29 CFR 2590.715-2719 - Internal claims and appeals and external review processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... may not own or control, or be owned or controlled by a health insurance issuer, a group health plan... SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GROUP HEALTH PLANS RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR GROUP HEALTH... for group health plans and health insurance issuers that are not grandfathered health plans under...

Combined Log Inventory and Process Simulation Models for the Planning and Control of Sawmill Operations

Treesearch

Guillermo A. Mendoza; Roger J. Meimban; Philip A. Araman; William G. Luppold

1991-01-01

A log inventory model and a real-time hardwood process simulation model were developed and combined into an integrated production planning and control system for hardwood sawmills. The log inventory model was designed to monitor and periodically update the status of the logs in the log yard. The process simulation model was designed to estimate various sawmill...

SEPAC software configuration control plan and procedures, revision 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

SEPAC Software Configuration Control Plan and Procedures are presented. The objective of the software configuration control is to establish the process for maintaining configuration control of the SEPAC software beginning with the baselining of SEPAC Flight Software Version 1 and encompass the integration and verification tests through Spacelab Level IV Integration. They are designed to provide a simplified but complete configuration control process. The intent is to require a minimum amount of paperwork but provide total traceability of SEPAC software.

Factors That Effect Interagency Collaborations: Lessons During and Following the 2002 Winter Olympics

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

solving Formal control ( decision making ) Strategic planning (structure or process) Barriers PROBE / Ticklers Were there incentives... making ) Strategic planning (structure or process) 74 PROBE / Ticklers To what extend does interdependence needed for these...aspect Motivation Social capital Trust Leadership Interpersonal communication (people skills) Shared problem solving Formal control ( decision

40 CFR 62.14470 - When must I comply with this subpart if I plan to continue operation of my HMIWI?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... FOR DESIGNATED FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS Federal Plan Requirements for Hospital/Medical/Infectious... air pollution control equipment or process changes such that the HMIWI is brought on line, and ensuring that all necessary process changes and air pollution control equipment are operating properly. (3...

40 CFR 62.14470 - When must I comply with this subpart if I plan to continue operation of my HMIWI?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... FOR DESIGNATED FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS Federal Plan Requirements for Hospital/Medical/Infectious... air pollution control equipment or process changes such that the HMIWI is brought on line, and ensuring that all necessary process changes and air pollution control equipment are operating properly. (3...

21 CFR 123.6 - Hazard analysis and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... identified food safety hazards, including as appropriate: (i) Critical control points designed to control... control points designed to control food safety hazards introduced outside the processing plant environment... Control Point (HACCP) plan. 123.6 Section 123.6 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF...

21 CFR 123.6 - Hazard analysis and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... identified food safety hazards, including as appropriate: (i) Critical control points designed to control... control points designed to control food safety hazards introduced outside the processing plant environment... Control Point (HACCP) plan. 123.6 Section 123.6 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF...

21 CFR 123.6 - Hazard analysis and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... identified food safety hazards, including as appropriate: (i) Critical control points designed to control... control points designed to control food safety hazards introduced outside the processing plant environment... Control Point (HACCP) plan. 123.6 Section 123.6 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF...

NPTool: Towards Scalability and Reliability of Business Process Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braghetto, Kelly Rosa; Ferreira, João Eduardo; Pu, Calton

Currently one important challenge in business process management is provide at the same time scalability and reliability of business process executions. This difficulty becomes more accentuated when the execution control assumes complex countless business processes. This work presents NavigationPlanTool (NPTool), a tool to control the execution of business processes. NPTool is supported by Navigation Plan Definition Language (NPDL), a language for business processes specification that uses process algebra as formal foundation. NPTool implements the NPDL language as a SQL extension. The main contribution of this paper is a description of the NPTool showing how the process algebra features combined with a relational database model can be used to provide a scalable and reliable control in the execution of business processes. The next steps of NPTool include reuse of control-flow patterns and support to data flow management.

UAV path planning using artificial potential field method updated by optimal control theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yong-bo; Luo, Guan-chen; Mei, Yue-song; Yu, Jian-qiao; Su, Xiao-long

2016-04-01

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path planning problem is an important assignment in the UAV mission planning. Based on the artificial potential field (APF) UAV path planning method, it is reconstructed into the constrained optimisation problem by introducing an additional control force. The constrained optimisation problem is translated into the unconstrained optimisation problem with the help of slack variables in this paper. The functional optimisation method is applied to reform this problem into an optimal control problem. The whole transformation process is deduced in detail, based on a discrete UAV dynamic model. Then, the path planning problem is solved with the help of the optimal control method. The path following process based on the six degrees of freedom simulation model of the quadrotor helicopters is introduced to verify the practicability of this method. Finally, the simulation results show that the improved method is more effective in planning path. In the planning space, the length of the calculated path is shorter and smoother than that using traditional APF method. In addition, the improved method can solve the dead point problem effectively.

Computer Security: Governmentwide Planning Process Had Limited Impact. Report to the Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Information Management and Technology Div.

As required by the Computer Security Act of 1987, federal agencies have to identify systems that contain sensitive information and develop plans to safeguard them. The planning process was assessed in 10 civilian agencies as well as the extent to which they had implemented planning controls described in 22 selected plans. The National Institute of…

Determining robot actions for tasks requiring sensor interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Budenske, John; Gini, Maria

1989-01-01

The performance of non-trivial tasks by a mobile robot has been a long term objective of robotic research. One of the major stumbling blocks to this goal is the conversion of the high-level planning goals and commands into the actuator and sensor processing controls. In order for a mobile robot to accomplish a non-trivial task, the task must be described in terms of primitive actions of the robot's actuators. Most non-trivial tasks require the robot to interact with its environment; thus necessitating coordination of sensor processing and actuator control to accomplish the task. The main contention is that the transformation from the high level description of the task to the primitive actions should be performed primarily at execution time, when knowledge about the environment can be obtained through sensors. It is proposed to produce the detailed plan of primitive actions by using a collection of low-level planning components that contain domain specific knowledge and knowledge about the available sensors, actuators, and sensor/actuator processing. This collection will perform signal and control processing as well as serve as a control interface between an actual mobile robot and a high-level planning system. Previous research has shown the usefulness of high-level planning systems to plan the coordination of activities such to achieve a goal, but none have been fully applied to actual mobile robots due to the complexity of interacting with sensors and actuators. This control interface is currently being implemented on a LABMATE mobile robot connected to a SUN workstation and will be developed such to enable the LABMATE to perform non-trivial, sensor-intensive tasks as specified by a planning system.

The interaction between practice and performance pressure on the planning and control of fast target directed movement.

PubMed

Allsop, Jonathan E; Lawrence, Gavin P; Gray, Robert; Khan, Michael A

2017-09-01

Pressure to perform often results in decrements to both outcome accuracy and the kinematics of motor skills. Furthermore, this pressure-performance relationship is moderated by the amount of accumulated practice or the experience of the performer. However, the interactive effects of performance pressure and practice on the underlying processes of motor skills are far from clear. Movement execution involves both an offline pre-planning process and an online control process. The present experiment aimed to investigate the interaction between pressure and practice on these two motor control processes. Two groups of participants (control and pressure; N = 12 and 12, respectively) practiced a video aiming amplitude task and were transferred to either a non-pressure (control group) or a pressure condition (pressure group) both early and late in practice. Results revealed similar accuracy and movement kinematics between the control and pressure groups at early transfer. However, at late transfer, the introduction of pressure was associated with increased performance compared to control conditions. Analysis of kinematic variability throughout the movement suggested that the performance increase was due to participants adopting strategies to improve movement planning in response to pressure reducing the effectiveness of the online control system.

Statistical Methods in Assembly Quality Management of Multi-Element Products on Automatic Rotor Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pries, V. V.; Proskuriakov, N. E.

2018-04-01

To control the assembly quality of multi-element mass-produced products on automatic rotor lines, control methods with operational feedback are required. However, due to possible failures in the operation of the devices and systems of automatic rotor line, there is always a real probability of getting defective (incomplete) products into the output process stream. Therefore, a continuous sampling control of the products completeness, based on the use of statistical methods, remains an important element in managing the quality of assembly of multi-element mass products on automatic rotor lines. The feature of continuous sampling control of the multi-element products completeness in the assembly process is its breaking sort, which excludes the possibility of returning component parts after sampling control to the process stream and leads to a decrease in the actual productivity of the assembly equipment. Therefore, the use of statistical procedures for continuous sampling control of the multi-element products completeness when assembled on automatic rotor lines requires the use of such sampling plans that ensure a minimum size of control samples. Comparison of the values of the limit of the average output defect level for the continuous sampling plan (CSP) and for the automated continuous sampling plan (ACSP) shows the possibility of providing lower limit values for the average output defects level using the ACSP-1. Also, the average sample size when using the ACSP-1 plan is less than when using the CSP-1 plan. Thus, the application of statistical methods in the assembly quality management of multi-element products on automatic rotor lines, involving the use of proposed plans and methods for continuous selective control, will allow to automating sampling control procedures and the required level of quality of assembled products while minimizing sample size.

[Design of an HACCP program for a cocoa processing facility].

PubMed

López D'Sola, Patrizia; Sandia, María Gabriela; Bou Rached, Lizet; Hernández Serrano, Pilar

2012-12-01

The HACCP plan is a food safety management tool used to control physical, chemical and biological hazards associated to food processing through all the processing chain. The aim of this work is to design a HACCP Plan for a Venezuelan cocoa processing facility.The production of safe food products requires that the HACCP system be built upon a solid foundation of prerequisite programs such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP). The existence and effectiveness of these prerequisite programs were previously assessed.Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) audit to cocoa nibs suppliers were performed. To develop the HACCP plan, the five preliminary tasks and the seven HACCP principles were accomplished according to Codex Alimentarius procedures. Three Critical Control Points (CCP) were identified using a decision tree: winnowing (control of ochratoxin A), roasting (Salmonella control) and metallic particles detection. For each CCP, Critical limits were established, the Monitoring procedures, Corrective actions, Procedures for Verification and Documentation concerning all procedures and records appropriate to these principles and their application was established. To implement and maintain a HACCP plan for this processing plant is suggested. Recently OchratoxinA (OTA) has been related to cocoa beans. Although the shell separation from the nib has been reported as an effective measure to control this chemical hazard, ochratoxin prevalence study in cocoa beans produced in the country is recommended, and validate the winnowing step as well

75 FR 60013 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Control of Volatile...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-29

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Control of Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions... Maryland's Volatile Organic Compounds from Specific Processes Regulation. Maryland has adopted standards... (RACT) requirements for sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) covered by control techniques...

Encoding and choice in the task span paradigm.

PubMed

Reiman, Kaitlin M; Weaver, Starla M; Arrington, Catherine M

2015-03-01

Cognitive control during sequences of planned behaviors requires both plan-level processes such as generating, maintaining, and monitoring the plan, as well as task-level processes such as selecting, establishing and implementing specific task sets. The task span paradigm (Logan in J Exp Psychol Gen 133:218-236, 2004) combines two common cognitive control paradigms, task switching and working memory span, to investigate the integration of plan-level and task-level processes during control of sequential behavior. The current study expands past task span research to include measures of encoding processes and choice behavior with volitional sequence generation, using the standard task span as well as a novel voluntary task span paradigm. In two experiments, we consider how sequence complexity, defined separately for plan-level and task-level complexity, influences sequence encoding (Experiment 1), sequence choice (Experiment 2), sequence memory, and task performance of planned sequences of action. Results indicate that participants were sensitive to sequence complexity, but that different aspects of behavior are most strongly influenced by different types of complexity. Hierarchical complexity at the plan level best predicts voluntary sequence generation and memory; while switch frequency at the task level best predicts encoding of externally defined sequences and task performance. Furthermore, performance RTs were similar for externally and internally defined plans, whereas memory was improved for internally defined sequences. Finally, participants demonstrated a significant sequence choice bias in the voluntary task span. Consistent with past research on choice behavior, volitional selection of plans was markedly influenced by both the ease of memory and performance.

Controlling Attention through Action: Observing Actions Primes Action-Related Stimulus Dimensions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagioli, Sabrina; Ferlazzo, Fabio; Hommel, Bernhard

2007-01-01

Previous findings suggest that planning an action "backward-primes" perceptual dimension related to this action: planning a grasp facilitates the processing of visual size information, while planning a reach facilitates the processing of location information. Here we show that dimensional priming of perception through action occurs even in the…

9 CFR 430.4 - Control of Listeria monocytogenes in post-lethality exposed ready-to-eat products.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... products must control through its HACCP plan or prevent in the processing environment through a Sanitation...: (i) The post-lethality treatment must be included in the establishment's HACCP plan. The... the establishment's HACCP plan or its Sanitation SOP or other prerequisite program. (ii) The...

9 CFR 430.4 - Control of Listeria monocytogenes in post-lethality exposed ready-to-eat products.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... products must control through its HACCP plan or prevent in the processing environment through a Sanitation...: (i) The post-lethality treatment must be included in the establishment's HACCP plan. The... the establishment's HACCP plan or its Sanitation SOP or other prerequisite program. (ii) The...

Manpower Goals Planning and Accountability. Research Report 34.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niehaus, R. J.; Nitterhouse, D.

Based on previous application of goal programming models to manpower goals planning for large organizations, this paper structures the extensions from the planning process to the operations and control aspects of the management cycle. Emphasis is on the accountability necessary to make such a system an effective management control tool. In order…

Social-cognitive antecedents of hand washing: Action control bridges the planning-behaviour gap.

PubMed

Reyes Fernández, Benjamín; Knoll, Nina; Hamilton, Kyra; Schwarzer, Ralf

2016-08-01

To examine motivational and volitional factors for hand washing in young adults, using the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) as a theoretical framework. In a longitudinal design with two measurement points, six weeks apart, university students (N = 440) completed paper-based questionnaires. Prior hand washing frequency, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, intention and action planning were measured at baseline, and coping planning, action control and hand washing frequency were measured at follow-up. A theory-based structural equation model was specified. In line with the HAPA, the motivational factors of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies predicted intention, whereas the volitional factors of planning and action control mediated between intention and changes in hand washing frequency. Action control was confirmed as the most proximal factor on hand washing behaviour, thus representing a bridge of the planning-behaviour gap. Both motivational and volitional processes are important to consider in the improvement of hand hygiene practices. Moreover, the statistically significant effects for planning and action control illustrate the importance of these key self-regulatory factors in the prediction of hand hygiene. The current study highlights the importance of adopting models that account for motivational and volitional factors to better understand hand washing behaviour.

Parallel plan execution with self-processing networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dautrechy, C. Lynne; Reggia, James A.

1989-01-01

A critical issue for space operations is how to develop and apply advanced automation techniques to reduce the cost and complexity of working in space. In this context, it is important to examine how recent advances in self-processing networks can be applied for planning and scheduling tasks. For this reason, the feasibility of applying self-processing network models to a variety of planning and control problems relevant to spacecraft activities is being explored. Goals are to demonstrate that self-processing methods are applicable to these problems, and that MIRRORS/II, a general purpose software environment for implementing self-processing models, is sufficiently robust to support development of a wide range of application prototypes. Using MIRRORS/II and marker passing modelling techniques, a model of the execution of a Spaceworld plan was implemented. This is a simplified model of the Voyager spacecraft which photographed Jupiter, Saturn, and their satellites. It is shown that plan execution, a task usually solved using traditional artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, can be accomplished using a self-processing network. The fact that self-processing networks were applied to other space-related tasks, in addition to the one discussed here, demonstrates the general applicability of this approach to planning and control problems relevant to spacecraft activities. It is also demonstrated that MIRRORS/II is a powerful environment for the development and evaluation of self-processing systems.

Air traffic control specialist decision making and strategic planning : a field survey

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-03-01

This study investigated Air Traffic Control Specialists' perspective regarding decision making and planning and related cognitive processes such as learning, memory, and situation awareness. The results of 100 semi-structured interviews indicated tha...

Poster - Thur Eve - 29: Detecting changes in IMRT QA using statistical process control.

PubMed

Drever, L; Salomons, G

2012-07-01

Statistical process control (SPC) methods were used to analyze 239 measurement based individual IMRT QA events. The selected IMRT QA events were all head and neck (H&N) cases with 70Gy in 35 fractions, and all prostate cases with 76Gy in 38 fractions planned between March 2009 and 2012. The results were used to determine if the tolerance limits currently being used for IMRT QA were able to indicate if the process was under control. The SPC calculations were repeated for IMRT QA of the same type of cases that were planned after the treatment planning system was upgraded from Eclipse version 8.1.18 to version 10.0.39. The initial tolerance limits were found to be acceptable for two of the three metrics tested prior to the upgrade. After the upgrade to the treatment planning system the SPC analysis found that the a priori limits were no longer capable of indicating control for 2 of the 3 metrics analyzed. The changes in the IMRT QA results were clearly identified using SPC, indicating that it is a useful tool for finding changes in the IMRT QA process. Routine application of SPC to IMRT QA results would help to distinguish unintentional trends and changes from the random variation in the IMRT QA results for individual plans. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

A key to success: optimizing the planning process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turk, Huseyin; Karakaya, Kamil

2014-05-01

By adopting The NATO Strategic Concept Document in 2010, some important changes in the perception of threat and management of crisis were introduced. This new concept, named ''Comprehensive Approach'', includes the precautions of pre-crisis management, applications of crisis-duration management and reconstruction phase of post-intervention management. NATO will be interested in not only the political and military options , but also social, economical and informational aspects of crisis. NATO will take place in all phases of conflict. The conflicts which occur outside the borders of NATO's nations and terrorism are perceived as threat sources for peace and stability. In addition to conventional threats, cyber attacks which threaten network-supported communication systems, preventing applications from accessing to space that will be used in different fields of life. On the other hand, electronic warfare capabilities which can effect us negatively are added to threat list as new threats. In the process in which military is thought as option, a harder planning phase is waiting for NATO's decision makers who struggle for keeping peace and security. Operation planning process which depends on comprehensive approach, contains these steps: Situational awareness of battlefield, evaluation of the military intervention options, orientation, developing an operation plan, reviewing the plan and transition phases.1 To be successful in theater which is always changing with the technological advances, there has to be an accurate and timely planning on the table. So, spending time for planning can be shown as one of the biggest problem. In addition, sustaining situational awareness which is important for the whole operation planning process, technical command and control hitches, human factor, inability to determine the center of gravity of opponent in asymmetrical threat situations can be described as some of the difficulties in operation planning. In this study, a possible air operation planning process is analyzed according to a comprehensive approach. The difficulties of planning are identified. Consequently, for optimizing a decisionmaking process of an air operation, a planning process is identified in a virtual command and control structure.

Applying Statistical Process Control to Clinical Data: An Illustration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfadt, Al; And Others

1992-01-01

Principles of statistical process control are applied to a clinical setting through the use of control charts to detect changes, as part of treatment planning and clinical decision-making processes. The logic of control chart analysis is derived from principles of statistical inference. Sample charts offer examples of evaluating baselines and…

Control of Technology Transfer at JPL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliver, Ronald

2006-01-01

Controlled Technology: 1) Design: preliminary or critical design data, schematics, technical flow charts, SNV code/diagnostics, logic flow diagrams, wirelist, ICDs, detailed specifications or requirements. 2) Development: constraints, computations, configurations, technical analyses, acceptance criteria, anomaly resolution, detailed test plans, detailed technical proposals. 3) Production: process or how-to: assemble, operated, repair, maintain, modify. 4) Manufacturing: technical instructions, specific parts, specific materials, specific qualities, specific processes, specific flow. 5) Operations: how-to operate, contingency or standard operating plans, Ops handbooks. 6) Repair: repair instructions, troubleshooting schemes, detailed schematics. 7) Test: specific procedures, data, analysis, detailed test plan and retest plans, detailed anomaly resolutions, detailed failure causes and corrective actions, troubleshooting, trended test data, flight readiness data. 8) Maintenance: maintenance schedules and plans, methods for regular upkeep, overhaul instructions. 9) Modification: modification instructions, upgrades kit parts, including software

Manufacturing Squares: An Integrative Statistical Process Control Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coy, Steven P.

2016-01-01

In the exercise, students in a junior-level operations management class are asked to manufacture a simple product. Given product specifications, they must design a production process, create roles and design jobs for each team member, and develop a statistical process control plan that efficiently and effectively controls quality during…

SU-G-TeP4-06: An Integrated Application for Radiation Therapy Treatment Plan Directives, Management, and Reporting

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

Matuszak, M; Anderson, C; Lee, C

Purpose: With electronic medical records, patient information for the treatment planning process has become disseminated across multiple applications with limited quality control and many associated failure modes. We present the development of a single application with a centralized database to manage the planning process. Methods: The system was designed to replace current functionalities of (i) static directives representing the physician intent for the prescription and planning goals, localization information for delivery, and other information, (ii) planning objective reports, (iii) localization and image guidance documents and (iv) the official radiation therapy prescription in the medical record. Using the Eclipse Scripting Applicationmore » Programming Interface, a plug-in script with an associated domain-specific SQL Server database was created to manage the information in (i)–(iv). The system’s user interface and database were designed by a team of physicians, clinical physicists, database experts, and software engineers to ensure usability and robustness for clinical use. Results: The resulting system has been fully integrated within the TPS via a custom script and database. Planning scenario templates, version control, approvals, and logic-based quality control allow this system to fully track and document the planning process as well as physician approval of tradeoffs while improving the consistency of the data. Multiple plans and prescriptions are supported along with non-traditional dose objectives and evaluation such as biologically corrected models, composite dose limits, and management of localization goals. User-specific custom views were developed for the attending physician review, physicist plan checks, treating therapists, and peer review in chart rounds. Conclusion: A method was developed to maintain cohesive information throughout the planning process within one integrated system by using a custom treatment planning management application that interfaces directly with the TPS. Future work includes quantifying the improvements in quality, safety and efficiency that are possible with the routine clinical use of this system. Supported in part by NIH-P01-CA-059827.« less

Autobiographical Planning and the Brain: Activation and Its Modulation by Qualitative Features.

PubMed

Spreng, R Nathan; Gerlach, Kathy D; Turner, Gary R; Schacter, Daniel L

2015-11-01

To engage in purposeful behavior, it is important to make plans, which organize subsequent actions. Most studies of planning involve "look-ahead" puzzle tasks that are unrelated to personal goals. We developed a task to assess autobiographical planning, which involves the formulation of personal plans in response to real-world goals, and examined autobiographical planning in 63 adults during fMRI scanning. Autobiographical planning was found to engage the default network, including medial-temporal lobe and midline structures, and executive control regions in lateral pFC and parietal cortex and caudate. To examine how specific qualitative features of autobiographical plans modulate neural activity, we performed parametric modulation analyses. Ratings of plan detail, novelty, temporal distance, ease of plan formulation, difficulty in goal completion, and confidence in goal accomplishment were used as covariates in six hierarchical linear regression models. This modeling procedure removed shared variance among the ratings, allowing us to determine the independent relationship between ratings of interest and trial-wise BOLD signal. We found that specific autobiographical planning, describing a detailed, achievable, and actionable planning process for attaining a clearly envisioned future, recruited both default and frontoparietal brain regions. In contrast, abstract autobiographical planning, plans that were constructed from more generalized semantic or affective representations of a less tangible and distant future, involved interactions among default, sensory perceptual, and limbic brain structures. Specific qualities of autobiographical plans are important predictors of default and frontoparietal control network engagement during plan formation and reflect the contribution of mnemonic and executive control processes to autobiographical planning.

Programming, budgeting, and control in health care organization: the state of the art.

PubMed Central

Vraciu, R A

1979-01-01

The planning, budgeting, and controlling processes (PBCP) largely subsume all of the planning and controlling activities of an organization. This paper discusses these activities within the context of a single management control system, focusing on three topics. First, a brief historical perspective of management concerns which relate to PBCP is presented and several important external pressures currently imposed on the health care industry are discussed. Second, normative models of the processes--programming, budgeting, and controlling--are presented. The discussion focuses on the elements and relationships of these processes, and numerous references to the literature are provided. Third, several issues related to the gap between the state of the art in PBCP for hospitals and the current state of practice are discussed. PMID:116990

Manufacturing engineering: Principles for optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koenig, Daniel T.

Various subjects in the area of manufacturing engineering are addressed. The topics considered include: manufacturing engineering organization concepts and management techniques, factory capacity and loading techniques, capital equipment programs, machine tool and equipment selection and implementation, producibility engineering, methods, planning and work management, and process control engineering in job shops. Also discussed are: maintenance engineering, numerical control of machine tools, fundamentals of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture, computer-aided process planning and data collection, group technology basis for plant layout, environmental control and safety, and the Integrated Productivity Improvement Program.

An architecture for heuristic control of real-time processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raulefs, P.; Thorndyke, P. W.

1987-01-01

Abstract Process management combines complementary approaches of heuristic reasoning and analytical process control. Management of a continuous process requires monitoring the environment and the controlled system, assessing the ongoing situation, developing and revising planned actions, and controlling the execution of the actions. For knowledge-intensive domains, process management entails the potentially time-stressed cooperation among a variety of expert systems. By redesigning a blackboard control architecture in an object-oriented framework, researchers obtain an approach to process management that considerably extends blackboard control mechanisms and overcomes limitations of blackboard systems.

Autoplan: A self-processing network model for an extended blocks world planning environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dautrechy, C. Lynne; Reggia, James A.; Mcfadden, Frank

1990-01-01

Self-processing network models (neural/connectionist models, marker passing/message passing networks, etc.) are currently undergoing intense investigation for a variety of information processing applications. These models are potentially very powerful in that they support a large amount of explicit parallel processing, and they cleanly integrate high level and low level information processing. However they are currently limited by a lack of understanding of how to apply them effectively in many application areas. The formulation of self-processing network methods for dynamic, reactive planning is studied. The long-term goal is to formulate robust, computationally effective information processing methods for the distributed control of semiautonomous exploration systems, e.g., the Mars Rover. The current research effort is focusing on hierarchical plan generation, execution and revision through local operations in an extended blocks world environment. This scenario involves many challenging features that would be encountered in a real planning and control environment: multiple simultaneous goals, parallel as well as sequential action execution, action sequencing determined not only by goals and their interactions but also by limited resources (e.g., three tasks, two acting agents), need to interpret unanticipated events and react appropriately through replanning, etc.

40 CFR 62.15065 - How do I comply with the increment of progress for submittal of a final control plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... describing the devices for air pollution control and process changes that you will use to comply with the emission limits and other requirements of this subpart. If you plan to reduce your small municipal waste...

A Quality Assurance Initiative for Commercial-Scale Production in High-Throughput Cryopreservation of Blue Catfish Sperm

PubMed Central

Hu, E; Liao, T. W.; Tiersch, T. R.

2013-01-01

Cryopreservation of fish sperm has been studied for decades at a laboratory (research) scale. However, high-throughput cryopreservation of fish sperm has recently been developed to enable industrial-scale production. This study treated blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) sperm high-throughput cryopreservation as a manufacturing production line and initiated quality assurance plan development. The main objectives were to identify: 1) the main production quality characteristics; 2) the process features for quality assurance; 3) the internal quality characteristics and their specification designs; 4) the quality control and process capability evaluation methods, and 5) the directions for further improvements and applications. The essential product quality characteristics were identified as fertility-related characteristics. Specification design which established the tolerance levels according to demand and process constraints was performed based on these quality characteristics. Meanwhile, to ensure integrity throughout the process, internal quality characteristics (characteristics at each quality control point within process) that could affect fertility-related quality characteristics were defined with specifications. Due to the process feature of 100% inspection (quality inspection of every fish), a specific calculation method, use of cumulative sum (CUSUM) control charts, was applied to monitor each quality characteristic. An index of overall process evaluation, process capacity, was analyzed based on in-control process and the designed specifications, which further integrates the quality assurance plan. With the established quality assurance plan, the process could operate stably and quality of products would be reliable. PMID:23872356

PRE-QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN (QAPP) AGREEMENT (PQA) (HANDOUT)

EPA Science Inventory

The Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division (LRPCD) QA Manager strives to assist LRPCD researchers in developing functional planning documents for their research projects. As part of the planning process, several pieces of information are needed, including information re...

[Design of a HACCP plan for the industrial process of frozen sardines].

PubMed

Rosas, Patricia; Reyes, Genara

2009-09-01

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a system to identify, assess and control the hazards related with production, processing, distribution and consumption in order to get safe food. The aim of this study was to design a HACCP plan for implementing in processing line of frozen whole sardine (Sardinella aurita). The methodology was based in the evaluation of the accomplishment of the pre-requisite programs (GMP/SSOP in a previous study), the application of the principles of the HACCP and the sequence of stages settles down by the COVENIN Venezuelan standard No 3802. Time-temperature was recorded in each processing step. Histamine was determined by VERATOX NEOGEN. Results showed that some sardine batches arrived to the plant with high time-temperature records, finding up to 5 ppm of histamine due to the abuse of temperature during transportation. A HACCP plan is proposed with the scope, the selection of the team, the description of the product and the intended use, the flow diagram of the process, hazard analysis and identification of CCP, monitoring system, corrective actions and records. The potential hazards were identified as pathogen growth, presence of histamine and physical objects in the sardines. The control measures of PCC are referred as control of time-temperature during transportation and processing, monitoring of ice supplies and sanitary conditions in the process.

Process test plan, phase II: waste retrieval sluicing system emissions collection

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

POWERS, R.L.

1999-06-01

This Process Test Plan is prepared to continue from HNF-3733 which was Phase I of the test. Supplemental operational controls and sampling requirements are defined to safely obtain gas samples from the 296-C-006 ventilation system stack during active operation of the sluicing equipment.

Does implementing a development plan for user participation in a mental hospital change patients' experience? A non-randomized controlled study.

PubMed

Rise, Marit B; Steinsbekk, Aslak

2015-10-01

Governments in several countries attempt to strengthen user participation through instructing health-care organizations to implement user participation initiatives. There is, however, little knowledge on the effect on patients' experience from comprehensive plans for enhancing user participation in whole health service organizations. To investigate whether implementing a development plan intending to enhance user participation in a mental hospital had any effect on the patients' experience of user participation. A non-randomized controlled study including patients in three mental hospitals in Central Norway, one intervention hospital and two control hospitals. A development plan intended to enhance user participation was implemented in the intervention hospital as a part of a larger reorganizational process. The plan included establishment of a patient education centre and a user office, purchase of user expertise, appointment of contact professionals for next of kin and improvement of the centre's information and the professional culture. Perceptions of Care, Inpatient Treatment Alliance Scale and questions made for this study. A total of 1651 patients participated. Implementing a development plan in a mental hospital intending to enhance user participation had no significant effect on the patients' experience of user participation. The lack of effect can be due to inappropriate initiatives or challenges in implementation processes. Further research should ensure that initiatives and implementation processes are appropriate to impact the patients' experience. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

75 FR 32858 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Control of Nitrogen...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-10

... Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries Correction In rule document 2010-13377 beginning on... limitations for Control [Insert page number any industrial boiler or Requirements. where the document process...

