Sample records for landing operational risk

  1. Lunar Landing Operational Risk Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mattenberger, Chris; Putney, Blake; Rust, Randy; Derkowski, Brian

    2010-01-01

    Characterizing the risk of spacecraft goes beyond simply modeling equipment reliability. Some portions of the mission require complex interactions between system elements that can lead to failure without an actual hardware fault. Landing risk is currently the least characterized aspect of the Altair lunar lander and appears to result from complex temporal interactions between pilot, sensors, surface characteristics and vehicle capabilities rather than hardware failures. The Lunar Landing Operational Risk Model (LLORM) seeks to provide rapid and flexible quantitative insight into the risks driving the landing event and to gauge sensitivities of the vehicle to changes in system configuration and mission operations. The LLORM takes a Monte Carlo based approach to estimate the operational risk of the Lunar Landing Event and calculates estimates of the risk of Loss of Mission (LOM) - Abort Required and is Successful, Loss of Crew (LOC) - Vehicle Crashes or Cannot Reach Orbit, and Success. The LLORM is meant to be used during the conceptual design phase to inform decision makers transparently of the reliability impacts of design decisions, to identify areas of the design which may require additional robustness, and to aid in the development and flow-down of requirements.

  2. Rosetta mission operations for landing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Accomazzo, Andrea; Lodiot, Sylvain; Companys, Vicente

    2016-08-01

    The International Rosetta Mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) was launched on 2nd March 2004 on its 10 year journey to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and has reached it early August 2014. The main mission objectives were to perform close observations of the comet nucleus throughout its orbit around the Sun and deliver the lander Philae to its surface. This paper describers the activities at mission operations level that allowed the landing of Philae. The landing preparation phase was mainly characterised by the definition of the landing selection process, to which several parties contributed, and by the definition of the strategy for comet characterisation, the orbital strategy for lander delivery, and the definition and validation of the operations timeline. The definition of the landing site selection process involved almost all components of the mission team; Rosetta has been the first, and so far only mission, that could not rely on data collected by previous missions for the landing site selection. This forced the teams to include an intensive observation campaign as a mandatory part of the process; several science teams actively contributed to this campaign thus making results from science observations part of the mandatory operational products. The time allocated to the comet characterisation phase was in the order of a few weeks and all the processes, tools, and interfaces required an extensive planning an validation. Being the descent of Philae purely ballistic, the main driver for the orbital strategy was the capability to accurately control the position and velocity of Rosetta at Philae's separation. The resulting operations timeline had to merge this need of frequent orbit determination and control with the complexity of the ground segment and the inherent risk of problems when doing critical activities in short times. This paper describes the contribution of the Mission Control Centre (MOC) at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) to this

  3. Terra Incognita: Absence of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations from the National Land Cover Database and Implications for Environmental Risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martin, K. L.; Emanuel, R. E.; Vose, J. M.

    2016-12-01

    The number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) has increased rapidly in recent decades. Although important to food supplies, CAFOs may present significant risks to human health and environmental quality. The National land cover database (NLCD) is a publically available database of land cover whose purpose is to provide assessment of ecosystem health, facilitate nutrient modeling, land use planning, and developing land management practices. However, CAFOs do not align with any existing NLCD land cover classes. This is especially concerning due to their distinct nutrient loading characteristics, potential for other environmental impacts, and given that individual CAFOs may occupy several NLCD pixels worth of ground area. Using 2011 NLCD data, we examined the land cover classification of CAFO sites in North Carolina (USA). Federal regulations require CAFOs with a liquid waste disposal system to obtain a water quality permit. In North Carolina, there were 2679 permitted sites as of 2015, primarily in the southeastern part of the state. As poultry operations most frequently use dry waste disposal systems, they are not required to obtain a permit and thus, their locations are undocumented. For each permitted CAFO, we determined the mode of the NLCD land uses within a 50m buffer surrounding point coordinates. We found permitted CAFOS were most likely to be classified as hay/pasture (58%). An additional 13% were identified as row crops, leaving 29% as a non-agricultural land cover class, including wetlands (12%). This misclassification of CAFOs can have implications for environmental management and public policy. Scientists and land managers need access to better spatial data on the distribution of these operations to monitor the environmental impacts and identify the best landscape scale mitigation strategies. We recommend adding a new land cover class (concentrated animal operations) to the NLCD database.

  4. Astronaut Risk Levels During Crew Module (CM) Land Landing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lawrence, Charles; Carney, Kelly S.; Littell, Justin

    2007-01-01

    The NASA Engineering Safety Center (NESC) is investigating the merits of water and land landings for the crew exploration vehicle (CEV). The merits of these two options are being studied in terms of cost and risk to the astronauts, vehicle, support personnel, and general public. The objective of the present work is to determine the astronaut dynamic response index (DRI), which measures injury risks. Risks are determined for a range of vertical and horizontal landing velocities. A structural model of the crew module (CM) is developed and computational simulations are performed using a transient dynamic simulation analysis code (LS-DYNA) to determine acceleration profiles. Landing acceleration profiles are input in a human factors model that determines astronaut risk levels. Details of the modeling approach, the resulting accelerations, and astronaut risk levels are provided.

  5. Landing and Population Hazard Analysis for Stardust Entry in Operations and Entry Planning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tooley, Jeffrey; Desai, Prasun N.; Lynos, Daniel T.; Hirst, Edward A.; Wahl, Tom E.; Wawrzyniak, Georffery G.

    2006-01-01

    Stardust is a comet sample return mission that successfully returned to Earth on January 15, 2006. Stardust's targeted landing area was the Utah Test and Training Range in the Northwest corner of Utah. Requirements for the risks associated with landing were levied on Stardust by the Utah Test and Training Range and NASA. This paper describes the analysis to verify that these requirements were met and and includes calculation of debris survivability, generation of landing site selection plots, and identification of keep-out zones, as well as appropriate selection of the landing site. Operationally the risk requirements were all met for both of the GOMO-GO polls, so entry was authorized.

  6. PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules.

    PubMed

    Liu, Yaolin; Peng, Jinjin; Jiao, Limin; Liu, Yanfang

    2016-01-01

    Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA) using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders' preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning.

  7. PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Yaolin; Peng, Jinjin; Jiao, Limin; Liu, Yanfang

    2016-01-01

    Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA) using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders’ preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning. PMID:27322619

  8. A Risk Assessment Architecture for Enhanced Engine Operation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Litt, Jonathan S.; Sharp. Lauren M.; Guo, Ten-Huei

    2010-01-01

    On very rare occasions, in-flight emergencies have occurred that required the pilot to utilize the aircraft's capabilities to the fullest extent possible, sometimes using actuators in ways for which they were not intended. For instance, when flight control has been lost due to damage to the hydraulic systems, pilots have had to use engine thrust to maneuver the plane to the ground and in for a landing. To assist the pilot in these situations, research is being performed to enhance the engine operation by making it more responsive or able to generate more thrust. Enabled by modification of the propulsion control, enhanced engine operation can increase the probability of a safe landing during an inflight emergency. However, enhanced engine operation introduces risk as the nominal control limits, such as those on shaft speed, temperature, and acceleration, are exceeded. Therefore, an on-line tool for quantifying this risk must be developed to ensure that the use of an enhanced control mode does not actually increase the overall danger to the aircraft. This paper describes an architecture for the implementation of this tool. It describes the type of data and algorithms required and the information flow, and how the risk based on engine component lifing and operability for enhanced operation is determined.

  9. The land management and operations database (LMOD)

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This paper presents the design, implementation, deployment, and application of the Land Management and Operations Database (LMOD). LMOD is the single authoritative source for reference land management and operation reference data within the USDA enterprise data warehouse. LMOD supports modeling appl...

  10. 14 CFR 25.119 - Landing climb: All-engines-operating.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Landing climb: All-engines-operating. 25... AIRCRAFT AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRPLANES Flight Performance § 25.119 Landing climb: All-engines-operating. In the landing configuration, the steady gradient of climb may not be less than...

  11. 14 CFR 25.119 - Landing climb: All-engines-operating.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Landing climb: All-engines-operating. 25... AIRCRAFT AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRPLANES Flight Performance § 25.119 Landing climb: All-engines-operating. In the landing configuration, the steady gradient of climb may not be less than...

  12. 47 CFR 80.71 - Operating controls for stations on land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Operating controls for stations on land. 80.71... SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Operating Requirements and Procedures Station Requirements-Land Stations § 80.71 Operating controls for stations on land. Each coast station, Alaska-public fixed station...

  13. Risk-Based Contaminated Land Investigation and Assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, Donald R.

    With increasing frequency, problems of environmental contamination are being analyzed from a risk perspective. Risk-Based Contaminated Land Investigation and Assessment is written for those who wish to present the results of their examination of contaminated land in terms of risk.The opening chapters introduce the concepts of risk analysis for contaminated land. Risk management and the risk assessment process are based on a source-pathway-target framework. Readers are warned against an “over-reliance on the identification of contaminants rather than the potential pathways by which targets may be exposed to these hazards.” In the risk management framework presented in this book, risk evaluation and resultant decision making are seen as part of both the risk assessment and risk reduction process. The sharp separation of risk assessment from risk management as seen in the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) risk assessment paradigm is not advocatedsemi; perhaps this is because the NAS' concern was regulatory decision while the book's concern is the assessment of a specific site.

  14. Flood risk assessment of land pollution hotspots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masi, Matteo; Arrighi, Chiara; Iannelli, Renato

    2017-04-01

    Among the risks caused by extreme events, the potential spread of pollutants stored in land hotspots due to floods is an aspect that has been rarely examined with a risk-based approach. In this contribution, an attempt to estimate pollution risks related to flood events of land pollution hotspots was carried out. Flood risk has been defined as the combination of river flood hazard, hotspots exposure and vulnerability to contamination of the area, i.e. the expected severity of the environmental impacts. The assessment was performed on a geographical basis, using geo-referenced open data, available from databases of land management institutions, authorities and agencies. The list of land pollution hotspots included landfills and other waste handling facilities (e.g., temporary storage, treatment and recycling sites), municipal wastewater treatment plants, liquid waste treatment facilities and contaminated sites. The assessment was carried out by combining geo-referenced data of pollution hotspots with flood hazard maps. We derived maps of land pollution risk based on geographical and geological properties and source characteristics available from environmental authorities. These included information about soil particle size, soil hydraulic conductivity, terrain slope, type of stored pollutants, the type of facility, capacity, size of the area, land use, etc. The analysis was carried out at catchment scale. The case study of the Arno river basin in Tuscany (central Italy) is presented.

  15. Radiological health risk evaluation of radium contaminated land: a real life implementation.

    PubMed

    Paridaens, J

    2005-01-01

    A plot of land, currently used for dairy farming, has been contaminated over the years with radium due to the operation of one of the world's largest radium production plants. Within the framework of a global remediation approach for the plant surroundings, the land owner needed advice for a future destination of the land. Therefore, the radium contamination was accurately mapped, and on the basis of its severity a practically feasible subdivision of the land into four plots was proposed. For all four plots, the radiological risk was evaluated for the current type of land use and for possible alternative types. Hence a clear and useable advice could be formulated to the authorities reconciling public health, economic and practical issues.

  16. 43 CFR 8.1 - Lands for reservoir construction and operation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... reservoir construction and operation. The fee title will be acquired to the following: (a) Lands necessary... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Lands for reservoir construction and operation. 8.1 Section 8.1 Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior JOINT POLICIES OF...

  17. 43 CFR 8.1 - Lands for reservoir construction and operation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... reservoir construction and operation. The fee title will be acquired to the following: (a) Lands necessary... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Lands for reservoir construction and operation. 8.1 Section 8.1 Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior JOINT POLICIES OF...

  18. Using risk maps to link land value damage and risk as basis of flexible risk management for brownfield redevelopment.

    PubMed

    Chen, I-chun; Ma, Hwong-wen

    2013-02-01

    Brownfield redevelopment involves numerous uncertain financial risks associated with market demand and land value. To reduce the uncertainty of the specific impact of land value and social costs, this study develops small-scale risk maps to determine the relationship between population risk (PR) and damaged land value (DLV) to facilitate flexible land reutilisation plans. This study used the spatial variability of exposure parameters in each village to develop the contaminated site-specific risk maps. In view of the combination of risk and cost, risk level that most affected land use was mainly 1.00×10(-6) to 1.00×10(-5) in this study area. Village 2 showed the potential for cost-effective conversion with contaminated land development. If the risk of remediation target was set at 5.00×10(-6), the DLV could be reduced by NT$15,005 million for the land developer. The land developer will consider the net benefit by quantifying the trade-off between the changes of land value and the cost of human health. In this study, small-scale risk maps can illuminate the economic incentive potential for contaminated site redevelopment through the adjustment of land value damage and human health risk. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Lunar launch and landing facilities and operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1987-01-01

    The Florida Institute of Technology established an Interdisciplinary Design Team to design a lunar based facility whose primary function involves launch and landing operations for future moon missions. Both manned and unmanned flight operations were considered in the study with particular design emphasis on the utilization (or reutilization) of all materials available on the moon. This resource availability includes man-made materials which might arrive in the form of expendable landing vehicles as well as in situ lunar minerals. From an engineering standpoint, all such materials are considered as to their suitability for constructing new lunar facilities and/or repairing or expanding existing structures. Also considered in this design study was a determination of the feasibility of using naturally occurring lunar materials to provide fuel components to support lunar launch operations. Conventional launch and landing operations similar to those used during the Apollo Program were investigated as well as less conventional techniques such as rail guns and electromagnetic mass drivers. The Advanced Space Design team consisted of students majoring in Physics and Space Science as well as Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical and Ocean Engineering.

  20. Shuttle Flight Operations Contract Generator Maintenance Facility Land Use Control Implementation Plan (LUCIP)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Applegate, Joseph L.

    2014-01-01

    This Land Use Control Implementation Plan (LUCIP) has been prepared to inform current and potential future users of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Shuttle Flight Operations Contract Generator Maintenance Facility (SFOC; SWMU 081; "the Site") of institutional controls that have been implemented at the Site1. Although there are no current unacceptable risks to human health or the environment associated with the SFOC, an institutional land use control (LUC) is necessary to prevent human health exposure to antimony-affected groundwater at the Site. Controls will include periodic inspection, condition certification, and agency notification.

  1. Preparing Safety Cases for Operating Outside Prescriptive Fatigue Risk Management Regulations.

    PubMed

    Gander, Philippa; Mangie, Jim; Wu, Lora; van den Berg, Margo; Signal, Leigh; Phillips, Adrienne

    2017-07-01

    Transport operators seeking to operate outside prescriptive fatigue management regulations are typically required to present a safety case justifying how they will manage the associated risk. This paper details a method for constructing a successful safety case. The method includes four elements: 1) scope (prescriptive rules and operations affected); 2) risk assessment; 3) risk mitigation strategies; and 4) monitoring ongoing risk. A successful safety case illustrates this method. It enables landing pilots in 3-pilot crews to choose the second or third in-flight rest break, rather than the regulatory requirement to take the third break. Scope was defined using a month of scheduled flights that would be covered (N = 4151). These were analyzed in the risk assessment using existing literature on factors affecting fatigue to estimate the maximum time awake at top of descent and sleep opportunities in each break. Additionally, limited data collected before the new regulations showed that pilots flying at landing chose the third break on only 6% of flights. A prospective survey comparing subjective reports (N = 280) of sleep in the second vs. third break and fatigue and sleepiness ratings at top of descent confirmed that the third break is not consistently superior. The safety case also summarized established systems for fatigue monitoring, risk assessment and hazard identification, and multiple fatigue mitigation strategies that are in place. Other successful safety cases have used this method. The evidence required depends on the expected level of risk and should evolve as experience with fatigue risk management systems builds.Gander P, Mangie J, Wu L, van den Berg M, Signal L, Phillips A. Preparing safety cases for operating outside prescriptive fatigue risk management regulations. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(7):688-696.

  2. Land development risks along state transportation corridors.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-09-01

    Land development that is not coordinated with transportation planning can compromise the performance : of Washingtons state routes. Identifying land at risk for development along state routes can provide : opportunities for proactive, collaborativ...

  3. 24 CFR 1710.107 - Risks of buying land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... of the land. Changes in plant and animal life, air and water quality and noise levels may affect your... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Risks of buying land. 1710.107... URBAN DEVELOPMENT (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements...

  4. 24 CFR 1710.107 - Risks of buying land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Risks of buying land. 1710.107 Section 1710.107 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development... URBAN DEVELOPMENT (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements...

  5. 24 CFR 1710.107 - Risks of buying land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Risks of buying land. 1710.107 Section 1710.107 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development... URBAN DEVELOPMENT (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements...

  6. 24 CFR 1710.107 - Risks of buying land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Risks of buying land. 1710.107 Section 1710.107 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development... URBAN DEVELOPMENT (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements...

  7. US Fish and Wildlife Service lands biomonitoring operations manual

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

    Rope, R.C.; Breckenridge, R.P.

    1993-08-01

    This is Volume 1 of an operations manual designed to facilitate the development of biomonitoring strategies for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lands. It is one component of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lands Biomonitoring Operations Manual. The Volume contains the Introduction to the Manual, background information on monitoring, and procedures for developing a biomonitoring strategy for Service lands. The purpose of the Biomonitoring Operations Manual is to provide an approach to develop and implement biomonitoring activities to assess the status and trends of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trust resources. It also provides field sampline methods and documentationmore » protocols for contaminant monitoring activities. The strategy described in the Manual has been designed as a stand alone process to characterize the presence of contaminants on lands managed by the Service. This process can be sued to develop a monitoring program for any tract of real estate with potential threats from on- or off-site contaminants. Because the process was designed to address concerns for Service lands that span the United States from Alaska to the Tropical Islands, it has a generic format that can be used in al types of ecosystems, however, significant site specific informtion is required to complete the Workbook and make the process work successfully.« less

  8. Risk factors for closed-head injuries during military airborne operations.

    PubMed

    Knapik, Joseph J; Steelman, Ryan; Hoedebecke, Kyle; Klug, Kevin L; Rankin, Shawn; Proctor, Stanley; Graham, Bria; Jones, Bruce H

    2014-02-01

    One of the more serious adverse outcomes of military airborne operations is closed-head injuries. This investigation examined risk factors for closed-head injuries in an Army airborne infantry unit. Closed-head injuries were defined as energy exchanges in which the head contacted the ground or an object and the soldier sought medical care for external trauma, headache, loss of consciousness, or altered mental state. Injury data were obtained by investigators in the drop zone and diagnoses were confirmed by a physician. Operational data on potential injury risk factors were obtained from routine reports published by the infantry unit. Weather data were obtained using a pocket weather tracker. There were 96,132 jumps resulting in 310 closed-head injuries for a crude incidence of 3.22/1000 jumps. In 98% of known cases the injury was associated with parachute landings. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that independent risk factors for closed-head injuries included night jumps, combat loads, higher wind speeds, higher temperatures, enlisted rank, and entanglements. This study identifies the current incidence and extrinsic risk factors for closed-head injuries during military airborne operations. Although it is necessary to conduct airborne training under realistic conditions, trainers and commanders should be aware of these risks and plan airborne operations accordingly.

  9. Launch and Landing Effects Ground Operations (LLEGO) Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2008-01-01

    LLEGO is a model for understanding recurring launch and landing operations costs at Kennedy Space Center for human space flight. Launch and landing operations are often referred to as ground processing, or ground operations. Currently, this function is specific to the ground operations for the Space Shuttle Space Transportation System within the Space Shuttle Program. The Constellation system to follow the Space Shuttle consists of the crewed Orion spacecraft atop an Ares I launch vehicle and the uncrewed Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The Constellation flight and ground systems build upon many elements of the existing Shuttle flight and ground hardware, as well as upon existing organizations and processes. In turn, the LLEGO model builds upon past ground operations research, modeling, data, and experience in estimating for future programs. Rather than to simply provide estimates, the LLEGO model s main purpose is to improve expenses by relating complex relationships among functions (ground operations contractor, subcontractors, civil service technical, center management, operations, etc.) to tangible drivers. Drivers include flight system complexity and reliability, as well as operations and supply chain management processes and technology. Together these factors define the operability and potential improvements for any future system, from the most direct to the least direct expenses.

  10. Application of receptor-specific risk distribution in the arsenic contaminated land management.

    PubMed

    Chen, I-chun; Ng, Shane; Wang, Gen-shuh; Ma, Hwong-wen

    2013-11-15

    Concerns over health risks and financial costs have caused difficulties in the management of arsenic contaminated land in Taiwan. Inflexible risk criteria and lack of economic support often result in failure of a brownfields regeneration project. To address the issue of flexible risk criteria, this study is aimed to develop maps with receptor-specific risk distribution to facilitate scenario analysis of contaminated land management. A contaminated site risk map model (ArcGIS for risk assessment and management, abbreviated as Arc-RAM) was constructed by combining the four major steps of risk assessment with Geographic Information Systems. Sampling of contaminated media, survey of exposure attributes, and modeling of multimedia transport were integrated to produce receptor group-specific maps that depicted the probabilistic spatial distribution of risks of various receptor groups. Flexible risk management schemes can then be developed and assessed. In this study, a risk management program that took into account the ratios of various land use types at specified risk levels was explored. A case study of arsenic contaminated land of 6.387 km(2) has found that for a risk value between 1.00E-05 and 1.00E-06, the proposed flexible risk management of agricultural land achieves improved utilization of land. Using this method, the investigated case can reduce costs related to compensation for farmland totaling approximately NTD 5.94 million annually. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Recent Enhancements in NOAA's JPSS Land Product Suite and Key Operational Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Csiszar, I. A.; Yu, Y.; Zhan, X.; Vargas, M.; Ek, M. B.; Zheng, W.; Wu, Y.; Smirnova, T. G.; Benjamin, S.; Ahmadov, R.; James, E.; Grell, G. A.

    2017-12-01

    A suite of operational land products has been produced as part of NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program to support a wide range of operational applications in environmental monitoring, prediction, disaster management and mitigation, and decision support. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) and the operational JPSS satellite series forms the basis of six fundamental and multiple additional added-value environmental data records (EDRs). A major recent improvement in the land-based VIIRS EDRs has been the development of global gridded products, providing a format and science content suitable for ingest into NOAA's operational land surface and coupled numerical weather prediction models. VIIRS near-real-time Green Vegetation Fraction is now in the process of testing for full operational use, while land surface temperature and albedo are under testing and evaluation. The operational 750m VIIRS active fire product, including fire radiative power, is used to support emission modeling and air quality applications. Testing the evaluation for operational NOAA implementation of the improved 375m VIIRS active fire product is also underway. Added-value and emerging VIIRS land products include vegetation health, phenology, near-real-time surface type and surface condition change, and other biogeophysical variables. As part of the JPSS program, a global soil moisture data product has also been generated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) sensor on the GCOM-W1 (Global Change Observation Mission - Water 1) satellite since July 2012. This product is included in the blended NESDIS Soil Moisture Operational Products System, providing soil moisture data as a critical input for land surface modeling.

  12. Decision analysis and risk models for land development affecting infrastructure systems.

    PubMed

    Thekdi, Shital A; Lambert, James H

    2012-07-01

    Coordination and layering of models to identify risks in complex systems such as large-scale infrastructure of energy, water, and transportation is of current interest across application domains. Such infrastructures are increasingly vulnerable to adjacent commercial and residential land development. Land development can compromise the performance of essential infrastructure systems and increase the costs of maintaining or increasing performance. A risk-informed approach to this topic would be useful to avoid surprise, regret, and the need for costly remedies. This article develops a layering and coordination of models for risk management of land development affecting infrastructure systems. The layers are: system identification, expert elicitation, predictive modeling, comparison of investment alternatives, and implications of current decisions for future options. The modeling layers share a focus on observable factors that most contribute to volatility of land development and land use. The relevant data and expert evidence include current and forecasted growth in population and employment, conservation and preservation rules, land topography and geometries, real estate assessments, market and economic conditions, and other factors. The approach integrates to a decision framework of strategic considerations based on assessing risk, cost, and opportunity in order to prioritize needs and potential remedies that mitigate impacts of land development to the infrastructure systems. The approach is demonstrated for a 5,700-mile multimodal transportation system adjacent to 60,000 tracts of potential land development. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

  13. Operational risk assessment.

    PubMed

    McKim, Vicky L

    2017-06-01

    In the world of risk management, which encompasses the business continuity disciplines, many types of risk require evaluation. Financial risk is most often the primary focus, followed by product and market risks. Another critical area, which typically lacks a thorough review or may be overlooked, is operational risk. This category encompasses many risk exposure types including those around building structures and systems, environmental issues, nature, neighbours, clients, regulatory compliance, network, data security and so on. At times, insurance carriers will assess internal hazards, but seldom do these assessments include more than a cursory look at other types of operational risk. In heavily regulated environments, risk assessments are required but may not always include thorough assessments of operational exposures. Vulnerabilities may linger or go unnoticed, only to become the catalyst for a business disruption at a later time, some of which are so severe that business recovery becomes nearly impossible. Businesses may suffer loss of clients as the result of a prolonged disruption of services. Comprehensive operational risk assessments can assist in identifying such vulnerabilities, exposures and threats so that the risk can be minimised or removed. This paper lays out how an assessment of this type can be successfully conducted.

  14. Spatially Explicit Landscape-Level Ecological Risks Induced by Land Use and Land Cover Change in a National Ecologically Representative Region in China.

    PubMed

    Gong, Jian; Yang, Jianxin; Tang, Wenwu

    2015-11-09

    Land use and land cover change is driven by multiple influential factors from environmental and social dimensions in a land system. Land use practices of human decision-makers modify the landscape of the land system, possibly leading to landscape fragmentation, biodiversity loss, or environmental pollution-severe environmental or ecological impacts. While landscape-level ecological risk assessment supports the evaluation of these impacts, investigations on how these ecological risks induced by land use practices change over space and time in response to alternative policy intervention remain inadequate. In this article, we conducted spatially explicit landscape ecological risk analysis in Ezhou City, China. Our study area is a national ecologically representative region experiencing drastic land use and land cover change, and is regulated by multiple policies represented by farmland protection, ecological conservation, and urban development. We employed landscape metrics to consider the influence of potential landscape-level disturbance for the evaluation of landscape ecological risks. Using spatiotemporal simulation, we designed scenarios to examine spatiotemporal patterns in landscape ecological risks in response to policy intervention. Our study demonstrated that spatially explicit landscape ecological risk analysis combined with simulation-driven scenario analysis is of particular importance for guiding the sustainable development of ecologically vulnerable land systems.

  15. Spatially Explicit Landscape-Level Ecological Risks Induced by Land Use and Land Cover Change in a National Ecologically Representative Region in China

    PubMed Central

    Gong, Jian; Yang, Jianxin; Tang, Wenwu

    2015-01-01

    Land use and land cover change is driven by multiple influential factors from environmental and social dimensions in a land system. Land use practices of human decision-makers modify the landscape of the land system, possibly leading to landscape fragmentation, biodiversity loss, or environmental pollution—severe environmental or ecological impacts. While landscape-level ecological risk assessment supports the evaluation of these impacts, investigations on how these ecological risks induced by land use practices change over space and time in response to alternative policy intervention remain inadequate. In this article, we conducted spatially explicit landscape ecological risk analysis in Ezhou City, China. Our study area is a national ecologically representative region experiencing drastic land use and land cover change, and is regulated by multiple policies represented by farmland protection, ecological conservation, and urban development. We employed landscape metrics to consider the influence of potential landscape-level disturbance for the evaluation of landscape ecological risks. Using spatiotemporal simulation, we designed scenarios to examine spatiotemporal patterns in landscape ecological risks in response to policy intervention. Our study demonstrated that spatially explicit landscape ecological risk analysis combined with simulation-driven scenario analysis is of particular importance for guiding the sustainable development of ecologically vulnerable land systems. PMID:26569270

  16. Entry, Descent, and Landing Operations Analysis for the Mars Phoenix Lander

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prince, Jill L.; Desai, Prasun N.; Queen, Eric M.; Grover, Myron R.

    2008-01-01

    The Mars Phoenix lander was launched August 4, 2007 and remained in cruise for ten months before landing in the northern plains of Mars in May 2008. The one-month Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) operations phase prior to entry consisted of daily analyses, meetings, and decisions necessary to determine if trajectory correction maneuvers and environmental parameter updates to the spacecraft were required. An overview of the Phoenix EDL trajectory simulation and analysis that was performed during the EDL approach and operations phase is described in detail. The evolution of the Monte Carlo statistics and footprint ellipse during the final approach phase is also provided. The EDL operations effort accurately delivered the Phoenix lander to the desired landing region on May 25, 2008.

  17. Amphibious Landing Operations in World War II: Personal Experience in Applying and Developing Doctrine

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-05-21

    the forefront of the Army’s effort to gain experience planning and conducting amphibious landings was Lucian K . Truscott, Jr, a Cavalry officer by...Landing Operations, Lucian K . Truscott, Jr., Operation Torch, Operation Husky, 3rd Infantry Division, World War II 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17...gain experience planning and conducting amphibious landings was Lucian K . Truscott, Jr., a Cavalry officer by training. Following his assignment to

  18. MICROBIOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT FOR LAND APPLICATION OF MUNICIPAL SLUDGE

    EPA Science Inventory

    Each major option for the disposal/reuse of municipal sludges poses potential risks to human health or the environment because of the microbial contaminants in sludge. Therefore, risk assessment methodology appropriate for pathogen risk evaluation for land application and distrib...

  19. 14 CFR 121.649 - Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR... Flight Release Rules § 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations. (a) Except... weather minimums in this section do not apply to the VFR operation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of the...

  20. 14 CFR 121.649 - Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR... Flight Release Rules § 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations. (a) Except... weather minimums in this section do not apply to the VFR operation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of the...

  1. 14 CFR 121.649 - Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR... Flight Release Rules § 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations. (a) Except... weather minimums in this section do not apply to the VFR operation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of the...

  2. 14 CFR 121.649 - Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR... Flight Release Rules § 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations. (a) Except... weather minimums in this section do not apply to the VFR operation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of the...

  3. 14 CFR 121.649 - Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR... Flight Release Rules § 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather minimums: VFR: Domestic operations. (a) Except... weather minimums in this section do not apply to the VFR operation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of the...

  4. Efficacy of ACL injury risk screening methods in identifying high-risk landing patterns during a sport-specific task.

    PubMed

    Fox, A S; Bonacci, J; McLean, S G; Saunders, N

    2017-05-01

    Screening methods sensitive to movement strategies that increase anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) loads are likely to be effective in identifying athletes at-risk of ACL injury. Current ACL injury risk screening methods are yet to be evaluated for their ability to identify athletes' who exhibit high-risk lower limb mechanics during sport-specific maneuvers associated with ACL injury occurrences. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of two ACL injury risk screening methods in identifying high-risk lower limb mechanics during a sport-specific landing task. Thirty-two female athletes were screened using the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) and Tuck Jump Assessment. Participants' also completed a sport-specific landing task, during which three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were collected. One-dimensional statistical parametric mapping was used to examine the relationships between screening method scores, and the three-dimensional hip and knee joint rotation and moment data from the sport-specific landing. Higher LESS scores were associated with reduced knee flexion from 30 to 57 ms after initial contact (P = 0.003) during the sport-specific landing; however, no additional relationships were found. These findings suggest the LESS and Tuck Jump Assessment may have minimal applicability in identifying athletes' who exhibit high-risk landing postures in the sport-specific task examined. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Landing Gear/Soil Interaction Development of Criteria for Aircraft Operation on Soil During Turning and Multipass Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1975-10-01

    AFFDL-TR-75-78 LANDING GEAR/ SOIL INTERACTION DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA FOR AIRCRAFT "OPERATION ON SOIL DURING TURNING #"q AND MULTIPASS OPERATIONS cc...braking. Limited start-up force data were examined to determine a preliminary estimate of start-up drag ratios. A soft tire/ soil computer program was...distance, landing rollout, turning perfor nance, and number of allowable passes for a particular vehicle and select soil . .. 4 UNCLASSIFIED -i SECURITY

  6. Theme: Land Laboratories--Urban Settings, Liability, Natural Resources Labs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whaley, David, Ed.; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Includes "With a Little Imagination"; "From Fallow to Fertile"; "Operating a School Enterprise in Agriculture"; "Using a Nontraditional Greenhouse to Enhance Lab Instruction"; "Risk Management for Liability in Operating Land Laboratories"; "Working Land and Water Laboratory for Natural…

  7. Validation and Verification of Operational Land Analysis Activities at the Air Force Weather Agency

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shaw, Michael; Kumar, Sujay V.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Cetola, Jeffrey

    2012-01-01

    The NASA developed Land Information System (LIS) is the Air Force Weather Agency's (AFWA) operational Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) combining real time precipitation observations and analyses, global forecast model data, vegetation, terrain, and soil parameters with the community Noah land surface model, along with other hydrology module options, to generate profile analyses of global soil moisture, soil temperature, and other important land surface characteristics. (1) A range of satellite data products and surface observations used to generate the land analysis products (2) Global, 1/4 deg spatial resolution (3) Model analysis generated at 3 hours. AFWA recognizes the importance of operational benchmarking and uncertainty characterization for land surface modeling and is developing standard methods, software, and metrics to verify and/or validate LIS output products. To facilitate this and other needs for land analysis activities at AFWA, the Model Evaluation Toolkit (MET) -- a joint product of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Developmental Testbed Center (NCAR DTC), AFWA, and the user community -- and the Land surface Verification Toolkit (LVT), developed at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), have been adapted to operational benchmarking needs of AFWA's land characterization activities.

  8. Linking Climate Risk, Policy Networks and Adaptation Planning in Public Lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lubell, M.; Schwartz, M.; Peters, C.

    2014-12-01

    Federal public land management agencies in the United States have engaged a variety of planning efforts to address climate adaptation. A major goal of these efforts is to build policy networks that enable land managers to access information and expertise needed for responding to local climate risks. This paper investigates whether the perceived and modeled climate risk faced by different land managers is leading to larger networks or more participating in climate adaptation. In theory, the benefits of climate planning networks are larger when land managers are facing more potential changes. The basic hypothesis is tested with a survey of public land managers from hundreds of local and regional public lands management units in the Southwestern United States, as well as other stakeholders involved with climate adaptation planning. All survey respondents report their perceptions of climate risk along a variety of dimensions, as well as their participation in climate adaptation planning and information sharing networks. For a subset of respondents, we have spatially explicity GIS data about their location, which will be linked with downscaled climate model data. With the focus on climate change, the analysis is a subset of the overall idea of linking social and ecological systems.

  9. Supporting the risk management process with land information: a case study of Australia.

    PubMed

    Potts, Katie Elizabeth; Rajabifard, Abbas; Bennett, Rohan Mark

    2017-04-01

    It is frequently argued that, at the parcel level, stakeholders are capable of and well supported in managing their land-related risks. Yet, evidence from the contemporary Australian context suggests otherwise: numerous large-scale disaster events have revealed that citizens are ill-prepared to respond and recover adequately. This paper begins with the premise that information, specifically land information, could better support parcel-level risk preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery. State land administration organisations in Australia primarily maintain this information and make it accessible. Land information is used regularly across all levels of government to support risk management activities; however, such application has not always occurred at the parcel and citizen level. Via a case study approach, this paper initially explores the land information available in Australia to stakeholders interested in parcel-level detail, and then goes on to propose how the utilisation of parcel-level land information could serve to enhance risk management practices. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

  10. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIR CARRIERS AND OPERATORS FOR COMPENSATION OR HIRE: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS:...

  11. E&P forum land transport safety management guidelines

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

    Barber, S.; Carouso, M.; Covil, M.

    1996-11-01

    Against a general background of falling lost time injuries the member of serious incidents and fatalities in the upstream E&P industry involving motor vehicles employed in land transport remains stubbornly high. In consequence the E&P Forum has prepared guidelines to provide the E&P industry with clear guidance and a shared aim in minimizing vehicle incidents and their costs. Logistics and land transport are multifunctional activities involving personnel throughout the E&P industry. All those involved in land transport share a joint commitment to amazing land transport risks in their operation and to preventing incidents and fatalities as stated in their HSEmore » policies. Historically management`s focus has been on those activities which have a higher perceived risk. This attention has resulted in significant reductions in the number of accidents in these areas. The management of land transport safety requires the same approach and the same proactive emphasis as the management of other HSE risks within the business activity. Companies should have in place a management system for land transport operations based on a full and careful appraisal of the risks, followed by a clear management strategy to minimis and control those risks to a level as low as reasonably practicable.« less

  12. The influence of landing mat composition on ankle injury risk during a gymnastic landing: a biomechanical quantification.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Xiaofei; Hao, Weiya; Li, Xuhong; Wan, Bingjun; Shan, Gongbing

    2017-01-01

    About 70% injury of gymnasts happened during landing - an interaction between gymnast and landing mat. The most injured joint is the ankle. The current study examined the effect of mechanical properties of landing mat on ankle loading with aims to identify means of decreasing the risk of ankle injury. Gymnastic skill - salto backward stretched with 3/2 twist was captured by two high-speed camcorders and digitized by using SIMI-Motion software. A subject-specific, 14-segment rigid-body model and a mechanical landing-mat model were built using BRG.LifeMODTM. The landings were simulated with varied landing-mat mechanical properties (i.e., stiffness, dampness and friction coefficients). Real landing performance could be accurately reproduced by the model. The simulations revealed that the ankle angle was relatively sensitive to stiffness and dampness of the landing mat, the ankle loading rate increased 26% when the stiffness was increased by 30%, and the changing of dampness had notable effect on horizontal ground reaction force and foot velocity. Further, the peak joint-reaction force and joint torque were more sensitive to friction than to stiffness and dampness of landing mat. Finally, ankle muscles would dissipate about twice energy (189%) when the friction was increased by 30%. Loads to ankles during landing would increase as the stiffness and dampness of the landing mat increase. Yet, increasing friction would cause a substantial rise of the ankle internal loads. As such, the friction should be a key factor influencing the risk of injury. Unfortunately, this key factor has rarely attracted attention in practice.

  13. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... operated over water. No person may operate a land aircraft carrying passengers over water unless— (a) It is... surface; or (d) It is a helicopter equipped with helicopter flotation devices. ...

  14. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... operated over water. No person may operate a land aircraft carrying passengers over water unless— (a) It is... surface; or (d) It is a helicopter equipped with helicopter flotation devices. ...

  15. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... operated over water. No person may operate a land aircraft carrying passengers over water unless— (a) It is... surface; or (d) It is a helicopter equipped with helicopter flotation devices. ...

  16. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... operated over water. No person may operate a land aircraft carrying passengers over water unless— (a) It is... surface; or (d) It is a helicopter equipped with helicopter flotation devices. ...

  17. Ecological Risk Assessment of Land Use Change in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone, China

    PubMed Central

    Xie, Hualin; Wang, Peng; Huang, Hongsheng

    2013-01-01

    Land use/land cover change has been attracting increasing attention in the field of global environmental change research because of its role in the social and ecological environment. To explore the ecological risk characteristics of land use change in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone of China, an eco-risk index was established in this study by the combination of a landscape disturbance index with a landscape fragmentation index. Spatial distribution and gradient difference of land use eco-risk are analyzed by using the methods of spatial autocorrelation and semivariance. Results show that ecological risk in the study area has a positive correlation, and there is a decreasing trend with the increase of grain size both in 1995 and 2005. Because the area of high eco-risk value increased from 1995 to 2005, eco-environment quality declined slightly in the study area. There are distinct spatial changes in the concentrated areas with high land use eco-risk values from 1995 to 2005. The step length of spatial separation of land use eco-risk is comparatively long—58 km in 1995 and 11 km in 2005—respectively. There are still nonstructural factors affecting the quality of the regional ecological environment at some small-scales. Our research results can provide some useful information for land eco-management, eco-environmental harnessing and restoration. In the future, some measures should be put forward in the regions with high eco-risk value, which include strengthening land use management, avoiding unreasonable types of land use and reducing the degree of fragmentation and separation. PMID:23343986

  18. Medical Operational Challenges in the Expedition 16 Landing and Recovery

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moynihan, S.; Johnston, S. L.; Ilcus, L. S.; Shevchenko, V.

    2009-01-01

    On April 19, 2008 the crew of Expedition 16 left the International Space Station and returned to earth via their Soyuz TMA-11 capsule after 192 days on orbit. Their capsule experienced the second consecutive and third ballistic reentry in the last 10 TMA recoveries and landed approximately 260 miles (420 km) from the prime landing site. Issues: The purpose of this presentation will be to describe, not only the typical medical operational challenges faced by Flight Surgeons recovering a long duration crew from space, but also address the unique challenges that existed with the Expedition 16 landing and crew recovery. Nominal Soyuz recovery challenges include remote recovery sites with crew exposures to sleep shifting and fatigue, dehydration, hypothermia and hyperthermia, and rotational, sustained, and impact g-forces. These environmental factors coupled with the patho-physiologic neuro-vestibular and orthostatic intolerance changes that occur secondary to the crews reintroduction into the earth s gravity field will be detailed. Additional challenges that were unique to this expedition included a ballistic reentry with higher g-loads, the presence of fire outside of the capsule on landing, a contingency medical event of a ground support personnel, and loss of communications with the crew just prior to landing and during recovery operations. Conclusions: In spite of these unique challenges the Russian Search and Rescue Forces and Medical Support personnel along with U.S. Medical Support performed well together. Possible improvements in training and coordination will be discussed.

  19. Operational Risk Defined Through a Complex Operating Environment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-02-26

    including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed , and completing and reviewing...This argument defines operational risk as any environmental, institutional, or social impediment to the principles of joint operations that disrupt...Restraint, Perseverance, and Legitimacy. This argument defines operational risk as any environmental, institutional, or social impediment to the

  20. Changing pattern of landslide risk in Europe - The SafeLand project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nadim, F.; Kalsnes, B.

    2012-04-01

    The need to protect people and property with a changing pattern of landslide hazard and risk caused by climate change and changes in demography, and the reality for societies in Europe to live with the risk associated with natural hazards, were the motives for the project SafeLand: "Living with landslide risk in Europe: Assessment, effects of global change, and risk management strategies." SafeLand is a large, integrating research project under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The project started on 1 May 2009 and will end on 30 April 2012. It involves 27 partners from 12 European countries, and has international collaborators and advisers from China, India, USA, Japan and Hong Kong. SafeLand also involves 25 End-Users from 11 countries. SafeLand is coordinated by the International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Norway. Further information on the SafeLand project can be found at its web site http://safeland-fp7.eu/. Main results achieved in SafeLand include: - Various guidelines related to landslide triggering processes and run-out modelling. - Development and testing of several empirical methods for predicting the characteristics of threshold rainfall events for triggering of precipitation-induced landslides, and development of an empirical model for assessing the changes in landslide frequency (hazard) as a function of changes in the demography and population density. - Guideline for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk assessment and zoning. - New methodologies for physical and societal vulnerability assessment. - Identification of landslide hazard and risk hotspots for Europe. The results show clearly where areas with the largest landslide risk are located in Europe and the objective approach allows a ranking of the countries by exposed area and population. - Different regional and local climate model simulations over selected regions of Europe at spatial resolutions of 10x10 km and 2.8x2.8 km

  1. Mars Exploration Rovers Landing Dispersion Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knocke, Philip C.; Wawrzyniak, Geoffrey G.; Kennedy, Brian M.; Desai, Prasun N.; Parker, TImothy J.; Golombek, Matthew P.; Duxbury, Thomas C.; Kass, David M.

    2004-01-01

    Landing dispersion estimates for the Mars Exploration Rover missions were key elements in the site targeting process and in the evaluation of landing risk. This paper addresses the process and results of the landing dispersion analyses performed for both Spirit and Opportunity. The several contributors to landing dispersions (navigation and atmospheric uncertainties, spacecraft modeling, winds, and margins) are discussed, as are the analysis tools used. JPL's MarsLS program, a MATLAB-based landing dispersion visualization and statistical analysis tool, was used to calculate the probability of landing within hazardous areas. By convolving this with the probability of landing within flight system limits (in-spec landing) for each hazard area, a single overall measure of landing risk was calculated for each landing ellipse. In-spec probability contours were also generated, allowing a more synoptic view of site risks, illustrating the sensitivity to changes in landing location, and quantifying the possible consequences of anomalies such as incomplete maneuvers. Data and products required to support these analyses are described, including the landing footprints calculated by NASA Langley's POST program and JPL's AEPL program, cartographically registered base maps and hazard maps, and flight system estimates of in-spec landing probabilities for each hazard terrain type. Various factors encountered during operations, including evolving navigation estimates and changing atmospheric models, are discussed and final landing points are compared with approach estimates.

  2. Orbital and Landing Operations at Near-Earth

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Scheeres, D. J.

    1995-01-01

    Orbital and landing operations about near-Earth asteroids are different than classical orbital operations about large bodies. The major differences lie with the small mass of the asteroid, the lower orbital velocities, the larger Solar tide and radiation pressure perturbations, the irregular shape of the asteroid and the potential for non-uniform rotation of the asteroid. These differences change the nature of orbits about an asteroid to where it is often common to find trajectories that evolve from stable, near-circular orbits to crashing or escaping orbits in a matter of days. The understanding and control of such orbits is important if a human or robotic presence at asteroids is to be commonplace in the future.

  3. An inexact risk management model for agricultural land-use planning under water shortage

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Wei; Feng, Changchun; Dai, Chao; Li, Yongping; Li, Chunhui; Liu, Ming

    2016-09-01

    Water resources availability has a significant impact on agricultural land-use planning, especially in a water shortage area such as North China. The random nature of available water resources and other uncertainties in an agricultural system present risk for land-use planning and may lead to undesirable decisions or potential economic loss. In this study, an inexact risk management model (IRM) was developed for supporting agricultural land-use planning and risk analysis under water shortage. The IRM model was formulated through incorporating a conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) constraint into an inexact two-stage stochastic programming (ITSP) framework, and could be used to control uncertainties expressed as not only probability distributions but also as discrete intervals. The measure of risk about the second-stage penalty cost was incorporated into the model so that the trade-off between system benefit and extreme expected loss could be analyzed. The developed model was applied to a case study in the Zhangweinan River Basin, a typical agricultural region facing serious water shortage in North China. Solutions of the IRM model showed that the obtained first-stage land-use target values could be used to reflect decision-makers' opinions on the long-term development plan. The confidence level α and maximum acceptable risk loss β could be used to reflect decisionmakers' preference towards system benefit and risk control. The results indicated that the IRM model was useful for reflecting the decision-makers' attitudes toward risk aversion and could help seek cost-effective agricultural land-use planning strategies under complex uncertainties.

  4. Changing pattern of landslide risk in Europe - The SafeLand project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nadim, F.; Kalsnes, B. G.; SafeLand Research Consortium

    2011-12-01

    The changing pattern of landslide hazard and risk caused by climate change and changes in demography, the need to protect people and property, the reality for society in Europe to live with hazard and risk and the need to manage risk were the motives for the project SafeLand: "Living with landslide risk in Europe: Assessment, effects of global change, and risk management strategies." SafeLand is a large, integrating research project under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7). It started on 1 May 2009 and will go on for 3 years, ending on 30 April 2012. There project involves 27 partners from 12 European countries, and has international collaborators and advisers from China, India, USA, Japan and Hong Kong. SafeLand also involves 25 End-Users from 11 countries. SafeLand is coordinated by the International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Norway. Further information on the SafeLand project can be found at its web site http://www.safeland-fp7.eu/ . SafeLand is an ongoing project, which results will be finalized in 2012. This lecture summarizes the SafeLand's activities and achievements until November 2011. The main results achieved so far include: - Development and testing of several empirical methods for predicting the characteristics of threshold rainfall events for triggering of precipitation-induced landslides. - Identification of landslide hazard and risk hotspots by an objective, GIS-based analysis for Europe. The results show clearly where landslides pose the largest hazard in Europe and the objective approach allows a ranking of the countries by exposed area and population. - Different regional climate model simulations over Europe (from the EU FP6 project ENSEMBLES) at a spatial resolution of 25 x 25 km have been used to perform an extreme value analysis for trends in heavy precipitation events. In winter a general trend towards more heavy precipitation events across all analyzed regional climate model

  5. A Taxonomy of Operational Risks

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    the operational organization. Con - tractual constraints or requirements can impose risk if the mission delivers products or services under contract...Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute A Taxonomy of Operational Risks CMU/SEI-2005-TN-036 Brian P. Gallagher Pamela J. Case DIST...Operational Risks CMU/SEI-2005-TN-036 Brian P. Gallagher Pamela J. Case Rita C. Creel Susan Kushner Ray C. Williams September2005 Acquisition Support Program

  6. The link between land use and flood risk assessment in urban areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sörensen, Johanna; Kalantari, Zahra

    2017-04-01

    Densification of urban areas rises a concern for increased pluvial flooding. Flood risk in urban areas might rise under impact of land use changes. Urbanisation involves conversion of natural areas to impermeable areas giving lower infiltration rates and increased runoff. When high-intense rainfall excess the capacity of the drainage system in a city, high runoff causes pluvial flooding in low-laying areas. In the present study, a long time series (20 years) of geo-referenced flood claims from property owners has been collected and analysed in detail to assess flood risk under impact of land use changes in urban areas. The flood claim data come from property owners with flood insurance that covers property loss from overland flooding, groundwater intrusion through basement walls, as well as flooding from the drainage system, and are used as a proxy for flood severity. The spatial relationships between land use change and flood occurrences in different urban areas were analysed. Special emphasis were put on how nature-based solutions and blue-green infrastructure relates to flood risk. The relationships defined by a statistical method explaining the tendencies where the land use change contributes to flood risk changes and others engaged factors.

  7. Screening and prioritisation of chemical risks from metal mining operations, identifying exposure media of concern.

    PubMed

    Pan, Jilang; Oates, Christopher J; Ihlenfeld, Christian; Plant, Jane A; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos

    2010-04-01

    Metals have been central to the development of human civilisation from the Bronze Age to modern times, although in the past, metal mining and smelting have been the cause of serious environmental pollution with the potential to harm human health. Despite problems from artisanal mining in some developing countries, modern mining to Western standards now uses the best available mining technology combined with environmental monitoring, mitigation and remediation measures to limit emissions to the environment. This paper develops risk screening and prioritisation methods previously used for contaminated land on military and civilian sites and engineering systems for the analysis and prioritisation of chemical risks from modern metal mining operations. It uses hierarchical holographic modelling and multi-criteria decision making to analyse and prioritise the risks from potentially hazardous inorganic chemical substances released by mining operations. A case study of an active platinum group metals mine in South Africa is used to demonstrate the potential of the method. This risk-based methodology for identifying, filtering and ranking mining-related environmental and human health risks can be used to identify exposure media of greatest concern to inform risk management. It also provides a practical decision-making tool for mine acquisition and helps to communicate risk to all members of mining operation teams.

  8. The land morphology approach to flood risk mapping: An application to Portugal.

    PubMed

    Cunha, N S; Magalhães, M R; Domingos, T; Abreu, M M; Küpfer, C

    2017-05-15

    In the last decades, the increasing vulnerability of floodplains is linked to societal changes such as population density growth, land use changes, water use patterns, among other factors. Land morphology directly influences surface water flow, transport of sediments, soil genesis, local climate and vegetation distribution. Therefore, the land morphology, the land used and management directly influences flood risks genesis. However, attention is not always given to the underlying geomorphological and ecological processes that influence the dynamic of rivers and their floodplains. Floodplains are considered a part of a larger system called Wet System (WS). The WS includes permanent and temporary streams, water bodies, wetlands and valley bottoms. Valley bottom is a broad concept which comprehends not only floodplains but also flat and concave areas, contiguous to streams, in which slope is less than 5%. This will be addressed through a consistent method based on a land morphology approach that classifies landforms according to their hydrological position in the watershed. This method is based on flat areas (slopes less than 5%), surface curvature and hydrological features. The comparison between WS and flood risk data from the Portuguese Environmental Agency for the main rivers of mainland Portugal showed that in downstream areas of watersheds, valley bottoms are coincident with floodplains modelled by hydrological methods. Mapping WS has a particular interest in analysing river ecosystems position and function in the landscape, from upstream to downstream areas in the watershed. This morphological approach is less demanding data and time-consuming than hydrological methods and can be used as the preliminary delimitation of floodplains and potential flood risk areas in situations where there is no hydrological data available. The results were also compared with the land use/cover map at a national level and detailed in Trancão river basin, located in Lisbon

  9. Land cover as an important factor for landslide risk assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Promper, C.; Glade, T.; Puissant, A.; Malet, J.-P.

    2012-04-01

    Landcover change is a crucial component of hazard and vulnerability in terms of quantification of possible future landslide risk, and the importance for spatial planners but also individuals is obvious. Damage of property, losses of agricultural land, loss of production but also damaged infrastructures and fatalities may be the result of landslide hazards. To avoid these economic damages as well as possible fatalities in the future, a method of assessing spatial but also temporal patterns of landslides is necessary. This study represents results of landcover modeling as a first step to the proposition of scenario of landslide risk for the future. The method used for future land cover analysis is the CLUE modeling framework combining past and actual observed landcover conditions. The model is based on a statistical relationship between the actual land cover and driving forces. The allocation of landcover pixel is modified by possible autonomous developments and competition between land use types. (Verburg et al. 1999) The study area is located in a district in the alpine foreland of Lower Austria: Waidhofen/Ybbs, of about 130km2. The topography is characterized by narrow valleys, flat plateau and steep slopes. The landcover is characterized by region of densely populated areas in the valley bottom along the Ybbs River, and a series of separated farm houses on the top of the plateau. Population density is about 90 persons / km2 which represent the observed population density of Austria. The initial landcover includes forest, grassland, culture, built-up areas and individual farms. Most of the observed developments are controlled by the topography (along the valleys) and the actual road network. The results of the landcover model show different scenarios of changes in the landslide prone landcover types. These maps will be implemented into hazard analysis but also into vulnerability assessment regarding elements at risk. Verburg, P.H., de Koning, G.H.J., Kok, K

  10. Using Vision System Technologies to Enable Operational Improvements for Low Visibility Approach and Landing Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kramer, Lynda J.; Ellis, Kyle K. E.; Bailey, Randall E.; Williams, Steven P.; Severance, Kurt; Le Vie, Lisa R.; Comstock, James R.

    2014-01-01

    Flight deck-based vision systems, such as Synthetic and Enhanced Vision System (SEVS) technologies, have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable the implementation of operational improvements for low visibility surface, arrival, and departure operations in the terminal environment with equivalent efficiency to visual operations. To achieve this potential, research is required for effective technology development and implementation based upon human factors design and regulatory guidance. This research supports the introduction and use of Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (SVS/EFVS) as advanced cockpit vision technologies in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. Twelve air transport-rated crews participated in a motion-base simulation experiment to evaluate the use of SVS/EFVS in NextGen low visibility approach and landing operations. Three monochromatic, collimated head-up display (HUD) concepts (conventional HUD, SVS HUD, and EFVS HUD) and two color head-down primary flight display (PFD) concepts (conventional PFD, SVS PFD) were evaluated in a simulated NextGen Chicago O'Hare terminal environment. Additionally, the instrument approach type (no offset, 3 degree offset, 15 degree offset) was experimentally varied to test the efficacy of the HUD concepts for offset approach operations. The data showed that touchdown landing performance were excellent regardless of SEVS concept or type of offset instrument approach being flown. Subjective assessments of mental workload and situation awareness indicated that making offset approaches in low visibility conditions with an EFVS HUD or SVS HUD may be feasible.

  11. The effect of foot landing position on biomechanical risk factors associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury.

    PubMed

    Tran, Andrew A; Gatewood, Corey; Harris, Alex H S; Thompson, Julie A; Dragoo, Jason L

    2016-12-01

    Identification of biomechanical risk factors associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury can facilitate injury prevention. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of three foot landing positions, "toe-in", "toe-out" and "neutral", on biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury in males and females. The authors hypothesize that 1) relative to neutral, the toe-in position increases the biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury, 2) the toe-out position decreases these biomechanical risk factors, and 3) compared to males, females demonstrate greater changes in lower extremity biomechanics with changes in foot landing position. Motion capture data on ten male and ten female volunteers aged 20-30 years (26.4 ± 2.50) were collected during double-leg jump landing activities. Subjects were asked to land on force plates and target one of three pre-templated foot landing positions: 0° ("neutral"), 30° internal rotation ("toe-in"), and 30° external rotation ("toe-out") along the axis of the anatomical sagittal plane. A mixed-effects ANOVA and pairwise Tukey post-hoc comparison were used to detect differences in kinematic and kinetic variables associated with biomechanical risk factors of ACL injury between the three foot landing positions. Relative to neutral, landing in the toe-in position increased peak hip adduction, knee internal rotation angles and moments (p < 0.01), and peak knee abduction angle (p < 0.001). Landing in the toe-in position also decreased peak hip flexion angle (p < 0.001) and knee flexion angle (p = 0.023). Landing in the toe-out position decreased peak hip adduction, knee abduction, and knee internal rotation angles (all p < 0.001). Male sex was associated with a smaller increase in hip adduction moment (p = 0.043) and knee internal rotation moment (p = 0.032) with toe-in landing position compared with female sex. Toe-in landing position exacerbates biomechanical risk factors associated with

  12. Vortex-Free Flight Corridors for Aircraft Executing Compressed Landing Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rossow, Vernon J.

