller, Matt W; Mohler, Jessica M; Oh, Hyuk; Tan, Ying Ying; Hatfield, Bradley D

2014-01-01

Cognitive workload is an important element of cognitive-motor performance such as that exhibited during the piloting of an aircraft. Namely, an increase in task demands on the pilot can elevate cognitive information processing and, thus, the risk of human error. As such, there is a need to develop methods that reliably assess mental workload in pilots within operational settings. The present study contributes to this research goal by identifying physiological and brain biomarkers of cognitive workload and attentional reserve during a simulated aircraft piloting task under three progressive levels of challenge. A newly developed experimental method was employed by which electroencephalography (EEG) was acquired via a dry (i.e., gel-free sensors) system using few scalp sites. Self-reported responses to surveys and piloting performance indicators were analyzed. The findings revealed that as the challenge (task demands) increased, the perceived mental load increased, attentional reserve was attenuated, and task performance decreased. Such an increase in task demands was also reflected by changes in heart rate variability (HRV), as well as in the amplitude of the P300 component of event-related potentials to auditory probes, and in the spectral power of specific EEG frequency bands. This work provides a first step towards a long-term goal to develop a composite system of biomarkers for real-time cognitive workload assessment and state assessment of pilots in operational settings.

Microphone Array Phased Processing System (MAPPS): Version 4.0 Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watts, Michael E.; Mosher, Marianne; Barnes, Michael; Bardina, Jorge

1999-01-01

A processing system has been developed to meet increasing demands for detailed noise measurement of individual model components. The Microphone Array Phased Processing System (MAPPS) uses graphical user interfaces to control all aspects of data processing and visualization. The system uses networked parallel computers to provide noise maps at selected frequencies in a near real-time testing environment. The system has been successfully used in the NASA Ames 7- by 10-Foot Wind Tunnel.

How Auditory Experience Differentially Influences the Function of Left and Right Superior Temporal Cortices.

PubMed

Twomey, Tae; Waters, Dafydd; Price, Cathy J; Evans, Samuel; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2017-09-27

To investigate how hearing status, sign language experience, and task demands influence functional responses in the human superior temporal cortices (STC) we collected fMRI data from deaf and hearing participants (male and female), who either acquired sign language early or late in life. Our stimuli in all tasks were pictures of objects. We varied the linguistic and visuospatial processing demands in three different tasks that involved decisions about (1) the sublexical (phonological) structure of the British Sign Language (BSL) signs for the objects, (2) the semantic category of the objects, and (3) the physical features of the objects.Neuroimaging data revealed that in participants who were deaf from birth, STC showed increased activation during visual processing tasks. Importantly, this differed across hemispheres. Right STC was consistently activated regardless of the task whereas left STC was sensitive to task demands. Significant activation was detected in the left STC only for the BSL phonological task. This task, we argue, placed greater demands on visuospatial processing than the other two tasks. In hearing signers, enhanced activation was absent in both left and right STC during all three tasks. Lateralization analyses demonstrated that the effect of deafness was more task-dependent in the left than the right STC whereas it was more task-independent in the right than the left STC. These findings indicate how the absence of auditory input from birth leads to dissociable and altered functions of left and right STC in deaf participants. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Those born deaf can offer unique insights into neuroplasticity, in particular in regions of superior temporal cortex (STC) that primarily respond to auditory input in hearing people. Here we demonstrate that in those deaf from birth the left and the right STC have altered and dissociable functions. The right STC was activated regardless of demands on visual processing. In contrast, the left STC was sensitive to the demands of visuospatial processing. Furthermore, hearing signers, with the same sign language experience as the deaf participants, did not activate the STCs. Our data advance current understanding of neural plasticity by determining the differential effects that hearing status and task demands can have on left and right STC function. Copyright © 2017 Twomey et al.

Demands on attention and the role of response priming in visual discrimination of feature conjunctions.

PubMed

Fournier, Lisa R; Herbert, Rhonda J; Farris, Carrie

2004-10-01

This study examined how response mapping of features within single- and multiple-feature targets affects decision-based processing and attentional capacity demands. Observers judged the presence or absence of 1 or 2 target features within an object either presented alone or with distractors. Judging the presence of 2 features relative to the less discriminable of these features alone was faster (conjunction benefits) when the task-relevant features differed in discriminability and were consistently mapped to responses. Conjunction benefits were attributed to asynchronous decision priming across attended, task-relevant dimensions. A failure to find conjunction benefits for disjunctive conjunctions was attributed to increased memory demands and variable feature-response mapping for 2- versus single-feature targets. Further, attentional demands were similar between single- and 2-feature targets when response mapping, memory demands, and discriminability of the task-relevant features were equated between targets. Implications of the findings for recent attention models are discussed. (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved

National and regional needs for increasing wood yields through intensive management

Treesearch

Robert B. Phelps

1977-01-01

Several recent studies show that U.S. timber markets are likely to grow rapidly in the next few decades. Part of the rising demand can be met by increasing the utilization of the timber harvested and more efficient manufacturing and construction processes. In addition, part of the increase can probably be supplied by rises in net imports, particularly at higher price...

The push for increased coal injection rates -- Blast furnace experience at AK Steel Corporation

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

Dibert, W.A.; Duncan, J.H.; Keaton, D.E.

1994-12-31

An effort has been undertaken to increase the coal injection rate on Amanda blast furnace at AK Steel Corporation`s Ashland Works in Ashland, Kentucky to decrease fuel costs and reduce coke demand. Operating practices have been implemented to achieve a sustained coal injection rate of 140 kg/MT, increased from 100--110 kg/MT. In order to operate successfully at the 140 kg/MT injection rate; changes were implemented to the furnace charging practice, coal rate control methodology, orientation of the injection point, and the manner of distribution of coal to the multiple injection points. Additionally, changes were implemented in the coal processing facilitymore » to accommodate the higher demand of pulverized coal; grinding 29 tonnes per hour, increased from 25 tonnes per hour. Further increases in injection rate will require a supplemental supply of fuel.« less

Demand forecasting for automotive sector in Malaysia by system dynamics approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zulkepli, Jafri; Fong, Chan Hwa; Abidin, Norhaslinda Zainal

2015-12-01

In general, Proton as an automotive company needs to forecast future demand of the car to assist in decision making related to capacity expansion planning. One of the forecasting approaches that based on judgemental or subjective factors is normally used to forecast the demand. As a result, demand could be overstock that eventually will increase the operation cost; or the company will face understock, which resulted losing their customers. Due to automotive industry is very challenging process because of high level of complexity and uncertainty involved in the system, an accurate tool to forecast the future of automotive demand from the modelling perspective is required. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to forecast the demand of automotive Proton car industry in Malaysia using system dynamics approach. Two types of intervention namely optimistic and pessimistic experiments scenarios have been tested to determine the capacity expansion that can prevent the company from overstocking. Finding from this study highlighted that the management needs to expand their production for optimistic scenario, whilst pessimistic give results that would otherwise. Finally, this study could help Proton Edar Sdn. Bhd (PESB) to manage the long-term capacity planning in order to meet the future demand of the Proton cars.

Selectivity of a lithium-recovery process based on LiFePO4.

PubMed

Trócoli, Rafael; Battistel, Alberto; Mantia, Fabio La

2014-08-04

The demand for lithium will increase in the near future to 713,000 tonnes per year. Although lake brines contribute to 80% of the production, existing methods for purification of lithium from this source are expensive, slow, and inefficient. A novel electrochemical process with low energy consumption and the ability to increase the purity of a brine solution to close to 98% with a single-stage galvanostatic cycle is presented. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Exploring the leadership role of the clinical nurse specialist on an inpatient palliative care consulting team.

PubMed

Stilos, Kalli; Daines, Pat

2013-03-01

Demand for palliative care services in Canada will increase owing to an aging population and the evolving role of palliative care in non-malignant illness. Increasing healthcare demands continue to shape the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role, especially in the area of palliative care. Clinical nurse specialists bring specialized knowledge, skills and leadership to the clinical setting to enhance patient and family care. This paper highlights the clinical leadership role of the CNS as triage leader for a hospital-based palliative care consulting team. Changes to the team's referral and triage processes are emphasized as key improvements to team efficiency and timely access to care for patients and families.

Community Colleges: Enrollment Trends and Marketing Processes--Their Impact on Strategic Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tatham, Elaine

With the decline of enrollment at a number of community colleges there is a demand for accurate enrollment projections, yet enrollment is increasingly difficult to forecast. Student body composition has changed markedly from the traditional 18 year old group as the percentage of women and part-time students and students' ages have increased. Also,…

A Validity-Based Approach to Quality Control and Assurance of Automated Scoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bejar, Isaac I.

2011-01-01

Automated scoring of constructed responses is already operational in several testing programmes. However, as the methodology matures and the demand for the utilisation of constructed responses increases, the volume of automated scoring is likely to increase at a fast pace. Quality assurance and control of the scoring process will likely be more…

Examining the cognitive demands of analogy instructions compared to explicit instructions.

PubMed

Tse, Choi Yeung Andy; Wong, Andus; Whitehill, Tara; Ma, Estella; Masters, Rich

2016-10-01

In many learning domains, instructions are presented explicitly despite high cognitive demands associated with their processing. This study examined cognitive demands imposed on working memory by different types of instruction to speak with maximum pitch variation: visual analogy, verbal analogy and explicit verbal instruction. Forty participants were asked to memorise a set of 16 visual and verbal stimuli while reading aloud a Cantonese paragraph with maximum pitch variation. Instructions about how to achieve maximum pitch variation were presented via visual analogy, verbal analogy, explicit rules or no instruction. Pitch variation was assessed off-line, using standard deviation of fundamental frequency. Immediately after reading, participants recalled as many stimuli as possible. Analogy instructions resulted in significantly increased pitch variation compared to explicit instructions or no instructions. Explicit instructions resulted in poorest recall of stimuli. Visual analogy instructions resulted in significantly poorer recall of visual stimuli than verbal stimuli. The findings suggest that non-propositional instructions presented via analogy may be less cognitively demanding than instructions that are presented explicitly. Processing analogy instructions that are presented as a visual representation is likely to load primarily visuospatial components of working memory rather than phonological components. The findings are discussed with reference to speech therapy and human cognition.

Demand-Side Management and Integrated Resource Planning: Findings from a Survey of 24 Electric Utilities

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

Schweitzer, M.

1991-01-01

Integrated resource planning differs from traditional utility planning practices primarily in its increased attention to demand-side management (DSM) programs and its integration of supply- and demand-side resources into a combined resource portfolio. This report details the findings from an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) survey of 24 electric utilities that have well-developed integrated planning processes. These utilities account for roughly one-third of total capacity, electricity generation, and DSM-program expenditures nationwide. The ORNL survey was designed to obtain descriptive data on a national sample of utilities and to test a number of hypothesized relationships between selected utility characteristics and the mixmore » of resources selected for the integrated plan, with an emphasis on the use of DSM resources and the processes by which they are chosen. The survey solicited information on each utility's current and projected resource mix, operating environment, procedures used to screen potential DSM resources, techniques used to obtain public input and to integrate supply- and demand-side options into a unified plan, and procedures used in the final selection of resources for the plan.« less

Secondary lead production in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, M. J.; Lim, S. S.

The increase in the number of vehicles and, subsequently, the volume of batteries made by manufacturers in Malaysia have seen a dramatic rise in lead demand over the last five years. Without any lead mines, the only source of lead in Malaysia has been from the recycling of lead/acid batteries. Metal Reclamation (Industries) has commenced the design of a new and advanced secondary lead plant at West Port, Malaysia to meet the increasing demand for lead and the increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The plant is designed to produce up to 75 000 t of lead and lead alloys per year. The plant will also produce, as by-products: polypropylene chips, wallboard-grade gypsum, non-leachable slag for use in construction. A discussion of the process and the products from the new secondary smelter is outlined.

Research on Technology Innovation Management in Big Data Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yanhong

2018-02-01

With the continuous development and progress of the information age, the demand for information is getting larger. The processing and analysis of information data is also moving toward the direction of scale. The increasing number of information data makes people have higher demands on processing technology. The explosive growth of information data onto the current society have prompted the advent of the era of big data. At present, people have more value and significance in producing and processing various kinds of information and data in their lives. How to use big data technology to process and analyze information data quickly to improve the level of big data management is an important stage to promote the current development of information and data processing technology in our country. To some extent, innovative research on the management methods of information technology in the era of big data can enhance our overall strength and make China be an invincible position in the development of the big data era.

Japanese and English sentence reading comprehension and writing systems: An fMRI study of first and second language effects on brain activation.

PubMed

Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A; Hasegawa, Mihoko; Just, Marcel A

2009-01-28

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activation from Japanese readers reading hiragana (syllabic) and kanji (logographic) sentences, and English as a second language (L2). Kanji showed more activation than hiragana in right-hemisphere occipito-temporal lobe areas associated with visuospatial processing; hiragana, in turn, showed more activation than kanji in areas of the brain associated with phonological processing. L1 results underscore the difference in visuospatial and phonological processing demands between the systems. Reading in English as compared to either of the Japanese systems showed more activation in inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and angular gyrus. The additional activation in English in these areas may have been associated with an increased cognitive demand for phonological processing and verbal working memory. More generally, L2 results suggest more effortful reading comprehension processes. The study contributes to the understanding of differential brain responses to different writing systems and to reading comprehension in a second language.

A crossmodal crossover: opposite effects of visual and auditory perceptual load on steady-state evoked potentials to irrelevant visual stimuli.

PubMed

Jacoby, Oscar; Hall, Sarah E; Mattingley, Jason B

2012-07-16

Mechanisms of attention are required to prioritise goal-relevant sensory events under conditions of stimulus competition. According to the perceptual load model of attention, the extent to which task-irrelevant inputs are processed is determined by the relative demands of discriminating the target: the more perceptually demanding the target task, the less unattended stimuli will be processed. Although much evidence supports the perceptual load model for competing stimuli within a single sensory modality, the effects of perceptual load in one modality on distractor processing in another is less clear. Here we used steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs) to measure neural responses to irrelevant visual checkerboard stimuli while participants performed either a visual or auditory task that varied in perceptual load. Consistent with perceptual load theory, increasing visual task load suppressed SSEPs to the ignored visual checkerboards. In contrast, increasing auditory task load enhanced SSEPs to the ignored visual checkerboards. This enhanced neural response to irrelevant visual stimuli under auditory load suggests that exhausting capacity within one modality selectively compromises inhibitory processes required for filtering stimuli in another. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Treatment of oilfield produced water by anaerobic process coupled with micro-electrolysis.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Guo, Shuhai; Li, Fengmei

2010-01-01

Treatment of oilfield produced water was investigated using an anaerobic process coupled with micro-electrolysis (ME), focusing on changes in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biodegradability. Results showed that COD exhibited an abnormal change in the single anaerobic system in which it increased within the first 168 hr, but then decreased to 222 mg/L after 360 hr. The biological oxygen demand (five-day) (BODs)/COD ratio of the water increased from 0.05 to 0.15. Hydrocarbons in the wastewater, such as pectin, degraded to small molecules during the hydrolytic acidification process. Comparatively, the effect of ME was also investigated. The COD underwent a slight decrease and the BOD5/COD ratio of the water improved from 0.05 to 0.17 after ME. Removal of COD was 38.3% under the idealized ME conditions (pH 6.0), using iron and active carbon (80 and 40 g/L, respectively). Coupling the anaerobic process with ME accelerated the COD removal ratio (average removal was 53.3%). Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to analyze organic species conversion. This integrated system appeared to be a useful option for the treatment of water produced in oilfields.

Influence of the processed sunflower oil on the cement properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleysher, A. U.; Tokarchuk, V. V.; Sviderskiy, V. A.

2015-01-01

Used oils (vegetable oil, animal oil, engine oil, etc.), which are essentially industrial wastes, have found application as secondary raw materials in some braches of industry. In particular, the only well-known and commonly-used way of utilizing wastes of vegetable oils is to apply them as raw materials in the production of biodiesel. The goal of the present study is to develop a conceptually new way of vegetable oil wastes utilization in the building industry. The test admixture D-148 was obtained from the processing of wastes of sunflower oil and it mainly consists of fatty acid diethanolamide. The test admixture was added to the cement system for the purpose of studying its influence on water demand, flowability, setting times, compressive strength and moisture adsorption. The test admixture D-148 at the optimal content 0. 2 weight % causes 10% decrease in water demand, 1.7 time increase in flowability (namely spread diameter), 23% increase in grade strength and 34% decrease in moisture adsorption. The results of the present investigation make it possible to consider the final product of the waste sunflower oil processing as multifunctional plasticizing-waterproofing admixture.

Error image aware content restoration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Sungwoo; Lee, Moonsik; Jung, Byunghee

2015-12-01

As the resolution of TV significantly increased, content consumers have become increasingly sensitive to the subtlest defect in TV contents. This rising standard in quality demanded by consumers has posed a new challenge in today's context where the tape-based process has transitioned to the file-based process: the transition necessitated digitalizing old archives, a process which inevitably produces errors such as disordered pixel blocks, scattered white noise, or totally missing pixels. Unsurprisingly, detecting and fixing such errors require a substantial amount of time and human labor to meet the standard demanded by today's consumers. In this paper, we introduce a novel, automated error restoration algorithm which can be applied to different types of classic errors by utilizing adjacent images while preserving the undamaged parts of an error image as much as possible. We tested our method to error images detected from our quality check system in KBS(Korean Broadcasting System) video archive. We are also implementing the algorithm as a plugin of well-known NLE(Non-linear editing system), which is a familiar tool for quality control agent.

Utilizing role theory to help employed parents cope with children's chronic illness.

PubMed

Major, Debra A

2003-02-01

Role theory is utilized to detail a six-step process for developing balanced coping through role negotiation. As applied in this paper, the role theory framework provides health educators with a useful tool for helping employed parents cope with a child's chronic illness. The emphasis is on partnering with parents or primary caregivers to identify, understand and manage the multiple role demands of working parents with chronically ill children. Role theory suggests ways health educators can support balanced coping by educating families about the demands of a child's illness, and helping to reduce those demands, helping to increase family resources, supporting parents and facilitating role negotiation. The ultimate goal is the development of balanced coping strategies that (1) meet the medical and emotional needs of the ill child, (2) allow parents to maintain their physical and mental health, and (3) enable parents to meet the demands of their other roles (e.g. paid employment).

Quantifying the link between crop production and mined groundwater irrigation in China.

PubMed

Grogan, Danielle S; Zhang, Fan; Prusevich, Alexander; Lammers, Richard B; Wisser, Dominik; Glidden, Stanley; Li, Changsheng; Frolking, Steve

2015-04-01

In response to increasing demand for food, Chinese agriculture has both expanded and intensified over the past several decades. Irrigation has played a key role in increasing crop production, and groundwater is now an important source of irrigation water. Groundwater abstraction in excess of recharge (which we use here to estimate groundwater mining) has resulted in declining groundwater levels and could eventually restrict groundwater availability. In this study we used a hydrological model, WBMplus, in conjunction with a process based crop growth model, DNDC, to evaluate Chinese agriculture's recent dependence upon mined groundwater, and to quantify mined groundwater-dependent crop production across a domain that includes variation in climate, crop choice, and management practices. This methodology allowed for the direct attribution of crop production to irrigation water from rivers and reservoirs, shallow (renewable) groundwater, and mined groundwater. Simulating 20 years of weather variability and circa year 2000 crop areas, we found that mined groundwater fulfilled 20%-49% of gross irrigation water demand, assuming all demand was met. Mined groundwater accounted for 15%-27% of national total crop production. There was high spatial variability across China in irrigation water demand and crop production derived from mined groundwater. We find that climate variability and mined groundwater demand do not operate independently; rather, years in which irrigation water demand is high due to the relatively hot and dry climate also experience limited surface water supplies and therefore have less surface water with which to meet that high irrigation water demand. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Process analysis of an in store production of knitted clothing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buecher, D.; Kemper, M.; Schmenk, B.; Gloy, Y.-S.; Gries, T.

2017-10-01

In the textile and clothing industry, global value-added networks are widespread for textile and clothing production. As a result of global networking, the value chain is fragmented and a great deal of effort is required to coordinate the production processes [1]. In addition, the planning effort on the quantity and design of the goods is high and risky. Today the fashion industry is facing an increasing customer demand for individual and customizable products in addition to short delivery times [2]. These challenges are passed down to the textile and clothing industry decreasing batch sizes and production times. Conventional clothing production cannot fulfill those demands especially when combined with more and more individual or customizable designs. Hence new production concepts have to be developed.

Child Perfectionism and its Relationship with Personality, Excessive Parental Demands, Depressive Symptoms and Experience of Positive Emotions.

PubMed

Oros, Laura B; Iuorno, Ornella; Serppe, Mónica

2017-02-13

While adaptive perfectionism ensures good overall performance, maladaptive perfectionism is associated with emotional disorders for which psychological treatment is sought. There are many factors that can explain the development of this disorder throughout childhood. The present study analyzed to what extent the child's personality traits and excessive parental demands can predict maladaptive perfectionism, and, in turn, also analyzed how this relates to positive emotions and depressive symptoms in a sample of 404 Argentinian children (M age = 10.30; SD = 1.03). Stepwise multiple regression analyses and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were performed. Results showed that excessive parental demands, together with high child neuroticism increased the likelihood of developing perfectionism (p < .001) throughout childhood. It was also noted that child perfectionism increased the symptoms of depression (p < .001), decreased feelings of gratitude (p = .018), increased the recognition of self-worth (p = .009) and activated certain aspects of sympathy towards others' pain (p = .043). These processes linked to perfectionism are discussed, clarifying their effects on children's mental health.

Simulation analysis of resource flexibility on healthcare processes

PubMed Central

Simwita, Yusta W; Helgheim, Berit I

2016-01-01

Purpose This paper uses discrete event simulation to explore the best resource flexibility scenario and examine the effect of implementing resource flexibility on different stages of patient treatment process. Specifically we investigate the effect of resource flexibility on patient waiting time and throughput in an orthopedic care process. We further seek to explore on how implementation of resource flexibility on patient treatment processes affects patient access to healthcare services. We focus on two resources, namely, orthopedic surgeon and operating room. Methods The observational approach was used to collect process data. The developed model was validated by comparing the simulation output with actual patient data collected from the studied orthopedic care process. We developed different scenarios to identify the best resource flexibility scenario and explore the effect of resource flexibility on patient waiting time, throughput, and future changes in demand. The developed scenarios focused on creating flexibility on service capacity of this care process by altering the amount of additional human resource capacity at different stages of patient care process and extending the use of operating room capacity. Results The study found that resource flexibility can improve responsiveness to patient demand in the treatment process. Testing different scenarios showed that the introduction of resource flexibility reduces patient waiting time and improves throughput. The simulation results show that patient access to health services can be improved by implementing resource flexibility at different stages of the patient treatment process. Conclusion This study contributes to the current health care literature by explaining how implementing resource flexibility at different stages of patient care processes can improve ability to respond to increasing patients demands. This study was limited to a single patient process; studies focusing on additional processes are recommended. PMID:27785046

Simulation analysis of resource flexibility on healthcare processes.

PubMed

Simwita, Yusta W; Helgheim, Berit I

2016-01-01

This paper uses discrete event simulation to explore the best resource flexibility scenario and examine the effect of implementing resource flexibility on different stages of patient treatment process. Specifically we investigate the effect of resource flexibility on patient waiting time and throughput in an orthopedic care process. We further seek to explore on how implementation of resource flexibility on patient treatment processes affects patient access to healthcare services. We focus on two resources, namely, orthopedic surgeon and operating room. The observational approach was used to collect process data. The developed model was validated by comparing the simulation output with actual patient data collected from the studied orthopedic care process. We developed different scenarios to identify the best resource flexibility scenario and explore the effect of resource flexibility on patient waiting time, throughput, and future changes in demand. The developed scenarios focused on creating flexibility on service capacity of this care process by altering the amount of additional human resource capacity at different stages of patient care process and extending the use of operating room capacity. The study found that resource flexibility can improve responsiveness to patient demand in the treatment process. Testing different scenarios showed that the introduction of resource flexibility reduces patient waiting time and improves throughput. The simulation results show that patient access to health services can be improved by implementing resource flexibility at different stages of the patient treatment process. This study contributes to the current health care literature by explaining how implementing resource flexibility at different stages of patient care processes can improve ability to respond to increasing patients demands. This study was limited to a single patient process; studies focusing on additional processes are recommended.

Applying Knowledge Management to an Organization's Transformation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potter, Shannon; Gill, Tracy; Fritsche, Ralph

2008-01-01

Although workers in the information age have more information at their fingertips than ever before, the ability to effectively capture and reuse actual knowledge is still a surmounting challenge for many organizations. As high tech organizations transform from providing complex products and services in an established domain to providing them in new domains, knowledge remains an increasingly valuable commodity. This paper explores the supply and demand elements of the "knowledge market" within the International Space Station and Spacecraft Processing Directorate (ISSSPD) of NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC). It examines how knowledge supply and knowledge demand determine the success of an organization's knowledge management (KM) activities, and how the elements of a KM infrastructure (tools, culture, and training), can be used to create and sustain knowledge supply and demand

Process Developed for Fabricating Engineered Pore Structures for High- Fuel-Utilization Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sofie, Stephen W.; Cable, Thomas L.; Salamone, Sam M.

2005-01-01

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have tremendous commercial potential because of their high efficiency, high energy density, and flexible fuel capability (ability to use fossil fuels). The drive for high-power-utilizing, ultrathin electrolytes (less than 10 microns), has placed an increased demand on the anode to provide structural support, yet allow sufficient fuel entry for sustained power generation. Concentration polarization, a condition where the fuel demand exceeds the supply, is evident in all commercial-based anode-supported cells, and it presents a significant roadblock to SOFC commercialization.

Championship management for healthcare organizations.

PubMed

Griffith, J R

2000-01-01

Stakeholders will put increasing pressure on integrated health systems (IHS) for measured performance, demanding data on quality and patient satisfaction, while simultaneously pressing for lower cost. The changes to Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Joint Commission) and the growing importance of the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) are simply forerunners of an intensifying trend. Quality of care in particular will face increasing scrutiny. Achieving competitive targets in these areas will also require measures addressing demand and worker satisfaction. "Balanced scorecard" approaches will allow IHS and their accountable work groups to track performance on several dimensions and establish integrated goals or targets. Those with consistently good scores will be labeled "champions." Champions will support the multidimensional measures with improved decision processes. About eight major processes will be central--governance/strategic management, clinical quality, clinical organization, financial planning, planning and marketing, information services, human resources, and plant services. It is possible to map these processes to the criteria of the Joint Commission, NCQA, and Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. The processes themselves can be measured and common weaknesses identified and corrected. Champions share some common characteristics that seem to arise from the combination of processes and measures. Among these characteristics are service line orientation, extensive partnering with other organizations, and the possibility of outsourcing organizational components.

A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABILITY: MEASURING OUTCOMES WITH INDICATORS OF ECOSYSTEM HEALTH

EPA Science Inventory

Management of arid rangelands for sustainability has emerged as a high public priority, but the decision-making process is often paralyzed by conflicting stakeholder demands. With increasing frequency, collaborative management efforts are being launched in the form of community-...

Potato production in Thailand

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Potato production has increased dramatically in recent years in Thailand. Consumer demand for fresh and processed potatoes has driven this trend. Most potatoes are produced in northern Thailand in either double cropping highland zones or as a single winter crop following rice in lowland regions. Maj...

INTEGRATION OF BIOMONITORING EXPOSURE DATA INTO THE RISK ASSESSMENT PROCESS

EPA Science Inventory

Improved biomonitoring techniques are being used to measure very low levels of environmental chemicals in the tissues of adults and children. Public and private demand for biomonitoring data are on the increase worldwide. In the United States alone, government-sponsored programs...

5 CFR 850.101 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Employees' Retirement System (FERS) by using contemporary, automated business processes and supporting... employing more efficient and effective business systems to respond to increased customer demand for higher levels of customer service and online self-service tools. (b) The provisions of this part authorize...

Surface transportation : clear federal role and criteria-based selection process could improve three national and regional infrastructure programs.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-02-01

To help meet increasing transportation demands, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) created three programs to invest federal funds in national and regional transportation infrastructur...

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics

PubMed Central

Rowcliffe, M.; Cowlishaw, G.; Alexander, J. S.; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y.; Brenya, A.; Milner-Gulland, E. J.

2016-01-01

The trade in wildlife products can represent an important source of income for poor people, but also threaten wildlife locally, regionally and internationally. Bushmeat provides livelihoods for hunters, traders and sellers, protein to rural and urban consumers, and has depleted the populations of many tropical forest species. Management interventions can be targeted towards the consumers or suppliers of wildlife products. There has been a general assumption in the bushmeat literature that the urban trade is driven by consumer demand with hunters simply fulfilling this demand. Using the urban bushmeat trade in the city of Kumasi, Ghana, as a case study, we use a range of datasets to explore the processes driving the urban bushmeat trade. We characterise the nature of supply and demand by explicitly considering three market attributes: resource condition, hunter behaviour, and consumer behaviour. Our results suggest that bushmeat resources around Kumasi are becoming increasingly depleted and are unable to meet demand, that hunters move in and out of the trade independently of price signals generated by the market, and that, for the Kumasi bushmeat system, consumption levels are driven not by consumer choice but by shortfalls in supply and consequent price responses. Together, these results indicate that supply-side processes dominate the urban bushmeat trade in Kumasi. This suggests that future management interventions should focus on changing hunter behaviour, although complementary interventions targeting consumer demand are also likely to be necessary in the long term. Our approach represents a structured and repeatable method to assessing market dynamics in information-poor systems. The findings serve as a caution against assuming that wildlife markets are demand driven, and highlight the value of characterising market dynamics to inform appropriate management. PMID:27632169

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics.

PubMed

McNamara, J; Rowcliffe, M; Cowlishaw, G; Alexander, J S; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y; Brenya, A; Milner-Gulland, E J

2016-01-01

The trade in wildlife products can represent an important source of income for poor people, but also threaten wildlife locally, regionally and internationally. Bushmeat provides livelihoods for hunters, traders and sellers, protein to rural and urban consumers, and has depleted the populations of many tropical forest species. Management interventions can be targeted towards the consumers or suppliers of wildlife products. There has been a general assumption in the bushmeat literature that the urban trade is driven by consumer demand with hunters simply fulfilling this demand. Using the urban bushmeat trade in the city of Kumasi, Ghana, as a case study, we use a range of datasets to explore the processes driving the urban bushmeat trade. We characterise the nature of supply and demand by explicitly considering three market attributes: resource condition, hunter behaviour, and consumer behaviour. Our results suggest that bushmeat resources around Kumasi are becoming increasingly depleted and are unable to meet demand, that hunters move in and out of the trade independently of price signals generated by the market, and that, for the Kumasi bushmeat system, consumption levels are driven not by consumer choice but by shortfalls in supply and consequent price responses. Together, these results indicate that supply-side processes dominate the urban bushmeat trade in Kumasi. This suggests that future management interventions should focus on changing hunter behaviour, although complementary interventions targeting consumer demand are also likely to be necessary in the long term. Our approach represents a structured and repeatable method to assessing market dynamics in information-poor systems. The findings serve as a caution against assuming that wildlife markets are demand driven, and highlight the value of characterising market dynamics to inform appropriate management.

Increased N250 amplitudes for other-race faces reflect more effortful processing at the individual level.

PubMed

Herzmann, Grit

2016-07-01

The N250 and N250r (r for repetition, signaling a difference measure of priming) has been proposed to reflect the activation of perceptual memory representations for individual faces. Increased N250r and N250 amplitudes have been associated with higher levels of familiarity and expertise, respectively. In contrast to these observations, the N250 amplitude has been found to be larger for other-race than own-race faces in recognition memory tasks. This study investigated if these findings were due to increased identity-specific processing demands for other-race relative to own-race faces and whether or not similar results would be obtained for the N250 in a repetition priming paradigm. Only Caucasian participants were available for testing and completed two tasks with Caucasian, African-American, and Chinese faces. In a repetition priming task, participants decided whether or not sequentially presented faces were of the same identity (individuation task) or same race (categorization task). Increased N250 amplitudes were found for African-American and Chinese faces relative to Caucasian faces, replicating previous results in recognition memory tasks. Contrary to the expectation that increased N250 amplitudes for other-race face would be confined to the individuation task, both tasks showed similar results. This could be due to the fact that face identity information needed to be maintained across the sequential presentation of prime and target in both tasks. Increased N250 amplitudes for other-race faces are taken to represent increased neural demands on the identity-specific processing of other-race faces, which are typically processed less holistically and less on the level of the individual. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting influent biochemical oxygen demand: Balancing energy demand and risk management.

PubMed

Zhu, Jun-Jie; Kang, Lulu; Anderson, Paul R

2018-01-01

Ready access to comprehensive influent information can help water reclamation plant (WRP) operators implement better real-time process controls, provide operational reliability and reduce energy consumption. The five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), a critical parameter for WRP process control, is expensive and difficult to measure using hard-sensors. An alternative approach based on a soft-sensor methodology shows promise, but can be problematic when used to predict high BOD 5 values. Underestimating high BOD 5 concentrations for process control could result in an insufficient amount of aeration, increasing the risk of an effluent violation. To address this issue, we tested a hierarchical hybrid soft-sensor approach involving multiple linear regression, artificial neural networks (ANN), and compromise programming. While this hybrid approach results in a slight decrease in overall prediction accuracy relative to the approach based on ANN only, the underestimation percentage is substantially lower (37% vs. 61%) for predictions of carbonaceous BOD 5 (CBOD 5 ) concentrations higher than the long-term average value. The hybrid approach is also flexible and can be adjusted depending on the relative importance between energy savings and managing the risk of an effluent violation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carotenoids of Microalgae Used in Food Industry and Medicine.

PubMed

Gateau, Hélène; Solymosi, Katalin; Marchand, Justine; Schoefs, Benoît

2017-01-01

Since the industrial revolution, the consumption of processed food increased dramatically. During processing, food material loses many of its natural properties. The simple restoration of the original properties of the processed food as well as fortification require food supplementation with compounds prepared chemically or of natural origin. The observations that natural food additives are safer and better accepted by consumers than synthetic ones have strongly increased the demand for natural compounds. Because some of them have only a low abundance or are even rare, their market price can be very high. This is the case for most carotenoids of natural origin to which this review is dedicated. The increasing demand for food additives of natural origin contributes to an accelerated depletion of traditional natural resources already threatened by intensive agriculture and pollution. To overcome these difficulties and satisfy the demand, alternative sources for natural carotenoids have to be found. In this context, photosynthetic microalgae present a very high potential because they contain carotenoids and are able to produce particular carotenoids under stress. Their potential also resides in the fact that only ten thousands of microalgal strains have been described while hundred thousands of species are predicted to exist. Carotenoids have been known for ages for their antioxidant and coloring properties, and a large body of evidence has been accumulated about their health potential. This review summarizes both the medicinal and food industry applications of microalgae with emphasis on the former. In addition, traditional and alternative microalgal sources used for industrial carotenoid extraction, the chemical and physical properties, the biosynthesis and the localization of carotenoids in algae are also briefly discussed. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Supply-chain management: exceeding the customer's expectations.

PubMed

Ramsay, B

2000-10-01

Driven by increasing competition, manufacturers are desperate to cut costs and are looking for increased efficiency and customer service from their supply chains. E-commerce offers a new model of supply and demand, but many companies do not have the processes in place to support this new model. By implementing the techniques discussed here they can achieve substantial improvements in performance.

EEG Dynamics Reflect the Distinct Cognitive Process of Optic Problem Solving

PubMed Central

She, Hsiao-Ching; Jung, Tzyy-Ping; Chou, Wen-Chi; Huang, Li-Yu; Wang, Chia-Yu; Lin, Guan-Yu

2012-01-01

This study explores the changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity associated with the performance of solving an optics maze problem. College students (N = 37) were instructed to construct three solutions to the optical maze in a Web-based learning environment, which required some knowledge of physics. The subjects put forth their best effort to minimize the number of convexes and mirrors needed to guide the image of an object from the entrance to the exit of the maze. This study examines EEG changes in different frequency bands accompanying varying demands on the cognitive process of providing solutions. Results showed that the mean power of θ, α1, α2, and β1 significantly increased as the number of convexes and mirrors used by the students decreased from solution 1 to 3. Moreover, the mean power of θ and α1 significantly increased when the participants constructed their personal optimal solution (the least total number of mirrors and lens used by students) compared to their non-personal optimal solution. In conclusion, the spectral power of frontal, frontal midline and posterior theta, posterior alpha, and temporal beta increased predominantly as the task demands and task performance increased. PMID:22815800

Effects of soluble and particulate substrate on the carbon and energy footprint of wastewater treatment processes.

PubMed

Gori, Riccardo; Jiang, Lu-Man; Sobhani, Reza; Rosso, Diego

2011-11-15

Most wastewater treatment plants monitor routinely carbonaceous and nitrogenous load parameters in influent and effluent streams, and often in the intermediate steps. COD fractionation discriminates the selective removal of VSS components in different operations, allowing accurate quantification of the energy requirements and mass flows for secondary treatment, sludge digestion, and sedimentation. We analysed the different effects of COD fractions on carbon and energy footprint in a wastewater treatment plant with activated sludge in nutrient removal mode and anaerobic digestion of the sludge with biogas energy recovery. After presenting a simple rational procedure for COD and solids fractions quantification, we use our carbon and energy footprint models to quantify the effects of varying fractions on carbon equivalent flows, process energy demand and recovery. A full-scale real process was modelled with this procedure and the results are reported in terms of energy and carbon footprint. For a given process, the increase of the ratio sCOD/COD increases the energy demand on the aeration reactors, the associated CO(2) direct emission from respiration, and the indirect emission for power generation. Even though it appears as if enhanced primary sedimentation is a carbon and energy footprint mitigation practice, care must be used since the nutrient removal process downstream may suffer from an excessive bCOD removal and an increased mean cell retention time for nutrient removal may be required. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Speech-Processing Fatigue in Children: Auditory Event-Related Potential and Behavioral Measures

PubMed Central

Gustafson, Samantha J.; Rentmeester, Lindsey; Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.; Bess, Fred H.