Dynamic Control of Plans with Temporal Uncertainty

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Paul; Muscettola, Nicola; Vidal, Thierry

2001-01-01

Certain planning systems that deal with quantitative time constraints have used an underlying Simple Temporal Problem solver to ensure temporal consistency of plans. However, many applications involve processes of uncertain duration whose timing cannot be controlled by the execution agent. These cases require more complex notions of temporal feasibility. In previous work, various "controllability" properties such as Weak, Strong, and Dynamic Controllability have been defined. The most interesting and useful Controllability property, the Dynamic one, has ironically proved to be the most difficult to analyze. In this paper, we resolve the complexity issue for Dynamic Controllability. Unexpectedly, the problem turns out to be tractable. We also show how to efficiently execute networks whose status has been verified.

PRE-QAPP AGREEMENT (PQA) AND ANALYTICAL METHOD CHECKLISTS (AMCS): TOOLS FOR PLANNING RESEARCH PROJECTS

EPA Science Inventory

The Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division (LRPCD) QA Manager strives to assist LRPCD researchers in developing functional planning documents for their research projects. As part of the planning process, several pieces of information are needed, including information re...

Knowledge enabled plan of care and documentation prototype.

PubMed

DaDamio, Rebecca; Gugerty, Brian; Kennedy, Rosemary

2006-01-01

There exist significant challenges in integrating the plan of care into documentation and point of care operational processes. A plan of care is often a static artifact that meets regulatory standards with limited influence on supporting goal-directed care delivery processes. Although this prototype is applicable to many clinical disciplines, we will highlight nursing processes in demonstrating a knowledge-driven computerized solution that fully integrates the plan of care within documentation. The knowledge-driven solution reflects evidenced-based practice; is an effective tool for managing problems, orders/interventions, and the patient's progress towards expected outcomes; meets regulatory standards; and drives quality and process improvement. The knowledge infrastructure consists of fully represented terminology, structured clinical expressions utilizing the controlled terminology and clinical knowledge representing evidence-based practice.

Intelligent control and adaptive systems; Proceedings of the Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, Nov. 7, 8, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriguez, Guillermo (Editor)

1990-01-01

Various papers on intelligent control and adaptive systems are presented. Individual topics addressed include: control architecture for a Mars walking vehicle, representation for error detection and recovery in robot task plans, real-time operating system for robots, execution monitoring of a mobile robot system, statistical mechanics models for motion and force planning, global kinematics for manipulator planning and control, exploration of unknown mechanical assemblies through manipulation, low-level representations for robot vision, harmonic functions for robot path construction, simulation of dual behavior of an autonomous system. Also discussed are: control framework for hand-arm coordination, neural network approach to multivehicle navigation, electronic neural networks for global optimization, neural network for L1 norm linear regression, planning for assembly with robot hands, neural networks in dynamical systems, control design with iterative learning, improved fuzzy process control of spacecraft autonomous rendezvous using a genetic algorithm.

78 FR 41075 - Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Single Family Quality Assurance-Solicitation of Information...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-09

... the efficiency and effectiveness of FHA's quality assurance process (QAP). The objective of FHA's QAP... control plan (QCP).\\1\\ A copy of the plan must be submitted by the lender when applying for FHA lender... processes: post-endorsement technical reviews, Quality Assurance Division reviews and targeted lender...

The planning and control of NASA programs and resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The major management systems used to plan and control NASA programs and resources are described as well as their integration to form the agency's general management approach in carrying out its mission. Documents containing more detailed descriptions of the processes and techniques involved in the agency's major management systems are listed.

75 FR 31711 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Control of Nitrogen...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-04

... Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION... controlling nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from industrial boilers. This action is being taken under the Clean...--Control of Nitrogen Oxide Emissions from Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries in...

Effect of an institutional development plan for user participation on professionals' knowledge, practice, and attitudes. A controlled study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Governments in several countries attempt to strengthen user participation through instructing health care organisations to plan and implement activities such as user representation in administrational boards, improved information to users, and more individual user participation in clinical work. The professionals are central in implementing initiatives to enhance user participation in organisations, but no controlled studies have been conducted on the effect on professionals from implementing institutional development plans. The objective was to investigate whether implementing a development plan intending to enhance user participation in a mental health hospital had any effect on the professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes towards user participation. Methods This was a non-randomized controlled study including professionals from three mental health hospitals in Central Norway. A development plan intended to enhance user participation was implemented in one of the hospitals as a part of a larger re-organizational process. The plan included i.e. establishing a patient education centre and a user office, purchasing of user expertise, appointing contact professionals for next of kin, and improving of the centre's information and the professional culture. The professionals at the intervention hospital thus constituted the intervention group, while the professionals at two other hospitals participated as control group. All professionals were invited to answer the Consumer Participation Questionnaire (CPQ) and additional questions, focusing on knowledge, practice, and attitudes towards user participation, two times with a 16 months interval. Results A total of 438 professionals participated (55% response rate). Comparing the changes in the intervention group with the changes in the control group revealed no statistically significant differences at a 0.05 level. The implementation of the development plan thus had no measurable effect on the professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes at the intervention hospital, compared to the control hospitals. Conclusion This is the first controlled study on the effect on professionals from implementing a development plan to enhance user participation in a mental health hospital. The plan had no effect on professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes. This can be due to the quality of the development plan, the implementation process, and/or the suitability of the outcome measures. PMID:22047466

Effect of an institutional development plan for user participation on professionals' knowledge, practice, and attitudes. A controlled study.

PubMed

Rise, Marit By; Grimstad, Hilde; Solbjør, Marit; Steinsbekk, Aslak

2011-11-02

Governments in several countries attempt to strengthen user participation through instructing health care organisations to plan and implement activities such as user representation in administrational boards, improved information to users, and more individual user participation in clinical work. The professionals are central in implementing initiatives to enhance user participation in organisations, but no controlled studies have been conducted on the effect on professionals from implementing institutional development plans. The objective was to investigate whether implementing a development plan intending to enhance user participation in a mental health hospital had any effect on the professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes towards user participation. This was a non-randomized controlled study including professionals from three mental health hospitals in Central Norway. A development plan intended to enhance user participation was implemented in one of the hospitals as a part of a larger re-organizational process. The plan included i.e. establishing a patient education centre and a user office, purchasing of user expertise, appointing contact professionals for next of kin, and improving of the centre's information and the professional culture. The professionals at the intervention hospital thus constituted the intervention group, while the professionals at two other hospitals participated as control group. All professionals were invited to answer the Consumer Participation Questionnaire (CPQ) and additional questions, focusing on knowledge, practice, and attitudes towards user participation, two times with a 16 months interval. A total of 438 professionals participated (55% response rate). Comparing the changes in the intervention group with the changes in the control group revealed no statistically significant differences at a 0.05 level. The implementation of the development plan thus had no measurable effect on the professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes at the intervention hospital, compared to the control hospitals. This is the first controlled study on the effect on professionals from implementing a development plan to enhance user participation in a mental health hospital. The plan had no effect on professionals' knowledge, practice, or attitudes. This can be due to the quality of the development plan, the implementation process, and/or the suitability of the outcome measures.

The BUMP model of response planning: intermittent predictive control accounts for 10 Hz physiological tremor.

PubMed

Bye, Robin T; Neilson, Peter D

2010-10-01

Physiological tremor during movement is characterized by ∼10 Hz oscillation observed both in the electromyogram activity and in the velocity profile. We propose that this particular rhythm occurs as the direct consequence of a movement response planning system that acts as an intermittent predictive controller operating at discrete intervals of ∼100 ms. The BUMP model of response planning describes such a system. It forms the kernel of Adaptive Model Theory which defines, in computational terms, a basic unit of motor production or BUMP. Each BUMP consists of three processes: (1) analyzing sensory information, (2) planning a desired optimal response, and (3) execution of that response. These processes operate in parallel across successive sequential BUMPs. The response planning process requires a discrete-time interval in which to generate a minimum acceleration trajectory to connect the actual response with the predicted future state of the target and compensate for executional error. We have shown previously that a response planning time of 100 ms accounts for the intermittency observed experimentally in visual tracking studies and for the psychological refractory period observed in double stimulation reaction time studies. We have also shown that simulations of aimed movement, using this same planning interval, reproduce experimentally observed speed-accuracy tradeoffs and movement velocity profiles. Here we show, by means of a simulation study of constant velocity tracking movements, that employing a 100 ms planning interval closely reproduces the measurement discontinuities and power spectra of electromyograms, joint-angles, and angular velocities of physiological tremor reported experimentally. We conclude that intermittent predictive control through sequential operation of BUMPs is a fundamental mechanism of 10 Hz physiological tremor in movement. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using AI Planning Techniques to Automatically Generate Image Processing Procedures: A Preliminary Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chien, S.

1994-01-01

This paper describes work on the Multimission VICAR Planner (MVP) system to automatically construct executable image processing procedures for custom image processing requests for the JPL Multimission Image Processing Lab (MIPL). This paper focuses on two issues. First, large search spaces caused by complex plans required the use of hand encoded control information. In order to address this in a manner similar to that used by human experts, MVP uses a decomposition-based planner to implement hierarchical/skeletal planning at the higher level and then uses a classical operator based planner to solve subproblems in contexts defined by the high-level decomposition.

Manifestations of Metacognitive Activity during the Collaborative Planning of Chemistry Practical Investigations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathabathe, Kgadi Clarrie; Potgieter, Marietjie

2017-01-01

This paper elaborates a process followed to characterise manifestations of cognitive regulation during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations. Metacognitive activity was defined as the demonstration of planning, monitoring, control and evaluation of cognitive activities by students while carrying out the chemistry task.…

Plan delivery quality assurance for CyberKnife: Statistical process control analysis of 350 film-based patient-specific QAs.

PubMed

Bellec, J; Delaby, N; Jouyaux, F; Perdrieux, M; Bouvier, J; Sorel, S; Henry, O; Lafond, C

2017-07-01

Robotic radiosurgery requires plan delivery quality assurance (DQA) but there has never been a published comprehensive analysis of a patient-specific DQA process in a clinic. We proposed to evaluate 350 consecutive film-based patient-specific DQAs using statistical process control. We evaluated the performance of the process to propose achievable tolerance criteria for DQA validation and we sought to identify suboptimal DQA using control charts. DQAs were performed on a CyberKnife-M6 using Gafchromic-EBT3 films. The signal-to-dose conversion was performed using a multichannel-correction and a scanning protocol that combined measurement and calibration in a single scan. The DQA analysis comprised a gamma-index analysis at 3%/1.5mm and a separate evaluation of spatial and dosimetric accuracy of the plan delivery. Each parameter was plotted on a control chart and control limits were calculated. A capability index (Cpm) was calculated to evaluate the ability of the process to produce results within specifications. The analysis of capability showed that a gamma pass rate of 85% at 3%/1.5mm was highly achievable as acceptance criteria for DQA validation using a film-based protocol (Cpm>1.33). 3.4% of DQA were outside a control limit of 88% for gamma pass-rate. The analysis of the out-of-control DQA helped identify a dosimetric error in our institute for a specific treatment type. We have defined initial tolerance criteria for DQA validations. We have shown that the implementation of a film-based patient-specific DQA protocol with the use of control charts is an effective method to improve patient treatment safety on CyberKnife. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a plan for automating integrated circuit processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

The operations analysis and equipment evaluations pertinent to the design of an automated production facility capable of manufacturing beam-lead CMOS integrated circuits are reported. The overall plan shows approximate cost of major equipment, production rate and performance capability, flexibility, and special maintenance requirements. Direct computer control is compared with supervisory-mode operations. The plan is limited to wafer processing operations from the starting wafer to the finished beam-lead die after separation etching. The work already accomplished in implementing various automation schemes, and the type of equipment which can be found for instant automation are described. The plan is general, so that small shops or large production units can perhaps benefit. Examples of major types of automated processing machines are shown to illustrate the general concepts of automated wafer processing.

Model-Unified Planning and Execution for Distributed Autonomous System Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aschwanden, Pascal; Baskaran, Vijay; Bernardini, Sara; Fry, Chuck; Moreno, Maria; Muscettola, Nicola; Plaunt, Chris; Rijsman, David; Tompkins, Paul

2006-01-01

The Intelligent Distributed Execution Architecture (IDEA) is a real-time architecture that exploits artificial intelligence planning as the core reasoning engine for interacting autonomous agents. Rather than enforcing separate deliberation and execution layers, IDEA unifies them under a single planning technology. Deliberative and reactive planners reason about and act according to a single representation of the past, present and future domain state. The domain state behaves the rules dictated by a declarative model of the subsystem to be controlled, internal processes of the IDEA controller, and interactions with other agents. We present IDEA concepts - modeling, the IDEA core architecture, the unification of deliberation and reaction under planning - and illustrate its use in a simple example. Finally, we present several real-world applications of IDEA, and compare IDEA to other high-level control approaches.

TQM (Total Quality Management) SPARC (Special Process Action Review Committees) Handbook

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-01

This document describes the techniques used to support and guide the Special Process Action Review Committees for accomplishing their goals for Total Quality Management (TQM). It includes concepts and definitions, checklists, sample formats, and assessment criteria. Keywords: Continuous process improvement; Logistics information; Process analysis; Quality control; Quality assurance; Total Quality Management ; Statistical processes; Management Planning and control; Management training; Management information systems.

CNES Strategic Plan for Space Traffic Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alby, Fernand

2013-09-01

The increasing orbital debris population represents a growing risk to operational satellites on-orbit and also to populations and properties on-ground. Today available space surveillance data allow a better implementation of protection activities which are now part of operational services. The overall frame of these activities at CNES is given by a strategic plan defining the long term views and the corresponding activities to be carried out during the next years. This plan, established in close cooperation with French Defence organizations, includes, among others, two operational space traffic control activities: prevention of on-orbit collisions and atmospheric re-entries predictions.This paper presents first the national organization relative to these activities together with the internal CNES process starting from a high level roadmap, up to a detailed action plan. This plan contains operational activities and supporting studies and models development.The content of this plan is given with a focus on operational activities dealing with space traffic control.

Planning for the semiconductor manufacturer of the future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargher, Hugh E.; Smith, Richard A.

1992-01-01

Texas Instruments (TI) is currently contracted by the Air Force Wright Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the next generation flexible semiconductor wafer fabrication system called Microelectronics Manufacturing Science & Technology (MMST). Several revolutionary concepts are being pioneered on MMST, including the following: new single-wafer rapid thermal processes, in-situ sensors, cluster equipment, and advanced Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) software. The objective of the project is to develop a manufacturing system capable of achieving an order of magnitude improvement in almost all aspects of wafer fabrication. TI was awarded the contract in Oct., 1988, and will complete development with a fabrication facility demonstration in April, 1993. An important part of MMST is development of the CIM environment responsible for coordinating all parts of the system. The CIM architecture being developed is based on a distributed object oriented framework made of several cooperating subsystems. The software subsystems include the following: process control for dynamic control of factory processes; modular processing system for controlling the processing equipment; generic equipment model which provides an interface between processing equipment and the rest of the factory; specification system which maintains factory documents and product specifications; simulator for modelling the factory for analysis purposes; scheduler for scheduling work on the factory floor; and the planner for planning and monitoring of orders within the factory. This paper first outlines the division of responsibility between the planner, scheduler, and simulator subsystems. It then describes the approach to incremental planning and the way in which uncertainty is modelled within the plan representation. Finally, current status and initial results are described.

Division 1137 property control system

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

Pastor, D.J.

1982-01-01

An automated data processing property control system was developed by Mobile and Remote Range Division 1137. This report describes the operation of the system and examines ways of using it in operational planning and control.

40 CFR 62.14575 - What must I do if I close my CISWI unit and then restart it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS Federal Plan Requirements for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration... necessary process changes and air pollution control devices operate as designed. Waste Management Plan ...

The space shuttle payload planning working groups: Volume 9: Materials processing and space manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The findings and recommendations of the Materials Processing and Space Manufacturing group of the space shuttle payload planning activity are presented. The effects of weightlessness on the levitation processes, mixture stability, and control over heat and mass transport in fluids are considered for investigation. The research and development projects include: (1) metallurgical processes, (2) electronic materials, (3) biological applications, and (4)nonmetallic materials and processes. Additional recommendations are provided concerning the allocation of payload space, acceptance of experiments for flight, flight qualification, and private use of the space shuttle.

LANDSAT-D ground segment operations plan, revision A

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, B.

1982-01-01

The basic concept for the utilization of LANDSAT ground processing resources is described. Only the steady state activities that support normal ground processing are addressed. This ground segment operations plan covers all processing of the multispectral scanner and the processing of thematic mapper through data acquisition and payload correction data generation for the LANDSAT 4 mission. The capabilities embedded in the hardware and software elements are presented from an operations viewpoint. The personnel assignments associated with each functional process and the mechanisms available for controlling the overall data flow are identified.

Using a virtual world for robot planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benjamin, D. Paul; Monaco, John V.; Lin, Yixia; Funk, Christopher; Lyons, Damian

2012-06-01

We are building a robot cognitive architecture that constructs a real-time virtual copy of itself and its environment, including people, and uses the model to process perceptual information and to plan its movements. This paper describes the structure of this architecture. The software components of this architecture include PhysX for the virtual world, OpenCV and the Point Cloud Library for visual processing, and the Soar cognitive architecture that controls the perceptual processing and task planning. The RS (Robot Schemas) language is implemented in Soar, providing the ability to reason about concurrency and time. This Soar/RS component controls visual processing, deciding which objects and dynamics to render into PhysX, and the degree of detail required for the task. As the robot runs, its virtual model diverges from physical reality, and errors grow. The Match-Mediated Difference component monitors these errors by comparing the visual data with corresponding data from virtual cameras, and notifies Soar/RS of significant differences, e.g. a new object that appears, or an object that changes direction unexpectedly. Soar/RS can then run PhysX much faster than real-time and search among possible future world paths to plan the robot's actions. We report experimental results in indoor environments.

Head-target tracking control of well drilling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agzamov, Z. V.

2018-05-01

The method of directional drilling trajectory control for oil and gas wells using predictive models is considered in the paper. The developed method does not apply optimization and therefore there is no need for the high-performance computing. Nevertheless, it allows following the well-plan with high precision taking into account process input saturation. Controller output is calculated both from the present target reference point of the well-plan and from well trajectory prediction with using the analytical model. This method allows following a well-plan not only on angular, but also on the Cartesian coordinates. Simulation of the control system has confirmed the high precision and operation performance with a wide range of random disturbance action.

Software verification plan for GCS. [guidance and control software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dent, Leslie A.; Shagnea, Anita M.; Hayhurst, Kelly J.

1990-01-01

This verification plan is written as part of an experiment designed to study the fundamental characteristics of the software failure process. The experiment will be conducted using several implementations of software that were produced according to industry-standard guidelines, namely the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics RTCA/DO-178A guidelines, Software Consideration in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, for the development of flight software. This plan fulfills the DO-178A requirements for providing instructions on the testing of each implementation of software. The plan details the verification activities to be performed at each phase in the development process, contains a step by step description of the testing procedures, and discusses all of the tools used throughout the verification process.

Policy measures on strengthening and developing capabilities for national tobacco control in Thailand.

PubMed

Kengkarnpanich, Mondha; Termsirikulchai, Lakkhana; Benjakul, Sarunya

2012-06-01

To assess the situation and report on a national capacity plan for tobacco control under the National Strategic Plan for Tobacco Control (NSPTC) 2010-2014. Systematic documentary review and analysis were managed by the working group. The results were discussed and provided recommendations by the sub-committee on developing the NSPTC 2010-2014. Seven meetings were organized from March 2009-January 2010. Eventually, the NSPCT 2010-2014 was approved by the National Committee for Tobacco Control, chaired by the Minister of Public Health on 22 April 2010. The major result of the present study was brought to the National Capacity in Tobacco Control Plan under the NSPTC 2010-2014. The purpose of the plan is to strengthen and develop national tobacco control capacity before 2011. Seven strategic areas for National Tobacco Control Capacity have been proposed. They are, 1) tobacco control policy and leadership development, 2) developing an organizational structure and management systems, 3) developing surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems, 4)formulate measures to support research and knowledge management, 5) capacity building and network expansion for tobacco control in various sectors, 6) capacity building and expansion of a collaborative network for tobacco control at regional levels and 7) improving and strengthening tobacco control laws. In addition, the indicators, key players and support partners were addressed. Although the strength of the strategic plan on National Capacity in Tobacco Control is participatory planning process and result in the integrated and comprehensive capacity in tobacco control plan, but some concerns should be considers. They are infrastructure, evidence and networking and leadership.

Process evaluation of the Enabling Mothers toPrevent Pediatric Obesity Through Web-Based Learning and Reciprocal Determinism (EMPOWER) randomized control trial.

PubMed

Knowlden, Adam P; Sharma, Manoj

2014-09-01

Family-and-home-based interventions are an important vehicle for preventing childhood obesity. Systematic process evaluations have not been routinely conducted in assessment of these interventions. The purpose of this study was to plan and conduct a process evaluation of the Enabling Mothers to Prevent Pediatric Obesity Through Web-Based Learning and Reciprocal Determinism (EMPOWER) randomized control trial. The trial was composed of two web-based, mother-centered interventions for prevention of obesity in children between 4 and 6 years of age. Process evaluation used the components of program fidelity, dose delivered, dose received, context, reach, and recruitment. Categorical process evaluation data (program fidelity, dose delivered, dose exposure, and context) were assessed using Program Implementation Index (PII) values. Continuous process evaluation variables (dose satisfaction and recruitment) were assessed using ANOVA tests to evaluate mean differences between groups (experimental and control) and sessions (sessions 1 through 5). Process evaluation results found that both groups (experimental and control) were equivalent, and interventions were administered as planned. Analysis of web-based intervention process objectives requires tailoring of process evaluation models for online delivery. Dissemination of process evaluation results can advance best practices for implementing effective online health promotion programs. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

A New Performance Improvement Model: Adding Benchmarking to the Analysis of Performance Indicator Data.

PubMed

Al-Kuwaiti, Ahmed; Homa, Karen; Maruthamuthu, Thennarasu

2016-01-01

A performance improvement model was developed that focuses on the analysis and interpretation of performance indicator (PI) data using statistical process control and benchmarking. PIs are suitable for comparison with benchmarks only if the data fall within the statistically accepted limit-that is, show only random variation. Specifically, if there is no significant special-cause variation over a period of time, then the data are ready to be benchmarked. The proposed Define, Measure, Control, Internal Threshold, and Benchmark model is adapted from the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) model. The model consists of the following five steps: Step 1. Define the process; Step 2. Monitor and measure the variation over the period of time; Step 3. Check the variation of the process; if stable (no significant variation), go to Step 4; otherwise, control variation with the help of an action plan; Step 4. Develop an internal threshold and compare the process with it; Step 5.1. Compare the process with an internal benchmark; and Step 5.2. Compare the process with an external benchmark. The steps are illustrated through the use of health care-associated infection (HAI) data collected for 2013 and 2014 from the Infection Control Unit, King Fahd Hospital, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Monitoring variation is an important strategy in understanding and learning about a process. In the example, HAI was monitored for variation in 2013, and the need to have a more predictable process prompted the need to control variation by an action plan. The action plan was successful, as noted by the shift in the 2014 data, compared to the historical average, and, in addition, the variation was reduced. The model is subject to limitations: For example, it cannot be used without benchmarks, which need to be calculated the same way with similar patient populations, and it focuses only on the "Analyze" part of the DMAIC model.

Pathologic Analysis of Control Plans for Air Pollution Management in Tehran Metropolis: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Salehi Shahrabi, Narges; Pourezzat, Aliasghar; Mobaraki, Hossein; Mafimoradi, Shiva

2013-01-01

Abstract Background The centralization of human activities is associated with different pollutants which enter into environment easily and cause the urban environment more vulnerable. Regarding the importance of air pollution issue for Tehran metropolis, many plans and regulations have been developed. However, most of them failed to decline the pollution. The purpose of this study was to pathologically analyze air-pollution control plans to offer effective solutions for Tehran metropolis. Methods A Qualitative content analysis in addition to a semi-structured interview with 14 practicing professional were used to identify 1) key sources of Tehran’s air pollution, 2) recognize challenges towards effective performance of pertinent plans and 3), offer effective solutions. Results Related challenges to air-pollution control plans can be divided into two major categories including lack of integrated and organized stewardship and PEST challenges. Conclusion For controlling the air pollution of Tehran effectively, various controlling alternatives were identified as systematization of plan preparation process, standardization and utilization of new technologies & experts, infrastructural development, realization of social justice, developing coordination mechanisms, improving citizens’ participatory capacity and focusing on effective management of fuel and energy. Controlling air pollution in Tehran needs a serious attention of policymakers to make enforcements through applying a systemic cycle of preparation comprehensive plans. Further, implement the enforcements and evaluate the environmental impact of the plans through involving all stakeholders. PMID:26171340

Efficiency improvements of offline metrology job creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuniga, Victor J.; Carlson, Alan; Podlesny, John C.; Knutrud, Paul C.

1999-06-01

Progress of the first lot of a new design through the production line is watched very closely. All performance metrics, cycle-time, in-line measurement results and final electrical performance are critical. Rapid movement of this lot through the line has serious time-to-market implications. Having this material waiting at a metrology operation for an engineer to create a measurement job plan wastes valuable turnaround time. Further, efficient use of a metrology system is compromised by the time required to create and maintain these measurement job plans. Thus, having a method to develop metrology job plans prior to the actual running of the material through the manufacture area can significantly improve both cycle time and overall equipment efficiency. Motorola and Schlumberger have worked together to develop and test such a system. The Remote Job Generator (RJG) created job plans for new device sin a manufacturing process from an NT host or workstation, offline. This increases available system tim effort making production measurements, decreases turnaround time on job plan creation and editing, and improves consistency across job plans. Most importantly this allows job plans for new devices to be available before the first wafers of the device arrive at the tool for measurement. The software also includes a database manager which allows updates of existing job plans to incorporate measurement changes required by process changes or measurement optimization. This paper will review the result of productivity enhancements through the increased metrology utilization and decreased cycle time associated with the use of RJG. Finally, improvements in process control through better control of Job Plans across different devices and layers will be discussed.

Instrumentation and control upgrade plan for Browns Ferry nuclear plant

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

Belew, M.R.; Langley, D.T.; Torok, R.C.

1992-01-01

A comprehensive upgrade of the instrumentation and control (I C) systems at a power plant represents a formidable project for any utility. For a nuclear plant, the extra safety and reliability requirements along with regulatory constraints add further complications and cost. The need for the upgrade must, therefore, be very compelling, and the process must be well planned from the start. This paper describes the steps taken to initiate the I C upgrade process for Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) Browns Ferry 2 nuclear plant. It explains the impetus for the upgrade, the expected benefits, and the process by which systemmore » upgrades will be selected and implemented.« less

Executive Control at an Early Age: Advance Planning in Solitary Play.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Besevegis, Elias; Neimark, Edith D.

Questions concerning the ontogeny of the planning process and its role in the regulation of behavior have been markedly absent from the literature. The present study examines the planning done during solitary play by middle-class children from four public nursery schools in Athens, Greece. One hundred preschool children in five age groups (42, 48,…

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

Barbee, D; McCarthy, A; Galavis, P

Purpose: Errors found during initial physics plan checks frequently require replanning and reprinting, resulting decreased departmental efficiency. Additionally, errors may be missed during physics checks, resulting in potential treatment errors or interruption. This work presents a process control created using the Eclipse Scripting API (ESAPI) enabling dosimetrists and physicists to detect potential errors in the Eclipse treatment planning system prior to performing any plan approvals or printing. Methods: Potential failure modes for five categories were generated based on available ESAPI (v11) patient object properties: Images, Contours, Plans, Beams, and Dose. An Eclipse script plugin (PlanCheck) was written in C# tomore » check errors most frequently observed clinically in each of the categories. The PlanCheck algorithms were devised to check technical aspects of plans, such as deliverability (e.g. minimum EDW MUs), in addition to ensuring that policy and procedures relating to planning were being followed. The effect on clinical workflow efficiency was measured by tracking the plan document error rate and plan revision/retirement rates in the Aria database over monthly intervals. Results: The number of potential failure modes the PlanCheck script is currently capable of checking for in the following categories: Images (6), Contours (7), Plans (8), Beams (17), and Dose (4). Prior to implementation of the PlanCheck plugin, the observed error rates in errored plan documents and revised/retired plans in the Aria database was 20% and 22%, respectively. Error rates were seen to decrease gradually over time as adoption of the script improved. Conclusion: A process control created using the Eclipse scripting API enabled plan checks to occur within the planning system, resulting in reduction in error rates and improved efficiency. Future work includes: initiating full FMEA for planning workflow, extending categories to include additional checks outside of ESAPI via Aria database queries, and eventual automated plan checks.« less

76 FR 31856 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Adoption of Control...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-02

... Flat Wood Paneling Surface Coating Processes AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION... by EPA's Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) standards for flat wood paneling surface coating processes. EPA is approving this revision concerning the adoption of the EPA CTG requirements for flat wood...

Are Suicide Attempters Wired Differently?: A Comparison With Nonsuicidal Depressed Individuals Using Plan Analysis.

PubMed

Brüdern, Juliane; Berger, Thomas; Michel, Konrad; Maillart, Anja Gysin; Held, Isabelle Schmutz; Caspar, Franz

2015-07-01

Limited research exists on internal risk processes in suicide attempters and factors that distinguish them from nonsuicidal depressive individuals. In this qualitative study, we investigated Plans, motives, and underlying self-regulatory processes of the two groups and conducted a comparative analysis. We analyzed narrative interviews of 17 suicide attempters and intake interviews of 17 nonsuicidal depressive patients using Plan Analysis. Then, we developed a prototypical Plan structure for both groups. Suicidal behavior serves various Plans found only in suicide attempters. Plans of this group are especially related to social perfectionism and withdrawal to protect their self-esteem. Depressive patients use several interpersonal control and coping strategies, which might help prevent suicidal behavior. The prototypical Plan structure of suicide attempters may be a valuable tool for clinicians to detect critical Plans and motives in their interaction with patients, which are related to suicide risk.

Statistical process control: a practical application for hospitals.

PubMed

VanderVeen, L M

1992-01-01

A six-step plan based on using statistics was designed to improve quality in the central processing and distribution department of a 223-bed hospital in Oakland, CA. This article describes how the plan was implemented sequentially, starting with the crucial first step of obtaining administrative support. The QI project succeeded in overcoming beginners' fear of statistics and in training both managers and staff to use inspection checklists, Pareto charts, cause-and-effect diagrams, and control charts. The best outcome of the program was the increased commitment to quality improvement by the members of the department.

A Mission Control Architecture for robotic lunar sample return as field tested in an analogue deployment to the sudbury impact structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moores, John E.; Francis, Raymond; Mader, Marianne; Osinski, G. R.; Barfoot, T.; Barry, N.; Basic, G.; Battler, M.; Beauchamp, M.; Blain, S.; Bondy, M.; Capitan, R.-D.; Chanou, A.; Clayton, J.; Cloutis, E.; Daly, M.; Dickinson, C.; Dong, H.; Flemming, R.; Furgale, P.; Gammel, J.; Gharfoor, N.; Hussein, M.; Grieve, R.; Henrys, H.; Jaziobedski, P.; Lambert, A.; Leung, K.; Marion, C.; McCullough, E.; McManus, C.; Neish, C. D.; Ng, H. K.; Ozaruk, A.; Pickersgill, A.; Preston, L. J.; Redman, D.; Sapers, H.; Shankar, B.; Singleton, A.; Souders, K.; Stenning, B.; Stooke, P.; Sylvester, P.; Tornabene, L.