    2006-01-01

    A factor that limits airport arrival and departure rates is the need to wait between operations for the wake vortices of preceding aircraft to decay to a safe level. As airport traffic demand increases, creative methods will be needed to overcome the limitations caused by the hazard posed by vortex wakes so that airport capacities can be increased. The problem addressed here is the design of vortex-free trajectories for aircraft as they fly from their cruise altitudes down to their final approach paths and to a landing. The guidelines presented recommend that the flight path of each aircraft in a group executing nearly-simultaneous landings be spaced far enough apart laterally along organized flight paths so that the vortex wakes of preceding aircraft will not intrude into the airspace to be used by following aircraft. An example is presented as to how a combination of straight lines and circular arcs is able to provide each aircraft in a group with a vortex-free trajectory so that all are able to safely form the pattern needed for nearly simultaneous landings on a set of closely-spaced parallel runways. Although the guidelines me described for aircraft on approach, they are also applicable to departure, and to en route operations.

  13. Choice of scale for integrating land use in malaria risk monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spangler, K. R.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Pan, W.; Vittor, A.; Patz, J.

    2011-12-01

    There were nearly 37,000 reported cases of malaria in Peru in 2009 alone. With over 30% of the population identified as being at "high risk" for exposure, detailed risk mapping, along with early detection and warning systems, are in critical need. While there is evidence that the increased formation of puddles arising from deforestation increases the breeding of the rainforest's primary malaria vector, Anopheles darlingi, neither the spatial structure of land uses/land cover changes (LUCC) nor the area of influence of LUCC on mosquito density has been systematically addressed. The radius of influence that LUCC - particularly areas of deforested land and other regions likely to see increases in stagnant water formation - has on mosquito presence is of particular importance, both for the design of warning systems and to inform future malaria transmission studies. Here, we present the results of satellite-based analysis of land use patterns and mosquito density along the Iquitos-Nauta road in the Peruvian Amazon. Comparing supervised classifications of Landsat images of the Iquitos region from 1996 and 2001 , land cover features around each of 832 mosquito sites were tabulated by percent at six different radii: 250m, 500m, 1000m, 2000m, 3000m, and 5000m. These results were then used as inputs in a mosquito prediction model that determined the most pertinent spatial scale necessary to predict both adult and larvae Anopheles mosquitoes (darlingi, benerocchi, oswaldoi, mattogrossenis, and rangeli). The application of this study is to provide a systematic means of determining which areas are at the highest risk of malaria infection in order to inform design of warning systems and future studies of land use and malaria in the Amazonian frontier.

  14. Risk-based design of process plants with regard to domino effects and land use planning.

    PubMed

    Khakzad, Nima; Reniers, Genserik

    2015-12-15

    Land use planning (LUP) as an effective and crucial safety measure has widely been employed by safety experts and decision makers to mitigate off-site risks posed by major accidents. Accordingly, the concept of LUP in chemical plants has traditionally been considered from two perspectives: (i) land developments around existing chemical plants considering potential off-site risks posed by major accidents and (ii) development of existing chemical plants considering nearby land developments and the level of additional off-site risks the land developments would be exposed to. However, the attempts made to design chemical plants with regard to LUP requirements have been few, most of which have neglected the role of domino effects in risk analysis of major accidents. To overcome the limitations of previous work, first, we developed a Bayesian network methodology to calculate both on-site and off-site risks of major accidents while taking domino effects into account. Second, we combined the results of risk analysis with Analytic Hierarchical Process to design an optimal layout for which the levels of on-site and off-site risks would be minimum. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. GlobCorine- A Joint EEA-ESA Project for Operational Land Cover and Land Use Mapping at Pan-European Scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bontemps, S.; Defourny, P.; Van Bogaert, E.; Weber, J. L.; Arino, O.

    2010-12-01

    Regular and global land cover mapping contributes to evaluating the impact of human activities on the environment. Jointly supported by the European Space Agency and the European Environmental Agency, the GlobCorine project builds on the GlobCover findings and aims at making the full use of the MERIS time series for frequent land cover monitoring. The GlobCover automated classification approach has been tuned to the pan-European continent and adjusted towards a classification compatible with the Corine typology. The GlobCorine 2005 land cover map has been achieved, validated and made available to a broad- level stakeholder community from the ESA website. A first version of the GlobCorine 2009 map has also been produced, demonstrating the possibility for an operational production of frequent and updated global land cover maps.

  16. A Land-Use Perspective for Birdstrike Risk Assessment: The Attraction Risk Index.

    PubMed

    Coccon, Francesca; Zucchetta, Matteo; Bossi, Giulia; Borrotti, Matteo; Torricelli, Patrizia; Franzoi, Piero

    2015-01-01

    Collisions between aircraft and birds, birdstrikes, pose a serious threat to aviation safety. The occurrence of these events is influenced by land-uses in the surroundings of airports. Airports located in the same region might have different trends for birdstrike risk, due to differences in the surrounding habitats. Here we developed a quantitative tool that assesses the risk of birdstrike based on the habitats within a 13-km buffer from the airport. For this purpose, we developed Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) with binomial distribution to estimate the contribution of habitats to wildlife use of the study area, depending on season. These GLMs predictions were combined to the flight altitude of birds within the 13-km buffer, the airport traffic pattern and the severity indices associated with impacts. Our approach was developed at Venice Marco Polo International airport (VCE), located in northeast Italy and then tested at Treviso Antonio Canova International airport (TSF), which is 20 km inland. Results from the two airports revealed that both the surrounding habitats and the season had a significant influence to the pattern of risk. With regard to VCE, agricultural fields, wetlands and urban areas contributed most to the presence of birds in the study area. Furthermore, the key role of distance of land-uses from the airport on the probability of presence of birds was highlighted. The reliability of developed risk index was demonstrated since at VCE it was significantly correlated with bird strike rate. This study emphasizes the importance of the territory near airports and the wildlife use of its habitats, as factors in need of consideration for birdstrike risk assessment procedures. Information on the contribution of habitats in attracting birds, depending on season, can be used by airport managers and local authorities to plan specific interventions in the study area in order to lower the risk.

  17. A Land-Use Perspective for Birdstrike Risk Assessment: The Attraction Risk Index

    PubMed Central

    Coccon, Francesca; Zucchetta, Matteo; Bossi, Giulia; Borrotti, Matteo; Torricelli, Patrizia; Franzoi, Piero

    2015-01-01

    Collisions between aircraft and birds, birdstrikes, pose a serious threat to aviation safety. The occurrence of these events is influenced by land-uses in the surroundings of airports. Airports located in the same region might have different trends for birdstrike risk, due to differences in the surrounding habitats. Here we developed a quantitative tool that assesses the risk of birdstrike based on the habitats within a 13-km buffer from the airport. For this purpose, we developed Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) with binomial distribution to estimate the contribution of habitats to wildlife use of the study area, depending on season. These GLMs predictions were combined to the flight altitude of birds within the 13-km buffer, the airport traffic pattern and the severity indices associated with impacts. Our approach was developed at Venice Marco Polo International airport (VCE), located in northeast Italy and then tested at Treviso Antonio Canova International airport (TSF), which is 20 km inland. Results from the two airports revealed that both the surrounding habitats and the season had a significant influence to the pattern of risk. With regard to VCE, agricultural fields, wetlands and urban areas contributed most to the presence of birds in the study area. Furthermore, the key role of distance of land-uses from the airport on the probability of presence of birds was highlighted. The reliability of developed risk index was demonstrated since at VCE it was significantly correlated with bird strike rate. This study emphasizes the importance of the territory near airports and the wildlife use of its habitats, as factors in need of consideration for birdstrike risk assessment procedures. Information on the contribution of habitats in attracting birds, depending on season, can be used by airport managers and local authorities to plan specific interventions in the study area in order to lower the risk. PMID:26114958

  18. Ecuadorian Banana Farms Should Consider Organic Banana with Low Price Risks in Their Land-Use Portfolios

    PubMed Central

    Castro, Luz Maria; Calvas, Baltazar; Knoke, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Organic farming is a more environmentally friendly form of land use than conventional agriculture. However, recent studies point out production tradeoffs that often prevent the adoption of such practices by farmers. Our study shows with the example of organic banana production in Ecuador that economic tradeoffs depend much on the approach of the analysis. We test, if organic banana should be included in economic land-use portfolios, which indicate how much of the land is provided for which type of land-use. We use time series data for productivity and prices over 30 years to compute the economic return (as annualized net present value) and its volatility (with standard deviation as risk measure) for eight crops to derive land-use portfolios for different levels of risk, which maximize economic return. We find that organic banana is included in land-use portfolios for almost every level of accepted risk with proportions from 1% to maximally 32%, even if the same high uncertainty as for conventional banana is simulated for organic banana. A more realistic, lower simulated price risk increased the proportion of organic banana substantially to up to 57% and increased annual economic returns by up to US$ 187 per ha. Under an assumed integration of both markets, for organic and conventional banana, simulated by an increased coefficient of correlation of economic return from organic and conventional banana (ρ up to +0.7), organic banana holds significant portions in the land-use portfolios tested only, if a low price risk of organic banana is considered. We conclude that uncertainty is a key issue for the adoption of organic banana. As historic data support a low price risk for organic banana compared to conventional banana, Ecuadorian farmers should consider organic banana as an advantageous land-use option in their land-use portfolios. PMID:25799506

  19. Ecuadorian banana farms should consider organic banana with low price risks in their land-use portfolios.

    PubMed

    Castro, Luz Maria; Calvas, Baltazar; Knoke, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Organic farming is a more environmentally friendly form of land use than conventional agriculture. However, recent studies point out production tradeoffs that often prevent the adoption of such practices by farmers. Our study shows with the example of organic banana production in Ecuador that economic tradeoffs depend much on the approach of the analysis. We test, if organic banana should be included in economic land-use portfolios, which indicate how much of the land is provided for which type of land-use. We use time series data for productivity and prices over 30 years to compute the economic return (as annualized net present value) and its volatility (with standard deviation as risk measure) for eight crops to derive land-use portfolios for different levels of risk, which maximize economic return. We find that organic banana is included in land-use portfolios for almost every level of accepted risk with proportions from 1% to maximally 32%, even if the same high uncertainty as for conventional banana is simulated for organic banana. A more realistic, lower simulated price risk increased the proportion of organic banana substantially to up to 57% and increased annual economic returns by up to US$ 187 per ha. Under an assumed integration of both markets, for organic and conventional banana, simulated by an increased coefficient of correlation of economic return from organic and conventional banana (ρ up to +0.7), organic banana holds significant portions in the land-use portfolios tested only, if a low price risk of organic banana is considered. We conclude that uncertainty is a key issue for the adoption of organic banana. As historic data support a low price risk for organic banana compared to conventional banana, Ecuadorian farmers should consider organic banana as an advantageous land-use option in their land-use portfolios.

  20. Collaborative development of land use change scenarios for analysing hydro-meteorological risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malek, Žiga; Glade, Thomas

    2015-04-01

    Simulating future land use changes remains a difficult task, due to uncontrollable and uncertain driving forces of change. Scenario development emerged as a tool to address these limitations. Scenarios offer the exploration of possible futures and environmental consequences, and enable the analysis of possible decisions. Therefore, there is increasing interest of both decision makers and researchers to apply scenarios when studying future land use changes and their consequences. The uncertainties related to generating land use change scenarios are among others defined by the accuracy of data, identification and quantification of driving forces, and the relation between expected future changes and the corresponding spatial pattern. To address the issue of data and intangible driving forces, several studies have applied collaborative, participatory techniques when developing future scenarios. The involvement of stakeholders can lead to incorporating a broader spectrum of professional values and experience. Moreover, stakeholders can help to provide missing data, improve detail, uncover mistakes, and offer alternatives. Thus, collaborative scenarios can be considered as more reliable and relevant. Collaborative scenario development has been applied to study a variety of issues in environmental sciences on different spatial and temporal scales. Still, these participatory approaches are rarely spatially explicit, making them difficult to apply when analysing changes to hydro-meteorological risk on a local scale. Spatial explicitness is needed to identify potentially critical areas of land use change, leading to locations where the risk might increase. In order to allocate collaboratively developed scenarios of land change, we combined participatory modeling with geosimulation in a multi-step scenario generation framework. We propose a framework able to develop scenarios that are plausible, can overcome data inaccessibility, address intangible and external driving forces

  1. Validation and Verification of Operational Land Analysis Activities at the Air Force Weather Agency

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shaw, Michael; Kumar, Sujay V.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Cetola, Jeffrey

    2011-01-01

    The NASA developed Land Information System (LIS) is the Air Force Weather Agency's (AFWA) operational Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) combining real time precipitation observations and analyses, global forecast model data, vegetation, terrain, and soil parameters with the community Noah land surface model, along with other hydrology module options, to generate profile analyses of global soil moisture, soil temperature, and other important land surface characteristics. (1) A range of satellite data products and surface observations used to generate the land analysis products (2) Global, 1/4 deg spatial resolution (3) Model analysis generated at 3 hours

  2. Logistical Support of AirLand Operations: Myth or Magic?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-05-04

    I4 May 1992 Master’s Thesis, 4 Aug 91-5 Jun 92 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS .Support of AirLand Operations: Myth or Magic 6. AUTHOR(S) HA•J...SUPPORT OF AIRLAND OPERATIONS: MYTH OR MAGIC A thesis nresented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in oartial fulfillment of...inerati,,,: Myth or Magic . Aprroved by: .Theq is Comni tt-t- fTh~airrnan; J ),I i .5 .a rria A.n . T.T! 3:•, J!. Pnwe r. M’. P. A . " ,ý) VoD" Member

  3. Land developer participation in providing for bus transit facilities and operations

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-03-01

    This report provides an overview of the various non-regulatory and regulatory approaches for engaging private sector land developer participation in contributing toward the provision of public bus transit capital facilities and the cost of operations...

  4. Influence of land-use dynamics on natural hazard risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piazza, Giacomo; Thaler, Thomas; Fuchs, Sven

    2016-04-01

    In the recent past the magnitude and frequency of natural hazard events has increased notably worldwide, along with global GDP. A higher number of elements are exposed to natural events, therefore the risk is higher. Both estimated losses and understanding about natural hazards have increased during the past decades, which is contradictory as we may logically think. Risk is increasing, due to climate change and societal change: more severe hazards are happening due to changing climatic patterns and conditions, while society is concentrating assets and people in punctual places leading to a higher exposure. Increasing surface of settled area and the concentration of highly valuable assets (e.g. technology) in exposed areas lead to higher probability of losses. Human use of land resources, namely landuse, is the product of human needs and biophysical characteristics of the land. Landuse involves arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it. These changes are due to many reasons, or driving factors: socio-economical, environmental, accessibility to land, land-tenure, etc. The change of those factors may cause many effects and impacts, at various levels and at different time spans. The relation between driving factors and impacts is not straight. It is although a complex interrelation that turns around two central questions: (1) what drives landuse changes and why and (2) what are the impacts on the environment and on the human society of these changes, regarding to natural hazards. The aim of this paper is to analyse the spatio-temporal environmental changes referring to exposure as well as to test the possibilities and limitations of the land use change model Dyna-CLUEs in a mountain region taking parts of the Republic of Austria as an example, and simulating the future landuse dynamics until 2030. We selected an area composed by eighteen municipalities in the Ill-Walgau in the Austrian federal

  5. Defining the Intrinsic Cardiac Risks of Operations to Improve Preoperative Cardiac Risk Assessments.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jason B; Liu, Yaoming; Cohen, Mark E; Ko, Clifford Y; Sweitzer, Bobbie J

    2018-02-01

    Current preoperative cardiac risk stratification practices group operations into broad categories, which might inadequately consider the intrinsic cardiac risks of individual operations. We sought to define the intrinsic cardiac risks of individual operations and to demonstrate how grouping operations might lead to imprecise estimates of perioperative cardiac risk. Elective operations (based on Common Procedural Terminology codes) performed from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015 at hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were studied. A composite measure of perioperative adverse cardiac events was defined as either cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation or acute myocardial infarction. Operations' intrinsic cardiac risks were derived from mixed-effects models while controlling for patient mix. Resultant risks were sorted into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk categories, and the most commonly performed operations within each category were identified. Intrinsic operative risks were also examined using a representative grouping of operations to portray within-group variation. Sixty-six low, 30 intermediate, and 106 high intrinsic cardiac risk operations were identified. Excisional breast biopsy had the lowest intrinsic cardiac risk (overall rate, 0.01%; odds ratio, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.25) relative to the average, whereas aorto-bifemoral bypass grafting had the highest (overall rate, 4.1%; odds ratio, 6.61; 95% CI, 5.54 to 7.90). There was wide variation in the intrinsic cardiac risks of operations within the representative grouping (median odds ratio, 1.40; interquartile range, 0.88 to 2.17). A continuum of intrinsic cardiac risk exists among operations. Grouping operations into broad categories inadequately accounts for the intrinsic cardiac risk of individual operations.

  6. 43 CFR 428.9 - Farm operators who are former owners of excess land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... water. If you are a part owner of a legal entity that is the direct or indirect farm operator of the... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Farm operators who are former owners of... RECLAMATION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN FARM OPERATIONS IN EXCESS OF 960...

  7. 43 CFR 428.9 - Farm operators who are former owners of excess land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... water. If you are a part owner of a legal entity that is the direct or indirect farm operator of the... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Farm operators who are former owners of... RECLAMATION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN FARM OPERATIONS IN EXCESS OF 960...

  8. Description of a landing site indicator (LASI) for light aircraft operation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fuller, H. V.; Outlaw, B. K. E.

    1976-01-01

    An experimental cockpit mounted head-up type display system was developed and evaluated by LaRC pilots during the landing phase of light aircraft operations. The Landing Site Indicator (LASI) system display consists of angle of attack, angle of sideslip, and indicated airspeed images superimposed on the pilot's view through the windshield. The information is made visible to the pilot by means of a partially reflective viewing screen which is suspended directly in frot of the pilot's eyes. Synchro transmitters are operated by vanes, located at the left wing tip, which sense angle of attack and sideslip angle. Information is presented near the center of the display in the form of a moving index on a fixed grid. The airspeed is sensed by a pitot-static pressure transducer and is presented in numerical form at the top center of the display.

  9. All-weather-landing operations bibliography

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1972-06-01

    The bibliography provides a selected coverage of several topic areas within the general subject : of all-weather landing. The period covers the recent years of 1966 through 1971. The areas are : as follows: Approach and Landing, Human-Factors, Naviga...

  10. Charles E. Land, Ph.D., acclaimed statistical expert on radiation risk assessment, died January 2018

    Cancer.gov

    Charles E. Land, Ph.D., an internationally acclaimed statistical expert on radiation risk assessment, died January 25, 2018. He retired in 2009 from the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. Dr. Land performed pioneering work in modern radiation dose-response analysis and modeling of low-dose cancer risk.

  11. Spatially heterogeneous land cover/land use and climatic risk factors of tick-borne feline cytauxzoonosis.

    PubMed

    Raghavan, Ram K; Almes, Kelli; Goodin, Doug G; Harrington, John A; Stackhouse, Paul W

    2014-07-01

    Feline cytauxzoonosis is a highly fatal tick-borne disease caused by a hemoparasitic protozoan, Cytauxzoon felis. This disease is a leading cause of mortality for cats in the Midwestern United States, and no vaccine or effective treatment options exist. Prevention based on knowledge of risk factors is therefore vital. Associations of different environmental factors, including recent climate were evaluated as potential risk factors for cytauxzoonosis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). There were 69 cases determined to be positive for cytauxzoonosis based upon positive identification of C. felis within blood film examinations, tissue impression smears, or histopathologic examination of tissues. Negative controls totaling 123 were selected from feline cases that had a history of fever, malaise, icterus, and anorexia but lack of C. felis within blood films, impression smears, or histopathologic examination of tissues. Additional criteria to rule out C. felis among controls were the presence of regenerative anemia, cytologic examination of blood marrow or lymph node aspirate, other causative agent diagnosed, or survival of 25 days or greater after testing. Potential environmental determinants were derived from publicly available sources, viz., US Department of Agriculture (soil attributes), US Geological Survey (land-cover/landscape, landscape metrics), and NASA (climate). Candidate variables were screened using univariate logistic models with a liberal p value (0.2), and associations with cytauxzoonosis were modeled using a global multivariate logistic model (p<0.05). Spatial heterogeneity among significant variables in the study region was modeled using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach. Total Edge Contrast Index (TECI), grassland-coverage, humidity conditions recorded during the 9(th) week prior to case arrival, and an interaction variable, "diurnal temperature range × percent mixed forest area" were significant risk factors for

  12. Prospective mixture risk assessment and management prioritizations for river catchments with diverse land uses

    PubMed Central

    Brown, Colin D.; de Zwart, Dick; Diamond, Jerome; Dyer, Scott D.; Holmes, Christopher M.; Marshall, Stuart; Burton, G. Allen

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Ecological risk assessment increasingly focuses on risks from chemical mixtures and multiple stressors because ecosystems are commonly exposed to a plethora of contaminants and nonchemical stressors. To simplify the task of assessing potential mixture effects, we explored 3 land use–related chemical emission scenarios. We applied a tiered methodology to judge the implications of the emissions of chemicals from agricultural practices, domestic discharges, and urban runoff in a quantitative model. The results showed land use–dependent mixture exposures, clearly discriminating downstream effects of land uses, with unique chemical “signatures” regarding composition, concentration, and temporal patterns. Associated risks were characterized in relation to the land‐use scenarios. Comparisons to measured environmental concentrations and predicted impacts showed relatively good similarity. The results suggest that the land uses imply exceedances of regulatory protective environmental quality standards, varying over time in relation to rain events and associated flow and dilution variation. Higher‐tier analyses using ecotoxicological effect criteria confirmed that species assemblages may be affected by exposures exceeding no‐effect levels and that mixture exposure could be associated with predicted species loss under certain situations. The model outcomes can inform various types of prioritization to support risk management, including a ranking across land uses as a whole, a ranking on characteristics of exposure times and frequencies, and various rankings of the relative role of individual chemicals. Though all results are based on in silico assessments, the prospective land use–based approach applied in the present study yields useful insights for simplifying and assessing potential ecological risks of chemical mixtures and can therefore be useful for catchment‐management decisions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:715–728. © 2017 The Authors

  13. Stardust Entry: Landing and Population Hazards in Mission Planning and Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Desai, P.; Wawrzyniak, G.

    2006-01-01

    The 385 kg Stardust mission was launched on Feb 7, 1999 on a mission to collect samples from the tail of comet Wild 2 and from interplanetary space. Stardust returned to Earth in the early morning of January 15, 2006. The sample return capsule landed in the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) southwest of Salt Lake City. Because Stardust was landing on Earth, hazard analysis was required by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, UTTR, and the Stardust Project to ensure the safe return of the landing capsule along with the safety of people, ground assets, and aircraft. This paper focuses on the requirements affecting safe return of the capsule and safety of people on the ground by investigating parameters such as probability of impacting on UTTR, casualty expectation, and probability of casualty. This paper introduces the methods for the calculation of these requirements and shows how they affected mission planning, site selection, and mission operations. By analyzing these requirements before and during entry it allowed for the selection of a robust landing point that met all of the requirements during the actual landing event.

  14. Enhanced Flight Vision Systems and Synthetic Vision Systems for NextGen Approach and Landing Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kramer, Lynda J.; Bailey, Randall E.; Ellis, Kyle K. E.; Williams, Steven P.; Arthur, Jarvis J., III; Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Shelton, Kevin J.

    2013-01-01

    Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision System (SVS/EFVS) technologies have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable operational improvements for low visibility operations in the terminal area environment with equivalent efficiency as visual operations. To meet this potential, research is needed for effective technology development and implementation of regulatory standards and design guidance to support introduction and use of SVS/EFVS advanced cockpit vision technologies in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. A fixed-base pilot-in-the-loop simulation test was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center that evaluated the use of SVS/EFVS in NextGen low visibility approach and landing operations. Twelve crews flew approach and landing operations in a simulated NextGen Chicago O'Hare environment. Various scenarios tested the potential for using EFVS to conduct approach, landing, and roll-out operations in visibility as low as 1000 feet runway visual range (RVR). Also, SVS was tested to evaluate the potential for lowering decision heights (DH) on certain instrument approach procedures below what can be flown today. Expanding the portion of the visual segment in which EFVS can be used in lieu of natural vision from 100 feet above the touchdown zone elevation to touchdown and rollout in visibilities as low as 1000 feet RVR appears to be viable as touchdown performance was acceptable without any apparent workload penalties. A lower DH of 150 feet and/or possibly reduced visibility minima using SVS appears to be viable when implemented on a Head-Up Display, but the landing data suggests further study for head-down implementations.

  15. Risk management for optimal land use planning integrating ecosystem services values: A case study in Changsha, Middle China.

    PubMed

    Liang, Jie; Zhong, Minzhou; Zeng, Guangming; Chen, Gaojie; Hua, Shanshan; Li, Xiaodong; Yuan, Yujie; Wu, Haipeng; Gao, Xiang

    2017-02-01

    Land-use change has direct impact on ecosystem services and alters ecosystem services values (ESVs). Ecosystem services analysis is beneficial for land management and decisions. However, the application of ESVs for decision-making in land use decisions is scarce. In this paper, a method, integrating ESVs to balance future ecosystem-service benefit and risk, is developed to optimize investment in land for ecological conservation in land use planning. Using ecological conservation in land use planning in Changsha as an example, ESVs is regarded as the expected ecosystem-service benefit. And uncertainty of land use change is regarded as risk. This method can optimize allocation of investment in land to improve ecological benefit. The result shows that investment should be partial to Liuyang City to get higher benefit. The investment should also be shifted from Liuyang City to other regions to reduce risk. In practice, lower limit and upper limit for weight distribution, which affects optimal outcome and selection of investment allocation, should be set in investment. This method can reveal the optimal spatial allocation of investment to maximize the expected ecosystem-service benefit at a given level of risk or minimize risk at a given level of expected ecosystem-service benefit. Our results of optimal analyses highlight tradeoffs between future ecosystem-service benefit and uncertainty of land use change in land use decisions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Bus operator perceptions of safety risks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-07-01

    This paper presents the results of a survey of TriMet bus operators addressing safety risks in their assigned work. Surveyed risk factors : were organized into five categories: vehicle design and condition; route layout; operating conditions; fatigue...

  17. Land Cover as a Framework For Assessing the Risk of Water Pollution

    Treesearch

    James D. Wickham; Kurt H. Riitters; Robert V. O' Neill; Kenneth H. Reckhow; Timothy G. Wade; K. Bruce Jones

    2000-01-01

    A survey of numerous field studies shows that nitrogen and phosphorous export coefficients are significantly different across forest, agriculture, and urban land-cover types. We used simulations to estimate the land-cover composition at which there was a significant risk of nutrient loads representative of watersheds without forest cover. The results suggest that at...

  18. 30 CFR 761.13 - Procedures for compatibility findings for surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. 761.13 Section 761.13 Mineral... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. (a) If you intend to rely upon the... national forest, you must request that we obtain the Secretarial findings required by § 761.11(b). (b) You...

  19. 30 CFR 761.13 - Procedures for compatibility findings for surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. 761.13 Section 761.13 Mineral... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. (a) If you intend to rely upon the... national forest, you must request that we obtain the Secretarial findings required by § 761.11(b). (b) You...

  20. 30 CFR 761.13 - Procedures for compatibility findings for surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. 761.13 Section 761.13 Mineral... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. (a) If you intend to rely upon the... national forest, you must request that we obtain the Secretarial findings required by § 761.11(b). (b) You...

  1. 30 CFR 761.13 - Procedures for compatibility findings for surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. 761.13 Section 761.13 Mineral... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. (a) If you intend to rely upon the... national forest, you must request that we obtain the Secretarial findings required by § 761.11(b). (b) You...

  2. 30 CFR 761.13 - Procedures for compatibility findings for surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. 761.13 Section 761.13 Mineral... surface coal mining operations on Federal lands in national forests. (a) If you intend to rely upon the... national forest, you must request that we obtain the Secretarial findings required by § 761.11(b). (b) You...

  3. Operational Concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thompson, S. D.; Bussolari, S. R.

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to describe an operational concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF). The SLF is proposed as a component of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) and is envisioned to utilize Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies to support higher-volume air traffic operations in a wider variety of weather conditions than are currently possible at airports without an Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) or Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). In order to accomplish this, the SLF will provide aircraft sequencing and separation within its terminal airspace (the SLF traffic area) and on the airport surface. The approach taken in this report is to first define and describe the SLF environment and the type of operations and aircraft that must be supported. Services currently provided by an ATCT and TRACON are reviewed and assembled into a set of high-level operational functions. A description of the applicable CNS/ATM technologies that have been deployed in the NAS (National Airspace System) or have been demonstrated to be operationally feasible is presented. A candidate SLF system concept that employs the CNS/ATM technologies is described. This is followed by SLF operational scenarios for minimally-equipped aircraft and for aircraft fully-equipped to make full use of SLF services. An assessment is made of the SLF technology and key research issues are identified.

  4. 76 FR 30705 - Problem Formulation for Human Health Risk Assessments of Pathogens in Land-Applied Biosolids

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-26

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9311-4] Problem Formulation for Human Health Risk Assessments of Pathogens in Land-Applied Biosolids AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice... Formulation for Human Health Risk Assessments of Pathogens in Land-Applied Biosolids'' EPA/600/R-08/035F...

  5. Managing Risk in Safety Critical Operations - Lessons Learned from Space Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gonzalez, Steven A.

    2002-01-01

    The Mission Control Center (MCC) at Johnson Space Center (JSC) has a rich legacy of supporting Human Space Flight operations throughout the Apollo, Shuttle and International Space Station eras. Through the evolution of ground operations and the Mission Control Center facility, NASA has gained a wealth of experience of what it takes to manage the risk in Safety Critical Operations, especially when human life is at risk. The focus of the presentation will be on the processes (training, operational rigor, team dynamics) that enable the JSC/MCC team to be so successful. The presentation will also share the evolution of the Mission Control Center architecture and how the evolution was introduced while managing the risk to the programs supported by the team. The details of the MCC architecture (e.g., the specific software, hardware or tools used in the facility) will not be shared at the conference since it would not give any additional insight as to how risk is managed in Space Operations.

  6. Ecological and human health risks arising from exposure to metals in urban soils under different land use in Nigeria.

    PubMed

    Iwegbue, Chukwujindu M A; Martincigh, Bice S

    2018-05-01

    The concentrations of eight metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, Mn, Zn and Fe) were measured in soils under different land use in an urban environment of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. The aim was to provide information on the potential ecological and human health risks associated with human exposure to metals in these soils. The potential ecological risk due to metals in soils of these land use types falls in the range of low to moderate ecological risk with a significant contribution from Cd. The severity of the individual metals to ecological risk in these land use types followed the order Cd > Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cr > Mn. The non-carcinogenic risk, expressed in terms of the hazard index (HI), arising through exposure to metals through oral, dermal and inhalation pathways, was greater than 1 for children in the majority of the land use types and less than 1 for adults for all land use types. This indicated that there are considerable non-cancer risks arising from childhood exposure to metals in soils of these land use types. The cancer risk values were within acceptable threshold values indicating a negligible cancer risk for both children and adults exposed to metals in these urban soils.

  7. Descriptive Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Naval Special Warfare Sea, Air, and Land Operators.

    PubMed

    Lovalekar, Mita; Abt, John P; Sell, Timothy C; Wood, Dallas E; Lephart, Scott M

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this analysis was to describe medical chart reviewed musculoskeletal injuries among Naval Special Warfare Sea, Air, and Land Operators. 210 Operators volunteered (age: 28.1 ± 6.0 years, height: 1.8 ± 0.1 m, weight: 85.4 ± 9.3 kg). Musculoskeletal injury data were extracted from subjects' medical charts, and injuries that occurred during 1 year were described. Anatomic location of injury, cause of injury, activity when injury occurred, and injury type were described. The frequency of injuries was 0.025 per Operator per month. Most injuries involved the upper extremity (38.1% of injuries). Frequent anatomic sublocations for injuries were the shoulder (23.8%) and lumbopelvic region of the spine (12.7%). Lifting was the cause of 7.9% of injuries. Subjects were participating in training when 38.1% of injuries occurred and recreational activity/sports when 12.7% of injuries occurred. Frequent injury types were strain (20.6%), pain/spasm/ache (19.0%), fracture (11.1%), and sprain (11.1%). The results of this analysis underscore the need to investigate the risk factors, especially of upper extremity and physical activity related injuries, in this population of Operators. There is a scope for development of a focused, customized injury prevention program, targeting the unique injury profile of this population. Reprint & Copyright © 2016 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  8. Operational monitoring of land-cover change using multitemporal remote sensing data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rogan, John

    2005-11-01

    Land-cover change, manifested as either land-cover modification and/or conversion, can occur at all spatial scales, and changes at local scales can have profound, cumulative impacts at broader scales. The implication of operational land-cover monitoring is that researchers have access to a continuous stream of remote sensing data, with the long term goal of providing for consistent and repetitive mapping. Effective large area monitoring of land-cover (i.e., >1000 km2) can only be accomplished by using remotely sensed images as an indirect data source in land-cover change mapping and as a source for land-cover change model projections. Large area monitoring programs face several challenges: (1) choice of appropriate classification scheme/map legend over large, topographically and phenologically diverse areas; (2) issues concerning data consistency and map accuracy (i.e., calibration and validation); (3) very large data volumes; (4) time consuming data processing and interpretation. Therefore, this dissertation research broadly addresses these challenges in the context of examining state-of-the-art image pre-processing, spectral enhancement, classification, and accuracy assessment techniques to assist the California Land-cover Mapping and Monitoring Program (LCMMP). The results of this dissertation revealed that spatially varying haze can be effectively corrected from Landsat data for the purposes of change detection. The Multitemporal Spectral Mixture Analysis (MSMA) spectral enhancement technique produced more accurate land-cover maps than those derived from the Multitemporal Kauth Thomas (MKT) transformation in northern and southern California study areas. A comparison of machine learning classifiers showed that Fuzzy ARTMAP outperformed two classification tree algorithms, based on map accuracy and algorithm robustness. Variation in spatial data error (positional and thematic) was explored in relation to environmental variables using geostatistical interpolation

  9. Study on the risk and impacts of land subsidence in Jakarta

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abidin, H. Z.; Andreas, H.; Gumilar, I.; Brinkman, J. J.

    2015-11-01

    Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia located in the west-northern coast of Java island, within a deltaic plain and passes by 13 natural and artificial rivers. This megapolitan has a population of about 10.2 million people inhabiting an area of about 660 km2, with relatively rapid urban development. It has been reported for many years that several places in Jakarta are subsiding at different rates. The main causative factors of land subsidence in Jakarta are most probably excessive groundwater extraction, load of constructions (i.e., settlement of high compressibility soil), and natural consolidation of alluvial soil. Land subsidence in Jakarta has been studied using leveling surveys, GPS surveys, InSAR and Geometric-Historic techniques. The results obtained from leveling surveys, GPS surveys and InSAR technique over the period between 1974 and 2010 show that land subsidence in Jakarta has spatial and temporal variations with typical rates of about 3-10 cm year-1. Rapid urban development, relatively young alluvium soil, and relatively weak mitigation and adapatation initiatives, are risk increasing factors of land subsidence in Jakarta. The subsidence impacts can be seen already in the field in forms of cracking and damage of housing, buildings and infrastructure; wider expansion of (riverine and coastal) flooding areas, malfunction of drainage system, changes in river canal and drain flow systems and increased inland sea water intrusion. These impacts can be categorized into infrastructural, environmental, economic and social impacts. The risk and impacts of land subsidence in Jakarta and their related aspects are discussed in this paper.

  10. Can private land conservation reduce wildfire risk to homes? A case study in San Diego County, California, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Butsic, Van; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Bar-Massada, Avi

    2017-01-01

    The purchase of private land for conservation purposes is a common way to prevent the exploitation of sensitive ecological areas. However, private land conservation can also provide other benefits, one of these being natural hazard reduction. Here, we investigated the impacts of private land conservation on fire risk to homes in San Diego County, California. We coupled an econometric land use change model with a model that estimates the probability of house loss due to fire in order to compare fire risk at the county and municipality scale under alternative private land purchasing schemes and over a 20 year time horizon. We found that conservation purchases could reduce fire risk on this landscape, and the amount of risk reduction was related to the targeting approach used to choose which parcels were conserved. Conservation land purchases that targeted parcels designated as high fire hazard resulted in lower fire risk to homes than purchases that targeted low costs or high likelihood to subdivide. This result was driven by (1) preventing home placement in fire prone areas and (2) taking land off the market, and hence increasing development densities in other areas. These results raise the possibility that resource conservation and fire hazard reduction may benefit from combining efforts. With adequate planning, future conservation purchases could have synergistic effects beyond just protecting ecologically sensitive areas.

  11. 30 CFR 762.15 - Exploration on land designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 522 of the Act and regulations of this... for surface coal mining operations. 762.15 Section 762.15 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... AREAS AS UNSUITABLE FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS § 762.15 Exploration on land designated as...

  12. 30 CFR 762.15 - Exploration on land designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 522 of the Act and regulations of this... for surface coal mining operations. 762.15 Section 762.15 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... AREAS AS UNSUITABLE FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS § 762.15 Exploration on land designated as...

  13. 30 CFR 762.15 - Exploration on land designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 522 of the Act and regulations of this... for surface coal mining operations. 762.15 Section 762.15 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... AREAS AS UNSUITABLE FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS § 762.15 Exploration on land designated as...

  14. 30 CFR 762.15 - Exploration on land designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 522 of the Act and regulations of this... for surface coal mining operations. 762.15 Section 762.15 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... AREAS AS UNSUITABLE FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS § 762.15 Exploration on land designated as...

  15. 30 CFR 762.15 - Exploration on land designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 522 of the Act and regulations of this... for surface coal mining operations. 762.15 Section 762.15 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... AREAS AS UNSUITABLE FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS § 762.15 Exploration on land designated as...

  16. Developing a Planetary Spatial Data Infrastructure for Evaluating Landing Sites and Performing Surface Operations for the Mars 2020 Lander

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fergason, R. L.; Laura, J.; Hare, T. M.; Otero, R.; Edgar, L. A.

    2017-12-01

    A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is a robust framework for data and data products, metadata, data access mechanisms, standards, policy, and a user community that helps to define and standardize the data necessary to meet some specified goal. The primary objective of an SDI is to improve communication, to enhance data access, and to aid in identifying gaps in knowledge. We are developing an SDI that describes the foundational data sets and accuracy requirements to evaluate landing site safety, facilitate the successful operation of Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), and assist in the operation of the rover once it has successfully landed on Mars. Thru current development efforts, an implicit SDI exists for the Mars 2020 mission. An explicit SDI will allow us to identify any potential gaps in knowledge, facilitate communication between the different institutions involved in landing site evaluation and TRN development, and help ensure a smooth transition from landing to surface operations. This SDI is currently relevant to the Mars 2020 rover mission, but can also serve as a means to document current requirements for foundational data products and standards for future landed missions to Mars and other planetary bodies. To generate a Mars 2020-specific SDI, we must first document and rationalize data set and accuracy requirements for evaluating landing sites, performing surface operations, and inventorying Mars 2020 mission needs in terms of an SDI framework. This step will allow us to 1) evaluate and define what is needed for the acquisition of data and the generation and validation of data products, 2) articulate the accuracy and co-registration requirements, and 3) identify needs for data access (and eventual archiving). This SDI document will serve as a means to communicate the existing foundational products, standards that were followed in producing these products, and where and how these products can be accessed by the planetary community. This SDI will also

  17. Status report on the land processes aircraft science management operations working group

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lawless, James G.; Mann, Lisa J.

    1991-01-01

    Since its inception three years ago, the Land Processes Aircraft Science Management Operations Working Group (MOWG) provided recommendations on the optimal use of the Agency's aircraft in support of the Land Processes Science Program. Recommendations covered topics such as aircraft and sensor usage, development of long-range plans, Multisensor Airborne Campaigns (MAC), program balance, aircraft sensor databases, new technology and sensor development, and increased University scientist participation in the program. Impacts of these recommendations improved the efficiency of various procedures including the flight request process, tracking of flight hours, and aircraft usage. The group also created a bibliography focused on publications produced by Land Processes scientists from the use of the aircraft program, surveyed NASA funded PI's on their participation in the aircraft program, and developed a planning template for multi-sensor airborne campaigns. Benefits from these activities are summarized.

  18. Assessing and monitoring the risk of land degradation in Baragan Plain, Romania, using spectral mixture analysis and Landsat imagery.

    PubMed

    Vorovencii, Iosif

    2016-07-01

    The fall of the communist regime in Romania at the end of 1989 and the ensuing transition to the market economy brought about many changes in the use of agricultural land. These changes combined with the action of climatic factors led, in most cases, to negative effects increasing the risk of degradation of agricultural land. This study aims to assess and monitor the risk of land degradation in Baragan Plain, Romania, for the period 1988-2011 using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA). Each satellite image was classified through the Decision Tree Classifier (DTC) method; then, on the basis of certain threshold values, we obtained maps of land degradation and maps showing the passage from various classes of land use/land cover (LULC) to land degradation. The results indicate that during the intermediary periods there was an ascending and descending trend in the risk of land degradation determined by the interaction of climatic factors with the social-economic ones. For the entire period, the overall trend was ascending, the risk of land degradation increasing by around 4.60 % of the studied surface. Out of the climatic factors, high temperatures and, implicitly, drought were the most significant. The social-economic factors are the result of the changes which occurred after the fall of the communist regime, the most important being the fragmentation of agricultural land and the destruction of the irrigation system.

  19. Communications: Mosquito Habitats, Land Use, and Malaria Risk in Belize from Satellite Imagery

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pope, Kevin; Masuoka, Penny; Rejmankova, Eliska; Grieco, John; Johnson, Sarah; Roberts, Donald

    2004-01-01

    Satellite imagery of northern Belize is used to examine the distribution of land use and breeding habitats of the malaria vector the Anopheles mosquito. A land cover classification based on multispectral SPOT and multitemporal Radarsat images identified eleven land cover classes, including agricultural, forest, and marsh types. Two of the land cover types, Typha domingensis marsh and flooded forest, are Anopheles vestitipennis larval habitats, and one, Eleocharis spp. marsh, is the larval habitat for Anopheles albimanus. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses of land cover demonstrate that the amount of Typha domingensis in a marsh is positively correlated with the amount of agricultural land in the adjacent upland, and negatively correlated with the amount of adjacent forest. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that nutrient (phosphorus) runoff from agricultural lands is causing an expansion of Typha domingensis in northern Belize. Thus, land use induced expansion of Anopheles vestitipennis larval habitat is potentially increasing malaria risk in Belize, and in other regions where Anopheles vestitipennis is a major malaria vector.

  20. Data Visualization of Invisible Airflow Hazards During Helicopter Takeoff and Landing Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Aragon, Cecilia R.

    2004-01-01

    Many aircraft accidents each year are caused by encounters with unseen airflow hazards near the ground such as vortices, downdrafts, wind shear, microbursts, or other turbulence. While such hazards frequently pose problems to fixed-wing airplanes, they are especially dangerous to helicopters, which often have to operate in confined spaces and under operationally stressful conditions. We are developing flight-deck visualizations of airflow hazards during helicopter takeoff and landing operations, and are evaluating their effectiveness with usability studies. Our hope is.that this work will lead to the production of an airflow hazard detection system for pilots that will save lives.

  1. Identification of types of landings after blocking in volleyball associated with risk of ACL injury.

    PubMed

    Zahradnik, David; Jandacka, Daniel; Farana, Roman; Uchytil, Jaroslav; Hamill, Joseph

    2017-03-01

    Landing with a low knee flexion angle after volleyball block jumps may be associated with an increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The aim of the present study was to identify the types of volleyball landings after blocks where the knee flexion angle is found to be under a critical knee flexion angle value of 30° at the instant of the first peak of the ground reaction force (GRF). Synchronized kinematic and kinetic data were collected for each trial. T-tests were used to determine if each knee flexion angle at the instant of the peak GRF was significantly different from the critical value of 30°. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare knee flexion angle, time to first peak and the magnitude of the first peak of the resultant GRF and knee stiffness. Significantly lower knee flexion angles were found in the "go" landing (p = .01, ES = 0.6) and the "reverse" landing (p = .02, ES = 0.6) only. The results for knee flexion angle and GRF parameters indicated a significant difference between a "reverse" and "go" and other types of landings, except the "side stick" landing for GRF. The "reverse" and "go" landings may present a risk for ACL injury due to the single-leg landing of these activities that have an associated mediolateral movement.

  2. Crew procedures for microwave landing system operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Summers, Leland G.

    1987-01-01

    The objective of this study was to identify crew procedures involved in Microwave Landing System (MLS) operations and to obtain a preliminary assessment of crew workload. The crew procedures were identified for three different complements of airborne equipment coupled to an autopilot. Using these three equipment complements, crew tasks were identified for MLS approaches and precision departures and compared to an ILS approach and a normal departure. Workload comparisons between the approaches and departures were made by using a task-timeline analysis program that obtained workload indexes, i.e., the radio of time required to complete the tasks to the time available. The results showed an increase in workload for the MLS scenario for one of the equipment complements. However, even this workload was within the capacity of two crew members.

  3. Effects of Stretch Shortening Cycle Exercise Fatigue on Stress Fracture Injury Risk during Landing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, C. Roger; Dufek, Janet S.; Bates, Barry T.

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine changes in landing performance during fatigue that could result in increased stress fracture injury risk. Five participants performed nonfatigued and fatigued drop landings (0.60 m), while ground reaction force (GRF), electromyographic (EMG) activity, and kinematics were recorded. Fatigue was defined as a…

  4. Development of a conceptual framework of holistic risk assessment - Landfill as a particular type of contaminated land.

    PubMed

    Butt, T E; Javadi, A A; Nunns, M A; Beal, C D

    2016-11-01

    Landfills can be regarded as a particular type of contaminated land that has a potential to directly and indirectly pollute all of the four main spheres of the environment which are the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and eventually adversely impact the biosphere. Therefore, environmental risk assessment of a landfill has to be more integrated and holistic by virtue of its nature of being a multidimensional pollutant source. Despite this, although various risk assessment approaches have been adopted for landfill waste disposal sites, there are still wide-ranging knowledge gaps and limitations which need to be addressed. One important knowledge gap and limitation of current risk assessment approaches is the inability to fully identify, categorise and aggregate all individual risks from all combinations of hazards, pathways and targets/receptors (e.g. water, air, soil and biota) in connection to a certain landfill leachate and yet at any stage of the landfill cycle. So such an approach is required that could not only integrate all possible characteristics of varying scenarios but also contain the ability to establish an overall risk picture, irrespective of the lifecycle stage of the landfill (e.g. planning stage/pre-operation, in-operation or post-operation/closed). One such approach to address the wide-breadth of landfill impact risks is by developing a more holistic risk assessment methodology, whose conceptual framework is presented in this paper for landfill leachate in a whole-system format. This conceptual framework does not only draw together various constituting factors and sub-factors of risk assessment in a logical sequence and categorical order, but also indicates the "what, why, when and how" outputs of and inputs to these factors and sub-factors can be useful. The framework is designed to identify and quantify a range of risks associated with all stages of the landfill lifecycle, and yet in a more streamlined, logical, categorical and integrated

  5. Imaging Flash Lidar for Autonomous Safe Landing and Spacecraft Proximity Operation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Amzajerdian, Farzin; Roback, Vincent E.; Brewster, Paul F.; Hines, Glenn D.; Bulyshev, Alexander E.

    2016-01-01

    3-D Imaging flash lidar is recognized as a primary candidate sensor for safe precision landing on solar system bodies (Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn moons, etc.), and autonomous rendezvous proximity operations and docking/capture necessary for asteroid sample return and redirect missions, spacecraft docking, satellite servicing, and space debris removal. During the final stages of landing, from about 1 km to 500 m above the ground, the flash lidar can generate 3-Dimensional images of the terrain to identify hazardous features such as craters, rocks, and steep slopes. The onboard fli1ght computer can then use the 3-D map of terrain to guide the vehicle to a safe location. As an automated rendezvous and docking sensor, the flash lidar can provide relative range, velocity, and bearing from an approaching spacecraft to another spacecraft or a space station from several kilometers distance. NASA Langley Research Center has developed and demonstrated a flash lidar sensor system capable of generating 16k pixels range images with 7 cm precision, at a 20 Hz frame rate, from a maximum slant range of 1800 m from the target area. This paper describes the lidar instrument design and capabilities as demonstrated by the closed-loop flight tests onboard a rocket-propelled free-flyer vehicle (Morpheus). Then a plan for continued advancement of the flash lidar technology will be explained. This proposed plan is aimed at the development of a common sensor that with a modest design adjustment can meet the needs of both landing and proximity operation and docking applications.

  6. Operational Risk and the American Way of Warfare

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-12-01

    tactical level. That conclusion however, fails to account for the entire context. The cumulative effect is one of operational complacency. The...largely come at the cost of any operational thinking about risk. The operational risk in the current fight is not easily discernible because it seems...traditional American answers to risk. This addiction to annihilation through firepower has come with a high cost . The culture of annihilation through

  7. Geospatial Analysis of Urban Land Use Pattern Analysis for Hemorrhagic Fever Risk - a Review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Izzah, L. N.; Majid, Z.; Ariff, M. A. M.; Fook, C. K.

    2016-09-01

    Human modification of the natural environment continues to create habitats in which vectors of a wide variety of human and animal pathogens (such as Plasmodium, Aedes aegypti, Arenavirus etc.) thrive if unabated with an enormous potential to negatively affect public health. Typical examples of these modifications include impoundments, dams, irrigation systems, landfills and so on that provide enabled environment for the transmission of Hemorrhagic fever such as malaria, dengue, avian flu, Lassa fever etc. Furthermore, contemporary urban dwelling pattern appears to be associated with the prevalence of Hemorrhagic diseases in recent years. These observations are not peculiar to the developing world, as urban expansion also contributes significantly to mosquito and other vectors habitats. This habitats offer breeding ground to some vector virus populations. The key to disease control is developing an understanding of the contribution of human landscape modification to vector-borne pathogen transmission and how a balance may be achieved between human development, public health, and responsible urban land use. A comprehensive review of urban land use Pattern Analysis for Hemorrhagic fever risk has been conducted in this paper. The study found that most of the available literatures dwell more on the impact of urban land use on malaria and dengue fevers; however, studies are yet to be found discussing the implications of urban land use on the risk of Ebola, Lassa and other non-mosquito borne VHFs. A relational model for investigating the influence of urban land use change pattern on the risk of Hemorrhagic fever has been proposed in this study.

  8. The application of seismic risk-benefit analysis to land use planning in Taipei City.

    PubMed

    Hung, Hung-Chih; Chen, Liang-Chun

    2007-09-01

    In the developing countries of Asia local authorities rarely use risk analysis instruments as a decision-making support mechanism during planning and development procedures. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology to enable planners to undertake such analyses. We illustrate a case study of seismic risk-benefit analysis for the city of Taipei, Taiwan, using available land use maps and surveys as well as a new tool developed by the National Science Council in Taiwan--the HAZ-Taiwan earthquake loss estimation system. We use three hypothetical earthquakes to estimate casualties and total and annualised direct economic losses, and to show their spatial distribution. We also characterise the distribution of vulnerability over the study area using cluster analysis. A risk-benefit ratio is calculated to express the levels of seismic risk attached to alternative land use plans. This paper suggests ways to perform earthquake risk evaluations and the authors intend to assist city planners to evaluate the appropriateness of their planning decisions.

  9. Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation-Based Disaster Risk Assessment of Desertification in Horqin Sand Land, China

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Yongfang; Zhang, Jiquan; Guo, Enliang; Sun, Zhongyi

    2015-01-01

    Desertification is a typical disaster risk event in which human settlements and living environments are destroyed. Desertification Disaster Risk Assessment can control and prevent the occurrence and development of desertification disasters and reduce their adverse influence on human society. This study presents the methodology and procedure for risk assessment and zoning of desertification disasters in Horqin Sand Land. Based on natural disaster risk theory and the desertification disaster formation mechanism, the Desertification Disaster Risk Index (DDRI) combined hazard, exposure, vulnerability and restorability factors and was developed mainly by using multi-source data and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results showed that high risk and middle risk areas account for 28% and 23% of the study area, respectively. They are distributed with an “S” type in the study area. Low risk and very low risk areas account for 21% and 10% of the study area, respectively. They are distributed in the west-central and southwestern parts. Very high risk areas account for 18% of the study area and are distributed in the northeastern parts. The results can be used to know the desertification disaster risk level. It has important theoretical and practical significance to prevention and control of desertification in Horqin Sand Land and even in Northern China. PMID:25654772

  10. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation-based disaster risk assessment of desertification in Horqin Sand Land, China.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yongfang; Zhang, Jiquan; Guo, Enliang; Sun, Zhongyi

    2015-02-03

    Desertification is a typical disaster risk event in which human settlements and living environments are destroyed. Desertification Disaster Risk Assessment can control and prevent the occurrence and development of desertification disasters and reduce their adverse influence on human society. This study presents the methodology and procedure for risk assessment and zoning of desertification disasters in Horqin Sand Land. Based on natural disaster risk theory and the desertification disaster formation mechanism, the Desertification Disaster Risk Index (DDRI) combined hazard, exposure, vulnerability and restorability factors and was developed mainly by using multi-source data and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results showed that high risk and middle risk areas account for 28% and 23% of the study area, respectively. They are distributed with an "S" type in the study area. Low risk and very low risk areas account for 21% and 10% of the study area, respectively. They are distributed in the west-central and southwestern parts. Very high risk areas account for 18% of the study area and are distributed in the northeastern parts. The results can be used to know the desertification disaster risk level. It has important theoretical and practical significance to prevention and control of desertification in Horqin Sand Land and even in Northern China.

  11. Human health risk assessment related to contaminated land: state of the art.

    PubMed

    Swartjes, F A

    2015-08-01

    Exposure of humans to contaminants from contaminated land may result in many types of health damage ranging from relatively innocent symptoms such as skin eruption or nausea, on up to cancer or even death. Human health protection is generally considered as a major protection target. State-of-the-art possibilities and limitations of human health risk assessment tools are described in this paper. Human health risk assessment includes two different activities, i.e. the exposure assessment and the hazard assessment. The combination of these is called the risk characterization, which results in an appraisal of the contaminated land. Exposure assessment covers a smart combination of calculations, using exposure models, and measurements in contact media and body liquids and tissue (biomonitoring). Regarding the time frame represented by exposure estimates, biomonitoring generally relates to exposure history, measurements in contact media to actual exposures, while exposure calculations enable a focus on exposure in future situations. The hazard assessment, which is different for contaminants with or without a threshold for effects, results in a critical exposure value. Good human health risk assessment practice accounts for tiered approaches and multiple lines of evidence. Specific attention is given here to phenomena such as the time factor in human health risk assessment, suitability for the local situation, background exposure, combined exposure and harmonization of human health risk assessment tools.

  12. Worldwide differential GPS for Space Shuttle landing operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Loomis, Peter V. W.; Denaro, Robert P.; Saunders, Penny

    1990-01-01

    Worldwide differential Global Positioning System (WWDGPS) is viewed as an effective method of offering continuous high-quality navigation worldwide. The concept utilizes a network with as few as 33 ground stations to observe most of the error sources of GPS and provide error corrections to users on a worldwide basis. The WWDGPS real-time GPS tracking concept promises a threefold or fourfold improvement in accuracy for authorized dual-frequency users, and in addition maintains an accurate and current ionosphere model for single-frequency users. A real-time global tracking network also has the potential to reverse declarations of poor health on marginal satellites, increasing the number of satellites in the constellation and lessening the probability of GPS navigation outage. For Space Shuttle operations, the use of WWDGPS-aided P-code equipment promises performance equal to or better than other current landing guidance systems in terms of accuracy and reliability. This performance comes at significantly less cost to NASA, which will participate as a customer in a system designed as a commercial operation serving the global civil navigation community.

  13. Physics-based Entry, Descent and Landing Risk Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gee, Ken; Huynh, Loc C.; Manning, Ted

    2014-01-01

    A physics-based risk model was developed to assess the risk associated with thermal protection system failures during the entry, descent and landing phase of a manned spacecraft mission. In the model, entry trajectories were computed using a three-degree-of-freedom trajectory tool, the aerothermodynamic heating environment was computed using an engineering-level computational tool and the thermal response of the TPS material was modeled using a one-dimensional thermal response tool. The model was capable of modeling the effect of micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact damage on the TPS thermal response. A Monte Carlo analysis was used to determine the effects of uncertainties in the vehicle state at Entry Interface, aerothermodynamic heating and material properties on the performance of the TPS design. The failure criterion was set as a temperature limit at the bondline between the TPS and the underlying structure. Both direct computation and response surface approaches were used to compute the risk. The model was applied to a generic manned space capsule design. The effect of material property uncertainty and MMOD damage on risk of failure were analyzed. A comparison of the direct computation and response surface approach was undertaken.

  14. 12 CFR 932.6 - Operations risk capital requirement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Operations risk capital requirement. 932.6 Section 932.6 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK RISK MANAGEMENT AND CAPITAL STANDARDS FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS § 932.6 Operations risk capital requirement...

  15. 12 CFR 932.6 - Operations risk capital requirement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Operations risk capital requirement. 932.6 Section 932.6 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK RISK MANAGEMENT AND CAPITAL STANDARDS FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS § 932.6 Operations risk capital requirement...

  16. The potential for agricultural land use change to reduce flood risk in a large watershed

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Effects of agricultural land management practices on surface runoff are evident at local scales, but evidence for watershed-scale impacts is limited. In this study, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model to assess changes in downstream flood risks under different land uses for the large, ...