2017-01-01

Purpose Fatigue related to speech processing is an understudied area that may have significant negative effects, especially in children who spend the majority of their school days listening to classroom instruction. Method This study examined the feasibility of using auditory P300 responses and behavioral indices (lapses of attention and self-report) to measure fatigue resulting from sustained listening demands in 27 children (M = 9.28 years). Results Consistent with predictions, increased lapses of attention, longer reaction times, reduced P300 amplitudes to infrequent target stimuli, and self-report of greater fatigue were observed after the completion of a series of demanding listening tasks compared with the baseline values. The event-related potential responses correlated with the behavioral measures of performance. Conclusion These findings suggest that neural and behavioral responses indexing attention and processing resources show promise as effective markers of fatigue in children. PMID:28595261

Response demands and the recruitment of heuristic strategies in syllogistic reasoning.

PubMed

Reverberi, Carlo; Rusconi, Patrice; Paulesu, Eraldo; Cherubini, Paolo

2009-03-01

Two experiments investigated whether dealing with a homogeneous subset of syllogisms with time-constrained responses encouraged participants to develop and use heuristics for abstract (Experiment 1) and thematic (Experiment 2) syllogisms. An atmosphere-based heuristic accounted for most responses with both abstract and thematic syllogisms. With thematic syllogisms, a weaker effect of a belief heuristic was also observed, mainly where the correct response was inconsistent with the atmosphere of the premises. Analytic processes appear to have played little role in the time-constrained condition, whereas their involvement increased in a self-paced, unconstrained condition. From a dual-process perspective, the results further specify how task demands affect the recruitment of heuristic and analytic systems of reasoning. Because the syllogisms and experimental procedure were the same as those used in a previous neuroimaging study by Goel, Buchel, Frith, and Dolan (2000), the result also deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes investigated by that study.

VAMPnets for deep learning of molecular kinetics.

PubMed

Mardt, Andreas; Pasquali, Luca; Wu, Hao; Noé, Frank

2018-01-02

There is an increasing demand for computing the relevant structures, equilibria, and long-timescale kinetics of biomolecular processes, such as protein-drug binding, from high-throughput molecular dynamics simulations. Current methods employ transformation of simulated coordinates into structural features, dimension reduction, clustering the dimension-reduced data, and estimation of a Markov state model or related model of the interconversion rates between molecular structures. This handcrafted approach demands a substantial amount of modeling expertise, as poor decisions at any step will lead to large modeling errors. Here we employ the variational approach for Markov processes (VAMP) to develop a deep learning framework for molecular kinetics using neural networks, dubbed VAMPnets. A VAMPnet encodes the entire mapping from molecular coordinates to Markov states, thus combining the whole data processing pipeline in a single end-to-end framework. Our method performs equally or better than state-of-the-art Markov modeling methods and provides easily interpretable few-state kinetic models.

Removal of malachite green from aqueous solutions by electrocoagulation/peanut shell adsorption coupling in a batch system.

PubMed

Wang, Xiansheng; Ni, Jiaheng; Pang, Shuo; Li, Ying

2017-04-01

A electrocoagulation (EC)/peanut shell (PS) adsorption coupling technique was studied for the removal of malachite green (MG) in our present work. The addition of an appropriate PS dosage (5 g/L) resulted in remarkable increase in the removal efficiency of MG at lower current density and shorter operating time compared with the conventional EC process. The effect of current density, pH of MG solution, dosage of PS and initial concentration of MG were also investigated. The maximum removal efficiency of MG was 98% under optimum conditions in 5 min. And it was 23% higher than that in EC process. Furthermore, the unit energy demand (UED) and the unit electrode material demand (UEMD) were calculated and discussed. The results demonstrated that the EC/PS adsorption coupling method achieved a reduction of 94% UED and UEMD compared with EC process.

Space Situational Awareness Data Processing Scalability Utilizing Google Cloud Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenly, D.; Duncan, M.; Wysack, J.; Flores, F.

Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is a fundamental and critical component of current space operations. The term SSA encompasses the awareness, understanding and predictability of all objects in space. As the population of orbital space objects and debris increases, the number of collision avoidance maneuvers grows and prompts the need for accurate and timely process measures. The SSA mission continually evolves to near real-time assessment and analysis demanding the need for higher processing capabilities. By conventional methods, meeting these demands requires the integration of new hardware to keep pace with the growing complexity of maneuver planning algorithms. SpaceNav has implemented a highly scalable architecture that will track satellites and debris by utilizing powerful virtual machines on the Google Cloud Platform. SpaceNav algorithms for processing CDMs outpace conventional means. A robust processing environment for tracking data, collision avoidance maneuvers and various other aspects of SSA can be created and deleted on demand. Migrating SpaceNav tools and algorithms into the Google Cloud Platform will be discussed and the trials and tribulations involved. Information will be shared on how and why certain cloud products were used as well as integration techniques that were implemented. Key items to be presented are: 1.Scientific algorithms and SpaceNav tools integrated into a scalable architecture a) Maneuver Planning b) Parallel Processing c) Monte Carlo Simulations d) Optimization Algorithms e) SW Application Development/Integration into the Google Cloud Platform 2. Compute Engine Processing a) Application Engine Automated Processing b) Performance testing and Performance Scalability c) Cloud MySQL databases and Database Scalability d) Cloud Data Storage e) Redundancy and Availability

The selective processing of emotional visual stimuli while detecting auditory targets: an ERP analysis.

PubMed

Schupp, Harald T; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O

2008-09-16

Event-related potential studies revealed an early posterior negativity (EPN) for emotional compared to neutral pictures. Exploring the emotion-attention relationship, a previous study observed that a primary visual discrimination task interfered with the emotional modulation of the EPN component. To specify the locus of interference, the present study assessed the fate of selective visual emotion processing while attention is directed towards the auditory modality. While simply viewing a rapid and continuous stream of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in one experimental condition, processing demands of a concurrent auditory target discrimination task were systematically varied in three further experimental conditions. Participants successfully performed the auditory task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components. Replicating previous results, emotional pictures were associated with a larger posterior negativity compared to neutral pictures. Of main interest, increasing demands of the auditory task did not modulate the selective processing of emotional visual stimuli. With regard to the locus of interference, selective emotion processing as indexed by the EPN does not seem to reflect shared processing resources of visual and auditory modality.

From Kitchen Peelings to Spill the Beans: Empowering NESB Workers at P&O Prepared Foods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Paula

1996-01-01

A workplace education program was devised for volunteer employees from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) at a food processing plant in Brisbane, Australia. Changing work conditions resulted in increased demands upon employees' language and literacy skills. (Author/JOW)

The science of integrated crop-livestock systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agriculture in the USA and other industrialized countries of the world has become increasingly specialized in response to political, regulatory, and economic pressures to meet market demands of an ever-larger food and fiber processing sector. However, there is a growing concern with specialized agr...

Institutionalisation of Gender and Diversity Management in Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leicht-Scholten, Carmen; Weheliye, Asli-Juliya; Wolffram, Andrea

2009-01-01

Due to demographic changes, globalisation and increased migration processes, institutions of higher education are, in particular, assigned new responsibilities. The fight for the most qualified people demands new strategies and concepts. Technical universities that are traditionally male dominated and where women and minorities are…

Job Stress Reactivity and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Symptoms

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-05-01

analogous to waste thermal warmth in a power plant ), they propose that increased processing demands (either physical or mental) placed upon a task...32 on the next page) MEDICAL Yes No Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., Ibuprofen, Naproxen , Naprosyn) Oral steroids Local steroid

Building a culture for innovation: a leadership challenge.

PubMed

Maher, Lynne

2014-01-01

It is recognized that health services are facing increasing cost pressures amid a climate of increasing demand and increasing expectations from patients and families. The ability to innovate is important for the future success of all health care organizations. By malting some simple but profound changes in behaviours and processes as illustrated across seven dimensions, leaders can have great impact on the culture for innovation. This in turn can support the transformation of health services through increased innovation.

Elevation of adenylate energy charge by angiopoietin-like 4 enhances epithelial-mesenchymal transition by inducing 14-3-3γ expression.

PubMed

Teo, Z; Sng, M K; Chan, J S K; Lim, M M K; Li, Y; Li, L; Phua, T; Lee, J Y H; Tan, Z W; Zhu, P; Tan, N S

2017-11-16

Metastatic cancer cells acquire energy-intensive processes including increased invasiveness and chemoresistance. However, how the energy demand is met and the molecular drivers that coordinate an increase in cellular metabolic activity to drive epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the first step of metastasis, remain unclear. Using different in vitro and in vivo EMT models with clinical patient's samples, we showed that EMT is an energy-demanding process fueled by glucose metabolism-derived adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We identified angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) as a key player that coordinates an increase in cellular energy flux crucial for EMT via an ANGPTL4/14-3-3γ signaling axis. This augmented cellular metabolic activity enhanced metastasis. ANGPTL4 knockdown suppresses an adenylate energy charge elevation, delaying EMT. Using an in vivo dual-inducible EMT model, we found that ANGPTL4 deficiency reduces cancer metastasis to the lung and liver. Unbiased kinase inhibitor screens and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed that ANGPTL4 regulates the expression of 14-3-3γ adaptor protein via the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/AKT and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways that culminate to activation of transcription factors, CREB, cFOS and STAT3. Using a different mode of action, as compared with protein kinases, the ANGPTL4/14-3-3γ signaling axis consolidated cellular bioenergetics and stabilized critical EMT proteins to coordinate energy demand and enhanced EMT competency and metastasis, through interaction with specific phosphorylation signals on target proteins.

Optimal Multi-scale Demand-side Management for Continuous Power-Intensive Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitra, Sumit

With the advent of deregulation in electricity markets and an increasing share of intermittent power generation sources, the profitability of industrial consumers that operate power-intensive processes has become directly linked to the variability in energy prices. Thus, for industrial consumers that are able to adjust to the fluctuations, time-sensitive electricity prices (as part of so-called Demand-Side Management (DSM) in the smart grid) offer potential economical incentives. In this thesis, we introduce optimization models and decomposition strategies for the multi-scale Demand-Side Management of continuous power-intensive processes. On an operational level, we derive a mode formulation for scheduling under time-sensitive electricity prices. The formulation is applied to air separation plants and cement plants to minimize the operating cost. We also describe how a mode formulation can be used for industrial combined heat and power plants that are co-located at integrated chemical sites to increase operating profit by adjusting their steam and electricity production according to their inherent flexibility. Furthermore, a robust optimization formulation is developed to address the uncertainty in electricity prices by accounting for correlations and multiple ranges in the realization of the random variables. On a strategic level, we introduce a multi-scale model that provides an understanding of the value of flexibility of the current plant configuration and the value of additional flexibility in terms of retrofits for Demand-Side Management under product demand uncertainty. The integration of multiple time scales leads to large-scale two-stage stochastic programming problems, for which we need to apply decomposition strategies in order to obtain a good solution within a reasonable amount of time. Hence, we describe two decomposition schemes that can be applied to solve two-stage stochastic programming problems: First, a hybrid bi-level decomposition scheme with novel Lagrangean-type and subset-type cuts to strengthen the relaxation. Second, an enhanced cross-decomposition scheme that integrates Benders decomposition and Lagrangean decomposition on a scenario basis. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our developed methodology, we provide several industrial case studies throughout the thesis.

Impact of Exercise on Clinical Symptom Report and Neurocognition after Concussion in Children and Adolescents.

PubMed

Manikas, Vicky; Babl, Franz E; Hearps, Stephen; Dooley, Julian; Anderson, Vicki

2017-06-01

Recovery from concussion in childhood is poorly understood, despite its importance in decisions regarding return to normal activity. Resolution of post-concussive symptoms (PCS) is widely employed as a marker of recovery in clinical practice; however, it is unclear whether subtle impairments persist only to re-emerge in the context of increased physical or cognitive demands. This study aimed to examine the effect of strenuous exercise on clinical symptom report and neurocognition in children and adolescents after PCS resolution after concussion. We recruited children and adolescents with concussion (n = 30) on presentation to an Emergency Department (ED). At Day 2 and Day 10 post-self-reported symptom resolution, participants completed a strenuous exercise protocol, and pre- and post-exercise assessment of PCS and neurocognition. Results demonstrated an overall reduction in PCS from Day 2 to Day 10 post-symptom resolution, with no evidence of symptom increase after strenuous exercise at either time point. Neurocognitive performance was linked to task complexity: on less cognitively demanding tasks, processing speed was slower post-exercise and, unexpectedly, slower on Day 10 than Day 2, while for more demanding tasks (new learning), Day 2 exercise resulted in faster responses, but Day 10 processing speed post-exercise was slower. In summary, we found the expected recovery pattern for PCS, regardless of exercise, while for neurocognition, recovery was dependent on the degree of cognitive demand, and there was an unexpected reduction in performance from Day 2 to Day 10. Findings provide some suggestion that premature return to normal activities (e.g., school) may slow neurocognitive recovery.

Opportunities for Automated Demand Response in California’s Dairy Processing Industry

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

Homan, Gregory K.; Aghajanzadeh, Arian; McKane, Aimee

During periods of peak electrical demand on the energy grid or when there is a shortage of supply, the stability of the grid may be compromised or the cost of supplying electricity may rise dramatically, respectively. Demand response programs are designed to mitigate the severity of these problems and improve reliability by reducing the demand on the grid during such critical times. In 2010, the Demand Response Research Center convened a group of industry experts to suggest potential industries that would be good demand response program candidates for further review. The dairy industry was suggested due to the perception thatmore » the industry had suitable flexibility and automatic controls in place. The purpose of this report is to provide an initial description of the industry with regard to demand response potential, specifically automated demand response. This report qualitatively describes the potential for participation in demand response and automated demand response by dairy processing facilities in California, as well as barriers to widespread participation. The report first describes the magnitude, timing, location, purpose, and manner of energy use. Typical process equipment and controls are discussed, as well as common impediments to participation in demand response and automated demand response programs. Two case studies of demand response at dairy facilities in California and across the country are reviewed. Finally, recommendations are made for future research that can enhance the understanding of demand response potential in this industry.« less

Advances in ingredient and processing systems for meat and meat products.

PubMed

Weiss, Jochen; Gibis, Monika; Schuh, Valerie; Salminen, Hanna

2010-09-01

Changes in consumer demand of meat products as well as increased global competition are causing an unprecedented spur in processing and ingredient system developments within the meat manufacturing sector. Consumers demand healthier meat products that are low in salt, fat, cholesterol, nitrites and calories in general and contain in addition health-promoting bioactive components such as for example carotenoids, unsaturated fatty acids, sterols, and fibers. On the other hand, consumers expect these novel meat products with altered formulations to taste, look and smell the same way as their traditionally formulated and processed counterparts. At the same time, competition is forcing the meat processing industry to use the increasingly expensive raw material "meat" more efficiently and produce products at lower costs. With these changes in mind, this article presents a review of novel ingredient systems and processing approaches that are emerging to create high quality, affordable meat products not only in batch mode but also in large-scale continuous processes. Fat replacers, fat profile modification and cholesterol reduction techniques, new texture modifiers and alternative antioxidant and antimicrobial systems are being discussed. Modern processing equipment to establish continuously operating product manufacturing lines and that allow new meat product structures to be created and novel ingredients to be effectively utilized including vacuum fillers, grinders and fine dispersers, and slicers is reviewed in the context of structure creation in meat products. Finally, trends in future developments of ingredient and processing systems for meat products are highlighted.

The development of sentence interpretation: effects of perceptual, attentional and semantic interference.

PubMed

Leech, Robert; Aydelott, Jennifer; Symons, Germaine; Carnevale, Julia; Dick, Frederic

2007-11-01

How does the development and consolidation of perceptual, attentional, and higher cognitive abilities interact with language acquisition and processing? We explored children's (ages 5-17) and adults' (ages 18-51) comprehension of morphosyntactically varied sentences under several competing speech conditions that varied in the degree of attentional demands, auditory masking, and semantic interference. We also evaluated the relationship between subjects' syntactic comprehension and their word reading efficiency and general 'speed of processing'. We found that the interactions between perceptual and attentional processes and complex sentence interpretation changed considerably over the course of development. Perceptual masking of the speech signal had an early and lasting impact on comprehension, particularly for more complex sentence structures. In contrast, increased attentional demand in the absence of energetic auditory masking primarily affected younger children's comprehension of difficult sentence types. Finally, the predictability of syntactic comprehension abilities by external measures of development and expertise is contingent upon the perceptual, attentional, and semantic milieu in which language processing takes place.

Emotional versus cognitive rumination: are they differentially affecting long-term psychological health? The impact of stressors and personality in dental students.

PubMed

Hamesch, Ulla; Cropley, Mark; Lang, Jessica

2014-08-01

In the process of recovery from work, rumination is considered as an important mediating variable in the relationship between work demands and psychological health outcomes. Past research differentiated affective rumination from problem-solving pondering. The aim of the present study was to test a moderated mediation model for these two distinct ruminative states and to show how personality (i.e. neuroticism and conscientiousness) can alter the mediating effect. The present study is based on 119 surveys from dental students with a time lag of 6 months. Participants filled out questionnaires assessing specific study-relevant performance demands, rumination and personality and a screening measure for psychological health status. Neuroticism was found to moderate the demand-affective rumination association, but conscientiousness did not moderate the demand-problem-solving pondering association. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that affective rumination mediates the impact of demands on psychological health only for individuals low in neuroticism. Findings are discussed regarding potential interventions for dental students to prevent negative psychological health outcomes due to increased work-related demands in the long term. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Demand forecasting for automotive sector in Malaysia by system dynamics approach

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

Zulkepli, Jafri, E-mail: zhjafri@uum.edu.my; Abidin, Norhaslinda Zainal, E-mail: nhaslinda@uum.edu.my; Fong, Chan Hwa, E-mail: hfchan7623@yahoo.com

In general, Proton as an automotive company needs to forecast future demand of the car to assist in decision making related to capacity expansion planning. One of the forecasting approaches that based on judgemental or subjective factors is normally used to forecast the demand. As a result, demand could be overstock that eventually will increase the operation cost; or the company will face understock, which resulted losing their customers. Due to automotive industry is very challenging process because of high level of complexity and uncertainty involved in the system, an accurate tool to forecast the future of automotive demand frommore » the modelling perspective is required. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to forecast the demand of automotive Proton car industry in Malaysia using system dynamics approach. Two types of intervention namely optimistic and pessimistic experiments scenarios have been tested to determine the capacity expansion that can prevent the company from overstocking. Finding from this study highlighted that the management needs to expand their production for optimistic scenario, whilst pessimistic give results that would otherwise. Finally, this study could help Proton Edar Sdn. Bhd (PESB) to manage the long-term capacity planning in order to meet the future demand of the Proton cars.« less

Opportunities for Energy Efficiency and Open Automated Demand Response in Wastewater Treatment Facilities in California -- Phase I Report

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

Lekov, Alex; Thompson, Lisa; McKane, Aimee

This report summarizes the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory?s research to date in characterizing energy efficiency and automated demand response opportunities for wastewater treatment facilities in California. The report describes the characteristics of wastewater treatment facilities, the nature of the wastewater stream, energy use and demand, as well as details of the wastewater treatment process. It also discusses control systems and energy efficiency and automated demand response opportunities. In addition, several energy efficiency and load management case studies are provided for wastewater treatment facilities.This study shows that wastewater treatment facilities can be excellent candidates for open automated demand response and thatmore » facilities which have implemented energy efficiency measures and have centralized control systems are well-suited to shift or shed electrical loads in response to financial incentives, utility bill savings, and/or opportunities to enhance reliability of service. Control technologies installed for energy efficiency and load management purposes can often be adapted for automated demand response at little additional cost. These improved controls may prepare facilities to be more receptive to open automated demand response due to both increased confidence in the opportunities for controlling energy cost/use and access to the real-time data.« less

Process yield improvements with process control terminal for varian serial ion implanters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higashi, Harry; Soni, Ameeta; Martinez, Larry; Week, Ken

Implant processes in a modern wafer production fab are extremely complex. There can be several types of misprocessing, i.e. wrong dose or species, double implants and missed implants. Process Control Terminals (PCT) for Varian 350Ds installed at Intel fabs were found to substantially reduce the number of misprocessing steps. This paper describes those misprocessing steps and their subsequent reduction with use of PCTs. Reliable and simple process control with serial process ion implanters has been in increasing demand. A well designed process control terminal greatly increases device yield by monitoring all pertinent implanter functions and enabling process engineering personnel to set up process recipes for simple and accurate system operation. By programming user-selectable interlocks, implant errors are reduced and those that occur are logged for further analysis and prevention. A process control terminal should also be compatible with office personal computers for greater flexibility in system use and data analysis. The impact from the capability of a process control terminal is increased productivity, ergo higher device yield.

The study of interrelationship between raw water quality parameters, chlorine demand and the formation of disinfection by-products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Md. Pauzi; Yee, Lim Fang; Ata, Sadia; Abdullah, Abass; Ishak, Basar; Abidin, Khairul Nidzham Zainal

Disinfection is the most crucial process in the treatment of drinking water supply and is the final barrier against bacteriological impurities in drinking water. Chlorine is the primary disinfectant used in the drinking water treatment process throughout Malaysia. However, the occurrence of various disinfection by-products such as trihalomethanes (THM) and haloacetic acids created a major issue on the potential health hazards which may pose adverse health effects in both human and animals. To simulate real water treatment conditions and to represent the conditions inherent in a tropical country, this study was performed at an urbanized water treatment plant with a daily production of about 549,000 m 3 of treated water. The purpose of this work is to examine the relationship between the water quality parameters in the raw water with chlorine demand and the formation of disinfection by-products. This study also investigated the possibility of the statistical model applications for the prediction of chlorine demand and the THM formation. Two models were developed to estimate the chlorine demand and the THM formation. For the statistical evaluation, correlation and simple linear regression analysis were conducted using SPSS. The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for the estimation of goodness-of-fit of the dependent variables of the models to the normal distribution showed that all the dependent variables followed the normal distribution at significance level of 0.05. Good linear correlations were observed between the independent parameters and formation of THM and the chlorine demand. This study also revealed that ammonia and the specific ultraviolet absorbent (SUVA) were the function of chlorine consumption in the treatment process. Chlorine dosage and SUVA increase the yield of THM. Chlorine demand and THM formation was moderately sensitive, but significant to the pH. The level of significance ( α) for the statistical tests and the inclusion of a variable in the model was 0.05. A better understanding of these relationships will help the water utilities or plant operators to minimize the THM formation, providing a healthier and better drinking water quality as well as optimizing the chlorine dosage in the disinfection process.

Projections of Demand for Waterborne Transportation, Ohio River Basin, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2020, 2040. Volume 14. Group XII. Rubber, Plastic, Nonmetallic Mineral Products, Nec.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

thousand tons by the year 2040. Much of this increased consumption will be lime used in flue gas desulfurization . A. Market Areas In addition to local...increased consumption will result from lime consumed in lime and limestone flue gas desulfur - ization (FGD) installation processes. During the period 2000...is the use of lime and limestone in flue gas desulfu- rization processes. Lime scrubbers for power plants and other industrial plants have also

Tomographical process monitoring of laser transmission welding with OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackermann, Philippe; Schmitt, Robert

2017-06-01

Process control of laser processes still encounters many obstacles. Although these processes are stable, a narrow process parameter window during the process or process deviations have led to an increase on the requirements for the process itself and on monitoring devices. Laser transmission welding as a contactless and locally limited joining technique is well-established in a variety of demanding production areas. For example, sensitive parts demand a particle-free joining technique which does not affect the inner components. Inline integrated non-destructive optical measurement systems capable of providing non-invasive tomographical images of the transparent material, the weld seam and its surrounding areas with micron resolution would improve the overall process. Obtained measurement data enable qualitative feedback into the system to adapt parameters for a more robust process. Within this paper we present the inline monitoring device based on Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography developed within the European-funded research project "Manunet Weldable". This device, after adaptation to the laser transmission welding process is optically and mechanically integrated into the existing laser system. The main target lies within the inline process control destined to extract tomographical geometrical measurement data from the weld seam forming process. Usage of this technology makes offline destructive testing of produced parts obsolete. 1,2,3,4

How do working-memory-related demand, reasoning ability and aversive reinforcement modulate conflict monitoring?

PubMed Central

Leue, Anja; Weber, Bernd; Beauducel, André

2014-01-01

Conflict monitoring is a process of stimulus evaluation and a pre-requisite for subsequent recruitment of cognitive control and behavioral adaptations. This study investigated how experimentally manipulated working-memory-related cognitive demand and aversive reinforcement modulate individual differences of conflict monitoring intensity and behavioral adjustments. Individual differences were assessed by means of an anxiety-related trait dimension (trait-BIS) and by means of reasoning abilities—a core determinant of intelligence. Moreover, we investigated the special role of verbal reasoning ability and figural reasoning ability for the modulation of the conflict monitoring intensity. Ninety participants performed a go/nogo task with four conditions each comprising a combination of low vs. high working-memory-related cognitive demand and low vs. high aversive reinforcement. No effect of aversive reinforcement was observed for the N2 amplitude. The fronto-central nogo N2 amplitude was more pronounced for high demand vs. low demand suggesting that cognitive demand served as an aversive costly event. Higher total reasoning abilities were associated with more intense conflict monitoring and shorter response times with increasing aversive reinforcement (defined as verbal error-feedback vs. monetary loss). Individuals with higher trait-BIS scores demonstrated a more intense conflict monitoring even in conditions with low aversive reinforcement and also a more cautious responding (i.e., response times slowing) with increasing aversive reinforcement indicating a focus on negative feedback prevention. The findings provide evidence for the conflict monitoring theory and suggest that working-memory-related demand overrules the impact of aversive reinforcement on conflict monitoring intensity. Reasoning abilities and anxiety-related traits go along with an intensification of conflict monitoring but differences in the flexibility of behavioral adjustment. PMID:24782739

The effect of increased consumer demand on fees for aesthetic surgery: an economic analysis.

PubMed

Krieger, L M; Shaw, W W

1999-12-01

Economic theory dictates that changes in consumer demand have predictable effects on prices. Demographics represents an important component of demand for aesthetic surgery. Between the years of 1997 and 2010, the U.S. population is projected to increase by 12 percent. The population increase will be skewed such that those groups undergoing the most aesthetic surgery will see the largest increase. Accounting for the age-specific frequencies of aesthetic surgery and the population increase yields an estimate that the overall market for aesthetic surgery will increase by 19 percent. Barring unforeseen changes in general economic conditions or consumer tastes, demand should increase by an analogous amount. An economic demonstration shows the effects of increasing demand for aesthetic surgery on its fees. Between the years of 1992 and 1997, there was an increase in demand for breast augmentation as fears of associated autoimmune disorders subsided. Similarly, there was increased male acceptance of aesthetic surgery. The number of breast augmentations and procedures to treat male pattern baldness, plastic surgeons, and fees for the procedures were tracked. During the study period, the supply of surgeons and consumer demand increased for both of these procedures. Volume of breast augmentation increased by 275 percent, whereas real fees remained stable. Volume of treatment for male pattern baldness increased by 107 percent, and the fees increased by 29 percent. Ordinarily, an increase in supply leads to a decrease in prices. This did not occur during the study period. Economic analysis demonstrates that the increased supply of surgeons performing breast augmentation was offset by increased consumer demand for the procedure. For this reason, fees were not lowered. Similarly, increased demand for treatment of male pattern baldness more than offset the increased supply of surgeons performing it. The result was higher fees. Emphasis should be placed on using these economic relationships to expand the demand for aesthetic surgery.

Assessing economic and demographic factors that influence United States dairy demand.

PubMed

Davis, C G; Yen, S T; Dong, D; Blayney, D P

2011-07-01

Low-fat dairy products are key components of a healthy diet for all Americans. As the USDA increases its focus on nutrition and healthy eating, it is important to understand the underlying demands for dairy products, both the healthy and the less healthy ones. The consumption of fluid milk products has decreased over the last decade, whereas milk used for manufactured dairy products such as cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and butter, and for use as an ingredient in other food products, has risen. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of changes in demographic variables, retail prices, and total dairy expenditure on at-home consumption of dairy products, using purchase data from Nielsen 2007 Homescan (ACNielsen, New York, NY) data. To derive the demand elasticities for 16 products, a censored Almost Ideal Demand System model is used. Results reveal that demographic variables do have effects on the purchase of the 16 products, and own-price elasticities are 1 or greater for all 16 products for both uncompensated and compensated elasticities except 4: ice cream, refrigerated yogurt, processed cheese, and margarine. A substitution relationship exists among all fluid milk categories, natural and processed cheese, low-fat ice cream, and refrigerated yogurt, butter, and margarine. Copyright © 2011 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Magnetic tape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, Harriss

1992-01-01

The move to visualization and image processing in data systems is increasing the demand for larger and faster mass storage systems. The technology of choice is magnetic tape. This paper briefly reviews the technology past, present, and projected. A case is made for standards and the value of the standards to users.

Introduction to “Symposium: Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems for Profit and Sustainability”

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agriculture in the USA and other industrialized countries has become increasingly specialized in response to political, regulatory, and economic pressures to meet market demands of an ever-larger food and fiber-processing sector. However, there is a growing concern with specialized agricultural syst...

Evaluating Recreation Programmes with Disabled Participants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crilley, Gary; Hogg, Josie

International sources suggest that Australian human service agencies must implement meaningful processes to meet increasing demands for accountability in service delivery. The development of adequate services for the disabled in Australia is influenced by the principles of normalization--the use of culturally valued means in order to enable,…

Efficacy of Peracetic acid and Zinc in reducing Campylobacter jejuni on chicken skin

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of bacterial foodborne disease in humans worldwide, largely associated with the consumption of contaminated poultry products. With increasing consumer demand for natural and minimally processed foods, the use of Generally Recognized as Safe status antimicrobia...

And the Winner Is … : Inter-Rater Reliability among Scholarship Assessors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Lucy; Schluter, Philip J.

2017-01-01

With increasing competition for postgraduate research scholarships, awarding processes demand attention and scrutiny. We examine inter-rater reliability for two prestigious New Zealand scholarships, the Shirtcliffe Fellowship and the Gordon Watson Scholarship. For each scholarship, five assessors (three academic; two non-academic) independently…

Job Stress Reactivity and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Symptoms

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-09-07

34 (which is analogous to "waste thermal warmth in a power plant "), they propose that increased processing demands (either physical or mental) placed...El El Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., Ibuprofen, Naproxen , Naprosyn) El El Oral steroids El El Local steroid injections El El

Systemic Change in Vocational Training Institutions in France.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moallem, Abbas; Moallem, Mahnaz

1998-01-01

The Specialized Vocational Training Institutions known as Institut Medico-Professionel (IMPro) in France are faced with increasing demands to provide quality services to adolescents with intellectual disabilities. This article describes the process of organizational changes in IMPro including the model, methods, tools, and techniques used in…

From Crisis to Success: Three Case Studies in Organizational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitki, Yoram; Herstein, Ram

2011-01-01

Purpose: Radical changes and increasing competition in the global economy and markets lead enterprises to change their business policy and activities. This process demands the creation of effective organizational learning mechanisms. This paper seeks to illustrate how three service organizations designed and utilized organizational learning…

IMPROVING PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF TIO2 THROUGH THIN FILM COATING AND METAL DOPING VIA FLAME AEROSOL COATING METHOD

EPA Science Inventory

There has been an increasing demand for efficient, economical and environmentally friendly methods for partial oxidation of hydrocarbons by molecular oxygen, to desirable industrial feedstock oxygenates. Current processes are energy intensive, have low conversion efficiencies and...

Outcome Based Budgeting: Connecting Budget Development, Allocation and Outcomes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderes, Thomas

This plan for outcome-based budgeting (OBB) is the result of growing demands for increased fiscal accountability, measurable outcomes, strengthened assessment processes, and more meaningful performance indicators as mandated by many State and Federal legislators. OBB focuses on linking funding with outputs and outcomes. Higher education…

The feedback control cycle as regulator of past and future mineral supply

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wellmer, Friedrich-W.; Dalheimer, Manfred

2012-10-01

Mineral supply is controlled by a feedback mechanism. When there is a shortage of a commodity in a market economy, prices will rise, triggering this mechanism. The expectation of high financial returns will encourage inventiveness and creativity in the quest for new solutions. On the supply side, for primary resources, the appropriate response is to cut losses in the mining process, to lower the cut-off grade, to improve recoveries in the beneficiation and smelting processes, to expand existing production facilities, and to discover and bring into production new deposits. For secondary resources, the key to increasing the supply lies in improving recycling rates by better technology, reprocessing lower-grade scrap which becomes economic because of increased prices, and reducing downgrading to optimize the usefulness of secondary materials. On the demand side, implementation of new and more efficient processes, development of substitution technologies, material savings, and the invention of entirely new technologies that fulfill the same function without the need of using the scarce and suddenly more expensive material are effective reactions to a price rise. The effectiveness of this self-regulating mechanism can be shown by examples of historical price peaks of metals, such as Mo, Co, and Ta, and the current rare earth elements peak. Concerning supply from secondary resources, a model is developed in order to determine how far the supply from this resource domain can be achieved and how the recycling rate is influenced by growth rate and lifetime. The feedback control cycle of mineral supply is influenced on the demand side by ever shorter life cycles, by products getting more complex with ever more elements involved in their production, and by an increase in element dispersion. All these factors have an immediate effect on the feasibility of sourcing raw materials from the technosphere. The supply side of primary materials is influenced by increasing lead times for new production and by relatively low flexibility in responding to changing demand.

Improving surgeon utilization in an orthopedic department using simulation modeling

PubMed Central

Simwita, Yusta W; Helgheim, Berit I

2016-01-01

Purpose Worldwide more than two billion people lack appropriate access to surgical services due to mismatch between existing human resource and patient demands. Improving utilization of existing workforce capacity can reduce the existing gap between surgical demand and available workforce capacity. In this paper, the authors use discrete event simulation to explore the care process at an orthopedic department. Our main focus is improving utilization of surgeons while minimizing patient wait time. Methods The authors collaborated with orthopedic department personnel to map the current operations of orthopedic care process in order to identify factors that influence poor surgeons utilization and high patient waiting time. The authors used an observational approach to collect data. The developed model was validated by comparing the simulation output with the actual patient data that were collected from the studied orthopedic care process. The authors developed a proposal scenario to show how to improve surgeon utilization. Results The simulation results showed that if ancillary services could be performed before the start of clinic examination services, the orthopedic care process could be highly improved. That is, improved surgeon utilization and reduced patient waiting time. Simulation results demonstrate that with improved surgeon utilizations, up to 55% increase of future demand can be accommodated without patients reaching current waiting time at this clinic, thus, improving patient access to health care services. Conclusion This study shows how simulation modeling can be used to improve health care processes. This study was limited to a single care process; however the findings can be applied to improve other orthopedic care process with similar operational characteristics. PMID:29355193

Feasibility of Department of Defense Used Lubricating Oil Re-refining.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

greater product selectivity (increasing cost effec- tiveness by tailoring the process to meet market demand ). In addition most processes have high yields...However, several issues were surfaced. The question of who in DLA is responsible for the administra- tion of a re-refining program must be resolved...Both the Property Disposal and Supply groups have a role. The Disposal group now has responsibility for .1%- iv -. d

Aerospace Materials Process Modelling

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-08-01

development of advanced technologies for the fabrication of close-tolerance parts, in conjunction with the development of advanced materials, plays a key...1883. 17. Gegel, H. L., et al., "Materials Modeling and Intrinsic Workability for Simulation of Bulk Deformiti6n," Advanced Technology of Plasticity, Vol...process in the last three decades. As a result of technological advances gained in aerospace industry there has been an increasing demand for the

Processes of inclusion and adverse incorporation: oil palm and agrarian change in Sumatra, Indonesia.

PubMed

McCarthy, John

2010-01-01

Changes in globalised agriculture raise critical questions as rapid agricultural development leads to widespread social and environmental transformation. With increased global demand for vegetable oils and biofuel, in Indonesia the area under oil palm has doubled over the last decade. This paper presents a case study of how micro-processes that are linked to wider dynamics shape oil palm related agrarian change in villages in Sumatra, Indonesia. It pursues related questions regarding the impact of agribusiness-driven agriculture, the fate of smallholders experiencing contemporary agrarian transition, and the impact of increased demand for vegetable oils and biofuels on agrarian structures in Sumatra. It argues that the paths of agrarian change are highly uneven and depend on how changing livelihood strategies are enabled or constrained by economic, social and political relations that vary over time and space. In contrast to simplifying narratives of inclusion/exclusion, it argues that outcomes depend on the terms under which smallholders engage with oil palm. Distinguishing between exogenous processes of agribusiness expansion and endogenous commodity market expansion, it finds each is associated with characteristic processes of change. It concludes that the way successive policy interventions have worked with the specific characteristics of oil palm have cumulatively shaped the space where agrarian change occurs in Sumatra.

New strategies for providing hormonal contraception in developing countries.

PubMed

Townsend, John W; Sitruk-Ware, Regine; Williams, Katherine; Askew, Ian; Brill, Klaus

2011-05-01

Even with progress in increasing access to effective contraception over the past decades, and the growing range of contraceptive methods available on the market, women in developing countries continue to report an unmet need for family planning. This constraint continues to challenge reproductive health policies and programs, while the momentum of population growth and the young age structure in developing countries leads to larger numbers of potential contraceptive users and increasing global demand in contraceptive markets. Of late, there is a renewed focus on increasing access to long-acting hormonal methods to effectively meet this need, establishing and effectively implementing new service delivery strategies. A number of processes have profoundly affected the procurement and use of hormonal contraceptive methods in developing countries: a supportive policy environment, evidence-based practices and an increasing diversity of delivery strategies play a significant part in increasing number of contraceptive users and the demand for hormonal contraception. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual and combined effects of cannabis and tobacco on drug reward processing in non-dependent users.

PubMed

Hindocha, Chandni; Lawn, Will; Freeman, Tom P; Curran, H Valerie

2017-11-01

Cannabis and tobacco are often smoked simultaneously in joints, and this practice may increase the risks of developing tobacco and/or cannabis use disorders. Currently, there is no human experimental research on how these drugs interact on addiction-related measures. This study aimed to investigate how cannabis and tobacco, each alone and combined together in joints, affected individuals' demand for cannabis puffs and cigarettes, explicit liking of drug and non-drug-related stimuli and craving. A double-blind, 2 (active cannabis, placebo cannabis) × 2 (active tobacco, placebo tobacco) crossover design was used with 24 non-dependent cannabis and tobacco smokers. They completed a pleasantness rating task (PRT), a marijuana purchase task (MPT) and a cigarette purchase task (CPT) alongside measures of craving pre- and post-drug administration. Relative to placebo cannabis, active cannabis reduced liking of cannabis-associated stimuli and increased response time to all stimuli except cigarette-related stimuli. Relative to placebo cannabis, active cannabis decreased demand for cannabis puffs (trends for breakpoint and elasticity) and cigarettes (breakpoint, P max , O max ) on several characteristics of the purchase tasks. We found no evidence that active tobacco, both alone or combined with cannabis, had an effect on liking, demand or craving. Acutely, cannabis reduced liking of cannabis-related stimuli and demand for cannabis itself. Acute cannabis also reduced demand for cigarettes on the CPT. Acute tobacco administration did not affect demand or pleasantness ratings for cigarettes themselves or cannabis. In non-dependent cannabis and tobacco co-users, tobacco did not influence the rewarding effects of cannabis.

