Sample records for objective approach milestones

  1. Mapping Direct Observations From Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to the Milestones Across Specialties.

    PubMed

    Baker-Genaw, Kimberly; Kokas, Maria S; Ahsan, Syed F; Darnley-Fisch, Deborah; Drake, Sean; Goyal, Nikhil; Inamdar, Kedar; Moutzouros, Vasilios; Prabhakar, Deepak; Rolland, Laurie; Sangha, Roopina; Shreve, Maria; Woodward, Ann

    2016-07-01

    Little is known about residents' performance on the milestones at the institutional level. Our institution formed a work group to explore this using an institutional-level curriculum and residents' evaluation of the milestones. We assessed whether beginner-level milestones for interpersonal and communication skills (ICS) related to observable behaviors in ICS-focused objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) for postgraduate year (PGY) 1 residents across specialties. The work group compared ICS subcompetencies across 12 programs to identify common beginner-level physician-patient communication milestones. The selected ICS milestone sets were compared for common language with the ICS-OSCE assessment tool-the Kalamazoo Essential Elements of Communication Checklist-Adapted (KEECC-A). To assess whether OSCE scores related to ICS milestone scores, all PGY-1 residents from programs that were part of Next Accreditation System Phase 1 were identified; their OSCE scores from July 2013 to June 2014 and ICS subcompetency scores from December 2014 were compared. The milestones for 10 specialties and the transitional year had at least 1 ICS subcompetency that related to physician-patient communication. The language of the ICS beginner-level milestones appears similar to behaviors outlined in the KEECC-A. All 60 residents with complete data received at least a beginner-level ICS subcompetency score and at least a satisfactory score on all 3 OSCEs. The ICS-OSCE scores for PGY-1 residents appear to relate to beginner-level milestones for physician-patient communication across multiple specialties.

  2. Ways to Write a Milestone: Approaches to Operationalizing the Development of Competence in Graduate Medical Education.

    PubMed

    Leep Hunderfund, Andrea N; Reed, Darcy A; Starr, Stephanie R; Havyer, Rachel D; Lang, Tara R; Norby, Suzanne M

    2017-09-01

    To identify approaches to operationalizing the development of competence in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones. The authors reviewed all 25 "Milestone Project" documents available on the ACGME Web site on September 11, 2013, using an iterative process to identify approaches to operationalizing the development of competence in the milestones associated with each of 601 subcompetencies. Fifteen approaches were identified. Ten focused on attributes and activities of the learner, such as their ability to perform different, increasingly difficult tasks (304/601; 51%), perform a task better and faster (171/601; 45%), or perform a task more consistently (123/601; 20%). Two approaches focused on context, inferring competence from performing a task in increasingly difficult situations (236/601; 29%) or an expanding scope of engagement (169/601; 28%). Two used socially defined indicators of competence such as progression from "learning" to "teaching," "leading," or "role modeling" (271/601; 45%). One approach focused on the supervisor's role, inferring competence from a decreasing need for supervision or assistance (151/601; 25%). Multiple approaches were often combined within a single set of milestones (mean 3.9, SD 1.6). Initial ACGME milestones operationalize the development of competence in many ways. These findings offer insights into how physicians understand and assess the developmental progression of competence and an opportunity to consider how different approaches may affect the validity of milestone-based assessments. The results of this analysis can inform the work of educators developing or revising milestones, interpreting milestone data, or creating assessment tools to inform milestone-based performance measures.

  3. Developmental milestones record - 6 months

    MedlinePlus

    Normal childhood growth milestones - 6 months; Childhood growth milestones - 6 months; Growth milestones for children - 6 months ... the weight on hands (often occurs by 4 months) Able to pick up a dropped object Able ...

  4. The pathology milestones and the next accreditation system.

    PubMed

    Naritoku, Wesley Y; Alexander, C Bruce; Bennett, Betsy D; Black-Schaffer, W Stephen; Brissette, Mark D; Grimes, Margaret M; Hoffman, Robert D; Hunt, Jennifer L; Iezzoni, Julia C; Johnson, Rebecca; Kozel, Jessica; Mendoza, Ricardo M; Post, Miriam D; Powell, Suzanne Z; Procop, Gary W; Steinberg, Jacob J; Thorsen, Linda M; Nestler, Steven P

    2014-03-01

    In the late 1990s, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education developed the Outcomes Project and the 6 general competencies with the intent to improve the outcome of graduate medical education in the United States. The competencies were used as the basis for developing learning goals and objectives and tools to evaluate residents' performance. By the mid-2000s the stakeholders in resident education and the general public felt that the Outcomes Project had fallen short of expectations. To develop a new evaluation method to track trainee progress throughout residency using benchmarks called milestones. A change in leadership at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education brought a new vision for the accreditation of training programs and a radically different approach to the evaluation of residents. The Pathology Milestones Working Group reviewed examples of developing milestones in other specialties, the literature, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program requirements for pathology to develop pathology milestones. The pathology milestones are a set of objective descriptors for measuring progress in the development of competency in patient care, procedural skill sets, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. The milestones provide a national standard for evaluation that will be used for the assessment of all residents in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited pathology training programs.

  5. Exact milestoning

    PubMed Central

    Bello-Rivas, Juan M.; Elber, Ron

    2015-01-01

    A new theory and an exact computer algorithm for calculating kinetics and thermodynamic properties of a particle system are described. The algorithm avoids trapping in metastable states, which are typical challenges for Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations on rough energy landscapes. It is based on the division of the full space into Voronoi cells. Prior knowledge or coarse sampling of space points provides the centers of the Voronoi cells. Short time trajectories are computed between the boundaries of the cells that we call milestones and are used to determine fluxes at the milestones. The flux function, an essential component of the new theory, provides a complete description of the statistical mechanics of the system at the resolution of the milestones. We illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the exact Milestoning approach by comparing numerical results obtained on a model system using exact Milestoning with the results of long trajectories and with a solution of the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation. The theory uses an equation that resembles the approximate Milestoning method that was introduced in 2004 [A. K. Faradjian and R. Elber, J. Chem. Phys. 120(23), 10880-10889 (2004)]. However, the current formulation is exact and is still significantly more efficient than straightforward MD simulations on the system studied. PMID:25747056

  6. Developmental Milestones

    MedlinePlus

    ... 3 years 4 years 5 years Milestone Tracker App Milestones in Action: Photos & Videos 2 months 4 ... milestone checklists (PDF) Download the Milestone Tracker mobile app View the Milestones in Action photo and video ...

  7. Pediatrics Milestone Project: Next Steps Toward Meaningful Outcomes Assessment

    PubMed Central

    Hicks, Patricia J.; Englander, Robert; Schumacher, Daniel J.; Burke, Ann; Benson, Bradley J.; Guralnick, Susan; Ludwig, Stephen; Carraccio, Carol

    2010-01-01

    In the September 2010 issue of JGME, the Pediatric Milestones Working Group published “The Pediatrics Milestones: Conceptual Framework, Guiding Principles, and Approach to Development”, a document that describes the construction of the first iteration of the Pediatric Milestones. These Milestones were developed by the Working Group as a group of practical behavioral expectations for each of the 52 sub-competencies. In constructing these Milestones, the authors were cognizant of the need to ground the Milestones themselves in evidence, theories or other conceptual frameworks that would provide the basis for the ontogeny of development for each sub-competency. During this next phase of the Milestones development, the process will continue with consultation with content experts and consideration of assessment of Milestones. We have described possible measurement tools, explored threats to validity, establishment of benchmarks, and possible approaches to reporting of performance. The vision of the Pediatrics Milestone Project is to understand the development of a pediatrician from entry into medical school through the twilight of a physician’s career, and the work will require a collaborative effort of the undergraduate and graduate medical education communities, and the accrediting and certifying bodies. PMID:22132281

  8. Milestoning with coarse memory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hawk, Alexander T.

    2013-04-01

    Milestoning is a method used to calculate the kinetics of molecular processes occurring on timescales inaccessible to traditional molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In the method, the phase space of the system is partitioned by milestones (hypersurfaces), trajectories are initialized on each milestone, and short MD simulations are performed to calculate transitions between neighboring milestones. Long trajectories of the system are then reconstructed with a semi-Markov process from the observed statistics of transition. The procedure is typically justified by the assumption that trajectories lose memory between crossing successive milestones. Here we present Milestoning with Coarse Memory (MCM), a generalization of Milestoning that relaxes the memory loss assumption of conventional Milestoning. In the method, milestones are defined and sample transitions are calculated in the standard Milestoning way. Then, after it is clear where trajectories sample milestones, the milestones are broken up into distinct neighborhoods (clusters), and each sample transition is associated with two clusters: the cluster containing the coordinates the trajectory was initialized in, and the cluster (on the terminal milestone) containing trajectory's final coordinates. Long trajectories of the system are then reconstructed with a semi-Markov process in an extended state space built from milestone and cluster indices. To test the method, we apply it to a process that is particularly ill suited for Milestoning: the dynamics of a polymer confined to a narrow cylinder. We show that Milestoning calculations of both the mean first passage time and the mean transit time of reversal—which occurs when the end-to-end vector reverses direction—are significantly improved when MCM is applied. Finally, we note the overhead of performing MCM on top of conventional Milestoning is negligible.

  9. The Milestones Passport: A Learner-Centered Application of the Milestone Framework to Prompt Real-Time Feedback in the Emergency Department

    PubMed Central

    Yarris, Lalena M.; Jones, David; Kornegay, Joshua G.; Hansen, Matthew

    2014-01-01

    Background In July 2013, emergency medicine residency programs implemented the Milestone assessment as part of the Next Accreditation System. Objective We hypothesized that applying the Milestone framework to real-time feedback in the emergency department (ED) could affect current feedback processes and culture. We describe the development and implementation of a Milestone-based, learner-centered intervention designed to prompt real-time feedback in the ED. Methods We developed and implemented the Milestones Passport, a feedback intervention incorporating subcompetencies, in our residency program in July 2013. Our primary outcomes were feasibility, including faculty and staff time and costs, number of documented feedback encounters in the first 2 months of implementation, and user-reported time required to complete the intervention. We also assessed learner and faculty acceptability. Results Development and implementation of the Milestones Passport required 10 hours of program coordinator time, 120 hours of software developer time, and 20 hours of faculty time. Twenty-eight residents and 34 faculty members generated 257 Milestones Passport feedback encounters. Most residents and faculty reported that the encounters required fewer than 5 minutes to complete, and 48% (12 of 25) of the residents and 68% (19 of 28) of faculty reported satisfaction with the Milestones Passport intervention. Faculty satisfaction with overall feedback in the ED improved after the intervention (93% versus 54%, P  =  .003), whereas resident satisfaction with feedback did not change significantly. Conclusions The Milestones Passport feedback intervention was feasible and acceptable to users; however, learner satisfaction with the Milestone assessment in the ED was modest. PMID:26279784

  10. Use of Developmental Milestones in Pediatric Residency Training and Practice: Time to Rethink the Meaning of the Mean

    PubMed Central

    Sices, Laura

    2009-01-01

    Objective Pediatricians frequently report the use of developmental milestones in monitoring young children’s development, despite evidence that use of screening tools improves detection of developmental delays. Methods Core texts in the field of pediatrics and developmental-behavioral pediatrics were reviewed for content and presentation on child development. Most texts included and many focused on developmental milestones, many with an emphasis on 50th percentile milestone data. Problems and limitations in the use of 50th percentile milestones to monitor young children’s development and to identify children whose development is suspicious for delay, include questionable utility in clinical decision making and the potential to increase parental anxiety. Results The recommendation is made to reconsider a focus on 50th percentile milestone data in pediatric training and practice, in favor of measures that have better clinical utility and are more psychometrically sound. Conclusion A conceptual approach to the presentation of developmental milestones differentiates the use of the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles of age of achievement of skills, based on the clinical purpose of surveillance. PMID:17353732

  11. International vision requirements for driver licensing and disability pensions: using a milestone approach in characterization of progressive eye disease

    PubMed Central

    Bron, Alain M; Viswanathan, Ananth C; Thelen, Ulrich; de Natale, Renato; Ferreras, Antonio; Gundgaard, Jens; Schwartz, Gail; Buchholz, Patricia

    2010-01-01

    Objective Low vision that causes forfeiture of driver’s licenses and collection of disability pension benefits can lead to negative psychosocial and economic consequences. The purpose of this study was to review the requirements for holding a driver’s license and rules for obtaining a disability pension due to low vision. Results highlight the possibility of using a milestone approach to describe progressive eye disease. Methods Government and research reports, websites, and journal articles were evaluated to review rules and requirements in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the UK, and the US. Results Visual acuity limits are present in all driver’s license regulations. In most countries, the visual acuity limit is 0.5. Visual field limits are included in some driver’s license regulations. In Europe, binocular visual field requirements typically follow the European Union standard of ≥120°. In the US, the visual field requirements are typically between 110° and 140°. Some countries distinguish between being partially sighted and blind in the definition of legal blindness, and in others there is only one limit. Conclusions Loss of driving privileges could be used as a milestone to monitor progressive eye disease. Forfeiture could be standardized as a best-corrected visual acuity of <0.5 or visual field of <120°, which is consistent in most countries. However, requirements to receive disability pensions were too variable to standardize as milestones in progressive eye disease. Implementation of the World Health Organization criteria for low vision and blindness would help to establish better comparability between countries. PMID:21179219

  12. Collaborative Negotiations: A Successful Approach for Negotiation Compliance Milestones for the transition of the PFP Hanford Nuclear Reservation

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

    HOPKINS, A.M.

    The new approach to negotiations was termed collaborative (win-win) rather than positional (win-lose). Collaborative negotiations were conducted to establish milestones for the decommissioning of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, PFP.

  13. Milestones: Critical Elements in Clinical Informatics Fellowship Programs

    PubMed Central

    Lehmann, Christoph U.; Munger, Benson

    2016-01-01

    Summary Background Milestones refer to points along a continuum of a competency from novice to expert. Resident and fellow assessment and program evaluation processes adopted by the ACGME include the mandate that programs report the educational progress of residents and fellows twice annually utilizing Milestones developed by a specialty specific ACGME working group of experts. Milestones in clinical training programs are largely unmapped to specific assessment tools. Residents and fellows are mainly assessed using locally derived assessment instruments. These assessments are then reviewed by the Clinical Competency Committee which assigns and reports trainee ratings using the specialty specific reporting Milestones. Methods and Results The challenge and opportunity facing the nascent specialty of Clinical Informatics is how to optimally utilize this framework across a growing number of accredited fellowships. The authors review how a mapped milestone framework, in which each required sub-competency is mapped to a single milestone assessment grid, can enable the use of milestones for multiple uses including individualized learning plans, fellow assessments, and program evaluation. Furthermore, such a mapped strategy will foster the ability to compare fellow progress within and between Clinical Informatics Fellowships in a structured and reliable fashion. Clinical Informatics currently has far less variability across programs and thus could easily utilize a more tightly defined set of milestones with a clear mapping to sub-competencies. This approach would enable greater standardization of assessment instruments and processes across programs while allowing for variability in how those sub-competencies are taught. Conclusions A mapped strategy for Milestones offers significant advantages for Clinical Informatics programs. PMID:27081414

  14. On the assumptions underlying milestoning.

    PubMed

    Vanden-Eijnden, Eric; Venturoli, Maddalena; Ciccotti, Giovanni; Elber, Ron

    2008-11-07

    Milestoning is a procedure to compute the time evolution of complicated processes such as barrier crossing events or long diffusive transitions between predefined states. Milestoning reduces the dynamics to transition events between intermediates (the milestones) and computes the local kinetic information to describe these transitions via short molecular dynamics (MD) runs between the milestones. The procedure relies on the ability to reinitialize MD trajectories on the milestones to get the right kinetic information about the transitions. It also rests on the assumptions that the transition events between successive milestones and the time lags between these transitions are statistically independent. In this paper, we analyze the validity of these assumptions. We show that sets of optimal milestones exist, i.e., sets such that successive transitions are indeed statistically independent. The proof of this claim relies on the results of transition path theory and uses the isocommittor surfaces of the reaction as milestones. For systems in the overdamped limit, we also obtain the probability distribution to reinitialize the MD trajectories on the milestones, and we discuss why this distribution is not available in closed form for systems with inertia. We explain why the time lags between transitions are not statistically independent even for optimal milestones, but we show that working with such milestones allows one to compute mean first passage times between milestones exactly. Finally, we discuss some practical implications of our results and we compare milestoning with Markov state models in view of our findings.

  15. Internal Medicine Residents' Perspectives on Receiving Feedback in Milestone Format

    PubMed Central

    Angus, Steven; Moriarty, John; Nardino, Robert J.; Chmielewski, Amy; Rosenblum, Michael J.

    2015-01-01

    Background In contrast to historical feedback, which was vague or provided residents' numerical scores without clear meaning, milestone-based feedback is focused on specific knowledge, skills, and behaviors that define developmental trajectory. It was anticipated that residents would welcome the more specific and actionable feedback provided by the milestone framework, but this has not been studied. Objective We assessed internal medicine (IM) residents' perceptions of receiving feedback in the milestone framework, particularly assessing perception of the utility of milestone-based feedback compared to non–milestone-based feedback. Methods We surveyed a total of 510 IM residents from 7 institutions. Survey questions assessed resident perception of milestone feedback in identifying strengths, weaknesses, and trajectory of professional development. Postgraduate years 2 and 3 (PGY-2 and PGY-3) residents were asked to compare milestones with prior methods of feedback. Results Of 510 residents, 356 (69.8%) responded. Slightly less than half of the residents found milestone-based feedback “extremely useful” or “very useful” in identifying strengths (44%), weaknesses (43%), specific areas for improvement (45%), and appropriate education progress (48%). Few residents found such feedback “not very useful” or “not at all useful” in these domains. A total of 51% of PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents agreed that receiving milestone-based feedback was more helpful than previous forms of feedback. Conclusions IM residents are aware of the concepts of milestones, and half of the residents surveyed found milestone feedback more helpful than previous forms of feedback. More work needs to be done to understand how milestone-based feedback could be delivered more effectively to enhance resident development. PMID:26221438

  16. Developing a comprehensive resident education evaluation system in the era of milestone assessment.

    PubMed

    Gardner, Aimee K; Scott, Daniel J; Choti, Michael A; Mansour, John C

    2015-01-01

    In an effort to move training programs toward competency-based education, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the Next Accreditation System (NAS), which organizes specific milestones regarding resident skills, knowledge, and abilities along a continuum. In order to foster innovation and creativity, the ACGME has provided programs with minimal guidelines regarding the optimal way to approach these milestones. The education team at UT Southwestern embraced the milestones and developed a process in which performance assessment methods were critically evaluated, mapped onto an extrapolated performance list corresponding to the areas required by the ACGME milestones, and filled gaps in the previous system by modifying evaluation tools and creating new program components. Although the authors are early in the evolution of applying the new milestones system, this approach has thus far allowed them to comprehensively evaluate the residents and the program in an efficient and effective fashion, with notable improvements compared to the prior approach. The authors hope that these experiences can inform others embarking upon similar journeys with the milestones. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. A Process for Curricular Improvement Based on Evaluation of Student Performance on Milestone Examinations

    PubMed Central

    Hylton, Ann C.; Justice, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Objective. To identify and address areas for curricular improvement by evaluating student achievement of expected learning outcomes and competencies on annual milestone examinations. Design. Students were tested each professional year with a comprehensive milestone examination designed to evaluate student achievement of learning outcomes and professional competencies using a combination of multiple-choice questions, standardized patient assessments (SPAs), and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) questions. Assessment. Based on student performance on milestone examinations, curricular changes were instituted, including an increased emphasis on graded comprehensive cases, OSCE skills days, and use of patient simulation in lecture and laboratory courses. After making these changes, significant improvements were observed in second and third-year pharmacy students’ grades for the therapeutic case and physician interaction/errors and omissions components of the milestone examinations. Conclusion. Results from milestone examinations can be used to identify specific areas in which curricular improvements are needed to foster student achievement of learning outcomes and professional competencies. PMID:28090108

  18. Mapping Residency Global Health Experiences to the ACGME Family Medicine Milestones.

    PubMed

    Grissom, Maureen O; Iroku-Malize, Tochi; Peila, Rita; Perez, Marco; Philippe, Neubert

    2017-07-01

    Global health (GH) experiences are a unique part of family medicine (FM) training that offer an opportunity for residents to demonstrate development across a multitude of the milestones recently implemented by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The GH experience presents an opportunity for resident development, and including a component of written reflection can provide tangible evidence of development in areas that can be difficult to assess. A mixed methods approach was used to integrate quantitative (frequency) data with qualitative content from the written reflections of 12 of our FM residents who participated in GH experiences. Written reflections touched on each of the 22 milestones, although some milestones were noted more frequently than others. The most commonly identified milestones fell within the competency areas of systems-based practice, professionalism, and practice-based learning and improvement. Our qualitative approach allowed us to gain an appreciation of the unique experiences that demonstrated growth across the various milestones. We conclude that any program that offers GH experiences should incorporate some form of written reflection to maximize resident growth and offer evaluative faculty a window into that development.

  19. Milestones: a rapid assessment method for the Clinical Competency Committee

    PubMed Central

    Nabors, Christopher; Forman, Leanne; Peterson, Stephen J.; Gennarelli, Melissa; Aronow, Wilbert S.; DeLorenzo, Lawrence; Chandy, Dipak; Ahn, Chul; Sule, Sachin; Stallings, Gary W.; Khera, Sahil; Palaniswamy, Chandrasekar; Frishman, William H.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Educational milestones are now used to assess the developmental progress of all U.S. graduate medical residents during training. Twice annually, each program’s Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) makes these determinations and reports its findings to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The ideal way to conduct the CCC is not known. After finding that deliberations reliant upon the new milestones were time intensive, our internal medicine residency program tested an approach designed to produce rapid but accurate assessments. Material and methods For this study, we modified our usual CCC process to include pre-meeting faculty ratings of resident milestones progress with in-meeting reconciliation of their ratings. Data were considered largely via standard report and presented in a pre-arranged pattern. Participants were surveyed regarding their perceptions of data management strategies and use of milestones. Reliability of competence assessments was estimated by comparing pre-/post-intervention class rank lists produced by individual committee members with a master class rank list produced by the collective CCC after full deliberation. Results Use of the study CCC approach reduced committee deliberation time from 25 min to 9 min per resident (p < 0.001). Committee members believed milestones improved their ability to identify and assess expected elements of competency development (p = 0.026). Individual committee member assessments of trainee progress agreed well with collective CCC assessments. Conclusions Modification of the clinical competency process to include pre-meeting competence ratings with in-meeting reconciliation of these ratings led to shorter deliberation times, improved evaluator satisfaction and resulted in reliable milestone assessments. PMID:28144272

  20. Have First-Year Emergency Medicine Residents Achieved Level 1 on Care-Based Milestones?

    PubMed Central

    Weizberg, Moshe; Bond, Michael C.; Cassara, Michael; Doty, Christopher; Seamon, Jason

    2015-01-01

    Background Residents in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accredited emergency medicine (EM) residencies were assessed on 23 educational milestones to capture their progression from medical student level (Level 1) to that of an EM attending physician (Level 5). Level 1 was conceptualized to be at the level of an incoming postgraduate year (PGY)-1 resident; however, this has not been confirmed. Objectives Our primary objective in this study was to assess incoming PGY-1 residents to determine what percentage achieved Level 1 for the 8 emergency department (ED) patient care–based milestones (PC 1–8), as assessed by faculty. Secondary objectives involved assessing what percentage of residents had achieved Level 1 as assessed by themselves, and finally, we calculated the absolute differences between self- and faculty assessments. Methods Incoming PGY-1 residents at 4 EM residencies were assessed by faculty and themselves during their first month of residency. Performance anchors were adapted from ACGME milestones. Results Forty-one residents from 4 programs were included. The percentage of residents who achieved Level 1 for each subcompetency on faculty assessment ranged from 20% to 73%, and on self-assessment from 34% to 92%. The majority did not achieve Level 1 on faculty assessment of milestones PC-2, PC-3, PC-5a, and PC-6, and on self-assessment of PC-3 and PC-5a. Self-assessment was higher than faculty assessment for PC-2, PC-5b, and PC-6. Conclusions Less than 75% of PGY-1 residents achieved Level 1 for ED care-based milestones. The majority did not achieve Level 1 on 4 milestones. Self-assessments were higher than faculty assessments for several milestones. PMID:26692971

  1. ASDS Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery Fellowship Milestones.

    PubMed

    Waldman, Abigail; Arndt, Kenneth A; Avram, Mathew M; Brown, Mariah R; Dover, Jeffrey S; Fabi, Sabrina G; Friedmann, Daniel P; Geronemus, Roy G; Goldberg, David J; Goldman, Mitchel P; Green, Jeremy B; Ibrahimi, Omar A; Jones, Derek H; Kilmer, Suzanne L; McDaniel, David H; Obagi, Suzan; Ortiz, Arisa E; Rohrer, Thomas E; Taylor, Mark B; Torres, Abel; Weinkle, Susan H; Weiss, Margaret A; Weiss, Eduardo T; Weiss, Robert A; Poon, Emily; Alam, Murad

    2016-10-01

    The American Council of Graduate Medical Education, which oversees much of postgraduate medical education in the United States, has championed the concept of "milestones," standard levels of achievement keyed to particular time points, to assess trainee performance during residency. To develop a milestones document for the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery (CDS) fellowship program. An ad hoc milestone drafting committee was convened that included members of the ASDS Accreditation Work Group and program directors of ASDS-approved Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery (CDC) fellowship training programs. Draft milestones were circulated through email in multiple rounds until consensus was achieved. Thirteen milestones were developed in the 6 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competency areas, with 8 of these being patient-care milestones. Additional instructions for milestone administration more specific to the CDS fellowship than general ACGME instructions were also approved. Implementation of semiannual milestones was scheduled for the fellowship class entering in July 2018. Milestones are now available for CDS fellowship directors to implement in combination with other tools for fellow evaluation.

  2. Campaign 2 Level 2 Milestone Review 2009: Milestone # 3131 Grain Scale Simulation of Pore Collapse

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

    Schwartz, A J

    2009-09-28

    The milestone reviewed on Sept. 16, 2009 was 'High-fidelity simulation of shock initiation of high explosives at the grain scale using coupled hydrodynamics, thermal transport and chemistry'. It is the opinion of the committee that the team has satisfied the milestone. A detailed description of how the goals were met is provided. The milestone leveraged capabilities from ASC Physics and Engineering Materials program combined with experimental input from Campaign 2. A combined experimental-multiscale simulation approach was used to create and validate the various TATB model components. At the lowest length scale, quantum chemical calculations were used to determine equations ofmore » state, thermal transport properties and reaction rates for TATB as it is decomposing. High-pressure experiments conducted in diamond anvil cells, gas guns and the Z machine were used to validate the EOS, thermal conductivity, specific heat and predictions of water formation. The predicted reaction networks and chemical kinetic equations were implemented in Cheetah and validated against the lower length scale data. Cheetah was then used within the ASC code ALE3D for high-resolution, thermo-mechanically coupled simulations of pore collapse at the micron size scale to predict conditions for detonation initiation.« less

  3. Milestones in Rotorcraft Aeromechanics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Johnson, Wayne

    2011-01-01

    The subject of this paper is milestones in rotorcraft aeromechanics. Aeromechanics covers much of what the engineer needs: performance, loads, vibration, stability, flight dynamics, noise. These topics cover many of the key performance attributes, and many of the often-encountered problems in rotorcraft designs. A milestone is a critical achievement, a turning point, an event marking a significant change or stage in development. The milestones identified and discussed include the beginnings of aeromechanics with autogyro analysis, ground resonance, aeromechanics books, unsteady aerodynamics and airloads, nonuniform inflow and wakes, beams and dynamics, comprehensive analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and rotor airloads tests. The focus on milestones limits the scope of the history, but allows the author to acknowledge his choices for key steps in the development of the science and engineering of rotorcraft.

  4. Charting the Road to Competence: Developmental Milestones for Internal Medicine Residency Training

    PubMed Central

    Green, Michael L.; Aagaard, Eva M.; Caverzagie, Kelly J.; Chick, Davoren A.; Holmboe, Eric; Kane, Gregory; Smith, Cynthia D.; Iobst, William

    2009-01-01

    Background The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcome Project requires that residency program directors objectively document that their residents achieve competence in 6 general dimensions of practice. Intervention In November 2007, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the ACGME initiated the development of milestones for internal medicine residency training. ABIM and ACGME convened a 33-member milestones task force made up of program directors, experts in evaluation and quality, and representatives of internal medicine stakeholder organizations. This article reports on the development process and the resulting list of proposed milestones for each ACGME competency. Outcomes The task force adopted the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition as a framework the internal medicine milestones, and calibrated the milestones with the expectation that residents achieve, at a minimum, the “competency” level in the 5-step progression by the completion of residency. The task force also developed general recommendations for strategies to evaluate the milestones. Discussion The milestones resulting from this effort will promote competency-based resident education in internal medicine, and will allow program directors to track the progress of residents and inform decisions regarding promotion and readiness for independent practice. In addition, the milestones may guide curriculum development, suggest specific assessment strategies, provide benchmarks for resident self-directed assessment-seeking, and assist remediation by facilitating identification of specific deficits. Finally, by making explicit the profession's expectations for graduates and providing a degree of national standardization in evaluation, the milestones may improve public accountability for residency training. PMID:21975701

  5. Milestone-Based Assessments Are Superior to Likert-Type Assessments in Illustrating Trainee Progression

    PubMed Central

    Bartlett, Kathleen W.; Whicker, Shari A.; Bookman, Jack; Narayan, Aditee P.; Staples, Betty B.; Hering, Holly; McGann, Kathleen A.

    2015-01-01

    Background The Pediatrics Milestone Project uses behavioral anchors, narrative descriptions of observable behaviors, to describe learner progression through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies. Starting June 2014, pediatrics programs were required to submit milestone reports for their trainees semiannually. Likert-type scale assessment tools were not designed to inform milestone reporting, creating a challenge for Clinical Competency Committees. Objective To determine if milestone-based assessments better stratify trainees by training level compared to Likert-type assessments. Methods We compared assessment results for 3 subcompetencies after changing from a 5-point Likert scale to milestone-based behavioral anchors in July 2013. Program leadership evaluated the new system by (1) comparing PGY-1 mean scores on Likert-type versus milestone-based assessments; and (2) comparing mean scores on the Likert-type versus milestone-based assessments across PGY levels. Results Mean scores for PGY-1 residents were significantly higher on the prior year's Likert-type assessments than milestone-based assessments for all 3 subcompetencies (P < .01). Stratification by PGY level was not observed with Likert-type assessments (eg, interpersonal and communication skills 1 [ICS1] mean score for PGY-1, 3.99 versus PGY-3, 3.98; P  =  .98). In contrast, milestone-based assessments demonstrated stratification by PGY level (eg, the ICS1 mean score was 3.06 for PGY-1, 3.83 for PGY-2, and 3.99 for PGY-3; P < .01 for PGY-1 versus PGY-3). Significantly different means by trainee level were noted across 21 subcompetencies on milestone-based assessments (P < .01 for PGY-1 versus PGY-3). Conclusions Initial results indicate milestone-based assessments stratify trainee performance by level better than Likert-type assessments. Average PGY-level scores from milestone-based assessments may ultimately provide guidance for determining whether trainees are

  6. Code Verification Capabilities and Assessments in Support of ASC V&V Level 2 Milestone #6035

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

    Doebling, Scott William; Budzien, Joanne Louise; Ferguson, Jim Michael

    This document provides a summary of the code verification activities supporting the FY17 Level 2 V&V milestone entitled “Deliver a Capability for V&V Assessments of Code Implementations of Physics Models and Numerical Algorithms in Support of Future Predictive Capability Framework Pegposts.” The physics validation activities supporting this milestone are documented separately. The objectives of this portion of the milestone are: 1) Develop software tools to support code verification analysis; 2) Document standard definitions of code verification test problems; and 3) Perform code verification assessments (focusing on error behavior of algorithms). This report and a set of additional standalone documents servemore » as the compilation of results demonstrating accomplishment of these objectives.« less

  7. Developmental milestones among Aboriginal children in Canada

    PubMed Central

    Findlay, Leanne; Kohen, Dafna; Miller, Anton

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Windows of achievement provide age ranges for the attainment of early developmental skills. Group-specific research is warranted given that development may be influenced by social or cultural factors. OBJECTIVES: To examine developmental milestones for Inuit, Métis and off-reserve First Nation children in Canada, based on developmental domains collected from the 2006 Aboriginal Children’s Survey. Sociodemographic and health predictors of risk for developmental delay were also examined. RESULTS: The ranges in which children achieve certain developmental milestones are presented. Gross motor and self-help skills were found to be achieved earlier (across the three Aboriginal groups), whereas language skills were achieved slightly later than in Canadian children in general. Furthermore, health factors (eg, low birth weight, chronic health conditions) were associated with late achievement of developmental outcomes even when sociodemographic characteristics were considered. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the timing of milestone achievement may differ for Aboriginal children, highlighting the importance of establishing culturally specific norms and standards rather than relying on those derived from general populations. This information may be useful for practitioners and parents interested in identifying the age ranges for development, as well as age ranges indicating potential for developmental risk and opportunities for early intervention among Aboriginal children. PMID:24855426

  8. Relations of Alcohol Consumption with Smoking Cessation Milestones and Tobacco Dependence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cook, Jessica W.; Fucito, Lisa M.; Piasecki, Thomas M.; Piper, Megan E.; Schlam, Tanya R.; Berg, Kristin M.; Baker, Timothy B.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: Alcohol consumption is associated with smoking cessation failure in both community and clinical research. However, little is known about the relation between alcohol consumption and smoking cessation milestones (i.e., achieving initial abstinence, avoiding lapses and relapse). Our objective in this research was to examine the relations…

  9. Educational Milestone Development in the First 7 Specialties to Enter the Next Accreditation System

    PubMed Central

    Swing, Susan R.; Beeson, Michael S.; Carraccio, Carol; Coburn, Michael; Iobst, William; Selden, Nathan R.; Stern, Peter J.; Vydareny, Kay

    2013-01-01

    Background The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcome Project introduced 6 general competencies relevant to medical practice but fell short of its goal to create a robust assessment system that would allow program accreditation based on outcomes. In response, the ACGME, the specialty boards, and other stakeholders collaborated to develop educational milestones, observable steps in residents' professional development that describe progress from entry to graduation and beyond. Objectives We summarize the development of the milestones, focusing on 7 specialties, moving to the next accreditation system in July 2013, and offer evidence of their validity. Methods Specialty workgroups with broad representation used a 5-level developmental framework and incorporated information from literature reviews, specialty curricula, dialogue with constituents, and pilot testing. Results The workgroups produced richly diverse sets of milestones that reflect the community's consideration of attributes of competence relevant to practice in the given specialty. Both their development process and the milestones themselves establish a validity argument, when contemporary views of validity for complex performance assessment are used. Conclusions Initial evidence for validity emerges from the development processes and the resulting milestones. Further advancing a validity argument will require research on the use of milestone data in resident assessment and program accreditation. PMID:24404235

  10. The Milestones Passport: A Learner-Centered Application of the Milestone Framework to Prompt Real-Time Feedback in the Emergency Department.

    PubMed

    Yarris, Lalena M; Jones, David; Kornegay, Joshua G; Hansen, Matthew

    2014-09-01

    In July 2013, emergency medicine residency programs implemented the Milestone assessment as part of the Next Accreditation System. We hypothesized that applying the Milestone framework to real-time feedback in the emergency department (ED) could affect current feedback processes and culture. We describe the development and implementation of a Milestone-based, learner-centered intervention designed to prompt real-time feedback in the ED. We developed and implemented the Milestones Passport, a feedback intervention incorporating subcompetencies, in our residency program in July 2013. Our primary outcomes were feasibility, including faculty and staff time and costs, number of documented feedback encounters in the first 2 months of implementation, and user-reported time required to complete the intervention. We also assessed learner and faculty acceptability. Development and implementation of the Milestones Passport required 10 hours of program coordinator time, 120 hours of software developer time, and 20 hours of faculty time. Twenty-eight residents and 34 faculty members generated 257 Milestones Passport feedback encounters. Most residents and faculty reported that the encounters required fewer than 5 minutes to complete, and 48% (12 of 25) of the residents and 68% (19 of 28) of faculty reported satisfaction with the Milestones Passport intervention. Faculty satisfaction with overall feedback in the ED improved after the intervention (93% versus 54%, P  =  .003), whereas resident satisfaction with feedback did not change significantly. The Milestones Passport feedback intervention was feasible and acceptable to users; however, learner satisfaction with the Milestone assessment in the ED was modest.

  11. Shortening the Miles to the Milestones: Connecting EPA-Based Evaluations to ACGME Milestone Reports for Internal Medicine Residency Programs.

    PubMed

    Choe, John H; Knight, Christopher L; Stiling, Rebekah; Corning, Kelli; Lock, Keli; Steinberg, Kenneth P

    2016-07-01

    The Next Accreditation System requires internal medicine training programs to provide the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) with semiannual information about each resident's progress in 22 subcompetency domains. Evaluation of resident "trustworthiness" in performing entrustable professional activities (EPAs) may offer a more tangible assessment construct than evaluations based on expectations of usual progression toward competence. However, translating results from EPA-based evaluations into ACGME milestone progress reports has proven to be challenging because the constructs that underlay these two systems differ.The authors describe a process to bridge the gap between rotation-specific EPA-based evaluations and ACGME milestone reporting. Developed at the University of Washington in 2012 and 2013, this method involves mapping EPA-based evaluation responses to "milestone elements," the narrative descriptions within the columns of each of the 22 internal medicine subcompetencies. As faculty members complete EPA-based evaluations, the mapped milestone elements are automatically marked as "confirmed." Programs can maintain a database that tallies the number of times each milestone element is confirmed for a resident; these data can be used to produce graphical displays of resident progress along the internal medicine milestones.Using this count of milestone elements allows programs to bridge the gap between faculty assessments of residents based on rotation-specific observed activities and semiannual ACGME reports based on the internal medicine milestones. Although potentially useful for all programs, this method is especially beneficial to large programs where clinical competency committee members may not have the opportunity for direct observation of all residents.

  12. A pilot study of orthopaedic resident self-assessment using a milestones’ survey just prior to milestones implementation

    PubMed Central

    Bradley, Kendall E.

    2016-01-01

    Objectives To pilot test if Orthopaedic Surgery residents could self-assess their performance using newly created milestones, as defined by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.  Methods In June 2012, an email was sent to Program Directors and administrative coordinators of the154 accredited Orthopaedic Surgery Programs, asking them to send their residents a link to an online survey. The survey was adapted from the Orthopaedic Surgery Milestone Project. Completed surveys were aggregated in an anonymous, confidential database. SAS 9.3 was used to perform the analyses. Results Responses from 71 residents were analyzed. First and second year residents indicated through self-assessment that they had substantially achieved Level 1 and Level 2 milestones. Third year residents reported they had substantially achieved 30/41, and fourth year residents, all Level 3 milestones. Fifth year, graduating residents, reported they had substantially achieved 17 Level 4 milestones, and were extremely close on another 15. No milestone was rated at Level 5, the maximum possible.  Earlier in training, Patient Care and Medical Knowledge milestones were rated lower than the milestones reflecting the other four competencies of Practice Based Learning and Improvement, Systems Based Practice, Professionalism, and Interpersonal Communication. The gap was closed by the fourth year. Conclusions Residents were able to successfully self-assess using the 41 Orthopaedic Surgery milestones. Respondents’ rate improved proficiency over time. Graduating residents report they have substantially, or close to substantially, achieved all Level 4 milestonesMilestone self-assessment may be a useful tool as one component of a program’s overall performance assessment strategy. PMID:26752012

  13. 48 CFR 307.7106 - Acquisition milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Acquisition milestones. 307.7106 Section 307.7106 Federal Acquisition Regulations System HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMPETITION... to track progress of the acquisition. The milestone schedule signatories (see the Requirements and...

  14. 48 CFR 307.7106 - Acquisition milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Acquisition milestones. 307.7106 Section 307.7106 Federal Acquisition Regulations System HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMPETITION... to track progress of the acquisition. The milestone schedule signatories (see the Requirements and...

  15. 2016 CSSE L3 Milestone: Deliver In Situ to XTD End Users

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

    Patchett, John M.; Nouanesengsy, Boonthanome; Fasel, Patricia Kroll

    This report summarizes the activities in FY16 toward satisfying the CSSE 2016 L3 milestone to deliver in situ to XTD end users of EAP codes. The Milestone was accomplished with ongoing work to ensure the capability is maintained and developed. Two XTD end users used the in situ capability in Rage. A production ParaView capability was created in the HPC and Desktop environment. Two new capabilities were added to ParaView in support of an EAP in situ workflow. We also worked with various support groups at the lab to deploy a production ParaView in the LANL environment for both desktopmore » and HPC systems. . In addition, for this milestone, we moved two VTK based filters from research objects into the production ParaView code to support a variety of standard visualization pipelines for our EAP codes.« less

  16. [Autism and Early Neurodevelopmental Milestones].

    PubMed

    Ferreira, Xavier; Oliveira, Guiomar

    2016-03-01

    Autism spectrum disorder, also referred to in this study as autism, is a neurodevelopmental chronic disease that manifests early in childhood by impairment in social interaction, communication and repetitive behavior. Since there are no specific biomarkers available, the diagnosis is based exclusively on clinical criteria. The purpose of the present study is to determine which are the early psychomotor development or neurodevelopmental milestones that present a significant correlation with the severity of the main symptoms of autism, development quotients, and adaptive function. We performed a retrospective study on a sample of 1572 individuals with a diagnosis of autism that were monitored at Hospital Pediátrico do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, in the Neurodevelopment and Autism Unit. We analyzed six early psychomotor developmental milestones: age of acquisition of 'walking', 'first words', 'first phrases', 'daytime control of bladder sphincter', 'night-time control of bladder sphincter', and age of first complaints. Afterwards, we divided the sample in three subgroups regarding clinical severity, according to the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and we analyzed significant differences among each other concerning the six milestones established beforehand. The milestone 'age of first phrases' was, from the six milestones, the one with a stronger correlation with the variables of clinical manifestations of autism, development/intelligence quotients, and adaptive function. In division of the sample into subgroups of clinical severity, it was the most severe that showed later ages of acquisition of the neurodevelopmental milestones and earlier ages of first complaints. This study proves the clinical utility to know the age of achievement of early psychomotor developmental skills, since they act as predictors of clinical severity of autism, cognition, and adaptive function of a wide population with autism. Therefore, this data contribute for prognostic

  17. Preemie Milestones

    MedlinePlus

    ... were born early.​ How to Adjust Your Baby's Age If your baby was born early, she has 2 important days to mark on ... Development Milestones Matter: 10 to Watch for by Age 5 Motor Delays: Early Identification and Evaluation (AAP Clinical Report)​ Article Body ...

  18. Milestones toward Majorana-based quantum computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alicea, Jason

    Experiments on nanowire-based Majorana platforms now appear poised to move beyond the preliminary problem of zero-mode detection and towards loftier goals of realizing non-Abelian statistics and quantum information applications. Using an approach that synthesizes recent materials growth breakthroughs with tools long successfully deployed in quantum-dot research, I will outline a number of relatively modest milestones that progressively bridge the gap between the current state of the art and these grand longer-term challenges. The intermediate Majorana experiments surveyed in this talk should be broadly adaptable to other approaches as well. Supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-1341822), Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, and Walter Burke Institute at Caltech.

  19. Smoker Characteristics and Smoking-Cessation Milestones

    PubMed Central

    Japuntich, Sandra J.; Leventhal, Adam M.; Piper, Megan E.; Bolt, Daniel M.; Roberts, Linda J.; Fiore, Michael C.; Baker, Timothy B.

    2011-01-01

    Background Contextual variables often predict long-term abstinence, but little is known about how these variables exert their effects. These variables could influence abstinence by affecting the ability to quit at all, or by altering risk of lapsing, or progressing from a lapse to relapse. Purpose To examine the effect of common predictors of smoking-cessation failure on smoking-cessation processes. Methods The current study (N = 1504, 58% female, 84% Caucasian; recruited from January 2005 to June 2007; data analyzed in 2009) uses the approach advocated by Shiffman et al., (2006), which measures cessation outcomes on three different cessation milestones (achieving initial abstinence, lapse risk, and the lapse-relapse transition) to examine relationships of smoker characteristics (dependence, contextual and demographic factors) with smoking-cessation process. Results High nicotine dependence strongly predicted all milestones: not achieving initial abstinence, and a higher risk of both lapse and transitioning from lapse to complete relapse. Numerous contextual and demographic variables were associated with higher initial cessation rates and/or decreased lapse risk at 6 months post-quit (e.g., ethnicity, gender, marital status, education, smoking in the workplace, number of smokers in the social network, and number of supportive others). However, aside from nicotine dependence, only gender significantly predicted the risk of transition from lapse to relapse. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that: (1) higher nicotine dependence predicted worse outcomes across every cessation milestone; (2) demographic and contextual variables are generally associated with initial abstinence rates and lapse risk and not the lapse-relapse transition. These results identify groups who are at risk for failure at specific stages of the smoking-cessation process, and this may have implications for treatment. PMID:21335259

  20. Revisiting and Computing Reaction Coordinates with Directional Milestoning

    PubMed Central

    Kirmizialtin, Serdal; Elber, Ron

    2011-01-01

    The method of Directional Milestoning is revisited. We start from an exact and more general expression and state the conditions and validity of the memory-loss approximation. An algorithm to compute a reaction coordinate from Directional Milestoning data is presented. The reaction coordinate is calculated as a set of discrete jumps between Milestones that maximizes the flux between two stable states. As an application we consider a conformational transition in solvated Adenosine. We compare a long molecular dynamic trajectory with Directional Milestoning and discuss the differences between the maximum flux path and minimum energy coordinates. PMID:21500798

  1. Science of health care delivery milestones for undergraduate medical education.

    PubMed

    Havyer, Rachel D; Norby, Suzanne M; Leep Hunderfund, Andrea N; Starr, Stephanie R; Lang, Tara R; Wolanskyj, Alexandra P; Reed, Darcy A

    2017-08-25

    The changing healthcare landscape requires physicians to develop new knowledge and skills such as high-value care, systems improvement, population health, and team-based care, which together may be referred to as the Science of Health Care Delivery (SHCD). To engender public trust and confidence, educators must be able to meaningfully assess physicians' abilities in SHCD. We aimed to develop a novel set of SHCD milestones based on published Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones that can be used by medical schools to assess medical students' competence in SHCD. We reviewed all ACGME milestones for 25 specialties available in September 2013. We used an iterative, qualitative process to group the ACGME milestones into SHCD content domains, from which SHCD milestones were derived. The SHCD milestones were categorized within the current ACGME core competencies and were also mapped to Association of American Medical Colleges' Entrustable Professional Activities (AAMC EPAs). Fifteen SHCD sub-competencies and corresponding milestones are provided, grouped within ACGME core competencies and mapped to multiple AAMC EPAs. This novel set of milestones, grounded within the existing ACGME competencies, defines fundamental expectations within SHCD that can be used and adapted by medical schools in the assessment of medical students in this emerging curricular area. These milestones provide a blueprint for SHCD content and assessment as ongoing revisions to milestones and curricula occur.

  2. Comparison of Male vs Female Resident Milestone Evaluations by Faculty During Emergency Medicine Residency Training

    PubMed Central

    Dayal, Arjun; O’Connor, Daniel M.; Qadri, Usama

    2017-01-01

    Importance Although implicit bias in medical training has long been suspected, it has been difficult to study using objective measures, and the influence of sex and gender in the evaluation of medical trainees is unknown. The emergency medicine (EM) milestones provide a standardized framework for longitudinal resident assessment, allowing for analysis of resident performance across all years and programs at a scope and level of detail never previously possible. Objective To compare faculty-observed training milestone attainment of male vs female residency training Design, Setting, and Participants This multicenter, longitudinal, retrospective cohort study took place at 8 community and academic EM training programs across the United States from July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2015, using a real-time, mobile-based, direct-observation evaluation tool. The study examined 33 456 direct-observation subcompetency evaluations of 359 EM residents by 285 faculty members. Main Outcomes and Measures Milestone attainment for male and female EM residents as observed by male and female faculty throughout residency and analyzed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression modeling. Results A total of 33 456 direct-observation evaluations were collected from 359 EM residents (237 men [66.0%] and 122 women [34.0%]) by 285 faculty members (194 men [68.1%] and 91 women [31.9%]) during the study period. Female and male residents achieved similar milestone levels during the first year of residency. However, the rate of milestone attainment was 12.7% (0.07 levels per year) higher for male residents through all of residency (95% CI, 0.04-0.09). By graduation, men scored approximately 0.15 milestone levels higher than women, which is equivalent to 3 to 4 months of additional training, given that the average resident gains approximately 0.52 levels per year using our model (95% CI, 0.49-0.54). No statistically significant differences in scores were found based on faculty evaluator gender

  3. Developmental milestones record

    MedlinePlus

    ... in the early years is to follow your child's development. Most parents also watch for different milestones. Talk ... child's provider if you have concerns about your child's development. Closely watching a "checklist" or calendar of developmental ...

  4. The Road Ahead in Education: Milestones for Geriatric Psychiatry Subspecialty Training.

    PubMed

    Swantek, Sandra S; Maixner, Susan M; Llorente, Maria D; Cheong, Josepha A; Edgar, Laura; Thomas, Christopher R; Ahmed, Iqbal

    2016-09-01

    The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestone Project is the next step in a series of changes revamping the system of graduate medical education. In 2013 the ACGME completed the general psychiatry milestones. The ACGME then pursued creation of milestones for accredited psychiatric subspecialty fellowships. This article documents the work of the geriatric psychiatry subspecialty milestones work group. It reports the history and rationale supporting the milestones, the milestone development process, and the implications for geriatric psychiatry fellowship training. In consultation with the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and the ACGME Psychiatry Residency Review Committee, the ACGME appointed a working group to create the geriatric psychiatry milestones using the general psychiatry milestones as a guide. The geriatric psychiatry milestones are the result of an iterative process resulting in the definition of the characteristics vital to a fellowship-trained geriatric psychiatrist. It is premature to assess their effect on psychiatric training. The true impact of the milestones will be determined as each training director uses the milestones to re-evaluate their program curriculum and the educational and clinical learning environment. The ACGME is currently collecting the information about the milestone performance of residents and fellows to further refine and determine how the milestones can best be used to assist programs in improving training. Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. All rights reserved.

  5. Providing lipid-based nutrient supplements does not affect developmental milestones among Malawian children

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Our objective was to assess whether using lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) to complement the diets of infants and young children affected when they achieved selected developmental milestones. In rural Malawi, 840 6-month-old healthy infants were enrolled to a randomised trial. Control particip...

  6. Variations in Sexual Identity Milestones among Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexuals

    PubMed Central

    Martos, Alexander; Nezhad, Sheila; Meyer, Ilan H.

    2016-01-01

    Despite a large body of literature covering sexual identity development milestones, we know little about differences or similarities in patterns of identity development among subgroups of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population. For this study, we assessed identity milestones for 396 LGB New Yorkers, ages 18–59. Sexual identity and disclosure milestones, were measured across gender, sexual identity, race/ethnicity, and age cohort subgroups of the LGB sample. Men experienced most sexual identity milestones earlier than women, but they tended to take more time between milestones. LGBs in younger age cohorts experienced sexual identity milestones and disclosure milestones earlier than the older cohorts. Bisexual people experienced sexual identity and disclosure milestones later than gay and lesbian people. Timing of coming out milestones did not differ by race/ethnicity. By comparing differences within subpopulations, the results of this study help build understanding of the varied identity development experiences of people who are often referred to collectively as “the LGB community.” LGB people face unique health and social challenges; a more complete understanding of variations among LGB people allows health professionals and social service providers to provide services that better fit the needs of LGB communities. PMID:27695579

  7. Level-2 Milestone 5213. CTS-1 Contract Award Completed

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

    Leininger, Matt

    2015-09-24

    This report documents the fact that the first commodity technology (CT) system contract award, CTS-1, has been completed. The description of the milestone is: Based on Tri-Lab CTS-1 process and review, LLNL successfully awards the procurement for the next-generation Tri-Lab Linux CTS-1. The milestone completion criterion is: Signed contract. The milestone was completed on September 24th. 2015.

  8. Use of Key Performance Indicators to Improve Milestone Assessment in Semi-Annual Clinical Competency Committee Meetings.

    PubMed

    Chen, Fei; Arora, Harendra; Martinelli, Susan M

    2017-01-01

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Next Accreditation System requires residency programs to semiannually submit composite milestone data on each resident's performance. This report describes and evaluates a new assessment review procedure piloted in our departmental Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) semi-annual meeting in June 2016. A modified Delphi technique was utilized to develop key performance indicators (KPI) linking milestone descriptors to clinical practice. In addition, the CCC identified six specific milestone sub-competencies that would be prescored with objective data prior to the meeting. Each resident was independently placed on the milestones by 3 different CCC faculty members. Milestone placement data of the same cohort of 42 residents (Clinical Anesthesia Years 1-3) were collected to calculate inter-rater reliability of the assessment procedures before and after the implemented changes. A survey was administrated to collect CCC feedback on the new procedure. The procedure assisted in reducing meeting time from 8 to 3.5 hours. Survey of the CCC members revealed positive perception of the procedure. Higher inter-rater reliability of the milestone placement was obtained using the implemented KPIs (Intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] single measure range: before=.53-.94, after=.74-.98). We found the new assessment procedure beneficial to the efficiency and transparency of the assessment process. Further improvement of the procedure involves refinement of KPIs and additional faculty development on KPIs to allow non-CCC faculty to provide more accurate resident evaluations.

  9. Use of Key Performance Indicators to Improve Milestone Assessment in Semi-Annual Clinical Competency Committee Meetings

    PubMed Central

    Arora, Harendra; Martinelli, Susan M.

    2017-01-01

    Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Next Accreditation System requires residency programs to semiannually submit composite milestone data on each resident's performance. This report describes and evaluates a new assessment review procedure piloted in our departmental Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) semi-annual meeting in June 2016. Methods: A modified Delphi technique was utilized to develop key performance indicators (KPI) linking milestone descriptors to clinical practice. In addition, the CCC identified six specific milestone sub-competencies that would be prescored with objective data prior to the meeting. Each resident was independently placed on the milestones by 3 different CCC faculty members. Milestone placement data of the same cohort of 42 residents (Clinical Anesthesia Years 1–3) were collected to calculate inter-rater reliability of the assessment procedures before and after the implemented changes. A survey was administrated to collect CCC feedback on the new procedure. Results: The procedure assisted in reducing meeting time from 8 to 3.5 hours. Survey of the CCC members revealed positive perception of the procedure. Higher inter-rater reliability of the milestone placement was obtained using the implemented KPIs (Intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] single measure range: before=.53–.94, after=.74–.98). Conclusion: We found the new assessment procedure beneficial to the efficiency and transparency of the assessment process. Further improvement of the procedure involves refinement of KPIs and additional faculty development on KPIs to allow non-CCC faculty to provide more accurate resident evaluations. PMID:29766033

  10. Milestones for the Final Mile: Interspecialty Distinctions in Primary Palliative Care Skills Training.

    PubMed

    Harris, John A; Herrel, Lindsey A; Healy, Mark A; Wancata, Lauren M; Perumalswami, Chithra R

    2016-09-01

    Primary palliative care (PPC) skills are useful in a wide variety of medical and surgical specialties, and the expectations of PPC skill training are unknown across graduate medical education. We characterized the variation and quality of PPC skills in residency outcomes-based Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones. We performed a content analysis with structured implicit review of 2015 ACGME milestone documents from 14 medical and surgical specialties chosen for their exposure to clinical situations requiring PPC. For each specialty milestone document, we characterized the variation and quality of PPC skills in residency outcomes-based ACGME milestones. We identified 959 occurrences of 29 palliative search terms within 14 specialty milestone documents. Within these milestone documents, implicit review characterized 104 milestones with direct saliency to PPC skills and 196 milestones with indirect saliency. Initial interrater agreement of the saliency rating among the primary reviewers was 89%. Specialty milestone documents varied widely in their incorporation of PPC skills within milestone documents. PPC milestones were most commonly found in milestone documents for Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, Urology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. PPC-relevant milestones were most commonly found in the Interpersonal and Communication Skills core competency with 108 (36%) relevant milestones classified under this core competency. Future revisions of specialty-specific ACGME milestone documents should focus on currently underrepresented, but important PPC skills. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. The New Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Next Accreditation System Milestones Evaluation System: What Is Expected and How Are Plastic Surgery Residency Programs Preparing?

    PubMed

    Sillah, Nyama M; Ibrahim, Ahmed M S; Lau, Frank H; Shah, Jinesh; Medin, Caroline; Lee, Bernard T; Lin, Samuel J

    2015-07-01

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Next Accreditation System milestones were implemented for plastic surgery programs in July of 2014. Forward progress through the milestones is an indicator of trainee-appropriate development, whereas regression or stalling may indicate the need for concentrated, targeted training. Online software at www.surveymonkey.com was used to create a survey about the program's approaches to milestones and was distributed to program directors and administrators of 96 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved plastic surgery programs. The authors had a 63.5 percent response rate (61 of 96 plastic surgery programs). Most programs report some level of readiness, only 22 percent feel completely prepared for the Next Accreditation System milestones, and only 23 percent are completely satisfied with their planned approach for compliance. Seventy-five percent of programs claim to be using some form of electronic tracking system. Programs plan to use multiple tools to capture and report milestone data. Most programs (44.4 percent) plan to administer evaluations at the end of each rotation. Over 70 percent of respondents believe that the milestones approach would improve the quality of resident training. However, programs were less than confident that their current compliance systems would live up to their full potential. The Next Accreditation System has been implemented nationwide for plastic surgery training programs. Milestone-based resident training is a new paradigm for residency training evaluation; programs are in the process of making this transition to find ways to make milestone data meaningful for faculty and residents.

  12. Zinc and iron supplementation on motor and language milestone scores of infants and toddlers

    PubMed Central

    Surkan, Pamela J.; Siegel, Emily H.; Patel, Shivani; Katz, Joanne; Khatry, Subarna K.; Stoltzfus, Rebecca J.; LeClerq, Steven C.; Tielsch, James M.