  17. Improved aircraft dynamic response and fatigue life during ground operations using an active control landing gear system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgehee, J. R.; Carden, H. D.; Edson, R.

    1978-01-01

    A three-degree-of-freedom aircraft landing analysis incorporating a series-hydraulic active control main landing gear has been developed and verified using preliminary experimental data from drop tests of a modified main landing gear from a 2722 kg (6000 lbm) class of airplane. The verified analysis was also employed to predict the landing dynamics of a supersonic research airplane with an active control main landing gear system. The results of this investigation have shown that this type of active gear is feasible and indicate a potential for improving airplane dynamic response and reducing structural fatigue damage during ground operations by approximately 90% relative to that incurred with the passive gear.

  18. Cost, capability, and risk for planetary operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mclaughlin, William I.; Deutsch, Marie J.; Miller, Lanny J.; Wolff, Donna M.; Zawacki, Steven J.

    1992-01-01

    The three key factors for flight projects - cost, capability, and risk - are examined with respect to their interplay, the uplink process, cost drivers, and risk factors. Scientific objectives are translated into a computer program during the uplink process, and examples are given relating to the Voyager Interstellar Mission, Galileo, and the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby. The development of a multimission sequence system based on these uplinks is described with reference to specific subsystems such as the pointer and the sequence generator. Operational cost drivers include mission, flight-system, and ground-system complexity, uplink traffic, and work force. Operational risks are listed in terms of the mission operations, the environment, and the mission facilities. The uplink process can be analyzed in terms of software development, and spacecraft operability is shown to be an important factor from the initial stages of spacecraft development.

  19. Siting industrial waste land disposal facilities in Thailand: A risk based approach

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

    Fingleton, D.J.; Habegger, L.; Peters, R.

    The Thailand Industrial Works Department (IWD) has established a toxic industrial waste Central Treatment and Stabilization Center (CTSC) for textile dyeing and electroplating industries located in the Thonburi region of the Bangkok metropolitan area. Industrial waste is treated, stabilized, and stored at the CTSC. Although the IWD plans to ship the stabilized sludge to the Ratchaburi Province in western Thailand for burial, the location for the land disposal site has not been selected. Assessing the relative health risks from exposure to toxic chemicals released from an industrial waste land disposal site is a complicated, data-intensive process that requires a multidisciplinarymore » approach. This process is further complicated by the unique physical and cultural characteristics exhibited by the rapidly industrializing Thai economy. The purpose of this paper is to describe the research approach taken and to detail the constraints to health risk assessments in Thailand. issues discussed include data availability and quality, effectiveness of control or mitigation methods, cultural differences, and the basic assumptions inherent in many of the risk assessment components.« less

  20. Land use and air quality in urban environments: Human health risk assessment due to inhalation of airborne particles.

    PubMed

    Mateos, A C; Amarillo, A C; Carreras, H A; González, C M

    2018-02-01

    Particle matter (PM) and its associated compounds are a serious problem for urban air quality and a threat to human health. In the present study, we assessed the intraurban variation of PM, and characterized the human health risk associated to the inhalation of particles measured on PM filters, considering different land use areas in the urban area of Cordoba city (Argentina) and different age groups. To assess the intraurban variation of PM, a biomonitoring network of T. capillaris was established in 15 sampling sites with different land use and the bioaccumulation of Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn was quantified. After that, particles were collected by instrumental monitors placed at the most representative sampling sites of each land use category and an inhalation risk was calculated. A remarkable intraurban difference in the heavy metals content measured in the biomonitors was observed, in relation with the sampling site land use. The higher content was detected at industrial areas as well as in sites with intense vehicular traffic. Mean PM 10 levels exceeded the standard suggested by the U.S. EPA in all land use areas, except for the downtown. Hazard Index values were below EPA's safe limit in all land use areas and in the different age groups. In contrast, the carcinogenic risk analysis showed that all urban areas exceeded the acceptable limit (1 × 10 -6 ), while the industrial sampling sites and the elder group presented a carcinogenic risk higher that the unacceptable limit. These findings validate the use of T. capillaris to assess intraurban air quality and also show there is an important intraurban variation in human health risk associated to different land use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Assessment of environments for Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent, and surface operations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Vasavada, Ashwin R.; Chen, Allen; Barnes, Jeffrey R.; Burkhart, P. Daniel; Cantor, Bruce A.; Dwyer-Cianciolo, Alicia M.; Fergason, Robini L.; Hinson, David P.; Justh, Hilary L.; Kass, David M.; Lewis, Stephen R.; Mischna, Michael A.; Murphy, James R.; Rafkin, Scot C.R.; Tyler, Daniel; Withers, Paul G.

    2012-01-01

    The Mars Science Laboratory mission aims to land a car-sized rover on Mars' surface and operate it for at least one Mars year in order to assess whether its field area was ever capable of supporting microbial life. Here we describe the approach used to identify, characterize, and assess environmental risks to the landing and rover surface operations. Novel entry, descent, and landing approaches will be used to accurately deliver the 900-kg rover, including the ability to sense and "fly out" deviations from a best-estimate atmospheric state. A joint engineering and science team developed methods to estimate the range of potential atmospheric states at the time of arrival and to quantitatively assess the spacecraft's performance and risk given its particular sensitivities to atmospheric conditions. Numerical models are used to calculate the atmospheric parameters, with observations used to define model cases, tune model parameters, and validate results. This joint program has resulted in a spacecraft capable of accessing, with minimal risk, the four finalist sites chosen for their scientific merit. The capability to operate the landed rover over the latitude range of candidate landing sites, and for all seasons, was verified against an analysis of surface environmental conditions described here. These results, from orbital and model data sets, also drive engineering simulations of the rover's thermal state that are used to plan surface operations.

  2. Comparing erosion risks from forest operations to wildfire

    Treesearch

    William J. Elliot; Peter R. Robichaud

    2001-01-01

    Wildfire and forest operations remove vegetation and disturb forest soils. Both of these effects can lead to an increased risk of soil erosion. Operations to reduce forest fuel loads, however, may reduce the risk of wildfire. This paper presents research and modeling results which show that under many conditions, carefully planned operations with adequate buffers,...

  3. [An operational remote sensing algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration based on NOAA PAL dataset].

    PubMed

    Hou, Ying-Yu; He, Yan-Bo; Wang, Jian-Lin; Tian, Guo-Liang

    2009-10-01

    Based on the time series 10-day composite NOAA Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) dataset (8 km x 8 km), and by using land surface energy balance equation and "VI-Ts" (vegetation index-land surface temperature) method, a new algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration (ET) was constructed. This new algorithm did not need the support from meteorological observation data, and all of its parameters and variables were directly inversed or derived from remote sensing data. A widely accepted ET model of remote sensing, i. e., SEBS model, was chosen to validate the new algorithm. The validation test showed that both the ET and its seasonal variation trend estimated by SEBS model and our new algorithm accorded well, suggesting that the ET estimated from the new algorithm was reliable, being able to reflect the actual land surface ET. The new ET algorithm of remote sensing was practical and operational, which offered a new approach to study the spatiotemporal variation of ET in continental scale and global scale based on the long-term time series satellite remote sensing images.

  4. STS-38 Atlantis, OV-104, during safing operations after KSC SLF landing

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1990-11-20

    Spotlights illuminate Atlantis, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 104, during safing operations at the Kennedy Space Center's (KSC's) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). OV-104 parked on runway 33 is serviced by KSC ground crews. STS-38, a Department of Defense (DOD)-devoted mission, came to an end (with complete wheel stop) at 4:43:37 pm (Eastern Standard Time (EST)).

  5. Kinetic and kinematic differences between first and second landings of a drop vertical jump task: implications for injury risk assessments.

    PubMed

    Bates, Nathaniel A; Ford, Kevin R; Myer, Gregory D; Hewett, Timothy E

    2013-04-01

    Though the first landing of drop vertical jump task is commonly used to assess biomechanical performance measures that are associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in athletes, the implications of the second landing in this task have largely been ignored. We examined the first and second landings of a drop vertical jump for differences in kinetic and kinematic behaviors at the hip and knee. A cohort of 239 adolescent female basketball athletes (age=13.6 (1.6) years) completed drop vertical jump tasks from an initial height of 31 cm. A three dimensional motion capture system recorded positional data while dual force platforms recorded ground reaction forces for each trial. The first landing demonstrated greater hip adduction angle, knee abduction angle, and knee abduction moment than the second landing (P-values<0.028). The second landing demonstrated smaller flexion angles and moments at the hip and knee than the first landing (P-values<0.035). The second landing also demonstrated greater side-to-side asymmetry in hip and knee kinematics and kinetics for both the frontal and sagittal planes (P-values<0.044). The results have important implications for the future use of the drop vertical jump as an assessment tool for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk behaviors in adolescent female athletes. The second landing may be a more rigorous task and provides a superior tool to evaluate sagittal plane risk factors than the first landing, which may be better suited to evaluate frontal plane risk factors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Kinetic and kinematic differences between first and second landings of a drop vertical jump task: Implications for injury risk assessments✩

    PubMed Central

    Bates, Nathaniel A.; Ford, Kevin R.; Myer, Gregory D.; Hewett, Timothy E.

    2013-01-01

    Background Though the first landing of drop vertical jump task is commonly used to assess biomechanical performance measures that are associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in athletes, the implications of the second landing in this task have largely been ignored. We examined the first and second landings of a drop vertical jump for differences in kinetic and kinematic behaviors at the hip and knee. Methods Acohort of 239 adolescent female basketball athletes (age = 13.6 (1.6) years) completed drop vertical jump tasks from an initial height of 31 cm. A three dimensional motion capture system recorded positional data while dual force platforms recorded ground reaction forces for each trial. Findings The first landing demonstrated greater hip adduction angle, knee abduction angle, and knee abduction moment than the second landing (P-values < 0.028). The second landing demonstrated smaller flexion angles and moments at the hip and knee than the first landing (P-values < 0.035). The second landing also demonstrated greater side-to-side asymmetry in hip and knee kinematics and kinetics for both the frontal and sagittal planes (P-values < 0.044). Interpretation The results have important implications for the future use of the drop vertical jump as an assessment tool for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk behaviors in adolescent female athletes. The second landing may be a more rigorous task and provides a superior tool to evaluate sagittal plane risk factors than the first landing, which may be better suited to evaluate frontal plane risk factors. PMID:23562293

  7. Land-Use Change Alters Host and Vector Communities and May Elevate Disease Risk.

    PubMed

    Guo, Fengyi; Bonebrake, Timothy C; Gibson, Luke

    2018-04-24

    Land-use change has transformed most of the planet. Concurrently, recent outbreaks of various emerging infectious diseases have raised great attention to the health consequences of anthropogenic environmental degradation. Here, we assessed the global impacts of habitat conversion and other land-use changes on community structures of infectious disease hosts and vectors, using a meta-analysis of 37 studies. From 331 pairwise comparisons of disease hosts/vectors in pristine (undisturbed) and disturbed areas, we found a decrease in species diversity but an increase in body size associated with land-use changes, potentially suggesting higher risk of infectious disease transmission in disturbed habitats. Neither host nor vector abundance, however, changed significantly following disturbance. When grouped by subcategories like disturbance type, taxonomic group, pathogen type and region, changes in host/vector community composition varied considerably. Fragmentation and agriculture in particular benefit host and vector communities and therefore might elevate disease risk. Our results indicate that while habitat disturbance could alter disease host/vector communities in ways that exacerbate pathogen prevalence, the relationship is highly context-dependent and influenced by multiple factors.

  8. Risk Factors for Injuries During Military Static-Line Airborne Operations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Knapik, Joseph; Steelman, Ryan

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To identify and analyze articles in which the authors examined risk factors for soldiers during military static-line airborne operations. Data Sources: We searched for articles in PubMed, the Defense Technical Information Center, reference lists, and other sources using the key words airborne, parachuting, parachutes, paratrooper, injuries, wounds, trauma, and musculoskeletal. Study Selection: The search identified 17 684 potential studies. Studies were included if they were written in English, involved military static-line parachute operations, recorded injuries directly from events on the landing zone or from safety or medical records, and provided data for quantitative assessment of injury risk factors. A total of 23 studies met the review criteria, and 15 were included in the meta-analysis. Data Extraction: The summary statistic obtained for each risk factor was the risk ratio, which was the ratio of the injury risk in 1 group to that of another (baseline) group. Where data were sufficient, meta-analyses were performed and heterogeneity and publication bias were assessed. Data Synthesis: Risk factors for static-line parachuting injuries included night jumps, jumps with extra equipment, higher wind speeds, higher air temperatures, jumps from fixed-wing aircraft rather than balloons or helicopters, jumps onto certain types of terrain, being a female paratrooper, greater body weight, not using the parachute ankle brace, smaller parachute canopies, simultaneous exits from both sides of an aircraft, higher heat index, winds from the rear of the aircraft on exit entanglements, less experience with a particular parachute system, being an enlisted soldier rather than an officer, and jumps involving a greater number of paratroopers. Conclusions: We analyzed and summarized factors that increased the injury risk for soldiers during military static-line parachute operations. Understanding and considering these factors in risk evaluations may reduce the

  9. Risk Factors for Injuries During Military Static-Line Airborne Operations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

    PubMed

    Knapik, Joseph; Steelman, Ryan

    2016-11-01

     To identify and analyze articles in which the authors examined risk factors for soldiers during military static-line airborne operations.  We searched for articles in PubMed, the Defense Technical Information Center, reference lists, and other sources using the key words airborne, parachuting, parachutes, paratrooper, injuries, wounds, trauma, and musculoskeletal.  The search identified 17 684 potential studies. Studies were included if they were written in English, involved military static-line parachute operations, recorded injuries directly from events on the landing zone or from safety or medical records, and provided data for quantitative assessment of injury risk factors. A total of 23 studies met the review criteria, and 15 were included in the meta-analysis.  The summary statistic obtained for each risk factor was the risk ratio, which was the ratio of the injury risk in 1 group to that of another (baseline) group. Where data were sufficient, meta-analyses were performed and heterogeneity and publication bias were assessed.  Risk factors for static-line parachuting injuries included night jumps, jumps with extra equipment, higher wind speeds, higher air temperatures, jumps from fixed-wing aircraft rather than balloons or helicopters, jumps onto certain types of terrain, being a female paratrooper, greater body weight, not using the parachute ankle brace, smaller parachute canopies, simultaneous exits from both sides of an aircraft, higher heat index, winds from the rear of the aircraft on exit entanglements, less experience with a particular parachute system, being an enlisted soldier rather than an officer, and jumps involving a greater number of paratroopers.  We analyzed and summarized factors that increased the injury risk for soldiers during military static-line parachute operations. Understanding and considering these factors in risk evaluations may reduce the likelihood of injury during parachuting.

  10. Flight results from a study of aided inertial navigation applied to landing operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgee, L. A.; Smith, G. L.; Hegarty, D. M.; Carson, T. M.; Merrick, R. B.; Schmidt, S. F.; Conrad, B.

    1973-01-01

    An evaluation is presented of the approach and landing performance of a Kalman filter aided inertial navigation system using flight data obtained from a series of approaches and landings of the CV-340 aircraft at an instrumented test area. A description of the flight test is given, in which data recorded included: (1) accelerometer signals from the platform of an INS; (2) three ranges from the Ames-Cubic Precision Ranging System; and (3) radar and barometric altimeter signals. The method of system evaluation employed was postflight processing of the recorded data using a Kalman filter which was designed for use on the XDS920 computer onboard the CV-340 aircraft. Results shown include comparisons between the trajectories as estimated by the Kalman filter aided system and as determined from cinetheodolite data. Data start initialization of the Kalman filter, operation at a practical data rate, postflight modeling of sensor errors and operation under the adverse condition of bad data are illustrated.

  11. Skin antiseptics and the risk of operating theatre fires.

    PubMed

    Spigelman, Allan D; Swan, Judith R

    2005-07-01

    Following press reports of patients catching fire or receiving chemical burns in the operating theatre, a review was conducted on the flammability of skin antiseptics. The purpose of the paper was to clarify confusion regarding povidine-iodine (Betadine), which had been reported as being flammable, and also to determine the use of alcohol-based solutions in the Hunter Area Health Service. A risk assessment was conducted and risk reduction strategies outlined. Risk assessment was made following a literature review and an audit of 10 operating theatres in the Hunter Area Health Service. Risk for operating room fires from alcohol-based skin antiseptics was confirmed. Antiseptics in aqueous solutions only smoulder. The Hunter Health survey indicated that although alcohol-based solutions were not used in operating theatres, they were used in anaesthetic bays for insertion of epidural and central line catheters. Strategies to reduce the risk of fire include discontinuation of use of alcohol-based skin antiseptics in operating theatres; using fire retardant surgical drapes; installing over-current protection devices on electrical equipment; minimizing flammable conditions by avoiding nitrous oxide and using the lowest required concentration of inspired oxygen; use of non-flammable cuffed endotracheal tubes; education and training of operating theatre personnel in fire hazards. Operating theatre fires continue to be a major risk for patient safety. In order to reduce this risk, the strategies outlined here should be followed.

  12. Agroforestry versus farm mosaic systems - Comparing land-use efficiency, economic returns and risks under climate change effects.

    PubMed

    Paul, Carola; Weber, Michael; Knoke, Thomas

    2017-06-01

    Increasing land-use conflicts call for the development of land-use systems that reconcile agricultural production with the provisioning of multiple ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation. Agroforestry has been suggested as a global solution to increase land-use efficiency, while reducing environmental impacts and economic risks for farmers. Past research has often focused on comparing tree-crop combinations with agricultural monocultures, but agroforestry has seldom been systematically compared to other forms of land-use diversification, including a farm mosaic. This form of diversification mixes separate parcels of different land uses within the farm. The objective of this study was to develop a modelling approach to compare the performance of the agroforestry and farm mosaic diversification strategies, accounting for tree-crop interaction effects and economic and climate uncertainty. For this purpose, Modern Portfolio Theory and risk simulation were coupled with the process-based biophysical simulation model WaNuLCAS 4.0. For an example application, we used data from a field trial in Panama. The results show that the simulated agroforestry systems (Taungya, alley cropping and border planting) could outperform a farm mosaic approach in terms of cumulative production and return. Considering market and climate uncertainty, agroforestry showed an up to 21% higher economic return at the same risk level (i.e. standard deviation of economic returns). Farm compositions with large shares of land allocated to maize cultivation were also more severely affected by an increasing drought frequency in terms of both risks and returns. Our study demonstrates that agroforestry can be an economically efficient diversification strategy, but only if the design allows for economies of scope, beneficial interactions between trees and crops and higher income diversification compared to a farm mosaic. The modelling approach can make an important contribution to support

  13. Methodology for Designing Operational Banking Risks Monitoring System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kostjunina, T. N.

    2018-05-01

    The research looks at principles of designing an information system for monitoring operational banking risks. A proposed design methodology enables one to automate processes of collecting data on information security incidents in the banking network, serving as the basis for an integrated approach to the creation of an operational risk management system. The system can operate remotely ensuring tracking and forecasting of various operational events in the bank network. A structure of a content management system is described.

  14. Reducing risks by transforming landscapes: Cross-scale effects of land-use changes on ecosystem services.

    PubMed

    Fedele, Giacomo; Locatelli, Bruno; Djoudi, Houria; Colloff, Matthew J

    2018-01-01

    Globally, anthropogenic environmental change is exacerbating the already vulnerable conditions of many people and ecosystems. In order to obtain food, water, raw materials and shelter, rural people modify forests and other ecosystems, affecting the supply of ecosystem services that contribute to livelihoods and well-being. Despite widespread awareness of the nature and extent of multiple impacts of land-use changes, there remains limited understanding of how these impacts affect trade-offs among ecosystem services and their beneficiaries across spatial scales. We assessed how rural communities in two forested landscapes in Indonesia have changed land uses over the last 20 years to adapt their livelihoods that were at risk from multiple hazards. We estimated the impact of these adaptation strategies on the supply of ecosystem services by comparing different benefits provided to people from these land uses (products, water, carbon, and biodiversity), using forest inventories, remote sensing, and interviews. Local people converted forests to rubber plantations, reforested less productive croplands, protected forests on hillsides, and planted trees in gardens. Our results show that land-use decisions were propagated at the landscape scale due to reinforcing loops, whereby local actors perceived that such decisions contributed positively to livelihoods by reducing risks and generating co-benefits. When land-use changes become sufficiently widespread, they affect the supply of multiple ecosystem services, with impacts beyond the local scale. Thus, adaptation implemented at the local-scale may not address development and climate adaptation challenges at regional or national scale (e.g. as part of UN Sustainable Development Goals or actions taken under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement). A better understanding of the context and impacts of local ecosystem-based adaptation is fundamental to the scaling up of land management policies and practices designed to reduce risks and

  15. First Approximations of Prescribed Fire Risks Relative to Other Management Techniques Used on Private Lands.

    PubMed

    Twidwell, Dirac; Wonkka, Carissa L; Sindelar, Michael T; Weir, John R

    2015-01-01

    Fire is widely recognized as a critical ecological and evolutionary driver that needs to be at the forefront of land management actions if conservation targets are to be met. However, the prevailing view is that prescribed fire is riskier than other land management techniques. Perceived risks associated with the application of fire limits its use and reduces agency support for prescribed burning in the private sector. As a result, considerably less cost-share support is given for prescribed fire compared to mechanical techniques. This study tests the general perception that fire is a riskier technique relative to other land management options. Due to the lack of data available to directly test this notion, we use a combination of approaches including 1) a comparison of fatalities resulting from different occupations that are proxies for techniques employed in land management, 2) a comparison of fatalities resulting from wildland fire versus prescribed fire, and 3) an exploration of causal factors responsible for wildland fire-related fatalities. This approach establishes a first approximation of the relative risk of fatality to private citizens using prescribed fire compared to other management techniques that are readily used in ecosystem management. Our data do not support using risks of landowner fatalities as justification for the use of alternative land management techniques, such as mechanical (machine-related) equipment, over prescribed fire. Vehicles and heavy machinery are consistently leading reasons for fatalities within occupations selected as proxies for management techniques employed by ranchers and agricultural producers, and also constitute a large proportion of fatalities among firefighters. Our study provides the foundation for agencies to establish data-driven decisions regarding the degree of support they provide for prescribed burning on private lands.

  16. First Approximations of Prescribed Fire Risks Relative to Other Management Techniques Used on Private Lands

    PubMed Central

    Twidwell, Dirac; Wonkka, Carissa L.; Sindelar, Michael T.; Weir, John R.

    2015-01-01

    Fire is widely recognized as a critical ecological and evolutionary driver that needs to be at the forefront of land management actions if conservation targets are to be met. However, the prevailing view is that prescribed fire is riskier than other land management techniques. Perceived risks associated with the application of fire limits its use and reduces agency support for prescribed burning in the private sector. As a result, considerably less cost-share support is given for prescribed fire compared to mechanical techniques. This study tests the general perception that fire is a riskier technique relative to other land management options. Due to the lack of data available to directly test this notion, we use a combination of approaches including 1) a comparison of fatalities resulting from different occupations that are proxies for techniques employed in land management, 2) a comparison of fatalities resulting from wildland fire versus prescribed fire, and 3) an exploration of causal factors responsible for wildland fire-related fatalities. This approach establishes a first approximation of the relative risk of fatality to private citizens using prescribed fire compared to other management techniques that are readily used in ecosystem management. Our data do not support using risks of landowner fatalities as justification for the use of alternative land management techniques, such as mechanical (machine-related) equipment, over prescribed fire. Vehicles and heavy machinery are consistently leading reasons for fatalities within occupations selected as proxies for management techniques employed by ranchers and agricultural producers, and also constitute a large proportion of fatalities among firefighters. Our study provides the foundation for agencies to establish data-driven decisions regarding the degree of support they provide for prescribed burning on private lands. PMID:26465329

  17. Influence of friction forces on the motion of VTOL aircraft during landing operations on ships at sea

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Howard, J. C.; Chin, D. O.

    1981-01-01

    Equations describing the friction forces generated during landing operations on ships at sea were formulated. These forces depend on the platform reaction and the coefficient of friction. The platform reaction depends on the relative sink rate and the shock absorbing capability of the landing gear. The friction coefficient varies with the surface condition of the landing platform and the angle of yaw of the aircraft relative to the landing platform. Landings by VTOL aircraft, equipped with conventional oleopneumatic landing gears are discussed. Simplifications are introduced to reduce the complexity of the mathematical description of the tire and shock strut characteristics. Approximating the actual complicated force deflection characteristic of the tire by linear relationship is adequate. The internal friction forces in the shock strut are included in the landing gear model. A set of relatively simple equations was obtained by including only those tire and shock strut characteristics that contribute significantly to the generation of landing gear forces.

  18. Acute peri-operative beta blockade in intermediate-risk patients.

    PubMed

    Biccard, B M; Sear, J W; Foëx, P

    2006-10-01

    Peri-operative beta-blockade has been shown to reduce the incidence of postoperative cardio- vascular complications including cardiac death in high-risk non-cardiac surgical patients. However, the recent analysis by Lindenauer et al. suggests that it is inappropriate to administer beta-blockers blindly to all surgical patients. In an attempt to determine the appropriateness of peri-operative beta-blocker administration across patients with a spectrum of cardiovascular risks, we have examined studies of intermediate-risk patient groups (that is those undergoing intermediate risk surgery or those with a Lee Revised Cardiac Risk Score of < or =2). We analysed data from randomised prospective studies of the effects of acute peri-operative beta-blockade on the incidence of peri-operative myocardial ischaemia. By examining the demographics and surgical interventions in these patients, we have compared these studies with other studies of peri-operative silent myocardial ischaemia representing patients of similar risk. We thus estimated the expected long-term postoperative cardiovascular complication rate associated with myocardial ischaemia in these patients in terms of number needed to treat for ischaemia prevention and for prevention of major cardiovascular complications. Prevention of peri-operative myocardial ischaemia with acute beta-blockade in non-cardiac surgical patients with 1-2 RCRI clinical risk factors can be achieved with a number needed to treat of 10. It is not associated with a significant increase in drug associated side-effects. However, acute beta-blockade shows no real benefit in the prevention of major cardiovascular complications in intermediate risk non-vascular surgical patients with a number-needed-to-treat of 833. Vascular surgical patients undergoing intermediate-risk surgery may benefit from the protective effects of acute peri-operative beta-blockade, however, with a number-needed-to-treat of 68 it would require a randomised clinical trial of

  19. Use of geographic information systems to determine new helipad locations and improve timely response while mitigating risk of helicopter emergency medical services operations.

    PubMed

    Foo, Cheryl P Z; Ahghari, Mahvareh; MacDonald, Russell D

    2010-01-01

    Traumatic injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, but these can be minimized by timely transport to definite care. Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) provide timely transport and can influence survival. However, accident analyses indicate that landing at an unsecured landing zone (LZ), particularly at night, increases the risk of aviation accidents. To ensure safety, some HEMS operations land only at designated, secured LZs. This study utilized geographic information systems (GISs) to compare locations of scene call requests and secure LZs. The goal was to determine the optimal placement of new helipads as a strategy to improve access while mitigating the risk of aviation accidents. Call request data from a large air medical transport service were used to determine the geographic locations of all requests for scene responses in 2006. Request locations were compared with the locations of existing helipads, and straight-line distances between scene and helipad were determined using the GIS application. The application was then used to determine potential locations for new helipads. During the study period, 748 requests for scene calls and 269 helipads were available. There were 476 (52.4%) requests at least 10 kilometers from a helipad and 356 (36.6%) requests at least 15 kilometers from a helipad. One particular region, Southwestern Ontario, was identified as having the highest number of requests >15 kilometers from the closest helipad. GISs can be used to determine potential locations for new helipad construction using historical call request data. This evidence-based approach can improve HEMS access while mitigating operational risk.

  20. A novel land use approach for assessment of human health: The relationship between urban structure types and cardiorespiratory disease risk.

    PubMed

    Réquia Júnior, Weeberb João; Roig, Henrique Llacer; Koutrakis, Petros

    2015-12-01

    Extensive evidence shows that in addition to lifestyle factors, environmental aspects are an important risk factor for human health. Numerous approaches have been used to estimate the relationship between environment and health. For example, the urban characteristics, especially the types of land use, are considered a potential proxy indicator to evaluate risk of disease. Although several studies have used land use variables to assess human health, none of them has used the concept of Urban Morphology by Urban Structure Types (USTs) as indicators of land use. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between USTs and cardiorespiratory disease risks in the Federal District, Brazil. Toward this end, we used a quantile regression model to estimate risk. We used 21 types of UST. Income and population density were used as covariates in our sensitivity analysis. Our analysis showed an association between cardiorespiratory diseases risk and 10 UST variables (1 related to rural area, 6 related to residential area, 1 recreational area, 1 public area and 1 commercial area). Our findings suggest that the conventional land use method may be missing important information about the effect of land use on human health. The use of USTs can be an approach to complement the conventional method. This should be of interest to policy makers in order to enhance public health policies and to create future strategies in terms of urban planning, land use and environmental health. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Risk-Assessment for Equipment Operating on the Lunar Surface

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Richmond, R. C.; Kusiak, A.; Ramachandran, N.

    2008-01-01

    Particle-size distribution of lunar dust simulant is evaluated using scanning electron spectroscopy in order to consider approaches to evaluating risk to individual mechanical components operating on the lunar surface. Assessing component risk and risk-mitigation during actual operations will require noninvasive continuous data gathering on numerous parameters. Those data sets would best be evaluated using data-mining algorithms to assess risk, and recovery from risk, of individual mechanical components in real-time.

  2. Monitoring algal blooms in drinking water reservoirs using the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager

    EPA Science Inventory

    In this study, we demonstrated that the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor is a powerful tool that can provide periodic and system-wide information on the condition of drinking water reservoirs. The OLI is a multispectral radiometer (30 m spatial resolution) that allo...

  3. [Ecological risk assessment of land use based on exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA): a case study of Haitan Island, Fujian Province].

    PubMed

    Wu, Jian; Chen, Peng; Wen, Chao-Xiang; Fu, Shi-Feng; Chen, Qing-Hui

    2014-07-01

    As a novel environment management tool, ecological risk assessment has provided a new perspective for the quantitative evaluation of ecological effects of land-use change. In this study, Haitan Island in Fujian Province was taken as a case. Based on the Landsat TM obtained in 1990, SPOT5 RS images obtained in 2010, general layout planning map of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in 2030, as well as the field investigation data, we established an ecological risk index to measure ecological endpoints. By using spatial autocorrelation and semivariance analysis of Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), the ecological risk of Haitan Island under different land-use situations was assessed, including the past (1990), present (2010) and future (2030), and the potential risk and its changing trend were analyzed. The results revealed that the ecological risk index showed obvious scale effect, with strong positive correlation within 3000 meters. High-high (HH) and low-low (LL) aggregations were predominant types in spatial distribution of ecological risk index. The ecological risk index showed significant isotropic characteristics, and its spatial distribution was consistent with Anselin Local Moran I (LISA) distribution during the same period. Dramatic spatial distribution change of each ecological risk area was found among 1990, 2010 and 2030, and the fluctuation trend and amplitude of different ecological risk areas were diverse. The low ecological risk area showed a rise-to-fall trend while the medium and high ecological risk areas showed a fall-to-rise trend. In the planning period, due to intensive anthropogenic disturbance, the high ecological risk area spread throughout the whole region. To reduce the ecological risk in land-use and maintain the regional ecological security, the following ecological risk control strategies could be adopted, i.e., optimizing the spatial pattern of land resources, protecting the key ecoregions and controlling the scale of

  4. Working session 5: Operational aspects and risk analysis

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

    Cizelj, L.; Donoghue, J.

    1997-02-01

    A general observation is that both operational aspects and risk analysis cannot be adequately discussed without information presented in other sessions. Some overlap of conclusions and recommendations is therefore to be expected. Further, it was assumed that recommendations concerning improvements in some related topics were generated by other sessions and are not repeated here. These include: (1) Knowledge on degradation mechanisms (initiation, progression, and failure). (2) Modeling of degradation (initiation, progression, and failure). (3) Capabilities of NDE methods. (4) Preventive maintenance and repair. One should note here, however, that all of these directly affect both operational and risk aspects ofmore » affected plants. A list of conclusions and recommendations is based on available presentations and discussions addressing risk and operational experience. The authors aimed at reaching as broad a consensus as possible. It should be noted here that there is no strict delineation between operational and safety aspects of degradation of steam generator tubes. This is caused by different risk perceptions in different countries/societies. The conclusions and recommendations were divided into four broad groups: human reliability; leakage monitoring; risk impact; and consequence assessment.« less

  5. Environmental and economic risks assessment under climate changes for three land uses scenarios analysis across Teshio watershed, northernmost of Japan.

    PubMed

    Fan, Min; Shibata, Hideaki; Chen, Li

    2017-12-01

    Land use and climate changes affect on the economy and environment with different patterns and magnitudes in the watershed. This study used risk analysis model stochastic efficiency with respect to a function (SERF) to evaluate economic and environmental risks caused by four climate change scenarios (baseline, small-, mid- and large changes) and three land uses (paddy dominated, paddy-farmland mixture and farmland dominated for agriculture) in Teshio watershed in northern Hokkaido, Japan. Under the baseline climate conditions, the lower ranking of economic income of crop yield and higher ranking of pollutant load from agricultural land were both predicted in paddy dominated for agriculture, suggesting that the paddy dominated system caused higher risks of economic and environmental variables compared to other two land uses. Increase of temperature and precipitation increased crop yields under all three climate changes which resulted in increase of the ranking of economic income, indicating that those climate changes could reduce economic risk. The increased temperature and precipitation also accelerated mineralization of organic nutrient and nutrient leaching to river course of Teshio which resulted in increase of the ranking of pollutant load, suggesting that those climate changes could lead to more environmental risk. The rankings of economic income in mid- and large changes of climate were lower than that in small change of climate under paddy-farmland mixture and farmland dominated systems due to decrease of crop yield, suggesting that climate change led to more economic risk. In summary, the results suggested that increase in temperature and precipitation caused higher risks of both economic and environmental perspectives, and the impacts was higher than those of land use changes in the studied watershed. Those findings would help producers and watershed managers to measure the tradeoffs between environmental protection and agricultural economic development

  6. Human Mars Landing Site and Impacts on Mars Surface Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bussey, Ben; Hoffman, Stephen J.

    2016-01-01

    NASA has begun a process to identify and discuss candidate locations where humans could land, live and work on the Martian surface. These locations are referred to as Exploration Zones (EZs). Given current mission concepts, an EZ is a collection of Regions of Interest (ROIs) that are located within approximately 100 kilometers of a centralized landing site. ROIs are areas that are relevant for scientific investigation and/or development/maturation of capabilities and resources necessary for a sustainable human presence. The EZ also contains a landing site and a habitation site that will be used by multiple human crews during missions to explore and utilize the ROIs within the EZ. These candidate EZs will be used by NASA as part of a multi-year process of determining where and how humans could explore Mars. In the near term this process includes: (a) identifying locations that would maximize the potential science return from future human exploration missions, (b) identifying locations with the potential for resources required to support humans, (c) developing concepts and engineering systems needed by future human crews to conduct operations within an EZ, and (d) identifying key characteristics of the proposed candidate EZs that cannot be evaluated using existing data sets, thus helping to define precursor measurements needed in advance of human missions. Existing and future robotic spacecraft will be tasked to gather data from specific Mars surface sites within the representative EZs to support these NASA activities. The proposed paper will describe NASA's initial steps for identifying and evaluating candidate EZs and ROIs. This includes plans for the "First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars" to be held in October 2015 at which proposals for EZs and ROIs will be presented and discussed. It will also include a discussion of how these considerations are (or will be) taken into account as future robotic Mars missions are

  7. Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager On-Orbit Radiometric Calibration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markham, Brian L.; Barsi, Julia A.

    2017-01-01

    The Operational Land Imager (OLI), the VIS/NIR/SWIR sensor on the Landsat-8 has been successfully acquiring Earth Imagery for more than four years. The OLI incorporates two on-board radiometric calibration systems, one diffuser based and one lamp based, each with multiple sources. For each system one source is treated as primary and used frequently and the other source(s) are used less frequently to assist in tracking any degradation in the primary sources. In addition, via a spacecraft maneuver, the OLI instrument views the moon once a lunar cycle (approx. 29 days). The integrated lunar irradiances from these acquisitions are compared to the output of a lunar irradiance model. The results from all these techniques, combined with cross calibrations with other sensors and ground based vicarious measurements are used to monitor the OLI's stability and correct for any changes observed. To date, the various techniques have other detected significant changes in the shortest wavelength OLI band centered at 443 nm and these are currently being adjusted in the operational processing.

  8. Operational Derivation of Surface Albedo and Down-Welling Short-Wave Radiation in the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geiger, B.; Carrer, D.; Meurey, C.; Roujean, J.-L.

    2006-08-01

    The Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Anal- ysis hosted by the Portuguese Meteorological Institute in Lisbon generates and distributes value added satellite products for numerical weather prediction and environ- mental applications in near-real time. Within the project consortium M´et´eo-France is responsible for the land sur- face albedo and down-welling short-wave radiation flux products. Since the beginning of the year 2005 Meteosat Second Generation data are routinely processed by the Land-SAF operational system. In general the validation studies carried out so far show a good consistency with in-situ observations or equivalent products derived from other satellites. After one year of operations a summary of the product characteristics and performances is given. Key words: Surface Albedo; Down-welling Radiation; Land-SAF.

  9. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager (OLI) Radiometric Calibration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markham, Brian L.; Dabney, Philip W.; Murphy-Morris, Jeanine E.; Knight, Edward J.; Kvaran, Geir; Barsi, Julia A.

    2010-01-01

    The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) has a comprehensive radiometric characterization and calibration program beginning with the instrument design, and extending through integration and test, on-orbit operations and science data processing. Key instrument design features for radiometric calibration include dual solar diffusers and multi-lamped on-board calibrators. The radiometric calibration transfer procedure from NIST standards has multiple checks on the radiometric scale throughout the process and uses a heliostat as part of the transfer to orbit of the radiometric calibration. On-orbit lunar imaging will be used to track the instruments stability and side slither maneuvers will be used in addition to the solar diffuser to flat field across the thousands of detectors per band. A Calibration Validation Team is continuously involved in the process from design to operations. This team uses an Image Assessment System (IAS), part of the ground system to characterize and calibrate the on-orbit data.

  10. Mosquito Larval Habitats, Land Use, and Potential Malaria Risk in Northern Belize from Satellite Image Analyses

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pope, Kevin; Masuoka, Penny; Rejmankova, Eliska; Grieco, John; Johnson, Sarah; Roberts, Donald

    2004-01-01

    The distribution of Anopheles mosquito habitats and land use in northern Belize is examined with satellite data. -A land cover classification based on multispectral SPOT and multitemporal Radarsat images identified eleven land cover classes, including agricultural, forest, and marsh types. Two of the land cover types, Typha domingensis marsh and flooded forest, are Anopheles vestitipennis larval habitats. Eleocharis spp. marsh is the larval habitat for Anopheles albimanus. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses of land cover demonstrate that the amount of T-ha domingensis in a marsh is positively correlated with the amount of agricultural land in the adjacent upland, and negatively correlated with the amount of adjacent forest. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that nutrient (phosphorus) runoff from agricultural lands is causing an expansion of Typha domingensis in northern Belize. This expansion of Anopheles vestitipennis larval habitat may in turn cause an increase in malaria risk in the region.

  11. Flood Risk and Probabilistic Benefit Assessment to Support Management of Flood-Prone Lands: Evidence From Candaba Floodplains, Philippines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Juarez, A. M.; Kibler, K. M.; Sayama, T.; Ohara, M.

    2016-12-01

    Flood management decision-making is often supported by risk assessment, which may overlook the role of coping capacity and the potential benefits derived from direct use of flood-prone land. Alternatively, risk-benefit analysis can support floodplain management to yield maximum socio-ecological benefits for the minimum flood risk. We evaluate flood risk-probabilistic benefit tradeoffs of livelihood practices compatible with direct human use of flood-prone land (agriculture/wild fisheries) and nature conservation (wild fisheries only) in Candaba, Philippines. Located north-west to Metro Manila, Candaba area is a multi-functional landscape that provides a temporally-variable mix of possible land uses, benefits and ecosystem services of local and regional value. To characterize inundation from 1.3- to 100-year recurrence intervals we couple frequency analysis with rainfall-runoff-inundation modelling and remotely-sensed data. By combining simulated probabilistic floods with both damage and benefit functions (e.g. fish capture and rice yield with flood intensity) we estimate potential damages and benefits over varying probabilistic flood hazards. We find that although direct human uses of flood-prone land are associated with damages, for all the investigated magnitudes of flood events with different frequencies, the probabilistic benefits ( 91 million) exceed risks by a large margin ( 33 million). Even considering risk, probabilistic livelihood benefits of direct human uses far exceed benefits provided by scenarios that exclude direct "risky" human uses (difference of 85 million). In addition, we find that individual coping strategies, such as adapting crop planting periods to the flood pulse or fishing rather than cultivating rice in the wet season, minimize flood losses ( 6 million) while allowing for valuable livelihood benefits ($ 125 million) in flood-prone land. Analysis of societal benefits and local capacities to cope with regular floods demonstrate the

  12. Women's land ownership and risk of HIV infection in Kenya.

    PubMed

    Muchomba, Felix M; Wang, Julia Shu-Huah; Agosta, Laura Maria

    2014-08-01

    Theory predicts that land ownership empowers women to avoid HIV acquisition by reducing their reliance on risky survival sex and enhancing their ability to negotiate safer sex. However, this prediction has not been tested empirically. Using a sample of 5511 women working in the agricultural sector from the 1998, 2003 and 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys, we examined the relationship between women's land ownership and participation in transactional sex, multiple sexual partnerships and unprotected sex, and HIV infection status. We controlled for demographic characteristics and household wealth, using negative binomial and logistic regression models. Women's land ownership was associated with fewer sexual partners in the past year (incidence rate ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.95-1.00) and lower likelihood of engaging in transactional sex (odds ratio [OR], 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46-0.99), indicators of reduced survival sex, but was not associated with unprotected sex with casual partners (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.35-1.18) or with unprotected sex with any partner among women with high self-perceived HIV risk (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.57-1.84), indicating no difference in safer sex negotiation. Land ownership was also associated with reduced HIV infection among women most likely to engage in survival sex, i.e., women not under the household headship of a husband (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.18-0.89), but not among women living in husband-headed households, for whom increased negotiation for safer sex would be more relevant (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 0.92-3.29). These findings suggest that reinforcing women's land rights may reduce reliance on survival sex and serve as a viable structural approach to HIV prevention, particularly for women not in a husband's household, including unmarried women and female household heads. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Incompatible Land Uses and the Topology of Cumulative Risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lejano, Raul P.; Smith, C. Scott

    2006-02-01

    The extensive literature on environmental justice has, by now, well defined the essential ingredients of cumulative risk, namely, incompatible land uses and vulnerability. Most problematic is the case when risk is produced by a large aggregation of small sources of air toxics. In this article, we test these notions in an area of Southern California, Southeast Los Angeles (SELA), which has come to be known as Asthmatown. Developing a rapid risk mapping protocol, we scan the neighborhood for small potential sources of air toxics and find, literally, hundreds of small point sources within a 2-mile radius, interspersed with residences. We also map the estimated cancer risks and noncancer hazard indices across the landscape. We find that, indeed, such large aggregations of even small, nondominant sources of air toxics can produce markedly elevated levels of risk. In this study, the risk profiles show additional cancer risks of up to 800 in a million and noncancer hazard indices of up to 200 in SELA due to the agglomeration of small point sources. This is significant (for example, estimates of the average regional point-source-related cancer risk range from 125 to 200 in a million). Most importantly, if we were to talk about the risk contour as if they were geological structures, we would observe not only a handful of distinct peaks, but a general “mountain range” running all throughout the study area, which underscores the ubiquity of risk in SELA. Just as cumulative risk has deeply embedded itself into the fabric of the place, so, too, must intervention seek to embed strategies into the institutions and practices of SELA. This has implications for advocacy, as seen in a recently initiated participatory action research project aimed at building health research capacities into the community in keeping with an ethic of care.

  14. The accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and the associated potential ecological risks in Shenzhen, China.

    PubMed

    Wu, Jiansheng; Song, Jing; Li, Weifeng; Zheng, Maokun

    2016-01-01

    Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and their ecological risks are key issues in soil security studies. This study investigated the concentrations of six heavy metals--copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and chromium (Cr) in Shenzhen's agricultural lands and examined the potential hazards and possible sources of these metals. Eighty-two samples from agricultural topsoil were collected. Potential ecological risk index was used to calculate the potential risk of heavy metals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to explore pollution sources of the metals. Finally, Kriging was used to predict the spatial distribution of the metals' potential ecological risks. The concentrations of the heavy metals were higher than their background values. Most of them presented little potential ecological risk, except for the heavy metal cadmium (Cd). Four districts (Longgang, Longhua, Pingshan, and Dapeng) exhibited some degree of potential risk, which tended to have more industries and road networks. Three major sources of heavy metals included geochemical processes, industrial pollutants, and traffic pollution. The heavy metal Cd was the main contributor to the pollution in agricultural land during the study period. It also poses the potential hazard for the future. High potential risk is closely related to industrial pollution and transportation. Since the 1980s, the sources of heavy metals have evolved from parent rock weathering, erosion, degradation of organics, and mineralization to human disturbances resulting in chemical changes in the soil.

  15. Assessing reservoir operations risk under climate change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brekke, L.D.; Maurer, E.P.; Anderson, J.D.; Dettinger, M.D.; Townsley, E.S.; Harrison, A.; Pruitt, T.

    2009-01-01

    Risk-based planning offers a robust way to identify strategies that permit adaptive water resources management under climate change. This paper presents a flexible methodology for conducting climate change risk assessments involving reservoir operations. Decision makers can apply this methodology to their systems by selecting future periods and risk metrics relevant to their planning questions and by collectively evaluating system impacts relative to an ensemble of climate projection scenarios (weighted or not). This paper shows multiple applications of this methodology in a case study involving California's Central Valley Project and State Water Project systems. Multiple applications were conducted to show how choices made in conducting the risk assessment, choices known as analytical design decisions, can affect assessed risk. Specifically, risk was reanalyzed for every choice combination of two design decisions: (1) whether to assume climate change will influence flood-control constraints on water supply operations (and how), and (2) whether to weight climate change scenarios (and how). Results show that assessed risk would motivate different planning pathways depending on decision-maker attitudes toward risk (e.g., risk neutral versus risk averse). Results also show that assessed risk at a given risk attitude is sensitive to the analytical design choices listed above, with the choice of whether to adjust flood-control rules under climate change having considerably more influence than the choice on whether to weight climate scenarios. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

  16. Risk Perception and Communication in Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hardy, Terry L.

    2005-12-01

    A number of inventors and entrepreneurs are currently attempting to develop and commercially operate reusable launch vehicles to carry voluntary participants into space. The operation of these launch vehicles, however, produces safety risks to the crew, to the space flight participants, and to the uninvolved public. Risk communication therefore becomes increasingly important to assure that those involved in the flight understand the risk and that those who are not directly involved understand the personal impact of RLV operations on their lives. Those involved in the launch vehicle flight may perceive risk differently from those non-participants, and these differences in perception must be understood to effectively communicate this risk. This paper summarizes existing research in risk perception and communication and applies that research to commercial reusable launch vehicle operations. Risk communication is discussed in the context of requirements of United States law for informed consent from any space flight participants on reusable suborbital launch vehicles.

  17. Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) radiometric performance on-orbit

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morfitt, Ron; Barsi, Julia A.; Levy, Raviv; Markham, Brian L.; Micijevic, Esad; Ong, Lawrence; Scaramuzza, Pat; Vanderwerff, Kelly

    2015-01-01

    Expectations of the Operational Land Imager (OLI) radiometric performance onboard Landsat-8 have been met or exceeded. The calibration activities that occurred prior to launch provided calibration parameters that enabled ground processing to produce imagery that met most requirements when data were transmitted to the ground. Since launch, calibration updates have improved the image quality even more, so that all requirements are met. These updates range from detector gain coefficients to reduce striping and banding to alignment parameters to improve the geometric accuracy. This paper concentrates on the on-orbit radiometric performance of the OLI, excepting the radiometric calibration performance. Topics discussed in this paper include: signal-to-noise ratios that are an order of magnitude higher than previous Landsat missions; radiometric uniformity that shows little residual banding and striping, and continues to improve; a dynamic range that limits saturation to extremely high radiance levels; extremely stable detectors; slight nonlinearity that is corrected in ground processing; detectors that are stable and 100% operable; and few image artifacts.

  18. 12 CFR 217.161 - Qualification requirements for incorporation of operational risk mitigants.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... operational risk exposure to reflect qualifying operational risk mitigants if: (1) The Board-regulated...) Qualifying operational risk mitigants. Qualifying operational risk mitigants are: (1) Insurance that: (i) Is... institution assigns the company is assigned a PD equal to or less than 10 basis points; (ii) Has an initial...

  19. 12 CFR 324.161 - Qualification requirements for incorporation of operational risk mitigants.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... operational risk exposure to reflect qualifying operational risk mitigants if: (1) The FDIC-supervised...) Qualifying operational risk mitigants. Qualifying operational risk mitigants are: (1) Insurance that: (i) Is... institution assigns the company is assigned a PD equal to or less than 10 basis points; (ii) Has an initial...

  20. Lower extremity mechanics during landing after a volleyball block as a risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament injury.

    PubMed

    Zahradnik, David; Jandacka, Daniel; Uchytil, Jaroslav; Farana, Roman; Hamill, Joseph

    2015-02-01

    To compare lower extremity mechanics and energy absorption during two types of landing after a successful or unsuccessful block in volleyball and assess the risks of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Cohort study. Fourteen elite male volleyball players (aged 24.5 ± 4.6 years; height 1.94 ± 0.06 m; mass 86.6 ± 7.6 kg). Subjects were required to land on force platforms using stick landing or step-back landing (with the right lower extremity stepping back away from the net) techniques after performing a standing block jump movement. Vertical ground reaction force (body weight); knee flexion (degrees); knee moments (Nm/kg); and hip, knee and ankle energy absorption (J/kg). The right lower extremity showed a greater first peak of vertical ground reaction force, a greater valgus moment, lower energy absorption by the knee, and higher energy absorption by the hip and ankle joints during step-back landing. The lower extremity may be exposed to a greater risk of ACL injury when stepping back from the net during the initial impact phase after a step-back landing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. 78 FR 32255 - HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Data Validation Stakeholder Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-29

    ...-Operated Risk Adjustment Data Validation Stakeholder Meeting AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid... Act HHS-operated risk adjustment data validation process. The purpose of this public meeting is to... interested parties about key HHS policy considerations pertaining to the HHS-operated risk adjustment data...

  2. Reversal of Hartmann's procedure: a high-risk operation?

    PubMed

    Schmelzer, Thomas M; Mostafa, Gamal; Norton, H James; Newcomb, William L; Hope, William W; Lincourt, Amy E; Kercher, Kent W; Kuwada, Timothy S; Gersin, Keith S; Heniford, B Todd

    2007-10-01

    Patients who undergo Hartmann's procedure often do not have their colostomy closed based on the perceived risk of the operation. This study evaluated the outcome of reversal of Hartmann's procedure based on preoperative risk factors. We retrospectively reviewed adult patients who underwent reversal of Hartmann's procedure at our tertiary referral institution. Patient outcomes were compared based on identified risk factors (age >60 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] score >2, and >2 preoperative comorbidities). One-hundred thirteen patients were included. Forty-four patients (39%) had an ASA score of >or=3. The mean hospital duration of stay was 6.8 days. There were 28 (25%) postoperative complications and no mortality. Patients >60 years old had significantly longer LOS compared with the rest of the group (P = .02). There were no differences in outcomes between groups based on ASA score or the presence of multiple preoperative comorbidities. An albumin level of <3.5 was the only significant predictor of postoperative complications (P = .04). The reversal of Hartmann's operation appears to be a safe operation with acceptable morbidity rates and can be considered in patients, including those with significant operative risk factors.

  3. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager: Pre-Launch Performance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markham, Brian L.; Knight, Edward J.; Canova, Brent; Donley, Eric; Kvaran, Geir; Lee, Kenton

    2011-01-01

    The Operational Land Imager(OLI) will be the main instrument on Landsat-8 when it launches in 2012. OLI represents a generational change from heritage Landsat instruments in its design but must maintain data continuity with the 30+ year Landsat data archive. As a result, OLI has undergone a stringent calibration and characterization campaign to ensure its characteristics are understood and consistent with past instruments. This paper presents an overview of the OLI design, its major differences from previous Landsat instruments, and a summary of its expected performance.

  4. Risk-Aware Planetary Rover Operation: Autonomous Terrain Classification and Path Planning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ono, Masahiro; Fuchs, Thoams J.; Steffy, Amanda; Maimone, Mark; Yen, Jeng

    2015-01-01

    Identifying and avoiding terrain hazards (e.g., soft soil and pointy embedded rocks) are crucial for the safety of planetary rovers. This paper presents a newly developed groundbased Mars rover operation tool that mitigates risks from terrain by automatically identifying hazards on the terrain, evaluating their risks, and suggesting operators safe paths options that avoids potential risks while achieving specified goals. The tool will bring benefits to rover operations by reducing operation cost, by reducing cognitive load of rover operators, by preventing human errors, and most importantly, by significantly reducing the risk of the loss of rovers.

  5. Surgeon Perception of Risk and Benefit in the Decision to Operate.

    PubMed

    Sacks, Greg D; Dawes, Aaron J; Ettner, Susan L; Brook, Robert H; Fox, Craig R; Maggard-Gibbons, Melinda; Ko, Clifford Y; Russell, Marcia M

    2016-12-01

    To determine how surgeons' perceptions of treatment risks and benefits influence their decisions to operate. Little is known about what makes one surgeon choose to operate on a patient and another chooses not to operate. Using an online study, we presented a national sample of surgeons (N = 767) with four detailed clinical vignettes (mesenteric ischemia, gastrointestinal bleed, bowel obstruction, appendicitis) where the best treatment option was uncertain and asked them to: (1) judge the risks (probability of serious complications) and benefits (probability of recovery) for operative and nonoperative management and (2) decide whether or not they would recommend an operation. Across all clinical vignettes, surgeons varied markedly in both their assessments of the risks and benefits of operative and nonoperative management (narrowest range 4%-100% for all four predictions across vignettes) and in their decisions to operate (49%-85%). Surgeons were less likely to operate as their perceptions of operative risk increased [absolute difference (AD) = -29.6% from 1.0 standard deviation below to 1.0 standard deviation above mean (95% confidence interval, CI: -31.6, -23.8)] and their perceptions of nonoperative benefit increased [AD = -32.6% (95% CI: -32.8,--28.9)]. Surgeons were more likely to operate as their perceptions of operative benefit increased [AD = 18.7% (95% CI: 12.6, 21.5)] and their perceptions of nonoperative risk increased [AD = 32.7% (95% CI: 28.7, 34.0)]. Differences in risk/benefit perceptions explained 39% of the observed variation in decisions to operate across the four vignettes. Given the same clinical scenarios, surgeons' perceptions of treatment risks and benefits vary and are highly predictive of their decisions to operate.

  6. Cruise-Efficient Short Takeoff and Landing (CESTOL): Potential Impact on Air Traffic Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Couluris, G. J.; Signor, D.; Phillips, J.

    2010-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is investigating technological and operational concepts for introducing Cruise-Efficient Short Takeoff and Landing (CESTOL) aircraft into a future US National Airspace System (NAS) civil aviation environment. CESTOL is an aircraft design concept for future use to increase capacity and reduce emissions. CESTOL provides very flexible takeoff, climb, descent and landing performance capabilities and a high-speed cruise capability. In support of NASA, this study is a preliminary examination of the potential operational impact of CESTOL on airport and airspace capacity and delay. The study examines operational impacts at a subject site, Newark Liberty Intemational Airport (KEWR), New Jersey. The study extends these KEWR results to estimate potential impacts on NAS-wide network traffic operations due to the introduction of CESTOL at selected major airports. These are the 34 domestic airports identified in the Federal Aviation Administration's Operational Evolution Plan (OEP). The analysis process uses two fast-time simulation tools to separately model local and NAS-wide air traffic operations using predicted flight schedules for a 24-hour study period in 2016. These tools are the Sen sis AvTerminal model and NASA's Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES). We use both to simulate conventional-aircraft-only and CESTOL-mixed-with-conventional-aircraft operations. Both tools apply 4-dimension trajectory modeling to simulate individual flight movement. The study applies AvTerminal to model traffic operations and procedures for en route and terminal arrival and departures to and from KEWR. These AvTerminal applications model existing arrival and departure routes and profiles and runway use configurations, with the assumption jet-powered, large-sized civil CESTOL aircraft use a short runway and standard turboprop arrival and departure procedures. With these rules, the conventional jet and CESTOL aircraft are procedurally

  7. Communications During Critical Mission Operations: Preparing for InSight's Landing on Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Asmar, Sami; Oudrhiri, Kamal; Kurtik, Susan; Weinstein-Weiss, Stacy

    2014-01-01

    Radio communications with deep space missions are often taken for granted due to the impressively successful records since, for decades, the technology and infrastructure have been developed for ground and flight systems to optimize telemetry and commanding. During mission-critical events such as the entry, descent, and landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars, the signal's level and frequency dynamics vary significantly and typically exceed the threshold of the budgeted links. The challenge is increased when spacecraft shed antennas with heat shields and other hardware during those risky few minutes. We have in the past successfully received signals on Earth during critical events even ones not intended for ground reception. These included the UHF signal transmitted by Curiosity to Marsorbiting assets. Since NASA's Deep Space Network does not operate in the UHF band, large radio telescopes around the world are utilized. The Australian CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope supported the Curiosity UHF signal reception and DSN receivers, tools, and expertise were used in the process. In preparation for the InSight mission's landing on Mars in 2016, preparations are underway to support the UHF communications. This paper presents communication scenarios with radio telescopes, and the DSN receiver and tools. It also discusses the usefulness of the real-time information content for better response time by the mission team towards successful mission operations.