Application of advanced diffraction based optical metrology overlay capabilities for high-volume manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Kai-Hsiung; Huang, Guo-Tsai; Hsieh, Hung-Chih; Ni, Wei-Feng; Chuang, S. M.; Chuang, T. K.; Ke, Chih-Ming; Huang, Jacky; Rao, Shiuan-An; Cumurcu Gysen, Aysegul; d'Alfonso, Maxime; Yueh, Jenny; Izikson, Pavel; Soco, Aileen; Wu, Jon; Nooitgedagt, Tjitte; Ottens, Jeroen; Kim, Yong Ho; Ebert, Martin

2017-03-01

On-product overlay requirements are becoming more challenging with every next technology node due to the continued decrease of the device dimensions and process tolerances. Therefore, current and future technology nodes require demanding metrology capabilities such as target designs that are robust towards process variations and high overlay measurement density (e.g. for higher order process corrections) to enable advanced process control solutions. The impact of advanced control solutions based on YieldStar overlay data is being presented in this paper. Multi patterning techniques are applied for critical layers and leading to additional overlay measurement demands. The use of 1D process steps results in the need of overlay measurements relative to more than one layer. Dealing with the increased number of overlay measurements while keeping the high measurement density and metrology accuracy at the same time presents a challenge for high volume manufacturing (HVM). These challenges are addressed by the capability to measure multi-layer targets with the recently introduced YieldStar metrology tool, YS350. On-product overlay results of such multi-layers and standard targets are presented including measurement stability performance.

Japanese and English sentence reading comprehension and writing systems: An fMRI study of first and second language effects on brain activation

PubMed Central

Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A.; Hasegawa, Mihoko; Just, Marcel A.

2009-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activation from Japanese readers reading hiragana (syllabic) and kanji (logographic) sentences, and English as a second language (L2). Kanji showed more activation than hiragana in right-hemisphere occipito-temporal lobe areas associated with visuospatial processing; hiragana, in turn, showed more activation than kanji in areas of the brain associated with phonological processing. L1 results underscore the difference in visuospatial and phonological processing demands between the systems. Reading in English as compared to either of the Japanese systems showed more activation in inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and angular gyrus. The additional activation in English in these areas may have been associated with an increased cognitive demand for phonological processing and verbal working memory. More generally, L2 results suggest more effortful reading comprehension processes. The study contributes to the understanding of differential brain responses to different writing systems and to reading comprehension in a second language. PMID:19946611

Use of reclaimed water for power plant cooling.

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

Veil, J. A.; Environmental Science Division

2007-10-16

Freshwater demands are steadily increasing throughout the United States. As its population increases, more water is needed for domestic use (drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and to supply power and food. In arid parts of the country, existing freshwater supplies are not able to meet the increasing demands for water. New water users are often forced to look to alternative sources of water to meet their needs. Over the past few years, utilities in many locations, including parts of the country not traditionally water-poor (e.g., Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina) have needed to reevaluate the availability of watermore » to meet their cooling needs. This trend will only become more extreme with time. Other trends are likely to increase pressure on freshwater supplies, too. For example, as populations increase, they will require more food. This in turn will likely increase demands for water by the agricultural sector. Another example is the recent increased interest in producing biofuels. Additional water will be required to grow more crops to serve as the raw materials for biofuels and to process the raw materials into biofuels. This report provides information about an opportunity to reuse an abundant water source -- treated municipal wastewater, also known as 'reclaimed water' -- for cooling and process water in electric generating facilities. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Innovations for Existing Plants research program (Feeley 2005). This program initiated an energy-water research effort in 2003 that includes the availability and use of 'nontraditional sources' of water for use at power plants. This report represents a unique reference for information on the use of reclaimed water for power plant cooling. In particular, the database of reclaimed water user facilities described in Chapter 2 is the first comprehensive national effort to identify and catalog those plants that are using reclaimed water for cooling.« less

Psychosocial work conditions, perceived stress, perceived muscular tension, and neck/shoulder symptoms among medical secretaries.

PubMed

Larsman, Pernilla; Kadefors, Roland; Sandsjö, Leif

2013-01-01

Unfavorable psychosocial working conditions are hypothesized to lead to perceived stress, which, in turn, can be related to an increased risk of development of neck/shoulder symptoms through increased and sustained muscle activation. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesized process model among medical secretaries, a female-dominated profession characterized by a high amount of visual display unit use and a high prevalence of neck/shoulder symptoms. In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted among medical secretaries (n = 200). The proposed process model was tested using a path model framework. The results indicate that high work demands were related to high perceived stress, which in turn was related to a high perceived muscle tension and neck/shoulder symptoms. Low influence at work was not related to perceived stress, but was directly related to a high perceived muscle tension. In general, these cross-sectional results lend tentative support for the hypothesis that adverse psychosocial work conditions (high work demands) may contribute to the development of neck/shoulder symptoms through the mechanism of stress-induced sustained muscular activation. This process model needs to be further tested in longitudinal studies.

Proof of concept for a new energy-positive wastewater treatment scheme.

PubMed

Remy, C; Boulestreau, M; Lesjean, B

2014-01-01

For improved exploitation of the energy content present in the organic matter of raw sewage, an innovative concept for treatment of municipal wastewater is tested in pilot trials and assessed in energy balance and operational costs. The concept is based on a maximum extraction of organic matter into the sludge via coagulation, flocculation and microsieving (100 μm mesh size) to increase the energy recovery in anaerobic sludge digestion and decrease aeration demand for carbon mineralisation. Pilot trials with real wastewater yield an extraction of 70-80% of total chemical oxygen demand into the sludge while dosing 15-20 mg/L Al and 5-7 mg/L polymer with stable operation of the microsieve and effluent limits below 2-3 mg/L total phosphorus. Anaerobic digestion of the microsieve sludge results in high biogas yields of 600 NL/kg organic dry matter input (oDMin) compared to 430 NL/kg oDMin for mixed sludge from a conventional activated sludge process. The overall energy balance for a 100,000 population equivalent (PE) treatment plant (including biofilter for post-treatment with full nitrification and denitrification with external carbon source) shows that the new concept is an energy-positive treatment process with comparable effluent quality than conventional processes, even when including energy demand for chemicals production. Estimated operating costs for electricity and chemicals are in the same range for conventional activated sludge processes and the new concept.

Modality dependence and intermodal transfer in the Corsi Spatial Sequence Task: Screen vs. Floor.

PubMed

Röser, Andrea; Hardiess, Gregor; Mallot, Hanspeter A

2016-07-01

Four versions of the Corsi Spatial Sequence Task (CSST) were tested in a complete within-subject design, investigating whether participants' performance depends on the modality of task presentation and reproduction that put different demands on spatial processing. Presentation of the sequence (encoding phase) and the reproduction (recall phase) were each carried out either on a computer screen or on the floor of a room, involving actual walking in the recall phase. Combinations of the two different encoding and recall procedures result in the modality conditions Screen-Screen, Screen-Floor, Floor-Screen, and Floor-Floor. Results show the expected decrease in performance with increasing sequence length, which is likely due to processing limitations of working memory. We also found differences in performance between the modality conditions indicating different involvements of spatial working memory processes. Participants performed best in the Screen-Screen modality condition. Floor-Screen and Floor-Floor modality conditions require additional working memory resources for reference frame transformation and spatial updating, respectively; the resulting impairment of the performance was about the same in these two conditions. Finally, the Screen-Floor modality condition requires both types of additional spatial demands and led to the poorest performance. Therefore, we suggest that besides the well-known spatial requirements of CSST, additional working memory resources are demanded in walking CSST supporting processes such as spatial updating, mental rotation, reference frame transformation, and the control of walking itself.

Age and Vascular Burden Determinants of Cortical Hemodynamics Underlying Verbal Fluency.

PubMed

Heinzel, Sebastian; Metzger, Florian G; Ehlis, Ann-Christine; Korell, Robert; Alboji, Ahmed; Haeussinger, Florian B; Wurster, Isabel; Brockmann, Kathrin; Suenkel, Ulrike; Eschweiler, Gerhard W; Maetzler, Walter; Berg, Daniela; Fallgatter, Andreas J

2015-01-01

Aging processes and several vascular burden factors have been shown to increase the risk of dementia including Alzheimer's disease. While pathological alterations in dementia precede diagnosis by many years, reorganization of brain processing might temporarily delay cognitive decline. We hypothesized that in healthy elderly individuals both age-related neural and vascular factors known to be related to the development of dementia impact functional cortical hemodynamics during increased cognitive demands. Vascular burden factors and cortical functional hemodynamics during verbal fluency were assessed in 1052 non-demented elderly individuals (51 to 83 years; cross-sectional data of the longitudinal TREND study) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The prediction of functional hemodynamic responses by age in multiple regressions and the impact of single and cumulative vascular burden factors including hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking and atherosclerosis were investigated. Replicating and extending previous findings we could show that increasing age predicted functional hemodynamics to be increased in right prefrontal and bilateral parietal cortex, and decreased in bilateral inferior frontal junction during phonological fluency. Cumulative vascular burden factors, with hypertension in particular, decreased left inferior frontal junction hemodynamic responses during phonological fluency. However, age and vascular burden factors showed no statistical interaction on functional hemodynamics. Based on these findings, one might hypothesize that increased fronto-parietal processing may represent age-related compensatory reorganization during increased cognitive demands. Vascular burden factors, such as hypertension, may contribute to regional cerebral hypoperfusion. These neural and vascular hemodynamic determinants should be investigated longitudinally and combined with other markers to advance the prediction of future cognitive decline and dementia.

Cleaner processing: a sulphide-free approach for depilation of skins.

PubMed

Ranjithkumar, Ammasi; Durga, Jayanthi; Ramesh, Ramakrishnan; Rose, Chellan; Muralidharan, Chellappa

2017-01-01

The conventional unhairing process in leather making utilises large amount of lime and sodium sulphide which is hazardous and poses serious waste disposal concerns. Under acidic conditions, sodium sulphide liberates significant quantities of hydrogen sulphide which causes frequent fatal accidents. Further, the conventional unhairing process involves destruction of the hair leading to increased levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS) in the effluent. A safe approach is needed to overcome such environmental and health problems through an eco-benign process. The present study deals with a clean technology in which the keratinous body is detached from the dermis using enzymes produced from Bacillus crolab MTCC 5468 by solid state fermentation (SSF) as an alternative to noxious chemicals. Complete unhairing of skin could be achieved with an enzyme concentration of 1.2 % (w/w). The bio-chemical parameters of the spent liquor of the enzymatic process were environmentally favourable when compared with conventional method. The study indicates that the enzymatic unhairing is a safe process which could be used effectively in leather processing to alleviate pollution and health problems.

Convergent and Divergent fMRI Responses in Children and Adults to Increasing Language Production Demands

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Saloni; Leech, Robert; Mercure, Evelyne; Lloyd-Fox, Sarah; Dick, Frederic

2015-01-01

In adults, patterns of neural activation associated with perhaps the most basic language skill—overt object naming—are extensively modulated by the psycholinguistic and visual complexity of the stimuli. Do children's brains react similarly when confronted with increasing processing demands, or they solve this problem in a different way? Here we scanned 37 children aged 7–13 and 19 young adults who performed a well-normed picture-naming task with 3 levels of difficulty. While neural organization for naming was largely similar in childhood and adulthood, adults had greater activation in all naming conditions over inferior temporal gyri and superior temporal gyri/supramarginal gyri. Manipulating naming complexity affected adults and children quite differently: neural activation, especially over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, showed complexity-dependent increases in adults, but complexity-dependent decreases in children. These represent fundamentally different responses to the linguistic and conceptual challenges of a simple naming task that makes no demands on literacy or metalinguistics. We discuss how these neural differences might result from different cognitive strategies used by adults and children during lexical retrieval/production as well as developmental changes in brain structure and functional connectivity. PMID:24907249

Impact of three task demand factors on simulated unmanned system intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations.

PubMed

Abich, Julian; Reinerman-Jones, Lauren; Matthews, Gerald

2017-06-01

The present study investigated how three task demand factors influenced performance, subjective workload and stress of novice intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operators within a simulation of an unmanned ground vehicle. Manipulations were task type, dual-tasking and event rate. Participants were required to discriminate human targets within a street scene from a direct video feed (threat detection [TD] task) and detect changes in symbols presented in a map display (change detection [CD] task). Dual-tasking elevated workload and distress, and impaired performance for both tasks. However, with increasing event rate, CD task deteriorated, but TD improved. Thus, standard workload models provide a better guide to evaluating the demands of abstract symbols than to processing realistic human characters. Assessment of stress and workload may be especially important in the design and evaluation of systems in which human character critical signals must be detected in video images. Practitioner Summary: This experiment assessed subjective workload and stress during threat and CD tasks performed alone and in combination. Results indicated an increase in event rate led to significant improvements in performance during TD, but decrements during CD, yet both had associated increases in workload and engagement.

[Lung transplantation: supply and demand in France].

PubMed

Stern, M; Souilamas, R; Tixier, D; Mal, H

2008-10-01

For a decade lung transplantation has suffered from a lack of donor organs which aroused a national debate and led to planned action in collaboration with The French National Agency for Transplantation. Analysis of the stages of the process from potential donor to lung transplantation identified lung procurement as the main priority. An increase in the number of potential lung donors and revision of the acceptance criteria led to a doubling of the annual rate of lung transplantation in less than two years. In the near future we may solve the problem of donor family refusals and establish scientifically based criteria for lung acceptance to increase the rate of lung transplantation. Transplantation from non heart-beating donors and the reconditioning of ex vivo non acceptable lungs might supply additional organs to fulfill demand in the long term. The rate of lung transplantation activity in France doubled as the result of a dramatic increase of donor lung proposals. The current improvement in the results of lung transplantation might create new demands and generate future difficulties in the supply of donor lungs. New approaches, such as transplantation from non heart-beating donors and reconditioning ex vivo non acceptable lungs, should be examined in the near future.

Global pulses scenario: status and outlook.

PubMed

Joshi, P K; Rao, P Parthasarathy

2017-03-01

Although pulse production grew significantly by 1.3% between 1980 and 2013, its per capita availability remained stagnant at around 6.5 kg/capita/year. In 1961, its availability was 9.3 kg/capita/year. One consequence of slower growth in its production is rising pulse prices, which are twice that of cereals. The declining availability of pulses also triggered a boom in its trade, with 19% of the global pulse production traded in 2011 compared with 7% in 1980. In absolute terms, there has been a more than fourfold increase in pulse trade, compared with an only 1.5-fold increase for cereals. To meet the export demand, pulse production diversified, with developed countries emerging as the main exporters while developing countries were the main importers. The exceptions were Southeastern Asia (Myanmar) and Eastern Africa, which also emerged as important exporters. Projections using an International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade indicate that the demand for pulses will continue to grow in the short-to-medium term in developing counties owing to growing population, rising per capita incomes among the lower-income groups, and increasing demand for snack/processed foods due to growing urbanization. © 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

Age-related deficits in selective attention during encoding increase demands on episodic reconstruction during context retrieval: An ERP study.

PubMed

James, Taylor; Strunk, Jonathan; Arndt, Jason; Duarte, Audrey

2016-06-01

Previous event-related potential (ERP) and neuroimaging evidence suggests that directing attention toward single item-context associations compared to intra-item features at encoding improves context memory performance and reduces demands on strategic retrieval operations in young and older adults. In everyday situations, however, there are multiple event features competing for our attention. It is not currently known how selectively attending to one contextual feature while attempting to ignore another influences context memory performance and the processes that support successful retrieval in the young and old. We investigated this issue in the current ERP study. Young and older participants studied pictures of objects in the presence of two contextual features: a color and a scene, and their attention was directed to the object's relationship with one of those contexts. Participants made context memory decisions for both attended and unattended contexts and rated their confidence in those decisions. Behavioral results showed that while both groups were generally successful in applying selective attention during context encoding, older adults were less confident in their context memory decisions for attended features and showed greater dependence in context memory accuracy for attended and unattended contextual features (i.e., hyper-binding). ERP results were largely consistent between age groups but older adults showed a more pronounced late posterior negativity (LPN) implicated in episodic reconstruction processes. We conclude that age-related suppression deficits during encoding result in reduced selectivity in context memory, thereby increasing subsequent demands on episodic reconstruction processes when sought after details are not readily retrieved. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing a Quality Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glatthorn, Allan A.

In the face of increasing demands for school reform, educational leaders are looking anew at the core elements of the instructional program, including the curriculum. This book serves as a guide to both understanding and practicing sound curriculum development. It lays out the steps of a quality curriculum-development process and emphasizes that…

A carvacrol wash and/or a chitosan based coating reduced Campylobacter jejuni on chicken wingettes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of foodborne disease in humans, largely associated with consumption of contaminated poultry and poultry products. With increasing consumer demand for natural and minimally processed foods, the use of Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status plant derived com...

A Review of Paradigms for Evaluating the Quality of Online Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shelton, Kaye

2011-01-01

As the demands for public accountability increase for higher education, institutions must demonstrate quality within programs and processes, including those provided through online education. While quality may be elusive to specifically quantify, there have been several recommendations for identifying and defining quality online education that…

Rooting Rose Cuttings in Whole Pine Tree Substrates

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increased demand for alternatives to pine bark (PB) and peat moss (P) has led to extensive research on wood-based substrates, such as processed whole pine trees (WPT), for nursery and greenhouse crop production. Limited information is available on how WPT may perform as a rooting substrate for cutti...

Infants' Meaning-Making and the Development of Mental Health Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tronick, Ed; Beeghly, Marjorie

2011-01-01

We argue that infant meaning-making processes are a central mechanism governing both typical and pathological outcomes. Infants, as open dynamic systems, must constantly garner information to increase their complexity and coherence. They fulfill this demand by making nonverbal "meaning"--affects, movements, representations--about themselves in…

Using ROI to Demonstrate Performance Value in the Public Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Jack J.; Phillips, Patti

2009-01-01

The demand for accountability through measurement continues to increase. Although much progress has been made, it remains an issue that challenges even the most sophisticated and progressive performance improvement function. This article provides an overview of best practices in the return-on-investment process and describes how applying these…

Achieving High Performance with FPGA-Based Computing

PubMed Central

Herbordt, Martin C.; VanCourt, Tom; Gu, Yongfeng; Sukhwani, Bharat; Conti, Al; Model, Josh; DiSabello, Doug

2011-01-01

Numerous application areas, including bioinformatics and computational biology, demand increasing amounts of processing capability. In many cases, the computation cores and data types are suited to field-programmable gate arrays. The challenge is identifying the design techniques that can extract high performance potential from the FPGA fabric. PMID:21603088

Factors Influencing Science Content Accuracy in Elementary Inquiry Science Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nowicki, Barbara L.; Sullivan-Watts, Barbara; Shim, Minsuk K.; Young, Betty; Pockalny, Robert

2013-01-01

Elementary teachers face increasing demands to engage children in authentic science process and argument while simultaneously preparing them with knowledge of science facts, vocabulary, and concepts. This reform is particularly challenging due to concerns that elementary teachers lack adequate science background to teach science accurately. This…

A Longitudinal Study of Students' Conceptualization of Ecological Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hellden, Gustav F.

During the last decades, an increasing awareness has developed that humankind will have to make important decisions about the environment which will demand substantive knowledge of critical ecological phenomena such as the production and decomposition of biomass (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). As a biology teacher the…

Applying to Higher Education: Information Sources and Choice Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simoes, Claudia; Soares, Ana Maria

2010-01-01

Higher education institutions are facing increasingly complex challenges, which demand a deeper understanding of the sources prospective students use when applying to a higher education institution. This research centres on students' decision-making process for higher education institutions, focusing on the pre-purchase period, and, in particular,…

Biogeochemical research priorities for sustainable biofuel and bioenergy feedstock production in the Americas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Rapid expansion in biomass production for biofuels and bioenergy in the Americas is increasing demands on the ecosystem resources required to sustain soil and site productivity. We review the current state of knowledge and highlight gaps in research on biogeochemical processes and ecosystem sustaina...

Variances in nutrient content and yield of alfalfa protein concentrate processed with five methods

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The demand for protein is growing with increased populations and world affluence. A sustainable and affordable protein source is needed to support the growing aquaculture industry worldwide. Alfalfa produces high levels of protein and provides numerous environmental services, potentially making it a...

Passive and Motivated Perception of Emotional Faces: Qualitative and Quantitative Changes in the Face Processing Network

PubMed Central

Skelly, Laurie R.; Decety, Jean

2012-01-01

Emotionally expressive faces are processed by a distributed network of interacting sub-cortical and cortical brain regions. The components of this network have been identified and described in large part by the stimulus properties to which they are sensitive, but as face processing research matures interest has broadened to also probe dynamic interactions between these regions and top-down influences such as task demand and context. While some research has tested the robustness of affective face processing by restricting available attentional resources, it is not known whether face network processing can be augmented by increased motivation to attend to affective face stimuli. Short videos of people expressing emotions were presented to healthy participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Motivation to attend to the videos was manipulated by providing an incentive for improved recall performance. During the motivated condition, there was greater coherence among nodes of the face processing network, more widespread correlation between signal intensity and performance, and selective signal increases in a task-relevant subset of face processing regions, including the posterior superior temporal sulcus and right amygdala. In addition, an unexpected task-related laterality effect was seen in the amygdala. These findings provide strong evidence that motivation augmentsco-activity among nodes of the face processing network and the impact of neural activity on performance. These within-subject effects highlight the necessity to consider motivation when interpreting neural function in special populations, and to further explore the effect of task demands on face processing in healthy brains. PMID:22768287

Working memory contributes to elevated motor activity in adults with ADHD: an examination of the role of central executive and storage/rehearsal processes.

PubMed

Hudec, Kristen L; Alderson, R Matt; Kasper, Lisa J; Patros, Connor H G

2014-05-01

The relationship between working memory (WM) and objectively measured motor activity was examined in adults with ADHD and healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-five adults (ADHD = 20, HC = 15) were grouped using self-report and collateral-report measures in addition to a semistructured clinical interview. All participants completed control conditions with minimal WM demands, and separate phonological (PH) and visuospatial (VS) WM tasks with recall demands ranging from four to seven stimuli. The ADHD group exhibited significantly more motor activity relative to the HC group, and both groups exhibited greater activity during PH and VS WM tasks, relative to control conditions. Finally, the central executive (CE) and PH storage/rehearsal subsystems were associated with large-magnitude between-group differences in activity. Findings suggest that increased demands on WM, particularly the CE and PH storage/rehearsal, contribute to ADHD-related hyperactivity, though a portion of excessive motor activity in adults with ADHD may occur independently of WM demands.

Working memory and the strategic control of attention in older and younger adults.

PubMed

Hayes, Melissa G; Kelly, Andrew J; Smith, Anderson D

2013-03-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of aging on the strategic control of attention and the extent to which this relationship is mediated by working memory capacity (WMC). This study also sought to investigate boundary conditions wherein age differences in selectivity may occur. Across 2 studies, the value-directed remembering task used by Castel and colleagues (Castel, A. D., Balota, D. A., & McCabe, D. P. (2009). Memory efficiency and the strategic control of attention at encoding: Impairments of value-directed remembering in Alzheimer's Disease. Neuropsychology, 23, 297-306) was modified to include value-directed forgetting. Study 2 incorporated valence as an additional task demand, and age differences were predicted in both studies due to increased demands of controlled processing. Automated operation span and Stroop span were included as working memory measures, and working memory was predicted to mediate performance. Results confirmed these predictions, as older adults were less efficient in maximizing selectivity scores when high demands were placed on selectivity processes, and working memory was found to mediate performance on this task. When list length was increased from previous studies and participants were required to actively forget negative-value words, older adults were not able to selectively encode high-value information to the same degree as younger adults. Furthermore, WMC appears to support the ability to selectively encode information.

Corticomotor Responses to Attentionally Demanding Motor Performance: A Mini-Review

PubMed Central

Corp, Daniel  T.; Drury, Hannah G. K.; Young, Kayleigh; Do, Michael; Perkins, Tom; Pearce, Alan J.

2013-01-01

Increased attentional demand has been shown to reduce motor performance, leading to increases in accidents, particularly in elderly populations. While these deficits have been well documented behaviorally, their cortical correlates are less well known. Increased attention has been shown to affect activity in prefrontal regions of the cortex. However there have been varying results within past research investigating corticomotor regions, mediating motor performance. This mini-review initially discusses past behavioral research, before moving to studies investigating corticomotor areas in response to changes in attention. Recent dual task studies have revealed a possible decline in the ability of older, but not younger, adults to activate inhibitory processes within the motor cortex, which may be correlated with poor motor performance, and thus accidents. A reduction in cortical inhibition may be caused by neurodegeneration within prefrontal regions of the cortex with age, rendering older adults less able to allocate attention to corticomotor regions. PMID:23579267

Bacteriocins: Recent Trends and Potential Applications.

PubMed

Bali, Vandana; Panesar, Parmjit S; Bera, Manab B; Kennedy, John F

2016-01-01

In the modern era, there is great need for food preservation in both developing and developed countries due to increasing demand for extending shelf life and prevention of spoilage of food material. With the emergence of new pathogens and ability of micro-organisms to undergo changes, exploration of new avenues for the food preservation has gained importance. Moreover, awareness among consumers regarding harmful effects of chemical preservatives has been increased. Globally, altogether there is increasing demand by consumers for chemical-free and minimal processed food products. Potential of bacteriocin and its application in reducing the microbiological spoilages and in the preservation of food is long been recognized. Bacteriocins are normally specific to closely related species without disrupting the growth of other microbial populations. A number of applications of bacteriocin have been reported for humans, live stock, aquaculture etc. This review is focused on recent trends and applications of bacteriocins in different areas in addition to their biopreservative potential.

Emotion based attentional priority for storage in visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Simione, Luca; Calabrese, Lucia; Marucci, Francesco S; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; Raffone, Antonino; Maratos, Frances A

2014-01-01

A plethora of research demonstrates that the processing of emotional faces is prioritised over non-emotive stimuli when cognitive resources are limited (this is known as 'emotional superiority'). However, there is debate as to whether competition for processing resources results in emotional superiority per se, or more specifically, threat superiority. Therefore, to investigate prioritisation of emotional stimuli for storage in visual short-term memory (VSTM), we devised an original VSTM report procedure using schematic (angry, happy, neutral) faces in which processing competition was manipulated. In Experiment 1, display exposure time was manipulated to create competition between stimuli. Participants (n = 20) had to recall a probed stimulus from a set size of four under high (150 ms array exposure duration) and low (400 ms array exposure duration) perceptual processing competition. For the high competition condition (i.e. 150 ms exposure), results revealed an emotional superiority effect per se. In Experiment 2 (n = 20), we increased competition by manipulating set size (three versus five stimuli), whilst maintaining a constrained array exposure duration of 150 ms. Here, for the five-stimulus set size (i.e. maximal competition) only threat superiority emerged. These findings demonstrate attentional prioritisation for storage in VSTM for emotional faces. We argue that task demands modulated the availability of processing resources and consequently the relative magnitude of the emotional/threat superiority effect, with only threatening stimuli prioritised for storage in VSTM under more demanding processing conditions. Our results are discussed in light of models and theories of visual selection, and not only combine the two strands of research (i.e. visual selection and emotion), but highlight a critical factor in the processing of emotional stimuli is availability of processing resources, which is further constrained by task demands.

Laser Transmission Welding of CFRTP Using Filler Material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, Stefan; Schmidt, Michael

In the automotive industry the increasing environmental awareness is reflected through consistent lightweight construction. Especially the use of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) plays an increasingly important role. Accordingto the material substitution, the demand for adequate joining technologies is growing. Therefore, laser transmission welding with filler material provides a way to combine two opaque joining partners by using process specific advantages of the laser transmission welding process. After introducing the new processing variant and the used experimental setup, this paper investigates the process itselfand conditions for a stable process. The influence of the used process parameters on weld quality and process stability is characterized by tensile shear tests. The successfully performed joining of PA 6 CF 42 organic sheets using natural PA 6 as filler material underlines the potential of the described joining method for lightweight design and other industrial applications.

RELATING OLDER WORKERS' INJURIES TO THE MISMATCH BETWEEN PHYSICAL ABILITY AND JOB DEMANDS

PubMed Central

Fraade-Blanar, Laura A.; Sears, Jeanne M.; Chan, Kwun Chuen G.; Thompson, Hilaire J.; Crane, Paul K.; Ebel, Beth E.

2016-01-01

Objective We examined the association between job demand and occupational injury among older workers. Methods Participants were workers aged 50+ enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study, 2010–2014. Participants reported physical ability within three domains: physical effort, stooping/kneeling/crouching, and lifting. To measure subjective job demand, participants rated their job's demands within domains. We generated objective job demand measures through the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Using Poisson regression, we modeled the association between physical ability, job demand, and self-reported occupational injury. A second model explored interaction between job demand and physical ability. Results The injury rate was 22 /1,000 worker-years. Higher job demand was associated with increased injury risk. Within high job demands, lower physical ability was associated with increased injury risk. Conclusions Older workers whose physical abilities do not meet job demands face increased injury risk. PMID:28166127

Control of anisotropic shape deviation in single point incremental forming of paperboard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stein, Philipp; Franke, Wilken; Hoppe, Florian; Hesse, Daniel; Mill, Katharina; Groche, Peter

2017-10-01

The increasing social demand for sustainable material use leads to new process strategies as well as to the use of new materials in nearly all industries. In light of this demand, paperboard shows potential to substitute polymer-based components while also exhibiting improved ecological properties. However, in contrast to polymer-based products, the forming limits of paperboard are relatively low. Therefore, three dimensional forming of paperboard is subject of current research. One area of research focuses on the control of the fiber orientation dependent anisotropic material behavior of industrial paperboard in forming processes. For an examined industrial paperboard, an average elongation at break of 1.2% in the so called machine direction (fiber preferential direction, MD) has been determined at standard climate conditions. In contrast, in cross-direction (orthogonal to the machine direction, CD) a value of 2.6% was observed. With increased moisture content of the specimens the difference between the mechanical properties in MD and CD even increases. As a result of the various fiber-orientation dependent mechanical properties, forming with symmetric tools leads to asymmetrically shaped final parts. Within this article, an approach to reduce the asymmetric shape of three-dimensional formed paperboard by using single point incremental forming technology is presented. For a free spatial processing strategy the 3D Servo Press Technology, which enables circular as well as free processing strategies, is used. Based on reference tests with a circular processing strategy, it is shown that by using an adapted, elliptical tool path, an almost symmetric shaped part can be formed.

What the Human Brain Likes About Facial Motion

PubMed Central

Schultz, Johannes; Brockhaus, Matthias; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; Pilz, Karin S.

2013-01-01

Facial motion carries essential information about other people's emotions and intentions. Most previous studies have suggested that facial motion is mainly processed in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), but several recent studies have also shown involvement of ventral temporal face-sensitive regions. Up to now, it is not known whether the increased response to facial motion is due to an increased amount of static information in the stimulus, to the deformation of the face over time, or to increased attentional demands. We presented nonrigidly moving faces and control stimuli to participants performing a demanding task unrelated to the face stimuli. We manipulated the amount of static information by using movies with different frame rates. The fluidity of the motion was manipulated by presenting movies with frames either in the order in which they were recorded or in scrambled order. Results confirm higher activation for moving compared with static faces in STS and under certain conditions in ventral temporal face-sensitive regions. Activation was maximal at a frame rate of 12.5 Hz and smaller for scrambled movies. These results indicate that both the amount of static information and the fluid facial motion per se are important factors for the processing of dynamic faces. PMID:22535907

Feasibility of groundwater recharge dam projects in arid environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaafar, H. H.

2014-05-01

A new method for determining feasibility and prioritizing investments for agricultural and domestic recharge dams in arid regions is developed and presented. The method is based on identifying the factors affecting the decision making process and evaluating these factors, followed by determining the indices in a GIS-aided environment. Evaluated parameters include results from field surveys and site visits, land cover and soils data, precipitation data, runoff data and modeling, number of beneficiaries, domestic irrigation demand, reservoir objectives, demography, reservoirs yield and reliability, dam structures, construction costs, and operation and maintenance costs. Results of a case study on more than eighty proposed dams indicate that assessment of reliability, annualized cost/demand satisfied and yield is crucial prior to investment decision making in arid areas. Irrigation demand is the major influencing parameter on yield and reliability of recharge dams, even when only 3 months of the demand were included. Reliability of the proposed reservoirs as related to their standardized size and net inflow was found to increase with increasing yield. High priority dams were less than 4% of the total, and less priority dams amounted to 23%, with the remaining found to be not feasible. The results of this methodology and its application has proved effective in guiding stakeholders for defining most favorable sites for preliminary and detailed design studies and commissioning.

Effect of membrane properties on the performance of a hybrid GAC and ultrafiltration process for water treatment.

PubMed

Qiao, Tiejun; Wu, Guangxue; Zhang, Xihui; Au, Doris W T; Zhang, Jinsong

2012-06-01

The performance of a hybrid granular activated carbon (GAC) and ultrafiltration (UF) process for water treatment was investigated using five types of UF membranes. The removal percentages for chemical oxygen demand (COD(Mn)), particles (> or = 2 microm) and total bacteria by the hybrid process were 30-40%, 98-99% and 76-92%, respectively. No invertebrates were detected in the hybrid process effluent. Transmembrane pressure and specific permeate flux (SPF) of the five types of membranes varied. With decreasing membrane pore sizes, removal of COD(Mn) and particles increased, whereas SPF firstly decreased and then increased. Hydrophilic membranes had a relatively high COD(Mn) removal potential, but did not obviously affect particle removal or SPF.

Pulpwood supply and demand : development in the South, little growth elsewhere.

Treesearch

Peter J. Ince; Irene Durbak

2002-01-01

This long-range outlook derives from analysis of pulp and paper markets and pulpwood demands for wood panels. The analysis projects modest increases in pulpwood demand beyond 2010, with decelerating growth in paper and paperboard consumption; increased demand for pulpwood in wood panels; increased imports of pulp, paper, and paperboard; and little additional growth in...

Corticospinal control of the thumb-index grip depends on precision of force control: a transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imagery study in humans.

PubMed

Bonnard, M; Galléa, C; De Graaf, J B; Pailhous, J

2007-02-01

The corticospinal system (CS) is well known to be of major importance for controlling the thumb-index grip, in particular for force grading. However, for a given force level, the way in which the involvement of this system could vary with increasing demands on precise force control is not well-known. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imagery, the present experiments investigated whether increasing the precision demands while keeping the averaged force level similar during an isometric dynamic low-force control task, involving the thumb-index grip, does affect the corticospinal excitability to the thumb-index muscles and the activation of the motor cortices, primary and non-primary (supplementary motor area, dorsal and ventral premotor and in the contralateral area), at the origin of the CS. With transcranial magnetic stimulation, we showed that, when precision demands increased, the CS excitability increased to either the first dorsal interosseus or the opponens pollicis, and never to both, for similar ongoing electromyographic activation patterns of these muscles. With functional magnetic resonance imagery, we demonstrated that, for the same averaged force level, the amplitude of blood oxygen level-dependent signal increased in relation to the precision demands in the hand area of the contralateral primary motor cortex in the contralateral supplementary motor area, ventral and dorsal premotor area. Together these results show that, during the course of force generation, the CS integrates online top-down information to precisely fit the motor output to the task's constraints and that its multiple cortical origins are involved in this process, with the ventral premotor area appearing to have a special role.

The Web as an Information Resource in K-12 Education: Strategies for Supporting Students in Searching and Processing Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuiper, Els; Volman, Monique; Terwel, Jan

2005-01-01

The use of the Web in K-12 education has increased substantially in recent years. The Web, however, does not support the learning processes of students as a matter of course. In this review, the authors analyze what research says about the demands that the use of the Web as an information resource in education makes on the support and supervision…

Configurable product design considering the transition of multi-hierarchical models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Bin; Qiu, Lemiao; Zhang, Shuyou; Tan, Jianrong; Cheng, Jin

2013-03-01

The current research of configurable product design mainly focuses on how to convert a predefined set of components into a valid set of product structures. With the scale and complexity of configurable products increasing, the interdependencies between customer demands and product structures grow up as well. The result is that existing product structures fails to satisfy the individual customer requirements and hence product variants are needed. This paper is aimed to build a bridge between customer demands and product structures in order to make demand-driven fast response design feasible. First of all, multi-hierarchical models of configurable product design are established with customer demand model, technical requirement model and product structure model. Then, the transition of multi-hierarchical models among customer demand model, technical requirement model and product structure model is solved with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the algorithm of multi-level matching. Finally, optimal structure according to the customer demands is obtained with the calculation of Euclidean distance and similarity of some cases. In practice, the configuration design of a clamping unit of injection molding machine successfully performs an optimal search strategy for the product variants with reasonable satisfaction to individual customer demands. The proposed method can automatically generate a configuration design with better alternatives for each product structures, and shorten the time of finding the configuration of a product.

GATECloud.net: a platform for large-scale, open-source text processing on the cloud.

PubMed

Tablan, Valentin; Roberts, Ian; Cunningham, Hamish; Bontcheva, Kalina

2013-01-28

Cloud computing is increasingly being regarded as a key enabler of the 'democratization of science', because on-demand, highly scalable cloud computing facilities enable researchers anywhere to carry out data-intensive experiments. In the context of natural language processing (NLP), algorithms tend to be complex, which makes their parallelization and deployment on cloud platforms a non-trivial task. This study presents a new, unique, cloud-based platform for large-scale NLP research--GATECloud. net. It enables researchers to carry out data-intensive NLP experiments by harnessing the vast, on-demand compute power of the Amazon cloud. Important infrastructural issues are dealt with by the platform, completely transparently for the researcher: load balancing, efficient data upload and storage, deployment on the virtual machines, security and fault tolerance. We also include a cost-benefit analysis and usage evaluation.