2012-12-01

A Mission Control Architecture is presented for a Robotic Lunar Sample Return Mission which builds upon the experience of the landed missions of the NASA Mars Exploration Program. This architecture consists of four separate processes working in parallel at Mission Control and achieving buy-in for plans sequentially instead of simultaneously from all members of the team. These four processes were: science processing, science interpretation, planning and mission evaluation. science processing was responsible for creating products from data downlinked from the field and is organized by instrument. Science Interpretation was responsible for determining whether or not science goals are being met and what measurements need to be taken to satisfy these goals. The Planning process, responsible for scheduling and sequencing observations, and the Evaluation process that fostered inter-process communications, reporting and documentation assisted these processes. This organization is advantageous for its flexibility as shown by the ability of the structure to produce plans for the rover every two hours, for the rapidity with which Mission Control team members may be trained and for the relatively small size of each individual team. This architecture was tested in an analogue mission to the Sudbury impact structure from June 6-17, 2011. A rover was used which was capable of developing a network of locations that could be revisited using a teach and repeat method. This allowed the science team to process several different outcrops in parallel, downselecting at each stage to ensure that the samples selected for caching were the most representative of the site. Over the course of 10 days, 18 rock samples were collected from 5 different outcrops, 182 individual field activities - such as roving or acquiring an image mosaic or other data product - were completed within 43 command cycles, and the rover travelled over 2200 m. Data transfer from communications passes were filled to 74%. Sample triage was simulated to allow down-selection to 1 kg of material for return to Earth.

Strategic planning for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griner, Carolyn S.

1990-01-01

The concept for utilization and operations planning for the International Space Station Freedom was developed in a NASA Space Station Operations Task Force in 1986. Since that time the concept has been further refined to definitize the process and products required to integrate the needs of the international user community with the operational capabilities of the Station in its evolving configuration. The keystone to the process is the development of individual plans by the partners, with the parameters and formats common to the degree that electronic communications techniques can be effectively utilized, while maintaining the proper level and location of configuration control. The integration, evaluation, and verification of the integrated plan, called the Consolidated Operations and Utilization Plan (COUP), is being tested in a multilateral environment to prove out the parameters, interfaces, and process details necessary to produce the first COUP for Space Station in 1991. This paper will describe the concept, process, and the status of the multilateral test case.

Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Predict Smoking Cessation: Moderating Effects of Experienced Failure to Control Smoking and Plans to Quit

PubMed Central

Chassin, Laurie; Presson, Clark C.; Sherman, Steven J.; Seo, Dong-Chul; Macy, Jon

2010-01-01

The current study tested implicit and explicit attitudes as prospective predictors of smoking cessation in a Midwestern community sample of smokers. Results showed that the effects of attitudes significantly varied with levels of experienced failure to control smoking and plans to quit. Explicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with low (but not high or average) levels of experienced failure to control smoking. Conversely, however, implicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with high levels of experienced failure to control smoking, but only if they had a plan to quit. Because smoking cessation involves both controlled and automatic processes, interventions may need to consider attitude change interventions that focus on both implicit and explicit attitudes. PMID:21198227

The role of action control and action planning on fruit and vegetable consumption.

PubMed

Zhou, Guangyu; Gan, Yiqun; Miao, Miao; Hamilton, Kyra; Knoll, Nina; Schwarzer, Ralf

2015-08-01

Globally, fruit and vegetable intake is lower than recommended despite being an important component to a healthy diet. Adopting or maintaining a sufficient amount of fruit and vegetables in one's diet may require not only motivation but also self-regulatory processes. Action control and action planning are two key volitional determinants that have been identified in the literature; however, it is not fully understood how these two factors operate between intention and behavior. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore the roles of action control and action planning as mediators between intentions and dietary behavior. A longitudinal study with three points in time was conducted. Participants (N = 286) were undergraduate students and invited to participate in a health behavior survey. At baseline (Time 1), measures of intention and fruit and vegetable intake were assessed. Two weeks later (Time 2), action control and action planning were assessed as putative sequential mediators. At Time 3 (two weeks after Time 2), fruit and vegetable consumption was measured as the outcome. The results revealed action control and action planning to sequentially mediate between intention and subsequent fruit and vegetable intake, controlling for baseline behavior. Both self-regulatory constructs, action control and action planning, make a difference when moving from motivation to action. Our preliminary evidence, therefore, suggests that planning may be more proximal to fruit and vegetable intake than action control. Further research, however, needs to be undertaken to substantiate this conclusion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Service Oriented Architecture for Coast Guard Command and Control

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

Operations BPEL4WS The Business Process Execution Language for Web Services BPMN Business Process Modeling Notation CASP Computer Aided Search Planning...Business Process Modeling Notation ( BPMN ) provides a standardized graphical notation for drawing business processes in a workflow. Software tools

Automation and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Individualized High-Quality Tangent Breast Treatment Plans

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

Purdie, Thomas G., E-mail: Tom.Purdie@rmp.uhn.on.ca; Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Techna Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario

Purpose: To demonstrate the large-scale clinical implementation and performance of an automated treatment planning methodology for tangential breast intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Methods and Materials: Automated planning was used to prospectively plan tangential breast IMRT treatment for 1661 patients between June 2009 and November 2012. The automated planning method emulates the manual steps performed by the user during treatment planning, including anatomical segmentation, beam placement, optimization, dose calculation, and plan documentation. The user specifies clinical requirements of the plan to be generated through a user interface embedded in the planning system. The automated method uses heuristic algorithms to definemore » and simplify the technical aspects of the treatment planning process. Results: Automated planning was used in 1661 of 1708 patients receiving tangential breast IMRT during the time interval studied. Therefore, automated planning was applicable in greater than 97% of cases. The time for treatment planning using the automated process is routinely 5 to 6 minutes on standard commercially available planning hardware. We have shown a consistent reduction in plan rejections from plan reviews through the standard quality control process or weekly quality review multidisciplinary breast rounds as we have automated the planning process for tangential breast IMRT. Clinical plan acceptance increased from 97.3% using our previous semiautomated inverse method to 98.9% using the fully automated method. Conclusions: Automation has become the routine standard method for treatment planning of tangential breast IMRT at our institution and is clinically feasible on a large scale. The method has wide clinical applicability and can add tremendous efficiency, standardization, and quality to the current treatment planning process. The use of automated methods can allow centers to more rapidly adopt IMRT and enhance access to the documented improvements in care for breast cancer patients, using technologies that are widely available and already in clinical use.« less

Automation and intensity modulated radiation therapy for individualized high-quality tangent breast treatment plans.

PubMed

Purdie, Thomas G; Dinniwell, Robert E; Fyles, Anthony; Sharpe, Michael B

2014-11-01

To demonstrate the large-scale clinical implementation and performance of an automated treatment planning methodology for tangential breast intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Automated planning was used to prospectively plan tangential breast IMRT treatment for 1661 patients between June 2009 and November 2012. The automated planning method emulates the manual steps performed by the user during treatment planning, including anatomical segmentation, beam placement, optimization, dose calculation, and plan documentation. The user specifies clinical requirements of the plan to be generated through a user interface embedded in the planning system. The automated method uses heuristic algorithms to define and simplify the technical aspects of the treatment planning process. Automated planning was used in 1661 of 1708 patients receiving tangential breast IMRT during the time interval studied. Therefore, automated planning was applicable in greater than 97% of cases. The time for treatment planning using the automated process is routinely 5 to 6 minutes on standard commercially available planning hardware. We have shown a consistent reduction in plan rejections from plan reviews through the standard quality control process or weekly quality review multidisciplinary breast rounds as we have automated the planning process for tangential breast IMRT. Clinical plan acceptance increased from 97.3% using our previous semiautomated inverse method to 98.9% using the fully automated method. Automation has become the routine standard method for treatment planning of tangential breast IMRT at our institution and is clinically feasible on a large scale. The method has wide clinical applicability and can add tremendous efficiency, standardization, and quality to the current treatment planning process. The use of automated methods can allow centers to more rapidly adopt IMRT and enhance access to the documented improvements in care for breast cancer patients, using technologies that are widely available and already in clinical use. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Facilitating NASA's Use of GEIA-STD-0005-1, Performance Standard for Aerospace and High Performance Electronic Systems Containing Lead-Free Solder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plante, Jeannete

2010-01-01

GEIA-STD-0005-1 defines the objectives of, and requirements for, documenting processes that assure customers and regulatory agencies that AHP electronic systems containing lead-free solder, piece parts, and boards will satisfy the applicable requirements for performance, reliability, airworthiness, safety, and certify-ability throughout the specified life of performance. It communicates requirements for a Lead-Free Control Plan (LFCP) to assist suppliers in the development of their own Plans. The Plan documents the Plan Owner's (supplier's) processes, that assure their customer, and all other stakeholders that the Plan owner's products will continue to meet their requirements. The presentation reviews quality assurance requirements traceability and LFCP template instructions.

The Individualized Quality Control Plan - Coming Soon to Clinical Microbiology Laboratories Everywhere!

PubMed

Anderson, Nancy

2015-11-15

As of January 1, 2016, microbiology laboratories can choose to adopt a new quality control option, the Individualized Quality Control Plan (IQCP), under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). This voluntary approach increases flexibility for meeting regulatory requirements and provides laboratories the opportunity to customize QC for their testing in their unique environments and by their testing personnel. IQCP is an all-inclusive approach to quality based on risk management to address potential errors in the total testing process. It includes three main steps, (1) performing a risk assessment, (2) developing a QC plan, and (3) monitoring the plan through quality assessment. Resources are available from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Society for Microbiology, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, and accrediting organizations, such as the College of American Pathologists and Joint Commission, to assist microbiology laboratories implementing IQCP.

The management process, management information and control systems, and cybernetics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zannetos, Z. S.; Wilcox, J. W.

1972-01-01

An attempt has been made to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the cybernetics approach as applied to management. The conclusion is that cybernetics can serve not only as a conceptual philosophical aid, but also as an operational tool in both managerial planning and control. So far, however, most of its promise is yet unrealized; especially in the planning sphere. Only in the area of control of operations has the impact of this promising field shown tangible results.

A Human-Centered Command and Control (C2) Assessment of an Experimental Campaign Planning Tool

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

and control (team without the CPT) groups . The two groups were designed to have an equal number of members; however, one member of the experimental...the researchers to analyze the planning process and outcomes. 3.3 Design and Procedure An experimental versus control group design was implemented...the post -PFnet (figure 16b). Within the PFnets, a concept can be focused on in order to identify how the individual or group is defining or

Children's high-level writing skills: development of planning and revising and their contribution to writing quality.

PubMed

Limpo, Teresa; Alves, Rui A; Fidalgo, Raquel

2014-06-01

It is well established that the activity of producing a text is a complex one involving three main cognitive processes: Planning, translating, and revising. Although these processes are crucial in skilled writing, beginning and developing writers seem to struggle with them, mainly with planning and revising. To trace the development of the high-level writing processes of planning and revising, from Grades 4 to 9, and to examine whether these skills predict writing quality in younger and older students (Grades 4-6 vs. 7-9), after controlling for gender, school achievement, age, handwriting fluency, spelling, and text structure. Participants were 381 students from Grades 4 to 9 (age 9-15). Students were asked to plan and write a story and to revise another story by detecting and correcting mechanical and substantive errors. From Grades 4 to 9, we found a growing trend in students' ability to plan and revise despite the observed decreases and stationary periods from Grades 4 to 5 and 6 to 7. Moreover, whereas younger students' planning and revising skills made no contribution to the quality of their writing, in older students, these high-level skills contributed to writing quality above and beyond control predictors. The findings of this study seem to indicate that besides the increase in planning and revising, these skills are not fully operational in school-age children. Indeed, given the contribution of these high-level skills to older students' writing, supplementary instruction and practice should be provided from early on. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Ground data systems resource allocation process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berner, Carol A.; Durham, Ralph; Reilly, Norman B.

1989-01-01

The Ground Data Systems Resource Allocation Process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides medium- and long-range planning for the use of Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center resources in support of NASA's deep space missions and Earth-based science. Resources consist of radio antenna complexes and associated data processing and control computer networks. A semi-automated system was developed that allows operations personnel to interactively generate, edit, and revise allocation plans spanning periods of up to ten years (as opposed to only two or three weeks under the manual system) based on the relative merit of mission events. It also enhances scientific data return. A software system known as the Resource Allocation and Planning Helper (RALPH) merges the conventional methods of operations research, rule-based knowledge engineering, and advanced data base structures. RALPH employs a generic, highly modular architecture capable of solving a wide variety of scheduling and resource sequencing problems. The rule-based RALPH system has saved significant labor in resource allocation. Its successful use affirms the importance of establishing and applying event priorities based on scientific merit, and the benefit of continuity in planning provided by knowledge-based engineering. The RALPH system exhibits a strong potential for minimizing development cycles of resource and payload planning systems throughout NASA and the private sector.

ANALYTICAL METHOD CHECKLIST FOR VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS BY GC/MS (HANDOUT)

EPA Science Inventory

The Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division (LRPCD) QA Manager strives to assist LRPCD researchers in developing functional planning documents for their research projects. As part of the planning process, several pieces of information are needed, including information re...

Mission Data System Java Edition Version 7

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinholtz, William K.; Wagner, David A.

2013-01-01

The Mission Data System framework defines closed-loop control system abstractions from State Analysis including interfaces for state variables, goals, estimators, and controllers that can be adapted to implement a goal-oriented control system. The framework further provides an execution environment that includes a goal scheduler, execution engine, and fault monitor that support the expression of goal network activity plans. Using these frameworks, adapters can build a goal-oriented control system where activity coordination is verified before execution begins (plan time), and continually during execution. Plan failures including violations of safety constraints expressed in the plan can be handled through automatic re-planning. This version optimizes a number of key interfaces and features to minimize dependencies, performance overhead, and improve reliability. Fault diagnosis and real-time projection capabilities are incorporated. This version enhances earlier versions primarily through optimizations and quality improvements that raise the technology readiness level. Goals explicitly constrain system states over explicit time intervals to eliminate ambiguity about intent, as compared to command-oriented control that only implies persistent intent until another command is sent. A goal network scheduling and verification process ensures that all goals in the plan are achievable before starting execution. Goal failures at runtime can be detected (including predicted failures) and handled by adapted response logic. Responses can include plan repairs (try an alternate tactic to achieve the same goal), goal shedding, ignoring the fault, cancelling the plan, or safing the system.

42 CFR 431.806 - State plan requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... processing assessment system. Except in a State that has an approved Medicaid Management Information System... Medicaid quality control claims processing assessment system that meets the requirements of §§ 431.830...

SUPERFUND TREATABILITY CLEARINGHOUSE: SOIL STABILIZATION PILOT STUDY, UNITED CHROME NPL SITE PILOT STUDY AND HEALTH AND SAFETY PROGRAM, UNITED CHROME NPL SITE PILOT STUDY

EPA Science Inventory

This document is a project plan for a pilot study at the United Chrome NPL site, Corvallis, Oregon and includes the health and safety and quality assurance/quality control plans. The plan reports results of a bench-scale study of the treatment process as iieasured by the ...

Executive Dysfunction Among Children With Reading Comprehension Deficits

PubMed Central

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E. Mark; Eason, Sarah H.; Cutting, Laurie E.

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group’s poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group’s poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems. PMID:20375294

Executive dysfunction among children with reading comprehension deficits.

PubMed

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E Mark; Eason, Sarah H; Cutting, Laurie E

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/ Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group's poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group's poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems.

40 CFR 63.653 - Monitoring, recordkeeping, and implementation plan for emissions averaging.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... § 63.120 of subpart G; and (ii) For closed vent systems with control devices, conduct an initial design... different times, and/or in different submittals, later submittals may refer to earlier submittals instead of... controlled using a treatment process or series of treatment processes that achieves an emission reduction...

Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. Monitoring Concept Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-10

Government Owned Contractor Operated GPL General Population Limit H Bis (2-chloroethyl) sulfide or Levinstein Mustard (75% purity) P HCI Hydrogen Chloride... government agencies, will provide technical expertise and equipment necessary to monitor affected areas and resources. 2-25 SECTIO 3 PROCESS CONTROL AND...conditions and to issue correct emergency response notifications, if required. The process sensors work in conjunction with the process control system and

Age-Related Decline in Anticipatory Motor Planning and Its Relation to Cognitive and Motor Skill Proficiency.

PubMed

Stöckel, Tino; Wunsch, Kathrin; Hughes, Charmayne M L

2017-01-01

Anticipatory motor planning abilities mature as children grow older, develop throughout childhood and are likely to be stable till the late sixties. In the seventh decade of life, motor planning performance dramatically declines, with anticipatory motor planning abilities falling to levels of those exhibited by children. At present, the processes enabling successful anticipatory motor planning in general, as do the cognitive processes mediating these age-related changes, remain elusive. Thus, the aim of the present study was (a) to identify cognitive and motor functions that are most affected by normal aging and (b) to elucidate key (cognitive and motor) factors that are critical for successful motor planning performance in young ( n = 40, mean age = 23.1 ± 2.6 years) and older adults ( n = 37, mean age = 73.5 ± 7.1 years). Results indicate that normal aging is associated with a marked decline in all aspects of cognitive and motor functioning tested. However, age-related declines were more apparent for fine motor dexterity, processing speed and cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, up to 64% of the variance in motor planning performance across age groups could be explained by the cognitive functions processing speed, response planning and cognitive flexibility. It can be postulated that anticipatory motor planning abilities are strongly influenced by cognitive control processes, which seem to be key mechanisms to compensate for age-related decline. These findings support the general therapeutic and preventive value of cognitive-motor training programs to reduce adverse effects associated with high age.

A unified motion planning approach for redundant and non-redundant manipulators with actuator constraints. Ph.D. Thesis Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, Ching-Luan

1990-01-01

The term trajectory planning has been used to refer to the process of determining the time history of joint trajectory of each joint variable corresponding to a specified trajectory of the end effector. The trajectory planning problem was solved as a purely kinematic problem. The drawback is that there is no guarantee that the actuators can deliver the effort necessary to track the planned trajectory. To overcome this limitation, a motion planning approach which addresses the kinematics, dynamics, and feedback control of a manipulator in a unified framework was developed. Actuator constraints are taken into account explicitly and a priori in the synthesis of the feedback control law. Therefore the result of applying the motion planning approach described is not only the determination of the entire set of joint trajectories but also a complete specification of the feedback control strategy which would yield these joint trajectories without violating actuator constraints. The effectiveness of the unified motion planning approach is demonstrated on two problems which are of practical interest in manipulator robotics.

Technological Enhancements for Personal Computers

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-03-01

quicker order processing , shortening the time required to obtain critical spare parts. 31 Customer service and spare parts tracking are facilitated by...cards speed up order processing and filing. Bar code readers speed inventory control processing. D. DEPLOYMENT PLANNING. Many units with high mobility

76 FR 24372 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Update to Materials...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-02

... Emissions From Industrial Process Operations New Castle County.'' 12. Regulation 1112 ``Control of Nitrogen... the State Implementation Plans.'' 25. Regulation 1139 ``Nitrogen Oxides (NO X ) Budget Trading Program... by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter...

Integrating Personalized and Community Services for Mobile Travel Planning and Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Chien-Chih

Personalized and community services have been noted as keys to enhance and facilitate e-tourism as well as mobile applications. This paper aims at proposing an integrated service framework for combining personalized and community functions to support mobile travel planning and management. Major mobile tourism related planning and decision support functions specified include personalized profile management, information search and notification, evaluation and recommendation, do-it-yourself planning and design, community and collaboration management, auction and negotiation, transaction and payment, as well as trip tracking and quality control. A system implementation process with an example prototype is also presented for illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system framework, process model, and development methodology.

Experience-based quality control of clinical intensity-modulated radiotherapy planning.

PubMed

Moore, Kevin L; Brame, R Scott; Low, Daniel A; Mutic, Sasa

2011-10-01

To incorporate a quality control tool, according to previous planning experience and patient-specific anatomic information, into the intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan generation process and to determine whether the tool improved treatment plan quality. A retrospective study of 42 IMRT plans demonstrated a correlation between the fraction of organs at risk (OARs) overlapping the planning target volume and the mean dose. This yielded a model, predicted dose = prescription dose (0.2 + 0.8 [1 - exp(-3 overlapping planning target volume/volume of OAR)]), that predicted the achievable mean doses according to the planning target volume overlap/volume of OAR and the prescription dose. The model was incorporated into the planning process by way of a user-executable script that reported the predicted dose for any OAR. The script was introduced to clinicians engaged in IMRT planning and deployed thereafter. The script's effect was evaluated by tracking δ = (mean dose-predicted dose)/predicted dose, the fraction by which the mean dose exceeded the model. All OARs under investigation (rectum and bladder in prostate cancer; parotid glands, esophagus, and larynx in head-and-neck cancer) exhibited both smaller δ and reduced variability after script implementation. These effects were substantial for the parotid glands, for which the previous δ = 0.28 ± 0.24 was reduced to δ = 0.13 ± 0.10. The clinical relevance was most evident in the subset of cases in which the parotid glands were potentially salvageable (predicted dose <30 Gy). Before script implementation, an average of 30.1 Gy was delivered to the salvageable cases, with an average predicted dose of 20.3 Gy. After implementation, an average of 18.7 Gy was delivered to salvageable cases, with an average predicted dose of 17.2 Gy. In the prostate cases, the rectum model excess was reduced from δ = 0.28 ± 0.20 to δ = 0.07 ± 0.15. On surveying dosimetrists at the end of the study, most reported that the script both improved their IMRT planning (8 of 10) and increased their efficiency (6 of 10). This tool proved successful in increasing normal tissue sparing and reducing interclinician variability, providing effective quality control of the IMRT plan development process. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Warning System in Disaster Situations: A Selective Analysis.

DTIC Science & Technology

DISASTERS, *WARNING SYSTEMS), CIVIL DEFENSE, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, REACTION(PSYCHOLOGY), FACTOR ANALYSIS, CLASSIFICATION, STATISTICAL DATA, TIME ... MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL, DAMAGE, CONTROL SYSTEMS, THREAT EVALUATION, DECISION MAKING, DATA PROCESSING, COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS

Implicit and explicit attitudes predict smoking cessation: moderating effects of experienced failure to control smoking and plans to quit.

PubMed

Chassin, Laurie; Presson, Clark C; Sherman, Steven J; Seo, Dong-Chul; Macy, Jonathan T

2010-12-01

The current study tested implicit and explicit attitudes as prospective predictors of smoking cessation in a Midwestern community sample of smokers. Results showed that the effects of attitudes significantly varied with levels of experienced failure to control smoking and plans to quit. Explicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with low (but not high or average) levels of experienced failure to control smoking. Conversely, however, implicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with high levels of experienced failure to control smoking, but only if they had a plan to quit. Because smoking cessation involves both controlled and automatic processes, interventions may need to consider attitude change interventions that focus on both implicit and explicit attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of focused-attention meditation states on the cognitive control of sequence learning.

PubMed

Chan, Russell W; Immink, Maarten A; Lushington, Kurt

2017-10-01

Cognitive control processes influence how motor sequence information is utilised and represented. Since cognitive control processes are shared amongst goal-oriented tasks, motor sequence learning and performance might be influenced by preceding cognitive tasks such as focused-attention meditation (FAM). Prior to a serial reaction time task (SRTT), participants completed either a single-session of FAM, a single-session of FAM followed by delay (FAM+) or no meditation (CONTROL). Relative to CONTROL, FAM benefitted performance in early, random-ordered blocks. However, across subsequent sequence learning blocks, FAM+ supported the highest levels of performance improvement resulting in superior performance at the end of the SRTT. Performance following FAM+ demonstrated greater reliance on embedded sequence structures than FAM. These findings illustrate that increased top-down control immediately after FAM biases the implementation of stimulus-based planning. Introduction of a delay following FAM relaxes top-down control allowing for implementation of response-based planning resulting in sequence learning benefits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan.

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

Berg, Jonathan Charles

This document describes the software development practice areas and processes which contribute to the ability of SWiFT software developers to provide quality software. These processes are designed to satisfy the requirements set forth by the Sandia Software Quality Assurance Program (SSQAP). APPROVALS SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan (SAND2016-0765) approved by: Department Manager SWiFT Site Lead Dave Minster (6121) Date Jonathan White (6121) Date SWiFT Controls Engineer Jonathan Berg (6121) Date CHANGE HISTORY Issue Date Originator(s) Description A 2016/01/27 Jon Berg (06121) Initial release of the SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan

40 CFR 62.14535 - When must I comply with this subpart if I plan to continue operation of my CISWI unit?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) You must submit a waste management plan no later than April 5, 2004. (3) You must achieve final... affected CISWI unit is brought online, all necessary process changes and air pollution control devices... October 4, 2004. (2) You must submit a waste management plan no later than April 5, 2004. (3) You must...

Mathematical learning disabilities and attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorder: A study of the cognitive processes involved in arithmetic problem solving.

PubMed

Iglesias-Sarmiento, Valentín; Deaño, Manuel; Alfonso, Sonia; Conde, Ángeles

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of cognitive functioning to arithmetic problem solving and to explore the cognitive profiles of children with attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD). The sample was made up of a total of 90 students of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade organized in three: ADHD (n=30), MLD (n=30) and typically achieving control (TA; n=30) group. Assessment was conducted in two sessions in which the PASS processes and arithmetic problem solving were evaluated. The ADHD group's performance in planning and attention was worse than that of the control group. Children with MLD obtained poorer results than the control group in planning and simultaneous and successive processing. Executive processes predicted arithmetic problem solving in the ADHD group whereas simultaneous processing was the unique predictor in the MLD sample. Children with ADHD and with MLD showed characteristic cognitive profiles. Groups' problem-solving performance can be predicted from their cognitive functioning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robust, Multi-layered Plan Execution and Revision for Operation of a Network of Communication Antennas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chien, S. A.; Hill, R. W., Jr.; Govindjee, A.; Wang, X.; Estlin, T.; Griesel, M. A.; Lam, R.; Fayyad, K. V.

1996-01-01

This paper describes a hierarchical scheduling, planning, control, and execution monitoring architecture for automating operations of a worldwide network of communications antennas. The purpose of this paper is to describe an architecture for automating the process of capturing spacecraft data.

40 CFR 62.11610 - Identification of plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Reduced Sulfur Emissions from Existing Kraft Pulp Mills § 62.11610 Identification of plan. (a) Title of... Department of Virginia Department of Air Pollution Control, on May 15, 1990. (c) Identification of sources... process (added), Straight kraft recovery furnace (revised), Total reduced sulfur (revised)), 5-40-1690, 5...

33 CFR 385.21 - Quality control.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Quality control. 385.21 Section... Processes § 385.21 Quality control. (a) The Corps of Engineers and the non-Federal sponsor shall prepare a quality control plan, in accordance with applicable Corps of Engineers regulations, for each product that...

33 CFR 385.21 - Quality control.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Quality control. 385.21 Section... Processes § 385.21 Quality control. (a) The Corps of Engineers and the non-Federal sponsor shall prepare a quality control plan, in accordance with applicable Corps of Engineers regulations, for each product that...

33 CFR 385.21 - Quality control.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Quality control. 385.21 Section... Processes § 385.21 Quality control. (a) The Corps of Engineers and the non-Federal sponsor shall prepare a quality control plan, in accordance with applicable Corps of Engineers regulations, for each product that...

21 CFR 120.8 - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...: (i) Critical control points designed to control food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur and could be introduced inside the processing plant environment; and (ii) Critical control points designed... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP...

21 CFR 120.8 - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

...: (i) Critical control points designed to control food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur and could be introduced inside the processing plant environment; and (ii) Critical control points designed... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP...

21 CFR 120.8 - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

...: (i) Critical control points designed to control food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur and could be introduced inside the processing plant environment; and (ii) Critical control points designed... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP...

21 CFR 120.8 - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

...: (i) Critical control points designed to control food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur and could be introduced inside the processing plant environment; and (ii) Critical control points designed... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP...

21 CFR 120.8 - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...: (i) Critical control points designed to control food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur and could be introduced inside the processing plant environment; and (ii) Critical control points designed... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP...

It Systems Supporting the Management of Production Capacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milewska, Elżbieta

2017-03-01

The paper presents the problem of manufacturing process flexibility in view of a company's material and information flow stream management. The author of the article has described the functions of a production process control system and presented the characteristics of production capacity intensive and extensive reserves. The MRP II/ERP, MES and APS class IT tools supporting the process of production planning, organization and control have also been discussed.

Application of the user-centred design process according ISO 9241-210 in air traffic control.

PubMed

König, Christina; Hofmann, Thomas; Bruder, Ralph

2012-01-01

Designing a usable human machine interface for air traffic control is challenging and should follow approved methods. The ISO 9241-210 standard promises high usability of products by integrating future users and following an iterative process. This contribution describes the proceeding and first results of the analysis and application of ISO 9241-210 to develop a planning tool for air traffic controllers.

Automated generation of weld path trajectories.

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

Sizemore, John M.; Hinman-Sweeney, Elaine Marie; Ames, Arlo Leroy

2003-06-01

AUTOmated GENeration of Control Programs for Robotic Welding of Ship Structure (AUTOGEN) is software that automates the planning and compiling of control programs for robotic welding of ship structure. The software works by evaluating computer representations of the ship design and the manufacturing plan. Based on this evaluation, AUTOGEN internally identifies and appropriately characterizes each weld. Then it constructs the robot motions necessary to accomplish the welds and determines for each the correct assignment of process control values. AUTOGEN generates these robot control programs completely without manual intervention or edits except to correct wrong or missing input data. Most shipmore » structure assemblies are unique or at best manufactured only a few times. Accordingly, the high cost inherent in all previous methods of preparing complex control programs has made robot welding of ship structures economically unattractive to the U.S. shipbuilding industry. AUTOGEN eliminates the cost of creating robot control programs. With programming costs eliminated, capitalization of robots to weld ship structures becomes economically viable. Robot welding of ship structures will result in reduced ship costs, uniform product quality, and enhanced worker safety. Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems worked with the National Shipbuilding Research Program to develop a means of automated path and process generation for robotic welding. This effort resulted in the AUTOGEN program, which has successfully demonstrated automated path generation and robot control. Although the current implementation of AUTOGEN is optimized for welding applications, the path and process planning capability has applicability to a number of industrial applications, including painting, riveting, and adhesive delivery.« less

Team processes in airway facilities operations control centers.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-07-01

In October 2000, the Airway Facilities organization plans to transition the National Airspace System (NAS) monitoring responsibilities to three regional Operations Control Centers (OCCs). Teams in these facilities will be different from those that cu...

40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart Hhhh of... - Minimum Requirements for Monitoring and Recordkeeping

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...-hour block averages. 2. Other process or control device parameters specified in your OMM b plan. As... value for each product manufactured during the operating day. 6. UF-to-latex ratio in the binder c For... Required if a thermal oxidizer is used to control formaldehyde emissions. b Required if process...

US NDC Modernization Iteration E1 Prototyping Report: Processing Control Framework

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

Prescott, Ryan; Hamlet, Benjamin R.

2014-12-01

During the first iteration of the US NDC Modernization Elaboration phase (E1), the SNL US NDC modernization project team developed an initial survey of applicable COTS solutions, and established exploratory prototyping related to the processing control framework in support of system architecture definition. This report summarizes these activities and discusses planned follow-on work.