  8. Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Syphard, Alexandra D.; Butsic, Van; Bar-Massada, Avi; Keeley, Jon E.; Tracey, Jeff A.; Fisher, Robert N.

    2016-01-01

    Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely

  9. Public attitudes and risk perception toward land application of biosolids within the south-eastern United States.

    PubMed

    Robinson, Kevin G; Robinson, Carolyn H; Raup, Lauren A; Markum, Travis R

    2012-05-15

    A descriptive-correlational study of biosolids recycling was conducted in the south-eastern United States to assess current knowledge, attitudes and risk perceptions of participants in two communities that land apply biosolids as part of their waste management programs. One community, Amelia County VA, has been outspoken against biosolids recycling in the past, whereas the second community, Knoxville, TN region, has voiced few concerns about biosolids recycling. Additionally, gender differences within the entire study population were assessed. A 45-question telephone survey, utilizing a 4-point Likert scale, was developed and administered to 311 randomly selected adults in the two regions. Commonalities identified during the study revealed key risk perceptions by the public regarding biosolids regulations, treatment, and application. Given current perceptions and knowledge, respondents felt that the benefits derived from biosolids recycling do not offset the perceived health and safety risks. However, as distance between application and personal property increased, a decrease in opposition of biosolids reuse became evident for all respondents. Survey participants were dissatisfied with the level of stakeholder involvement in research and decision-making processes concerning biosolids. The outspoken Amelia County residents perceived greater health risks due to inadequate treatment of biosolids and odorous emissions during the application process than the less engaged Knox Metro respondents. Significant gender differences were observed with sampled females perceiving greater risks to health and safety from biosolids recycling than males. There was also indication that decisions and risks were not sufficiently communicated to the public, leading to respondents being inadequately informed about biosolids land application in both communities. Community-specific outreach programs must address these public risk perceptions and the differences in perception caused by

  10. INTERPRETATION OF SPLP RESULTS FOR ASSESSING RISK TO GROUNDWATER FROM LAND-APPLIED GRANULAR WASTE

    EPA Science Inventory

    Scientists and engineers often rely on results from the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) to assess the risk of groundwater contamination posed by the land application of granular solid wastes. The concentrations of pollutants in SPLP leachate can be measured and ...

  11. The Design and Operation of Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space (SOLVES)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ridzuan Zakaria, Norul; Nasrun, Nasri; Rashidy Zulkifi, Mohd; Izmir Yamin, Mohd; Othman, Jamaludin; Rafidi Zakaria, Norul

    2013-09-01

    Inclusive in the planning of Spaceport Malaysia are 2 local suborbital vehicles development. One of the vehicles is called SOLVES or Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space. The emphasis on the design and operation of SOLVES is green and robotic technology, where both green technology and robotic technology are used to protect the environment and enhance safety. As SOLVES climbs, its center of gravity stabilizes and remains at the bottom as its propellant being used until it depletes, due to the position of the vehicle's passenger cabin and its engines at its lower end. It will reach 80km from sea level generally known as "the edge of space" due to its momentum although its propellant will be depleted at a lower altitude. As the suborbital vehicle descends tail first, its wings automatically extend and rotate at horizontal axes perpendicular to the fuselage. These naturally and passively rotating wings ensure controlled low velocity and stable descend of the vehicle. The passenger cabin also rotates automatically at a steady low speed at the centerline of its fuselage as it descends, caused naturally by the lift force, enabling its passengers a surrounding 360 degrees view. SOLVES is steered automatically to its landing point by an electrical propulsion system with a vectoring nozzle. The electrical propulsion minimizes space and weight and is free of pollution and noise. Its electrical power comes from a battery aided by power generated by the naturally rotating wings. When the vehicle lands, it is in the safest mode as its propellant is depleted and its center of gravity remains at the bottom of its cabin. The cabin, being located at the bottom of the fuselage, enables very convenient, rapid and safe entry and exit of its passengers. SOLVES will be a robotic suborbital vehicle with green technology. The vehicle will carry 4 passengers and each passenger will be trained to land the vehicle manually if the fully automated landing system fails

  12. Human Mars Landing Site and Impacts on Mars Surface Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bussey, Ben; Hoffman, Stephen J.

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes NASA's initial steps for identifying and evaluating candidate Exploration Zones (EZs) and Regions of Interests (ROIs) for the first human crews that will explore the surface of Mars. NASA's current effort to define the exploration of this planet by human crews, known as the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC), provides the context in which these EZs and ROIs are being considered. The EMC spans all aspects of a human Mars mission including launch from Earth, transit to and from Mars, and operations on the surface of Mars. Studies related to Mars surface operations and related system capabilities have led to the current definition of an EZ as well as ROIs. An EZ is a collection of ROIs that are located within approximately 100 kilometers of a centralized landing site. ROIs are areas that are relevant for scientific investigation and/or development/maturation of capabilities and resources necessary for a sustainable human presence. The EZ also contains one or more landing sites and a habitation site that will be used by multiple human crews during missions to explore and utilize the ROIs within the EZ. With the EMC as a conceptual basis, the EZ model has been refined to a point where specific site selection criteria for scientific exploration and in situ resource utilization can be defined. In 2015 these criteria were distributed to the planetary sciences community and the in situ resource utilization and civil engineering communities as part of a call for EZ proposals. The resulting "First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars" was held in October 2015 during which 47 proposals for EZs and ROIs were presented and discussed. Proposed locations spanned all longitudes and all allowable latitudes (+/- 50 degrees). Proposed justification for selecting one of these EZs also spanned a significant portion of the scientific and resource criteria provided to the community. Workshop results will be used to prepare for

  13. Integrated Display System for Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Beskenis, Sharon Otero; Green, David F., Jr.; Hyer, Paul V.; Johnson, Edward J., Jr.

    1998-01-01

    This report summarizes the software products and system architectures developed by Lockheed Martin in support of the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) program at NASA Langley Research Center. It presents an overview of the technical aspects, capabilities, and system integration issues associated with an integrated display system (IDS) that collects, processes and presents information to an aircraft flight crew during all phases of landing, roll-out, turn-off, inbound taxi, outbound taxi and takeoff. Communications hardware, drivers, and software provide continuous real-time data at varying rates and from many different sources to the display programs for presentation on a head-down display (HDD) and/or a head-up display (HUD). An electronic moving map of the airport surface is implemented on the HDD which includes the taxi route assigned by air traffic control, a text messaging system, and surface traffic and runway status information. Typical HUD symbology for navigation and control of the aircraft is augmented to provide aircraft deceleration guidance after touchdown to a pilot selected exit and taxi guidance along the route assigned by ATC. HUD displays include scene-linked symbolic runways, runway exits and taxiways that are conformal with the actual locations on the airport surface. Display formats, system architectures, and the various IDS programs are discussed.

  14. Ecological risk caused by land use change in the coastal zone: a case study in the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Ecological Economic Zone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Di, X. H.; Wang, Y. D.; Hou, X. Y.

    2014-03-01

    China's coastal zone plays an important role in ecological services production and social-economic development; however, extensive and intensive land resource utilization and land use change have lead to high ecological risk in this area during last decade. Regional ecological risk assessment can provide fundamental knowledge and scientific basis for better understanding of the relationship between regional landscape ecosystem and human activities or climate changes, facilitating the optimization strategy of land use structure and improving the ecological risk prevention capability. In this paper, the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Ecological Economic Zone is selected as the study site, which is undergoing a new round of coastal zone exploitation and has endured substantial land use change in the past decade. Land use maps of 2000, 2005 and 2010 were generated based on Landsat images by visual interpretation method, and the ecological risk index was then calculated. The index was 0.3314, 0.3461 and 0.3176 in 2000, 2005 and 2010 respectively, which showed a positive transition of regional ecological risk in 2005.

  15. Public land grazing for private land conservation?

    Treesearch

    Adriana Sulak; Lynn Huntsinger; Sheila Barry; Larry Forero

    2008-01-01

    California ranchers with substantial private oak woodlands sometimes use public lands as an important component of their production cycle. Yet allowed public grazing has declined and is likely to continue to decline. This, combined with intensifying development pressure and land use change, dramatically affects the resource base for ranch operations, which in turn...

  16. Managing risks and hazardous in industrial operations

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

    Almaula, S.C.

    1996-12-31

    The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that it makes good business sense to identify risks and hazards of an operation and take appropriate steps to manage them effectively. Developing and implementing an effective risk and hazard management plan also contibutes to other industry requirements and standards. Development of a risk management system, key elements of a risk management plan, and hazards and risk analysis methods are outlined. Comparing potential risk to the cost of prevention is also discussed. It is estimated that the cost of developing and preparing the first risk management plan varies between $50,000 tomore » $200,000. 3 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.« less

  17. Risk assessment of the entry of canine-rabies into Papua New Guinea via sea and land routes.

    PubMed

    Brookes, Victoria J; Keponge-Yombo, Andy; Thomson, David; Ward, Michael P

    2017-09-15

    Canine-rabies is endemic in parts of Indonesia and continues to spread eastwards through the Indonesian archipelago. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a land border with Papua Province, Indonesia, as well as logging and fishing industry connections throughout Asia. PNG has a Human Development Index of 0.505; therefore, an incursion of canine-rabies could have devastating impacts on human (7.5 million) and animal populations. Given the known difficulties of rabies elimination in resource-scarce environments, an incursion of rabies into PNG would also likely compromise the campaign for global elimination of rabies. A previous qualitative study to determine routes for detailed risk assessment identified logging, fishing and three land-routes (unregulated crossers ["shopper-crossers"], traditional border crossers and illegal hunters) as potential high risk routes for entry of rabies-infected dogs into PNG. The objective of the current study was to quantify and compare the probability of entry of a rabies-infected dog via these routes into PNG and to identify the highest risk provinces and border districts to target rabies prevention and control activities. Online questionnaires were used to elicit expert-opinion about quantitative model parameter values. A quantitative, stochastic model was then used to assess risk, and parameters with the greatest influence on the estimated mean number of rabies-infected dogs introduced/year were identified via global sensitivity analysis (Sobol method). Eight questionnaires - including 7 online - were implemented and >220 empirical distributions were parameterised using >2900 expert-opinions. The highest risk provinces for combined sea routes were West Sepik, Madang and Western Province, driven by the number of vessels and the probability of bringing dogs. The highest risk border districts for combined land routes were Vanimo-Green River and South Fly, driven by the number of people crossing the border and the number of dogs (with hunters

  18. INFLATE: INFlate Landing Apparatus Technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koryanov, V. V. K.; Da-Poian, V. D. P.

    2018-02-01

    Our project, named INFLATE (INFlatable Landing Apparatus Technology), aims at reducing space landing risks and constraints and so optimizing space missions (reducing cost, mass, and risk and in the same time improving performance).

  19. Risk mitigation strategies for operations and maintenance activities.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-04-01

    The objective of this research was to investigate the application of integrated risk modeling to operations and maintenance activities, specifically moving operations, such as pavement testing, pavement marking, painting, snow removal, shoulder work,...

  20. Evaluating anthropogenic risk of grassland and forest habitat degradation using land-cover data

    Treesearch

    Kurt Riitters; James Wickham; Timothy Wade

    2009-01-01

    The effects of landscape context on habitat quality are receiving increased attention in conservation biology. The objective of this research is to demonstrate a landscape-level approach to mapping and evaluating the anthropogenic risks of grassland and forest habitat degradation by examining habitat context as defined by intensive anthropogenic land uses at multiple...

  1. Quantitative evaluation of the risk induced by dominant geomorphological processes on different land uses, based on GIS spatial analysis models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ştefan, Bilaşco; Sanda, Roşca; Ioan, Fodorean; Iuliu, Vescan; Sorin, Filip; Dănuţ, Petrea

    2017-12-01

    Maramureş Land is mostly characterized by agricultural and forestry land use due to its specific configuration of topography and its specific pedoclimatic conditions. Taking into consideration the trend of the last century from the perspective of land management, a decrease in the surface of agricultural lands to the advantage of built-up and grass lands, as well as an accelerated decrease in the forest cover due to uncontrolled and irrational forest exploitation, has become obvious. The field analysis performed on the territory of Maramureş Land has highlighted a high frequency of two geomorphologic processes — landslides and soil erosion — which have a major negative impact on land use due to their rate of occurrence. The main aim of the present study is the GIS modeling of the two geomorphologic processes, determining a state of vulnerability (the USLE model for soil erosion and a quantitative model based on the morphometric characteristics of the territory, derived from the HG. 447/2003) and their integration in a complex model of cumulated vulnerability identification. The modeling of the risk exposure was performed using a quantitative approach based on models and equations of spatial analysis, which were developed with modeled raster data structures and primary vector data, through a matrix highlighting the correspondence between vulnerability and land use classes. The quantitative analysis of the risk was performed by taking into consideration the exposure classes as modeled databases and the land price as a primary alphanumeric database using spatial analysis techniques for each class by means of the attribute table. The spatial results highlight the territories with a high risk to present geomorphologic processes that have a high degree of occurrence and represent a useful tool in the process of spatial planning.

  2. Quantitative evaluation of the risk induced by dominant geomorphological processes on different land uses, based on GIS spatial analysis models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ştefan, Bilaşco; Sanda, Roşca; Ioan, Fodorean; Iuliu, Vescan; Sorin, Filip; Dănuţ, Petrea

    2018-06-01

    Maramureş Land is mostly characterized by agricultural and forestry land use due to its specific configuration of topography and its specific pedoclimatic conditions. Taking into consideration the trend of the last century from the perspective of land management, a decrease in the surface of agricultural lands to the advantage of built-up and grass lands, as well as an accelerated decrease in the forest cover due to uncontrolled and irrational forest exploitation, has become obvious. The field analysis performed on the territory of Maramureş Land has highlighted a high frequency of two geomorphologic processes — landslides and soil erosion — which have a major negative impact on land use due to their rate of occurrence. The main aim of the present study is the GIS modeling of the two geomorphologic processes, determining a state of vulnerability (the USLE model for soil erosion and a quantitative model based on the morphometric characteristics of the territory, derived from the HG. 447/2003) and their integration in a complex model of cumulated vulnerability identification. The modeling of the risk exposure was performed using a quantitative approach based on models and equations of spatial analysis, which were developed with modeled raster data structures and primary vector data, through a matrix highlighting the correspondence between vulnerability and land use classes. The quantitative analysis of the risk was performed by taking into consideration the exposure classes as modeled databases and the land price as a primary alphanumeric database using spatial analysis techniques for each class by means of the attribute table. The spatial results highlight the territories with a high risk to present geomorphologic processes that have a high degree of occurrence and represent a useful tool in the process of spatial planning.

  3. Risk assessment of flash floods in central Pyrenees (Spain) through land use change analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto; Mora, Daniel; Sánchez-Fabre, Miguel; Ángel Saz, Miguel; Ollero, Alfredo

    2015-04-01

    Nowadays, the main cause of the damages to human areas is the increased risk exposure. The urbanization in touristic areas in Pyrenees has increased enormously in last 25 years, and the most of urban development have been made on land occupied by the stream channel. We present two different case studies in central Pyrenees: one in Aragón river and one in Ésera river. We made a land use analysis from 1956 to 2013 in the headwaters of these two rivers delimiting the channel in different flash floods events, and analysing the amount and distribution of precipitation at the same time. The results show that the risk exposure is one of the main factors of the impact of flash floods. We found that most of the damage on urbanization and human activities was caused by the urban occupation of areas that were located on the floodplain of the river. For both Aragon and Esera headwaters precipitation events were considered extreme in their time series. However, the amount of precipitation of these extreme events does not support the consequences in geomorphological and human environments. The events of high intensity rainfall over the last years could be expected, yet, it had unexpected consequences that could be predictable by land managers through an appropriate regional planning.

  4. Operational Remote Sensing Services in North Eastern Region of India for Natural Resources Management, Early Warning for Disaster Risk Reduction and Dissemination of Information and Services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raju, P. L. N.; Sarma, K. K.; Barman, D.; Handique, B. K.; Chutia, D.; Kundu, S. S.; Das, R. Kr.; Chakraborty, K.; Das, R.; Goswami, J.; Das, P.; Devi, H. S.; Nongkynrih, J. M.; Bhusan, K.; Singh, M. S.; Singh, P. S.; Saikhom, V.; Goswami, C.; Pebam, R.; Borgohain, A.; Gogoi, R. B.; Singh, N. R.; Bharali, A.; Sarma, D.; Lyngdoh, R. B.; Mandal, P. P.; Chabukdhara, M.

    2016-06-01

    North Eastern Region (NER) of India comprising of eight states considered to be most unique and one of the most challenging regions to govern due to its unique physiographic condition, rich biodiversity, disaster prone and diverse socio-economic characteristics. Operational Remote Sensing services increased manifolds in the region with the establishment of North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) in the year 2000. Since inception, NESAC has been providing remote sensing services in generating inventory, planning and developmental activities, and management of natural resources, disasters and dissemination of information and services through geo-web services for NER. The operational remote sensing services provided by NESAC can be broadly divided into three categories viz. natural resource planning and developmental services, disaster risk reduction and early warning services and information dissemination through geo-portal services. As a apart of natural resources planning and developmental services NESAC supports the state forest departments in preparing the forest working plans by providing geospatial inputs covering entire NER, identifying the suitable culturable wastelands for cultivation of silkworm food plants, mapping of natural resources such as land use/land cover, wastelands, land degradation etc. on temporal basis. In the area of disaster risk reduction, NESAC has initiated operational services for early warning and post disaster assessment inputs for flood early warning system (FLEWS) using satellite remote sensing, numerical weather prediction, hydrological modeling etc.; forest fire alert system with actionable attribute information; Japanese Encephalitis Early Warning System (JEWS) based on mosquito vector abundance, pig population and historical disease intensity and agriculture drought monitoring for the region. The large volumes of geo-spatial databases generated as part of operational services are made available to the administrators and

  5. Assessing impacts of land-applied manure from concentrated animal feeding operations on fish populations and communities

    EPA Science Inventory

    Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) waste is a cost effective fertilizer. In the Midwest, networks of subsurface tile-drains expedite transport of animal hormones and nutrients from land-applied CAFO waste to adjacent waterways. The objective of this study was to evaluat...

  6. RISK MANAGEMENT EVALUATION FOR CONCENTRATED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) developed a Risk Management Evaluation (RME) to provide information needed to help plan future research in the Laboratory dealing with the environmental impact of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Agriculture...

  7. Generating local scale land use/cover change scenarios: case studies of high-risk mountain areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malek, Žiga; Glade, Thomas; Boerboom, Luc

    2014-05-01

    The relationship between land use/cover changes and consequences to human well-being is well acknowledged and has led to higher interest of both researchers and decision makers in driving forces and consequences of such changes. For example, removal of natural vegetation cover or urban expansion resulting in new elements at risk can increase hydro-meteorological risk. This is why it is necessary to study how the land use/cover could evolve in the future. Emphasis should especially be given to areas experiencing, or expecting, high rates of socio-economic change. A suitable approach to address these changes is scenario development; it offers exploring possible futures and the corresponding environmental consequences, and aids decision-making, as it enables to analyse possible options. Scenarios provide a creative methodology to depict possible futures, resulting from existing decisions, based on different assumptions of future socio-economic development. They have been used in various disciplines and on various scales, such as flood risk and soil erosion. Several studies have simulated future scenarios of land use/cover changes at a very high success rate, however usually these approaches are tailor made for specific case study areas and fit to available data. This study presents a multi-step scenario generation framework, which can be transferable to other local scale case study areas, taking into account the case study specific consequences of land use/cover changes. Through the use of experts' and decision-makers' knowledge, we aimed to develop a framework with the following characteristics: (1) it enables development of scenarios that are plausible, (2) it can overcome data inaccessibility, (3) it can address intangible and external driving forces of land use/cover change, and (4) it ensures transferability to other local scale case study areas with different land use/cover change processes and consequences. To achieve this, a set of different methods is applied

  8. Measurement of the Errors of Service Altimeter Installations During Landing-Approach and Take-Off Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gracey, William; Jewel, Joseph W., Jr.; Carpenter, Gene T.

    1960-01-01

    The overall errors of the service altimeter installations of a variety of civil transport, military, and general-aviation airplanes have been experimentally determined during normal landing-approach and take-off operations. The average height above the runway at which the data were obtained was about 280 feet for the landings and about 440 feet for the take-offs. An analysis of the data obtained from 196 airplanes during 415 landing approaches and from 70 airplanes during 152 take-offs showed that: 1. The overall error of the altimeter installations in the landing- approach condition had a probable value (50 percent probability) of +/- 36 feet and a maximum probable value (99.7 percent probability) of +/- 159 feet with a bias of +10 feet. 2. The overall error in the take-off condition had a probable value of +/- 47 feet and a maximum probable value of +/- 207 feet with a bias of -33 feet. 3. The overall errors of the military airplanes were generally larger than those of the civil transports in both the landing-approach and take-off conditions. In the landing-approach condition the probable error and the maximum probable error of the military airplanes were +/- 43 and +/- 189 feet, respectively, with a bias of +15 feet, whereas those for the civil transports were +/- 22 and +/- 96 feet, respectively, with a bias of +1 foot. 4. The bias values of the error distributions (+10 feet for the landings and -33 feet for the take-offs) appear to represent a measure of the hysteresis characteristics (after effect and recovery) and friction of the instrument and the pressure lag of the tubing-instrument system.

  9. The effect of control and display lag on unmanned air system internal pilot manual landing performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lloyd, Marshall Everett

    An important characteristic of UASs is lag because it can become a considerable challenge to successful human-in-the-loop control. As such, UASs are designed and configured to minimize system lag, though this can increase acquisition and operation costs considerably. In an effort to cut costs, an organization may choose to accept greater risk and deploy a UAS with high system lag. Before this risk can be responsibly accepted, it must be quantified. While many studies have examined system lag, very few have been able to quantify the risk that various levels of lag pose to an internally piloted, manually landed UAS. This study attempted to do so by evaluating pilot landing performance in a simulator with 0 ms, 240 ms, and 1000 ms of additional lag. Various measures were used, including a novel coding technique. Results indicated that 1000 ms of lag was unsafe by all measures. They also indicate that 240 ms of lag degrades performance, but participants were able to successfully land the simulated aircraft. This study showed the utility of using several measures to evaluate the effect of lag on landing performance and it helped demonstrate that while 1000 ms poses a high risk, 240 ms of lag may be a much more manageable risk. Future research suggested by this research includes: investigating lag between 240 ms and 1000 ms, introducing different weather phenomena, developing system lag training techniques for operators, and investigating the effect of aides such as predictive displays and autopilot-assisted recovery.

  10. An Evidenced-Based Approach for Estimating Decompression Sickness Risk in Aircraft Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Robinson, Ronald R.; Dervay, Joseph P.; Conkin, Johnny

    1999-01-01

    Estimating the risk of decompression Sickness (DCS) in aircraft operations remains a challenge, making the reduction of this risk through the development of operationally acceptable denitrogenation schedules difficult. In addition, the medical recommendations which are promulgated are often not supported by rigorous evaluation of the available data, but are instead arrived at by negotiation with the aircraft operations community, are adapted from other similar aircraft operations, or are based upon the opinion of the local medical community. We present a systematic approach for defining DCS risk in aircraft operations by analyzing the data available for a specific aircraft, flight profile, and aviator population. Once the risk of DCS in a particular aircraft operation is known, appropriate steps can be taken to reduce this risk to a level acceptable to the applicable aviation community. Using this technique will allow any aviation medical community to arrive at the best estimate of DCS risk for its specific mission and aviator population and will allow systematic reevaluation of the decisions regarding DCS risk reduction when additional data are available.

  11. Through ARIPAR-GIS the quantified area risk analysis supports land-use planning activities.

    PubMed

    Spadoni, G; Egidi, D; Contini, S

    2000-01-07

    The paper first summarises the main aspects of the ARIPAR methodology whose steps can be applied to quantify the impact on a territory of major accident risks due to processing, storing and transporting dangerous substances. Then the capabilities of the new decision support tool ARIPAR-GIS, implementing the mentioned procedure, are described, together with its main features and types of results. These are clearly shown through a short description of the updated ARIPAR study (reference year 1994), in which the impact of changes due to industrial and transportation dynamics on the Ravenna territory in Italy were evaluated. The brief explanation of how results have been used by local administrations offers the opportunity to discuss about advantages of the quantitative area risk analysis tool in supporting activities of risk management, risk control and land-use planning.

  12. Langley Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, Pamela A.; Stubbs, Sandy M.; Tanner, John A.

    1987-01-01

    The Langley Research Center has recently upgraded the Landing Loads Track (LLT) to improve the capability of low-cost testing of conventional and advanced landing gear systems. The unique feature of the Langley Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility (ALDF) is the ability to test aircraft landing gear systems on actual runway surfaces at operational ground speeds and loading conditions. A historical overview of the original LLT is given, followed by a detailed description of the new ALDF systems and operational capabilities.

  13. An Investigation of Landing-Contact Conditions for a Large Turbojet Transport During Routine Daylight Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stickle, Joseph W.; Silsby, Norman S.

    1960-01-01

    An investigation has been made by the NASA to obtain statistical measurements of landing-contact conditions for a large turbojet transport in commercial airline operations. The investigation was conducted at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. Measurements were taken photographically during routine daylight operations. The quantities determined were vertical velocity, horizontal velocity, rolling velocity, bank angle, and distance from runway threshold, just prior to ground contact. The results indicated that the mean vertical velocity for the turbojet-transport landings was 1.62 feet per second and that 1 landing out of 100 would be expected to equal or exceed about 4.0 feet per second. The mean airspeed at contact was 132.0 knots, with 1 landing in 100 likely to equal or exceed about 153.0 knots. The mean rolling velocity was about 1.6 deg per second. One lending in 100 would probably equal or exceed a rolling velocity of about 4.0 deg. per second in the direction of the first wheel to touch. The mean bank angle for the turbojet transports was 1.04 deg, and right and left angles of bank were about evenly divided. One lending in 100 would be likely to equal or exceed a bank angle of about 3.5 deg. The mean value of distance to touchdown from the runway threshold was 1,560 feet. One lending in 100 would be expected to touchdown at or beyond about 2,700 feet from the runway threshold. The mean values for vertical velocity, airspeed, and distance t o touch-down for the turbojet transports were somewhat higher than those found previously for piston-engine transports. No significant differences were found for values of rolling velocity and bank angle.

  14. Integrating environment into land-use planning through strategic environmental assessment in China: Towards legal frameworks and operational procedures

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

    Tao Tang; Tan Zhu; He Xu

    China currently put forwards 'striving to build an environmentally friendly society' as one of the most important development goals. The land administration authorities are facing the challenge of effectively incorporating environment considerations into their planning system. This paper aims to investigate why and how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is enacted as an effective tool to integrate the environment into land-use planning during the construction process of an environmentally friendly society in China, and identify factors that influence the integration. It presents characteristics of the land-use planning system, and reviews the progress and current state of SEA in China. Results showmore » that SEA provides many benefits in promoting environmental considerations into the land-use planning process. The legal frameworks and operational procedures, in the context of land-use master planning SEA, are summarized and an assessment made of their effectiveness. Some barriers are highlighted through examination of the latest case studies, and several recommendations are presented to overcome these obstacles.« less

  15. Hierarchical Marginal Land Assessment for Land Use Planning

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

    Kang, Shujiang; Post, Wilfred M; Wang, Dali

    2013-01-01

    Marginal land provides an alternative potential for food and bioenergy production in the face of limited land resources; however, effective assessment of marginal lands is not well addressed. Concerns over environmental risks, ecosystem services and sustainability for marginal land have been widely raised. The objective of this study was to develop a hierarchical marginal land assessment framework for land use planning and management. We first identified major land functions linking production, environment, ecosystem services and economics, and then classified land resources into four categories of marginal land using suitability and limitations associated with major management goals, including physically marginal land,more » biologically marginal land, environmental-ecological marginal land, and economically marginal land. We tested this assessment framework in south-western Michigan, USA. Our results indicated that this marginal land assessment framework can be potentially feasible on land use planning for food and bioenergy production, and balancing multiple goals of land use management. We also compared our results with marginal land assessment from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and land capability classes (LCC) that are used in the US. The hierarchical assessment framework has advantages of quantitatively reflecting land functions and multiple concerns. This provides a foundation upon which focused studies can be identified in order to improve the assessment framework by quantifying high-resolution land functions associated with environment and ecosystem services as well as their criteria are needed to improve the assessment framework.« less

  16. Occupant Protection during Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Landings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gernhardt, Michael L.; Jones, J. A.; Granderson, B. K.; Somers, J. T.

    2009-01-01

    The constellation program is evaluating current vehicle design capabilities for nominal water landings and contingency land landings of the Orion Crew Exploration vehicle. The Orion Landing Strategy tiger team was formed to lead the technical effort for which associated activities include the current vehicle design, susceptibility to roll control and tip over, reviewing methods for assessing occupant injury during ascent / aborts /landings, developing an alternate seat/attenuation design solution which improves occupant protection and operability, and testing the seat/attenuation system designs to ensure valid results. The EVA physiology, systems and Performance (EPSP) project is leading the effort under the authority of the Tiger Team Steering committee to develop, verify, validate and accredit biodynamics models using a variety of crash and injury databases including NASCAR, Indy Car and military aircraft. The validated biodynamics models will be used by the Constellation program to evaluate a variety of vehicle, seat and restraint designs in the context of multiple nominal and off-nominal landing scenarios. The models will be used in conjunction with Acceptable Injury Risk definitions to provide new occupant protection requirements for the Constellation Program.

  17. Agriculture: Land Use

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Land Use and agriculture. Information about land use restrictions and incentive programs.Agricultural operations sometimes involve activities regulated by laws designed to protect water supplies, threatened or endangered plants and animals, or wetlands.

  18. IT Operational Risk Measurement Model Based on Internal Loss Data of Banks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hao, Xiaoling

    Business operation of banks relies increasingly on information technology (IT) and the most important role of IT is to guarantee the operational continuity of business process. Therefore, IT Risk management efforts need to be seen from the perspective of operational continuity. Traditional IT risk studies focused on IT asset-based risk analysis and risk-matrix based qualitative risk evaluation. In practice, IT risk management practices of banking industry are still limited to the IT department and aren't integrated into business risk management, which causes the two departments to work in isolation. This paper presents an improved methodology for dealing with IT operational risk. It adopts quantitative measurement method, based on the internal business loss data about IT events, and uses Monte Carlo simulation to predict the potential losses. We establish the correlation between the IT resources and business processes to make sure risk management of IT and business can work synergistically.

  19. Lunar landing and launch facilities and operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1988-01-01

    A preliminary design of a lunar landing and launch facility for a Phase 3 lunar base is formulated. A single multipurpose vehicle for the lunar module is assumed. Three traffic levels are envisioned: 6, 12, and 24 landings/launches per year. The facility is broken down into nine major design items. A conceptual description of each of these items is included. Preliminary sizes, capacities, and/or other relevant design data for some of these items are obtained. A quonset hut tent-like structure constructed of aluminum rods and aluminized mylar panels is proposed. This structure is used to provide a constant thermal environment for the lunar modules. A structural design and thermal analysis is presented. Two independent designs for a bridge crane to unload/load heavy cargo from the lunar module are included. Preliminary investigations into cryogenic propellant storage and handling, landing/launch guidance and control, and lunar module maintenance requirements are performed. Also, an initial study into advanced concepts for application to Phase 4 or 5 lunar bases has been completed in a report on capturing, condensing, and recycling the exhaust plume from a lunar launch.

  20. Sustainable Mining Land Use for Lignite Based Energy Projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dudek, Michal; Krysa, Zbigniew

    2017-12-01

    This research aims to discuss complex lignite based energy projects economic viability and its impact on sustainable land use with respect to project risk and uncertainty, economics, optimisation (e.g. Lerchs and Grossmann) and importance of lignite as fuel that may be expressed in situ as deposit of energy. Sensitivity analysis and simulation consist of estimated variable land acquisition costs, geostatistics, 3D deposit block modelling, electricity price considered as project product price, power station efficiency and power station lignite processing unit cost, CO2 allowance costs, mining unit cost and also lignite availability treated as lignite reserves kriging estimation error. Investigated parameters have nonlinear influence on results so that economically viable amount of lignite in optimal pit varies having also nonlinear impact on land area required for mining operation.

  1. Development of Risk Assessment Methodology for Land Application and Distribution and Marketing of Municipal Sludge

    EPA Science Inventory

    This is one of a series of reports that present methodologies for assessing the potential risks to humans or other organisms from the disposal or reuse of municipal sludge. The sludge management practices addressed by this series include land application practices, distribution a...

  2. Evolvement rules of basin flood risk under low-carbon mode. Part I: response of soil organic carbon to land use change and its influence on land use planning in the Haihe basin.

    PubMed

    Li, Fawen; Wang, Liping; Zhao, Yong

    2017-08-01

    Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response of SOC to land use change and its influence on land use planning in the Haihe basin, and provide planning land use pattern for basin flood risk assessment. Firstly, the areas of different land use types in 1980, 2008, and the planning year (2020) were counted by area statistics function of ArcGIS. Then, the transfer matrixes of land use were produced by spatial overlay analysis function. Lastly, based on the land use maps, soil type map and soil profile database, SOC storage of different land use types in three different periods were calculated. The results showed the patterns of land use have changed a lot from 1980 to 2008, among the 19,835 km 2 of grassland was transformed into forestland, which was the largest conversion landscape. And land use conversion brought the SOC storage changes. Total carbon source was 88.83 Tg, and total carbon sink was 85.49 Tg. So, the Haihe basin presented as a carbon source from 1980 to 2008. From 2008 to 2020, the changes of forestland and grassland are the biggest in Haihe basin, which cause the SOC pool change from a carbon source to a carbon sink. SOC storage will increase from 2420.5 Tg in 2008 to 2495.5 Tg in 2020. The changing trend is conducive to reducing atmospheric concentrations. Therefore, land use planning in Haihe basin is reasonable and can provide the underlying surface condition for flood risk assessment.

  3. Risk-Constrained Dynamic Programming for Optimal Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ono, Masahiro; Kuwata, Yoshiaki

    2013-01-01

    A chance-constrained dynamic programming algorithm was developed that is capable of making optimal sequential decisions within a user-specified risk bound. This work handles stochastic uncertainties over multiple stages in the CEMAT (Combined EDL-Mobility Analyses Tool) framework. It was demonstrated by a simulation of Mars entry, descent, and landing (EDL) using real landscape data obtained from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Although standard dynamic programming (DP) provides a general framework for optimal sequential decisionmaking under uncertainty, it typically achieves risk aversion by imposing an arbitrary penalty on failure states. Such a penalty-based approach cannot explicitly bound the probability of mission failure. A key idea behind the new approach is called risk allocation, which decomposes a joint chance constraint into a set of individual chance constraints and distributes risk over them. The joint chance constraint was reformulated into a constraint on an expectation over a sum of an indicator function, which can be incorporated into the cost function by dualizing the optimization problem. As a result, the chance-constraint optimization problem can be turned into an unconstrained optimization over a Lagrangian, which can be solved efficiently using a standard DP approach.

  4. Ground noise measurements during landing, take-off, and flyby operations of a four-engine turbopropeller STOL airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hilton, D. A.; Henderson, H. R.; Maglieri, D. J.

    1971-01-01

    Noise measurements were obtained for a four-engine turbopropeller STOL airplane during a Federal Aviation Administration flight evaluation program at the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center. These noise measurements involved landing-approach, takeoff-climbout, and flyby operations of the airplane. A total of 13 measuring positions were used to define the noise characteristics around a simulated STOL port. The results are presented in the form of both physical and subjective measurements. An appendix is included to present tabulated values of various subjective reaction units which may be significant for the planning and operation of STOL ports. The main source of noise produced by this vehicle was found to be the propeller, and noise levels decrease generally in accordance with the inverse-distance law for distances up to about 457 meters. For similar slant ranges, somewhat lower noise levels were experienced during flyby than during takeoff or landing.

  5. NASA Langley's Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, Pamela A.

    1993-01-01

    The Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility (ALDF) is a unique facility with the ability to test aircraft landing gear systems on actual runway surfaces at operational ground speeds and loading conditions. A brief historical overview of the original Landing Loads Track (LLT) is given, followed by a detailed description of the new ALDF systems and operational capabilities.

  6. Statistical Measurements of Contact Conditions of 478 Transport-airplane Landings During Routine Daytime Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Silsby, Norman S

    1955-01-01

    Statistical measurements of contact conditions have been obtained, by means of a special photographic technique, of 478 landings of present-day transport airplanes made during routine daylight operations in clear air at the Washington National Airport. From the measurements, sinking speeds, rolling velocities, bank angles, and horizontal speeds at the instant before contact have been evaluated and a limited statistical analysis of the results has been made and is reported in this report.

  7. Human health risk assessment of triclosan in land-applied biosolids.

    PubMed

    Verslycke, Tim; Mayfield, David B; Tabony, Jade A; Capdevielle, Marie; Slezak, Brian

    2016-09-01

    Triclosan (5-chloro-2-[2,4-dichlorophenoxy]-phenol) is an antimicrobial agent found in a variety of pharmaceutical and personal care products. Numerous studies have examined the occurrence and environmental fate of triclosan in wastewater, biosolids, biosolids-amended soils, and plants and organisms exposed to biosolid-amended soils. Triclosan has a propensity to adhere to organic carbon in biosolids and biosolid-amended soils. Land application of biosolids containing triclosan has the potential to contribute to multiple direct and indirect human health exposure pathways. To estimate exposures and human health risks from biosolid-borne triclosan, a risk assessment was conducted in general accordance with the methodology incorporated into the US Environmental Protection Agency's Part 503 biosolids rule. Human health exposures to biosolid-borne triclosan were estimated on the basis of published empirical data or modeled using upper-end environmental partitioning estimates. Similarly, a range of published triclosan human health toxicity values was evaluated. Margins of safety were estimated for 10 direct and indirect exposure pathways, both individually and combined. The present risk assessment found large margins of safety (>1000 to >100 000) for potential exposures to all pathways, even under the most conservative exposure and toxicity assumptions considered. The human health exposures and risks from biosolid-borne triclosan are concluded to be de minimis. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2358-2367. © 2016 SETAC. © 2016 SETAC.

  8. The Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Land Degradation Dynamics: A Mediterranean Case Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bajocco, S.; De Angelis, A.; Perini, L.; Ferrara, A.; Salvati, L.

    2012-05-01

    In the last decades, due to climate changes, soil deterioration, and Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCCs), land degradation risk has become one of the most important ecological issues at the global level. Land degradation involves two interlocking systems: the natural ecosystem and the socio-economic system. The complexity of land degradation processes should be addressed using a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this work is to assess diachronically land degradation dynamics under changing land covers. This paper analyzes LULCCs and the parallel increase in the level of land sensitivity to degradation along the coastal belt of Sardinia (Italy), a typical Mediterranean region where human pressure affects the landscape characteristics through fires, intensive agricultural practices, land abandonment, urban sprawl, and tourism concentration. Results reveal that two factors mainly affect the level of land sensitivity to degradation in the study area: (i) land abandonment and (ii) unsustainable use of rural and peri-urban areas. Taken together, these factors represent the primary cause of the LULCCs observed in coastal Sardinia. By linking the structural features of the Mediterranean landscape with its functional land degradation dynamics over time, these results contribute to orienting policies for sustainable land management in Mediterranean coastal areas.

  9. The impact of land use/land cover changes on land degradation dynamics: a Mediterranean case study.

    PubMed

    Bajocco, S; De Angelis, A; Perini, L; Ferrara, A; Salvati, L

    2012-05-01

    In the last decades, due to climate changes, soil deterioration, and Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCCs), land degradation risk has become one of the most important ecological issues at the global level. Land degradation involves two interlocking systems: the natural ecosystem and the socio-economic system. The complexity of land degradation processes should be addressed using a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this work is to assess diachronically land degradation dynamics under changing land covers. This paper analyzes LULCCs and the parallel increase in the level of land sensitivity to degradation along the coastal belt of Sardinia (Italy), a typical Mediterranean region where human pressure affects the landscape characteristics through fires, intensive agricultural practices, land abandonment, urban sprawl, and tourism concentration. Results reveal that two factors mainly affect the level of land sensitivity to degradation in the study area: (i) land abandonment and (ii) unsustainable use of rural and peri-urban areas. Taken together, these factors represent the primary cause of the LULCCs observed in coastal Sardinia. By linking the structural features of the Mediterranean landscape with its functional land degradation dynamics over time, these results contribute to orienting policies for sustainable land management in Mediterranean coastal areas.

  10. EnviroAtlas - Manure application to agricultural lands from confined animal feeding operations by 12-digit HUC for the Conterminous United States, 2006

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This EnviroAtlas dataset contains data on the mean livestock manure application to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands by 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC) in 2006. Livestock manure inputs to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands were estimated using county-level estimates of recoverable animal manure from confined feeding operations compiled for 2007. Recoverable manure is defined as manure that is collected, stored, and available for land application from confined feeding operations. County-scale data on livestock populations -- needed to calculate manure inputs -- were only available for the year 2007 from the USDA Census of Agriculture (http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/index.php). We acquired county-level data describing total farm-level inputs (kg N/yr) of recoverable manure to individual counties in 2007 from the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) Nutrient Geographic Information System (NuGIS; http://www.ipni.net/nugis). These data were converted to per area rates (kg N/ha/yr) of manure N inputs by dividing the total N input by the land area (ha) of combined cultivated crop and hay/pasture (agricultural) lands within a county as determined from county-level summarization of the 2006 NLCD. We distributed county-specific, per area N inputs rates to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands (30 x 30 m pixels) within the corresponding county. Manure data described here represent an average input to a typical agricultural land type within a county, i.e., the

  11. Land Cover Characterization Program

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1997-01-01

    (2) identify sources, develop procedures, and organize partners to deliver data and information to meet user requirements. The LCCP builds on the heritage and success of previous USGS land use and land cover programs and projects. It will be compatible with current concepts of government operations, the changing needs of the land use and land cover data users, and the technological tools with which the data are applied.

  12. Effects of foot rotation positions on knee valgus during single-leg drop landing: Implications for ACL injury risk reduction.

    PubMed

    Teng, P S P; Kong, P W; Leong, K F

    2017-06-01

    Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries commonly occur when athletes land in high risk positions such as knee valgus. The position of the foot at landing may influence the transmission of forces from the ankle to the knee. Using an experimental approach to manipulate foot rotation positions, this study aimed to provide new insights on how knee valgus during single-leg landing may be influenced by foot positions. Eleven male recreational basketball players performed single-leg drop landings from a 30-cm high platform in three foot rotation positions (toe-in, toe-forward and toe-out) at initial contact. A motion capture system and a force plate were used to measure lower extremity kinematics and kinetics. Knee valgus angles at initial contact (KVA) and maximum knee valgus moments (KVM), which were known risk factors associated with ACL injury, were measured. A one-way repeated measures Analysis of Variance was conducted (α=0.05) to compare among the three foot positions. Foot rotation positions were found to have a significant effect on KVA (p<0.001, η 2 =0.66) but the difference between conditions (about 1°) was small and not clinically meaningful. There was a significant effect of foot position on KVM (p<0.001, η 2 =0.55), with increased moment observed in the toe-out position as compared to toe-forward (p=0.012) or toe-in positions (p=0.002). When landing with one leg, athletes should avoid extreme toe-out foot rotation positions to minimise undesirable knee valgus loading associated with non-contact ACL injury risks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Decision Making During Spacecraft Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meshkat, Leila

    2009-01-01

    Decisions made during the operational phase of a space mission often have significant and immediate consequences. Without the explicit consideration of the risks involved and their representation in a solid model, it is very likely that these risks are not considered systematically in trade studies. Wrong decisions during the operational phase of a space mission can lead to immediate system failure whereas correct decisions can help recover the system even from faulty conditions. A problem of special interest is the determination of the system fault protection strategies upon the occurrence of faults within the system. Decisions regarding the fault protection strategy also heavily rely on a correct understanding of the state of the system and an integrated risk model that represents the various possible scenarios and their respective likelihoods. Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) modeling is applicable to the full lifecycle of a space mission project, from concept development to preliminary design, detailed design, development and operations. The benefits and utilities of the model, however, depend on the phase of the mission for which it is used. This is because of the difference in the key strategic decisions that support each mission phase. The focus of this paper is on describing the particular methods used for PRA modeling during the operational phase of a spacecraft by gleaning insight from recently conducted case studies on two operational Mars orbiters. During operations, the key decisions relate to the commands sent to the spacecraft for any kind of diagnostics, anomaly resolution, trajectory changes, or planning. Often, faults and failures occur in the parts of the spacecraft but are contained or mitigated before they can cause serious damage. The failure behavior of the system during operations provides valuable data for updating and adjusting the related PRA models that are built primarily based on historical failure data. The PRA models, in turn

  14. Applying the Land Use Portfolio Model with Hazus to analyse risk from natural hazard events

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dinitz, Laura B.; Taketa, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes and demonstrates the integration of two geospatial decision-support systems for natural-hazard risk assessment and management. Hazus is a risk-assessment tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to identify risks and estimate the severity of risk from natural hazards. The Land Use Portfolio Model (LUPM) is a risk-management tool developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to evaluate plans or actions intended to reduce risk from natural hazards. We analysed three mitigation policies for one earthquake scenario in the San Francisco Bay area to demonstrate the added value of using Hazus and the LUPM together. The demonstration showed that Hazus loss estimates can be input to the LUPM to obtain estimates of losses avoided through mitigation, rates of return on mitigation investment, and measures of uncertainty. Together, they offer a more comprehensive approach to help with decisions for reducing risk from natural hazards.

  15. Minimum risk wavelet shrinkage operator for Poisson image denoising.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Wu; Hirakawa, Keigo

    2015-05-01

    The pixel values of images taken by an image sensor are said to be corrupted by Poisson noise. To date, multiscale Poisson image denoising techniques have processed Haar frame and wavelet coefficients--the modeling of coefficients is enabled by the Skellam distribution analysis. We extend these results by solving for shrinkage operators for Skellam that minimizes the risk functional in the multiscale Poisson image denoising setting. The minimum risk shrinkage operator of this kind effectively produces denoised wavelet coefficients with minimum attainable L2 error.

  16. Probabilistic risk assessment of the Space Shuttle. Phase 3: A study of the potential of losing the vehicle during nominal operation. Volume 2: Integrated loss of vehicle model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fragola, Joseph R.; Maggio, Gaspare; Frank, Michael V.; Gerez, Luis; Mcfadden, Richard H.; Collins, Erin P.; Ballesio, Jorge; Appignani, Peter L.; Karns, James J.

    1995-01-01

    The application of the probabilistic risk assessment methodology to a Space Shuttle environment, particularly to the potential of losing the Shuttle during nominal operation is addressed. The different related concerns are identified and combined to determine overall program risks. A fault tree model is used to allocate system probabilities to the subsystem level. The loss of the vehicle due to failure to contain energetic gas and debris, to maintain proper propulsion and configuration is analyzed, along with the loss due to Orbiter, external tank failure, and landing failure or error.

  17. Operational Risk Measurement of Chinese Commercial Banks Based on Extreme Value Theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Jiashan; Li, Yong; Ji, Feng; Peng, Cheng

    The financial institutions and supervision institutions have all agreed on strengthening the measurement and management of operational risks. This paper attempts to build a model on the loss of operational risks basing on Peak Over Threshold model, emphasizing on weighted least square, which improved Hill’s estimation method, while discussing the situation of small sample, and fix the sample threshold more objectively basing on the media-published data of primary banks loss on operational risk from 1994 to 2007.

  18. TECHNICAL GUIDANCE FOR THE APPLICATION OF CAFO MANURE TO LAND IN THE WINTER

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the paper is to present technical guidance to which EPA Region 5 will refer as we work together with those states that intend to allow concentrated animal feeding operations to apply manure to land in the winter. For this purpose, Region 5 assumes that the risk of...

  19. Wildfire Risk Mapping over the State of Mississippi: Land Surface Modeling Approach

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

    Cooke, William H.; Mostovoy, Georgy; Anantharaj, Valentine G

    2012-01-01

    Three fire risk indexes based on soil moisture estimates were applied to simulate wildfire probability over the southern part of Mississippi using the logistic regression approach. The fire indexes were retrieved from: (1) accumulated difference between daily precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (P-E); (2) top 10 cm soil moisture content simulated by the Mosaic land surface model; and (3) the Keetch-Byram drought index (KBDI). The P-E, KBDI, and soil moisture based indexes were estimated from gridded atmospheric and Mosaic-simulated soil moisture data available from the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2). Normalized deviations of these indexes from the 31-year meanmore » (1980-2010) were fitted into the logistic regression model describing probability of wildfires occurrence as a function of the fire index. It was assumed that such normalization provides more robust and adequate description of temporal dynamics of soil moisture anomalies than the original (not normalized) set of indexes. The logistic model parameters were evaluated for 0.25 x0.25 latitude/longitude cells and for probability representing at least one fire event occurred during 5 consecutive days. A 23-year (1986-2008) forest fires record was used. Two periods were selected and examined (January mid June and mid September December). The application of the logistic model provides an overall good agreement between empirical/observed and model-fitted fire probabilities over the study area during both seasons. The fire risk indexes based on the top 10 cm soil moisture and KBDI have the largest impact on the wildfire odds (increasing it by almost 2 times in response to each unit change of the corresponding fire risk index during January mid June period and by nearly 1.5 times during mid September-December) observed over 0.25 x0.25 cells located along the state of Mississippi Coast line. This result suggests a rather strong control of fire risk indexes on fire occurrence

  20. Risk assessment of malaria in land border regions of China in the context of malaria elimination.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Qian; Sun, Junling; Zhang, Zike; Geng, Qibin; Lai, Shengjie; Hu, Wenbiao; Clements, Archie C A; Li, Zhongjie

    2016-11-08

    Cross-border malaria transmission poses a challenge for countries to achieve and maintain malaria elimination. Because of a dramatic increase of cross-border population movement between China and 14 neighbouring countries, the malaria epidemic risk in China's land border regions needs to be understood. In this study, individual case-based epidemiological data on malaria in the 136 counties of China with international land borders, from 2011 to 2014, were extracted from the National Infectious Disease Information System. The Plasmodium species, seasonality, spatiotemporal distribution and changing features of imported and indigenous cases were analysed using descriptive spatial and temporal methods. A total of 1948 malaria cases were reported, with 1406 (72.2%) imported cases and 542 (27.8%) indigenous cases. Plasmodium vivax is the predominant species, with 1536 malaria cases occurrence (78.9%), following by Plasmodium falciparum (361 cases, 18.5%), and the others (51 cases, 2.6%). The magnitude and geographic distribution of malaria in land border counties shrunk sharply during the elimination period. Imported malaria cases were with a peak of 546 cases in 2011, decreasing yearly in the following years. The number of counties with imported cases decreased from 28 counties in 2011 to 26 counties in 2014. Indigenous malaria cases presented a markedly decreasing trend, with 319 indigenous cases in 2011 reducing to only 33 indigenous cases in 2014. The number of counties with indigenous cases reduced from 26 counties in 2011 to 10 counties in 2014. However, several bordering counties of Yunnan province adjacent to Myanmar reported indigenous malaria cases in the four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014. The scale and extent of malaria occurrence in the international land border counties of China decreased dramatically during the elimination period. However, several high-risk counties, especially along the China-Myanmar border, still face a persistent risk of malaria

  1. Operational Land Imager relative radiometric calibration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barsi, Julia A.; Markham, Brian L.

    2015-09-01

    The Operational Land Imager (OLI), on board the Landsat-8 satellite, is a pushbroom sensor with nearly 7000 detectors per band, divided between 14 separate modules. While rigorously characterized prior to launch, the shear number of individual detectors presents a challenge to maintaining the on-orbit relative calibration, such that stripes, bands and other artifacts are minimized in the final image products. On-orbit relative calibration of the OLI is primarily monitored and corrected by observing an on-board primary solar diffuser panel. The panel is the most uniform target available to the OLI, though as observed but the OLI, it has a slope across the field of view due to view angle effects. Just after launch, parameters were derived using the solar diffuser data, to correct for the angular effects across the 14 modules. The residual discontinuities between arrays and the detector-to-detector uniformity continue to be monitored on a weekly basis. The observed variations in the responses to the diffuser panel since launch are thought to be due to real instrument changes. Since launch, the Coastal/Aerosol (CA) and Blue bands have shown the most variation in relative calibration of the VNIR bands, with as much as 0.14% change (3-sigma) between consecutive relative gain estimates. The other VNIR bands (Green, Red and NIR) initially had detectors showing a slow drift of about 0.2% per year, though this stopped after an instrument power cycle about seven months after launch. The SWIR bands also exhibit variability between collects (0.11% 3-sigma) but the larger changes have been where individual detectors' responses change suddenly by as much as 1.5%. The mechanisms behind these changes are not well understood but in order to minimize impact to the users, the OLI relative calibration is updated on a quarterly basis in order to capture changes over time.

  2. Technoeconomic analysis of conventional logging systems operating from stump to landing

    Treesearch

    Raymond L. Sarles; William G. Luppold; William G. Luppold

    1986-01-01

    Analyzes technical and economic factors for six conventional logging systems suitable for operation in eastern forests. Discusses financial risks and business implications for loggers investing in high-production, state-of-the-art logging systems. Provides logging contractors with information useful as a preliminary guide for selection of equipment and systems....

  3. Simulating future climate and land-use impacts on at-risk species in parks and protected areas

    EPA Science Inventory

    Alpine and sagebrush ecosystems in the mountain west are under threat from climate change and development. The wolverine, fisher, greater sage-grouse,and pygmy rabbit are iconic at-risk species in the region. We explore the impacts of future climate and land-use change on these s...

  4. 40 CFR 147.2510 - EPA-administered program-Indian lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false EPA-administered program-Indian lands... § 147.2510 EPA-administered program—Indian lands. (a) Contents. The UIC program for Indian lands in the... section for Indian lands in Wisconsin no owner or operator shall construct, operate, maintain, or convert...

  5. 40 CFR 147.2510 - EPA-administered program-Indian lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false EPA-administered program-Indian lands... § 147.2510 EPA-administered program—Indian lands. (a) Contents. The UIC program for Indian lands in the... section for Indian lands in Wisconsin no owner or operator shall construct, operate, maintain, or convert...

  6. 40 CFR 147.2510 - EPA-administered program-Indian lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false EPA-administered program-Indian lands... § 147.2510 EPA-administered program—Indian lands. (a) Contents. The UIC program for Indian lands in the... section for Indian lands in Wisconsin no owner or operator shall construct, operate, maintain, or convert...

  7. 40 CFR 147.2510 - EPA-administered program-Indian lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false EPA-administered program-Indian lands... § 147.2510 EPA-administered program—Indian lands. (a) Contents. The UIC program for Indian lands in the... section for Indian lands in Wisconsin no owner or operator shall construct, operate, maintain, or convert...

  8. 40 CFR 147.2510 - EPA-administered program-Indian lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false EPA-administered program-Indian lands... § 147.2510 EPA-administered program—Indian lands. (a) Contents. The UIC program for Indian lands in the... section for Indian lands in Wisconsin no owner or operator shall construct, operate, maintain, or convert...

  9. Risk of anterior cruciate ligament fatigue failure is increased by limited internal femoral rotation during in vitro repeated pivot landings.

    PubMed

    Beaulieu, Mélanie L; Wojtys, Edward M; Ashton-Miller, James A

    2015-09-01

    A reduced range of hip internal rotation is associated with increased peak anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) strain and risk for injury. It is unknown, however, whether limiting the available range of internal femoral rotation increases the susceptibility of the ACL to fatigue failure. Risk of ACL failure is significantly greater in female knee specimens with a limited range of internal femoral rotation, smaller femoral-ACL attachment angle, and smaller tibial eminence volume during repeated in vitro simulated single-leg pivot landings. Controlled laboratory study. A custom-built testing apparatus was used to simulate repeated single-leg pivot landings with a 4×-body weight impulsive load that induces knee compression, knee flexion, and internal tibial torque in 32 paired human knee specimens from 8 male and 8 female donors. These test loads were applied to each pair of specimens, in one knee with limited internal femoral rotation and in the contralateral knee with femoral rotation resisted by 2 springs to simulate the active hip rotator muscles' resistance to stretch. The landings were repeated until ACL failure occurred or until a minimum of 100 trials were executed. The angle at which the ACL originates from the femur and the tibial eminence volume were measured on magnetic resonance images. The final Cox regression model (P = .024) revealed that range of internal femoral rotation and sex of donor were significant factors in determining risk of ACL fatigue failure. The specimens with limited range of internal femoral rotation had a failure risk 17.1 times higher than did the specimens with free rotation (P = .016). The female knee specimens had a risk of ACL failure 26.9 times higher than the male specimens (P = .055). Limiting the range of internal femoral rotation during repetitive pivot landings increases the risk of an ACL fatigue failure in comparison with free rotation in a cadaveric model. Screening for restricted internal rotation at the hip in ACL

  10. Risk assessment of the fatality due to explosion in land mass transport infrastructure by fast transient dynamic analysis.