Water-Constrained Electric Sector Capacity Expansion Modeling Under Climate Change Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, S. M.; Macknick, J.; Miara, A.; Vorosmarty, C. J.; Averyt, K.; Meldrum, J.; Corsi, F.; Prousevitch, A.; Rangwala, I.

2015-12-01

Over 80% of U.S. electricity generation uses a thermoelectric process, which requires significant quantities of water for power plant cooling. This water requirement exposes the electric sector to vulnerabilities related to shifts in water availability driven by climate change as well as reductions in power plant efficiencies. Electricity demand is also sensitive to climate change, which in most of the United States leads to warming temperatures that increase total cooling-degree days. The resulting demand increase is typically greater for peak demand periods. This work examines the sensitivity of the development and operations of the U.S. electric sector to the impacts of climate change using an electric sector capacity expansion model that endogenously represents seasonal and local water resource availability as well as climate impacts on water availability, electricity demand, and electricity system performance. Capacity expansion portfolios and water resource implications from 2010 to 2050 are shown at high spatial resolution under a series of climate scenarios. Results demonstrate the importance of water availability for future electric sector capacity planning and operations, especially under more extreme hotter and drier climate scenarios. In addition, region-specific changes in electricity demand and water resources require region-specific responses that depend on local renewable resource availability and electricity market conditions. Climate change and the associated impacts on water availability and temperature can affect the types of power plants that are built, their location, and their impact on regional water resources.

Common neural substrates for visual working memory and attention.

PubMed

Mayer, Jutta S; Bittner, Robert A; Nikolić, Danko; Bledowski, Christoph; Goebel, Rainer; Linden, David E J

2007-06-01

Humans are severely limited in their ability to memorize visual information over short periods of time. Selective attention has been implicated as a limiting factor. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test the hypothesis that this limitation is due to common neural resources shared by visual working memory (WM) and selective attention. We combined visual search and delayed discrimination of complex objects and independently modulated the demands on selective attention and WM encoding. Participants were presented with a search array and performed easy or difficult visual search in order to encode one or three complex objects into visual WM. Overlapping activation for attention-demanding visual search and WM encoding was observed in distributed posterior and frontal regions. In the right prefrontal cortex and bilateral insula blood oxygen-level-dependent activation additively increased with increased WM load and attentional demand. Conversely, several visual, parietal and premotor areas showed overlapping activation for the two task components and were severely reduced in their WM load response under the condition with high attentional demand. Regions in the left prefrontal cortex were selectively responsive to WM load. Areas selectively responsive to high attentional demand were found within the right prefrontal and bilateral occipital cortex. These results indicate that encoding into visual WM and visual selective attention require to a high degree access to common neural resources. We propose that competition for resources shared by visual attention and WM encoding can limit processing capabilities in distributed posterior brain regions.

Development of S-ARIMA Model for Forecasting Demand in a Beverage Supply Chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mircetic, Dejan; Nikolicic, Svetlana; Maslaric, Marinko; Ralevic, Nebojsa; Debelic, Borna

2016-11-01

Demand forecasting is one of the key activities in planning the freight flows in supply chains, and accordingly it is essential for planning and scheduling of logistic activities within observed supply chain. Accurate demand forecasting models directly influence the decrease of logistics costs, since they provide an assessment of customer demand. Customer demand is a key component for planning all logistic processes in supply chain, and therefore determining levels of customer demand is of great interest for supply chain managers. In this paper we deal with exactly this kind of problem, and we develop the seasonal Autoregressive IntegratedMoving Average (SARIMA) model for forecasting demand patterns of a major product of an observed beverage company. The model is easy to understand, flexible to use and appropriate for assisting the expert in decision making process about consumer demand in particular periods.

Crop-specific seasonal estimates of irrigation-water demand in South Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biemans, Hester; Siderius, Christian; Mishra, Ashok; Ahmad, Bashir

2016-05-01

Especially in the Himalayan headwaters of the main rivers in South Asia, shifts in runoff are expected as a result of a rapidly changing climate. In recent years, our insight into these shifts and their impact on water availability has increased. However, a similar detailed understanding of the seasonal pattern in water demand is surprisingly absent. This hampers a proper assessment of water stress and ways to cope and adapt. In this study, the seasonal pattern of irrigation-water demand resulting from the typical practice of multiple cropping in South Asia was accounted for by introducing double cropping with monsoon-dependent planting dates in a hydrology and vegetation model. Crop yields were calibrated to the latest state-level statistics of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The improvements in seasonal land use and cropping periods lead to lower estimates of irrigation-water demand compared to previous model-based studies, despite the net irrigated area being higher. Crop irrigation-water demand differs sharply between seasons and regions; in Pakistan, winter (rabi) and monsoon summer (kharif) irrigation demands are almost equal, whereas in Bangladesh the rabi demand is ~ 100 times higher. Moreover, the relative importance of irrigation supply versus rain decreases sharply from west to east. Given the size and importance of South Asia improved regional estimates of food production and its irrigation-water demand will also affect global estimates. In models used for global water resources and food-security assessments, processes like multiple cropping and monsoon-dependent planting dates should not be ignored.

Impacts of Demand-Side Resources on Electric Transmission Planning

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

Hadley, Stanton W.; Sanstad, Alan H.

2015-01-01

Will demand resources such as energy efficiency (EE), demand response (DR), and distributed generation (DG) have an impact on electricity transmission requirements? Five drivers for transmission expansion are discussed: interconnection, reliability, economics, replacement, and policy. With that background, we review the results of a set of transmission studies that were conducted between 2010 and 2013 by electricity regulators, industry representatives, and other stakeholders in the three physical interconnections within the United States. These broad-based studies were funded by the US Department of Energy and included scenarios of reduced load growth due to EE, DR, and DG. While the studies weremore » independent and used different modeling tools and interconnect-specific assumptions, all provided valuable results and insights. However, some caveats exist. Demand resources were evaluated in conjunction with other factors, and limitations on transmission additions between scenarios made understanding the role of demand resources difficult. One study, the western study, included analyses over both 10- and 20-year planning horizons; the 10-year analysis did not show near-term reductions in transmission, but the 20-year indicated fewer transmission additions, yielding a 36percent capital cost reduction. In the eastern study the reductions in demand largely led to reductions in local generation capacity and an increased opportunity for low-cost and renewable generation to export to other regions. The Texas study evaluated generation changes due to demand, and is in the process of examining demand resource impacts on transmission.« less

Implications of Decreased Nitrite Concentrations on Clostridium perfringens Outgrowth during Cooling of Ready-to-Eat Meats.

PubMed

Myers, Megan I; Sebranek, Joseph G; Dickson, James S; Shaw, Angela M; Tarté, Rodrigo; Adams, Kristin R; Neibuhr, Steve

2016-01-01

Increased popularity of natural and organic processed meats can be attributed to the growing consumer demand for preservative-free foods, including processed meats. To meet this consumer demand, meat processors have begun using celery juice concentrate in place of sodium nitrite to create products labeled as no-nitrate or no-nitrite-added meat products while maintaining the characteristics unique to conventionally cured processed meats. Because of flavor limitations, natural cures with celery concentrate typically provide lower ingoing nitrite concentrations for ready-to-eat processed meats than do conventional cures, which could allow for increased growth of pathogens, such as Clostridium perfringens, during cooked product cooling such as that required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The objective of this study was to investigate the implications associated with reduced nitrite concentrations for preventing C. perfringens outgrowth during a typical cooling cycle used for cooked products. Nitrite treatments of 0, 50, and 100 ppm were tested in a broth system inoculated with a three-strain C. perfringens cocktail and heated with a simulated product thermal process followed by a typical cooling-stabilization process. The nitrite concentration of 50 ppm was more effective for preventing C. perfringens outgrowth than was 0 ppm but was not as effective as 100 ppm. The interaction between nitrite and temperature significantly affected (P < 0.05) C. perfringens outgrowth in both total population and number of vegetative cells. Both temperature and nitrite concentration significantly affected (P < 0.05) C. perfringens spore survival, but the interaction between nitrite and temperature did not have a significant effect (P > 0.05) on spore outgrowth. Results indicate that decreased nitrite concentrations (50 ppm) have increased potential for total C. perfringens population outgrowth during cooling and may require additional protective measures, such as faster chilling rates.

Process Mining-Based Method of Designing and Optimizing the Layouts of Emergency Departments in Hospitals.

PubMed

Rismanchian, Farhood; Lee, Young Hoon

2017-07-01

This article proposes an approach to help designers analyze complex care processes and identify the optimal layout of an emergency department (ED) considering several objectives simultaneously. These objectives include minimizing the distances traveled by patients, maximizing design preferences, and minimizing the relocation costs. Rising demand for healthcare services leads to increasing demand for new hospital buildings as well as renovating existing ones. Operations management techniques have been successfully applied in both manufacturing and service industries to design more efficient layouts. However, high complexity of healthcare processes makes it challenging to apply these techniques in healthcare environments. Process mining techniques were applied to address the problem of complexity and to enhance healthcare process analysis. Process-related information, such as information about the clinical pathways, was extracted from the information system of an ED. A goal programming approach was then employed to find a single layout that would simultaneously satisfy several objectives. The layout identified using the proposed method improved the distances traveled by noncritical and critical patients by 42.2% and 47.6%, respectively, and minimized the relocation costs. This study has shown that an efficient placement of the clinical units yields remarkable improvements in the distances traveled by patients.

A parallel architecture of interpolated timing recovery for high- speed data transfer rate and wide capture-range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higashino, Satoru; Kobayashi, Shoei; Yamagami, Tamotsu

2007-06-01

High data transfer rate has been demanded for data storage devices along increasing the storage capacity. In order to increase the transfer rate, high-speed data processing techniques in read-channel devices are required. Generally, parallel architecture is utilized for the high-speed digital processing. We have developed a new architecture of Interpolated Timing Recovery (ITR) to achieve high-speed data transfer rate and wide capture-range in read-channel devices for the information storage channels. It facilitates the parallel implementation on large-scale-integration (LSI) devices.

NASA Automatic Information Security Handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This handbook details the Automated Information Security (AIS) management process for NASA. Automated information system security is becoming an increasingly important issue for all NASA managers and with rapid advancements in computer and network technologies and the demanding nature of space exploration and space research have made NASA increasingly dependent on automated systems to store, process, and transmit vast amounts of mission support information, hence the need for AIS systems and management. This handbook provides the consistent policies, procedures, and guidance to assure that an aggressive and effective AIS programs is developed, implemented, and sustained at all NASA organizations and NASA support contractors.

Regulation of breeding behavior: do energy-demanding periods induce a change in prolactin or corticosterone baseline levels in the common tern (Sterna hirundo)?

PubMed

Riechert, Juliane; Chastel, Olivier; Becker, Peter H

2014-01-01

Hormones are involved in reproductive decisions, linking environmental cues and body condition and adapting behavior. Mass loss is often accompanied by decreased prolactin and increased corticosterone concentrations, influencing incubation and brooding behavior and ultimately triggering nest desertion. Using blood-sucking bugs (Dipetalogaster maxima), we measured baseline prolactin, corticosterone, and ketone body values in incubating common terns (Sterna hirundo) between 2006 and 2009 during energy-demanding periods: 50 pairs were sampled hungry (after an incubation bout) and again fed (after foraging). In a second approach, we sampled 57 other pairs (experienced and inexperienced birds) three times over their individual breeding period, because reproduction, especially chick rearing, is a very energy-demanding process. In line with the common physiological pattern of fasting, we found significantly lower baseline prolactin values in hungry terns, which were negatively related to mass loss over the incubation bout, whereas corticosterone and ketone body levels were marginally increased. Compared to that in the incubation phase, the prolactin level dropped after hatching of chicks in inexperienced birds, perhaps indicating lower parental expenditure. Corticosterone, on the other hand, increased after hatching in males, probably linked to higher foraging activity, as males mainly deliver food during the first days. These energy-demanding periods clearly influenced hormones and ketone bodies, maybe reinforced by the low energy margin of this small seabird species, but energy reserves were not depleted to a level affecting behavior or reproductive success.

Impact of the excess sludge modification with selected chemical reagents on the increase of dissolved organic substances concentration compounds transformations in activated sludge.

PubMed

Zawieja, Iwona; Lidia, Wolny; Marta, Próba

2017-07-01

Submission of excess sludge initial disintegration process significantly affects the efficiency of anaerobic stabilization process. Expression of increasing the concentration of organic matter in dissolved form is to increase sludge disintegration. As a result of chemical modification is an increase of the chemical oxygen demand and the concentration of volatile fatty acids. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the disintegration process with selected chemical reagents to increase the concentration of organic substances in dissolved form. The process of chemical disintegration of excess sludge was treated using the following reagents: Mg(OH) 2 , Ca(OH) 2 , HCl, H 2 SO 4 , H 2 O 2 . The modification was carried out at ambient temperature for 2, 6 and 24h. During sludge disintegration it was noticed the growth of indicators values that confirmed the susceptibility of prepared sludge to biodegradation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The one-stage autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion for sewage sludge treatment: stabilization process and mechanism.

PubMed

Liu, Shugen; Zhu, Nanwen; Li, Loretta Y

2012-01-01

Batch experiment was carried out in a simulated thermophilic aerobic digester to investigate the digestion process of one-stage autothermal thermophilic aerobic digester and to explore the sludge stabilization mechanism. Volatile solids removal was 38.4% at 408 h and 45.0% at 552 h. Chemical oxidation demand, total nitrogen, and ammonia nitrogen in supernatant increased rapidly up to 168 h, and all of them fluctuated moderately after 360 h. Volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulated rapidly up to 24 to 168 h, then declined sharply, reaching a low concentration after 312 h. Propionic, iso-valeric, and iso-butyric acids, in addition to acetic acids, were also the major components of VFA. As the biochemical metabolic process was inhibited under oxygen-deficiency condition, the digestion system can produce acetic, propionic, butyric acids and other VFA constituents to meet the demand for NAD(+) and maximize ATP generation. The ORP affected the VFA production and depletion as well as sulfate levels. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees.

PubMed

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration.

The Role of Language in Nonlinguistic Stimuli: Comparing Inhibition in Children with Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roebuck, Hettie; Sindberg, Heidi; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2018-01-01

Purpose: There is conflicting evidence regarding if and how a deficit in executive function may be associated with developmental language impairment (LI). Nonlinguistic stimuli are now frequently used when testing executive function to avoid a language confound. However, it is possible that increased stimulus processing demands for nonlinguistic…

Technical Workshop: Advanced Helicopter Cockpit Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemingway, J. C. (Editor); Callas, G. P. (Editor)

1984-01-01

Information processing demands on both civilian and military aircrews have increased enormously as rotorcraft have come to be used for adverse weather, day/night, and remote area missions. Applied psychology, engineering, or operational research for future helicopter cockpit design criteria were identified. Three areas were addressed: (1) operational requirements, (2) advanced avionics, and (3) man-system integration.

Ethical Issues Affecting Human Participants in Community College Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wurtz, Keith

2011-01-01

The increasing demand of constituents to conduct analyses in order to help inform the decision-making process has led to the need for Institutional Research (IR) guidelines for community college educators. One method of maintaining the quality of research conducted by IR staff is to include professional development about ethics. This article…

A Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs: A Delphi Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shelton, Kaye

2010-01-01

As the demands for public accountability increase for the higher education industry, institutions are seeking methods for continuous improvement in order to demonstrate quality within programs and processes, including those provided through online education. Because of the rapid growth of online education programs, institutions are further called…

Constructing Singing Assessments for the Music Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichols, Bryan E.

2017-01-01

As teachers are increasingly asked to respond to assessment and evaluation demands in their schools, the aim of this article is to provide suggestions and scales for singing accuracy. A description of each step in the assessment design process is provided, along with specific suggestions for a singing development scale and a singing accuracy scale.

The Impact of Electronic Communication on Writing. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati

Noting that electronic communication places new demands on language that leads to interesting variations in written language use, this Digest summarizes insights gained from research on writing behavior and performance in the electronic age. It concludes that both the process and the content of writing are evolving in response to the increased use…

Distance Education for Physicians: Adaptation of a Canadian Experience to Uruguay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Llambi, Laura; Margolis, Alvaro; Toews, John; Dapueto, Juan; Esteves, Elba; Martinez, Elisa; Forster, Thais; Lopez, Antonio; Lockyer, Jocelyn

2008-01-01

Introduction: The production of online high-quality continuing professional development is a complex process that demands familiarity with effective program and content design. Collaboration and sharing across nations would appear to be a reasonable way to improve quality, increase access, and reduce costs. Methods: In this case report, the…

Profits or Professionalism: Issues Facing the Professionalization of TESL in Canada

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacPherson, Seonaigh; Kouritzin, Sandra; Kim, Sohee

2005-01-01

TESL is a field in the process of professionalization. As TESL organizations in Canada struggle to gain professional stature for the field, market demands for ESL teachers in Canada and around the world increase exponentially. This creates a dilemma; whereas professionalization require making the field more difficult to access without specialized…

Extraction and characterization of non-zein proteins in corn germ from wet-milling

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The current fuel energy situation involving escalating gasoline prices and greater demand for biofuels like ethanol are expected to add more co-products from corn processing to an already-saturated market. There is greater urgency to identify and develop novel uses for corn co-products to increase ...

A Competitive and Experiential Assignment in Search Engine Optimization Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, Theresa B.; Clarke, Irvine, III

2014-01-01

Despite an increase in ad spending and demand for employees with expertise in search engine optimization (SEO), methods for teaching this important marketing strategy have received little coverage in the literature. Using Bloom's cognitive goals hierarchy as a framework, this experiential assignment provides a process for educators who may be new…

A Truth that's Told with Bad Intent: An ERP Study of Deception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrion, Ricardo E.; Keenan, Julian P.; Sebanz, Natalie

2010-01-01

Human social cognition critically relies on the ability to deceive others. However, the cognitive and neural underpinnings of deception are still poorly understood. Why does lying place increased demands on cognitive control? The present study investigated whether cognitive control processes during deception are recruited due to the need to…

The First Step in Educational Problem Solving---A Systematic Assessment of Student Benefits.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweigert, Ray L., Jr.

The limitations on educational resources and the increasing complexity in all phases of social organization demand that the educational process become more efficient and effective. A strong opinion among educators suggests that students can learn faster if the educational forces are applied systematically. To achieve this goal, learning objectives…

A Replication of Failure, Not a Failure to Replicate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holden, Gary; Barker, Kathleen; Kuppens, Sofie; Rosenberg, Gary; LeBreton, Jonathan

2015-01-01

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research. Method: Issue-level coverage…

Methodology of a Modern Foreign Language Lesson for Postgraduate Students of Technical Disciplines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toporkova, Olga; Novozhenina, Elena; Tchechet, Tamara; Likhacheva, Tatiana

2014-01-01

The integration of Russia into the international common space of research and education accompanied by modernization of the national system of education puts forward new demands to postgraduate education. The processes of integration and modernization increase the importance of learning a foreign language for a future scientist. The article deals…

Fairness in Computerized Testing: Detecting Item Bias Using CATSIB with Impact Present

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Man-Wai; Lai, Hollis

2013-01-01

In educational assessment, there is an increasing demand for tailoring assessments to individual examinees through computer adaptive tests (CAT). As such, it is particularly important to investigate the fairness of these adaptive testing processes, which require the investigation of differential item function (DIF) to yield information about item…

The Winds of Change: Higher Education Management Programmes in Europe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pausits, Attila; Pellert, Ada

2009-01-01

Amid the Bologna Process and as a direct effect of it, European higher education institutions have to rethink their core institutional policies in order to effectively deal with the increasing demands and needs of their "customers" and society at large. The higher education management programmes across Europe, with some specific needs…

Formative Assessment Professional Development: Impact on Teacher Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiBiase, Deborah

2014-01-01

With increasing demands on student achievement as set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001), teachers are the catalyst for improving their students' performance (Marzano, 2000). Existing studies on the use of formative assessment as a process by which teachers elicit information of their students' progress and use that information to…

Another View: In Defense of Vigor over Rigor in Classroom Demonstrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Dana S.

2008-01-01

Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) demands greater empirical rigor on the part of authors and the editorial process than ever before. Although admirable and important, I worry that this increasing rigor will limit opportunities and outlets for a form of pedagogical vigor--the publication of simple, experiential, but empirically…

ASPEN--A Web-Based Application for Managing Student Server Accounts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandvig, J. Christopher

2004-01-01

The growth of the Internet has greatly increased the demand for server-side programming courses at colleges and universities. Students enrolled in such courses must be provided with server-based accounts that support the technologies that they are learning. The process of creating, managing and removing large numbers of student server accounts is…

State Education Data Systems That Increase Learning and Improve Accountability. Policy Issues. Number 16

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palaich, Robert M.; Griffin Good, Dixie; van der Ploeg, Arie

2004-01-01

Driven by growing accountability pressures, states and districts have invested in a variety of computerized systems for data storage, analysis, and reporting. As accountability policies demand access to more transparent and accurate data about every aspect of the education process, developing linkages among historically disparate systems is…

Out over Their Skis: A Study of Principal Preparation Program Policy in Florida

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Storey, Valerie A.; Johnson, Jerry

2017-01-01

Perceived shortage of principals, increased accountability demands, the changing role of principals, and the growing influence of the state over school administration have created a set of challenges for principal certification and licensure that have propelled a renewed need for analysis of certification and licensure processes. Recent calls to…

Helping Doctoral Students Establish Long-Term Identities as Technical Communication Scholars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant-Davie, Keith; Matheson, Breeanne; Stephens, Eric James

2017-01-01

This article aims to help doctoral students in technical communication prepare themselves for the academic job market and for the subsequent process of earning tenure and promotion in increasingly demanding environments. The authors propose that students do four things: (a) learn to spot and articulate research problems; (b) find their…

Gaussian processes-based predictive models to estimate reference ET from alternative meteorological data sources for irrigation scheduling

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Accurate estimates of daily crop evapotranspiration (ET) are needed for efficient irrigation management, especially in arid and semi-arid irrigated regions where crop water demand exceeds rainfall. The impact of inaccurate ET estimates can be tremendous in both irrigation cost and the increased dema...

Olympic Sports Coaching Education: An International Coach's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiosoglous, Cameron

2016-01-01

The profession of high performance sports coaching is a complex process focused on performance improvement with the goal of producing international sporting success. Rising demand for top-level coaches has been matched with the increasing amount of resources allocated to producing world-class performances. This includes creating and sustaining a…

Complex Education Systems: From Steering Change to Governance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michel, Alain

2016-01-01

The theories and approaches of steering/monitoring a process of change within education systems have evolved over the last 20 years or so as a result of many factors such as globalisation and decentralisation, a faster pace of change, increasing expectations and demands from various stakeholders (parents, employers, teacher unions, etc.) and the…

Comparative Review of Pedagogical Technologies in the Educational Process of Higher Educational Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulmagambetova, Svetlana S.; Iskindirova, Saltanat K.; Kazhiakparova, Zhadyra S.; Bainiyeva, Kulyash T.; Pandya, Chimay

2016-01-01

The present rapid technological progress and the post-crisis period determine the increasing demand for revision of existing concepts and strategies aimed at maintaining global development. This article describes pedagogical technologies, indicates the need to reform the outdated education systems or to reject them completely in order to improve…

The impact of task demand on visual word recognition.

PubMed

Yang, J; Zevin, J

2014-07-11

The left occipitotemporal cortex has been found sensitive to the hierarchy of increasingly complex features in visually presented words, from individual letters to bigrams and morphemes. However, whether this sensitivity is a stable property of the brain regions engaged by word recognition is still unclear. To address the issue, the current study investigated whether different task demands modify this sensitivity. Participants viewed real English words and stimuli with hierarchical word-likeness while performing a lexical decision task (i.e., to decide whether each presented stimulus is a real word) and a symbol detection task. General linear model and independent component analysis indicated strong activation in the fronto-parietal and temporal regions during the two tasks. Furthermore, the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and insula showed significant interaction effects between task demand and stimulus type in the pseudoword condition. The occipitotemporal cortex showed strong main effects for task demand and stimulus type, but no sensitivity to the hierarchical word-likeness was found. These results suggest that different task demands on semantic, phonological and orthographic processes can influence the involvement of the relevant regions during visual word recognition. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Top-down attentional control in spatially coincident stimuli enhances activity in both task-relevant and task-irrelevant regions of cortex

PubMed Central

Erickson, Kirk I.; Prakash, Ruchika Shaurya; Kim, Jennifer S.; Sutton, Bradley P.; Colcombe, Stanley J.; Kramer, Arthur F.

2010-01-01

Models of selective attention predict that focused attention to spatially contiguous stimuli may result in enhanced activity in areas of cortex specialized for processing task-relevant and task-irrelevant information. We examined this hypothesis by localizing color-sensitive areas (CSA) and word and letter sensitive areas of cortex and then examining modulation of these regions during performance of a modified version of the Stroop task in which target and distractors are spatially coincident. We report that only the incongruent condition with the highest cognitive demand showed increased activity in CSA relative to other conditions, indicating an attentional enhancement in target processing areas. We also found an enhancement of activity in one region sensitive to word/letter processing during the most cognitively demanding incongruent condition indicating greater processing of the distractor dimension. Correlations with performance revealed that top-down modulation during the task was critical for effective filtering of irrelevant information in conflict conditions. These results support predictions made by models of selective attention and suggest an important mechanism of top-down attentional control in spatially contiguous stimuli. PMID:18804123

Prospective memory and working memory: asymmetrical effects during frontal lobe TMS stimulation.

PubMed

Basso, Demis; Ferrari, Marcella; Palladino, Paola

2010-09-01

The role of working memory (WM) for the realization of an intended action (prospective memory, PM) has been debated in recent neuropsychological literature. The present study aimed to assess whether WM and PM share resources or are, alternatively, two distinct mechanisms. A verbal task was used, which manipulated the cognitive demand of both WM and PM dimensions on an event-based prospective task. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was also employed to clarify the causal contribution of frontal areas previously related to WM, to the PM process. The prospective task required the participant to respond whenever a word appeared which had been presented before the beginning of the task. Two ongoing tasks were administered: an updating WM task (in two conditions of medium and high WM demands) and a lexical decision task (representing a low WM demand). In the first two experiments, higher PM demand affected WM only at higher loads, but the PM load effect was independent of WM, showing asymmetrical behavioural effects. In the third experiment, single pulse TMS was applied to left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. When applied to the experimental sites, stimulation increased error rates of the PM task, while the effect was only marginal in the WM task. The effect was bilateral, since there was no difference between left and right stimulation sites. These findings demonstrated, from both behavioural and neurofunctional perspectives, that WM and PM processes are not based on the same memory system, but PM may require WM resources at high demand. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elucidating the functional relationship between working memory capacity and psychometric intelligence: a fixed-links modeling approach for experimental repeated-measures designs.

PubMed

Thomas, Philipp; Rammsayer, Thomas; Schweizer, Karl; Troche, Stefan

2015-01-01

Numerous studies reported a strong link between working memory capacity (WMC) and fluid intelligence (Gf), although views differ in respect to how close these two constructs are related to each other. In the present study, we used a WMC task with five levels of task demands to assess the relationship between WMC and Gf by means of a new methodological approach referred to as fixed-links modeling. Fixed-links models belong to the family of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and are of particular interest for experimental, repeated-measures designs. With this technique, processes systematically varying across task conditions can be disentangled from processes unaffected by the experimental manipulation. Proceeding from the assumption that experimental manipulation in a WMC task leads to increasing demands on WMC, the processes systematically varying across task conditions can be assumed to be WMC-specific. Processes not varying across task conditions, on the other hand, are probably independent of WMC. Fixed-links models allow for representing these two kinds of processes by two independent latent variables. In contrast to traditional CFA where a common latent variable is derived from the different task conditions, fixed-links models facilitate a more precise or purified representation of the WMC-related processes of interest. By using fixed-links modeling to analyze data of 200 participants, we identified a non-experimental latent variable, representing processes that remained constant irrespective of the WMC task conditions, and an experimental latent variable which reflected processes that varied as a function of experimental manipulation. This latter variable represents the increasing demands on WMC and, hence, was considered a purified measure of WMC controlled for the constant processes. Fixed-links modeling showed that both the purified measure of WMC (β = .48) as well as the constant processes involved in the task (β = .45) were related to Gf. Taken together, these two latent variables explained the same portion of variance of Gf as a single latent variable obtained by traditional CFA (β = .65) indicating that traditional CFA causes an overestimation of the effective relationship between WMC and Gf. Thus, fixed-links modeling provides a feasible method for a more valid investigation of the functional relationship between specific constructs.

An experimental study of the job demand-control model with measures of heart rate variability and salivary alpha-amylase: Evidence of increased stress responses to increased break autonomy.

PubMed

O'Donnell, Emma; Landolt, Kathleen; Hazi, Agnes; Dragano, Nico; Wright, Bradley J

2015-01-01

We assessed in an experimental design whether the stress response towards a work task was moderated by the autonomy to choose a break during the assigned time to complete the task. This setting is defined in accordance with the theoretical framework of the job-demand-control (JDC) model of work related stress. The findings from naturalistic investigations of a stress-buffering effect of autonomy (or 'buffer hypothesis') are equivocal and the experimental evidence is limited, especially with relation to physiological indices of stress. Our objective was to investigate if increased autonomy in a particular domain (break time control) was related with adaptive physiology using objective physiological markers of stress; heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary alpha amylase (sAA). We used a within-subject design and the 60 female participants were randomly assigned to an autonomy (free timing of break) and standard conditions (fixed timing of break) of a word processing task in a simulated office environment in a random order. Participants reported increased perceptions of autonomy, no difference in demand and performed worse in the task in the break-time autonomy versus the standard condition. The results revealed support for the manipulation of increased autonomy, but in the opposing direction. Increased autonomy was related with dysregulated physiological reactivity, synonymous with typical increased stress responses. Potentially, our findings may indicate that autonomy is not necessary a resource but could become an additional stressor when it adds additional complexity while the amount of work (demands) remains unchanged. Further, our findings underscore the need to collect objective physiological evidence of stress to supplement self-reported information. Self-report biases may partially explain the inconsistent findings with the buffer hypothesis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenges to decision-making processes in the national HTA agency in Brazil: operational procedures, evidence use and recommendations.

PubMed

Yuba, Tania Yuka; Novaes, Hillegonda Maria Dutilh; de Soárez, Patrícia Coelho

2018-05-11

The quality of the evidence used in health technology assessment (HTA) agency reports has been considered essential for decision-making processes and their legitimacy. In Brazil, CONITEC is the agency responsible for defining data mandatory for the submission of proposals for the incorporation of new technologies. The objective of this study was to analyse CONITEC recommendation reports, the type of scientific evidence used in them and their compliance with operational procedures. This is a descriptive study based on CONITEC official reports from July 2012 through December 2016. Data were collected with a specific extraction form and analysed using descriptive statistics. We evaluated 199 CONITEC recommendation reports. The annual number of reports increased during the study period. The absolute annual number of new technologies incorporated in 2013 (n = 24) was similar to that observed for 2014 (n = 24) and 2015 (n = 22), decreasing in 2016 (n = 13). The type of technology most frequently evaluated was 'drugs' (68.3%), followed by 'procedures' (20.1%). Overall, 117 (58.8%) reports were internal demands, 75 (37.7%) were external demands and 7 (3.5%) were mixed demands. There were differences between internal and external demands in terms of the evidence used in the reports and the decision regarding the recommendation to incorporate the technologies. Among the internal demands, the recommendation to incorporate the new technology was made for 70.9% of the reports, only 9.6% of which included full HTAs. Among the external demands, the incorporation of the new technology was recommended for 17.3% of the reports, 76.9% of which included full HTAs. Of the 101 reports in which incorporation of the new technology was recommended, 88 (87.1%) did not include a full health economic evaluation and ICER calculation. There are compliance difficulties with the recommendations in the CONITEC internal regulations regarding the type and quality of evidence considered in the analysis of recommendation reports. The characteristics of the evidence used in recommendation reports and those considered to be mandatory were very different, indicating problems in decision-making processes. There is a need to study, with a broader perspective, the factors that influence the type of evidence used in decision-making processes in order to contribute to the development of better practices and policies.

Towards a New Paradigm of Software Development: an Ambassador Driven Process in Distributed Software Companies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumlander, Deniss

The globalization of companies operations and competitor between software vendors demand improving quality of delivered software and decreasing the overall cost. The same in fact introduce a lot of problem into software development process as produce distributed organization breaking the co-location rule of modern software development methodologies. Here we propose a reformulation of the ambassador position increasing its productivity in order to bridge communication and workflow gap by managing the entire communication process rather than concentrating purely on the communication result.

How are changes in exposure to job demands and job resources related to burnout and engagement? A longitudinal study among Chinese nurses and police officers.

PubMed

Hu, Qiao; Schaufeli, Wilmar B; Taris, Toon W

2017-12-01

This study used a person-centered approach to examine the across-time relationships between job demands and job resources on the one hand and employee well-being (burnout and work engagement) on the other. On the basis of the job demands-resources model and conservation of resources (COR) theory, increases in demands and decreases in resources across time were expected to result in unfavorable changes in well-being across time. The results of a 2-wave study among 172 nurses and 273 police officers showed several common patterns across both samples: (a) participants who experienced an increase of demands showed a significant increase in burnout, whereas participants who reported having low resources at both measurement times also showed a significant increase in burnout; (b) participants who experienced decreasing resources reported a significant increase in burnout and a significant decrease in engagement; (c) participants who were exposed to chronic low job resources in a highly demanding environment showed a significant increase in burnout; and (d) participants who were exposed to decreased job resources in a highly demanding environment showed a significant increase in burnout. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Surface Modification of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Grains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alruqobah, Essam H.

Nearly all of the world’s energy demand today is being met by the use of non-renewable energy sources. With the worldwide energy demand projected to increase in the coming years, it is vital to find alternative and renewable energy sources. Among the available renewable energy sources, solar energy is the most promising in meeting the worldwide energy demand. Recently, thin film solar cells have garnered attention due to their thinner architecture and relatively high optical absorption coefficients, as opposed to the conventional crytslline silicon solar cells. One of the most promising thin-film solar cell absorber materials is Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe), achieving power conversion efficiencies approaching those of crystalline Si. The highest efficiency CIGSe devices were made via costly vacuum-based co-evaporation process. CIGSe devices made from solution-processed methods have also garnered attention due to their lower costs, and their efficiencies have increased considerably in recent years. In this thesis, CIGSe absorber layers are fabricated via the solution-processed from nanoparticle-based sulfide CIGS. The most important step in fabrication of a CIGSe solar cell absorber layer is the selenization step, which is the thermal sintering of a CIGSe precursor layer in the presence of selenium vapor to achieve large, dense selenide grains that are required for adequate PV performance. It is determined that maintaining adequate selenium vapor pressure on the substrate during the selenization and subsequent cooldown is crucial in producing high efficiency solar cell devices. Furthermore, exposing the CIGSe grains to a Se-deficient atmosphere causes Se to evaporate from the grains, and subsequently modifying the CIGSe grain surface. The modified grain surface adversely impacts the PV performance of the final solar cell device by forming defects due to the decrease in selenium concentration. These defects are manifested in increased current shunting, and decrease the overall efficiency of the device.

Hybrid measurement chains for the SAS-C spacecraft. [advantages over analog signal processing circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goeke, R. F.

1975-01-01

Spacecraft electronic systems usually demand tight packaging. It was this consideration which initially forced us to consider hybrid circuits for the analog signal processing circuits in the Small Astronomy Satellite-C (SAS-C) scientific payload. We gradually discovered that increased reliability, low power consumption, and reduced program costs all followed. This paper will attempt to share our laboratory's first experience with hybrid circuits and indicate those areas which we found to be important.

Energy Efficiency and Demand Response for Residential Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wellons, Christopher J., II

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the costs, feasibility and benefits of implementing energy efficient devices and demand response programs to a residential consumer environment. Energy efficiency and demand response are important for many reasons, including grid stabilization. With energy demand increasing, as the years' pass, the drain on the grid is going up. There are two key solutions to this problem, increasing supply by building more power plants and decreasing demand during peak periods, by increasing participation in demand response programs and by upgrading residential and commercial customers to energy efficient devices, to lower demand throughout the day. This thesis focuses on utilizing demand response methods and energy efficient device to reduce demand. Four simulations were created to analyze these methods. These simulations show the importance of energy efficiency and demand response participation to help stabilize the grid, integrate more alternative energy resources, and reduce emissions from fossil fuel generating facilities. The results of these numerical analyses show that demand response and energy efficiency can be beneficial to consumers and utilities. With demand response being the most beneficial to the utility and energy efficiency, specifically LED lighting, providing the most benefits to the consumer.

Water stress as a trigger of demand change: exploring the implications for drought planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, M. E.; Islam, S.; Portney, K. E.

2015-12-01

Drought in the Anthropocene is a function of both supply and demand. Despite its importance, demand is typically incorporated into planning models exogenously using a single scenario of demand change over time. Alternatively, demand is incorporated endogenously in hydro-economic models based on the assumption of rationality. However, actors are constrained by limited information and information processing capabilities, casting doubt on the rationality assumption. Though the risk of water shortage changes incrementally with demand growth and hydrologic change, significant shifts in management are punctuated and often linked to periods of stress. The observation of lasting decreases in per capita demands in a number of cities during periods of water stress prompts an alternate hypothesis: the occurrence of water stress increases the tendency of cities to promote and enforce efficient technologies and behaviors and the tendency of users to adopt them. We show the relevance of this hypothesis by building a model of a hypothetical surface water system to answer the following question: what is the impact of reservoir operation policy on the reliability of water supply for a growing city? The model links the rate of demand decreases to the past reliability to compare standard operating policy (SOP) with hedging policy (HP). Under SOP, demand is fulfilled unless available supply drops below demand; under HP, water releases are reduced in anticipation of a deficit to decrease the risk of a large shortfall. The model shows that reservoir storage acts both as a buffer for variability and as a delay triggering oscillations around a sustainable level of demand. HP reduces the threshold for action thereby decreasing the delay and the oscillation effect. As a result per capita demand decrease during periods of water stress are more frequent but less drastic and the additive effect of small adjustments decreases the tendency of the system to overshoot available supplies.

Quality of care and the demand for health services in Bamako, Mali: the specific roles of structural, process, and outcome components.