Simulation of textile manufacturing processes for planning, scheduling, and quality control purposes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cropper, A. E.; Wang, Z.

1995-08-01

Simulation, as a management information tool, has been applied to engineering manufacture and assembly operations. The application of the principles to textile manufacturing (fiber to fabric) is discussed. The particular problems and solutions in applying the simulation software package to the yarn production processes are discussed with an indication of how the software achieves the production schedule. The system appears to have application in planning, scheduling, and quality assurance. The latter being a result of the traceability possibilities through a process involving mixing and splitting of material.

Quality control system preparation for photogrammetric and laser scanning missions of Spanish national plan of aerial orthophotogpaphy (PNOA). (Polish Title: Opracowanie systemu kontroli jakości realizacji nalotów fotogrametrycznych i skaningowych dla hiszpańskiego narodowego planu ortofotomapy lotniczej (PNOA))

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rzonca, A.

2013-12-01

The paper presents the state of the art of quality control of photogrammetric and laser scanning data captured by airborne sensors. The described subject is very important for photogrammetric and LiDAR project execution, because the data quality a prior decides about the final product quality. On the other hand, precise and effective quality control process allows to execute the missions without wide margin of safety, especially in case of the mountain areas projects. For introduction, the author presents theoretical background of the quality control, basing on his own experience, instructions and technical documentation. He describes several variants of organization solutions. Basically, there are two main approaches: quality control of the captured data and the control of discrepancies of the flight plan and its results of its execution. Both of them are able to use test of control and analysis of the data. The test is an automatic algorithm controlling the data and generating the control report. Analysis is a less complicated process, that is based on documentation, data and metadata manual check. The example of quality control system for large area project was presented. The project is being realized periodically for the territory of all Spain and named National Plan of Aerial Orthophotography (Plan Nacional de Ortofotografía Aérea, PNOA). The system of the internal control guarantees its results soon after the flight and informs the flight team of the company. It allows to correct all the errors shortly after the flight and it might stop transferring the data to another team or company, for further data processing. The described system of data quality control contains geometrical and radiometrical control of photogrammetric data and geometrical control of LiDAR data. According to all specified parameters, it checks all of them and generates the reports. They are very helpful in case of some errors or low quality data. The paper includes the author experience in the field of data quality control, presents the conclusions and suggestions of the organization and technical aspects, with a short definition of the necessary control software.

78 FR 2479 - Shipping Coordinating Committee; Notice of Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-11

...); Casualty statistics and investigations; Harmonization of port State control activities; Port State Control... Convention, 2006; Development of guidelines on port State control under the 2004 Ballast Water Management... building security process, and to request reasonable accommodation, those who plan to attend should contact...

40 CFR 52.134 - Compliance schedules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... beyond July 31, 1975, shall apply any reasonable interim measures of control designed to reduce the... progress shall include, but not be limited to: Submittal of the final control plan to the Administrator... of component parts to accomplish emission control equipment or process modification; completion of...

40 CFR 52.134 - Compliance schedules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... beyond July 31, 1975, shall apply any reasonable interim measures of control designed to reduce the... progress shall include, but not be limited to: Submittal of the final control plan to the Administrator... of component parts to accomplish emission control equipment or process modification; completion of...

40 CFR 52.134 - Compliance schedules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... beyond July 31, 1975, shall apply any reasonable interim measures of control designed to reduce the... progress shall include, but not be limited to: Submittal of the final control plan to the Administrator... of component parts to accomplish emission control equipment or process modification; completion of...

40 CFR 52.134 - Compliance schedules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... beyond July 31, 1975, shall apply any reasonable interim measures of control designed to reduce the... progress shall include, but not be limited to: Submittal of the final control plan to the Administrator... of component parts to accomplish emission control equipment or process modification; completion of...

40 CFR 52.134 - Compliance schedules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... beyond July 31, 1975, shall apply any reasonable interim measures of control designed to reduce the... progress shall include, but not be limited to: Submittal of the final control plan to the Administrator... of component parts to accomplish emission control equipment or process modification; completion of...

Site planning and integration fiscal year 1999 multi-year work plan (MYWP) update for WBS 1.8.2.1

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

SCHULTZ, E.A.

The primary mission of the Site Planning and Integration (SP and I) project is to assist Fluor Daniel Project Direction to ensure that all work performed under the Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) is adequately planned, executed, controlled, and that performance is measured and reported in an integrated fashion. Furthermore, SP and I is responsible for the development, implementation, and management of systems and processes that integrate technical, schedule, and cost baselines for PHMC work.

Planning the Voyager spacecraft's mission to Uranus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plagemann, Stephen H.

1987-01-01

The application of the systems engineering process to the planning of the Voyager spacecraft mission is described. The Mission Planning Office prepared guidelines that controlled the use of the project and multimission resources and spacecraft consumables in order to obtain valuable scientific data at an acceptable risk level. Examples of mission planning which are concerned with the design of the Deep Space Network antenna, the uplink window for transmitting computer command subsystem loads, and the contingency and risk assessment functions are presented.

Implementing Earned Value Management in the CxP EVA Systems Project Office

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorge, Les L.

2009-01-01

Earned Value Management (EVM), like project management, is as much art as it is science to develop an implementation plan for a project. This presentation will cover issues that were overcome and the implementation strategy to deploy Earned Value Management (EVM) within the Constellation Program (CxP), EVA Systems Project Office (ESPO), as well as discuss additional hurdles that currently prevent the organization from optimizing EVM. Each organization and each project within an organization needs to mold an EVM implementation plan around existing processes and tools, while at the same time revising those existing processes and tools as necessary to make them compatible with EVM. The ESPO EVM implementation covers work breakdown structure, organizational breakdown structure, control account, work/planning package development; integrated master schedule development using an integrated master plan; incorporating reporting requirements for existing funding process such as Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) and JSC Internal Task Agreements (ITA); and interfacing with other software tools such as the Systems Applications and Products (SAP) accounting system and the CxP wInsight EVM analysis tool. However, there are always areas for improvement and EVM is no exception. As EVM continues to mature within the NASA CxP, these areas will continue to be worked to resolution to provide the Program Managers, Project Managers, and Control Account Managers the best EVM data possible to make informed decisions.

Age-Related Decline in Anticipatory Motor Planning and Its Relation to Cognitive and Motor Skill Proficiency

PubMed Central

Stöckel, Tino; Wunsch, Kathrin; Hughes, Charmayne M. L.

2017-01-01

Anticipatory motor planning abilities mature as children grow older, develop throughout childhood and are likely to be stable till the late sixties. In the seventh decade of life, motor planning performance dramatically declines, with anticipatory motor planning abilities falling to levels of those exhibited by children. At present, the processes enabling successful anticipatory motor planning in general, as do the cognitive processes mediating these age-related changes, remain elusive. Thus, the aim of the present study was (a) to identify cognitive and motor functions that are most affected by normal aging and (b) to elucidate key (cognitive and motor) factors that are critical for successful motor planning performance in young (n = 40, mean age = 23.1 ± 2.6 years) and older adults (n = 37, mean age = 73.5 ± 7.1 years). Results indicate that normal aging is associated with a marked decline in all aspects of cognitive and motor functioning tested. However, age-related declines were more apparent for fine motor dexterity, processing speed and cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, up to 64% of the variance in motor planning performance across age groups could be explained by the cognitive functions processing speed, response planning and cognitive flexibility. It can be postulated that anticipatory motor planning abilities are strongly influenced by cognitive control processes, which seem to be key mechanisms to compensate for age-related decline. These findings support the general therapeutic and preventive value of cognitive-motor training programs to reduce adverse effects associated with high age. PMID:28928653

Operative planning of functional sessions for multisatellite observation and communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darnopykh, Valeriy V.; Malyshev, Veniamin V.

2012-04-01

An important control aspect of modern satellite observation and communication systems is the control of the functional processes. Functional sessions proceed under conditions of restricted technical ability, large amounts or information to be processed by the on-board equipment, practice inequality of the received information, intentions of system management and operators, interests of customers and other factors. A large number of spacecrafts (SC) in orbital constellation is one of the most important factors affecting the functional process also. Besides that some modern projects of satellite systems are multifunctional that is mixed operations of observation and communication. Therefore the functioning of SC on-board equipment must be accurately co-ordinate. That is why the problem of operative planning the functioning of these systems, while directly affecting the efficiency of the system, is very complex and actual at present. A methodical approach and software package for operative planning of functional processes for satellite observation and communication systems, including multifunctional projects, are considered in the paper. The base scheme of this approach consists of four main stages: stage 1—modeling of SC orbital kinematics and dynamics; stage 2—modeling of system functional processes with all kind of restrictions and criterion function values; stage 3—solving an optimization tasks by numerical applicable algorithms and constructing the optimal (or accuracy) plans; stage 4—repeated plan optimization (different variants) and analyzing. Such scheme is the result of authors practical research which have been realized during last 15 years by the operative planning as for any kinds of single SC as for satellite systems with different structure of orbital constellation. The research helps to unify the procedure of operative planning, to formulate basic principles and approaches for its solving, to develop special software package. The main aspects of the approach proposed are illustrated in the paper. The results of the calculations of applied planning problems are presented. The objects of research in these problems are: projects of CBERS observation systems (1-3 SC) and projects of Iridium (66 SC) global communication system.

Safe teleoperation based on flexible intraoperative planning for robot-assisted laser microsurgery.

PubMed

Mattos, Leonardo S; Caldwell, Darwin G

2012-01-01

This paper describes a new intraoperative planning system created to improve precision and safety in teleoperated laser microsurgeries. It addresses major safety issues related to real-time control of a surgical laser during teleoperated procedures, which are related to the reliability and robustness of the telecommunication channels. Here, a safe solution is presented, consisting in a new planning system architecture that maintains the flexibility and benefits of real-time teleoperation and keeps the surgeon in control of all surgical actions. The developed system is based on our virtual scalpel system for robot-assisted laser microsurgery, and allows the intuitive use of stylus to create surgical plans directly over live video of the surgical field. In this case, surgical plans are defined as graphic objects overlaid on the live video, which can be easily modified or replaced as needed, and which are transmitted to the main surgical system controller for subsequent safe execution. In the process of improving safety, this new planning system also resulted in improved laser aiming precision and improved capability for higher quality laser procedures, both due to the new surgical plan execution module, which allows very fast and precise laser aiming control. Experimental results presented herein show that, in addition to the safety improvements, the new planning system resulted in a 48% improvement in laser aiming precision when compared to the previous virtual scalpel system.

Standardization of quality control plans for highway bridges in Europe: COST Action TU 1406

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casas, Joan R.; Matos, Jose Campos e.

2017-09-01

In Europe, as all over the world, the need to manage roadway bridges in an efficient way led to the development of different management systems. Hence, nowadays, many European countries have their own system. Although they present a similar architectural framework, several differences can be appointed. These differences constitute a divergent mechanism that may conduct to different decisions on maintenance actions. Within the roadway bridge management process, the identification of maintenance needs is more effective when developed in a uniform and repeatable manner. This process can be accomplished by the identification of performance indicators and definition of performance goals and key performance indicators (KPI), improving the planning of maintenance strategies. Therefore, a discussion at a European level, seeking to achieve a standardized approach in this subject, will bring significant benefits. Accordingly, a COST Action is under way in Europe with the aim of standardizing the establishment of quality control plans for roadway bridges.

Architecture for reactive planning of robot actions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riekki, Jukka P.; Roening, Juha

1995-01-01

In this article, a reactive system for planning robot actions is described. The described hierarchical control system architecture consists of planning-executing-monitoring-modelling elements (PEMM elements). A PEMM element is a goal-oriented, combined processing and data element. It includes a planner, an executor, a monitor, a modeler, and a local model. The elements form a tree-like structure. An element receives tasks from its ancestor and sends subtasks to its descendants. The model knowledge is distributed into the local models, which are connected to each other. The elements can be synchronized. The PEMM architecture is strictly hierarchical. It integrated planning, sensing, and modelling into a single framework. A PEMM-based control system is reactive, as it can cope with asynchronous events and operate under time constraints. The control system is intended to be used primarily to control mobile robots and robot manipulators in dynamic and partially unknown environments. It is suitable especially for applications consisting of physically separated devices and computing resources.

Planning for organization development in operations control centers.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

The first step in a proposed program of organization development (OD) was to assess organizational processes within the : Technical Operations Services (TechOps) Operations Control Centers (OCCs). The aim of the OD program was to : improve effectiven...

Trial of an electronic decision support system to facilitate shared decision making in community mental health.

PubMed

Woltmann, Emily M; Wilkniss, Sandra M; Teachout, Alexandra; McHugo, Gregory J; Drake, Robert E

2011-01-01

Involvement of community mental health consumers in mental health decision making has been consistently associated with improvements in health outcomes. Electronic decision support systems (EDSSs) that support both consumer and provider decision making may be a sustainable way to improve dyadic communication in a field with approximately 50% workforce turnover per year. This study examined the feasibility of such a system and investigated proximal outcomes of the system's performance. A cluster randomized design was used to evaluate an EDSS at three urban community mental health sites. Case managers (N=20) were randomly assigned to the EDSS-supported planning group or to the usual care planning group. Consumers (N=80) were assigned to the same group as their case managers. User satisfaction with the care planning process was assessed for consumers and case managers (possible scores range from 1 to 5, with higher summary scores indicating more satisfaction). Recall of the care plan was assessed for consumers. Linear regression with adjustment for grouping by worker was used to assess satisfaction scores. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to examine knowledge of the care plan. Compared with case managers in the control group, those in the intervention group were significantly more satisfied with the care planning process (mean ± SD score=4.0 ± .5 versus 3.3 ± .5; adjusted p=.01). Compared with consumers in the control group, those in the intervention group had significantly greater recall of their care plans three days after the planning session (mean proportion of plan goals recalled=75% ± 28% versus 57% ± 32%; p=.02). There were no differences between the clients in the intervention and control groups regarding satisfaction. This study demonstrated that clients can build their own care plans and negotiate and revise them with their case managers using an EDSS.

Moving granular-bed filter development program, Option III: Development of moving granular-bed filter technology for multi-contaminant control. Task 14: Test plan; Topical report

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

Haas, J.C.; Olivo, C.A.; Wilson, K.B.

1994-04-01

An experimental test plan has been prepared for DOE/METC review and approval to develop a filter media suitable for multi-contaminant control in granular-bed filter (GBF) applications. The plan includes identification, development, and demonstration of methods for enhanced media morphology, chemical reactivity, and mechanical strength. The test plan includes media preparation methods, physical and chemical characterization methods for fresh and reacted media, media evaluation criteria, details of test and analytical equipment, and test matrix of the proposed media testing. A filter media composed of agglomerated limestone and clay was determined to be the best candidate for multi-contaminate control in GBF operation.more » The combined limestone/clay agglomerate has the potential to remove sulfur and alkali species, in addition to particulate, and possibly halogens and trace heavy metals from coal process streams.« less

Five-Year Plan (FY04-FY-08) for the Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program. Supplement to the FY03 - FY07 Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-07-01

magnetorheological (MRF) finishing to reduce surface roughness in half the time of previous processes . Improved image quality directly supports improved...affordably polish the inside surface of small tight free form optics to a finish on the order of 3 angstroms. • Demonstrate cycle time reduction...processes and controls for steel, titanium, and superalloys. FY2007: • Demonstrate an improved superfine finishing for optical components to

Mission activities planning for a Hermes mission by means of AI-technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pape, U.; Hajen, G.; Schielow, N.; Mitschdoerfer, P.; Allard, F.

1993-01-01

Mission Activities Planning is a complex task to be performed by mission control centers. AI technology can offer attractive solutions to the planning problem. This paper presents the use of a new AI-based Mission Planning System for crew activity planning. Based on a HERMES servicing mission to the COLUMBUS Man Tended Free Flyer (MTFF) with complex time and resource constraints, approximately 2000 activities with 50 different resources have been generated, processed, and planned with parametric variation of operationally sensitive parameters. The architecture, as well as the performance of the mission planning system, is discussed. An outlook to future planning scenarios, the requirements, and how a system like MARS can fulfill those requirements is given.

Intelligent monitoring and control of semiconductor manufacturing equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murdock, Janet L.; Hayes-Roth, Barbara

1991-01-01

The use of AI methods to monitor and control semiconductor fabrication in a state-of-the-art manufacturing environment called the Rapid Thermal Multiprocessor is described. Semiconductor fabrication involves many complex processing steps with limited opportunities to measure process and product properties. By applying additional process and product knowledge to that limited data, AI methods augment classical control methods by detecting abnormalities and trends, predicting failures, diagnosing, planning corrective action sequences, explaining diagnoses or predictions, and reacting to anomalous conditions that classical control systems typically would not correct. Research methodology and issues are discussed, and two diagnosis scenarios are examined.

Building new hospitals: a UK infection control perspective.

PubMed

Stockley, J M; Constantine, C E; Orr, K E

2006-03-01

Infection control input is vital throughout the planning, design and building stages of a new hospital project, and must continue through the commissioning (and decommissioning) process, evaluation and putting the facility into full clinical service. Many hospitals continue to experience problems months or years after occupying the new premises; some of these could have been avoided by infection control involvement earlier in the project. The importance of infection control must be recognized by the chief executive of the hospital trust and project teams overseeing the development. Clinical user groups and contractors must also be made aware of infection control issues. It is vital that good working relationships are built up between the infection control team (ICT) and all these parties. ICTs need the authority to influence the process. This may require their specific recognition by the Private Finance Initiative National Unit, the Department of Health or other relevant authorities. ICTs need training in how to read design plans, how to write effective specifications, and in other areas with which they may be unfamiliar. The importance of documentation and record keeping is paramount. External or independent validation of processes should be available, particularly in commissioning processes. Building design in relation to infection control needs stricter national regulations, allowing ICTs to focus on more local usage issues. Further research is needed to provide evidence regarding the relationship between building design and the prevalence of infection.

Development of a Software Tool to Automate ADCO Flight Controller Console Planning Tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Mark G.

2011-01-01

This independent study project covers the development of the International Space Station (ISS) Attitude Determination and Control Officer (ADCO) Planning Exchange APEX Tool. The primary goal of the tool is to streamline existing manual and time-intensive planning tools into a more automated, user-friendly application that interfaces with existing products and allows the ADCO to produce accurate products and timelines more effectively. This paper will survey the current ISS attitude planning process and its associated requirements, goals, documentation and software tools and how a software tool could simplify and automate many of the planning actions which occur at the ADCO console. The project will be covered from inception through the initial prototype delivery in November 2011 and will include development of design requirements and software as well as design verification and testing.

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

Beltran, C; Kamal, H

Purpose: To provide a multicriteria optimization algorithm for intensity modulated radiation therapy using pencil proton beam scanning. Methods: Intensity modulated radiation therapy using pencil proton beam scanning requires efficient optimization algorithms to overcome the uncertainties in the Bragg peaks locations. This work is focused on optimization algorithms that are based on Monte Carlo simulation of the treatment planning and use the weights and the dose volume histogram (DVH) control points to steer toward desired plans. The proton beam treatment planning process based on single objective optimization (representing a weighted sum of multiple objectives) usually leads to time-consuming iterations involving treatmentmore » planning team members. We proved a time efficient multicriteria optimization algorithm that is developed to run on NVIDIA GPU (Graphical Processing Units) cluster. The multicriteria optimization algorithm running time benefits from up-sampling of the CT voxel size of the calculations without loss of fidelity. Results: We will present preliminary results of Multicriteria optimization for intensity modulated proton therapy based on DVH control points. The results will show optimization results of a phantom case and a brain tumor case. Conclusion: The multicriteria optimization of the intensity modulated radiation therapy using pencil proton beam scanning provides a novel tool for treatment planning. Work support by a grant from Varian Inc.« less

Planning assistance for the NASA 30/20 GHz program. Network control architecture study.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Inukai, T.; Bonnelycke, B.; Strickland, S.

1982-01-01

Network Control Architecture for a 30/20 GHz flight experiment system operating in the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) was studied. Architecture development, identification of processing functions, and performance requirements for the Master Control Station (MCS), diversity trunking stations, and Customer Premises Service (CPS) stations are covered. Preliminary hardware and software processing requirements as well as budgetary cost estimates for the network control system are given. For the trunking system control, areas covered include on board SS-TDMA switch organization, frame structure, acquisition and synchronization, channel assignment, fade detection and adaptive power control, on board oscillator control, and terrestrial network timing. For the CPS control, they include on board processing and adaptive forward error correction control.

75 FR 12168 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Control of Nitrogen...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-15

... Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION... from Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries to Delaware's Regulation No. 1142... Nitrogen Oxide Emissions from Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries. The...

Terms of Productivity, Including the Relationship Between Productivity, Effectiveness and Efficiency.

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-04-01

for Awareness Juran on Planning for Quality, 1988, J.M. Juran What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way, 1985, Kaoru Ishikawa Guide to Quality...Control, 1982, Kaoru Ishikawa Andrews, M. (1985). Statistical Process Control: Mandatory Management Tool. Production April 1985. Bushe, G. (1988

40 CFR 63.2251 - What are the requirements for the routine control device maintenance exemption?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the routine control device maintenance exemption? (a) You may request a routine control device..., explain why the maintenance cannot be accomplished during process shutdowns, describe how you plan to make... device is used to control a green rotary dryer, tube dryer, rotary strand dryer, or pressurized refiner...

Resource Allocation Planning Helper (RALPH): Lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durham, Ralph; Reilly, Norman B.; Springer, Joe B.

1990-01-01

The current task of Resource Allocation Process includes the planning and apportionment of JPL's Ground Data System composed of the Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center facilities. The addition of the data driven, rule based planning system, RALPH, has expanded the planning horizon from 8 weeks to 10 years and has resulted in large labor savings. Use of the system has also resulted in important improvements in science return through enhanced resource utilization. In addition, RALPH has been instrumental in supporting rapid turn around for an increased volume of special what if studies. The status of RALPH is briefly reviewed and important lessons learned from the creation of an highly functional design team are focused on through an evolutionary design and implementation period in which an AI shell was selected, prototyped, and ultimately abandoned, and through the fundamental changes to the very process that spawned the tool kit. Principal topics include proper integration of software tools within the planning environment, transition from prototype to delivered to delivered software, changes in the planning methodology as a result of evolving software capabilities and creation of the ability to develop and process generic requirements to allow planning flexibility.

Pedestrians' intention to jaywalk: Automatic or planned? A study based on a dual-process model in China.

PubMed

Xu, Yaoshan; Li, Yongjuan; Zhang, Feng

2013-01-01

The present study investigates the determining factors of Chinese pedestrians' intention to violate traffic laws using a dual-process model. This model divides the cognitive processes of intention formation into controlled analytical processes and automatic associative processes. Specifically, the process explained by the augmented theory of planned behavior (TPB) is controlled, whereas the process based on past behavior is automatic. The results of a survey conducted on 323 adult pedestrian respondents showed that the two added TPB variables had different effects on the intention to violate, i.e., personal norms were significantly related to traffic violation intention, whereas descriptive norms were non-significant predictors. Past behavior significantly but uniquely predicted the intention to violate: the results of the relative weight analysis indicated that the largest percentage of variance in pedestrians' intention to violate was explained by past behavior (42%). According to the dual-process model, therefore, pedestrians' intention formation relies more on habit than on cognitive TPB components and social norms. The implications of these findings for the development of intervention programs are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Space Transportation System Cargo projects: inertial stage/spacecraft integration plan. Volume 1: Management plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Management System for the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) - spacecraft processing from KSC arrival through launch is described. The roles and responsibilities of the agencies and test team organizations involved in IUS-S/C processing at KSC for non-Department of Defense missions are described. Working relationships are defined with respect to documentation preparation, coordination and approval, schedule development and maintenance, test conduct and control, configuration management, quality control and safety. The policy regarding the use of spacecraft contractor test procedures, IUS contractor detailed operating procedures and KSC operations and maintenance instructions is defined. Review and approval requirements for each documentation system are described.

ProSens: integrated production control by automated inspection planning and efficient multisensor metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glaser, Ulf; Li, Zhichao; Bichmann, Stephan, II; Pfeifer, Tilo

2003-05-01

By China's entry into the WTO, Chinese as well as German companies are facing the question, how to minimize the risk of unfamiliar cooperation partners when developing products. The rise of customer demands concerning quality, product diversity and the reduction of expenses require flexibility and efficiency with reliable component suppliers. In order to build and strengthen sino-german cooperations, a manufacturing control using homogenized and efficient measures to assure high quality is of vital importance. Lack of unifications may cause identical measurements conducted at subcontractors or customers to be carried out with different measurement processes which leads to incomparable results. Rapidly growing company cooperations and simultaneously decreasing of manufacturing scope cause substantial difficulties when coordinating joint quality control activities. "ProSens," a sino-german project consortium consisting of industrial users, technology producers and research institutes, aims at improving selected production processes by: Creation of a homogeneous quality awareness in sino-german cooperations. Sensitization for process accompanying metrology at an early stage of product development. Increase of the process performance by the use of integrated metrology. Reduction of production time and cost. Unification of quality control of complex products by means of efficient measurement strategies and CAD-based inspection planning.

Two approaches for incorporating climate change into natural resource management planning at Wind Cave National Park

USGS Publications Warehouse

Symstad, Amy J.; Long, Andrew J.; Stamm, John; King, David A.; Bachelet, Dominque M.; Norton, Parker A.

2014-01-01

Wind Cave National Park (WICA) protects one of the world’s longest caves, has large amounts of high quality, native vegetation, and hosts a genetically important bison herd. The park’s relatively small size and unique purpose within its landscape requires hands-on management of these and other natural resources, all of which are interconnected. Anthropogenic climate change presents an added challenge to WICA natural resource management because it is characterized by large uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of park and National Park Service (NPS) staff. When uncertainty is high and control of this uncertainty low, scenario planning is an appropriate tool for determining future actions. In 2009, members of the NPS obtained formal training in the use of scenario planning in order to evaluate it as a tool for incorporating climate change into NPS natural resource management planning. WICA served as one of two case studies used in this training exercise. Although participants in the training exercise agreed that the scenario planning process showed promise for its intended purpose, they were concerned that the process lacked the scientific rigor necessary to defend the management implications derived from it in the face of public scrutiny. This report addresses this concern and others by (1) providing a thorough description of the process of the 2009 scenario planning exercise, as well as its results and management implications for WICA; (2) presenting the results of a follow-up, scientific study that quantitatively simulated responses of WICA’s hydrological and ecological systems to specific climate projections; (3) placing these climate projections and the general climate scenarios used in the scenario planning exercise in the broader context of available climate projections; and (4) comparing the natural resource management implications derived from the two approaches. Wind Cave National Park (WICA) protects one of the world’s longest caves, has large amounts of high quality, native vegetation, and hosts a genetically important bison herd. The park’s relatively small size and unique purpose within its landscape requires hands-on management of these and other natural resources, all of which are interconnected. Anthropogenic climate change presents an added challenge to WICA natural resource management because it is characterized by large uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of park and National Park Service (NPS) staff. When uncertainty is high and control of this uncertainty low, scenario planning is an appropriate tool for determining future actions. In 2009, members of the NPS obtained formal training in the use of scenario planning in order to evaluate it as a tool for incorporating climate change into NPS natural resource management planning. WICA served as one of two case studies used in this training exercise. Although participants in the training exercise agreed that the scenario planning process showed promise for its intended purpose, they were concerned that the process lacked the scientific rigor necessary to defend the management implications derived from it in the face of public scrutiny. This report addresses this concern and others by (1) providing a thorough description of the process of the 2009 scenario planning exercise, as well as its results and management implications for WICA; (2) presenting the results of a follow-up, scientific study that quantitatively simulated responses of WICA’s hydrological and ecological systems to specific climate projections; (3) placing these climate projections and the general climate scenarios used in the scenario planning exercise in the broader context of available climate projections; and (4) comparing the natural resource management implications derived from the two approaches.

Planning riparian restoration in the context of tamarix control in Western North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shafroth, P.B.; Beauchamp, Vanessa B.; Briggs, M.K.; Lair, K.; Scott, M.L.; Sher, A.A.

2008-01-01

Throughout the world, the condition of many riparian ecosystems has declined due to numerous factors, including encroachment of non-native species. In the western United States, millions of dollars are spent annually to control invasions of Tamarix spp., introduced small trees or shrubs from Eurasia that have colonized bottomland ecosystems along many rivers. Resource managers seek to control Tamarix in attempts to meet various objectives, such as increasing water yield and improving wildlife habitat. Often, riparian restoration is an implicit goal, but there has been little emphasis on a process or principles to effectively plan restoration activities, and many Tamarix removal projects are unsuccessful at restoring native vegetation. We propose and summarize the key steps in a planning process aimed at developing effective restoration projects in Tamarix-dominated areas. We discuss in greater detail the biotic and abiotic factors central to the evaluation of potential restoration sites and summarize information about plant communities likely to replace Tamarix under various conditions. Although many projects begin with implementation, which includes the actual removal of Tamarix, we stress the importance of pre-project planning that includes: (1) clearly identifying project goals; (2) developing realistic project objectives based on a detailed evaluation of site conditions; (3) prioritizing and selecting Tamarix control sites with the best chance of ecological recovery; and (4) developing a detailed tactical plan before Tamarix is removed. After removal, monitoring and maintenance as part of an adaptive management approach are crucial for evaluating project success and determining the most effective methods for restoring these challenging sites. ?? 2008 Society for Ecological Restoration International.

48 CFR 3009.570-2 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION REGULATION (HSAR) ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS Organizational and Consultant... took appropriate steps to prevent any organizational conflict of interest in the selection process; or... process over which the entity exercised no control. (c) CONSTRUCTION—Nothing in this section 3009.570...

Designing-and Redesigning-Information Services for Maximum Impact.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Rebecca; Dysart, Jane

2002-01-01

Discusses innovative information services, including new services and the redesign of existing services. Describes the development process, including assessing the market and developing a marketing plan; and explains the implementation process, including monitoring client satisfaction and quality control. (LRW)

Authentic Assessment in the Literature Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Michelle

1997-01-01

Discusses various ways to strike a balance between total teacher control and total student control of the assessment process in a high school American literature course. Discusses research projects, advertising flyers, newspapers, the "transcendental change plan," and the thematic mobile. (RS)

Computer-aided software development process design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Chi Y.; Levary, Reuven R.

1989-01-01

The authors describe an intelligent tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing, and controlling the development process of medium- to large-scale software projects. Its purpose is to reduce uncertainties in the budget, personnel, and schedule planning of software development projects. It is based on dynamic model for the software development and maintenance life-cycle process. This dynamic process is composed of a number of time-varying, interacting developmental phases, each characterized by its intended functions and requirements. System dynamics is used as a modeling methodology. The resulting Software LIfe-Cycle Simulator (SLICS) and the hybrid expert simulation system of which it is a subsystem are described.

Structure, Intent and Conformance Monitoring in ATC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reynolds, Tom G.; Histon, Jonathan M.; Davison, Hayley J.; Hansman, R. John

2004-01-01

Infield studies of current Air Traffic Control operations it is found that controllers rely on underlying airspace structure to reduce the complexity of the planning and conformance monitoring tasks. The structure appears to influence the controller's working mental model through abstractions that reduce the apparent cognitive complexity. These structure-based abstractions are useful for the controller's key tasks of planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating tactical situations. In addition, the structure-based abstractions appear to be important in the maintenance of Situation Awareness. The process of conformance monitoring is analyzed in more detail and an approach to conformance monitoring which utilizes both the structure-based abstractions and intent is presented.