    PubMed

    Giannopoulos, G; Larcher, M; Casadei, F; Solomos, G

    2010-01-15

    Terrorist attacks in New York have shocked the world community showing clearly the vulnerability of air transport in such events. However, the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London showed that land mass transport infrastructure is equally vulnerable in case of similar attacks. The fact that there has not been substantial investment in the domain of risk analysis and evaluation of the possible effects due to such events in land mass transportation infrastructure leaves large room for new developments that could eventually fill this gap. In the present work using the finite element code EUROPLEXUS there has been a large effort to perform a complete study of the land mass infrastructure in case of explosion events. This study includes a train station, a metro station and a metro carriage providing thus valuable simulation data for a variety of different situations. For the analysis of these structures it has been necessary to apply a laser scanning method for the acquisition of geometrical data, to improve the simulation capabilities of EUROPLEXUS by adding failure capabilities for specific finite elements, to implement new material models (e.g. glass), and to add new modules that achieve data post-processing for the calculation of fatal and non-fatal injuries risk. The aforementioned improvements are explained in the present work with emphasis in the newly developed risk analysis features of EUROPLEXUS.

  11. Specifications for updating USGS land use and land cover maps

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Milazzo, Valerie A.

    1983-01-01

    To meet the increasing demands for up-to-date land use and land cover information, a primary goal of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) national land use and land cover mapping program is to provide for periodic updating of maps and data in a timely and uniform manner. The technical specifications for updating existing USGS land use and land cover maps that are presented here cover both the interpretive aspects of detecting and identifying land use and land cover changes and the cartographic aspects of mapping and presenting the change data in conventional map format. They provide the map compiler with the procedures and techniques necessary to then use these change data to update existing land use and land cover maps in a manner that is both standardized and repeatable. Included are specifications for the acquisition of remotely sensed source materials, selection of compilation map bases, handling of data base corrections, editing and quality control operations, generation of map update products for USGS open file, and the reproduction and distribution of open file materials. These specifications are planned to become part of the National Mapping Division's Technical Instructions.

  12. Assessment of land use factors associated with dengue cases in Malaysia using Boosted Regression Trees.

    PubMed

    Cheong, Yoon Ling; Leitão, Pedro J; Lakes, Tobia

    2014-07-01

    The transmission of dengue disease is influenced by complex interactions among vector, host and virus. Land use such as water bodies or certain agricultural practices have been identified as likely risk factors for dengue because of the provision of suitable habitats for the vector. Many studies have focused on the land use factors of dengue vector abundance in small areas but have not yet studied the relationship between land use factors and dengue cases for large regions. This study aims to clarify if land use factors other than human settlements, e.g. different types of agricultural land use, water bodies and forest are associated with reported dengue cases from 2008 to 2010 in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. From the correlative relationship, we aim to generate a prediction risk map. We used Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) to account for nonlinearities and interactions between the factors with high predictive accuracies. Our model with a cross-validated performance score (Area Under the Receiver Operator Characteristic Curve, ROC AUC) of 0.81 showed that the most important land use factors are human settlements (model importance of 39.2%), followed by water bodies (16.1%), mixed horticulture (8.7%), open land (7.5%) and neglected grassland (6.7%). A risk map after 100 model runs with a cross-validated ROC AUC mean of 0.81 (±0.001 s.d.) is presented. Our findings may be an important asset for improving surveillance and control interventions for dengue. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  13. Use of risk assessment panels during revision of the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan.

    Treesearch

    Charles G. Shaw

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes the process used to conduct the 16 risk assessment panels and a subsistence working group held during revision of the Tongass land management plan. It provides an overview of how results from the panels were used by forest managers in plan-related decisionmaking, discusses some reactions to the effort, and identifies some opportunities to improve...

  14. Analysis of general aviation accidents during operations under instrument flight rules

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bennett, C. T.; Schwirzke, Martin; Harm, C.

    1990-01-01

    A report is presented to describe some of the errors that pilots make during flight under IFR. The data indicate that there is less risk during the approach and landing phase of IFR flights, as compared to VFR operations. Single-pilot IFR accident rates continue to be higher than two-pilot IFR incident rates, reflecting the high work load of IFR operations.

  15. Regional probabilistic risk assessment of heavy metals in different environmental media and land uses: An urbanization-affected drinking water supply area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Chi; Cai, Yimin; Wang, Tieyu; Xiao, Rongbo; Chen, Weiping

    2016-11-01

    In this study, we proposed a Regional Probabilistic Risk Assessment (RPRA) to estimate the health risks of exposing residents to heavy metals in different environmental media and land uses. The mean and ranges of heavy metal concentrations were measured in water, sediments, soil profiles and surface soils under four land uses along the Shunde Waterway, a drinking water supply area in China. Hazard quotients (HQs) were estimated for various exposure routes and heavy metal species. Riverbank vegetable plots and private vegetable plots had 95th percentiles of total HQs greater than 3 and 1, respectively, indicating high risks of cultivation on the flooded riverbank. Vegetable uptake and leaching to groundwater were the two transfer routes of soil metals causing high health risks. Exposure risks during outdoor recreation, farming and swimming along the Shunde Waterway are theoretically safe. Arsenic and cadmium were identified as the priority pollutants that contribute the most risk among the heavy metals. Sensitivity analysis showed that the exposure route, variations in exposure parameters, mobility of heavy metals in soil, and metal concentrations all influenced the risk estimates.

  16. Data Acquisition for Land Subsidence Control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Y.; Balke, K.

    2009-12-01

    For controlling land subsidence caused by groundwater over-exploitation, loading of engineered structures, mining and other anthropogenic activities in this fast changing world, a large variety of different data of various scales of concerning areas are needed for scientific study and administrative operational purposes. The economical, social and environmental impacts of anthropogenic land subsidence have long been recognized by many scientific institutions and management authorities based on results of monitoring and analysis at an interdisciplinary level. The land subsidence information systems composed of the surface and subsurface monitoring nets (monitoring and development wells, GPS stations and other facilities) and local data processing centers as a system management tool in Shanghai City was started with the use of GPS technology to monitor land subsidence in 1998. After years of experiences with a set of initiatives by adopting adequate countermeasures, the particular attention given to new improved methodologies to monitor and model the process of land subsidence in a simple and timely way, this is going to be promoted in the whole Yangtze River Delta region in China, where land subsidence expands in the entire region of urban cluster. The Delta land subsidence monitoring network construction aims to establish an efficient and coordinated water resource management system. The land subsidence monitoring network records "living history" of land subsidence, produces detailed scheduled reports and environmental impact statements. For the different areas with local factors and site characteristics, parallel packages need to be designed for predicting changes, land sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, especially for the risk analysis in the rapid growth of megacities and urban areas. In such cases, the new models with new types of local data and the new ways of data acquisition provide the best information for the decision makers for their mitigating

  17. Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) Landing Parachute Demonstrator (LPD) Drop Test

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shreves, Christopher M.

    2011-01-01

    The Landing Parachute Demonstrator (LPD) was conceived as a low-cost, rapidly-developed means of providing soft landing for the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) crew module (CM). Its experimental main parachute cluster deployment technique and off-the-shelf hardware necessitated a full-scale drop test prior to the MLAS mission in order to reduce overall mission risk. This test was successfully conducted at Wallops Flight Facility on March 6, 2009, with all vehicle and parachute systems functioning as planned. The results of the drop test successfully qualified the LPD system for the MLAS flight test. This document captures the design, concept of operations and results of the drop test.

  18. Interdependencies and Risks at the Nexus of Energy, Water, and Land Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geernaert, G. L.

    2016-12-01

    During recent years, the federal agencies have rallied around efforts to understand and predict the interdependencies involving various combinations of energy infrastructure and supply, water supply and quality, and land use that combines agriculture and food production. The US Department of Energy has, in particular, focused on the energy-water nexus, with specific goals to understand the degree of interdependence that leads to multi-sector risk and, in the worst case, the precursors that can lead to cascading failure. Determining thresholds for system interdependence, evaluating the impact of drought on systems, and planning for robust mitigation options to avert future risks, are among DOE's highest research priorities. In this presentation, the DOE program plan and its rationale will be described; and the DOE plan will be placed in context of broader efforts across the federal government.

  19. Constellation Program (CxP) Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Project Integrated Landing System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baker, John D.; Yuchnovicz, Daniel E.; Eisenman, David J.; Peer, Scott G.; Fasanella, Edward L.; Lawrence, Charles

    2009-01-01

    Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Chief Engineer requested a risk comparison of the Integrated Landing System design developed by NASA and the design developed by Contractor- referred to as the LM 604 baseline. Based on the results of this risk comparison, the CEV Chief engineer requested that the NESC evaluate identified risks and develop strategies for their reduction or mitigation. The assessment progressed in two phases. A brief Phase I analysis was performed by the Water versus Land-Landing Team to compare the CEV Integrated Landing System proposed by the Contractor against the NASA TS-LRS001 baseline with respect to risk. A phase II effort examined the areas of critical importance to the overall landing risk, evaluating risk to the crew and to the CEV Crew Module (CM) during a nominal land-landing. The findings of the assessment are contained in this report.

  20. NASA Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) Atlanta Demonstration: Surveillance Systems Performance Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cassell, Rick; Evers, Carl; Hicok, Dan; Lee, Derrick

    1999-01-01

    NASA conducted a series of flight experiments at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport as part of the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) Program. LVLASO is one of the subelements of the NASA Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) Program, which is focused on providing technology and operating procedures for achieving clear-weather airport capacity in instrument-weather conditions, while also improving safety. LVLASO is investigating various technologies to be applied to airport surface operations, including advanced flight deck displays and surveillance systems. The purpose of this report is to document the performance of the surveillance systems tested as part of the LVLASO flight experiment. There were three surveillance sensors tested: primary radar using Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-3) and the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), Multilateration using the Airport Surface Target Identification System (ATIDS), and Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) operating at 1090 MHz. The performance was compared to the draft requirements of the ICAO Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS). Performance parameters evaluated included coverage, position accuracy, and update rate. Each of the sensors was evaluated as a stand alone surveillance system.

  1. MITRA Virtual laboratory for operative application of satellite time series for land degradation risk estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nole, Gabriele; Scorza, Francesco; Lanorte, Antonio; Manzi, Teresa; Lasaponara, Rosa

    2015-04-01

    This paper aims to present the development of a tool to integrate time series from active and passive satellite sensors (such as of MODIS, Vegetation, Landsat, ASTER, COSMO, Sentinel) into a virtual laboratory to support studies on landscape and archaeological landscape, investigation on environmental changes, estimation and monitoring of natural and anthropogenic risks. The virtual laboratory is composed by both data and open source tools specifically developed for the above mentioned applications. Results obtained for investigations carried out using the implemented tools for monitoring land degradation issues and subtle changes ongoing on forestry and natural areas are herein presented. In detail MODIS, SPOT Vegetation and Landsat time series were analyzed comparing results of different statistical analyses and the results integrated with ancillary data and evaluated with field survey. The comparison of the outputs we obtained for the Basilicata Region from satellite data analyses and independent data sets clearly pointed out the reliability for the diverse change analyses we performed, at the pixel level, using MODIS, SPOT Vegetation and Landsat TM data. Next steps are going to be implemented to further advance the current Virtual Laboratory tools, by extending current facilities adding new computational algorithms and applying to other geographic regions. Acknowledgement This research was performed within the framework of the project PO FESR Basilicata 2007/2013 - Progetto di cooperazione internazionale MITRA "Remote Sensing tecnologies for Natural and Cultural heritage Degradation Monitoring for Preservation and valorization" funded by Basilicata Region Reference 1. A. Lanorte, R Lasaponara, M Lovallo, L Telesca 2014 Fisher-Shannon information plane analysis of SPOT/VEGETATION Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series to characterize vegetation recovery after fire disturbance International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and

  2. The construction of power grid operation index system considering the risk of maintenance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tang, Jihong; Wang, Canlin; Jiang, Xinfan; Ye, Jianhui; Pan, Feilai

    2018-02-01

    In recent years, large-scale blackout occurred at home and abroad caused widespread concern about the operation of the grid in the world, and the maintenance risk is an important indicator of grid safety. The barrier operation of the circuit breaker exists in the process of overhaul of the power grid. The operation of the different barrier is of great significance to the change of the power flow, thus affecting the safe operation of the system. Most of the grid operating status evaluation index system did not consider the risk of maintenance, to this end, this paper from the security, economy, quality and cleanliness of the four angles, build the power grid operation index system considering the risk of maintenance.

  3. 12 CFR 3.161 - Qualification requirements for incorporation of operational risk mitigants.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Qualification requirements for incorporation of... qualifying operational risk mitigants if: (1) The national bank's or Federal savings association's.... Qualifying operational risk mitigants are: (1) Insurance that: (i) Is provided by an unaffiliated company...

  4. Meteorological Predictions in Support of the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rothchild, A.; Rafkin, S. C.; Pielke, R. A., Sr.

    2010-12-01

    The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system employs a standard parachute strategy followed by a new sky crane concept where the rover is lowered to the ground via a tether from a hovering entry vehicle. As with previous missions, EDL system performance is sensitive to atmospheric conditions. While some observations characterizing the mean, large-scale atmospheric temperature and density data are available, there is effectively no information on the atmospheric conditions and variability at the scale that directly affects the spacecraft. In order to evaluate EDL system performance and to assess landing hazards and risk, it is necessary to simulate the atmosphere with a model that provides data at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Models also permit the study of the impact of the highly variable atmospheric dust loading on temperature, density and winds. There are four potential MSL landing sites: Mawrth Valle (22.3 N, 16.5W) , Gale Crater (5.4S, 137.7E), Holden Crater (26.1S, 34W), and Eberswalde Crater (24S, 33W). The final selection of the landing site will balance potential science return against landing and operational risk. Atmospheric modeling studies conducted with the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) is an integral part of the selection process. At each of the landing sites, a variety of simulations are conducted. The first type of simulations provide baseline predictions under nominal atmospheric dust loading conditions within the landing site window of ~Ls 150-170. The second type of simulation explores situations with moderate and high global atmospheric dust loading. The final type of simulation investigates the impact of local dust disturbances at the landing site. Mean and perturbation fields from each type of simulation at each of the potential landing sites are presented in comparison with the engineering performance limitations for the MSL EDL system. Within the lowest scale height, winds

  5. Risk Analysis for Unintentional Slide Deployment During Airline Operations.

    PubMed

    Ayra, Eduardo S; Insua, David Ríos; Castellanos, María Eugenia; Larbi, Lydia

    2015-09-01

    We present a risk analysis undertaken to mitigate problems in relation to the unintended deployment of slides under normal operations within a commercial airline. This type of incident entails relevant costs for the airline industry. After assessing the likelihood and severity of its consequences, we conclude that such risks need to be managed. We then evaluate the effectiveness of various countermeasures, describing and justifying the chosen ones. We also discuss several issues faced when implementing and communicating the proposed measures, thus fully illustrating the risk analysis process. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

  6. Mining Permits - Division of Mining, Land, and Water

    Science.gov Websites

    are issued for a term of 1-5 years. An application for a "single year" operation costs $150 ). Federal Operators: If your operation involves federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM issues miners the Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (APDES) General Permit. If the operation

  7. Orion Crew Member Injury Predictions during Land and Water Landings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lawrence, Charles; Littell, Justin D.; Fasanella, Edwin L.; Tabiei, Ala

    2008-01-01

    A review of astronaut whole body impact tolerance is discussed for land or water landings of the next generation manned space capsule named Orion. LS-DYNA simulations of Orion capsule landings are performed to produce a low, moderate, and high probability of injury. The paper evaluates finite element (FE) seat and occupant simulations for assessing injury risk for the Orion crew and compares these simulations to whole body injury models commonly referred to as the Brinkley criteria. The FE seat and crash dummy models allow for varying the occupant restraint systems, cushion materials, side constraints, flailing of limbs, and detailed seat/occupant interactions to minimize landing injuries to the crew. The FE crash test dummies used in conjunction with the Brinkley criteria provides a useful set of tools for predicting potential crew injuries during vehicle landings.

  8. Military personnel with self-reported ankle injuries do not demonstrate deficits in dynamic postural stability or landing kinematics.

    PubMed

    Bansbach, Heather M; Lovalekar, Mita T; Abt, John P; Rafferty, Deirdre; Yount, Darcie; Sell, Timothy C

    2017-08-01

    The odds of sustaining non-contact musculoskeletal injuries are higher in Special Operations Forces operators than in infantry soldiers. The ankle is one of the most commonly injured joints, and once injured can put individuals at risk for reinjury. The purpose of this study was to determine if any differences in postural stability and landing kinematics exist between operators with a self-reported ankle injury in the past one year and uninjured controls. A total of 55 Special Operations Forces operators were included in this analysis. Comparisons were made between operators with a self-reported ankle injury within one-year of their test date (n=11) and healthy matched controls (n=44). Comparisons were also made between injured and uninjured limbs within the injured group. Dynamic postural stability and landing kinematics at the ankle, knee, and hip were assessed during a single-leg jump-landing task. Comparisons were made between groups with independent t-tests and within the injured group between limbs using paired t-tests. There were no significant differences in dynamic postural stability index or landing kinematics between the injured and uninjured groups. Anterior-posterior stability index was significantly higher on the uninjured limb compared to the injured limb within the injured group (P=0.02). Single ankle injuries sustained by operators may not lead to deficits in dynamic postural stability. Dynamic postural stability index and landing kinematics within one year after injury were either not affected by the injuries reported, or injured operators were trained back to baseline measures through rehabilitation and daily activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Heavy metal speciation and risk assessment in dry land and paddy soils near mining areas at Southern China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Guannan; Wang, Juan; Zhang, Erxi; Hou, Jing; Liu, Xinhui

    2016-05-01

    Heavy metal contamination of soils has been a long-standing environmental problem in many parts of the world, and poses enormous threats to ecosystem and human health. Speciation of heavy metals in soils is crucial to assessing environmental risks from contaminated soils. In this study, total concentrations and speciation of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were measured for agricultural soils near mines along the Diaojiang River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomy Region, China. The sources of heavy metals in soils also were identified to assess their effect on speciation distribution of soil heavy metals. Furthermore, the speciation distribution of Cd and Zn, main soil heavy metal pollutants, in dry land and paddy soils were compared. Results showed that there were two severely polluted regions near mine area reaching alarming pollution level. As, Cd, Pb, and Zn were more affected by mining activities, showing very strong pollution level in soils. The mean percentage of exchangeable and carbonate fraction was highest and up to 46.8 % for Cd, indicating a high environmental risk. Greater bioavailable fractions of As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn were found in soils heavily polluted by mining activities, whereas Cr and Ni as geogenic elements in the stable residual fraction. In addition, in the dry land soils, reducible fraction proportion of Cd was higher than that in the paddy soils, whereas exchangeable and carbonate fraction of Cd was lower than that in the paddy soils. Oxidizable fraction of Zn was higher in the paddy soils than that in the dry land soils. The results indicate that the sources of soil heavy metals and land types affect heavy metal speciation in the soil and are significant for environmental risk assessment of soil heavy metal pollutions.

  10. Generic Assessment Criteria for human health risk assessment of potentially contaminated land in China.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Yuanyuan; Nathanail, Paul C

    2009-12-20

    Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) are derived using widely applicable assumptions about the characteristics and behaviour of contaminant sources, pathways and receptors. GAC provide nationally consistent guidance, thereby saving money and time. Currently, there are no human health based Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) for contaminated sites in China. Protection of human health is therefore difficult to ensure and demonstrate; and the lack of GAC makes it difficult to tell if there is potential significant risk to human health unless site-specific criteria are derived. This paper derived Chinese GAC (GAC) for five inorganic and eight organic substances for three regions in China for three land uses: urban residential without plant uptake, Chinese cultivated land, and commercial/industrial using the SNIFFER model. The SNIFFER model has been further implemented with a dermal absorption algorithm and the model default input values have been changed to reflect the Chinese exposure scenarios. It is envisaged that the modified SNIFFER model could be used to derive GAC for more contaminants, more Regions, and more land uses. Further research to enhance the reliability and acceptability of the GAC is needed in regional/national surveys in diet and working patterns.

  11. Determining which land management practices reduce catchment scale flood risk and where to implement them for optimum effect

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pattison, Ian; Lane, Stuart; Hardy, Richard; Reaney, Sim

    2010-05-01

    The theoretical basis for why changes in land management might increase flood risk are well known, but proving them through numerical modelling still remains a challenge. In large catchments, like the River Eden in Cumbria, NW England, one of the reasons for this is that it is unfeasible to test multiple scenarios in all their possible locations. We have developed two linked approaches to refine the number of scenarios and locations using 1) spatial downscaling and 2) participatory decision making, which potentially should increase the likelihood of finding a link between land use and downstream flooding. Firstly, land management practices can have both flood reducing and flood increasing effects, depending on their location. As a result some areas of the catchment are more important in determining downstream flood risk than others, depending on the land use and hydrological connectivity. We apply a downscaling approach to identify which sub-catchments are most important in explaining downstream flooding. This is important because it is in these areas that management options are most likely to have a positive and detectable effect. Secondly, once the dominant sub-catchment has been identified, the land management scenarios that are both feasible and likely to impact flood risk need to be determined. This was done through active stakeholder engagement. The stakeholder group undertook a brainstorming exercise, which suggested about 30 different rural land management scenarios, which were mapped on to a literature-based conceptual framework of hydrological processes. Then these options were evaluated based on five criteria: relevance to catchment, scientific effectiveness, testability, robustness/uncertainty and feasibility of implementation. The suitability of each scenario was discussed and prioritised by the stakeholder group based on scientific needs and expectations and local suitability and feasibility. The next stage of the participatory approach was a mapping

  12. Managing Risk for Cassini During Mission Operations and Data Analysis (MOandDA)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Witkowski, Mona M.

    2002-01-01

    A Risk Management Process has been tailored for Cassini that not only satisfies the requirements of NASA and JPL, but also allows the Program to proactively identify and assess risks that threaten mission objectives. Cassini Risk Management is a team effort that involves both management and engineering staff. The process is managed and facilitated by the Mission Assurance Manager (MAM), but requires regular interactions with Program Staff and team members to instill the risk management philosophy into the day to day mission operations. While Risk Management is well defined for projects in the development phase, it is a relatively new concept for Mission Operations. The Cassini team has embraced this process and has begun using it in an effective, proactive manner, to ensure mission success. It is hoped that the Cassini Risk Management Process will form the basis by which risk management is conducted during MO&DA on future projects. proactive in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks before they become problems. Cost ehtiveness is achieved by: Comprehensively identifying risks Rapidly assessing which risks require the expenditure of pruject cewums Taking early actions to mitigate these risks Iterating the process frequently, to be responsive to the dynamic internal and external environments The Cassini Program has successfully implemented a Risk Management Process for mission operations, The initial SRL has been developed and input into he online tool. The Risk Management webbased system has been rolled out for use by the flight team and risk owners we working proactive in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks before they become problems. Cost ehtiveness is achieved by: Comprehensively identifying risks Rapidly assessing which risks require the expenditure of pruject cewums Taking early actions to mitigate these risks Iterating the process frequently, to be responsive to the dynamic internal and external environments The Cassini Program has successfully

  13. 45 CFR 153.630 - Data validation requirements when HHS operates risk adjustment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Data validation requirements when HHS operates... Program § 153.630 Data validation requirements when HHS operates risk adjustment. (a) General requirement... performed on its risk adjustment data as described in this section. (b) Initial validation audit. (1) An...

  14. 45 CFR 153.630 - Data validation requirements when HHS operates risk adjustment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Data validation requirements when HHS operates... Program § 153.630 Data validation requirements when HHS operates risk adjustment. (a) General requirement... performed on its risk adjustment data as described in this section. (b) Initial validation audit. (1) An...

  15. Monitoring urban land cover with the use of satellite remote sensing techniques as a means of flood risk assessment in Cyprus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alexakis, Dimitris; Hadjimitsis, Diofantos; Agapiou, Athos; Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Retalis, Adrianos

    2011-11-01

    The increase of flood inundation occuring in different regions all over the world have enhanced the need for effective flood risk management. As floods frequency is increasing with a steady rate due to ever increasing human activities on physical floodplains there is a respectively increasing of financial destructive impact of floods. A flood can be determined as a mass of water that produces runoff on land that is not normally covered by water. However, earth observation techniques such as satellite remote sensing can contribute toward a more efficient flood risk mapping according to EU Directives of 2007/60. This study strives to highlight the need of digital mapping of urban sprawl in a catchment area in Cyprus and the assessment of its contribution to flood risk. The Yialias river (Nicosia, Cyprus) was selected as case study where devastating flash floods events took place at 2003 and 2009. In order to search the diachronic land cover regime of the study area multi-temporal satellite imagery was processed and analyzed (e.g Landsat TMETM+, Aster). The land cover regime was examined in detail by using sophisticated post-processing classification algorithms such as Maximum Likelihood, Parallelepiped Algorithm, Minimum Distance, Spectral Angle and Isodata. Texture features were calculated using the Grey Level Co-Occurence Matrix. In addition three classification techniques were compared : multispectral classification, texture based classification and a combination of both. The classification products were compared and evaluated for their accuracy. Moreover, a knowledge-rule method is proposed based on spectral, texture and shape features in order to create efficient land use and land cover maps of the study area. Morphometric parameters such as stream frequency, drainage density and elongation ratio were calculated in order to extract the basic watershed characteristics. In terms of the impacts of land use/cover on flooding, GIS and Fragstats tool were used to

  16. Human land use influences chronic wasting disease prevalence in mule deer

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Farnsworth, Matthew L.; Wolfe, L.L.; Hobbs, N.T.; Burnham, K.P.; Williams, E.S.; Theobald, D.M.; Conner, M.M.; Miller, M.W.

    2005-01-01

    Human alteration of landscapes can affect the distribution, abundance, and behavior of wildlife. We explored the effects of human land use on the prevalence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations residing in north-central Colorado. We chose best approximating models estimating CWD prevalence in relation to differences in human land use, sex, and geographic location. Prevalence was higher in developed areas and among male deer, suggesting anthropogenic influences on the occurrence of disease. We also found a relatively high degree of variation in prevalence across the three study sites, suggesting that spatial patterns in disease may be influenced by other factors operating at a broader, landscape scale. Our results suggest that multiple factors, including changes in land use, differences in exposure risk between sexes, and landscape-scaled heterogeneity, are associated with CWD prevalence in north-central Colorado.

  17. Designing and operating infrastructure for nonstationary flood risk management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doss-Gollin, J.; Farnham, D. J.; Lall, U.

    2017-12-01

    Climate exhibits organized low-frequency and regime-like variability at multiple time scales, causing the risk associated with climate extremes such as floods and droughts to vary in time. Despite broad recognition of this nonstationarity, there has been little theoretical development of ideas for the design and operation of infrastructure considering the regime structure of such changes and their potential predictability. We use paleo streamflow reconstructions to illustrate an approach to the design and operation of infrastructure to address nonstationary flood and drought risk. Specifically, we consider the tradeoff between flood control and conservation storage, and develop design and operation principles for allocating these storage volumes considering both a m-year project planning period and a n-year historical sampling record. As n increases, the potential uncertainty in probabilistic estimates of the return periods associated with the T-year extreme event decreases. As the duration m of the future operation period decreases, the uncertainty associated with the occurrence of the T-year event also increases. Finally, given the quasi-periodic nature of the system it may be possible to offer probabilistic predictions of the conditions in the m-year future period, especially if m is small. In the context of such predictions, one can consider that a m-year prediction may have lower bias, but higher variance, than would be associated with using a stationary estimate from the preceding n years. This bias-variance trade-off, and the potential for considering risk management for multiple values of m, provides an interesting system design challenge. We use wavelet-based simulation models in a Bayesian framework to estimate these biases and uncertainty distributions and devise a risk-optimized decision rule for the allocation of flood and conservation storage. The associated theoretical development also provides a methodology for the sizing of storage for new

  18. Human Mars Landing Site and Impacts on Mars Surface Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hoffman, Stephen J.; Bussey, Ben

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes NASA's initial steps for identifying and evaluating candidate Exploration Zones (EZs) and Regions of Interests (ROIs) for the first human crews that will explore the surface of Mars. NASA's current effort to define the exploration of this planet by human crews, known as the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC), provides the context in which these EZs and ROIs are being considered. The EMC spans all aspects of a human Mars mission including launch from Earth, transit to and from Mars, and operations on the surface of Mars. An EZ is a collection of ROIs located within approximately 100 kilometers of a centralized landing site. ROIs are areas relevant for scientific investigation and/or development/maturation of capabilities and resources necessary for a sustainable human presence. The EZ also contains one or more landing sites and a habitation site that will be used by multiple human crews during missions to explore and utilize the ROIs within the EZ. With the EMC as a conceptual basis, the EZ model has been refined to a point where specific site selection criteria for scientific exploration and in situ resource utilization can be defined. In 2015 these criteria were distributed to the planetary sciences community and the in situ resource utilization and civil engineering communities as part of a call for EZ proposals. The resulting "First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars" was held in October 2015 during which 47 proposals for EZs and ROIs were presented and discussed. Proposed locations spanned all longitudes and all allowable latitudes (+/- 50 degrees). Proposed justification for selecting one of these EZs also spanned a significant portion of the scientific and resource criteria provided to the community. Several important findings resulted from this Workshop including: (a) a strong consensus that, at a scale of 100 km (radius), multiple places on Mars exist that have both sufficient scientific interest

  19. Viirs Land Science Investigator-Led Processing System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Devadiga, S.; Mauoka, E.; Roman, M. O.; Wolfe, R. E.; Kalb, V.; Davidson, C. C.; Ye, G.

    2015-12-01

    The objective of the NASA's Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) Land Science Investigator-led Processing System (Land SIPS), housed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), is to produce high quality land products from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to extend the Earth System Data Records (ESDRs) developed from NASA's heritage Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the EOS Terra and Aqua satellites. In this paper we will present the functional description and capabilities of the S-NPP Land SIPS, including system development phases and production schedules, timeline for processing, and delivery of land science products based on coordination with the S-NPP Land science team members. The Land SIPS processing stream is expected to be operational by December 2016, generating land products either using the NASA science team delivered algorithms, or the "best-of" science algorithms currently in operation at NASA's Land Product Evaluation and Algorithm Testing Element (PEATE). In addition to generating the standard land science products through processing of the NASA's VIIRS Level 0 data record, the Land SIPS processing system is also used to produce a suite of near-real time products for NASA's application community. Land SIPS will also deliver the standard products, ancillary data sets, software and supporting documentation (ATBDs) to the assigned Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) for archival and distribution. Quality assessment and validation will be an integral part of the Land SIPS processing system; the former being performed at Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) facility, while the latter under the auspices of the CEOS Working Group on Calibration & Validation (WGCV) Land Product Validation (LPV) Subgroup; adopting the best-practices and tools used to assess the quality of heritage EOS-MODIS products generated at the MODIS Adaptive Processing

  20. 14 CFR 121.565 - Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting. 121... OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Flight Operations § 121.565 Engine... engine fails or whenever an engine is shutdown to prevent possible damage, the pilot in command must land...

  1. 14 CFR 121.565 - Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting. 121... OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Flight Operations § 121.565 Engine... engine fails or whenever an engine is shutdown to prevent possible damage, the pilot in command must land...

  2. 14 CFR 121.565 - Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting. 121... OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Flight Operations § 121.565 Engine... engine fails or whenever an engine is shutdown to prevent possible damage, the pilot in command must land...

  3. 14 CFR 121.565 - Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Engine inoperative: Landing; reporting. 121... OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Flight Operations § 121.565 Engine... engine fails or whenever an engine is shutdown to prevent possible damage, the pilot in command must land...

  4. COBALT CoOperative Blending of Autonomous Landing Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carson, John M. III; Restrepo, Carolina I.; Robertson, Edward A.; Seubert, Carl R.; Amzajerdian, Farzin

    2016-01-01

    COBALT is a terrestrial test platform for development and maturation of GN&C (Guidance, Navigation and Control) technologies for PL&HA (Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance). The project is developing a third generation, Langley Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) for ultra-precise velocity and range measurements, which will be integrated and tested with the JPL Lander Vision System (LVS) for Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) position estimates. These technologies together provide navigation that enables controlled precision landing. The COBALT hardware will be integrated in 2017 into the GN&C subsystem of the Xodiac rocket-propulsive Vertical Test Bed (VTB) developed by Masten Space Systems (MSS), and two terrestrial flight campaigns will be conducted: one open-loop (i.e., passive) and one closed-loop (i.e., active).

  5. Voluntary Nonmonetary Conservation Approaches on Private Land: A Review of Constraints, Risks, and Benefits for Raptor Nest Protection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Santangeli, Andrea; Laaksonen, Toni

    2015-02-01

    Biodiversity conservation on private land of the developed world faces several challenges. The costs of land are often high, and the attitudes of landowners towards conservation are variable. Scientists and practitioners need to scan for and adopt cost-effective solutions that allow for the long-term sustainability of conservation measures on private land. In this study, we focus on one of such possible solutions: Working with landowners to implement voluntary nonmonetary conservation. We restrict our focus to protection of raptor nests, but the ideas can be applied to other taxa as well. Through a literature review, we show that a voluntary nonmonetary approach for protecting raptor nests has been so far largely neglected and/or rarely reported in the scientific literature. However, results of a questionnaire sent to BirdLife partners across Europe indicate that this approach is more widely used than it appears from the literature. We show that voluntary nonmonetary approaches may represent useful tools to protect raptor nests on private land. We provide a workflow for implementation of such an approach in raptor nest protection, highlighting benefits, potential risks, and constraints in the application of the strategy. We suggest that a voluntary nonmonetary approach may have great potential for cost-effective conservation, but the risks it may entail should be carefully assessed in each case. There is an urgent need to consider and evaluate novel approaches, such as the one described here, which may constitute missed opportunities for cost-effective conservation.

  6. Operations concepts for Mars missions with multiple mobile spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dias, William C.

    1993-01-01

    Missions are being proposed which involve landing a varying number (anywhere from one to 24) of small mobile spacecraft on Mars. Mission proposals include sample returns, in situ geochemistry and geology, and instrument deployment functions. This paper discusses changes needed in traditional space operations methods for support of rover operations. Relevant differences include more frequent commanding, higher risk acceptance, streamlined procedures, and reliance on additional spacecraft autonomy, advanced fault protection, and prenegotiated decisions. New methods are especially important for missions with several Mars rovers operating concurrently against time limits. This paper also discusses likely mission design limits imposed by operations constraints .

  7. 43 CFR 3410.3-3 - Operating regulations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Operating regulations. 3410.3-3 Section 3410.3-3 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND... § 3410.3-3 Operating regulations. The licensee shall comply with the provisions of the operating...

  8. Stiff Landings Are Associated With Increased ACL Injury Risk in Young Female Basketball and Floorball Players.

    PubMed

    Leppänen, Mari; Pasanen, Kati; Kujala, Urho M; Vasankari, Tommi; Kannus, Pekka; Äyrämö, Sami; Krosshaug, Tron; Bahr, Roald; Avela, Janne; Perttunen, Jarmo; Parkkari, Jari

    2017-02-01

    Few prospective studies have investigated the biomechanical risk factors of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. To investigate the relationship between biomechanical characteristics of vertical drop jump (VDJ) performance and the risk of ACL injury in young female basketball and floorball players. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. At baseline, a total of 171 female basketball and floorball players (age range, 12-21 years) participated in a VDJ test using 3-dimensional motion analysis. The following biomechanical variables were analyzed: (1) knee valgus angle at initial contact (IC), (2) peak knee abduction moment, (3) knee flexion angle at IC, (4) peak knee flexion angle, (5) peak vertical ground-reaction force (vGRF), and (6) medial knee displacement. All new ACL injuries, as well as match and training exposure, were then recorded for 1 to 3 years. Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. Fifteen new ACL injuries occurred during the study period (0.2 injuries/1000 player-hours). Of the 6 factors considered, lower peak knee flexion angle (HR for each 10° increase in knee flexion angle, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34-0.88) and higher peak vGRF (HR for each 100-N increase in vGRF, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.45) were the only factors associated with increased risk of ACL injury. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.6 for peak knee flexion and 0.7 for vGRF, indicating a failed-to-fair combined sensitivity and specificity of the test. Stiff landings, with less knee flexion and greater vGRF, in a VDJ test were associated with increased risk of ACL injury among young female basketball and floorball players. However, although 2 factors (decreased peak knee flexion and increased vGRF) had significant associations with ACL injury risk, the ROC curve analyses revealed that these variables cannot be used for screening of athletes.

  9. Prediction of chronic post-operative pain: pre-operative DNIC testing identifies patients at risk.

    PubMed

    Yarnitsky, David; Crispel, Yonathan; Eisenberg, Elon; Granovsky, Yelena; Ben-Nun, Alon; Sprecher, Elliot; Best, Lael-Anson; Granot, Michal

    2008-08-15

    Surgical and medical procedures, mainly those associated with nerve injuries, may lead to chronic persistent pain. Currently, one cannot predict which patients undergoing such procedures are 'at risk' to develop chronic pain. We hypothesized that the endogenous analgesia system is key to determining the pattern of handling noxious events, and therefore testing diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) will predict susceptibility to develop chronic post-thoracotomy pain (CPTP). Pre-operative psychophysical tests, including DNIC assessment (pain reduction during exposure to another noxious stimulus at remote body area), were conducted in 62 patients, who were followed 29.0+/-16.9 weeks after thoracotomy. Logistic regression revealed that pre-operatively assessed DNIC efficiency and acute post-operative pain intensity were two independent predictors for CPTP. Efficient DNIC predicted lower risk of CPTP, with OR 0.52 (0.33-0.77 95% CI, p=0.0024), i.e., a 10-point numerical pain scale (NPS) reduction halves the chance to develop chronic pain. Higher acute pain intensity indicated OR of 1.80 (1.28-2.77, p=0.0024) predicting nearly a double chance to develop chronic pain for each 10-point increase. The other psychophysical measures, pain thresholds and supra-threshold pain magnitudes, did not predict CPTP. For prediction of acute post-operative pain intensity, DNIC efficiency was not found significant. Effectiveness of the endogenous analgesia system obtained at a pain-free state, therefore, seems to reflect the individual's ability to tackle noxious events, identifying patients 'at risk' to develop post-intervention chronic pain. Applying this diagnostic approach before procedures that might generate pain may allow individually tailored pain prevention and management, which may substantially reduce suffering.

  10. Emission rate modeling and risk assessment at an automobile plant from painting operations

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

    Kumar, A.; Shrivastava, A.; Kulkarni, A.

    Pollution from automobile plants from painting operations has been addressed in the Clean Act Amendments (1990). The estimation of pollutant emissions from automobile painting operation were done mostly by approximate procedures than by actual calculations. The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for calculating the emissions of the pollutants from painting operation in an automobile plant. Five scenarios involving an automobile painting operation, located in Columbus (Ohio), were studied for pollutant emission and concomitant risk associated with that. In the study of risk, a sensitivity analysis was done using Crystal Ball{reg{underscore}sign} on the parameters involved in risk.more » This software uses the Monte Carlo principle. The most sensitive factor in the risk analysis was the ground level concentration of the pollutants. All scenarios studied met the safety goal (a risk value of 1 x 10{sup {minus}6}) with different confidence levels. The highest level of confidence in meeting the safety goal was displayed by Scenario 1 (Alpha Industries). The results from the scenarios suggest that risk is associated with the quantity of released toxic pollutants. The sensitivity analysis of the various parameter shows that average spray rate of paint is the most important parameter in the estimation of pollutants from the painting operations. The entire study is a complete module that can be used by the environmental pollution control agencies for estimation of pollution levels and estimation of associated risk. The study can be further extended to other operations in an automobile industry or to different industries.« less

  11. Climate change, land slide risks and sustainable development, risk analysis and decision support process tool

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andersson-sköld, Y. B.; Tremblay, M.

    2011-12-01

    Climate change is in most parts of Sweden expected to result in increased precipitation and increased sea water levels causing flooding, erosion, slope instability and related secondary consequences. Landslide risks are expected to increase with climate change in large parts of Sweden due to increased annual precipitation, more intense precipitation and increased flows combined with dryer summers. In response to the potential climate related risks, and on the commission of the Ministry of Environment, the Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI) is at present performing a risk analysis project for the most prominent landslide risk area in Sweden: the Göta river valley. As part of this, a methodology for land slide ex-ante consequence analysis today, and in a future climate, has been developed and applied in the Göta river valley. Human life, settlements, industry, contaminated sites, infrastructure of national importance are invented and assessed important elements at risk. The goal of the consequence analysis is to produce a map of geographically distributed expected losses, which can be combined with a corresponding map displaying landslide probability to describe the risk (the combination of probability and consequence of a (negative) event). The risk analysis is GIS-aided in presenting and visualise the risk and using existing databases for quantification of the consequences represented by ex-ante estimated monetary losses. The results will be used on national, regional and as an indication of the risk on local level, to assess the need of measures to mitigate the risk. The costs and environmental and social impacts to mitigate the risk are expected to be very high but the costs and impacts of a severe landslide are expected to be even higher. Therefore, civil servants have pronounced a need of tools to assess both the vulnerability and a more holistic picture of impacts of climate change adaptation measures. At SGI a tool for the inclusion of sustainability

  12. Functional correlation approach to operational risk in banking organizations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kühn, Reimer; Neu, Peter

    2003-05-01

    A Value-at-Risk-based model is proposed to compute the adequate equity capital necessary to cover potential losses due to operational risks, such as human and system process failures, in banking organizations. Exploring the analogy to a lattice gas model from physics, correlations between sequential failures are modeled by as functionally defined, heterogeneous couplings between mutually supportive processes. In contrast to traditional risk models for market and credit risk, where correlations are described as equal-time-correlations by a covariance matrix, the dynamics of the model shows collective phenomena such as bursts and avalanches of process failures.

  13. Promoting patient safety through prospective risk identification: example from peri-operative care.

    PubMed

    Smith, A; Boult, M; Woods, I; Johnson, S

    2010-02-01

    Investigation of patient safety incidents has focused on retrospective analyses once incidents have occurred. Prospective risk analysis techniques complement this but have not been widely used in healthcare. Prospective risk identification of non-operative risks associated with adult elective surgery under general anaesthesia using a customised structured "what if" checklist and development of risk matrix. Prioritisation of recommendations arising by cost, ease and likely speed of implementation. Groups totalling 20 clinical and administrative healthcare staff involved in peri-operative care and risk experts convened by the UK National Patient Safety Agency. 102 risks were identified and 95 recommendations made. The top 20 recommendations together were judged to encompass about 75% of the total estimated risk attributable to the processes considered. Staffing and organisational issues (21% of total estimated risk) included recommendations for removing distractions from the operating theatre, ensuring the availability of senior anaesthetists and promoting standards and flexible working among theatre staff. Devices and equipment (19% of total estimated risk) could be improved by training and standardisation; airway control and temperature monitoring were identified as two specific areas. Pre-assessment of patients before admission to hospital (12% of estimated risk) could be improved by defining a data set for adequate pre-assessment and making this available throughout the NHS. This technique can be successfully applied by healthcare staff but expert facilitation of groups is advisable. Such wider-ranging processes can potentially lead to more comprehensive risk reduction than "single-issue" risk alerts.

  14. Risk of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Fatigue Failure Is Increased by Limited Internal Femoral Rotation During In Vitro Repeated Pivot Landings

    PubMed Central

    Beaulieu, Mélanie L.; Wojtys, Edward M.; Ashton-Miller, James A.

    2015-01-01

    Background A reduced range of hip internal rotation is associated with increased peak anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) strain and risk for injury. It is unknown, however, whether limiting the available range of internal femoral rotation increases the susceptibility of the ACL to fatigue failure. Hypothesis Risk of ACL failure is significantly greater in female knee specimens with a limited range of internal femoral rotation, smaller femoral-ACL attachment angle, and smaller tibial eminence volume during repeated in vitro simulated single-leg pivot landings. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods A custom-built testing apparatus was used to simulate repeated single-leg pivot landings with a 4×-body weight impulsive load that induces knee compression, knee flexion, and internal tibial torque in 32 paired human knee specimens from 8 male and 8 female donors. These test loads were applied to each pair of specimens, in one knee with limited internal femoral rotation and in the contralateral knee with femoral rotation resisted by 2 springs to simulate the active hip rotator muscles’ resistance to stretch. The landings were repeated until ACL failure occurred or until a minimum of 100 trials were executed. The angle at which the ACL originates from the femur and the tibial eminence volume were measured on magnetic resonance images. Results The final Cox regression model (P = .024) revealed that range of internal femoral rotation and sex of donor were significant factors in determining risk of ACL fatigue failure. The specimens with limited range of internal femoral rotation had a failure risk 17.1 times higher than did the specimens with free rotation (P = .016). The female knee specimens had a risk of ACL failure 26.9 times higher than the male specimens (P = .055). Conclusion Limiting the range of internal femoral rotation during repetitive pivot landings increases the risk of an ACL fatigue failure in comparison with free rotation in a cadaveric model

  15. Winery wastewater treatment using the land filter technique.

    PubMed

    Christen, E W; Quayle, W C; Marcoux, M A; Arienzo, M; Jayawardane, N S

    2010-08-01

    This study outlines a new approach to the treatment of winery wastewater by application to a land FILTER (Filtration and Irrigated cropping for Land Treatment and Effluent Reuse) system. The land FILTER system was tested at a medium size rural winery crushing approximately 20,000 tonnes of grapes. The approach consisted of a preliminary treatment through a coarse screening and settling in treatment ponds, followed by application to the land FILTER planted to pasture. The land FILTER system efficiently dealt with variable volumes and nutrient loads in the wastewater. It was operated to minimize pollutant loads in the treated water (subsurface drainage) and provide adequate leaching to manage salt in the soil profile. The land FILTER system was effective in neutralizing the pH of the wastewater and removing nutrient pollutants to meet EPA discharge limits. However, suspended solids (SS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in the subsurface drainage waters slightly exceeded EPA limits for discharge. The high organic content in the wastewater initially caused some soil blockage and impeded drainage in the land FILTER site. This was addressed by reducing the hydraulic loading rate to allow increased soil drying between wastewater irrigations. The analysis of soil characteristics after the application of wastewater found that there was some potassium accumulation in the profile but sodium and nutrients decreased after wastewater application. Thus, the wastewater application and provision of subsurface drainage ensured adequate leaching, and so was adequate to avoid the risk of soil salinisation. Crown Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A wildfire risk modeling system for evaluating landscape fuel treatment strategies

    Treesearch

    Alan Ager; Mark Finney; Andrew McMahan

    2006-01-01

    Despite a wealth of literature and models concerning wildfire risk, field units in Federal land management agencies lack a clear framework and operational tools to measure how risk might change from proposed fuel treatments. In an actuarial context, risk is defined as the expected value change from a fire, calculated as the product of (1) probability of a fire at a...

  17. Modifying landing mat material properties may decrease peak contact forces but increase forefoot forces in gymnastics landings.

    PubMed

    Mills, Chris; Yeadon, Maurice R; Pain, Matthew T G

    2010-09-01

    This study investigated how changes in the material properties of a landing mat could minimise ground reaction forces (GRF) and internal loading on a gymnast during landing. A multi-layer model of a gymnastics competition landing mat and a subject-specific seven-link wobbling mass model of a gymnast were developed to address this aim. Landing mat properties (stiffness and damping) were optimised using a Simplex algorithm to minimise GRF and internal loading. The optimisation of the landing mat parameters was characterised by minimal changes to the mat's stiffness (<0.5%) but increased damping (272%) compared to the competition landing mat. Changes to the landing mat resulted in reduced peak vertical and horizontal GRF and reduced bone bending moments in the shank and thigh compared to a matching simulation. Peak bone bending moments within the thigh and shank were reduced by 6% from 321.5 Nm to 302.5Nm and GRF by 12% from 8626 N to 7552 N when compared to a matching simulation. The reduction in these forces may help to reduce the risk of bone fracture injury associated with a single landing and reduce the risk of a chronic injury such as a stress fracture.

  18. A challenge for land and risk managers: differents stakeholders, differents definitions of the risks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fernandez, M.; Ruegg, J.

    2012-04-01

    In developing countries, mountain populations and territories are subject to multiple risks and vulnerabilities. In addition, they face even greater challenges than developed countries due to lack of knowledge, resources and technology. There are many different types of actors in society that manage risk at various scales and levels (i.e. engineers, geologists, administrators, land use planners, merchants and local indigenous and non-indigenous people). Because of limited resources and possibilities to reduce all types of risk, these different actors, or 'risk managers' have to choose and compete to prioritize which types of risks to address. This paper addresses a case study from San Cristobal Altaverapaz, Guatemala where a large landslide "Los Chorros", a catastrophic collapse of 6 millions cubic meters of rock, is affecting several communities and one of the country's main west-east access highways. In this case, the government established that the "primary" risk is the landslide, whereas other local stakeholders consider the primary risks to be economic This paper, situated at the cross section between political science, geography and disaster risk management, addresses the social conflict and competition for priorities and solutions for risk management, depending on the group of actors based on the on-going Los Chorros, Guatemala landslide mitigation process. This work is based on the analysis of practices, (Practical Science), policies and institutions in order to understand how the inclusion of multiple stakeholders in determining risk priorities can lead to more sustainable risk management in a given territory. The main objective of this investigation is first to identify and understand the juxtaposition of different readings of the risk equation, usually considered the interface between vulnerability, exposure and hazards. Secondly, it is to analyze the mechanisms of actions taken by various stakeholders, or risk managers. The analysis focuses on the

  19. 75 FR 50936 - Loan Policies and Operations; Lending and Leasing Limits and Risk Management

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-18

    ...-AC60 Loan Policies and Operations; Lending and Leasing Limits and Risk Management AGENCY: Farm Credit... sound operation of System institutions by strengthening their risk management practices and abilities to... the establishment of consistent, uniform and prudent concentration risk management policies by System...

  20. Assessing hazard risk, cost of adaptation and traditional land use activities in the context of permafrost thaw in communities in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Canada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benkert, B.; Perrin, A.; Calmels, F.

    2015-12-01

    Together with its partners, the Northern Climate ExChange (NCE, part of the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College) has been mapping permafrost-related hazard risk in northern communities since 2010. By integrating geoscience and climate project data, we have developed a series of community-scale hazard risk maps. The maps depict hazard risk in stoplight colours for easy interpretation, and support community-based, future-focused adaptation planning. Communities, First Nations, consultants and local regulatory agencies have used the hazard risk maps to site small-scale infrastructure projects, guide land planning processes, and assess suitability of land development applications. However, we know that assessing risk is only one step in integrating the implications of permafrost degradation in societal responses to environmental change. To build on our permafrost hazard risk maps, we are integrating economic principles and traditional land use elements. To assess economic implications of adaptation to permafrost change, we are working with geotechnical engineers to identify adaptation options (e.g., modified building techniques, permafrost thaw mitigation approaches) that suit the risks captured by our existing hazard risk maps. We layer this with an economic analysis of the costs associated with identified adaptation options, providing end-users with a more comprehensive basis upon which to make decisions related to infrastructure. NCE researchers have also integrated traditional land use activities in assessments of permafrost thaw risk, in a project led by Jean Marie River First Nation in the Northwest Territories. Here, the implications of permafrost degradation on food security and land use priorities were assessed by layering key game and gathering areas on permafrost thaw vulnerability maps. Results indicated that close to one quarter of big and small game habitats, and close to twenty percent of key furbearer and gathering areas within the First Nation

  1. Evolution and Implementation of the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis Concept of Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Newman, Lauri K.; Frigm, Ryan C.; Duncan, Matthew G.; Hejduk, Matthew D.

    2014-01-01

    Reacting to potential on-orbit collision risk in an operational environment requires timely and accurate communication and exchange of data, information, and analysis to ensure informed decision-making for safety of flight and responsible use of the shared space environment. To accomplish this mission, it is imperative that all stakeholders effectively manage resources: devoting necessary and potentially intensive resource commitment to responding to high-risk conjunction events and preventing unnecessary expenditure of resources on events of low collision risk. After 10 years of operational experience, the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) is modifying its Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to ensure this alignment of collision risk and resource management. This evolution manifests itself in the approach to characterizing, reporting, and refining of collision risk. Implementation of this updated CONOPS is expected to have a demonstrated improvement on the efficacy of JSpOC, CARA, and owner/operator resources.

  2. An Investigation of Network Enterprise Risk Management Techniques to Support Military Net-Centric Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-09-01

    this information supports the decison - making process as it is applied to the management of risk. 2. Operational Risk Operational risk is the threat... reasonability . However, to make a software system fault tolerant, the system needs to recognize and fix a system state condition. To detect a fault, a fault...Tracking ..........................................51 C. DECISION- MAKING PROCESS................................................................51 1. Risk

  3. Radiometric Calibration and Stability of the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markham, Brian L.; Barsi, Julia A.; Kaita, Edward; Ong, Lawrence; Morfitt, Ron; Haque, Md Obaidul

    2015-01-01

    Landsat-8 and its two Earth imaging sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) have been operating on-orbit for 2 1/2 years. The OLI radiometric calibration, which is monitored using on-board lamps, on-board solar diffusers, the moon and vicarious calibration techniques has been stable to within 1% over this period of time. The Coastal Aerosol band, band 1, shows the largest change at about 1% over the period; all other bands have shown no significant trend. OLI bands 1- 4 show small discontinuities in response (+0.1% to 0.2%) beginning about 7 months after launch and continuing for about 1 month associated with a power cycling of the instrument, though the origin of the recovery is unclear. To date these small changes have not been compensated for, but this will change with a reprocessing campaign that is currently scheduled for Fall 2015. The calibration parameter files (each typically covering a 3 month period) will be updated for these observed gain changes. A fitted response to an adjusted average of the lamps, solar and lunar results will represent the trend, sampled at the rate of one value per CPF.

  4. Radiometric calibration and stability of the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Markham, Brian L.; Barsi, Julia A.; Kaita, Edward; Ong, Lawrence; Morfitt, Ron A.; Haque, Md. O.

    2015-09-01

    Landsat-8 and its two Earth imaging sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) have been operating on-orbit for 2 1/2 years. The OLI radiometric calibration, which is monitored using on-board lamps, on-board solar diffusers, the moon and vicarious calibration techniques has been stable to within 1% over this period of time. The Coastal Aerosol band, band 1, shows the largest change at about 1% over the period; all other bands have shown no significant trend. OLI bands 1- 4 show small discontinuities in response (+0.1% to 0.2%) beginning about 7 months after launch and continuing for about 1 month associated with a power cycling of the instrument, though the origin of the recovery is unclear. To date these small changes have not been compensated for, but this will change with a reprocessing campaign that is currently scheduled for Fall 2015. The calibration parameter files (each typically covering a 3 month period) will be updated for these observed gain changes. A fitted response to an adjusted average of the lamps, solar and lunar results will represent the trend, sampled at the rate of one value per CPF.

  5. Effect of Deforestation and Land Use Changes on Mosquito Productivity and Development in Western Kenya Highlands: Implication for Malaria Risk.

    PubMed

    Kweka, Eliningaya J; Kimaro, Epiphania E; Munga, Stephen

    2016-01-01

    African highlands were known to be free of malaria for the past 50 years. However, the ever growing human population in the highlands of Africa has led to the deforestation and land coverage changes to create space for more land for cultivation, grazing, and house construction materials needs. This has lead to the creation of suitable breeding habitats, which are in open places. Decrease of canopy and forest cover has led to increased temperature both in outdoors and indoors in deforested areas. This increased temperature has resulted in the shortening of developmental stages of aquatic stages of mosquitoes and sporogony development in adult mosquitoes. Assessment of the effects of deforestation and land coverage changes (decrease), which leads to temperature changes and subsequently increases survivorship of adults and sporogony development in adult mosquitoes' body was gathered from previous data collected from 2003 to 2012 using different analysis techniques. Habitats productivity, species dynamics and abundance, mosquitoes feeding rates, and sporogony development are presented in relation to temperature changes. The effects of temperature rise due to land cover changes in highlands of western Kenya on larval developmental rates, adult sporogony developments, and malaria risk in human population were derived. Vector species dynamics and abundance in relation to land use changes have been found to change with time. This study found that, land cover changes is a key driver for the temperature rise in African highlands and increases the rate of malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae ssp., An. Funestus , and An. arabiensis colonizing the highlands. It has also significantly enhanced sporogony development rate and adult vector survival and therefore the risk of malaria transmission in the highlands.