PubMed

Mariko, Mamadou

2003-03-01

The public finance and foreign exchange crisis of the 1980s aggravated the unfavourable economic trends in many developing countries and resulted in budget cuts in the health sector. Policymakers, following the suggestions of World Bank experts, introduced user fees. Economic analysis of the demand for health care in these countries focused on the impact of price and income on health service utilisation. But the lesson to date from experiences in cost recovery is that without visible and fairly immediate improvements in the quality of care, the implementation of user fees will cause service utilisation to drop. For this reason, the role of quality of health care has been recently a subject of investigation in a number of health care demand studies. In spite of using the data from both households and facilities, recent studies are quite limited because they measure quality only by structural attributes (availability of drugs, equipment, number and qualifications of staff, and so on). Structural attributes of quality are necessary but not sufficient conditions for demand. A unique feature of this study is that it also considers the processes followed by practitioners and the outcome of care, to determine simultaneously the respective influence of price and quality on decision making. A nested multinomial logit was used to examine the choice between six alternatives (self-treatment, modern treatment at home, public hospital, public dispensary, for-profit facility and non-profit facility). The estimations are based on data from a statistically representative sample of 1104 patients from 1191 households and the data from a stratified random sample of 42 out of 84 facilities identified. The results indicate that omitting the process quality variables from the demand model produces a bias not only in the estimated coefficient of the "price" variable but also in coefficients of some structural attributes of the quality. The simulations suggest that price has a minor effect on utilisation of health services, and that health authorities can simultaneously double user fees and increase utilisation by emphasising improvement of both the structural and process quality of care in public health facilities.

Enhancing Biodiesel from Kemiri Sunan Oil Manufacturing using Ultrasonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Supriyadi, Slamet; Purwanto; Anggoro, Didi Dwi; Hermawan

2018-02-01

Kemiri Sunan (Reutalis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw) is a potential plant to be developed as biodiesel feedstock. The advantage of Kemiri Sunan seeds when compared to other biodiesel raw materials is their high oil content. This plant is also very good for land conservation. Due the increasingly demand for biodiesel, research and new methods to increase its biodiesel production continue to be undertaken. The weakness of conventional biodiesel manufacturing process is in the mixing process in which mechanical stirring and heating in the trans-esterification process require more energy and a longer time. A higher and stronger mixing process is required to increase the contact area between the two phases of the mixed substance to produce the emulsion. Ultrasonic is a tool that can be useful for a liquid mixing process that tends to be separated. Ultrasonic waves can cause mixing intensity at the micro level and increase mass transfer, so the reaction can be performed at a much faster rate. This study is to figure out the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the transesterification process of biodiesel from Kemiri Sunan Oil.

Application of integrated ozone and granular activated carbon for decolorization and chemical oxygen demand reduction of vinasse from alcohol distilleries.

PubMed

Hadavifar, Mojtaba; Younesi, Habibollah; Zinatizadeh, Ali Akbar; Mahdad, Faezeh; Li, Qin; Ghasemi, Zahra

2016-04-01

This study investigates the treatment of the distilleries vinasse using a hybrid process integrating ozone oxidation and granular activated carbons (GAC) in both batch and continuous operation mode. The batch-process studies have been carried out to optimize initial influent pH, GAC doses, the effect of the ozone (O3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal of the distilleries vinasse. The continuous process was carried out on GAC and ozone treatment alone as well as the hybrid process comb both methods to investigate the synergism effectiveness of the two methods for distilleries vinasse COD reduction and color removal. In a continuous process, the Yan model described the experimental data better than the Thomas model. The efficiency of ozonation of the distilleries vinasse was more effective for color removal (74.4%) than COD removal (25%). O3/H2O2 process was not considerably more effective on COD and color removal. Moreover, O3/GAC process affected negatively on the removal efficiency by reducing COD and color from distilleries vinasse. The negative effect decreased by increasing pH value of the influent. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder symptoms on cognitive and fear processing in female offenders.

PubMed

Anton, Marja E; Baskin-Sommers, Arielle R; Vitale, Jennifer E; Curtin, John J; Newman, Joseph P

2012-12-01

Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (APD) have long been considered important risk factors for criminal behavior and incarceration. However, little is known about the psychobiological underpinnings that give rise to the disinhibited behavior of female offenders. Using an instructed fear-conditioning paradigm and a sample of incarcerated female offenders, we manipulated attentional focus and cognitive load to characterize and differentiate between the dysfunctional cognitive and affective processes associated with these syndromes. We used fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and event-related potentials as measures of affective and cognitive processing, respectively. After controlling for APD symptoms, psychopathic women displayed greater FPS while attending directly to threat-relevant stimuli and displayed less FPS while performing a demanding task that directed attention to threat-irrelevant information. Conversely, controlling for psychopathy, women with high APD symptoms displayed less overall FPS, especially when instructed to focus on threat-relevant stimuli. However, as the demands on cognitive resources increased, they displayed greater FPS. For both psychopathy and APD, analysis of the event-related potentials qualified these findings and further specified the abnormal cognitive processes associated with these two syndromes. Overall, simultaneous analysis of psychopathy and APD revealed distinct patterns of cognitive processing and fear reactivity.

Endothermy in birds: underlying molecular mechanisms.

PubMed

Walter, Isabel; Seebacher, Frank

2009-08-01

Endothermy is significant in vertebrate evolution because it changes the relations between animals and their environment. How endothermy has evolved in archosaurs (birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs) is controversial especially because birds do not possess brown adipose tissue, the specialized endothermic tissue of mammals. Internal heat production is facilitated by increased oxidative metabolic capacity, accompanied by the uncoupling of aerobic metabolism from energy (ATP) production. Here we show that the transition from an ectothermic to an endothermic metabolic state in developing chicken embryos occurs by the interaction between increased basal ATP demand (Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase activity and gene expression), increased oxidative capacity and increased uncoupling of mitochondria; this process is controlled by thyroid hormone via its effect on PGC1alpha and adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) gene expression. Mitochondria become more uncoupled during development, but unlike in mammals, avian uncoupling protein (avUCP) does not uncouple electron transport from oxidative phosphorylation and therefore plays no role in heat production. Instead, ANT is the principal uncoupling protein in birds. The relationship between oxidative capacity and uncoupling indicates that there is a continuum of phenotypes that fall between the extremes of selection for increased heat production and increased aerobic activity, whereas increased cellular ATP demand is a prerequisite for increased oxidative capacity.

Ubiquitous Green Computing Techniques for High Demand Applications in Smart Environments

PubMed Central

Zapater, Marina; Sanchez, Cesar; Ayala, Jose L.; Moya, Jose M.; Risco-Martín, José L.

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous sensor network deployments, such as the ones found in Smart cities and Ambient intelligence applications, require constantly increasing high computational demands in order to process data and offer services to users. The nature of these applications imply the usage of data centers. Research has paid much attention to the energy consumption of the sensor nodes in WSNs infrastructures. However, supercomputing facilities are the ones presenting a higher economic and environmental impact due to their very high power consumption. The latter problem, however, has been disregarded in the field of smart environment services. This paper proposes an energy-minimization workload assignment technique, based on heterogeneity and application-awareness, that redistributes low-demand computational tasks from high-performance facilities to idle nodes with low and medium resources in the WSN infrastructure. These non-optimal allocation policies reduce the energy consumed by the whole infrastructure and the total execution time. PMID:23112621

Mathematical Model and Artificial Intelligent Techniques Applied to a Milk Industry through DSM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babu, P. Ravi; Divya, V. P. Sree

2011-08-01

The resources for electrical energy are depleting and hence the gap between the supply and the demand is continuously increasing. Under such circumstances, the option left is optimal utilization of available energy resources. The main objective of this chapter is to discuss about the Peak load management and overcome the problems associated with it in processing industries such as Milk industry with the help of DSM techniques. The chapter presents a generalized mathematical model for minimizing the total operating cost of the industry subject to the constraints. The work presented in this chapter also deals with the results of application of Neural Network, Fuzzy Logic and Demand Side Management (DSM) techniques applied to a medium scale milk industrial consumer in India to achieve the improvement in load factor, reduction in Maximum Demand (MD) and also the consumer gets saving in the energy bill.

A Closed-Loop Supply Chain under Retail Price and Quality Dependent Demand with Remanufacturing and Refurbishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christy, A. Y.; Fauzi, B. N.; Kurdi, N. A.; Jauhari, W. A.; Saputro, D. R. S.

2017-06-01

The demand of a product is linearly dependent on the retail price and quality of the product. We address a closed-loop supply chain where the manufacturer manufactures products according to the demand and sells them through a retailer in the market. A third party collects the used products from costumers and sends to the manufacturer to increase the quality. If the products can retrieve the original quality, thus the process is called remanufacturing. Not every products can retrieve the original quality, thus manufacturer refurbish this products with lower price. We construct four different scenarios - centralized and decentralized led by manufacturer, retailer, and third party. From the comparison of the result obtained in the numerical example, we conclude that the joint profit obtained under centralized, manufacturer-led, and retailer-led policies is higher than third party-led policy.

Consequences of increasing bioenergy demand on wood and forests: An application of the Global Forest Products Model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buongiorno, J.; Raunikar, R.; Zhu, S.

2011-01-01

The Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) was applied to project the consequences for the global forest sector of doubling the rate of growth of bioenergy demand relative to a base scenario, other drivers being maintained constant. The results showed that this would lead to the convergence of the price of fuelwood and industrial roundwood, raising the price of industrial roundwood by nearly 30% in 2030. The price of sawnwood and panels would be 15% higher. The price of paper would be 3% higher. Concurrently, the demand for all manufactured wood products would be lower in all countries, but the production would rise in countries with competitive advantage. The global value added in wood processing industries would be 1% lower in 2030. The forest stock would be 2% lower for the world and 4% lower for Asia. These effects varied substantially by country. ?? 2011 Department of Forest Economics, SLU Ume??, Sweden.

Ubiquitous green computing techniques for high demand applications in Smart environments.

PubMed

Zapater, Marina; Sanchez, Cesar; Ayala, Jose L; Moya, Jose M; Risco-Martín, José L

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous sensor network deployments, such as the ones found in Smart cities and Ambient intelligence applications, require constantly increasing high computational demands in order to process data and offer services to users. The nature of these applications imply the usage of data centers. Research has paid much attention to the energy consumption of the sensor nodes in WSNs infrastructures. However, supercomputing facilities are the ones presenting a higher economic and environmental impact due to their very high power consumption. The latter problem, however, has been disregarded in the field of smart environment services. This paper proposes an energy-minimization workload assignment technique, based on heterogeneity and application-awareness, that redistributes low-demand computational tasks from high-performance facilities to idle nodes with low and medium resources in the WSN infrastructure. These non-optimal allocation policies reduce the energy consumed by the whole infrastructure and the total execution time.

Calcium homeostasis and vitamin D metabolism and expression in strongly calcifying laying birds.

PubMed

Bar, Arie

2008-12-01

Egg laying and shell calcification impose severe extra demands on ionic calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis; especially in birds characterized by their long clutches (series of eggs laid sequentially before a "pause day"). These demands induce vitamin D metabolism and expression. The metabolism of vitamin D is also altered indirectly, by other processes associated with increased demands for calcium, such as growth, bone formation and egg production. A series of intestinal, renal or bone proteins are consequently expressed in the target organs via mechanisms involving a vitamin D receptor. Some of these proteins (carbonic anhydrase, calbindin and calcium-ATPase) are also found in the uterus (eggshell gland) or are believed to be involved in calcium transport in the intestine or kidney (calcium channels). The present review deals with vitamin D metabolism and the expression of the above-mentioned proteins in birds, with special attention to the strongly calcifying laying bird.

Burnout and Work Engagement among Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hakanen, Jari J.; Bakker, Arnold B.; Schaufeli, Wilmar B.

2006-01-01

The Job Demands-Resources Model was used as the basis of the proposal that there are two parallel processes involved in work-related well-being among teachers, namely an energetical process (i.e., job demands --> burnout --> ill health) and a motivational process (i.e., job resources --> engagement --> organizational…

Neural bases of selective attention in action video game players.

PubMed

Bavelier, D; Achtman, R L; Mani, M; Föcker, J

2012-05-15

Over the past few years, the very act of playing action video games has been shown to enhance several different aspects of visual selective attention, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that mediate such attentional benefits. A review of the aspects of attention enhanced in action game players suggests there are changes in the mechanisms that control attention allocation and its efficiency (Hubert-Wallander, Green, & Bavelier, 2010). The present study used brain imaging to test this hypothesis by comparing attentional network recruitment and distractor processing in action gamers versus non-gamers as attentional demands increased. Moving distractors were found to elicit lesser activation of the visual motion-sensitive area (MT/MST) in gamers as compared to non-gamers, suggestive of a better early filtering of irrelevant information in gamers. As expected, a fronto-parietal network of areas showed greater recruitment as attentional demands increased in non-gamers. In contrast, gamers barely engaged this network as attentional demands increased. This reduced activity in the fronto-parietal network that is hypothesized to control the flexible allocation of top-down attention is compatible with the proposal that action game players may allocate attentional resources more automatically, possibly allowing more efficient early filtering of irrelevant information. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of rapid temperature rising on nitrogen removal and microbial community variation of anoxic/aerobic process for ABS resin wastewater treatment.

PubMed

Luo, Huilong; Song, Yudong; Zhou, Yuexi; Yang, Liwei; Zhao, Yaqian

2017-02-01

ABS resin wastewater is a high-temperature nitrogenous organic wastewater. It can be successfully treated with anoxic/aerobic (A/O) process. In this study, the effect of temperature on nitrogen removal and microbial community after quick temperature rise (QTR) was investigated. It was indicated that QTR from 25 to 30 °C facilitated the microbial growth and achieved a similar effluent quality as that at 25 °C. QTR from 25 to 35 °C or 40 °C resulted in higher effluent concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). Illumina MiSeq pyrosequencing analysis illustrated that the richness and diversity of the bacterial community was decreased as the temperature was increased. The percentage of many functional groups was changed significantly. QTR from 25 to 40 °C also resulted in the inhibition of ammonia oxidation rate and high concentration of free ammonia, which then inhibited the growth of NOB (Nitrospira), and thus resulted in nitrite accumulation. The high temperature above 35 °C promoted the growth of a denitrifying bacterial genus, Denitratisoma, which might increase N 2 O production during the denitrification process.

Identification of Characterization Factor for Power System Oscillation Based on Multiple Synchronized Phasor Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashiguchi, Takuhei; Watanabe, Masayuki; Matsushita, Akihiro; Mitani, Yasunori; Saeki, Osamu; Tsuji, Kiichiro; Hojo, Masahide; Ukai, Hiroyuki

Electric power systems in Japan are composed of remote and distributed location of generators and loads mainly concentrated in large demand areas. The structures having long distance transmission tend to produce heavy power flow with increasing electric power demand. In addition, some independent power producers (IPP) and power producer and suppliers (PPS) are participating in the power generation business, which makes power system dynamics more complex. However, there was little observation as a whole power system. In this paper the authors present a global monitoring system of power system dynamics by using the synchronized phasor measurement of demand side outlets. Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) are synchronized based on the global positioning system (GPS). The purpose of this paper is to show oscillation characteristics and methods for processing original data obtained from PMU after certain power system disturbances triggered by some accidents. This analysis resulted in the observation of the lowest and the second lowest frequency mode. The derivation of eigenvalue with two degree of freedom model brings a monitoring of two oscillation modes. Signal processing based on Wavelet analysis and simulation studies to illustrate the obtained phenomena are demonstrated in detail.

Enhanced monitoring of the temporal and spatial relationships between water demand and water availability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, C. A.; Aggett, G. R.; Hattendorf, M. J.

2007-12-01

Better information on evapotranspiration (ET) is essential to better understanding of consumptive use of water by crops. RTi is using NASA Earth-sun System research results and METRIC (Mapping ET at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) to increase the repeatability and accuracy of consumptive use estimates. METRIC, an image-processing model for calculating ET as a residual of the surface energy balance, utilizes the thermal band on various satellite remote sensors. Calculating actual ET from satellites can avoid many of the assumptions driving other methods of calculating ET over a large area. Because it is physically based and does not rely on explicit knowledge of crop type in the field, a large potential source of error should be eliminated. This paper assesses sources of error in current operational estimates of ET for an area of the South Platte irrigated lands of Colorado, and benchmarks potential improvements in the accuracy of ET estimates gained using METRIC, as well as the processing efficiency of consumptive use demand for large irrigated lands. Examples highlighting how better water planning decisions and water management can be achieved via enhanced monitoring of the temporal and spatial relationships between water demand and water availability are provided.

Multigigabit optical transceivers for high-data rate military applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Catanzaro, Brian E.; Kuznia, Charlie

2012-01-01

Avionics has experienced an ever increasing demand for processing power and communication bandwidth. Currently deployed avionics systems require gigabit communication using opto-electronic transceivers connected with parallel optical fiber. Ultra Communications has developed a series of transceiver solutions combining ASIC technology with flip-chip bonding and advanced opto-mechanical molded optics. Ultra Communications custom high speed ASIC chips are developed using an SoS (silicon on sapphire) process. These circuits are flip chip bonded with sources (VCSEL arrays) and detectors (PIN diodes) to create an Opto-Electronic Integrated Circuit (OEIC). These have been combined with micro-optics assemblies to create transceivers with interfaces to standard fiber array (MT) cabling technology. We present an overview of the demands for transceivers in military applications and how new generation transceivers leverage both previous generation military optical transceivers as well as commercial high performance computing optical transceivers.

Electricity generation from bio-treatment of sewage sludge with microbial fuel cell.

PubMed

Jiang, Junqiu; Zhao, Qingliang; Zhang, Jinna; Zhang, Guodong; Lee, Duu-Jong

2009-12-01

A two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) with potassium ferricyanide as its electron acceptor was utilized to degrade excess sewage sludge and to generate electricity. Stable electrical power was produced continuously during operation for 250 h. Total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) of sludge was reduced by 46.4% when an initial TCOD was 10,850 mg/l. The MFC power output did not significantly depend on process parameters such as substrate concentration, cathode catholyte concentration, and anodic pH. However, the MFC produced power was in close correlation with the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) of sludge. Furthermore, ultrasonic pretreatment of sludge accelerated organic matter dissolution and, hence, TCOD removal rate in the MFC was increased, but power output was insignificantly enhanced. This study demonstrates that this MFC can generate electricity from sewage sludge over a wide range of process parameters.

Physical discipline in Chinese American immigrant families: An adaptive culture perspective.

PubMed

Lau, Anna S

2010-07-01

Research on ethnic minority parenting has examined heritage cultural influences and contextual stressors on parenting processes. However, rarely are adaptive cultural processes considered, whereby ethnic minority parents bring their cultural values to bear in adapting to contextual demands in the host society. A survey of 107 Chinese American immigrant parents examined whether use of physical discipline can be predicted by cultural values, contextual stressors, and their interactions. Results indicated that distinct domains of cultural values were related to physical discipline in disparate ways, with some values decreasing risk and others indirectly increasing risk. There was some evidence that cultural values interacted with contextual stress to predict physical discipline. Parent-child acculturation conflicts were only related to physical discipline when parents held strong values about the importance of firm parental control. The findings illustrate how heritage cultural influences and current ecological demands may converge to shape parenting in immigrant families.

Resolving Bottlenecks: Converting Three High-Enrollment Nursing Courses to an Online Format.

PubMed

Chen, Ken-Zen; Anderson, Jeff; Hannah, Elizabeth Lyon; Bauer, Christine; Provant-Robishaw, Corinna

2015-07-01

Converting large undergraduate classes from the classroom to online has been an effective way to increase enrollments in high-demand courses in undergraduate education. However, challenges exist to maintaining students' high-quality learning interaction and engagement in large online courses. This article presents a collaborative model between faculty in health sciences and instructional designers to redesign and redevelop three high-enrollment courses to online at Boise State University. Health studies course faculty and eCampus instructional designers conducted this study to reflect the collaborative online course development process at Boise State. The offering of high-enrollment nursing courses met enrollment demand and maintained student retention. Challenges related to instruction were addressed by using a careful course redesign process and continuous improvement. Implications of this educational innovation for health science educators, instructional designers, and lessons learned are provided. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Community-driven demand creation for the use of routine viral load testing: a model to scale up routine viral load testing.

PubMed

Killingo, Bactrin M; Taro, Trisa B; Mosime, Wame N

2017-11-01

HIV treatment outcomes are dependent on the use of viral load measurement. Despite global and national guidelines recommending the use of routine viral load testing, these policies alone have not translated into widespread implementation or sufficiently increased access for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Civil society and communities of PLHIV recognize the need to close this gap and to enable the scale up of routine viral load testing. The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) developed an approach to community-led demand creation for the use of routine viral load testing. Using this Community Demand Creation Model, implementers follow a step-wise process to capacitate and empower communities to address their most pressing needs. This includes utlizing a specific toolkit that includes conducting a baseline assessment, developing a treatment education toolkit, organizing mobilization workshops for knowledge building, provision of small grants to support advocacy work and conducting benchmark evaluations. The Community Demand Creation Model to increase demand for routine viral load testing services by PLHIV has been delivered in diverse contexts including in the sub-Saharan African, Asian, Latin American and the Caribbean regions. Between December 2015 and December 2016, ITPC trained more than 240 PLHIV activists, and disbursed US$90,000 to network partners in support of their national advocacy work. The latter efforts informed a regional, community-driven campaign calling for domestic investment in the expeditious implementation of national viral load testing guidelines. HIV treatment education and community mobilization are critical components of demand creation for access to optimal HIV treatment, especially for the use of routine viral load testing. ITPC's Community Demand Creation Model offers a novel approach to achieving this goal. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of the International AIDS Society published by John Wiley & sons Ltd on behalf of the International AIDS Society.

Economically dispatching cogeneration facilities

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

Hernandez, E.

Economic dispatching has been used by utilities to meet the energy demands of their customers for decades. The objective was to first load those units which cost the least to run and slowly increase the loading of more expensive units as the incremental energy price increased. Although this concept worked well for utility based systems where incremental costs rose with peak demand, the independent power producers(IPPs) and the power purchase agreements (PPAs) have drastically changed this notion. Most PPAs structured for the IPP environment have negotiated rates which remain the same during peak periods and base their electrical generation onmore » specific process steam requirements. They also must maintain the required production balance of process steam and electrical load in order to qualify as a Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) facility. Consequently, economically dispatching Cogeneration facilities becomes an exercise in adhering to contractual guidelines while operating the equipment in the most efficient manner possible for the given condition. How then is it possible to dispatch a Cogeneration facility that maintains the electrical load demand of JFK Airport while satisfying all of its heating and cooling needs? Contractually, Kennedy International Airport Cogen (KIAC) has specific obligations concerning electrical and thermal energy exported to JFK Airport. The facility`s impressive array of heating and cooling apparatuses together with the newly installed cogen fulfilled the airport`s needs by utilizing an endless combination of new and previously installed equipment. Moreover, in order to economically operate the plant a well structured operating curriculum was necessary.« less

Status Report on Modelling and Simulation Capabilities for Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems

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

Rabiti, C.; Epiney, A.; Talbot, P.

This report summarizes the current status of the modeling and simulation capabilities developed for the economic assessment of Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems (N-R HES). The increasing penetration of variable renewables is altering the profile of the net demand, with which the other generators on the grid have to cope. N-R HES analyses are being conducted to determine the potential feasibility of mitigating the resultant volatility in the net electricity demand by adding industrial processes that utilize either thermal or electrical energy as stabilizing loads. This coordination of energy generators and users is proposed to mitigate the increase in electricity costmore » and cost volatility through the production of a saleable commodity. Overall, the financial performance of a system that is comprised of peaking units (i.e. gas turbine), baseload supply (i.e. nuclear power plant), and an industrial process (e.g. hydrogen plant) should be optimized under the constraint of satisfying an electricity demand profile with a certain level of variable renewable (wind) penetration. The optimization should entail both the sizing of the components/subsystems that comprise the system and the optimal dispatch strategy (output at any given moment in time from the different subsystems). Some of the capabilities here described have been reported separately in [1, 2, 3]. The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the improvement and extension of those capabilities and to illustrate their integrated application in the economic assessment of N-R HES.« less

P3 amplitude attenuation secondary to increases in target-to-target interval (TTI) during spatial serial order recall: Implications for EEG models of working memory function.

PubMed

Hochberger, William C; Axelrod, Jenna L; Sarapas, Casey; Shankman, Stewart A; Hill, S Kristian

2018-06-08

Research suggests that increasing delays in stimulus read-out can trigger declines in serial order recall accuracy due to increases in cognitive demand imposed by the delay; however, the exact neural mechanisms associated with this decline are unclear. Changes in neural resource allocation present as the ideal target and can easily be monitored by examining changes in the amplitude of an ERP component known as the P3. Changes in P3 amplitude secondary to exogenous pacing of stimulus read-out via increased target-to-target intervals (TTI) during recall could reflect decreased neural resource allocation due to increased cognitive demand. This shift in resource allocation could result in working memory storage decay and the declines in serial order accuracy described by prior research. In order to examine this potential effect, participants were administered a spatial serial order processing task, with the recall series consisting of a series of correct ("match") or incorrect ("non-match" or "oddball") stimuli. Moreover, the recall series included either a brief (500ms) or extended (2000ms) delay between stimuli. Results were significant for the presence of a P3 response to non-match stimuli for both experimental conditions, and attenuation of P3 amplitude secondary to the increase in target-to-target interval (TTI). These findings suggest that extending the delay between target recognition could increase cognitive demand and trigger a decrease in neural resource allocation that results in a decay of working memory stores.

Resource Demand Scenarios for the Major Metals.

PubMed

Elshkaki, Ayman; Graedel, T E; Ciacci, Luca; Reck, Barbara K

2018-03-06

The growth in metal use in the past few decades raises concern that supplies may be insufficient to meet demands in the future. From the perspective of historical and current use data for seven major metals-iron, manganese, aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc, and lead-we have generated several scenarios of potential metal demand from 2010 to 2050 under alternative patterns of global development. We have also compared those demands with various assessments of potential supply to midcentury. Five conclusions emerge: (1) The calculated demand for each of the seven metals doubles or triples relative to 2010 levels by midcentury; (2) The largest demand increases relate to a scenario in which increasingly equitable values and institutions prevail throughout the world; (3) The metal recycling flows in the scenarios meet only a modest fraction of future metals demand for the next few decades; (4) In the case of copper, zinc, and perhaps lead, supply may be unlikely to meet demand by about midcentury under the current use patterns of the respective metals; (5) Increased rates of demand for metals imply substantial new energy provisioning, leading to increases in overall global energy demand of 21-37%. These results imply that extensive technological transformations and governmental initiatives could be needed over the next several decades in order that regional and global development and associated metal demand are not to be constrained by limited metal supply.

Adult age differences in the storage of information in working memory.

PubMed

Foos, P W; Wright, L

1992-01-01

The performance of 97 young and 91 old persons were compared to determine if a deficiency in working memory resources for processing, storage, or allocation could be detected. Persons simultaneously performed a storage and one of two processing tasks while instructed to allocate resources to processing, storage, or both tasks. The storage task involved remembering the names of one, three, or five persons. Processing tasks involved solving addition problems presented on flashcards or answering common knowledge questions. Results showed increased age differences on the storage task as demands for resources increased but no differences on processing tasks. Individuals seemed unable to allocate resources as instructed. A comparison of young-old and old-old groups showed the same results as those obtained comparing young and old groups and support the hypothesis of a deficiency of storage, but not processing, resources in working memory for old, especially old-old, adults.

Emotional job demands and the role of matching job resources: a cross-sectional survey study among health care workers.

PubMed

de Jonge, Jan; Le Blanc, Pascale M; Peeters, Maria C W; Noordam, Hanneke

2008-10-01

Research on emotional labour in health care work has not yet revealed under what conditions emotional job demands have an impact on employee health and well-being. There is a need for more theory to unveil the black box of emotional labour processes. To test the moderating role of matching (i.e. emotional) and non-matching (i.e. cognitive) job resources in the relation between emotional job demands and employee health/well-being (i.e. emotional exhaustion, employee creativity, and work motivation). A cross-sectional survey with anonymous questionnaires was conducted. A large organization for residential elderly care with eight locations in an urban area in the Netherlands. Questionnaires were distributed to 1259 health care workers, of which 826 people returned the questionnaire (66% response rate). In addition to descriptive statistics, multivariate multiple regression analysis (LISREL 8.54) with cross-validation was conducted. Findings showed that emotional job resources moderated the relation between emotional job demands and health/well-being outcomes. Firstly, emotional job resources were able to moderate the relation between emotional job demands and emotional exhaustion. Secondly, both emotional job resources and, to a lesser extent, cognitive job resources were able to moderate the relation between emotional job demands and positive well-being outcomes (i.e. employee creativity and work motivation). Finally, cross-validation showed that parameter estimates did not vary across subsamples. Job resources could compensate for resources lost through meeting the requirements of emotional job demands, thereby reducing stress-reactions and increasing well-being. Providing health care workers with more, preferably matching, job resources could make emotional job demands less stressful, and even stimulating and challenging. Future longitudinal studies should investigate the interplay of emotional job demands and (matching) job resources more profoundly.

An optimal adder-based hardware architecture for the DCT/SA-DCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinane, Andrew; Muresan, Valentin; O'Connor, Noel

2005-07-01

The explosive growth of the mobile multimedia industry has accentuated the need for ecient VLSI implemen- tations of the associated computationally demanding signal processing algorithms. This need becomes greater as end-users demand increasingly enhanced features and more advanced underpinning video analysis. One such feature is object-based video processing as supported by MPEG-4 core profile, which allows content-based in- teractivity. MPEG-4 has many computationally demanding underlying algorithms, an example of which is the Shape Adaptive Discrete Cosine Transform (SA-DCT). The dynamic nature of the SA-DCT processing steps pose significant VLSI implementation challenges and many of the previously proposed approaches use area and power consumptive multipliers. Most also ignore the subtleties of the packing steps and manipulation of the shape information. We propose a new multiplier-less serial datapath based solely on adders and multiplexers to improve area and power. The adder cost is minimised by employing resource re-use methods. The number of (physical) adders used has been derived using a common sub-expression elimination algorithm. Additional energy eciency is factored into the design by employing guarded evaluation and local clock gating. Our design implements the SA-DCT packing with minimal switching using ecient addressing logic with a transpose mem- ory RAM. The entire design has been synthesized using TSMC 0.09µm TCBN90LP technology yielding a gate count of 12028 for the datapath and its control logic.

Research on green supply chain coordination strategy for uncertain market demand.

PubMed

Cao, Jian; Chen, Yangyang; Lu, Bo; Tong, Chenlu; Zhou, Gengui

2015-03-01

Based on the status that the green market began to develop (e.g. pharmaceutical industry) in Mainland China, the paper mainly discusses how members of the green supply chain (GSC) cooperate effectively in the process of the supply chain operations. For the uncertainties existing in the market demand of the green products, the GSC coordination strategy is put forward based on the Stackelberg game that the manufacturer is the leader and distributors are the followers. The relationship between the proposed coordination strategy and several factors including the distributor's amount, the distributor's risk aversion and the uncertainties of market demand are analyzed. It indicates that, when there are uncertainties existing in the market demand of the green product, the revenue of each enterprise, the overall revenue and the customer's welfare all decrease; while the increase in the number of distributors and low risk aversion of them are beneficial to the entire GSC and the customer. The conclusions have good guidance for the operational decisions of the green supply chain when the green market is in its initial formation.

Increasing contextual demand modulates anterior and lateral prefrontal brain regions associated with proactive interference.

PubMed

Wolf, Robert Christian; Walter, Henrik; Vasic, Nenad

2010-01-01

Using a parametric version of a modified item-recognition paradigm with three different load levels and by means of event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study tested the hypothesis that cerebral activation associated with intratrial proactive interference (PI) during working memory retrieval is influenced by increased context processing. We found activation of left BA 45 during interference trials across all levels of cognitive processing, and left lateralized activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, BA 9/46) and the frontopolar cortex (FPC, BA 10) with increasing contextual load. Compared with high susceptibility to PI, low susceptibility was associated with activation of the left DLPFC. These results suggest that an intratrial PI effect can be modulated by increasing context processing of a transiently relevant stimulus set. Moreover, PI resolution associated with increasing context load involves multiple prefrontal regions including the ventro- and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as frontopolar brain areas. Furthermore, low susceptibility to PI might be influenced by increased executive control exerted by the DLPFC.

Building Consensus for Change: Developing an Administrative and Management Structure in a Southern African University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingalls, Wayne B.

1995-01-01

The way in which the University of Botswana went about building the consensus necessary to develop a new administrative and management structure is described. The process began with a commission review to address increasing demand, and progressed to recommendations, governing council response, a task force for reorganization, and implementation.…

Changes in oil content, fatty acid composition, and functional lipid profiles during dry grind ethanol production from corn.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Demand for alternatives to fossil fuels has resulted in a dramatic increase in ethanol production from corn. The dry grind method has been the major process, resulting in a large volume of dried distiller grains with solubles (DDGS) as a co-product. This presentation reports our study to monitor ...

Predicted green lumber and residue yields from the merchantable stem of Yellow-Poplar

Treesearch

Alexander Clark; Michael A. Taras; James G. Schroeder

1974-01-01

Because of increasing demands for timber and changing utilization practices, chippable residues are now marketable products. Timber appraisals, therefore, should consider not only volumes o f lumber anticpated but also amounts (weights) of chippable residue produced when processing sale trees. Some information is available on saw-log weight and amount of chippable...

Future Skill Needs in Europe: Critical Labour Force Trends. Cedefop Research Paper. No 59

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2016

2016-01-01

The European labour market is challenged by changes in the demographic composition of the labour force and increasing work complexities and processes. Skills forecasting makes useful contribution to decisions by policy-makers, experts and individuals. In this publication, Cedefop presents the latest results of skills supply and demand forecasts.…

Research on Producing Green Dimension Directly From Hardwood Logs

Treesearch

Philip A. Araman

1995-01-01

Because of rising timber costs and an increasing demand for high-grade timber, suppliers of solid wood products need additional material options. We feel that European and Japanese processing concepts of producing green dimension and other clear material directly from logs could provide an answer. In this paper we present a brief overview of our research results on...

United States Offshoring of Information Technology: An Empirical Investigation of Factors Inhibiting Sub-Saharan Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omoregie, Harry O.

2012-01-01

In the last decade, the global information technology offshoring (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services have grown significantly, especially in Asia. The increased demand for offshore services in Asia has presented a difficult problem for U.S. organizations because countries such as India are now experiencing saturation of labor…

Identity Constructions and Sensemaking in Higher Education--A Case Study of Danish Higher Education Department Heads

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Degn, Lise

2015-01-01

Academic values and norms have as a consequence of the wave of European higher education reforms been put under pressure by the increasing expectations and demands of flexibility, entrepreneurialism and accountability. This article examines how these changes affect identity construction processes at department head level in the case of Danish…

Addition of dried 'Ataulfo' mango (Mangifera indica L) by-products as a source of dietary fiber and polyphenols in starch-molded mango snacks

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The increasing demand of healthier foods favors the consumption of natural bioactive compounds such as antioxidants and dietary fiber (DF) that confers protection against cardiovascular diseases and other degenerative diseases. On the industrial processing of mango, 35-60 % of this fruit is discarde...

Get That Job! A Project on the German Job Application Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magedera-Hofhansl, Hanna

2016-01-01

With decreasing numbers of students studying German at Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom, there is an increasing demand for graduate Germanists. This project, designed for C1/C2 level students according to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages, prepares finalist students for a job market in which UK and German…

Biogeochemical research priorities for sustainable biofuel and bioenergy feedstock production in the Americas

Treesearch

Hero T. Gollany; Brian D. Titus; D. Andrew Scott; Heidi Asbjornsen; Sigrid C. Resh; Rodney A. Chimner; Donald J. Kaczmarek; Luiz F.C. Leite; Ana C.C. Ferreira; Kenton A. Rod; Jorge Hilbert; Marcelo V. Galdos; Michelle E. Cisz

2015-01-01

Rapid expansion in biomass production for biofuels and bioenergy in the Americas is increasing demand on the ecosystem resources required to sustain soil and site productivity. We review the current state of knowledge and highlight gaps in research on biogeochemical processes and ecosystem sustainability related to biomass production. Biomass production systems...

Resilient Principals in Challenging Schools: The Courage and Costs of Conviction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Christopher

2014-01-01

The work of leaders in schools takes place in shifting and sometimes conflicting reform contexts which tend to increase and intensify their professional work and personal lives as they seek to influence a range of stakeholder groups and individuals in processes of school improvement. Such diverse and sometimes competing demands of policy, local…

Factors That Influence Teachers' Adoption and Integration of ICT in Teaching/Learning Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Japhet E.; Tar, Usman A.

2018-01-01

Information communication technology (ICT) is becoming increasingly important in our daily lives and in our educational system. There is a growing demand on educational institutions to use ICT to teach the skills and knowledge students need for the digital age. The adoption and integration of ICT into teaching and learning environment provides…

Antimicrobial synergy of apple skin polyphenol and thyme essential oil in Açaí edible films and their effects on film properties (abstract)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Introduction: Diseases caused by food borne pathogens are of great concern to the food industry. The consumption of foods with chemical preservatives has led to increased consumer concern and demand for natural and minimally processed foods. In addition, environmental concerns are generated from cur...

An Approach to Assess Knowledge and Skills in Risk Management through Project-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galvao, Tulio Acacio Bandeira; Neto, Francisco Milton Mendes; Campos, Marcos Tullyo; Junior, Edson de Lima Cosme

2012-01-01

The increasing demand for Software Engineering professionals, particularly Project Managers, and popularization of the Web as a catalyst of human relations have made this platform interesting for training this type of professional. The authors have observed the widespread use of games as an attractive instrument in the process of teaching and…

Getting "Entangled": A Focus on the Hotel and Hospitality Curriculum Implementation in Public Universities in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mukolwe, Eunice; Cheloti, Isabela Mapelu

2016-01-01

Universities play a critical role in achieving Kenya Vision 2030 and the sustainable development goals. The demand for university education in Kenya has significantly increased and continues to swell. Many secondary school graduates and the working class look for opportunities to pursue university education, yet the process of curriculum…

"Who Has Time for This?" Negotiating Roles in Instructional Supervision and Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Chris; Ingle, W. Kyle

2015-01-01

This case examines how school leaders manage the increased demands of a new state-mandated teacher evaluation process. Subject to negotiations, districts and their local teacher unions can allow for teachers to be credentialed and serve as evaluators within their own schools. The challenge is examined through both the opportunity costs of this new…

Analysis of the Demand for Distance Education at Eastern and Central European Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasilevska, Daina; Rivza, Baiba; Pivac, Tatjana; Alekneviciene, Vilija; Parlinska, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

Distance education as one of the new and perspective forms of completing higher education increases in popularity around the world. At the same time, the development of this model of education generates new problems: organization of the study process and information security. Distance learning allows solving a problem of accessibility of higher…

Improving Students Soft Skills Using Thinking Process Profile Based on Personality Types

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sunarto, M. J. Dewiyani

2015-01-01

The challenge in education field these days rises as the cause of society's expectation for higher education. This increasingly complex expectation demands that higher education prepares the students to gain integrity. Higher education provides not only hard skills for the student, but also soft skills. By observing the hard skills side, in the…

Teaching Tobacco Cessation Skills to Uruguayan Physicians Using Information and Communication Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Llambi, Laura; Esteves, Elba; Martinez, Elisa; Forster, Thais; Garcia, Sofia; Miranda, Natalia; Arredondo, Antonio Lopez; Margolis, Alvaro

2011-01-01

Introduction: Since 2004, with the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Uruguay has implemented a wide range of legal restrictions designed to reduce the devastating impacts of tobacco. This legal process generated an increase in demand for tobacco cessation treatment, which led to the need to train a large number of…

Downstream process options for the ABE fermentation.