    2013-01-01

    Objective To assess the effects of zinc and iron-folic acid supplementation on motor and language milestones in Nepali children. Methods A total of 544 children 4–17 months old residing in Ishwarpur, Nepal were randomized to receive placebo, iron-folic acid, zinc and zinc plus iron-folic acid daily. Data were collected at baseline and at three month intervals for one year. Main effects of zinc and iron folic-acid supplementation were estimated for motor and language milestones. We modeled crude and adjusted mean cumulative changes in scores between visits 1 and 5, and adjusted rates-of-change. Results Adjusted differences in motor milestone scores between visits 1 and 5 and rates-of-change were not significantly different for zinc and non-zinc groups (adj. β=−0.7, 95% CI: −1.4, 0.01; adj. β=−0.1, 95% CI:−0.5, 0.3, respectively). Motor milestones in children receiving and not receiving iron supplements were not significantly different (adj. β=0.1, 95% CI:−0.7, 0.8 from visit 1 to 5; adj. β=0.1, 95% CI:−0.3, 0.5 for rate-of-change). Children receiving zinc had a 0.8 lower mean crude change in language score between visits 1 and 5 compared to children not receiving zinc (95% CI −1.3,−0.3), but significance was lost after adjustment (adj. β=−0.2, 95% CI:−0.6, 0.2, comparing visits 1 to 5; β=−0.1, 95% CI:−0.3, 0.2 for rate-of-change). We observed no significant difference in motor or language milestone scores due to iron supplementation.. Conclusion After one year, neither zinc nor iron-folic acid supplementation in Nepali children improved attainment of motor or language milestones. PMID:23298972

  13. Creating a culture of professional development: a milestone pathway tool for registered nurses.

    PubMed

    Cooper, Elizabeth

    2009-11-01

    The nursing shortage continues to be a significant threat to health care. Creating a culture of professional development in health care institutions is one way to combat this shortage. Professional development refers to a constant commitment to maintain one's knowledge and skill base. Increasing professional development opportunities in the health care setting has been shown to affect nurse retention and satisfaction. Several approaches have been developed to increase professional development among nurses. However, for the most part, these are "one size fits all" approaches that direct nurses to progress in lock step fashion in skill and knowledge acquisition within a specialty. This article introduces a milestone pathway tool for registered nurses designed to enhance professional development that is unique to the individual nurse and the specific nursing unit. This tool provides a unit-specific concept map, a milestone pathway template, and a personal professional development plan. Copyright 2009, SLACK Incorporated.

  14. Assessing Team Leadership in Emergency Medicine: The Milestones and Beyond

    PubMed Central

    Rosenman, Elizabeth D.; Branzetti, Jeremy B.; Fernandez, Rosemarie

    2016-01-01

    Background Team leadership is a critical skill for emergency medicine physicians that directly affects team performance and the quality of patient care. There exists a robust body of team science research supporting team leadership conceptual models and behavioral skill sets. However, to date, this work has not been widely incorporated into health care team leadership education. Objective This narrative review has 3 aims: (1) to synthesize the team science literature and to translate important concepts and models to health care team leadership; (2) to describe how team leadership is currently represented in the health care literature and in the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones for emergency medicine; and (3) to propose a novel, evidence-based framework for the assessment of team leadership in emergency medicine. Methods We conducted a narrative review of the team science and health care literature. We summarized our findings and identified a list of team leadership behaviors that were then used to create a framework for team leadership assessment. Results Current health care team leadership measurement tools do not incorporate evidence-based models of leadership concepts from other established domains. The emergency medicine milestones include several team leadership behaviors as part of a larger resident evaluation program. However, they do not offer a comprehensive or cohesive representation of the team leadership construct. Conclusions Despite the importance of team leadership to patient care, there is no standardized approach to team leadership assessment in emergency medicine. Based on the results of our review, we propose a novel team leadership assessment framework that is supported by the team science literature. PMID:27413434

  15. Associations of Early Developmental Milestones with Adult Intelligence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flensborg-Madsen, Trine; Mortensen, Erik L.

    2018-01-01

    The study investigated whether age at attainment of 20 developmental milestones within the areas of language, walking, eating, dressing, social interaction, and toilet training was associated with adult intelligence. Mothers of 821 children of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort recorded 20 developmental milestones at a 3-year examination, and all…

  16. Pediatric Program Director Minimum Milestone Expectations before Allowing Supervision of Others and Unsupervised Practice.

    PubMed

    Li, Su-Ting T; Tancredi, Daniel J; Schwartz, Alan; Guillot, Ann; Burke, Ann E; Trimm, R Franklin; Guralnick, Susan; Mahan, John D; Gifford, Kimberly

    2018-04-25

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires semiannual Milestone reporting on all residents. Milestone expectations of performance are unknown. Determine pediatric program director (PD) minimum Milestone expectations for residents prior to being ready to supervise and prior to being ready to graduate. Mixed methods survey of pediatric PDs on their programs' Milestone expectations before residents are ready to supervise and before they are ready to graduate, and in what ways PDs use Milestones to make supervision and graduation decisions. If programs had no established Milestone expectations, PDs indicated expectations they considered for use in their program. Mean minimum Milestone level expectations adjusted for program size, region, and clustering of Milestone expectations by program were calculated for prior to supervise and prior to graduate. Free-text questions were analyzed using thematic analysis. The response rate was 56.8% (113/199). Most programs had no required minimum Milestone level before residents are ready to supervise (80%; 76/95) or ready to graduate (84%; 80/95). For readiness to supervise, minimum Milestone expectations PDs considered establishing for their program were highest for humanism (2.46, 95% CI: 2.21-2.71) and professionalization (2.37, 2.15-2.60). Minimum Milestone expectations for graduates were highest for help-seeking (3.14, 2.83-3.46). Main themes included the use of Milestones in combination with other information to assess learner performance and Milestones are not equally weighted when making advancement decisions. Most PDs have not established program minimum Milestones, but would vary such expectations by competency. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  17. Developmental milestones record - 2 years

    MedlinePlus

    ... hour or less is better. Avoid programming with violent content. Redirect the child to reading or play activities. Control the type of games the child plays. Alternative Names Growth milestones for ...

  18. Benchmarking of OEM Hybrid Electric Vehicles at NREL: Milestone Report

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

    Kelly, K. J.; Rajagopalan, A.

    2001-10-26

    A milestone report that describes the NREL's progress and activities related to the DOE FY2001 Annual Operating Plan milestone entitled ''Benchmark 2 new production or pre-production hybrids with ADVISOR.''

  19. Guide to DCP Study Close-Out: Milestones and Tasks | Division of Cancer Prevention

    Cancer.gov

    This guide assists Consortium Lead Organization (CLO) planning for DCP study close-out. Study close-out tasks are organized under milestones, which help mark progress toward completion of the close-out process. Once tasks associated with a milestone are underway, planning for the next milestone may begin. Click on a milestone to view the associated close-out tasks. |

  20. Preparing medical students for obstetrics and gynecology milestone level one: a description of a pilot curriculum

    PubMed Central

    Morgan, Helen; Marzano, David; Lanham, Michael; Stein, Tamara; Curran, Diana; Hammoud, Maya

    2014-01-01

    Background The implementation of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones in the field of obstetrics and gynecology has arrived with Milestones Level One defined as the level expected of an incoming first-year resident. Purpose We designed, implemented, and evaluated a 4-week elective for fourth-year medical school students, which utilized a multimodal approach to teaching and assessing the Milestones Level One competencies. Methods The 78-hour curriculum utilized traditional didactic lectures, flipped classroom active learning sessions, a simulated paging curriculum, simulation training, embalmed cadaver anatomical dissections, and fresh-frozen cadaver operative procedures. We performed an assessment of student knowledge and surgical skills before and after completion of the course. Students also received feedback on their assessment and management of eight simulated paging scenarios. Students completed course content satisfaction surveys at the completion of each of the 4 weeks. Results Students demonstrated improvement in knowledge and surgical skills at the completion of the course. Paging confidence trended toward improvement at the completion of the course. Student satisfaction was high for all of the course content, and the active learning components of the curriculum (flipped classroom, simulation, and anatomy sessions) had higher scores than the traditional didactics in all six categories of our student satisfaction survey. Conclusions This pilot study demonstrates a practical approach for preparing fourth-year medical students for the expectations of Milestones Level One in obstetrics and gynecology. This curriculum can serve as a framework as medical schools and specific specialties work to meet the first steps of the ACGME's Next Accreditation System. PMID:25430640

  1. Teaching Object Permanence: An Action Research Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruce, Susan M.; Vargas, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    "Object permanence," also known as "object concept" in the field of visual impairment, is one of the most important early developmental milestones. The achievement of object permanence is associated with the onset of representational thought and language. Object permanence is important to orientation, including the recognition of landmarks.…

  2. Competent for Unsupervised Practice: Use of Pediatric Residency Training Milestones to Assess Readiness.

    PubMed

    Li, Su-Ting T; Tancredi, Daniel J; Schwartz, Alan; Guillot, Ann P; Burke, Ann E; Trimm, R Franklin; Guralnick, Susan; Mahan, John D; Gifford, Kimberly A

    2017-03-01

    To describe clinical skills progression during pediatric residency using the distribution of pediatric milestone assessments by subcompetency and year of training and to determine reasonable milestone expectations at time of graduation. Multi-institutional cohort study of the milestones reported to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for all 21 pediatric subcompetencies. Most subcompetencies were measured using five milestone levels (1 = novice, 2 = advanced beginner, 3 = competent, 4 = proficient, 5 = master); 3 subcompetencies had only four levels defined. Milestone assessments for 2,030 pediatric residents in 47 programs during academic year 2013-2014 were obtained. There was significant variation in end-of-year milestone ratings for residents within each level of training, which decreased as training level increased. Most (78.9%; 434/550) graduating third-year pediatric residents received a milestone rating of ≥ 3 in all 21 subcompetencies; fewer (21.1%; 116/550) received a rating of ≥ 4 in all subcompetencies. Across all training levels, professionalism and interpersonal communication skills were rated highest; quality improvement was rated lowest. Trainees entered residency with a wide range of skills. As they advanced, skill variability within a training level decreased. Most graduating pediatric residents were still advancing on the milestone continuum toward proficiency and mastery, and an expectation of milestone ratings ≥ 4 in all categories upon graduation is unrealistic; milestone ratings ≥ 3 upon graduation may be more realistic. Understanding current pediatric residents' and graduates' skills can help to identify key areas that should be specifically targeted during training.

  3. ATDM Rover Milestone Report STDA02-1 (FY2017 Q4)

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

    Larsen, Matt; Laney, Dan E.

    We have successfully completed the MS-4/Y1 Milestone STDA02-1 for the Rover Project. This document describes the milestone and provides an overview of the technical details and artifacts of the milestone. This milestone is focused on building a GPU accelerated ray tracing package capable of doing multi-group radiography, both back-lit and with self-emission as well as serving as a volume rendering plot in VisIt and other VTK-based visualization tools. The long term goal is a package with in-situ capability, but for this first version integration into VisIt is the primary goal. Milestone Execution Plan: Create API for GPU Raytracer that supportsmore » multi-group transport (up to hundreds of groups); Implement components into one or more of: VTK-m, VisIt, and a new library/package implementation to be hosted on LLNL Bitbucket (initially), before releasing to the wider community.« less

  4. Milestones and entrustable professional activities: The key to practically translating competencies for interprofessional education?

    PubMed

    Wagner, Susan J; Reeves, Scott

    2015-01-01

    Competency-based education and practice have become foundational for developing interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration. There has been a plethora of competencies developed in these areas recently, both at individual institutions and nationally; however, their effective integration and thus potential has not been fully realized educationally. Milestones and entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are new concepts and assessment approaches from medical education that provide a way to functionally use and maximize competencies to ensure that competency is attained. They are applicable to learning activities both within the classroom and the clinic, as well as to lifelong learning. This paper defines and describes milestones and EPAs, considers the importance of their application to IPE, and summarizes a future research project that will identify EPAs for an IPE curriculum.

  5. Early Warning Look Ahead Metrics: The Percent Milestone Backlog Metric

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shinn, Stephen A.; Anderson, Timothy P.

    2017-01-01

    All complex development projects experience delays and corresponding backlogs of their project control milestones during their acquisition lifecycles. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Projects Directorate (FPD) teamed with The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) to develop a collection of Early Warning Look Ahead metrics that would provide GSFC leadership with some independent indication of the programmatic health of GSFC flight projects. As part of the collection of Early Warning Look Ahead metrics, the Percent Milestone Backlog metric is particularly revealing, and has utility as a stand-alone execution performance monitoring tool. This paper describes the purpose, development methodology, and utility of the Percent Milestone Backlog metric. The other four Early Warning Look Ahead metrics are also briefly discussed. Finally, an example of the use of the Percent Milestone Backlog metric in providing actionable insight is described, along with examples of its potential use in other commodities.

  6. Social Withdrawal Behaviour at One Year of Age Is Associated with Delays in Reaching Language Milestones in the EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study

    PubMed Central

    Guedeney, Antoine; Forhan, Anne; de Agostini, Maria; Pingault, Jean-Baptiste; Heude, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Objective The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social withdrawal behaviour at one year and motor and language milestones. Materials and Methods One-year old children from the EDEN French population-based birth cohort study (Study on the pre- and postnatal determinants of the child’s development and prospective health Birth Cohort Study) were included. Social withdrawal at one year was assessed by trained midwives using the Alarm Distress BaBy (ADBB) scale. Midwives concurrently examined infants’ motor and language milestones. Parents reported on child’s psychomotor and language milestones, during the interview with the midwife. Results After adjusting for potential confounding factors, social withdrawal behaviour was significantly associated with concurrent delays in motor and language milestones assessed by the midwife or the parents. Discussion Higher scores on social withdrawal behaviour as assessed with the ADBB were associated with delays in reaching language milestones, and to a lesser extent with lower motor ability scores. Taking the contribution of social withdrawal behaviour into account may help understand the unfolding of developmental difficulties in children. PMID:27391482

  7. 47 CFR 25.164 - Milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Milestones. (a) Licensees of geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems.... (b) Licensees of non-geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems... both non-geostationary orbit satellites and geostationary orbit satellites, other than DBS and DARS...

  8. 47 CFR 25.164 - Milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Milestones. (a) Licensees of geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems.... (b) Licensees of non-geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems... both non-geostationary orbit satellites and geostationary orbit satellites, other than DBS and DARS...

  9. 47 CFR 25.164 - Milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Milestones. (a) Licensees of geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems.... (b) Licensees of non-geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems... both non-geostationary orbit satellites and geostationary orbit satellites, other than DBS and DARS...

  10. 47 CFR 25.164 - Milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Milestones. (a) Licensees of geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems.... (b) Licensees of non-geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems... both non-geostationary orbit satellites and geostationary orbit satellites, other than DBS and DARS...

  11. A multi-source feedback tool for measuring a subset of Pediatrics Milestones.

    PubMed

    Schwartz, Alan; Margolis, Melissa J; Multerer, Sara; Haftel, Hilary M; Schumacher, Daniel J

    2016-10-01

    The Pediatrics Milestones Assessment Pilot employed a new multisource feedback (MSF) instrument to assess nine Pediatrics Milestones among interns and subinterns in the inpatient context. To report validity evidence for the MSF tool for informing milestone classification decisions. We obtained MSF instruments by different raters per learner per rotation. We present evidence for validity based on the unified validity framework. One hundred and ninety two interns and 41 subinterns at 18 Pediatrics residency programs received a total of 1084 MSF forms from faculty (40%), senior residents (34%), nurses (22%), and other staff (4%). Variance in ratings was associated primarily with rater (32%) and learner (22%). The milestone factor structure fit data better than simpler structures. In domains except professionalism, ratings by nurses were significantly lower than those by faculty and ratings by other staff were significantly higher. Ratings were higher when the rater observed the learner for longer periods and had a positive global opinion of the learner. Ratings of interns and subinterns did not differ, except for ratings by senior residents. MSF-based scales correlated with summative milestone scores. We obtain moderately reliable MSF ratings of interns and subinterns in the inpatient context to inform some milestone assignments.

  12. 47 CFR 25.164 - Milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Milestones. (a) Licensees of geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems...) Licensees of non-geostationary orbit satellite systems other than DBS and DARS satellite systems licensed on... placed in the authorized orbital location or non-geostationary orbit(s) and that in-orbit operation of...

  13. The Pediatrics Milestones Assessment Pilot: Development of Workplace-Based Assessment Content, Instruments, and Processes.

    PubMed

    Hicks, Patricia J; Margolis, Melissa; Poynter, Sue E; Chaffinch, Christa; Tenney-Soeiro, Rebecca; Turner, Teri L; Waggoner-Fountain, Linda; Lockridge, Robin; Clyman, Stephen G; Schwartz, Alan

    2016-05-01

    To report on the development of content and user feedback regarding the assessment process and utility of the workplace-based assessment instruments of the Pediatrics Milestones Assessment Pilot (PMAP). One multisource feedback instrument and two structured clinical observation instruments were developed and refined by experts in pediatrics and assessment to provide evidence for nine competencies based on the Pediatrics Milestones (PMs) and chosen to inform residency program faculty decisions about learners' readiness to serve as pediatric interns in the inpatient setting. During the 2012-2013 PMAP study, 18 U.S. pediatric residency programs enrolled interns and subinterns. Faculty, residents, nurses, and other observers used the instruments to assess learner performance through direct observation during a one-month rotation. At the end of the rotation, data were aggregated for each learner, milestone levels were assigned using a milestone classification form, and feedback was provided to learners. Learners and site leads were surveyed and/or interviewed about their experience as participants. Across the sites, 2,338 instruments assessing 239 learners were completed by 630 unique observers. Regarding end-of-rotation feedback, 93% of learners (128/137) agreed the assessments and feedback "helped me understand how those with whom I work perceive my performance," and 85% (117/137) agreed they were "useful for constructing future goals or identifying a developmental path." Site leads identified several benefits and challenges to the assessment process. PM-based instruments used in workplace-based assessment provide a meaningful and acceptable approach to collecting evidence of learner competency development. Learners valued feedback provided by PM-based assessment.

  14. Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations

    PubMed Central

    Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Papadakis, Jaclyn Lennon; Bruno, Elizabeth Franks; Holmbeck, Grayson N

    2016-01-01

    Aim To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Method Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean=8.34y, 37 male, 31 female) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean=8.49y, 37 male, 31 female) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Results Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Interpretation Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. PMID:27651215

  15. 25 Legal and Legislative Milestones

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 2009

    2009-01-01

    This timeline reflects some of the most significant legal and legislative milestones that have influenced higher education over the 25 years that "Diverse: Issues in Higher Education," formerly "Black Issues in Higher Education," has been in print. The legal battles have primarily involved the settlement of desegregation cases and the use of race…

  16. Interactive object recognition assistance: an approach to recognition starting from target objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geisler, Juergen; Littfass, Michael

    1999-07-01

    Recognition of target objects in remotely sensed imagery required detailed knowledge about the target object domain as well as about mapping properties of the sensing system. The art of object recognition is to combine both worlds appropriately and to provide models of target appearance with respect to sensor characteristics. Common approaches to support interactive object recognition are either driven from the sensor point of view and address the problem of displaying images in a manner adequate to the sensing system. Or they focus on target objects and provide exhaustive encyclopedic information about this domain. Our paper discusses an approach to assist interactive object recognition based on knowledge about target objects and taking into account the significance of object features with respect to characteristics of the sensed imagery, e.g. spatial and spectral resolution. An `interactive recognition assistant' takes the image analyst through the interpretation process by indicating step-by-step the respectively most significant features of objects in an actual set of candidates. The significance of object features is expressed by pregenerated trees of significance, and by the dynamic computation of decision relevance for every feature at each step of the recognition process. In the context of this approach we discuss the question of modeling and storing the multisensorial/multispectral appearances of target objects and object classes as well as the problem of an adequate dynamic human-machine-interface that takes into account various mental models of human image interpretation.

  17. Significance of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to Plastic Surgery Residency Training.

    PubMed

    Simmons, Brian J; Zoghbi, Yasmina; Askari, Morad; Birnbach, David J; Shekhter, Ilya; Thaller, Seth R

    2017-09-01

    Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) have proven to be a powerful tool. They possess more than a 30-year track record in assessing the competency of medical students, residents, and fellows. Objective structured clinical examinations have been used successfully in a variety of medical specialties, including surgery. They have recently found their way into the subspecialty of plastic surgery. This article uses a systematic review of the available literature on OSCEs and their recent use in plastic surgery. It incorporates survey results assessing program directors' views on the use of OSCEs. Approximately 40% of programs surveyed use OSCEs to assess the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies. We found that 40% use OSCEs to evaluate specific plastic surgery milestones. Objective structured clinical examinations are usually performed annually. They cost anywhere between $100 and more than $1000 per resident. Four milestones giving residents the most difficulties on OSCEs were congenital anomalies, noncancer breast surgery, breast reconstruction, and practice-based learning and improvement. It was determined that challenges with milestones were due to lack of adequate general knowledge and surgical ward patient care, as well as deficits in professionalism and system-based problems. Programs were able to remediate weakness found by OSCEs using a variety of methods. Objective structured clinical examinations offer a unique tool to objectively assess the proficiency of residents in key areas of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies. In addition, they can be used to assess the specific milestones that plastic surgery residents must meet. This allows programs to identify and improve identified areas of weakness.

  18. Milestones in Cancer Research and Discovery

    Cancer.gov

    During the past 250 years, we have witnessed many landmark discoveries in our efforts to make progress against cancer, an affliction known to humanity for thousands of years. This timeline shows a few key milestones in the history of cancer research.

  19. Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations.

    PubMed

    Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Lennon Papadakis, Jaclyn; Franks Bruno, Elizabeth; Holmbeck, Grayson N

    2017-03-01

    To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean age 8y 4mo, 37 males, 31 females) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean age 8y 6mo, 37 males, 31 females) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

  20. Astronomy Education Milestone in Hermanus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Villiers, Pierre

    2010-12-01

    A milestone in astronomy awareness and education in South Africa was achieved during October when Hermanus Centre members, together with science teachers and learners from Hermanus High and Qhayiya Secondary School, saw "first light" on the 1,2m MONET North telescope at the McDonald Observatory, Texas via the internet from the Hermanus High School's computer room.

  1. A Milestone-Based Evaluation System-The Cure for Grade Inflation?

    PubMed

    Kuo, Lindsay E; Hoffman, Rebecca L; Morris, Jon B; Williams, Noel N; Malachesky, Mark; Huth, Laura E; Kelz, Rachel R

    2015-01-01

    Controversy exists over the optimal use of the Milestones in the process of resident evaluation and feedback. We sought to evaluate the performance of a Milestones-based feedback system in comparison to a traditional model. The traditional evaluation system (TES) consisted of a generic 16-item survey using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, and a free-text comments section. The Milestones-based evaluation system (MBES) was launched in July 2014, ranging from 0 to 4. Individual milestones were mapped to rotations based on resident educational goals by postgraduate year (PGY). The MBES consisted of a survey with a maximum of 7 items, followed by a free-text comment section. Within each evaluation system, an overall composite score was calculated for each categorical general surgical resident. To scale the 2 systems for comparison, TES scores were adjusted downward by 1 point. Descriptive statistics were performed. Univariate analysis was performed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A test for trend across PGY was used for the MBES only. In the traditional system, the median score was 3.66 (range: 3.2-4.0). There was no meaningful difference in the median score by PGY. In the new system, the median score was 2.69 (range: 1.5-3.7, p < 0.01). The median score differed across PGY and increased by PGY of training (p < 0.01). There was an increase in differences between median scores by PGY. On using the milestones to facilitate faculty evaluation of resident knowledge and skill, there was a trend in increasing score by PGY of training. In the MBES, scores could be used to better discriminate resident skill and knowledge levels and resulted in improved differentiation in scoring by PGY. The use of the milestones as a basis for evaluation enabled the program to provide more meaningful feedback to residents and represents an improvement in surgical education. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights

  2. 14 CFR 1274.908 - Milestone payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Milestone payments. 1274.908 Section 1274.908 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH...) Taxpayer identification number (TIN). (x) While not required, the recipient is strongly encouraged to...

  3. There is variability in the attainment of developmental milestones in the CDKL5 disorder.

    PubMed

    Fehr, Stephanie; Leonard, Helen; Ho, Gladys; Williams, Simon; de Klerk, Nick; Forbes, David; Christodoulou, John; Downs, Jenny

    2015-01-01

    Individuals with the CDKL5 disorder have been described as having severely impaired development. A few individuals have been reported having attained more milestones including walking and running. Our aim was to investigate variation in attainment of developmental milestones and associations with underlying genotype. Data was sourced from the International CDKL5 Disorder Database, and individuals were included if they had a pathogenic or probably pathogenic CDKL5 mutation and information on early development. Kaplan-Meier time-to-event analyses investigated the occurrence of developmental milestones. Mutations were grouped by their structural/functional consequence, and Cox regression was used to investigate the relationship between genotype and milestone attainment. The study included 109 females and 18 males. By 5 years of age, only 75% of the females had attained independent sitting and 25% independent walking whilst a quarter of the males could sit independently by 1 year 3 months. Only one boy could walk independently. No clear relationship between mutation group and milestone attainment was present, although females with a late truncating mutation attained the most milestones. Attainment of developmental milestones is severely impaired in the CDKL5 disorder, with the majority who did attain skills attaining them at a late age. It appears as though males are more severely impaired than the females. Larger studies are needed to further investigate the role of genotype on clinical variability.

  4. Age cohort differences in the developmental milestones of gay men.

    PubMed

    Drasin, Harry; Beals, Kristin P; Elliott, Marc N; Lever, Janet; Klein, David J; Schuster, Mark A

    2008-01-01

    As the social context in which gay men live changes due to greater visibility, greater acceptance, and easier access to gay subculture, gay males may self-identify and take part in gay social activities at earlier ages than in the past. This study examined whether developmental milestones associated with sexual orientation for gay men have changed over the past several decades. A large and diverse sample of 2,402 gay men who responded to a 1994 survey published in a national magazine provided retrospective information on the age at which they reached individual psychological, social, and sexual behavior developmental milestones. We found evidence that individual psychological and sexual behavior milestones (e.g., awareness of attraction to males, having an orgasm with other male) are slowly moving toward earlier chronological ages (by 1 year of age every 8-25 years, p < 0.05), whereas social milestones (e.g., coming out) are moving more rapidly in a similar direction (by 1 year of age every 2-5 years, p < 0.001). The authors perform an innovative sensitivity test to demonstrate the persistence of the finding after correcting for the bias attributable to underrepresentation of those who have not yet self-identified as gay in such samples.

  5. Exploration as a mediator of the relation between the attainment of motor milestones and the development of spatial cognition and spatial language.

    PubMed

    Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P M; Volman, M Chiel J M

    2015-09-01

    The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and language at later ages. However, evidence linking these milestones with the development of spatial language and evidence regarding factors that might mediate this relation are scarce. The current study examined whether exploration of spatial-relational object properties (e.g., the possibility of containing or stacking) and exploration of the space through self-locomotion mediate the effect of, respectively, age of sitting and age of walking on spatial cognition and spatial language. Thus, we hypothesized that an earlier age of sitting and walking predicts, respectively, higher levels of spatial-relational object exploration and exploration through self-locomotion, which in turn, predict better spatial cognition and spatial language at later ages. Fifty-nine Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. A combination of tests, observations, and parental reports was used to measure motor development, exploratory behavior (age 20 months), spatial memory (age 24 months), spatial processing (age 32 months), and spatial language (age 36 months). Results show that attainment of sitting predicted spatial memory and spatial language, but spatial-relational object exploration did not mediate these effects. Attainment of independent walking predicted spatial processing and spatial language, and exploration through self-locomotion (partially) mediated these relations. These findings extend previous work and provide partial support for the hypotheses about the mediating role of exploration. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. The ordering of milestones in language development for children from 1 to 6 years of age.

    PubMed

    Luinge, Margreet R; Post, Wendy J; Wit, Hero P; Goorhuis-Brouwer, Sieneke M

    2006-10-01

    To scale language milestones in a group of 527 children to provide an instrument for screening language development. Procedure The questionnaire regarding these milestones was completed by parental report. It was evaluated whether the scaled milestones satisfied the assumptions of the Mokken item response model. The scalability of the final scale of 14 milestones was strong (H = .95), its reliability was high (rho = .96), and it satisfied the assumptions of the Mokken model. A single, unidimensional scale of diverse milestones was developed. It taps lexical, syntactic, and phonological skills, as well as both receptive and expressive language skills, and is well suited for mapping progress in language ability.

  7. Level-2 Milestone 3244: Deploy Dawn ID Machine for Initial Science Runs

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

    Fox, D

    2009-09-21

    This report documents the delivery, installation, integration, testing, and acceptance of the Dawn system, ASC L2 milestone 3244: Deploy Dawn ID Machine for Initial Science Runs, due September 30, 2009. The full text of the milestone is included in Attachment 1. The description of the milestone is: This milestone will be a result of work started three years ago with the planning for a multi-petaFLOPS UQ-focused platform (Sequoia) and will be satisfied when a smaller ID version of the final system is delivered, installed, integrated, tested, accepted, and deployed at LLNL for initial science runs in support of SSP mission.more » The deliverable for this milestone will be a LA petascale computing system (named Dawn) usable for code development and scaling necessary to ensure effective use of a final Sequoia platform (expected in 2011-2012), and for urgent SSP program needs. Allocation and scheduling of Dawn as an LA system will likely be performed informally, similar to what has been used for BlueGene/L. However, provision will be made to allow for dedicated access times for application scaling studies across the entire Dawn resource. The milestone was completed on April 1, 2009, when science runs began running on the Dawn system. The following sections describe the Dawn system architecture, current status, installation and integration time line, and testing and acceptance process. A project plan is included as Attachment 2. Attachment 3 is a letter certifying the handoff of the system to a nuclear weapons stockpile customer. Attachment 4 presents the results of science runs completed on the system.« less

  8. New Milestones Ahead in Complement-Targeted Therapy

    PubMed Central

    Ricklin, Daniel; Lambris, John D.

    2017-01-01

    The complement system is a powerful effector arm of innate immunity that typically confers protection from microbial intruders and accumulating debris. In many clinical situations, however, the defensive functions of complement can turn against host cells and induce or exacerbate immune, inflammatory, and degenerative conditions. Although the value of inhibiting complement in a therapeutic context has long been recognized, bringing complement-targeted drugs into clinical use has proved challenging. This important milestone was finally reached a decade ago, yet the clinical availability of complement inhibitors has remained limited. Still, the positive long-term experience with complement drugs and their proven effectiveness in various diseases has reinvigorated interest and confidence in this approach. Indeed, a broad variety of clinical candidates that act at almost any level of the complement activation cascade are currently in clinical development, with several of them being evaluated in phase 2 and phase 3 trials. With antibody-related drugs dominating the panel of clinical candidates, the emergence of novel small-molecule, peptide, protein, and oligonucleotide-based inhibitors offers new options for drug targeting and administration. Whereas all the currently approved and many of the proposed indications for complement-targeted inhibitors belong to the rare disease spectrum, these drugs are increasingly being evaluated for more prevalent conditions. Fortunately, the growing experience from preclinical and clinical use of therapeutic complement inhibitors has enabled a more evidence-based assessment of suitable targets and rewarding indications as well as related technical and safety considerations. This review highlights recent concepts and developments in complement-targeted drug discovery, provides an overview of current and emerging treatment options, and discusses the new milestones ahead on the way to the next generation of clinically available complement

  9. Infant developmental milestones and adult intelligence: A 34-year follow-up.

    PubMed

    Flensborg-Madsen, Trine; Mortensen, Erik Lykke

    2015-07-01

    A number of studies suggest a positive association between faster infant motor development and intellectual function in childhood and adolescence. However, studies investigating the relationship between infant motor development and intelligence in adulthood are lacking. To investigate whether age at achievement of 12 motor developmental milestones was associated with adult intelligence and to evaluate the influence of sex, parental social status, parity, mother's cigarette consumption in the last trimester, gestational age, birthweight, and birth length on this association. Mothers of 9125 children of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort recorded 12 developmental milestones during the child's first year of life. A subsample of the cohort comprising 1155 individuals participated in a follow-up when they were aged 20-34 years and were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Associations between motor developmental milestones and IQ were analysed by multiple linear regression adjusting for potential confounding factors. Later acquisition of infant developmental milestones was associated with lower subsequent IQ, and the majority of significant associations were found for Performance IQ. Correlations were generally small (r < 0.10), but significant interactions were found between parental social status and age of attaining developmental milestones, with associations being significantly stronger in the offspring of lower social status parents. The effects remained significant after adjusting for possible confounding factors. This is the first study to find significant interactions with parental social status, thereby suggesting that associations between early motor development and intelligence are stronger in infants of low social status parents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. EPA Interim Evaluation of 2016-2017 Milestone Progress in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This page provides the EPA interim evaluations of the 2016-2017 milestones for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. These interim assessments provide a mid-point check on the progress made on the 2016-2017 milestones, recognizing the achievements made in 2016.

  11. EPA Interim Evaluation of 2012-2013 Milestone Progress in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This page provides the EPA interim evaluations of the 2012-2013 milestones for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. These interim assessments provide a mid-point check on the progress made on the 2012-2013 milestones, recognizing the achievements made in 2012.

  12. EPA Interim Evaluation of 2014-2015 Milestone Progress in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This page provides the EPA interim evaluations of the 2014-2015 milestones for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. These interim assessments provide a mid-point check on the progress made on the 2014-2015 milestones, recognizing the achievements made in 2014.

  13. Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and achievement of infant motor developmental milestones in the Upstate KIDS Study

    PubMed Central

    Wylie, Amanda; Sundaram, Rajeshwari; Kus, Christopher; Ghassabian, Akhgar; Yeung, Edwina H.

    2015-01-01

    Objective Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity is associated with several poor infant health outcomes; however studies that investigated motor development have been inconsistent. Thus, we examined maternal pre-pregnancy weight status and infants’ gross motor development. Design and Methods Participants consisted of 4,901 mother-infant pairs from the Upstate KIDS study, a longitudinal cohort in New York. Mothers indicated dates when infants achieved each of six gross motor milestones when infants were 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months old. Failure time modeling under a Weibull distribution was utilized to compare time to achievement across three levels of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI. Hazard ratios below one indicate a lower “risk” of achieving the milestone and translate to later achievement. Results Compared to infants born to thin and normal weight mothers (BMI <25), infants born to obese mothers (BMI>30) were slower to sit without support [HR=0.91, p=0.03] and crawl on hands and knees [HR=0.86, p<0.001], after adjusting for maternal and birth characteristics. Increased gestational age was associated with faster achievement of all milestones but additional adjustment did not impact results. Conclusions Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity was associated with a slightly longer time for infant to sit and crawl, potentially due to a compromised intrauterine environment or reduced physically active play. PMID:25755075

  14. Navigating the Next Accreditation System: A Dashboard for the Milestones.

    PubMed

    Johna, Samir; Woodward, Brandon

    2015-01-01

    In July 2014, all residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) were enrolled in a new system called the Next Accreditation System. Residency programs may not be clear on how best to comply with these new accreditation requirements. Large amounts of data must be collected, evaluated, and submitted twice a year to the council's Web-based data collection system. One challenge is that the new "end-of-rotation" evaluations must reflect specialty-specific milestones, on which many faculty members are not well versed. Like other residency programs, we tried to address the challenges using our local resources. We used our existing electronic goals and objectives for each rotation coupled with appropriate end-of-rotation evaluations reflecting the specialty-specific milestones through a process of editing and mapping. Data extracted from these evaluations were added to an interactive dashboard that also contained evaluations on additional program-specific modifiers of residents' performance. A resident's final overall performance was visually represented on a plot graph. The novel dashboard included features to save evaluations for future comparisons and to track residents' progress during their entire training. It proved simple to use and was able to reduce the time needed for each resident evaluation to 5 to 10 minutes. This tool has made it much easier and less challenging for the members of our Clinical Competency Committee to start deliberation about each resident's performance.

  15. 43 CFR 3930.30 - Diligent development milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) MANAGEMENT OF OIL SHALE EXPLORATION AND LEASES Management of Oil Shale Exploration Licenses and Leases § 3930.30 Diligent development milestones. (a) Operators must diligently develop the oil shale resources consistent with the terms and...

  16. 43 CFR 3930.30 - Diligent development milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) MANAGEMENT OF OIL SHALE EXPLORATION AND LEASES Management of Oil Shale Exploration Licenses and Leases § 3930.30 Diligent development milestones. (a) Operators must diligently develop the oil shale resources consistent with the terms and...

  17. 43 CFR 3930.30 - Diligent development milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) MANAGEMENT OF OIL SHALE EXPLORATION AND LEASES Management of Oil Shale Exploration Licenses and Leases § 3930.30 Diligent development milestones. (a) Operators must diligently develop the oil shale resources consistent with the terms and...

  18. Psychosexual development and satisfaction with timing of developmental milestones among adult survivors of childhood cancer.

    PubMed

    Lehmann, Vicky; Keim, Madelaine C; Ferrante, Amanda C; Olshefski, Randal S; Gerhardt, Cynthia A

    2018-04-27

    To extend the limited research on psychosexual development among childhood cancer survivors, by not only focusing on the prevalence and age of milestone attainment, but also survivors' attitudes toward the timing of reaching such milestones. Adult survivors of childhood cancer (N = 90; M age  = 29.8, SD = 5.2), recruited from a US pediatric institution, completed online surveys indicating whether they had reached 5 milestones of psychosexual development (ie, first kiss, first boy-/girlfriend, first physical intimacy, sexual debut, first time in love), age at attainment, and perceptions about the timing (ie, right time, wished it had happened earlier, wished they had waited). Almost all survivors had reached each milestone (≥90%), except for sexual debut (83.3%). Survivors reported their first kiss as the earliest milestone at age 14.6 (N = 82, 92%) and falling in love as the latest milestone at age 18.8 (N = 80; 90%). This timing did not differ by sex/cancer-specific factors. Most survivors (~60%) felt they reached each milestone at the right time. Compared with US normative data, both male and female survivors were less likely to have experienced their sexual debut and were approximately 1.5 years older at sexual debut. Nevertheless, 59% of survivors felt that this timing was right and 31% wished they had waited longer. This is the first study to demonstrate that although childhood cancer survivors may delay some aspects of psychosexual development, most are satisfied with this timing. Research and clinical practice should emphasize survivors' perceptions/satisfaction toward psychosexual development rather than focusing only on normative milestone attainment. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Windows of achievement for development milestones of Sri Lankan infants and toddlers: estimation through statistical modelling.

    PubMed

    Thalagala, N

    2015-11-01

    The normative age ranges during which cohorts of children achieve milestones are called windows of achievement. The patterns of these windows of achievement are known to be both genetically and environmentally dependent. This study aimed to determine the windows of achievement for motor, social emotional, language and cognitive development milestones for infants and toddlers in Sri Lanka. A set of 293 milestones identified through a literature review were subjected to content validation using parent and expert reviews, which resulted in the selection of a revised set of 277 milestones. Thereafter, a sample of 1036 children from 2 months to 30 months was examined to see whether or not they had attained the selected milestones. Percentile ages of attaining milestone were determined using a rearranged closed form equation related to the logistic regression. The parameters required for calculations were derived through the logistic regression of milestone achievement statuses against ages of children. These percentile ages were used to define the respective windows of achievement. A set of 178 robust indicators that represent motor, socio emotional, language and cognitive development skills and their windows of achievement relevant to 2 to 24 months of age were determined. Windows of achievement for six gross motor milestones determined in the study were shown to closely overlap a similar set of windows of achievement published by the World Health Organization indicating the validity of some findings. A methodology combining the content validation based on qualitative techniques and age validation based on regression modelling found to be effective for determining age percentiles for realizing milestones and determining respective windows of achievement. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Historical milestones and discoveries that shaped the toxicology sciences.

    PubMed

    Hayes, Antoinette N; Gilbert, Steven G

    2009-01-01

    Knowledge of the toxic and healing properties of plants, animals, and minerals has shaped civilization for millennia. The foundations of modern toxicology are built upon the significant milestones and discoveries of serendipity and crude experimentation. Throughout the ages, toxicological science has provided information that has shaped and guided society. This chapter examines the development of the discipline of toxicology and its influence on civilization by highlighting significant milestones and discoveries related to toxicology. The examples shed light on the beginnings of toxicology, as well as examine lessons learned and re-learned. This chapter also examines how toxicology and the toxicologist have interacted with other scientific and cultural disciplines, including religion, politics, and the government. Toxicology has evolved to a true scientific discipline with its own dedicated scientists, educational institutes, sub-disciplines, professional societies, and journals. It now stands as its own entity while traversing such fields as chemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and molecular biology. We invite you to join us on a path of discovery and to offer our suggestions as to what are the most significant milestones and discoveries in toxicology. Additional information is available on the history section of Toxipedia (www.toxipedia.org).

  1. 10 CFR 603.570 - Determining milestone payment amounts.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Pre-Award Business Evaluation Accounting, Payments, and Recovery of Funds § 603.570 Determining... share for early milestones if a project involves a start-up company with limited resources. (c) For an...

  2. Learnings From the Pilot Implementation of Mobile Medical Milestones Application.

    PubMed

    Page, Cristen P; Reid, Alfred; Coe, Catherine L; Carlough, Martha; Rosenbaum, Daryl; Beste, Janalynn; Fagan, Blake; Steinbacher, Erika; Jones, Geoffrey; Newton, Warren P

    2016-10-01

    Implementation of the educational milestones benefits from mobile technology that facilitates ready assessments in the clinical environment. We developed a point-of-care resident evaluation tool, the Mobile Medical Milestones Application (M3App), and piloted it in 8 North Carolina family medicine residency programs. We sought to examine variations we found in the use of the tool across programs and explored the experiences of program directors, faculty, and residents to better understand the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing the new tool. Residents and faculty completed presurveys and postsurveys about the tool and the evaluation process in their program. Program directors were interviewed individually. Interviews and open-ended survey responses were analyzed and coded using the constant comparative method, and responses were tabulated under themes. Common perceptions included increased data collection, enhanced efficiency, and increased perceived quality of the information gathered with the M3App. Residents appreciated the timely, high-quality feedback they received. Faculty reported becoming more comfortable with the tool over time, and a more favorable evaluation of the tool was associated with higher utilization. Program directors reported improvements in faculty knowledge of the milestones and resident satisfaction with feedback. Faculty and residents credited the M3App with improving the quality and efficiency of resident feedback. Residents appreciated the frequency, proximity, and specificity of feedback, and faculty reported the app improved their familiarity with the milestones. Implementation challenges included lack of a physician champion and competing demands on faculty time.

  3. Milestones in the history of personality disorders

    PubMed Central

    Crocq, Marc-Antoine

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyzes the major historical milestones in the study of normal and abnormal personality, from antiquity up until the 20th century. Special attention is paid to the interaction between dimensional and typological approaches, which was a major issue during the preparation of DSM-5. Theories of personality started with the humoral theory of Greek medicine. Pinel, and later Esquirol and Prichard, are credited with the first descriptions of abnormal personalities in textbooks of psychiatry. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, elaborate systems of normal and abnormal personality, associating to some degree types and dimensions, were devised by a succession of European psychologists, such as Ribot, Heymans, and Lazursky. Emil Kraepelin and Kurt Schneider proposed classifications of abnormal personality types. In parallel, psychoanalysts stressed the role of early life experiences. Towards the mid-20th century, statistical methods were applied to the scientific validation of personality dimensions with pioneers such as Cattell, anticipating the five-factor model. PMID:24174889

  4. Impact on house staff evaluation scores when changing from a Dreyfus- to a Milestone-based evaluation model: one internal medicine residency program's findings.

    PubMed

    Friedman, Karen A; Balwan, Sandy; Cacace, Frank; Katona, Kyle; Sunday, Suzanne; Chaudhry, Saima

    2014-01-01

    Purpose As graduate medical education (GME) moves into the Next Accreditation System (NAS), programs must take a critical look at their current models of evaluation and assess how well they align with reporting outcomes. Our objective was to assess the impact on house staff evaluation scores when transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model of evaluation to a Milestone-based model of evaluation. Milestones are a key component of the NAS. Method We analyzed all end of rotation evaluations of house staff completed by faculty for academic years 2010-2011 (pre-Dreyfus model) and 2011-2012 (post-Milestone model) in one large university-based internal medicine residency training program. Main measures included change in PGY-level average score; slope, range, and separation of average scores across all six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Results Transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model to a Milestone-based model resulted in a larger separation in the scores between our three post-graduate year classes, a steeper progression of scores in the PGY-1 class, a wider use of the 5-point scale on our global end of rotation evaluation form, and a downward shift in the PGY-1 scores and an upward shift in the PGY-3 scores. Conclusions For faculty trained in both models of assessment, the Milestone-based model had greater discriminatory ability as evidenced by the larger separation in the scores for all the classes, in particular the PGY-1 class.

  5. Impact on house staff evaluation scores when changing from a Dreyfus- to a Milestone-based evaluation model: one internal medicine residency program's findings.

    PubMed

    Friedman, Karen A; Balwan, Sandy; Cacace, Frank; Katona, Kyle; Sunday, Suzanne; Chaudhry, Saima

    2014-01-01

    As graduate medical education (GME) moves into the Next Accreditation System (NAS), programs must take a critical look at their current models of evaluation and assess how well they align with reporting outcomes. Our objective was to assess the impact on house staff evaluation scores when transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model of evaluation to a Milestone-based model of evaluation. Milestones are a key component of the NAS. We analyzed all end of rotation evaluations of house staff completed by faculty for academic years 2010-2011 (pre-Dreyfus model) and 2011-2012 (post-Milestone model) in one large university-based internal medicine residency training program. Main measures included change in PGY-level average score; slope, range, and separation of average scores across all six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Transitioning from a Dreyfus-based model to a Milestone-based model resulted in a larger separation in the scores between our three post-graduate year classes, a steeper progression of scores in the PGY-1 class, a wider use of the 5-point scale on our global end of rotation evaluation form, and a downward shift in the PGY-1 scores and an upward shift in the PGY-3 scores. For faculty trained in both models of assessment, the Milestone-based model had greater discriminatory ability as evidenced by the larger separation in the scores for all the classes, in particular the PGY-1 class.

  6. Variance approach for multi-objective linear programming with fuzzy random of objective function coefficients

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Indarsih, Indrati, Ch. Rini

    2016-02-01

    In this paper, we define variance of the fuzzy random variables through alpha level. We have a theorem that can be used to know that the variance of fuzzy random variables is a fuzzy number. We have a multi-objective linear programming (MOLP) with fuzzy random of objective function coefficients. We will solve the problem by variance approach. The approach transform the MOLP with fuzzy random of objective function coefficients into MOLP with fuzzy of objective function coefficients. By weighted methods, we have linear programming with fuzzy coefficients and we solve by simplex method for fuzzy linear programming.

  7. Infant Development: Milestones from 7 to 9 Months

    MedlinePlus

    ... Infant development milestones for a 7- to 9-month-old include sitting, standing and laughing. By Mayo ... her own pace. From ages 7 to 9 months, your baby is likely to experience: Advancing motor ...

  8. The study on achievement of motor milestones and associated factors among children in rural North India

    PubMed Central

    Gupta, Arti; Kalaivani, Mani; Gupta, Sanjeev Kumar; Rai, Sanjay K.; Nongkynrih, Baridalyne

    2016-01-01

    Background: Nearly 14% of children worldwide do not reach their developmental potential in early childhood. The early identification of delays in achieving milestones is critical. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed normal age ranges for the achievement of motor milestones by healthy children. This study aimed to assess the gross motor developmental achievements and associated factors among children in rural India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with rural children in North India. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. The median age at the time of the highest observed milestone was calculated and compared with the WHO windows of achievement. Results: Overall, 221 children aged 4–18 months were included in the study. The median age of motor development exhibited a 0.1–2.1-month delay compared to the WHO median age of motor milestone achievement. The prevalence of the gross motor milestone achievements for each of the six milestones ranged from 91.6% to 98.4%. Developmental delay was observed in 6.3% of the children. After adjusting for different variables, children with birth order of second or more were found to be significantly associated with the timely achievement of gross motor milestones. Conclusion: The apparently healthy children of the rural area of Haryana achieved gross motor milestones with some delay with respect to the WHO windows of achievement. Although the median value of this delay was low, awareness campaigns should be implemented to promote timely identification of children with development delays. PMID:27843845

  9. The relationship between social play and developmental milestones in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

    PubMed

    Heintz, Matthew R; Murray, Carson M; Markham, A Catherine; Pusey, Anne E; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V

    2017-12-01

    Social play is common among many group-living animals, but the benefits are not well understood. Proposed benefits include increased muscle coordination as the result of increased locomotor versatility and development, and strengthened social bonds through interactions with like-aged individuals. In this study, we used 33 years of long-term behavioral data on infant chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, to examine these potential benefits of social play, specifically how the percentage of time engaged in social play relates to motor and social developmental milestones. We predicted that infants who engaged in more social play would achieve motor and social milestones at younger ages. We found that individuals that spent more time engaging in social play achieved the motor milestones of riding dorsally and traveling independently at earlier ages. Additionally, we found that the amount of play was correlated with earlier ages for reaching the social milestones of spatial independence from mother, first grooming of non-maternal kin, and first observed mating attempt. This is the first study in great apes to demonstrate a relationship between play behavior and developmental milestones, supporting the hypotheses that play provides motor, and social benefits. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Report on milestones for care and support under the U.S. National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease.

    PubMed

    Borson, Soo; Boustani, Malaz A; Buckwalter, Kathleen C; Burgio, Louis D; Chodosh, Joshua; Fortinsky, Richard H; Gifford, David R; Gwyther, Lisa P; Koren, Mary Jane; Lynn, Joanne; Phillips, Cheryl; Roherty, Martha; Ronch, Judah; Stahl, Claudia; Rodgers, Lauren; Kim, Hye; Baumgart, Matthew; Geiger, Angela

    2016-03-01

    Under the U.S. national Alzheimer's plan, the National Institutes of Health identified milestones required to meet the plan's biomedical research goal (Goal 1). However, similar milestones have not been created for the goals on care (Goal 2) and support (Goal 3). The Alzheimer's Association convened a workgroup with expertise in clinical care, long-term services and supports, dementia care and support research, and public policy. The workgroup reviewed the literature on Alzheimer's care and support; reviewed how other countries are addressing the issue; and identified public policies needed over the next 10 years to achieve a more ideal care and support system. The workgroup developed and recommended 73 milestones for Goal 2 and 56 milestones for Goal 3. To advance the implementation of the U.S. national Alzheimer's plan, the U.S. government should adopt these recommended milestones, or develop similar milestones, to be incorporated into the national plan. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. MRT 5711 - Scope Radiochemical Analysis Comparison: Joint LANL-LLNL FY17 L-2 Milestone

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

    Murray, S. D.; Lee, A. S.

    A 2016 Level-1 milestone highlighted surprising differences in fundamental data used by the two US design laboratories. To better understand and ultimately resolve those differences, two Level-2 milestones were developed for execution in FY-17 and FY-18.

  12. Developmental milestones for productivity occupations in children and youth: An integrative review.

    PubMed

    d'Entremont, Lisette; Gregor, Megan; Kirou, Evangelia; Nelligan, Lindsay; Dennis, Donna

    2017-01-01

    Limited research exists on developmental milestones for productivity occupations throughout the paediatric lifespan, and negative connotations of work for children and youth may have contributed to a paucity of literature on the topic. To ascertain what is currently known about the timing and types of engagement in productivity occupations in children and youth aged 4-19. Literature referencing productive occupations in children and youth aged 4-19 was searched for this integrative review. Search terms were established based on paediatric age and occupational therapy descriptors, and terminology associated with productivity. Sixty-seven peer-reviewed articles were analyzed according to the constant comparative method. Six core productive occupations emerged as avenues for productive engagement: paid work, school-related activities, caring for self and others, household chores, volunteering, and agricultural chores. A timeline was constructed to display common milestones for engagement in these occupations throughout the paediatric lifespan. Paediatric engagement was found to be influenced by personal (age, gender, child and youth perceptions, and safety considerations), and environmental (familial factors, parental perceptions, societal influences, and safety considerations) factors. Approaches to paediatric practice must account for the full spectrum of productive occupations children and youth engage in beyond the school context.

  13. Developmental Milestones in Toddlers with Atypical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horovitz, Max; Matson, Johnny L.

    2011-01-01

    The attainment of developmental milestones was examined and compared in 162 infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities, including Down Syndrome (n = 26), Cerebral Palsy (n = 19), Global Developmental Delay (n = 22), Premature birth (n = 66), and Seizure Disorder (n = 29). Toddlers in the Seizures Disorder group began crawling at a…

  14. Final Review of FY17 ASC CSSE L2 Milestone #6018 entitled "Analyzing Power Usage Characteristics of Workloads Running on Trinity".

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

    Hoekstra, Robert J.; Hammond, Simon David; Hemmert, Karl Scott

    The presentation documented the technical approach of the team and summary of the results with sufficient detail to demonstrate both the value and the completion of the milestone. A separate SAND report was also generated with more detail to supplement the presentation.

  15. A Multi-center Milestone Study of Clinical Vertebral CT Segmentation

    PubMed Central

    Yao, Jianhua; Burns, Joseph E.; Forsberg, Daniel; Seitel, Alexander; Rasoulian, Abtin; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Hammernik, Kerstin; Urschler, Martin; Ibragimov, Bulat; Korez, Robert; Vrtovec, Tomaž; Castro-Mateos, Isaac; Pozo, Jose M.; Frangi, Alejandro F.; Summers, Ronald M.; Li, Shuo

    2017-01-01

    A multiple center milestone study of clinical vertebra segmentation is presented in this paper. Vertebra segmentation is a fundamental step for spinal image analysis and intervention. The first half of the study was conducted in the spine segmentation challenge in 2014 International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Workshop on Computational Spine Imaging (CSI 2014). The objective was to evaluate the performance of several state-of-the-art vertebra segmentation algorithms on computed tomography (CT) scans using ten training and five testing dataset, all healthy cases; the second half of the study was conducted after the challenge, where additional 5 abnormal cases are used for testing to evaluate the performance under abnormal cases. Dice coefficients and absolute surface distances were used as evaluation metrics. Segmentation of each vertebra as a single geometric unit, as well as separate segmentation of vertebra substructures, was evaluated. Five teams participated in the comparative study. The top performers in the study achieved Dice coefficient of 0.93 in the upper thoracic, 0.95 in the lower thoracic and 0.96 in the lumbar spine for healthy cases, and 0.88 in the upper thoracic, 0.89 in the lower thoracic and 0.92 in the lumbar spine for osteoporotic and fractured cases. The strengths and weaknesses of each method as well as future suggestion for improvement are discussed. This is the first multi-center comparative study for vertebra segmentation methods, which will provide an up-to-date performance milestone for the fast growing spinal image analysis and intervention. PMID:26878138

  16. Associations between Functional Milestones and Psychiatric Admissions in an Urban Area: Utility of a Cluster-Analytical Approach.

    PubMed

    Montemagni, Cristiana; Frieri, Tiziana; Villari, Vincenzo; Rocca, Paola

    2018-06-01

    The purpose of the study was to identify homogenous subgroups, based upon achievement of two functional milestones (marriage and employment) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score in a sample of 848 acute patients admitted to the Psychiatric Emergency Service (PES) of the Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, during a 24-months period. A two-step cluster-analysis, using GAF total score and the achievements in the two milestones as input data was performed. In order to examine whether the identified subgroups differed in external variables that were not included in the clustering process, and consequently to validate the found functional profiles, chi-square tests for categorical variables and analyses of variance (ANOVA) for continuous variables were performed. Five clusters were found. Employed patients (Clusters 4 and 5) had more years of education, less illness chronicity (shorter duration of illness and lower proportion of previous voluntary hospitalizations), lower use of mental health resources in the last year yet higher treatment adherence, larger network size, and higher ordinary discharge. Married inpatients (Clusters 3 and 5) had lower frequencies of substance abuse. The remarkably high rate of unemployment in this inpatients' sample, and the evidence of associations between unemployment and poorer functioning, argue for further research and development of evidence-based supported employment programs, that put forth diligent effort in helping people obtain work quickly and sustain; they may also help to reduce health care service use among that clientele.

  17. Tri-Lab Co-Design Milestone: In-Depth Performance Portability Analysis of Improved Integrated Codes on Advanced Architecture.

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

    Hoekstra, Robert J.; Hammond, Simon David; Richards, David

    2017-09-01

    This milestone is a tri-lab deliverable supporting ongoing Co-Design efforts impacting applications in the Integrated Codes (IC) program element Advanced Technology Development and Mitigation (ATDM) program element. In FY14, the trilabs looked at porting proxy application to technologies of interest for ATS procurements. In FY15, a milestone was completed evaluating proxy applications in multiple programming models and in FY16, a milestone was completed focusing on the migration of lessons learned back into production code development. This year, the co-design milestone focuses on extracting the knowledge gained and/or code revisions back into production applications.

  18. Use of a Clinical Pathologic Conference to Demonstrate Residents' ACGME Emergency Medicine Milestones, Aid in Faculty Development, and Increase Academic Output.

    PubMed

    Kane, Kathleen; Weaver, Kevin; Barr, Gavin; Quinn, Shawn; Goyke, Terrence; Smith, Amy; Yenser, Dawn; Kane, Bryan

    2018-06-01

    The Emergency Medicine Milestones Project, developed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Emergency Medicine, includes competence targets for residents to attain and, ultimately, to exceed American Osteopathic Association and ACGME expectations for residents. The authors sought to use the clinical pathologic conference (CPC) format in their institutions' Emergency Medicine Milestones Project to provide measurable residency academic and faculty development outcomes. The CPC is an event in which a resident presents an unknown case to a discussant in advance of a didactic session to demonstrate an organized approach and decision-making rationale to a differential diagnosis. Feedback forms included the assessment of resident discussants from the perspective of level-5 Milestone achievements in particular. Developing an internal CPC competition with a dedicated core faculty coordinator who provides skill development for both resident and faculty presentation has proven successful. Such a competition can document the level-5 achievements for senior residents, be a source of faculty development, and increase peer-reviewed academic output.

  19. Milestone-specific, Observed data points for evaluating levels of performance (MODEL) assessment strategy for anesthesiology residency programs.

    PubMed

    Nagy, Christopher J; Fitzgerald, Brian M; Kraus, Gregory P

    2014-01-01

    Anesthesiology residency programs will be expected to have Milestones-based evaluation systems in place by July 2014 as part of the Next Accreditation System. The San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC) anesthesiology residency program developed and implemented a Milestones-based feedback and evaluation system a year ahead of schedule. It has been named the Milestone-specific, Observed Data points for Evaluating Levels of performance (MODEL) assessment strategy. The "MODEL Menu" and the "MODEL Blueprint" are tools that other anesthesiology residency programs can use in developing their own Milestones-based feedback and evaluation systems prior to ACGME-required implementation. Data from our early experience with the streamlined MODEL blueprint assessment strategy showed substantially improved faculty compliance with reporting requirements. The MODEL assessment strategy provides programs with a workable assessment method for residents, and important Milestones data points to programs for ACGME reporting.

  20. 43 CFR 3930.30 - Diligent development milestones.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... any particular year starting in the 10th lease year. Payments in lieu of production in year 10 of the... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Diligent development milestones. 3930.30... 2 years of the lease issuance date, submit to the proper BLM office an initial POD that meets the...