The role of visual processing in motor learning and control: Insights from electroencephalography.

PubMed

Krigolson, Olav E; Cheng, Darian; Binsted, Gord

2015-05-01

Traditionally our understanding of goal-directed action been derived from either behavioral findings or neuroanatomically derived imaging (i.e., fMRI). While both of these approaches have proven valuable, they lack the ability to determine a direct locus of function while concurrently having the necessary temporal precision needed to understand millisecond scale neural interactions respectively. In this review we summarize some seminal behavioral findings across three broad areas (target perturbation, feed-forward control, and feedback processing) and for each discuss the application of electroencephalography (EEG) to the understanding of the temporal nature of visual cue utilization during movement planning, control, and learning using four existing scalp potentials. Specifically, we examine the appropriateness of using the N100 potential as an indicator of corrective behaviors in response to target perturbation, the N200 as an index of movement planning, the P300 potential as a metric of feed-forward processes, and the feedback-related negativity as an index of motor learning. Although these existing components have potential for insight into cognitive contributions and the timing of the neural processes that contribute to motor control further research is needed to expand the control-related potentials and to develop methods to permit their accurate characterization across a wide range of behavioral tasks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Ohio Cross-Cultural Tobacco Control Alliance: Understanding and Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disparities Through the Integration of Science, Practice, and Policy

PubMed Central

Adhikari, Surendra B.; Clopton, Tracy M.; Oches, Barry; Jensen, Conrado

2010-01-01

Objectives. We examined the development of a process designed to eliminate tobacco-related disparities in the state of Ohio and described how a cross-cultural work group used a multicomponent community planning process to develop capacity to address such disparities. Methods. The community development model was used as a guide in the planning process. We employed a case study, focus groups, and telephone interviews to assess the process and collect data on tobacco use and awareness. We also employed the appreciative inquiry framework to create the organizational design for the Ohio Cross-Cultural Tobacco Control Alliance (CCTCA), which was formed from the cross-cultural work group and charged with addressing tobacco-related disparities in the state. Results. Data on tobacco use and awareness were collected from 13 underserved populations. At the end of the planning process, the CCTCA was initiated along with structural capacity to serve as a new program incubator highlighting tobacco use and awareness levels in these populations. Conclusions. The CCTCA appeared to be an effective way to begin mobilizing agencies serving underserved populations by providing an operational structure to address tobacco-related disparities. The alliance also successfully implemented culturally competent community-based programs and policies to help eliminate disparities. PMID:20147668

Planning 4D intensity-modulated arc therapy for tumor tracking with a multileaf collimator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Ying; Betzel, Gregory T.; Yang, Xiaocheng; Gui, Minzhi; Parke, William C.; Yi, Byongyong; Yu, Cedric X.

2017-02-01

This study introduces a practical four-dimensional (4D) planning scheme of IMAT using 4D computed tomography (4D CT) for planning tumor tracking with dynamic multileaf beam collimation. We assume that patients can breathe regularly, i.e. the same way as during 4D CT with an unchanged period and amplitude, and that the start of 4D-IMAT delivery can be synchronized with a designated respiratory phase. Each control point of the IMAT-delivery process can be associated with an image set of 4D CT at a specified respiratory phase. Target is contoured at each respiratory phase without a motion-induced margin. A 3D-IMAT plan is first optimized on a reference-phase image set of 4D CT. Then, based on the projections of the planning target volume in the beam’s eye view at different respiratory phases, a 4D-IMAT plan is generated by transforming the segments of the optimized 3D plan by using a direct aperture deformation method. Compensation for both translational and deformable tumor motion is accomplished, and the smooth delivery of the transformed plan is ensured by forcing connectivity between adjacent angles (control points). It is envisioned that the resultant plans can be delivered accurately using the dose rate regulated tracking method which handles breathing irregularities (Yi et al 2008 Med. Phys. 35 3955-62).This planning process is straightforward and only adds a small step to current clinical 3D planning practice. Our 4D planning scheme was tested on three cases to evaluate dosimetric benefits. The created 4D-IMAT plans showed similar dose distributions as compared with the 3D-IMAT plans on a single static phase, indicating that our method is capable of eliminating the dosimetric effects of breathing induced target motion. Compared to the 3D-IMAT plans with large treatment margins encompassing respiratory motion, our 4D-IMAT plans reduced radiation doses to surrounding normal organs and tissues.

From weight management goals to action planning: identification of a logical sequence from goals to actions and underlying determinants.

PubMed

van Genugten, L; van Empelen, P; Oenema, A

2012-08-01

Weight gain prevention (WGP) among adults who are overweight is an important target in the prevention of obesity. However, little is known about the process from WGP as a goal to successful weight-management. The present study aimed to: (i) gain more insight into this process; (ii) identify cognitive predictors of intention for WGP; and (iii) examine WGP as a potential predictor for the intention to change weight-related behaviours [dietary intake (DI) and physical activity (PA)] and specific action planning. In this cross-sectional study, overweight adults [n = 510; body mass index 25-30 kg m(-2); mean (SD) age 48 (9.5) years; 30.8% male] completed an online questionnaire, assessing goal intention for WGP, behavioural intention for DI and PA, planning for change in DI and PA and socio-cognitive correlates. Ordinal regression analyses were used to analyse the data. In 89% of the sample, (parts of) the proposed sequence from goal intention (for WGP), behavioural intention (for DI/PA) and planning (for DI/PA) was observed. Attitude, social norm and perceived control towards WGP, and perceived weight status and risk perception, were associated with intention for WGP. Behaviour-specific perceived control and preferences were more strongly associated with intention to change DI or PA and planning for change than intention for WGP was. Intention for WGP is important in the process toward weight-management because, for most people, intention for WGP precedes behavioural intention, which precedes planning. Intention for WGP is associated with behavioural intention but behaviour-specific factors are the strongest correlates of behavioural intention and planning. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2012 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

40 CFR 63.7720 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... operation and maintenance requirements in this subpart at all times, except during periods of startup... process and emissions control equipment. (c) You must develop a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan according to the provisions in § 63.6(e)(3). The startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan also must...

40 CFR 63.7720 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... operation and maintenance requirements in this subpart at all times, except during periods of startup... process and emissions control equipment. (c) You must develop a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan according to the provisions in § 63.6(e)(3). The startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan also must...

40 CFR 63.7720 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... operation and maintenance requirements in this subpart at all times, except during periods of startup... process and emissions control equipment. (c) You must develop a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan according to the provisions in § 63.6(e)(3). The startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan also must...

40 CFR 63.7720 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... operation and maintenance requirements in this subpart at all times, except during periods of startup... process and emissions control equipment. (c) You must develop a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan according to the provisions in § 63.6(e)(3). The startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan also must...

40 CFR 63.7720 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... operation and maintenance requirements in this subpart at all times, except during periods of startup... process and emissions control equipment. (c) You must develop a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan according to the provisions in § 63.6(e)(3). The startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan also must...

24 CFR 598.205 - What are the requirements for nomination?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... that the strategic plan described in § 598.215 will be implemented, and these governments submit its... strategic plan, as described in § 598.215; (3) Include the certifications described in § 598.210; (4... designation process. (Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under Control Number 2506-0148) [63 FR...

77 FR 28489 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Amendments to the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-15

... Emissions From Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries AGENCY: Environmental... controls for nitrogen oxides (NO X ) emissions from industrial boilers and process heaters at petroleum... industrial boilers and process heaters at petroleum refineries. The formal SIP revision was submitted by...

EVALUATION OF THE POLYAD FB AIR PURIFICATION AND SOLVENT RECOVERY PROCESS FOR STYRENE REMOVAL

EPA Science Inventory

The report gives results of a study evaluating the Polyad fluidized-bed (FB) process for controlling styrene emissions at a representative fiberglass shower stall and bath tub manufacturing plan*t. he process was evaluated using a transport able unit supplied by Weatherly, Inc., ...

A New Approach to Flood Protection Design and Riparian Management

Treesearch

Philip B. Williams; Mitchell L. Swanson

1989-01-01

Conventional engineering methods of flood control design focus narrowly on the efficient conveyance of water, with little regard for environmental resource planning and natural geomorphic processes. Consequently, flood control projects are often environmentally disastrous, expensive to maintain, and even inadequate to control floods. In addition, maintenance programs...

Quality Control Study of the GSL Reinsurance System. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Advanced Technology, Inc., Reston, VA.

A quality control plan for the U.S. Department of Education's Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) reinsurance process was developed. To identify existing errors, systems documentation and past analyses of the reinsurance system were analyzed, and interviews were conducted. Corrective actions were proposed, and a quality control checklist was developed…

SOVEREIGN: An autonomous neural system for incrementally learning planned action sequences to navigate towards a rewarded goal.

PubMed

Gnadt, William; Grossberg, Stephen

2008-06-01

How do reactive and planned behaviors interact in real time? How are sequences of such behaviors released at appropriate times during autonomous navigation to realize valued goals? Controllers for both animals and mobile robots, or animats, need reactive mechanisms for exploration, and learned plans to reach goal objects once an environment becomes familiar. The SOVEREIGN (Self-Organizing, Vision, Expectation, Recognition, Emotion, Intelligent, Goal-oriented Navigation) animat model embodies these capabilities, and is tested in a 3D virtual reality environment. SOVEREIGN includes several interacting subsystems which model complementary properties of cortical What and Where processing streams and which clarify similarities between mechanisms for navigation and arm movement control. As the animat explores an environment, visual inputs are processed by networks that are sensitive to visual form and motion in the What and Where streams, respectively. Position-invariant and size-invariant recognition categories are learned by real-time incremental learning in the What stream. Estimates of target position relative to the animat are computed in the Where stream, and can activate approach movements toward the target. Motion cues from animat locomotion can elicit head-orienting movements to bring a new target into view. Approach and orienting movements are alternately performed during animat navigation. Cumulative estimates of each movement are derived from interacting proprioceptive and visual cues. Movement sequences are stored within a motor working memory. Sequences of visual categories are stored in a sensory working memory. These working memories trigger learning of sensory and motor sequence categories, or plans, which together control planned movements. Predictively effective chunk combinations are selectively enhanced via reinforcement learning when the animat is rewarded. Selected planning chunks effect a gradual transition from variable reactive exploratory movements to efficient goal-oriented planned movement sequences. Volitional signals gate interactions between model subsystems and the release of overt behaviors. The model can control different motor sequences under different motivational states and learns more efficient sequences to rewarded goals as exploration proceeds.

Implementation of the EU Noise Directive in Process of Urban Planning in Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwiecień, J.; Szopińska, K.

2013-05-01

In Poland spatial planning policies are described by a system of planning documents controlled by act of Spatial Planning and Land Development of 27 March 2003. Sustainable development principle and spatial order form is the basis of spatial planning efforts. In the territory of Poland the manner of urban space management is defined by a planning document called Local Land Use Plan (LLUP). In a LLUP some issues are arranged, such as the purpose of a given area, location of public purpose investments, land development conditions. When analysing the development process of Polish cities, an obvious conclusion emerges about the lack of complex studies and researches of the environment concerning the issue of acoustic climate. The procedures of development of an LLUP involve merely a general diagnosis of an environment excluding measured values of pollution, including noise levels. The main aim of this article is to introduce the influence of acoustic climate on the urban space planning in Poland through the implementation of the provisions of Directive 2002/49/WE of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe from 25 June 2002. Moreover, in the stages of an LLUP implementations have been suggested the use of a Strategic Noise Map, being a tool for assisting the process of environmental noise level assessment in Poland.

Program of arithmetic improvement by means of cognitive enhancement: an intervention in children with special educational needs.

PubMed

Deaño, Manuel Deaño; Alfonso, Sonia; Das, Jagannath Prasad

2015-03-01

This study reports the cognitive and arithmetic improvement of a mathematical model based on the program PASS Remedial Program (PREP), which aims to improve specific cognitive processes underlying academic skills such as arithmetic. For this purpose, a group of 20 students from the last four grades of Primary Education was divided into two groups. One group (n=10) received training in the program and the other served as control. Students were assessed at pre and post intervention in the PASS cognitive processes (planning, attention, simultaneous and successive processing), general level of intelligence, and arithmetic performance in calculus and solving problems. Performance of children from the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group in cognitive process and arithmetic. This joint enhancement of cognitive and arithmetic processes was a result of the operationalization of training that promotes the encoding task, attention and planning, and learning by induction, mediation and verbalization. The implications of this are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proposed methods for testing and selecting the ERCC external RNA controls

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

The External RNA Control Consortium (ERCC) is an ad-hoc group with approximately 70 members from private, public, and academic organizations. The group is developing a set of external RNA control transcripts that can be used to assess technical performance in gene expression assays. The ERCC is now initiating the Testing Phase of the project, during which candidate external RNA controls will be evaluated in both microarray and QRT-PCR gene expression platforms. This document describes the proposed experiments and informatics process that will be followed to test and qualify individual controls. The ERCC is distributing this description of the proposed testing process in an effort to gain consensus and to encourage feedback from the scientific community. On October 4–5, 2005, the ERCC met to further review the document, clarify ambiguities, and plan next steps. A summary of this meeting and changes to the test plan are provided as an appendix to this manuscript. PMID:16266432

A computational model of the human visual cortex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albus, James S.

2008-04-01

The brain is first and foremost a control system that is capable of building an internal representation of the external world, and using this representation to make decisions, set goals and priorities, formulate plans, and control behavior with intent to achieve its goals. The computational model proposed here assumes that this internal representation resides in arrays of cortical columns. More specifically, it models each cortical hypercolumn together with its underlying thalamic nuclei as a Fundamental Computational Unit (FCU) consisting of a frame-like data structure (containing attributes and pointers) plus the computational processes and mechanisms required to maintain it. In sensory-processing areas of the brain, FCUs enable segmentation, grouping, and classification. Pointers stored in FCU frames link pixels and signals to objects and events in situations and episodes that are overlaid with meaning and emotional values. In behavior-generating areas of the brain, FCUs make decisions, set goals and priorities, generate plans, and control behavior. Pointers are used to define rules, grammars, procedures, plans, and behaviors. It is suggested that it may be possible to reverse engineer the human brain at the FCU level of fidelity using nextgeneration massively parallel computer hardware and software. Key Words: computational modeling, human cortex, brain modeling, reverse engineering the brain, image processing, perception, segmentation, knowledge representation

Biologically-inspired robust and adaptive multi-sensor fusion and active control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khosla, Deepak; Dow, Paul A.; Huber, David J.

2009-04-01

In this paper, we describe a method and system for robust and efficient goal-oriented active control of a machine (e.g., robot) based on processing, hierarchical spatial understanding, representation and memory of multimodal sensory inputs. This work assumes that a high-level plan or goal is known a priori or is provided by an operator interface, which translates into an overall perceptual processing strategy for the machine. Its analogy to the human brain is the download of plans and decisions from the pre-frontal cortex into various perceptual working memories as a perceptual plan that then guides the sensory data collection and processing. For example, a goal might be to look for specific colored objects in a scene while also looking for specific sound sources. This paper combines three key ideas and methods into a single closed-loop active control system. (1) Use high-level plan or goal to determine and prioritize spatial locations or waypoints (targets) in multimodal sensory space; (2) collect/store information about these spatial locations at the appropriate hierarchy and representation in a spatial working memory. This includes invariant learning of these spatial representations and how to convert between them; and (3) execute actions based on ordered retrieval of these spatial locations from hierarchical spatial working memory and using the "right" level of representation that can efficiently translate into motor actions. In its most specific form, the active control is described for a vision system (such as a pantilt- zoom camera system mounted on a robotic head and neck unit) which finds and then fixates on high saliency visual objects. We also describe the approach where the goal is to turn towards and sequentially foveate on salient multimodal cues that include both visual and auditory inputs.

Integrated Advanced Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A). Configuration Management Plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cavanaugh, J.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this plan is to identify the baseline to be established during the development life cycle of the integrated AMSU-A, and define the methods and procedures which Aerojet will follow in the implementation of configuration control for each established baseline. Also this plan establishes the Configuration Management process to be used for the deliverable hardware, software, and firmware of the Integrated AMSU-A during development, design, fabrication, test, and delivery.

Improving processes through evolutionary optimization.

PubMed

Clancy, Thomas R

2011-09-01

As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies on complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 18th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, I discuss methods to optimize complex healthcare processes through learning, adaptation, and evolutionary planning.

Avionics test bed development plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, L. H.; Parks, J. M.; Murdock, C. R.

1981-01-01

A development plan for a proposed avionics test bed facility for the early investigation and evaluation of new concepts for the control of large space structures, orbiter attached flex body experiments, and orbiter enhancements is presented. A distributed data processing facility that utilizes the current laboratory resources for the test bed development is outlined. Future studies required for implementation, the management system for project control, and the baseline system configuration are defined. A background analysis of the specific hardware system for the preliminary baseline avionics test bed system is included.

System design of a remotely operated, program controlled measurement table for the calibration of the Egret experiment. Part A: Program control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

The structure of the program, the five priority levels, the drive routines, the stepwise drive plan, the figure routines, meander X and y, the range of measurement table, the optimization of figure drive, the figure drive plan, dialogue routines, stack processing, the drive for the main terminal, the protocol routines, the drive for the microterminal, the drive for the experiment computer, and the main program are discussed.

Improving Air Force Command and Control Through Enhanced Agile Combat Support Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Control Processes

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Tripp, Lionel A. Galway , Timothy L. Ramey, Mahyar A. Amouzegar, and Eric Peltz (MR-1179-AF), 2000. This report describes a vision for the combat...Postures, Lionel  A. Galway , Robert S. Tripp, Timothy  L. Ramey, and John G. Drew (MR-1075-AF), 2000. This report describes how alternative resourcing of...Aerospace Forces: An Integrated Strate- gic Agile Combat Support Planning Framework, Robert S. Tripp, Lionel  A. Galway , Paul Killingsworth, Eric Peltz

Performance Analysis: Work Control Events Identified January - August 2010

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

De Grange, C E; Freeman, J W; Kerr, C E

2011-01-14

This performance analysis evaluated 24 events that occurred at LLNL from January through August 2010. The analysis identified areas of potential work control process and/or implementation weaknesses and several common underlying causes. Human performance improvement and safety culture factors were part of the causal analysis of each event and were analyzed. The collective significance of all events in 2010, as measured by the occurrence reporting significance category and by the proportion of events that have been reported to the DOE ORPS under the ''management concerns'' reporting criteria, does not appear to have increased in 2010. The frequency of reporting inmore » each of the significance categories has not changed in 2010 compared to the previous four years. There is no change indicating a trend in the significance category and there has been no increase in the proportion of occurrences reported in the higher significance category. Also, the frequency of events, 42 events reported through August 2010, is not greater than in previous years and is below the average of 63 occurrences per year at LLNL since 2006. Over the previous four years, an average of 43% of the LLNL's reported occurrences have been reported as either ''management concerns'' or ''near misses.'' In 2010, 29% of the occurrences have been reported as ''management concerns'' or ''near misses.'' This rate indicates that LLNL is now reporting fewer ''management concern'' and ''near miss'' occurrences compared to the previous four years. From 2008 to the present, LLNL senior management has undertaken a series of initiatives to strengthen the work planning and control system with the primary objective to improve worker safety. In 2008, the LLNL Deputy Director established the Work Control Integrated Project Team to develop the core requirements and graded elements of an institutional work planning and control system. By the end of that year this system was documented and implementation had begun. In 2009, training of the workforce began and as of the time of this report more than 50% of authorized Integration Work Sheets (IWS) use the activity-based planning process. In 2010, LSO independently reviewed the work planning and control process and confirmed to the Laboratory that the Integrated Safety Management (ISM) System was implemented. LLNL conducted a cross-directorate management self-assessment of work planning and control and is developing actions to respond to the issues identified. Ongoing efforts to strengthen the work planning and control process and to improve the quality of LLNL work packages are in progress: completion of remaining actions in response to the 2009 DOE Office of Health, Safety, and Security (HSS) evaluation of LLNL's ISM System; scheduling more than 14 work planning and control self-assessments in FY11; continuing to align subcontractor work control with the Institutional work planning and control system; and continuing to maintain the electronic IWS application. The 24 events included in this analysis were caused by errors in the first four of the five ISMS functions. The most frequent cause was errors in analyzing the hazards (Function 2). The second most frequent cause was errors occurring when defining the work (Function 1), followed by errors during the performance of work (Function 4). Interestingly, very few errors in developing controls (Function 3) resulted in events. This leads one to conclude that if improvements are made to defining the scope of work and analyzing the potential hazards, LLNL may reduce the frequency or severity of events. Analysis of the 24 events resulted in the identification of ten common causes. Some events had multiple causes, resulting in the mention of 39 causes being identified for the 24 events. The most frequent cause was workers, supervisors, or experts believing they understood the work and the hazards but their understanding was incomplete. The second most frequent cause was unclear, incomplete or confusing documents directing the work. Together, these two causes were mentioned 17 times and contributed to 13 of the events. All of the events with the cause of ''workers, supervisors, or experts believing they understood the work and the hazards but their understanding was incomplete'' had this error in the first two ISMS functions: define the work and analyze the hazard. This means that these causes result in the scope of work being ill-defined or the hazard(s) improperly analyzed. Incomplete implementation of these functional steps leads to the hazards not being controlled. The causes are then manifested in events when the work is conducted. The process to operate safely relies on accurately defining the scope of work. This review has identified a number of examples of latent organizational weakness in the execution of work control processes.« less

Planning Abilities in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa Compared with Healthy Controls.

PubMed

Carral-Fernández, Laura; González-Blanch, César; Goddard, Elizabeth; González-Gómez, Jana; Benito-González, Pilar; Bustamante-Cruz, Encarnación; Gómez Del Barrio, Andrés

2016-02-01

Altered cognitive functioning could have an important role in the development and maintenance of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The majority of previous research has focused on flexibility and global-detail processing. The aim of this study was to explore planning abilities in women with AN. Women with AN (n = 32) were compared to healthy controls (n = 42) using two different types of neuropsychological tasks for the assessment of planning abilities: Tower of London (ToL), a classic measure of planning abilities, and Zoo Map test, a more ecologically valid planning measure. Measures of AN psychopathology, anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsivity were also collected. The AN group did not differ from controls in the ToL (all p-values p > .05), although they performed significantly worse than controls in the main score of the Zoo Map (p = .02). A worse performance in the Zoo Map test More was associated with more eating disorders (rho = -.44, p = .018) and depressive (rho = -.42, p = .026) symptoms in the AN group. Our study suggests the presence of subtle planning difficulties in women with AN which might be better detected using tasks with increased ecological validity.

CQI: using the Hoshin planning system to design an orientation process.

PubMed

Platt, D; Laird, C

1995-01-01

The Hoshin planning system, developed in Japan after World War II, includes management tools intended specifically for planning new processes. There are seven tools, which can be used individually or in any combination: affinity diagrams, interrelationship digraphs, systematic diagrams, matrix diagrams, process decision program charts, arrow diagrams and prioritization matrices. The radiology department at Carson-Tahoe Hospital formed a CQI team to improve the training of front office clerks. The team quickly discovered that a new orientation program was needed and decided to use Hoshin tools to create one. Using the tools, the team identified and prioritized all relevant factors, described specific tasks needed to complete the planning process and how long each would take, anticipated problems, and assigned areas of responsibility to members of the team. Each time the team grew weary or discouraged, the clarity and organization afforded by the tools helped them feel productive and in control of the process. The team was amazed at the creative ideas they generated through this 3-month-long process. Not only did they develop and implement a new orientation program, they also cultivated a stronger sense of pride and confidence in their work and each other.

40 CFR 62.14575 - What must I do if I close my CISWI unit and then restart it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... retrofit construction of control devices so that when the affected CISWI unit is brought online, all necessary process changes and air pollution control devices operate as designed. Waste Management Plan ...

Inspection planning development: An evolutionary approach using reliability engineering as a tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graf, David A.; Huang, Zhaofeng

1994-01-01

This paper proposes an evolutionary approach for inspection planning which introduces various reliability engineering tools into the process and assess system trade-offs among reliability, engineering requirement, manufacturing capability and inspection cost to establish an optimal inspection plan. The examples presented in the paper illustrate some advantages and benefits of the new approach. Through the analysis, reliability and engineering impacts due to manufacturing process capability and inspection uncertainty are clearly understood; the most cost effective and efficient inspection plan can be established and associated risks are well controlled; some inspection reductions and relaxations are well justified; and design feedbacks and changes may be initiated from the analysis conclusion to further enhance reliability and reduce cost. The approach is particularly promising as global competitions and customer quality improvement expectations are rapidly increasing.

Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Can Teachers Increase Students' Self-Control?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willingham, Daniel T.

2011-01-01

Self-regulation refers to the ability to inhibit the automatic response and to do something else; more generally, it refers to the ability to control one's emotions, to control attention and other cognitive processes, and to plan and control behavior. This capacity turns out to have enormous consequences for academic and social success. And, as…

PLAN-TA9-2443(U), Rev. B Remediated Nitrate Salt (RNS) Surrogate Formulation and Testing Standard Procedure

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

Brown, Geoffrey Wayne

2016-03-16

This document identifies scope and some general procedural steps for performing Remediated Nitrate Salt (RNS) Surrogate Formulation and Testing. This Test Plan describes the requirements, responsibilities, and process for preparing and testing a range of chemical surrogates intended to mimic the energetic response of waste created during processing of legacy nitrate salts. The surrogates developed are expected to bound1 the thermal and mechanical sensitivity of such waste, allowing for the development of process parameters required to minimize the risk to worker and public when processing this waste. Such parameters will be based on the worst-case kinetic parameters as derived frommore » APTAC measurements as well as the development of controls to mitigate sensitivities that may exist due to friction, impact, and spark. This Test Plan will define the scope and technical approach for activities that implement Quality Assurance requirements relevant to formulation and testing.« less

Automatic treatment plan re-optimization for adaptive radiotherapy guided with the initial plan DVHs.

PubMed

Li, Nan; Zarepisheh, Masoud; Uribe-Sanchez, Andres; Moore, Kevin; Tian, Zhen; Zhen, Xin; Graves, Yan Jiang; Gautier, Quentin; Mell, Loren; Zhou, Linghong; Jia, Xun; Jiang, Steve

2013-12-21

Adaptive radiation therapy (ART) can reduce normal tissue toxicity and/or improve tumor control through treatment adaptations based on the current patient anatomy. Developing an efficient and effective re-planning algorithm is an important step toward the clinical realization of ART. For the re-planning process, manual trial-and-error approach to fine-tune planning parameters is time-consuming and is usually considered unpractical, especially for online ART. It is desirable to automate this step to yield a plan of acceptable quality with minimal interventions. In ART, prior information in the original plan is available, such as dose-volume histogram (DVH), which can be employed to facilitate the automatic re-planning process. The goal of this work is to develop an automatic re-planning algorithm to generate a plan with similar, or possibly better, DVH curves compared with the clinically delivered original plan. Specifically, our algorithm iterates the following two loops. An inner loop is the traditional fluence map optimization, in which we optimize a quadratic objective function penalizing the deviation of the dose received by each voxel from its prescribed or threshold dose with a set of fixed voxel weighting factors. In outer loop, the voxel weighting factors in the objective function are adjusted according to the deviation of the current DVH curves from those in the original plan. The process is repeated until the DVH curves are acceptable or maximum iteration step is reached. The whole algorithm is implemented on GPU for high efficiency. The feasibility of our algorithm has been demonstrated with three head-and-neck cancer IMRT cases, each having an initial planning CT scan and another treatment CT scan acquired in the middle of treatment course. Compared with the DVH curves in the original plan, the DVH curves in the resulting plan using our algorithm with 30 iterations are better for almost all structures. The re-optimization process takes about 30 s using our in-house optimization engine.

Emotions and voluntary action: what link in children with autism?

PubMed

Vernazza-Martin, S; Longuet, S; Chamot, J M; Orève, M J

2013-08-15

This research focuses on the impact of emotions--defined as "motivational states"--on the organization of goal directed locomotion in children with autism. Walking toward a goal involves both cognitive processes responsible for movement planning and automatic processes linked to movement programming. To these processes, motivation leading to achieving the goal is added. For some authors, a deficit of planning and/or programming processes is highlighted in autism. Others stand for some impairment of the emotional system. The aim of this research is to link these two viewpoints and to determine if, in children with autism, the organization of locomotion is affected by a positive/aversive emotion conferred to an object to fetch. Twenty-nine children participated in the study (11 children with autism--mean age 122 months; 9 mental age-matched controls--mean age 36 months; and 9 chronological age-matched controls--mean age 122 months). They were instructed to go and get a positive or aversive emotional valence object located straight ahead, at 30° to the right or straight ahead then moved at mid-distance to the right. Gait analysis was performed using the Vicon system. The main results suggest that a positive emotional context promotes the cognitive processes involved in movement planning while an aversive emotional context blocks it or disturbs it in children with autism. No emotions effect is observed on movement programming. It is suggested that emotions triggered off and modulated movement planning and that the deficit observed was related to a developmental impairment rather than to a developmental delay. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

48 CFR 304.1300 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...: As defined by the Computer Security Act of 1987, any data/information, “the loss, misuse, or... Project Officer determines greater access controls are necessary, an OPDIV may protect and control...)]. (c) As part of the acquisition planning process, the Project Officer shall determine whether, based...

48 CFR 304.1300 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...: As defined by the Computer Security Act of 1987, any data/information, “the loss, misuse, or... Project Officer determines greater access controls are necessary, an OPDIV may protect and control...)]. (c) As part of the acquisition planning process, the Project Officer shall determine whether, based...

42 CFR 456.236 - Continued stay review process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

....236 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS UTILIZATION CONTROL Utilization Control: Mental Hospitals Ur Plan... physician members of the committee, one of whom is knowledgeable in the treatment of mental diseases, review...

42 CFR 456.236 - Continued stay review process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

....236 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS UTILIZATION CONTROL Utilization Control: Mental Hospitals Ur Plan... physician members of the committee, one of whom is knowledgeable in the treatment of mental diseases, review...

48 CFR 304.1300 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...: As defined by the Computer Security Act of 1987, any data/information, “the loss, misuse, or... Project Officer determines greater access controls are necessary, an OPDIV may protect and control...)]. (c) As part of the acquisition planning process, the Project Officer shall determine whether, based...

48 CFR 304.1300 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...: As defined by the Computer Security Act of 1987, any data/information, “the loss, misuse, or... Project Officer determines greater access controls are necessary, an OPDIV may protect and control...)]. (c) As part of the acquisition planning process, the Project Officer shall determine whether, based...

48 CFR 304.1300 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...: As defined by the Computer Security Act of 1987, any data/information, “the loss, misuse, or... Project Officer determines greater access controls are necessary, an OPDIV may protect and control...)]. (c) As part of the acquisition planning process, the Project Officer shall determine whether, based...

ADP SYSTEMS ANALYSIS - COMMITTED VS. AVAILABLE MILITARY TRANSPORTATION (LMI T1).