PubMed

Friedl, Anton

2016-05-01

Butanol is a very interesting substance both for the chemical industry and as a biofuel. The classical distillation process for the removal of butanol is far too energy demanding, at a factor of 220% of the energy content of butanol. Alternative separation processes studied are hybrid processes of gas-stripping, liquid-liquid extraction and pervaporation with distillation and a novel adsorption/drying/desorption hybrid process. Compared with the energy content of butanol, the resulting energy demand for butanol separation and concentration of optimized hybrid processes is 11%-22% for pervaporation/distillation and 11%-17% for liquid-liquid extraction/distillation. For a novel adsorption/drying/desorption process, the energy demand is 9.4%. But all downstream process options need further proof of industrial applicability. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Bendability of Ultra High strength Steels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazra, S. K.; Efthymiadis, P.; Alamoudi, A.; Kumar, R. L. V.; Shollock, B.; Dashwood, R.

2016-08-01

Automotive manufacturers have been reducing the weight of their vehicles to meet increasingly stringent environmental legislation that reflects public demand. A strategy is to use higher strength materials for parts with reduced cross-sections. However, such materials are less formable than traditional grades. The frequent result is increased processing and piece costs. 3D roll forming is a novel and flexible process: it is estimated that a quarter of the structure of a vehicle can be made with a single set of tooling. Unlike stamping, this process requires material with low work hardening rates. In this paper, we present results of ultra high strength steels that have low elongation in a tension but display high formability in bending through the suppression of the necking response.

Trait variations of ground flora species disentangle the effects of global change and altered land-use in Swedish forests during 20 years.

PubMed

Hedwall, Per-Ola; Brunet, Jörg

2016-12-01

Northern forest ecosystems are exposed to a range of anthropogenic processes including global warming, atmospheric deposition, and changing land-use. The vegetation of northern forests is composed of species with several functional traits related to these processes, whose effects may be difficult to disentangle. Here, we combined analyses of spatio-temporal dynamics and functional traits of ground flora species, including morphological characteristics, responses to macro- and microclimate, soil conditions, and disturbance. Based on data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory, we compared changes in occurrence of a large number of ground flora species during a 20-year period (1994-2013) in boreal and temperate Sweden respectively. Our results show that a majority of the common ground flora species have changed their overall frequency. Comparisons of functional traits between increasing and declining species, and of trends in mean trait values of sample plots, indicate that current floristic changes are caused by combined effects of climate warming, nitrogen deposition and changing land-use. Changes and their relations with plant traits were generally larger in temperate southern Sweden. Nutrient-demanding species with mesotrophic morphology were favored by ongoing eutrophication due to nitrogen deposition in the temperate zone, while dwarf shrubs with low demands on nitrogen decreased in frequency. An increase of species with less northern and less eastern distribution limits was also restricted to temperate Sweden, and indicates effects of a moister and milder macroclimate. A trend toward dense plantation forests is mirrored by a decrease of light-demanding species in both vegetation zones, and a decrease of grassland species in the temperate zone. Although denser tree canopies may buffer effects of a warmer climate and of nitrogen deposition to some extent, traits related to these processes were weakly correlated in the group of species with changing frequency. Hence, our results indicate specific effects of these often confounded anthropogenic processes. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The importance of plant-soil interactions for N mineralisation in different soil types

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Conor; Paterson, Eric; Baggs, Elizabeth; Morley, Nicholas; Wall, David; Schulte, Rogier

2013-04-01

The last hundred years has seen major advancements in our knowledge of nitrogen mineralisation in soil, but key drivers and controls remain poorly understood. Due to an increase in the global population there is a higher demand on food production. To accommodate this demand agriculture has increased its use of N based fertilizers, but these pose risks for water quality and GHG emissions as N can be lost through nitrate leaching, ammonia volatilization, and denitrification processes (Velthof, et al., 2009). Therefore, understanding the underlying processes that determine the soils ability to supply N to the plant is vital for effective optimisation of N-fertilisation with crop demand. Carbon rich compounds exuded from plant roots to the rhizosphere, which are utilized by the microbial biomass and support activities including nutrient transformations, may be a key unaccounted for driver of N mineralisation. The main aim of this study was to study the impact of root exudates on turnover of C and N in soil, as mediated by the microbial community. Two soil types, known to contrast in N-mineralisation capacity, were used to determine relationships between C inputs, organic matter mineralisation (priming effects) and N fluxes. 15N and 13C stable isotope approaches were used to quantify the importance of rhizosphere processes on C and N mineralisation. Gross nitrogen mineralisation was measured using 15N pool dilution. Total soil CO2 efflux was measured and 13C isotope partitioning was applied to quantify SOM turnover and microbial biomass respiration. Also, 13C was traced through the microbial biomass (chloroform fumigation) to separate pool-substitution effects (apparent priming) from altered microbial utilisation of soil organic matter (real priming effects). Addition of labile carbon resulted in an increase in N-mineralisation from soil organic matter in both soils. Concurrent with this there was an increase in microbial biomass size, indicating that labile C elicited real priming effects that mobilised N from organic matter. The results from this experiment indicate that rhizosphere processes play an important role in mediating rates of C and N mineralisation and should be accounted for in estimating soil N-supply capacities. Velthof, G.L., Oudendag, D., Witzke, H.P., Asman, W.A.H., Klimont, Z., Oenema, O., 2009. Integrated assessment of nitrogen losses from agriculture in EU-27 using MITERRA-EUROPE. Journal of Environmental Quality 38, 402-417.

Innovative technology conserves resources and generates savings: a case study from the Sunnybrook Regional Processing Centre.

PubMed

Karim, Abdool Z

2009-01-01

The regional processing centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre recently faced the substantial challenge of increasing cleaning capacity to meet the current workload and anticipated future demand without increasing its operating budget. The solution, upgrading its cleaning and decontamination system to a highly automated system, met both objectives. An analysis of the impact of the change found that the new system provided additional benefits, including improved productivity and cleaning quality; decreased costs; reduced water, electricity and chemical use; improved worker safety and morale; and decreased overtime. Investing in innovative technology improved key departmental outcomes while meeting institutional environmental and cost savings objectives.

Tree physiology research in a changing world.

PubMed

Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Linder, Sune

1996-01-01

Changes in issues and advances in methodology have contributed to substantial progress in tree physiology research during the last several decades. Current research focuses on process interactions in complex systems and the integration of processes across multiple spatial and temporal scales. An increasingly important challenge for future research is assuring sustainability of production systems and forested ecosystems in the face of increased demands for natural resources and human disturbance of forests. Meeting this challenge requires significant shifts in research approach, including the study of limitations of productivity that may accompany achievement of system sustainability, and a focus on the biological capabilities of complex land bases altered by human activity.

Water footprint analysis for the assessment of milk production in Brandenburg (Germany)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drastig, K.; Prochnow, A.; Kraatz, S.; Klauss, H.; Plöchl, M.

2010-09-01

The working group "Adaptation to Climate Change" at the Leibniz-Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim (ATB) is introduced. This group calculates the water footprint for agricultural processes and farms, distinguished into green water footprint, blue water footprint, and dilution water footprint. The green and blue water demand of a dairy farm plays a pivotal role in the regional water balance. Considering already existing and forthcoming climate change effects there is a need to determine the water cycle in the field and in housing for process chain optimisation for the adaptation to an expected increasing water scarcity. Resulting investments to boost water productivity and to improve water use efficiency in milk production are two pathways to adapt to climate change effects. In this paper the calculation of blue water demand for dairy farming in Brandenburg (Germany) is presented. The water used for feeding, milk processing, and servicing of cows over the time period of ten years was assessed in our study. The preliminary results of the calculation of the direct blue water footprint shows a decreasing water demand in the dairy production from the year 1999 with 5.98×109 L/yr to a water demand of 5.00×109 L/yr in the year 2008 in Brandenburg because of decreasing animal numbers and an improved average milk yield per cow. Improved feeding practices and shifted breeding to greater-volume producing Holstein-Friesian cow allow the production of milk in a more water sustainable way. The mean blue water consumption for the production of 1 kg milk in the time period between 1999 to 2008 was 3.94±0.29 L. The main part of the consumed water seems to stem from indirect used green water for the production of feed for the cows.

Physical Demand but Not Dexterity Is Associated with Motor Flexibility during Rapid Reaching in Healthy Young Adults

PubMed Central

Greve, Christian; Hortobàgyi, Tibor; Bongers, Raoul M.

2015-01-01

Healthy humans are able to place light and heavy objects in small and large target locations with remarkable accuracy. Here we examine how dexterity demand and physical demand affect flexibility in joint coordination and end-effector kinematics when healthy young adults perform an upper extremity reaching task. We manipulated dexterity demand by changing target size and physical demand by increasing external resistance to reaching. Uncontrolled manifold analysis was used to decompose variability in joint coordination patterns into variability stabilizing the end-effector and variability de-stabilizing the end-effector during reaching. Our results demonstrate a proportional increase in stabilizing and de-stabilizing variability without a change in the ratio of the two variability components as physical demands increase. We interpret this finding in the context of previous studies showing that sensorimotor noise increases with increasing physical demands. We propose that the larger de-stabilizing variability as a function of physical demand originated from larger sensorimotor noise in the neuromuscular system. The larger stabilizing variability with larger physical demands is a strategy employed by the neuromuscular system to counter the de-stabilizing variability so that performance stability is maintained. Our findings have practical implications for improving the effectiveness of movement therapy in a wide range of patient groups, maintaining upper extremity function in old adults, and for maximizing athletic performance. PMID:25970465

Research determines intelligent consumption of forest products is growing and saving trees - an example with wooden pallets

Treesearch

Philip A. Araman; Robert J. Bush; Bruce Hansen

2001-01-01

Wooden pallets help transport, store and sell products demanded by all of us. As our population and product demands increase, so do the demands for wooden pallets. We will present data on the industrial demands for wooden pallets. We will explain how increased demands for wood pallets in the US have required less new wood from trees and show that the pallet industry is...

Lessons learned: role of influenza vaccine production, distribution, supply, and demand--what it means for the provider.

PubMed

Orenstein, Walter A; Schaffner, William

2008-07-01

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been increasing the size of the population for whom influenza vaccine is recommended to reduce the substantial and persistent annual health burden of influenza. Realization of current and future public health influenza immunization goals requires assuring vaccine supply will be adequate to meet demand. This has posed distinct challenges for the many stakeholders in the influenza vaccine program--government agencies, federal, state, and local policymakers, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, and the medical community--each of whom must make critical decisions in a constantly shifting environment. Factors such as the yearly changes in influenza virus strains, the complicated vaccine production and distribution process, revisions in vaccination recommendations, and changing demographics can all affect the delicate balance between supply and demand. While vaccine shortages and delays have been well-publicized concerns in the recent past, there has been a marked increase in supply in the past several years, with substantial growth in supply expected in the future. The primary issue today is to strengthen the demand for the influenza vaccine, which would in turn help ensure the continued availability of the vaccine to reduce disease burden. A number of strategies are discussed, including increased efforts to publicize and fully implement current CDC recommendations and to offer influenza vaccine beyond the typical vaccination season of October and November, because in the great majority of years, vaccination into January and beyond will still provide health benefits.

Design and high-volume manufacture of low-cost molded IR aspheres for personal thermal imaging devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zelazny, A. L.; Walsh, K. F.; Deegan, J. P.; Bundschuh, B.; Patton, E. K.

2015-05-01

The demand for infrared optical elements, particularly those made of chalcogenide materials, is rapidly increasing as thermal imaging becomes affordable to the consumer. The use of these materials in conjunction with established lens manufacturing techniques presents unique challenges relative to the cost sensitive nature of this new market. We explore the process from design to manufacture, and discuss the technical challenges involved. Additionally, facets of the development process including manufacturing logistics, packaging, supply chain management, and qualification are discussed.

The Effects of Reading Purpose and Working Memory Capacity on the Processing of Expository Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linderholm, Tracy; van den Broek, Paul

2002-01-01

Examines the extent to which low- and high-WMC (working memory capacity) readers adjust cognitive processes to fit the reading purpose. When reading to study, low-WMC readers emphasized less demanding processes over more demanding processes to a greater extent than high-WMC readers and recalled less. When reading for entertainment, patterns of…

EEG alpha power and creative ideation☆

PubMed Central

Fink, Andreas; Benedek, Mathias

2014-01-01

Neuroscientific studies revealed first insights into neural mechanisms underlying creativity, but existing findings are highly variegated and often inconsistent. Despite the disappointing picture on the neuroscience of creativity drawn in recent reviews, there appears to be robust evidence that EEG alpha power is particularly sensitive to various creativity-related demands involved in creative ideation. Alpha power varies as a function of creativity-related task demands and the originality of ideas, is positively related to an individuals’ creativity level, and has been observed to increase as a result of creativity interventions. Alpha increases during creative ideation could reflect more internally oriented attention that is characterized by the absence of external bottom-up stimulation and, thus, a form of top-down activity. Moreover, they could indicate the involvement of specific memory processes such as the efficient (re-)combination of unrelated semantic information. We conclude that increased alpha power during creative ideation is among the most consistent findings in neuroscientific research on creativity and discuss possible future directions to better understand the manifold brain mechanisms involved in creativity. PMID:23246442

Trends in meat science and technology: the future looks bright, but the journey will be long.

PubMed

Kristensen, L; Støier, S; Würtz, J; Hinrichsen, L

2014-11-01

With an increasing world population, an increase in affluence and a substantial growth in the demand for high quality protein, the meat sector faces a fantastic but challenging century. New scientific knowledge, technology and creative minds are the main ingredients in order to reach out for this great opportunity. Efficiency all the way from breeding and farming to processing and dispatch is crucial for success. Technology has brought us far, and there is still a huge potential for increased efficiency by implementing best practices on a global scale. New challenges include: hyper flexible automation, more accurate and faster measurement systems and meeting special consumer demands already at the production line. Systems for optimal animal welfare will be even more important and sustainability is no longer a consumer trend but a license to operate. The scientific meat society must provide knowledge and technology so we together can reach out for a seemingly bright future. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computers for Manned Space Applications Base on Commercial Off-the-Shelf Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogel, T.; Gronowski, M.

2009-05-01

Similar to the consumer markets there has been an ever increasing demand in processing power, signal processing capabilities and memory space also for computers used for science data processing in space. An important driver of this development have been the payload developers for the International Space Station, requesting high-speed data acquisition and fast control loops in increasingly complex systems. Current experiments now even perform video processing and compression with their payload controllers. Nowadays the requirements for a space qualified computer are often far beyond the capabilities of, for example, the classic SPARC architecture that is found in ERC32 or LEON CPUs. An increase in performance usually demands costly and power consuming application specific solutions. Continuous developments over the last few years have now led to an alternative approach that is based on complete electronics modules manufactured for commercial and industrial customers. Computer modules used in industrial environments with a high demand for reliability under harsh environmental conditions like chemical reactors, electrical power plants or on manufacturing lines are entered into a selection procedure. Promising candidates then undergo a detailed characterisation process developed by Astrium Space Transportation. After thorough analysis and some modifications, these modules can replace fully qualified custom built electronics in specific, although not safety critical applications in manned space. This paper focuses on the benefits of COTS1 based electronics modules and the necessary analyses and modifications for their utilisation in manned space applications on the ISS. Some considerations regarding overall systems architecture will also be included. Furthermore this paper will also pinpoint issues that render such modules unsuitable for specific tasks, and justify the reasons. Finally, the conclusion of this paper will advocate the implementation of COTS based electronics for a range of applications within specifically adapted systems. The findings in this paper are extrapolated from two reference computer systems, both having been launched in 2008. One of those was a LEON-2 based computer installed onboard the Columbus Orbital Facility while the other system consisted mainly of a commercial Power-PC module that was modified for a launch mounted on the ICC pallet in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay. Both systems are currently upgraded and extended for future applications.

SU-E-J-102: Separation of Metabolic Supply and Demand: From Power Grid Economics to Cancer Metabolism

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

Epstein, T; Xu, L; Gillies, R

2014-06-01

Purpose: To study a new model of glucose metabolism which is primarily governed by the timescale of the energetic demand and not by the oxygen level, and its implication on cancer metabolism (Warburg effect) Methods: 1) Metabolic profiling of membrane transporters activity in several cell lines, which represent the spectrum from normal breast epithelium to aggressive, metastatic cancer, using Seahorse XF reader.2) Spatial localization of oxidative and non-oxidative metabolic components using immunocytochemical imaging of the glycolytic ATP-producing enzyme, pyruvate kinase and mitochondria. 3) Finite element simulations of coupled partial differential equations using COMSOL and MATLAB. Results: Inhibition or activation ofmore » pumps on the cell membrane led to reduction or increase in aerobic glycolysis, respectively, while oxidative phosphorylation remained unchanged. These results were consistent with computational simulations of changes in short-timescale demand for energy by cell membrane processes. A specific model prediction was that the spatial distribution of ATP-producing enzymes in the glycolytic pathway must be primarily localized adjacent to the cell membrane, while mitochondria should be predominantly peri-nuclear. These predictions were confirmed experimentally. Conclusion: The results in this work support a new model for glucose metabolism in which glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation supply different types of energy demand. Similar to power grid economics, optimal metabolic control requires the two pathways, even in normoxic conditions, to match two different types of energy demands. Cells use aerobic metabolism to meet baseline, steady energy demand and glycolytic metabolism to meet short-timescale energy demands, mainly from membrane transport activities, even in the presence of oxygen. This model provides a mechanism for the origin of the Warburg effect in cancer cells. Here, the Warburg effect emerges during carcinogenesis is a physiological response to an increase in energy demands from membrane transporters, required for cell division, growth, and migration. This work is supported by the NIH Physical Sciences in Oncology Center grant 1U54CA143970-03 and NIH R01 CA077575-10.« less

Execution and pauses in writing narratives: processing time, cognitive effort and typing skill.

PubMed

Alves, Rui Alexandre; Castro, São Luís; Olive, Thierry

2008-12-01

At the behavioural level, the activity of a writer can be described as periods of typing separated by pauses. Although some studies have been concerned with the functions of pauses, few have investigated motor execution periods. Precise estimates of the distribution of writing processes, and their cognitive demands, across periods of typing and pauses are lacking. Furthermore, it is uncertain how typing skill affects these aspects of writing. We addressed these issues, selecting writers of low and high typing skill who performed dictation and composition tasks. The occurrences of writing processes were assessed through directed verbalization, and their cognitive demands were measured through interference in reaction times (IRT). Before writing a narrative, 34 undergraduates learned to categorize examples of introspective thoughts as different types of activities related to writing (planning, translating, or revising). Then, while writing, they responded to random auditory probes, and reported their ongoing activity according to the learned categories. Convergent with previous findings, translating was most often reported, and revising and planning had fewer occurrences. Translating was mostly activated during motor execution, whereas revising and planning were mainly activated during pauses. However, none of the writing processes can be characterized as being typical of pauses, since translating was activated to a similar extent as the other two processes. Regarding cognitive demands, revising is likely to be the most demanding process in narrative writing. Typing skill had an impact on IRTs of motor execution. The demands of execution were greater in the low than in the high typing skill group, but these greater demands did not affect the strategy of writing processes activation. Nevertheless, low typing skill had a detrimental impact on text quality.

Analog and digital transport of RF channels over converged 5G wireless-optical networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Binh, Le Nguyen

2016-02-01

Under the exponential increase demand by the emerging 5G wireless access networking and thus data-center based Internet, novel and economical transport of RF channels to and from wireless access systems. This paper presents the transport technologies of RF channels over the analog and digital domain so as to meet the demands of the transport capacity reaching multi-Tbps, in the followings: (i) The convergence of 5G broadband wireless and optical networks and its demands on capacity delivery and network structures; (ii) Analog optical technologies for delivery of both the information and RF carriers to and from multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna sites so as to control the beam steering of MIMO antenna in the mmW at either 28.6 GHz and 56.8 GHz RF carrier and delivery of channels of aggregate capacity reaching several Tbps; (ii) Transceiver employing advanced digital modulation formats and digital signal processing (DSP) so as to provide 100G and beyond transmission rate to meet the ultra-high capacity demands with flexible spectral grids, hence pay-on-demand services. The interplay between DSP-based and analog transport techniques is examined; (iii) Transport technologies for 5G cloud access networks and associate modulation and digital processing techniques for capacity efficiency; and (iv) Finally the integrated optic technologies with novel lasers, comb generators and simultaneous dual function photonic devices for both demultiplexing/multiplexing and modulation are proposed, hence a system on chip structure can be structured. Quantum dot lasers and matrixes of micro ring resonators are integrated on the same Si-on-Silica substrate are proposed and described.

Differential impact of continuous theta-burst stimulation over left and right DLPFC on planning.

PubMed

Kaller, Christoph P; Heinze, Katharina; Frenkel, Annekathrein; Läppchen, Claus H; Unterrainer, Josef M; Weiller, Cornelius; Lange, Rüdiger; Rahm, Benjamin

2013-01-01

Most neuroimaging studies on planning report bilateral activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Recently, these concurrent activations of left and right dlPFC have been shown to double dissociate with different cognitive demands imposed by the planning task: Higher demands on the extraction of task-relevant information led to stronger activation in left dlPFC, whereas higher demands on the integration of interdependent information into a coherent action sequence entailed stronger activation of right dlPFC. Here, we used continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to investigate the supposed causal structure-function mapping underlying this double dissociation. Two groups of healthy subjects (left-lateralized stimulation, n = 26; right-lateralized stimulation, n = 26) were tested within-subject on a variant of the Tower of London task following either real cTBS over dlPFC or sham stimulation over posterior parietal cortex. Results revealed that, irrespective of specific task demands, cTBS over left and right dlPFC was associated with a global decrease and increase, respectively, in initial planning times compared to sham stimulation. Moreover, no interaction between task demands and stimulation type (real vs. sham) and/or stimulation side (left vs. right hemisphere) were found. Together, against expectations from previous neuroimaging data, lateralized cTBS did not lead to planning-parameter specific changes in performance, but instead revealed a global asymmetric pattern of faster versus slower task processing after left versus right cTBS. This global asymmetry in the absence of any task-parameter specific impact of cTBS suggests that different levels of information processing may span colocalized, but independent axes of functional lateralization in the dlPFC. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Energy efficiency to reduce residential electricity and natural gas use under climate change.

PubMed

Reyna, Janet L; Chester, Mikhail V

2017-05-15

Climate change could significantly affect consumer demand for energy in buildings, as changing temperatures may alter heating and cooling loads. Warming climates could also lead to the increased adoption and use of cooling technologies in buildings. We assess residential electricity and natural gas demand in Los Angeles, California under multiple climate change projections and investigate the potential for energy efficiency to offset increased demand. We calibrate residential energy use against metered data, accounting for differences in building materials and appliances. Under temperature increases, we find that without policy intervention, residential electricity demand could increase by as much as 41-87% between 2020 and 2060. However, aggressive policies aimed at upgrading heating/cooling systems and appliances could result in electricity use increases as low as 28%, potentially avoiding the installation of new generation capacity. We therefore recommend aggressive energy efficiency, in combination with low-carbon generation sources, to offset projected increases in residential energy demand.

Energy efficiency to reduce residential electricity and natural gas use under climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyna, Janet L.; Chester, Mikhail V.

2017-05-01

Climate change could significantly affect consumer demand for energy in buildings, as changing temperatures may alter heating and cooling loads. Warming climates could also lead to the increased adoption and use of cooling technologies in buildings. We assess residential electricity and natural gas demand in Los Angeles, California under multiple climate change projections and investigate the potential for energy efficiency to offset increased demand. We calibrate residential energy use against metered data, accounting for differences in building materials and appliances. Under temperature increases, we find that without policy intervention, residential electricity demand could increase by as much as 41-87% between 2020 and 2060. However, aggressive policies aimed at upgrading heating/cooling systems and appliances could result in electricity use increases as low as 28%, potentially avoiding the installation of new generation capacity. We therefore recommend aggressive energy efficiency, in combination with low-carbon generation sources, to offset projected increases in residential energy demand.

Ethanol and agriculture: Effect of increased production on crop and livestock sectors. Agricultural economic report

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

House, R.; Peters, M.; Baumes, H.

1993-05-01

Expanded ethanol production could increase US farm income by as much as $1 billion (1.4 percent) by 2000. Because corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol, growers in the Corn Belt would benefit most from improved ethanol technology and heightened demand. Coproducts from the conversion process (corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, and others) compete with soybean meal, soybean growers in the South may see revenues decline. The US balance of trade would improve with increased ethanol production as oil import needs decline.

Adapting the serial Alpgen parton-interaction generator to simulate LHC collisions on millions of parallel threads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Childers, J. T.; Uram, T. D.; LeCompte, T. J.; Papka, M. E.; Benjamin, D. P.

2017-01-01

As the LHC moves to higher energies and luminosity, the demand for computing resources increases accordingly and will soon outpace the growth of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid. To meet this greater demand, event generation Monte Carlo was targeted for adaptation to run on Mira, the supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. Alpgen is a Monte Carlo event generation application that is used by LHC experiments in the simulation of collisions that take place in the Large Hadron Collider. This paper details the process by which Alpgen was adapted from a single-processor serial-application to a large-scale parallel-application and the performance that was achieved.

Assessment of efficacy and safety of a fractionated bipolar radiofrequency device for the treatment of lower face wrinkles and laxity.

PubMed

Jiang, Yueqi; Zhang, Xuting; Lu, Zhong; Gold, Michael H

2018-04-18

Skin aging, as a natural course, is a gradual process. It can be classified as either intrinsic or photo-aging. In recent years, as the attention to lower face wrinkles and laxity has raised significantly, the demands to facial rejuvenation also increased, along with a variety of technologies coming into being. Fractional bipolar RF as a novel means of rejuvenation has been used in clinical practice, but questions remain in terms of its efficacy and safety. Considering a large population in our country and huge demands for skin tightening, we did this research to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fractional bipolar radiofrequency.

[Total hip replacement in the G-DRG-system].

PubMed

Kaufmann, M M; Franz, D; Lassahn, C; Siebert, C H

2007-01-01

Due to the continuing increase in life expectancy, the ageing process of the German population in general and the high demands placed on activity levels and quality of life today, the demand for primary and secondary joint replacement surgery continues to increase. To distribute the economic and medical resources properly, while still making technical and surgical innovations available to a broad public, hospitals must be able to adequately finance these procedures with the help of the proper diagnosis related groups. The development of the German DRG-system over the past years, as well as the new calculation for the year 2006 are to be reviewed and analysed in this article with this in mind. An improvement in the degree of differentiation between the individual procedures can be documented. Whether or not these changes will ensure the long-term financial survival of the German health care system will remain to be seen.

State of science: mental workload in ergonomics.

PubMed

Young, Mark S; Brookhuis, Karel A; Wickens, Christopher D; Hancock, Peter A

2015-01-01

Mental workload (MWL) is one of the most widely used concepts in ergonomics and human factors and represents a topic of increasing importance. Since modern technology in many working environments imposes ever more cognitive demands upon operators while physical demands diminish, understanding how MWL impinges on performance is increasingly critical. Yet, MWL is also one of the most nebulous concepts, with numerous definitions and dimensions associated with it. Moreover, MWL research has had a tendency to focus on complex, often safety-critical systems (e.g. transport, process control). Here we provide a general overview of the current state of affairs regarding the understanding, measurement and application of MWL in the design of complex systems over the last three decades. We conclude by discussing contemporary challenges for applied research, such as the interaction between cognitive workload and physical workload, and the quantification of workload 'redlines' which specify when operators are approaching or exceeding their performance tolerances.

CAD Services: an Industry Standard Interface for Mechanical CAD Interoperability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Claus, Russell; Weitzer, Ilan

2002-01-01

Most organizations seek to design and develop new products in increasingly shorter time periods. At the same time, increased performance demands require a team-based multidisciplinary design process that may span several organizations. One approach to meet these demands is to use 'Geometry Centric' design. In this approach, design engineers team their efforts through one united representation of the design that is usually captured in a CAD system. Standards-based interfaces are critical to provide uniform, simple, distributed services that enable the 'Geometry Centric' design approach. This paper describes an industry-wide effort, under the Object Management Group's (OMG) Manufacturing Domain Task Force, to define interfaces that enable the interoperability of CAD, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools. This critical link to enable 'Geometry Centric' design is called: Cad Services V1.0. This paper discusses the features of this standard and proposed application.

Drivers for the Value of Demand Response under Increased Levels of Wind and Solar Power; NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

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

Hale, Elaine

Demand response may be a valuable flexible resource for low-carbon electric power grids. However, there are as many types of possible demand response as there are ways to use electricity, making demand response difficult to study at scale in realistic settings. This talk reviews our state of knowledge regarding the potential value of demand response in several example systems as a function of increasing levels of wind and solar power, sometimes drawing on the analogy between demand response and storage. Overall, we find demand response to be promising, but its potential value is very system dependent. Furthermore, demand response, likemore » storage, can easily saturate ancillary service markets.« less

Operating aerobic wastewater treatment at very short sludge ages enables treatment and energy recovery through anaerobic sludge digestion.

PubMed

Ge, Huoqing; Batstone, Damien J; Keller, Jurg

2013-11-01

Conventional abattoir wastewater treatment processes for carbon and nutrient removal are typically designed and operated with a long sludge retention time (SRT) of 10-20 days, with a relatively high energy demand and physical footprint. The process also generates a considerable amount of waste activated sludge that is not easily degradable due to the long SRT. In this study, an innovative high-rate sequencing batch reactor (SBR) based wastewater treatment process with short SRT and hydraulic retention time (HRT) is developed and characterised. The high-rate SBR process was shown to be most effective with SRT of 2-3 days and HRT of 0.5-1 day, achieving >80% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phosphorus and approximately 55% nitrogen removal. A majority of carbon removal (70-80%) was achieved by biomass assimilation and/or accumulation, rather than oxidation. Anaerobic degradability of the sludge generated in the high-rate SBR process was strongly linked to SRT, with measured degradability extent being 85% (2 days SRT), 73% (3 days), and 63% (4 days), but it was not influenced by digestion temperature. However, the rate of degradation for 3 and 4 days SRT sludge was increased by 45% at thermophilic conditions compared to mesophilic conditions. Overall, the treatment process provides a very compact and energy efficient treatment option for highly degradable wastewaters such as meat and food processing, with a substantial space reduction by using smaller reactors and a considerable net energy output through the reduced aerobic oxidation and concurrent increased methane production potential through the efficient sludge digestion. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of oestrogens in the adaptation of islets to insulin resistance.

PubMed

Nadal, Angel; Alonso-Magdalena, Paloma; Soriano, Sergi; Ropero, Ana B; Quesada, Ivan

2009-11-01

Pregnancy is characterized by peripheral insulin resistance, which is developed in parallel with a plasma increase of maternal hormones; these include prolactin, placental lactogens, progesterone and oestradiol among others. Maternal insulin resistance is counteracted by the adaptation of the islets of Langerhans to the higher insulin demand. If this adjustment is not produced, gestational diabetes may be developed. The adaptation process of islets is characterized by an increase of insulin biosynthesis, an enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) and an increase of beta-cell mass. It is not completely understood why, in some individuals, beta-cell mass and function fail to adapt to the metabolic demands of pregnancy, yet a disruption of the beta-cell response to maternal hormones may play a key part. The role of the maternal hormone 17beta-oestradiol (E2) in this adaptation process has been largely unknown. However, in recent years, it has been demonstrated that E2 acts directly on beta-cells to increase insulin biosynthesis and to enhance GSIS through different molecular mechanisms. E2 does not increase beta-cell proliferation but it is involved in beta-cell survival. Classical oestrogen receptors ERalpha and ERbeta, as well as the G protein-coupled oestrogen receptor (GPER) seem to be involved in these adaptation changes. In addition, as the main production of E2 in post-menopausal women comes from the adipose tissue, E2 may act as a messenger between adipocytes and islets in obesity.

Application of iron nanaoparticles in landfill leachate treatment - case study: Hamadan landfill leachate.

PubMed

Kashitarash, Zahra Esfahani; Taghi, Samadi Mohammad; Kazem, Naddafi; Abbass, Afkhami; Alireza, Rahmani

2012-12-27

This study was performed with the objective of determining the efficiency of iron nanoparticles for reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total solids (TS) and color of Hamadan city landfill leachate. Experiments were performed in a batch reactor and the main effective factors of pH, reaction time and concentration of iron nanoparticles were investigated. The obtained data were analyzed with One-Way ANOVA statistical test and SPSS-13 software. Maximum removal efficiencies were 47.94%, 35%, 55.62% and 76.66% for COD, BOD5, TS and color, respectively (for 2.5 g/L iron nanoparticles dosage, pH = 6.5 and 10 min reaction time). The results showed that the removal of COD, BOD5 and color had reverse relationship with contact time and TS removal followed a direct relationship (P < 0.05). Iron nanoparticles could remove averagely 53% of leachate COD, BOD5, TS and color in a short contact time (10 min) increasing pH up to 6.5, increased the removal efficiency for COD, BOD5, TS and color and then removal efficiency decreased with increasing pH to 8.5. Increasing the dosage of nanoparticles to 2.5 g/L increased the efficiency of process. High compatibility and efficiency of this process was proven by landfill leachate pre-treatment or post-treatment, so this removal method may be recommended for municipal solid waste landfill leachate treatment plants.

Application of iron nanaoparticles in landfill leachate treatment - case study: Hamadan landfill leachate

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

This study was performed with the objective of determining the efficiency of iron nanoparticles for reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total solids (TS) and color of Hamadan city landfill leachate. Experiments were performed in a batch reactor and the main effective factors of pH, reaction time and concentration of iron nanoparticles were investigated. The obtained data were analyzed with One-Way ANOVA statistical test and SPSS-13 software. Maximum removal efficiencies were 47.94%, 35%, 55.62% and 76.66% for COD, BOD5, TS and color, respectively (for 2.5 g/L iron nanoparticles dosage, pH = 6.5 and 10 min reaction time). The results showed that the removal of COD, BOD5 and color had reverse relationship with contact time and TS removal followed a direct relationship (P < 0.05). Iron nanoparticles could remove averagely 53% of leachate COD, BOD5, TS and color in a short contact time (10 min) increasing pH up to 6.5, increased the removal efficiency for COD, BOD5, TS and color and then removal efficiency decreased with increasing pH to 8.5. Increasing the dosage of nanoparticles to 2.5 g/L increased the efficiency of process. High compatibility and efficiency of this process was proven by landfill leachate pre-treatment or post-treatment, so this removal method may be recommended for municipal solid waste landfill leachate treatment plants. PMID:23369361

Modulating the processing of emotional stimuli by cognitive demand

PubMed Central

Sternkopf, Melanie A.; Schneider, Frank; Habel, Ute; Turetsky, Bruce I.; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B.

2012-01-01

Emotional processing is influenced by cognitive processes and vice versa, indicating a profound interaction of these domains. The investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying this interaction is not only highly relevant for understanding the organization of human brain function. Rather, it may also help in understanding dysregulated emotions in affective disorders and in elucidating the neurobiology of cognitive behavioural therapy (e.g. in borderline personality disorder), which aims at modulating dysfunctional emotion processes by cognitive techniques, such as restructuring. In the majority of earlier studies investigating the interaction of emotions and cognition, the main focus has been on the investigation of the effects of emotional stimuli or, more general, emotional processing, e.g. instituted by emotional material that needed to be processed, on cognitive performance and neural activation patterns. Here we pursued the opposite approach and investigated the modulation of implicit processing of emotional stimuli by cognitive demands using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging––study on a motor short-term memory paradigm with emotional interferences. Subjects were visually presented a finger-sequence consisting either of four (easy condition) or six (difficult condition) items, which they had to memorize. After a short pause positive, negative or neutral International affective picture system pictures or a green dot (as control condition) were presented. Subjects were instructed to reproduce the memorized sequence manually as soon as the picture disappeared. Analysis showed that with increasing cognitive demand (long relative to short sequences), neural responses to emotional pictures were significantly reduced in amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast, the more difficult task evoked stronger activation in a widespread frontoparietal network. As stimuli were task-relevant go-cues and hence had to be processed perceptually, we would interpret this as a specific attenuation of affective responses by concurrent cognitive processing––potentially reflecting a relocation of resources mediated by the frontoparietal network. PMID:21258093

Processing of the WLCG monitoring data using NoSQL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreeva, J.; Beche, A.; Belov, S.; Dzhunov, I.; Kadochnikov, I.; Karavakis, E.; Saiz, P.; Schovancova, J.; Tuckett, D.

2014-06-01

The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) today includes more than 150 computing centres where more than 2 million jobs are being executed daily and petabytes of data are transferred between sites. Monitoring the computing activities of the LHC experiments, over such a huge heterogeneous infrastructure, is extremely demanding in terms of computation, performance and reliability. Furthermore, the generated monitoring flow is constantly increasing, which represents another challenge for the monitoring systems. While existing solutions are traditionally based on Oracle for data storage and processing, recent developments evaluate NoSQL for processing large-scale monitoring datasets. NoSQL databases are getting increasingly popular for processing datasets at the terabyte and petabyte scale using commodity hardware. In this contribution, the integration of NoSQL data processing in the Experiment Dashboard framework is described along with first experiences of using this technology for monitoring the LHC computing activities.

Advances in solid dosage form manufacturing technology.