  1. Comparing Real-time Versus Delayed Video Assessments for Evaluating ACGME Sub-competency Milestones in Simulated Patient Care Environments

    PubMed Central

    Stiegler, Marjorie; Hobbs, Gene; Martinelli, Susan M; Zvara, David; Arora, Harendra; Chen, Fei

    2018-01-01

    Background Simulation is an effective method for creating objective summative assessments of resident trainees. Real-time assessment (RTA) in simulated patient care environments is logistically challenging, especially when evaluating a large group of residents in multiple simulation scenarios. To date, there is very little data comparing RTA with delayed (hours, days, or weeks later) video-based assessment (DA) for simulation-based assessments of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) sub-competency milestones. We hypothesized that sub-competency milestone evaluation scores obtained from DA, via audio-video recordings, are equivalent to the scores obtained from RTA. Methods Forty-one anesthesiology residents were evaluated in three separate simulated scenarios, representing different ACGME sub-competency milestones. All scenarios had one faculty member perform RTA and two additional faculty members perform DA. Subsequently, the scores generated by RTA were compared with the average scores generated by DA. Variance component analysis was conducted to assess the amount of variation in scores attributable to residents and raters. Results Paired t-tests showed no significant difference in scores between RTA and averaged DA for all cases. Cases 1, 2, and 3 showed an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.67, 0.85, and 0.50 for agreement between RTA scores and averaged DA scores, respectively. Analysis of variance of the scores assigned by the three raters showed a small proportion of variance attributable to raters (4% to 15%). Conclusions The results demonstrate that video-based delayed assessment is as reliable as real-time assessment, as both assessment methods yielded comparable scores. Based on a department’s needs or logistical constraints, our findings support the use of either real-time or delayed video evaluation for assessing milestones in a simulated patient care environment. PMID:29736352

  2. 2014 Report on the Milestones for the US National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease.

    PubMed

    Fargo, Keith N; Aisen, Paul; Albert, Marilyn; Au, Rhoda; Corrada, Maria M; DeKosky, Steven; Drachman, David; Fillit, Howard; Gitlin, Laura; Haas, Magali; Herrup, Karl; Kawas, Claudia; Khachaturian, Ara S; Khachaturian, Zaven S; Klunk, William; Knopman, David; Kukull, Walter A; Lamb, Bruce; Logsdon, Rebecca G; Maruff, Paul; Mesulam, Marsel; Mobley, William; Mohs, Richard; Morgan, David; Nixon, Ralph A; Paul, Steven; Petersen, Ronald; Plassman, Brenda; Potter, William; Reiman, Eric; Reisberg, Barry; Sano, Mary; Schindler, Rachel; Schneider, Lon S; Snyder, Peter J; Sperling, Reisa A; Yaffe, Kristine; Bain, Lisa J; Thies, William H; Carrillo, Maria C

    2014-10-01

    With increasing numbers of people with Alzheimer's and other dementias across the globe, many countries have developed national plans to deal with the resulting challenges. In the United States, the National Alzheimer's Project Act, signed into law in 2011, required the creation of such a plan with annual updates thereafter. Pursuant to this, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease in 2012, including an ambitious research goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's disease by 2025. To guide investments, activities, and the measurement of progress toward achieving this 2025 goal, in its first annual plan update (2013) HHS also incorporated into the plan a set of short, medium and long-term milestones. HHS further committed to updating these milestones on an ongoing basis to account for progress and setbacks, and emerging opportunities and obstacles. To assist HHS as it updates these milestones, the Alzheimer's Association convened a National Plan Milestone Workgroup consisting of scientific experts representing all areas of Alzheimer's and dementia research. The workgroup evaluated each milestone and made recommendations to ensure that they collectively constitute an adequate work plan for reaching the goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025. This report presents these Workgroup recommendations. Copyright © 2014 The Alzheimer's Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Assessing Team Leadership in Emergency Medicine: The Milestones and Beyond.

    PubMed

    Rosenman, Elizabeth D; Branzetti, Jeremy B; Fernandez, Rosemarie

    2016-07-01

    Team leadership is a critical skill for emergency medicine physicians that directly affects team performance and the quality of patient care. There exists a robust body of team science research supporting team leadership conceptual models and behavioral skill sets. However, to date, this work has not been widely incorporated into health care team leadership education. This narrative review has 3 aims: (1) to synthesize the team science literature and to translate important concepts and models to health care team leadership; (2) to describe how team leadership is currently represented in the health care literature and in the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones for emergency medicine; and (3) to propose a novel, evidence-based framework for the assessment of team leadership in emergency medicine. We conducted a narrative review of the team science and health care literature. We summarized our findings and identified a list of team leadership behaviors that were then used to create a framework for team leadership assessment. Current health care team leadership measurement tools do not incorporate evidence-based models of leadership concepts from other established domains. The emergency medicine milestones include several team leadership behaviors as part of a larger resident evaluation program. However, they do not offer a comprehensive or cohesive representation of the team leadership construct. Despite the importance of team leadership to patient care, there is no standardized approach to team leadership assessment in emergency medicine. Based on the results of our review, we propose a novel team leadership assessment framework that is supported by the team science literature.

  4. Milestone Ratings and Supervisory Role Categorizations Swim Together, but is the Water Muddy?

    PubMed

    Schumacher, Daniel J; Bartlett, Kathleen W; Elliott, Sean P; Michelson, Catherine; Sharma, Tanvi; Garfunkel, Lynn C; King, Beth; Schwartz, Alan

    2018-06-17

    This single specialty, multi-institutional study aimed to determine: 1) the association between milestone ratings for individual competencies and average milestone ratings (AMRs) and 2) the association between AMRs and recommended supervisory role categorizations made by individual clinical competency committee (CCC) members. During the 2015-16 academic year, CCC members at 14 pediatric residencies reported milestone ratings for 21 competencies and recommended supervisory role categories (may not supervise, may supervise in some settings, may supervise in all settings) for residents they reviewed. An exploratory factor analysis of competencies was conducted. The associations between individual competencies, the AMR, and supervisory role categorizations were determined by computing bivariate correlations. The relationship between AMRs and recommended supervisory role categorizations was examined using an ordinal mixed logistic regression model. 68/155 CCC members completed both milestone assignments and supervision categorizations for 451 residents. Factor analysis of individual competencies controlling for clustering of residents in raters and sites resulted in a single-factor solution (cumulative variance 0.75). All individual competencies had large positive correlations with the AMR (correlation coefficient: 0.84-0.93), except for two professionalism competencies (Prof1: 0.63 and Prof4: 0.65). When combined across training year and time points, the AMR and supervisory role categorization had a moderately positive correlation (0.56). This exploratory study identified a modest correlation between average milestone ratings and supervisory role categorization. Convergence of competencies on a single factor deserves further exploration, with possible rater effects warranting attention. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Milestones in welding technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dolby, Richard E.

    2013-09-01

    Sir Alan's PhD thesis describes his research into cracking during arc welding of armour steels. Throughout his career, he had a strong interest in defects of all types, how they formed in metallic structures and how the larger ones could be detected and sized by non-destructive techniques. He was also vitally concerned with how defects impacted on the engineering integrity of welded structures, particularly the risk of fracture in nuclear plant. This study presents a view of some of the major milestones in global welding technology that took place over the 60 or more years of Sir Alan's career and highlights those where he had a personal and direct involvement.

  6. Piloting a Structured Practice Audit to Assess ACGME Milestones in Written Handoff Communication in Internal Medicine

    PubMed Central

    Martin, Shannon K.; Farnan, Jeanne M.; McConville, John F.; Arora, Vineet M.

    2015-01-01

    Background Written communication skills are integral to patient care handoffs. Residency programs require feasible assessment tools that provide timely formative and summative feedback, ideally linked to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones. Objective We describe the use of 1 such tool—UPDATED—to assess written handoff communication skills in internal medicine interns. Methods During 2012–2013, the authors piloted a structured practice audit at 1 academic institution to audit written sign-outs completed by 45 interns, using the UPDATED tool, which scores 7 aspects of sign-out communication linked to milestones. Intern sign-outs were audited by trained faculty members throughout the year. Results were incorporated into intern performance reviews and Clinical Competency Committees. Results A total of 136 sign-outs were audited (averaging 3.1 audits per intern). In the first trimester, 14 interns (31%) had satisfactory audit results. Five interns (11%) had critical deficiencies and received immediate feedback, and the remaining 26 (58%) were assigned future audits due to missing audits or unsatisfactory scores. In the second trimester, 21 interns (68%) had satisfactory results, 1 had critical deficiencies, and 9 (29%) required future audits. Nine of the 10 remaining interns in the final trimester had satisfactory audits. Faculty time was estimated at 10 to 15 minutes per sign-out audited. Conclusions The UPDATED audit is a milestone-based tool that can be used to assess written sign-out communication skills in internal medicine residency programs. Future work is planned to adapt the tool for use by senior supervisory residents to appraise sign-outs in real time. PMID:26221442

  7. Gas turbine system simulation: An object-oriented approach

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Drummond, Colin K.; Follen, Gregory J.; Putt, Charles W.

    1993-01-01

    A prototype gas turbine engine simulation has been developed that offers a generalized framework for the simulation of engines subject to steady-state and transient operating conditions. The prototype is in preliminary form, but it successfully demonstrates the viability of an object-oriented approach for generalized simulation applications. Although object oriented programming languages are-relative to FORTRAN-somewhat austere, it is proposed that gas turbine simulations of an interdisciplinary nature will benefit significantly in terms of code reliability, maintainability, and manageability. This report elucidates specific gas turbine simulation obstacles that an object-oriented framework can overcome and describes the opportunity for interdisciplinary simulation that the approach offers.

  8. Milestone Age Affects the Role of Health and Emotions in Life Satisfaction: A Preliminary Inquiry.

    PubMed

    Miron-Shatz, Talya; Bhargave, Rajesh; Doniger, Glen M

    2015-01-01

    Jill turns 40. Should this change how she evaluates her life, and would a similar change occur when she turns 41? Milestone age (e.g., 30, 40, 50)--a naturally occurring feature in personal timelines--has received much attention is popular culture, but little attention in academic inquiry. This study examines whether milestone birthdays change the way people evaluate their life. We show that life outlook is impacted by this temporal landmark, which appears to punctuate people's mental maps of their life cycle. At these milestone junctures, people take stock of where they stand and have a more evaluative perspective towards their lives when making life satisfaction judgments. Correspondingly, they place less emphasis on daily emotional experiences. We find that milestone agers (vs. other individuals) place greater weight on health satisfaction and BMI and lesser weight on daily positive emotions in their overall life satisfaction judgments, whereas negative emotions remain influential.

  9. Competency champions in the clinical competency committee: a successful strategy to implement milestone evaluations and competency coaching.

    PubMed

    Ketteler, Erika R; Auyang, Edward D; Beard, Kathy E; McBride, Erica L; McKee, Rohini; Russell, John C; Szoka, Nova L; Nelson, M Timothy

    2014-01-01

    To create a clinical competency committee (CCC) that (1) centers on the competency-based milestones, (2) is simple to implement, (3) creates competency expertise, and (4) guides remediation and coaching of residents who are not progressing in milestone performance evaluations. We created a CCC that meets monthly and at each meeting reviews a resident class for milestone performance, a competency (by a faculty competency champion), a resident rotation service, and any other resident or issue of concern. University surgical residency program. The CCC members include the program director, associate program directors, director of surgical curriculum, competency champions, departmental chair, 2 at-large faculty members, and the administrative chief residents. Seven residents were placed on remediation (later renamed as coaching) during the academic year after falling behind on milestone progression in one or more competencies. An additional 4 residents voluntarily placed themselves on remediation for medical knowledge after receiving in-training examination scores that the residents (not the CCC membership) considered substandard. All but 2 of the remediated/coached residents successfully completed all area milestone performance but some chose to stay on the medical knowledge competency strategy. Monthly meetings of the CCC make milestone evaluation less burdensome. In addition, the expectations of the residents are clearer and more tangible. "Competency champions" who are familiar with the milestones allow effective coaching strategies and documentation of clear performance improvements in competencies for successful completion of residency training. Residents who do not reach appropriate milestone performance can then be placed in remediation for more formal performance evaluation. The function of our CCC has also allowed us opportunity to evaluate the required rotations to ensure that they offer experiences that help residents achieve competency performance necessary

  10. Milestones in Medical Research, The Human Genome and ClinicalTrials.gov | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

    MedlinePlus

    ... page please turn Javascript on. Milestones in Medical Research, The Human Genome and ClinicalTrials.gov Past Issues / ... 10th anniversary of two important achievements in medical research—the first, a major milestone in understanding the ...

  11. Exploration as a Mediator of the Relation between the Attainment of Motor Milestones and the Development of Spatial Cognition and Spatial Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Volman, M. J. M.

    2015-01-01

    The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and…

  12. Hydrogen milestone could help lower fossil fuel refining costs

    ScienceCinema

    Stephen Herring

    2017-12-09

    Hydrogen researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have reached another milestone on the road to reducing carbon emissions and protecting the nation against the effects of peaking world oil production. Stephen Herring, lab

  13. A practical approach to object based requirements analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Drew, Daniel W.; Bishop, Michael

    1988-01-01

    Presented here is an approach developed at the Unisys Houston Operation Division, which supports the early identification of objects. This domain oriented analysis and development concept is based on entity relationship modeling and object data flow diagrams. These modeling techniques, based on the GOOD methodology developed at the Goddard Space Flight Center, support the translation of requirements into objects which represent the real-world problem domain. The goal is to establish a solid foundation of understanding before design begins, thereby giving greater assurance that the system will do what is desired by the customer. The transition from requirements to object oriented design is also promoted by having requirements described in terms of objects. Presented is a five step process by which objects are identified from the requirements to create a problem definition model. This process involves establishing a base line requirements list from which an object data flow diagram can be created. Entity-relationship modeling is used to facilitate the identification of objects from the requirements. An example is given of how semantic modeling may be used to improve the entity-relationship model and a brief discussion on how this approach might be used in a large scale development effort.

  14. Some Important Milestones in the Field of Blood Clotting.

    PubMed

    Doolittle, Russell F

    2016-01-01

    Several different kinds of 'milestone' in the field of blood coagulation are described from the middle decades of the 20th century. Although viewed from the standpoint of clotting per se, attention is also given to implications for innate immunity. The first milestone considered is the protracted saga of clotting dependence on vitamin K, an adventure that spanned more than five decades beginning in the 1920s. The second has to do with the discovery of a half-dozen 'new' clotting factors during the period immediately following World War II. A third pursues a narrower focus and examines the once mysterious transformation of fibrinogen into fibrin. Finally, the clinical treatment of classical hemophilia had a remarkable turning point in the 1960s as the result of simple but sensible measures. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  15. Toddlers’ Fine Motor Milestone Achievement Is Associated with Early Touchscreen Scrolling

    PubMed Central

    Bedford, Rachael; Saez de Urabain, Irati R.; Cheung, Celeste H. M.; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Smith, Tim J.

    2016-01-01

    Touchscreen technologies provide an intuitive and attractive source of sensory/cognitive stimulation for young children. Despite fears that usage may have a negative impact on toddlers’ cognitive development, empirical evidence is lacking. The current study presents results from the UK Toddler Attentional Behaviours and LEarning with Touchscreens (TABLET) project, examining the association between toddlers’ touchscreen use and the attainment of developmental milestones. Data were gathered in an online survey of 715 parents of 6- to 36-month-olds to address two research questions: (1) How does touchscreen use change from 6 to 36 months? (2) In toddlers (19–36 months, i.e., above the median age, n = 366), how does retrospectively reported age of first touchscreen usage relate to gross motor (i.e., walking), fine motor (i.e., stacking blocks), and language (i.e., producing two-word utterances) milestones? In our sample, the proportion of children using touchscreens, as well as the average daily usage time, increased with age (youngest quartile, 6–11 months: 51.22% users, 8.53 min per day; oldest quartile, 26–36 months: 92.05% users, average use of 43.95 min per day). In toddlers, aged 19–36 months, age of first touchscreen use was significantly associated with fine motor (stacking blocks), p = 0.03, after controlling for covariates age, sex, mother’s education (a proxy for socioeconomic status) as well as age of early fine motor milestone achievement (pincer grip). This effect was only present for active scrolling of the touchscreen p = 0.04, not for video watching. No significant relationships were found between touchscreen use and either gross motor or language milestones. Touchscreen use increases rapidly over the first 3 years of life. In the current study, we find no evidence to support a negative association between the age of first touchscreen usage and developmental milestones. Indeed, earlier touchscreen use, specifically scrolling of the screen

  16. Milestone-compatible neurology resident assessments: A role for observable practice activities.

    PubMed

    Jones, Lyell K; Dimberg, Elliot L; Boes, Christopher J; Eggers, Scott D Z; Dodick, David W; Cutsforth-Gregory, Jeremy K; Leep Hunderfund, Andrea N; Capobianco, David J

    2015-06-02

    Beginning in 2014, US neurology residency programs were required to report each trainee's educational progression within 29 neurology Milestone competency domains. Trainee assessment systems will need to be adapted to inform these requirements. The primary aims of this study were to validate neurology resident assessment content using observable practice activities (OPAs) and to develop assessment formats easily translated to the Neurology Milestones. A modified Delphi technique was used to establish consensus perceptions of importance of 73 neurology OPAs among neurology educators and trainees at 3 neurology residency programs. A content validity score (CVS) was derived for each neurology OPA, with scores ≥4.0 determined in advance to indicate sufficient content validity. The mean CVS for all OPAs was 4.4 (range 3.5-5.0). Fifty-seven (78%) OPAs had a CVS ≥4.0, leaving 16 (22%) below the pre-established threshold for content validity. Trainees assigned a higher importance to individual OPAs (mean CVS 4.6) compared to faculty (mean 4.4, p = 0.016), but the effect size was small (η(2) = 0.10). There was no demonstrated effect of length of education experience on perceived importance of neurology OPAs (p = 0.23). Two sample resident assessment formats were developed, one using neurology OPAs alone and another using a combination of neurology OPAs and the Neurology Milestones. This study provides neurology training programs with content validity evidence for items to include in resident assessments, and sample assessment formats that directly translate to the Neurology Milestones. Length of education experience has little effect on perceptions of neurology OPA importance. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

  17. Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents: A flexible informatics curriculum linked to Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestones

    PubMed Central

    Henricks, Walter H; Karcher, Donald S; Harrison, James H; Sinard, John H; Riben, Michael W; Boyer, Philip J; Plath, Sue; Thompson, Arlene; Pantanowitz, Liron

    2016-01-01

    Context: Recognition of the importance of informatics to the practice of pathology has surged. Training residents in pathology informatics have been a daunting task for most residency programs in the United States because faculty often lacks experience and training resources. Nevertheless, developing resident competence in informatics is essential for the future of pathology as a specialty. Objective: The objective of the study is to develop and deliver a pathology informatics curriculum and instructional framework that guides pathology residency programs in training residents in critical pathology informatics knowledge and skills and meets Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Informatics Milestones. Design: The College of American Pathologists, Association of Pathology Chairs, and Association for Pathology Informatics formed a partnership and expert work group to identify critical pathology informatics training outcomes and to create a highly adaptable curriculum and instructional approach, supported by a multiyear change management strategy. Results: Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents (PIER) is a rigorous approach for educating all pathology residents in important pathology informatics knowledge and skills. PIER includes an instructional resource guide and toolkit for incorporating informatics training into residency programs that vary in needs, size, settings, and resources. PIER is available at http://www.apcprods.org/PIER (accessed April 6, 2016). Conclusions: PIER is an important contribution to informatics training in pathology residency programs. PIER introduces pathology trainees to broadly useful informatics concepts and tools that are relevant to practice. PIER provides residency program directors with a means to implement a standardized informatics training curriculum, to adapt the approach to local program needs, and to evaluate resident performance and progress over time. PMID:27563486

  18. An approach to computing direction relations between separated object groups

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, H.; Wang, Z.; Li, J.

    2013-06-01

    Direction relations between object groups play an important role in qualitative spatial reasoning, spatial computation and spatial recognition. However, none of existing models can be used to compute direction relations between object groups. To fill this gap, an approach to computing direction relations between separated object groups is proposed in this paper, which is theoretically based on Gestalt principles and the idea of multi-directions. The approach firstly triangulates the two object groups; and then it constructs the Voronoi Diagram between the two groups using the triangular network; after this, the normal of each Vornoi edge is calculated, and the quantitative expression of the direction relations is constructed; finally, the quantitative direction relations are transformed into qualitative ones. The psychological experiments show that the proposed approach can obtain direction relations both between two single objects and between two object groups, and the results are correct from the point of view of spatial cognition.

  19. An approach to computing direction relations between separated object groups

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, H.; Wang, Z.; Li, J.

    2013-09-01

    Direction relations between object groups play an important role in qualitative spatial reasoning, spatial computation and spatial recognition. However, none of existing models can be used to compute direction relations between object groups. To fill this gap, an approach to computing direction relations between separated object groups is proposed in this paper, which is theoretically based on gestalt principles and the idea of multi-directions. The approach firstly triangulates the two object groups, and then it constructs the Voronoi diagram between the two groups using the triangular network. After this, the normal of each Voronoi edge is calculated, and the quantitative expression of the direction relations is constructed. Finally, the quantitative direction relations are transformed into qualitative ones. The psychological experiments show that the proposed approach can obtain direction relations both between two single objects and between two object groups, and the results are correct from the point of view of spatial cognition.

  20. Verteporfin: a milestone in opthalmology and photodynamic therapy.

    PubMed

    Brown, S B; Mellish, K J

    2001-02-01

    During the past year, a photosensitiser named benzoporphyrin derivative (BPD) has been approved in 26 countries under the generic name verteporfin (Visudynetrade mark, Novartis), for the treatment of patients with a certain type of the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by photodynamic therapy (PDT). AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, with approximately half a million new cases of the wet form per year. The approval of Visudynetrade mark therapy represents a major milestone in ophthalmology since AMD was previously untreatable by any modality which would preserve existing vision. It was also a milestone in the development of PDT, not only because it represented the first breakthrough in the use of PDT to treat an otherwise untreatable condition, but also because it represented the first mass market for a PDT treatment where prospects of a substantial financial return on many years of investment appear to be likely. In this article, we look at the background to the development of BPD, primarily for its use in AMD, but also in other applications.

  1. A Collaborative Neurodynamic Approach to Multiple-Objective Distributed Optimization.

    PubMed

    Yang, Shaofu; Liu, Qingshan; Wang, Jun

    2018-04-01

    This paper is concerned with multiple-objective distributed optimization. Based on objective weighting and decision space decomposition, a collaborative neurodynamic approach to multiobjective distributed optimization is presented. In the approach, a system of collaborative neural networks is developed to search for Pareto optimal solutions, where each neural network is associated with one objective function and given constraints. Sufficient conditions are derived for ascertaining the convergence to a Pareto optimal solution of the collaborative neurodynamic system. In addition, it is proved that each connected subsystem can generate a Pareto optimal solution when the communication topology is disconnected. Then, a switching-topology-based method is proposed to compute multiple Pareto optimal solutions for discretized approximation of Pareto front. Finally, simulation results are discussed to substantiate the performance of the collaborative neurodynamic approach. A portfolio selection application is also given.

  2. Level-2 Milestone 4797: Early Users on Max, Sequoia Visualization Cluster

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

    Cupps, Kim C.

    This report documents the fact that an early user has run successfully on Max, the Sequoia visualization cluster, ASC L2 milestone 4797: Early Users on Sequoia Visualization System (Max), due December 31, 2013. The Max visualization and data analysis cluster will provide Sequoia users with compute cycles and an interactive option for data exploration and analysis. The system will be integrated in the first quarter of FY14 and the system is expected to be moved to the classified network by the second quarter of FY14. The goal of this milestone is to have early users running their visualization and datamore » analysis work on the Max cluster on the classified network.« less

  3. Where do we go from here? Moving from systems-based practice process measures to true competency via developmental milestones.

    PubMed

    Martinez, Johanna; Phillips, Erica; Harris, Christina

    2014-01-01

    For many educators it has been challenging to meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's requirements for teaching systems-based practice (SBP). An additional layer of complexity for educators is evaluating competency in SBP, despite milestones and entrustable professional activities (EPAs). In order to address this challenge, the authors present the results of a literature review for how SBP is currently being taught and a series of recommendations on how to achieve competency in SBP for graduate medical trainees with the use of milestones. The literature review included 29 articles and demonstrated that only 28% of the articles taught more than one of the six core principles of SBP in a meaningful way. Only 7% of the articles received the highest grade of A. The authors summarize four guiding principles for creating a competency-based curriculum that is in alignment with the Next Accreditation System (NAS): 1) the curriculum needs to include all of the core principles in that competency, 2) the objectives of the curriculum should be driven by clinical outcomes, 3) the teaching modalities need to be interactive and clinically relevant, and 4) the evaluation process should be able to measure competency and be directly reflective of pertinent milestones and/or EPAs. This literature review and the provided guiding principles can guide other residency educators in their development of competency-based curricula that meets the standards of the NAS.

  4. Teaching the Healthcare Economics Milestones to Radiology Residents: Our Pilot Curriculum Experience.

    PubMed

    Prober, Allen S; Mehan, William A; Bedi, Harprit S

    2016-07-01

    Since July 2013, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has required radiology residency programs to implement a set of educational milestones to track residents' educational advancement in six core competencies, including Systems-based Practice. The healthcare economics subcompetency of Systems-based Practice has traditionally been relatively neglected, and given the new increased ACGME oversight, will specifically require greater focused attention. A multi-institutional health-care economics pilot curriculum combining didactic and practical components was implemented across five residency programs. The didactic portion included a package of online recorded presentations, reading, and testing materials developed by the American College of Radiology (ACR's) Radiology Leadership Institute. The practical component involved a series of local meetings led by program faculty with the production of a deliverable based on research of local reimbursement for a noncontrast head computed tomography. The capstone entailed the presentation of each program's deliverable during a live teleconference webcast with a Radiology Leadership Institute content expert acting as moderator and discussion leader. The pilot curriculum was well received by residents and faculty moderators, with 100% of survey respondents agreeing that the pilot met its objective of introducing how reimbursement works in American radiology in 2015 and how business terminology applies to their particular institutions. A health-care economics curriculum in the style of a Massive Open Online Course has strong potential to serve as many residency programs' method of choice in meeting the health-care economics milestones. Copyright © 2016 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Scoliosis in children with osteogenesis imperfecta: influence of severity of disease and age of reaching motor milestones.

    PubMed

    Engelbert, Raoul H H; Uiterwaal, Cuno S P M; van der Hulst, Annelies; Witjes, Baukje; Helders, Paul J M; Pruijs, Hans E H

    2003-04-01

    We studied the relationship between the age of reaching motor milestones, especially anti-gravity activities, and the age of development of pathological spinal curvatures in children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). We hypothesized that earlier achievement of anti-gravity motor milestones predicts a later development of pathological spinal curvatures. Ninety-six children participated in this retrospective study. The severity of the disease was classified according to Sillence into types I-IV. Spinal radiography was performed annually and spinal deformities were measured according to the Cobb angle. Scoliosis was defined as a Cobb angle exceeding 9 degrees. Pathological thoracic kyphosis was defined as a Cobb angle exceeding 40 degrees. The parents were asked to report the age at which the child achieved motor milestones, and data were checked against health care records. Thirty-seven of 96 children (39%) developed a scoliosis of more than 9 degrees. Nine of 96 children (9%) developed a pathological kyphosis. The age of developing scoliosis was significantly lower than the age of development of the pathological kyphosis (P=0.01). Bone mineral density was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in 53 children, 28 of whom developed scoliosis, and 25 of whom did not. The mean DEXA Z-score of the 28 children with scoliosis was significantly lower than that of the 25 children without (-5.2, SD 1.3 vs -3.2, SD 1.9; P-value <0.001). Children with OI type IV, but particularly OI type III, reached motor milestones much later than children with OI type I. The motor milestone "supported sitting" showed a significant inverse association with time of the first presence of scoliosis with a Cobb angle greater than 9 degrees (linear regression coefficient: -1.3, 95% confidence interval: -2.6 to -0.03). The age of achieving the motor milestones "lifting the head to 45 degrees in prone position", "rolling", and "supported-" and "unsupported standing" were not

  6. From Kissing to Coitus? Sex-of-Partner Differences in the Sexual Milestone Achievement of Young Men

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smiler, Andrew P.; Frankel, Loren B. W.; Savin-Williams, Ritch C.

    2011-01-01

    Scientific information regarding normative patterns of young men's sexual behavior is insufficient, especially regarding the impact of sex of partner. We explored the age at which 255 young adult men achieved several milestones (e.g., first kiss, manual-genital contact, intercourse) as well as the sequence of milestone achievement and stability in…

  7. Milestones in software engineering and knowledge engineering history: a comparative review.

    PubMed

    del Águila, Isabel M; Palma, José; Túnez, Samuel

    2014-01-01

    We present a review of the historical evolution of software engineering, intertwining it with the history of knowledge engineering because "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This retrospective represents a further step forward to understanding the current state of both types of engineerings; history has also positive experiences; some of them we would like to remember and to repeat. Two types of engineerings had parallel and divergent evolutions but following a similar pattern. We also define a set of milestones that represent a convergence or divergence of the software development methodologies. These milestones do not appear at the same time in software engineering and knowledge engineering, so lessons learned in one discipline can help in the evolution of the other one.

  8. Fast and efficient indexing approach for object recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hefnawy, Alaa; Mashali, Samia A.; Rashwan, Mohsen; Fikri, Magdi

    1999-08-01

    This paper introduces a fast and efficient indexing approach for both 2D and 3D model-based object recognition in the presence of rotation, translation, and scale variations of objects. The indexing entries are computed after preprocessing the data by Haar wavelet decomposition. The scheme is based on a unified image feature detection approach based on Zernike moments. A set of low level features, e.g. high precision edges, gray level corners, are estimated by a set of orthogonal Zernike moments, calculated locally around every image point. A high dimensional, highly descriptive indexing entries are then calculated based on the correlation of these local features and employed for fast access to the model database to generate hypotheses. A list of the most candidate models is then presented by evaluating the hypotheses. Experimental results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed indexing approach.

  9. Targeted Feedback in the Milestones Era: Utilization of the Ask-Tell-Ask Feedback Model to Promote Reflection and Self-Assessment.

    PubMed

    French, Judith C; Colbert, Colleen Y; Pien, Lily C; Dannefer, Elaine F; Taylor, Christine A

    2015-01-01

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Milestones Project focuses trainee education on the formation of valued behaviors and skills believed to be necessary for trainees to become independent practitioners. The development and refinement of behaviors and skills outlined within the milestones will require learners to monitor, reflect, and assess their own performance over time. External feedback provides an opportunity for learners to recalibrate their self-assessments, thereby enabling them to develop better self-monitoring and self-assessment skills. Yet, feedback to trainees is frequently generic, such as "great job," "nice work," or "you need to read more." In this article, we describe a feedback model that faculty can use to provide specific feedback, while increasing accountability for learners. We offer practical examples of its use in a variety of settings in the milestone era. The Ask-Tell-Ask (ATA) patient communication skills strategy, which was adapted for use as a trainee feedback model 10 years ago at our institution, is a learner-centered approach for reinforcing and modifying behaviors. The model is efficient, promotes learner accountability, and helps trainees develop reflection and self-assessment skills. A feedback agreement further enhances ATA by establishing a shared understanding of goals for the educational encounter. The ATA feedback model, combined with a feedback agreement, encourages learners to self-identify strengths and areas for improvement, before receiving feedback. Personal monitoring, reflection, self-assessment, and increased accountability make ATA an ideal learner-centered feedback model for the milestones era, which focuses on performance improvement over time. We believe the introduction of the ATA feedback model in surgical training programs is a step in the right direction towards meaningful programmatic culture change. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier

  10. PSYCHE: An Object-Oriented Approach to Simulating Medical Education

    PubMed Central

    Mullen, Jamie A.

    1990-01-01

    Traditional approaches to computer-assisted instruction (CAI) do not provide realistic simulations of medical education, in part because they do not utilize heterogeneous knowledge bases for their source of domain knowledge. PSYCHE, a CAI program designed to teach hypothetico-deductive psychiatric decision-making to medical students, uses an object-oriented implementation of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) to model the student, domain expert, and tutor. It models the transactions between the participants in complex transaction chains, and uses heterogeneous knowledge bases to represent both domain and procedural knowledge in clinical medicine. This object-oriented approach is a flexible and dynamic approach to modeling, and represents a potentially valuable tool for the investigation of medical education and decision-making.

  11. Apparatus as Milestones in the History of Comparative Psychology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Washburn, David A.; Rumbaugh, Duane M.; Putney, R. Thompson

    1994-01-01

    Significant apparatus developments from the history of comparative psychology are reviewed, including the contemporary trend toward computer use in research with nonhuman animals. It is argued that milestone apparatus served not only to open new lines of inquiry but also to shape or delimit the nature of the answers that were obtained.

  12. Space The New Medical Frontier / NASA Spinoffs Milestones in Space Research

    MedlinePlus

    ... occasion. Photo courtesy of NIH Long-Term Space Research Until the advent of the ISS, research missions ... improving human health." NASA Spinoffs Milestones in Space Research Inspired by the space suits Apollo astronauts wore ...

  13. Age of Achievement of Gross Motor Milestones in Infancy and Adiposity at Age 3 Years

    PubMed Central

    Neelon, Sara E. Benjamin; Oken, Emily; Taveras, Elsie M.; Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl L.; Gillman, Matthew W.

    2011-01-01

    Early life physical activity may help prevent obesity but is difficult to measure. The purpose of this study was to examine associations of age of achievement of gross motor milestones in infancy with adiposity at age 3 years. Seven forty one mother/infant dyads participated in a longitudinal study in Massachusetts. Exposures were age of attainment of 4 gross motor milestones—rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking. Outcomes were 3-year sum of subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness (SS + TR) for overall adiposity, their ratio (SS:TR) for central adiposity, and body mass index (BMI) z-score. We used linear regression models adjusted for confounders to examine motor milestone achievement and later adiposity. Rolling over (0.04, 95% CI: 0.008, 0.07) and sitting up (0.02, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.05) at ≥6 months were associated with increased SS:TR compared with attainment before 6 months. Walking at ≥15 months was associated with 0.98 mm higher SS + TR (95% CI: 0.05, 1.91) compared with walking before 12 months. Age at crawling was not associated with the outcomes. None of the milestones were associated with BMI z-score. Age of motor milestone achievement was only a modest predictor of adiposity. Later rolling over and sitting up were associated with greater central adiposity, and later age at walking was associated with greater overall adiposity at age 3 years. Although we controlled for birth weight and 6-month weight-for-length in our models, more detailed assessment of early adiposity prior to achievement of motor milestones is needed to help determine causality. PMID:21643834

  14. Milestones in Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering History: A Comparative Review

    PubMed Central

    del Águila, Isabel M.; Palma, José; Túnez, Samuel

    2014-01-01

    We present a review of the historical evolution of software engineering, intertwining it with the history of knowledge engineering because “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This retrospective represents a further step forward to understanding the current state of both types of engineerings; history has also positive experiences; some of them we would like to remember and to repeat. Two types of engineerings had parallel and divergent evolutions but following a similar pattern. We also define a set of milestones that represent a convergence or divergence of the software development methodologies. These milestones do not appear at the same time in software engineering and knowledge engineering, so lessons learned in one discipline can help in the evolution of the other one. PMID:24624046

  15. Birth Cohort Differences in Sexual Identity Development Milestones among HIV-Negative Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States.

    PubMed

    Grov, Christian; Rendina, H Jonathon; Parsons, Jeffrey T

    2017-10-12

    The coming-out process for gay and bisexual men (GBM) involves crossing sexual identity development (SID) milestones: (1) self-awareness of sexual attraction to the same sex, (2) self-acceptance of an identity as gay or bisexual, (3) disclosure of this sexual identity to others, and (4) having sex with someone of the same sex. We examined trends in SID milestones by birth cohort in a 2015 U.S. national sample of GBM (n = 1,023). Birth cohort was independent of when men first felt sexually attracted to someone of the same sex (median age 11 to 12). However, with the exception of age of first same-sex attraction, older cohorts tended to pass other milestones at later ages than younger cohorts. Latent class analysis (LCA) of SID milestone patterns identified three subgroups. The majority (84%) began sexual identity development with same-sex attraction around the onset of puberty (i.e., around age 10) and progressed to self-identification, same-sex sexual activity, and coming out-in that order. The other two classes felt same-sex attraction during teen years (ages 12.5 to 18.0) but achieved the remaining SID milestones later in life. For 13% of men, this was during early adulthood; for 3% of men, this was in middle adulthood. Findings highlight the need to monitor ongoing generational differences in passing SID milestones.

  16. Milestone Completion Report WBS 1.3.5.05 ECP/VTK-m FY17Q2 [MS-17/01] Better Dynamic Types Design SDA05-1

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

    Moreland, Kenneth D.

    The FY17Q2 milestone of the ECP/VTK-m project, which is the first milestone, includes the completion of design documents for the introduction of virtual methods into the VTK-m framework. Specifically, the ability from within the code of a device (e.g. GPU or Xeon Phi) to jump to a virtual method specified at run time. This change will enable us to drastically reduce the compile time and the executable code size for the VTK-m library. Our first design introduced the idea of adding virtual functions to classes that are used during algorithm execution. (Virtual methods were previously banned from the so calledmore » execution environment.) The design was straightforward. VTK-m already has the generic concepts of an “array handle” that provides a uniform interface to memory of different structures and an “array portal” that provides generic access to said memory. These array handles and portals use C++ templating to adjust them to different memory structures. This composition provides a powerful ability to adapt to data sources, but requires knowing static types. The proposed design creates a template specialization of an array portal that decorates another array handle while hiding its type. In this way we can wrap any type of static array handle and then feed it to a single compiled instance of a function. The second design focused on the mechanics of implementing virtual methods on parallel devices with a focus on CUDA. Our initial experiments on CUDA showed a very large overhead for using virtual C++ classes with virtual methods, the standard approach. Instead, we are using an alternate method provided by C that uses function pointers. With the completion of this milestone, we are able to move to the implementation of objects with virtual (like) methods. The upshot will be much faster compile times and much smaller library/executable sizes.« less

  17. A parallel approach of COFFEE objective function to multiple sequence alignment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zafalon, G. F. D.; Visotaky, J. M. V.; Amorim, A. R.; Valêncio, C. R.; Neves, L. A.; de Souza, R. C. G.; Machado, J. M.

    2015-09-01

    The computational tools to assist genomic analyzes show even more necessary due to fast increasing of data amount available. With high computational costs of deterministic algorithms for sequence alignments, many works concentrate their efforts in the development of heuristic approaches to multiple sequence alignments. However, the selection of an approach, which offers solutions with good biological significance and feasible execution time, is a great challenge. Thus, this work aims to show the parallelization of the processing steps of MSA-GA tool using multithread paradigm in the execution of COFFEE objective function. The standard objective function implemented in the tool is the Weighted Sum of Pairs (WSP), which produces some distortions in the final alignments when sequences sets with low similarity are aligned. Then, in studies previously performed we implemented the COFFEE objective function in the tool to smooth these distortions. Although the nature of COFFEE objective function implies in the increasing of execution time, this approach presents points, which can be executed in parallel. With the improvements implemented in this work, we can verify the execution time of new approach is 24% faster than the sequential approach with COFFEE. Moreover, the COFFEE multithreaded approach is more efficient than WSP, because besides it is slightly fast, its biological results are better.

  18. The Decision to Incision Curriculum: Teaching Preoperative Skills and Achieving Level 1 Milestones.

    PubMed

    Skinner, Bethany; Morgan, Helen; Kobernik, Emily; Kamdar, Neil; Curran, Diana; Marzano, David; Hammoud, Maya

    2016-01-01

    To evaluate the effectiveness of a preoperative skills curriculum, and to assess and document competence in associated Obstetrics and Gynecology Level 1 Milestones. The Decision to Incision curriculum was developed by a team of medical educators with the goal of teaching and evaluating 5 skills pertinent to Milestone 1: Preoperative consent, patient positioning, Foley catheter placement, surgical scrub, and preoperative time-out. Competence, overall skill performance, and knowledge were assessed by evaluator rating using checklists before and after the educational intervention. Differences between preintervention and postintervention skills performance and competence were assessed using Wilcoxon rank test and Fisher exact test, respectively. Clinical Simulation Center at an academic medical center. Overall, 29 fourth year medical students matriculating into Obstetrics and Gynecology residencies. The proportion of participants meeting Milestone competence significantly increased in all 5 skills, with competence achieved in 95.6% (95% CI: 92.1-99.0) of posttest skills assessments. Median overall performance also significantly improved for all 5 skills, with 83.6% (95% CI: 77.3-89.9) earning scores of 4 out of 5 or greater on the posttest. For knowledge testing, the proportion of correct responses significantly increased for both topics evaluated, from 45.2% to 99.7% (p < 0.0001) for positioning and from 32.8% to 83.1% (p < 0.0001) for time-out. The decision to incision curriculum significantly improved preoperative skills, including skills that may be required on day 1 of residency. This curriculum also facilitated achievement and documentation of competence in multiple Milestones. Copyright © 2016 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. University Facilitation of School Restructuring: Critical Milestones for Organization Transformation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davidson, Betty M.; Allen-Haynes, Leetta

    Critical milestones in the university facilitation of meaningful school reform in schools serving at-risk students--schoolwide assessment, cadre-based planning, and pilot testing of new strategies--are examined in this paper. A training and facilitation mechanism developed by the University of New Orleans' (UNO) Louisiana Accelerated Schools…

  20. Milestone Deliverable: FY18-Q1: Deploy production sliding mesh capability with linear solver benchmarking.

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

    Domino, Stefan P.

    2017-12-01

    This milestone was focused on deploying and verifying a “sliding-mesh interface,” and establishing baseline timings for blade-resolved simulations of a sub-MW-scale turbine. In the ExaWind project, we are developing both sliding-mesh and overset-mesh approaches for handling the rotating blades in an operating wind turbine. In the sliding-mesh approach, the turbine rotor and its immediate surrounding fluid are captured in a “disk” that is embedded in the larger fluid domain. The embedded fluid is simulated in a coordinate system that rotates with the rotor. It is important that the coupling algorithm (and its implementation) between the rotating and inertial discrete modelsmore » maintains the accuracy of the numerical methods on either side of the interface, i.e., the interface is “design order.”« less

  1. Fine motor and self-care milestones for individuals with Down syndrome using a Retrospective Chart Review.

    PubMed

    Frank, K; Esbensen, A J

    2015-08-01

    Developmental milestone markers for fine motor and self-care skills among children with Down syndrome (DS) are either minimal, anecdotal or out-of date. Our goal was to produce normative expectations for the development of fine motor and self-care milestones specific to children with DS. A cross-sectional retrospective chart review was completed on 274 children with DS seen at a specialty clinic that ranged in age from 4 months to 18 years. Specific skills were assessed at occupational therapy assessments as either present or absent, including fine motor, handwriting, scissor usage, self-feeding and clothing management. Fine motor milestones describing when 10-30% ('early achievers') and 75-95% ('representative achievement') of children with DS had mastered each skill were developed based upon descriptive review. As the fine motor and self-care skills advanced in complexity, the range of ages for documented skill acquisition was observed to increase. Age ranges for the mastery of fine motor developmental milestones for early and representative achievement were developed based upon descriptive analysis of cross-sectional retrospective clinical chart reviews. That the age range for mastering fine motor and self-care skills broadens as children with DS get older is in agreement with what is identified in the DS behavioural phenotype with regard to variable motor skills overall. These fine motor and self-care developmental milestone markers contribute to the field by informing parents, caregivers and healthcare providers of potential fine motor and self-care outcomes and describing normative development for children with DS. © 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Social Development and Feeding Milestones of Young Down Syndrome Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    And Others; Cullen, Susan M.

    1981-01-01

    The data revealed that young Down syndrome children attained significantly higher scores on the Vineland Social Maturity Scale and achieved most feeding milestones much earlier if they had no or only mild congenital heart disease, if their parents followed through appropriately with furnished guidance, and if they had "good" muscle tone. (Author)

  3. Aries x ray objective grating spectrograph

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Catura, R. C.

    1991-01-01

    This investigation was initiated in June of 1983. An Aries payload involving a single Wolter 1 telescope was developed and flown under a previous contract and the objective of this work was to add two additional mirrors, nested inside of the then existing mirror and add 12 objective reflection gratings to convert the telescope into a spectrograph. A summary of major milestones in the investigation are given. Results of efforts under this contract prior to 1987 are presented in the form of four reprints of published papers attached to this report. Results of the gamma-ray research are also included in the form of an attached reprint. A summary of other work under the contract since 1987 is given.

  4. Analyzing milestoning networks for molecular kinetics: definitions, algorithms, and examples.

    PubMed

    Viswanath, Shruthi; Kreuzer, Steven M; Cardenas, Alfredo E; Elber, Ron

    2013-11-07

    Network representations are becoming increasingly popular for analyzing kinetic data from techniques like Milestoning, Markov State Models, and Transition Path Theory. Mapping continuous phase space trajectories into a relatively small number of discrete states helps in visualization of the data and in dissecting complex dynamics to concrete mechanisms. However, not only are molecular networks derived from molecular dynamics simulations growing in number, they are also getting increasingly complex, owing partly to the growth in computer power that allows us to generate longer and better converged trajectories. The increased complexity of the networks makes simple interpretation and qualitative insight of the molecular systems more difficult to achieve. In this paper, we focus on various network representations of kinetic data and algorithms to identify important edges and pathways in these networks. The kinetic data can be local and partial (such as the value of rate coefficients between states) or an exact solution to kinetic equations for the entire system (such as the stationary flux between vertices). In particular, we focus on the Milestoning method that provides fluxes as the main output. We proposed Global Maximum Weight Pathways as a useful tool for analyzing molecular mechanism in Milestoning networks. A closely related definition was made in the context of Transition Path Theory. We consider three algorithms to find Global Maximum Weight Pathways: Recursive Dijkstra's, Edge-Elimination, and Edge-List Bisection. The asymptotic efficiency of the algorithms is analyzed and numerical tests on finite networks show that Edge-List Bisection and Recursive Dijkstra's algorithms are most efficient for sparse and dense networks, respectively. Pathways are illustrated for two examples: helix unfolding and membrane permeation. Finally, we illustrate that networks based on local kinetic information can lead to incorrect interpretation of molecular mechanisms.

  5. [An analysis of residents' self-evaluation and faculty-evaluation in internal medicine standardized residency training program using Milestones evaluation system].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Y; Chu, X T; Zeng, X J; Li, H; Zhang, F C; Zhang, S Y; Shen, T

    2018-06-01

    Objective: To assess the value of internal medicine residency training program at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), and the feasibility of applying revised Milestones evaluation system. Methods: Postgraduate-year-one to four (PGY-1 to PGY-4) residents in PUMCH finished the revised Milestones evaluation scales in September 2017. Residents' self-evaluation and faculty-evaluation scores were calculated. Statistical analysis was conducted on the data. Results: A total of 207 residents were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Both self and faculty scores showed an increasing trend in senior residents. PGY-1 residents were assessed during their first month of residency with scores of 4 points or higher, suggesting that residents have a high starting level. More strikingly, the mean score in PGY-4 was 7 points or higher, proving the career development of residency training program. There was no statistically significant difference between total self- and faculty-evaluation scores. Evaluation scores of learning ability and communication ability were lower in faculty group ( t =-2.627, -4.279, all P <0.05). The scores in graduate students were lower than those in standardized training residents. Conclusions: The goal of national standardized residency training is to improve the quality of healthcare and residents' career development. The evaluation results would guide curriculum design and emphasize the importance and necessity of multi-level teaching. Self-evaluation contributes to the understanding of training objectives and personal cognition.

  6. The IJHPR publishes its 100th article, and other momentous milestones.

    PubMed

    Rosen, Bruce; Israeli, Avi

    2013-12-19

    The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) was launched in January 2012 and it is now publishing its 100th article. It was accepted into PubMed after only six months of publication and it has now also been accepted by Thomson Reuters for inclusion in the Web of Science as well as the Social Science Citation Index. It is rare for a new journal to reach these milestones at such an early stage in its development.One of the key factors in the journal's acceptance into these prestigious databases has been its unique national/international approach - exploring both what Israel can learn from health systems in other countries and what other countries can learn from Israeli health care. Another key factor has been its ability to attract high quality contributions from virtually all of the Israeli universities and research centers involved in health policy. A third important factor has been the journal's ability to engage leading international scholars as contributors and/or editorial board members.

  7. An Object-Oriented Approach for Analyzing CALIPSO's Profile Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trepte, C. R.

    2016-12-01

    The CALIPSO satellite mission is a pioneering international partnership between NASA and the French Space Agency, CNES. Since launch on 28 April 2006, CALIPSO has been acquiring near-continuous lidar profile observations of clouds and aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere. Many studies have profitably used these observations to advance our understanding of climate, weather and air quality. For the most part, however, these studies have considered CALIPSO profile measurements independent from one another and have not related each to neighboring or family observations within a cloud element or aerosol feature. In this presentation we describe an alternative approach that groups measurements into objects visually identified from CALIPSO browse images. The approach makes use of the Visualization of CALIPSO (VOCAL) software tool that enables a user to outline a region of interest and save coordinates into a database. The selected features or objects can then be analyzed to explore spatial correlations over the feature's domain and construct bulk statistical properties for each structure. This presentation will show examples that examine cirrus and dust layers and will describe how this object-oriented approach can provide added insight into physical processes beyond conventional statistical treatments. It will further show results with combined measurements from other A-Train sensors to highlight advantages of viewing features in this manner.

  8. Geo-Informatics in India: Major Milestones and Present Scenario

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, S.; Karnatak, H.; Raju, P. L. N.

    2016-06-01

    Geo-informatics has emerged globally as a useful tool to address spatial problems with significant societal implications that require integrative and innovative approaches for analysis, modelling, managing, and archiving of extensive and diverse data sets. Breakneck technological development and availability of satellite based data and information services in public domain along with real time geo-data n through participatory approaches, in the two last decades have led to a sea-change in our know-how of our natural resources and their effective management at various levels. It has led to a realization that every phenomena and requirement in our day to day life has some spatial, or geographic component that can be predicted and governed more effectively through geoinformatics tool. India also has come a long way in effective utilization of geoinformatics for various applications. This quantum leap owes its foundation in a humble beginning about half century back and almost parallel developments in the country's space programme to a current level where it touches almost all areas of life and living. Though geoinformatics technology (GIT) is believed to reach satisfactory level in the country, Indian geospatial community faces critical challenges with respect to research, education and training along with enhanced the access to the stakeholders and mobilization of the workforce, that are crucial in further penetration of this technology in context to India's development. In this paper we have critically reviewed milestones of GI development and its current utilization status in Indian context.

  9. Fuego/Scefire MPMD Coupling L2 Milestone Executive Summary

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

    Pierce, Flint; Tencer, John; Pautz, Shawn D.

    2017-09-01

    This milestone campaign was focused on coupling Sandia physics codes SIERRA low Mach module Fuego and RAMSES Boltzmann transport code Sceptre(Scefire). Fuego enables simulation of low Mach, turbulent, reacting, particle laden flows on unstructured meshes using CVFEM for abnormal thermal environments throughout SNL and the larger national security community. Sceptre provides simulation for photon, neutron, and charged particle transport on unstructured meshes using Discontinuous Galerkin for radiation effects calculations at SNL and elsewhere. Coupling these ”best of breed” codes enables efficient modeling of thermal/fluid environments with radiation transport, including fires (pool, propellant, composite) as well as those with directed radiantmore » fluxes. We seek to improve the experience of Fuego users who require radiation transport capabilities in two ways. The first is performance. We achieve this through leveraging additional computational resources for Scefire, reducing calculation times while leaving unaffected resources for fluid physics. This approach is new to Fuego, which previously utilized the same resources for both fluid and radiation solutions. The second improvement enables new radiation capabilities, including spectral (banded) radiation, beam boundary sources, and alternate radiation solvers (i.e. Pn). This summary provides an overview of these achievements.« less

  10. Chronology of Milestones for Libraries and Adult Lifelong Learning and Literacy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCook, Kathleen de la Pena; Barber, Peggy

    This chronology highlights milestones for libraries and adult lifelong learning and literacy from 1924-2001, including the following events: William S. Learned's "The American Public Library and the Diffusion of Knowledge" is published (1924); establishment of the ALA (American Library Association) Adult Education Section (1946); the…

  11. 20 CFR 411.535 - Under what circumstances will milestones be paid?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Under what circumstances will milestones be paid? 411.535 Section 411.535 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.535 Under what circumstances will...

  12. 20 CFR 411.535 - Under what circumstances will milestones be paid?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Under what circumstances will milestones be paid? 411.535 Section 411.535 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.535 Under what circumstances will...

  13. 20 CFR 411.535 - Under what circumstances will milestones be paid?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Under what circumstances will milestones be paid? 411.535 Section 411.535 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.535 Under what circumstances will...

  14. 20 CFR 411.535 - Under what circumstances will milestones be paid?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Under what circumstances will milestones be paid? 411.535 Section 411.535 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.535 Under what circumstances will...

  15. 20 CFR 411.535 - Under what circumstances will milestones be paid?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Under what circumstances will milestones be paid? 411.535 Section 411.535 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.535 Under what circumstances will...

  16. A multi-objective approach to solid waste management.

    PubMed

    Galante, Giacomo; Aiello, Giuseppe; Enea, Mario; Panascia, Enrico

    2010-01-01

    The issue addressed in this paper consists in the localization and dimensioning of transfer stations, which constitute a necessary intermediate level in the logistic chain of the solid waste stream, from municipalities to the incinerator. Contextually, the determination of the number and type of vehicles involved is carried out in an integrated optimization approach. The model considers both initial investment and operative costs related to transportation and transfer stations. Two conflicting objectives are evaluated, the minimization of total cost and the minimization of environmental impact, measured by pollution. The design of the integrated waste management system is hence approached in a multi-objective optimization framework. To determine the best means of compromise, goal programming, weighted sum and fuzzy multi-objective techniques have been employed. The proposed analysis highlights how different attitudes of the decision maker towards the logic and structure of the problem result in the employment of different methodologies and the obtaining of different results. The novel aspect of the paper lies in the proposal of an effective decision support system for operative waste management, rather than a further contribution to the transportation problem. The model was applied to the waste management of optimal territorial ambit (OTA) of Palermo (Italy). 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. A multi-objective approach to solid waste management

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

    Galante, Giacomo, E-mail: galante@dtpm.unipa.i; Aiello, Giuseppe; Enea, Mario

    2010-08-15

    The issue addressed in this paper consists in the localization and dimensioning of transfer stations, which constitute a necessary intermediate level in the logistic chain of the solid waste stream, from municipalities to the incinerator. Contextually, the determination of the number and type of vehicles involved is carried out in an integrated optimization approach. The model considers both initial investment and operative costs related to transportation and transfer stations. Two conflicting objectives are evaluated, the minimization of total cost and the minimization of environmental impact, measured by pollution. The design of the integrated waste management system is hence approached inmore » a multi-objective optimization framework. To determine the best means of compromise, goal programming, weighted sum and fuzzy multi-objective techniques have been employed. The proposed analysis highlights how different attitudes of the decision maker towards the logic and structure of the problem result in the employment of different methodologies and the obtaining of different results. The novel aspect of the paper lies in the proposal of an effective decision support system for operative waste management, rather than a further contribution to the transportation problem. The model was applied to the waste management of optimal territorial ambit (OTA) of Palermo (Italy).« less

  18. FY17 CSSE L2 Milestone Report: Analyzing Power Usage Characteristics of Workloads Running on Trinity.

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

    Pedretti, Kevin

    This report summarizes the work performed as part of a FY17 CSSE L2 milestone to in- vestigate the power usage behavior of ASC workloads running on the ATS-1 Trinity plat- form. Techniques were developed to instrument application code regions of interest using the Power API together with the Kokkos profiling interface and Caliper annotation library. Experiments were performed to understand the power usage behavior of mini-applications and the SNL/ATDM SPARC application running on ATS-1 Trinity Haswell and Knights Landing compute nodes. A taxonomy of power measurement approaches was identified and presented, providing a guide for application developers to follow. Controlledmore » scaling study experiments were performed on up to 2048 nodes of Trinity along with smaller scale ex- periments on Trinity testbed systems. Additionally, power and energy system monitoring information from Trinity was collected and archived for post analysis of "in-the-wild" work- loads. Results were analyzed to assess the sensitivity of the workloads to ATS-1 compute node type (Haswell vs. Knights Landing), CPU frequency control, node-level power capping control, OpenMP configuration, Knights Landing on-package memory configuration, and algorithm/solver configuration. Overall, this milestone lays groundwork for addressing the long-term goal of determining how to best use and operate future ASC platforms to achieve the greatest benefit subject to a constrained power budget.« less

  19. Conditioned Object Preference: An Alternative Approach to Measuring Reward Learning in Rats

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Bruce C.; Kohli, Maulika; Maertens, Jamie J.; Marell, Paulina S.; Gewirtz, Jonathan C.

    2016-01-01

    Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior can be directed as much toward discrete cues as it is toward the environmental contexts in which those cues are encountered. The current experiments characterized a tendency of rats to approach object cues whose prior exposure had been paired with reward (conditioned object preference, COP). To demonstrate…

  20. Learning Objects Update: Review and Critical Approach to Content Aggregation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balatsoukas, Panos; Morris, Anne; O'Brien, Ann

    2008-01-01

    The structure and composite nature of a learning object is still open to interpretation. Although several theoretical studies advocate integrated approaches to the structure and aggregation level of learning objects, in practice, many content specifications, such as SCORM, IMS Content Packaging, and course authoring tools, do not explicitly state…

  1. An object-based approach to weather analysis and its applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Troemel, Silke; Diederich, Malte; Horvath, Akos; Simmer, Clemens; Kumjian, Matthew

    2013-04-01

    The research group 'Object-based Analysis and SEamless prediction' (OASE) within the Hans Ertel Centre for Weather Research programme (HErZ) pursues an object-based approach to weather analysis. The object-based tracking approach adopts the Lagrange perspective by identifying and following the development of convective events over the course of their lifetime. Prerequisites of the object-based analysis are a high-resolved observational data base and a tracking algorithm. A near real-time radar and satellite remote sensing-driven 3D observation-microphysics composite covering Germany, currently under development, contains gridded observations and estimated microphysical quantities. A 3D scale-space tracking identifies convective rain events in the dual-composite and monitors the development over the course of their lifetime. The OASE-group exploits the object-based approach in several fields of application: (1) For a better understanding and analysis of precipitation processes responsible for extreme weather events, (2) in nowcasting, (3) as a novel approach for validation of meso-γ atmospheric models, and (4) in data assimilation. Results from the different fields of application will be presented. The basic idea of the object-based approach is to identify a small set of radar- and satellite derived descriptors which characterize the temporal development of precipitation systems which constitute the objects. So-called proxies of the precipitation process are e.g. the temporal change of the brightband, vertically extensive columns of enhanced differential reflectivity ZDR or the cloud top temperature and heights identified in the 4D field of ground-based radar reflectivities and satellite retrievals generated by a cell during its life time. They quantify (micro-) physical differences among rain events and relate to the precipitation yield. Analyses on the informative content of ZDR columns as precursor for storm evolution for example will be presented to demonstrate

  2. Near-Earth object hazardous impact: A Multi-Criteria Decision Making approach.

    PubMed

    Sánchez-Lozano, J M; Fernández-Martínez, M

    2016-11-16

    The impact of a near-Earth object (NEO) may release large amounts of energy and cause serious damage. Several NEO hazard studies conducted over the past few years provide forecasts, impact probabilities and assessment ratings, such as the Torino and Palermo scales. These high-risk NEO assessments involve several criteria, including impact energy, mass, and absolute magnitude. The main objective of this paper is to provide the first Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach to classify hazardous NEOs. Our approach applies a combination of two methods from a widely utilized decision making theory. Specifically, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology is employed to determine the criteria weights, which influence the decision making, and the Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to obtain a ranking of alternatives (potentially hazardous NEOs). In addition, NEO datasets provided by the NASA Near-Earth Object Program are utilized. This approach allows the classification of NEOs by descending order of their TOPSIS ratio, a single quantity that contains all of the relevant information for each object.