DTIC Science & Technology

LOGISTICS , * MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING), (*DATA PROCESSING, LOGISTICS), INFORMATION RETRIEVAL, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, MILITARY TRANSPORTATION, CARGO VEHICLES, SCHEDULING, COMPUTER PROGRAMMING, MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL

ISS Operations Cost Reductions Through Automation of Real-Time Planning Tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Timothy A.

2011-01-01

In 2008 the Johnson Space Center s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) management team challenged their organization to find ways to reduce the costs of International Space station (ISS) console operations in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Each MOD organization was asked to identify projects that would help them attain a goal of a 30% reduction in operating costs by 2012. The MOD Operations and Planning organization responded to this challenge by launching several software automation projects that would allow them to greatly improve ISS console operations and reduce staffing and operating costs. These projects to date have allowed the MOD Operations organization to remove one full time (7 x 24 x 365) ISS console position in 2010; with the plan of eliminating two full time ISS console support positions by 2012. This will account for an overall 10 EP reduction in staffing for the Operations and Planning organization. These automation projects focused on utilizing software to automate many administrative and often repetitive tasks involved with processing ISS planning and daily operations information. This information was exchanged between the ground flight control teams in Houston and around the globe, as well as with the ISS astronaut crew. These tasks ranged from managing mission plan changes from around the globe, to uploading and downloading information to and from the ISS crew, to even more complex tasks that required multiple decision points to process the data, track approvals and deliver it to the correct recipient across network and security boundaries. The software solutions leveraged several different technologies including customized web applications and implementation of industry standard web services architecture between several planning tools; as well as a engaging a previously research level technology (TRL 2-3) developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) that utilized an intelligent agent based system to manage and automate file traffic flow, archiving f data, and generating console logs. This technology called OCAMS (OCA (Orbital Communication System) Management System), is now considered TRL level 9 and is in daily use in the Mission Control Center in support of ISS operations. These solutions have not only allowed for improved efficiency on console; but since many of the previously manual data transfers are now automated, many of the human error prone steps have been removed, and the quality of the planning products has improved tremendously. This has also allowed our Planning Flight Controllers more time to focus on the abstract areas of the job, (like the complexities of planning a mission for 6 international crew members with a global planning team), instead of being burdened with the administrative tasks that took significant time each console shift to process. The resulting automation solutions have allowed the Operations and Planning organization to realize significant cost savings for the ISS program through 2020 and many of these solutions could be a viable

A prospective functional MRI study for executive function in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus without neuropsychiatric symptoms.

PubMed

Mak, Anselm; Ren, Tao; Fu, Erin Hui-yun; Cheak, Alicia Ai-cia; Ho, Roger Chun-man

2012-06-01

To study the functional brain activation signals before and after sufficient disease control in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without clinical neuropsychiatric symptoms. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging brain were recorded, while 14 new-onset SLE patients and 14 demographically and intelligence quotient matched healthy controls performed the computer-based Wisconsin card sorting test for assessing executive function, which probes strategic planning and goal-directed task performance during feedback evaluation (FE) and response selection (RS), respectively. Composite beta maps were constructed by a general linear model to identify regions of cortical activation. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging signals were compared between (1) new-onset SLE patients and healthy controls and (2) SLE patients before and after sufficient control of their disease activity. During RS, SLE patients demonstrated significantly higher activation than healthy controls in both caudate bodies and Brodmann area (BA) 9 to enhance event anticipation, attention, and working memory, respectively, to compensate for the reduced activation during FE in BA6, 13, 24, and 32, which serve complex motor planning and decision-making, sensory integration, error detection, and conflict processing, respectively. Despite significant reduction of SLE activity, BA32 was activated during RS to compensate for reduced activation during FE in BA6, 9, 37, and 23/32, which serve motor planning, response inhibition and attention, color processing and word recognition, error detection, and conflict evaluation, respectively. Even without clinically overt neuropsychiatric symptoms, SLE patients recruited additional pathways to execute goal-directed tasks to compensate for their reduced strategic planning skill despite clinically sufficient disease control. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wood transportation systems-a spin-off of a computerized information and mapping technique

Treesearch

William W. Phillips; Thomas J. Corcoran

1978-01-01

A computerized mapping system originally developed for planning the control of the spruce budworm in Maine has been extended into a tool for planning road net-work development and optimizing transportation costs. A budgetary process and a mathematical linear programming routine are used interactively with the mapping and information retrieval capabilities of the system...

40 CFR 763.123 - May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May a State implement its own asbestos... (CONTINUED) TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ASBESTOS Asbestos Worker Protection § 763.123 May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan? This section describes the process under which a State may be...

40 CFR 763.123 - May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false May a State implement its own asbestos... (CONTINUED) TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ASBESTOS Asbestos Worker Protection § 763.123 May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan? This section describes the process under which a State may be...

40 CFR 763.123 - May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false May a State implement its own asbestos... (CONTINUED) TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ASBESTOS Asbestos Worker Protection § 763.123 May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan? This section describes the process under which a State may be...

40 CFR 763.123 - May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false May a State implement its own asbestos... (CONTINUED) TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ASBESTOS Asbestos Worker Protection § 763.123 May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan? This section describes the process under which a State may be...

40 CFR 763.123 - May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false May a State implement its own asbestos... (CONTINUED) TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ASBESTOS Asbestos Worker Protection § 763.123 May a State implement its own asbestos worker protection plan? This section describes the process under which a State may be...

Biosafety practices associated with potential agents of biocrime and biowarfare.

PubMed

Burnett, LouAnn C

2006-12-01

Conducting research in a manner that guards against theft and intentional misuse of biological materials requires a process of hazard identification and risk assessment to most effectively identify and implement a risk management plan. Procedures describing physical security, personnel reliability, and material control and accountability define a security plan for this type of research.

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

Bradley, E.C.; Killough, S.M.; Rowe, J.C.

The purpose of the Smart Crane Ammunition Transfer System (SCATS) project is to demonstrate robotic/telerobotic controls technology for a mobile articulated crane for missile/ munitions handling, delivery, and reload. Missile resupply and reload have been manually intensive operations up to this time. Currently, reload missiles are delivered by truck to the site of the launcher. A crew of four to five personnel reloads the missiles from the truck to the launcher using a hydraulic-powered crane. The missiles are handled carefully for the safety of the missiles and personnel. Numerous steps are required in the reload process and the entire reloadmore » operation can take over 1 h for some missile systems. Recent U.S. Army directives require the entire operation to be accomplished in a fraction of that time. Current requirements for the development of SCATS are being based primarily on reloading Patriot missiles. The planned development approach will integrate robotic control and sensor technology with a commercially available hydraulic articulated crane. SCATS is being developed with commercially available hardware as much as possible. Development plans include adding a 3-D.F. end effector with a grapple to the articulating crane; closed-loop position control for the crane and end effector; digital microprocessor control of crane functions; simplified operator interface; and operating modes which include rectilinear movement, obstacle avoidance, and partial automated operation. The planned development will include progressive technology demonstrations. Ultimate plans are for this technology to be transferred and utilized in the military fielding process.« less

DISC1 gene and affective psychopathology: a combined structural and functional MRI study.

PubMed

Opmeer, Esther M; van Tol, Marie-José; Kortekaas, Rudie; van der Wee, Nic J A; Woudstra, Saskia; van Buchem, Mark A; Penninx, Brenda W; Veltman, Dick J; Aleman, André

2015-02-01

The gene Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) has been indicated as a determinant of psychopathology, including affective disorders, and shown to influence prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus functioning, regions of major interest for affective disorders. We aimed to investigate whether DISC1 differentially modulates brain function during executive and memory processing, and morphology in regions relevant for depression and anxiety disorders (affective disorders). 128 participants, with (n = 103) and without (controls; n = 25) affective disorders underwent genotyping for Ser704Cys (with Cys-allele considered as risk-allele) and structural and functional (f) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) during visuospatial planning and emotional episodic memory tasks. For both voxel-based morphometry and fMRI analyses, we investigated the effect of genotype in controls and explored genotypeXdiagnosis interactions. Results are reported at p < 0.05 FWE small volume corrected. In controls, Cys-carriers showed smaller bilateral (para)hippocampal volumes compared with Ser-homozygotes, and lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral PFC during visuospatial planning. In anxiety patients, Cys-carriers showed larger (para)hippocampal volumes and more ACC activation during visuospatial planning. In depressive patients, no effect of genotype was observed and overall, no effect of genotype on episodic memory processing was detected. We demonstrated that Ser704Cys-genotype influences (para)hippocampal structure and functioning the dorsal PFC during executive planning, most prominently in unaffected controls. Results suggest that presence of psychopathology moderates Ser704Cys effects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aerobic Digestion. Biological Treatment Process Control. Instructor's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopping, Paul H.

This unit on aerobic sludge digestion covers the theory of the process, system components, factors that affect the process performance, standard operational concerns, indicators of steady-state operations, and operational problems. The instructor's guide includes: (1) an overview of the unit; (2) lesson plan; (3) lecture outline (keyed to a set of…

76 FR 31242 - Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

... BTU/hr and internal combustion engines with a rated brake horse power of 50 or greater. Under... Process Heaters. SBCAPCD 333 Control of Emissions 06/19/08 10/20/08 from Reciprocating Internal Combustion..., ``Control of Emissions from Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines,'' adopted on June 19, 2008...

Process control plan for 242-A Evaporator Campaign 95-1

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

Le, E.Q.; Guthrie, M.D.

1995-05-18

The wastes from tanks 106-AP, 107-AP, and 106-AW have been selected to be candidate feed wastes for Evaporator Campaign 95-1. The wastes in tank 106-AP and 107-AP are primarily from B-Plant strontium processing and PUREX neutralized cladding removal, respectively. The waste in tank 106-AW originated primarily from the partially concentrated product from 242-A Evaporator Campaign 94-2. Approximately 8.67 million liters of waste from these tanks will be transferred to tank 102-AW during the campaign. Tank 102-AW is the dedicated waste feed tank for the evaporator and currently contains 647,000 liters of processable waste. The purpose of the 242-A Evaporator Campaignmore » 95-1 Process Control Plan (hereafter referred to as PCP) is to certify that the wastes in tanks 106-AP, 107-AP, 102-AW, and 106-AW are acceptable for processing through evaporator and provide a general description of process strategies and activities which will take place during Campaign 95-1. The PCP also summarizes and presents a comprehensive characterization of the wastes in these tanks.« less

Exploring governance for a One Health collaboration for leptospirosis prevention and control in Fiji: Stakeholder perceptions, evidence, and processes.

PubMed

McPherson, Anna; Hill, Peter S; Kama, Mike; Reid, Simon

2018-03-30

Fiji has a high burden of leptospirosis, with endemic infection and epidemic outbreaks with high mortality, often associated with flooding and cyclones. As a zoonosis, leptospirosis control requires interventions in sectors beyond the usual control of health-in Fiji, the dairy and sugar industries, and water and sanitation and rodent control in communities. This paper presents the findings of qualitative research to inform policy around governance for a One Health multisectoral approach to leptospirosis control. Key informants from relevant government agencies and industry organizations were interviewed in late 2014, and the interviews analyzed and triangulated with documentary analysis. The analysis identified 5 themes: perceptions of the impact of leptospirosis, governance processes, models for collaboration, leptospirosis control, and preferred leadership for leptospirosis management. Data were limited, with poor communication between ministries, and limited awareness of leptospirosis outside outbreaks. Collaboration during outbreaks was positive but not sustained in endemic periods. Mechanism for enhanced collaboration was developed for endemic and outbreak situations. The findings informed a One Health governance approach to leptospirosis, framed within a National Strategic Plan, with a specific National Action Plan for Leptospirosis. The process provides a research based One Health template for application to other zoonotic diseases. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Electromagnetic Interference/Compatibility (EMI/EMC) Control Test and Measurement Facility: User Test Planning Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scully, Robert C.

2011-01-01

Test process, milestones and inputs are unknowns to first-time users of the EMI/EMC Test Facility. The User Test Planning Guide aids in establishing expectations for both NASA and non-NASA facility customers. The potential audience for this guide includes both internal and commercial spaceflight hardware/software developers. It is intended to assist their test engineering personnel in test planning and execution. Material covered includes a roadmap of the test process, roles and responsibilities of facility and user, major milestones, facility capabilities, and inputs required by the facility. Samples of deliverables, test article interfaces, and inputs necessary to define test scope, cost, and schedule are included as an appendix to the guide.

Lean Six Sigma Project - Defense Logistics Agency/Honeywell Long-Term Contract Model Using One-Pass Pricing for Sole-Source Spare Parts

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-18

Control Limit Lower Control Limit Reaction Plan 1 Complaints from other suppliers (synopsis, award) SCG During award process Identify Sole- Source...Parts 0.0 1.0 0.0 Evaluate complaint, if valid remove item from contract. 2 Tracking timeline for procurement/reviews SCG During pre- award process...Review Solicitation 100.0 Determine where the document stands in the approval process. Adjust milestones and followup . 3 FAR/DPAP guidance SCG

A Value Based Justification Process for Aerospace RDT and E Capability Investments

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

end of MS C by funding the five-year, $350 million T&E infrastructure investment proposed in the DoD plan. This expansion of the cost - benefit “control...expansion of the cost - benefit “control volume” to include projected system development savings, as described in Ref. [3], proved successful in justifying...Fig. 1 The Expanded Cost - Benefit Analysis Control Volume. It is also worth noting that this process has the greatest potential for success when the

Effectiveness of Needs-oriented Hospital Discharge Planning for Caregivers of Patients With Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lin, Li-En; Lo, Su-Chen; Liu, Chieh-Yu; Chen, Shing-Chia; Wu, Wen-Cheng; Liu, Wen-I

2018-04-01

Hospital discharge planning for clients with schizophrenia reduces client rehospitalization rates and improves their medication adherence. The effectiveness of caregiver participation in hospital discharge planning has seldom been explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of caregiver participation in hospital discharge planning for clients with schizophrenia in reducing caregiver burden and improving health status. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The research location was in a psychiatric hospital in Northern Taiwan. The target population was caregivers of inpatients with schizophrenia. Nurses served as care coordinators and provided six-step hospital discharge planning services to caregivers. Structured questionnaires were employed to measure caregiver burden and health status. Intervention effect was tested using analysis of covariance in which outcome measure at pretest and selected demographic variables were treated as covariates. A total of 114 caregivers completed pretest and posttest evaluations, with 57 people in each group. A significant difference was found between the experimental and the control group regarding the caregiver burden and health status (P<0.001) The caregiver burden and health status of the experimental group improved more significantly compared with the control group. The caregiver-involved discharge planning process developed in this study effectively reduced the burden placed on caregivers and improved their health status. Mental health nurses can serve as the main care coordinators for assessment, planning, referral and provision of the required services. Caregiver-involved hospital discharge planning should become part of the routine care process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrated risk management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunsucker, J. L.

1993-01-01

The purpose of this report is to first present a basis or foundation for the building of an integrated risk management plan and them to present the plan. The integration referred to is across both the temporal and the hierarchical dimensions. Complexity, consequence, and credibility seem to be driving the need for the consideration of risk. Reduction of personal bias and reproducibility of the decision making process seem to be driving the consideration of a formal risk plan. While risk can be used as either a selection tool or a control tool, this paper concentrates on the selection usage. Risk relies on stated purpose. The tightness of the definition of purpose and success is directly reflected in the definition and control of risk. Much of a risk management plan could be designed by the answers to the questions of why, what, who, when, and where. However, any plan must provide the following information about a threat or risk: likelihood, consequence, predictability, reliability, and reproducibility. While the environment at NASA is seen as warm, but not hot, for the introduction of a risk program, some encouragement is seen if the following problems are addressed: no champion, no commitment of resource, confused definitions, lack of direction and focus, a hard sell, NASA culture, many choices of assessment methods, and cost. The plan is designed to follow the normal method of doing work and is structured to follow either the work break down structure or a functional structure very well. The parts of the plan include: defining purpose and success, initial threat assessment, initial risk assessment, reconciling threats and parameters, putting part of the information down and factoring the information back into the decision process as it comes back up, and developing inferences. Two major suggestions are presented. One is to build an office of risk management to be used as a resource by managers in doing the risk process. Another is to form a pilot program to try out the details in the plan and modify the method where needed.

The research on regional conservation planning of urban historical and cultural areas based on GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shangli; Xu, Jian; Li, Qian

2017-06-01

With the rapid economic development and the growth of population happening in the urban historical and cultural areas, heritage and historical buildings along with their natural and artificial surrounding environments are suffering constructive destruction. Due to the lack of precise partition of protection region and construction control region in the local cultural relics protection law, traditional regional conservation planning cannot engaged with the urban controllability detailed planning very well. According to the several protection regulations about heritage and historical buildings from latest laws, we choose Baxian Temple area to study on the improvments of traditional regional conservation planning. The technical methods of this study mainly rely on GIS, which can complete the fundamental work of each stage. With the analytic hierarchy process(AHP), the comprehensive architectural value assessments can be calculated according to the investigation results. Based on the calculation results and visual corridor analysis, the precise range of protection region and construction control region can be decided and the specific protection measures can be formulated.

Earth Observing System (EOS)/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A (AMSU-A) configuration management plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cavanaugh, J.

1994-01-01

This plan describes methods and procedures Aerojet will follow in the implementation of configuration control for each established baseline. The plan is written in response to the GSFC EOS CM Plan 420-02-02, dated January 1990, and also meets he requirements specified in DOD-STD-480, DOD-D 1000B, MIL-STD-483A, and MIL-STD-490B. The plan establishes the configuration management process to be used for the deliverable hardware, software, and firmware of the EOS/AMSU-A during development, design, fabrication, test, and delivery. This revision includes minor updates to reflect Aerojet's CM policies.

Tank waste remediation system privatization infrastructure program requirements and document management process guide

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

ROOT, R.W.

1999-05-18

This guide provides the Tank Waste Remediation System Privatization Infrastructure Program management with processes and requirements to appropriately control information and documents in accordance with the Tank Waste Remediation System Configuration Management Plan (Vann 1998b). This includes documents and information created by the program, as well as non-program generated materials submitted to the project. It provides appropriate approval/control, distribution and filing systems.

DBMS UTILIZATION: A Corporate Information System (CIS) development approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rozett, P.

1983-01-01

The Corporate Information System (CIS), an integrated information system intended to tie the corporation together as a functioning entity, is described. In addition to being a major upgraded automated data processing system, the CIS is a management philosophy which recognizes data as a valuable corporate resource and which distinguishes between data and selected data, or information. It further recognizes that different users need different kinds of information. Plans for CIS development are discussed. It will offer its users not just after-the-fact data, but timely information in a format that is meaningful and useful to the particular user, so that the information can be applied in planning, controlling, and decision making by all levels of management. In effect, CIS will help the corporation itself to function as a total, integrated system by typing together administrative activities through information exchange. The CIS supports the operational, tactical control, and strategic planning functions of the corporation. Operational functions are the day-to-day processing necessary to support the corporation's work, such as purchasing and payroll.

42 CFR 456.236 - Continued stay review process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS UTILIZATION CONTROL Utilization Control: Mental Hospitals Ur Plan... each continued stay of a recipient in the mental hospital, the committee, subgroup or designee reviews... committee, subgroup or designee finds that a recipient's continued stay in the mental hospital is needed...

14 CFR 417.111 - Launch plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... controls identified by a launch operator's ground safety analysis and implementation of the ground safety.... (ii) For each toxic propellant, any hazard controls and process constraints determined under the... classification and compatibility group as defined by part 420 of this chapter. (3) A graphic depiction of the...

76 FR 70352 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Reasonably Available Control Technology for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-14

... controlling oxides of nitrogen from the stationary reciprocating, diesel fuel fired, internal combustion... County. The facility contains two stationary reciprocating, diesel fuel fired, internal combustion... Conditions of Approval specify the NO X emissions limits, combustion process adjustments mentioned above...

The Role of Structural Models in the Solar Sail Flight Validation Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnston, John D.

2004-01-01

NASA is currently soliciting proposals via the New Millennium Program ST-9 opportunity for a potential Solar Sail Flight Validation (SSFV) experiment to develop and operate in space a deployable solar sail that can be steered and provides measurable acceleration. The approach planned for this experiment is to test and validate models and processes for solar sail design, fabrication, deployment, and flight. These models and processes would then be used to design, fabricate, and operate scaleable solar sails for future space science missions. There are six validation objectives planned for the ST9 SSFV experiment: 1) Validate solar sail design tools and fabrication methods; 2) Validate controlled deployment; 3) Validate in space structural characteristics (focus of poster); 4) Validate solar sail attitude control; 5) Validate solar sail thrust performance; 6) Characterize the sail's electromagnetic interaction with the space environment. This poster presents a top-level assessment of the role of structural models in the validation process for in-space structural characteristics.

Pre-movement planning processes in people with congenital mirror movements.

PubMed

Franz, E A; Fu, Y

2017-10-01

Pre-movement processes were investigated in people with Congenital mirrormovement (CMM), a rare disorder in which bilateral movement (mirroring) occurs in the upper distal extremities (primarily the hands and fingers) during intended unilateral movements. Abnormal density of ipsilateral corticospinal projections is an established hallmark of CMM. This study tested whether the Lateralised Readiness Potential (LRP), which reflects movement planning and readiness, is also abnormal in people with CMM. Twenty-eight neurologically-normal controls and 8 people with CMM were tested on a unimanual Go/No-go task while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded to assess the LRP. No significant group differences were found in reaction time (RT). However, significantly smaller LRP amplitudes were found, on average, in the CMM group compared to Controls at central-motor (C3,C4) sites in stimulus-locked and response-locked epochs; similar group differences were also found at further frontal sites (F3,F4) during response-locked epochs. Abnormal brain activity in pre-movement processes associated with response planning and preparation is present in people with CMM. Aberrant bilateral activity during pre-movement processes is clearly implicated; whether part of the etiology of CMM, or as a mechanism of neuro-compensation, is not yet known. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Concept of Withdrawal of Divorce Petition Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad Ali; Mazloomi-Mahmoodabad, Seyed Saied; Afshani, Seyed Alireza; Ardian, Nahid; Vaezi, Ali; Refahi, Seyed Ali Asghar

2018-05-20

The present study sought to explore the experiences of participants in divorce process according to the theory of planned behaviour. This qualitative study was conducted using content analysis method. In this research, 27 participants involved in the divorce process were selected. The data were coded, and the qualitative content analysis was performed. Based on four constructs of the theory of planned behaviour, the subcategories of instrumental attitude were "Divorce as the last solution" and "Divorce as damage for individuals and society". From the perceived behavioural control theme, two subcategories of behavioural control and self-efficacy were drawn; the first subtheme included "Others' meddling in the married life", "Social problems reducing behavioural control power" and "Personality characteristics affecting the behavioural control power"; and the second one included: "Education as a means for developing self-efficacy" and "barriers to self-efficacy". The injunctive norms theme included three subcategories of "Others help to reconcile", "Others meddling and lack of reconciliation", and "Families support to reconcile". The descriptive norms theme was "High divorce rate and misuse of satellite channels and social networks as factors making reconciliation difficult". It seems that education and counselling, within a predefined framework, such as applied theories, can be useful.

The need for artificial intelligence as an aid in controlling a manufacturing operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weyand, J.

AI applications to industrial production and planning are discussed and illustrated with diagrams and drawings. Applications examined include flexible automation of manufacturing processes (robots with open manual control, robots programmable to meet product specifications, self-regulated robots, and robots capable of learning), flexible fault detection and diagnostics, production control, and overall planning and management (product strategies, marketing, determination of development capacity, site selection, project organization, and technology investment strategies). For the case of robots, problems in the design and operation of a state-of-the-art machine-tool cell (for hole boring, milling, and joining) are analyzed in detail.

Programmable Automated Welding System (PAWS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kline, Martin D.

1994-01-01

An ambitious project to develop an advanced, automated welding system is being funded as part of the Navy Joining Center with Babcock & Wilcox as the prime integrator. This program, the Programmable Automated Welding System (PAWS), involves the integration of both planning and real-time control activities. Planning functions include the development of a graphical decision support system within a standard, portable environment. Real-time control functions include the development of a modular, intelligent, real-time control system and the integration of a number of welding process sensors. This paper presents each of these components of the PAWS and discusses how they can be utilized to automate the welding operation.

Challenges for Planning and Maintaining of Urban Rain Harvesting Systems- the case of Hammarby Sjöstad and Årstafältet in Stockholm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suleiman, Lina

2017-04-01

Planners and policymakers' concern escalates over conventional systems dealing with rains in cities based on domination and control of nature rather than harmony and design with nature. A new spatial planning paradigm is needed to put in place systems which mimic natural water systems and promise multiple values instead of systems consider rain as a source of problem. However, such approach embodies significant planning challenges. Urban rain harvesting systems (URHs) are inherently viewed as 'sociotechnical' systems. As such, planning processes should consider the interdependence of 'social' and 'technical' aspects as essential elements if a transition towards sustainable urban water systems is to be realised. Drawing on a common understanding for what urban rain harvesting systems should deliver in terms of 'functions' and 'added values', a generic planning framework is developed to inform practitioners on how the 'socio' and 'technical' elements should be assimilated in a long-term and integrated planning processes of URHs. Using the developed framework, the paper examines the planning and maintenance processes of urban rain harvesting systems in Årstafältet and Hammarby Sjöstad respectively. Results show that planners lack a common operational understanding on how these systems should be designed holistically in a long term and integrated planning processes creating working gabs or positional conflicts. In practice, urban planners and water engineers look at these systems as either urban design component or water drainage system to deal with technical functions hindering a smooth transition path towards urban rain harvesting systems. The paper concludes on the urgency for reordering roles and relations within a new set-up organisation to incubate these systems in long-term planning and maintenance processes. Key words: 'Sociotechnical' system, Water, Planning, Urban Rain Harvesting systems (URHs), Hammarby Sjostad and Årstafältet

IUS/TUG orbital operations and mission support study. Volume 4: Project planning data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

Planning data are presented for the development phases of interim upper stage (IUS) and tug systems. Major project planning requirements, major event schedules, milestones, system development and operations process networks, and relevant support research and technology requirements are included. Topics discussed include: IUS flight software; tug flight software; IUS/tug ground control center facilities, personnel, data systems, software, and equipment; IUS mission events; tug mission events; tug/spacecraft rendezvous and docking; tug/orbiter operations interface, and IUS/orbiter operations interface.

Global planning of several plants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bescos, Sylvie

1992-01-01

This paper discusses an attempt to solve the problem of planning several pharmaceutical plants at a global level. The interest in planning at this level is to increase the global control over the production process, to improve its overall efficiency, and to reduce the need for interaction between production plants. In order to reduce the complexity of this problem and to make it tractable, some abstractions were made. Based on these abstractions, a prototype is being developed within the framework of the EUREKA project PROTOS, using Constraint Logic Programming techniques.

[Operational costs and control of performance in surgical clinics between marketing and planning economics. Risk or perhaps quadrature of the circle].

PubMed

Kraus, T W; Weber, W; Mieth, M; Funk, H; Klar, E; Herfarth, C

2000-03-01

Surgical hospitals can be seen as operational or even industrial production systems. Doctors have a major impact on both medical performance and costs. For active participation in the management process, knowledge of industrial controlling mechanisms is required. German hospitals currently receive no procedure-related financial revenues, such as prices or tariffs for defined medical treatment activities. Maximum clinical revenues are, furthermore, limited by principles of planned economy and can be increased only slightly by greater medical performance. Costs are the only target that can be autonomously influenced by the management. Operative controlling in hospitals aims at horizontal and vertical coordination of subunits and decentralization of process regulations. Hospital medical performance is not clearly defined, its quantitative measurement very problematic. Process-orientated clinical activities are not taken into account. A high percentage of hospital costs are fixed and can be influenced only by major structural interventions in the long term. Variable costs are primarily dependent on the quantity of clinical activities, but also heavily influenced by patient structure (comorbidity and risk profile). The various forms of industrial cost calculations, such as internal budgeting, internal markets or flexible plan-cost balancing, cannot be directly applied in hospital management. Based on these analyses, current operational concepts and strategic trends are listed to describe cost-management options in hospitals with focus on the German health reforms.

Counterfactual cognitive deficit in persons with Parkinson's disease

PubMed Central

McNamara, P; Durso, R; Brown, A; Lynch, A

2003-01-01

Background: Counterfactuals are mental representations of alternatives to past events. Recent research has shown them to be important for other cognitive processes, such as planning, causal reasoning, problem solving, and decision making—all processes independently linked to the frontal lobes. Objective: To test the hypothesis that counterfactual thinking is impaired in some patients with Parkinson's disease and is linked to frontal dysfunction in these patients. Methods. Measures of counterfactual processing and frontal lobe functioning were administered to 24 persons with Parkinson's disease and 15 age matched healthy controls. Results. Patients with Parkinson's disease spontaneously generated significantly fewer counterfactuals than controls despite showing no differences from controls on a semantic fluency test; they also performed at chance levels on a counterfactual inference test, while age matched controls performed above chance levels on this test. Performance on both the counterfactual generation and inference tests correlated significantly with performance on two tests traditionally linked to frontal lobe functioning (Stroop colour–word interference and Tower of London planning tasks) and one test of pragmatic social communication skills. Conclusions: Counterfactual thinking is impaired in Parkinson's disease. This impairment may be related to frontal lobe dysfunction. PMID:12876235

Making a 403(b) Checklist--and Checking It Twice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blinn, Linda Segal

2013-01-01

The prospect of an IRS 403(b) audit can be daunting, but as the old saying goes, knowing is half the battle. Understanding what to expect during the audit process and having the proper internal controls are the keys to avoiding stress. As part of a traditional IRS 403(b) plan audit, the Internal Revenue Service has requested that plan sponsors…

Configuration management program plan for Hanford site systems engineering

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

Kellie, C.L.

This plan establishes the integrated management program for the evolving technical baseline developed through the systems engineering process. This configuration management program aligns with the criteria identified in the DOE Standard, DOE-STD-1073-93. Included are specific requirements for control of the systems engineering RDD-100 database, and electronic data incorporated in the database that establishes the Hanford Site Technical Baseline.

"Crossing the Rubicon": Understanding Chinese EFL Students' Volitional Process Underlying In-Class Participation with the Theory of Planned Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Girardelli, Davide; Patel, Vijay K.; Martins-Shannon, Janine

2017-01-01

An extended model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was used to study Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) students' in-class participation. The model included the core TPB constructs (behavioural intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control/self-efficacy) and 2 additional constructs (foreign…

Using COPE To Improve Quality of Care: The Experience of the Family Planning Association of Kenya.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley, Janet

1998-01-01

COPE (Client-Oriented, Provider-Efficient) methodology, a self-assessment tool that has been used in 35 countries around the world, was used to improve the quality of care in family planning clinics in Kenya. COPE involves a process that legitimately invests power with providers and clinic-level staff. It gives providers more control over their…

V&V Plan for FPGA-based ESF-CCS Using System Engineering Approach.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maerani, Restu; Mayaka, Joyce; El Akrat, Mohamed; Cheon, Jung Jae

2018-02-01

Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems play an important role in maintaining the safety of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operation. However, most current I&C safety systems are based on Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) hardware, which is difficult to verify and validate, and is susceptible to software common cause failure. Therefore, a plan for the replacement of the PLC-based safety systems, such as the Engineered Safety Feature - Component Control System (ESF-CCS), with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) is needed. By using a systems engineering approach, which ensures traceability in every phase of the life cycle, from system requirements, design implementation to verification and validation, the system development is guaranteed to be in line with the regulatory requirements. The Verification process will ensure that the customer and stakeholder’s needs are satisfied in a high quality, trustworthy, cost efficient and schedule compliant manner throughout a system’s entire life cycle. The benefit of the V&V plan is to ensure that the FPGA based ESF-CCS is correctly built, and to ensure that the measurement of performance indicators has positive feedback that “do we do the right thing” during the re-engineering process of the FPGA based ESF-CCS.