PubMed

Andrews, Gavin P

2007-12-15

Currently, the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are moving through a period of unparalleled change. Major multinational pharmaceutical companies are restructuring, consolidating, merging and more importantly critically assessing their competitiveness to ensure constant growth in an ever-more demanding market where the cost of developing novel products is continuously increasing. The pharmaceutical manufacturing processes currently in existence for the production of solid oral dosage forms are associated with significant disadvantages and in many instances provide many processing problems. Therefore, it is well accepted that there is an increasing need for alternative processes to dramatically improve powder processing, and more importantly to ensure that acceptable, reproducible solid dosage forms can be manufactured. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies are beginning to invest in innovative processes capable of producing solid dosage forms that better meet the needs of the patient while providing efficient manufacturing operations. This article discusses two emerging solid dosage form manufacturing technologies, namely hot-melt extrusion and fluidized hot-melt granulation.

Advanced Decontamination Technologies: High Hydrostatic Pressure on Meat Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garriga, Margarita; Aymerich, Teresa

The increasing demand for “natural” foodstuffs, free from chemical additives, and preservatives has triggered novel approaches in food technology developments. In the last decade, practical use of high-pressure processing (HPP) made this emerging non-thermal technology very attractive from a commercial point of view. Despite the fact that the investment is still high, the resulting value-added products, with an extended and safe shelf-life, will fulfil the wishes of consumers who prefer preservative-free minimally processed foods, retaining sensorial characteristics of freshness. Moreover, unlike thermal treatment, pressure treatment is not time/mass dependant, thus reducing the time of processing.

Building sector feedbacks lead to increased energy demands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartin, C.; Link, R. P.; Patel, P.; Horowitz, R.; Clarke, L.; Mundra, A.

2017-12-01

Typically in human-earth system modeling studies, feedbacks between the earth and human systems are analyzed by passing information between independent models, leading to data errors and poor reproducibility. In this study we explore the two-way feedbacks between the human and earth systems in the building sector of GCAM, an integrated assessment model and, its fully-integrated climate component, Hector. While there is a general agreement in the literature that increasing temperatures will increase cooling energy demands and decrease heating energy demands, there has been no fully-coupled analysis of this dynamic that would, for example, account for the feedbacks on hydrofluorocarbons from increased cooling demands. Using a statistical relationship between global mean temperature change and heating and cooling degree days, we find that the feedbacks on hydrofluorocarbons lead to an increase in global mean temperature of between 0.16 to 0.27 °C in 2100. Demands for electricity increase by about 10% in Africa, while demands decrease in Canada by about 3.0% when taking into account these feedbacks. While the feedbacks between building energy demand and global mean temperature are modest by themselves, this study prompts future research on coupled human-earth system feedbacks, in particular in regards to land, water, and other energy infrastructure.

Transient thermal stresses analysis and thermal fatigue damage evaluation for skirt attachment of coke drum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambarita, H.; Siahaan, A. S.; Kawai, H.; Daimaruya, M.

2018-02-01

In the last decade, the demand for delayed coking capacity has been steadily increasing. The trend in the past 15 to 20 years has been for operators to try to maximize the output of their units by reducing cycle times. This mode of operation can result in very large temperature gradients within the drums during preheating stage and even more so during the quench cycle. This research provide the optimization estimation of fatigue life due to each for the absence of preheating stage and cutting stage. In the absence of preheating stage the decreasing of fatigue life is around 19% and the increasing of maximum stress in point 5 of shell-to-skirt junction is around 97 MPa. However for the absence of cutting stage it was found that is more severe compare to normal cycle. In this adjustment fatigue life reduce around 39% and maximum stress is increased around 154 MPa. It can concluded that for cycle optimization, eliminating preheating stage possibly can become an option due to the increasing demand of delayed coking process.

Estimation of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions considering Aging and Climate Change in Residential Sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, M.; Park, C.; Park, J. H.; Jung, T. Y.; Lee, D. K.

2015-12-01

The impacts of climate change, particularly that of rising temperatures, are being observed across the globe and are expected to further increase. To counter this phenomenon, numerous nations are focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Because energy demand management is considered as a key factor in emissions reduction, it is necessary to estimate energy consumption and GHG emissions in relation to climate change. Further, because South Korea is the world's fastest nation to become aged, demographics have also become instrumental in the accurate estimation of energy demands and emissions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to estimate energy consumption and GHG emissions in the residential sectors of South Korea with regard to climate change and aging to build more accurate strategies for energy demand management and emissions reduction goals. This study, which was stablished with 2010 and 2050 as the base and target years, respectively, was divided into a two-step process. The first step evaluated the effects of aging and climate change on energy demand, and the second estimated future energy use and GHG emissions through projected scenarios. First, aging characteristics and climate change factors were analyzed by using the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) decomposition analysis and the application of historical data. In the analysis of changes in energy use, the effects of activity, structure, and intensity were considered; the degrees of contribution were derived from each effect in addition to their relations to energy demand. Second, two types of scenarios were stablished based on this analysis. The aging scenarios are business as usual and future characteristics scenarios, and were used in combination with Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5. Finally, energy consumption and GHG emissions were estimated by using a combination of scenarios. The results of these scenarios show an increase in energy consumption and GHG emissions from 2010 to 2050. This growth is caused by increases in heating energy because the elderly generally spend more time at home, and cooling energy owing to rising temperatures. This study will be useful in the preparation of energy demand management policies and the establishment and attainability of GHG emissions reduction goals.

Stress and decision making: neural correlates of the interaction between stress, executive functions, and decision making under risk.

PubMed

Gathmann, Bettina; Schulte, Frank P; Maderwald, Stefan; Pawlikowski, Mirko; Starcke, Katrin; Schäfer, Lena C; Schöler, Tobias; Wolf, Oliver T; Brand, Matthias

2014-03-01

Stress and additional load on the executive system, produced by a parallel working memory task, impair decision making under risk. However, the combination of stress and a parallel task seems to preserve the decision-making performance [e.g., operationalized by the Game of Dice Task (GDT)] from decreasing, probably by a switch from serial to parallel processing. The question remains how the brain manages such demanding decision-making situations. The current study used a 7-tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system in order to investigate the underlying neural correlates of the interaction between stress (induced by the Trier Social Stress Test), risky decision making (GDT), and a parallel executive task (2-back task) to get a better understanding of those behavioral findings. The results show that on a behavioral level, stressed participants did not show significant differences in task performance. Interestingly, when comparing the stress group (SG) with the control group, the SG showed a greater increase in neural activation in the anterior prefrontal cortex when performing the 2-back task simultaneously with the GDT than when performing each task alone. This brain area is associated with parallel processing. Thus, the results may suggest that in stressful dual-tasking situations, where a decision has to be made when in parallel working memory is demanded, a stronger activation of a brain area associated with parallel processing takes place. The findings are in line with the idea that stress seems to trigger a switch from serial to parallel processing in demanding dual-tasking situations.

Water quality and processes affecting dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Blackwater River, Canaan Valley, West Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waldron, M.C.; Wiley, J.B.

1996-01-01

The water quality and environmental processes affecting dissolved oxygen were determined for the Blackwater River in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. Canaan Valley is oval-shaped (14 miles by 5 miles) and is located in the Allegheny Mountains at an average elevation of 3,200 feet above sea level. Tourism, population, and real estate development have increased in the past two decades. Most streams in Canaan Valley are a dilute calcium magnesium bicarbonate-type water. Streamwater typicaly was soft and low in alkalinity and dissolved solids. Maximum values for specific conductance, hardness, alkalinity, and dissolved solids occurred during low-flow periods when streamflow was at or near baseflow. Dissolved oxygen concentrations are most sensitive to processes affecting the rate of reaeration. The reaeration is affected by solubility (atmospheric pressure, water temperature, humidity, and cloud cover) and processes that determine stream turbulence (stream depth, width, velocity, and roughness). In the headwaters, photosynthetic dissolved oxygen production by benthic algae can result in supersaturated dissolved oxygen concentrations. In beaver pools, dissolved oxygen consumption from sediment oxygen demand and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand can result in dissolved oxygen deficits.

Fusarium species-a promising tool box for industrial biotechnology.

PubMed

Pessôa, Marina Gabriel; Paulino, Bruno Nicolau; Mano, Mario Cezar Rodrigues; Neri-Numa, Iramaia Angélica; Molina, Gustavo; Pastore, Glaucia Maria

2017-05-01

Global demand for biotechnological products has increased steadily over the years. Thus, need for optimized processes and reduced costs appear as a key factor in the success of this market. A process tool of high importance is the direct or indirect use of enzymes to catalyze the generation of various substances. Also, obtaining aromas and pigments from natural sources has becoming priority in cosmetic and food industries in order to supply the demand from consumers to substitute synthetic compounds, especially when by-products can be used as starting material for this purpose. Species from Fusarium genera are recognized as promising sources of several enzymes for industrial application as well as biocatalysts in the production of aromas, pigments and second generation biofuels, among others. In addition, secondary metabolites from these strains can present important biological activities for medical field. In this approach, this review brings focus on the use of Fusarium sp. strains in biotechnological production of compounds of industrial interest, showing the most recent researches in this area, results obtained and the best process conditions for each case.

Biosorption of praseodymium (III) using Terminalia arjuna bark powder in batch systems: isotherm and kinetic studies.

PubMed

Swain, Krishna Kumari; Mishra, Pravat Manjari; Devi, Aparna Prabha

2018-02-01

The high demand for rare earth elements (REEs) used in various advanced materials implies demand for increased production of REEs or the recycling of solutions to recover the REEs they contain. In this study, the biosorption of Pr(III) from aqueous solution by bark powder of Terminalia arjuna was examined in a batch system as a function of metal concentration, biosorbent dosage, pH and contact time. Results showed that T. arjuna bark powder has a high affinity for adsorbing Pr(III): more than 90% at pH 6.63. The adsorption of Pr(III) by T. arjuna bark powder was investigated by the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models. The kinetics of the biosorption process was tested with pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, and the results showed that the biosorption process was better fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. From Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, it is confirmed that the biomolecules of T. arjuna bark powder are involved in the biosorption process of Pr(III) metal ions.

The Evolution of Landsat Data Systems and Science Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwyer, J. L.

2011-12-01

The series of Landsat satellite missions have collected observations of the Earth's surface since 1972, resulting in the richest archive of remotely sensed data covering the global land masses at scales from which natural and human-induced changes can be distinguished. This observational record will continue to be extended with the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or Landsat 8, in December of 2012 carrying the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments. The data streams from these instruments will be significantly enhanced yet compatible with data acquired by heritage Landsat instruments. The radiometry and geometry of the OLI and TIRS data will be calibrated and combined into single, multi-band Level-1 terrain-corrected image products. Coefficients will be included in the product metadata to convert OLI to at-sensor radiance or reflectance and to convert TIRS data to at-aperture radiances. A quality assurance band will contain pixel-based information regarding the presences or clouds, shadows, and terrain occlusion. The raw data as well as the Level-1 products will be stored online and made freely accessible through web coverage services. Rescaled Level-1 OLI and TIRS images will be made available via web mapping services to enable inventory searches and for ready use in geospatial applications. The architecture of the Landsat science data processing systems is scalable to accommodate additional processing and storage nodes in response to archive growth and increased demands on processing and distribution. The data collected by the various Landsat instruments have been inter-calibrated to enable the generation of higher level science data products that are of consistent quality through time and from which geophysical and biophysical parameters of the land surface can be derived for use in process models and decision support systems. Data access and delivery services have evolved in response to increasing demand for Landsat data in a broad range of applications, and the demand for additional processing capabilities and services is expected to grow in the future to meet the needs for climate data records and essential climate variables.

Utilisation of Corn (Zea mays) Bran and Corn Fiber in the Production of Food Components

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Over the past decade, the demand for ethanol has increased dramatically. Demand for other products of corn milling, such as starches and sweeteners, is also expected to increase. With the increase in demand for industrial and food use of corn, the production of byproducts, such as corn fiber, corn...

Buddhist Religious Education in the Context of Modern Russian Policy of Multicultural Education: A Case of the Republic of Buryatia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorzhigushaeva, Oyuna; Dondukov, Bato; Dondukova, Galina

2017-01-01

The increase of ethnocultural and ethnoconfessional interactions in the context of modern cultural and religious diversity of Russia demands modernization of learning process according to the existing educational policy of multicultural education and defines the relevancy of the article. The purpose of the article is to analyze retrospectively the…

A methodology for determining operational priorities for prevention and suppression of wildland fires

Treesearch

F. Rodríguez y Silva; J.R. Molina Martínez; Armando González-Cabán

2014-01-01

Traditional uses of the forest (timber, forage) have been giving way to other uses more in demand (recreation, ecosystem services). An observable consequence of this process of forest land use conversion is an increase in more difficult and extreme wildfires. Wildland forest management and protection program budgets are limited, and managers are requesting help in...

Real-Time Implementation of a Color Sorting System

Treesearch

Srikathyanyani Srikanteswara; Qiang Lu; William King; Thomas Drayer; Richard Conners; D. Earl Kline; Philip A. Araman

1997-01-01

Wood edge glued panels are used extensively in the furniture and cabinetry industries. They are used to make doors, tops, and sides of solid wood furniture and cabinets. Since lightly stained furniture and cabinets are gaining in popularity, there is an increasing demand to color sort the parts used to make these edge glued panels. The goal of the sorting processing is...

Introducing Students to Feedstock Recycling of End-of-Life Silicones via a Low-Temperature, Iron-Catalyzed Depolymerization Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Do¨hlert, Peter; Weidauer, Maik; Peifer, Raphael; Kohl, Stephan; Enthaler, Stephan

2015-01-01

The straightforward large-scale synthesis and the ability to adjust the properties of polymers make polymers very attractive materials. Polymers have been used in numerous applications and an increased demand is foreseeable. However, a serious issue is the accumulation of enormous amounts of end-of-life polymers, which are currently recycled by…

Academic Staff Involvement and Openness to Diversity in International Educational Organisations: Is There a Moderating Effect of Shared Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Selmer, Jan; Lauring, Jakob; Jonasson, Charlotte

2013-01-01

Joint work among academic staff is important for solving the ever-increasing number of complex tasks that are becoming part of everyday activities in higher education. At the same time, diversification and internationalisation may challenge collaboration processes and communication demands. Speaking a shared language consistently could be a way of…

Embedding Quality Culture in Higher Education in Ghana: Quality Control and Assessment in Emerging Private Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ntim, Stephen

2014-01-01

High quality provision has been one of the key aims of the current reforms in higher educational institutions across the globe since the beginning of the century and the millennium. Consequently this has led to the increasing demand for quality assurance (QA). This report identifies those institutional processes and structures that support the…

Summative and Formative Assessment in Medicine: The Experience of an Anaesthesia Trainee

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Shaughnessy, Sinead M.; Joyce, Pauline

2015-01-01

The practice of medicine is becoming increasingly onerous for doctors, with growing demands coming from both patients and peers. Therefore, we need to equip doctors of the future with the appropriate skills to negotiate a very complex environment. Assessment should be central to this goal with a renewed focus on a more rounded examination process.…

Psychometric Properties of Reverse-Scored Items on the CES-D in a Sample of Ethnically Diverse Older Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Mike; Wilcox, Rand; Chou, Chih-Ping; Chang, Megan; Yang, Frances; Blanchard, Jeanine; Marterella, Abbey; Kuo, Ann; Clark, Florence

2011-01-01

Reverse-scored items on assessment scales increase cognitive processing demands and may therefore lead to measurement problems for older adult respondents. In this study, the objective was to examine possible psychometric inadequacies of reverse-scored items on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) when used to assess…

An Alternative Expert Knowledge Transfer Model: A Case Study of an Indigenous Storytelling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaulding, Roderick Jay

2010-01-01

The increasing complexity of technical work, the demand for highly skilled workers, and the vital challenges facing the world at large have combined to create a need for better ways to transfer knowledge, especially expert knowledge. In this dissertation, I attempted to see if an approach to this process that is more holistic than is typical in…

Peculiarities of Formation the Informative Competence of Future Translators in EU Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolynskyi, Yevhen

2014-01-01

Over the past decade in the world there has significantly increased the process of globalization, which resulted in high demand for the profession of a translator. For future interpreters it is important to be well informed, to know innovations of the sector, which they have chosen as the major. Therefore, the translator should be able to search…

Forecasting Ontario's blood supply and demand.

PubMed

Drackley, Adam; Newbold, K Bruce; Paez, Antonio; Heddle, Nancy

2012-02-01

Given an aging population that requires increased medical care, an increasing number of deferrals from the donor pool, and a growing immigrant population that typically has lower donation rates, the purpose of this article is to forecast Ontario's blood supply and demand. We calculate age- and sex-specific donation and demand rates for blood supply based on 2008 data and project demand between 2008 and 2036 based on these rates and using population data from the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Results indicate that blood demand will outpace supply as early as 2012. For instance, while the total number of donations made by older cohorts is expected to increase in the coming years, the number of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in the 70+ age group is forecasted grow from approximately 53% of all RBC transfusions in 2008 (209,515) in 2008 to 68% (546,996) by 2036. A series of alternate scenarios, including projections based on a 2% increase in supply per year and increased use of apheresis technology, delays supply shortfalls, but does not eliminate them without active management and/or multiple methods to increase supply and decrease demand. Predictions show that demand for blood products will outpace supply in the near future given current age- and sex-specific supply and demand rates. However, we note that the careful management of the blood supply by Canadian Blood Services, along with new medical techniques and the recruitment of new donors to the system, will remove future concerns. © 2012 American Association of Blood Banks.

The Tanzania experience: clinical laboratory testing harmonization and equipment standardization at different levels of a tiered health laboratory system.

PubMed

Massambu, Charles; Mwangi, Christina

2009-06-01

The rapid scale-up of the care and treatment programs in Tanzania during the preceding 4 years has greatly increased the demand for quality laboratory services for diagnosis of HIV and monitoring patients during antiretroviral therapy. Laboratory services were not in a position to cope with this demand owing to poor infrastructure, lack of human resources, erratic and/or lack of reagent supply and commodities, and slow manual technologies. With the limited human resources in the laboratory and the need for scaling up the care and treatment program, it became necessary to install automated equipment and train personnel for the increased volume of testing and new tests across all laboratory levels. With the numerous partners procuring equipment, the possibility of a multitude of equipment platforms with attendant challenges for procurement of reagents, maintenance of equipment, and quality assurance arose. Tanzania, therefore, had to harmonize laboratory tests and standardize laboratory equipment at different levels of the laboratory network. The process of harmonization of tests and standardization of equipment included assessment of laboratories, review of guidelines, development of a national laboratory operational plan, and stakeholder advocacy. This document outlines this process.

Rapid Modeling and Analysis Tools: Evolution, Status, Needs and Directions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Norman F., Jr.; Stone, Thomas J.; Ransom, Jonathan B. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Advanced aerospace systems are becoming increasingly more complex, and customers are demanding lower cost, higher performance, and high reliability. Increased demands are placed on the design engineers to collaborate and integrate design needs and objectives early in the design process to minimize risks that may occur later in the design development stage. High performance systems require better understanding of system sensitivities much earlier in the design process to meet these goals. The knowledge, skills, intuition, and experience of an individual design engineer will need to be extended significantly for the next generation of aerospace system designs. Then a collaborative effort involving the designer, rapid and reliable analysis tools and virtual experts will result in advanced aerospace systems that are safe, reliable, and efficient. This paper discusses the evolution, status, needs and directions for rapid modeling and analysis tools for structural analysis. First, the evolution of computerized design and analysis tools is briefly described. Next, the status of representative design and analysis tools is described along with a brief statement on their functionality. Then technology advancements to achieve rapid modeling and analysis are identified. Finally, potential future directions including possible prototype configurations are proposed.

Streamlining On-Demand Access to Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Data Products for Weather Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, J. D.; Tislin, D.

2017-12-01

Observations from the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) support National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters, whose Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) Data Delivery (DD) will access JPSS data products on demand from the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Product Distribution and Access (PDA) service. Based on the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Service, this on-demand service promises broad interoperability and frugal use of data networks by serving only the data that a user needs. But the volume, velocity, and variety of JPSS data products impose several challenges to such a service. It must be efficient to handle large volumes of complex, frequently updated data, and to fulfill many concurrent requests. It must offer flexible data handling and delivery, to work with a diverse and changing collection of data, and to tailor its outputs into products that users need, with minimal coordination between provider and user communities. It must support 24x7 operation, with no pauses in incoming data or user demand; and it must scale to rapid changes in data volume, variety, and demand as new satellites launch, more products come online, and users rely increasingly on the service. We are addressing these challenges in order to build an efficient and effective on-demand JPSS data service. For example, on-demand subsetting by many users at once may overload a server's processing capacity or its disk bandwidth - unless alleviated by spatial indexing, geolocation transforms, or pre-tiling and caching. Filtering by variable (/ band / layer) may also alleviate network loads, and provide fine-grained variable selection; to that end we are investigating how best to provide random access into the variety of spatiotemporal JPSS data products. Finally, producing tailored products (derivatives, aggregations) can boost flexibility for end users; but some tailoring operations may impose significant server loads. Operating this service in a cloud computing environment allows cost-effective scaling during the development and early deployment phases - and perhaps beyond. We will discuss how NESDIS and NWS are assessing and addressing these challenges to provide timely and effective access to JPSS data products for weather forecasters throughout the country.

Insuring Water Sustainability for Resource Extraction in the New Mexico Permian Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowry, T. S.; Schuhen, M. D.; Lofton, O. W.; Walker, L. T. N.; Johnson, P. B.; Land, L. A.; Herrell, D.

2017-12-01

Advancements in directional drilling and well completion technologies have resulted in an exponential growth in the use of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction. Within the New Mexico portion of the Permian Basin (see figure), water demand to complete each hydraulically fractured well is estimated to average 7.3 acre-feet (2.4 million gallons), which has resulted in an increase in the regional water demand of over 5000 acre-feet per year. The rise in demand along with proposed rule changes that govern the regulation and management of hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands (40 CFS 3160) has created concern as to the regions ability to meet the demand in a manner that can sustainably meet the needs of the variety of water users and other stakeholders in the region while also protecting human health and the environment. Funded by the Bureau of Land Management who is charged with managing the regions water resources on Federal lands, this project is addressing those concerns using a multi-disciplinary approach that synthesizes data collection, field verification, and system dynamics (SD) modeling to better understand the dynamics of the regional water supply and demand under different management, policy, and growth scenarios. The scientific challenge has been in bringing together disparate data in a manner that exposes the temporal and spatial dynamics of the regional water supply in the context of increasing demands and changing policy and management scenarios. Field verification and testing activities are used to evaluate existing borehole data to insure that the data are accurate and up to date. The SD model simulates forecasted increases in drilling activity and water demand relative to each water source to identify areas that are most vulnerable and to estimate risk to water sustainability. Key to this is the models ability to seamlessly handle uncertainty such that it produces probabilistic outputs that allow decision makers to explore and better understand the conditions that may render their actions harmful or ineffective, and provides a means to adaptively manage as real-life conditions change over time. This presentation details the field work and data collection activities, the model conceptualization and development process, and provides real-world examples of the models application.

Whole tree transportation system for timber processing depots

Treesearch

John Lancaster; Tom Gallagher; Tim  McDonald; Dana Mitchell

2016-01-01

The growing demand for alternative energy has led those who are interested in producing sustainable energy from renewable timber to devise new concepts to satisfy those demands. The concept of timber processing depots, where whole stem trees will be delivered for future processing into wood products and high quality energy fuel, has led to the re-evaluation of our...

Involvement of the Central Cognitive Mechanism in Word Production in Adults Who Stutter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Pei-Tzu; Bernstein Ratner, Nan

2016-01-01

Purpose: The study examined whether semantic and phonological encoding processes were capacity demanding, involving the central cognitive mechanism, in adults who do and do not stutter (AWS and NS) to better understand the role of cognitive demand in linguistic processing and stuttering. We asked (a) whether the two linguistic processes in AWS are…

Whole tree transportation system for timber processing depots

Treesearch

John Lancaster; Tom Gallagher; Tim McDonald; Dana Mitchell

2017-01-01

The growing demand for alternative energy has led those interested in producing sustainable energy from renewable biomass such as timber to devise new concepts to satisfy those demands. The concept of timber processing depots, where whole stem trees will be delivered for future processing into wood products and high quality energy fuel, has led to the reevaluation of...

Technology Transfer: Use of Federally Funded Research and Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-19

private sector ; the government’s requirements for products and processes to operate effectively and efficiently; and the demand for increased goods and services at the state and local level. Congress has established a system to facilitate the transfer of technology to the private sector and to state and local governments. Despite this, use of federal R&D results has remained restrained, although there has been a significant increase in private sector interest and activities over the past several years. Critics argue that

Neuronal oscillations reveal the processes underlying intentional compared to incidental learning in children and young adults.

PubMed

Köster, Moritz; Haese, André; Czernochowski, Daniela

2017-01-01

This EEG study investigated the neuronal processes during intentional compared to incidental learning in young adults and two groups of children aged 10 and 7 years. Theta (3-8 Hz) and alpha (10-16 Hz) neuronal oscillations were analyzed to compare encoding processes during an intentional and an incidental encoding task. In all three age groups, both encoding conditions were associated with an increase in event-related theta activity. Encoding-related alpha suppression increased with age. Memory performance was higher in the intentional compared to the incidental task in all age groups. Furthermore, intentional learning was associated with an improved encoding of perceptual features, which were relevant for the retrieval phase. Theta activity increased from incidental to intentional encoding. Specifically, frontal theta increased in all age groups, while parietal theta increased only in adults and older children. In younger children, parietal theta was similarly high in both encoding phases. While alpha suppression may reflect semantic processes during encoding, increased theta activity during intentional encoding may indicate perceptual binding processes, in accordance with the demands of the encoding task. Higher encoding-related alpha suppression in the older age groups, together with age differences in parietal theta activity during incidental learning in young children, is in line with recent theoretical accounts, emphasizing the role of perceptual processes in mnemonic processing in young children, whereas semantic encoding processes continue to mature throughout middle childhood.

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees

PubMed Central

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A.

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration. PMID:26317530

The effect of tempering treatment on mechanical properties and microstructure for armored lateritic steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herbirowo, Satrio; Adjiantoro, Bintang; Romijarso, Toni Bambang; Pramono, Andika Widya

2018-05-01

High demand of armor material impacts on the use of lateritic steel as alternative armored material, therefore an increase of its mechanical properties is necessary. Quenching and tempering process can be used to increase the mechanical properties of the lateritic steel. The variables that used in this research are variation in media quench (water, oil, and air) and variation in tempering temperatures (0, 100, and 200 °C). The results show that specimen with water quenchant tempered at 100 °C have the highest average on hardness (59.1 HRC) and tensile strength. Specimen with oil quenchant tempered at 100 °C has the highest impact toughness (52 J). Secondary hardening and tempered martensite embrittlement phenomenon is found in some specimens where its hardness increased and its impact toughness decreased after the tempering process. Microstructures which formed in this process are martensite and retained austenite phase with fracture types are brittle.

Sustainability assessment of regional water resources under the DPSIR framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Shikun; Wang, Yubao; Liu, Jing; Cai, Huanjie; Wu, Pute; Geng, Qingling; Xu, Lijun

2016-01-01

Fresh water is a scarce and critical resource in both natural and socioeconomic systems. Increasing populations combined with an increasing demand for water resources have led to water shortages worldwide. Current water management strategies may not be sustainable, and comprehensive action should be taken to minimize the water budget deficit. Sustainable water resources management is essential because it ensures the integration of social, economic, and environmental issues into all stages of water resources management. This paper establishes the indicators to evaluate the sustainability of water utilization based on the Drive-Pressure-Status-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, a comprehensive assessment of changes to the sustainability of the water resource system in the city of Bayannur was conducted using these indicators. The results indicate that there is an increase in the driving force of local water consumption due to changes in society, economic development, and the consumption structure of residents. The pressure on the water system increased, whereas the status of the water resources continued to decrease over the study period due to the increasing drive indicators. The local government adopted a series of response measures to relieve the decreasing water resources and alleviate the negative effects of the increasing driver in demand. The response measures improved the efficiency of water usage to a large extent, but the large-scale expansion in demands brought a rebounding effect, known as ;Jevons paradox; At the same time, the increasing emissions of industrial and agriculture pollutants brought huge pressures to the regional water resources environment, which caused a decrease in the sustainability of regional water resources. Changing medium and short-term factors, such as regional economic pattern, technological levels, and water utilization practices, can contribute to the sustainable utilization of regional water resources.

Cosmetic surgery procedures as luxury goods: measuring price and demand in facial plastic surgery.

PubMed

Alsarraf, Ramsey; Alsarraf, Nicole W; Larrabee, Wayne F; Johnson, Calvin M

2002-01-01

To evaluate the relationship between cosmetic facial plastic surgery procedure price and demand, and to test the hypothesis that these procedures function as luxury goods in the marketplace, with an upward-sloping demand curve. Data were derived from a survey that was sent to every (N = 1727) active fellow, member, or associate of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, assessing the costs and frequency of 4 common cosmetic facial plastic surgery procedures (face-lift, brow-lift, blepharoplasty, and rhinoplasty) for 1999 and 1989. An economic analysis was performed to assess the relationship of price and demand for these procedures. A significant association was found between increasing surgeons' fees and total charges for cosmetic facial plastic surgery procedures and increasing demand for these procedures, as measured by their annual frequency (P

Could the organ shortage ever be met?

PubMed

Levitt, Mairi

2015-01-01

The organ shortage is commonly presented as having a clear solution, increase the number of organs donated and the problem will be solved. In the light of the Northern Ireland Assembly's consultation on moving to an opt-out organ donor register this article focuses on the social factors and complexities which impact strongly on both the supply of, and demand for, transplantable organs. Judging by the experience of other countries presumed consent systems may or may not increase donations but have not met demand. Donation rates have risen considerably in all parts of the UK recently but there is also an increasing demand for organs. Looking at international donation rates and attitudes, future demand for organs and education on donation, the question is whether the organ shortage could ever be met. The increase in longevity, in rates of diabetes and obesity and in alcohol related liver disease all contribute both to increased demand for transplants, and re-transplants, and a reduction in the number of usable organs. It is unlikely that demand could ever be met, since, if supply was unlimited, the focus would move to financial resources and competing demands on the health care budget in a publicly funded health system. These factors point to the need to focus on ways of reducing, or at least stabilizing, demand where lifestyle factors contribute to the underlying disease.

Forecasting domestic water demand in the Haihe river basin under changing environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiao-Jun; Zhang, Jian-Yun; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Xie, Yu-Xuan; Zhang, Xu

2018-02-01

A statistical model has been developed for forecasting domestic water demand in Haihe river basin of China due to population growth, technological advances and climate change. Historical records of domestic water use, climate, population and urbanization are used for the development of model. An ensemble of seven general circulation models (GCMs) namely, BCC-CSM1-1, BNU-ESM, CNRM-CM5, GISS-E2-R, MIROC-ESM, PI-ESM-LR, MRI-CGCM3 were used for the projection of climate and the changes in water demand in the Haihe River basin under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5. The results showed that domestic water demand in different sub-basins of the Haihe river basin will gradually increase due to continuous increase of population and rise in temperature. It is projected to increase maximum 136.22 × 108 m3 by GCM BNU-ESM and the minimum 107.25 × 108 m3 by CNRM-CM5 in 2030. In spite of uncertainty in projection, it can be remarked that climate change and population growth would cause increase in water demand and consequently, reduce the gap between water supply and demand, which eventually aggravate the condition of existing water stress in the basin. Water demand management should be emphasized for adaptation to ever increasing water demand and mitigation of the impacts of environmental changes.

Age and sex differences in steadiness of elbow flexor muscles with imposed cognitive demand

PubMed Central

Pereira, Hugo M.; Spears, Vincent C.; Schlinder-Delap, Bonnie; Yoon, Tejin; Nielson, Kristy A.; Hunter, Sandra K.

2015-01-01

Purpose These studies determined (1) age and sex-related differences in steadiness of isometric contractions when high cognitive demand was imposed across a range of forces with the elbow flexor muscles (study 1) and, (2) sex differences in steadiness among older adults when low cognitive demand was imposed (study 2). Methods 36 young adults (18–25 years; 18 women) and 30 older adults (60–82 years; 17 women) performed isometric contractions at 5%, 30% and 40% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Study 1 involved a high-cognitive demand session (serial subtractions by 13 during the contraction) and a control session (no mental math). Study 2 (older adults only) involved a low-cognitive demand session (subtracting by 1s). Results Older individuals exhibited greater increases in force fluctuations (coefficient of variation of force, CV) with high cognitive demand than young adults, with the largest age difference at 5% MVC (P = 0.01). Older adults had greater agonist EMG activity with high-cognitive demand and women had greater coactivation than men (P<0.05). In study 2, CV of force increased with low cognitive demand for the older women but not for the older men (P = 0.03). Conclusion Older adults had reduced steadiness and increased muscle activation when high cognitive demand was imposed while low cognitive demand induced increased force fluctuations in older women but not older men. These findings have implications for daily and work-related tasks that involve cognitive demand performed simultaneously during submaximal isometric contractions in an aging workforce. PMID:25633070

Towards Hybrid Online On-Demand Querying of Realtime Data with Stateful Complex Event Processing

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

Zhou, Qunzhi; Simmhan, Yogesh; Prasanna, Viktor K.

Emerging Big Data applications in areas like e-commerce and energy industry require both online and on-demand queries to be performed over vast and fast data arriving as streams. These present novel challenges to Big Data management systems. Complex Event Processing (CEP) is recognized as a high performance online query scheme which in particular deals with the velocity aspect of the 3-V’s of Big Data. However, traditional CEP systems do not consider data variety and lack the capability to embed ad hoc queries over the volume of data streams. In this paper, we propose H2O, a stateful complex event processing framework,more » to support hybrid online and on-demand queries over realtime data. We propose a semantically enriched event and query model to address data variety. A formal query algebra is developed to precisely capture the stateful and containment semantics of online and on-demand queries. We describe techniques to achieve the interactive query processing over realtime data featured by efficient online querying, dynamic stream data persistence and on-demand access. The system architecture is presented and the current implementation status reported.« less

Measuring and managing radiologist workload: application of lean and constraint theories and production planning principles to planning radiology services in a major tertiary hospital.

PubMed

MacDonald, Sharyn L S; Cowan, Ian A; Floyd, Richard; Mackintosh, Stuart; Graham, Rob; Jenkins, Emma; Hamilton, Richard

2013-10-01

We describe how techniques traditionally used in the manufacturing industry (lean management, the theory of constraints and production planning) can be applied to planning radiology services to reduce the impact of constraints such as limited radiologist hours, and to subsequently reduce delays in accessing imaging and in report turnaround. Targets for imaging and reporting were set aligned with clinical needs. Capacity was quantified for each modality and for radiologists and recorded in activity lists. Demand was quantified and forecasting commenced based on historical referral rates. To try and mitigate the impact of radiologists as a constraint, lean management processes were applied to radiologist workflows. A production planning process was implemented. Outpatient waiting times to access imaging steadily decreased. Report turnaround times improved with the percentage of overnight/on-call reports completed by a 1030 target time increased from approximately 30% to 80 to 90%. The percentage of emergency and inpatient reports completed within one hour increased from approximately 15% to approximately 50% with 80 to 90% available within 4 hours. The number of unreported cases on the radiologist work-list at the end of the working day reduced. The average weekly accuracy for demand forecasts for emergency and inpatient CT, MRI and plain film imaging was 91%, 83% and 92% respectively. For outpatient CT, MRI and plain film imaging the accuracy was 60%, 55% and 77% respectively. Reliable routine weekly and medium to longer term service planning is now possible. Tools from industry can be successfully applied to diagnostic imaging services to improve performance. They allow an accurate understanding of the demands on a service, capacity, and can reliably predict the impact of changes in demand or capacity on service delivery. © 2013 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists.

Model-based setup assistant for progressive tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Springer, Robert; Gräler, Manuel; Homberg, Werner; Henke, Christian; Trächtler, Ansgar

2018-05-01

In the field of production systems, globalization and technological progress lead to increasing requirements regarding part quality, delivery time and costs. Hence, today's production is challenged much more than a few years ago: it has to be very flexible and produce economically small batch sizes to satisfy consumer's demands and avoid unnecessary stock. Furthermore, a trend towards increasing functional integration continues to lead to an ongoing miniaturization of sheet metal components. In the industry of electric connectivity for example, the miniaturized connectors are manufactured by progressive tools, which are usually used for very large batches. These tools are installed in mechanical presses and then set up by a technician, who has to manually adjust a wide range of punch-bending operations. Disturbances like material thickness, temperatures, lubrication or tool wear complicate the setup procedure. In prospect of the increasing demand of production flexibility, this time-consuming process has to be handled more and more often. In this paper, a new approach for a model-based setup assistant is proposed as a solution, which is exemplarily applied in combination with a progressive tool. First, progressive tools, more specifically, their setup process is described and based on that, the challenges are pointed out. As a result, a systematic process to set up the machines is introduced. Following, the process is investigated with an FE-Analysis regarding the effects of the disturbances. In the next step, design of experiments is used to systematically develop a regression model of the system's behaviour. This model is integrated within an optimization in order to calculate optimal machine parameters and the following necessary adjustment of the progressive tool due to the disturbances. Finally, the assistant is tested in a production environment and the results are discussed.

Task-specific Aspects of Goal-directed Word Generation Identified via Simultaneous EEG-fMRI.

PubMed

Shapira-Lichter, Irit; Klovatch, Ilana; Nathan, Dana; Oren, Noga; Hendler, Talma

2016-09-01

Generating words according to a given rule relies on retrieval-related search and postretrieval control processes. Using fMRI, we recently characterized neural patterns of word generation in response to episodic, semantic, and phonemic cues by comparing free recall of wordlists, category fluency, and letter fluency [Shapira-Lichter, I., Oren, N., Jacob, Y., Gruberger, M., & Hendler, T. Portraying the unique contribution of the default mode network to internally driven mnemonic processes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 110, 4950-4955, 2013]. Distinct selectivity for each condition was evident, representing discrete aspects of word generation-related memory retrieval. For example, the precuneus, implicated in processing spatiotemporal information, emerged as a key contributor to the episodic condition, which uniquely requires this information. Gamma band is known to play a central role in memory, and increased gamma power has been observed before word generation. Yet, gamma modulation in response to task demands has not been investigated. To capture the task-specific modulation of gamma power, we analyzed the EEG data recorded simultaneously with the aforementioned fMRI, focusing on the activity locked to and immediately preceding word articulation. Transient increases in gamma power were identified in a parietal electrode immediately before episodic and semantic word generation, however, within a different time frame relative to articulation. Gamma increases were followed by an alpha-theta decrease in the episodic condition, a gamma decrease in the semantic condition. This pattern indicates a task-specific modulation of the gamma signal corresponding to the specific demands of each word generation task. The gamma power and fMRI signal from the precuneus were correlated during the episodic condition, implying the existence of a common cognitive construct uniquely required for this task, possibly the reactivation or processing of spatiotemporal information.