  3. Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Baird, Abigail A; Kagan, Jerome; Gaudette, Thomas; Walz, Kathryn A; Hershlag, Natalie; Boas, David A

    2002-08-01

    The ability to create and hold a mental schema of an object is one of the milestones in cognitive development. Developmental scientists have named the behavioral manifestation of this competence object permanence. Convergent evidence indicates that frontal lobe maturation plays a critical role in the display of object permanence, but methodological and ethical constrains have made it difficult to collect neurophysiological evidence from awake, behaving infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides a noninvasive assessment of changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin concentration within a prescribed region. The evidence described in this report reveals that the emergence of object permanence is related to an increase in hemoglobin concentration in frontal cortex.

  4. No Differences in Achieving Hepatitis C Virus Care Milestones Between Patients Identified by Birth Cohort or Risk-Based Screening.

    PubMed

    Norton, Brianna L; Southern, William N; Steinman, Meredith; Smith, Bryce D; Deluca, Joseph; Rosner, Zachary; Litwin, Alain H

    2016-09-01

    National hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening guidelines recommended 1-time testing of persons born between 1945 and 1965. We performed a retrospective study to compare care milestones achieved by HCV-infected patients identified by birth cohort versus risk-based screens. We determined the proportions of patients newly identified with HCV infection who met care milestones (viral load, referral to and evaluation by a specialist, offer of treatment, initiation of treatment, and sustained viral response) and the time it took to reach them. We found no differences in HCV care milestones for patients identified via birth cohort testing versus risk-based screening. Overall, only 43% of HCV antibody-positive patients were referred to care, and less than 4% started treatment. The time to each care milestone was lengthy and varied greatly; treatment was initiated in a median of 308 days. Although birth cohort testing will likely increase identification of patients with HCV infection, it does not seem to increase the number of patients that meet management milestones. New methods are needed to increase access to care and establish efficient models of health care delivery. Copyright © 2016 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. 20 CFR 411.560 - Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... (including a State VR agency acting as an EN) to receive payment based on the same milestone or outcome. If the beneficiary has assigned the ticket to more than one EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) at different times, and more than one EN (or State VR agency) requests payment for the same milestone, outcome...

  6. 20 CFR 411.560 - Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... (including a State VR agency acting as an EN) to receive payment based on the same milestone or outcome. If the beneficiary has assigned the ticket to more than one EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) at different times, and more than one EN (or State VR agency) requests payment for the same milestone, outcome...

  7. Immunizations and Developmental Milestones for Your Child from Birth Through 6 Years Old

    MedlinePlus

    ... type b n Hib Pneumococcal n PCV Inactivated Poliovirus n IPV Influenza (Flu) Milestones should be achieved ... type b n Hib Pneumococcal n PCV Inactivated Poliovirus n IPV Influenza (Flu) n Influenza, first dose ...

  8. An object correlation and maneuver detection approach for space surveillance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Jian; Hu, Wei-Dong; Xin, Qin; Du, Xiao-Yong

    2012-10-01

    Object correlation and maneuver detection are persistent problems in space surveillance and maintenance of a space object catalog. We integrate these two problems into one interrelated problem, and consider them simultaneously under a scenario where space objects only perform a single in-track orbital maneuver during the time intervals between observations. We mathematically formulate this integrated scenario as a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation. In this work, we propose a novel approach to solve the MAP estimation. More precisely, the corresponding posterior probability of an orbital maneuver and a joint association event can be approximated by the Joint Probabilistic Data Association (JPDA) algorithm. Subsequently, the maneuvering parameters are estimated by optimally solving the constrained non-linear least squares iterative process based on the second-order cone programming (SOCP) algorithm. The desired solution is derived according to the MAP criterions. The performance and advantages of the proposed approach have been shown by both theoretical analysis and simulation results. We hope that our work will stimulate future work on space surveillance and maintenance of a space object catalog.

  9. [An object-oriented intelligent engineering design approach for lake pollution control].

    PubMed

    Zou, Rui; Zhou, Jing; Liu, Yong; Zhu, Xiang; Zhao, Lei; Yang, Ping-Jian; Guo, Huai-Cheng

    2013-03-01

    Regarding the shortage and deficiency of traditional lake pollution control engineering techniques, a new lake pollution control engineering approach was proposed in this study, based on object-oriented intelligent design (OOID) from the perspective of intelligence. It can provide a new methodology and framework for effectively controlling lake pollution and improving water quality. The differences between the traditional engineering techniques and the OOID approach were compared. The key points for OOID were described as object perspective, cause and effect foundation, set points into surface, and temporal and spatial optimization. The blue algae control in lake was taken as an example in this study. The effect of algae control and water quality improvement were analyzed in details from the perspective of object-oriented intelligent design based on two engineering techniques (vertical hydrodynamic mixer and pumping algaecide recharge). The modeling results showed that the traditional engineering design paradigm cannot provide scientific and effective guidance for engineering design and decision-making regarding lake pollution. Intelligent design approach is based on the object perspective and quantitative causal analysis in this case. This approach identified that the efficiency of mixers was much higher than pumps in achieving the goal of low to moderate water quality improvement. However, when the objective of water quality exceeded a certain value (such as the control objective of peak Chla concentration exceeded 100 microg x L(-1) in this experimental water), the mixer cannot achieve this goal. The pump technique can achieve the goal but with higher cost. The efficiency of combining the two techniques was higher than using one of the two techniques alone. Moreover, the quantitative scale control of the two engineering techniques has a significant impact on the actual project benefits and costs.

  10. Putting the pediatrics milestones into practice: a consensus roadmap and resource analysis.

    PubMed

    Schumacher, Daniel J; Spector, Nancy D; Calaman, Sharon; West, Daniel C; Cruz, Mario; Frohna, John G; Gonzalez Del Rey, Javier; Gustafson, Kristina K; Poynter, Sue Ellen; Rosenbluth, Glenn; Southgate, W Michael; Vinci, Robert J; Sectish, Theodore C

    2014-05-01

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has partnered with member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties to initiate the next steps in advancing competency-based assessment in residency programs. This initiative, known as the Milestone Project, is a paradigm shift from traditional assessment efforts and requires all pediatrics residency programs to report individual resident progression along a series of 4 to 5 developmental levels of performance, or milestones, for individual competencies every 6 months beginning in June 2014. The effort required to successfully make this shift is tremendous given the number of training programs, training institutions, and trainees. However, it holds great promise for achieving training outcomes that align with patient needs; developing a valid, reliable, and meaningful way to track residents' development; and providing trainees with a roadmap for learning. Recognizing the resources needed to implement this new system, the authors, all residency program leaders, provide their consensus view of the components necessary for implementing and sustaining this effort, including resource estimates for completing this work. The authors have identified 4 domains: (1) Program Review and Development of Stakeholders and Participants, (2) Assessment Methods and Validation, (3) Data and Assessment System Development, and (4) Summative Assessment and Feedback. This work can serve as a starting point and framework for collaboration with program, department, and institutional leaders to identify and garner necessary resources and plan for local and national efforts that will ensure successful transition to milestones-based assessment. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  11. Milestone Completion Report WBS 1.3.5.05 ECP/VTK-m FY17Q3 [MS-17/02] Faceted Surface Normals STDA05-3.

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

    Moreland, Kenneth D.

    2017-07-01

    The FY17Q3 milestone of the ECP/VTK-m project includes the completion of a VTK-m filter that computes normal vectors for surfaces. Normal vectors are those that point perpendicular to the surface and are an important direction when rendering the surface. The implementation includes the parallel algorithm itself, a filter module to simplify integrating it into other software, and documentation in the VTK-m Users’ Guide. With the completion of this milestone, we are able to necessary information to rendering systems to provide appropriate shading of surfaces. This milestone also feeds into subsequent milestones that progressively improve the approximation of surface direction.

  12. 48 CFR 1815.404-471 - NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective. 1815.404-471 Section 1815.404-471 Federal Acquisition Regulations System... NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 1815.404-471 NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective. ...

  13. 48 CFR 1815.404-471 - NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective. 1815.404-471 Section 1815.404-471 Federal Acquisition Regulations System... NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 1815.404-471 NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective. ...

  14. Social Withdrawal Behaviour at One Year of Age Is Associated with Delays in Reaching Language Milestones in the EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study.

    PubMed

    Guedeney, Antoine; Forhan, Anne; Larroque, Beatrice; de Agostini, Maria; Pingault, Jean-Baptiste; Heude, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social withdrawal behaviour at one year and motor and language milestones. One-year old children from the EDEN French population-based birth cohort study (Study on the pre- and postnatal determinants of the child's development and prospective health Birth Cohort Study) were included. Social withdrawal at one year was assessed by trained midwives using the Alarm Distress BaBy (ADBB) scale. Midwives concurrently examined infants' motor and language milestones. Parents reported on child's psychomotor and language milestones, during the interview with the midwife. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, social withdrawal behaviour was significantly associated with concurrent delays in motor and language milestones assessed by the midwife or the parents. Higher scores on social withdrawal behaviour as assessed with the ADBB were associated with delays in reaching language milestones, and to a lesser extent with lower motor ability scores. Taking the contribution of social withdrawal behaviour into account may help understand the unfolding of developmental difficulties in children.

  15. Milestones in the History of Ear Reconstruction.

    PubMed

    Berghaus, Alexander; Nicoló, Marion San

    2015-12-01

    The reconstruction of ear deformities has been challenging plastic surgeons since centuries. However, it is only in the 19th century that reports on partial and total ear reconstruction start increasing. In the quest for an aesthetically pleasing and natural-looking result, surgeons worked on the perfect framework and skin coverage. Different materials and flap techniques have evolved. Some were abandoned out of frustration, while others kept evolving over the years. In this article, we discuss the milestones in ear reconstruction-from ancient times to early attempts in Western civilization to the key chapters of ear reconstruction in the 20th century leading to the current techniques. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  16. 48 CFR 353.370-674 - Form HHS 674, Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Form HHS 674, Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective. 353.370-674 Section 353.370-674 Federal Acquisition Regulations System..., Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective. This form is available from local cost advisory personnel or PSC...

  17. An Approach to Object Recognition: Aligning Pictorial Descriptions.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-12-01

    PERFORMING 0RGANIZATION NAMIE ANDORS IS551. PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK Artificial Inteligence Laboratory AREKA A WORK UNIT NUMBERS ( 545 Technology... ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY A.I. Memo No. 931 December, 1986 AN APPROACH TO OBJECT RECOGNITION: ALIGNING PICTORIAL DESCRIPTIONS Shimon Ullman...within the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the A.I. Laboratory’s artificial intelligence

  18. Completion of Level 4 Milestone M4AT-15OR2301039 for the Johnson Noise Thermometry for Drift-free Temperature Measurements Work Package AT-15OR230103

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

    Britton Jr, Charles L.

    This memorandum constitutes our September 2015 level 4 milestone for the project entitled “Johnson Noise Thermometry for Drift-free Temperature Measurements” and satisfies the Milestone/Activity (Conclude HFIR field demonstration of JNT prototype). The progress summary describes the work performed to complete the subject milestone.

  19. Correlations Between Ratings on the Resident Annual Evaluation Summary and the Internal Medicine Milestones and Association With ABIM Certification Examination Scores Among US Internal Medicine Residents, 2013-2014.

    PubMed

    Hauer, Karen E; Vandergrift, Jonathan; Hess, Brian; Lipner, Rebecca S; Holmboe, Eric S; Hood, Sarah; Iobst, William; Hamstra, Stanley J; McDonald, Furman S

    2016-12-06

    US internal medicine residency programs are now required to rate residents using milestones. Evidence of validity of milestone ratings is needed. To compare ratings of internal medicine residents using the pre-2015 resident annual evaluation summary (RAES), a nondevelopmental rating scale, with developmental milestone ratings. Cross-sectional study of US internal medicine residency programs in the 2013-2014 academic year, including 21 284 internal medicine residents (7048 postgraduate-year 1 [PGY-1], 7233 PGY-2, and 7003 PGY-3). Program director ratings on the RAES and milestone ratings. Correlations of RAES and milestone ratings by training year; correlations of medical knowledge ratings with American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) certification examination scores; rating of unprofessional behavior using the 2 systems. Corresponding RAES ratings and milestone ratings showed progressively higher correlations across training years, ranging among competencies from 0.31 (95% CI, 0.29 to 0.33) to 0.35 (95% CI, 0.33 to 0.37) for PGY-1 residents to 0.43 (95% CI, 0.41 to 0.45) to 0.52 (95% CI, 0.50 to 0.54) for PGY-3 residents (all P values <.05). Linear regression showed ratings differed more between PGY-1 and PGY-3 years using milestone ratings than the RAES (all P values <.001). Of the 6260 residents who attempted the certification examination, the 618 who failed had lower ratings using both systems for medical knowledge than did those who passed (RAES difference, -0.9; 95% CI, -1.0 to -0.8; P < .001; milestone medical knowledge 1 difference, -0.3; 95% CI, -0.3 to -0.3; P < .001; and medical knowledge 2 difference, -0.2; 95% CI, -0.3 to -0.2; P < .001). Of the 26 PGY-3 residents with milestone ratings indicating deficiencies on either of the 2 medical knowledge subcompetencies, 12 failed the certification examination. Correlation of RAES ratings for professionalism with residents' lowest professionalism milestone ratings was 0.44 (95% CI, 0.43 to 0

  20. Level-2 Milestone 3504: Scalable Applications Preparations and Outreach for the Sequoia ID (Dawn)

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

    Futral, W. Scott; Gyllenhaal, John C.; Hedges, Richard M.

    2010-07-02

    This report documents LLNL SAP project activities in anticipation of the ASC Sequoia system, ASC L2 milestone 3504: Scalable Applications Preparations and Outreach for the Sequoia ID (Dawn), due June 30, 2010.

  1. Application of a single-objective, hybrid genetic algorithm approach to pharmacokinetic model building.

    PubMed

    Sherer, Eric A; Sale, Mark E; Pollock, Bruce G; Belani, Chandra P; Egorin, Merrill J; Ivy, Percy S; Lieberman, Jeffrey A; Manuck, Stephen B; Marder, Stephen R; Muldoon, Matthew F; Scher, Howard I; Solit, David B; Bies, Robert R

    2012-08-01

    A limitation in traditional stepwise population pharmacokinetic model building is the difficulty in handling interactions between model components. To address this issue, a method was previously introduced which couples NONMEM parameter estimation and model fitness evaluation to a single-objective, hybrid genetic algorithm for global optimization of the model structure. In this study, the generalizability of this approach for pharmacokinetic model building is evaluated by comparing (1) correct and spurious covariate relationships in a simulated dataset resulting from automated stepwise covariate modeling, Lasso methods, and single-objective hybrid genetic algorithm approaches to covariate identification and (2) information criteria values, model structures, convergence, and model parameter values resulting from manual stepwise versus single-objective, hybrid genetic algorithm approaches to model building for seven compounds. Both manual stepwise and single-objective, hybrid genetic algorithm approaches to model building were applied, blinded to the results of the other approach, for selection of the compartment structure as well as inclusion and model form of inter-individual and inter-occasion variability, residual error, and covariates from a common set of model options. For the simulated dataset, stepwise covariate modeling identified three of four true covariates and two spurious covariates; Lasso identified two of four true and 0 spurious covariates; and the single-objective, hybrid genetic algorithm identified three of four true covariates and one spurious covariate. For the clinical datasets, the Akaike information criterion was a median of 22.3 points lower (range of 470.5 point decrease to 0.1 point decrease) for the best single-objective hybrid genetic-algorithm candidate model versus the final manual stepwise model: the Akaike information criterion was lower by greater than 10 points for four compounds and differed by less than 10 points for three

  2. Yang-Mills Theory at 60: Milestones, Landmarks and Interesting Questions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chau, Ling-Lie

    On the auspicious occasion of celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Yang-Mills theory, and Professor Yang's many other important contributions to physics and mathematics, I will highlight the impressive milestones and landmarks that have been established in the last 60 years, as well as some interesting questions that are worthy of answers from future researches. The paper is written (without equations) for the interest of non-scientists as well as of scientists.

  3. Comparison of developmental milestone attainment in early treated HIV-infected infants versus HIV-unexposed infants: a prospective cohort study.

    PubMed

    Benki-Nugent, Sarah; Wamalwa, Dalton; Langat, Agnes; Tapia, Kenneth; Adhiambo, Judith; Chebet, Daisy; Okinyi, Helen Moraa; John-Stewart, Grace

    2017-01-17

    Infant HIV infection is associated with delayed milestone attainment. The extent to which effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) prevents these delays is not well defined. Ages at attainment of milestones were compared between HIV-infected (initiated ART by age <5 months), and HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) infants. Kaplan Meier analyses were used to estimate and compare (log-rank tests) ages at milestones between groups. Adjusted analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards models. Seventy-three HIV-infected on ART (median enrollment age 3.7 months) and 92 HUU infants (median enrollment age 1.6 months) were followed prospectively. HIV-infected infants on ART had delays in developmental milestone attainment compared to HUU: median age at attainment of sitting with support, sitting unsupported, walking with support, walking unsupported, monosyllabic speech and throwing toys were each delayed (all p-values <0.0005). Compared with HUU, the subset of HIV-infected infants with both virologic suppression and immune recovery at 6 months had delays for speech (delay: 2.0 months; P = 0.0002) and trend to later walking unsupported. Among HIV-infected infants with poor 6-month post-ART responses (lacking viral suppression and immune recovery) there were greater delays versus HUU for: walking unsupported (delay: 4.0 months; P = 0.0001) and speech (delay: 5.0 months; P < 0.0001). HIV infected infants with viral suppression on ART had better recovery of developmental milestones than those without suppression, however, deficits persisted compared to uninfected infants. Earlier ART may be required for optimized cognitive outcomes in perinatally HIV-infected infants. NCT00428116 ; January 22, 2007.

  4. Endorsement and Timing of Sexual Orientation Developmental Milestones Among Sexual Minority Young Adults in the Growing Up Today Study

    PubMed Central

    Katz-Wise, Sabra L.; Rosario, Margaret; Calzo, Jerel P.; Scherer, Emily A.; Sarda, Vishnudas; Austin, S. Bryn

    2017-01-01

    This research examined endorsement and timing of sexual orientation developmental milestones. Participants were 1235 females and 398 males from the Growing Up Today Study, ages 22 to 29 years, who endorsed a sexual minority orientation (lesbian/gay, bisexual, mostly heterosexual) or reported same-gender sexual behavior (heterosexual with same-gender sexual experience). An online survey measured current sexual orientation and endorsement and timing (age first experienced) of five sexual orientation developmental milestones: same-gender attractions, other-gender attractions, same-gender sexual experience, other-gender sexual experience, and sexual minority identification. Descriptive analyses and analyses to test for gender and sexual orientation group differences were conducted. Results indicated that females were more likely than males to endorse same-gender attraction, other-gender attraction, and other-gender sexual experience, with the most gender differences in endorsement among mostly heterosexuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience. In general, males reached milestones earlier than females, with the most gender differences in timing among lesbian and gay individuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience. Results suggest that the three sexual minority developmental milestones may best characterize the experiences of lesbians, gay males, and female and male bisexuals. More research is needed to understand sexual orientation development among mostly heterosexuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience. PMID:27148762

  5. Endorsement and Timing of Sexual Orientation Developmental Milestones Among Sexual Minority Young Adults in the Growing Up Today Study.

    PubMed

    Katz-Wise, Sabra L; Rosario, Margaret; Calzo, Jerel P; Scherer, Emily A; Sarda, Vishnudas; Austin, S Bryn

    2017-02-01

    This research examined endorsement and timing of sexual orientation developmental milestones. Participants were 1,235 females and 398 males from the Growing Up Today Study, ages 22 to 29 years, who endorsed a sexual minority orientation (lesbian/gay, bisexual, mostly heterosexual) or reported same-gender sexual behavior (heterosexual with same-gender sexual experience). An online survey measured current sexual orientation and endorsement and timing (age first experienced) of five sexual orientation developmental milestones: same-gender attractions, other-gender attractions, same-gender sexual experience, other-gender sexual experience, and sexual minority identification. Descriptive analyses and analyses to test for gender and sexual orientation group differences were conducted. Results indicated that women were more likely than men to endorse same-gender attraction, other-gender attraction, and other-gender sexual experience, with the most gender differences in endorsement among mostly heterosexuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience. In general, men reached milestones earlier than women, with the most gender differences in timing among lesbian and gay individuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience. Results suggest that the three sexual minority developmental milestones may best characterize the experiences of lesbians, gay males, and female and male bisexuals. More research is needed to understand sexual orientation development among mostly heterosexuals and heterosexuals with same-gender sexual experience.

  6. Practical Implications for an Effective Radiology Residency Quality Improvement Program for Milestone Assessment.

    PubMed

    Leddy, Rebecca; Lewis, Madelene; Ackerman, Susan; Hill, Jeanne; Thacker, Paul; Matheus, Maria; Tipnis, Sameer; Gordon, Leonie

    2017-01-01

    Utilization of a radiology resident-specific quality improvement (QI) program and curriculum based on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones can enable a program's assessment of the systems-based practice component and prepare residents for QI implementation post graduation. This article outlines the development process, curriculum, QI committee formation, and resident QI project requirements of one institution's designated radiology resident QI program. A method of mapping the curriculum to the ACGME milestones and assessment of resident competence by postgraduate year level is provided. Sample projects, challenges to success, and lessons learned are also described. Survey data of current trainees and alumni about the program reveal that the majority of residents and alumni responders valued the QI curriculum and felt comfortable with principles and understanding of QI. The most highly valued aspect of the program was the utilization of a resident education committee. The majority of alumni responders felt the residency quality curriculum improved understanding of QI, assisted with preparation for the American Board of Radiology examination, and prepared them for QI in their careers. In addition to the survey results, outcomes of resident project completion and resident scholarly activity in QI are evidence of the success of this program. It is hoped that this description of our experiences with a radiology resident QI program, in accordance with the ACGME milestones, may facilitate the development of successful QI programs in other diagnostic radiology residencies. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. ALMA Achieves Major Milestone With Antenna-Link Success

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2007-03-01

    The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international telescope project, reached a major milestone on March 2, when two ALMA prototype antennas were first linked together as an integrated system to observe an astronomical object. The milestone achievement, technically termed "First Fringes," came at the ALMA Test Facility (ATF) on the grounds of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico. NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation (NSF), managed by Associated Universities, Incorporated (AUI). AUI also is designated by NSF as the North American Executive for ALMA. ALMA Test Facility ALMA Test Facility, New Mexico: VertexRSI antenna, left; AEC antenna, right. CREDIT: Drew Medlin, NRAO/AUI/NSF Click on image for page of graphics and full information Faint radio waves emitted by the planet Saturn were collected by the two ALMA antennas, then processed by new, state-of-the-art electronics to turn the two antennas into a single, high-resolution telescope system, called an interferometer. Such pairs of antennas are the basic building blocks of multi-antenna imaging systems such as ALMA and the VLA. In such a system, each antenna is combined electronically with every other antenna to form a multitude of pairs. Each pair contributes unique information that is used to build a highly-detailed image of the astronomical object under observation. When completed in 2012, ALMA will have 66 antennas. The successful Saturn observation began at 7:13 p.m., U.S. Mountain Time Friday (0213 UTC Saturday). The planet's radio emissions at a frequency of 104 GigaHertz (GHz) were tracked by the ALMA system for more than an hour. "Our congratulations go to the dedicated team of scientists, engineers and technicians who produced this groundbreaking achievement for ALMA. Much hard work and many long hours went into this effort, and we appreciate it all. This team should be very proud today," said NRAO

  8. Hydrogen milestone could help lower fossil fuel refining costs

    ScienceCinema

    McGraw, Jennifer

    2017-12-27

    Hydrogen researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have reached another milestone on the road to reducing carbon emissions and protecting the nation against the effects of peaking world oil production. Stephen Herring, laboratory fellow and technical director of the INL High Temperature Electrolysis team, today announced that the latest fuel cell modification has set a new mark in endurance. The group's Integrated Laboratory Scale experiment has now operated continuously for 2,583 hours at higher efficiencies than previously attained. Learn more about INL research at http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

  9. NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Milestone on Journey to Mars (QM-2)

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-06-28

    A booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), was fired up Tuesday, June 28 at 11:05 a.m. EDT for a second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah. This was the last full-scale test for the booster before SLS is ready in 2018 for the first uncrewed test flight with NASA’s Orion spacecraft, marking a key milestone on the agency’s Journey to Mars. The booster was tested at a cold motor conditioning target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit –the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range. When ignited, temperatures inside the booster reached nearly 6,000 degrees. The two-minute, full-duration ground qualification test provided NASA with critical data on 82 qualification objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight. Engineers now will evaluate test data captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster.

  10. Certification of Completion of ASC FY08 Level-2 Milestone ID #2933

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

    Lipari, D A

    2008-06-12

    This report documents the satisfaction of the completion criteria associated with ASC FY08 Milestone ID No.2933: 'Deploy Moab resource management services on BlueGene/L'. Specifically, this milestone represents LLNL efforts to enhance both SLURM and Moab to extend Moab's capabilities to schedule and manage BlueGene/L, and increases portability of user scripts between ASC systems. The completion criteria for the milestone are the following: (1) Batch jobs can be specified, submitted to Moab, scheduled and run on the BlueGene/L system; (2) Moab will be able to support the markedly increased scale in node count as well as the wiring geometry that ismore » unique to BlueGene/L; and (3) Moab will also prepare and report statistics of job CPU usage just as it does for the current systems it supports. This document presents the completion evidence for both of the stated milestone certification methods: Completion evidence for this milestone will be in the form of (1) documentation--a report that certifies that the completion criteria have been met; and (2) user hand-off. As the selected Tri-Lab workload manager, Moab was chosen to replace LCRM as the enterprise-wide scheduler across Livermore Computing (LC) systems. While LCRM/SLURM successfully scheduled jobs on BG/L, the effort to replace LCRM with Moab on BG/L represented a significant challenge. Moab is a commercial product developed and sold by Cluster Resources, Inc. (CRI). Moab receives the users batch job requests and dispatches these jobs to run on a specific cluster. SLURM is an open-source resource manager whose development is managed by members of the Integrated Computational Resource Management Group (ICRMG) within the Services and Development Division at LLNL. SLURM is responsible for launching and running jobs on an individual cluster. Replacing LCRM with Moab on BG/L required substantial changes to both Moab and SLURM. While the ICRMG could directly manage the SLURM development effort, the work to

  11. Apollo experience report the command and service module milestone review process

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brendle, H. L.; York, J. A.

    1974-01-01

    The sequence of the command and service module milestone review process is given, and the Customer Acceptance Readiness Review and Flight Readiness Review plans are presented. Contents of the System Summary Acceptance Documents for the two formal spacecraft reviews are detailed, and supplemental data required for presentation to the review boards are listed. Typical forms, correspondence, supporting documentation, and minutes of a board meeting are included.

  12. 20 CFR 411.581 - Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months after a beneficiary takes his or her...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... assigned to an EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) takes his or her ticket out of assignment (see § 411.145), the EN (or State VR agency) can receive payments under its elected payment system for milestones... EN or State VR agency based on the same milestone or outcome. [73 FR 29351, May 20, 2008] ...

  13. 20 CFR 411.581 - Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months after a beneficiary takes his or her...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... assigned to an EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) takes his or her ticket out of assignment (see § 411.145), the EN (or State VR agency) can receive payments under its elected payment system for milestones... EN or State VR agency based on the same milestone or outcome. [73 FR 29351, May 20, 2008] ...

  14. 1.2.1.1 Harvest, Collection and Storage Quarter 3 Milestone Report

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

    Wendt, Lynn M.; Smith, William A.; Cafferty, Kara G.

    Single pass baling of corn stover is required in order to meet targets for the herbaceous biomass 2017 logistics design case. Single-pass pass stover harvest is based on the grain harvest and generally results in stover with a moisture content of 30-50% wet basis (w.b). Aerobic storage of corn stover with high moisture results in high levels of dry matter loss (DML), up to 25%. Anaerobic storage (ensiling) reduces DML to less than 5%, but additional costs are associated with handling and transporting the extra moisture in the biomass. This milestone provides a best-estimate of costs for using high moisturemore » feedstock within the conventional baled logistics system. The costs of three (3) anaerobic storage systems that reduce dry matter losses (bale wrap, silage tube, and silage drive over pile) are detailed in this milestone and compared to both a conventional dry-baled corn stover case and a high moisture bale case, both stored aerobically. The total logistics cost (harvest, collection, storage, and transportation) of the scenarios are as follows: the conventional multi-pass dry bale case and the single-pass high moisture case stored aerobically were nearly equivalent at $61.15 and $61.24/DMT. The single-pass bale wrap case was the lowest at $57.63/DMT. The bulk anaerobic cases were the most expensive at $84.33 for the silage tube case and $75.97 for the drive over pile, which reflect the additional expense of transporting high-moisture bulk material; however, a reduction in preprocessing costs may occur because these feedstocks are size reduced in the field. In summary, the costs estimates presented in this milestone report can be used to determine if anaerobic storage of high-moisture corn stover is an economical option for dry matter preservation.« less

  15. Spacecraft Guidance Strategies for Proximity Maneuvering and Close Approach with a Tumbling Object

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-01

    R., and Junkins, J. L. (1984), ‘Optimal Open-Loop and Stable Feedback Control of Rigid Spacecraft Attitude Maneuvers ,’ The Journal of the... SPACECRAFT GUIDANCE STRATEGIES FOR PROXIMITY MANEUVERING AND CLOSE APPROACH WITH A TUMBLING OBJECT by George A. Boyarko March 2010...Dissertation 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE: Spacecraft Guidance Strategies for Proximity Maneuvering and Close Approach with a Tumbling Object 6. AUTHOR

  16. Training by Objectives: An Economic Approach to Management Training.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Odiorne, George S.

    In keeping with the current trend in business education, this book adopts a "systems" approach to training. Objectives are first defined, and then training theories and techniques are used to reach them. Economic and behavioral aspects of training are discussed and many new techniques such as sensitivity, motivational, and human relations training…

  17. Gender approaches to evolutionary multi-objective optimization using pre-selection of criteria

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kowalczuk, Zdzisław; Białaszewski, Tomasz

    2018-01-01

    A novel idea to perform evolutionary computations (ECs) for solving highly dimensional multi-objective optimization (MOO) problems is proposed. Following the general idea of evolution, it is proposed that information about gender is used to distinguish between various groups of objectives and identify the (aggregate) nature of optimality of individuals (solutions). This identification is drawn out of the fitness of individuals and applied during parental crossover in the processes of evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMOO). The article introduces the principles of the genetic-gender approach (GGA) and virtual gender approach (VGA), which are not just evolutionary techniques, but constitute a completely new rule (philosophy) for use in solving MOO tasks. The proposed approaches are validated against principal representatives of the EMOO algorithms of the state of the art in solving benchmark problems in the light of recognized EC performance criteria. The research shows the superiority of the gender approach in terms of effectiveness, reliability, transparency, intelligibility and MOO problem simplification, resulting in the great usefulness and practicability of GGA and VGA. Moreover, an important feature of GGA and VGA is that they alleviate the 'curse' of dimensionality typical of many engineering designs.

  18. Timing of motor milestones achievement and development of overweight in childhood: a study within the Danish National Birth Cohort.

    PubMed

    Schmidt Morgen, C; Andersen, A M N; Due, P; Neelon, S B; Gamborg, M; Sørensen, T I A

    2014-08-01

    Overweight may hinder achievement of gross motor milestones and delayed achievement of milestones may increase the risk of later overweight for reasons involving physical activity and the building of lean body mass. To investigate whether increased birth weight and body mass index (BMI) at 5 months is associated with the achievement of the ability to sit up and walk and whether delayed achievement of these milestones is associated with overweight at age 7 years. We used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort on 25,148 children born between 1998 and 2003. Follow-up took place from 2003 to 2010. Mean age at follow-up was 7.04 years. We used logistic and linear regression analyses. Birth weight and BMI at 5 months were marginally associated with earlier achievement of the ability to sit up and walk (regression coefficients between -0.027 months; [CI -0.042; -0.013] and -0.092 months [CI -0.118; -0.066]). Age in months of sitting and walking were not associated with overweight at age 7 years (ORs between 0.97 [CI 0.95-1.00] and 1.00 [CI 0.96-1.04]). Later achievement of sitting and walking predicted lower BMI at age 7 years (ln-BMI -z-scores between -0.023 [CI -0.029; -0.017] and -0.005 [CI -0.015; 0.005)). All observed associations were of negligible magnitude and we conclude that birth weight or BMI at age 5 months and motor milestones appear largely independent of each other and that timing of achievement of motor milestones seems not to be associated with later overweight or increased BMI. © 2013 The Authors. Pediatric Obesity © 2013 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

  19. Making Milestones: Development and Implementation of a Formal Socioeconomic Curriculum in a Neurosurgical Residency Training Program.

    PubMed

    Youngerman, Brett E; Zacharia, Brad E; Hickman, Zachary L; Bruce, Jeffrey N; Solomon, Robert A; Benzil, Deborah L

    2016-09-01

    Improved training in the socioeconomic aspects of medicine is a priority of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. There is evidence that young neurosurgeons feel ill equipped in these areas and that additional education would improve patient care. To present our experience with the introduction of a succinct but formal socioeconomic training course to the residency curriculum at our institution. A monthly series of twelve 1-hour interactive modules was designed to address the pertinent Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-American Board of Neurological Surgeons outcomes-based educational milestones. Slide-based lectures provided a comprehensive overview of social, legal, and business issues, and a monthly forum for open discussion allowed residents to draw on their applied experience. Residents took a 20-question pre- and postcourse knowledge assessment, as well as feedback surveys at 6 and 12 months. Residents were able to participate in the lectures, with an overall attendance rate of 91%. Residents felt that the course goals and objectives were well defined and communicated (4.88/5) and rated highly the content, quality, and relevance of the lectures (4.94/5). Performance on the knowledge assessment improved from 58% to 66%. Our experience demonstrates the feasibility of including a formal socioeconomic course in neurosurgical residency training with positive resident feedback and achievement of outcomes-based milestones. Extension to a 2-year curriculum cycle may allow the course to cover more material without compromising other residency training goals. Online modules should also be explored to allow for wider and more flexible participation. ABNS, American Board of Neurological SurgeonsACGME, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

  20. Summary Report for ASC L2 Milestone #4782: Assess Newly Emerging Programming and Memory Models for Advanced Architectures on Integrated Codes

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

    Neely, J. R.; Hornung, R.; Black, A.

    This document serves as a detailed companion to the powerpoint slides presented as part of the ASC L2 milestone review for Integrated Codes milestone #4782 titled “Assess Newly Emerging Programming and Memory Models for Advanced Architectures on Integrated Codes”, due on 9/30/2014, and presented for formal program review on 9/12/2014. The program review committee is represented by Mike Zika (A Program Project Lead for Kull), Brian Pudliner (B Program Project Lead for Ares), Scott Futral (DEG Group Lead in LC), and Mike Glass (Sierra Project Lead at Sandia). This document, along with the presentation materials, and a letter of completionmore » signed by the review committee will act as proof of completion for this milestone.« less

  1. Maternal prepregnancy obesity and achievement of infant motor developmental milestones in the upstate KIDS study.

    PubMed

    Wylie, Amanda; Sundaram, Rajeshwari; Kus, Christopher; Ghassabian, Akhgar; Yeung, Edwina H

    2015-04-01

    Maternal prepregnancy obesity is associated with several poor infant health outcomes; however, studies that investigated motor development have been inconsistent. Thus, maternal prepregnancy weight status and infants' gross motor development were examined. Participants consisted of 4,901 mother-infant pairs from the Upstate KIDS study, a longitudinal cohort in New York. Mothers indicated dates when infants achieved each of six gross motor milestones when infants were 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months old. Failure time modeling under a Weibull distribution was utilized to compare time to achievement across three levels of maternal prepregnancy BMI. Hazard ratios (HR) below one indicate a lower "risk" of achieving the milestone and translate to later achievement. Compared to infants born to thin and normal-weight mothers (BMI < 25), infants born to mothers with obesity (BMI > 30) were slower to sit without support (HR = 0.91, P = 0.03) and crawl on hands and knees (HR = 0.86, P < 0.001), after adjusting for maternal and birth characteristics. Increased gestational age was associated with faster achievement of all milestones, but additional adjustment did not impact results. Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with a slightly longer time for infant to sit and crawl, potentially due to a compromised intrauterine environment or reduced physically active play. © 2015 The Obesity Society.

  2. Object-oriented approach to fast display of electrophysiological data under MS-windows.

    PubMed

    Marion-Poll, F

    1995-12-01

    Microcomputers provide neuroscientists an alternative to a host of laboratory equipment to record and analyze electrophysiological data. Object-oriented programming tools bring an essential link between custom needs for data acquisition and analysis with general software packages. In this paper, we outline the layout of basic objects that display and manipulate electrophysiological data files. Visual inspection of the recordings is a basic requirement of any data analysis software. We present an approach that allows flexible and fast display of large data sets. This approach involves constructing an intermediate representation of the data in order to lower the number of actual points displayed while preserving the aspect of the data. The second group of objects is related to the management of lists of data files. Typical experiments designed to test the biological activity of pharmacological products include scores of files. Data manipulation and analysis are facilitated by creating multi-document objects that include the names of all experiment files. Implementation steps of both objects are described for an MS-Windows hosted application.

  3. The association of 2-year-old training milestones with career length and racing success in a sample of Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand.

    PubMed

    Tanner, J C; Rogers, C W; Firth, E C

    2013-01-01

    There is increasing evidence that exercise early in life has a positive effect on musculoskeletal health. At present, there is little whole population research investigating the effect of racing as 2-year-olds on future racing career. To investigate the association between attaining training milestones as 2-year-olds with length of career and racing success in Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand. Retrospective data were obtained of the 2001/02-born Thoroughbred foal crop. The 3 training milestones were: registered with a trainer, trialled and raced. The association of the training milestones with career length was measured using the outcomes: number of race starts and number of years raced, in a Cox regression model. Logistic regression models analysed the association of the training milestones with the outcomes: won or placed in a race. Linear regression was performed to assess the association of training milestones with total career earnings. Of 4683 horses in the population; 3152 horses were registered with a trainer, 2661 horses trialled and 2109 horses raced. Horses that raced as 2-year-olds had significantly (P<0.001) more race starts than those first raced as 3-year-olds or older, this was also true when the 2-year-old year data were omitted. Horses that raced as 2-year-olds had significantly (P<0.001) more years racing. Horses registered with a trainer, trialled or raced as 2-year-olds were more likely to have won or been placed in a race than those that achieved the milestones as 3-year-olds or older. Horses that first trialled and raced as 2-year-olds had greater total earnings than those that first trialled or raced at a later age. Two-year-old training milestones had a strong association with positive racing career outcomes. Horses in training or racing as 2-year-olds may have better musculoskeletal health throughout life than horses that are first in training or racing at a later age. © 2012 EVJ Ltd.

  4. SCOS 2: An object oriented software development approach

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Symonds, Martin; Lynenskjold, Steen; Mueller, Christian

    1994-01-01

    The Spacecraft Control and Operations System 2 (SCOS 2), is intended to provide the generic mission control system infrastructure for future ESA missions. It represents a bold step forward in order to take advantage of state-of-the-art technology and current practices in the area of software engineering. Key features include: (1) use of object oriented analysis and design techniques; (2) use of UNIX, C++ and a distributed architecture as the enabling implementation technology; (3) goal of re-use for development, maintenance and mission specific software implementation; and (4) introduction of the concept of a spacecraft control model. This paper touches upon some of the traditional beliefs surrounding Object Oriented development and describes their relevance to SCOS 2. It gives rationale for why particular approaches were adopted and others not, and describes the impact of these decisions. The development approach followed is discussed, highlighting the evolutionary nature of the overall process and the iterative nature of the various tasks carried out. The emphasis of this paper is on the process of the development with the following being covered: (1) the three phases of the SCOS 2 project - prototyping & analysis, design & implementation and configuration / delivery of mission specific systems; (2) the close cooperation and continual interaction with the users during the development; (3) the management approach - the split between client staff, industry and some of the required project management activities; (4) the lifecycle adopted being an enhancement of the ESA PSS-05 standard with SCOS 2 specific activities and approaches defined; and (5) an examination of some of the difficulties encountered and the solutions adopted. Finally, the lessons learned from the SCOS 2 experience are highlighted, identifying those issues to be used as feedback into future developments of this nature. This paper does not intend to describe the finished product and its operation

  5. Modern Approaches to Foreign Language Teaching: World Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shumskyi, Oleksandr

    2016-01-01

    The problem of applying communicative approach to foreign language teaching of students in non-language departments of higher education institutions in a number of countries has been analyzed in the paper. The brief overview of main historic milestones in the development of communicative approach has been presented. It has been found out that…

  6. Early milestones in the understanding of echolocation in bats.

    PubMed

    Grinnell, Alan D

    2018-04-23

    Almost 80 years ago, Griffin and Galambos discovered the phenomenon of echolocation in bats. Since then, the field has grown exponentially as new generations of investigators have joined the chase and technological advances have revolutionized working with ultrasound in the laboratory and in the field. Today our understanding of the diversity of behavioral and neural adaptations for echolocation constitutes one of the paramount triumphs of neuroethology. At the invitation of the editor in chief, I here review some of the important milestones in the discovery and early understanding of echolocation in bats through about the mid-1980s.

  7. Milestones on a Shoestring: A Cost-Effective, Semi-automated Implementation of the New ACGME Requirements for Radiology.

    PubMed

    Schmitt, J Eric; Scanlon, Mary H; Servaes, Sabah; Levin, Dayna; Cook, Tessa S

    2015-10-01

    The advent of the ACGME's Next Accreditation System represents a significant new challenge for residencies and fellowships, owing to its requirements for more complex and detailed information. We developed a system of online assessment tools to provide comprehensive coverage of the twelve ACGME Milestones and digitized them using freely available cloud-based productivity tools. These tools include a combination of point-of-care procedural assessments, electronic quizzes, online modules, and other data entry forms. Using free statistical analytic tools, we also developed an automated system for management, processing, and data reporting. After one year of use, our Milestones project has resulted in the submission of over 20,000 individual data points. The use of automated statistical methods to generate resident-specific profiles has allowed for dynamic reports of individual residents' progress. These profiles both summarize data and also allow program directors access to more granular information as needed. Informatics-driven strategies for data assessment and processing represent feasible solutions to Milestones assessment and analysis, reducing the potential administrative burden for program directors, residents, and staff. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Fuzzy multinomial logistic regression analysis: A multi-objective programming approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdalla, Hesham A.; El-Sayed, Amany A.; Hamed, Ramadan

    2017-05-01

    Parameter estimation for multinomial logistic regression is usually based on maximizing the likelihood function. For large well-balanced datasets, Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation is a satisfactory approach. Unfortunately, ML can fail completely or at least produce poor results in terms of estimated probabilities and confidence intervals of parameters, specially for small datasets. In this study, a new approach based on fuzzy concepts is proposed to estimate parameters of the multinomial logistic regression. The study assumes that the parameters of multinomial logistic regression are fuzzy. Based on the extension principle stated by Zadeh and Bárdossy's proposition, a multi-objective programming approach is suggested to estimate these fuzzy parameters. A simulation study is used to evaluate the performance of the new approach versus Maximum likelihood (ML) approach. Results show that the new proposed model outperforms ML in cases of small datasets.

  9. An object-oriented approach to nested data parallelism

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sheffler, Thomas J.; Chatterjee, Siddhartha

    1994-01-01

    This paper describes an implementation technique for integrating nested data parallelism into an object-oriented language. Data-parallel programming employs sets of data called 'collections' and expresses parallelism as operations performed over the elements of a collection. When the elements of a collection are also collections, then there is the possibility for 'nested data parallelism.' Few current programming languages support nested data parallelism however. In an object-oriented framework, a collection is a single object. Its type defines the parallel operations that may be applied to it. Our goal is to design and build an object-oriented data-parallel programming environment supporting nested data parallelism. Our initial approach is built upon three fundamental additions to C++. We add new parallel base types by implementing them as classes, and add a new parallel collection type called a 'vector' that is implemented as a template. Only one new language feature is introduced: the 'foreach' construct, which is the basis for exploiting elementwise parallelism over collections. The strength of the method lies in the compilation strategy, which translates nested data-parallel C++ into ordinary C++. Extracting the potential parallelism in nested 'foreach' constructs is called 'flattening' nested parallelism. We show how to flatten 'foreach' constructs using a simple program transformation. Our prototype system produces vector code which has been successfully run on workstations, a CM-2, and a CM-5.

  10. Determine Operating Reactor to Use for the 2016 PCI Level 1 Milestone

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

    Clarno, Kevin T.

    2016-01-30

    The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (LWRs) (CASL) Level 1 milestone to “Assess the analysis capability for core-wide [pressurized water reactor] PWR Pellet- Clad Interaction (PCI) screening and demonstrate detailed 3-D analysis on selected sub-region” (L1:CASL.P13.03) requires a particular type of nuclear power plant for the assessment. This report documents the operating reactor and cycles chosen for this assessment in completion of the physics integration (PHI) milestone to “Determine Operating Reactor to use for PCI L1 Milestone” (L3:PHI.CMD.P12.02). Watts Bar Unit 1 experienced (at least) one fuel rod failure in each of cycles 6 and 7, andmore » at least one was deemed to be duty related rather than being primarily related to a manufacturing defect or grid effects. This brief report documents that the data required to model cycles 1–12 of Watts Bar Unit 1 using VERA-CS contains sufficient data to model the PHI portion of the PCI challenge problem. A list of additional data needs is also provided that will be important for verification and validation of the BISON results.« less

  11. a Two-Step Classification Approach to Distinguishing Similar Objects in Mobile LIDAR Point Clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, H.; Khoshelham, K.; Fraser, C.

    2017-09-01

    Nowadays, lidar is widely used in cultural heritage documentation, urban modeling, and driverless car technology for its fast and accurate 3D scanning ability. However, full exploitation of the potential of point cloud data for efficient and automatic object recognition remains elusive. Recently, feature-based methods have become very popular in object recognition on account of their good performance in capturing object details. Compared with global features describing the whole shape of the object, local features recording the fractional details are more discriminative and are applicable for object classes with considerable similarity. In this paper, we propose a two-step classification approach based on point feature histograms and the bag-of-features method for automatic recognition of similar objects in mobile lidar point clouds. Lamp post, street light and traffic sign are grouped as one category in the first-step classification for their inter similarity compared with tree and vehicle. A finer classification of the lamp post, street light and traffic sign based on the result of the first-step classification is implemented in the second step. The proposed two-step classification approach is shown to yield a considerable improvement over the conventional one-step classification approach.

  12. Milestones Since Last Workshop [Global Positioning System Adjacent Band Compatibility Assessment Workshop V, 10/14/2016

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-10-14

    Milestones Since Last Workshop - Finalized GPS/GNSS receiver test plan and test procedures - Coordinated government and manufacturer participation and executed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) - Developed/validated radiated RF test environment - Carr...

  13. A brief history of hepatitis milestones.

    PubMed

    Trepo, Christian

    2014-02-01

    Hepatitis has been a major plague of mankind. The history of the discovery of causative viruses is one of the most fascinating scientific adventures of this half century. Individualization of several types of hepatitis only emerged after world war two. Their identification has been associated with milestones which revolutionized medicine and public health. The discovery of HBV brought the first ever vaccine not prepared by tissue culture but initially directly from plasma and soon the first vaccine produced by genetic engineering. HBV vaccine proved to be the first "anti-cancer" vaccine by preventing hepatocellular carcinoma and practically eradicating it from childhood in Taiwan. Successful vaccines became also available for HAV and more recently HEV. The discovery of HCV in 1989 opened a new era since it was the first virus was identified by a direct molecular approach. Two billion people are infected with HBV and 350 million are chronic carriers of the virus. The extraordinary effectiveness of HBV vaccination was best illustrated in Taiwan and Singapore where in less than 2 decades HBs Ag carriers dropped from 9,1% to 2,7% and HCC from 27% to 17%. Successful development of nucleos(t)ides analogs make it now possible to fully control disease progression with a daily pill long term therapy. The progress in HCV therapy has been even more spectacular and successful treatment jumped from 6 % with interferon alone in 1986 to more than 80% in 2013 with triple combination therapies. Remarkably chronic hepatitis C is the only chronic disease which is curable. It will be soon possible to eradicate HCV infection with, an all oral, daily single pill (containing several molecules) for 3 to 6 months which will cure over 90% of patients. This unprecedented therapeutic victory benefiting hundred millions of people matches the triumphs over small pox, polio and tuberculosis. The next 10 years should undoubtedly witness cure or full control over all forms of acute and chronic

  14. Holistic Approach to Learning and Teaching Introductory Object-Oriented Programming

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thota, Neena; Whitfield, Richard

    2010-01-01

    This article describes a holistic approach to designing an introductory, object-oriented programming course. The design is grounded in constructivism and pedagogy of phenomenography. We use constructive alignment as the framework to align assessments, learning, and teaching with planned learning outcomes. We plan learning and teaching activities,…

  15. A multi-objective approach to improve SWAT model calibration in alpine catchments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuo, Ye; Marcolini, Giorgia; Disse, Markus; Chiogna, Gabriele

    2018-04-01

    Multi-objective hydrological model calibration can represent a valuable solution to reduce model equifinality and parameter uncertainty. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is widely applied to investigate water quality and water management issues in alpine catchments. However, the model calibration is generally based on discharge records only, and most of the previous studies have defined a unique set of snow parameters for an entire basin. Only a few studies have considered snow observations to validate model results or have taken into account the possible variability of snow parameters for different subbasins. This work presents and compares three possible calibration approaches. The first two procedures are single-objective calibration procedures, for which all parameters of the SWAT model were calibrated according to river discharge alone. Procedures I and II differ from each other by the assumption used to define snow parameters: The first approach assigned a unique set of snow parameters to the entire basin, whereas the second approach assigned different subbasin-specific sets of snow parameters to each subbasin. The third procedure is a multi-objective calibration, in which we considered snow water equivalent (SWE) information at two different spatial scales (i.e. subbasin and elevation band), in addition to discharge measurements. We tested these approaches in the Upper Adige river basin where a dense network of snow depth measurement stations is available. Only the set of parameters obtained with this multi-objective procedure provided an acceptable prediction of both river discharge and SWE. These findings offer the large community of SWAT users a strategy to improve SWAT modeling in alpine catchments.

  16. Art, Objects, and Beautiful Stories: A "New" Approach to Spiritual Care.

    PubMed

    Smith, Aaron P B; Read, Julia E

    2017-06-01

    The use of story, and the use of art or various arts-based techniques have become popular in a number of helping professions, including spiritual care. There remains a gap in the literature, however, in which an approach comprised of both story and art or objects is explored. This paper addresses this gap by discussing the experience, theory, benefits, and technique of combining story and art or object-based techniques for the provision of spiritual care.

  17. Analyzing Milestones in Smoking Cessation: Illustration in a Nicotine Patch Trial in Adult Smokers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shiffman, Saul; Scharf, Deborah M.; Shadel, William G.; Gwaltney, Chad J.; Dang, Qianyu; Paton, Stephanie M.; Clark, Duncan B.

    2006-01-01

    Tests of addiction treatments seldom reveal where treatment exercises its effect (i.e., promoting initial abstinence, preventing lapses, and/or impeding progression from lapse to relapse). The authors illustrate analyses distinguishing effects on these milestones in a randomized trial of high-dose nicotine patch (35 mg; n = 188) versus placebo (n…

  18. NASA JPL Distributed Systems Technology (DST) Object-Oriented Component Approach for Software Inter-Operability and Reuse

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hall, Laverne; Hung, Chaw-Kwei; Lin, Imin

    2000-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of NASA JPL Distributed Systems Technology (DST) Section's object-oriented component approach to open inter-operable systems software development and software reuse. It will address what is meant by the terminology object component software, give an overview of the component-based development approach and how it relates to infrastructure support of software architectures and promotes reuse, enumerate on the benefits of this approach, and give examples of application prototypes demonstrating its usage and advantages. Utilization of the object-oriented component technology approach for system development and software reuse will apply to several areas within JPL, and possibly across other NASA Centers.

  19. Fuzzy Logic Approaches to Multi-Objective Decision-Making in Aerospace Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hardy, Terry L.

    1994-01-01

    Fuzzy logic allows for the quantitative representation of multi-objective decision-making problems which have vague or fuzzy objectives and parameters. As such, fuzzy logic approaches are well-suited to situations where alternatives must be assessed by using criteria that are subjective and of unequal importance. This paper presents an overview of fuzzy logic and provides sample applications from the aerospace industry. Applications include an evaluation of vendor proposals, an analysis of future space vehicle options, and the selection of a future space propulsion system. On the basis of the results provided in this study, fuzzy logic provides a unique perspective on the decision-making process, allowing the evaluator to assess the degree to which each option meets the evaluation criteria. Future decision-making should take full advantage of fuzzy logic methods to complement existing approaches in the selection of alternatives.

  20. A suggested emergency medicine boot camp curriculum for medical students based on the mapping of Core Entrustable Professional Activities to Emergency Medicine Level 1 milestones.

    PubMed

    Lamba, Sangeeta; Wilson, Bryan; Natal, Brenda; Nagurka, Roxanne; Anana, Michael; Sule, Harsh

    2016-01-01

    An increasing number of students rank Emergency Medicine (EM) as a top specialty choice, requiring medical schools to provide adequate exposure to EM. The Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for Entering Residency by the Association of American Medical Colleges combined with the Milestone Project for EM residency training has attempted to standardize the undergraduate and graduate medical education goals. However, it remains unclear as to how the EPAs correlate to the milestones, and who owns the process of ensuring that an entering EM resident has competency at a certain minimum level. Recent trends establishing specialty-specific boot camps prepare students for residency and address the variability of skills of students coming from different medical schools. Our project's goal was therefore to perform a needs assessment to inform the design of an EM boot camp curriculum. Toward this goal, we 1) mapped the core EPAs for graduating medical students to the EM residency Level 1 milestones in order to identify the possible gaps/needs and 2) conducted a pilot procedure workshop that was designed to address some of the identified gaps/needs in procedural skills. In order to inform the curriculum of an EM boot camp, we used a systematic approach to 1) identify gaps between the EPAs and EM milestones (Level 1) and 2) determine what essential and supplemental competencies/skills an incoming EM resident should ideally possess. We then piloted a 1-day, three-station advanced ABCs procedure workshop based on the identified needs. A pre-workshop test and survey assessed knowledge, preparedness, confidence, and perceived competence. A post-workshop survey evaluated the program, and a posttest combined with psychomotor skills test using three simulation cases assessed students' skills. Students (n=9) reported increased confidence in the following procedures: intubation (1.5-2.1), thoracostomy (1.1-1.9), and central venous catheterization (1.3-2) (a three-point Likert

  1. Advanced Initiation Systems Manufacturing Level 2 Milestone Completion Summary

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

    Chow, R; Schmidt, M

    2009-10-01

    Milestone Description - Advanced Initiation Systems Detonator Design and Prototype. Milestone Grading Criteria - Design new generation chip slapper detonator and manufacture a prototype using advanced manufacturing processes, such as all-dry chip metallization and solvent-less flyer coatings. The advanced processes have been developed for manufacturing detonators with high material compatibility and reliability to support future LEPs, e.g. the B61, and new weapons systems. Perform velocimetry measurements to determine slapper velocity as a function of flight distance. A prototype detonator assembly and stripline was designed for low-energy chip slappers. Pictures of the prototype detonator and stripline are shown. All-dry manufacturing processesmore » were used to address compatibility issues. KCP metallized the chips in a physical vapor deposition system through precision-aligned shadow masks. LLNL deposited a solvent-less polyimide flyer with a processes called SLIP, which stands for solvent-less vapor deposition followed by in-situ polymerization. LANL manufactured the high-surface-area (HSA) high explosive (HE) pellets. Test fires of two chip slapper designs, radius and bowtie, were performed at LLNL in the High Explosives Application Facility (HEAF). Test fires with HE were conducted to establish the threshold firing voltages. pictures of the chip slappers before and after test fires are shown. Velocimetry tests were then performed to obtain slapper velocities at or above the threshold firing voltages. Figure 5 shows the slapper velocity as a function of distance and time at the threshold voltage, for both radius and bowtie bridge designs. Both designs were successful at initiating the HE at low energy levels. Summary of Accomplishments are: (1) All-dry process for chip manufacture developed; (2) Solventless process for slapper materials developed; (3) High-surface area explosive pellets developed; (4) High performance chip slappers developed; (5) Low

  2. Genetic analysis of motor milestones attainment in early childhood.

    PubMed

    Peter, I; Vainder, M; Livshits, G

    1999-03-01

    The age of attainment for four motor developmental traits, such as turning over, sitting up without support, pulling up to a standing position and walking without support, was examined in 822 children, including 626 siblings from families with 2 to 6 children, 68 pairs of dizygotic twins and 30 pairs of monozygotic twins. Correlation analysis, carried out separately for each type of sibship, showed the highest pairwise correlations in monozygotic twins and the lowest correlation in non-twin siblings for all motor milestones. Variance component analysis was used to decompose the different independent components forming the variation of the studied trait, such as genetic effect, common twin environment, common sib environment and residual factors. The results revealed that the major proportion of the total variance after adjustment for gestation age for the attainment of each motor skill, except pulling up to standing position, is explained by the common twin environment (50.5 to 66.6%), whilst a moderate proportion is explained by additive genetic factors (22.2 to 33.5%). Gestational age was found to be an important predictor of appearance of all motor milestones, affecting delay of 4.5 to 8.6 days for the attainment of the motor abilities for each week of earlier gestation. The age of attainment of the standing position was affected only by shared sibs environment (33.3% of the total variance) and showed no influence of either genetic or common twin environment. Phenotypic between trait correlations were high and significant for all studied traits (range between 0.40 and 0.67, P < 0.01 in all instances). Genetic cross correlations, however, were not easily interpreted and did not show clear variance trends among the different groups of children.

  3. Improvement of the F-Perceptory Approach Through Management of Fuzzy Complex Geographic Objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khalfi, B.; de Runz, C.; Faiz, S.; Akdag, H.