SSS-A attitude control prelaunch analysis and operations plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werking, R. D.; Beck, J.; Gardner, D.; Moyer, P.; Plett, M.

1971-01-01

A description of the attitude control support being supplied by the Mission and Data Operations Directorate is presented. Descriptions of the computer programs being used to support the mission for attitude determination, prediction, control, and definitive attitude processing are included. In addition, descriptions of the operating procedures which will be used to accomplish mission objectives are provided.

40 CFR 49.10711 - Federal Implementation Plan for the Astaris-Idaho LLC Facility (formerly owned by FMC Corporation...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... this section and associated air pollution control equipment, in a manner consistent with good air... practices. (iii) To the maximum extent practicable the air pollution control equipment or processes were..., considering the effect of any proposed air pollution control equipment; and (D) A description of any PM-10...

A Computational Model of Inhibitory Control in Frontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiecki, Thomas V.; Frank, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Planning and executing volitional actions in the face of conflicting habitual responses is a critical aspect of human behavior. At the core of the interplay between these 2 control systems lies an override mechanism that can suppress the habitual action selection process and allow executive control to take over. Here, we construct a neural circuit…

The Simon effect in action: planning and/or on-line control effects?

PubMed

Scorolli, Claudia; Pellicano, Antonello; Nicoletti, Roberto; Rubichi, Sandro; Castiello, Umberto

2015-07-01

Choice reaction tasks are performed faster when stimulus location corresponds to response location (Simon effect). This spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect affects performance at the level of action planning and execution. However, when response selection is completed before movement initiation, the Simon effect arises only at the planning level. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether when a precocious response selection is requested, the Simon effect can be detected on the kinematics characterizing the online control phase of a non-ballistic movement. Participants were presented with red or green colored squares, which could appear on the right, left, above, or below a central cross. Depending on the square's color, participants had to release one of two buttons (right/left), then reach toward and press a corresponding lateral pad. We found evidence of the Simon effect on both action planning and on-line control. Moreover, the investigation of response conflict at the level of previous trials (i.e., n-1), a factor that might determine interference at the level of the current response, revealed a conflict adaptation process across trials. Results are discussed in terms of current theories concerned with the Simon effect and the distinction between action planning and control. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Supply chain planning classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hvolby, Hans-Henrik; Trienekens, Jacques; Bonde, Hans

2001-10-01

Industry experience a need to shift in focus from internal production planning towards planning in the supply network. In this respect customer oriented thinking becomes almost a common good amongst companies in the supply network. An increase in the use of information technology is needed to enable companies to better tune their production planning with customers and suppliers. Information technology opportunities and supply chain planning systems facilitate companies to monitor and control their supplier network. In spite if these developments, most links in today's supply chains make individual plans, because the real demand information is not available throughout the chain. The current systems and processes of the supply chains are not designed to meet the requirements now placed upon them. For long term relationships with suppliers and customers, an integrated decision-making process is needed in order to obtain a satisfactory result for all parties. Especially when customized production and short lead-time is in focus. An effective value chain makes inventory available and visible among the value chain members, minimizes response time and optimizes total inventory value held throughout the chain. In this paper a supply chain planning classification grid is presented based current manufacturing classifications and supply chain planning initiatives.

Selecting Statistical Procedures for Quality Control Planning Based on Risk Management.

PubMed

Yago, Martín; Alcover, Silvia

2016-07-01

According to the traditional approach to statistical QC planning, the performance of QC procedures is assessed in terms of its probability of rejecting an analytical run that contains critical size errors (PEDC). Recently, the maximum expected increase in the number of unacceptable patient results reported during the presence of an undetected out-of-control error condition [Max E(NUF)], has been proposed as an alternative QC performance measure because it is more related to the current introduction of risk management concepts for QC planning in the clinical laboratory. We used a statistical model to investigate the relationship between PEDC and Max E(NUF) for simple QC procedures widely used in clinical laboratories and to construct charts relating Max E(NUF) with the capability of the analytical process that allow for QC planning based on the risk of harm to a patient due to the report of erroneous results. A QC procedure shows nearly the same Max E(NUF) value when used for controlling analytical processes with the same capability, and there is a close relationship between PEDC and Max E(NUF) for simple QC procedures; therefore, the value of PEDC can be estimated from the value of Max E(NUF) and vice versa. QC procedures selected by their high PEDC value are also characterized by a low value for Max E(NUF). The PEDC value can be used for estimating the probability of patient harm, allowing for the selection of appropriate QC procedures in QC planning based on risk management. © 2016 American Association for Clinical Chemistry.

Health behavior change in advance care planning: an agent-based model.

PubMed

Ernecoff, Natalie C; Keane, Christopher R; Albert, Steven M

2016-02-29

A practical and ethical challenge in advance care planning research is controlling and intervening on human behavior. Additionally, observing dynamic changes in advance care planning (ACP) behavior proves difficult, though tracking changes over time is important for intervention development. Agent-based modeling (ABM) allows researchers to integrate complex behavioral data about advance care planning behaviors and thought processes into a controlled environment that is more easily alterable and observable. Literature to date has not addressed how best to motivate individuals, increase facilitators and reduce barriers associated with ACP. We aimed to build an ABM that applies the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change to ACP as a health behavior and accurately reflects: 1) the rates at which individuals complete the process, 2) how individuals respond to barriers, facilitators, and behavioral variables, and 3) the interactions between these variables. We developed a dynamic ABM of the ACP decision making process based on the stages of change posited by the Transtheoretical Model. We integrated barriers, facilitators, and other behavioral variables that agents encounter as they move through the process. We successfully incorporated ACP barriers, facilitators, and other behavioral variables into our ABM, forming a plausible representation of ACP behavior and decision-making. The resulting distributions across the stages of change replicated those found in the literature, with approximately half of participants in the action-maintenance stage in both the model and the literature. Our ABM is a useful method for representing dynamic social and experiential influences on the ACP decision making process. This model suggests structural interventions, e.g. increasing access to ACP materials in primary care clinics, in addition to improved methods of data collection for behavioral studies, e.g. incorporating longitudinal data to capture behavioral dynamics.

Inclusion of attentional networks in the pre-surgical neuroimaging assessment of a large deep hemispheric cavernous malformation: an FMRI case report.

PubMed

Mickleborough, Marla J S; Kelly, Michael E; Gould, Layla; Ekstrand, Chelsea; Lorentz, Eric; Ellchuk, Tasha; Babyn, Paul; Borowsky, Ron

2015-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a noninvasive and reliable tool for mapping eloquent cortex in patients prior to brain surgery. Ensuring intact perceptual and cognitive processing is a key goal for neurosurgeons, and recent research has indicated the value of including attentional network processing in pre-surgical fMRI in order to help preserve such abilities, including reading, after surgery. We report a 42-year-old patient with a large cavernous malformation, near the left basal ganglia. The lesion measured 3.8 × 1.7 × 1.8 cm. In consultation with the patient and the multidisciplinary cerebrovascular team, the decision was made to offer the patient surgical resection. The surgical resection involved planned access via the left superior parietal lobule using stereotactic location. The patient declined an awake craniotomy; therefore, direct electrocortical stimulation (ECS) could not be used for intraoperative language localization in this case. Pre-surgical planning included fMRI localization of language, motor, sensory, and attentional processing. The key finding was that both reading and attention-processing tasks revealed consistent activation of the left superior parietal lobule, part of the attentional control network, and the site of the planned surgical access. Given this information, surgical access was adjusted to avoid interference with the attentional control network. The lesion was removed via the left inferior parietal lobule. The patient had no new neurologic deficits postoperatively but did develop mild neuropathic pain in the left hand. This case report supports recent research that indicates the value of including fMRI maps of attentional tasks along with traditional language-processing tasks in preoperative planning in patients undergoing neurosurgery procedures. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Forming social capital--does participatory planning foster trust in institutions?

PubMed

Menzel, Susanne; Buchecker, Matthias; Schulz, Tobias

2013-12-15

Participatory planning that includes interest groups and municipal representatives has been presented as a means to deal with the increasing difficulty to reach arrangements due to progressively scarce land resources. Under dispute is whether collaborative forms of planning augment social capital or whether they might actually cause the destruction of such a valuable social commodity. In this paper we focus on trust in institution as a specific dimension of social capital because we argue that this is one of the effects the convenors of such participatory planning procedures are most interested in. We pursue a pre-post design and survey advisory group members of five on-going river-related planning processes in Switzerland. Controlling for generalised trust, we investigate how trust in institutions is affected over time by the quality of such processes and the degree of participation they offer. We find that generalised trust is highly correlated with initial levels of trust and so is process quality. Particularly the latter finding challenges the usually assumed direction of causality according to which process quality influences trust building. Additionally, we find a positive (non-significant) effect of process quality on changes in trust, while a higher degree of participation rather seems to hinder trust building. We suppose this indicates that under the conditions of limited time and resources more attention should be paid to how to improve the quality of participatory processes than putting much effort in increasing the degree of participation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shuttle operations era planning for flight operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holt, J. D.; Beckman, D. A.

1984-01-01

The Space Transportation System (STS) provides routine access to space for a wide range of customers in which cargos vary from single payloads on dedicated flights to multiple payloads that share Shuttle resources. This paper describes the flight operations planning process from payload introduction through flight assignment to execution of the payload objectives and the changes that have been introduced to improve that process. Particular attention is given to the factors that influence the amount of preflight preparation necessary to satisfy customer requirements. The partnership between the STS operations team and the customer is described in terms of their functions and responsibilities in the development of a flight plan. A description of the Mission Control Center (MCC) and payload support capabilities completes the overview of Shuttle flight operations.

Minimization In Digital Design As A Meta-Planning Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, William P. C.; Wu, Jung-Gen

1987-05-01

In our model-based expert system for automatic digital system design, we formalize the design process into three sub-processes - compiling high-level behavioral specifications into primitive behavioral operations, grouping primitive operations into behavioral functions, and grouping functions into modules. Consideration of design minimization explicitly controls decision-making in the last two subprocesses. Design minimization, a key task in the automatic design of digital systems, is complicated by the high degree of interaction among the time sequence and content of design decisions. In this paper, we present an AI approach which directly addresses these interactions and their consequences by modeling the minimization prob-lem as a planning problem, and the management of design decision-making as a meta-planning problem.

Self-Regulation, Self-Efficacy and Health Behavior Change in Older Adults.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purdie, Nola; McCrindle, Andrea

2002-01-01

Presents an overview of self-regulation models: theory of planned behavior, protection motivation theory, health belief model, action control theory, transtheoretical model of behavior change, health action process, and precaution adoption process. Applies models to health behavior change in older adults with cardiovascular disease or diabetes.…

40 CFR 63.1368 - Reporting requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... operating permit. (B) Duration of excursions, as defined in § 63.1366(b)(7). (C) Operating logs and... storage vessel subject to control requirements: (A) Actual periods of planned routine maintenance during... process, as defined in § 63.1361. (i) A brief description of the process change; (ii) A description of any...

77 FR 3211 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Amendments to the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-23

... Emissions From Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters at Petroleum Refineries AGENCY: Environmental... that establishes controls for nitrogen oxides (NO X ) emissions from industrial boilers and process... carbon monoxide (CO) boiler at the Delaware City Refinery and providing for a facility-wide NOx emission...

40 CFR 63.1431 - Process vent annual epoxides emission factor plan requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., recovery, or recapture device, along with the expected percent efficiency. (iii) Annual emissions after the... section, kg/yr. R = Expected control efficiency of the combustion, recovery, or recapture device, percent....1426(c) to determine the epoxide control efficiency of the combustion, recovery, or recapture device...

40 CFR 63.1431 - Process vent annual epoxides emission factor plan requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., recovery, or recapture device, along with the expected percent efficiency. (iii) Annual emissions after the... section, kg/yr. R = Expected control efficiency of the combustion, recovery, or recapture device, percent....1426(c) to determine the epoxide control efficiency of the combustion, recovery, or recapture device...

40 CFR 63.653 - Monitoring, recordkeeping, and implementation plan for emissions averaging.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... § 63.120 of subpart G; and (ii) For closed vent systems with control devices, conduct an initial design..., monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting equivalent to that required for Group 1 emission points complying... control device. (2) The source shall implement the following procedures for each miscellaneous process...

76 FR 13567 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Adoption of Control...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-14

... Flat Wood Paneling Surface Coating Processes AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION... sources covered by EPA's Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) standards for flat wood paneling surface... Protection (PADEP) submitted to EPA a SIP revision concerning the adoption of the CTG for flat wood paneling...

What Were They Thinking? Reducing Sunk-Cost Bias in a Life-Span Sample

PubMed Central

Strough, JoNell; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Parker, Andrew M.; Karns, Tara; Lemaster, Philip; Pichayayothin, Nipat; Delaney, Rebecca; Stoiko, Rachel

2016-01-01

We tested interventions to reduce “sunk-cost bias,” the tendency to continue investing in failing plans even when those plans have soured and are no longer rewarding. We showed members of a national U.S. life-span panel a hypothetical scenario about a failing plan that was halfway complete. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention to focus on how to improve the situation, an intervention to focus on thoughts and feelings, or a no-intervention control group. First, we found that the thoughts and feelings intervention reduced sunk-cost bias in decisions about project completion, as compared to the improvement intervention and the no-intervention control. Second, older age was associated with greater willingness to cancel the failing plan across all three groups. Third, we found that introspection processes helped to explain the effectiveness of the interventions. Specifically, the larger reduction in sunk-cost bias as observed in the thoughts and feelings intervention (vs. the improvement intervention) was associated with suppression of future-oriented thoughts of eventual success, and with suppression of augmentations of the scenario that could make it seem reasonable to continue the plan. Fourth, we found that introspection processes were related to age differences in decisions. Older people were less likely to mention future-oriented thoughts of eventual success associated with greater willingness to continue the failing plan. We discuss factors to consider when designing interventions for reducing sunk-cost bias. PMID:27831712

Planning and Performance in Small Groups: Collective Implementation Intentions Enhance Group Goal Striving.

PubMed

Thürmer, J Lukas; Wieber, Frank; Gollwitzer, Peter M

2017-01-01

There are two key motivators to perform well in a group: making a contribution that (a) is crucial for the group (indispensability) and that (b) the other group members recognize (identifiability). We argue that indispensability promotes setting collective ("We") goals whereas identifiability induces individual ("I") goals. Although both goals may enhance performance, they should align with different strategies. Whereas pursuing collective goals should involve more cooperation, pursuing individual goals should involve less cooperation. Two experiments support this reasoning and show that planning out collective goals with collective implementation intentions (cIIs or "We-plans") relies on cooperation but planning out individual goals with individual implementation intentions (IIs or "I-plans") does not. In Experiment 1, three-member groups first formed a collective or an individual goal and then performed a first round of a physical persistence task. Groups then either formed a respective implementation intention (cII or II) or a control plan and then performed a second round of the task. Although groups with cIIs and IIs performed better on a physical persistence task than respective control groups, only cII groups interacted more cooperatively during task performance. To confirm the causal role of these interaction processes, Experiment 2 used the same persistence task and manipulated whether groups could communicate: When communication was hindered, groups with cIIs but not groups with IIs performed worse. Communication thus qualifies as a process making cIIs effective. The present research offers a psychology of action account to small group performance.

Integrated flexible manufacturing program for manufacturing automation and rapid prototyping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, S. L.; Brown, C. W.; King, M. S.; Simons, W. R.; Zimmerman, J. J.

1993-01-01

The Kansas City Division of Allied Signal Inc., as part of the Integrated Flexible Manufacturing Program (IFMP), is developing an integrated manufacturing environment. Several systems are being developed to produce standards and automation tools for specific activities within the manufacturing environment. The Advanced Manufacturing Development System (AMDS) is concentrating on information standards (STEP) and product data transfer; the Expert Cut Planner system (XCUT) is concentrating on machining operation process planning standards and automation capabilities; the Advanced Numerical Control system (ANC) is concentrating on NC data preparation standards and NC data generation tools; the Inspection Planning and Programming Expert system (IPPEX) is concentrating on inspection process planning, coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection standards and CMM part program generation tools; and the Intelligent Scheduling and Planning System (ISAPS) is concentrating on planning and scheduling tools for a flexible manufacturing system environment. All of these projects are working together to address information exchange, standardization, and information sharing to support rapid prototyping in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) environment.

Conservation plan based on the concept of integrity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yen, Y. N.; Cheng, C. F.

2015-08-01

Value based concept has been accepted as a universal principle for the conservation of Cultural Heritage. Authenticity and integrity are two main issues protecting those values. Authenticity is the major tool in the value assessment and integrity plays an important role in the procedure of conservation plan. From the perspective of integrity, this research explores the principle of conservation plan and discusses its relation with the restoration plan and urban plan. A conservation plan in Quing-Lin village, Kinmen, will be taken as an example for implementation. The research shows that a conservation plan with integrity in mind helps to clarify the conservation target areas and their buffer zones. It also serves as a tool for developing control and risk management. Cultural mapping is an efficient tool for the communication with stakeholders in the process of the conservation plan.

Automatic treatment plan re-optimization for adaptive radiotherapy guided with the initial plan DVHs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Nan; Zarepisheh, Masoud; Uribe-Sanchez, Andres; Moore, Kevin; Tian, Zhen; Zhen, Xin; Jiang Graves, Yan; Gautier, Quentin; Mell, Loren; Zhou, Linghong; Jia, Xun; Jiang, Steve

2013-12-01

Adaptive radiation therapy (ART) can reduce normal tissue toxicity and/or improve tumor control through treatment adaptations based on the current patient anatomy. Developing an efficient and effective re-planning algorithm is an important step toward the clinical realization of ART. For the re-planning process, manual trial-and-error approach to fine-tune planning parameters is time-consuming and is usually considered unpractical, especially for online ART. It is desirable to automate this step to yield a plan of acceptable quality with minimal interventions. In ART, prior information in the original plan is available, such as dose-volume histogram (DVH), which can be employed to facilitate the automatic re-planning process. The goal of this work is to develop an automatic re-planning algorithm to generate a plan with similar, or possibly better, DVH curves compared with the clinically delivered original plan. Specifically, our algorithm iterates the following two loops. An inner loop is the traditional fluence map optimization, in which we optimize a quadratic objective function penalizing the deviation of the dose received by each voxel from its prescribed or threshold dose with a set of fixed voxel weighting factors. In outer loop, the voxel weighting factors in the objective function are adjusted according to the deviation of the current DVH curves from those in the original plan. The process is repeated until the DVH curves are acceptable or maximum iteration step is reached. The whole algorithm is implemented on GPU for high efficiency. The feasibility of our algorithm has been demonstrated with three head-and-neck cancer IMRT cases, each having an initial planning CT scan and another treatment CT scan acquired in the middle of treatment course. Compared with the DVH curves in the original plan, the DVH curves in the resulting plan using our algorithm with 30 iterations are better for almost all structures. The re-optimization process takes about 30 s using our in-house optimization engine. This work was originally presented at the 54th AAPM annual meeting in Charlotte, NC, July 29-August 2, 2012.

Advancing the integration of hospital IT. Pitfalls and perspectives when replacing specialized software for high-risk environments with enterprise system extensions.

PubMed

Engelmann, Carsten; Ametowobla, Dzifa

2017-05-17

Planning and controlling surgical operations hugely impacts upon productivity, patient safety, and surgeons' careers. Established, specialized software for this task is being increasingly replaced by "Operating Room (OR)-modules" appended to enterprise-wide resource planning (ERP) systems. As a result, usability problems are re-emerging and require developers' attention. Systematic evaluation of the functionality and social repercussions of a global, market-leading IT business control system (SAP R3, Germany), adapted for real-time OR process steering. Field study involving document analyses, interviews, and a 73-item survey addressed to 77 qualified (> 1-year system experience) senior planning executives (end users; "planners") working in surgical departments of university hospitals. Planners reported that 57% of electronic operation requests contained contradictory information. Key screens contained clinically irrelevant areas (36 +/- 29%). Compared to the legacy system, users reported either no improvements or worse performance, in regard to co-ordination of OR stakeholders, intra-day program changes, and safety. Planners concluded that the ERP-planning module was "non-intuitive" (66%), increased planning work (56%, p=0.002), and did not impact upon either organizational mishap spectrum or frequency. Interviews evidenced intra-institutional power shifts due to increased system complexity. Planners resented e.g. a trend towards increased personal culpability for mishap. Highly complex enterprise system extensions may not be directly suited to specific process steering tasks in a high risk/low error-environment like the OR. In view of surgeons' high primary task load, the repeated call for simpler IT is an imperative for ERP extensions. System design should consider a) that current OR IT suffers from an input limitation regarding planning-relevant real-time data, and b) that there are social processes that strongly affect planning and particularly ERP use beyond algorithms. Real improvement of clinical IT tools requires their independent evaluation according to standards developed for pharmaceutical subjects.

Dengue Contingency Planning: From Research to Policy and Practice.

PubMed

Runge-Ranzinger, Silvia; Kroeger, Axel; Olliaro, Piero; McCall, Philip J; Sánchez Tejeda, Gustavo; Lloyd, Linda S; Hakim, Lokman; Bowman, Leigh R; Horstick, Olaf; Coelho, Giovanini

2016-09-01

Dengue is an increasingly incident disease across many parts of the world. In response, an evidence-based handbook to translate research into policy and practice was developed. This handbook facilitates contingency planning as well as the development and use of early warning and response systems for dengue fever epidemics, by identifying decision-making processes that contribute to the success or failure of dengue surveillance, as well as triggers that initiate effective responses to incipient outbreaks. Available evidence was evaluated using a step-wise process that included systematic literature reviews, policymaker and stakeholder interviews, a study to assess dengue contingency planning and outbreak management in 10 countries, and a retrospective logistic regression analysis to identify alarm signals for an outbreak warning system using datasets from five dengue endemic countries. Best practices for managing a dengue outbreak are provided for key elements of a dengue contingency plan including timely contingency planning, the importance of a detailed, context-specific dengue contingency plan that clearly distinguishes between routine and outbreak interventions, surveillance systems for outbreak preparedness, outbreak definitions, alert algorithms, managerial capacity, vector control capacity, and clinical management of large caseloads. Additionally, a computer-assisted early warning system, which enables countries to identify and respond to context-specific variables that predict forthcoming dengue outbreaks, has been developed. Most countries do not have comprehensive, detailed contingency plans for dengue outbreaks. Countries tend to rely on intensified vector control as their outbreak response, with minimal focus on integrated management of clinical care, epidemiological, laboratory and vector surveillance, and risk communication. The Technical Handbook for Surveillance, Dengue Outbreak Prediction/ Detection and Outbreak Response seeks to provide countries with evidence-based best practices to justify the declaration of an outbreak and the mobilization of the resources required to implement an effective dengue contingency plan.

The 300 Area Integrated Field Research Challenge Quality Assurance Project Plan

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

Fix, N. J.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a group of expert collaborators are using the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site 300 Area uranium plume within the footprint of the 300-FF-5 groundwater operable unit as a site for an Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge (IFRC). The IFRC is entitled Multi-Scale Mass Transfer Processes Controlling Natural Attenuation and Engineered Remediation: An IFRC Focused on the Hanford Site 300 Area Uranium Plume Project. The theme is investigation of multi-scale mass transfer processes. A series of forefront science questions on mass transfer are posed for research that relate to the effect of spatial heterogeneities; themore » importance of scale; coupled interactions between biogeochemical, hydrologic, and mass transfer processes; and measurements/approaches needed to characterize and model a mass transfer-dominated system. This Quality Assurance Project Plan provides the quality assurance requirements and processes that will be followed by the 300 Area IFRC Project. This plan is designed to be used exclusively by project staff.« less

Design and analysis issues of integrated control systems for high-speed civil transports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccarty, Craig A.; Feather, John B.; Dykman, John R.; Page, Mark A.; Hodgkinson, John

1992-01-01

A study was conducted to identify, rank, and define development plans for the critical guidance and control design and analysis issues as related to economically viable and environmentally acceptable high-speed civil transport. The issues were identified in a multistep process. First, pertinent literature on supersonic cruise aircraft was reviewed, and experts were consulted to establish the fundamental characteristics and problems inherent to supersonic cruise aircraft. Next, the advanced technologies and strategies being pursued for the high-speed civil transport were considered to determine any additional unique control problems the transport may have. Finally, existing technologies and methods were examined to determine their capabilities for the design and analysis of high-speed civil transport control systems and to identify the shortcomings and issues. Three priority levels - mandatory, highly beneficial, and desirable - were established. Within each of these levels, the issues were further ranked. Technology development plans for each issue were defined. Each plan contains a task breakdown and schedule.

Adaptive integration of habits into depth-limited planning defines a habitual-goal–directed spectrum

PubMed Central

Keramati, Mehdi; Smittenaar, Peter; Dolan, Raymond J.; Dayan, Peter

2016-01-01

Behavioral and neural evidence reveal a prospective goal-directed decision process that relies on mental simulation of the environment, and a retrospective habitual process that caches returns previously garnered from available choices. Artificial systems combine the two by simulating the environment up to some depth and then exploiting habitual values as proxies for consequences that may arise in the further future. Using a three-step task, we provide evidence that human subjects use such a normative plan-until-habit strategy, implying a spectrum of approaches that interpolates between habitual and goal-directed responding. We found that increasing time pressure led to shallower goal-directed planning, suggesting that a speed-accuracy tradeoff controls the depth of planning with deeper search leading to more accurate evaluation, at the cost of slower decision-making. We conclude that subjects integrate habit-based cached values directly into goal-directed evaluations in a normative manner. PMID:27791110

Tactical resource allocation and elective patient admission planning in care processes.

PubMed

Hulshof, Peter J H; Boucherie, Richard J; Hans, Erwin W; Hurink, Johann L

2013-06-01

Tactical planning of resources in hospitals concerns elective patient admission planning and the intermediate term allocation of resource capacities. Its main objectives are to achieve equitable access for patients, to meet production targets/to serve the strategically agreed number of patients, and to use resources efficiently. This paper proposes a method to develop a tactical resource allocation and elective patient admission plan. These tactical plans allocate available resources to various care processes and determine the selection of patients to be served that are at a particular stage of their care process. Our method is developed in a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) framework and copes with multiple resources, multiple time periods and multiple patient groups with various uncertain treatment paths through the hospital, thereby integrating decision making for a chain of hospital resources. Computational results indicate that our method leads to a more equitable distribution of resources and provides control of patient access times, the number of patients served and the fraction of allocated resource capacity. Our approach is generic, as the base MILP and the solution approach allow for including various extensions to both the objective criteria and the constraints. Consequently, the proposed method is applicable in various settings of tactical hospital management.

Integrated payload and mission planning, phase 3. Volume 3: Ground real-time mission operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, W. J.

1977-01-01

The payloads tentatively planned to fly on the first two Spacelab missions were analyzed to examine the cost relationships of providing mission operations support from onboard vs the ground-based Payload Operations Control Center (POCC). The quantitative results indicate that use of a POCC, with data processing capability, to support real-time mission operations is the most cost effective case.

Configuration management program plan for Hanford site systems engineering

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

Hoffman, A.G.

This plan establishes the integrated configuration management program for the evolving technical baseline developed through the systems engineering process. This configuration management program aligns with the criteria identified in the DOE Standard, DOE-STD-1073-93. Included are specific requirements for control of the systems engineering RDD-100 database, and electronic data incorporated in the database that establishes the Hanford site technical baseline.

Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) clock program: Present and future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tennant, D. M.

1981-01-01

Global Positioning System (GPS) program status are discussed and plans for ensuring the long term continuation of the program are presented. Performance of GPS clocks is presented in terms of on orbit data as portrayed by GPS master control station kalman filter processing. The GPS Clock reliability program is reviewed in depth and future plans fo the overall clock program are published.

40 CFR 52.2299 - Original identification of plan section.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

.../hydrocarbons in Texas designated regions 7 and 10; regulation VII; and control strategy for nitrogen oxides in... printing; rotogravure printing; surface coating processes; transfer efficiency; and vapor balance system...

40 CFR 52.2299 - Original identification of plan section.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

.../hydrocarbons in Texas designated regions 7 and 10; regulation VII; and control strategy for nitrogen oxides in... printing; rotogravure printing; surface coating processes; transfer efficiency; and vapor balance system...

76 FR 298 - Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-04

...-water separators by requiring covers and use of vapor loss control devices. The rule is renumbered and...://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/memoranda/ractqanda.pdf . 6. ``Clean Water Act Analytical Methods'', U.S. EPA.../sw846/online/index.htm . 8. ``Control of Refinery Vacuum Producing Systems, Water Separators and Process...

Framework for establishing records control in hospitals as an ISO 9001 requirement.

PubMed

Al-Qatawneh, Lina

2017-02-13

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the process followed to control records in a Jordanian private community hospital as an ISO 9001:2008 standard requirement. Design/methodology/approach Under the hospital quality council's supervision, the quality management and development office staff were responsible for designing, planning and implementing the quality management system (QMS) using the ISO 9001:2008 standard. A policy for records control was established. An action plan for establishing the records control was developed and implemented. On completion, a coding system for records was specified to be used by hospital staff. Finally, an internal audit was performed to verify conformity to the ISO 9001:2008 standard requirements. Findings Successful certification by a neutral body ascertained that the hospital's QMS conformed to the ISO 9001:2008 requirements. A framework was developed that describes the records controlling process, which can be used by staff in any healthcare organization wanting to achieve ISO 9001:2008 accreditation. Originality/value Given the increased interest among healthcare organizations to achieve the ISO 9001 certification, the proposed framework for establishing records control is developed and is expected to be a valuable management tool to improve and sustain healthcare quality.

Automated control of hierarchical systems using value-driven methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pugh, George E.; Burke, Thomas E.

1990-01-01

An introduction is given to the Value-driven methodology, which has been successfully applied to solve a variety of difficult decision, control, and optimization problems. Many real-world decision processes (e.g., those encountered in scheduling, allocation, and command and control) involve a hierarchy of complex planning considerations. For such problems it is virtually impossible to define a fixed set of rules that will operate satisfactorily over the full range of probable contingencies. Decision Science Applications' value-driven methodology offers a systematic way of automating the intuitive, common-sense approach used by human planners. The inherent responsiveness of value-driven systems to user-controlled priorities makes them particularly suitable for semi-automated applications in which the user must remain in command of the systems operation. Three examples of the practical application of the approach in the automation of hierarchical decision processes are discussed: the TAC Brawler air-to-air combat simulation is a four-level computerized hierarchy; the autonomous underwater vehicle mission planning system is a three-level control system; and the Space Station Freedom electrical power control and scheduling system is designed as a two-level hierarchy. The methodology is compared with rule-based systems and with other more widely-known optimization techniques.