  6. Sentinel-3 For Land Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goryl, Philippe; Gobron, Nadine; Mecklenburg, Susanne; Donlon, Craig; Bouvet, Marc; Buongiorno, Alessandra; Wilson, Hilary

    2016-07-01

    The Copernicus Programme, being Europe's Earth Observation and Monitoring Programme led by the European Union, aims to provide, on a sustainable basis, reliable and timely services related to environmental and security issues. The Sentinel-3 mission forms part of the Copernicus Space Component. Its main objectives, building on the heritage and experience of the European Space Agency's (ESA) ERS and ENVISAT missions, are to measure sea-surface topography, sea- and land-surface temperature and ocean- and land-surface colour in support of ocean forecasting systems, and for environmental and climate monitoring. The series of Sentinel-3 satellites will ensure global, frequent and near-real time ocean, ice and land monitoring, with the provision of observation data in a routine, long-term (up to 20 years of operations) and continuous fashion, with a consistent quality and a high level of reliability and availability. The launch of Sentinel-3 was successful last February 2016. The Sentinel-3 missions are jointly operated by ESA and EUMETSAT. ESA will be responsible for the operations, maintenance and evolution of the Sentinel-3 ground segment on land related products and EUMETSAT on the marine products and the satellite monitoring and control. All facilities supporting the Sentinel-3 operations are in place. The Sentinel-3 ground segment systematically acquires, processes and distributes a set of pre-defined core data products to the users. For a detailed description of the core data products please see https://earth.esa.int/web/sentinel/missions/sentinel-3/data-products. On request from the European Commission, ESA and EUMETSAT are presently assessing the possibility to include further core data products, in particular on aerosol optical depth, fire monitoring and synergistic products over land. This paper will provide an update on the status of the mission operations after the initial months in orbit and provide in particular an overview on the status of the Sentinel-3

  7. Land-Breeze Forecasting

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Case, Jonathan L.; Wheeler, Mark M.; Merceret, Francis J. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The nocturnal land breeze at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) is both operationally significant and challenging to forecast. The occurrence and timing of land breezes impact low-level winds, atmospheric stability, low temperatures, and fog development. Accurate predictions of the land breeze are critical for toxic material dispersion forecasts associated with space launch missions, since wind direction and low-level stability can change noticeably with the onset of a land breeze. This report presents a seven-year observational study of land breezes over east-central Florida from 1995 to 2001. This comprehensive analysis was enabled by the high-resolution tower observations over KSC/CCAFS. Five-minute observations of winds, temperature, and moisture along with 9 15-MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler data were used to analyze specific land-breeze cases, while the tower data were used to construct a composite climatology. Utilities derived from this climatology were developed to assist forecasters in determining the land-breeze occurrence, timing, and movement based on predicted meteorological conditions.

  8. Disposal Situation of Sewage Sludge from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) and Assessment of the Ecological Risk of Heavy Metals for Its Land Use in Shanxi, China

    PubMed Central

    Duan, Baoling; Zhang, Wuping; Zheng, Haixia; Wu, Chunyan; Zhang, Qiang; Bu, Yushan

    2017-01-01

    Land use of sewage sludge is the primary disposal method in Shanxi, accounting for 42.66% of all. To determine the ecological risk of heavy metals in sewage sludge, contents of seven heavy metals in sewage sludge from 9 municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) that had the highest application for land use were determined. The order of the measured concentrations was: Zn > Cr > Cu > Ni > Pb > As > Cd, and all heavy metals contents were within the threshold limit values of the Chinese Control Standards for Pollutants in Sludge from Agriculture Use (GB4284-84). Four indices were used to assess the pollution and the ecological risk of heavy metals. By the mean values of the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), heavy metals were ranked in the following order: Cd > Zn > Cu > As > Cr > Ni > Pb. The values showed that the pollution of Zn in station 3 and Cd in station 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 were heavily; Cu in station 8 and 9, Zn in station 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9 and Cd in station 5 and 7 were moderately to heavily, and the accumulation of other heavy metals were not significant. The single-factor pollution index (PI) suggested that none of the stations had heavy metals contamination, except for Cu in station 9, Zn in station 3 and 8, and Cd in station 1 and 9, which were at a moderate level. According to the results of the Nemerow’s synthetic pollution index (PN), sewage sludge from all stations was safe for land use with respect to heavy metals contamination, except for stations 3, 8 and 9, which were at the warning line. The monomial potential ecological risk coefficient (Eri) revealed that heavy metals ecological risks in most stations were low. However, station 9 had a moderate risk for Cu; station 6 had a moderate risk, stations 5 and 7 had high risk, other stations had very high risk for Cd. According to the results of the potential ecological risk index (RI), station 1, 8 and 9 had high risk; station 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 had a moderate risk, and station 6 had a low risk. The

  9. Disposal Situation of Sewage Sludge from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) and Assessment of the Ecological Risk of Heavy Metals for Its Land Use in Shanxi, China.

    PubMed

    Duan, Baoling; Zhang, Wuping; Zheng, Haixia; Wu, Chunyan; Zhang, Qiang; Bu, Yushan

    2017-07-21

    Land use of sewage sludge is the primary disposal method in Shanxi, accounting for 42.66% of all. To determine the ecological risk of heavy metals in sewage sludge, contents of seven heavy metals in sewage sludge from 9 municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) that had the highest application for land use were determined. The order of the measured concentrations was: Zn > Cr > Cu > Ni > Pb > As > Cd, and all heavy metals contents were within the threshold limit values of the Chinese Control Standards for Pollutants in Sludge from Agriculture Use (GB4284-84). Four indices were used to assess the pollution and the ecological risk of heavy metals. By the mean values of the geoaccumulation index (I geo ), heavy metals were ranked in the following order: Cd > Zn > Cu > As > Cr > Ni > Pb. The values showed that the pollution of Zn in station 3 and Cd in station 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 were heavily; Cu in station 8 and 9, Zn in station 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9 and Cd in station 5 and 7 were moderately to heavily, and the accumulation of other heavy metals were not significant. The single-factor pollution index (PI) suggested that none of the stations had heavy metals contamination, except for Cu in station 9, Zn in station 3 and 8, and Cd in station 1 and 9, which were at a moderate level. According to the results of the Nemerow's synthetic pollution index (PN), sewage sludge from all stations was safe for land use with respect to heavy metals contamination, except for stations 3, 8 and 9, which were at the warning line. The monomial potential ecological risk coefficient (Eri) revealed that heavy metals ecological risks in most stations were low. However, station 9 had a moderate risk for Cu; station 6 had a moderate risk, stations 5 and 7 had high risk, other stations had very high risk for Cd. According to the results of the potential ecological risk index (RI), station 1, 8 and 9 had high risk; station 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 had a moderate risk, and station 6 had a low risk. The

  10. [Ecological risk assessment of typical karst basin based on land use change: A case study of Lijiang River basin, Southern China].

    PubMed

    Hu, Jin Long; Zhou, Zhi Xiang; Teng, Ming Jun; Luo, Nan

    2017-06-18

    Taking Lijiang River basin as study area, and based on the remote sensing images of 1973, 1986, 2000 and 2013, the land-use data were extracted, the ecological risk index was constructed, and the characteristics of spatiotemporal variation of ecological risk were analyzed by "3S" technique. The results showed that land use structure of Lijiang River basin was under relatively reasonable state and it was constantly optimizing during 1973-2013. Overall, the ecological risk of Lijiang River basin was maintained at a low level. Lowest and lower ecological risk region was dominant in Lijiang River basin, but the area of highest ecological risk expanded quickly. The spatial distribution of ecological risk was basically stable and showed an obvious ring structure, which gra-dually decreased from the axis of Xingan County Town-Lingchuan County Town-Guilin City-Yangshuo County Town to other regions. Region with lowest ecological risk mainly distributed in natural mountain forest area of the north and mid-eastern parts of Lijiang River basin, and region with highe-st ecological risk concentrated in Guilin City. The ecological risk distribution of Lijiang River basin presented significant slope and altitude differences, and it decreased with increasing slope and altitude. During the study period, the area of low ecological risk converted to high ecological risk gra-dually decreased and vice versa. On the whole, the ecological risk tended to decline rapidly in the Lijiang River basin.

  11. A Reusable Design for Precision Lunar Landing Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fuhrman, Linda; Brand, Timothy; Fill, Tom; Norris, Lee; Paschall, Steve

    2005-01-01

    The top-level architecture to accomplish NASA's Vision for Space Exploration is to use Lunar missions and systems not just as an end in themselves, but also as testbeds for the more ambitious goals of Human Mars Exploration (HME). This approach means that Lunar missions and systems are most likely going to be targeted for (Lunar) polar missions, and also for long-duration (months) surface stays. This overacting theme creates basic top-level requirements for any next-generation lander system: 1) Long duration stays: a) Multiple landers in close proximity; b) Pinpoint landings for "surface rendezvous"; c) Autonomous landing of pre-positioned assets; and d) Autonomous Hazard Detection and Avoidance. 2) Polar and deep-crater landings (dark); 3) Common/extensible systems for Moon and Mars, crew and cargo. These requirements pose challenging technology and capability needs. Compare and contrast: 4) Apollo: a) 1 km landing accuracy; b) Lunar near-side (well imaged and direct-to-Earth com. possible); c) Lunar equatorial (landing trajectories offer best navigation support from Earth); d) Limited lighting conditions; e) Significant ground-in-the-loop operations; 5) Lunar Access: a) 10-100m landing precision; b) "Anywhere" access includes polar (potentially poor nav. support from Earth) and far side (poor gravity and imaging; no direct-to-Earth com); c) "Anytime" access includes any lighting condition (including dark); d) Full autonomous landing capability; e) Extensible design for tele-operation or operator-in-the-loop; and f) Minimal ground support to reduce operations costs. The Lunar Access program objectives, therefore, are to: a) Develop a baseline Lunar Precision Landing System (PLS) design to enable pinpoint "anywhere, anytime" landings; b) landing precision 10m-100m; c) Any LAT, LON; and d) Any lighting condition; This paper will characterize basic features of the next generation Lunar landing system, including trajectory types, sensor suite options and a reference

  12. ALHAT COBALT: CoOperative Blending of Autonomous Landing Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carson, John M.

    2015-01-01

    The COBALT project is a flight demonstration of two NASA ALHAT (Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) capabilities that are key for future robotic or human landing GN&C (Guidance, Navigation and Control) systems. The COBALT payload integrates the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) for ultraprecise velocity and range measurements with the Lander Vision System (LVS) for Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) position estimates. Terrestrial flight tests of the COBALT payload in an open-loop and closed-loop GN&C configuration will be conducted onboard a commercial, rocket-propulsive Vertical Test Bed (VTB) at a test range in Mojave, CA.

  13. Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Water Landing Simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Littell, Justin D.; Lawrence, Charles; Carney, Kelly S.

    2007-01-01

    Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) water splashdowns were simulated in order to find maximum acceleration loads on the astronauts and spacecraft under various landing conditions. The acceleration loads were used in a Dynamic Risk Index (DRI) program to find the potential risk for injury posed on the astronauts for a range of landing conditions. The DRI results showed that greater risks for injury occurred for two landing conditions; when the vertical velocity was large and the contact angle between the spacecraft and the water impact surface was zero, and when the spacecraft was in a toe down configuration and both the vertical and horizontal landing velocities were large. Rollover was also predicted to occur for cases where there is high horizontal velocity and low contact angles in a toe up configuration, and cases where there was a high horizontal velocity with high contact angles in a toe down configuration.

  14. Predictive Modeling for NASA Entry, Descent and Landing Missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wright, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Modeling and Simulation (MS) is an enabling capability for complex NASA entry missions such as MSL and Orion. MS is used in every mission phase to define mission concepts, select appropriate architectures, design EDL systems, quantify margin and risk, ensure correct system operation, and analyze data returned from the entry. In an environment where it is impossible to fully test EDL concepts on the ground prior to use, accurate MS capability is required to extrapolate ground test results to expected flight performance.

  15. Accounting for pH heterogeneity and variability in modelling human health risks from cadmium in contaminated land.

    PubMed

    Gay, J Rebecca; Korre, Anna

    2009-07-01

    The authors have previously published a methodology which combines quantitative probabilistic human health risk assessment and spatial statistical methods (geostatistics) to produce an assessment, incorporating uncertainty, of risks to human health from exposure to contaminated land. The model assumes a constant soil to plant concentration factor (CF(veg)) when calculating intake of contaminants. This model is modified here to enhance its use in a situation where CF(veg) varies according to soil pH, as is the case for cadmium. The original methodology uses sequential indicator simulation (SIS) to map soil concentration estimates for one contaminant across a site. A real, age-stratified population is mapped across the contaminated area, and intake of soil contaminants by individuals is calculated probabilistically using an adaptation of the Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA) model. The proposed improvement involves not only the geostatistical estimation of the contaminant concentration, but also that of soil pH, which in turn leads to a variable CF(veg) estimate which influences the human intake results. The results presented demonstrate that taking pH into account can influence the outcome of the risk assessment greatly. It is proposed that a similar adaptation could be used for other combinations of soil variables which influence CF(veg).

  16. Short Operative Duration and Surgical Site Infection Risk in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Procedures

    PubMed Central

    Dicks, Kristen V.; Baker, Arthur W.; Durkin, Michael J.; Anderson, Deverick J.; Moehring, Rebekah W.; Chen, Luke F.; Sexton, Daniel J.; Weber, David J.; Lewis, Sarah S.

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To determine the association (1) between shorter operative duration and surgical site infection (SSI) and (2) between surgeon median operative duration and SSI risk among first-time hip and knee arthroplasties. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study SETTING A total of 43 community hospitals located in the southeastern United States. PATIENTS Adults who developed SSIs according to National Healthcare Safety Network criteria within 365 days of first-time knee or hip arthroplasties performed between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2012. METHODS Log-binomial regression models estimated the association (1) between operative duration and SSI outcome and (2) between surgeon median operative duration and SSI outcome. Hip and knee arthroplasties were evaluated in separate models. Each model was adjusted for American Society of Anesthesiology score and patient age. RESULTS A total of 25,531 hip arthroplasties and 42,187 knee arthroplasties were included in the study. The risk of SSI in knee arthroplasties with an operative duration shorter than the 25th percentile was 0.40 times the risk of SSI in knee arthroplasties with an operative duration between the 25th and 75th percentile (risk ratio [RR], 0.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38–0.56; P <.01). Short operative duration did not demonstrate significant association with SSI for hip arthroplasties (RR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.79–1.37; P =.36). Knee arthroplasty surgeons with shorter median operative durations had a lower risk of SSI than surgeons with typical median operative durations (RR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.43–0.64; P <.01). CONCLUSIONS Short operative durations were not associated with a higher SSI risk for knee or hip arthroplasty procedures in our analysis. PMID:26391277

  17. Assessment, Planning, and Execution Considerations for Conjunction Risk Assessment and Mitigation Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frigm, Ryan C.; Levi, Joshua A.; Mantziaras, Dimitrios C.

    2010-01-01

    An operational Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) concept is the real-time process of assessing risk posed by close approaches and reacting to those risks if necessary. The most effective way to completely mitigate conjunction risk is to perform an avoidance maneuver. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has implemented a routine CARA process since 2005. Over this period, considerable experience has been gained and many lessons have been learned. This paper identifies and presents these experiences as general concepts in the description of the Conjunction Assessment, Flight Dynamics, and Flight Operations methodologies and processes. These general concepts will be tied together and will be exemplified through a case study of an actual high risk conjunction event for the Aura mission.

  18. 12 CFR 3.3 - Operational requirements for counterparty credit risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... credit risk. 3.3 Section 3.3 Banks and Banking COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY CAPITAL ADEQUACY STANDARDS General Provisions § 3.3 Operational requirements for counterparty credit risk...), (iii) or (iv) of the definition of “cleared transaction” in § 3.2, the exposures must meet the...

  19. 42 CFR 417.120 - Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Fiscally sound operation and assumption of... Organizations: Organization and Operation § 417.120 Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk. (a) Fiscally sound operation—(1) General requirements. Each HMO must have a fiscally sound operation...

  20. 42 CFR 417.120 - Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Fiscally sound operation and assumption of... Organizations: Organization and Operation § 417.120 Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk. (a) Fiscally sound operation—(1) General requirements. Each HMO must have a fiscally sound operation...

  1. 42 CFR 417.120 - Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Fiscally sound operation and assumption of... Organizations: Organization and Operation § 417.120 Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk. (a) Fiscally sound operation—(1) General requirements. Each HMO must have a fiscally sound operation...

  2. Managing Competing Influences: Risk Acceptance in Operation Rolling Thunder

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-03-12

    Managing Competing Influences: Risk Acceptance in Operation Rolling Thunder A Monograph by Major Benjamin C. Williams US Air Force School of...REPORT TYPE Master’s Thesis 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) JUN 2016 – MAY 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Managing Competing Influences: Risk Acceptance in...ANSI Std. Z39.18 ii Monograph Approval Page Name of Candidate: Major Benjamin C. Williams, USAF Monograph Title: Managing Competing Influences

  3. LSRA landing with tire test

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1994-01-01

    A space shuttle landing gear system is visible between the two main landing gear components on this NASA CV-990, modified as a Landing Systems Research Aircraft (LSRA). The space shuttle landing gear test unit, operated by a high-pressure hydraulic system, allowed engineers to assess and document the performance of space shuttle main and nose landing gear systems, tires and wheel assemblies, plus braking and nose wheel steering performance. The series of 155 test missions for the space shuttle program, conducted at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, provided extensive data about the life and endurance of the shuttle tire systems and helped raise the shuttle crosswind landing limits at Kennedy.

  4. Risk analysis for autonomous underwater vehicle operations in extreme environments.

    PubMed

    Brito, Mario Paulo; Griffiths, Gwyn; Challenor, Peter

    2010-12-01

    Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are used increasingly to explore hazardous marine environments. Risk assessment for such complex systems is based on subjective judgment and expert knowledge as much as on hard statistics. Here, we describe the use of a risk management process tailored to AUV operations, the implementation of which requires the elicitation of expert judgment. We conducted a formal judgment elicitation process where eight world experts in AUV design and operation were asked to assign a probability of AUV loss given the emergence of each fault or incident from the vehicle's life history of 63 faults and incidents. After discussing methods of aggregation and analysis, we show how the aggregated risk estimates obtained from the expert judgments were used to create a risk model. To estimate AUV survival with mission distance, we adopted a statistical survival function based on the nonparametric Kaplan-Meier estimator. We present theoretical formulations for the estimator, its variance, and confidence limits. We also present a numerical example where the approach is applied to estimate the probability that the Autosub3 AUV would survive a set of missions under Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica in January-March 2009. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

  5. Synthesis and summary: land use decisions and fire risk

    Treesearch

    Theodore E. Jr. Adams

    1989-01-01

    Rapidly chancing land use patterns are having a significant impact on watershed management and the included elements of fuel management and fire protection. The complexity of watershed management was defined in the Watershed Management Council's publication prepared for the first conference. This publication, California's Watersheds, emphasized that all land...

  6. Health risk evaluation of heavy metals in green land soils from urban parks in Urumqi, northwest China.

    PubMed

    Zhaoyong, Zhang; Xiaodong, Yang; Simay, Zibibula; Mohammed, Anwar

    2018-02-01

    Here, we sampled, tested, and analyzed heavy metals in soil obtained from green land in urban parks of Urumqi. Analysis included soil nutrient contents, particle size distribution, and health risks of heavy metal contaminants. Results showed that (1) organic matter and rapidly available phosphorus contents of all samples ranged from 6.07-58.34 and 6.52-116.15 mg/kg, with average values of 31.26 and 36.24 mg/kg, respectively; (2) silt (particle size 20-200 μm) comprised most of the particle distribution, accounting for 46.56-87.38% of the total, and the remaining particles were clay particles (0-20 μm) and sand (200-2000 μm); (3) calculations of HQ ing , HQ inh , and HQ derm for eight heavy metals in three exposure patterns revealed values less than 1 for children and adults, indicating a level of carcinogenic risk for these heavy metals; and (4) calculating the carcinogenic risks of nickel, chromium, and cadmium through breathing pathway indicating no potential carcinogenic risk for any of the three. This research showed high soil nutrient content, providing fertile ground for plant growth in the green land of these urban parks. However, measures such as using sprinklers and increased green vegetation areas have been proposed to improve soil texture. This research can serve as a reference point for soil environmental protection efforts as well as future plant growth in urban Urumqi parks.

  7. 42 CFR 417.120 - Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fiscally sound operation and assumption of...: Organization and Operation § 417.120 Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk. (a) Fiscally sound operation—(1) General requirements. Each HMO must have a fiscally sound operation, as demonstrated...

  8. 42 CFR 417.120 - Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Fiscally sound operation and assumption of...: Organization and Operation § 417.120 Fiscally sound operation and assumption of financial risk. (a) Fiscally sound operation—(1) General requirements. Each HMO must have a fiscally sound operation, as demonstrated...

  9. 14 CFR 121.205 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.205 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  10. 14 CFR 121.205 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.205 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  11. 14 CFR 121.205 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.205 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  12. 14 CFR 121.205 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.205 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  13. 14 CFR 121.205 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.205 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  14. Sea-Level Rise and Land Subsidence in Deltas: Estimating Future Flood Risk Through Integrated Natural and Human System Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tessler, Z. D.; Vorosmarty, C. J.

    2016-12-01

    Deltas are highly sensitive to local human activities, land subsidence, regional water management, global sea-level rise, and climate extremes. We present a new delta flood exposure and risk framework for estimating the sensitivity of deltas to relative sea-level rise. We have applied this framework to a set of global environmental, geophysical, and social indicators over 48 major river deltas to quantify how contemporary risks vary across delta systems. The risk modeling framework incorporates upstream sediment flux and coastal land subsidence models, global empirical estimates of contemporary storm surge exposure, and population distribution and growth. Future scenarios are used to test the impacts on coastal flood risk of upstream dam construction, coastal population growth, accelerated sea-level rise, and enhanced storm surge. Results suggest a wide range of outcomes across different delta systems within each scenario. Deltas in highly engineered watersheds (Mississippi, Rhine) exhibit less sensitivity to increased dams due to saturation of sediment retention effects, though planned or under-construction dams are expected to have a substantial impact in the Yangtze, Irrawaddy, and Magdalena deltas. Population growth and sea-level rise are expected to be the dominant drivers of increased human risk in most deltas, with important exceptions in several countries, particularly China, where population are forecast to contract over the next several decades.

  15. Impact differences in ground reaction force and center of mass between the first and second landing phases of a drop vertical jump and their implications for injury risk assessment.

    PubMed

    Bates, Nathaniel A; Ford, Kevin R; Myer, Gregory D; Hewett, Timothy E

    2013-04-26

    The drop vertical jump (DVJ) task is commonly used to assess biomechanical performance measures that are associated with ACL injury risk in athletes. Previous investigations have solely assessed the first landing phase. We examined the first and second landings of a DVJ for differences in the magnitude of vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) and position of center of mass (CoM). A cohort of 239 adolescent female basketball athletes completed a series of DVJ tasks from an initial box height of 31 cm. Dual force platforms and a three dimensional motion capture system recorded force and positional data for each trial. There was no difference in peak vGRF between landings (p=0.445), but side-to-side differences increased from the first to second landing (p=0.007). Participants demonstrated a lower minimum CoM during stance in the first landing than the second landing (p<0.001). The results have important implications for the future assessment of ACL injury risk behaviors in adolescent female athletes. Greater side-to-side asymmetry in vGRF and higher CoM during impact indicate the second landing of a DVJ may exhibit greater perturbation and better represent in-game mechanics associated with ACL injury risk. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. The effects of lead sources on oral bioaccessibility in soil and implications for contaminated land risk management.

    PubMed

    Palmer, Sherry; McIlwaine, Rebekka; Ofterdinger, Ulrich; Cox, Siobhan F; McKinley, Jennifer M; Doherty, Rory; Wragg, Joanna; Cave, Mark

    2015-03-01

    Lead (Pb) is a non-threshold toxin capable of inducing toxic effects at any blood level but availability of soil screening criteria for assessing potential health risks is limited. The oral bioaccessibility of Pb in 163 soil samples was attributed to sources through solubility estimation and domain identification. Samples were extracted following the Unified BARGE Method. Urban, mineralisation, peat and granite domains accounted for elevated Pb concentrations compared to rural samples. High Pb solubility explained moderate-high gastric (G) bioaccessible fractions throughout the study area. Higher maximum G concentrations were measured in urban (97.6 mg kg(-1)) and mineralisation (199.8 mg kg(-1)) domains. Higher average G concentrations occurred in mineralisation (36.4 mg kg(-1)) and granite (36.0 mg kg(-1)) domains. Findings suggest diffuse anthropogenic and widespread geogenic contamination could be capable of presenting health risks, having implications for land management decisions in jurisdictions where guidance advises these forms of pollution should not be regarded as contaminated land. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. 14 CFR 121.203 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.203 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination...

  18. 14 CFR 121.203 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.203 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination...

  19. 14 CFR 121.203 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.203 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination...

  20. 14 CFR 121.203 - Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination airport.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Nontransport category airplanes: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.203 Nontransport category airplanes: Landing limitations: Destination...

  1. Development of Thermal Infrared Sensor to Supplement Operational Land Imager

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shu, Peter; Waczynski, Augustyn; Kan, Emily; Wen, Yiting; Rosenberry, Robert

    2012-01-01

    The thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) is a quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP)-based instrument intended to supplement the Operational Land Imager (OLI) for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The TIRS instrument is a far-infrared imager operating in the pushbroom mode with two IR channels: 10.8 and 12 m. The focal plane will contain three 640 512 QWIP arrays mounted onto a silicon substrate. The readout integrated circuit (ROIC) addresses each pixel on the QWIP arrays and reads out the pixel value (signal). The ROIC is controlled by the focal plane electronics (FPE) by means of clock signals and bias voltage value. The means of how the FPE is designed to control and interact with the TIRS focal plane assembly (FPA) is the basis for this work. The technology developed under the FPE is for the TIRS focal plane assembly (FPA). The FPE must interact with the FPA to command and control the FPA, extract analog signals from the FPA, and then convert the analog signals to digital format and send them via a serial link (USB) to a computer. The FPE accomplishes the described functions by converting electrical power from generic power supplies to the required bias power that is needed by the FPA. The FPE also generates digital clocking signals and shifts the typical transistor-to-transistor logic (TTL) to }5 V required by the FPA. The FPE also uses an application- specific integrated circuit (ASIC) named System Image, Digitizing, Enhancing, Controlling, And Retrieving (SIDECAR) from Teledyne Corp. to generate the clocking patterns commanded by the user. The uniqueness of the FPE for TIRS lies in that the TIRS FPA has three QWIP detector arrays, and all three detector arrays must be in synchronization while in operation. This is to avoid data skewing while observing Earth flying in space. The observing scenario may be customized by uploading new control software to the SIDECAR.

  2. Review of operational aspects of initial experiments utilizing the U.S. MLS. [microwave landing system effectiveness

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Walsh, T. M.; Morello, S. A.; Reeder, J. P.

    1976-01-01

    An exercise to support the Federal Aviation Administration in demonstrating the U.S. candidate for an international microwave landing system (MLS) was conducted by NASA. During this demonstration the MLS was utilized to provide the TCV Boeing 737 research airplane with guidance for automatic control during transition from conventional RNAV to MLS RNAV in curved, descending flight; flare; touchdown; and roll-out. Flight profiles, system configuration, displays, and operating procedures used in the demonstration are described, and preliminary results of flight data analysis are discussed. Recent experiences with manually controlled flight in the NAFEC MLS environment are also discussed. The demonstration shows that in automatic three-dimensional flight, the volumetric signal coverage of the MLS can be exploited to enable a commercial carrier class airplane to perform complex curved, descending paths with precision turns into short final approaches terminating in landing and roll-out, even when subjected to strong and gusty tail and cross wind components and severe wind shear.

  3. Risk and contributing factors of ecosystem shifts over naturally vegetated land under climate change in China

    PubMed Central

    Yin, Yuanyuan; Tang, Qiuhong; Wang, Lixin; Liu, Xingcai

    2016-01-01

    Identifying the areas at risk of ecosystem transformation and the main contributing factors to the risk is essential to assist ecological adaptation to climate change. We assessed the risk of ecosystem shifts in China using the projections of four global gridded vegetation models (GGVMs) and an aggregate metric. The results show that half of naturally vegetated land surface could be under moderate or severe risk at the end of the 21st century under the middle and high emission scenarios. The areas with high risk are the Tibetan Plateau region and an area extended northeastward from the Tibetan Plateau to northeast China. With the three major factors considered, the change in carbon stocks is the main contributing factor to the high risk of ecosystem shifts. The change in carbon fluxes is another important contributing factor under the high emission scenario. The change in water fluxes is a less dominant factor except for the Tibetan Plateau region under the high emission scenario. Although there is considerable uncertainty in the risk assessment, the geographic patterns of the risk are generally consistent across different scenarios. The results could help develop regional strategies for ecosystem conservation to cope with climate change. PMID:26867481

  4. Risk and contributing factors of ecosystem shifts over naturally vegetated land under climate change in China.

    PubMed

    Yin, Yuanyuan; Tang, Qiuhong; Wang, Lixin; Liu, Xingcai

    2016-02-12

    Identifying the areas at risk of ecosystem transformation and the main contributing factors to the risk is essential to assist ecological adaptation to climate change. We assessed the risk of ecosystem shifts in China using the projections of four global gridded vegetation models (GGVMs) and an aggregate metric. The results show that half of naturally vegetated land surface could be under moderate or severe risk at the end of the 21(st) century under the middle and high emission scenarios. The areas with high risk are the Tibetan Plateau region and an area extended northeastward from the Tibetan Plateau to northeast China. With the three major factors considered, the change in carbon stocks is the main contributing factor to the high risk of ecosystem shifts. The change in carbon fluxes is another important contributing factor under the high emission scenario. The change in water fluxes is a less dominant factor except for the Tibetan Plateau region under the high emission scenario. Although there is considerable uncertainty in the risk assessment, the geographic patterns of the risk are generally consistent across different scenarios. The results could help develop regional strategies for ecosystem conservation to cope with climate change.

  5. Application-ready expedited MODIS data for operational land surface monitoring of vegetation condition

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brown, Jesslyn; Howard, Daniel M.; Wylie, Bruce K.; Friesz, Aaron M.; Ji, Lei; Gacke, Carolyn

    2015-01-01

    Monitoring systems benefit from high temporal frequency image data collected from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) system. Because of near-daily global coverage, MODIS data are beneficial to applications that require timely information about vegetation condition related to drought, flooding, or fire danger. Rapid satellite data streams in operational applications have clear benefits for monitoring vegetation, especially when information can be delivered as fast as changing surface conditions. An “expedited” processing system called “eMODIS” operated by the U.S. Geological Survey provides rapid MODIS surface reflectance data to operational applications in less than 24 h offering tailored, consistently-processed information products that complement standard MODIS products. We assessed eMODIS quality and consistency by comparing to standard MODIS data. Only land data with known high quality were analyzed in a central U.S. study area. When compared to standard MODIS (MOD/MYD09Q1), the eMODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maintained a strong, significant relationship to standard MODIS NDVI, whether from morning (Terra) or afternoon (Aqua) orbits. The Aqua eMODIS data were more prone to noise than the Terra data, likely due to differences in the internal cloud mask used in MOD/MYD09Q1 or compositing rules. Post-processing temporal smoothing decreased noise in eMODIS data.

  6. Perceived Risk and Response to the Wind Turbine Ice Throw Hazard: Comparing Community Stakeholders and Operations and Maintenance Personnel in Two Regions of Texas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klaus, Greg

    Risk managers who work directly with wind energy know that accumulations of ice on wind turbine blades pose a substantial risk to wind farm employees and a lesser extent to the general public. However, overall, the hazards of ice throw are not generally known to the public, as there has not been a significant event in the U.S. which has drawn any media attention. As we continue to install more and more turbines, the number of people exposed greatly increases, and it is only a matter of time before the industry suffers a severe incident or even a fatality. Thus, the goals of this research were threefold: 1) to understand the extent to which two at-risk groups--community stakeholders as well as operations and maintenance personnel at wind farms might differ in their perceived levels of risk to the ice throw hazard; 2) to understand the degree to which community stakeholders and operations and maintenance might differ on choosing measures of protection for their affected areas; and 3) to improve safety by identifying protective measures that all stakeholders--community citizens, wind farm employees, contractors, and land owners--are willing to undertake to mitigate their risk against the ice throw hazard which includes adopting measures to reduce their own risk toward the hazard, as well as, their community's vulnerability toward the hazards and threat of ice throw from wind turbines. This research also makes a valuable contribution to the theoretical body of risk research with respect to a technological hazard for which little is known. This research found that the two groups differed on statistically significant variables for observed risk, perceived personal risk, risk to the community, levels of trust in safety leaders, best protective actions, and preferred warning systems; however, there was no statistical significance between the groups on perceived benefits of wind energy.

  7. Gender comparisons between unilateral and bilateral landings.

    PubMed

    Weinhandl, Joshua T; Joshi, Mukta; O'Connor, Kristian M

    2010-11-01

    The increased number of women participating in sports has led to a higher knee injury rate in women compared with men. Among these injuries, those occurring to the ACL are commonly observed during landing maneuvers. The purpose of this study was to determine gender differences in landing strategies during unilateral and bilateral landings. Sixteen male and 17 female recreational athletes were recruited to perform unilateral and bilateral landings from a raised platform, scaled to match their individual jumping abilities. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics of the dominant leg were calculated during the landing phase and reported as initial ground contact angle, ranges of motion (ROM) and peak moments. Lower extremity energy absorption was also calculated for the duration of the landing phase. Results showed that gender differences were only observed in sagittal plane hip and knee ROM, potentially due to the use of a relative drop height versus the commonly used absolute drop height. Unilateral landings were characterized by significant differences in hip and knee kinematics that have been linked to increased injury risk and would best be classified as "stiff" landings. The ankle musculature was used more for impact absorption during unilateral landing, which required increased joint extension at touchdown and may increase injury risk during an unbalanced landing. In addition, there was only an 11% increase in total energy absorption during unilateral landings, suggesting that there was a substantial amount of passive energy transfer during unilateral landings.

  8. DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW OF MONITORING METHODS AND RISK ASSESSMENT MODELS USED TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF BIOSOLIDS LAND APPLICATION ON HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    Development and Review of monitoring methods and risk assessment models for biosolids land application impacts on air and land

    Ronald F Herrmann (NRMRL), Mike Broder (NCEA), and Mike Ware (NERL)

    Science Questions .

    MYP Science Question: What additional model...

  9. Mars-Moons Exploration, Reconnaissance and Landed Investigation (MERLIN)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murchie, S. L.; Chabot, N. L.; Buczkowski, D.; Arvidson, R. E.; Castillo, J. C.; Peplowski, P. N.; Ernst, C. M.; Rivkin, A.; Eng, D.; Chmielewski, A. B.; Maki, J.; trebi-Ollenu, A.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Spence, H. E.; Horanyi, M.; Klingelhoefer, G.; Christian, J. A.

    2015-12-01

    The Mars-Moons Exploration, Reconnaissance and Landed Investigation (MERLIN) is a NASA Discovery mission proposal to explore the moons of Mars. Previous Mars-focused spacecraft have raised fundamental questions about Mars' moons: What are their origins and compositions? Why do the moons resemble primitive outer solar system D-type objects? How do geologic processes modify their surfaces? MERLIN answers these questions through a combination of orbital and landed measurements, beginning with reconnaissance of Deimos and investigation of the hypothesized Martian dust belts. Orbital reconnaissance of Phobos occurs, followed by low flyovers to characterize a landing site. MERLIN lands on Phobos, conducting a 90-day investigation. Radiation measurements are acquired throughout all mission phases. Phobos' size and mass provide a low-risk landing environment: controlled descent is so slow that the landing is rehearsed, but gravity is high enough that surface operations do not require anchoring. Existing imaging of Phobos reveals low regional slope regions suitable for landing, and provides knowledge for planning orbital and landed investigations. The payload leverages past NASA investments. Orbital imaging is accomplished by a dual multispectral/high-resolution imager rebuilt from MESSENGER/MDIS. Mars' dust environment is measured by the refurbished engineering model of LADEE/LDEX, and the radiation environment by the flight spare of LRO/CRaTER. The landed workspace is characterized by a color stereo imager updated from MER/HazCam. MERLIN's arm deploys landed instrumentation using proven designs from MER, Phoenix, and MSL. Elemental measurements are acquired by a modified version of Rosetta/APXS, and an uncooled gamma-ray spectrometer. Mineralogical measurements are acquired by a microscopic imaging spectrometer developed under MatISSE. MERLIN delivers seminal science traceable to NASA's Strategic Goals and Objectives, Science Plan, and the Decadal Survey. MERLIN's science

  10. On-orbit performance of the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Micijevic, Esad; Vanderwerff, Kelly; Scaramuzza, Pat; Morfitt, Ron; Barsi, Julia A.; Levy, Raviv

    2014-01-01

    The Landsat 8 satellite was launched on February 11, 2013, to systematically collect multispectral images for detection and quantitative analysis of changes on the Earth’s surface. The collected data are stored at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and continue the longest archive of medium resolution Earth images. There are two imaging instruments onboard the satellite: the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS). This paper summarizes radiometric performance of the OLI including the bias stability, the system noise, saturation and other artifacts observed in its data during the first 1.5 years on orbit. Detector noise levels remain low and Signal-To-Noise Ratio high, largely exceeding the requirements. Impulse noise and saturation are present in imagery, but have negligible effect on Landsat 8 products. Oversaturation happens occasionally, but the affected detectors quickly restore their nominal responsivity. Overall, the OLI performs very well on orbit and provides high quality products to the user community. © (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

  11. 43 CFR 3140.6 - Use of additional lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Use of additional lands. 3140.6 Section... additional lands. (a) The authorized officer may noncompetitively lease additional lands for ancillary facilities in a Special Tar Sand Area that are needed to support any operations necessary for the recovery of...

  12. 43 CFR 3140.6 - Use of additional lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Use of additional lands. 3140.6 Section... additional lands. (a) The authorized officer may noncompetitively lease additional lands for ancillary facilities in a Special Tar Sand Area that are needed to support any operations necessary for the recovery of...

  13. 43 CFR 3140.6 - Use of additional lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Use of additional lands. 3140.6 Section... additional lands. (a) The authorized officer may noncompetitively lease additional lands for ancillary facilities in a Special Tar Sand Area that are needed to support any operations necessary for the recovery of...

  14. Time-Tagged Risk/Reliability Assessment Program for Development and Operation of Space System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kubota, Yuki; Takegahara, Haruki; Aoyagi, Junichiro

    We have investigated a new method of risk/reliability assessment for development and operation of space system. It is difficult to evaluate risk of spacecraft, because of long time operation, maintenance free and difficulty of test under the ground condition. Conventional methods are FMECA, FTA, ETA and miscellaneous. These are not enough to assess chronological anomaly and there is a problem to share information during R&D. A new method of risk and reliability assessment, T-TRAP (Time-tagged Risk/Reliability Assessment Program) is proposed as a management tool for the development and operation of space system. T-TRAP consisting of time-resolved Fault Tree and Criticality Analyses, upon occurrence of anomaly in the system, facilitates the responsible personnel to quickly identify the failure cause and decide corrective actions. This paper describes T-TRAP method and its availability.

  15. Lunar Landing Testing at NASA Langley

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1965-06-18

    Lunar Landing Testing at NASA Langley. Lunar Landing Testing at NASA Langley. A simulated environment that contributed in a significant way to the success of Apollo project was the Lunar Landing Research Facility, an imposing 250 foot high, 400 foot long gantry structure that became operational in 1965. Published in the book "Space Flight Revolution" NASA SP-4308 pg. 376

  16. CHD associated with syndromic diagnoses: peri-operative risk factors and early outcomes

    PubMed Central

    Landis, Benjamin J.; Cooper, David S.; Hinton, Robert B.

    2016-01-01

    CHD is frequently associated with a genetic syndrome. These syndromes often present specific cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular co-morbidities that confer significant peri-operative risks affecting multiple organ systems. Although surgical outcomes have improved over time, these co-morbidities continue to contribute substantially to poor peri-operative mortality and morbidity outcomes. Peri-operative morbidity may have long-standing ramifications on neurodevelopment and overall health. Recognising the cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular risks associated with specific syndromic diagnoses will facilitate expectant management, early detection of clinical problems, and improved outcomes – for example, the development of syndrome-based protocols for peri-operative evaluation and prophylactic actions may improve outcomes for the more frequently encountered syndromes such as 22q11 deletion syndrome. PMID:26345374

  17. A Biomechanical Comparison of Single-Leg Landing and Unplanned Sidestepping.

    PubMed

    Chinnasee, Chamnan; Weir, Gillian; Sasimontonkul, Siriporn; Alderson, Jacqueline; Donnelly, Cyril

    2018-06-14

    Unplanned sidestepping and single-leg landing have both been used to screen athletes for injury risk in sport. The aim of this study was to directly compare the lower limb mechanics of three single-leg landing tasks and an unplanned sidestepping task. Thirteen elite female team sport athletes completed a series of non-contact single-leg drop landings, single-leg countermovement jumps, single-leg jump landings and unplanned sidestepping in a randomized counterbalanced design. Three dimensional kinematics (250 Hz) and ground reaction force (2,000 Hz) data with a participant specific lower limb skeletal model were used to calculate and compare hip, knee and ankle joint kinematics, peak joint moments, instantaneous joint power and joint work during the weight acceptance phase of each sporting task (α=0.05). Peak knee joint moments and relevant injury risk thresholds were used to classify each athlete's anterior cruciate ligament injury risk during unplanned sidestepping and single-leg jump landing. Results showed that peak joint moments, power and work were greater during the single-leg jump landing task when compared to the single-leg drop landings and single-leg countermovement jumps tasks. Peak frontal and sagittal plane knee joint moments, knee joint power, as well as hip and knee joint work were greater during unplanned sidestepping when compared to the landing tasks. Peak ankle joint moments, power and work were greater during the landing tasks when compared to unplanned sidestepping. For 4 of the 13 athletes tested, their anterior cruciate ligament injury risk classification changed depending on whether they performed an unplanned sidestepping or single-leg jump landing testing procedure. To summarize, a single-leg jump landing testing procedure places a larger mechanical on the ankle joint when compared to single-leg drop landings, single-leg countermovement jumps and unplanned sidestepping. An unplanned sidestepping testing procedure places a larger

  18. Mitigating Climate Change with Ocean Pipes: Influencing Land Temperature and Hydrology and Termination Overshoot Risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kwiatkowski, L.; Caldeira, K.; Ricke, K.

    2014-12-01

    With increasing risk of dangerous climate change geoengineering solutions to Earth's climate problems have attracted much attention. One proposed geoengineering approach considers the use of ocean pipes as a means to increase ocean carbon uptake and the storage of thermal energy in the deep ocean. We use a latest generation Earth System Model (ESM) to perform simulations of idealised extreme implementations of ocean pipes. In our simulations, downward transport of thermal energy by ocean pipes strongly cools the near surface atmosphere - by up to 11°C on a global mean. The ocean pipes cause net thermal energy to be transported from the terrestrial environment to the deep ocean while increasing the global net transport of water to land. By cooling the ocean surface more than the land, ocean pipes tend to promote a monsoonal-type circulation, resulting in increased water vapour transport to land. Throughout their implementation, ocean pipes prevent energy from escaping to space, increasing the amount of energy stored in Earth's climate system despite reductions in surface temperature. As a consequence, our results indicate that an abrupt termination of ocean pipes could cause dramatic increases in surface temperatures beyond that which would have been obtained had ocean pipes not been implemented.

  19. A Novel Stress-Diathesis Model to Predict Risk of Post-operative Delirium: Implications for Intra-operative Management.

    PubMed

    El-Gabalawy, Renée; Patel, Ronak; Kilborn, Kayla; Blaney, Caitlin; Hoban, Christopher; Ryner, Lawrence; Funk, Duane; Legaspi, Regina; Fisher, Joseph A; Duffin, James; Mikulis, David J; Mutch, W Alan C

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: Risk assessment for post-operative delirium (POD) is poorly developed. Improved metrics could greatly facilitate peri-operative care as costs associated with POD are staggering. In this preliminary study, we develop a novel stress-diathesis model based on comprehensive pre-operative psychiatric and neuropsychological testing, a blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) stress test, and high fidelity measures of intra-operative parameters that may interact facilitating POD. Methods: The study was approved by the ethics board at the University of Manitoba and registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02126215. Twelve patients were studied. Pre-operative psychiatric symptom measures and neuropsychological testing preceded MRI featuring a BOLD MRI CO 2 stress test whereby BOLD scans were conducted while exposing participants to a rigorously controlled CO 2 stimulus. During surgery the patient had hemodynamics and end-tidal gases downloaded at 0.5 hz. Post-operatively, the presence of POD and POD severity was comprehensively assessed using the Confusion Assessment Measure -Severity (CAM-S) scoring instrument on days 0 (surgery) through post-operative day 5, and patients were followed up at least 1 month post-operatively. Results: Six of 12 patients had no evidence of POD (non-POD). Three patients had POD and 3 had clinically significant confusional states (referred as subthreshold POD; ST-POD) (score ≥ 5/19 on the CAM-S). Average severity for delirium was 1.3 in the non-POD group, 3.2 in ST-POD, and 6.1 in POD (F-statistic = 15.4, p < 0.001). Depressive symptoms, and cognitive measures of semantic fluency and executive functioning/processing speed were significantly associated with POD. Second level analysis revealed an increased inverse BOLD responsiveness to CO 2 pre-operatively in ST-POD and marked increase in the POD groups when compared to the non-POD group. An association was also noted for the

  20. A Novel Stress-Diathesis Model to Predict Risk of Post-operative Delirium: Implications for Intra-operative Management

    PubMed Central

    El-Gabalawy, Renée; Patel, Ronak; Kilborn, Kayla; Blaney, Caitlin; Hoban, Christopher; Ryner, Lawrence; Funk, Duane; Legaspi, Regina; Fisher, Joseph A.; Duffin, James; Mikulis, David J.; Mutch, W. Alan C.

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: Risk assessment for post-operative delirium (POD) is poorly developed. Improved metrics could greatly facilitate peri-operative care as costs associated with POD are staggering. In this preliminary study, we develop a novel stress-diathesis model based on comprehensive pre-operative psychiatric and neuropsychological testing, a blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) carbon dioxide (CO2) stress test, and high fidelity measures of intra-operative parameters that may interact facilitating POD. Methods: The study was approved by the ethics board at the University of Manitoba and registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02126215. Twelve patients were studied. Pre-operative psychiatric symptom measures and neuropsychological testing preceded MRI featuring a BOLD MRI CO2 stress test whereby BOLD scans were conducted while exposing participants to a rigorously controlled CO2 stimulus. During surgery the patient had hemodynamics and end-tidal gases downloaded at 0.5 hz. Post-operatively, the presence of POD and POD severity was comprehensively assessed using the Confusion Assessment Measure –Severity (CAM-S) scoring instrument on days 0 (surgery) through post-operative day 5, and patients were followed up at least 1 month post-operatively. Results: Six of 12 patients had no evidence of POD (non-POD). Three patients had POD and 3 had clinically significant confusional states (referred as subthreshold POD; ST-POD) (score ≥ 5/19 on the CAM-S). Average severity for delirium was 1.3 in the non-POD group, 3.2 in ST-POD, and 6.1 in POD (F-statistic = 15.4, p < 0.001). Depressive symptoms, and cognitive measures of semantic fluency and executive functioning/processing speed were significantly associated with POD. Second level analysis revealed an increased inverse BOLD responsiveness to CO2 pre-operatively in ST-POD and marked increase in the POD groups when compared to the non-POD group. An association was also noted for the

  1. Monitoring algal blooms in drinking water reservoirs using the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Keith, Darryl; Rover, Jennifer; Green, Jason; Zalewsky, Brian; Charpentier, Mike; Hursby, Glen; Bishop, Joseph

    2018-01-01

    In this study, we demonstrated that the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor is a powerful tool that can provide periodic and system-wide information on the condition of drinking water reservoirs. The OLI is a multispectral radiometer (30 m spatial resolution) that allows ecosystem observations at spatial and temporal scales that allow the environmental community and water managers another means to monitor changes in water quality not feasible with field-based monitoring. Using the provisional Land Surface Reflectance product and field-collected chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentrations from drinking water monitoring programs in North Carolina and Rhode Island, we compared five established approaches for estimating chl-aconcentrations using spectral data. We found that using the three band reflectance approach with a combination of OLI spectral bands 1, 3, and 5 produced the most promising results for accurately estimating chl-a concentrations in lakes (R2 value of 0.66; root mean square error value of 8.9 µg l−1). Using this model, we forecast the spatial and temporal variability of chl-a for Jordan Lake, a recreational and drinking water source in piedmont North Carolina and several small ponds that supply drinking water in southeastern Rhode Island.

  2. Land Sea Level Difference Impacts on Socio-Hydrological System.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sung, K.; Yu, D. J.; Oh, W. S.; Sangwan, N.

    2016-12-01

    Allowing moderate shocks can be a new solution that helps to build adaptive capacity in society is a rising issue. In Social-Ecological field, Carpenter et al. (2015) suggested that exposure to short-term variability leads to long term resilience by enlarging safe operating space (SOS). The SOS refers to the boundary of favorable state that ecosystem can maintain resilience without imposing certain conditions (Carpenter et al. 2015). Our work is motivated by defining SOS in socio-hydrological system(SHS) because it can be an alternative way for flood management beyond optimized or robust flood control. In this context, large flood events that make system to cross the SOS should be fully managed, but frequent small floods need to be allowed if the system is located in SOS. Especially, land sea level change is critical factor to change flood resilience since it is one of the most substantial disturbance that changes the entire boundary of SOS. In order to have broader perspective of vulnerability and resilience of the coastal region, it is crucial to understand the land sea level dynamics changed with human activities and natural variances.The risk of land sea level change has been researched , but most of these researches have focused on explain cause and effect of land sea level change, paying little attention to its dynamics interacts with human activities. Thus, an objective of this research is to study dynamics of human work, land sea level change and resilience to flood with SOS approach. Especially, we focus on the case in Ganges-Brahmaputra, Bangladesh where has high vulnerability to flood, and is faced with relatively rapid land sea level change problem. To acheive the goal, this study will develop a stylized model by extending the human - flood interaction model combined with relative sea level difference equation. The model describes the dynamics of flood protection system which is changed by SHS and land sea level chage. we will focus on the aggradation

  3. A framework for identifying and managing risk in the operating theatre.

    PubMed

    Simpson, A

    1995-09-01

    There is much advice available about the development of risk management strategies within the NHS. There are booklets and magazines and there are many management consultancies willing to give advice on the development of strategies. NATN is also working on the development of advice on risk management within the operating theatre department and a document should be available at Congress this year. It was felt, however, that it may be useful to hear a little about the specific experience of the development of a strategy within one operating theatre area and Andrea Simpson, Directorate Nurse Manager for Clinical Services, West Lothian NHS Trust has recorded the development within the directorate. There has been some additional comment from the Director of Nursing and Quality within the Trust, Libby Campbell, who is responsible for risk management there.

  4. Prior inpatient admission increases the risk of post-operative infection in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery

    PubMed Central

    Dong, Zachary M; Chidi, Alexis P; Goswami, Julie; Han, Katrina; Simmons, Richard L; Rosengart, Matthew R; Tsung, Allan

    2015-01-01

    Background Hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HPB) operations have a high incidence of post-operative nosocomial infections. The aim of the present study was to determine whether hospitalization up to 1 year before HPB surgery is associated with an increased risk of post-operative infection, surgical-site infection (SSI) and infection resistant to surgical chemoprophylaxis. Methods A retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing HPB surgeries between January 2008 and June 2013 was conducted. A multivariable logistic regression model was used for controlling for potential confounders to determine the association between pre-operative admission and post-operative infection. Results Of the 1384 patients who met eligibility criteria, 127 (9.18%) experienced a post-operative infection. Pre-operative hospitalization was independently associated with an increased risk of a post-operative infection [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06–2.46] and SSI (aOR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.07–2.97). Pre-operative hospitalization was also associated with an increased risk of post-operative infections resistant to standard pre-operative antibiotics (OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.06–6.59) and an increased risk of resistant SSIs (OR: 3.99, 95% CI: 1.25–12.73). Discussion Pre-operative hospitalization is associated with an increased incidence of post-operative infections, often with organisms that are resistant to surgical chemoprophylaxis. Patients hospitalized up to 1 year before HPB surgery may benefit from extended spectrum chemoprophylaxis. PMID:26333471

  5. Ensemble Flow Forecasts for Risk Based Reservoir Operations of Lake Mendocino in Mendocino County, California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Delaney, C.; Hartman, R. K.; Mendoza, J.; Evans, K. M.; Evett, S.

    2016-12-01

    Forecast informed reservoir operations (FIRO) is a methodology that incorporates short to mid-range precipitation or flow forecasts to inform the flood operations of reservoirs. Previous research and modeling for flood control reservoirs has shown that FIRO can reduce flood risk and increase water supply for many reservoirs. The risk-based method of FIRO presents a unique approach that incorporates flow forecasts made by NOAA's California-Nevada River Forecast Center (CNRFC) to model and assess risk of meeting or exceeding identified management targets or thresholds. Forecasted risk is evaluated against set risk tolerances to set reservoir flood releases. A water management model was developed for Lake Mendocino, a 116,500 acre-foot reservoir located near Ukiah, California. Lake Mendocino is a dual use reservoir, which is owned and operated for flood control by the United State Army Corps of Engineers and is operated by the Sonoma County Water Agency for water supply. Due to recent changes in the operations of an upstream hydroelectric facility, this reservoir has been plagued with water supply reliability issues since 2007. FIRO is applied to Lake Mendocino by simulating daily hydrologic conditions from 1985 to 2010 in the Upper Russian River from Lake Mendocino to the City of Healdsburg approximately 50 miles downstream. The risk-based method is simulated using a 15-day, 61 member streamflow hindcast by the CNRFC. Model simulation results of risk-based flood operations demonstrate a 23% increase in average end of water year (September 30) storage levels over current operations. Model results show no increase in occurrence of flood damages for points downstream of Lake Mendocino. This investigation demonstrates that FIRO may be a viable flood control operations approach for Lake Mendocino and warrants further investigation through additional modeling and analysis.

  6. Computer Security: Improvements Needed to Reduce Risk to Critical Federal Operations and Assets

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-11-09

    COMPUTER SECURITY Improvements Needed to Reduce Risk to Critical Federal Operations and Assets Statement of Robert F. Dacey Director, Information...Improvements Needed to Reduce Risk to Critical Federal Operations and Assets Contract Number Grant Number Program Element Number Author(s...The benefits have been enormous. Vast amounts of information are now literally at our fingertips, facilitating research on virtually every topic

  7. 14 CFR 460.45 - Operator informing space flight participant of risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... understanding of the hazards and risks of the mission, and each space flight participant must then provide... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Operator informing space flight participant of risk. 460.45 Section 460.45 Aeronautics and Space COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL...

  8. 14 CFR 460.45 - Operator informing space flight participant of risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... understanding of the hazards and risks of the mission, and each space flight participant must then provide... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Operator informing space flight participant of risk. 460.45 Section 460.45 Aeronautics and Space COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL...

  9. 14 CFR 460.45 - Operator informing space flight participant of risk.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... understanding of the hazards and risks of the mission, and each space flight participant must then provide... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Operator informing space flight participant of risk. 460.45 Section 460.45 Aeronautics and Space COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL...

  10. Land-based approach to evaluate sustainable land management and adaptive capacity of ecosystems/lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kust, German; Andreeva, Olga

    2015-04-01

    A number of new concepts and paradigms appeared during last decades, such as sustainable land management (SLM), climate change (CC) adaptation, environmental services, ecosystem health, and others. All of these initiatives still not having the common scientific platform although some agreements in terminology were reached, schemes of links and feedback loops created, and some models developed. Nevertheless, in spite of all these scientific achievements, the land related issues are still not in the focus of CC adaptation and mitigation. The last did not grow much beyond the "greenhouse gases" (GHG) concept, which makes land degradation as the "forgotten side of climate change" The possible decision to integrate concepts of climate and desertification/land degradation could be consideration of the "GHG" approach providing global solution, and "land" approach providing local solution covering other "locally manifesting" issues of global importance (biodiversity conservation, food security, disasters and risks, etc.) to serve as a central concept among those. SLM concept is a land-based approach, which includes the concepts of both ecosystem-based approach (EbA) and community-based approach (CbA). SLM can serve as in integral CC adaptation strategy, being based on the statement "the more healthy and resilient the system is, the less vulnerable and more adaptive it will be to any external changes and forces, including climate" The biggest scientific issue is the methods to evaluate the SLM and results of the SLM investments. We suggest using the approach based on the understanding of the balance or equilibrium of the land and nature components as the major sign of the sustainable system. Prom this point of view it is easier to understand the state of the ecosystem stress, size of the "health", range of adaptive capacity, drivers of degradation and SLM nature, as well as the extended land use, and the concept of environmental land management as the improved SLM approach

  11. 14 CFR 121.197 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.197 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  12. 14 CFR 121.195 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.195 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations...

  13. 14 CFR 121.197 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.197 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  14. 14 CFR 121.195 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.195 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations...

  15. 14 CFR 121.195 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing...: CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.195 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations...

  16. 14 CFR 121.197 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Airplane Performance Operating Limitations § 121.197 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Alternate...

  17. Livestock grazing impact on soil wettability and erosion risk in post-fire agricultural lands.

    PubMed

    Stavi, Ilan; Barkai, Daniel; Knoll, Yaakov M; Zaady, Eli

    2016-12-15

    Fires in agricultural areas are common, modifying the functioning of agro-ecosystems. Such fires have been extensively studied, and reported to considerably affect soil properties. Yet, understanding of the impact of livestock grazing, or more precisely, trampling, in fire-affected lands is limited. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of low- to moderate-fire severity and livestock trampling (hoof action) on the solid soil's wettability and related properties, and on soil detachment, in burnt vs. non-burnt croplands. The study was implemented by allowing livestock to access plots under high, medium, and low stocking rates in (unintentionally) burnt and non-burnt lands. Also, livestock exclusion plots were assigned as a control treatment. Results showed that fire slightly decreased the soil wettability. At the same time, water drop penetration time (WDPT) was negatively related to the stocking rate, and critical surface tension (CST) was ~13% smaller in the control plots than in the livestock-presence treatments. Also, the results showed that following burning, the resistance of soil to shear decreased by ~70%. Mass of detached material was similar in the control plots of the burnt and non-burnt plots. At the same time, it was three-, eight-, and nine-fold greater in the plots of the burnt×low, burnt×medium, and burnt×high stocking rates, respectively, than in the corresponding non-burnt ones. This study shows that livestock trampling in low- to moderate-intensity fire-affected lands increased the shearing of the ground surface layer. On the one hand, this slightly increased soil wettability. On the other hand, this impact considerably increased risks of soil erosion and land degradation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Risk factors for surgical site infections after pediatric spine operations.