    2015-08-01

    In the real world, data is imperfect and in various ways such as imprecision, vagueness, uncertainty, ambiguity and inconsistency. For geographic data, the fuzzy aspect is mainly manifested in time, space and the function of objects and is due to a lack of precision. Therefore, the researchers in the domain emphasize the importance of modeling data structures in GIS but also their lack of adaptation to fuzzy data. The F-Perceptory approachh manages the modeling of imperfect geographic information with UML. This management is essential to maintain faithfulness to reality and to better guide the user in his decision-making. However, this approach does not manage fuzzy complex geographic objects. The latter presents a multiple object with similar or different geographic shapes. So, in this paper, we propose to improve the F-Perceptory approach by proposing to handle fuzzy complex geographic objects modeling. In a second step, we propose its transformation to the UML modeling.

  4. A study of earthquake-induced building detection by object oriented classification approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sabuncu, Asli; Damla Uca Avci, Zehra; Sunar, Filiz

    2017-04-01

    Among the natural hazards, earthquakes are the most destructive disasters and cause huge loss of lives, heavily infrastructure damages and great financial losses every year all around the world. According to the statistics about the earthquakes, more than a million earthquakes occur which is equal to two earthquakes per minute in the world. Natural disasters have brought more than 780.000 deaths approximately % 60 of all mortality is due to the earthquakes after 2001. A great earthquake took place at 38.75 N 43.36 E in the eastern part of Turkey in Van Province on On October 23th, 2011. 604 people died and about 4000 buildings seriously damaged and collapsed after this earthquake. In recent years, the use of object oriented classification approach based on different object features, such as spectral, textural, shape and spatial information, has gained importance and became widespread for the classification of high-resolution satellite images and orthophotos. The motivation of this study is to detect the collapsed buildings and debris areas after the earthquake by using very high-resolution satellite images and orthophotos with the object oriented classification and also see how well remote sensing technology was carried out in determining the collapsed buildings. In this study, two different land surfaces were selected as homogenous and heterogeneous case study areas. In the first step of application, multi-resolution segmentation was applied and optimum parameters were selected to obtain the objects in each area after testing different color/shape and compactness/smoothness values. In the next step, two different classification approaches, namely "supervised" and "unsupervised" approaches were applied and their classification performances were compared. Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) was performed using e-Cognition software.

  5. Object-oriented integrated approach for the design of scalable ECG systems.

    PubMed

    Boskovic, Dusanka; Besic, Ingmar; Avdagic, Zikrija

    2009-01-01

    The paper presents the implementation of Object-Oriented (OO) integrated approaches to the design of scalable Electro-Cardio-Graph (ECG) Systems. The purpose of this methodology is to preserve real-world structure and relations with the aim to minimize the information loss during the process of modeling, especially for Real-Time (RT) systems. We report on a case study of the design that uses the integration of OO and RT methods and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard notation. OO methods identify objects in the real-world domain and use them as fundamental building blocks for the software system. The gained experience based on the strongly defined semantics of the object model is discussed and related problems are analyzed.

  6. Used Nuclear Fuel Loading and Structural Performance Under Normal Conditions of Transport- Demonstration of Approach and Results on Used Fuel Performance Characterization

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

    Adkins, Harold; Geelhood, Ken; Koeppel, Brian

    2013-09-30

    This document addresses Oak Ridge National Laboratory milestone M2FT-13OR0822015 Demonstration of Approach and Results on Used Nuclear Fuel Performance Characterization. This report provides results of the initial demonstration of the modeling capability developed to perform preliminary deterministic evaluations of moderate-to-high burnup used nuclear fuel (UNF) mechanical performance under normal conditions of storage (NCS) and normal conditions of transport (NCT) conditions. This report also provides results from the sensitivity studies that have been performed. Finally, discussion on the long-term goals and objectives of this initiative are provided.

  7. Comparing Pixel- and Object-Based Approaches in Effectively Classifying Wetland-Dominated Landscapes

    PubMed Central

    Berhane, Tedros M.; Lane, Charles R.; Wu, Qiusheng; Anenkhonov, Oleg A.; Chepinoga, Victor V.; Autrey, Bradley C.; Liu, Hongxing

    2018-01-01

    Wetland ecosystems straddle both terrestrial and aquatic habitats, performing many ecological functions directly and indirectly benefitting humans. However, global wetland losses are substantial. Satellite remote sensing and classification informs wise wetland management and monitoring. Both pixel- and object-based classification approaches using parametric and non-parametric algorithms may be effectively used in describing wetland structure and habitat, but which approach should one select? We conducted both pixel- and object-based image analyses (OBIA) using parametric (Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique, ISODATA, and maximum likelihood, ML) and non-parametric (random forest, RF) approaches in the Barguzin Valley, a large wetland (~500 km2) in the Lake Baikal, Russia, drainage basin. Four Quickbird multispectral bands plus various spatial and spectral metrics (e.g., texture, Non-Differentiated Vegetation Index, slope, aspect, etc.) were analyzed using field-based regions of interest sampled to characterize an initial 18 ISODATA-based classes. Parsimoniously using a three-layer stack (Quickbird band 3, water ratio index (WRI), and mean texture) in the analyses resulted in the highest accuracy, 87.9% with pixel-based RF, followed by OBIA RF (segmentation scale 5, 84.6% overall accuracy), followed by pixel-based ML (83.9% overall accuracy). Increasing the predictors from three to five by adding Quickbird bands 2 and 4 decreased the pixel-based overall accuracy while increasing the OBIA RF accuracy to 90.4%. However, McNemar’s chi-square test confirmed no statistically significant difference in overall accuracy among the classifiers (pixel-based ML, RF, or object-based RF) for either the three- or five-layer analyses. Although potentially useful in some circumstances, the OBIA approach requires substantial resources and user input (such as segmentation scale selection—which was found to substantially affect overall accuracy). Hence, we conclude

  8. Comparing Pixel- and Object-Based Approaches in Effectively Classifying Wetland-Dominated Landscapes.

    PubMed

    Berhane, Tedros M; Lane, Charles R; Wu, Qiusheng; Anenkhonov, Oleg A; Chepinoga, Victor V; Autrey, Bradley C; Liu, Hongxing

    2018-01-01

    Wetland ecosystems straddle both terrestrial and aquatic habitats, performing many ecological functions directly and indirectly benefitting humans. However, global wetland losses are substantial. Satellite remote sensing and classification informs wise wetland management and monitoring. Both pixel- and object-based classification approaches using parametric and non-parametric algorithms may be effectively used in describing wetland structure and habitat, but which approach should one select? We conducted both pixel- and object-based image analyses (OBIA) using parametric (Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique, ISODATA, and maximum likelihood, ML) and non-parametric (random forest, RF) approaches in the Barguzin Valley, a large wetland (~500 km 2 ) in the Lake Baikal, Russia, drainage basin. Four Quickbird multispectral bands plus various spatial and spectral metrics (e.g., texture, Non-Differentiated Vegetation Index, slope, aspect, etc.) were analyzed using field-based regions of interest sampled to characterize an initial 18 ISODATA-based classes. Parsimoniously using a three-layer stack (Quickbird band 3, water ratio index (WRI), and mean texture) in the analyses resulted in the highest accuracy, 87.9% with pixel-based RF, followed by OBIA RF (segmentation scale 5, 84.6% overall accuracy), followed by pixel-based ML (83.9% overall accuracy). Increasing the predictors from three to five by adding Quickbird bands 2 and 4 decreased the pixel-based overall accuracy while increasing the OBIA RF accuracy to 90.4%. However, McNemar's chi-square test confirmed no statistically significant difference in overall accuracy among the classifiers (pixel-based ML, RF, or object-based RF) for either the three- or five-layer analyses. Although potentially useful in some circumstances, the OBIA approach requires substantial resources and user input (such as segmentation scale selection-which was found to substantially affect overall accuracy). Hence, we conclude that

  9. Approach to proliferation risk assessment based on multiple objective analysis framework

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

    Andrianov, A.; Kuptsov, I.; Studgorodok 1, Obninsk, Kaluga region, 249030

    2013-07-01

    The approach to the assessment of proliferation risk using the methods of multi-criteria decision making and multi-objective optimization is presented. The approach allows the taking into account of the specifics features of the national nuclear infrastructure, and possible proliferation strategies (motivations, intentions, and capabilities). 3 examples of applying the approach are shown. First, the approach has been used to evaluate the attractiveness of HEU (high enriched uranium)production scenarios at a clandestine enrichment facility using centrifuge enrichment technology. Secondly, the approach has been applied to assess the attractiveness of scenarios for undeclared production of plutonium or HEU by theft of materialsmore » circulating in nuclear fuel cycle facilities and thermal reactors. Thirdly, the approach has been used to perform a comparative analysis of the structures of developing nuclear power systems based on different types of nuclear fuel cycles, the analysis being based on indicators of proliferation risk.« less

  10. Isolating the Role of Psychological Dysfunction in Smoking Cessation Failure: Relations of Personality and Psychopathology to Attaining Smoking Cessation Milestones

    PubMed Central

    Leventhal, Adam M.; Japuntich, Sandra J.; Piper, Megan E.; Jorenby, Douglas E.; Schlam, Tanya R.; Baker, Timothy B.

    2012-01-01

    Research exploring psychological dysfunction as a predictor of smoking cessation success may be limited by nonoptimal predictor variables (i.e., categorical psychodiagnostic measures vs. continuous personality-based manifestations of dysfunction) and imprecise outcomes (i.e., summative point prevalence abstinence vs. constituent cessation milestone measures). Accordingly, this study evaluated the unique and overlapping relations of broad-spectrum personality traits (positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and constraint) and past-year psychopathology (anxiety, mood, and substance use disorder) to point prevalence abstinence and three smoking cessation milestones: (1) initiating abstinence; (2) first lapse; and (3) transition from lapse to relapse. Participants were daily smokers (N=1365) enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment study. In single predictor regression models, each manifestation of internalizing dysfunction (lower positive emotionality, higher negative emotionality, and anxiety and mood disorder) predicted failure at one or more cessation milestone. In simultaneous predictor models, lower positive and higher negative emotionality significantly predicted failure to achieve milestones after controlling for psychopathology. Psychopathology did not predict any outcome when controlling for personality. Negative emotionality showed the most robust and consistent effects, significantly predicting failure to initiate abstinence, earlier lapse, and lower point prevalence abstinence rates. Substance use disorder and constraint did not predict cessation outcomes, and no single variable predicted lapse-to-relapse transition. These findings suggest that personality-related manifestations of internalizing dysfunction are more accurate markers of affective sources of relapse risk than mood and anxiety disorders. Further, individuals with high trait negative emotionality may require intensive intervention to promote the initiation and early maintenance of

  11. Prenatal Exposure to Traffic-related Air Pollution and Child Behavioral Development Milestone Delays in Japan.

    PubMed

    Yorifuji, Takashi; Kashima, Saori; Higa Diez, Midory; Kado, Yoko; Sanada, Satoshi; Doi, Hiroyuki

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies suggest that prenatal exposure to outdoor air pollution is associated with unfavorable neurodevelopment in children. We examined associations between prenatal exposure to traffic-related air pollution and child behavioral development milestone delays, using data from a nationwide population-based longitudinal survey in Japan, where the participants were recruited in 2001 and followed. Particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide concentrations during the 9 months before birth were obtained at the municipality level and assigned to the participants who were born in the corresponding municipality. We analyzed data from singleton births with linked pollution data available (N = 33,911 at the maximum). We used responses to survey questions about age-appropriate behaviors at ages 2.5 and 5.5 years as indicators of behavioral development. We conducted multilevel logistic regression analysis, adjusting for individual and municipality-level variables. Air pollution exposure during gestation was positively associated with the risk of some developmental milestone delays at both ages. Specifically, air pollution was associated with verbal and fine motor development at age 2.5 years, and with behaviors related to inhibition and impulsivity at 5.5 years. In the fully-adjusted models, odds ratios following one-interquartile-range increase in nitrogen dioxide and suspended particulate matter were 1.24 (95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.43) for inability to compose a two-phrase sentence at ages 2.5 and 1.10 (1.05, 1.16) for inability to express emotions at age 5.5 years, respectively. Prenatal exposure to traffic-related air pollution was associated with behavioral development milestone delays of children in a nationally representative sample in Japan.

  12. COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY - OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOPING APPROACHES FOR PRIORITIZING CHEMICALS FOR SUBSEQUENT SCREENING AND TESTING

    EPA Science Inventory

    One of the strategic objectives of the Computational Toxicology Program is to develop approaches for prioritizing chemicals for subsequent screening and testing. Approaches currently available for this process require extensive resources. Therefore, less costly and time-extensi...

  13. 20 CFR 411.540 - How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones? 411.540 Section 411.540 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.540 How are the...

  14. 20 CFR 411.540 - How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones? 411.540 Section 411.540 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.540 How are the...

  15. 20 CFR 411.540 - How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones? 411.540 Section 411.540 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.540 How are the...

  16. 20 CFR 411.540 - How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones? 411.540 Section 411.540 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.540 How are the...

  17. 20 CFR 411.540 - How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How are the payment amounts calculated for each of the milestones? 411.540 Section 411.540 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.540 How are the...

  18. Piloting a Structured Practice Audit to Assess ACGME Milestones in Written Handoff Communication in Internal Medicine.

    PubMed

    Martin, Shannon K; Farnan, Jeanne M; McConville, John F; Arora, Vineet M

    2015-06-01

    Written communication skills are integral to patient care handoffs. Residency programs require feasible assessment tools that provide timely formative and summative feedback, ideally linked to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones. We describe the use of 1 such tool-UPDATED-to assess written handoff communication skills in internal medicine interns. During 2012-2013, the authors piloted a structured practice audit at 1 academic institution to audit written sign-outs completed by 45 interns, using the UPDATED tool, which scores 7 aspects of sign-out communication linked to milestones. Intern sign-outs were audited by trained faculty members throughout the year. Results were incorporated into intern performance reviews and Clinical Competency Committees. A total of 136 sign-outs were audited (averaging 3.1 audits per intern). In the first trimester, 14 interns (31%) had satisfactory audit results. Five interns (11%) had critical deficiencies and received immediate feedback, and the remaining 26 (58%) were assigned future audits due to missing audits or unsatisfactory scores. In the second trimester, 21 interns (68%) had satisfactory results, 1 had critical deficiencies, and 9 (29%) required future audits. Nine of the 10 remaining interns in the final trimester had satisfactory audits. Faculty time was estimated at 10 to 15 minutes per sign-out audited. The UPDATED audit is a milestone-based tool that can be used to assess written sign-out communication skills in internal medicine residency programs. Future work is planned to adapt the tool for use by senior supervisory residents to appraise sign-outs in real time.

  19. From Early to Current Developments in Online Learning at Nova Southeastern University: Reflections on Historical Milestones.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dringus, Laurie P.; Scigliano, John A.

    2000-01-01

    Traces the major historical milestones achieved by Nova Southeastern University in its pioneering of graduate level online learning programs. Highlights include delivery systems; Web-based electronic classrooms; overview of the technology, including telecommunications through UNIX; evaluation and research; and technology used in the School of…

  20. Effects of Family and Friend Support on LGB Youths' Mental Health and Sexual Orientation Milestones

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shilo, Guy; Savaya, Riki

    2011-01-01

    This study examined the effects of social support components and providers on mental health and sexual orientation (SO) milestones of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youths. Data were collected on 461 self-identified LGB adolescents and young adults. Family acceptance and support yielded the strongest positive effect on self-acceptance of SO,…

  1. Relationship between cancer-related traumatic stress and family milestone achievement in adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

    PubMed

    Tillery, Rachel; Beal, Sarah J; Thompson, Aimee N; Pai, Ahna L H

    2018-06-01

    Late physical and emotional effects of cancer treatment pose a burden for adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer, including family milestone achievement. This brief report examined links between ongoing cancer-related post-traumatic stress symptoms (CR-PTSS) and family milestone achievement. Survivors (n = 51; M age  = 24.73, SD = 8.20) completed CR-PTSS and family formation questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, univariate parameter-constraints, and correlation analyses examined relations among study variables. Ongoing intrusive thoughts and hyperarousal were negatively linked to family identity development and family achievement. Findings from the present study provide support that ongoing CR-PTSS may be a barrier to family formation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. 48 CFR 1815.404-471 - NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 1815.404-471 NASA structured approach for profit or fee objective. ...

  3. 20 CFR 411.545 - How are the outcome payments calculated under the outcome-milestone payment system?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.545 Section 411.545 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.545 How... of the Social Security Act for all beneficiaries for months during the preceding calendar year; and...

  4. 20 CFR 411.545 - How are the outcome payments calculated under the outcome-milestone payment system?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.545 Section 411.545 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.545 How... of the Social Security Act for all beneficiaries for months during the preceding calendar year; and...

  5. 20 CFR 411.545 - How are the outcome payments calculated under the outcome-milestone payment system?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.545 Section 411.545 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.545 How... of the Social Security Act for all beneficiaries for months during the preceding calendar year; and...

  6. 20 CFR 411.545 - How are the outcome payments calculated under the outcome-milestone payment system?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.545 Section 411.545 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.545 How... of the Social Security Act for all beneficiaries for months during the preceding calendar year; and...

  7. 20 CFR 411.545 - How are the outcome payments calculated under the outcome-milestone payment system?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.545 Section 411.545 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.545 How... of the Social Security Act for all beneficiaries for months during the preceding calendar year; and...

  8. Assessment Report Sandia National Laboratories Fuel Cycle Technologies Quality Assurance Evaluation of FY15 SNL FCT M2 Milestone Deliverables

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

    Appel, Gordon John

    Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Fuel Cycle Technologies (FCT) program activities are conducted in accordance with FCT Quality Assurance Program Document (FCT-QAPD) requirements. The FCT-QAPD interfaces with SNL approved Quality Assurance Program Description (SNL-QAPD) as explained in the Sandia National Laboratories QA Program Interface Document for FCT Activities (Interface Document). This plan describes SNL's FY16 assessment of SNL's FY15 FCT M2 milestone deliverable's compliance with program QA requirements, including SNL R&A requirements. The assessment is intended to confirm that SNL's FY15 milestone deliverables contain the appropriate authenticated review documentation and that there is a copy marked with SNL R&A numbers.

  9. Management Approaches to Accomplish Contemporary Livestock Production-Conservation Objectives in Shortgrass Steppe

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Traditional rangeland management in the shortgrass steppe has emphasized livestock production with moderate stocking rates, but alternative approaches will be needed to meet production objectives under increasing demands for conservation-oriented management. We investigated the utility of very inten...

  10. From engineering hydrology to Earth system science: milestones in the transformation of hydrologic science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sivapalan, Murugesu

    2018-03-01

    Hydrology has undergone almost transformative changes over the past 50 years. Huge strides have been made in the transition from early empirical approaches to rigorous approaches based on the fluid mechanics of water movement on and below the land surface. However, progress has been hampered by problems posed by the presence of heterogeneity, including subsurface heterogeneity present at all scales. The inability to measure or map the heterogeneity everywhere prevented the development of balance equations and associated closure relations at the scales of interest, and has led to the virtual impasse we are presently in, in terms of development of physically based models needed for hydrologic predictions. An alternative to the mapping of heterogeneity everywhere is a new Earth system science view, which sees the heterogeneity as the end result of co-evolutionary hydrological, geomorphological, ecological, and pedological processes, each operating at a different rate, which help to shape the landscapes that we find in nature, including the heterogeneity that we do not readily see. The expectation is that instead of specifying exact details of the heterogeneity in our models, we can replace it (without loss of information) with the ecosystem function that they perform. Guided by this new Earth system science perspective, development of hydrologic science is now addressing new questions using novel holistic co-evolutionary approaches as opposed to the physical, fluid mechanics based reductionist approaches that we inherited from the recent past. In the emergent Anthropocene, the co-evolutionary view has expanded further to involve interactions and feedbacks with human-social processes as well. In this paper, I present my own perspective of key milestones in the transformation of hydrologic science from engineering hydrology to Earth system science, drawn from the work of several students and colleagues of mine, and discuss their implication for hydrologic observations

  11. FIELD MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR MERCURY IN SOIL AND SEDIMENT MILESTONE INC.'S DIRECT MERCURY ANALYZER (DMA)-80

    EPA Science Inventory

    Milestone's Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80) was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in May 2003 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The purpose of the Demonstration was to...

  12. A multi-objective optimization approach accurately resolves protein domain architectures

    PubMed Central

    Bernardes, J.S.; Vieira, F.R.J.; Zaverucha, G.; Carbone, A.

    2016-01-01

    Motivation: Given a protein sequence and a number of potential domains matching it, what are the domain content and the most likely domain architecture for the sequence? This problem is of fundamental importance in protein annotation, constituting one of the main steps of all predictive annotation strategies. On the other hand, when potential domains are several and in conflict because of overlapping domain boundaries, finding a solution for the problem might become difficult. An accurate prediction of the domain architecture of a multi-domain protein provides important information for function prediction, comparative genomics and molecular evolution. Results: We developed DAMA (Domain Annotation by a Multi-objective Approach), a novel approach that identifies architectures through a multi-objective optimization algorithm combining scores of domain matches, previously observed multi-domain co-occurrence and domain overlapping. DAMA has been validated on a known benchmark dataset based on CATH structural domain assignments and on the set of Plasmodium falciparum proteins. When compared with existing tools on both datasets, it outperforms all of them. Availability and implementation: DAMA software is implemented in C++ and the source code can be found at http://www.lcqb.upmc.fr/DAMA. Contact: juliana.silva_bernardes@upmc.fr or alessandra.carbone@lip6.fr Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:26458889

  13. Design Guide for Earth System Science Education: Common Student Learning Objectives and Special Pedagogical Approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baker, D.

    2006-12-01

    As part of the NASA-supported undergraduate Earth System Science Education (ESSE) program, fifty-seven institutions have developed and implemented a wide range of Earth system science (ESS) courses, pedagogies, and evaluation tools. The Teaching, Learning, and Evaluation section of USRA's online ESSE Design Guide showcases these ESS learning environments. This Design Guide section also provides resources for faculty who wish to develop ESS courses. It addresses important course design issues including prior student knowledge and interests, student learning objectives, learning resources, pedagogical approaches, and assessments tied to student learning objectives. The ESSE Design Guide provides links to over 130 ESS course syllabi at introductory, senior, and graduate levels. ESS courses over the past 15 years exhibit common student learning objectives and unique pedagogical approaches. From analysis of ESS course syllabi, seven common student learning objectives emerged: 1) demonstrate systems thinking, 2) develop an ESS knowledge base, 3) apply ESS to the human dimension, 4) expand and apply analytical skills, 5) improve critical thinking skills, 6) build professional/career skills, and 7) acquire an enjoyment and appreciation for science. To meet these objectives, ESSE often requires different ways of teaching than in traditional scientific disciplines. This presentation will highlight some especially successful pedagogical approaches for creating positive and engaging ESS learning environments.

  14. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Developmental Milestones and Movement: Results from the Gemini Cohort Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Lee; van Jaarsveld, Cornelia H. M.; Llewellyn, Clare H.; Fildes, Alison; López Sánchez, Guillermo Felipe; Wardle, Jane; Fisher, Abigail

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Variability in the timing of infant developmental milestones is poorly understood. We used a twin analysis to estimate genetic and environmental influences on motor development and activity levels in infancy. Method: Data were from the Gemini Study, a twin birth cohort of 2,402 families with twins born in the United Kingdom in 2007.…

  15. An approach to detecting deliberately introduced defects and micro-defects in 3D printed objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Straub, Jeremy

    2017-05-01

    In prior work, Zeltmann, et al. demonstrated the negative impact that can be created by defects of various sizes in 3D printed objects. These defects may make the object unsuitable for its application or even present a hazard, if the object is being used for a safety-critical application. With the uses of 3D printing proliferating and consumer access to printers increasing, the desire of a nefarious individual or group to subvert the desired printing quality and safety attributes of a printer or printed object must be considered. Several different approaches to subversion may exist. Attackers may physically impair the functionality of the printer or launch a cyber-attack. Detecting introduced defects, from either attack, is critical to maintaining public trust in 3D printed objects and the technology. This paper presents an alternate approach. It applies a quality assurance technology based on visible light sensing to this challenge and assesses its capability for detecting introduced defects of multiple sizes.

  16. Modeling a terminology-based electronic nursing record system: an object-oriented approach.

    PubMed

    Park, Hyeoun-Ae; Cho, InSook; Byeun, NamSoo

    2007-10-01

    The aim of this study was to present our perspectives on healthcare information analysis at a conceptual level and the lessons learned from our experience with the development of a terminology-based enterprise electronic nursing record system - which was one of components in an EMR system at a tertiary teaching hospital in Korea - using an object-oriented system analysis and design concept. To ensure a systematic approach and effective collaboration, the department of nursing constituted a system modeling team comprising a project manager, systems analysts, user representatives, an object-oriented methodology expert, and healthcare informaticists (including the authors). A rational unified process (RUP) and the Unified Modeling Language were used as a development process and for modeling notation, respectively. From the scenario and RUP approach, user requirements were formulated into use case sets and the sequence of activities in the scenario was depicted in an activity diagram. The structure of the system was presented in a class diagram. This approach allowed us to identify clearly the structural and behavioral states and important factors of a terminology-based ENR system (e.g., business concerns and system design concerns) according to the viewpoints of both domain and technical experts.

  17. Computing Rates of Small Molecule Diffusion Through Protein Channels Using Markovian Milestoning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abrams, Cameron

    2014-03-01

    Measuring diffusion rates of ligands plays a key role in understanding the kinetic processes inside proteins. For example, although many molecular simulation studies have reported free energy barriers to infer rates for CO diffusion in myoglobin (Mb), they typically do not include direct calculation of diffusion rates because of the long simulation times needed to infer these rates with statistical accuracy. We show in this talk how to apply Markovian milestoning along minimum free-energy pathways to calculate diffusion rates of CO inside Mb. In Markovian milestoning, one partitions a suitable reaction coordinate space into regions and performs restrained molecular dynamics in each region to accumulate kinetic statistics that, when assembled across regions, provides an estimate of the mean first-passage time between states. The mean escape time for CO directly from the so-called distal pocket (DP) through the histidine gate (HG) is estimated at about 24 ns, confirming the importance of this portal for CO. But Mb is known to contain several internal cavities, and cavity-to-cavity diffusion rates are also computed and used to build a complete kinetic network as a Markov state model. Within this framework, the effective mean time of escape to the solvent through HG increases to 30 ns. Our results suggest that carrier protein structure may have evolved under pressure to modulate dissolved gas release rates using a network of ligand-accessible cavities. Support: NIH R01GM100472.

  18. Puberty: Maturation, Timing and Adjustment, and Sexual Identity Developmental Milestones among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grossman, Arnold H.; Foss, Alexander H.; D'Augelli, Anthony R.

    2014-01-01

    This study examined pubertal maturation, pubertal timing and outcomes, and the relationship of puberty and sexual identity developmental milestones among 507 lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. The onset of menarche and spermarche occurred at the mean ages of 12.05 and 12.46, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in…

  19. Relationship between early motor milestones and severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

    PubMed

    Uljarević, Mirko; Hedley, Darren; Alvares, Gail A; Varcin, Kandice J; Whitehouse, Andrew J O

    2017-06-01

    This study explored the relationships between the later age of achievement of early motor milestones, current motor atypicalities (toe walking), and the severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents of 147 children and adolescents with ASD (M age  = 8.09 years, SD = 4.28; 119 males) completed an early developmental milestones questionnaire and the Social Responsiveness Scale as a measure of Insistence on Sameness (IS) and Repetitive Mannerisms (RM). Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test whether RM and IS behaviors were predicted by early motor milestones, or current toe walking. The final model predicting RM accounted for 15% of the variance (F = 3.02, p = .009), with toe walking as a unique and independent predictor of RM scores (t = 3.568, p = .001). The final model predicting IS accounted for 19.1% of variance in IS scores (F = 4.045, p = .001), with chronological age (CA) (t = 2.92, p = .004), age when first standing (t = 2.09, p = .038), and toe walking (t = 2.53, p = .013) as unique independent predictors. Toe walking (t = 2.4, p = .018) and age when first sitting (t = 2.08, p = .04) predicted the severity of RRBs on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (F = 2.334, p = .036). Our study replicates previous findings on the relationship between concurrent motor impairments and RRBs, and provides the first evidence for the association between RRBs and age of attainment of early motor milestones. Autism Res 2017. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1163-1168. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Managing the link and strengthening transition from child to adult mental health Care in Europe (MILESTONE): background, rationale and methodology.

    PubMed

    Tuomainen, H; Schulze, U; Warwick, J; Paul, M; Dieleman, G C; Franić, T; Madan, J; Maras, A; McNicholas, F; Purper-Ouakil, D; Santosh, P; Signorini, G; Street, C; Tremmery, S; Verhulst, F C; Wolke, D; Singh, S P

    2018-06-04

    Transition from distinct Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) is beset with multitude of problems affecting continuity of care for young people with mental health needs. Transition-related discontinuity of care is a major health, socioeconomic and societal challenge globally. The overall aim of the Managing the Link and Strengthening Transition from Child to Adult Mental Health Care in Europe (MILESTONE) project (2014-19) is to improve transition from CAMHS to AMHS in diverse healthcare settings across Europe. MILESTONE focuses on current service provision in Europe, new transition-related measures, long term outcomes of young people leaving CAMHS, improving transitional care through 'managed transition', ethics of transitioning and the training of health care professionals. Data will be collected via systematic literature reviews, pan-European surveys, and focus groups with service providers, users and carers, and members of youth advocacy and mental health advocacy groups. A prospective cohort study will be conducted with a nested cluster randomised controlled trial in eight European Union (EU) countries (Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, UK) involving over 1000 CAMHS users, their carers, and clinicians. Improving transitional care can facilitate not only recovery but also mental health promotion and mental illness prevention for young people. MILESTONE will provide evidence of the organisational structures and processes influencing transition at the service interface across differing healthcare models in Europe and longitudinal outcomes for young people leaving CAMHS, solutions for improving transitional care in a cost-effective manner, training modules for clinicians, and commissioning and policy guidelines for service providers and policy makers. "MILESTONE study" registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN83240263 Registered 23 July 2015; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03013595 Registered 6 January 2017.

  1. 20 CFR 411.580 - Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment months that occur before the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ....580 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.580 Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment...

  2. 20 CFR 411.580 - Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment months that occur before the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ....580 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.580 Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment...

  3. 20 CFR 411.580 - Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment months that occur before the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ....580 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.580 Can an EN receive payments for milestones or outcome payment...

  4. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans for FY 1894 and accomplishments for FY 1982

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, K. S.

    1984-01-01

    The Objectives, Expected Results, Approach, and Fiscal Year FY 1984 Milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division's research programs are examined. The FY 1983 Accomplishments are presented where applicable.

  5. Object detection in MOUT: evaluation of a hybrid approach for confirmation and rejection of object detection hypotheses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manger, Daniel; Metzler, Jürgen

    2014-03-01

    Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) require the capability to perceive and to analyze the situation around a patrol in order to recognize potential threats. A permanent monitoring of the surrounding area is essential in order to appropriately react to the given situation, where one relevant task is the detection of objects that can pose a threat. Especially the robust detection of persons is important, as in MOUT scenarios threats usually arise from persons. This task can be supported by image processing systems. However, depending on the scenario, person detection in MOUT can be challenging, e.g. persons are often occluded in complex outdoor scenes and the person detection also suffers from low image resolution. Furthermore, there are several requirements on person detection systems for MOUT such as the detection of non-moving persons, as they can be a part of an ambush. Existing detectors therefore have to operate on single images with low thresholds for detection in order to not miss any person. This, in turn, leads to a comparatively high number of false positive detections which renders an automatic vision-based threat detection system ineffective. In this paper, a hybrid detection approach is presented. A combination of a discriminative and a generative model is examined. The objective is to increase the accuracy of existing detectors by integrating a separate hypotheses confirmation and rejection step which is built by a discriminative and generative model. This enables the overall detection system to make use of both the discriminative power and the capability to detect partly hidden objects with the models. The approach is evaluated on benchmark data sets generated from real-world image sequences captured during MOUT exercises. The extension shows a significant improvement of the false positive detection rate.

  6. A multiple objective optimization approach to quality control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Seaman, Christopher Michael

    1991-01-01

    The use of product quality as the performance criteria for manufacturing system control is explored. The goal in manufacturing, for economic reasons, is to optimize product quality. The problem is that since quality is a rather nebulous product characteristic, there is seldom an analytic function that can be used as a measure. Therefore standard control approaches, such as optimal control, cannot readily be applied. A second problem with optimizing product quality is that it is typically measured along many dimensions: there are many apsects of quality which must be optimized simultaneously. Very often these different aspects are incommensurate and competing. The concept of optimality must now include accepting tradeoffs among the different quality characteristics. These problems are addressed using multiple objective optimization. It is shown that the quality control problem can be defined as a multiple objective optimization problem. A controller structure is defined using this as the basis. Then, an algorithm is presented which can be used by an operator to interactively find the best operating point. Essentially, the algorithm uses process data to provide the operator with two pieces of information: (1) if it is possible to simultaneously improve all quality criteria, then determine what changes to the process input or controller parameters should be made to do this; and (2) if it is not possible to improve all criteria, and the current operating point is not a desirable one, select a criteria in which a tradeoff should be made, and make input changes to improve all other criteria. The process is not operating at an optimal point in any sense if no tradeoff has to be made to move to a new operating point. This algorithm ensures that operating points are optimal in some sense and provides the operator with information about tradeoffs when seeking the best operating point. The multiobjective algorithm was implemented in two different injection molding scenarios

  7. Stem Cells of Dental Origin: Current Research Trends and Key Milestones towards Clinical Application

    PubMed Central

    About, Imad

    2016-01-01

    Dental Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), including Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs), Stem Cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous teeth (SHED), and Stem Cells From Apical Papilla (SCAP), have been extensively studied using highly sophisticated in vitro and in vivo systems, yielding substantially improved understanding of their intriguing biological properties. Their capacity to reconstitute various dental and nondental tissues and the inherent angiogenic, neurogenic, and immunomodulatory properties of their secretome have been a subject of meticulous and costly research by various groups over the past decade. Key milestone achievements have exemplified their clinical utility in Regenerative Dentistry, as surrogate therapeutic modules for conventional biomaterial-based approaches, offering regeneration of damaged oral tissues instead of simply “filling the gaps.” Thus, the essential next step to validate these immense advances is the implementation of well-designed clinical trials paving the way for exploiting these fascinating research achievements for patient well-being: the ultimate aim of this ground breaking technology. This review paper presents a concise overview of the major biological properties of the human dental MSCs, critical for the translational pathway “from bench to clinic.” PMID:27818690

  8. Pain Control and Functional Milestones in Total Knee Arthroplasty: Liposomal Bupivacaine versus Femoral Nerve Block.

    PubMed

    Yu, Stephen; Szulc, Alessandra; Walton, Sharon; Bosco, Joseph; Iorio, Richard

    2017-01-01

    Although pain management after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) affects rehabilitation, length of stay, and functional outcomes, pain management for patients undergoing TKA has yet to be standardized. Femoral nerve blocks (FNBs) are commonly used as an adjunct; however, these can result in transient quadriceps weakness and have been associated with in-hospital falls. Periarticular infiltration of liposomal bupivacaine has been recently introduced as a long-acting analgesic that can be administered without affecting motor function. (1) Does periarticular liposomal bupivacaine compared with FNB result in improved pain control as measured by pain scores and narcotic consumption? (2) How do liposomal bupivacaine and FNB compare in terms of gait and stairclimbing milestones and the proportion of patients who experienced a fall in the hospital? Between September 2013 and October 2014, a retrospective analysis was conducted involving 24 surgeons who performed a total of 1373 unilateral, primary TKAs. From September 2013 to April 2014, the routine approach to TKA pain management pathway consisted of preoperative administration of oral analgesics, intraoperative anesthesia (preferred spinal or general), an ultrasound-guided FNB, intraoperative analgesic cocktail injection, patient-controlled analgesia, and oral and IV narcotics for pain as needed. A total of 583 patients were included in this study group. Starting May 2014, FNBs were discouraged and there was department-wide adoption of liposomal bupivacaine. Liposomal bupivacaine became routinely used in all patients undergoing TKA with no other changes made to the multimodal analgesia protocol at that time, and 527 patients in this study group were compared with the FNB cohort. Chart review on a total of 1110 patients was conducted by a research assistant who was not participating in patient care. During the inpatient stay, pain scores during 8-hour intervals, narcotic use, and physical therapy milestones were compared. With

  9. How do clinical competency committees use different sources of data to assess residents' performance on the internal medicine milestones?A mixed methods pilot study.

    PubMed

    Ekpenyong, Andem; Baker, Elizabeth; Harris, Ilene; Tekian, Ara; Abrams, Richard; Reddy, Shalini; Park, Yoon Soo

    2017-10-01

    This study examines how Clinical Competency Committees (CCCs) synthesize assessment data to make judgments about residents' clinical performances. Between 2014 and 2015, after four six-month reporting periods to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), 7 of 16 CCC faculty at Rush University Medical Center completed questionnaires focused on their perspectives about rating residents on their achievement of the milestones and participated in a focus group. Qualitative data were analyzed using grounded theory. Milestones ratings for two six-month ACGME reporting cycles (n = 100 categorical residents) were also analyzed. CCC members weighted resident rotation ratings highest (weight = 37%), followed by faculty rotation comments (weight = 27%) and personal experience with residents (weight = 14%) for making judgments about learner's milestone levels. Three assessment issues were identified from qualitative analyses: (1) "design issues" (e.g. problems with available data or lack thereof); (2) "synthesis issues" (e.g. factors influencing ratings and decision-making processes) and (3) "impact issues" (e.g. how CCC generated milestones ratings are used). Identifying factors that affect assessment at all stages of the CCC process can contribute to improving assessment systems, including support for faculty development for CCCs. Recognizing challenges in synthesizing first and second-hand assessment data is an important step in understanding the CCC decision-making process.

  10. Milestones of critical thinking: a developmental model for medicine and nursing.

    PubMed

    Papp, Klara K; Huang, Grace C; Lauzon Clabo, Laurie M; Delva, Dianne; Fischer, Melissa; Konopasek, Lyuba; Schwartzstein, Richard M; Gusic, Maryellen

    2014-05-01

    Critical thinking is essential to a health professional's competence to assess, diagnose, and care for patients. Defined as the ability to apply higher-order cognitive skills (conceptualization, analysis, evaluation) and the disposition to be deliberate about thinking (being open-minded or intellectually honest) that lead to action that is logical and appropriate, critical thinking represents a "meta-competency" that transcends other knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors required in health care professions. Despite its importance, the developmental stages of critical thinking have not been delineated for nurses and physicians. As part of a task force of educators who considered different developmental stage theories, the authors have iteratively refined and proposed milestones in critical thinking. The attributes associated with unreflective, beginning, practicing, advanced, accomplished, and challenged critical thinkers are conceived as independent of an individual's level of training. Depending on circumstances and environmental factors, even the most experienced clinician may demonstrate attributes associated with a challenged thinker. The authors use the illustrative case of a patient with abdominal pain to demonstrate how critical thinking may manifest in learners at different stages of development, analyzing how the learner at each stage applies information obtained in the patient interaction to arrive at a differential diagnosis and plan for evaluation. The authors share important considerations and provide this work as a foundation for the development of effective approaches to teaching and promoting critical thinking and to establishing expectations for learners in this essential meta-competency.

  11. Real-Time Occlusion Handling in Augmented Reality Based on an Object Tracking Approach

    PubMed Central

    Tian, Yuan; Guan, Tao; Wang, Cheng

    2010-01-01

    To produce a realistic augmentation in Augmented Reality, the correct relative positions of real objects and virtual objects are very important. In this paper, we propose a novel real-time occlusion handling method based on an object tracking approach. Our method is divided into three steps: selection of the occluding object, object tracking and occlusion handling. The user selects the occluding object using an interactive segmentation method. The contour of the selected object is then tracked in the subsequent frames in real-time. In the occlusion handling step, all the pixels on the tracked object are redrawn on the unprocessed augmented image to produce a new synthesized image in which the relative position between the real and virtual object is correct. The proposed method has several advantages. First, it is robust and stable, since it remains effective when the camera is moved through large changes of viewing angles and volumes or when the object and the background have similar colors. Second, it is fast, since the real object can be tracked in real-time. Last, a smoothing technique provides seamless merging between the augmented and virtual object. Several experiments are provided to validate the performance of the proposed method. PMID:22319278

  12. Large object investigation by digital holography with effective spectrum multiplexing under single-exposure approach

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

    Liu, Ning, E-mail: coolboy006@sohu.com; Zhang, Yingying; Xie, Jun

    2014-10-13

    We present a method to investigate large object by digital holography with effective spectrum multiplexing under single-exposure approach. This method splits the original reference beam and redirects one of its branches as a second object beam. Through the modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the two object beams can illuminate different parts of the large object and create a spectrum multiplexed hologram onto the focal plane array of the charge-coupled device/complementary metal oxide semiconductor camera. After correct spectrum extraction and image reconstruction, the large object can be fully observed within only one single snap-shot. The flexibility and great performance make our method amore » very attractive and promising technique for large object investigation under common 632.8 nm illumination.« less

  13. Integrating Quality Improvement Education into the Nephrology Curricular Milestones Framework and the Clinical Learning Environment Review

    PubMed Central

    Prince, Lisa K.; Little, Dustin J.; Schexneider, Katherine I.

    2017-01-01

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires that trainees show progressive milestone attainment in the practice–based learning and systems–based practice competencies. As part of the Clinical Learning Environment Review, sponsoring hospitals must educate trainees in health care quality improvement, provide them with specialty–specific quality data, and ensure trainee participation in quality improvement activities and committees. Subspecialty–specific quality improvement curricula in nephrology training programs have not been reported, although considerable curricular and assessment material exists for specialty residencies, including tools for assessing trainee and faculty competence. Nephrology–specific didactic material exists to assist nephrology fellows and faculty mentors in designing and implementing quality improvement projects. Nephrology is notable among internal medicine subspecialties for the emphasis placed on adherence to quality thresholds—specifically for chronic RRT shown by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Quality Incentive Program. We have developed a nephrology-specific curriculum that meets Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and Clinical Learning Environment Review requirements, acknowledges regulatory quality improvement requirements, integrates with ongoing divisional quality improvement activities, and has improved clinical care and the training program. In addition to didactic training in quality improvement, we track trainee compliance with Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes CKD and ESRD quality indicators (emphasizing Quality Improvement Program indicators), and fellows collaborate on a yearly multidisciplinary quality improvement project. Over the past 6 years, each fellowship class has, on the basis of a successful quality improvement project, shown milestone achievement in Systems-Based Practice and Practice-Based Learning. Fellow quality improvement projects have

  14. Correlates of age at attainment of developmental milestones in HIV-infected infants receiving early antiretroviral therapy.

    PubMed

    Benki-Nugent, Sarah; Eshelman, Christal; Wamalwa, Dalton; Langat, Agnes; Tapia, Ken; Okinyi, Helen Moraa; John-Stewart, Grace

    2015-01-01

    Infant HIV-1 infection is associated with impaired neurologic and motor development. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has the potential to improve developmental outcomes but the relative contributions of pre-ART disease status, growth, treatment regimen and ART response during infancy are unknown. Kenyan ART-naive infants <5-months old initiated ART and had monthly assessment of age of full neck control, unsupported walking and monosyllabic speech during 24 months of follow-up. Pre-ART and post-ART correlates of age at milestone attainment were evaluated using t tests or multivariate linear regression. Among 99 infants, pre-ART correlates of later milestone attainment included: underweight and stunted (neck control, walking and speech, all P values <0.05), missed prevention of mother-to-child transmission (P = 0.04) (neck control), previous hospitalization, World Health Organization (WHO) Stage III/IV, low CD4 count, and wasting (speech and walking, all P values <0.05), and low maternal CD4 (speech, P = 0.04). Infants initiated ART at a median of 14 days following enrollment. Infants receiving nevirapinevs lopinavir/ritonavir-based ART attained later speech (18.1 vs. 15.5 months, P = 0.003) [corrected]. Adjusting for pre-ART level, lower 6-month gain in CD4% was associated with later walking (0.18 months earlier per unit increase in CD4%; P = 0.004) and speech (0.12 months earlier per unit increase in CD4%; P = 0.05), and lower 6-month gains in weight-for-age (P = 0.009), height-for-age (P = 0.03) and weight-for-height (P = 0.02) were associated with later walking. In HIV-infected infants, compromised pre-ART immune and growth status, poor post-ART immune and growth responses, and use of nevirapine- vs. lopinavir/ritonavir-based ART were each associated with later milestone attainment [corrected]. The long-term consequences of these delays are unknown.

  15. History of pancreaticoduodenectomy: early misconceptions, initial milestones and the pioneers.

    PubMed

    Are, Chandrakanth; Dhir, Mashaal; Ravipati, Lavanya

    2011-06-01

    Pancreaticoduodenectomy is one of the most challenging surgical procedures which requires the highest level of surgical expertise. This procedure has constantly evolved over the years through the meticulous efforts of a number of surgeons before reaching its current state. This review navigates through some of the early limitations and misconceptions and highlights the initial milestones which laid the foundation of this procedure. The current review also provides a few excerpts from the lives and illuminates on some of the seminal contributions of the three great surgeons: William Stewart Halsted, Walther Carl Eduard Kausch and Allen Oldfather Whipple. These surgeons pioneered the nascent stages of this procedure and paved the way for the modern day pancreaticoduodenectomy. © 2011 International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.

  16. Controlling the motion of a spacecraft when approaching a large object of space debris

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baranov, A. A.; Budyanskiy, A. A.; Razumnyi, Yu. N.

    2017-07-01

    The problem of calculating the parameters of maneuvering a spacecraft as it approaches a large object of space debris (LOSD) in close near-circular noncoplanar orbits has been considered. In [1-4], the results of analyzing the problem of the flyby of the separated LOSD groups have been presented. It has been assumed that a collector spacecraft approaches the LOSD and captures it or it is inserted into the nozzle of a small spacecraft that has a proper propulsion system (PS). However, in these papers, the flight from one object to another was only analyzed and the problem of approaching to LOSD with a given accuracy was not considered. This paper is a supplement to the cycle of papers [1-4]. It is assumed that, the final stage of approaching the LOSD is implemented by maneuvering in many orbits (up to several dozens) with low-thrust engines, but the PS operating time is fairly small compared with the orbit period in order to make it possible to use impulse approximation in the calculations.

  17. Remediation management of complex sites using an adaptive site management approach.

    PubMed

    Price, John; Spreng, Carl; Hawley, Elisabeth L; Deeb, Rula

    2017-12-15

    Complex sites require a disproportionate amount of resources for environmental remediation and long timeframes to achieve remediation objectives, due to their complex geologic conditions, hydrogeologic conditions, geochemical conditions, contaminant-related conditions, large scale of contamination, and/or non-technical challenges. A recent team of state and federal environmental regulators, federal agency representatives, industry experts, community stakeholders, and academia worked together as an Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) team to compile resources and create new guidance on the remediation management of complex sites. This article summarizes the ITRC team's recommended process for addressing complex sites through an adaptive site management approach. The team provided guidance for site managers and other stakeholders to evaluate site complexities and determine site remediation potential, i.e., whether an adaptive site management approach is warranted. Adaptive site management was described as a comprehensive, flexible approach to iteratively evaluate and adjust the remedial strategy in response to remedy performance. Key aspects of adaptive site management were described, including tools for revising and updating the conceptual site model (CSM), the importance of setting interim objectives to define short-term milestones on the journey to achieving site objectives, establishing a performance model and metrics to evaluate progress towards meeting interim objectives, and comparing actual with predicted progress during scheduled periodic evaluations, and establishing decision criteria for when and how to adapt/modify/revise the remedial strategy in response to remedy performance. Key findings will be published in an ITRC Technical and Regulatory guidance document in 2017 and free training webinars will be conducted. More information is available at www.itrc-web.org. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. [An object-oriented remote sensing image segmentation approach based on edge detection].

    PubMed

    Tan, Yu-Min; Huai, Jian-Zhu; Tang, Zhong-Shi

    2010-06-01

    Satellite sensor technology endorsed better discrimination of various landscape objects. Image segmentation approaches to extracting conceptual objects and patterns hence have been explored and a wide variety of such algorithms abound. To this end, in order to effectively utilize edge and topological information in high resolution remote sensing imagery, an object-oriented algorithm combining edge detection and region merging is proposed. Susan edge filter is firstly applied to the panchromatic band of Quickbird imagery with spatial resolution of 0.61 m to obtain the edge map. Thanks to the resulting edge map, a two-phrase region-based segmentation method operates on the fusion image from panchromatic and multispectral Quickbird images to get the final partition result. In the first phase, a quad tree grid consisting of squares with sides parallel to the image left and top borders agglomerates the square subsets recursively where the uniform measure is satisfied to derive image object primitives. Before the merger of the second phrase, the contextual and spatial information, (e. g., neighbor relationship, boundary coding) of the resulting squares are retrieved efficiently by means of the quad tree structure. Then a region merging operation is performed with those primitives, during which the criterion for region merging integrates edge map and region-based features. This approach has been tested on the QuickBird images of some site in Sanxia area and the result is compared with those of ENVI Zoom Definiens. In addition, quantitative evaluation of the quality of segmentation results is also presented. Experiment results demonstrate stable convergence and efficiency.

  19. Realization of entry-to-practice milestones by Canadians who studied medicine abroad and other international medical graduates: a retrospective cohort study.

    PubMed

    Mathews, Maria; Kandar, Rima; Slade, Steve; Yi, Yanqing; Beardall, Sue; Bourgeault, Ivy

    2017-06-19

    International medical graduates must realize a series of milestones to obtain full licensure. We examined the realization of milestones by Canadian and non-Canadian graduates of Western or Caribbean medical schools, and Canadian and non-Canadian graduates from other medical schools. Using the National IMG Database (data available for 2005-2011), we created 2 cohorts: 1) international medical graduates who had passed the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I between 2005 and 2010 and 2) those who had first entered a family medicine postgraduate program between 2005 and 2009, or had first entered a specialty postgraduate program in 2005 or 2006. We examined 3 entry-to-practice milestones; obtaining a postgraduate position, passing the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part II and obtaining a specialty designation. Of the 6925 eligible graduates in cohort 1, 2144 (31.0%) had obtained a postgraduate position. Of the 1214 eligible graduates in cohort 2, 1126 (92.8%) had passed the Qualifying Examination Part II, and 889 (73.2%) had obtained a specialty designation. In multivariate analyses, Canadian graduates of Western or Caribbean medical schools (odds ratio [OR] 4.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.82-5.71) and Canadian graduates of other medical schools (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.31-1.70) were more likely to obtain a postgraduate position than non-Canadian graduates of other (not Western or Caribbean) medical schools. There was no difference among the groups in passing the Qualifying Examination Part II or obtaining a specialty designation. Canadians who studied abroad were more likely than other international medical graduates to obtain a postgraduate position; there were no differences among the groups in realizing milestones once in a postgraduate program. These findings support policies that do not distinguish postgraduate applicants by citizenship or permanent residency status before medical school. Copyright 2017, Joule Inc. or its

  20. ALMA Telescope Passes Major Milestone with Successful Antenna Link

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2009-05-01

    The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an immense international telescope project under construction in northern Chile, reached a major milestone on April 30, when two ALMA antennas were linked together as an integrated system to observe an astronomical object for the first time. The milestone achievement, technically termed "First Fringes," came at ALMA’s Operations Support Facility, 9,500 feet above sea level. Faint radio waves emitted by the planet Mars were collected by the two 12-meter diameter ALMA antennas, then processed by state-of-the-art electronics to turn the two antennas into a single, high-resolution telescope system, called an interferometer. Such pairs of antennas are the basic building blocks of imaging systems that enable radio telescopes to deliver pictures that approach or even exceed the resolving power of visible light telescopes. In such a system, each antenna is combined electronically with every other antenna to form a multitude of antenna pairs. Each pair contributes unique information that is used to build a highly-detailed image of the astronomical object under observation. When completed early in the next decade, ALMA’s 66 antennas will provide over a thousand such antenna pairings, with distances between antennas exceeding ten miles. This will enable ALMA to see with a sharpness surpassing that of the best space telescopes. The antennas will operate at an altitude of 16,500 feet, high above the OSF, in one of the best locations on Earth for millimeter-wavelength astronomy, the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Last week’s successful Mars observation was conducted at an observing frequency of 104.2 GHz. Astronomers measured the distinctive varying “fringes” detected by the interferometer as the planet moved across the sky. “This is a great success,” said Adrian Russell, North American ALMA Project Director at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), “not because we observed a

  1. A combined vision-inertial fusion approach for 6-DoF object pose estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Juan; Bernardos, Ana M.; Tarrío, Paula; Casar, José R.

    2015-02-01

    The estimation of the 3D position and orientation of moving objects (`pose' estimation) is a critical process for many applications in robotics, computer vision or mobile services. Although major research efforts have been carried out to design accurate, fast and robust indoor pose estimation systems, it remains as an open challenge to provide a low-cost, easy to deploy and reliable solution. Addressing this issue, this paper describes a hybrid approach for 6 degrees of freedom (6-DoF) pose estimation that fuses acceleration data and stereo vision to overcome the respective weaknesses of single technology approaches. The system relies on COTS technologies (standard webcams, accelerometers) and printable colored markers. It uses a set of infrastructure cameras, located to have the object to be tracked visible most of the operation time; the target object has to include an embedded accelerometer and be tagged with a fiducial marker. This simple marker has been designed for easy detection and segmentation and it may be adapted to different service scenarios (in shape and colors). Experimental results show that the proposed system provides high accuracy, while satisfactorily dealing with the real-time constraints.

  2. Object-oriented Approach to High-level Network Monitoring and Management

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mukkamala, Ravi

    2000-01-01

    An absolute prerequisite for the management of large investigating methods to build high-level monitoring computer networks is the ability to measure their systems that are built on top of existing monitoring performance. Unless we monitor a system, we cannot tools. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the hope to manage and control its performance. In this underlying systems at NASA Langley Research Center, paper, we describe a network monitoring system that we use an object-oriented approach for the design, we are currently designing and implementing. Keeping, first, we use UML (Unified Modeling Language) to in mind the complexity of the task and the required model users' requirements. Second, we identify the flexibility for future changes, we use an object-oriented existing capabilities of the underlying monitoring design methodology. The system is built using the system. Third, we try to map the former with the latter. APIs offered by the HP OpenView system.

  3. RF control at SSCL — an object oriented design approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dohan, D. A.; Osberg, E.; Biggs, R.; Bossom, J.; Chillara, K.; Richter, R.; Wade, D.

    1994-12-01

    The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in Texas, the construction of which was stopped in 1994, would have represented a major challenge in accelerator research and development. This paper addresses the issues encountered in the parallel design and construction of the control systems for the RF equipment for the five accelerators comprising the SSC. An extensive analysis of the components of the RF control systems has been undertaken, based upon the Schlaer-Mellor object-oriented analysis and design (OOA/OOD) methodology. The RF subsystem components such as amplifiers, tubes, power supplies, PID loops, etc. were analyzed to produce OOA information, behavior and process models. Using these models, OOD was iteratively applied to develop a generic RF control system design. This paper describes the results of this analysis and the development of 'bridges' between the analysis objects, and the EPICS-based software and underlying VME-based hardware architectures. The application of this approach to several of the SSCL RF control systems is discussed.

  4. A report documenting the completion of the Los Alamos National Laboratory portion of the ASC level II milestone ""Visualization on the supercomputing platform

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

    Ahrens, James P; Patchett, John M; Lo, Li - Ta

    2011-01-24

    This report provides documentation for the completion of the Los Alamos portion of the ASC Level II 'Visualization on the Supercomputing Platform' milestone. This ASC Level II milestone is a joint milestone between Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The milestone text is shown in Figure 1 with the Los Alamos portions highlighted in boldfaced text. Visualization and analysis of petascale data is limited by several factors which must be addressed as ACES delivers the Cielo platform. Two primary difficulties are: (1) Performance of interactive rendering, which is the most computationally intensive portion of the visualization process. Formore » terascale platforms, commodity clusters with graphics processors (GPUs) have been used for interactive rendering. For petascale platforms, visualization and rendering may be able to run efficiently on the supercomputer platform itself. (2) I/O bandwidth, which limits how much information can be written to disk. If we simply analyze the sparse information that is saved to disk we miss the opportunity to analyze the rich information produced every timestep by the simulation. For the first issue, we are pursuing in-situ analysis, in which simulations are coupled directly with analysis libraries at runtime. This milestone will evaluate the visualization and rendering performance of current and next generation supercomputers in contrast to GPU-based visualization clusters, and evaluate the perfromance of common analysis libraries coupled with the simulation that analyze and write data to disk during a running simulation. This milestone will explore, evaluate and advance the maturity level of these technologies and their applicability to problems of interest to the ASC program. In conclusion, we improved CPU-based rendering performance by a a factor of 2-10 times on our tests. In addition, we evaluated CPU and CPU-based rendering performance. We encourage production visualization experts to consider

  5. An Integrated Approach to Preempt Cheating on Asynchronous, Objective, Online Assessments in Graduate Business Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sullivan, Daniel P.

    2016-01-01

    Cheating, left untended, erodes the validity of evaluation and, ultimately, corrupts the legitimacy of a course. We profile an approach to manage, with an eye toward preempting, cheating on asynchronous, objective, online quizzes. This approach taps various technological and social solutions to academic dishonesty, integrating them into a…

  6. Multiple Intelligence Approach to Curriculum Transaction in Achieving the Educational Objectives at Secondary School Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Francis, Reni

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to foster learning through the Multiple Intelligence Approach in achieving educational objectives across the levels of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Multiple intelligences approach facilitates ways for students by ensuring that curriculum and instruction validate the strengths and build on the assets that students possess…

  7. Administration by Objectives: A Systematic Approach to Educational Planning in Virginia. Report of a Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holmes, George W., III; Seawell, William H.

    This report presents (1) details of a program for educational administration by objectives and (2) the results of such a program developed by the Virginia State Department of Education to upgrade the quality of education in the public schools of that State. Administration by objectives is a systematic approach to education planning using…

  8. Prior knowledge guided active modules identification: an integrated multi-objective approach.

    PubMed

    Chen, Weiqi; Liu, Jing; He, Shan

    2017-03-14

    Active module, defined as an area in biological network that shows striking changes in molecular activity or phenotypic signatures, is important to reveal dynamic and process-specific information that is correlated with cellular or disease states. A prior information guided active module identification approach is proposed to detect modules that are both active and enriched by prior knowledge. We formulate the active module identification problem as a multi-objective optimisation problem, which consists two conflicting objective functions of maximising the coverage of known biological pathways and the activity of the active module simultaneously. Network is constructed from protein-protein interaction database. A beta-uniform-mixture model is used to estimate the distribution of p-values and generate scores for activity measurement from microarray data. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to search for Pareto optimal solutions. We also incorporate a novel constraints based on algebraic connectivity to ensure the connectedness of the identified active modules. Application of proposed algorithm on a small yeast molecular network shows that it can identify modules with high activities and with more cross-talk nodes between related functional groups. The Pareto solutions generated by the algorithm provides solutions with different trade-off between prior knowledge and novel information from data. The approach is then applied on microarray data from diclofenac-treated yeast cells to build network and identify modules to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of diclofenac toxicity and resistance. Gene ontology analysis is applied to the identified modules for biological interpretation. Integrating knowledge of functional groups into the identification of active module is an effective method and provides a flexible control of balance between pure data-driven method and prior information guidance.