Acceleration in the care of older adults: new demands as predictors of employee burnout and engagement.

PubMed

Kubicek, Bettina; Korunka, Christian; Ulferts, Heike

2013-07-01

This paper introduces the concept of acceleration-related demands in the care of older adults. It examines these new demands and their relation to cognitive, emotional, and physical job demands and to employee well-being. Various changes in the healthcare systems of Western societies pose new demands for healthcare professionals' careers and jobs. In particular today's societal changes give rise to acceleration-related demands, which manifest themselves in work intensification and in increasing requirements to handle new technical equipment and to update one's job-related knowledge. It is, therefore, of interest to investigate the effects of these new demands on the well-being of employees. Survey. Between March-June 2010 the survey was conducted among healthcare professionals involved in care of older adults in Austria. A total of 1498 employees provided data on cognitive, emotional, and physical job demands and on acceleration-related demands. The outcome variables were the core dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) and engagement (vigour and dedication). Hierarchical regression analyses show that acceleration-related demands explain additional variance for exhaustion, depersonalization, vigour, and dedication when controlling for cognitive, emotional, and physical demands. Furthermore, acceleration-related demands associated with increasing requirements to update one's knowledge are related to positive outcomes (vigour and dedication). Acceleration-related demands associated with an increasing work pace are related to negative outcomes such as emotional exhaustion. Results illustrate that new demands resulting from social acceleration generate potential challenges for on-the-job learning and potential risks to employees' health and well-being. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The cognitive demands of second order manual control: Applications of the event related brain potential

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wickens, C.; Gill, R.; Kramer, A.; Ross, W.; Donchin, E.

1981-01-01

Three experiments are described in which tracking difficulty is varied in the presence of a covert tone discrimination task. Event related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by the tones are employed as an index of the resource demands of tracking. The ERP measure reflected the control order variation, and this variable was thereby assumed to compete for perceptual/central processing resources. A fine-grained analysis of the results suggested that the primary demands of second order tracking involve the central processing operations of maintaining a more complex internal model of the dynamic system, rather than the perceptual demands of higher derivative perception. Experiment 3 varied tracking bandwidth in random input tracking, and the ERP was unaffected. Bandwidth was then inferred to compete for response-related processing resources that are independent of the ERP.

Chemically pretreating slaughterhouse solid waste to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion.

PubMed

Flores-Juarez, Cyntia R; Rodríguez-García, Adrián; Cárdenas-Mijangos, Jesús; Montoya-Herrera, Leticia; Godinez Mora-Tovar, Luis A; Bustos-Bustos, Erika; Rodríguez-Valadez, Francisco; Manríquez-Rocha, Juan

2014-10-01

The combined effect of temperature and pretreatment of the substrate on the anaerobic treatment of the organic fraction of slaughterhouse solid waste was studied. The goal of the study was to evaluate the effect of pretreating the waste on the efficiency of anaerobic digestion. The effect was analyzed at two temperature ranges (the psychrophilic and the mesophilic ranges), in order to evaluate the effect of temperature on the performance of the anaerobic digestion process for this residue. The experiments were performed in 6 L batch reactors for 30 days. Two temperature ranges were studied: the psychrophilic range (at room temperature, 18°C average) and the mesophilic range (at 37°C). The waste was pretreated with NaOH before the anaerobic treatment. The result of pretreating with NaOH was a 194% increase in the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) with a dose of 0.6 g NaOH per g of volatile suspended solids (VSS). In addition, the soluble chemical oxygen demand/total chemical oxygen demand ratio (sCOD/tCOD) increased from 0.31 to 0.7. For the anaerobic treatment, better results were observed in the mesophilic range, achieving 70.7%, 47% and 47.2% removal efficiencies for tCOD, total solids (TS), and volatile solids (VS), respectively. Copyright © 2014 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Water stress, water salience, and the implications for water supply planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, M. E.; Islam, S.

2017-12-01

Effectively addressing the water supply challenges posed by urbanization and climate change requires a holistic understanding of the water supply system, including the impact of human behavior on system dynamics. Decision makers have limits to available information and information processing capacity, and their attention is not equally distributed among risks. The salience of a given risk is higher when increased attention is directed to it and though perceived risk may increase, real risk does not change. Relevant to water supply planning is how and when water stress results in an increased salience of water risks. This work takes a socio-hydrological approach to develop a water supply planning model that includes water consumption as an endogenous variable, in the context of Las Vegas, NV. To understand the benefits and limitations of this approach, this model is compared to a traditional planning model that uses water consumption scenarios. Both models are applied to project system reliability and water stress under four streamflow and demographic scenarios, and to assess supply side responses to changing conditions. The endogenous demand model enables the identification of feedback between both supply and demand management decisions on future water consumption and system performance. This model, while specific to the Las Vegas case, demonstrates a prototypical modeling framework capable of examining water-supply demand interactions by incorporating water stress driven conservation.

Effective connectivity within the frontoparietal control network differentiates cognitive control and working memory.

PubMed

Harding, Ian H; Yücel, Murat; Harrison, Ben J; Pantelis, Christos; Breakspear, Michael

2015-02-01

Cognitive control and working memory rely upon a common fronto-parietal network that includes the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), pre-supplementary motor area/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (pSMA/dACC), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS). This network is able to flexibly adapt its function in response to changing behavioral goals, mediating a wide range of cognitive demands. Here we apply dynamic causal modeling to functional magnetic resonance imaging data to characterize task-related alterations in the strength of network interactions across distinct cognitive processes. Evidence in favor of task-related connectivity dynamics was accrued across a very large space of possible network structures. Cognitive control and working memory demands were manipulated using a factorial combination of the multi-source interference task and a verbal 2-back working memory task, respectively. Both were found to alter the sensitivity of the IFJ to perceptual information, and to increase IFJ-to-pSMA/dACC connectivity. In contrast, increased connectivity from the pSMA/dACC to the IPS, as well as from the dlPFC to the IFJ, was uniquely driven by cognitive control demands; a task-induced negative influence of the dlPFC on the pSMA/dACC was specific to working memory demands. These results reflect a system of both shared and unique context-dependent dynamics within the fronto-parietal network. Mechanisms supporting cognitive engagement, response selection, and action evaluation may be shared across cognitive domains, while dynamic updating of task and context representations within this network are potentially specific to changing demands on cognitive control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attention during active visual tasks: counting, pointing, or simply looking

PubMed Central

Wilder, John D.; Schnitzer, Brian S.; Gersch, Timothy M.; Dosher, Barbara A.

2009-01-01

Visual attention and saccades are typically studied in artificial situations, with stimuli presented to the steadily fixating eye, or saccades made along specified paths. By contrast, in the real world saccadic patterns are constrained only by the demands of the motivating task. We studied attention during pauses between saccades made to perform 3 free-viewing tasks: counting dots, pointing to the same dots with a visible cursor, or simply looking at the dots using a freely-chosen path. Attention was assessed by the ability to identify the orientation of a briefly-presented Gabor probe. All primary tasks produced losses in identification performance, with counting producing the largest losses, followed by pointing and then looking-only. Looking-only resulted in a 37% increase in contrast thresholds in the orientation task. Counting produced more severe losses that were not overcome by increasing Gabor contrast. Detection or localization of the Gabor, unlike identification, were largely unaffected by any of the primary tasks. Taken together, these results show that attention is required to control saccades, even with freely-chosen paths, but the attentional demands of saccades are less than those attached to tasks such as counting, which have a significant cognitive load. Counting proved to be a highly demanding task that either exhausted momentary processing capacity (e.g., working memory or executive functions), or, alternatively, encouraged a strategy of filtering out all signals irrelevant to counting itself. The fact that the attentional demands of saccades (as well as those of detection/localization) are relatively modest makes it possible to continually adjust both the spatial and temporal pattern of saccades so as to re-allocate attentional resources as needed to handle the complex and multifaceted demands of real-world environments. PMID:18649913

Elimination of Two Hormones by Ultrasonic and Ozone Combined Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mingcan Cui,; Younggyu Son,; Myunghee Lim,; Seungmin Na,; Jeehyeong Khim,

2010-07-01

A direct ultrasonic (US) and ozone (O3) combination (US/O3) process for the removal of two hormones, estrone (E1) and estriol (E3), in aqueous solutions was investigated. These two hormones were detected in a wastewater treatment plant effluent in Korea. It was found that the ultrasonic/ozone process showed a higher removal performance than the US and O3 process even though the O3 process also showed approximately the same removal efficiency after 60 min. Chemical oxygen demand/total organic carbon (CODcr/TOC) ratios for E1 and E3 decreased, indicating that biodegradability could be increased significantly in the US/O3 process. The optimal pH condition was determined above the neutral pH condition.

Differential effects of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder symptoms on cognitive and fear processing in female offenders

PubMed Central

Anton, Marja E.; Vitale, Jennifer E.; Curtin, John J.; Newman, Joseph P.

2012-01-01

Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (APD) have long been considered important risk factors for criminal behavior and incarceration. However, little is known about the psychobiological underpinnings that give rise to the disinhibited behavior of female offenders. Using an instructed fear-conditioning paradigm and a sample of incarcerated female offenders, we manipulated attentional focus and cognitive load to characterize and differentiate between the dysfunctional cognitive and affective processes associated with these syndromes. We used fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and event-related potentials as measures of affective and cognitive processing, respectively. After controlling for APD symptoms, psychopathic women displayed greater FPS while attending directly to threat-relevant stimuli and displayed less FPS while performing a demanding task that directed attention to threat-irrelevant information. Conversely, controlling for psychopathy, women with high APD symptoms displayed less overall FPS, especially when instructed to focus on threat-relevant stimuli. However, as the demands on cognitive resources increased, they displayed greater FPS. For both psychopathy and APD, analysis of the event-related potentials qualified these findings and further specified the abnormal cognitive processes associated with these two syndromes. Overall, simultaneous analysis of psychopathy and APD revealed distinct patterns of cognitive processing and fear reactivity. PMID:22886692

Impacts of climate change on sub-regional electricity demand and distribution in the southern United States

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

Allen, Melissa R.; Fernandez, Steven J.; Fu, Joshua S.

New tools are employed to develop an electricity demand map for the southeastern United States at neighborhood resolution to serve as a baseline from which to project increases in electricity demand due to a rise in global and local temperature and to population shifts motivated by increases in extreme weather events due to climate change. We find that electricity demand increases due to temperature rise over the next 40 years have a much smaller impact than those due to large population influx. In addition, we find evidence that some, sections of the national electrical grid are more adaptable to thesemore » population shifts and changing demand than others are; and that detailed projections of changing local electricity demand patterns are viable and important for planning at the urban level.« less

Impacts of climate change on sub-regional electricity demand and distribution in the southern United States

DOE PAGES

Allen, Melissa R.; Fernandez, Steven J.; Fu, Joshua S.; ...

2016-07-25

New tools are employed to develop an electricity demand map for the southeastern United States at neighborhood resolution to serve as a baseline from which to project increases in electricity demand due to a rise in global and local temperature and to population shifts motivated by increases in extreme weather events due to climate change. We find that electricity demand increases due to temperature rise over the next 40 years have a much smaller impact than those due to large population influx. In addition, we find evidence that some, sections of the national electrical grid are more adaptable to thesemore » population shifts and changing demand than others are; and that detailed projections of changing local electricity demand patterns are viable and important for planning at the urban level.« less

Towards a Better Understanding of CMMI and Agile Integration - Multiple Case Study of Four Companies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pikkarainen, Minna

The amount of software is increasing in the different domains in Europe. This provides the industries in smaller countries good opportunities to work in the international markets. Success in the global markets however demands the rapid production of high quality, error free software. Both CMMI and agile methods seem to provide a ready solution for quality and lead time improvements. There is not, however, much empirical evidence available either about 1) how the integration of these two aspects can be done in practice or 2) what it actually demands from assessors and software process improvement groups. The goal of this paper is to increase the understanding of CMMI and agile integration, in particular, focusing on the research question: how to use ‘lightweight’ style of CMMI assessments in agile contexts. This is done via four case studies in which assessments were conducted using the goals of CMMI integrated project management and collaboration and coordination with relevant stakeholder process areas and practices from XP and Scrum. The study shows that the use of agile practices may support the fulfilment of the goals of CMMI process areas but there are still many challenges for the agile teams to be solved within the continuous improvement programs. It also identifies practical advices to the assessors and improvement groups to take into consideration when conducting assessment in the context of agile software development.

Task demands determine comparison strategy in whole probe change detection.

PubMed

Udale, Rob; Farrell, Simon; Kent, Chris

2018-05-01

Detecting a change in our visual world requires a process that compares the external environment (test display) with the contents of memory (study display). We addressed the question of whether people strategically adapt the comparison process in response to different decision loads. Study displays of 3 colored items were presented, followed by 'whole-display' probes containing 3 colored shapes. Participants were asked to decide whether any probed items contained a new feature. In Experiments 1-4, irrelevant changes to the probed item's locations or feature bindings influenced memory performance, suggesting that participants employed a comparison process that relied on spatial locations. This finding occurred irrespective of whether participants were asked to decide about the whole display, or only a single cued item within the display. In Experiment 5, when the base-rate of changes in the nonprobed items increased (increasing the incentive to use the cue effectively), participants were not influenced by irrelevant changes in location or feature bindings. In addition, we observed individual differences in the use of spatial cues. These results suggest that participants can flexibly switch between spatial and nonspatial comparison strategies, depending on interactions between individual differences and task demand factors. These findings have implications for models of visual working memory that assume that the comparison between study and test obligatorily relies on accessing visual features via their binding to location. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Energy efficiency to reduce residential electricity and natural gas use under climate change

PubMed Central

Reyna, Janet L.; Chester, Mikhail V.

2017-01-01

Climate change could significantly affect consumer demand for energy in buildings, as changing temperatures may alter heating and cooling loads. Warming climates could also lead to the increased adoption and use of cooling technologies in buildings. We assess residential electricity and natural gas demand in Los Angeles, California under multiple climate change projections and investigate the potential for energy efficiency to offset increased demand. We calibrate residential energy use against metered data, accounting for differences in building materials and appliances. Under temperature increases, we find that without policy intervention, residential electricity demand could increase by as much as 41–87% between 2020 and 2060. However, aggressive policies aimed at upgrading heating/cooling systems and appliances could result in electricity use increases as low as 28%, potentially avoiding the installation of new generation capacity. We therefore recommend aggressive energy efficiency, in combination with low-carbon generation sources, to offset projected increases in residential energy demand. PMID:28504255

23 CFR 450.320 - Congestion management process in transportation management areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... travel demand reduction and operational management strategies. (b) The development of a congestion... appropriate analysis of reasonable (including multimodal) travel demand reduction and operational management... the analysis demonstrates that travel demand reduction and operational management strategies cannot...

The effects of aging on the working memory processes of multimodal information.

PubMed

Solesio-Jofre, Elena; López-Frutos, José María; Cashdollar, Nathan; Aurtenetxe, Sara; de Ramón, Ignacio; Maestú, Fernando

2017-05-01

Normal aging is associated with deficits in working memory processes. However, the majority of research has focused on storage or inhibitory processes using unimodal paradigms, without addressing their relationships using different sensory modalities. Hence, we pursued two objectives. First, was to examine the effects of aging on storage and inhibitory processes. Second, was to evaluate aging effects on multisensory integration of visual and auditory stimuli. To this end, young and older participants performed a multimodal task for visual and auditory pairs of stimuli with increasing memory load at encoding and interference during retention. Our results showed an age-related increased vulnerability to interrupting and distracting interference reflecting inhibitory deficits related to the off-line reactivation and on-line suppression of relevant and irrelevant information, respectively. Storage capacity was impaired with increasing task demands in both age groups. Additionally, older adults showed a deficit in multisensory integration, with poorer performance for new visual compared to new auditory information.

5 CFR 1216.205 - Processing requests or demands.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Processing requests or demands. 1216.205 Section 1216.205 Administrative Personnel MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES TESTIMONY BY MSPB EMPLOYEES RELATING TO OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND PRODUCTION OF OFFICIAL RECORDS IN LEGAL...

Frequency modulation of neural oscillations according to visual task demands.

PubMed

Wutz, Andreas; Melcher, David; Samaha, Jason

2018-02-06

Temporal integration in visual perception is thought to occur within cycles of occipital alpha-band (8-12 Hz) oscillations. Successive stimuli may be integrated when they fall within the same alpha cycle and segregated for different alpha cycles. Consequently, the speed of alpha oscillations correlates with the temporal resolution of perception, such that lower alpha frequencies provide longer time windows for perceptual integration and higher alpha frequencies correspond to faster sampling and segregation. Can the brain's rhythmic activity be dynamically controlled to adjust its processing speed according to different visual task demands? We recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants switched between task instructions for temporal integration and segregation, holding stimuli and task difficulty constant. We found that the peak frequency of alpha oscillations decreased when visual task demands required temporal integration compared with segregation. Alpha frequency was strategically modulated immediately before and during stimulus processing, suggesting a preparatory top-down source of modulation. Its neural generators were located in occipital and inferotemporal cortex. The frequency modulation was specific to alpha oscillations and did not occur in the delta (1-3 Hz), theta (3-7 Hz), beta (15-30 Hz), or gamma (30-50 Hz) frequency range. These results show that alpha frequency is under top-down control to increase or decrease the temporal resolution of visual perception.

A steady state visually evoked potential investigation of memory and ageing.

PubMed

Macpherson, Helen; Pipingas, Andrew; Silberstein, Richard

2009-04-01

Old age is generally accompanied by a decline in memory performance. Specifically, neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have revealed that there are age-related changes in the neural correlates of episodic and working memory. This study investigated age-associated changes in the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) amplitude and latency associated with memory performance. Participants were 15 older (59-67 years) and 14 younger (20-30 years) adults who performed an object working memory (OWM) task and a contextual recognition memory (CRM) task, whilst the SSVEP was recorded from 64 electrode sites. Retention of a single object in the low demand OWM task was characterised by smaller frontal SSVEP amplitude and latency differences in older adults than in younger adults, indicative of an age-associated reduction in neural processes. Recognition of visual images in the more difficult CRM task was accompanied by larger, more sustained SSVEP amplitude and latency decreases over temporal parietal regions in older adults. In contrast, the more transient, frontally mediated pattern of activity demonstrated by younger adults suggests that younger and older adults utilize different neural resources to perform recognition judgements. The results provide support for compensatory processes in the aging brain; at lower task demands, older adults demonstrate reduced neural activity, whereas at greater task demands neural activity is increased.

Does the walking task matter? Influence of different walking conditions on dual-task performances in young and older persons.

PubMed

Beurskens, Rainer; Bock, Otmar

2013-12-01

Previous literature suggests that age-related deficits of dual-task walking are particularly pronounced with second tasks that require continuous visual processing. Here we evaluate whether the difficulty of the walking task matters as well. To this end, participants were asked to walk along a straight pathway of 20m length in four different walking conditions: (a) wide path and preferred pace; (b) narrow path and preferred pace, (c) wide path and fast pace, (d) obstacled wide path and preferred pace. Each condition was performed concurrently with a task requiring visual processing or fine motor control, and all tasks were also performed alone which allowed us to calculate the dual-task costs (DTC). Results showed that the age-related increase of DTC is substantially larger with the visually demanding than with the motor-demanding task, more so when walking on a narrow or obstacled path. We attribute these observations to the fact that visual scanning of the environment becomes more crucial when walking in difficult terrains: the higher visual demand of those conditions accentuates the age-related deficits in coordinating them with a visual non-walking task. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sex differences in functional activation patterns revealed by increased emotion processing demands.

PubMed

Hall, Geoffrey B C; Witelson, Sandra F; Szechtman, Henry; Nahmias, Claude

2004-02-09

Two [O(15)] PET studies assessed sex differences regional brain activation in the recognition of emotional stimuli. Study I revealed that the recognition of emotion in visual faces resulted in bilateral frontal activation in women, and unilateral right-sided activation in men. In study II, the complexity of the emotional face task was increased through tje addition of associated auditory emotional stimuli. Men again showed unilateral frontal activation, in this case to the left; whereas women did not show bilateral frontal activation, but showed greater limbic activity. These results suggest that when processing broader cross-modal emotional stimuli, men engage more in associative cognitive strategies while women draw more on primary emotional references.

Energy Efficient Materials Manufacturing from Secondary Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Apelian, Diran; Mishra, Brajendra

Rare earths metals, including yttrium and scandium, are being increasingly used in clean energy technologies, colored phosphors, lasers and high intensity magnets. There are important defense applications such as fighter jet engines, missile guidance systems and space based satellite and communication systems, based on these metals. The commitment to clean energy technologies by various governments, as well as the projected growth in power and transportation sectors across the globe will certainly escalate the demand for rare earth metals and compounds. This demand implies that to ensure unhindered technological innovation, it is essential to possess secure supply chains for rare earth elements. The United States continues to be one of the largest consumers and importer of rare earths and the trend is expected to continue as the demand increases. In order to ensure secure rare earth supply and attenuate supply-demand imbalances post 2014, it is not only necessary to encourage and support exploration of newer reserves, build a rare earth stockpile, but it is also of utmost importance to look at opportunities to recycle and reuse Rare Earth Elements (REE) from secondary sources, such as post-consumer and manufacturing process wastes. This research describes the technological developments made to convert these valuable resources into functional manufactured materials for lighting industry, automotive and petroleum refining catalysts, and high density permanent magnets. In addition, production of rhenium from advanced aerospace alloys is also discussed from the perspective that it can be recovered for introduction in turbine alloys.

Satellite Supported Estimates of Human Rate of NPP Carbon Use on Land: Challenges Ahead

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imhoff, M. L.; Bounoua, L.; Zhang, P.; Wolfe, R. E.

2010-12-01

The human demand for products of photosynthesis is a powerful measure of the aggregate impact of human action on the biosphere and indicator of societal vulnerability to climate change. We show results from several studies that use satellite and statistical data to estimate the amount of Earth’s net primary production (NPP) on land required to support regional and global use of food, fiber and NPP-based fuel products across a ten-year period. Earth’s planetary NPP ‘supply’ was estimated using AVHRR vegetation index and MODIS derived NPP products to establish a baseline extending from 1982 - 2005. NPP carbon ‘demand’ was estimated by applying biophysical models to consumption data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to calculate the annual amount of NPP required for the products consumed. Results show that globally, humans consume more than 20% of Earth’s total net primary production on land and that both populations and per capita consumption increased between 1995 and 2005. Regionally, the NPP-carbon balance percentage varies from 6% to over 70% and locally from near 0% to over 30,000% in major urban areas. Large uncertainties exist in both supply and demand calculations but while the supply trend varies in sign demand continues to rise. Scenarios modeling the impact of per capita consumption, population growth, and technology suggest that NPP demand as percent of supply is likely to increase substantially in the next 40 years despite better harvesting and processing efficiencies.

Nicotine withdrawal modulates frontal brain function during an affective Stroop task

PubMed Central

Modlin, Leslie; Wang, Lihong; Kozink, Rachel V.; McClernon, F. Joseph

2013-01-01

Background Among nicotine-dependent smokers, smoking abstinence disrupts multiple cognitive and affective processes including conflict resolution and emotional information processing (EIP). However, the neurobiological basis of abstinence effects on resolving emotional interference on cognition remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate smoking abstinence effects on emotion–cognition interactions. Methods Smokers (n=17) underwent fMRI while performing an affective Stroop task (aST) over two sessions: once following 24-h abstinence and once following smoking as usual. The aST includes trials that serially present incongruent or congruent numerical grids bracketed by neutral or negative emotional distractors and view-only emotional image trials. Statistical analyses were conducted using a statistical threshold of p<0.05 cluster corrected. Results Smoking abstinence increased Stroop blood-oxygenation-level-dependent response in the right middle frontal and rostral anterior cingulate gyri. Moreover, withdrawal-induced negative affect was associated with less activation in frontoparietal regions during negative emotional information processing; whereas, during Stroop trials, negative affect predicted greater activation in frontal regions during negative, but not neutral emotional distractor trials. Conclusion Hyperactivation in the frontal executive control network during smoking abstinence may represent a need to recruit additional executive resources to meet task demands. Moreover, abstinence-induced negative affect may disrupt cognitive control neural circuitry during EIP and place additional demands on frontal executive neural resources during cognitive demands when presented with emotionally distracting stimuli. PMID:21989805

Is the size of the useful field of view affected by postural demands associated with standing and stepping?

PubMed

Reed-Jones, James G; Reed-Jones, Rebecca J; Hollands, Mark A

2014-04-30

The useful field of view (UFOV) is the visual area from which information is obtained at a brief glance. While studies have examined the effects of increased cognitive load on the visual field, no one has specifically looked at the effects of postural control or locomotor activity on the UFOV. The current study aimed to examine the effects of postural demand and locomotor activity on UFOV performance in healthy young adults. Eleven participants were tested on three modified UFOV tasks (central processing, peripheral processing, and divided-attention) while seated, standing, and stepping in place. Across all postural conditions, participants showed no difference in their central or peripheral processing. However, in the divided-attention task (reporting the letter in central vision and target location in peripheral vision amongst distracter items) a main effect of posture condition on peripheral target accuracy was found for targets at 57° of eccentricity (p=.037). The mean accuracy reduced from 80.5% (standing) to 74% (seated) to 56.3% (stepping). These findings show that postural demands do affect UFOV divided-attention performance. In particular, the size of the useful field of view significantly decreases when stepping. This finding has important implications for how the results of a UFOV test are used to evaluate the general size of the UFOV during varying activities, as the traditional seated test procedure may overestimate the size of the UFOV during locomotor activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-objective, multiple participant decision support for water management in the Andarax catchment, Almeria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Cauwenbergh, N.; Pinte, D.; Tilmant, A.; Frances, I.; Pulido-Bosch, A.; Vanclooster, M.

2008-04-01

Water management in the Andarax river basin (Almeria, Spain) is a multi-objective, multi-participant, long-term decision-making problem that faces several challenges. Adequate water allocation needs informed decisions to meet increasing socio-economic demands while respecting the environmental integrity of this basin. Key players in the Andarax water sector include the municipality of Almeria, the irrigators involved in the intensive greenhouse agricultural sector, and booming second residences. A decision support system (DSS) is developed to rank different sustainable planning and management alternatives according to their socio-economic and environmental performance. The DSS is intimately linked to sustainability indicators and is designed through a public participation process. Indicators are linked to criteria reflecting stakeholders concerns in the 2005 field survey, such as fulfilling water demand, water price, technical and economical efficiency, social and environmental impacts. Indicators can be partly quantified after simulating the operation of the groundwater reservoir over a 20-year planning period and partly through a parallel expert evaluation process. To predict the impact of future water demand in the catchment, several development scenarios are designed to be evaluated in the DSS. The successive multi-criteria analysis of the performance indicators permits the ranking of the different management alternatives according to the multiple objectives formulated by the different sectors/participants. This allows more informed and transparent decision-making processes for the Andarax river basin, recognizing both the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of water resources management.

The 30/20 GHz fixed communications systems service demand assessment. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gamble, R. B.; Seltzer, H. R.; Speter, K. M.; Westheimer, M.

1979-01-01

Demand for telecommunications services is forecasted for the period 1980-2000, with particular reference to that portion of the demand associated with satellite communications. Overall demand for telecommunications is predicted to increase by a factor of five over the period studied and the satellite portion of demand will increase even more rapidly. Traffic demand is separately estimated for voice, video, and data services and is also described as a function of distance traveled and city size. The satellite component of projected demand is compared with the capacity available in the C and Ku satellite bands and it is projected that new satellite technology and the implementation of Ka band transmission will be needed in the decade of the 1990's.

Internal Drivers of External Flexibility: A Detailed Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-14

example, order processing within a supplier’s firm is a competence. Meeting customer demand by providing a consistent delivery schedule is a capability...Focus interview on the following logistics areas: a. order processing b. inventory c. transportation d. warehousing, materials handling...demands. In logistics, superior service depends upon order processing (Byrne and Markham 1991); quality of contact personnel (Innis and LaLonde 1994

Impact of warmer weather on electricity sector emissions due to building energy use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, Paul; Holloway, Tracey; Patz, Jonathan; Harkey, Monica; Ahl, Doug; Abel, David; Schuetter, Scott; Hackel, Scott

2017-06-01

Most US energy consumption occurs in buildings, with cooling demands anticipated to increase net building electricity use under warmer conditions. The electricity generation units that respond to this demand are major contributors to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), both of which have direct impacts on public health, and contribute to the formation of secondary pollutants including ozone and fine particulate matter. This study quantifies temperature-driven changes in power plant emissions due to increased use of building air conditioning. We compare an ambient temperature baseline for the Eastern US to a model-calculated mid-century scenario with summer-average temperature increases ranging from 1 C to 5 C across the domain. We find a 7% increase in summer electricity demand and a 32% increase in non-coincident peak demand. Power sector modeling, assuming only limited changes to current generation resources, calculated a 16% increase in emissions of NOx and an 18% increase in emissions of SO2. There is a high level of regional variance in the response of building energy use to climate, and the response of emissions to associated demand. The East North Central census region exhibited the greatest sensitivity of energy demand and associated emissions to climate.

Revascularization and Muscle Adaptation to Limb Demand Ischemia in Diet Induced Obese Mice

PubMed Central

Albadawi, Hassan; Tzika, Aria; Rask-Madsen, Christian; Crowley, Lindsey M.; Koulopoulos, Michael W.; Yoo, Hyung-Jin; Watkins, Michael T.

2016-01-01

Background Obesity and type 2 diabetes are major risk factors for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in humans which can result in lower limb demand ischemia and exercise intolerance. Exercise triggers skeletal muscle adaptation including increased vasculogenesis. The goal of this study was to determine whether demand ischemia modulates revascularization, fiber size, and signaling pathways in the ischemic hind limb muscles of mice with diet-induced obesity (DIO). Materials and Methods DIO mice (n=7) underwent unilateral femoral artery ligation (FAL) and recovered for 2-weeks followed by 4-weeks with daily treadmill exercise to induce demand ischemia. A parallel sedentary ischemia group (n=7) had FAL without exercise. The contralateral limb muscles of sedentary ischemia served as control. Muscles were examined for capillary density, myofiber cross-sectional area (CSA), cytokine levels, and phosphorylation of STAT3 and ERK1/2. Results Exercise significantly enhanced capillary density (p<0.01) and markedly lowered CSA (p<0.001) in demand ischemia compared to sedentary ischemia. These findings coincided with a significant increase in G-CSF (p<0.001) and IL-7 (p<0.01) levels. In addition, phosphorylation of STAT3 and ERK1/2 (p<0.01) were increased while UCP-1 and MCP-1 protein levels were lower (p<0.05) without altering VEGF and TNFα protein levels. Demand ischemia increased the PGC1α mRNA (p<0.001) without augmenting PGC1α protein levels. Conclusions Exercise induced limb demands ischemia in the setting of DIO causes myofiber atrophy despite an increase in muscle capillary density. The combination of persistent increase in TNFα, lower VEGF and failure to increase PGC1α protein may reflect a deficient adaption to demand ischemia in DIO. PMID:27620999

The Giffen Effect: A Note on Economic Purposes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, William D.

1990-01-01

Describes the Giffen effect: demand for a commodity increases as price increases. Explains how applying control theory eliminates the paradox that the Giffen effect presents to classic economics supply and demand theory. Notes the differences in how conventional demand theory and control theory treat consumer behavior. (CH)

Multicriteria cost–benefit assessment of tannery production: The need for breakthrough process alternatives beyond conventional technology optimization

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

Giannetti, Biagio F.; Agostinho, Feni, E-mail: feni@unip.br; Moraes, Luciano C.

The worldwide use of chromium-based processes in tanneries generates increased concerns about their related environmental burdens. Cleaner production alternatives for leather production are being proposed, based on the optimization of specific aspects or criteria, for instance, reducing demand for specific materials and energy, or reducing local toxicological emissions. While improvement on individual characteristics of the process is certainly to be favored, a more comprehensive evaluation of alternatives is also needed to prevent the risk of shifting the burden to increase global load while addressing one specific critical factor of production. This work aims to discuss the importance of a multicriteria,more » multiscale approach to address cleaner production strategy costs and benefits. For this, materials balance, an economic approach, and emergy (with an “m”) accounting methods are applied to selected unhairing/liming, pickling/tanning and wastewater treatment steps in a tannery process, which was chosen as a case study. Results show that the assessed recycling cleaner production strategies assessed allow the manufacturer to reduce by one half the amount of water used and the demand for chemicals up to 4% with respect to the business-as-usual process, at the expense of increasing electricity demand by 10%. Economic cost-to-benefit ratio was 25$ benefits per 1$ invested, as well as an emergy-based cost-to-benefit of 33Em$ per 1Em$ invested, of course these improvements were limited to the three investigated process steps. The improvement in cost/benefit ratios indicates that converting scenario #0 into #1 is favorable under economic and emergy views. However, when the two scenarios are investigated from the point of view of the imbalance in local and renewable resource use versus imported and nonrenewable use, the emergy method shows a small overall increase in renewability (from 3.51% to 3.85%), a low, but expected, emergy yield ratio equal to 1, and a high environmental loading ratio (24.95 and 27.47). While the environmental cost–benefit ratio shows that recycling is a favorable option, the emergy performance indicators highlight that the efficiency of recycling is still insufficient and improvements in the tanning processes are needed to ensure renewability and sustainability. A number of process chemicals were involved in the investigated tannery operations, which required emergy evaluations. As a side result of this study, the Unit Emergy Values (UEVs) of SO{sub 2}, H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}, HCL, Na{sub 2}S, NaOH, CaO, Ca(OH){sub 2}, Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}, MnSO{sub 4}, and Al(OH){sub 3}, were also calculated thus adding to the emergy database about chemicals. - Highlights: • Cleaner production strategies for tannery processes are presented and evaluated. • Local and global scales are considered under economical and biophysical approaches. • A multicriteria approach should be considered for decision making. • Recycling strategies have better indicators than traditional processes. • Emergy integrates energy and monetary indicators for more comprehensive assessment.« less

Travel demand forecasting models: a comparison of EMME/2 and QUR II using a real-world network.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-10-01

In order to automate the travel demand forecasting process in urban transportation planning, a number of : commercial computer based travel demand forecasting models have been developed, which have provided : transportation planners with powerful and...

Receiver-Based Ad Hoc On Demand Multipath Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

Al-Nahari, Abdulaziz; Mohamad, Mohd Murtadha

2016-01-01

Decreasing the route rediscovery time process in reactive routing protocols is challenging in mobile ad hoc networks. Links between nodes are continuously established and broken because of the characteristics of the network. Finding multiple routes to increase the reliability is also important but requires a fast update, especially in high traffic load and high mobility where paths can be broken as well. The sender node keeps re-establishing path discovery to find new paths, which makes for long time delay. In this paper we propose an improved multipath routing protocol, called Receiver-based ad hoc on demand multipath routing protocol (RB-AOMDV), which takes advantage of the reliability of the state of the art ad hoc on demand multipath distance vector (AOMDV) protocol with less re-established discovery time. The receiver node assumes the role of discovering paths when finding data packets that have not been received after a period of time. Simulation results show the delay and delivery ratio performances are improved compared with AOMDV. PMID:27258013

Managing Evaluation: A Community Arts Organisation Perspective.

PubMed

Swan, Peter; Atkinson, Sarah

2012-09-01

Arts and health organisations must increasingly provide measurable evidence of impact to stakeholders, which can pose both logistical and ideological challenges. This paper examines the relationship between the ethos of an arts and health organisation with external demands for evaluation. Research involved an ethnographic engagement where the first author worked closely with the organisation for a year. In addition to informal discussions, twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with core staff and participants. Transcribed interviews were coded and emerging themes were identified. Staff considered evaluation to be necessary and useful, yet also to be time consuming and a potential threat to their ethos. Nevertheless, they were able to negotiate the terms of evaluation to enable them to meet their own needs as well as those of funders and other stakeholders. While not completely resisting outside demands for evaluation, the organisation was seen to intentionally rework demands for evidence into processes they felt they could work with, thus enabling their ethos to be maintained.

Managing Evaluation: A Community Arts Organisation Perspective

PubMed Central

Swan, Peter; Atkinson, Sarah

2014-01-01

Background Arts and health organisations must increasingly provide measurable evidence of impact to stakeholders, which can pose both logistical and ideological challenges. This paper examines the relationship between the ethos of an arts and health organisation with external demands for evaluation. Methods Research involved an ethnographic engagement where the first author worked closely with the organisation for a year. In addition to informal discussions, twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with core staff and participants. Transcribed interviews were coded and emerging themes were identified. Results Staff considered evaluation to be necessary and useful, yet also to be time consuming and a potential threat to their ethos. Nevertheless, they were able to negotiate the terms of evaluation to enable them to meet their own needs as well as those of funders and other stakeholders. Conclusions While not completely resisting outside demands for evaluation, the organisation was seen to intentionally rework demands for evidence into processes they felt they could work with, thus enabling their ethos to be maintained. PMID:25429306

Integrating watershed hydrology and economics to establish a local market for water quality improvement: A field experiment.

PubMed

Uchida, Emi; Swallow, Stephen K; Gold, Arthur; Opaluch, James; Kafle, Achyut; Merrill, Nathaniel; Michaud, Clayton; Gill, Carrie Anne

2018-04-01

Innovative market mechanisms are being increasingly recognized as effective decision-making institutions to incorporate the value of ecosystem services into the economy. We present a field experiment that integrates an economic auction and a biophysical water flux model to develop a local market process consisting of both the supply and demand sides. On the supply side, we operate an auction with small-scale livestock owners who bid for contracts to implement site-specific manure management practices that reduce phosphorus loadings to a major reservoir. On the demand side, we implement a real money, multi-unit public good auction for these contracts with residents who potentially benefit from reduced water quality risks. The experiments allow us to construct supply and demand curves to find an equilibrium price for water quality improvement. The field experiments provide a proof-of-concept for practical implementation of a local market for environmental improvements, even for the challenging context of nonpoint pollution.