    PubMed

    Croft, Lindsay D; Pottinger, Jean M; Chiang, Hsiu-Yin; Ziebold, Christine S; Weinstein, Stuart L; Herwaldt, Loreen A

    2015-01-15

    Matched case-control study. To identify modifiable risk factors for surgical site infections (SSIs) after pediatric spinal fusion. The number of SSIs after pediatric spinal fusions increased. Between July 2001 and July 2010, 22 of 598 pediatric patients who underwent spinal fusion at a university hospital acquired SSIs. Each patient with an SSI was matched with 2 controls by procedure date. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were used to identify risk factors for SSIs and outcomes of SSIs. Gram-negative organisms caused more than 50% of the SSIs. By multivariable analysis, neuromuscular scoliosis (odds ratio [OR] = 20.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.1-889.5; P < 0.0001) and weight-for-age at the 95th percentile or higher (OR = 8.6; 95% CI, 1.2-124.9; P = 0.02) were preoperative factors associated with SSIs. Blood loss (OR = 1.0; 95% CI, 1.0-1.0; P = 0.039) and allografts and allografts in combination with other grafts were operative risk factors for SSIs. The final overall risk model for SSIs was weight-for-age at the 95th percentile or higher (OR = 4.0; 95% CI, 1.4-∞; P = 0.037), American Society of Anesthesiologists score 3 or more (OR = 3.8; 95% CI, 1.6-∞; P = 0.01), and prolonged operation duration (OR = 1.0/min increase; 95% CI, 1.0-1.0; P = 0.004). SSIs were associated with 2.8 days of additional postoperative length of stay (P = 0.02). Neuromuscular scoliosis was the only factor significantly associated with hospital readmission (OR = 23.6; 95% CI, 3.8-147.3; P = 0.0007). Our results suggest that pediatric patients undergoing spinal fusion might benefit from antimicrobial prophylaxis that covers gram-negative organisms. Surgical duration, graft implantation, and blood loss are potentially modifiable operative risk factors. Neuromuscular scoliosis, high weight-for-age, and American Society of Anesthesiologists scores 3 or more may help surgical teams identify patients at high risk for SSI.

  19. Land-sharing versus land-sparing logging: reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation.

    PubMed

    Edwards, David P; Gilroy, James J; Woodcock, Paul; Edwards, Felicity A; Larsen, Trond H; Andrews, David J R; Derhé, Mia A; Docherty, Teegan D S; Hsu, Wayne W; Mitchell, Simon L; Ota, Takahiro; Williams, Leah J; Laurance, William F; Hamer, Keith C; Wilcove, David S

    2014-01-01

    Selective logging is a major driver of rainforest degradation across the tropics. Two competing logging strategies are proposed to meet timber demands with the least impact on biodiversity: land sharing, which combines timber extraction with biodiversity protection across the concession; and land sparing, in which higher intensity logging is combined with the protection of intact primary forest reserves. We evaluate these strategies by comparing the abundances and species richness of birds, dung beetles and ants in Borneo, using a protocol that allows us to control for both timber yield and net profit across strategies. Within each taxonomic group, more species had higher abundances with land-sparing than land-sharing logging, and this translated into significantly higher species richness within land-sparing concessions. Our results are similar when focusing only on species found in primary forest and restricted in range to Sundaland, and they are independent of the scale of sampling. For each taxonomic group, land-sparing logging was the most promising strategy for maximizing the biological value of logging operations. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Assessing the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans for species at risk across gradients of agricultural land use.

    PubMed

    Robillard, Cassandra M; Kerr, Jeremy T

    2017-08-01

    High costs of land in agricultural regions warrant spatial prioritization approaches to conservation that explicitly consider land prices to produce protected-area networks that accomplish targets efficiently. However, land-use changes in such regions and delays between plan design and implementation may render optimized plans obsolete before implementation occurs. To measure the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans, we simulated a land-acquisition and restoration initiative aimed at conserving species at risk in Canada's farmlands. We accounted for observed changes in land-acquisition costs and in agricultural intensity based on censuses of agriculture taken from 1986 to 2011. For each year of data, we mapped costs and areas of conservation priority designated using Marxan. We compared plans to test for changes through time in the arrangement of high-priority sites and in the total cost of each plan. For acquisition costs, we measured the savings from accounting for prices during site selection. Land-acquisition costs and land-use intensity generally rose over time independent of inflation (24-78%), although rates of change were heterogeneous through space and decreased in some areas. Accounting for spatial variation in land price lowered the cost of conservation plans by 1.73-13.9%, decreased the range of costs by 19-82%, and created unique solutions from which to choose. Despite the rise in plan costs over time, the high conservation priority of particular areas remained consistent. Delaying conservation in these critical areas may compromise what optimized conservation plans can achieve. In the case of Canadian farmland, rapid conservation action is cost-effective, even with moderate levels of uncertainty in how to implement restoration goals. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  1. Basin-Scale Assessment of the Land Surface Water Budget in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Operational and Research NLDAS-2 Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Xia, Youlong; Cosgrove, Brian A.; Mitchell, Kenneth E.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Ek, Michael B.; Brewer, Michael; Mocko, David; Kumar, Sujay V.; Wei, Helin; Meng, Jesse; hide

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the components of the land surface water budget in the four land surface models (Noah, SAC-Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model, (VIC) Variable Infiltration Capacity Model, and Mosaic) applied in the newly implemented National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) operational and research versions of the North American Land Data Assimilation System version 2 (NLDAS-2). This work focuses on monthly and annual components of the water budget over 12 National Weather Service (NWS) River Forecast Centers (RFCs). Monthly gridded FLUX Network (FLUXNET) evapotranspiration (ET) from the Max-Planck Institute (MPI) of Germany, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) total runoff (Q), changes in total water storage (dS/dt, derived as a residual by utilizing MPI ET and USGS Q in the water balance equation), and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) observed total water storage anomaly (TWSA) and change (TWSC) are used as reference data sets. Compared to these ET and Q benchmarks, Mosaic and SAC (Noah and VIC) in the operational NLDAS-2 overestimate (underestimate) mean annual reference ET and underestimate (overestimate) mean annual reference Q. The multimodel ensemble mean (MME) is closer to the mean annual reference ET and Q. An anomaly correlation (AC) analysis shows good AC values for simulated monthly mean Q and dS/dt but significantly smaller AC values for simulated ET. Upgraded versions of the models utilized in the research side of NLDAS-2 yield largely improved performance in the simulation of these mean annual and monthly water component diagnostics. These results demonstrate that the three intertwined efforts of improving (1) the scientific understanding of parameterization of land surface processes, (2) the spatial and temporal extent of systematic validation of land surface processes, and (3) the engineering-oriented aspects such as parameter calibration and optimization are key to substantially improving product

  2. Towards a Global Land Subsidence Map

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erkens, G.; Kooi, H.; Sutanudjaja, E.

    2017-12-01

    Land subsidence is a global problem, but a global land subsidence map is not available yet. Such map is crucial to raise global awareness of land subsidence, as land subsidence causes extensive damage (probably in the order of billions of dollars annually). Insights in the rates of subsidence are particularly relevant for low lying deltas and coastal zones, for which any further loss in elevation is unwanted. With the global land subsidence map relative sea level rise predictions may be improved, contributing to global flood risk calculations. In this contribution, we discuss the approach and progress we have made so far in making a global land subsidence map. The first results will be presented and discussed, and we give an outlook on the work needed to derive a global land subsidence map.

  3. Land use and land cover digital data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fegeas, Robin G.; Claire, Robert W.; Guptill, Stephen C.; Anderson, K. Eric; Hallam, Cheryl A.

    1983-01-01

    The discipline of cartography is undergoing a number of profound changesthat center on the emerging influence ofdigital manipulation and analysis ofdata for the preparation of cartographic materials and for use in geographic information systems. Operational requirements have led to the development by the USGS National Mapping Division of several documents that establish in-house digital cartographic standards. In an effort to fulfill lead agency requirements for promulgation of Federal standards in the earth sciences, the documents have been edited and assembled with explanatory text into a USGS Circular. This Circular describes some of the pertinent issues relative to digital cartographic data standards, documents the digital cartographic data standards currently in use within the USGS, and details the efforts of the USGS related to the definition of national digital cartographic data standards. It consists of several chapters; the first is a general overview, and each succeeding chapter is made up from documents that establish in-house standards for one of the various types of digital cartographic data currently produced. This chapter 895-E, describes the Geographic Information Retrieval and Analysis System that is used in conjunction with the USGS land use and land cover classification system to encode, edit, manipuate, and analyze land use and land cover digital data.

  4. Development of a New Data Tool for Computing Launch and Landing Availability with Respect to Surface Weather

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burns, K. Lee; Altino, Karen

    2008-01-01

    The Marshall Space Flight Center Natural Environments Branch has a long history of expertise in the modeling and computation of statistical launch availabilities with respect to weather conditions. Their existing data analysis product, the Atmospheric Parametric Risk Assessment (APRA) tool, computes launch availability given an input set of vehicle hardware and/or operational weather constraints by calculating the climatological probability of exceeding the specified constraint limits, APRA has been used extensively to provide the Space Shuttle program the ability to estimate impacts that various proposed design modifications would have to overall launch availability. The model accounts for both seasonal and diurnal variability at a single geographic location and provides output probabilities for a single arbitrary launch attempt. Recently, the Shuttle program has shown interest in having additional capabilities added to the APRA model, including analysis of humidity parameters, inclusion of landing site weather to produce landing availability, and concurrent analysis of multiple sites, to assist in operational landing site selection. In addition, the Constellation program has also expressed interest in the APRA tool, and has requested several additional capabilities to address some Constellation-specific issues, both in the specification and verification of design requirements and in the development of operations concepts. The combined scope of the requested capability enhancements suggests an evolution of the model beyond a simple revision process. Development has begun for a new data analysis tool that will satisfy the requests of both programs. This new tool, Probabilities of Atmospheric Conditions and Environmental Risk (PACER), will provide greater flexibility and significantly enhanced functionality compared to the currently existing tool.

  5. Integrating land cover modeling and adaptive management to conserve endangered species and reduce catastrophic fire risk

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Breininger, David; Duncan, Brean; Eaton, Mitchell J.; Johnson, Fred; Nichols, James

    2014-01-01

    Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process, where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources, and then, decision makers can use this information to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision-making, where science allows us to learn in order to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by the specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuel monitoring with decision-making focused on the dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy; other conditions require tradeoffs between objectives. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by developing hypotheses based on ideas about fire behavior and then applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and to increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility and identifies a clear role for land cover modeling programs intended to inform decision-making.

  6. Evaluating the anthropogenic impacts on fluvial flood risks in a coastal mega-city during its transitional economy (1979-2009): the interaction between land subsidence, urbanization and structural measures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Dapeng; Yin, Jie

    2014-05-01

    Flood risk in a specific geographical location is a function of the interaction between various natural (e.g. rainfall, sea-level rise) and anthropogenic processes (e.g. land subsidence and urbanization). These processes, whether a driver or an alleviating factor, often encompass a large degree of spatial and temporal variability. Looking at a specific process in isolation is likely to provide an incomplete picture of the risks. This paper describes a novel approach to the evaluation of anthropogenic impacts on flood risks in coastal mega-cities by incorporating three anthropogenic variables (land subsidence, urbanization and flood defence) within a scenario-based framework where numerical modelling was undertaken to quantify the risks. The evolving risks at four time points (1979, 1990, 2000 and 2009) were assessed for the Huangpu River floodplain where the City of Shanghai is located. Distributed data of land subsidence rate, urbanization rate and flood defence heights were obtained. Scenarios were designed by representing the rate of land subsidence and flood defence height through the modification of DEM. Effect of urbanization is represented by a roughness parameter in the model simulations. A 2D hydrodynamic model (FloodMap-Inertial) was used to estimate the flood risks associated with each scenario. Flood events with various return periods (10-, 100- and 1000-year) were designed based on a one in 50 year flood event occurred in Shanghai in August 1997. Results demonstrate the individual as well as the combined impacts of the three anthropogenic factors on the changing fluvial flood risks in the Huangpu River basin over the last three decades during the city's transitional economy (1979-2009). Land subsidence and urbanization were found to lead to proportionate but non-linear impact on flood risks due to their complex spatial and temporal interaction. The impacts and their sensitivity are the function of the rate & spatial distribution of each evolving factor

  7. An integrated simulation method for flash-flood risk assessment: 2. Effects of changes in land-use under a historical perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rosso, R.; Rulli, M. C.

    The influence of land use changes on flood occurrence and severity in the Bisagno River (Thyrrenian Liguria, N.W. Italy is investigated using a Monte Carlo simulation approach (Rulli and Rosso, 2002). High resolution land-use maps for the area were reconstructed and scenario simulations were made for a pre-industrial (1878), an intermediate (1930) and a current (1980) year. Land-use effects were explored to assess the consequences of distributed changes in land use due to agricultural practice and urbanisation. Hydraulic conveyance effects were considered, to assess the consequences of channel modifications associated with engineering works in the lower Bisagno River network. Flood frequency analyses of the annual flood series, retrieved from the simulations, were used to examine the effect of land-use change and river conveyance on flood regime. The impact of these effects proved to be negligible in the upper Bisagno River, moderate in the downstream river and severe in the small tributaries in the lower Bisagno valley that drain densely populated urban areas. The simulation approach is shown to be capable of incorporating historical data on landscape and river patterns into quantitative methods for risk assessment.

  8. Nonlinear Landing Control for Quadrotor UAVs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Voos, Holger

    Quadrotor UAVs are one of the most preferred type of small unmanned aerial vehicles because of the very simple mechanical construction and propulsion principle. However, the nonlinear dynamic behavior requires a more advanced stabilizing control and guidance of these vehicles. In addition, the small payload reduces the amount of batteries that can be carried and thus also limits the operating range of the UAV. One possible solution for a range extension is the application of a mobile base station for recharging purpose even during operation. However, landing on a moving base station requires autonomous tracking and landing control of the UAV. In this paper, a nonlinear autopilot for quadrotor UAVs is extended with a tracking and landing controller to fulfill the required task.

  9. Risk Management Technique for design and operation of facilities and equipment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fedor, O. H.; Parsons, W. N.; Coutinho, J. De S.

    1975-01-01

    The Risk Management System collects information from engineering, operating, and management personnel to identify potentially hazardous conditions. This information is used in risk analysis, problem resolution, and contingency planning. The resulting hazard accountability system enables management to monitor all identified hazards. Data from this system are examined in project reviews so that management can decide to eliminate or accept these risks. This technique is particularly effective in improving the management of risks in large, complex, high-energy facilities. These improvements are needed for increased cooperation among industry, regulatory agencies, and the public.

  10. Developing a Prototype ALHAT Human System Interface for Landing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hirsh, Robert L.; Chua, Zarrin K.; Heino, Todd A.; Strahan, Al; Major, Laura; Duda, Kevin

    2011-01-01

    The goal of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project is to safely execute a precision landing anytime/anywhere on the moon. This means the system must operate in any lighting conditions, operate in the presence of any thruster generated regolith clouds, and operate without the help of redeployed navigational aids or prepared landing site at the landing site. In order to reach this ambitious goal, computer aided technologies such as ALHAT will be needed in order to permit these landings to be done safely. Although there will be advanced autonomous capabilities onboard future landers, humans will still be involved (either onboard as astronauts or remotely from mission control) in any mission to the moon or other planetary body. Because many time critical decisions must be made quickly and effectively during the landing sequence, the Descent and Landing displays need to be designed to be as effective as possible at presenting the pertinent information to the operator, and allow the operators decisions to be implemented as quickly as possible. The ALHAT project has established the Human System Interface (HSI) team to lead in the development of these displays and to study the best way to provide operators enhanced situational awareness during landing activities. These displays are prototypes that were developed based on multiple design and feedback sessions with the astronaut office at NASA/ Johnson Space Center. By working with the astronauts in a series of plan/build/evaluate cycles, the HSI team has obtained astronaut feedback from the very beginning of the design process. In addition to developing prototype displays, the HSI team has also worked to provide realistic lunar terrain (and shading) to simulate a "out the window" view that can be adjusted to various lighting conditions (based on a desired date/time) to allow the same terrain to be viewed under varying lighting terrain. This capability will be critical to determining the

  11. Initial 12-h operative fluid volume is an independent risk factor for pleural effusion after hepatectomy.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Xiang; Wu, Jia-Wei; Sun, Ping; Song, Zi-Fang; Zheng, Qi-Chang

    2016-12-01

    Pleural effusion after hepatectomy is associated with significant morbidity and prolonged hospital stays. Several studies have addressed the risk factors for postoperative pleural effusion. However, there are no researches concerning the role of the initial 12-h operative fluid volume. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the initial 12-h operative fluid volume during liver resection is an independent risk factor for pleural effusion after hepatectomy. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 470 patients consecutively undergoing elective hepatectomy between January 2011 and December 2012. We prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed baseline and clinical data, including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to identify whether the initial 12-h operative fluid volume was an independent risk factor for pleural effusion after hepatectomy. The multivariate analysis identified 2 independent risk factors for pleural effusion: operative time [odds ratio (OR)=10.2] and initial 12-h operative fluid volume (OR=1.0003). Threshold effect analyses revealed that the initial 12 h operative fluid volume was positively correlated with the incidence of pleural effusion when the initial 12-h operative fluid volume exceeded 4636 mL. We conclude that the initial 12-h operative fluid volume during liver resection and operative time are independent risk factors for pleural effusion after hepatectomy. Perioperative intravenous fluids should be restricted properly.

  12. Assessment of St. Louis Land Bank

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The St. Louis Land Bank, established in 1971, is the oldest in the country and manages over 12,000 vacant properties in the city. Land banks are operated by local governments to manage properties that have little to no value to private parties with the goa

  13. 47 CFR 90.733 - Permissible operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... ability to construct and operate its nationwide land mobile system, as required in §§ 90.713 (b), (c) and... paging or fixed systems on a primary basis instead of or in addition to its land mobile operations, it... benchmark for the construction of its land mobile system base stations as prescribed in § 90.725(a); and (2...

  14. 14 CFR 25.1515 - Landing gear speeds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Limitations § 25.1515 Landing gear speeds. (a) The established landing gear operating speed or speeds, V LO... retraction speed, the two speeds must be designated as V LO(EXT) and V LO(RET), respectively. (b) The...

  15. 14 CFR 25.1515 - Landing gear speeds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Limitations § 25.1515 Landing gear speeds. (a) The established landing gear operating speed or speeds, V LO... retraction speed, the two speeds must be designated as V LO(EXT) and V LO(RET), respectively. (b) The...

  16. 14 CFR 25.1515 - Landing gear speeds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Limitations § 25.1515 Landing gear speeds. (a) The established landing gear operating speed or speeds, V LO... retraction speed, the two speeds must be designated as V LO(EXT) and V LO(RET), respectively. (b) The...

  17. 14 CFR 25.1515 - Landing gear speeds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Limitations § 25.1515 Landing gear speeds. (a) The established landing gear operating speed or speeds, V LO... retraction speed, the two speeds must be designated as V LO(EXT) and V LO(RET), respectively. (b) The...

  18. 14 CFR 25.1515 - Landing gear speeds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... Limitations § 25.1515 Landing gear speeds. (a) The established landing gear operating speed or speeds, V LO... retraction speed, the two speeds must be designated as V LO(EXT) and V LO(RET), respectively. (b) The...

  19. Evaluation of the initial thematic output from a continuous change-detection algorithm for use in automated operational land-change mapping by the U.S. Geological Survey

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pengra, Bruce; Gallant, Alisa L.; Zhu, Zhe; Dahal, Devendra

    2016-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has begun the development of operational, 30-m resolution annual thematic land cover data to meet the needs of a variety of land cover data users. The Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm is being evaluated as the likely methodology following early trials. Data for training and testing of CCDC thematic maps have been provided by the USGS Land Cover Trends (LC Trends) project, which offers sample-based, manually classified thematic land cover data at 2755 probabilistically located sample blocks across the conterminous United States. These samples represent a high quality, well distributed source of data to train the Random Forest classifier invoked by CCDC. We evaluated the suitability of LC Trends data to train the classifier by assessing the agreement of annual land cover maps output from CCDC with output from the LC Trends project within 14 Landsat path/row locations across the conterminous United States. We used a small subset of circa 2000 data from the LC Trends project to train the classifier, reserving the remaining Trends data from 2000, and incorporating LC Trends data from 1992, to evaluate measures of agreement across time, space, and thematic classes, and to characterize disagreement. Overall agreement ranged from 75% to 98% across the path/rows, and results were largely consistent across time. Land cover types that were well represented in the training data tended to have higher rates of agreement between LC Trends and CCDC outputs. Characteristics of disagreement are being used to improve the use of LC Trends data as a continued source of training information for operational production of annual land cover maps.

  20. 12 CFR 614.4354 - Federal land bank associations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Federal land bank associations. 614.4354 Section 614.4354 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM LOAN POLICIES AND OPERATIONS Lending and Leasing Limits § 614.4354 Federal land bank associations. No Federal land bank...

  1. 12 CFR 614.4354 - Federal land bank associations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Federal land bank associations. 614.4354 Section 614.4354 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM LOAN POLICIES AND OPERATIONS Lending and Leasing Limits § 614.4354 Federal land bank associations. No Federal land bank...

  2. Derivation and evaluation of land surface temperature from the geostationary operational environmental satellite series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fang, Li

    The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have been continuously monitoring the earth surface since 1970, providing valuable and intensive data from a very broad range of wavelengths, day and night. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is currently operating GOES-15 and GOES-13. The design of the GOES series is now heading to the 4 th generation. GOES-R, as a representative of the new generation of the GOES series, is scheduled to be launched in 2015 with higher spatial and temporal resolution images and full-time soundings. These frequent observations provided by GOES Image make them attractive for deriving information on the diurnal land surface temperature (LST) cycle and diurnal temperature range (DTR). These parameters are of great value for research on the Earth's diurnal variability and climate change. Accurate derivation of satellite-based LSTs from thermal infrared data has long been an interesting and challenging research area. To better support the research on climate change, the generation of consistent GOES LST products for both GOES-East and GOES-West from operational dataset as well as historical archive is in great demand. The derivation of GOES LST products and the evaluation of proposed retrieval methods are two major objectives of this study. Literature relevant to satellite-based LST retrieval techniques was reviewed. Specifically, the evolution of two LST algorithm families and LST retrieval methods for geostationary satellites were summarized in this dissertation. Literature relevant to the evaluation of satellite-based LSTs was also reviewed. All the existing methods are a valuable reference to develop the GOES LST product. The primary objective of this dissertation is the development of models for deriving consistent GOES LSTs with high spatial and high temporal coverage. Proper LST retrieval algorithms were studied

  3. Improving risk models for avian influenza: the role of intensive poultry farming and flooded land during the 2004 Thailand epidemic.

    PubMed

    Van Boeckel, Thomas P; Thanapongtharm, Weerapong; Robinson, Timothy; Biradar, Chandrashekhar M; Xiao, Xiangming; Gilbert, Marius

    2012-01-01

    Since 1996 when Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza type H5N1 first emerged in southern China, numerous studies sought risk factors and produced risk maps based on environmental and anthropogenic predictors. However little attention has been paid to the link between the level of intensification of poultry production and the risk of outbreak. This study revised H5N1 risk mapping in Central and Western Thailand during the second wave of the 2004 epidemic. Production structure was quantified using a disaggregation methodology based on the number of poultry per holding. Population densities of extensively- and intensively-raised ducks and chickens were derived both at the sub-district and at the village levels. LandSat images were used to derive another previously neglected potential predictor of HPAI H5N1 risk: the proportion of water in the landscape resulting from floods. We used Monte Carlo simulation of Boosted Regression Trees models of predictor variables to characterize the risk of HPAI H5N1. Maps of mean risk and uncertainty were derived both at the sub-district and the village levels. The overall accuracy of Boosted Regression Trees models was comparable to that of logistic regression approaches. The proportion of area flooded made the highest contribution to predicting the risk of outbreak, followed by the densities of intensively-raised ducks, extensively-raised ducks and human population. Our results showed that as little as 15% of flooded land in villages is sufficient to reach the maximum level of risk associated with this variable. The spatial pattern of predicted risk is similar to previous work: areas at risk are mainly located along the flood plain of the Chao Phraya river and to the south-east of Bangkok. Using high-resolution village-level poultry census data, rather than sub-district data, the spatial accuracy of predictions was enhanced to highlight local variations in risk. Such maps provide useful information to guide intervention.

  4. Improving Risk Models for Avian Influenza: The Role of Intensive Poultry Farming and Flooded Land during the 2004 Thailand Epidemic

    PubMed Central

    Van Boeckel, Thomas P.; Thanapongtharm, Weerapong; Robinson, Timothy; Biradar, Chandrashekhar M.; Xiao, Xiangming; Gilbert, Marius

    2012-01-01

    Since 1996 when Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza type H5N1 first emerged in southern China, numerous studies sought risk factors and produced risk maps based on environmental and anthropogenic predictors. However little attention has been paid to the link between the level of intensification of poultry production and the risk of outbreak. This study revised H5N1 risk mapping in Central and Western Thailand during the second wave of the 2004 epidemic. Production structure was quantified using a disaggregation methodology based on the number of poultry per holding. Population densities of extensively- and intensively-raised ducks and chickens were derived both at the sub-district and at the village levels. LandSat images were used to derive another previously neglected potential predictor of HPAI H5N1 risk: the proportion of water in the landscape resulting from floods. We used Monte Carlo simulation of Boosted Regression Trees models of predictor variables to characterize the risk of HPAI H5N1. Maps of mean risk and uncertainty were derived both at the sub-district and the village levels. The overall accuracy of Boosted Regression Trees models was comparable to that of logistic regression approaches. The proportion of area flooded made the highest contribution to predicting the risk of outbreak, followed by the densities of intensively-raised ducks, extensively-raised ducks and human population. Our results showed that as little as 15% of flooded land in villages is sufficient to reach the maximum level of risk associated with this variable. The spatial pattern of predicted risk is similar to previous work: areas at risk are mainly located along the flood plain of the Chao Phraya river and to the south-east of Bangkok. Using high-resolution village-level poultry census data, rather than sub-district data, the spatial accuracy of predictions was enhanced to highlight local variations in risk. Such maps provide useful information to guide intervention. PMID:23185352

  5. Working towards an integrated land contamination management framework for Nigeria.

    PubMed

    Sam, Kabari; Coulon, Frédéric; Prpich, George

    2016-11-15

    Over the past five decades, Nigeria has developed a number of contaminated land legislations to address the damage caused primarily by oil and gas exploitation activities. Within these legislations exists elements of risk assessment and risk-based corrective action. Despite this progress, we argue that contaminated land management approaches in Nigeria need further development to be able to integrate new scientific information, and to address environmental, economic, and social values. By comparison, advanced contaminated land regimes in the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America (USA) apply a number of integrative approaches (e.g. sustainability appraisal, liability regime, funding mechanisms, technology demonstration) that enable them to meet the environmental, economic, and social needs of their populations. In comparison, Nigerian governance lacks many of these mechanisms and management of contaminated land is ad hoc. In this paper we propose an integrated risk assessment framework for Nigeria that incorporates the principles of sustainability and stakeholder engagement into the decision-making processes for contaminated land risk assessment and risk management. The integrated approach relies on transparency to promote acceptance and build trust in institutions, and uses stakeholder engagement to address data deficiencies. We conclude this paper with a roadmap for how Nigeria might implement such an integrative approach into their existing contaminated land regulatory system, as well as identify a series of policy priorities that should be addressed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Orion Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance and Mission Design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Broome, Joel M.; Johnson, Wyatt

    2007-01-01

    The Orion Vehicle is the next spacecraft to take humans into space and will include missions to ISS as well as missions to the Moon. As part of that challenge, the vehicle will have to accommodate multiple mission design concepts, since return from Low Earth Orbit and return from the Moon can be quite different. Commonality between the different missions as it relates to vehicle systems, guidance capability, and operations concepts is the goal. Several unique mission design concepts include the specification of multiple land-based landing sites for a vehicle with closed-loop direct and skip entry guidance, followed by a parachute descent and landing attenuation system. This includes the ability of the vehicle to accurately target and land at a designated landing site, including site location aspects, landing site size, and landing opportunities assessments. Analyses associated with these mission design and flight performance challenges and constraints will be discussed as well as potential operational concepts to provide feasibility and/or mission commonality.

  7. Analysis of relationships between land surface temperature and land use changes in the Yellow River Delta

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ning, Jicai; Gao, Zhiqiang; Meng, Ran; Xu, Fuxiang; Gao, Meng

    2018-06-01

    This study analyzed land use and land cover changes and their impact on land surface temperature using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor imagery of the Yellow River Delta. Six Landsat images comprising two time series were used to calculate the land surface temperature and correlated vegetation indices. The Yellow River Delta area has expanded substantially because of the deposited sediment carried from upstream reaches of the river. Between 1986 and 2015, approximately 35% of the land use area of the Yellow River Delta has been transformed into salterns and aquaculture ponds. Overall, land use conversion has occurred primarily from poorly utilized land into highly utilized land. To analyze the variation of land surface temperature, a mono-window algorithm was applied to retrieve the regional land surface temperature. The results showed bilinear correlation between land surface temperature and the vegetation indices (i.e., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Adjusted-Normalized Vegetation Index, Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index, and Modified Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index). Generally, values of the vegetation indices greater than the inflection point mean the land surface temperature and the vegetation indices are correlated negatively, and vice versa. Land surface temperature in coastal areas is affected considerably by local seawater temperature and weather conditions.

  8. Pollution characteristics and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in three land-use types on the southern Loess Plateau, China.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yubin; Wu, Faqi; Zhang, Xinsheng; Cao, Ning

    2017-08-25

    The accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils has been the subject of great concern because these metals have the potential to be transferred to soil solutions and subsequently accumulate in the food chain. To study the persistence of trace metals in crop and orchard soils, representative surface soil samples were collected from terrace farmland that had been cultivated for various numbers of years (3, 8, 12, 15, and >20 years), terrace orchard land that had been cultivated for various numbers of years (4, 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 25, and >30 years), and slope farmland with various gradients (3°, 5°, 8°, 12°, 15°, and 25°) and analyzed for heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, and Zn). These samples were collected from Nihegou catchment of Chunhua county in the southern Loess Plateau of China. The six heavy metals demonstrated different trends with time or gradient in the three land-use types. The Cu and Zn contents of the soil were higher than the referee background values of the loessal soil, and the contents of Cr and Ni, and especially those of As and Hg, were lower. Cu was the only heavy metal that just met the Grade III Environmental Quality Standard for Soils of China, while the others reached grade I. Cu and Hg were considered contaminant factors and Hg was a moderate potential ecological risk factor in the catchment. Of the sites investigated, 89.5% fell into the category with a low degree of contamination (C d ) and rest were moderate, while all three land-use types had low potential ecological risk (RI). Changes of C d and RI were consistent with the cultivated time in the terrace farmland and terrace orchard land. Values of RI increased while C d decreased with the increasing of slope gradient in the slope farmland. Evaluating the ecological risk posed by heavy metals using more soil samples in a larger study area is necessary on the Loess Plateau of China.

  9. Evolution and Implementation of the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis Concept of Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Newman, L.; Hejduk, M.; Frigm, R.; Duncan, M.

    2014-09-01

    On-orbit collisions pose a significant mission risk to satellites operating in the space environment. Recognizing the likelihood and consequence of on-orbit collisions, NASA has taken several proactive measures to mitigate the risk of both a catastrophic loss of mission and the increase in the space debris population. In fall 2004, NASA GSFC established an Agency-wide, institutionalized process and service for identifying and reacting to predicted close approaches. The team responsible for executing this mission is the NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team. By fall 2005, this process had resulted in the execution of the first collision avoidance maneuver by a NASA unmanned satellite. In February 2008, NASA adopted a policy, documented in NASA Procedural Requirement 8715.6a Process for Limiting Orbital Debris that directed maneuverable satellites to have such an on-orbit collision mitigation process. In 2009, NASA decided to require support for all operational satellites. By January 2014, the CARA team has processed nearly 500,000 close approach messages from the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) and has assisted our mission customers with planning and executing over 75 collision avoidance maneuvers for unmanned satellites in LEO, GEO, and HEO orbital regimes. With the increase in number of operational missions supported; growth in the orbital debris environment due to events such as the intentional destruction of the Fengyun 1-C satellite in 2007 and collision between Iridium-33 and Cosmos-2251; and improvements to the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and its ability to track, catalog, and screen against small debris objects, the demands on the CARA process have consequently required the CARA Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to evolve to manage those demands. This evolution is centered on the ability to effectively and efficiently manage JSpOC, CARA, and Mission Operations resources, applying operational and analytical

  10. Prolonged Operative Duration Increases Risk of Surgical Site Infections: A Systematic Review

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Brian Po-Han; Soleas, Ireena M.; Ferko, Nicole C.; Cameron, Chris G.; Hinoul, Piet

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Background: The incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) across surgical procedures, specialties, and conditions is reported to vary from 0.1% to 50%. Operative duration is often cited as an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor for SSI. The objective of this systematic review was to provide an in-depth understanding of the relation between operating time and SSI. Patients and Methods: This review included 81 prospective and retrospective studies. Along with study design, likelihood of SSI, mean operative times, time thresholds, effect measures, confidence intervals, and p values were extracted. Three meta-analyses were conducted, whereby odds ratios were pooled by hourly operative time thresholds, increments of increasing operative time, and surgical specialty. Results: Pooled analyses demonstrated that the association between extended operative time and SSI typically remained statistically significant, with close to twice the likelihood of SSI observed across various time thresholds. The likelihood of SSI increased with increasing time increments; for example, a 13%, 17%, and 37% increased likelihood for every 15 min, 30 min, and 60 min of surgery, respectively. On average, across various procedures, the mean operative time was approximately 30 min longer in patients with SSIs compared with those patients without. Conclusions: Prolonged operative time can increase the risk of SSI. Given the importance of SSIs on patient outcomes and health care economics, hospitals should focus efforts to reduce operative time. PMID:28832271

  11. Scheduling Aircraft Landings under Constrained Position Shifting

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Balakrishnan, Hamsa; Chandran, Bala

    2006-01-01

    Optimal scheduling of airport runway operations can play an important role in improving the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS). Methods that compute the optimal landing sequence and landing times of aircraft must accommodate practical issues that affect the implementation of the schedule. One such practical consideration, known as Constrained Position Shifting (CPS), is the restriction that each aircraft must land within a pre-specified number of positions of its place in the First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) sequence. We consider the problem of scheduling landings of aircraft in a CPS environment in order to maximize runway throughput (minimize the completion time of the landing sequence), subject to operational constraints such as FAA-specified minimum inter-arrival spacing restrictions, precedence relationships among aircraft that arise either from airline preferences or air traffic control procedures that prevent overtaking, and time windows (representing possible control actions) during which each aircraft landing can occur. We present a Dynamic Programming-based approach that scales linearly in the number of aircraft, and describe our computational experience with a prototype implementation on realistic data for Denver International Airport.

  12. Probabilistic Modeling of Settlement Risk at Land Disposal Facilities - 12304

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

    Foye, Kevin C.; Soong, Te-Yang

    2012-07-01

    The long-term reliability of land disposal facility final cover systems - and therefore the overall waste containment - depends on the distortions imposed on these systems by differential settlement/subsidence. The evaluation of differential settlement is challenging because of the heterogeneity of the waste mass (caused by inconsistent compaction, void space distribution, debris-soil mix ratio, waste material stiffness, time-dependent primary compression of the fine-grained soil matrix, long-term creep settlement of the soil matrix and the debris, etc.) at most land disposal facilities. Deterministic approaches to long-term final cover settlement prediction are not able to capture the spatial variability in the wastemore » mass and sub-grade properties which control differential settlement. An alternative, probabilistic solution is to use random fields to model the waste and sub-grade properties. The modeling effort informs the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of land disposal facilities. A probabilistic method to establish design criteria for waste placement and compaction is introduced using the model. Random fields are ideally suited to problems of differential settlement modeling of highly heterogeneous foundations, such as waste. Random fields model the seemingly random spatial distribution of a design parameter, such as compressibility. When used for design, the use of these models prompts the need for probabilistic design criteria. It also allows for a statistical approach to waste placement acceptance criteria. An example design evaluation was performed, illustrating the use of the probabilistic differential settlement simulation methodology to assemble a design guidance chart. The purpose of this design evaluation is to enable the designer to select optimal initial combinations of design slopes and quality control acceptance criteria that yield an acceptable proportion of post-settlement slopes meeting some design minimum. For this

  13. An operational procedure for rapid flood risk assessment in Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dottori, Francesco; Kalas, Milan; Salamon, Peter; Bianchi, Alessandra; Alfieri, Lorenzo; Feyen, Luc

    2017-07-01

    The development of methods for rapid flood mapping and risk assessment is a key step to increase the usefulness of flood early warning systems and is crucial for effective emergency response and flood impact mitigation. Currently, flood early warning systems rarely include real-time components to assess potential impacts generated by forecasted flood events. To overcome this limitation, this study describes the benchmarking of an operational procedure for rapid flood risk assessment based on predictions issued by the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS). Daily streamflow forecasts produced for major European river networks are translated into event-based flood hazard maps using a large map catalogue derived from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. Flood hazard maps are then combined with exposure and vulnerability information, and the impacts of the forecasted flood events are evaluated in terms of flood-prone areas, economic damage and affected population, infrastructures and cities.An extensive testing of the operational procedure has been carried out by analysing the catastrophic floods of May 2014 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The reliability of the flood mapping methodology is tested against satellite-based and report-based flood extent data, while modelled estimates of economic damage and affected population are compared against ground-based estimations. Finally, we evaluate the skill of risk estimates derived from EFAS flood forecasts with different lead times and combinations of probabilistic forecasts. Results highlight the potential of the real-time operational procedure in helping emergency response and management.

  14. Managing risks of market price uncertainty for a microgrid operation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raghavan, Sriram

    After deregulation of electricity in the United States, the day-ahead and real-time markets allow load serving entities and generation companies to bid and purchase/sell energy under the supervision of the independent system operator (ISO). The electricity market prices are inherently uncertain, and can be highly volatile. The main objective of this thesis is to hedge against the risk from the uncertainty of the market prices when purchasing/selling energy from/to the market. The energy manager can also schedule distributed generators (DGs) and storage of the microgrid to meet the demand, in addition to energy transactions from the market. The risk measure used in this work is the variance of the uncertain market purchase/sale cost/revenue, assuming the price following a Gaussian distribution. Using Markowitz optimization, the risk is minimized to find the optimal mix of purchase from the markets. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer quadratic program. The microgrid at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, IL was used as a case study. The result of this work reveals the tradeoff faced by the microgrid energy manager between minimizing the risk and minimizing the mean of the total operating cost (TOC) of the microgrid. With this information, the microgrid energy manager can make decisions in the day-ahead and real-time markets according to their risk aversion preference. The assumption of market prices following Gaussian distribution is also verified to be reasonable for the purpose of hedging against their risks. This is done by comparing the result of the proposed formulation with that obtained from the sample market prices randomly generated using the distribution of actual historic market price data.

  15. Landsat 8 operational land imager on-orbit geometric calibration and performance

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Storey, James C.; Choate, Michael J.; Lee, Kenton

    2014-01-01

    The Landsat 8 spacecraft was launched on 11 February 2013 carrying the Operational Land Imager (OLI) payload for moderate resolution imaging in the visible, near infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectral bands. During the 90-day commissioning period following launch, several on-orbit geometric calibration activities were performed to refine the prelaunch calibration parameters. The results of these calibration activities were subsequently used to measure geometric performance characteristics in order to verify the OLI geometric requirements. Three types of geometric calibrations were performed including: (1) updating the OLI-to-spacecraft alignment knowledge; (2) refining the alignment of the sub-images from the multiple OLI sensor chips; and (3) refining the alignment of the OLI spectral bands. The aspects of geometric performance that were measured and verified included: (1) geolocation accuracy with terrain correction, but without ground control (L1Gt); (2) Level 1 product accuracy with terrain correction and ground control (L1T); (3) band-to-band registration accuracy; and (4) multi-temporal image-to-image registration accuracy. Using the results of the on-orbit calibration update, all aspects of geometric performance were shown to meet or exceed system requirements.

  16. Aerial view of the Shuttle Landing Facility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1998-01-01

    From the air over KSC can be seen the Shuttle Landing Facility. Orbiter landings at the Kennedy Space Center are made on one of the largest runways in the world. The runway is located 3.2 km (2 miles) northwest of the Vehicle Assembly Building and is 4,572 meters (15,000ft) long and 91.4 meters (300ft) wide -- about as wide as the length of a football field. It has 305 meters (1000ft) of paved overruns at each end and the paving thickness is 40.6cm (15 inches) at the center. At left in the photo is the Aircraft Ground Equipment Shed; in the center is the Landing Aids Control Building (LACB) which supports landing operations and houses operations personnel. Located at the northeast corner of the parking apron is the Mate/Demate device (MDD) used to raise and lower the orbiter from its 747 carrier aircraft during ferry operations. The open-truss steel structure is equipped with hoists, adapters and movable platforms for access to certain orbiter components and equipment. It also is equipped with lightning protection devices. The MDD is 45.7 meters (150ft) long, 28.3 meters (93ft) wide and 32 meters (105ft) high. On the landing area in front of the SLF is a T-38 jet airplane.

  17. Oman India Pipeline: An operational repair strategy based on a rational assessment of risk

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

    German, P.

    1996-12-31

    This paper describes the development of a repair strategy for the operational phase of the Oman India Pipeline based upon the probability and consequences of a pipeline failure. Risk analyses and cost benefit analyses performed provide guidance on the level of deepwater repair development effort appropriate for the Oman India Pipeline project and identifies critical areas toward which more intense development effort should be directed. The risk analysis results indicate that the likelihood of a failure of the Oman India Pipeline during its 40-year life is low. Furthermore, the probability of operational failure of the pipeline in deepwater regions ismore » extremely low, the major proportion of operational failure risk being associated with the shallow water regions.« less

  18. A Monte Carlo approach to the inverse problem of diffuse pollution risk in agricultural catchments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Milledge, D.; Lane, S. N.; Heathwaite, A. L.; Reaney, S.

    2012-04-01

    The hydrological and biogeochemical processes that operate in catchments influence the ecological quality of freshwater systems through delivery of fine sediment, nutrients and organic matter. As an alternative to the, often complex, reductionist models we outline a - data-driven - approach based on 'inverse modelling'. We invert SCIMAP, a parsimonious risk based model that has an explicit treatment of hydrological connectivity, and use a Bayesian approach to determine the risk that must be assigned to different land uses in a catchment in order to explain the spatial patterns of measured in-stream nutrient concentrations. First, we apply the model to a set of eleven UK catchments to show that: 1) some land use generates a consistently high or low risk of diffuse nitrate (N) and Phosphate (P) pollution; but 2) the risks associated with different land uses vary both between catchments and between P and N delivery; and 3) that the dominant sources of P and N risk in the catchment are often a function of the spatial configuration of land uses. These results suggest that on a case by case basis, inverse modelling may be used to help prioritise the focus of interventions to reduce diffuse pollution risk for freshwater ecosystems. However, a key uncertainty in this approach is the extent to which it can recover the 'true' risks associated with a land cover given error in both the input parameters and equifinality in model outcomes. We test this using a set of synthetic scenarios in which the true risks can be pre-assigned then compared with those recovered from the inverse model. We use these scenarios to identify the number of simulations and observations required to optimize recovery of the true weights, then explore the conditions under which the inverse model becomes equifinal (hampering recovery of the true weights) We find that this is strongly dependent on the covariance in land covers between subcatchments, introducing the possibility that instream sampling could

  19. Risk assessment of maintenance operations: the analysis of performing task and accident mechanism.

    PubMed

    Carrillo-Castrillo, Jesús A; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; Guadix, Jose; Onieva, Luis

    2015-01-01

    Maintenance operations cover a great number of occupations. Most small and medium-sized enterprises lack the appropriate information to conduct risk assessments of maintenance operations. The objective of this research is to provide a method based on the concepts of task and accident mechanisms for an initial risk assessment by taking into consideration the prevalence and severity of the maintenance accidents reported. Data were gathered from 11,190 reported accidents in maintenance operations in the manufacturing sector of Andalusia from 2003 to 2012. By using a semi-quantitative methodology, likelihood and severity were evaluated based on the actual distribution of accident mechanisms in each of the tasks. Accident mechanisms and tasks were identified by using those variables included in the European Statistics of Accidents at Work methodology. As main results, the estimated risk of the most frequent accident mechanisms identified for each of the analysed tasks is low and the only accident mechanisms with medium risk are accidents when lifting or pushing with physical stress on the musculoskeletal system in tasks involving carrying, and impacts against objects after slipping or stumbling for tasks involving movements. The prioritisation of public preventive actions for the accident mechanisms with a higher estimated risk is highly recommended.

  20. Comparison of landing biomechanics between male and female dancers and athletes, part 1: Influence of sex on risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury.

    PubMed

    Orishimo, Karl F; Liederbach, Marijeanne; Kremenic, Ian J; Hagins, Marshall; Pappas, Evangelos

    2014-05-01

    The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries among dancers is much lower than among team sport athletes, and no clear disparity between sexes has been reported in the dance population. Although numerous studies have observed differences in landing biomechanics of the lower extremity between male and female team sport athletes, there is currently little research examining the landing biomechanics of male and female dancers and none comparing athletes to dancers. Comparing the landing biomechanics within these populations may help explain the lower overall ACL injury rates and lack of sex disparity. The purpose was to compare the effects of sex and group (dancer vs team sport athlete) on single-legged drop-landing biomechanics. The primary hypothesis was that female dancers would perform a drop-landing task without demonstrating typical sex-related risk factors associated with ACL injuries. A secondary hypothesis was that female team sport athletes would display typical ACL risk factors during the same task. Controlled laboratory study. Kinematics and kinetics were recorded as 40 elite modern and ballet dancers (20 men and 20 women) and 40 team sport athletes (20 men and 20 women) performed single-legged drop landings from a 30-cm platform. Joint kinematics and kinetics were compared between groups and sexes with a group-by-sex multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by pairwise t tests. Dancers of both sexes and male team sport athletes landed similarly in terms of frontal-plane knee alignment, whereas female team sport athletes landed with a significantly greater peak knee valgus (P = .007). Female dancers were found to have a lower hip adduction torque than those of the other 3 groups (P = .003). Dancers (male and female) exhibited a lower trunk side flexion (P = .002) and lower trunk forward flexion (P = .032) compared with team sport athletes. In executing a 30-cm drop landing, female team sport athletes displayed a greater knee valgus

  1. Investigating the potential to reduce flood risk through catchment-based land management techniques and interventions in the River Roe catchment, Cumbria,UK

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pearson, Callum; Reaney, Sim; Bracken, Louise; Butler, Lucy

    2015-04-01

    Throughout the United Kingdom flood risk is a growing problem and a significant proportion of the population are at risk from flooding throughout the country. Across England and Wales over 5 million people are believed to be at risk from fluvial, pluvial or coastal flooding (DEFRA, 2013). Increasingly communities that have not dealt with flooding before have recently experienced significant flood events. The communities of Stockdalewath and Highbridge in the Roe catchment, a tributary of the River Eden in Cumbria, UK, are an excellent example. The River Roe has a normal flow of less than 5m3 sec-1 occurring 97 percent of the time however there have been two flash floods of 98.8m3 sec-1 in January 2005 and 86.9m3 sec-1 in May 2013. These two flash flood events resulted in the inundation of numerous properties within the catchment with the 2013 event prompting the creation of the Roe Catchment Community Water Management Group which aims are to deliver a sustainable approach to managing the flood risk. Due to the distributed rural population the community fails the cost-benefit analysis for a centrally funded flood risk mitigation scheme. Therefore the at-risk community within the Roe catchment have to look for cost-effective, sustainable techniques and interventions to reduce the potential negative impacts of future events; this has resulted in a focus on natural flood risk management. This research investigates the potential to reduce flood risk through natural catchment-based land management techniques and interventions within the Roe catchment; providing a scientific base from with further action can be enacted. These interventions include changes to land management and land use, such as soil aeration and targeted afforestation, the creation of runoff attenuation features and the construction of in channel features, such as debris dams. Natural flood management (NFM) application has been proven to be effective when reducing flood risk in smaller catchments and the

  2. Land subsidence susceptibility and hazard mapping: the case of Amyntaio Basin, Greece

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tzampoglou, P.; Loupasakis, C.

    2017-09-01

    Landslide susceptibility and hazard mapping has been applying for more than 20 years succeeding the assessment of the landslide risk and the mitigation the phenomena. On the contrary, equivalent maps aiming to study and mitigate land subsidence phenomena caused by the overexploitation of the aquifers are absent from the international literature. The current study focuses at the Amyntaio basin, located in West Macedonia at Florina prefecture. As proved by numerous studies the wider area has been severely affected by the overexploitation of the aquifers, caused by the mining and the agricultural activities. The intensive ground water level drop has triggered extensive land subsidence phenomena, especially at the perimeter of the open pit coal mine operating at the site, causing damages to settlements and infrastructure. The land subsidence susceptibility and risk maps were produced by applying the semi-quantitative WLC (Weighted Linear Combination) method, especially calibrated for this particular catastrophic event. The results were evaluated by using detailed field mapping data referring to the spatial distribution of the surface ruptures caused by the subsidence. The high correlation between the produced maps and the field mapping data, have proved the great value of the maps and of the applied technique on the management and the mitigation of the phenomena. Obviously, these maps can be safely used by decision-making authorities for the future urban safety development.

  3. STS-77 crew examine tires after landing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1996-01-01

    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-77 Mission Specialists Daniel W. Bursch, Andrew S. W. Thomas and Marc Garneau (who represents the Canadian Space Agency) examine the orbiter Endeavour's tires after an end-of-mission landing at 7:09:18 a.m. EDT, May 29, on Runway 33 of KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. Assisting them at left is Lockheed Martin Space Operations mechanical technician Mark Seawright, who as a member of the Orbiter Recovery Convoy team is involved with post-landing safety assessments and landing gear checkout.

  4. Global climate change and local land subsidence exacerbate inundation risk to the San Francisco Bay Area

    PubMed Central

    Shirzaei, Manoochehr; Bürgmann, Roland

    2018-01-01

    The current global projections of future sea level rise are the basis for developing inundation hazard maps. However, contributions from spatially variable coastal subsidence have generally not been considered in these projections. We use synthetic aperture radar interferometric measurements and global navigation satellite system data to show subsidence rates of less than 2 mm/year along most of the coastal areas along San Francisco Bay. However, rates exceed 10 mm/year in some areas underlain by compacting artificial landfill and Holocene mud deposits. The maps estimating 100-year inundation hazards solely based on the projection of sea level rise from various emission scenarios underestimate the area at risk of flooding by 3.7 to 90.9%, compared with revised maps that account for the contribution of local land subsidence. Given ongoing land subsidence, we project that an area of 125 to 429 km2 will be vulnerable to inundation, as opposed to 51 to 413 km2 considering sea level rise alone. PMID:29536042

  5. Bias estimation for the Landsat 8 operational land imager

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morfitt, Ron; Vanderwerff, Kelly

    2011-01-01

    The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is a pushbroom sensor that will be a part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). This instrument is the latest in the line of Landsat imagers, and will continue to expand the archive of calibrated earth imagery. An important step in producing a calibrated image from instrument data is accurately accounting for the bias of the imaging detectors. Bias variability is one factor that contributes to error in bias estimation for OLI. Typically, the bias is simply estimated by averaging dark data on a per-detector basis. However, data acquired during OLI pre-launch testing exhibited bias variation that correlated well with the variation in concurrently collected data from a special set of detectors on the focal plane. These detectors are sensitive to certain electronic effects but not directly to incoming electromagnetic radiation. A method of using data from these special detectors to estimate the bias of the imaging detectors was developed, but found not to be beneficial at typical radiance levels as the detectors respond slightly when the focal plane is illuminated. In addition to bias variability, a systematic bias error is introduced by the truncation performed by the spacecraft of the 14-bit instrument data to 12-bit integers. This systematic error can be estimated and removed on average, but the per pixel quantization error remains. This paper describes the variability of the bias, the effectiveness of a new approach to estimate and compensate for it, as well as the errors due to truncation and how they are reduced.

  6. Tactile display landing safety and precision improvements for the Space Shuttle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Olson, John M.

    A tactile display belt using 24 electro-mechanical tactile transducers (tactors) was used to determine if a modified tactile display system, known as the Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) improved the safety and precision of a complex spacecraft (i.e. the Space Shuttle Orbiter) in guided precision approaches and landings. The goal was to determine if tactile cues enhance safety and mission performance through reduced workload, increased situational awareness (SA), and an improved operational capability by increasing secondary cognitive workload capacity and human-machine interface efficiency and effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures such as NASA's Justiz Numerical Measure and Synwork1 scores, an Overall Workload (OW) measure, the Cooper-Harper rating scale, and the China Lake Situational Awareness scale, plus Pre- and Post-Flight Surveys, the data show that tactile displays decrease OW, improve SA, counteract fatigue, and provide superior warning and monitoring capacity for dynamic, off-nominal, high concurrent workload scenarios involving complex, cognitive, and multi-sensory critical scenarios. Use of TSAS for maintaining guided precision approaches and landings was generally intuitive, reduced training times, and improved task learning effects. Ultimately, the use of a homogeneous, experienced, and statistically robust population of test pilots demonstrated that the use of tactile displays for Space Shuttle approaches and landings with degraded vehicle systems, weather, and environmental conditions produced substantial improvements in safety, consistency, reliability, and ease of operations under demanding conditions. Recommendations for further analysis and study are provided in order to leverage the results from this research and further explore the potential to reduce the risk of spaceflight and aerospace operations in general.

  7. Trends in Hospital Volume and Operative Mortality for High-Risk Surgery

    PubMed Central

    Finks, Jonathan F.; Osborne, Nicholas H.; Birkmeyer, John D.

    2011-01-01

    BACKGROUND There were numerous efforts in the United States during the previous decade to concentrate selected surgical procedures in high-volume hospitals. It remains unknown whether referral patterns for high-risk surgery have changed as a result and how operative mortality has been affected. METHODS We used national Medicare data to study patients undergoing one of eight different cancer and cardiovascular operations from 1999 through 2008. For each procedure, we examined trends in hospital volume and market concentration, defined as the proportion of Medicare patients undergoing surgery in the top decile of hospitals by volume per year. We used regression-based techniques to assess the effects of volume and market concentration on mortality over time, adjusting for case mix. RESULTS Median hospital volumes of four cancer resections (lung, esophagus, pancreas, and bladder) and of repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rose substantially. Depending on the procedure, higher hospital volumes were attributable to an increasing number of cases nationwide, an increasing market concentration, or both. Hospital volumes rose slightly for aortic-valve replacement but fell for coronary-artery bypass grafting and carotid endarterectomy. Operative mortality declined for all eight procedures, ranging from a relative decline of 8% for carotid endarterectomy (1.3% mortality in 1999 and 1.2% in 2008) to 36% for AAA repair (4.4% in 1999 and 2.8% in 2008). Higher hospital volumes explained a large portion of the decline in mortality for pancreatectomy (67% of the decline), cystectomy (37%), and esophagectomy (32%), but not for the other procedures. CONCLUSIONS Operative mortality with high-risk surgery fell substantially during the previous decade. Although increased market concentration and hospital volume have contributed to declining mortality with some high-risk cancer operations, declines in mortality with other procedures are largely attributable to other factors. (Funded

  8. 25 CFR 166.300 - How is Indian agricultural land managed?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How is Indian agricultural land managed? 166.300 Section 166.300 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Land and Operations Management § 166.300 How is Indian agricultural land managed? Tribes, individual...

  9. 25 CFR 166.300 - How is Indian agricultural land managed?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How is Indian agricultural land managed? 166.300 Section 166.300 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Land and Operations Management § 166.300 How is Indian agricultural land managed? Tribes, individual...

  10. Jump Landing Characteristics Predict Lower Extremity Injuries in Indoor Team Sports.

    PubMed

    van der Does, H T D; Brink, M S; Benjaminse, A; Visscher, C; Lemmink, K A P M

    2016-03-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the predictive value of landing stability and technique to gain insight into risk factors for ankle and knee injuries in indoor team sport players. Seventy-five male and female basketball, volleyball or korfball players were screened by measuring landing stability after a single-leg jump landing and landing technique during a repeated counter movement jump by detailed 3-dimensional kinematics and kinetics. During the season 11 acute ankle injuries were reported along with 6 acute and 7 overuse knee injuries by the teams' physical therapist. Logistic regression analysis showed less landing stability in the forward and diagonal jump direction (OR 1.01-1.10, p≤0.05) in players who sustained an acute ankle injury. Furthermore landing technique with a greater ankle dorsiflexion moment increased the risk for acute ankle injury (OR 2.16, p≤0.05). A smaller knee flexion moment and greater vertical ground reaction force increased the risk of an overuse knee injury (OR 0.29 and 1.13 respectively, p≤0.05). Less one-legged landing stability and suboptimal landing technique were shown in players sustaining an acute ankle and overuse knee injury compared to healthy players. Determining both landing stability and technique may further guide injury prevention programs. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  11. Taxation of forest and associated land in Illinois.