  9. 20 CFR 411.536 - Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.536 Section 411.536 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment...

  10. 20 CFR 411.536 - Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.536 Section 411.536 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment...

  11. 20 CFR 411.536 - Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.536 Section 411.536 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment...

  12. 20 CFR 411.536 - Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.536 Section 411.536 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment...

  13. 20 CFR 411.536 - Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Under what circumstances can we make a reconciliation payment under the outcome-milestone payment system? 411.536 Section 411.536 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment...

  14. Developmental milestones at one year for the offspring of mothers with congenital hypothyroidism: a population-based study

    PubMed

    Léger, Juliane; Forhan, Anne; Dos Santos, Sophie; Larroque, Béatrice; Ecosse, Emmanuel; Charles, Marie-Aline; Heude, Barbara

    2018-05-01

    Maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopmental impairment in the offspring. No data are currently available for the offspring of patients treated early for congenital hypothyroidism (CH). The aim of this study was to investigate motor and language milestones at one year of age in a population-based registry of children born to young women with CH. We assessed 110 children born to mothers with CH, and 1367 children from the EDEN French population-based birth cohort study prospectively, at the age of one year, with identical questionnaires. Outcomes were assessed in terms of scores for childhood developmental milestones relating to mobility, motor coordination, communication, motricity and language skills. After adjustment for confounding factors, children born to mothers with CH were found to have a higher risk of poor motor coordination than those of the EDEN cohort (OR: 4.18, 95% CI: 2.52-6.93). No differences were identified for the other four domains investigated. Children born to mothers with gestational diabetes have a higher risk of low motor coordination score than their peers (OR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.21-3.66). Children born to mothers with TSH ≥ 10 IU/L during the first six months of pregnancy were more likely to have low motricity or communication skills scores than those born to mothers with lower TSH concentrations (56% vs 21% for each score, P  < 0.04). Maternal CH may have slight adverse effects on some developmental milestones in the child at one year of age, particularly for children born to mothers with uncontrolled hypothyroidism. However, it remains unclear whether these adverse effects modify subsequent neurodevelopment. © 2018 European Society of Endocrinology.

  15. 20 CFR 411.581 - Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months after a beneficiary takes his or her...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.581 Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months...

  16. 20 CFR 411.581 - Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months after a beneficiary takes his or her...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.581 Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months...

  17. 20 CFR 411.581 - Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months after a beneficiary takes his or her...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.581 Can an EN receive milestone and outcome payments for months...

  18. L2 Milestone: Neutron Capture Cross Sections from Surrogate (p, d) Measurements: Determination of the Unknown 87Y(n, g) Cross Section and Assessment of the Method Via the 90Zr(n, g) Benchmark Case: Theory Report

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

    Escher, J. E.

    Cross sections for compound-nuclear reactions involving unstable targets are important for many applications, but can often not be measured directly. Here we describe a method for extracting cross sections for neutron-capture on unstable isotopes from indirect (surrogate) measurements. The surrogate reaction, which produces the compound nucleus of interest, has to be described and the decay of the nucleus has to be modeled. We outline the approach for one-neutron pickup and report on the determination of the 90Zr(n, γ ) reaction from surrogate 92Zr(p,d) data, which is compared to the directly-measured capture cross section and thus provides a benchmark for themore » method. We then apply the method to determine the 87Y(n, γ ) cross section, which has not been measured directly. The work was carried out in the context of an LLNL L2 Milestone. This report addresses the theory aspects of the milestone. A complementary document summarizes the experimental efforts [1].« less

  19. Feasibility of a shorter Goal Attainment Scaling method for a pediatric spasticity clinic - The 3-milestones GAS.

    PubMed

    Krasny-Pacini, A; Pauly, F; Hiebel, J; Godon, S; Isner-Horobeti, M-E; Chevignard, M

    2017-07-01

    Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is a method for writing personalized evaluation scales to quantify progress toward defined goals. It is useful in rehabilitation but is hampered by the experience required to adequately "predict" the possible outcomes relating to a particular goal before treatment and the time needed to describe all 5 levels of the scale. Here we aimed to investigate the feasibility of using GAS in a clinical setting of a pediatric spasticity clinic with a shorter method, the "3-milestones" GAS (goal setting with 3 levels and goal rating with the classical 5 levels). Secondary aims were to (1) analyze the types of goals children's therapists set for botulinum toxin treatment and (2) compare the score distribution (and therefore the ability to predict outcome) by goal type. Therapists were trained in GAS writing and prepared GAS scales in the regional spasticity-management clinic they attended with their patients and families. The study included all GAS scales written during a 2-year period. GAS score distribution across the 5 GAS levels was examined to assess whether the therapist could reliably predict outcome and whether the 3-milestones GAS yielded similar distributions as the original GAS method. In total, 541 GAS scales were written and showed the expected score distribution. Most scales (55%) referred to movement quality goals and fewer (29%) to family goals and activity domains. The 3-milestones GAS method was feasible within the time constraints of the spasticity clinic and could be used by local therapists in cooperation with the hospital team. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  20. Time-to-Contact Judgments of an Approaching Object that Is Partially Concealed by an Occluder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeLucia, Patricia R.

    2004-01-01

    Prior studies of time-to-contact (TTC) focused on judgments of unoccluded approaching objects. P. R. DeLucia, M. K. Kaiser, J. M. Bush, L. E. Meyer, and B. T. Sweet (2003) showed that partial occlusion decreases an object's optical size and expansion rate and that the value of tau derived from the reduced optical size (relative rate of accretion;…

  1. 20 CFR 411.566 - May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary? 411.566 Section 411.566 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.566 May...

  2. 20 CFR 411.566 - May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary? 411.566 Section 411.566 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.566 May...

  3. 20 CFR 411.566 - May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary? 411.566 Section 411.566 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.566 May...

  4. 20 CFR 411.566 - May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary? 411.566 Section 411.566 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.566 May...

  5. 20 CFR 411.566 - May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false May an EN use outcome or milestone payments to make payments to the beneficiary? 411.566 Section 411.566 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.566 May...

  6. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans, fiscal year, 1981

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, K. S.

    1981-01-01

    The objectives, expected results, approach, and FY 81 milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division's research program are presented. This information will be useful in program coordination with other government organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  7. Space Launch System milestone on This Week @NASA - August 29, 2014

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-29

    On August 27, NASA announced a milestone in development of the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. The completion of a rigorous review known as Key Decision Point C, or KDP-C, means NASA can transition from formulation to development of the rocket that will send humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars. KDP-C outlines a conservative development cost baseline and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no later than November 2018. This marks the country's first commitment to building an exploration class launch vehicle since the Space Shuttle Program. Also, 3-D printed rocket injector test, SLS scale model test, Composite fuel tank tests, Crossing Neptune’s orbit, New Horizons: Continuing Voyager’s legacy and more!

  8. Objective vocal quality in children using cochlear implants: a multiparameter approach.

    PubMed

    Baudonck, Nele; D'haeseleer, Evelien; Dhooge, Ingeborg; Van Lierde, Kristiane

    2011-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the objective vocal quality in 36 prelingually deaf children using cochlear implant (CI) with a mean age of 9 years. An additional purpose was to compare the objective vocal quality of these 36 CI users with 25 age-matched children with prelingual severe hearing loss using conventional hearing aids (HAs) and 25 normal hearing (NH) children. The design for this cross-sectional study was a multigroup posttest-only design. The objective vocal quality was measured by means of the dysphonia severity index (DSI). Moreover, perceptual voice assessment using the GRBASI scale was performed. CI children have a vocal quality by means of the DSI of +1.8, corresponding with a DSI% of 68%, indicating a borderline vocal quality situated 2% above the limit of normality. The voice was perceptually characterized by the presence of a very slight grade of hoarseness, roughness, strained phonation, and higher pitch and intensity levels. No significant objective vocal quality differences were measured between the voices of the CI children, HA users, and NH children. According to the results, one aspect of the vocal approach in children with CI and using HAs must be focused on the improvement of the strained vocal characteristic and the use of a lower pitch and intensity level. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. An Autonomous Sensor Tasking Approach for Large Scale Space Object Cataloging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Linares, R.; Furfaro, R.

    The field of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) has progressed over the last few decades with new sensors coming online, the development of new approaches for making observations, and new algorithms for processing them. Although there has been success in the development of new approaches, a missing piece is the translation of SSA goals to sensors and resource allocation; otherwise known as the Sensor Management Problem (SMP). This work solves the SMP using an artificial intelligence approach called Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). Stable methods for training DRL approaches based on neural networks exist, but most of these approaches are not suitable for high dimensional systems. The Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C) method is a recently developed and effective approach for high dimensional systems, and this work leverages these results and applies this approach to decision making in SSA. The decision space for the SSA problems can be high dimensional, even for tasking of a single telescope. Since the number of SOs in space is relatively high, each sensor will have a large number of possible actions at a given time. Therefore, efficient DRL approaches are required when solving the SMP for SSA. This work develops a A3C based method for DRL applied to SSA sensor tasking. One of the key benefits of DRL approaches is the ability to handle high dimensional data. For example DRL methods have been applied to image processing for the autonomous car application. For example, a 256x256 RGB image has 196608 parameters (256*256*3=196608) which is very high dimensional, and deep learning approaches routinely take images like this as inputs. Therefore, when applied to the whole catalog the DRL approach offers the ability to solve this high dimensional problem. This work has the potential to, for the first time, solve the non-myopic sensor tasking problem for the whole SO catalog (over 22,000 objects) providing a truly revolutionary result.

  10. Puberty, sexual milestones and abuse: how are they related in eating disorder patients?

    PubMed

    Schmidt, U; Evans, K; Tiller, J; Treasure, J

    1995-03-01

    In order to assess the relationship pubertal development, sexual milestones and childhood sexual abuse in women with eating disorders, 44 patients with restricting anorexia nervosa (RAN), 26 with bulimic anorexia nervosa (BAN), 29 with bulimia nervosa and also with a history of anorexia nervosa (BN/HistAN), and 69 with bulimia nervosa but without a history of anorexia nervosa (BN) completed questionnaires on pubertal and sexual development and unpleasant sexual experiences. Forty-four female college students complete the sexual development questionnaire only. Different eating disorder groups were found to be similar in terms of their pubertal development. All eating disorder groups showed delays in aspects of their psychosexual development (age at first kiss, masturbation, genital fondling and first sexual intercourse) compared with the control group, although to a different degree. The RAN group was delayed on almost all sexual milestones whereas the other groups were delayed on only some. On some variables, most noticeably on first sexual intercourse, restricters also were more delayed than the other eating disorder groups. Similarly, the median number of sexual partners differed significantly between groups (RAN = 1, BAN = 2, BN/HistAN = 4, BN = 4, controls = 5, P < 0.0001). Eating disorder patients, in particular RAN patients, were less positive about sexual relationships than controls, but did not differ from controls in attitudes to masturbation, marriage, children or pregnancy. Of the eating disorder patients 22-31% had been sexually abused during childhood. A history of abuse affected attitudes to masturbation, but did not appear to affect sexual development.

  11. Hierarchical Object-based Image Analysis approach for classification of sub-meter multispectral imagery in Tanzania

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chung, C.; Nagol, J. R.; Tao, X.; Anand, A.; Dempewolf, J.

    2015-12-01

    Increasing agricultural production while at the same time preserving the environment has become a challenging task. There is a need for new approaches for use of multi-scale and multi-source remote sensing data as well as ground based measurements for mapping and monitoring crop and ecosystem state to support decision making by governmental and non-governmental organizations for sustainable agricultural development. High resolution sub-meter imagery plays an important role in such an integrative framework of landscape monitoring. It helps link the ground based data to more easily available coarser resolution data, facilitating calibration and validation of derived remote sensing products. Here we present a hierarchical Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach to classify sub-meter imagery. The primary reason for choosing OBIA is to accommodate pixel sizes smaller than the object or class of interest. Especially in non-homogeneous savannah regions of Tanzania, this is an important concern and the traditional pixel based spectral signature approach often fails. Ortho-rectified, calibrated, pan sharpened 0.5 meter resolution data acquired from DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite sensor was used for this purpose. Multi-scale hierarchical segmentation was performed using multi-resolution segmentation approach to facilitate the use of texture, neighborhood context, and the relationship between super and sub objects for training and classification. eCognition, a commonly used OBIA software program, was used for this purpose. Both decision tree and random forest approaches for classification were tested. The Kappa index agreement for both algorithms surpassed the 85%. The results demonstrate that using hierarchical OBIA can effectively and accurately discriminate classes at even LCCS-3 legend.

  12. Object-Oriented Approach for 3d Archaeological Documentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valente, R.; Brumana, R.; Oreni, D.; Banfi, F.; Barazzetti, L.; Previtali, M.

    2017-08-01

    Documentation on archaeological fieldworks needs to be accurate and time-effective. Many features unveiled during excavations can be recorded just once, since the archaeological workflow physically removes most of the stratigraphic elements. Some of them have peculiar characteristics which make them hardly recognizable as objects and prevent a full 3D documentation. The paper presents a suitable feature-based method to carry on archaeological documentation with a three-dimensional approach, tested on the archaeological site of S. Calocero in Albenga (Italy). The method is based on one hand on the use of structure from motion techniques for on-site recording and 3D Modelling to represent the three-dimensional complexity of stratigraphy. The entire documentation workflow is carried out through digital tools, assuring better accuracy and interoperability. Outputs can be used in GIS to perform spatial analysis; moreover, a more effective dissemination of fieldworks results can be assured with the spreading of datasets and other information through web-services.

  13. An Evaluation of Learning Objects in Singapore Primary Education: A Case Study Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grace, Tay Pei Lyn; Suan, Ng Peck; Wanzhen, Liaw

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usability and interface design of e-learning portal developed for primary schools in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach: Using Singapore-based learning EDvantage (LEAD) portal as a case study, this paper reviews and analyses the usability and usefulness of embedded learning objects (LOs)…

  14. Summary of FY 17 Assessments Sandia National Laboratories: Evaluation of FY16 SNL FCT M2 Milestone Deliverables

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

    Appel, Gordon John

    This report is the milestone deliverable M4FT-17SN111102091 “Summary of Assessments Performed FY17 by SNL QA POC” for work package FT-17SN11110209 titled “Quality Assurance – SNL”. This report summarizes the FY17 assessment performed on Fuel Cycle Technologies / Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition efforts.

  15. Semi-automatic classification of glaciovolcanic landforms: An object-based mapping approach based on geomorphometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pedersen, G. B. M.

    2016-02-01

    A new object-oriented approach is developed to classify glaciovolcanic landforms (Procedure A) and their landform elements boundaries (Procedure B). It utilizes the principle that glaciovolcanic edifices are geomorphometrically distinct from lava shields and plains (Pedersen and Grosse, 2014), and the approach is tested on data from Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. The outlined procedures utilize slope and profile curvature attribute maps (20 m/pixel) and the classified results are evaluated quantitatively through error matrix maps (Procedure A) and visual inspection (Procedure B). In procedure A, the highest obtained accuracy is 94.1%, but even simple mapping procedures provide good results (> 90% accuracy). Successful classification of glaciovolcanic landform element boundaries (Procedure B) is also achieved and this technique has the potential to delineate the transition from intraglacial to subaerial volcanic activity in orthographic view. This object-oriented approach based on geomorphometry overcomes issues with vegetation cover, which has been typically problematic for classification schemes utilizing spectral data. Furthermore, it handles complex edifice outlines well and is easily incorporated into a GIS environment, where results can be edited or fused with other mapping results. The approach outlined here is designed to map glaciovolcanic edifices within the Icelandic neovolcanic zone but may also be applied to similar subaerial or submarine volcanic settings, where steep volcanic edifices are surrounded by flat plains.

  16. ASC Tri-lab Co-design Level 2 Milestone Report 2015

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

    Hornung, Rich; Jones, Holger; Keasler, Jeff

    2015-09-23

    In 2015, the three Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories that make up the Advanced Sci- enti c Computing (ASC) Program (Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos) collaboratively explored performance portability programming environments in the context of several ASC co-design proxy applica- tions as part of a tri-lab L2 milestone executed by the co-design teams at each laboratory. The programming environments that were studied included Kokkos (developed at Sandia), RAJA (LLNL), and Legion (Stan- ford University). The proxy apps studied included: miniAero, LULESH, CoMD, Kripke, and SNAP. These programming models and proxy-apps are described herein. Each lab focused on amore » particular combination of abstractions and proxy apps, with the goal of assessing performance portability using those. Performance portability was determined by: a) the ability to run a single application source code on multiple advanced architectures, b) comparing runtime performance between \

  17. Norms for developmental milestones using VABS-II and association with anthropometric measures among apparently healthy urban Indian preschool children.

    PubMed

    Selvam, Sumithra; Thomas, Tinku; Shetty, Priya; Zhu, Jianjun; Raman, Vijaya; Khanna, Deepti; Mehra, Ruchika; Kurpad, Anura V; Srinivasan, Krishnamachari

    2016-12-01

    Assessment of developmental milestones based on locally developed norms is critical for accurate estimate of overall development of a child's cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development. A cross-sectional study was done to develop age specific norms for developmental milestones using Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS-II) (Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2005) for apparently healthy children from 2 to 5 years from urban Bangalore, India, and to examine its association with anthropometric measures. Mothers (or caregivers) of 412 children participated in the study. Age-specific norms using inferential norming method and adaptive levels for all domains and subdomains were derived. Low adaptive level, also called delayed developmental milestone, was observed in 2.3% of the children, specifically 2.7% in motor and daily living skills and 2.4% in communication skills. When these children were assessed on the existing U.S. norms, there was a significant overestimation of delayed development in socialization and motor skills, whereas delay in communication and daily living skills were underestimated (all p < .01). Multiple linear regression revealed that stunted and underweight children had significantly lower developmental scores for communication and motor skills compared with normal children (β coefficient ranges from 2.6-5.3; all p < .01). In the absence of Indian normative data for VABS-II in preschool children, the prevalence of developmental delay could either be under- or overestimated using Western norms. Thus, locally referenced norms are critical for reliable assessments of development in children. Stunted and underweight children are more likely to have poorer developmental scores compared with healthy children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Desired Precision in Multi-Objective Optimization: Epsilon Archiving or Rounding Objectives?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asadzadeh, M.; Sahraei, S.

    2016-12-01

    Multi-objective optimization (MO) aids in supporting the decision making process in water resources engineering and design problems. One of the main goals of solving a MO problem is to archive a set of solutions that is well-distributed across a wide range of all the design objectives. Modern MO algorithms use the epsilon dominance concept to define a mesh with pre-defined grid-cell size (often called epsilon) in the objective space and archive at most one solution at each grid-cell. Epsilon can be set to the desired precision level of each objective function to make sure that the difference between each pair of archived solutions is meaningful. This epsilon archiving process is computationally expensive in problems that have quick-to-evaluate objective functions. This research explores the applicability of a similar but computationally more efficient approach to respect the desired precision level of all objectives in the solution archiving process. In this alternative approach each objective function is rounded to the desired precision level before comparing any new solution to the set of archived solutions that already have rounded objective function values. This alternative solution archiving approach is compared to the epsilon archiving approach in terms of efficiency and quality of archived solutions for solving mathematical test problems and hydrologic model calibration problems.

  19. a Point Cloud Classification Approach Based on Vertical Structures of Ground Objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Y.; Hu, Q.; Hu, W.

    2018-04-01

    This paper proposes a novel method for point cloud classification using vertical structural characteristics of ground objects. Since urbanization develops rapidly nowadays, urban ground objects also change frequently. Conventional photogrammetric methods cannot satisfy the requirements of updating the ground objects' information efficiently, so LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology is employed to accomplish this task. LiDAR data, namely point cloud data, can obtain detailed three-dimensional coordinates of ground objects, but this kind of data is discrete and unorganized. To accomplish ground objects classification with point cloud, we first construct horizontal grids and vertical layers to organize point cloud data, and then calculate vertical characteristics, including density and measures of dispersion, and form characteristic curves for each grids. With the help of PCA processing and K-means algorithm, we analyze the similarities and differences of characteristic curves. Curves that have similar features will be classified into the same class and point cloud correspond to these curves will be classified as well. The whole process is simple but effective, and this approach does not need assistance of other data sources. In this study, point cloud data are classified into three classes, which are vegetation, buildings, and roads. When horizontal grid spacing and vertical layer spacing are 3 m and 1 m respectively, vertical characteristic is set as density, and the number of dimensions after PCA processing is 11, the overall precision of classification result is about 86.31 %. The result can help us quickly understand the distribution of various ground objects.

  20. WiiPD--an approach for the objective home assessment of Parkinson's disease.

    PubMed

    Synnott, J; Chen, L; Nugent, C D; Moore, G

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces WiiPD, an approach to home-based objective assessment of Parkinson's disease. WiiPD aims to make use of the many capabilities of the Nintendo Wii Remote in combination with a number of bespoke data gathering methods to provide a rich and engaging user experience that can capture a wide range of motor and non-motor metrics. In this paper we discuss the architecture of the approach, and provide details of the implementation and testing of the motor-assessment component of the system. Initial results of testing on 6 users indicate that the system is able to differentiate between normal and abnormal motor performance, suggesting that the system has the potential to monitor the motor fluctuations associated with Parkinson's disease.

  1. A Financial Approach as an Alternative Organizational Development Intervention.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1979-12-01

    Participants: (age group) (#Available) (# Program (#confirmed/ designed for) reserved) Program requested by: Board of Directors PSO Staff Community...Milestone chart approved by: on ’ name date 59 APPENDIX F PSO PROGRAM WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: The Program Worksheet is designed to collect all inform...11. Grossman, Lee, The Change Agent, Amacom, New York, 1974. 12. Harvey, Donald F., and Brown, Donald R., An Eperimental Approach to Organization

  2. Enabling Design for Affordability: An Epoch-Era Analysis Approach

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-04-01

    Analysis on the DoD Pre-Milestone B Acquisition Processes Danielle Worger and Teresa Wu, Arizona State University Eugene Rex Jalao, Arizona State...Management Best Practices Brandon Keller and J. Robert Wirthlin Air Force Institute of Technology The RITE Approach to Agile Acquisition Timothy Boyce...Change Kathryn Aten and John T . Dillard Naval Postgraduate School A Comparative Assessment of the Navy’s Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) Process

  3. 20 CFR 411.575 - How does the EN request payment for milestones or outcome payment months achieved by a...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... Section 411.575 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.575 How does the EN request payment for milestones or... payment for a month if— (i)(A) Social Security disability benefits and Federal SSI cash benefits are not...

  4. 20 CFR 411.575 - How does the EN request payment for milestones or outcome payment months achieved by a...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... Section 411.575 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.575 How does the EN request payment for milestones or... payment for a month if— (i)(A) Social Security disability benefits and Federal SSI cash benefits are not...

  5. 20 CFR 411.575 - How does the EN request payment for milestones or outcome payment months achieved by a...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... Section 411.575 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.575 How does the EN request payment for milestones or... payment for a month if— (i)(A) Social Security disability benefits and Federal SSI cash benefits are not...

  6. A multi-objective constraint-based approach for modeling genome-scale microbial ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Budinich, Marko; Bourdon, Jérémie; Larhlimi, Abdelhalim; Eveillard, Damien

    2017-01-01

    Interplay within microbial communities impacts ecosystems on several scales, and elucidation of the consequent effects is a difficult task in ecology. In particular, the integration of genome-scale data within quantitative models of microbial ecosystems remains elusive. This study advocates the use of constraint-based modeling to build predictive models from recent high-resolution -omics datasets. Following recent studies that have demonstrated the accuracy of constraint-based models (CBMs) for simulating single-strain metabolic networks, we sought to study microbial ecosystems as a combination of single-strain metabolic networks that exchange nutrients. This study presents two multi-objective extensions of CBMs for modeling communities: multi-objective flux balance analysis (MO-FBA) and multi-objective flux variability analysis (MO-FVA). Both methods were applied to a hot spring mat model ecosystem. As a result, multiple trade-offs between nutrients and growth rates, as well as thermodynamically favorable relative abundances at community level, were emphasized. We expect this approach to be used for integrating genomic information in microbial ecosystems. Following models will provide insights about behaviors (including diversity) that take place at the ecosystem scale.

  7. [Systemic approach to ecologic safety at objects with radiation jeopardy, involved into localization of low and medium radioactive waste].

    PubMed

    Veselov, E I

    2011-01-01

    The article deals with specifying systemic approach to ecologic safety of objects with radiation jeopardy. The authors presented stages of work and algorithm of decisions on preserving reliability of storage for radiation jeopardy waste. Findings are that providing ecologic safety can cover 3 approaches: complete exemption of radiation jeopardy waste, removal of more dangerous waste from present buildings and increasing reliability of prolonged localization of radiation jeopardy waste at the initial place. The systemic approach presented could be realized at various radiation jeopardy objects.

  8. An Approach to Extract Moving Objects from Mls Data Using a Volumetric Background Representation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gehrung, J.; Hebel, M.; Arens, M.; Stilla, U.

    2017-05-01

    Data recorded by mobile LiDAR systems (MLS) can be used for the generation and refinement of city models or for the automatic detection of long-term changes in the public road space. Since for this task only static structures are of interest, all mobile objects need to be removed. This work presents a straightforward but powerful approach to remove the subclass of moving objects. A probabilistic volumetric representation is utilized to separate MLS measurements recorded by a Velodyne HDL-64E into mobile objects and static background. The method was subjected to a quantitative and a qualitative examination using multiple datasets recorded by a mobile mapping platform. The results show that depending on the chosen octree resolution 87-95% of the measurements are labeled correctly.

  9. A multi-objective optimization model for hub network design under uncertainty: An inexact rough-interval fuzzy approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niakan, F.; Vahdani, B.; Mohammadi, M.

    2015-12-01

    This article proposes a multi-objective mixed-integer model to optimize the location of hubs within a hub network design problem under uncertainty. The considered objectives include minimizing the maximum accumulated travel time, minimizing the total costs including transportation, fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions costs, and finally maximizing the minimum service reliability. In the proposed model, it is assumed that for connecting two nodes, there are several types of arc in which their capacity, transportation mode, travel time, and transportation and construction costs are different. Moreover, in this model, determining the capacity of the hubs is part of the decision-making procedure and balancing requirements are imposed on the network. To solve the model, a hybrid solution approach is utilized based on inexact programming, interval-valued fuzzy programming and rough interval programming. Furthermore, a hybrid multi-objective metaheuristic algorithm, namely multi-objective invasive weed optimization (MOIWO), is developed for the given problem. Finally, various computational experiments are carried out to assess the proposed model and solution approaches.

  10. The core learning objectives education model: an approach to the teaching of core concepts in the clinical clerkship.

    PubMed

    Rapp, David E; Lyon, Mark B; Orvieto, Marcelo A; Zagaja, Gregory P

    2005-10-01

    The classical approach to the undergraduate medical clerkship has several limitations, including variability of clinical exposure and method of examination. As a result, the clerkship experience does not ensure exposure to and reinforcement of the fundamental concepts of a given specialty. This article reviews the classic approach to clerkship education within the undergraduate medical education. Specific attention is placed on clinical exposure and clerkship examination. We describe the introduction of the Core Learning Objective (CLO) educational model at the University of Chicago Section of Urology. This model is designed to provide an efficient exposure to and evaluation of core clerkship learning objectives. The CLO model has been successfully initiated, focusing on both technical and clinical skill sets. The proposed model has been introduced with positive initial results and should allow for an efficient approach to the teaching and evaluation of core objectives in clerkship education.

  11. Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents: A Flexible Informatics Curriculum Linked to Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones.

    PubMed

    Henricks, Walter H; Karcher, Donald S; Harrison, James H; Sinard, John H; Riben, Michael W; Boyer, Philip J; Plath, Sue; Thompson, Arlene; Pantanowitz, Liron

    2017-01-01

    -Recognition of the importance of informatics to the practice of pathology has surged. Training residents in pathology informatics has been a daunting task for most residency programs in the United States because faculty often lacks experience and training resources. Nevertheless, developing resident competence in informatics is essential for the future of pathology as a specialty. -To develop and deliver a pathology informatics curriculum and instructional framework that guides pathology residency programs in training residents in critical pathology informatics knowledge and skills, and meets Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Informatics Milestones. -The College of American Pathologists, Association of Pathology Chairs, and Association for Pathology Informatics formed a partnership and expert work group to identify critical pathology informatics training outcomes and to create a highly adaptable curriculum and instructional approach, supported by a multiyear change management strategy. -Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents (PIER) is a rigorous approach for educating all pathology residents in important pathology informatics knowledge and skills. PIER includes an instructional resource guide and toolkit for incorporating informatics training into residency programs that vary in needs, size, settings, and resources. PIER is available at http://www.apcprods.org/PIER (accessed April 6, 2016). -PIER is an important contribution to informatics training in pathology residency programs. PIER introduces pathology trainees to broadly useful informatics concepts and tools that are relevant to practice. PIER provides residency program directors with a means to implement a standardized informatics training curriculum, to adapt the approach to local program needs, and to evaluate resident performance and progress over time.

  12. 20 CFR 411.560 - Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN? 411.560 Section 411.560 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.560 Is it...

  13. 20 CFR 411.560 - Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN? 411.560 Section 411.560 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.560 Is it...

  14. 20 CFR 411.560 - Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Is it possible to pay a milestone or outcome payment to more than one EN? 411.560 Section 411.560 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network Payment Systems § 411.560 Is it...

  15. Competency-based goals, objectives, and linked evaluations for rheumatology training programs: a standardized template of learning activities from the Carolinas Fellows Collaborative.

    PubMed

    Criscione-Schreiber, Lisa G; Bolster, Marcy B; Jonas, Beth L; O'Rourke, Kenneth S

    2013-06-01

    American Council on Graduate Medical Education program requirements mandate that rheumatology training programs have written goals, objectives, and performance evaluations for each learning activity. Since learning activities are similar across rheumatology programs, we aimed to create competency-based goals and objectives (CBGO) and evaluations that would be generalizable nationally. Through an established collaboration of the 4 training programs' directors in North Carolina and South Carolina, we collaboratively composed CBGO and evaluations for each learning activity for rheumatology training programs. CBGO and linked evaluations were written using appropriate verbs based on Bloom's taxonomy. Draft documents were peer reviewed by faculty at the 4 institutions and by members of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Clinician Scholar Educator Group. We completed templates of CBGO for core and elective rotations and conferences. Templates detail progressive fellow performance improvement appropriate to educational level. Specific CBGO are mirrored in learning activity evaluations. Templates are easily modified to fit individual program attributes, have been successfully implemented by our 4 programs, and have proven their value in 4 residency review committee reviews. We propose adoption of these template CBGO by the ACR, with access available to all rheumatology training programs. Evaluation forms that exactly reflect stated objectives ensure that trainees are assessed using standardized measures and that trainees are aware of the learning expectations. The objectives mirrored in the evaluations closely align with the proposed milestones for internal medicine training, and will therefore be a useful starting point for creating these milestones in rheumatology. Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Rheumatology.

  16. ECP Milestone Report WBS 2.3.4.13 ECP/VTK-m FY18Q1 [MS-18/01-03] Multiblock / Gradients / Release STDA05-5.

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

    Moreland, Kenneth D.; Pugmire, David; Geveci, Berk

    The FY18Q1 milestone of the ECP/VTK-m project includes the implementation of a multiblock data set, the completion of a gradients filtering operation, and the release of version 1.1 of the VTK-m software. With the completion of this milestone, the new multiblock data set allows us to iteratively schedule algorithms on composite data structures such as assemblies or hierarchies like AMR. The new gradient algorithms approximate derivatives of fields in 3D structures with finite differences. Finally, the release of VTK-m version 1.1 tags a stable release of the software that can more easily be incorporated into external projects.

  17. An Interpretation of the "Science--A Process Approach" Objectives in Terms of Existing Psychological Theory and Experimentation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cole, Henry P.

    This paper examines the sequence and hierarchy of objectives in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) "Science--A Process Approach" curriculum. The work of Piaget, Bruner forms a framework from which the learning objectives and tasks in the AAAS science curriculum are examined. The points of correspondence…

  18. Building a genome database using an object-oriented approach.

    PubMed

    Barbasiewicz, Anna; Liu, Lin; Lang, B Franz; Burger, Gertraud

    2002-01-01

    GOBASE is a relational database that integrates data associated with mitochondria and chloroplasts. The most important data in GOBASE, i. e., molecular sequences and taxonomic information, are obtained from the public sequence data repository at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and are validated by our experts. Maintaining a curated genomic database comes with a towering labor cost, due to the shear volume of available genomic sequences and the plethora of annotation errors and omissions in records retrieved from public repositories. Here we describe our approach to increase automation of the database population process, thereby reducing manual intervention. As a first step, we used Unified Modeling Language (UML) to construct a list of potential errors. Each case was evaluated independently, and an expert solution was devised, and represented as a diagram. Subsequently, the UML diagrams were used as templates for writing object-oriented automation programs in the Java programming language.

  19. Program test objectives milestone 3. [Integrated Propulsion Technology Demonstrator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gaynor, T. L.

    1994-01-01

    The following conclusions have been developed relative to propulsion system technology adequacy for efficient development and operation of recoverable and expendable launch vehicles (RLV and ELV) and the benefits which the integrated propulsion technology demonstrator will provide for enhancing technology: (1) Technology improvements relative to propulsion system design and operation can reduce program cost. Many features or improvement needs to enhance operability, reduce cost, and improve payload are identified. (2) The Integrated Propulsion Technology Demonstrator (IPTD) Program provides a means of resolving the majority of issues associated with improvement needs. (3) The IPTD will evaluate complex integration of vehicle and facility functions in fluid management and propulsion control systems, and provides an environment for validating improved mechanical and electrical components. (4) The IPTD provides a mechanism for investigating operational issues focusing on reducing manpower and time to perform various functions at the launch site. These efforts include model development, collection of data to validate subject models, and ultimate development of complex time line models. (5) The IPTD provides an engine test bed for tri/bi-propellant engine development firings which is representative of the actual vehicle environment. (6) The IPTD provides for only a limited multiengine configuration integration environment for RLV. Multiengine efforts may be simulated for a number of subsystems and a number of subsystems are relatively independent of the multiengine influences.

  20. Research and technology plans for FY 1989 and accomplishments for FY 1988. [Structural Mechanics Division

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, Kay S.

    1989-01-01

    The Objectives, FY 1989 Plans, Approach, and FY 1989 Milestones for the Structural Mechanics Division's research programs are presented. Fiscal year 1988 Accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other governmental organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  1. Structural Mechanics Division research and technology plans for FY 1990 and accomplishments for FY 1989

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, Kay S.

    1990-01-01

    The Objectives, FY 1990 Plans, Approach, and FY 1990 Milestones for the Structural Mechanics Division's research programs are presented. FY 1989 Accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other governmental organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  2. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans for FY 1986 and accomplishments for FY 1985

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, K. S.

    1986-01-01

    Presented are the Objectives, FY 1986 Plans, Approach, and FY 1986 Milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division's research programs. FY 1985 Accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other governmental organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  3. Comparison of Object-Based Image Analysis Approaches to Mapping New Buildings in Accra, Ghana Using Multi-Temporal QuickBird Satellite Imagery

    PubMed Central

    Tsai, Yu Hsin; Stow, Douglas; Weeks, John

    2013-01-01

    The goal of this study was to map and quantify the number of newly constructed buildings in Accra, Ghana between 2002 and 2010 based on high spatial resolution satellite image data. Two semi-automated feature detection approaches for detecting and mapping newly constructed buildings based on QuickBird very high spatial resolution satellite imagery were analyzed: (1) post-classification comparison; and (2) bi-temporal layerstack classification. Feature Analyst software based on a spatial contextual classifier and ENVI Feature Extraction that uses a true object-based image analysis approach of image segmentation and segment classification were evaluated. Final map products representing new building objects were compared and assessed for accuracy using two object-based accuracy measures, completeness and correctness. The bi-temporal layerstack method generated more accurate results compared to the post-classification comparison method due to less confusion with background objects. The spectral/spatial contextual approach (Feature Analyst) outperformed the true object-based feature delineation approach (ENVI Feature Extraction) due to its ability to more reliably delineate individual buildings of various sizes. Semi-automated, object-based detection followed by manual editing appears to be a reliable and efficient approach for detecting and enumerating new building objects. A bivariate regression analysis was performed using neighborhood-level estimates of new building density regressed on a census-derived measure of socio-economic status, yielding an inverse relationship with R2 = 0.31 (n = 27; p = 0.00). The primary utility of the new building delineation results is to support spatial analyses of land cover and land use and demographic change. PMID:24415810

  4. Detection of Buried Objects by Means of a SAP Technique: Comparing MUSIC- and SVR-Based Approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meschino, S.; Pajewski, L.; Pastorino, M.; Randazzo, A.; Schettini, G.

    2012-04-01

    This work is focused on the application of a Sub-Array Processing (SAP) technique to the detection of metallic cylindrical objects embedded in a dielectric half-space. The identification of buried cables, pipes, conduits, and other cylindrical utilities, is an important problem that has been extensively studied in the last years. Most commonly used approaches are based on the use of electromagnetic sensing: a set of antennas illuminates the ground and the collected echo is analyzed in order to extract information about the scenario and to localize the sought objects [1]. In a SAP approach, algorithms for the estimation of Directions of Arrival (DOAs) are employed [2]: they assume that the sources (in this paper, currents induced on buried targets) are in the far-field region of the receiving array, so that the received wavefront can be considered as planar, and the main angular direction of the field can be estimated. However, in electromagnetic sensing of buried objects, the scatterers are usually quite near to the antennas. Nevertheless, by dividing the whole receiving array in a suitable number of sub-arrays, and by finding a dominant DOA for each one, it is possible to localize objects that are in the far-field of the sub-array, although being in the near-field of the array. The DOAs found by the sub-arrays can be triangulated, obtaining a set of crossings with intersections condensed around object locations. In this work, the performances of two different DOA algorithms are compared. In particular, a MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC)-type method [3] and Support Vector Regression (SVR) based approach [4] are employed. The results of a Cylindrical-Wave Approach forward solver are used as input data of the detection procedure [5]. To process the crossing pattern, the region of interest is divided in small windows, and a Poisson model is adopted for the statistical distribution of intersections in the windows. Hypothesis testing procedures are used (imposing

  5. Imitation, Objects, Tools, and the Rudiments of Language in Human Ontogeny

    PubMed Central

    Meltzoff, A. N.

    2013-01-01

    Human beings are imitative generalists. We can immediately imitate a wide range of behaviors with great facility, whether they be vocal maneuvers, body postures, or actions on objects. The ontogeny of this skill has been an enduring question in developmental psychology. Classical theory holds that the ability to imitate facial gestures is a milestone that is passed at about one year. Before this time infants are thought to lack the perceptual-cognitive sophistication necessary to match a gesture they can see with one they cannot see themselves perform. A second developmental milestone is the capacity for deferred imitation, i.e. imitation of an absent model. This is said to emerge at about 18 months, in close synchrony with other higher-order activities such as object permanence and tool use, as part of a general cognitive shift from a purely sensory-motor level of functioning to one that allows language. Research suggests that the imitative capacity of young infants has been underestimated. Human infants are capable of imitating facial gestures at birth, with infants less than one day old manifesting this skill. Moreover recent experiments have established deferred imitation well before the predicted age of 18 months. Studies discussed here show that 9-month-olds can duplicate acts after a delay of 24 hours, and that 14-month-olds can retain and duplicate as many as five actions over a 1-week delay. These new findings re-raise questions about the relation between nonverbal cognitive development and language development: What aspects, if any, of these two domains are linked? A hypothesis is delineated that predicts certain very specific relations between particular cognitive and semantic achievements during the one-word stage, and data are reported supporting this hypothesis. Specifically, relations are reported between: (a) the development of object permanence and the use of words encoding disappearance, (b) means-ends understanding (as manifest in tool use) and

  6. Stellar structure and compact objects before 1940: Towards relativistic astrophysics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bonolis, Luisa

    2017-06-01

    Since the mid-1920s, different strands of research used stars as "physics laboratories" for investigating the nature of matter under extreme densities and pressures, impossible to realize on Earth. To trace this process this paper is following the evolution of the concept of a dense core in stars, which was important both for an understanding of stellar evolution and as a testing ground for the fast-evolving field of nuclear physics. In spite of the divide between physicists and astrophysicists, some key actors working in the cross-fertilized soil of overlapping but different scientific cultures formulated models and tentative theories that gradually evolved into more realistic and structured astrophysical objects. These investigations culminated in the first contact with general relativity in 1939, when J. Robert Oppenheimer and his students George Volkoff and Hartland Snyder systematically applied the theory to the dense core of a collapsing neutron star. This pioneering application of Einstein's theory to an astrophysical compact object can be regarded as a milestone in the path eventually leading to the emergence of relativistic astrophysics in the early 1960s.

  7. Detecting Slums from Quick Bird Data in Pune Using AN Object Oriented Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shekhar, S.

    2012-07-01

    We have been witnessing a gradual and steady transformation from a pre dominantly rural society to an urban society in India and by 2030, it will have more people living in urban than rural areas. Slums formed an integral part of Indian urbanisation as most of the Indian cities lack in basic needs of an acceptable life. Many efforts are being taken to improve their conditions. To carry out slum renewal programs and monitor its implementation, slum settlements should be recorded to obtain an adequate spatial data base. This can be only achieved through the analysis of remote sensing data with very high spatial resolution. Regarding the occurrences of settlement areas in the remote sensing data pixel-based approach on a high resolution image is unable to represent the heterogeneity of complex urban environments. Hence there is a need for sophisticated method and data for slum analysis. An attempt has been made to detect and discriminate the slums of Pune city by describing typical characteristics of these settlements, by using eCognition software from quick bird data on the basis of object oriented approach. Based on multi resolution segmentation, initial objects were created and further depend on texture, geometry and contextual characteristics of the image objects, they were classified into slums and non-slums. The developed rule base allowed the description of knowledge about phenomena clearly and easily using fuzzy membership functions and the described knowledge stored in the classification rule base led to the best classification with more than 80% accuracy.

  8. 20 CFR 411.575 - How does the EN request payment for milestones or outcome payment months achieved by a...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... outcome payment months achieved by a beneficiary who assigned a ticket to the EN? The EN (or State VR... provided as described in the IWP/IPE. (a) Milestone payments. (1) We will pay the EN (or State VR agency... VR agency's) elected payment system in effect at the time the beneficiary assigned a ticket to the EN...

  9. 20 CFR 411.575 - How does the EN request payment for milestones or outcome payment months achieved by a...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... outcome payment months achieved by a beneficiary who assigned a ticket to the EN? The EN (or State VR... provided as described in the IWP/IPE. (a) Milestone payments. (1) We will pay the EN (or State VR agency... VR agency's) elected payment system in effect at the time the beneficiary assigned a ticket to the EN...

  10. From Engineering Hydrology to Earth System Science: Milestones in the Transformation of Hydrologic Science (Alfred Wegener Medal Lecture)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sivapalan, Murugesu

    2017-04-01

    Hydrologic science has undergone almost transformative changes over the past 50 years. Huge strides have been made in the transition from early empirical approaches to rigorous approaches based on the fluid mechanics of water movement on and below the land surface. However, further progress has been hampered by problems posed by the presence of heterogeneity, especially subsurface heterogeneity, at all scales. The inability to measure or map subsurface heterogeneity everywhere prevented further development of balance equations and associated closure relations at the scales of interest, and has led to the virtual impasse we are presently in, in terms of development of physically based models needed for hydrologic predictions. An alternative to the mapping of subsurface heterogeneity everywhere is a new earth system science view, which sees the heterogeneity as the end result of co-evolutionary hydrological, geomorphological, ecological and pedological processes, each operating at a different rate, which have helped to shape the landscapes that we see in nature, including the heterogeneity below that we do not see. The expectation is that instead of specifying exact details of the heterogeneity in our models, we can replace it, without loss of information, with the ecosystem function they perform. Guided by this new earth system science perspective, development of hydrologic science is now guided by altogether new questions and new approaches to address them, compared to the purely physical, fluid mechanics based approaches that we inherited from the past. In the emergent Anthropocene, the co-evolutionary view is expanded further to involve interactions and feedbacks with human-social processes as well. In this lecture, I will present key milestones in the transformation of hydrologic science from Engineering Hydrology to Earth System Science, and what this means for hydrologic observations, theory development and predictions.

  11. IMPLEMENTATION OF FIRST-PASSAGE TIME APPROACH FOR OBJECT KINETIC MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS OF IRRADIATION

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

    Nandipati, Giridhar; Setyawan, Wahyu; Heinisch, Howard L.

    2014-06-30

    The objective of the work is to implement a first-passage time (FPT) approach to deal with very fast 1D diffusing SIA clusters in KSOME (kinetic simulations of microstructural evolution) [1] to achieve longer time-scales during irradiation damage simulations. The goal is to develop FPT-KSOME, which has the same flexibility as KSOME.

  12. A hybrid solution approach for a multi-objective closed-loop logistics network under uncertainty

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mehrbod, Mehrdad; Tu, Nan; Miao, Lixin

    2015-06-01

    The design of closed-loop logistics (forward and reverse logistics) has attracted growing attention with the stringent pressures of customer expectations, environmental concerns and economic factors. This paper considers a multi-product, multi-period and multi-objective closed-loop logistics network model with regard to facility expansion as a facility location-allocation problem, which more closely approximates real-world conditions. A multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming formulation is linearized by defining new variables and adding new constraints to the model. By considering the aforementioned model under uncertainty, this paper develops a hybrid solution approach by combining an interactive fuzzy goal programming approach and robust counterpart optimization based on three well-known robust counterpart optimization formulations. Finally, this paper compares the results of the three formulations using different test scenarios and parameter-sensitive analysis in terms of the quality of the final solution, CPU time, the level of conservatism, the degree of closeness to the ideal solution, the degree of balance involved in developing a compromise solution, and satisfaction degree.

  13. Milestone Completion Report WBS 1.3.5.05 ECP/VTK-m FY17Q4 [MS-17/03-06] Key Reduce / Spatial Division / Basic Advect / Normals STDA05-4.

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

    Moreland, Kenneth D.

    The FY17Q4 milestone of the ECP/VTK-m project includes the completion of a key-reduce scheduling mechanism, a spatial division algorithm, an algorithm for basic particle advection, and the computation of smoothed surface normals. With the completion of this milestone, we are able to, respectively, more easily group like elements (a common visualization algorithm operation), provide the fundamentals for geometric search structures, provide the fundamentals for many flow visualization algorithms, and provide more realistic rendering of surfaces approximated with facets.

  14. Object-oriented productivity metrics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Connell, John L.; Eller, Nancy

    1992-01-01

    Software productivity metrics are useful for sizing and costing proposed software and for measuring development productivity. Estimating and measuring source lines of code (SLOC) has proven to be a bad idea because it encourages writing more lines of code and using lower level languages. Function Point Analysis is an improved software metric system, but it is not compatible with newer rapid prototyping and object-oriented approaches to software development. A process is presented here for counting object-oriented effort points, based on a preliminary object-oriented analysis. It is proposed that this approach is compatible with object-oriented analysis, design, programming, and rapid prototyping. Statistics gathered on actual projects are presented to validate the approach.

  15. Simulations of thermodynamics and kinetics on rough energy landscapes with milestoning.

    PubMed

    Bello-Rivas, Juan M; Elber, Ron

    2016-03-05

    We investigated by computational means the kinetics and stationary behavior of stochastic dynamics on an ensemble of rough two-dimensional energy landscapes. There are no obvious separations of temporal scales in these systems, which constitute a simple model for the behavior of glasses and some biomaterials. Even though there are significant computational challenges present in these systems due to the large number of metastable states, the Milestoning method is able to compute their kinetic and thermodynamic properties exactly. We observe two clearly distinguished regimes in the overall kinetics: one in which diffusive behavior dominates and another that follows an Arrhenius law (despite the absence of a dominant barrier). We compare our results with those obtained with an exactly-solvable one-dimensional model, and with the results from the rough one-dimensional energy model introduced by Zwanzig. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans for FY 1987 and accomplishments for FY 1986

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, Kay S.

    1987-01-01

    This paper presents the Objectives, FY 1987 Plans, Approach, and FY 1987 Milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division's research programs. FY 1986 Accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other governmental organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  17. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans for FY 1985 and accomplishments for FY 1984

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, K. S.

    1985-01-01

    The objectives, FY 1985 plans, approach, and FY 1985 milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division's research programs are presented. The FY 1984 accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other government organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  18. Object tracking using plenoptic image sequences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Jae Woo; Bae, Seong-Joon; Park, Seongjin; Kim, Do Hyung

    2017-05-01

    Object tracking is a very important problem in computer vision research. Among the difficulties of object tracking, partial occlusion problem is one of the most serious and challenging problems. To address the problem, we proposed novel approaches to object tracking on plenoptic image sequences. Our approaches take advantage of the refocusing capability that plenoptic images provide. Our approaches input the sequences of focal stacks constructed from plenoptic image sequences. The proposed image selection algorithms select the sequence of optimal images that can maximize the tracking accuracy from the sequence of focal stacks. Focus measure approach and confidence measure approach were proposed for image selection and both of the approaches were validated by the experiments using thirteen plenoptic image sequences that include heavily occluded target objects. The experimental results showed that the proposed approaches were satisfactory comparing to the conventional 2D object tracking algorithms.

  19. Germ line genome editing in clinics: the approaches, objectives and global society

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Genome editing allows for the versatile genetic modification of somatic cells, germ cells and embryos. In particular, CRISPR/Cas9 is worldwide used in biomedical research. Although the first report on Cas9-mediated gene modification in human embryos focused on the prevention of a genetic disease in offspring, it raised profound ethical and social concerns over the safety of subsequent generations and the potential misuse of genome editing for human enhancement. The present article considers germ line genome editing approaches from various clinical and ethical viewpoints and explores its objectives. The risks and benefits of the following three likely objectives are assessed: the prevention of monogenic diseases, personalized assisted reproductive technology (ART) and genetic enhancement. Although genetic enhancement should be avoided, the international regulatory landscape suggests the inevitability of this misuse at ART centers. Under these circumstances, possible regulatory responses and the potential roles of public dialogue are discussed. PMID:26615180

  20. Germ line genome editing in clinics: the approaches, objectives and global society.

    PubMed

    Ishii, Tetsuya

    2017-01-01

    Genome editing allows for the versatile genetic modification of somatic cells, germ cells and embryos. In particular, CRISPR/Cas9 is worldwide used in biomedical research. Although the first report on Cas9-mediated gene modification in human embryos focused on the prevention of a genetic disease in offspring, it raised profound ethical and social concerns over the safety of subsequent generations and the potential misuse of genome editing for human enhancement. The present article considers germ line genome editing approaches from various clinical and ethical viewpoints and explores its objectives. The risks and benefits of the following three likely objectives are assessed: the prevention of monogenic diseases, personalized assisted reproductive technology (ART) and genetic enhancement. Although genetic enhancement should be avoided, the international regulatory landscape suggests the inevitability of this misuse at ART centers. Under these circumstances, possible regulatory responses and the potential roles of public dialogue are discussed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  1. Volumetric Medical Image Coding: An Object-based, Lossy-to-lossless and Fully Scalable Approach

    PubMed Central

    Danyali, Habibiollah; Mertins, Alfred

    2011-01-01

    In this article, an object-based, highly scalable, lossy-to-lossless 3D wavelet coding approach for volumetric medical image data (e.g., magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT)) is proposed. The new method, called 3DOBHS-SPIHT, is based on the well-known set partitioning in the hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm and supports both quality and resolution scalability. The 3D input data is grouped into groups of slices (GOS) and each GOS is encoded and decoded as a separate unit. The symmetric tree definition of the original 3DSPIHT is improved by introducing a new asymmetric tree structure. While preserving the compression efficiency, the new tree structure allows for a small size of each GOS, which not only reduces memory consumption during the encoding and decoding processes, but also facilitates more efficient random access to certain segments of slices. To achieve more compression efficiency, the algorithm only encodes the main object of interest in each 3D data set, which can have any arbitrary shape, and ignores the unnecessary background. The experimental results on some MR data sets show the good performance of the 3DOBHS-SPIHT algorithm for multi-resolution lossy-to-lossless coding. The compression efficiency, full scalability, and object-based features of the proposed approach, beside its lossy-to-lossless coding support, make it a very attractive candidate for volumetric medical image information archiving and transmission applications. PMID:22606653

  2. An opposite view data replacement approach for reducing artifacts due to metallic dental objects

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

    Yazdi, Mehran; Lari, Meghdad Asadi; Bernier, Gaston

    Purpose: To present a conceptually new method for metal artifact reduction (MAR) that can be used on patients with multiple objects within the scan plane that are also of small sized along the longitudinal (scanning) direction, such as dental fillings. Methods: The proposed algorithm, named opposite view replacement, achieves MAR by first detecting the projection data affected by metal objects and then replacing the affected projections by the corresponding opposite view projections, which are not affected by metal objects. The authors also applied a fading process to avoid producing any discontinuities in the boundary of the affected projection areas inmore » the sinogram. A skull phantom with and without a variety of dental metal inserts was made to extract the performance metric of the algorithm. A head and neck case, typical of IMRT planning, was also tested. Results: The reconstructed CT images based on this new replacement scheme show a significant improvement in image quality for patients with metallic dental objects compared to the MAR algorithms based on the interpolation scheme. For the phantom, the authors showed that the artifact reduction algorithm can efficiently recover the CT numbers in the area next to the metallic objects. Conclusions: The authors presented a new and efficient method for artifact reduction due to multiple small metallic objects. The obtained results from phantoms and clinical cases fully validate the proposed approach.« less

  3. 20 CFR 411.555 - Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all outcome months? 411.555 Section 411.555 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network...

  4. 20 CFR 411.555 - Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all outcome months? 411.555 Section 411.555 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network...

  5. 20 CFR 411.555 - Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all outcome months? 411.555 Section 411.555 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION THE TICKET TO WORK AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM Employment Network...

  6. Methods for Analyzing the Attainment of Graduate School Milestones: A Case Study. GRE Board Professional Report No. 86-3P.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zwick, Rebecca; Braun, Henry I.

    Using a data base compiled by the Graduate School of Northwestern University, a longitudinal study of the graduate school careers of 2,211 students in 14 programs was conducted. Among the most prominent findings was the increase in the enrollment of foreign students. The patterns of attainment of graduate school milestones, such as Ph. D.…

  7. Structures and Dynamics Division research and technology plans for FY 1988 and accomplishments for FY 1987

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, Kay S.

    1988-01-01

    Presented are the Objectives, FY 1988 Plans, Approach, and FY 1988 Milestones for the Structures and Dynamics Division (Langley Research Center) research programs. FY 1987 Accomplishments are presented where applicable. This information is useful in program coordination with other governmental organizations in areas of mutual interest.

  8. A building extraction approach for Airborne Laser Scanner data utilizing the Object Based Image Analysis paradigm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tomljenovic, Ivan; Tiede, Dirk; Blaschke, Thomas

    2016-10-01

    In the past two decades Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) established itself as an efficient approach for the classification and extraction of information from remote sensing imagery and, increasingly, from non-image based sources such as Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) point clouds. ALS data is represented in the form of a point cloud with recorded multiple returns and intensities. In our work, we combined OBIA with ALS point cloud data in order to identify and extract buildings as 2D polygons representing roof outlines in a top down mapping approach. We performed rasterization of the ALS data into a height raster for the purpose of the generation of a Digital Surface Model (DSM) and a derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Further objects were generated in conjunction with point statistics from the linked point cloud. With the use of class modelling methods, we generated the final target class of objects representing buildings. The approach was developed for a test area in Biberach an der Riß (Germany). In order to point out the possibilities of the adaptation-free transferability to another data set, the algorithm has been applied ;as is; to the ISPRS Benchmarking data set of Toronto (Canada). The obtained results show high accuracies for the initial study area (thematic accuracies of around 98%, geometric accuracy of above 80%). The very high performance within the ISPRS Benchmark without any modification of the algorithm and without any adaptation of parameters is particularly noteworthy.

  9. A fast Bayesian approach to discrete object detection in astronomical data sets - PowellSnakes I

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carvalho, Pedro; Rocha, Graça; Hobson, M. P.

    2009-03-01

    A new fast Bayesian approach is introduced for the detection of discrete objects immersed in a diffuse background. This new method, called PowellSnakes, speeds up traditional Bayesian techniques by (i) replacing the standard form of the likelihood for the parameters characterizing the discrete objects by an alternative exact form that is much quicker to evaluate; (ii) using a simultaneous multiple minimization code based on Powell's direction set algorithm to locate rapidly the local maxima in the posterior and (iii) deciding whether each located posterior peak corresponds to a real object by performing a Bayesian model selection using an approximate evidence value based on a local Gaussian approximation to the peak. The construction of this Gaussian approximation also provides the covariance matrix of the uncertainties in the derived parameter values for the object in question. This new approach provides a speed up in performance by a factor of `100' as compared to existing Bayesian source extraction methods that use Monte Carlo Markov chain to explore the parameter space, such as that presented by Hobson & McLachlan. The method can be implemented in either real or Fourier space. In the case of objects embedded in a homogeneous random field, working in Fourier space provides a further speed up that takes advantage of the fact that the correlation matrix of the background is circulant. We illustrate the capabilities of the method by applying to some simplified toy models. Furthermore, PowellSnakes has the advantage of consistently defining the threshold for acceptance/rejection based on priors which cannot be said of the frequentist methods. We present here the first implementation of this technique (version I). Further improvements to this implementation are currently under investigation and will be published shortly. The application of the method to realistic simulated Planck observations will be presented in a forthcoming publication.

  10. Representing metabolic pathway information: an object-oriented approach.

    PubMed

    Ellis, L B; Speedie, S M; McLeish, R

    1998-01-01

    The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD) is a website providing information and dynamic links for microbial metabolic pathways, enzyme reactions, and their substrates and products. The Compound, Organism, Reaction and Enzyme (CORE) object-oriented database management system was developed to contain and serve this information. CORE was developed using Java, an object-oriented programming language, and PSE persistent object classes from Object Design, Inc. CORE dynamically generates descriptive web pages for reactions, compounds and enzymes, and reconstructs ad hoc pathway maps starting from any UM-BBD reaction. CORE code is available from the authors upon request. CORE is accessible through the UM-BBD at: http://www. labmed.umn.edu/umbbd/index.html.

  11. Milestones of mathematical model for business process management related to cost estimate documentation in petroleum industry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khamidullin, R. I.