    Treesearch

    David C. Baumgartner; Ronald I. Beazley

    1979-01-01

    Analyzes the operation and impact of the property tax on forest and associated land in Illinois and evaluates the potential of adjustments in the tax as an incentive to better management of forest and associated land.

  12. Using soils and land potential as a basis for land use decisions and conservation planning: A resilience-based strategy

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Land use decisions are becoming increasingly complex and contentious as demands for food, fiber, energy and infrastructure expand. Recent definitions of “planetary boundaries” and arbitrary land use limits circumscribing the “Safe Operating Space” for humans are helpful in drawing attention to globa...

  13. Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Monitoring Department of the Interior Lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutt, M. E.; Quirk, B.

    2013-12-01

    Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) technology is quickly evolving and will have a significant impact on Earth science research. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting an operational test and evaluation of UAS to see how this technology supports the mission of the Department of the Interior (DOI). Over the last 4 years, the USGS, working with many partners, has been actively conducting proof of concept UAS operations, which are designed to evaluate the potential of UAS technology to support the mandated DOI scientific, resource and land management missions. UAS technology is being made available to monitor environmental conditions, analyze the impacts of climate change, respond to natural hazards, understand landscape change rates and consequences, conduct wildlife inventories and support related land management and law enforcement missions. Using small UAS (sUAS), the USGS is able to tailor solutions to meet project requirements by obtaining very high resolution video data, acquiring thermal imagery, detecting chemical plumes, and generating digital terrain models at a fraction of the cost of conventional surveying methods. UAS technology is providing a mechanism to collect timely remote sensing data at a low cost and at low risk over DOI lands that can be difficult to monitor and consequently enhances our ability to provide unbiased scientific information to better enable decision makers to make informed decisions. This presentation describes the UAS technology and infrastructure being employed, the application projects already accomplished, lessons learned and future of UAS within the DOI. We fully expect that by 2020 UAS will emerge as a primary platform for all DOI remote sensing applications. Much like the use of Internet technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), UAS have the potential of enabling the DOI to be better stewards of the land.

  14. Risk Based Reservoir Operations Using Ensemble Streamflow Predictions for Lake Mendocino in Mendocino County, California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Delaney, C.; Mendoza, J.; Whitin, B.; Hartman, R. K.

    2017-12-01

    Ensemble Forecast Operations (EFO) is a risk based approach of reservoir flood operations that incorporates ensemble streamflow predictions (ESPs) made by NOAA's California-Nevada River Forecast Center (CNRFC). With the EFO approach, each member of an ESP is individually modeled to forecast system conditions and calculate risk of reaching critical operational thresholds. Reservoir release decisions are computed which seek to manage forecasted risk to established risk tolerance levels. A water management model was developed for Lake Mendocino, a 111,000 acre-foot reservoir located near Ukiah, California, to evaluate the viability of the EFO alternative to improve water supply reliability but not increase downstream flood risk. Lake Mendocino is a dual use reservoir, which is owned and operated for flood control by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and is operated for water supply by the Sonoma County Water Agency. Due to recent changes in the operations of an upstream hydroelectric facility, this reservoir has suffered from water supply reliability issues since 2007. The EFO alternative was simulated using a 26-year (1985-2010) ESP hindcast generated by the CNRFC, which approximates flow forecasts for 61 ensemble members for a 15-day horizon. Model simulation results of the EFO alternative demonstrate a 36% increase in median end of water year (September 30) storage levels over existing operations. Additionally, model results show no increase in occurrence of flows above flood stage for points downstream of Lake Mendocino. This investigation demonstrates that the EFO alternative may be a viable approach for managing Lake Mendocino for multiple purposes (water supply, flood mitigation, ecosystems) and warrants further investigation through additional modeling and analysis.

  15. Achieving Land, Energy, and Environmental Compatibility: Utility-Scale Solar Energy Potential and Land-Use in California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hoffacker, M. K.; Hernandez, R. R.; Field, C. B.

    2013-12-01

    Solar energy is an archetype renewable energy technology with great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when substituted for carbon-intensive energy. Utility-scale solar energy (USSE; i.e., > 1 MW) necessitates large quantities of space making the efficient use of land for USSE development critical to realizing its full potential. However, studies elucidating the interaction between land-use and utility-scale solar energy (USSE) are limited. In this study, we assessed 1) the theoretical and technical potential of terrestrial-based USSE systems, and 2) land-use and land-cover change impacts from actual USSE installations (> 20 MW; planned, under construction, operating), using California as a case study due to its early adoption of renewable energy systems, unique constraints on land availability, immense energy demand, and vast natural resources. We used topo-climatic (e.g., slope, irradiance), infrastructural (e.g., proximity to transmission lines), and ecological constraints (e.g., threatened and endangered species) to determine highly favorable, favorable, and unfavorable locations for USSE and to assess its technical potential. We found that the theoretical potential of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) in California is 26,097 and 29,422 kWh/m2/day, respectively. We identified over 150 planned, under construction, and operating USSE installations in California, ranging in size from 20 to 1,000 MW. Currently, 29% are located on shrub- and scrublands, 23% on cultivated crop land, 13% on pasture/hay areas, 11% on grassland/herbaceous and developed open space, and 7% in the built environment. Understanding current land-use decisions of USSE systems and assessing its future potential can be instructive for achieving land, energy, and environmental compatibility, especially for other global regions that share similar resource demands and limitations.

  16. Exploring agent-level calculations of risk and returns in relation to observed land-use changes in the US Great Plains, 1870–1940

    PubMed Central

    Sylvester, Kenneth M.; Brown, Daniel G.; Leonard, Susan H.; Merchant, Emily; Hutchins, Meghan

    2015-01-01

    Land-use change in the U.S. Great Plains since agricultural settlement in the second half of the nineteenth century has been well documented. While aggregate historical trends are easily tracked, the decision-making of individual farmers is difficult to reconstruct. We use an agent-based model to tell the history of the settlement of the West by simulating farm-level agricultural decision making based on historical data about prices, yields, farming costs, and environmental conditions. The empirical setting for the model is the period between 1875 and 1940 in two townships in Kansas, one in the shortgrass region and the other in the mixed grass region. Annual historical data on yields and prices determine profitability of various land uses and thereby inform decision-making, in conjunction with the farmer’s previous experience and randomly assigned levels of risk aversion. Results illustrating the level of agreement between model output and unique and detailed household-level records of historical land use and farm size suggest that economic behavior and natural endowments account for land change processes to some degree, but are incomplete. Discrepancies are examined to identify missing processes through model experiments, in which we adjust input and output prices, crop yields, agent memory, and risk aversion. These analyses demonstrate how agent-based modeling can be a useful laboratory for thinking about social and economic behavior in the past. PMID:25729323

  17. 33 CFR 117.1021 - North Landing River.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false North Landing River. 117.1021 Section 117.1021 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BRIDGES DRAWBRIDGE OPERATION REGULATIONS Specific Requirements Virginia § 117.1021 North Landing River. The draw of...

  18. 33 CFR 117.1021 - North Landing River.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false North Landing River. 117.1021 Section 117.1021 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BRIDGES DRAWBRIDGE OPERATION REGULATIONS Specific Requirements Virginia § 117.1021 North Landing River. The draw of...

  19. Job Hazard Analyses for Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk Factors in Pressing Operations of Dry-cleaning Establishments.

    PubMed

    Park, Jung-Keun

    2016-12-01

    Job hazard analyses were conducted to assess exposure to musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk factors in seven workers of three dry-cleaning establishments. In accordance with the Washington State Ergonomics Rule, the analyses were performed in two separate steps: (1) observation and checklist approaches were made to identify a "caution zone job" in the seven workers' pressing operations across the three shops; and (2) detailed posture and motion analyses were undertaken to determine a "MSD hazard" in one worker's operation using a video technique. One "caution zone job" was identified and it was the pressing operation job in which five physical risk factors were found in the pressing operations. The detailed analyses confirmed that one "MSD hazard", i.e., awkward posture in shoulders, was prevalent in the pressing operations of the three dry-cleaning facilities. It would be desirable to reduce MSD risk factors including awkward shoulder posture in the dry-cleaning industry.

  20. High-resolution Continental Scale Land Surface Model incorporating Land-water Management in United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shin, S.; Pokhrel, Y. N.

    2016-12-01

    Land surface models have been used to assess water resources sustainability under changing Earth environment and increasing human water needs. Overwhelming observational records indicate that human activities have ubiquitous and pertinent effects on the hydrologic cycle; however, they have been crudely represented in large scale land surface models. In this study, we enhance an integrated continental-scale land hydrology model named Leaf-Hydro-Flood to better represent land-water management. The model is implemented at high resolution (5km grids) over the continental US. Surface water and groundwater are withdrawn based on actual practices. Newly added irrigation, water diversion, and dam operation schemes allow better simulations of stream flows, evapotranspiration, and infiltration. Results of various hydrologic fluxes and stores from two sets of simulation (one with and the other without human activities) are compared over a range of river basin and aquifer scales. The improved simulations of land hydrology have potential to build consistent modeling framework for human-water-climate interactions.

  1. The White Promised Land

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, Norman

    1978-01-01

    Describing Bolivia's interest in encouraging Caucasian immigrants from South Africa, for purposes of settling and developing traditionally Indian lands, this article details the miserable conditions of slavery and cultural/physical genocide currently operative in Bolivia. (JC)

  2. Latest developments in peri-operative monitoring of the high-risk major surgery patient.

    PubMed

    Green, David; Paklet, Lise

    2010-01-01

    Peri-operative monitoring technology has made great strides in the last 20 years with the introduction of minimally invasive devices to measure inter alia stroke volume, cardiac output, depth of anaesthesia and cerebral and tissue oxygen monitoring. Despite these technological advances, peri-operative management of the high risk major surgery patient has remained virtually unchanged. The vast majority of patients undergo a pre-operative assessment which is neither designed to quantify functional capacity nor predict outcome. Anaesthetists then usually monitor these patients using the same technology (e.g. pulse oximetry (SpO2), invasive systemic BP and CVP, end tidal carbon dioxide (etCO2) and anaesthetic agent monitoring) that was available in the early 1980s. Conventional intra-operative management can result in occult low levels of blood flow and oxygen delivery that lead to complications that only occur days or weeks following surgery and give false re-assurance to the anaesthetist that he or she is doing a "good job". Post-operative management then often takes place in an environment with reduced levels of both monitoring equipment and staff expertise. It is perhaps not surprising that outcome still remains poor in high-risk patients.(1) In this review, we will briefly describe the role of peri-operative optimization, some of the available monitors and indicate how their combined use might be beneficial in managing the high-risk surgical patient. We believe that although there is now evidence to suggest that the use of individual new monitors (such as assessment of fluid status, depth of anaesthesia, tissue oxygenation and blood flow) can influence outcome, it will only be their combination that will radically improve the peri-operative management and outcome of high-risk surgical patients. It is a matter of some urgency that large scale, prospective and collaborative studies be designed, funded and executed to prove or disprove this hypothesis. Copyright 2009

  3. Terraced landscape: from an old best practice to a rising land abandoned-related soil erosion risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tarolli, Paolo; Preti, Federico; Romano, Nunzio

    2013-04-01

    Among the most evident landscape signatures of human fingerprint during the Holocene, the terraces related to agricultural activities deserve a great importance. Landscape terracing probably represents one of the oldest best practice primarily for crop production, but also for mitigating soil erosion and stabilizing hillslopes in landforms dominated by steep slopes. This technique is widely used in various parts of the world even under different environmental conditions. In some zones, terraced landscapes, because of their history and locations, can also be considered a historical heritage and a sort of "cultural landscape" to preserve, an absolutely value for tourism. To preserve their original role of soil erosion prevention, terraces should be properly designed built according to specific and sustainable engineering rules. Then, their maintenance is the most critical issue to deal with. It is well known from literature that terraced landscapes subject to abandonment would result in an increasing of terrace failure and related land degradation. If not maintained, a progressively increasing of gully erosion affects the structure of the walls. The results of this process is the increasing of connectivity and runoff. During the last few years and partly because of changing in the society perspective and migration toward metropolitan areas, some Countries have been affected by a serious and wider land abandonment with an increasing of soil erosion and derived landslide risk. Italy is one example. In this work, we consider three typical case studies of a terraced landscape where the lack of maintenance characterizing the last few years, increased the landslide risk with several problems to the population. The first case study is located along the renowed "Amalfi Coast" (a portion of land located near Salerno, southern Italy), the second is placed in the north of Toscana (a region located in Central Italy), and the third one along the so-called "Cinque Terre" (a region

  4. Estrogenicity and Nutrient Concentration of Surface Waters Surrounding a Large Confinement Dairy Operation Using Best Management Practices for Land Application of Animal Wastes

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The impact of a confinement dairy operation (> 2,000 head) using best management practices for land application of animal wastes, on estrogenic activity (E-Screen), estrogens, and nutrients of associated surface waters and tile drain runoff were evaluated. Farm tile drain and creek samples were col...

  5. Evaluating the Cost, Safety, and Proliferation Risks of Small Floating Nuclear Reactors.

    PubMed

    Ford, Michael J; Abdulla, Ahmed; Morgan, M Granger

    2017-11-01

    It is hard to see how our energy system can be decarbonized if the world abandons nuclear power, but equally hard to introduce the technology in nonnuclear energy states. This is especially true in countries with limited technical, institutional, and regulatory capabilities, where safety and proliferation concerns are acute. Given the need to achieve serious emissions mitigation by mid-century, and the multidecadal effort required to develop robust nuclear governance institutions, we must look to other models that might facilitate nuclear plant deployment while mitigating the technology's risks. One such deployment paradigm is the build-own-operate-return model. Because returning small land-based reactors containing spent fuel is infeasible, we evaluate the cost, safety, and proliferation risks of a system in which small modular reactors are manufactured in a factory, and then deployed to a customer nation on a floating platform. This floating small modular reactor would be owned and operated by a single entity and returned unopened to the developed state for refueling. We developed a decision model that allows for a comparison of floating and land-based alternatives considering key International Atomic Energy Agency plant-siting criteria. Abandoning onsite refueling is beneficial, and floating reactors built in a central facility can potentially reduce the risk of cost overruns and the consequences of accidents. However, if the floating platform must be built to military-grade specifications, then the cost would be much higher than a land-based system. The analysis tool presented is flexible, and can assist planners in determining the scope of risks and uncertainty associated with different deployment options. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

  6. Integrating Land Cover Modeling and Adaptive Management to Conserve Endangered Species and Reduce Catastrophic Fire Risk

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Breininger, David; Duncan, Brean; Eaton, Mitchell; Johnson, Fred; Nichols, James

    2014-01-01

    Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources and then decision makers can use this to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision making, where science allows us to learn to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuels monitoring with decision making focused on dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy, but habitat trajectories suggest tradeoffs. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state and by ideas about fire behavior. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility for and cover modeling programs intended to inform decision making.

  7. Mars Exploration Rover Surface Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erickson, J. K.; Adler, M.; Crisp, J.; Mishkin, A.; Welch, R.

    2002-01-01

    The Mars Exploration Rover Project is an ambitious mission to land two highly capable rovers on Mars and concurrently explore the Martian surface for three months each. Launching in 2003, surface operations will commence on January 4, 2004 with the first landing, followed by the second landing on January 25. The prime mission for the second rover will end on April 27, 2004. The science objectives of exploring multiple locations within each of two widely separated and scientifically distinct landing sites will be accomplished along with the demonstration of key surface exploration technologies for future missions. This paper will provide an overview of the planned mission, and also focus on the different operations challenges inherent in operating these two very off road vehicles, and the solutions adopted to enable the best utilization of their capabilities for high science return and responsiveness to scientific discovery.

  8. 25 CFR 163.10 - Management of Indian forest land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Management of Indian forest land. 163.10 Section 163.10 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.10 Management of Indian forest land. (a) The Secretary shall...

  9. 25 CFR 163.35 - Indian forest land assistance account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true Indian forest land assistance account. 163.35 Section 163.35 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.35 Indian forest land assistance account. (a) At the...

  10. 25 CFR 163.10 - Management of Indian forest land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Management of Indian forest land. 163.10 Section 163.10 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.10 Management of Indian forest land. (a) The Secretary shall...

  11. 25 CFR 163.10 - Management of Indian forest land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true Management of Indian forest land. 163.10 Section 163.10 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.10 Management of Indian forest land. (a) The Secretary shall...

  12. 25 CFR 163.35 - Indian forest land assistance account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Indian forest land assistance account. 163.35 Section 163.35 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.35 Indian forest land assistance account. (a) At the...

  13. 25 CFR 163.10 - Management of Indian forest land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Management of Indian forest land. 163.10 Section 163.10 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.10 Management of Indian forest land. (a) The Secretary shall...

  14. 25 CFR 163.35 - Indian forest land assistance account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Indian forest land assistance account. 163.35 Section 163.35 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.35 Indian forest land assistance account. (a) At the...

  15. 25 CFR 163.35 - Indian forest land assistance account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Indian forest land assistance account. 163.35 Section 163.35 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GENERAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS Forest Management and Operations § 163.35 Indian forest land assistance account. (a) At the...

  16. Ohio's statewide land use inventory: An operational approach for applying LANDSAT data to state, regional and local planning programs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baldridge, P. E.; Geosling, P. H.; Leone, F.; Minshall, C.; Rodgers, R. H.; Wilhelm, C. L.

    1975-01-01

    The programmatic, technical, user application, and cost factors associated with the development of an operational, statewide land use inventory from LANDSAT data are described. The LANDSAT multispectral data are subjected to geometrical and categorical processing to produce map files for each of the 200 fifteen (15) minute quads covering Ohio. Computer compatible tapes are rescanned to produce inventory tapes which identify eight (8) Level I land use categories and a variety of Level II categories. The inventory tapes are processed through a series of ten (10) software programs developed by the State of Ohio. The net result is a computerized inventory which can be displayed in map or tabular form for various geographic units, at a variety of scales and for selected categories of usage. The computerized inventory data files are applied to technical programs developed by the various state agencies to be used in state, regional, and local planning programs.

  17. Climate Risk and Vulnerability in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico Region: Interactions with Spatial Population and Land Cover Change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, R. S.; Levy, M.; Baptista, S.; Adamo, S.

    2010-12-01

    Vulnerability to climate variability and change will depend on dynamic interactions between different aspects of climate, land-use change, and socioeconomic trends. Measurements and projections of these changes are difficult at the local scale but necessary for effective planning. New data sources and methods make it possible to assess land-use and socioeconomic changes that may affect future patterns of climate vulnerability. In this paper we report on new time series data sets that reveal trends in the spatial patterns of climate vulnerability in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico Region. Specifically, we examine spatial time series data for human population over the period 1990-2000, time series data on land use and land cover over 2000-2009, and infant mortality rates as a proxy for poverty for 2000-2008. We compare the spatial trends for these measures to the distribution of climate-related natural disaster risk hotspots (cyclones, floods, landslides, and droughts) in terms of frequency, mortality, and economic losses. We use these data to identify areas where climate vulnerability appears to be increasing and where it may be decreasing. Regions where trends and patterns are especially worrisome include coastal areas of Guatemala and Honduras.

  18. Ankle-Dorsiflexion Range of Motion and Landing Biomechanics

    PubMed Central

    Fong, Chun-Man; Blackburn, J. Troy; Norcross, Marc F.; McGrath, Melanie; Padua, Darin A.

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Context: A smaller amount of ankle-dorsiflexion displacement during landing is associated with less knee-flexion displacement and greater ground reaction forces, and greater ground reaction forces are associated with greater knee-valgus displacement. Additionally, restricted dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM) is associated with greater knee-valgus displacement during landing and squatting tasks. Because large ground reaction forces and valgus displacement and limited knee-flexion displacement during landing are anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk factors, dorsiflexion ROM restrictions may be associated with a greater risk of ACL injury. However, it is unclear whether clinical measures of dorsiflexion ROM are associated with landing biomechanics. Objective: To evaluate relationships between dorsiflexion ROM and landing biomechanics. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Setting: Research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Thirty-five healthy, physically active volunteers. Intervention(s): Passive dorsiflexion ROM was assessed under extended-knee and flexed-knee conditions. Landing biomechanics were assessed via an optical motion-capture system interfaced with a force plate. Main Outcome Measure(s): Dorsiflexion ROM was measured in degrees using goniometry. Knee-flexion and knee-valgus displacements and vertical and posterior ground reaction forces were calculated during the landing task. Simple correlations were used to evaluate relationships between dorsiflexion ROM and each biomechanical variable. Results: Significant correlations were noted between extended-knee dorsiflexion ROM and knee-flexion displacement (r  =  0.464, P  =  .029) and vertical (r  =  −0.411, P  =  .014) and posterior (r  =  −0.412, P  =  .014) ground reaction forces. All correlations for flexed-knee dorsiflexion ROM and knee-valgus displacement were nonsignificant. Conclusions: Greater dorsiflexion ROM was associated with greater knee

  19. High Resolution Land Surface Modeling with the next generation Land Data Assimilation Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, S. V.; Eylander, J.; Peters-Lidard, C.

    2005-12-01

    Knowledge of land surface processes is important to many real-world applications such as agricultural production, water resources management, and flood predication. The Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) has provided the USDA and other customers global soil moisture and temperature data for the past 30 years using the agrometeorological data assimilation model (now called AGRMET), merging atmospheric data. Further, accurate initialization of land surface conditions has been shown to greatly influence and improve weather forecast model and seasonal-to-interannual climate predictions. The AFWA AGRMET model exploits real time precipitation observations and analyses, global forecast model and satellite data to generate global estimates of soil moisture, soil temperature and other land surface states at 48km spatial resolution. However, to truly address the land surface initialization and climate prediction problem, and to mitigate the errors introduced by the differences in spatial scales of models, representations of land surface conditions need to be developed at the same fine scales such as that of cloud resolving models. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has developed an offline land data assimilation system known as the Land Information System (LIS) capable of modeling land atmosphere interactions at spatial resolutions as fine as 1km. LIS provides a software architecture that integrates the use of the state of the art land surface models, data assimilation techniques, and high performance computing and data management tools. LIS also employs many high resolution surface parameters such as the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS)-era products. In this study we describe the development of a next generation high resolution land surface modeling and data assimilation system, combining the capabilities of LIS and AGRMET. We investigate the influence of high resolution land surface data and observations on the land surface conditions by comparing with the operational AGRMET

  20. PATHOGEN RISKS FROM APPLYING SEWAGE SLUDGE TO LAND

    EPA Science Inventory

    Congress banned ocean dumping of municipal wastes in the late 1980s. In its place, EPA developed guidance (40 CFR Part 503) for land application of processed sewage sludge (biosolids), mainly for agricultural purposes (1). Public health and environmental concerns with processed...

  1. Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Abandoned Mine Lands as Signifcant Contamination Problem in Romania

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horvath, E.; Jordan, G.; Fugedi, U.; Bartha, A.; Kuti, L.; Heltai, G.; Kalmar, J.; Waldmann, I.; Napradean, I.; Damian, G.

    2009-04-01

    INTRODUCTION Wide-spread environmental contamination associated with historic mining in Europe has triggered social responses to improve related environmental legislation, the environmental assessment and management methods for the mining industry. Pollution by acid mine drainage (AMD) from ore and coal mining is the outstanding and most important source of mining-induced environmental pollution. Younger et al. (2002) estimates that watercourses polluted by coal mine drainage could be in the order of 2,000 to 3,000 km, and 1,000 to 1,500 km polluted by metal mine discharges for the EU 15 Member States (Younger et al. 2002). Significance of contamination risk posed by mining is also highlighted by mine accidents such as those in Baia Mare, Romania in 2002 and in Aznalcollar, Spain in 1999 (Jordan and D'Alessandro 2004). The new EU Mine Waste Directive (Directive 2006/21/EC) requires the risk-based inventory of abandoned mines in the EU. The cost-effective implementation of the inventory is especially demanding in countries with extensive historic mining and great number of abandoned mine sites, like Romania. The problem is further complicated in areas with trans-boundary effects. The objective of this investigation to carry out the risk-based contamination assessment of a mine site with possible trans-boundary effects in Romania. Assessment follows the source-pathway-receptor chain with a special attention to heavy metal leaching from waste dumps as sources and to transport modelling along surface water pathways. STUDY AREA In this paper the Baiut mine catchment located in the Gutai Mts., Romania, close to the Hungarian border is studied. The polymetallic deposites in the Tertiary Inner-Carpathian Volcanic Arc are exposed by a series of abandoned Zn and Pb mines first operated in the 14th century. Elevation in the high relief catchment ranges from 449m to 1044m. Geology is characterised by andesites hosting the ore deposits and paleogene sediments dominating at the

  2. Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Dual Docked Operations (DDO)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sills, Joel W., Jr.; Bruno, Erica E.

    2016-01-01

    This document describes the concept definition, studies, and analysis results generated by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP), International Space Station (ISS) Program (ISSP), and Mission Operations Directorate for implementing Dual Docked Operations (DDO) during mated Orbiter/ISS missions. This work was performed over a number of years. Due to the ever increasing visiting vehicle traffic to and from the ISS, it became apparent to both the ISSP and the SSP that there would arise occasions where conflicts between a visiting vehicle docking and/or undocking could overlap with a planned Space Shuttle launch and/or during docked operations. This potential conflict provided the genesis for evaluating risk mitigations to gain maximum flexibility for managing potential visiting vehicle traffic to and from the ISS and to maximize launch and landing opportunities for all visiting vehicles.

  3. Operational Performance Risk Assessment in Support of A Supervisory Control System

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

    Denning, Richard S.; Muhlheim, Michael David; Cetiner, Sacit M.

    Supervisory control system (SCS) is developed for multi-unit advanced small modular reactors to minimize human interventions in both normal and abnormal operations. In SCS, control action decisions made based on probabilistic risk assessment approach via Event Trees/Fault Trees. Although traditional PRA tools are implemented, their scope is extended to normal operations and application is reversed; success of non-safety related system instead failure of safety systems this extended PRA approach called as operational performance risk assessment (OPRA). OPRA helps to identify success paths, combination of control actions for transients and to quantify these success paths to provide possible actions without activatingmore » plant protection system. In this paper, a case study of the OPRA in supervisory control system is demonstrated within the context of the ALMR PRISM design, specifically power conversion system. The scenario investigated involved a condition that the feed water control valve is observed to be drifting to the closed position. Alternative plant configurations were identified via OPRA that would allow the plant to continue to operate at full or reduced power. Dynamic analyses were performed with a thermal-hydraulic model of the ALMR PRISM system using Modelica to evaluate remained safety margins. Successful recovery paths for the selected scenario are identified and quantified via SCS.« less

  4. The CEOS constellation for land surface imaging

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bailey, G.B.; Berger, Marsha; Jeanjean, H.; Gallo, K.P.

    2007-01-01

    A constellation of satellites that routinely and frequently images the Earth's land surface in consistently calibrated wavelengths from the visible through the microwave and in spatial detail that ranges from sub-meter to hundreds of meters would offer enormous potential benefits to society. A well-designed and effectively operated land surface imaging satellite constellation could have great positive impact not only on the quality of life for citizens of all nations, but also on mankind's very ability to sustain life as we know it on this planet long into the future. The primary objective of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Land Surface Imaging (LSI) Constellation is to define standards (or guidelines) that describe optimal future LSI Constellation capabilities, characteristics, and practices. Standards defined for a LSI Constellation will be based on a thorough understanding of user requirements, and they will address at least three fundamental areas of the systems comprising a Land Surface Imaging Constellation: the space segments, the ground segments, and relevant policies and plans. Studies conducted by the LSI Constellation Study Team also will address current and shorter-term problems and issues facing the land remote sensing community today, such as seeking ways to work more cooperatively in the operation of existing land surface imaging systems and helping to accomplish tangible benefits to society through application of land surface image data acquired by existing systems. 2007 LSI Constellation studies are designed to establish initial international agreements, develop preliminary standards for a mid-resolution land surface imaging constellation, and contribute data to a global forest assessment.

  5. 14 CFR 121.590 - Use of certificated land airports in the United States.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Use of certificated land airports in the... Use of certificated land airports in the United States. (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) or (c..., flag type operation, or supplemental type operation, an airplane at a land airport in any State of the...

  6. 14 CFR 121.590 - Use of certificated land airports in the United States.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Use of certificated land airports in the... Use of certificated land airports in the United States. (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) or (c..., flag type operation, or supplemental type operation, an airplane at a land airport in any State of the...

  7. 14 CFR 121.590 - Use of certificated land airports in the United States.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Use of certificated land airports in the... Use of certificated land airports in the United States. (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) or (c..., flag type operation, or supplemental type operation, an airplane at a land airport in any State of the...

  8. Cost and risk assessment for spacecraft operation decisions caused by the space debris environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schaub, Hanspeter; Jasper, Lee E. Z.; Anderson, Paul V.; McKnight, Darren S.

    2015-08-01

    Space debris is a topic of concern among many in the space community. Most forecasting analyses look centuries into the future to attempt to predict how severe debris densities and fluxes will become in orbit regimes of interest. Conversely, space operators currently do not treat space debris as a major mission hazard. This survey paper outlines the range of cost and risk evaluations a space operator must consider when determining a debris-related response. Beyond the typical direct costs of performing an avoidance maneuver, the total cost including indirect costs, political costs and space environmental costs are discussed. The weights on these costs can vary drastically across mission types and orbit regimes flown. The operator response options during a mission are grouped into four categories: no action, perform debris dodging, follow stricter mitigation, and employ ADR. Current space operations are only considering the no action and debris dodging options, but increasing debris risk will eventually force the stricter mitigation and ADR options. Debris response equilibria where debris-related risks and costs settle on a steady-state solution are hypothesized.

  9. Experimental investigation of active loads control for aircraft landing gear

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgehee, J. R.; Dreher, R. C.

    1982-01-01

    Aircraft dynamic loads and vibrations resulting from landing impact and from runway and taxiway unevenness are recognized as significant in causing fatigue damage, dynamic stress on the airframe, crew and passenger discomfort, and reduction of the pilot's ability to control the aircraft during ground operations. One potential method for improving operational characteistics of aircraft on the ground is the application of active control technology to the landing gears to reduce ground loads applied to the airframe. An experimental investigation was conducted which simulated the landing dynamics of a light airplane to determine the feasibility and potential of a series hydraulic active control main landing gear. The experiments involved a passive gear and an active control gear. Results of this investigation show that a series hydraulically controlled gear is feasible and that such a gear is very effective in reducing the loads transmitted by the gear to the airframe during ground operations.

  10. Development of a list of high-risk operations for patients 65 years and older.

    PubMed

    Schwarze, Margaret L; Barnato, Amber E; Rathouz, Paul J; Zhao, Qianqian; Neuman, Heather B; Winslow, Emily R; Kennedy, Gregory D; Hu, Yue-Yung; Dodgion, Christopher M; Kwok, Alvin C; Greenberg, Caprice C

    2015-04-01

    No consensus exists regarding the definition of high-risk surgery in older adults. An inclusive and precise definition of high-risk surgery may be useful for surgeons, patients, researchers, and hospitals. To develop a list of high-risk operations. Retrospective cohort study and modified Delphi procedure. The setting included all Pennsylvania acute care hospitals (Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council [PHC4] April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2007) and a nationally representative sample of US acute care hospitals (Nationwide Inpatient Sample [NIS], Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2006). Patients included were those 65 years and older admitted to PHC4 hospitals and those 18 years and older admitted to NIS hospitals. We identified International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) procedure codes associated with at least 1% inpatient mortality in the PHC4. We used a modified Delphi procedure with 5 board-certified surgeons to further refine this list by excluding nonoperative procedures and operations that were unlikely to be the proximate cause of mortality and were instead a marker of critical illness (eg, tracheostomy). We then cross-validated this list of ICD-9-CM codes in the NIS. Modified Delphi procedure consensus of at least 4 of 5 panelists and proportion agreement in the NIS. Among 4,739,522 admissions of patients 65 years and older in the PHC4, a total of 2,569,589 involved a procedure, encompassing 2853 unique procedures. Of 1130 procedures associated with a crude inpatient mortality of at least 1%, 264 achieved consensus as high-risk operations by the modified Delphi procedure. The observed inpatient mortality in the NIS was at least 1% for 227 of 264 procedures (86%) in patients 65 years and older. The pooled inpatient mortality for these identified high-risk procedures performed on patients 65 years and older was double

  11. Evaluating the operational risks of biomedical waste using failure mode and effects analysis.

    PubMed

    Chen, Ying-Chu; Tsai, Pei-Yi

    2017-06-01

    The potential problems and risks of biomedical waste generation have become increasingly apparent in recent years. This study applied a failure mode and effects analysis to evaluate the operational problems and risks of biomedical waste. The microbiological contamination of biomedical waste seldom receives the attention of researchers. In this study, the biomedical waste lifecycle was divided into seven processes: Production, classification, packaging, sterilisation, weighing, storage, and transportation. Twenty main failure modes were identified in these phases and risks were assessed based on their risk priority numbers. The failure modes in the production phase accounted for the highest proportion of the risk priority number score (27.7%). In the packaging phase, the failure mode 'sharp articles not placed in solid containers' had the highest risk priority number score, mainly owing to its high severity rating. The sterilisation process is the main difference in the treatment of infectious and non-infectious biomedical waste. The failure modes in the sterilisation phase were mainly owing to human factors (mostly related to operators). This study increases the understanding of the potential problems and risks associated with biomedical waste, thereby increasing awareness of how to improve the management of biomedical waste to better protect workers, the public, and the environment.

  12. [Risk management in the operating room in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery; from the nursing point of view].

    PubMed

    Nakano, Yaemi

    2008-08-01

    The primary risk management, on the side of a nurse, in the operating room includes prevention of misidentificatin of both the patient and the site of operation. Leaving of a foreign body in the patient, falling of the patient from the operating table, incidence of deep venous thrombosis and mismatch of blood transfusion should also be prevented with utmost care. The long operating time in cardiovascular surgery and the lateral position of the patient on the operating table in chest or esophageal surgery require additional risk management. Risks of pressure sore as well as nervous injury can be prevented by fixing the patient securely with soft pads to maintain comfortable posture. Above all, careful watching of the patient's condition is most important.

  13. POST2 End-To-End Descent and Landing Simulation for the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology Project

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fisher, Jody l.; Striepe, Scott A.

    2007-01-01

    The Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2) is used as a basis for an end-to-end descent and landing trajectory simulation that is essential in determining the design and performance capability of lunar descent and landing system models and lunar environment models for the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project. This POST2-based ALHAT simulation provides descent and landing simulation capability by integrating lunar environment and lander system models (including terrain, sensor, guidance, navigation, and control models), along with the data necessary to design and operate a landing system for robotic, human, and cargo lunar-landing success. This paper presents the current and planned development and model validation of the POST2-based end-to-end trajectory simulation used for the testing, performance and evaluation of ALHAT project system and models.

  14. Incorporating JULES into NASA's Land Information System (LIS) and Investigations of Land-Atmosphere Coupling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Santanello, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    NASA's Land Information System (LIS; lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling and data assimilation framework developed over the past decade with the goal of integrating satellite- and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. LIS features a high performance and flexible design, and operates on an ensemble of land surface models for extension over user-specified regional or global domains. The extensible interfaces of LIS allow the incorporation of new domains, land surface models (LSMs), land surface parameters, meteorological inputs, data assimilation and optimization algorithms. In addition, LIS has also been demonstrated for parameter estimation and uncertainty estimation, and has been coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. A visiting fellowship is currently underway to implement JULES into LIS and to undertake some fundamental science on the feedbacks between the land surface and the atmosphere. An overview of the LIS system, features, and sample results will be presented in an effort to engage the community in the potential advantages of LIS-JULES for a range of applications. Ongoing efforts to develop a framework for diagnosing land-atmosphere coupling will also be presented using the suite of LSM and PBL schemes available in LIS and WRF along with observations from the U. S .. Southern Great Plains. This methodology provides a potential pathway to study factors controlling local land-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) using the LIS-WRF system, which will serve as a testbed for future experiments to evaluate coupling diagnostics within the community.

  15. Open-Loop Flight Testing of COBALT Navigation and Sensor Technologies for Precise Soft Landing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carson, John M., III; Restrepo, Caroline I.; Seubert, Carl R.; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Pierrottet, Diego F.; Collins, Steven M.; O'Neal, Travis V.; Stelling, Richard

    2017-01-01

    An open-loop flight test campaign of the NASA COBALT (CoOperative Blending of Autonomous Landing Technologies) payload was conducted onboard the Masten Xodiac suborbital rocket testbed. The payload integrates two complementary sensor technologies that together provide a spacecraft with knowledge during planetary descent and landing to precisely navigate and softly touchdown in close proximity to targeted surface locations. The two technologies are the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), for high-precision velocity and range measurements, and the Lander Vision System (LVS) for map-relative state esti- mates. A specialized navigation filter running onboard COBALT fuses the NDL and LVS data in real time to produce a very precise Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) solution that is suitable for future, autonomous planetary landing systems that require precise and soft landing capabilities. During the open-loop flight campaign, the COBALT payload acquired measurements and generated a precise navigation solution, but the Xodiac vehicle planned and executed its maneuvers based on an independent, GPS-based navigation solution. This minimized the risk to the vehicle during the integration and testing of the new navigation sensing technologies within the COBALT payload.

  16. Use of an operating microscope during spine surgery is associated with minor increases in operating room times and no increased risk of infection.

    PubMed

    Basques, Bryce A; Golinvaux, Nicholas S; Bohl, Daniel D; Yacob, Alem; Toy, Jason O; Varthi, Arya G; Grauer, Jonathan N

    2014-10-15

    Retrospective database review. To evaluate whether microscope use during spine procedures is associated with increased operating room times or increased risk of infection. Operating microscopes are commonly used in spine procedures. It is debated whether the use of an operating microscope increases operating room time or confers increased risk of infection. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, which includes data from more than 370 participating hospitals, was used to identify patients undergoing elective spinal procedures with and without the use of an operating microscope for the years 2011 and 2012. Bivariate and multivariate linear regressions were used to test the association between microscope use and operating room times. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were similarly conducted to test the association between microscope use and infection occurrence within 30 days of surgery. A total of 23,670 elective spine procedures were identified, of which 2226 (9.4%) used an operating microscope. The average patient age was 55.1±14.4 years. The average operative time (incision to closure) was 125.7±82.0 minutes.Microscope use was associated with minor increases in preoperative room time (+2.9 min, P=0.013), operative time (+13.2 min, P<0.001), and total room time (+18.6 min, P<0.001) on multivariate analysis.A total of 328 (1.4%) patients had an infection within 30 days of surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant difference between the microscope and nonmicroscope groups for occurrence of any infection, superficial surgical site infection, deep surgical site infection, organ space infection, or sepsis/septic shock, regardless of surgery type. We did not find operating room times or infection risk to be significant deterrents for use of an operating microscope during spine surgery. 3.

  17. Use of an operating microscope during spine surgery is associated with minor increases in operating room times and no increased risk of infection

    PubMed Central

    Basques, Bryce A.; Golinvaux, Nicholas S.; Bohl, Daniel D.; Yacob, Alem; Toy, Jason O.; Varthi, Arya G.; Grauer, Jonathan N.

    2014-01-01

    Study Design Retrospective database review. Objective To evaluate whether microscope use during spine procedures is associated with increased operating room times or increased risk of infection. Summary of Background Data Operating microscopes are commonly used in spine procedures. It is debated whether the use of an operating microscope increases operating room time or confers increased risk of infection. Methods The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database, which includes data from over 370 participating hospitals, was used to identify patients undergoing elective spinal procedures with and without an operating microscope for the years 2011 and 2012. Bivariate and multivariate linear regressions were used to test the association between microscope use and operating room times. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were similarly conducted to test the association between microscope use and infection occurrence within 30 days of surgery. Results A total of 23,670 elective spine procedures were identified, of which 2,226 (9.4%) used an operating microscope. The average patient age was 55.1 ± 14.4 years. The average operative time (incision to closure) was 125.7 ± 82.0 minutes. Microscope use was associated with minor increases in preoperative room time (+2.9 minutes, p=0.013), operative time (+13.2 minutes, p<0.001), and total room time (+18.6 minutes, p<0.001) on multivariate analysis. A total of 328 (1.4%) patients had an infection within 30 days of surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant difference between the microscope and non-microscope groups for occurrence of any infection, superficial surgical site infection (SSI), deep SSI, organ space infection, or sepsis/septic shock, regardless of surgery type. Conclusions We did not find operating room times or infection risk to be significant deterrents for use of an operating microscope during spine surgery. PMID:25188600

  18. Making sense of Arctic maritime traffic using the Polar Operational Limits Assessment Risk Indexing System (POLARIS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stoddard, M. A.; Etienne, L.; Fournier, M.; Pelot, R.; Beveridge, L.

    2016-04-01

    Maritime traffic volume in the Arctic is growing for several reasons: climate change is resulting in less ice in extent, duration, and thickness; economic drivers are inducing growth in resource extraction traffic, community size (affecting resupply) and adventure tourism. This dynamic situation, coupled with harsh weather, variable operating conditions, remoteness, and lack of straightforward emergency response options, demand robust risk management processes. The requirements for risk management for polar ship operations are specified in the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code). The goal of the Polar Code is to provide for safe ship operations and protection of the polar environment by addressing the risk present in polar waters. Risk management is supported by evidence-based models, including threat identification (types and frequency of hazards), exposure levels, and receptor characterization. Most of the information used to perform risk management in polar waters is attained in-situ, but increasingly is being augmented with open-access remote sensing information. In this paper we focus on the use of open-access historical ice charts as an integral part of northern navigation, especially for route planning and evaluation.

  19. Outdoors America: recreational opportunities on public lands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1998-01-01

    This Federal Recreation Lands map is a consolidated guide to public lands offering outdoor recreation opportunities. Some areas have more recreation potential than others, and types of recreation available may vary from place to place. Many areas include private land not open to the public. Care should be taken to respect the rights of private property owners. For information regarding specific activities, services, facilities, hours and seasons of operation, entrance and other user fees, and accessibility, contact the appropriate agency office.

  20. Landing Gear Door Liners for Airframe Noise Reduction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Michael G. (Inventor); Howerton, Brian M. (Inventor); Van De Ven, Thomas (Inventor)

    2014-01-01

    A landing gear door for retractable landing gear of aircraft includes an acoustic liner. The acoustic liner includes one or more internal cavities or chambers having one or more openings that inhibit the generation of sound at the surface and/or absorb sound generated during operation of the aircraft. The landing gear door may include a plurality of internal chambers having different geometries to thereby absorb broadband noise.

  1. Effects of menarcheal age on the anterior cruciate ligament injury risk factors during single-legged drop landing in female artistic elite gymnasts.

    PubMed

    Kim, Kew-Wan; Lim, Bee-Oh

    2014-11-01

    Although numerous studies have demonstrated the relationship between maturation and lower extremity biomechanics during landing in team sport athletes, we are presently uninformed of any research that examined the single-legged drop landing biomechanics of gymnasts. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the menarcheal age on the lower extremity biomechanics during a single-legged drop landing in female artistic elite gymnasts. Twenty-two female artistic elite gymnasts, between 9 and 36 years of age, participated in this study. The participants were divided into two groups pre- (n = 11) and post- (n = 11) menarche and asked to perform a single-legged drop landing on top of a 30 cm platform and land on a force plate. The statistical analysis consisted of the multivariate analysis with the level of significance set at p < 0.05. The post-menarche group showed a decrease in their maximum knee flexion angle and increase in their maximum knee abduction angle, maximum internal tibial rotation angle, maximum knee abduction moment, and hamstring-quadriceps muscle activity ratio compared with the pre-menarche group during the single-legged drop landing. The post-menarche group showed an increased noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury risk, due to their greater knee loads, compared with the pre-menarche group.

  2. Summary of Results from the Risk Management Program for the Mars Microrover Flight Experiment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shishko, Robert; Matijevic, Jacob R.

    2000-01-01

    On 4 July 1997, the Mars Pathfinder landed on the surface of Mars carrying the first planetary rover, known as the Sojourner. Formally known as the Microrover Flight Experiment (MFEX), the Sojourner was a low cost, high-risk technology demonstration, in which new risk management techniques were tried. This paper summarizes the activities and results of the effort to conduct a low-cost, yet meaningful risk management program for the MFEX. The specific activities focused on cost, performance, schedule, and operations risks. Just as the systems engineering process was iterative and produced successive refinements of requirements, designs, etc., so was the risk management process. Qualitative risk assessments were performed first to gain some insights for refining the microrover design and operations concept. These then evolved into more quantitative analyses. Risk management lessons from the manager's perspective is presented for other low-cost, high-risk space missions.

  3. An Investigation of Landing-Contact Conditions for Two Large Turbojet Transports and a Turboprop Transport During Routine Daylight Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stickle, Joseph W.

    1961-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has recently completed a statistical investigation of landing-contact conditions for two large turbojet transports and a turboprop transport landing on a dry runway during routine daylight operations at the Los Angeles International Airport. Measurements were made to obtain vertical velocity, airspeed, rolling velocity, bank angle, and distance from the runway threshold, just prior to ground contact. The vertical velocities at touchdown for one of the turbojet airplanes measured in this investigation were essentially the same as those measured on the same type of airplane during a similar investigation (see NASA Technical Note D-527) conducted approximately 8 months earlier. Thus, it appeared that 8 months of additional pilot experience has had no noticeable tendency toward lowering the vertical velocities of this transport. Distributions of vertical velocities for the turbojet transports covered in this investigation were similar and considerably higher than'those for the turboprop transport. The data for the turboprop transport were in good agreement with the data for the piston-engine transports (see NACA Report 1214 and NASA Technical Note D-147) for all the measured parameters. For the turbojet transports, 1 landing in 100 would be expected to equal or exceed a vertical velocity of approximately 4.2 ft/sec; whereas, for the turboprop transport, 1 landing in 100 would be expected to equal or exceed 3.2 ft/sec. The mean airspeeds at touchdown for the three transports ranged from 22.5 percent to 26.6 percent above the stalling speed. Rolling velocities for the turbojet transports were considerably higher than those for the turboprop transport. Distributions of bank angles at contact for the three transports were similar. For each type of airplane, 1 landing in 100 would be expected to equal or exceed a bank angle at touchdown of approximately 3.0 deg. Distributions of touchdown distances for the three transports

  4. INTEGRATED COASTAL RESERVE PLANNING: MAKING THE LAND-SEA CONNECTION

    EPA Science Inventory

    Land use, watershed processes, and coastal biodiversity can be strongly coupled. Land-sea interactions are ignored, however, when selecting terrestrial and marine reserves with existing models, with the risk that reserves will fail to achieve their conservation objectives. The co...

  5. Cardiovascular risk in operators under radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation.

    PubMed

    Vangelova, Katia; Deyanov, Christo; Israel, Mishel

    2006-03-01

    The aim of the study was to assess the long-term effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (EMR) on the cardiovascular system. Two groups of exposed operators (49 broadcasting (BC) station and 61 TV station operators) and a control group of 110 radiorelay station operators, matched by sex and age, with similar job characteristics except for the radiofrequency EMR were studied. The EMR exposure was assessed and the time-weighted average (TWA) was calculated. The cardiovascular risk factors arterial pressure, lipid profile, body mass index, waist/hip ratio, smoking, and family history of cardiovascular disease were followed. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher in the two exposed groups. It was found that the radiofrequency EMR exposure was associated with greater chance of becoming hypertensive and dyslipidemic. The stepwise multiple regression equations showed that the SBP and TWA predicted the high TC and high LDL-C, while the TC, age and abdominal obesity were predictors for high SBP and DBP. In conclusion, our data show that the radiofrequency EMR contributes to adverse effects on the cardiovascular system.

  6. 30 CFR 740.15 - Bonds on Federal lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FEDERAL LANDS PROGRAM GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS ON FEDERAL LANDS... surface coal mining, the applicant for a mining permit, if unable to obtain the written consent of the...

  7. 47 CFR 90.733 - Permissible operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... benchmark for the construction of its land mobile system base stations as prescribed in § 90.725(a); and (2... first meet the requirement to construct its land mobile base station and place it in operation, or... chapter. (f) A Phase I non-nationwide licensee operating a paging base station, or a fixed station...

  8. Risk management in international manned space program operations.

    PubMed

    Seastrom, J W; Peercy, R L; Johnson, G W; Sotnikov, B J; Brukhanov, N

    2004-02-01

    New, innovative joint safety policies and requirements were developed in support of the Shuttle/Mir program, which is the first phase of the International Space Station program. This work has resulted in a joint multinational analysis culminating in joint certification for mission readiness. For these planning and development efforts, each nation's risk programs and individual safety practices had to be integrated into a comprehensive and compatible system that reflects the joint nature of the endeavor. This paper highlights the major incremental steps involved in planning and program integration during development of the Shuttle/Mir program. It traces the transition from early development to operational status and highlights the valuable lessons learned that apply to the International Space Station program (Phase 2). Also examined are external and extraneous factors that affected mission operations and the corresponding solutions to ensure safe and effective Shuttle/Mir missions. c2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  9. 50 CFR 622.38 - Landing fish intact.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 12 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Landing fish intact. 622.38 Section 622... § 622.38 Landing fish intact. The operator of a vessel that fishes in the EEZ is responsible for ensuring that fish on that vessel in the EEZ are maintained intact and, if taken from the EEZ, are...

  10. 50 CFR 622.38 - Landing fish intact.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 10 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Landing fish intact. 622.38 Section 622... § 622.38 Landing fish intact. The operator of a vessel that fishes in the EEZ is responsible for ensuring that fish on that vessel in the EEZ are maintained intact and, if taken from the EEZ, are...

  11. 50 CFR 622.38 - Landing fish intact.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Landing fish intact. 622.38 Section 622.38... Landing fish intact. The operator of a vessel that fishes in the EEZ is responsible for ensuring that fish... specified in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. Such fish may be eviscerated, gilled, and scaled, but...

  12. Risk Balance: A Key Tool for Mission Operations Assurance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bryant, Larry W.; Faris, Grant B.

    2011-01-01

    The Mission Operations Assurance (MOA) discipline actively participates as a project member to achieve their common objective of full mission success while also providing an independent risk assessment to the Project Manager and Office of Safety and Mission Success staff. The cornerstone element of MOA is the independent assessment of the risks the project faces in executing its mission. Especially as the project approaches critical mission events, it becomes imperative to clearly identify and assess the risks the project faces. Quite often there are competing options for the project to select from in deciding how to execute the event. An example includes choices between proven but aging hardware components and unused but unproven components. Timing of the event with respect to visual or telecommunications visibility can be a consideration in the case of Earth reentry or hazardous maneuver events. It is in such situations that MOA is called upon for a risk balance assessment or risk trade study to support their recommendation to the Project Manager for a specific option to select. In the following paragraphs we consider two such assessments, one for the Stardust capsule Earth return and the other for the choice of telecommunications system configuration for the EPOXI flyby of the comet Hartley 2. We discuss the development of the trade space for each project's scenario and characterize the risks of each possible option. The risk characterization we consider includes a determination of the severity or consequence of each risk if realized and the likelihood of its occurrence. We then examine the assessment process to arrive at a MOA recommendation. Finally we review each flight project's decision process and the outcome of their decisions.

  13. Operational Definitions of Sexual Orientation and Estimates of Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors

    PubMed Central

    Matthews, Derrick D.; Blosnich, John R.; Farmer, Grant W.; Adams, Brian J.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose Increasing attention to the health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations comes with requisite circumspection about measuring sexual orientation in surveys. However, operationalizing these variables also requires considerable thought. This research sought to document the consequences of different operational definitions of sexual orientation by examining variation in health risk behaviors. Methods Using Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, we examined how operational definitions of sexual behavior and sexual identity influenced differences among three health behaviors known to disparately affect LGB populations: smoking, suicide risk, and methamphetamine use. Sexual behavior and sexual identity were also examined together to explore if they captured unique sources of variability in behavior. Results Estimates of health disparities changed as a result of using either sexual behavior or sexual identity. Youth who reported their sexual identity as “not sure” also had increased odds of health risk behavior. Disaggregating bisexual identity and behavior from same-sex identity and behavior frequently resulted in the attenuation or elimination of health disparities that would have otherwise been attributable to exclusively same-sex sexual minorities. Finally, sexual behavior and sexual identity explained unique and significant sources of variability in all three health behaviors. Conclusion Researchers using different operational definitions of sexual orientation could draw different conclusions, even when analyzing the same data, depending upon how they chose to represent sexual orientation in analyses. We discuss implications that these manipulations have on data interpretation and provide specific recommendations for best-practices when analyzing sexual orientation data collected from adolescent populations. PMID:25110718

  14. Development of an operational specific CAT risk (SCATR) index

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keller, J. L.; Haines, P. A.; Luers, J. K.

    1983-01-01

    The original formulations of Roach (1970) and Oard (1974) for the calculation of clear air turbulence (CAT) potential from synoptic scale data were extended. An index which gives a measure of the specific risk of encountering CAT - the specific clear air turbulence risk (SCATR) index - was defined. This index takes into account both the locally and advected contributions to the energy necessary for CAT. The advected contribution is associated with the role of atmospheric gravity waves. The SCATR index was calculated for a number of cases where documented encounters with CAT occurred. Of particular interest were those made for cases involving severe CAT. The results for the two severe CAT cases run were quite impressive and elicited considerable interest from operational aviation meteorologists.

  15. A Proposal of Operational Risk Management Method Using FMEA for Drug Manufacturing Computerized System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takahashi, Masakazu; Nanba, Reiji; Fukue, Yoshinori

    This paper proposes operational Risk Management (RM) method using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for drug manufacturing computerlized system (DMCS). The quality of drug must not be influenced by failures and operational mistakes of DMCS. To avoid such situation, DMCS has to be conducted enough risk assessment and taken precautions. We propose operational RM method using FMEA for DMCS. To propose the method, we gathered and compared the FMEA results of DMCS, and develop a list that contains failure modes, failures and countermeasures. To apply this list, we can conduct RM in design phase, find failures, and conduct countermeasures efficiently. Additionally, we can find some failures that have not been found yet.

  16. UST System Compatibility with Petroleum-Biofuel Blends: A Brief Guide to the 2015 Federal UST Regulations for Owners and Operators of USTs Located on Tribal Lands

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Review information for UST owners and operators on tribal lands with compatibility requirements in the 2015 federal UST regulation when storing gasoline blends containing greater than 10 percent ethanol or diesel blends containing greater than 20 percent.

  17. Operating Room Traffic as a Modifiable Risk Factor for Surgical Site Infection.

    PubMed

    Wanta, Brendan T; Glasgow, Amy E; Habermann, Elizabeth B; Kor, Daryl J; Cima, Robert R; Berbari, Elie F; Curry, Timothy B; Brown, Michael J; Hyder, Joseph A

    2016-12-01

    Surgical site infections (SSI) contribute to surgical patients' morbidity and costs. Operating room traffic may be a modifiable risk factor for SSI. We investigated the impact of additional operating room personnel on the risk of superficial SSI (sSSI). In this matched case-control study, cases included patients in whom sSSI developed in clean surgical incisions after elective, daytime operations. Control subjects were matched by age, gender, and procedure. Operating room personnel were classified as (1) surgical scrubbed, (2) surgical non-scrubbed, or (3) anesthesia. We used conditional logistic regression to test the extent to which additional personnel overall and from each work group were associated with infection. In total, 474 patients and 803 control subjects were identified. Each additional person among total personnel and personnel from each work group was significantly associated with greater odds of infection (all personnel, odds ratio [OR] = 1.082, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.031-1.134, p = 0.0013; surgical scrubbed OR = 1.132, 95% CI 1.029-1.245, p = 0.0105; surgical non-scrubbed OR = 1.123, 95% CI 1.008-1.251, p = 0.0357; anesthesia OR = 1.153, 95% CI 1.031-1.290, p = 0.0127). After adjusting for operative duration, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, and vascular disease, additional personnel and sSSI were no longer associated overall or for any work groups (total personnel OR = 1.033, 95% CI 0.974-1.095, p = 0.2746; surgical scrubbed OR = 1.060, 95% CI 0.952-1.179, p = 0.2893; surgical non-scrubbed OR = 1.023 95% CI 0.907-1.154, p = 0.7129; anesthesia OR = 1.051, 95% CI 0.926-1.193, p = 0.4442). The presence of additional operating room personnel was not independently associated with increased odds of sSSI. Efforts dedicated to sSSI reduction should focus on other modifiable risk factors.

  18. 14 CFR 121.195 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing... Performance Operating Limitations § 121.195 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports. (a) No person operating a turbine engine powered airplane may take off that airplane at...

  19. 14 CFR 121.195 - Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing... Performance Operating Limitations § 121.195 Airplanes: Turbine engine powered: Landing limitations: Destination airports. (a) No person operating a turbine engine powered airplane may take off that airplane at...

  20. 30 CFR 750.13 - Small operator assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Small operator assistance. 750.13 Section 750.13 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR INDIAN LANDS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS ON INDIAN LANDS...