    2018-05-01

    The paper is devoted to milestones of the optimal mathematical model for a business process related to cost estimate documentation compiled during construction and reconstruction of oil and gas facilities. It describes the study and analysis of fundamental issues in petroleum industry, which are caused by economic instability and deterioration of a business strategy. Business process management is presented as business process modeling aimed at the improvement of the studied business process, namely main criteria of optimization and recommendations for the improvement of the above-mentioned business model.

  12. Histogram Curve Matching Approaches for Object-based Image Classification of Land Cover and Land Use

    PubMed Central

    Toure, Sory I.; Stow, Douglas A.; Weeks, John R.; Kumar, Sunil

    2013-01-01

    The classification of image-objects is usually done using parametric statistical measures of central tendency and/or dispersion (e.g., mean or standard deviation). The objectives of this study were to analyze digital number histograms of image objects and evaluate classifications measures exploiting characteristic signatures of such histograms. Two histograms matching classifiers were evaluated and compared to the standard nearest neighbor to mean classifier. An ADS40 airborne multispectral image of San Diego, California was used for assessing the utility of curve matching classifiers in a geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) approach. The classifications were performed with data sets having 0.5 m, 2.5 m, and 5 m spatial resolutions. Results show that histograms are reliable features for characterizing classes. Also, both histogram matching classifiers consistently performed better than the one based on the standard nearest neighbor to mean rule. The highest classification accuracies were produced with images having 2.5 m spatial resolution. PMID:24403648

  13. Multi-Objective Approach for Energy-Aware Workflow Scheduling in Cloud Computing Environments

    PubMed Central

    Kadima, Hubert; Granado, Bertrand

    2013-01-01

    We address the problem of scheduling workflow applications on heterogeneous computing systems like cloud computing infrastructures. In general, the cloud workflow scheduling is a complex optimization problem which requires considering different criteria so as to meet a large number of QoS (Quality of Service) requirements. Traditional research in workflow scheduling mainly focuses on the optimization constrained by time or cost without paying attention to energy consumption. The main contribution of this study is to propose a new approach for multi-objective workflow scheduling in clouds, and present the hybrid PSO algorithm to optimize the scheduling performance. Our method is based on the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technique to minimize energy consumption. This technique allows processors to operate in different voltage supply levels by sacrificing clock frequencies. This multiple voltage involves a compromise between the quality of schedules and energy. Simulation results on synthetic and real-world scientific applications highlight the robust performance of the proposed approach. PMID:24319361

  14. Multi-objective approach for energy-aware workflow scheduling in cloud computing environments.

    PubMed

    Yassa, Sonia; Chelouah, Rachid; Kadima, Hubert; Granado, Bertrand

    2013-01-01

    We address the problem of scheduling workflow applications on heterogeneous computing systems like cloud computing infrastructures. In general, the cloud workflow scheduling is a complex optimization problem which requires considering different criteria so as to meet a large number of QoS (Quality of Service) requirements. Traditional research in workflow scheduling mainly focuses on the optimization constrained by time or cost without paying attention to energy consumption. The main contribution of this study is to propose a new approach for multi-objective workflow scheduling in clouds, and present the hybrid PSO algorithm to optimize the scheduling performance. Our method is based on the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technique to minimize energy consumption. This technique allows processors to operate in different voltage supply levels by sacrificing clock frequencies. This multiple voltage involves a compromise between the quality of schedules and energy. Simulation results on synthetic and real-world scientific applications highlight the robust performance of the proposed approach.

  15. Transient control for cascaded EDFAs by using a multi-objective optimization approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Freitas, Marcio; Givigi, Sidney N., Jr.; Klein, Jackson; Calmon, Luiz C.; de Almeida, Ailson R.

    2004-11-01

    Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) have been used for some years now in building effective optical systems for the most diverse applications. For some applications, it is necessary to introduce some feedback control laws in order to avoid the generation of transients that could create impairments in the system. In this paper, we use a multi-objective optimization approach based on genetic algorithms, to study the introduction of proportional-derivative (PD) controllers into systems of cascaded EDFAs. We compare the use of individual controllers for each amplifier to the use of controllers to sets of amplifiers.

  16. Do developmental milestones at 4, 8, 12 and 24 months predict IQ at 5-6 years old? Results of the EDEN mother-child cohort.

    PubMed

    Peyre, Hugo; Charkaluk, Marie-Laure; Forhan, Anne; Heude, Barbara; Ramus, Franck

    2017-03-01

    The present study aims: (i) to determine how well developmental milestones at 4, 8, 12 and 24 months may predict IQ at 5-6 years old, (ii) to identify cognitive domains during the first two years that best predict later IQ and (iii) to determine whether children with IQ in the normal range at 5-6 years old may differ from disabled (IQ < 70) and gifted children (IQ > 130) with regard to their early cognitive development. The main developmental milestones were collected through self-administered questionnaires rated by parents at 4, 8, 12 and 24 months and through parental questionnaires administered by a trained interviewer and questionnaires completed following a medical examination at 12 months. These questionnaires were derived from the Brunet-Lézine Psychomotor Development Scale and they addressed several cognitive domains (gross and fine motor skills, language and socialization). (i) Developmental milestones predict a substantial part of the later IQ variance from 24 months (R 2  ∼ 20%). (ii) Early language skills more strongly predict later IQ than the other cognitive domains. (iii) Several cognitive domains, but particularly language skills, predict disabled children at 5-6 years old (from the age of 8 months) and gifted children (from the age of 12 months). The present study provides valuable information for early developmental assessment and could contribute to a better understanding of intellectual development. Copyright © 2016 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. A Mission Planning Approach for Precision Farming Systems Based on Multi-Objective Optimization.

    PubMed

    Zhai, Zhaoyu; Martínez Ortega, José-Fernán; Lucas Martínez, Néstor; Rodríguez-Molina, Jesús

    2018-06-02

    As the demand for food grows continuously, intelligent agriculture has drawn much attention due to its capability of producing great quantities of food efficiently. The main purpose of intelligent agriculture is to plan agricultural missions properly and use limited resources reasonably with minor human intervention. This paper proposes a Precision Farming System (PFS) as a Multi-Agent System (MAS). Components of PFS are treated as agents with different functionalities. These agents could form several coalitions to complete the complex agricultural missions cooperatively. In PFS, mission planning should consider several criteria, like expected benefit, energy consumption or equipment loss. Hence, mission planning could be treated as a Multi-objective Optimization Problem (MOP). In order to solve MOP, an improved algorithm, MP-PSOGA, is proposed, taking advantages of the Genetic Algorithms and Particle Swarm Optimization. A simulation, called precise pesticide spraying mission, is performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed approach works properly. This approach enables the PFS to plan missions and allocate scarce resources efficiently. The theoretical analysis and simulation is a good foundation for the future study. Once the proposed approach is applied to a real scenario, it is expected to bring significant economic improvement.

  18. Associations of Timing of Sexual Orientation Developmental Milestones and Other Sexual Minority Stressors with Internalizing Mental Health Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Young Adults.

    PubMed

    Katz-Wise, Sabra L; Rosario, Margaret; Calzo, Jerel P; Scherer, Emily A; Sarda, Vishnudas; Austin, S Bryn

    2017-07-01

    Sexual minorities (mostly heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian/gay) are more likely than heterosexuals to have adverse mental health, which may be related to minority stress. We used longitudinal data from 1461 sexual minority women and men, aged 22-30 years, from Wave 2010 of the Growing Up Today Study, to examine associations between sexual minority stressors and mental health. We hypothesized that sexual minority stressors (earlier timing of sexual orientation developmental milestones categorized into early adolescence, middle adolescence, late adolescence/young adulthood; greater sexual orientation mobility; more bullying victimization) would be positively associated with mental health outcomes (depressive and anxious symptoms). Linear regression models stratified by gender and sexual orientation were fit via generalized estimating equations and controlled for age and race/ethnicity. Models were fit for each stressor predicting each mental health outcome. Reaching sexual minority milestones in early versus middle adolescence was associated with greater depressive and anxious symptoms among lesbians and gay men. Reaching sexual minority milestones in late adolescence/young adulthood versus middle adolescence was associated with greater depressive symptoms among lesbians, but fewer depressive and anxious symptoms among gay men. Greater sexual orientation mobility was associated with greater depressive symptoms among mostly heterosexual women. More bullying victimization was associated with greater depressive symptoms among bisexual women and with greater anxious symptoms among mostly heterosexual women. Sexual minority stressors are associated with adverse mental health among some sexual minority young adults. More research is needed to understand what may be protecting some subgroups from the mental health effects of sexual minority stressors.

  19. Automated near-real-time clinical performance feedback for anesthesiology residents: one piece of the milestones puzzle.

    PubMed

    Ehrenfeld, Jesse M; McEvoy, Matthew D; Furman, William R; Snyder, Dylan; Sandberg, Warren S

    2014-01-01

    Anesthesiology residencies are developing trainee assessment tools to evaluate 25 milestones that map to the six core competencies. The effort will be facilitated by development of automated methods to capture, assess, and report trainee performance to program directors, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the trainees themselves. The authors leveraged a perioperative information management system to develop an automated, near-real-time performance capture and feedback tool that provides objective data on clinical performance and requires minimal administrative effort. Before development, the authors surveyed trainees about satisfaction with clinical performance feedback and about preferences for future feedback. Resident performance on 24,154 completed cases has been incorporated into the authors' automated dashboard, and trainees now have access to their own performance data. Eighty percent (48 of 60) of the residents responded to the feedback survey. Overall, residents "agreed/strongly agreed" that they desire frequent updates on their clinical performance on defined quality metrics and that they desired to see how they compared with the residency as a whole. Before deployment of the new tool, they "disagreed" that they were receiving feedback in a timely manner. Survey results were used to guide the format of the feedback tool that has been implemented. The authors demonstrate the implementation of a system that provides near-real-time feedback concerning resident performance on an extensible series of quality metrics, and which is responsive to requests arising from resident feedback about desired reporting mechanisms.

  20. Automated Near Real-Time Clinical Performance Feedback for Anesthesiology Residents: One Piece of the Milestones Puzzle

    PubMed Central

    Ehrenfeld, Jesse M.; McEvoy, Matthew D.; Furman, William R.; Snyder, Dylan; Sandberg, Warren S.

    2014-01-01

    Background Anesthesiology residencies are developing trainee assessment tools to evaluate 25 milestones that map to the 6 core competencies. The effort will be facilitated by development of automated methods to capture, assess, and report trainee performance to program directors, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the trainees themselves. Methods We leveraged a perioperative information management system to develop an automated, near-real-time performance capture and feedback tool that provides objective data on clinical performance and requires minimal administrative effort. Prior to development, we surveyed trainees about satisfaction with clinical performance feedback and about preferences for future feedback. Results Resident performance on 24,154 completed cases has been incorporated into our automated dashboard, and trainees now have access to their own performance data. Eighty percent (48 of 60) of our residents responded to the feedback survey. Overall, residents ‘agreed/strongly agreed’ that they desire frequent updates on their clinical performance on defined quality metrics and that they desired to see how they compared to the residency as a whole. Prior to deployment of the new tool, they ‘disagreed’ that they were receiving feedback in a timely manner. Survey results were used to guide the format of the feedback tool that has been implemented. Conclusions We demonstrate the implementation of a system that provides near real-time feedback concerning resident performance on an extensible series of quality metrics, and which is responsive to requests arising from resident feedback about desired reporting mechanisms. PMID:24398735

  1. The Object Oriented Approach in Systems Analysis and Design Texts: Consistency within the IS Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, David F.; Kohun, Frederick G.; Laverty, Joseph Packy

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports on a study of systems analysis textbooks in terms of topics covered and academic background of the authors. It addresses the consistency within IS curricula with respect to the content of a systems analysis and design course using the object-oriented approach. The research questions addressed were 1: Is there a consistency among…

  2. Developmental milestones record - 9 months

    MedlinePlus

    ... Feeds self with fingers Throws or shakes objects SENSORY AND COGNITIVE SKILLS The 9-month-old typically: Babbles Has separation anxiety and may cling to parents Is developing depth perception Understands that objects continue to exist, even when ...

  3. Multi-objective Decision Based Available Transfer Capability in Deregulated Power System Using Heuristic Approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pasam, Gopi Krishna; Manohar, T. Gowri

    2016-09-01

    Determination of available transfer capability (ATC) requires the use of experience, intuition and exact judgment in order to meet several significant aspects in the deregulated environment. Based on these points, this paper proposes two heuristic approaches to compute ATC. The first proposed heuristic algorithm integrates the five methods known as continuation repeated power flow, repeated optimal power flow, radial basis function neural network, back propagation neural network and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system to obtain ATC. The second proposed heuristic model is used to obtain multiple ATC values. Out of these, a specific ATC value will be selected based on a number of social, economic, deregulated environmental constraints and related to specific applications like optimization, on-line monitoring, and ATC forecasting known as multi-objective decision based optimal ATC. The validity of results obtained through these proposed methods are scrupulously verified on various buses of the IEEE 24-bus reliable test system. The results presented and derived conclusions in this paper are very useful for planning, operation, maintaining of reliable power in any power system and its monitoring in an on-line environment of deregulated power system. In this way, the proposed heuristic methods would contribute the best possible approach to assess multiple objective ATC using integrated methods.

  4. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart Kk of... - Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... approach follows: 4.3A source conducts an initial series of at least three runs. The owner or operator may... Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency Protocols and Test Methods A Appendix A to... to Subpart KK of Part 63—Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative...

  5. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart Kk of... - Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... approach follows: 4.3A source conducts an initial series of at least three runs. The owner or operator may... Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency Protocols and Test Methods A Appendix A to... to Subpart KK of Part 63—Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative...

  6. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart Kk of... - Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... of the LCL approach follows: 4.3A source conducts an initial series of at least three runs. The owner... Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency Protocols and Test Methods A Appendix A to... to Subpart KK of Part 63—Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative...

  7. 40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart Kk of... - Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... approach follows: 4.3A source conducts an initial series of at least three runs. The owner or operator may... Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative Capture Efficiency Protocols and Test Methods A Appendix A to... to Subpart KK of Part 63—Data Quality Objective and Lower Confidence Limit Approaches for Alternative...

  8. Test-Retest Reliability of Self-Reported Sexual Behavior, Sexual Orientation, and Psychosexual Milestones Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youths

    PubMed Central

    Schrimshaw, Eric W.; Rosario, Margaret; Meyer-Bahlburg, Heino F. L.; Scharf-Matlick, Alice A.

    2011-01-01

    Despite the importance of reliable self-reported sexual information for research on sexuality and sexual health, research has not examined reliability of information provided by gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) youths. Test-retest reliability of self-reported sexual behaviors, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and psychosexual developmental milestones was examined among an ethnically diverse sample of 64 self-identified GLB youths. Two face-to-face interviews were conducted approximately two weeks apart using the Sexual Risk Behavior Assessment Schedule for Homosexual Youths (SERBAS-Y-HM). Overall, the mean of the test-retest reliability coefficients was substantial for 6 of the 7 domains: lifetime sexual behaviors (M = .89), sexual behavior in the past 3 months (M = .96), unprotected sexual behavior in the past 3 months (M = .93), sexual identity (κ = .89), sexual orientation (M = .82), and ages of various psychosexual developmental milestones (M = .77). Inconsistent reliability was found for reports of sexual behaviors while using substances. A small number of gender differences emerged, with lower reliability among female youths in the lifetime number of same-sex partners. The overall findings suggest that a wide range of self-reported sexual information can be reliably assessed among GLB youths by means of interviewer-administered questionnaires, such as the SERBAS-Y-HM. PMID:16752124

  9. Learning to distinguish similar objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seibert, Michael; Waxman, Allen M.; Gove, Alan N.

    1995-04-01

    This paper describes how the similarities and differences among similar objects can be discovered during learning to facilitate recognition. The application domain is single views of flying model aircraft captured in silhouette by a CCD camera. The approach was motivated by human psychovisual and monkey neurophysiological data. The implementation uses neural net processing mechanisms to build a hierarchy that relates similar objects to superordinate classes, while simultaneously discovering the salient differences between objects within a class. Learning and recognition experiments both with and without the class similarity and difference learning show the effectiveness of the approach on this visual data. To test the approach, the hierarchical approach was compared to a non-hierarchical approach, and was found to improve the average percentage of correctly classified views from 77% to 84%.

  10. A Distributed Artificial Intelligence Approach To Object Identification And Classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sikka, Digvijay I.; Varshney, Pramod K.; Vannicola, Vincent C.

    1989-09-01

    This paper presents an application of Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) tools to the data fusion and classification problem. Our approach is to use a blackboard for information management and hypothe-ses formulation. The blackboard is used by the knowledge sources (KSs) for sharing information and posting their hypotheses on, just as experts sitting around a round table would do. The present simulation performs classification of an Aircraft(AC), after identifying it by its features, into disjoint sets (object classes) comprising of the five commercial ACs; Boeing 747, Boeing 707, DC10, Concord and Boeing 727. A situation data base is characterized by experimental data available from the three levels of expert reasoning. Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory provided this experimental data. To validate the architecture presented, we employ two KSs for modeling the sensors, aspect angle polarization feature and the ellipticity data. The system has been implemented on Symbolics 3645, under Genera 7.1, in Common LISP.

  11. Mapping seabed sediments: Comparison of manual, geostatistical, object-based image analysis and machine learning approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Diesing, Markus; Green, Sophie L.; Stephens, David; Lark, R. Murray; Stewart, Heather A.; Dove, Dayton

    2014-08-01

    Marine spatial planning and conservation need underpinning with sufficiently detailed and accurate seabed substrate and habitat maps. Although multibeam echosounders enable us to map the seabed with high resolution and spatial accuracy, there is still a lack of fit-for-purpose seabed maps. This is due to the high costs involved in carrying out systematic seabed mapping programmes and the fact that the development of validated, repeatable, quantitative and objective methods of swath acoustic data interpretation is still in its infancy. We compared a wide spectrum of approaches including manual interpretation, geostatistics, object-based image analysis and machine-learning to gain further insights into the accuracy and comparability of acoustic data interpretation approaches based on multibeam echosounder data (bathymetry, backscatter and derivatives) and seabed samples with the aim to derive seabed substrate maps. Sample data were split into a training and validation data set to allow us to carry out an accuracy assessment. Overall thematic classification accuracy ranged from 67% to 76% and Cohen's kappa varied between 0.34 and 0.52. However, these differences were not statistically significant at the 5% level. Misclassifications were mainly associated with uncommon classes, which were rarely sampled. Map outputs were between 68% and 87% identical. To improve classification accuracy in seabed mapping, we suggest that more studies on the effects of factors affecting the classification performance as well as comparative studies testing the performance of different approaches need to be carried out with a view to developing guidelines for selecting an appropriate method for a given dataset. In the meantime, classification accuracy might be improved by combining different techniques to hybrid approaches and multi-method ensembles.

  12. What Is Family Diversity?: Objective and Interpretive Approaches

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Scott R.

    2008-01-01

    This article differentiates two ways of understanding family diversity--objectively and interpretively. The search for objective diversity is rooted in the assumption that there are many different kinds of families in the United States and around the world; the search for interpretive diversity is rooted in the assumption that any given…

  13. Design of Learning Objects for Concept Learning: Effects of Multimedia Learning Principles and an Instructional Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiu, Thomas K. F.; Churchill, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Literature suggests using multimedia learning principles in the design of instructional material. However, these principles may not be sufficient for the design of learning objects for concept learning in mathematics. This paper reports on an experimental study that investigated the effects of an instructional approach, which includes two teaching…

  14. An Efficacious Multi-Objective Fuzzy Linear Programming Approach for Optimal Power Flow Considering Distributed Generation.

    PubMed

    Warid, Warid; Hizam, Hashim; Mariun, Norman; Abdul-Wahab, Noor Izzri

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a new formulation for the multi-objective optimal power flow (MOOPF) problem for meshed power networks considering distributed generation. An efficacious multi-objective fuzzy linear programming optimization (MFLP) algorithm is proposed to solve the aforementioned problem with and without considering the distributed generation (DG) effect. A variant combination of objectives is considered for simultaneous optimization, including power loss, voltage stability, and shunt capacitors MVAR reserve. Fuzzy membership functions for these objectives are designed with extreme targets, whereas the inequality constraints are treated as hard constraints. The multi-objective fuzzy optimal power flow (OPF) formulation was converted into a crisp OPF in a successive linear programming (SLP) framework and solved using an efficient interior point method (IPM). To test the efficacy of the proposed approach, simulations are performed on the IEEE 30-busand IEEE 118-bus test systems. The MFLP optimization is solved for several optimization cases. The obtained results are compared with those presented in the literature. A unique solution with a high satisfaction for the assigned targets is gained. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MFLP technique in terms of solution optimality and rapid convergence. Moreover, the results indicate that using the optimal DG location with the MFLP algorithm provides the solution with the highest quality.

  15. An Efficacious Multi-Objective Fuzzy Linear Programming Approach for Optimal Power Flow Considering Distributed Generation

    PubMed Central

    Warid, Warid; Hizam, Hashim; Mariun, Norman; Abdul-Wahab, Noor Izzri

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a new formulation for the multi-objective optimal power flow (MOOPF) problem for meshed power networks considering distributed generation. An efficacious multi-objective fuzzy linear programming optimization (MFLP) algorithm is proposed to solve the aforementioned problem with and without considering the distributed generation (DG) effect. A variant combination of objectives is considered for simultaneous optimization, including power loss, voltage stability, and shunt capacitors MVAR reserve. Fuzzy membership functions for these objectives are designed with extreme targets, whereas the inequality constraints are treated as hard constraints. The multi-objective fuzzy optimal power flow (OPF) formulation was converted into a crisp OPF in a successive linear programming (SLP) framework and solved using an efficient interior point method (IPM). To test the efficacy of the proposed approach, simulations are performed on the IEEE 30-busand IEEE 118-bus test systems. The MFLP optimization is solved for several optimization cases. The obtained results are compared with those presented in the literature. A unique solution with a high satisfaction for the assigned targets is gained. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MFLP technique in terms of solution optimality and rapid convergence. Moreover, the results indicate that using the optimal DG location with the MFLP algorithm provides the solution with the highest quality. PMID:26954783

  16. Stepping Stones to a Degree: The Impact of Enrollment Pathways and Milestones on Older Community College Student Outcomes. CCRC Brief Number 32

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calcagno, Juan Carlos; Crosta, Peter; Bailey, Thomas; Jenkins, Davis

    2006-01-01

    This Brief reports on a new study that begins to fill this research gap. Using longitudinal unit record transcript data on a cohort of first-time community college students in Florida, the study sought to determine whether remedial pathways, such as enrolling in a developmental math course, and enrollment milestones, such as completing a certain…

  17. 20 CFR 411.555 - Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... not achieve all outcome months? (a) Yes. The EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) can keep each milestone and outcome payment for which the EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) is eligible, even though... make or deny to an EN (or a State VR agency acting as an EN) may be subject to adjustment (including...

  18. 20 CFR 411.555 - Can the EN keep the milestone and outcome payments even if the beneficiary does not achieve all...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... not achieve all outcome months? (a) Yes. The EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) can keep each milestone and outcome payment for which the EN (or State VR agency acting as an EN) is eligible, even though... make or deny to an EN (or a State VR agency acting as an EN) may be subject to adjustment (including...

  19. A lexicographic weighted Tchebycheff approach for multi-constrained multi-objective optimization of the surface grinding process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khalilpourazari, Soheyl; Khalilpourazary, Saman

    2017-05-01

    In this article a multi-objective mathematical model is developed to minimize total time and cost while maximizing the production rate and surface finish quality in the grinding process. The model aims to determine optimal values of the decision variables considering process constraints. A lexicographic weighted Tchebycheff approach is developed to obtain efficient Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem in both rough and finished conditions. Utilizing a polyhedral branch-and-cut algorithm, the lexicographic weighted Tchebycheff model of the proposed multi-objective model is solved using GAMS software. The Pareto-optimal solutions provide a proper trade-off between conflicting objective functions which helps the decision maker to select the best values for the decision variables. Sensitivity analyses are performed to determine the effect of change in the grain size, grinding ratio, feed rate, labour cost per hour, length of workpiece, wheel diameter and downfeed of grinding parameters on each value of the objective function.

  20. A review of accuracy assessment for object-based image analysis: From per-pixel to per-polygon approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ye, Su; Pontius, Robert Gilmore; Rakshit, Rahul

    2018-07-01

    Object-based image analysis (OBIA) has gained widespread popularity for creating maps from remotely sensed data. Researchers routinely claim that OBIA procedures outperform pixel-based procedures; however, it is not immediately obvious how to evaluate the degree to which an OBIA map compares to reference information in a manner that accounts for the fact that the OBIA map consists of objects that vary in size and shape. Our study reviews 209 journal articles concerning OBIA published between 2003 and 2017. We focus on the three stages of accuracy assessment: (1) sampling design, (2) response design and (3) accuracy analysis. First, we report the literature's overall characteristics concerning OBIA accuracy assessment. Simple random sampling was the most used method among probability sampling strategies, slightly more than stratified sampling. Office interpreted remotely sensed data was the dominant reference source. The literature reported accuracies ranging from 42% to 96%, with an average of 85%. A third of the articles failed to give sufficient information concerning accuracy methodology such as sampling scheme and sample size. We found few studies that focused specifically on the accuracy of the segmentation. Second, we identify a recent increase of OBIA articles in using per-polygon approaches compared to per-pixel approaches for accuracy assessment. We clarify the impacts of the per-pixel versus the per-polygon approaches respectively on sampling, response design and accuracy analysis. Our review defines the technical and methodological needs in the current per-polygon approaches, such as polygon-based sampling, analysis of mixed polygons, matching of mapped with reference polygons and assessment of segmentation accuracy. Our review summarizes and discusses the current issues in object-based accuracy assessment to provide guidance for improved accuracy assessments for OBIA.

  1. Achievements in the development of the Water Cooled Solid Breeder Test Blanket Module of Japan to the milestones for installation in ITER

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsuru, Daigo; Tanigawa, Hisashi; Hirose, Takanori; Mohri, Kensuke; Seki, Yohji; Enoeda, Mikio; Ezato, Koichiro; Suzuki, Satoshi; Nishi, Hiroshi; Akiba, Masato

    2009-06-01

    As the primary candidate of ITER Test Blanket Module (TBM) to be tested under the leadership of Japan, a water cooled solid breeder (WCSB) TBM is being developed. This paper shows the recent achievements towards the milestones of ITER TBMs prior to the installation, which consist of design integration in ITER, module qualification and safety assessment. With respect to the design integration, targeting the detailed design final report in 2012, structure designs of the WCSB TBM and the interfacing components (common frame and backside shielding) that are placed in a test port of ITER and the layout of the cooling system are presented. As for the module qualification, a real-scale first wall mock-up fabricated by using the hot isostatic pressing method by structural material of reduced activation martensitic ferritic steel, F82H, and flow and irradiation test of the mock-up are presented. As for safety milestones, the contents of the preliminary safety report in 2008 consisting of source term identification, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) and identification of postulated initiating events (PIEs) and safety analyses are presented.

  2. The Subject-Object Approach as a Direction of the Learning Theory in the Context of Modern Linguistic Education Paradigms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salkhanova, Zhanat H.; Lee, Valentine S.; Tumanova, Ainakul B.; Zhusanbaeva, Aida T.

    2016-01-01

    The research object is the activity-based learning theory. The purpose of the study is to prove the assumption that the subject-object approach as a direction of the learning theory is the most effective one in the context of development of modern paradigms of linguistic education. The authors believe that the main content of the learning activity…

  3. An Object-Based Approach to Evaluation of Climate Variability Projections and Predictions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ammann, C. M.; Brown, B.; Kalb, C. P.; Bullock, R.

    2017-12-01

    Evaluations of the performance of earth system model predictions and projections are of critical importance to enhance usefulness of these products. Such evaluations need to address specific concerns depending on the system and decisions of interest; hence, evaluation tools must be tailored to inform about specific issues. Traditional approaches that summarize grid-based comparisons of analyses and models, or between current and future climate, often do not reveal important information about the models' performance (e.g., spatial or temporal displacements; the reason behind a poor score) and are unable to accommodate these specific information needs. For example, summary statistics such as the correlation coefficient or the mean-squared error provide minimal information to developers, users, and decision makers regarding what is "right" and "wrong" with a model. New spatial and temporal-spatial object-based tools from the field of weather forecast verification (where comparisons typically focus on much finer temporal and spatial scales) have been adapted to more completely answer some of the important earth system model evaluation questions. In particular, the Method for Object-based Diagnostic Evaluation (MODE) tool and its temporal (three-dimensional) extension (MODE-TD) have been adapted for these evaluations. More specifically, these tools can be used to address spatial and temporal displacements in projections of El Nino-related precipitation and/or temperature anomalies, ITCZ-associated precipitation areas, atmospheric rivers, seasonal sea-ice extent, and other features of interest. Examples of several applications of these tools in a climate context will be presented, using output of the CESM large ensemble. In general, these tools provide diagnostic information about model performance - accounting for spatial, temporal, and intensity differences - that cannot be achieved using traditional (scalar) model comparison approaches. Thus, they can provide more

  4. An open, object-based modeling approach for simulating subsurface heterogeneity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bennett, J.; Ross, M.; Haslauer, C. P.; Cirpka, O. A.

    2017-12-01

    Characterization of subsurface heterogeneity with respect to hydraulic and geochemical properties is critical in hydrogeology as their spatial distribution controls groundwater flow and solute transport. Many approaches of characterizing subsurface heterogeneity do not account for well-established geological concepts about the deposition of the aquifer materials; those that do (i.e. process-based methods) often require forcing parameters that are difficult to derive from site observations. We have developed a new method for simulating subsurface heterogeneity that honors concepts of sequence stratigraphy, resolves fine-scale heterogeneity and anisotropy of distributed parameters, and resembles observed sedimentary deposits. The method implements a multi-scale hierarchical facies modeling framework based on architectural element analysis, with larger features composed of smaller sub-units. The Hydrogeological Virtual Reality simulator (HYVR) simulates distributed parameter models using an object-based approach. Input parameters are derived from observations of stratigraphic morphology in sequence type-sections. Simulation outputs can be used for generic simulations of groundwater flow and solute transport, and for the generation of three-dimensional training images needed in applications of multiple-point geostatistics. The HYVR algorithm is flexible and easy to customize. The algorithm was written in the open-source programming language Python, and is intended to form a code base for hydrogeological researchers, as well as a platform that can be further developed to suit investigators' individual needs. This presentation will encompass the conceptual background and computational methods of the HYVR algorithm, the derivation of input parameters from site characterization, and the results of groundwater flow and solute transport simulations in different depositional settings.

  5. DOE FES FY2017 Joint Research Target Fourth Quarter Milestone Report for theNational Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade.

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

    Soukhanovskii, V. A.

    2017-09-13

    A successful high-performance plasma operation with a radiative divertor has been demonstrated on many tokamak devices, however, significant uncertainty remains in accurately modeling detachment thresholds, and in how detachment depends on divertor geometry. Whereas it was originally planned to perform dedicated divertor experiments on the National Spherical Tokamak Upgrade to address critical detachment and divertor geometry questions for this milestone, the experiments were deferred due to technical difficulties. Instead, existing NSTX divertor data was summarized and re-analyzed where applicable, and additional simulations were performed.

  6. Health-related quality of life, developmental milestones, and self-esteem in young adults with bleeding disorders.

    PubMed

    Limperg, P F; Haverman, L; Maurice-Stam, H; Coppens, M; Valk, C; Kruip, M J H A; Eikenboom, J; Peters, M; Grootenhuis, M A

    2018-01-01

    The treatment of bleeding disorders improved in the last decades. However, the effect of growing up with bleeding disorders on developmental, emotional, and social aspects is understudied. Therefore, this study assesses HRQOL, developmental milestones, and self-esteem in Dutch young adults (YA) with bleeding disorders compared to peers. Ninety-five YA (18-30 years) with bleeding disorders (78 men; mean 24.7 years, SD 3.5) and 17 women (mean 25.1 years, SD 3.8) participated and completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Young Adult version, the Course of Life Questionnaire, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Differences between patients with bleeding disorders and their peers, and between hemophilia severity groups, were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests. YA men with bleeding disorders report a slightly lower HRQOL on the total scale, physical functioning, and school/work functioning in comparison to healthy peers (small effect sizes). YA men with severe hemophilia report more problems on the physical functioning scale than non-severe hemophilia. YA men with bleeding disorders achieved more psychosexual developmental milestones than peers, but show a delay in 'paid jobs, during middle and/or high school.' A somewhat lower self-esteem was found in YA men with bleeding disorders in comparison to peers (small effect size). For YA women with bleeding disorders, no differences were found on any of the outcomes in comparison to peers. This study demonstrates some impairments in HRQOL and self-esteem in YA men with bleeding disorders. By monitoring HRQOL, problems can be identified early, especially with regard to their physical and professional/school functioning.

  7. Oil-Free Turbomachinery Team Passed Milestone on Path to the First Oil-Free Turbine Aircraft Engine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bream, Bruce L.

    2002-01-01

    The Oil-Free Turbine Engine Technology Project team successfully demonstrated a foil-air bearing designed for the core rotor shaft of a turbine engine. The bearings were subjected to test conditions representative of the engine core environment through a combination of high speeds, sustained loads, and elevated temperatures. The operational test envelope was defined during conceptual design studies completed earlier this year by bearing manufacturer Mohawk Innovative Technologies and the turbine engine company Williams International. The prototype journal foil-air bearings were tested at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Glenn is working with Williams and Mohawk to create a revolution in turbomachinery by developing the world's first Oil-Free turbine aircraft engine. NASA's General Aviation Propulsion project and Williams International recently developed the FJX-2 turbofan engine that is being commercialized as the EJ-22. This core bearing milestone is a first step toward a future version of the EJ-22 that will take advantage of recent advances in foil-air bearings by eliminating the need for oil lubrication systems and rolling element bearings. Oil-Free technology can reduce engine weight by 15 percent and let engines operate at very high speeds, yielding power density improvements of 20 percent, and reducing engine maintenance costs. In addition, with NASA coating technology, engines can operate at temperatures up to 1200 F. Although the project is still a couple of years from a full engine test of the bearings, this milestone shows that the bearing design exceeds the expected environment, thus providing confidence that an Oil-Free turbine aircraft engine will be attained. The Oil-Free Turbomachinery Project is supported through the Aeropropulsion Base Research Program.

  8. Meeting the milestones. Strategies for including high-value care education in pulmonary and critical care fellowship training.

    PubMed

    Courtright, Katherine R; Weinberger, Steven E; Wagner, Jason

    2015-04-01

    Physician decision making is partially responsible for the roughly 30% of U.S. healthcare expenditures that are wasted annually on low-value care. In response to both the widespread public demand for higher-quality care and the cost crisis, payers are transitioning toward value-based payment models whereby physicians are rewarded for high-value, cost-conscious care. Furthermore, to target physicians in training to practice with cost awareness, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has created both individual objective milestones and institutional requirements to incorporate quality improvement and cost awareness into fellowship training. Subsequently, some professional medical societies have initiated high-value care educational campaigns, but the overwhelming majority target either medical students or residents in training. Currently, there are few resources available to help guide subspecialty fellowship programs to successfully design durable high-value care curricula. The resource-intensive nature of pulmonary and critical care medicine offers unique opportunities for the specialty to lead in modeling and teaching high-value care. To ensure that fellows graduate with the capability to practice high-value care, we recommend that fellowship programs focus on four major educational domains. These include fostering a value-based culture, providing a robust didactic experience, engaging trainees in process improvement projects, and encouraging scholarship. In doing so, pulmonary and critical care educators can strive to train future physicians who are prepared to provide care that is both high quality and informed by cost awareness.

  9. A systematic approach for finding the objective function and active constraints for dynamic flux balance analysis.

    PubMed

    Nikdel, Ali; Braatz, Richard D; Budman, Hector M

    2018-05-01

    Dynamic flux balance analysis (DFBA) has become an instrumental modeling tool for describing the dynamic behavior of bioprocesses. DFBA involves the maximization of a biologically meaningful objective subject to kinetic constraints on the rate of consumption/production of metabolites. In this paper, we propose a systematic data-based approach for finding both the biological objective function and a minimum set of active constraints necessary for matching the model predictions to the experimental data. The proposed algorithm accounts for the errors in the experiments and eliminates the need for ad hoc choices of objective function and constraints as done in previous studies. The method is illustrated for two cases: (1) for in silico (simulated) data generated by a mathematical model for Escherichia coli and (2) for actual experimental data collected from the batch fermentation of Bordetella Pertussis (whooping cough).

  10. Genetic algorithm approaches for conceptual design of spacecraft systems including multi-objective optimization and design under uncertainty

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hassan, Rania A.

    In the design of complex large-scale spacecraft systems that involve a large number of components and subsystems, many specialized state-of-the-art design tools are employed to optimize the performance of various subsystems. However, there is no structured system-level concept-architecting process. Currently, spacecraft design is heavily based on the heritage of the industry. Old spacecraft designs are modified to adapt to new mission requirements, and feasible solutions---rather than optimal ones---are often all that is achieved. During the conceptual phase of the design, the choices available to designers are predominantly discrete variables describing major subsystems' technology options and redundancy levels. The complexity of spacecraft configurations makes the number of the system design variables that need to be traded off in an optimization process prohibitive when manual techniques are used. Such a discrete problem is well suited for solution with a Genetic Algorithm, which is a global search technique that performs optimization-like tasks. This research presents a systems engineering framework that places design requirements at the core of the design activities and transforms the design paradigm for spacecraft systems to a top-down approach rather than the current bottom-up approach. To facilitate decision-making in the early phases of the design process, the population-based search nature of the Genetic Algorithm is exploited to provide computationally inexpensive---compared to the state-of-the-practice---tools for both multi-objective design optimization and design optimization under uncertainty. In terms of computational cost, those tools are nearly on the same order of magnitude as that of standard single-objective deterministic Genetic Algorithm. The use of a multi-objective design approach provides system designers with a clear tradeoff optimization surface that allows them to understand the effect of their decisions on all the design objectives

  11. Segmentation of suspicious objects in an x-ray image using automated region filling approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Kenneth; Guest, Clark; Das, Pankaj

    2009-08-01

    To accommodate the flow of commerce, cargo inspection systems require a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate while still maintaining a minimum scan speed. Since objects of interest (high atomic-number metals) will often be heavily shielded to avoid detection, any detection algorithm must be able to identify such objects despite the shielding. Since pixels of a shielded object have a greater opacity than the shielding, we use a clustering method to classify objects in the image by pixel intensity levels. We then look within each intensity level region for sub-clusters of pixels with greater opacity than the surrounding region. A region containing an object has an enclosed-contour region (a hole) inside of it. We apply a region filling technique to fill in the hole, which represents a shielded object of potential interest. One method for region filling is seed-growing, which puts a "seed" starting point in the hole area and uses a selected structural element to fill out that region. However, automatic seed point selection is a hard problem; it requires additional information to decide if a pixel is within an enclosed region. Here, we propose a simple, robust method for region filling that avoids the problem of seed point selection. In our approach, we calculate the gradient Gx and Gy at each pixel in a binary image, and fill in 1s between a pair of x1 Gx(x1,y)=-1 and x2 Gx(x2,y)=1, and do the same thing in y-direction. The intersection of the two results will be filled region. We give a detailed discussion of our algorithm, discuss the strengths this method has over other methods, and show results of using our method.

  12. Subjective Wellbeing, Objective Wellbeing and Inequality in Australia

    PubMed Central

    Western, Mark

    2016-01-01

    In recent years policy makers and social scientists have devoted considerable attention to wellbeing, a concept that refers to people’s capacity to live healthy, creative and fulfilling lives. Two conceptual approaches dominate wellbeing research. The objective approach examines the objective components of a good life. The subjective approach examines people’s subjective evaluations of their lives. In the objective approach how subjective wellbeing relates to objective wellbeing is not a relevant research question. The subjective approach does investigate how objective wellbeing relates to subjective wellbeing, but has focused primarily on one objective wellbeing indicator, income, rather than the comprehensive indicator set implied by the objective approach. This paper attempts to contribute by examining relationships between a comprehensive set of objective wellbeing measures and subjective wellbeing, and by linking wellbeing research to inequality research by also investigating how subjective and objective wellbeing relate to class, gender, age and ethnicity. We use three waves of a representative state-level household panel study from Queensland, Australia, undertaken from 2008 to 2010, to investigate how objective measures of wellbeing are socially distributed by gender, class, age, and ethnicity. We also examine relationships between objective wellbeing and overall life satisfaction, providing one of the first longitudinal analyses linking objective wellbeing with subjective evaluations. Objective aspects of wellbeing are unequally distributed by gender, age, class and ethnicity and are strongly associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, associations between gender, ethnicity, class and life satisfaction persist after controlling for objective wellbeing, suggesting that mechanisms in addition to objective wellbeing link structural dimensions of inequality to life satisfaction. PMID:27695042

  13. Subjective Wellbeing, Objective Wellbeing and Inequality in Australia.

    PubMed

    Western, Mark; Tomaszewski, Wojtek

    2016-01-01

    In recent years policy makers and social scientists have devoted considerable attention to wellbeing, a concept that refers to people's capacity to live healthy, creative and fulfilling lives. Two conceptual approaches dominate wellbeing research. The objective approach examines the objective components of a good life. The subjective approach examines people's subjective evaluations of their lives. In the objective approach how subjective wellbeing relates to objective wellbeing is not a relevant research question. The subjective approach does investigate how objective wellbeing relates to subjective wellbeing, but has focused primarily on one objective wellbeing indicator, income, rather than the comprehensive indicator set implied by the objective approach. This paper attempts to contribute by examining relationships between a comprehensive set of objective wellbeing measures and subjective wellbeing, and by linking wellbeing research to inequality research by also investigating how subjective and objective wellbeing relate to class, gender, age and ethnicity. We use three waves of a representative state-level household panel study from Queensland, Australia, undertaken from 2008 to 2010, to investigate how objective measures of wellbeing are socially distributed by gender, class, age, and ethnicity. We also examine relationships between objective wellbeing and overall life satisfaction, providing one of the first longitudinal analyses linking objective wellbeing with subjective evaluations. Objective aspects of wellbeing are unequally distributed by gender, age, class and ethnicity and are strongly associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, associations between gender, ethnicity, class and life satisfaction persist after controlling for objective wellbeing, suggesting that mechanisms in addition to objective wellbeing link structural dimensions of inequality to life satisfaction.

  14. Object-oriented requirements analysis: A quick tour

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berard, Edward V.

    1990-01-01

    Of all the approaches to software development, an object-oriented approach appears to be both the most beneficial and the most popular. The description of the object-oriented approach is presented in the form of the view graphs.

  15. A Practical Approach to Replication of Abstract Data Objects

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-05-01

    rigorous torture testing. Torture testing was done with the aid of a basher program that allows the user to configure an object and perform a specified...number of transactions, each containing a specified number of operations on the object. There are separate basher programs for RSMs and MRSMs. The...modify the object (Writes and Erases, for RSMs). The basher maintains a local, non- replicated table that tracks the RSM that is under test. Each

  16. Optimal design and management of chlorination in drinking water networks: a multi-objective approach using Genetic Algorithms and the Pareto optimality concept

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nouiri, Issam

    2017-11-01

    This paper presents the development of multi-objective Genetic Algorithms to optimize chlorination design and management in drinking water networks (DWN). Three objectives have been considered: the improvement of the chlorination uniformity (healthy objective), the minimization of chlorine booster stations number, and the injected chlorine mass (economic objectives). The problem has been dissociated in medium and short terms ones. The proposed methodology was tested on hypothetical and real DWN. Results proved the ability of the developed optimization tool to identify relationships between the healthy and economic objectives as Pareto fronts. The proposed approach was efficient in computing solutions ensuring better chlorination uniformity while requiring the weakest injected chlorine mass when compared to other approaches. For the real DWN studied, chlorination optimization has been crowned by great improvement of free-chlorine-dosing uniformity and by a meaningful chlorine mass reduction, in comparison with the conventional chlorination.

  17. Sentry: An Automated Close Approach Monitoring System for Near-Earth Objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chamberlin, A. B.; Chesley, S. R.; Chodas, P. W.; Giorgini, J. D.; Keesey, M. S.; Wimberly, R. N.; Yeomans, D. K.

    2001-11-01

    In response to international concern about potential asteroid impacts on Earth, NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program Office has implemented a new system called ``Sentry'' to automatically update the orbits of all NEOs on a daily basis and compute Earth close approaches up to 100 years into the future. Results are published on our web site (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/) and updated orbits and ephemerides made available via the JPL Horizons ephemeris service (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.html). Sentry collects new and revised astrometric observations from the Minor Planet Center (MPC) via their electronic circulars (MPECs) in near real time as well as radar and optical astrometry sent directly from observers. NEO discoveries and identifications are detected in MPECs and processed appropriately. In addition to these daily updates, Sentry synchronizes with each monthly batch of MPC astrometry and automatically updates all NEO observation files. Daily and monthly processing of NEO astrometry is managed using a queuing system which allows for manual intervention of selected NEOs without interfering with the automatic system. At the heart of Sentry is a fully automatic orbit determination program which handles outlier rejection and ensures convergence in the new solution. Updated orbital elements and their covariances are published via Horizons and our NEO web site, typically within 24 hours. A new version of Horizons, in development, will allow computation of ephemeris uncertainties using covariance data. The positions of NEOs with updated orbits are numerically integrated up to 100 years into the future and each close approach to any perturbing body in our dynamic model (all planets, Moon, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta) is recorded. Significant approaches are flagged for extended analysis including Monte Carlo studies. Results, such as minimum encounter distances and future Earth impact probabilities, are published on our NEO web site.

  18. Prediction of protein-protein interaction network using a multi-objective optimization approach.

    PubMed

    Chowdhury, Archana; Rakshit, Pratyusha; Konar, Amit

    2016-06-01

    Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) are very important as they coordinate almost all cellular processes. This paper attempts to formulate PPI prediction problem in a multi-objective optimization framework. The scoring functions for the trial solution deal with simultaneous maximization of functional similarity, strength of the domain interaction profiles, and the number of common neighbors of the proteins predicted to be interacting. The above optimization problem is solved using the proposed Firefly Algorithm with Nondominated Sorting. Experiments undertaken reveal that the proposed PPI prediction technique outperforms existing methods, including gene ontology-based Relative Specific Similarity, multi-domain-based Domain Cohesion Coupling method, domain-based Random Decision Forest method, Bagging with REP Tree, and evolutionary/swarm algorithm-based approaches, with respect to sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score.

  19. COLLABORATIVE NEGOTIATIONS A SUCCESSFUL APPROACH FOR NEGOTIATING COMPLIANCE MILESTONES FOR THE TRANSITION OF THE PLUTONIUM FINISHING PLANT (PFP), HANFORD NUCLEAR RESERVATION, AND HANFORD, WASHINGTON

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

    Hebdon, J.; Yerxa, J.; Romine, L.

    The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a former U. S. Department of Energy Defense Production Site. The site is currently listed on the National Priorities List of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) and is undergoing cleanup and environmental restoration. The PFP is a former Plutonium metal production facility. The operating mission of the PFP ended with a DOE Headquarters shutdown letter in October of 1996. Generally, the receipt of a shutdown letter initiates the start of Transition (as the first step of Decommissioning) of a facility. The Hanford site is subject to the Hanford Federalmore » Facilities Compliance Act and Consent Order (HFFCCO), an order on consent signed by the DOE, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) and the Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE). Under the HFFCCO, negotiations for transition milestones begin within six months after the issuance of a shutdown order. In the case of the PFP, the Nuclear Materials disposition and stabilization activities, a DOE responsibility, were necessary as precursor activities to Transition. This situation precipitated a crisis in the negotiations between the agencies, and formal negotiations initiated in 1997 ended in failure. The negotiations reached impasse on several key regulatory and operational issues. The 1997 negotiation was characterized by a strongly positional style. DOE and the regulatory personnel took hard lines early in the negotiations and were unable to move to resolution of key issues after a year and a half. This resulted in unhappy stakeholders, poor publicity and work delays as well as wounded relationships between DOE and the regulatory community. In the 2000-2001 PFP negotiations, a completely different approach was suggested and eventually initiated: Collaborative Negotiations. The collaborative negotiation style resulted in agreement between the agencies on all key issues within 6 months of initiation. All parties were

  20. Hydrologic Model Development and Calibration: Contrasting a Single- and Multi-Objective Approach for Comparing Model Performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asadzadeh, M.; Maclean, A.; Tolson, B. A.; Burn, D. H.

    2009-05-01

    Hydrologic model calibration aims to find a set of parameters that adequately simulates observations of watershed behavior, such as streamflow, or a state variable, such as snow water equivalent (SWE). There are different metrics for evaluating calibration effectiveness that involve quantifying prediction errors, such as the Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) coefficient and bias evaluated for the entire calibration period, on a seasonal basis, for low flows, or for high flows. Many of these metrics are conflicting such that the set of parameters that maximizes the high flow NS differs from the set of parameters that maximizes the low flow NS. Conflicting objectives are very likely when different calibration objectives are based on different fluxes and/or state variables (e.g., NS based on streamflow versus SWE). One of the most popular ways to balance different metrics is to aggregate them based on their importance and find the set of parameters that optimizes a weighted sum of the efficiency metrics. Comparing alternative hydrologic models (e.g., assessing model improvement when a process or more detail is added to the model) based on the aggregated objective might be misleading since it represents one point on the tradeoff of desired error metrics. To derive a more comprehensive model comparison, we solved a bi-objective calibration problem to estimate the tradeoff between two error metrics for each model. Although this approach is computationally more expensive than the aggregation approach, it results in a better understanding of the effectiveness of selected models at each level of every error metric and therefore provides a better rationale for judging relative model quality. The two alternative models used in this study are two MESH hydrologic models (version 1.2) of the Wolf Creek Research basin that differ in their watershed spatial discretization (a single Grouped Response Unit, GRU, versus multiple GRUs). The MESH model, currently under development by Environment

  1. Comparing Pixel and Object-Based Approaches to Map an Understorey Invasive Shrub in Tropical Mixed Forests

    PubMed Central

    Niphadkar, Madhura; Nagendra, Harini; Tarantino, Cristina; Adamo, Maria; Blonda, Palma

    2017-01-01

    The establishment of invasive alien species in varied habitats across the world is now recognized as a genuine threat to the preservation of biodiversity. Specifically, plant invasions in understory tropical forests are detrimental to the persistence of healthy ecosystems. Monitoring such invasions using Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite remote sensing has been shown to be valuable in designing management interventions for conservation of native habitats. Object-based classification methods are very helpful in identifying invasive plants in various habitats, by their inherent nature of imitating the ability of the human brain in pattern recognition. However, these methods have not been tested adequately in dense tropical mixed forests where invasion occurs in the understorey. This study compares a pixel-based and object-based classification method for mapping the understorey invasive shrub Lantana camara (Lantana) in a tropical mixed forest habitat in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India. Overall, a hierarchical approach of mapping top canopy at first, and then further processing for the understorey shrub, using measures such as texture and vegetation indices proved effective in separating out Lantana from other cover types. In the first method, we implement a simple parametric supervised classification for mapping cover types, and then process within these types for Lantana delineation. In the second method, we use an object-based segmentation algorithm to map cover types, and then perform further processing for separating Lantana. The improved ability of the object-based approach to delineate structurally distinct objects with characteristic spectral and spatial characteristics of their own, as well as with reference to their surroundings, allows for much flexibility in identifying invasive understorey shrubs among the complex vegetation of the tropical forest than that provided by the parametric classifier. Conservation practices in tropical mixed

  2. Learned filters for object detection in multi-object visual tracking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stamatescu, Victor; Wong, Sebastien; McDonnell, Mark D.; Kearney, David

    2016-05-01

    We investigate the application of learned convolutional filters in multi-object visual tracking. The filters were learned in both a supervised and unsupervised manner from image data using artificial neural networks. This work follows recent results in the field of machine learning that demonstrate the use learned filters for enhanced object detection and classification. Here we employ a track-before-detect approach to multi-object tracking, where tracking guides the detection process. The object detection provides a probabilistic input image calculated by selecting from features obtained using banks of generative or discriminative learned filters. We present a systematic evaluation of these convolutional filters using a real-world data set that examines their performance as generic object detectors.

  3. Robust design of multiple trailing edge flaps for helicopter vibration reduction: A multi-objective bat algorithm approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mallick, Rajnish; Ganguli, Ranjan; Seetharama Bhat, M.

    2015-09-01

    The objective of this study is to determine an optimal trailing edge flap configuration and flap location to achieve minimum hub vibration levels and flap actuation power simultaneously. An aeroelastic analysis of a soft in-plane four-bladed rotor is performed in conjunction with optimal control. A second-order polynomial response surface based on an orthogonal array (OA) with 3-level design describes both the objectives adequately. Two new orthogonal arrays called MGB2P-OA and MGB4P-OA are proposed to generate nonlinear response surfaces with all interaction terms for two and four parameters, respectively. A multi-objective bat algorithm (MOBA) approach is used to obtain the optimal design point for the mutually conflicting objectives. MOBA is a recently developed nature-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm that is based on the echolocation behaviour of bats. It is found that MOBA inspired Pareto optimal trailing edge flap design reduces vibration levels by 73% and flap actuation power by 27% in comparison with the baseline design.

  4. A survey of resident perspectives on surgical case minimums and the impact on milestones, graduation, credentialing, and preparation for practice: AOA critical issues.

    PubMed

    Jeray, Kyle J; Frick, Steven L

    2014-12-03

    Residency education continues to evolve. Several major changes have occurred in the past several years, including emphasis on core competencies, duty-hour restrictions, and call. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Next Accreditation System (NAS) implemented educational milestones in orthopaedic surgery in July 2013. Additionally, the Residency Review Committee for orthopaedic surgery published suggested surgical case minimums in 2012, which overlap with several of the milestones.We conducted a survey to assess the opinions of orthopaedic residents regarding the ACGME-suggested surgical case minimums and the effects that these may have on resident education and potential future privileges in hospitals. The survey was sent via e-mail to all of the residents participating in the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Resident Leadership Forum for both 2011 and 2012. Participants in the Resident Leadership Forum are in either postgraduate year 4 or postgraduate year 5, are selected by the program directors as resident leaders, and represent 80% of the orthopaedic residency programs in the United States. The survey was completed by 157 of the 314 participants. Sixty-nine percent of the participants believed that case logs with minimum numbers of surgical procedures were an effective way to monitor the work but were not necessarily the only way to monitor the educational progress of the residents. Thirty-two percent believed that the minimums should not be required. Overwhelmingly, there was agreement that important cases were missing from the currently proposed sixteen core surgical minimums. Specifically, the residents believed that a minimum number of cases are necessary for distal radial fracture fixation and proximal humeral fracture fixation and possibly have a milestone to reflect the progress of the residents for each fixation.Most residents thought that surgical case minimums are an effective tool in monitoring the progress of

  5. Fuzzy connected object definition in images with respect to co-objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Udupa, Jayaram K.; Saha, Punam K.; Lotufo, Roberto A.

    1999-05-01

    Tangible solutions to practical image segmentation are vital to ensure progress in many applications of medical imaging. Toward this goal, we previously proposed a theory and algorithms for fuzzy connected object definition in n- dimensional images. Their effectiveness has been demonstrated in several applications including multiple sclerosis lesion detection/delineation, MR Angiography, and craniofacial imaging. The purpose of this work is to extend the earlier theory and algorithms to fuzzy connected object definition that considers all relevant objects in the image simultaneously. In the previous theory, delineation of the final object from the fuzzy connectivity scene required the selection of a threshold that specifies the weakest `hanging-togetherness' of image elements relative to each other in the object. Selection of such a threshold was not trivial and has been an active research area. In the proposed method of relative fuzzy connectivity, instead of defining an object on its own based on the strength of connectedness, all co-objects of importance that are present in the image are also considered and the objects are let to compete among themselves in having image elements as their members. In this competition, every pair of elements in the image will have a strength of connectedness in each object. The object in which this strength is highest will claim membership of the elements. This approach to fuzzy object definition using a relative strength of connectedness eliminates the need for a threshold of strength of connectedness that was part of the previous definition. It seems to be more natural since it relies on the fact that an object gets defined in an image by the presence of other objects that coexist in the image. All specified objects are defined simultaneously in this approach. The concept of iterative relative fuzzy connectivity has also been introduced. Robustness of relative fuzzy objects with respect to selection of reference image elements

  6. 10 CFR Appendix B to 10 Cfr Part 2 - Model Milestones To Be Used By a Presiding Officer as a Guideline in Developing a Hearing...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... the issues, any other relevant consideration that a party brings to the attention of the presiding... CFR Part 2, Subpart L These model milestones would apply to proceedings conducted under 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart L, including those on applications for combined licenses (COLs), renewed licenses, and license...

  7. 10 CFR Appendix B to 10 Cfr Part 2 - Model Milestones To Be Used By a Presiding Officer as a Guideline in Developing a Hearing...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... the issues, any other relevant consideration that a party brings to the attention of the presiding... CFR Part 2, Subpart L These model milestones would apply to proceedings conducted under 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart L, including those on applications for combined licenses (COLs), renewed licenses, and license...

  8. a Heuristic Approach for Multi Objective Distribution Feeder Reconfiguration: Using Fuzzy Sets in Normalization of Objective Functions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Milani, Armin Ebrahimi; Haghifam, Mahmood Reza

    2008-10-01

    The reconfiguration is an operation process used for optimization with specific objectives by means of changing the status of switches in a distribution network. In this paper each objectives is normalized with inspiration from fuzzy sets-to cause optimization more flexible- and formulized as a unique multi-objective function. The genetic algorithm is used for solving the suggested model, in which there is no risk of non-liner objective functions and constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through the examples.

  9. Milestone Report - Demonstrate Braided Material with 3.5 g U/kg Sorption Capacity under Seawater Testing Condition (Milestone M2FT-15OR0310041 - 1/30/2015)

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

    Janke, Christopher James; Das, Sadananda; Oyola, Yatsandra

    This report describes work on the successful completion of Milestone M2FT-15OR0310041 (1/30/2015) entitled, Demonstrate braided material with 3.5 g U/kg sorption capacity under seawater testing condition . This effort is part of the Seawater Uranium Recovery Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, and involved the development of new adsorbent braided materials at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and marine testing at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). ORNL has recently developed four braided fiber adsorbents that have demonstrated uranium adsorption capacities greater than 3.5 g U/kg adsorbent after marine testing at PNNL. Themore » braided adsorbents were synthesized by braiding or leno weaving high surface area polyethylene fibers and conducting radiation-induced graft polymerization of itaconic acid and acrylonitrile monomers onto the braided materials followed by amidoximation and base conditioning. The four braided adsorbents demonstrated capacity values ranging from 3.7 to 4.2 g U/kg adsorbent after 56 days of exposure in natural coastal seawater at 20 oC. All data are normalized to a salinity of 35 psu.« less

  10. NASA's Space Launch System: Systems Engineering Approach for Affordability and Mission Success

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hutt, John J.; Whitehead, Josh; Hanson, John

    2017-01-01

    NASA is working toward the first launch of the Space Launch System, a new, unmatched capability for deep space exploration with launch readiness planned for 2019. Since program start in 2011, SLS has passed several major formal design milestones, and every major element of the vehicle has produced test and flight hardware. The SLS approach to systems engineering has been key to the program's success. Key aspects of the SLS SE&I approach include: 1) minimizing the number of requirements, 2) elimination of explicit verification requirements, 3) use of certified models of subsystem capability in lieu of requirements when appropriate and 4) certification of capability beyond minimum required capability.

  11. Improved regional-scale Brazilian cropping systems' mapping based on a semi-automatic object-based clustering approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bellón, Beatriz; Bégué, Agnès; Lo Seen, Danny; Lebourgeois, Valentine; Evangelista, Balbino Antônio; Simões, Margareth; Demonte Ferraz, Rodrigo Peçanha

    2018-06-01

    Cropping systems' maps at fine scale over large areas provide key information for further agricultural production and environmental impact assessments, and thus represent a valuable tool for effective land-use planning. There is, therefore, a growing interest in mapping cropping systems in an operational manner over large areas, and remote sensing approaches based on vegetation index time series analysis have proven to be an efficient tool. However, supervised pixel-based approaches are commonly adopted, requiring resource consuming field campaigns to gather training data. In this paper, we present a new object-based unsupervised classification approach tested on an annual MODIS 16-day composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index time series and a Landsat 8 mosaic of the State of Tocantins, Brazil, for the 2014-2015 growing season. Two variants of the approach are compared: an hyperclustering approach, and a landscape-clustering approach involving a previous stratification of the study area into landscape units on which the clustering is then performed. The main cropping systems of Tocantins, characterized by the crop types and cropping patterns, were efficiently mapped with the landscape-clustering approach. Results show that stratification prior to clustering significantly improves the classification accuracies for underrepresented and sparsely distributed cropping systems. This study illustrates the potential of unsupervised classification for large area cropping systems' mapping and contributes to the development of generic tools for supporting large-scale agricultural monitoring across regions.

  12. An adaptive evolutionary multi-objective approach based on simulated annealing.

    PubMed

    Li, H; Landa-Silva, D

    2011-01-01

    A multi-objective optimization problem can be solved by decomposing it into one or more single objective subproblems in some multi-objective metaheuristic algorithms. Each subproblem corresponds to one weighted aggregation function. For example, MOEA/D is an evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) algorithm that attempts to optimize multiple subproblems simultaneously by evolving a population of solutions. However, the performance of MOEA/D highly depends on the initial setting and diversity of the weight vectors. In this paper, we present an improved version of MOEA/D, called EMOSA, which incorporates an advanced local search technique (simulated annealing) and adapts the search directions (weight vectors) corresponding to various subproblems. In EMOSA, the weight vector of each subproblem is adaptively modified at the lowest temperature in order to diversify the search toward the unexplored parts of the Pareto-optimal front. Our computational results show that EMOSA outperforms six other well established multi-objective metaheuristic algorithms on both the (constrained) multi-objective knapsack problem and the (unconstrained) multi-objective traveling salesman problem. Moreover, the effects of the main algorithmic components and parameter sensitivities on the search performance of EMOSA are experimentally investigated.

  13. MONSS: A multi-objective nonlinear simplex search approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zapotecas-Martínez, Saúl; Coello Coello, Carlos A.

    2016-01-01

    This article presents a novel methodology for dealing with continuous box-constrained multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). The proposed algorithm adopts a nonlinear simplex search scheme in order to obtain multiple elements of the Pareto optimal set. The search is directed by a well-distributed set of weight vectors, each of which defines a scalarization problem that is solved by deforming a simplex according to the movements described by Nelder and Mead's method. Considering an MOP with n decision variables, the simplex is constructed using n+1 solutions which minimize different scalarization problems defined by n+1 neighbor weight vectors. All solutions found in the search are used to update a set of solutions considered to be the minima for each separate problem. In this way, the proposed algorithm collectively obtains multiple trade-offs among the different conflicting objectives, while maintaining a proper representation of the Pareto optimal front. In this article, it is shown that a well-designed strategy using just mathematical programming techniques can be competitive with respect to the state-of-the-art multi-objective evolutionary algorithms against which it was compared.

  14. An efficient sequential approach to tracking multiple objects through crowds for real-time intelligent CCTV systems.

    PubMed

    Li, Liyuan; Huang, Weimin; Gu, Irene Yu-Hua; Luo, Ruijiang; Tian, Qi

    2008-10-01

    Efficiency and robustness are the two most important issues for multiobject tracking algorithms in real-time intelligent video surveillance systems. We propose a novel 2.5-D approach to real-time multiobject tracking in crowds, which is formulated as a maximum a posteriori estimation problem and is approximated through an assignment step and a location step. Observing that the occluding object is usually less affected by the occluded objects, sequential solutions for the assignment and the location are derived. A novel dominant color histogram (DCH) is proposed as an efficient object model. The DCH can be regarded as a generalized color histogram, where dominant colors are selected based on a given distance measure. Comparing with conventional color histograms, the DCH only requires a few color components (31 on average). Furthermore, our theoretical analysis and evaluation on real data have shown that DCHs are robust to illumination changes. Using the DCH, efficient implementations of sequential solutions for the assignment and location steps are proposed. The assignment step includes the estimation of the depth order for the objects in a dispersing group, one-by-one assignment, and feature exclusion from the group representation. The location step includes the depth-order estimation for the objects in a new group, the two-phase mean-shift location, and the exclusion of tracked objects from the new position in the group. Multiobject tracking results and evaluation from public data sets are presented. Experiments on image sequences captured from crowded public environments have shown good tracking results, where about 90% of the objects have been successfully tracked with the correct identification numbers by the proposed method. Our results and evaluation have indicated that the method is efficient and robust for tracking multiple objects (>or= 3) in complex occlusion for real-world surveillance scenarios.

  15. Automatic segmentation of colon glands using object-graphs.

    PubMed

    Gunduz-Demir, Cigdem; Kandemir, Melih; Tosun, Akif Burak; Sokmensuer, Cenk

    2010-02-01

    Gland segmentation is an important step to automate the analysis of biopsies that contain glandular structures. However, this remains a challenging problem as the variation in staining, fixation, and sectioning procedures lead to a considerable amount of artifacts and variances in tissue sections, which may result in huge variances in gland appearances. In this work, we report a new approach for gland segmentation. This approach decomposes the tissue image into a set of primitive objects and segments glands making use of the organizational properties of these objects, which are quantified with the definition of object-graphs. As opposed to the previous literature, the proposed approach employs the object-based information for the gland segmentation problem, instead of using the pixel-based information alone. Working with the images of colon tissues, our experiments demonstrate that the proposed object-graph approach yields high segmentation accuracies for the training and test sets and significantly improves the segmentation performance of its pixel-based counterparts. The experiments also show that the object-based structure of the proposed approach provides more tolerance to artifacts and variances in tissues.

  16. General object-oriented software development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Seidewitz, Edwin V.; Stark, Mike

    1986-01-01

    Object-oriented design techniques are gaining increasing popularity for use with the Ada programming language. A general approach to object-oriented design which synthesizes the principles of previous object-oriented methods into the overall software life-cycle, providing transitions from specification to design and from design to code. It therefore provides the basis for a general object-oriented development methodology.

  17. General object recognition is specific: Evidence from novel and familiar objects.

    PubMed

    Richler, Jennifer J; Wilmer, Jeremy B; Gauthier, Isabel

    2017-09-01

    In tests of object recognition, individual differences typically correlate modestly but nontrivially across familiar categories (e.g. cars, faces, shoes, birds, mushrooms). In theory, these correlations could reflect either global, non-specific mechanisms, such as general intelligence (IQ), or more specific mechanisms. Here, we introduce two separate methods for effectively capturing category-general performance variation, one that uses novel objects and one that uses familiar objects. In each case, we show that category-general performance variance is unrelated to IQ, thereby implicating more specific mechanisms. The first approach examines three newly developed novel object memory tests (NOMTs). We predicted that NOMTs would exhibit more shared, category-general variance than familiar object memory tests (FOMTs) because novel objects, unlike familiar objects, lack category-specific environmental influences (e.g. exposure to car magazines or botany classes). This prediction held, and remarkably, virtually none of the substantial shared variance among NOMTs was explained by IQ. Also, while NOMTs correlated nontrivially with two FOMTs (faces, cars), these correlations were smaller than among NOMTs and no larger than between the face and car tests themselves, suggesting that the category-general variance captured by NOMTs is specific not only relative to IQ, but also, to some degree, relative to both face and car recognition. The second approach averaged performance across multiple FOMTs, which we predicted would increase category-general variance by averaging out category-specific factors. This prediction held, and as with NOMTs, virtually none of the shared variance among FOMTs was explained by IQ. Overall, these results support the existence of object recognition mechanisms that, though category-general, are specific relative to IQ and substantially separable from face and car recognition. They also add sensitive, well-normed NOMTs to the tools available to study

  18. Physical functioning in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: comparing approaches of experienced ability with self-reported and objectively measured physical activity.

    PubMed

    van Genderen, Simon; van den Borne, Carlie; Geusens, Piet; van der Linden, Sjef; Boonen, Annelies; Plasqui, Guy

    2014-04-01

    Physical functioning can be assessed by different approaches that are characterized by increasing levels of individual appraisal. There is insufficient insight into which approach is the most informative in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) compared with control subjects. The objective of this study was to compare patients with AS and control subjects regarding 3 approaches of functioning: experienced ability to perform activities (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index [BASFI]), self-reported amount of physical activity (PA) (Baecke questionnaire), and the objectively measured amount of PA (triaxial accelerometer). This case-control study included 24 AS patients and 24 control subjects (matched for age, gender, and body mass index). Subjects completed the BASFI and Baecke questionnaire and wore a triaxial accelerometer. Subjects also completed other self-reported measures on disease activity (Bath AS Disease Activity Index), fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory), and overall health (EuroQol visual analog scale). Both groups included 14 men (58%), and the mean age was 48 years. Patients scored significantly worse on the BASFI (3.9 vs 0.2) than their healthy peers, whereas PA assessed by Baecke and the accelerometer did not differ between groups. Correlations between approaches of physical functioning were low to moderate. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index was associated with disease activity (r = 0.49) and physical fatigue (0.73) and Baecke with physical and activity related fatigue (r = 0.54 and r = 0.54), but total PA assessed by accelerometer was not associated with any of these experience-based health outcomes. Different approaches of the concept physical functioning in patients with AS provide different information. Compared with matched control subjects, patients with AS report more difficulties but report and objectively perform the same amount of PA.

  19. Structures and Dynamics Division: Research and technology plans for FY 1983 and accomplishments for FY 1982

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bales, K. S.

    1983-01-01

    The objectives, expected results, approach, and milestones for research projects of the IPAD Project Office and the impact dynamics, structural mechanics, and structural dynamics branches of the Structures and Dynamics Division are presented. Research facilities are described. Topics covered include computer aided design; general aviation/transport crash dynamics; aircraft ground performance; composite structures; failure analysis, space vehicle dynamics; and large space structures.

  20. Object Scene Flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Menze, Moritz; Heipke, Christian; Geiger, Andreas

    2018-06-01

    This work investigates the estimation of dense three-dimensional motion fields, commonly referred to as scene flow. While great progress has been made in recent years, large displacements and adverse imaging conditions as observed in natural outdoor environments are still very challenging for current approaches to reconstruction and motion estimation. In this paper, we propose a unified random field model which reasons jointly about 3D scene flow as well as the location, shape and motion of vehicles in the observed scene. We formulate the problem as the task of decomposing the scene into a small number of rigidly moving objects sharing the same motion parameters. Thus, our formulation effectively introduces long-range spatial dependencies which commonly employed local rigidity priors are lacking. Our inference algorithm then estimates the association of image segments and object hypotheses together with their three-dimensional shape and motion. We demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach by introducing a novel challenging scene flow benchmark which allows for a thorough comparison of the proposed scene flow approach with respect to various baseline models. In contrast to previous benchmarks, our evaluation is the first to provide stereo and optical flow ground truth for dynamic real-world urban scenes at large scale. Our experiments reveal that rigid motion segmentation can be utilized as an effective regularizer for the scene flow problem, improving upon existing two-frame scene flow methods. At the same time, our method yields plausible object segmentations without requiring an explicitly trained recognition model for a specific object class.

  1. Fast large-scale object retrieval with binary quantization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Shifu; Zeng, Dan; Shen, Wei; Zhang, Zhijiang; Tian, Qi

    2015-11-01

    The objective of large-scale object retrieval systems is to search for images that contain the target object in an image database. Where state-of-the-art approaches rely on global image representations to conduct searches, we consider many boxes per image as candidates to search locally in a picture. In this paper, a feature quantization algorithm called binary quantization is proposed. In binary quantization, a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) feature is quantized into a descriptive and discriminative bit-vector, which allows itself to adapt to the classic inverted file structure for box indexing. The inverted file, which stores the bit-vector and box ID where the SIFT feature is located inside, is compact and can be loaded into the main memory for efficient box indexing. We evaluate our approach on available object retrieval datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is fast and achieves excellent search quality. Therefore, the proposed approach is an improvement over state-of-the-art approaches for object retrieval.

  2. What Shape is Your Resident in? Using a Radar Plot to Guide a Milestone Clinical Competency Discussion.

    PubMed

    Harrington, David T; Miner, Thomas J; Ng, Thomas; Charpentier, Kevin P; Richardson, Pam; Cioffi, William G

    2015-01-01

    One of the challenges for program directors (PDs) is to sort and weight the tidal wave of assessments that training programs create in the modern Milestone era. We evaluated whether the use of a radar plot (RP) would be helpful in sorting data and providing a graphic representation of each resident's progress. Using at least 2 different types of assessments for each of the 16 surgical Milestones, the data were ranked and weighted by a predetermined method embedded in a computerized workbook (Excel). This process created a unique 16-spoked RP for each resident (Fig. below). The RP allowed the faculty to see areas of weakness (shown by concavity) and allowed an overall grade calculated as a ratio of the area of the smooth outer circle (faculty expectations, triangles) and the resident's unique radar shape (resident performance, squares). To help us validate our new tool, we looked at whether residents with recent remedial issues "looked" different from residents without remedial issues. Of our 30 categorical residents, 8 had significant areas of concavities, suggesting possible areas of improvement. Of these 8 residents, 4 had been on a remediation program in the last 18 months. The average ratio of performance/expectations was 0.709. The 4 residents on recent remediation had a ratio of 0.616 when compared with 0.723 for the residents without remedial issues (p < 0.009). Many exciting challenges await PDs, as we evolve to a competency-based evaluation system. The use of an evaluation summary tool using RPs may aid PDs in leading clinical competency discussions and in monitoring a resident's progress over time. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Planning for Pre-Exascale Platform Environment (Fiscal Year 2015 Level 2 Milestone 5216)

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

    Springmeyer, R.; Lang, M.; Noe, J.

    This Plan for ASC Pre-Exascale Platform Environments document constitutes the deliverable for the fiscal year 2015 (FY15) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program Level 2 milestone Planning for Pre-Exascale Platform Environment. It acknowledges and quantifies challenges and recognized gaps for moving the ASC Program towards effective use of exascale platforms and recommends strategies to address these gaps. This document also presents an update to the concerns, strategies, and plans presented in the FY08 predecessor document that dealt with the upcoming (at the time) petascale high performance computing (HPC) platforms. With the looming push towards exascale systems, a review of themore » earlier document was appropriate in light of the myriad architectural choices currently under consideration. The ASC Program believes the platforms to be fielded in the 2020s will be fundamentally different systems that stress ASC’s ability to modify codes to take full advantage of new or unique features. In addition, the scale of components will increase the difficulty of maintaining an errorfree system, thus driving new approaches to resilience and error detection/correction. The code revamps of the past, from serial- to vector-centric code to distributed memory to threaded implementations, will be revisited as codes adapt to a new message passing interface (MPI) plus “x” or more advanced and dynamic programming models based on architectural specifics. Development efforts are already underway in some cases, and more difficult or uncertain aspects of the new architectures will require research and analysis that may inform future directions for program choices. In addition, the potential diversity of system architectures may require parallel if not duplicative efforts to analyze and modify environments, codes, subsystems, libraries, debugging tools, and performance analysis techniques as well as exploring new monitoring methodologies. It is difficult if not

  4. MOCASSIN-prot: a multi-objective clustering approach for protein similarity networks.

    PubMed

    Keel, Brittney N; Deng, Bo; Moriyama, Etsuko N

    2018-04-15

    Proteins often include multiple conserved domains. Various evolutionary events including duplication and loss of domains, domain shuffling, as well as sequence divergence contribute to generating complexities in protein structures, and consequently, in their functions. The evolutionary history of proteins is hence best modeled through networks that incorporate information both from the sequence divergence and the domain content. Here, a game-theoretic approach proposed for protein network construction is adapted into the framework of multi-objective optimization, and extended to incorporate clustering refinement procedure. The new method, MOCASSIN-prot, was applied to cluster multi-domain proteins from ten genomes. The performance of MOCASSIN-prot was compared against two protein clustering methods, Markov clustering (TRIBE-MCL) and spectral clustering (SCPS). We showed that compared to these two methods, MOCASSIN-prot, which uses both domain composition and quantitative sequence similarity information, generates fewer false positives. It achieves more functionally coherent protein clusters and better differentiates protein families. MOCASSIN-prot, implemented in Perl and Matlab, is freely available at http://bioinfolab.unl.edu/emlab/MOCASSINprot. emoriyama2@unl.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  5. An approach for multi-objective optimization of vehicle suspension system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koulocheris, D.; Papaioannou, G.; Christodoulou, D.

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, a half car model of with nonlinear suspension systems is selected in order to study the vertical vibrations and optimize its suspension system with respect to ride comfort and road holding. A road bump was used as road profile. At first, the optimization problem is solved with the use of Genetic Algorithms with respect to 6 optimization targets. Then the k - ɛ optimization method was implemented to locate one optimum solution. Furthermore, an alternative approach is presented in this work: the previous optimization targets are separated in main and supplementary ones, depending on their importance in the analysis. The supplementary targets are not crucial to the optimization but they could enhance the main objectives. Thus, the problem was solved again using Genetic Algorithms with respect to the 3 main targets of the optimization. Having obtained the Pareto set of solutions, the k - ɛ optimality method was implemented for the 3 main targets and the supplementary ones, evaluated by the simulation of the vehicle model. The results of both cases are presented and discussed in terms of convergence of the optimization and computational time. The optimum solutions acquired from both cases are compared based on performance metrics as well.

  6. Are infants with torticollis at risk of a delay in early motor milestones compared with a control group of healthy infants?

    PubMed

    Ohman, Anna; Nilsson, Staffan; Lagerkvist, Anna-Lena; Beckung, Eva

    2009-07-01

    Recently it has been claimed that infants with congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) are at risk of a delay in early motor milestones. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether infants with CMT are indeed at risk in comparison with a control group of healthy infants. A second aim was to investigate whether the time spent in a prone position and plagiocephaly had any influence on motor development. Eighty-two infants with CMT (35 females and 47 males) were compared with 40 healthy infants (18 females and 22 males). Motor development was assessed with the Alberta Infant Motor scale (AIMS). Multiple regression showed that infants in the CMT group had a significantly lower AIMS score than the control group at 2 months (p=0.03) and 6 months of age (p=0.05). Infants who spent at least three occasions daily in a prone position when awake had significantly higher AIMS scores than infants who spent less time prone at 2 months (p=0.001), 6 months (p<0.001), and 10 months of age (p<0.001). The CMT group achieved early motor milestones significantly later than the control group until the age of 10 months, but the risk of delay seems to be more strongly associated with little or no time prone when awake than with CMT.

  7. Object-Oriented Approach to Integrating Database Semantics. Volume 4.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-12-01

    schemata for; 1. Object Classification Shema -- Entities 2. Object Structure and Relationship Schema -- Relations 3. Operation Classification and... relationships are represented in a database is non- intuitive for naive users. *It is difficult to access and combine information in multiple databases. In this...from the CURRENT-.CLASSES table. Choosing a selected item do-selects it. Choose 0 to exit. 1. STUDENTS 2. CUR~RENT-..CLASSES 3. MANAGMNT -.CLASS

  8. Prenatal smoking exposure, measured as maternal serum cotinine, and children's motor developmental milestones and motor function: A follow-up study.

    PubMed

    Christensen, Line Høgenhof; Høyer, Birgit Bjerre; Pedersen, Henning Sloth; Zinchuk, Andrii; Jönsson, Bo A G; Lindh, Christian; Dürr, Dorte Wive; Bonde, Jens Peter; Toft, Gunnar

    2016-03-01

    Cohort studies have indicated an association between prenatal smoking exposure and children's motor difficulties. However, results are inconsistent and exposure is most often self-reported. Studies indicate that measurement of serum cotinine can result in a more accurate status of smoking exposure in comparison with self-report. To investigate whether prenatal smoking exposure, measured as maternal serum cotinine, is associated with maternal interview based assessment of motor development in infancy (age at crawling, standing-up and walking) and motor skills at young school age (assessed by the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire 2007 (DCDQ'07)). In 2002-2004, 1,253 pregnant women from Greenland and Ukraine were included in the INUENDO birth cohort. The participating women filled in questionnaires and 1,177 provided blood samples, which were analyzed for serum cotinine. Smokers were defined as women with a serum cotinine concentration >10ng/ml. At follow-up when the offspring were 6-9 years of age 1,026 of the parents from the cohort participated. They completed an interview-based questionnaire including questions about age at motor milestones of their children. In addition, child motor development was assessed using the questionnaire "DCDQ'07". Linear regression analyzes were performed and adjusted for covariates; age of the mother and child, parity, sex, maternal educational level, maternal pre-pregnancy alcohol consumption and duration of breastfeeding. Data were stratified by country. No statistically significant difference in age at motor milestones was found comparing children of smokers with children of non-smokers. Also, there was no statistically significant difference in motor score (Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire Score, DCDQ-score) among five to seven-year-old children. However, in Greenland children of smokers had a lower DCDQ-score than children of non-smokers at eight to nine years (-2.2 DCDQ points, 95% CI: -4

  9. Cognitive object recognition system (CORS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raju, Chaitanya; Varadarajan, Karthik Mahesh; Krishnamurthi, Niyant; Xu, Shuli; Biederman, Irving; Kelley, Troy

    2010-04-01

    We have developed a framework, Cognitive Object Recognition System (CORS), inspired by current neurocomputational models and psychophysical research in which multiple recognition algorithms (shape based geometric primitives, 'geons,' and non-geometric feature-based algorithms) are integrated to provide a comprehensive solution to object recognition and landmarking. Objects are defined as a combination of geons, corresponding to their simple parts, and the relations among the parts. However, those objects that are not easily decomposable into geons, such as bushes and trees, are recognized by CORS using "feature-based" algorithms. The unique interaction between these algorithms is a novel approach that combines the effectiveness of both algorithms and takes us closer to a generalized approach to object recognition. CORS allows recognition of objects through a larger range of poses using geometric primitives and performs well under heavy occlusion - about 35% of object surface is sufficient. Furthermore, geon composition of an object allows image understanding and reasoning even with novel objects. With reliable landmarking capability, the system improves vision-based robot navigation in GPS-denied environments. Feasibility of the CORS system was demonstrated with real stereo images captured from a Pioneer robot. The system can currently identify doors, door handles, staircases, trashcans and other relevant landmarks in the indoor environment.

  10. VIMOS Instrument Control Software Design: an Object Oriented Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brau-Nogué, Sylvie; Lucuix, Christian

    2002-12-01

    The Franco-Italian VIMOS instrument is a VIsible imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph with outstanding multiplex capabilities, allowing to take spectra of more than 800 objects simultaneously, or integral field spectroscopy mode in a 54x54 arcsec area. VIMOS is being installed at the Nasmyth focus of the third Unit Telescope of the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Mount Paranal in Chile. This paper will describe the analysis, the design and the implementation of the VIMOS Instrument Control System, using UML notation. Our Control group followed an Object Oriented software process while keeping in mind the ESO VLT standard control concepts. At ESO VLT a complete software library is available. Rather than applying waterfall lifecycle, ICS project used iterative development, a lifecycle consisting of several iterations. Each iteration consisted in : capture and evaluate the requirements, visual modeling for analysis and design, implementation, test, and deployment. Depending of the project phases, iterations focused more or less on specific activity. The result is an object model (the design model), including use-case realizations. An implementation view and a deployment view complement this product. An extract of VIMOS ICS UML model will be presented and some implementation, integration and test issues will be discussed.

  11. Fourier Domain Iterative Approach to Optical Sectioning of 3d Translucent Objects for Ophthalmology Purposes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Razguli, A. V.; Iroshnikov, N. G.; Larichev, A. V.; Romanenko, T. E.; Goncharov, A. S.

    2017-05-01

    In this paper we deal with the problem of optical sectioning. This is a post processing step while investigating of 3D translucent medical objects based on rapid refocusing of the imaging system by the adaptive optics technique. Each image, captured in focal plane, can be represented as the sum of in-focus true section and out-of-focus images of the neighboring sections of the depth that are undesirable in the subsequent reconstruction of 3D object. The problem of optical sectioning under consideration is to elaborate a robust approach capable of obtaining a stack of cross section images purified from such distortions. For a typical sectioning statement arising in ophthalmology we propose a local iterative method in Fourier spectral plane. Compared to the non-local constant parameter selection for the whole spectral domain, the method demonstrates both improved sectioning results and a good level of scalability when implemented on multi-core CPUs.

  12. Landscape heritage objects' effect on driving: a combined driving simulator and questionnaire study.

    PubMed

    Antonson, Hans; Ahlström, Christer; Mårdh, Selina; Blomqvist, Göran; Wiklund, Mats

    2014-01-01

    According to the literature, landscape (panoramas, heritage objects e.g. landmarks) affects people in various ways. Data are primarily developed by asking people (interviews, photo sessions, focus groups) about their preferences, but to a lesser degree by measuring how the body reacts to such objects. Personal experience while driving a car through a landscape is even more rare. In this paper we study how different types of objects in the landscape affect drivers during their drive. A high-fidelity moving-base driving simulator was used to measure choice of speed and lateral position in combination with stress (heart rate measure) and eye tracking. The data were supplemented with questionnaires. Eighteen test drivers (8 men and 10 women) with a mean age of 37 were recruited. The test drivers were exposed to different new and old types of landscape objects such as 19th century church, wind turbine, 17th century milestone and bus stop, placed at different distances from the road driven. The findings are in some respect contradictory, but it was concluded that that 33% of the test drivers felt stressed during the drive. All test drivers said that they had felt calm at times during the drive but the reason for this was only to a minor degree connected with old and modern objects. The open landscape was experienced as conducive to acceleration. Most objects were, to a small degree, experienced (subjective data) as having a speed-reducing effect, much in line with the simulator data (objective data). Objects close to the road affected the drivers' choice of' lateral position. No significant differences could be observed concerning the test drivers' gaze between old or modern objects, but a significant difference was observed between the test drivers' gaze between road stretches with faraway objects and stretches without objects. No meaningful, significant differences were found for the drivers' stress levels as measured by heart rate. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All

  13. 3D Position and Velocity Vector Computations of Objects Jettisoned from the International Space Station Using Close-Range Photogrammetry Approach

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Papanyan, Valeri; Oshle, Edward; Adamo, Daniel

    2008-01-01

    Measurement of the jettisoned object departure trajectory and velocity vector in the International Space Station (ISS) reference frame is vitally important for prompt evaluation of the object s imminent orbit. We report on the first successful application of photogrammetric analysis of the ISS imagery for the prompt computation of the jettisoned object s position and velocity vectors. As post-EVA analyses examples, we present the Floating Potential Probe (FPP) and the Russian "Orlan" Space Suit jettisons, as well as the near-real-time (provided in several hours after the separation) computations of the Video Stanchion Support Assembly Flight Support Assembly (VSSA-FSA) and Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) jettisons during the US astronauts space-walk. Standard close-range photogrammetry analysis was used during this EVA to analyze two on-board camera image sequences down-linked from the ISS. In this approach the ISS camera orientations were computed from known coordinates of several reference points on the ISS hardware. Then the position of the jettisoned object for each time-frame was computed from its image in each frame of the video-clips. In another, "quick-look" approach used in near-real time, orientation of the cameras was computed from their position (from the ISS CAD model) and operational data (pan and tilt) then location of the jettisoned object was calculated only for several frames of the two synchronized movies. Keywords: Photogrammetry, International Space Station, jettisons, image analysis.

  14. Reasoning about Function Objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nordio, Martin; Calcagno, Cristiano; Meyer, Bertrand; Müller, Peter; Tschannen, Julian

    Modern object-oriented languages support higher-order implementations through function objects such as delegates in C#, agents in Eiffel, or closures in Scala. Function objects bring a new level of abstraction to the object-oriented programming model, and require a comparable extension to specification and verification techniques. We introduce a verification methodology that extends function objects with auxiliary side-effect free (pure) methods to model logical artifacts: preconditions, postconditions and modifies clauses. These pure methods can be used to specify client code abstractly, that is, independently from specific instantiations of the function objects. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we have implemented an automatic prover, which verifies several non-trivial examples.

  15. Application of meandering centreline migration modelling and object-based approach of Long Nab member

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saadi, Saad

    2017-04-01

    Characterizing the complexity and heterogeneity of the geometries and deposits in meandering river system is an important concern for the reservoir modelling of fluvial environments. Re-examination of the Long Nab member in the Scalby formation of the Ravenscar Group (Yorkshire, UK), integrating digital outcrop data and forward modelling approaches, will lead to a geologically realistic numerical model of the meandering river geometry. The methodology is based on extracting geostatistics from modern analogous, meandering rivers that exemplify both the confined and non-confined meandering point bars deposits and morphodynamics of Long Nab member. The parameters derived from the modern systems (i.e. channel width, amplitude, radius of curvature, sinuosity, wavelength, channel length and migration rate) are used as a statistical control for the forward simulation and resulting object oriented channel models. The statistical data derived from the modern analogues is multi-dimensional in nature, making analysis difficult. We apply data mining techniques such as parallel coordinates to investigate and identify the important relationships within the modern analogue data, which can then be used drive the development of, and as input to the forward model. This work will increase our understanding of meandering river morphodynamics, planform architecture and stratigraphic signature of various fluvial deposits and features. We will then use these forward modelling based channel objects to build reservoir models, and compare the behaviour of the forward modelled channels with traditional object modelling in hydrocarbon flow simulations.

  16. Rapid Web-Based Platform for Assessment of Orthopedic Surgery Patient Care Milestones: A 2-Year Validation.

    PubMed

    Gundle, Kenneth R; Mickelson, Dayne T; Cherones, Arien; Black, Jason; Hanel, Doug P

    To determine the validity, feasibility, and responsiveness of a new web-based platform for rapid milestone-based evaluations of orthopedic surgery residents. Single academic medical center, including a trauma center and pediatrics tertiary hospital. Forty residents (PG1-5) in an orthopedic residency program and their faculty evaluators. Residents and faculty were trained and supported in the use of a novel trainee-initiated web-based evaluation system. Residents were encouraged to use the system to track progress on patient care subcompetencies. Two years of prospectively collected data were reviewed from residents at an academic program. The primary outcome was Spearman's rank correlation between postgraduate year (PGY) and competency level achieved as a measure of validity. Secondary outcomes assessed feasibility, resident self-evaluation versus faculty evaluation, the distributions among subcompetencies, and responsiveness over time. Between February 2014 and February 2016, 856 orthopedic surgery patient care subcompetency evaluations were completed (1.2 evaluations per day). Residents promptly requested feedback after a procedure (median = 0 days, interquartile range: 0-2), and faculty responded within 2 days in 51% (median = 2 days, interquartile range: 0-13). Primary outcome showed a correlation between PGY and competency level (r = 0.78, p < 0.001), with significant differences in competency among PGYs (p < 0.001 by Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test). Self-evaluations by residents substantially agreed with faculty-assigned competency level (weighted Cohen's κ = 0.72, p < 0.001). Resident classes beginning the study as PGY1, 2, and 3 separately demonstrated gains in competency over time (Spearman's rank correlation 0.39, 0.60, 0.59, respectively, each p < 0.001). There was significant variance in the number of evaluations submitted per subcompetency (median = 43, range: 6-113) and competency level assigned (p < 0.01). Rapid tracking of trainee competency with

  17. Compositional mining of multiple object API protocols through state abstraction.

    PubMed

    Dai, Ziying; Mao, Xiaoguang; Lei, Yan; Qi, Yuhua; Wang, Rui; Gu, Bin

    2013-01-01

    API protocols specify correct sequences of method invocations. Despite their usefulness, API protocols are often unavailable in practice because writing them is cumbersome and error prone. Multiple object API protocols are more expressive than single object API protocols. However, the huge number of objects of typical object-oriented programs poses a major challenge to the automatic mining of multiple object API protocols: besides maintaining scalability, it is important to capture various object interactions. Current approaches utilize various heuristics to focus on small sets of methods. In this paper, we present a general, scalable, multiple object API protocols mining approach that can capture all object interactions. Our approach uses abstract field values to label object states during the mining process. We first mine single object typestates as finite state automata whose transitions are annotated with states of interacting objects before and after the execution of the corresponding method and then construct multiple object API protocols by composing these annotated single object typestates. We implement our approach for Java and evaluate it through a series of experiments.

  18. Compositional Mining of Multiple Object API Protocols through State Abstraction

    PubMed Central

    Mao, Xiaoguang; Qi, Yuhua; Wang, Rui; Gu, Bin

    2013-01-01

    API protocols specify correct sequences of method invocations. Despite their usefulness, API protocols are often unavailable in practice because writing them is cumbersome and error prone. Multiple object API protocols are more expressive than single object API protocols. However, the huge number of objects of typical object-oriented programs poses a major challenge to the automatic mining of multiple object API protocols: besides maintaining scalability, it is important to capture various object interactions. Current approaches utilize various heuristics to focus on small sets of methods. In this paper, we present a general, scalable, multiple object API protocols mining approach that can capture all object interactions. Our approach uses abstract field values to label object states during the mining process. We first mine single object typestates as finite state automata whose transitions are annotated with states of interacting objects before and after the execution of the corresponding method and then construct multiple object API protocols by composing these annotated single object typestates. We implement our approach for Java and evaluate it through a series of experiments. PMID:23844378

  19. A multi-objective decision-making approach to the journal submission problem.

    PubMed

    Wong, Tony E; Srikrishnan, Vivek; Hadka, David; Keller, Klaus

    2017-01-01

    When researchers complete a manuscript, they need to choose a journal to which they will submit the study. This decision requires to navigate trade-offs between multiple objectives. One objective is to share the new knowledge as widely as possible. Citation counts can serve as a proxy to quantify this objective. A second objective is to minimize the time commitment put into sharing the research, which may be estimated by the total time from initial submission to final decision. A third objective is to minimize the number of rejections and resubmissions. Thus, researchers often consider the trade-offs between the objectives of (i) maximizing citations, (ii) minimizing time-to-decision, and (iii) minimizing the number of resubmissions. To complicate matters further, this is a decision with multiple, potentially conflicting, decision-maker rationalities. Co-authors might have different preferences, for example about publishing fast versus maximizing citations. These diverging preferences can lead to conflicting trade-offs between objectives. Here, we apply a multi-objective decision analytical framework to identify the Pareto-front between these objectives and determine the set of journal submission pathways that balance these objectives for three stages of a researcher's career. We find multiple strategies that researchers might pursue, depending on how they value minimizing risk and effort relative to maximizing citations. The sequences that maximize expected citations within each strategy are generally similar, regardless of time horizon. We find that the "conditional impact factor"-impact factor times acceptance rate-is a suitable heuristic method for ranking journals, to strike a balance between minimizing effort objectives and maximizing citation count. Finally, we examine potential co-author tension resulting from differing rationalities by mapping out each researcher's preferred Pareto front and identifying compromise submission strategies. The explicit

  20. Another Milestone Day in AGU's History

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Enderlein, Cheryl

    2010-09-01

    The AGU Board of Directors held its first board meeting on 20-21 September 2010 in Washington, D. C. The meeting, chaired by President Michael McPhaden, marked another step forward in implementing AGU's new governance structure and strategic direction. The agenda included ongoing organizational business, high-level strategic discussions, and opportunities for Board development. In the new governance structure, the Board is responsible for governing the business aspects of AGU, while the Council is responsible for governing scientific affairs. The strategic plan guides both governing groups, staff, and other membership groups by providing clear goals and objectives. Of the 28 objectives in the AGU strategic plan, the volunteer and staff leadership identified eight as priorities. The priority objectives are listed in the diagram to the right, which is also posted on the AGU Web site.

  1. Food safety objective approach for controlling Clostridium botulinum growth and toxin production in commercially sterile foods.

    PubMed

    Anderson, N M; Larkin, J W; Cole, M B; Skinner, G E; Whiting, R C; Gorris, L G M; Rodriguez, A; Buchanan, R; Stewart, C M; Hanlin, J H; Keener, L; Hall, P A

    2011-11-01

    As existing technologies are refined and novel microbial inactivation technologies are developed, there is a growing need for a metric that can be used to judge equivalent levels of hazard control stringency to ensure food safety of commercially sterile foods. A food safety objective (FSO) is an output-oriented metric that designates the maximum level of a hazard (e.g., the pathogenic microorganism or toxin) tolerated in a food at the end of the food supply chain at the moment of consumption without specifying by which measures the hazard level is controlled. Using a risk-based approach, when the total outcome of controlling initial levels (H(0)), reducing levels (ΣR), and preventing an increase in levels (ΣI) is less than or equal to the target FSO, the product is considered safe. A cross-disciplinary international consortium of specialists from industry, academia, and government was organized with the objective of developing a document to illustrate the FSO approach for controlling Clostridium botulinum toxin in commercially sterile foods. This article outlines the general principles of an FSO risk management framework for controlling C. botulinum growth and toxin production in commercially sterile foods. Topics include historical approaches to establishing commercial sterility; a perspective on the establishment of an appropriate target FSO; a discussion of control of initial levels, reduction of levels, and prevention of an increase in levels of the hazard; and deterministic and stochastic examples that illustrate the impact that various control measure combinations have on the safety of well-established commercially sterile products and the ways in which variability all levels of control can heavily influence estimates in the FSO risk management framework. This risk-based framework should encourage development of innovative technologies that result in microbial safety levels equivalent to those achieved with traditional processing methods.

  2. A multi-objective decision-making approach to the journal submission problem

    PubMed Central

    Hadka, David; Keller, Klaus

    2017-01-01

    When researchers complete a manuscript, they need to choose a journal to which they will submit the study. This decision requires to navigate trade-offs between multiple objectives. One objective is to share the new knowledge as widely as possible. Citation counts can serve as a proxy to quantify this objective. A second objective is to minimize the time commitment put into sharing the research, which may be estimated by the total time from initial submission to final decision. A third objective is to minimize the number of rejections and resubmissions. Thus, researchers often consider the trade-offs between the objectives of (i) maximizing citations, (ii) minimizing time-to-decision, and (iii) minimizing the number of resubmissions. To complicate matters further, this is a decision with multiple, potentially conflicting, decision-maker rationalities. Co-authors might have different preferences, for example about publishing fast versus maximizing citations. These diverging preferences can lead to conflicting trade-offs between objectives. Here, we apply a multi-objective decision analytical framework to identify the Pareto-front between these objectives and determine the set of journal submission pathways that balance these objectives for three stages of a researcher’s career. We find multiple strategies that researchers might pursue, depending on how they value minimizing risk and effort relative to maximizing citations. The sequences that maximize expected citations within each strategy are generally similar, regardless of time horizon. We find that the “conditional impact factor”—impact factor times acceptance rate—is a suitable heuristic method for ranking journals, to strike a balance between minimizing effort objectives and maximizing citation count. Finally, we examine potential co-author tension resulting from differing rationalities by mapping out each researcher’s preferred Pareto front and identifying compromise submission strategies. The

  3. Audiovisual communication of object-names improves the spatial accuracy of recalled object-locations in topographic maps.

    PubMed

    Lammert-Siepmann, Nils; Bestgen, Anne-Kathrin; Edler, Dennis; Kuchinke, Lars; Dickmann, Frank

    2017-01-01

    Knowing the correct location of a specific object learned from a (topographic) map is fundamental for orientation and navigation tasks. Spatial reference systems, such as coordinates or cardinal directions, are helpful tools for any geometric localization of positions that aims to be as exact as possible. Considering modern visualization techniques of multimedia cartography, map elements transferred through the auditory channel can be added easily. Audiovisual approaches have been discussed in the cartographic community for many years. However, the effectiveness of audiovisual map elements for map use has hardly been explored so far. Within an interdisciplinary (cartography-cognitive psychology) research project, it is examined whether map users remember object-locations better if they do not just read the corresponding place names, but also listen to them as voice recordings. This approach is based on the idea that learning object-identities influences learning object-locations, which is crucial for map-reading tasks. The results of an empirical study show that the additional auditory communication of object names not only improves memory for the names (object-identities), but also for the spatial accuracy of their corresponding object-locations. The audiovisual communication of semantic attribute information of a spatial object seems to improve the binding of object-identity and object-location, which enhances the spatial accuracy of object-location memory.

  4. Audiovisual communication of object-names improves the spatial accuracy of recalled object-locations in topographic maps

    PubMed Central

    Bestgen, Anne-Kathrin; Edler, Dennis; Kuchinke, Lars; Dickmann, Frank

    2017-01-01

    Knowing the correct location of a specific object learned from a (topographic) map is fundamental for orientation and navigation tasks. Spatial reference systems, such as coordinates or cardinal directions, are helpful tools for any geometric localization of positions that aims to be as exact as possible. Considering modern visualization techniques of multimedia cartography, map elements transferred through the auditory channel can be added easily. Audiovisual approaches have been discussed in the cartographic community for many years. However, the effectiveness of audiovisual map elements for map use has hardly been explored so far. Within an interdisciplinary (cartography-cognitive psychology) research project, it is examined whether map users remember object-locations better if they do not just read the corresponding place names, but also listen to them as voice recordings. This approach is based on the idea that learning object-identities influences learning object-locations, which is crucial for map-reading tasks. The results of an empirical study show that the additional auditory communication of object names not only improves memory for the names (object-identities), but also for the spatial accuracy of their corresponding object-locations. The audiovisual communication of semantic attribute information of a spatial object seems to improve the binding of object-identity and object-location, which enhances the spatial accuracy of object-location memory. PMID:29059237

  5. Slic Superpixels for Object Delineation from Uav Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Crommelinck, S.; Bennett, R.; Gerke, M.; Koeva, M. N.; Yang, M. Y.; Vosselman, G.

    2017-08-01

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasingly investigated with regard to their potential to create and update (cadastral) maps. UAVs provide a flexible and low-cost platform for high-resolution data, from which object outlines can be accurately delineated. This delineation could be automated with image analysis methods to improve existing mapping procedures that are cost, time and labor intensive and of little reproducibility. This study investigates a superpixel approach, namely simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC), in terms of its applicability to UAV data. The approach is investigated in terms of its applicability to high-resolution UAV orthoimages and in terms of its ability to delineate object outlines of roads and roofs. Results show that the approach is applicable to UAV orthoimages of 0.05 m GSD and extents of 100 million and 400 million pixels. Further, the approach delineates the objects with the high accuracy provided by the UAV orthoimages at completeness rates of up to 64 %. The approach is not suitable as a standalone approach for object delineation. However, it shows high potential for a combination with further methods that delineate objects at higher correctness rates in exchange of a lower localization quality. This study provides a basis for future work that will focus on the incorporation of multiple methods for an interactive, comprehensive and accurate object delineation from UAV data. This aims to support numerous application fields such as topographic and cadastral mapping.

  6. An ADH1B variant and peer drinking in progression to adolescent drinking milestones: evidence of a gene-by-environment interaction.

    PubMed

    Olfson, Emily; Edenberg, Howard J; Nurnberger, John; Agrawal, Arpana; Bucholz, Kathleen K; Almasy, Laura A; Chorlian, David; Dick, Danielle M; Hesselbrock, Victor M; Kramer, John R; Kuperman, Samuel; Porjesz, Bernice; Schuckit, Marc A; Tischfield, Jay A; Wang, Jen-Chyong; Wetherill, Leah; Foroud, Tatiana M; Rice, John; Goate, Alison; Bierut, Laura J

    2014-10-01

    Adolescent drinking is an important public health concern, one that is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. The functional variant rs1229984 in alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) has been associated at a genome-wide level with alcohol use disorders in diverse adult populations. However, few data are available regarding whether this variant influences early drinking behaviors and whether social context moderates this effect. This study examines the interplay between rs1229984 and peer drinking in the development of adolescent drinking milestones. One thousand five hundred and fifty European and African American individuals who had a full drink of alcohol before age 18 were selected from a longitudinal study of youth as part of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Cox proportional hazards regression, with G × E product terms in the final models, was used to study 2 primary outcomes during adolescence: age of first intoxication and age of first DSM-5 alcohol use disorder symptom. The minor A allele of rs1229984 was associated with a protective effect for first intoxication (HR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.76) and first DSM-5 symptom (HR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.77) in the final models. Reporting that most or all best friends drink was associated with a hazardous effect for first intoxication (HR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.62 to 2.01) and first DSM-5 symptom (HR = 2.17, 95% 1.88 to 2.50) in the final models. Furthermore, there was a significant G × E interaction for first intoxication (p = 0.002) and first DSM-5 symptom (p = 0.01). Among individuals reporting none or few best friends drinking, the ADH1B variant had a protective effect for adolescent drinking milestones, but for those reporting most or all best friends drinking, this effect was greatly reduced. Our results suggest that the risk factor of best friends drinking attenuates the protective effect of a well-established ADH1B variant for 2 adolescent drinking

  7. C++, objected-oriented programming, and astronomical data models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Farris, A.

    1992-01-01

    Contemporary astronomy is characterized by increasingly complex instruments and observational techniques, higher data collection rates, and large data archives, placing severe stress on software analysis systems. The object-oriented paradigm represents a significant new approach to software design and implementation that holds great promise for dealing with this increased complexity. The basic concepts of this approach will be characterized in contrast to more traditional procedure-oriented approaches. The fundamental features of objected-oriented programming will be discussed from a C++ programming language perspective, using examples familiar to astronomers. This discussion will focus on objects, classes and their relevance to the data type system; the principle of information hiding; and the use of inheritance to implement generalization/specialization relationships. Drawing on the object-oriented approach, features of a new database model to support astronomical data analysis will be presented.

  8. Distributed sensor coordination for advanced energy systems

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

    Tumer, Kagan

    Motivation: The ability to collect key system level information is critical to the safe, efficient and reliable operation of advanced power systems. Recent advances in sensor technology have enabled some level of decision making directly at the sensor level. However, coordinating large numbers of sensors, particularly heterogeneous sensors, to achieve system level objectives such as predicting plant efficiency, reducing downtime or predicting outages requires sophisticated coordination algorithms. Indeed, a critical issue in such systems is how to ensure the interaction of a large number of heterogenous system components do not interfere with one another and lead to undesirable behavior. Objectivesmore » and Contributions: The long-term objective of this work is to provide sensor deployment, coordination and networking algorithms for large numbers of sensors to ensure the safe, reliable, and robust operation of advanced energy systems. Our two specific objectives are to: 1. Derive sensor performance metrics for heterogeneous sensor networks. 2. Demonstrate effectiveness, scalability and reconfigurability of heterogeneous sensor network in advanced power systems. The key technical contribution of this work is to push the coordination step to the design of the objective functions of the sensors, allowing networks of heterogeneous sensors to be controlled. By ensuring that the control and coordination is not specific to particular sensor hardware, this approach enables the design and operation of large heterogeneous sensor networks. In addition to the coordination coordination mechanism, this approach allows the system to be reconfigured in response to changing needs (e.g., sudden external events requiring new responses) or changing sensor network characteristics (e.g., sudden changes to plant condition). Impact: The impact of this work extends to a large class of problems relevant to the National Energy Technology Laboratory including sensor placement

  9. Object-oriented approach for gas turbine engine simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Curlett, Brian P.; Felder, James L.

    1995-01-01

    An object-oriented gas turbine engine simulation program was developed. This program is a prototype for a more complete, commercial grade engine performance program now being proposed as part of the Numerical Propulsion System Simulator (NPSS). This report discusses architectural issues of this complex software system and the lessons learned from developing the prototype code. The prototype code is a fully functional, general purpose engine simulation program, however, only the component models necessary to model a transient compressor test rig have been written. The production system will be capable of steady state and transient modeling of almost any turbine engine configuration. Chief among the architectural considerations for this code was the framework in which the various software modules will interact. These modules include the equation solver, simulation code, data model, event handler, and user interface. Also documented in this report is the component based design of the simulation module and the inter-component communication paradigm. Object class hierarchies for some of the code modules are given.

  10. Force Structure. Joint Seabasing Would Benefit from a Comprehensive Management Approach and Rigorous Experimentation before Services Spend Billions on New Capabilities

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-01-01

    results could be compromised. While service development efforts tied to seabasing are approaching milestones for investment decisions , it is...estimates for joint seabasing options are developed and made transparent to DOD and Congress, decision makers will not be able to evaluate the cost...Integrate Service Initiatives 10 DOD Has Not Developed a Joint Experimentation Campaign Plan to Inform Decisions About Joint Seabasing 16 Timeframe for

  11. Identifying mangrove species and their surrounding land use and land cover classes using object-oriented approach with a lacunarity spatial measure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Myint, S.W.; Giri, C.P.; Wang, L.; Zhu, Z.; Gillete, S.C.

    2008-01-01

    Accurate and reliable information on the spatial distribution of mangrove species is needed for a wide variety of applications, including sustainable management of mangrove forests, conservation and reserve planning, ecological and biogeographical studies, and invasive species management. Remotely sensed data have been used for such purposes with mixed results. Our study employed an object-oriented approach with the use of a lacunarity technique to identify different mangrove species and their surrounding land use and land cover classes in a tsunami-affected area of Thailand using Landsat satellite data. Our results showed that the object-oriented approach with lacunarity-transformed bands is more accurate (over-all accuracy 94.2%; kappa coefficient = 0.91) than traditional per-pixel classifiers (overall accuracy 62.8%; and kappa coefficient = 0.57). Copyright ?? 2008 by Bellwether Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Uncertainty-Based Multi-Objective Optimization of Groundwater Remediation Design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Singh, A.; Minsker, B.

    2003-12-01

    Management of groundwater contamination is a cost-intensive undertaking filled with conflicting objectives and substantial uncertainty. A critical source of this uncertainty in groundwater remediation design problems comes from the hydraulic conductivity values for the aquifer, upon which the prediction of flow and transport of contaminants are dependent. For a remediation solution to be reliable in practice it is important that it is robust over the potential error in the model predictions. This work focuses on incorporating such uncertainty within a multi-objective optimization framework, to get reliable as well as Pareto optimal solutions. Previous research has shown that small amounts of sampling within a single-objective genetic algorithm can produce highly reliable solutions. However with multiple objectives the noise can interfere with the basic operations of a multi-objective solver, such as determining non-domination of individuals, diversity preservation, and elitism. This work proposes several approaches to improve the performance of noisy multi-objective solvers. These include a simple averaging approach, taking samples across the population (which we call extended averaging), and a stochastic optimization approach. All the approaches are tested on standard multi-objective benchmark problems and a hypothetical groundwater remediation case-study; the best-performing approach is then tested on a field-scale case at Umatilla Army Depot.

  13. Physical requirements and milestones for the HIT-PoP Experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jarboe, Thomas

    2011-10-01

    Recent success with HIT-SI demonstrates the viability of steady inductive helicity injection (SIHI) as a spheromak formation and sustainment method. Results include the sustainment of toroidal current of over 50 kA, up to 40 kA of plasma current that is separate from the injectors, toroidal flux up to 6 times the peak injected flux, and j/n > 1014Am. All were achieved with 10MW or less applied power. This paper explores the requirements for a confinement test of the concept using a larger proof of principle experiment. The confinement experiment must not exceed the beta limit, the drift parameter limit, or the wall loading limit, where the drift parameter is (drift of electrons relative to ions to produce current)/(ion thermal speed). It must also exceed a minimum j/n, a minimum n a, and a minimum electron temperature, where a is the minor radius. The drift parameter limit and beta limit appear to play defining roles in spheromak performance leading to a very favorable scaling of wall loading with size. The milestones sequence suggested is the following: 1. Startup at drift parameter and beta limit minimum density. 2. Raise current until j/n exceeds 10-14Am. 3. Raise the current and temperature until T ~ 50 eV for good ionization. 4. Raise the current and density until n a > 2x1019 m-2 for neutral screening. 5. Raise current and temperature until T > 200eV so magnetic confinement can be studied.

  14. Optimizing Monitoring Designs under Alternative Objectives

    DOE PAGES

    Gastelum, Jason A.; USA, Richland Washington; Porter, Ellen A.; ...

    2014-12-31

    This paper describes an approach to identify monitoring designs that optimize detection of CO2 leakage from a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) reservoir and compares the results generated under two alternative objective functions. The first objective function minimizes the expected time to first detection of CO2 leakage, the second more conservative objective function minimizes the maximum time to leakage detection across the set of realizations. The approach applies a simulated annealing algorithm that searches the solution space by iteratively mutating the incumbent monitoring design. The approach takes into account uncertainty by evaluating the performance of potential monitoring designs across amore » set of simulated leakage realizations. The approach relies on a flexible two-tiered signature to infer that CO2 leakage has occurred. This research is part of the National Risk Assessment Partnership, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project tasked with conducting risk and uncertainty analysis in the areas of reservoir performance, natural leakage pathways, wellbore integrity, groundwater protection, monitoring, and systems level modeling.« less

  15. CognitionMaster: an object-based image analysis framework

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Automated image analysis methods are becoming more and more important to extract and quantify image features in microscopy-based biomedical studies and several commercial or open-source tools are available. However, most of the approaches rely on pixel-wise operations, a concept that has limitations when high-level object features and relationships between objects are studied and if user-interactivity on the object-level is desired. Results In this paper we present an open-source software that facilitates the analysis of content features and object relationships by using objects as basic processing unit instead of individual pixels. Our approach enables also users without programming knowledge to compose “analysis pipelines“ that exploit the object-level approach. We demonstrate the design and use of example pipelines for the immunohistochemistry-based cell proliferation quantification in breast cancer and two-photon fluorescence microscopy data about bone-osteoclast interaction, which underline the advantages of the object-based concept. Conclusions We introduce an open source software system that offers object-based image analysis. The object-based concept allows for a straight-forward development of object-related interactive or fully automated image analysis solutions. The presented software may therefore serve as a basis for various applications in the field of digital image analysis. PMID:23445542

  16. Modelling of cooperating robotized systems with the use of object-based approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Foit, K.; Gwiazda, A.; Banas, W.; Sekala, A.; Hryniewicz, P.

    2015-11-01

    Today's robotized manufacturing systems are characterized by high efficiency. The emphasis is placed mainly on the simultaneous work of machines. It could manifest in many ways, where the most spectacular one is the cooperation of several robots, during work on the same detail. What's more, recently a dual-arm robots are used that could mimic the manipulative skills of human hands. As a result, it is often hard to deal with the situation, when it is necessary not only to maintain sufficient precision, but also the coordination and proper sequence of movements of individual robots’ arms. The successful completion of this task depends on the individual robot control systems and their respective programmed, but also on the well-functioning communication between robot controllers. A major problem in case of cooperating robots is the possibility of collision between particular links of robots’ kinematic chains. This is not a simple case, because the manufacturers of robotic systems do not disclose the details of the control algorithms, then it is hard to determine such situation. Another problem with cooperation of robots is how to inform the other units about start or completion of part of the task, so that other robots can take further actions. This paper focuses on communication between cooperating robotic units, assuming that every robot is represented by object-based model. This problem requires developing a form of communication protocol that the objects can use for collecting the information about its environment. The approach presented in the paper is not limited to the robots and could be used in a wider range, for example during modelling of the complete workcell or production line.

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

    Rutqvist, Jonny; Blanco-Martin, Laura; Molins, Sergi

    In this report, we present FY2015 progress by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) related to modeling of coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in salt and their effect on brine migration at high temperatures. This is a combined milestone report related to milestone Salt R&D Milestone “Modeling Coupled THM Processes and Brine Migration in Salt at High Temperatures” (M3FT-15LB0818012) and the Salt Field Testing Milestone (M3FT-15LB0819022) to support the overall objectives of the salt field test planning.

  18. San Jacinto Tries Management by Objectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deegan, William

    1974-01-01

    San Jacinto, California, has adopted a measurable institutional objectives approach to management by objectives. Results reflect, not only improved cost effectiveness of community college education, but also more effective educational programs for students. (Author/WM)

  19. Encopresis: a medical and family approach.

    PubMed

    Coehlo, Deborah Padgett

    2011-01-01

    Bowel control is an important developmental milestone for children. Failure to achieve or loss of bowel control by five years of age threatens both physical and mental health. Most children are successful at achieving bowel control by age four, but up to 3% of the pediatric population suffer from encopresis. Three in-depth case studies were reviewed, including the causes, symptoms, and treatment of this condition, one of which is presented in this article. Results indicate that treatment was successful when a combined approach using medical and behavioral strategies within the context of a developmental model was used. These results can be used by pediatric nurses, nurse practitioners, and pediatricians to assure more children will be identified and obtain the support they need for successful treatment of this complex condition.

  20. A fuzzy multi-objective linear programming approach for integrated sheep farming and wildlife in land management decisions: a case study in the Patagonian rangelands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Metternicht, Graciela; Blanco, Paula; del Valle, Hector; Laterra, Pedro; Hardtke, Leonardo; Bouza, Pablo

    2015-04-01

    Wildlife is part of the Patagonian rangelands sheep farming environment, with the potential of providing extra revenue to livestock owners. As sheep farming became less profitable, farmers and ranchers could focus on sustainable wildlife harvesting. It has been argued that sustainable wildlife harvesting is ecologically one of the most rational forms of land use because of its potential to provide multiple products of high value, while reducing pressure on ecosystems. The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is the most conspicuous wild ungulate of Patagonia. Guanaco ?bre, meat, pelts and hides are economically valuable and have the potential to be used within the present Patagonian context of production systems. Guanaco populations in South America, including Patagonia, have experienced a sustained decline. Causes for this decline are related to habitat alteration, competition for forage with sheep, and lack of reasonable management plans to develop livelihoods for ranchers. In this study we propose an approach to explicitly determinate optimal stocking rates based on trade-offs between guanaco density and livestock grazing intensity on rangelands. The focus of our research is on finding optimal sheep stocking rates at paddock level, to ensure the highest production outputs while: a) meeting requirements of sustainable conservation of guanacos over their minimum viable population; b) maximizing soil carbon sequestration, and c) minimizing soil erosion. In this way, determination of optimal stocking rate in rangelands becomes a multi-objective optimization problem that can be addressed using a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming (MOLP) approach. Basically, this approach converts multi-objective problems into single-objective optimizations, by introducing a set of objective weights. Objectives are represented using fuzzy set theory and fuzzy memberships, enabling each objective function to adopt a value between 0 and 1. Each objective function indicates the satisfaction of