Designing urban rules from emergent patterns: co-evolving paths of informal and formal urban systems - the case of Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Paulo

2018-05-01

In many societies, informality has been a relevant part of the construction of the urban fabric. This is valid along a city’s history and in recent urbanization processes. In the past, informality was in the origin of many of urban planning. Very soon urban planning adopted, as one of their main missions malfunctions in cities. Therefore, the need of formalization became one of the main reasons on the emergence, the control of informal processes. As an answer to informal individual solutions, urban planning responded with standardized rules and the urge of creating spaces fitting into pre-established rules instead of rules fitting into spaces. Urban planning as a discipline has gradually changed its path. The contrast between urbanization promoted under formal urban planning and informal urbanization is only one sign of the mismatch between urban planning actions and informal urbanization dynamics. Considering this tension between formal and informal dynamics, in some cases, planning rules and planning processes continue ignoring informal dynamics; in other cases, planning rules are designed to integrate informality “without losing its face” through “planning games” [1]; and a third and less explored way in which planning systems interact with informality and from that interaction learn how to improve (we consider it a process of enrichment) planning rules while they promote an upgrade of informal interventions [2]. This latter win-win situation in which both informal and formal systems benefit from their interaction is still rare: most of the time either only one side benefits or none benefit from the interaction. Nevertheless, there are signs that from this interaction co-dependent adaptation might occur with positive outcomes for the urban system – in which co-evolutionary dynamics can be traced. We propose to look at the way building rules have been designed in Europe in a context considered successful in the sense of dealing of informality – the one of Portugal. The country experienced a wave of informality associated with illegal urbanization since the 1960’s in the main urban areas. The process of interaction between informal and formal urban systems proved to be a success in statistic terms. Slum clearance reduced the existence of informal occupations to almost zero. Informal settlements involving land tenure have been dealt with in the last two decades with considerable positive impact in the urban fabric. Based on this, with this paper we will evaluate how informal and formal systems are impacting each other and changing along the time the shape of building and of planning rules. For this we will look at the planning tools created to formalize informal settlements in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area from the last forty years to see how urban and building rules were adapted to respond to the specific needs of informal settlements; how this adaptation moved from temporary and exceptional to permanent rules; finally, how were these new rules able to “contaminate” the general planning and building codes. We aim that these findings would help us to contribute to a “healthier” relation between formal and informal urban systems, not ignoring each other, not controlling each other but instead learning with each other. By achieving this, planning systems become more responsive; on the other hand, informal occupations can be upgraded without being destroyed with the contribution of the planning systems.

An Architecture to Enable Autonomous Control of Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

May, Ryan D.; Dever, Timothy P.; Soeder, James F.; George, Patrick J.; Morris, Paul H.; Colombano, Silvano P.; Frank, Jeremy D.; Schwabacher, Mark A.; Wang, Liu; LawLer, Dennis

2014-01-01

Autonomy is required for manned spacecraft missions distant enough that light-time communication delays make ground-based mission control infeasible. Presently, ground controllers develop a complete schedule of power modes for all spacecraft components based on a large number of factors. The proposed architecture is an early attempt to formalize and automate this process using on-vehicle computation resources. In order to demonstrate this architecture, an autonomous electrical power system controller and vehicle Mission Manager are constructed. These two components are designed to work together in order to plan upcoming load use as well as respond to unanticipated deviations from the plan. The communication protocol was developed using "paper" simulations prior to formally encoding the messages and developing software to implement the required functionality. These software routines exchange data via TCP/IP sockets with the Mission Manager operating at NASA Ames Research Center and the autonomous power controller running at NASA Glenn Research Center. The interconnected systems are tested and shown to be effective at planning the operation of a simulated quasi-steady state spacecraft power system and responding to unexpected disturbances.

The Concept of Withdrawal of Divorce Petition Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad Ali; Mazloomi-Mahmoodabad, Seyed Saied; Afshani, Seyed Alireza; Ardian, Nahid; Vaezi, Ali; Refahi, Seyed Ali Asghar

2018-01-01

AIM: The present study sought to explore the experiences of participants in divorce process according to the theory of planned behaviour. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted using content analysis method. In this research, 27 participants involved in the divorce process were selected. The data were coded, and the qualitative content analysis was performed. RESULTS: Based on four constructs of the theory of planned behaviour, the subcategories of instrumental attitude were “Divorce as the last solution” and “Divorce as damage for individuals and society”. From the perceived behavioural control theme, two subcategories of behavioural control and self-efficacy were drawn; the first subtheme included “Others’ meddling in the married life”, “Social problems reducing behavioural control power” and “Personality characteristics affecting the behavioural control power”; and the second one included: “Education as a means for developing self-efficacy” and “barriers to self-efficacy”. The injunctive norms theme included three subcategories of “Others help to reconcile”, “Others meddling and lack of reconciliation”, and “Families support to reconcile”. The descriptive norms theme was “High divorce rate and misuse of satellite channels and social networks as factors making reconciliation difficult”. CONCLUSION: It seems that education and counselling, within a predefined framework, such as applied theories, can be useful. PMID:29875872

Planning for long-duration space exploration: Interviews with NASA subject matter experts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntosh, Tristan; Mulhearn, Tyler; Gibson, Carter; Mumford, Michael D.; Yammarino, Francis J.; Connelly, Shane; Day, Eric A.; Vessey, William B.

2016-12-01

Planning is critical to organizations, especially for those involved in pursuing technologic, scientific, and innovative ventures. Examination of planning processes is particularly important in high-stake and high-risk environments. In the present study, to highlight the significance of planning in the context of long-duration space missions, 11 current and former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) personnel were interviewed to gain a better understanding of astronaut and Mission Control leadership in preparing for and carrying out space missions. Interviewees focused their responses on perceptions of leadership and thoughts on how long-duration spaceflight leadership should be different from current and short-term spaceflight. Notes from these interviews were content coded and qualitatively analyzed. We found that cognitive planning skills and case-based reasoning were among the variables that were most highly rated for being critical to the success of long-duration space missions. Moreover, qualitative analyses revealed new considerations for long-duration space missions, such as granting greater autonomy to crewmembers and the need for more near-term forecasting. The implications of these findings for understanding the planning processes and necessary characteristics of individuals tasked with planning are discussed.

Input-output analysis and the hospital budgeting process.

PubMed Central

Cleverly, W O

1975-01-01

Two hospitals budget systems, a conventional budget and an input-output budget, are compared to determine how they affect management decisions in pricing, output, planning, and cost control. Analysis of data from a 210-bed not-for-profit hospital indicates that adoption of the input-output budget could cause substantial changes in posted hospital rates in individual departments but probably would have no impact on hospital output determination. The input-output approach promises to be a more accurate system for cost control and planning because, unlike the conventional approach, it generates objective signals for investigating variances of expenses from budgeted levels. PMID:1205865

Recreation Carrying Capacity Handbook Methods and Techniques for Planning, Design, and Management.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

0 CU U ___ Imp W B’ m Type of Wildlife 1’ 0 -0 0 a 0 0 0 Type of Vegetation 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 00 rAmount of Tree Cover/Shade of 0 l 0 010 is Is Type...Thorough identification and clarifi- Emphasize controlling vehicle Identifying And Clarifying cation of management objectives re- use rather than... identification and clarifi- planners and resource managers cation of management objectives per- early in the master planning process Plan so the capacity

National Conference on Integrated Resource Planning: Proceedings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Until recently, state regulators have focused most of their attention on the development of least-cost or integrated resource planning (IRP) processes for electric utilities. A number of commissions are beginning to scrutinize the planning processes of local gas distribution companies (LDCs) because of the increased control that LDCs have over their purchased gas costs (as well as the associated risks) and because of questions surrounding the role and potential of gas end-use efficiency options. Traditionally, resource planning (LDCs) has concentrated on options for purchasing and storing gas. Integrated resource planning involves the creation of a process in which supply-side and demand-side options are integrated to create a resource mix that reliably satisfies customers' short-term and long-term energy service needs at the lowest cost. As applied to gas utilities, an integrated resource plan seeks to balance cost and reliability, and should not be interpreted simply as the search for lowest commodity costs. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Energy Conservation committee asked Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) to survey state PUCs to determine the extent to which they have undertaken least cost planning for gas utilities. The survey included the following topics: status of state PUC least-cost planning regulations and practices for gas utilities; type and scope of natural gas DSM programs in effect, including fuel substitution; economic tests and analysis methods used to evaluate DSM programs; relationship between prudency reviews of gas utility purchasing practices and integrated resource planning; and key regulatory issues facing gas utilities during the next five years.

NASA Flight Planning Branch Space Shuttle Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clevenger, Jennifer D.; Bristol, Douglas J.; Whitney, Gregory R.; Blanton, Mark R.; Reynolds, F. Fisher, III

2011-01-01

Planning products and procedures that allowed the mission Flight Control Teams and the Astronaut crews to plan, train and fly every Space Shuttle mission were developed by the Flight Planning Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. As the Space Shuttle Program came to a close, lessons learned were collected from each phase of the successful execution of these Space Shuttle missions. Specific examples of how roles and responsibilities of console positions that develop the crew and vehicle attitude timelines have been analyzed and will be discussed. Additionally, the relationships and procedural hurdles experienced through international collaboration have molded operations. These facets will be explored and related to current and future operations with the International Space Station and future vehicles. Along with these important aspects, the evolution of technology and continual improvement of data transfer tools between the Space Shuttle and ground team has also defined specific lessons used in improving the control team s effectiveness. Methodologies to communicate and transmit messages, images, and files from the Mission Control Center to the Orbiter evolved over several years. These lessons were vital in shaping the effectiveness of safe and successful mission planning and have been applied to current mission planning work in addition to being incorporated into future space flight planning. The critical lessons from all aspects of previous plan, train, and fly phases of Space Shuttle flight missions are not only documented in this paper, but are also discussed regarding how they pertain to changes in process and consideration for future space flight planning.

Flight Planning Branch Space Shuttle Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Price, Jennifer B.; Scott, Tracy A.; Hyde, Crystal M.

2011-01-01

Planning products and procedures that allow the mission flight control teams and the astronaut crews to plan, train and fly every Space Shuttle mission have been developed by the Flight Planning Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center. As the Space Shuttle Program ends, lessons learned have been collected from each phase of the successful execution of these Shuttle missions. Specific examples of how roles and responsibilities of console positions that develop the crew and vehicle attitude timelines will be discussed, as well as techniques and methods used to solve complex spacecraft and instrument orientation problems. Additionally, the relationships and procedural hurdles experienced through international collaboration have molded operations. These facets will be explored and related to current and future operations with the International Space Station and future vehicles. Along with these important aspects, the evolution of technology and continual improvement of data transfer tools between the shuttle and ground team has also defined specific lessons used in the improving the control teams effectiveness. Methodologies to communicate and transmit messages, images, and files from Mission Control to the Orbiter evolved over several years. These lessons have been vital in shaping the effectiveness of safe and successful mission planning that have been applied to current mission planning work in addition to being incorporated into future space flight planning. The critical lessons from all aspects of previous plan, train, and fly phases of shuttle flight missions are not only documented in this paper, but are also discussed as how they pertain to changes in process and consideration for future space flight planning.

Neurosurgical robotic arm drilling navigation system.

PubMed

Lin, Chung-Chih; Lin, Hsin-Cheng; Lee, Wen-Yo; Lee, Shih-Tseng; Wu, Chieh-Tsai

2017-09-01

The aim of this work was to develop a neurosurgical robotic arm drilling navigation system that provides assistance throughout the complete bone drilling process. The system comprised neurosurgical robotic arm navigation combining robotic and surgical navigation, 3D medical imaging based surgical planning that could identify lesion location and plan the surgical path on 3D images, and automatic bone drilling control that would stop drilling when the bone was to be drilled-through. Three kinds of experiment were designed. The average positioning error deduced from 3D images of the robotic arm was 0.502 ± 0.069 mm. The correlation between automatically and manually planned paths was 0.975. The average distance error between automatically planned paths and risky zones was 0.279 ± 0.401 mm. The drilling auto-stopping algorithm had 0.00% unstopped cases (26.32% in control group 1) and 70.53% non-drilled-through cases (8.42% and 4.21% in control groups 1 and 2). The system may be useful for neurosurgical robotic arm drilling navigation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Implementation of a rational standard of hygiene for preparation of operating rooms].

PubMed

Bauer, M; Scheithauer, S; Moerer, O; Pütz, H; Sliwa, B; Schmidt, C E; Russo, S G; Waeschle, R M

2015-10-01

The assurance of high standards of care is a major requirement in German hospitals while cost reduction and efficient use of resources are mandatory. These requirements are particularly evident in the high-risk and cost-intensive operating theatre field with multiple process steps. The cleaning of operating rooms (OR) between surgical procedures is of major relevance for patient safety and requires time and human resources. The hygiene procedure plan for OR cleaning between operations at the university hospital in Göttingen was revised and optimized according to the plan-do-check-act principle due to not clearly defined specifications of responsibilities, use of resources, prolonged process times and increased staff engagement. The current status was evaluated in 2012 as part of the first step "plan". The subsequent step "do" included an expert symposium with external consultants, interdisciplinary consensus conferences with an actualization of the former hygiene procedure plan and the implementation process. All staff members involved were integrated into this management change process. The penetration rate of the training and information measures as well as the acceptance and compliance with the new hygiene procedure plan were reviewed within step "check". The rates of positive swabs and air sampling as well as of postoperative wound infections were analyzed for quality control and no evidence for a reduced effectiveness of the new hygiene plan was found. After the successful implementation of these measures the next improvement cycle ("act") was performed in 2014 which led to a simplification of the hygiene plan by reduction of the number of defined cleaning and disinfection programs for preparation of the OR. The reorganization measures described led to a comprehensive commitment of the hygiene procedure plan by distinct specifications for responsibilities, for the course of action and for the use of resources. Furthermore, a simplification of the plan, a rational staff assignment and reduced process times were accomplished. Finally, potential conflicts due to an insufficient evidence-based knowledge of personnel was reduced. This present project description can be used by other hospitals as a guideline for similar changes in management processes.

GEOSPATIAL QA

EPA Science Inventory

Geospatial Science is increasingly becoming an important tool in making Agency decisions. Quality Control and Quality Assurance are required to be integrated during the planning, implementation and assessment of geospatial databases, processes and products. In order to ensure Age...

NASA IVHM Technology Experiment for X-vehicles (NITEX)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandra, Hayden; Bajwa, Anupa

2001-01-01

The purpose of the NASA IVHM Technology Experiment for X-vehicles (NITEX) is to advance the development of selected IVHM technologies in a flight environment and to demonstrate the potential for reusable launch vehicle ground processing savings. The technologies to be developed and demonstrated include system-level and detailed diagnostics for real-time fault detection and isolation, prognostics for fault prediction, automated maintenance planning based on diagnostic and prognostic results, and a microelectronics hardware platform. Complete flight The Evolution of Flexible Insulation as IVHM consists of advanced sensors, distributed data acquisition, data processing that includes model-based diagnostics, prognostics and vehicle autonomy for control or suggested action, and advanced data storage. Complete ground IVHM consists of evolved control room architectures, advanced applications including automated maintenance planning and automated ground support equipment. This experiment will advance the development of a subset of complete IVHM.

Overview of NASA's Thermal Control System Development for Exploration Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephan, Ryan A.

2011-01-01

The now-cancelled Constellation Program included the Orion, Altair, and Lunar Surface Systems project offices. The first two elements, Orion and Altair, were planned to be manned space vehicles while the third element was much more diverse and included several sub-elements. Among other things, these sub-elements were Rovers and a Lunar Habitat. The planned missions involving these systems and vehicles included several risks and design challenges. Due to the unique thermal operating environment, many of these risks and challenges were associated with the vehicles thermal control system. NASA s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) consisted of various technology development projects. The project chartered with mitigating the aforementioned thermal risks and design challenges was the Thermal Control System Development for Exploration Project. These risks and design challenges were being addressed through a rigorous technology development process that was planned to culminate with an integrated thermal control system test. Although the technologies being developed were originally aimed towards mitigating specific Constellation risks, the technology development process is being continued within a new program. This continued effort is justified by the fact that many of the technologies are generically applicable to future spacecraft thermal control systems. The current paper summarizes the development efforts being performed by the technology development project. The development efforts involve heat acquisition and heat rejection hardware including radiators, heat exchangers, and evaporators. The project has also been developing advanced phase change material heat sinks and performing a material compatibility assessment for a promising thermal control system working fluid. The to-date progress and lessons-learned from these development efforts will be discussed throughout the paper.

75 FR 13058 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Idaho

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

... for the control of nonmetallic mineral processing plants (IDEQ Docket 58-0101-0002 and a portion of..., 204 and 205 now include language stating that the applicable Federal regulations are incorporated by....01.01.200. IDAPA 58.01.01.225 Permit to Construct Processing Fee, was revised for consistency with...

NIST: Information Management in the AMRF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callaghan, George (Editor)

1991-01-01

The information management strategies developed for the NIST Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) - a prototype small batch manufacturing facility used for integration and measurement related standards research are outlined in this video. The five major manufacturing functions - design, process planning, off-line programming, shop floor control, and materials processing are explained and their applications demonstrated.

Operational Test and Evaluation Handbook for Aircrew Training Devices. Volume I. Planning and Management.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-02-01

of i, nd to (! Lvel op an awareness of the T&E roles and responsioi Ii ties Viir~dte various Air Force organizations involved in the T&EC process... mathematical models to determine controller messages and issue controller messages using computer generated speech. AUTOMATED PERFORMANCE ALERTS: Signals

40 CFR 60.5110 - How do I comply with the increment of progress for submittal of a control plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE FOR NEW STATIONARY SOURCES Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Existing Sewage Sludge Incineration Units Model Rule... pollution control and process changes that you will use to comply with the emission limits and standards and...

GEOMORPHIC CONTROLS ON MEADOW ECOSYSTEMS – INSIGHTS INTO LOCAL PROCESSES USING NEAR-SURFACE SEISMIC TECHNIQUES AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR

EPA Science Inventory

Geomorphic controls on riparian meadows in the Central Great Basin of Nevada are an important aspect in determining the formation of and planning the management of these systems. The current hypothesis is that both alluvial fan sediment and faulted bedrock steps interact to cont...

Optimal control of raw timber production processes

Treesearch

Ivan Kolenka

1978-01-01

This paper demonstrates the possibility of optimal planning and control of timber harvesting activ-ities with mathematical optimization models. The separate phases of timber harvesting are represented by coordinated models which can be used to select the optimal decision for the execution of any given phase. The models form a system whose components are connected and...

Environmental Development Plan (EDP). Enhanced gas recovery, FY 1977

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

Not Available

1978-03-01

This Enhanced Gcs Recovery EDP addresses the environmental impacts of enhanced gas recovery processes in shale and sandstone, methane drainage from coalbeds, and methane recovery from geopressured aquifers. The EDP addresses planning in two basic areas: environmental research and environmental assessment. Environmental research can be categorized as follows: characterization of pollutants from EGR processes; selective application of monitoring and measuring techniques; evaluation of control/mitigation techniques; and evaluation of the synergistic impacts of the development of EGR techniques. Environmental assessment activities scheduled by EDP include: assessment of ecological impacts; assessment of socioeconomic effects; EIA/EIS preparation; evaluation of control technology needs; andmore » analysis of applicable and proposed emission, effluent, and health and safety standards. The EGR EDP includes an EGR technology overview (Section 2), a discussion of EGR environmental issues and requirements (Section 3), an environmental action plan (Section 4), an environmental management strategy for the EGR program (Section 5), and supporting appendices which present information on Federal legislation applicable to EGR technology, a summary of ongoing and completed research, and future research and assessment projects.« less

Studying action representation in children via motor imagery.

PubMed

Gabbard, Carl

2009-12-01

The use of motor imagery is a widely used experimental paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action planning and control in adults. Furthermore, there are indications that motor imagery provides a window into the process of action representation. These notions complement internal model theory suggesting that such representations allow predictions (estimates) about the mapping of the self to parameters of the external world; processes that enable successful planning and execution of action. The ability to mentally represent action is important to the development of motor control. This paper presents a critical review of motor imagery research conducted with children (typically developing and special populations) with focus on its merits and possible shortcomings in studying action representation. Included in the review are age-related findings, possible brain structures involved, experimental paradigms, and recommendations for future work. The merits of this review are associated with the apparent increasing attraction for using and studying motor imagery to understand the developmental aspects of action processing in children.

Language processing and executive functions in early treated adults with phenylketonuria (PKU).

PubMed

De Felice, Sara; Romani, Cristina; Geberhiwot, Tarekegn; MacDonald, Anita; Palermo, Liana

We provide an in-depth analysis of language functions in early-treated adults with phenylketonuria (AwPKUs, N = 15-33), as compared to age- and education-matched controls (N = 24-32; N varying across tasks), through: a. narrative production (the Cinderella story), b. language pragmatics comprehension (humour, metaphors, inferred meaning), c. prosody discrimination d. lexical inhibitory control and planning (Blocked Cyclic Naming; Hayling Sentence Completion Test, Burgess & Shallice, 1997). AwPKUs exhibited intact basic language processing (lexical retrieval, phonology/articulation, sentence construction). Instead, deficits emerged in planning and reasoning abilities. Compared to controls, AwPKUs were: less informative in narrative production (lower rate of Correct Information Units); slower in metaphorical understanding and inferred meaning; less accurate in focused lexical-search (Hayling test). These results suggest that i) executive deficits in PKU cannot be explained by an accumulation of lower-order deficits and/or general speed impairments, ii) executive functions engage dedicated neurophysiological resources, rather than simply being an emergent property of lower-level systems.

Using Bayesian networks to support decision-focused information retrieval

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

Lehner, P.; Elsaesser, C.; Seligman, L.

This paper has described an approach to controlling the process of pulling data/information from distributed data bases in a way that is specific to a persons specific decision making context. Our prototype implementation of this approach uses a knowledge-based planner to generate a plan, an automatically constructed Bayesian network to evaluate the plan, specialized processing of the network to derive key information items that would substantially impact the evaluation of the plan (e.g., determine that replanning is needed), automated construction of Standing Requests for Information (SRIs) which are automated functions that monitor changes and trends in distributed data base thatmore » are relevant to the key information items. This emphasis of this paper is on how Bayesian networks are used.« less

An engineering approach to modelling, decision support and control for sustainable systems.

PubMed

Day, W; Audsley, E; Frost, A R

2008-02-12

Engineering research and development contributes to the advance of sustainable agriculture both through innovative methods to manage and control processes, and through quantitative understanding of the operation of practical agricultural systems using decision models. This paper describes how an engineering approach, drawing on mathematical models of systems and processes, contributes new methods that support decision making at all levels from strategy and planning to tactics and real-time control. The ability to describe the system or process by a simple and robust mathematical model is critical, and the outputs range from guidance to policy makers on strategic decisions relating to land use, through intelligent decision support to farmers and on to real-time engineering control of specific processes. Precision in decision making leads to decreased use of inputs, less environmental emissions and enhanced profitability-all essential to sustainable systems.

Poster - Thur Eve - 76: A quality control to achieve planning consistency in arc radiotherapy of the prostate.

PubMed

Zeng, G; Murphy, J; Annis, S-L; Wu, X; Wang, Y; McGowan, T; Macpherson, M

2012-07-01

To report a quality control program in prostate radiation therapy at our center that includes semi-automated planning process to generate high quality plans and in-house software to track plan quality in the subsequent clinical application. Arc planning in Eclipse v10.0 was preformed for both intact prostate and post-prostatectomy treatments. The planning focuses on DVH requirements and dose distributions being able to tolerate daily setup variations. A modified structure set is used to standardize the optimization, including short rectum and bladder in the fields to effectively tighten dose to target and a rectum expansion with 1cm cropped from PTV to block dose and shape posterior isodose lines. Structure, plan and optimization templates are used to streamline plan generation. DVH files are exported from Eclipse to a quality tracking software with GUI written in Matlab that can report the dose-volume data either for an individual patient or over a patient population. For 100 intact prostate patients treated with 78Gy, rectal D50, D25, D15 and D5 are 30.1±6.2Gy, 50.6±7.9Gy, 65.9±6.0Gy and 76.6±1.4Gy respectively, well below the limits 50Gy, 65Gy, 75Gy and 78Gy respectively. For prostate bed with prescription of 66Gy, rectal D50 is 35.9±6.9Gy. In both sites, PTV is covered by 95% prescription and the hotspots are less than 5%. The semi-automated planning method can efficiently create high quality plans while the tracking software can monitor the feedback from clinical application. It is a comprehensive and robust quality control program in radiation therapy. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Outfit Planning

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-12-01

ETC.ronments where, in most cases, it is difficult or time consum - ing to get tools and materials. The natural result is more lost-time accidents, increased...is already on-hand and the time consuming vendor-drawing approval cycle is eliminated from the pro- curement process. The flow of design information...SYSTEM/STAGE TO SPECIFICATION BY MATERIA !L/DELIVERY DATE - TO PLAN MATERIAL PROCUREMENT ON SCHEOULE - TO MINIMIZE ST0CKED MATERIAL MATERIAL CONTROL

Validation of acid washes as critical control points in hazard analysis and critical control point systems.

PubMed

Dormedy, E S; Brashears, M M; Cutter, C N; Burson, D E

2000-12-01

A 2% lactic acid wash used in a large meat-processing facility was validated as an effective critical control point (CCP) in a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plan. We examined the microbial profiles of beef carcasses before the acid wash, beef carcasses immediately after the acid wash, beef carcasses 24 h after the acid wash, beef subprimal cuts from the acid-washed carcasses, and on ground beef made from acid-washed carcasses. Total mesophilic, psychrotrophic, coliforms, generic Escherichia coli, lactic acid bacteria, pseudomonads, and acid-tolerant microorganisms were enumerated on all samples. The presence of Salmonella spp. was also determined. Acid washing significantly reduced all counts except for pseudomonads that were present at very low numbers before acid washing. All other counts continued to stay significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those on pre-acid-washed carcasses throughout all processing steps. Total bacteria, coliforms, and generic E. coli enumerated on ground beef samples were more than 1 log cycle lower than those reported in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Baseline data. This study suggests that acid washes may be effective CCPs in HACCP plans and can significantly reduce the total number of microorganisms present on the carcass and during further processing.

Advance care planning in CKD/ESRD: an evolving process.

PubMed

Holley, Jean L

2012-06-01

Advance care planning was historically considered to be simply the completion of a proxy (health care surrogate designation) or instruction (living will) directive that resulted from a conversation between a patient and his or her physician. We now know that advance care planning is a much more comprehensive and dynamic patient-centered process used by patients and families to strengthen relationships, achieve control over medical care, prepare for death, and clarify goals of care. Some advance directives, notably designated health care proxy documents, remain appropriate expressions of advance care planning. Moreover, although physician orders, such as do-not-resuscitate orders and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, may not be strictly defined as advance directives, their completion, when appropriate, is an integral component of advance care planning. The changing health circumstances and illness trajectory characteristic of ESRD mandate that advance care planning discussions adapt to a patient's situation and therefore must be readdressed at appropriate times and intervals. The options of withholding and withdrawing dialysis add ESRD-specific issues to advance care planning in this population and are events each nephrologist will at some time confront. Advance care planning is important throughout the spectrum of ESRD and is a part of nephrology practice that can be rewarding to nephrologists and beneficial to patients and their families.

East Spar: Alliance approach for offshore gasfield development

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

NONE

1998-04-01

East spar is a gas/condensate field 25 miles west of Barrow Island, offshore Western Australia. Proved plus probable reserves at the time of development were estimated at 430 Bcf gas and 28 million bbl of condensate. The field was discovered in early 1993 when the Western Australia gas market was deregulated and the concept of a gas pipeline to the gold fields was proposed. This created a window of opportunity for East Spar, but only if plans could be established quickly. A base-case development plan was established to support gas marketing while alternative plans could be developed in parallel. Themore » completed East Spar facilities comprise two subsea wells, a subsea gathering system, and a multiphase (gas/condensate/water) pipeline to new gas-processing facilities. The subsea facilities are controlled through a navigation, communication, and control (NCC) buoy. The control room and gas-processing plant are 39 miles east of the field on Varanus Island. Sales gas is exported through a pre-existing gas-sales pipeline to the Dampier-Bunbury and Goldfields Gas Transmission pipelines. Condensate is stored in and exported by use of pre-existing facilities on Varanus Island. Field development from approval to first production took 22 months. The paper describes its field development.« less

Standardized Emission Quantification and Control of Costs for Environmental Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walter, J.; Hustedt, M.; Wesling, V.; Barcikowski, S.

Laser welding and soldering are important industrial joining processes. As is known, LGACs (Laser Generated Air Contaminants) cause costs for environmental measures during production of complex metallic components (steel, aluminium, magnesium, alloys). The hazardous potential of such processes has been assessed by analyzing the specific emissions with respect to relevant threshold limit values (TLVs). Avoiding and controlling emissions caused by laser processing of metals or metal composites is an important task. Using the experimental results, the planning of appropriate exhaust systems for laser processing is facilitated significantly. The costs quantified for environmental measures account for significant percentages of the total manufacturing costs.

Product Definition Data Interface (PDDI) Product Specification

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-01

syntax of the language gives a precise specification of the data without interpretation of it. M - Constituent Read Block. CSECT - Control Section, the...to conform to the PDDI Access Software’s internal data representation so that it may be further processed. JCL - Job Control Language - IBM language...software development and life cycle * phases. OUALITY CONTROL - The planned and systematic application of all actions (management/technical) necessary to

BIO-Plex Information System Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry; Boulanger, Richard; Arnold, James O. (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

This paper describes a suggested design for an integrated information system for the proposed BIO-Plex (Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Systems Test Complex) at Johnson Space Center (JSC), including distributed control systems, central control, networks, database servers, personal computers and workstations, applications software, and external communications. The system will have an open commercial computing and networking, architecture. The network will provide automatic real-time transfer of information to database server computers which perform data collection and validation. This information system will support integrated, data sharing applications for everything, from system alarms to management summaries. Most existing complex process control systems have information gaps between the different real time subsystems, between these subsystems and central controller, between the central controller and system level planning and analysis application software, and between the system level applications and management overview reporting. An integrated information system is vitally necessary as the basis for the integration of planning, scheduling, modeling, monitoring, and control, which will allow improved monitoring and control based on timely, accurate and complete data. Data describing the system configuration and the real time processes can be collected, checked and reconciled, analyzed and stored in database servers that can be accessed by all applications. The required technology is available. The only opportunity to design a distributed, nonredundant, integrated system is before it is built. Retrofit is extremely difficult and costly.

[A landscape ecological approach for urban non-point source pollution control].

PubMed

Guo, Qinghai; Ma, Keming; Zhao, Jingzhu; Yang, Liu; Yin, Chengqing

2005-05-01

Urban non-point source pollution is a new problem appeared with the speeding development of urbanization. The particularity of urban land use and the increase of impervious surface area make urban non-point source pollution differ from agricultural non-point source pollution, and more difficult to control. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are the effective practices commonly applied in controlling urban non-point source pollution, mainly adopting local repairing practices to control the pollutants in surface runoff. Because of the close relationship between urban land use patterns and non-point source pollution, it would be rational to combine the landscape ecological planning with local BMPs to control the urban non-point source pollution, which needs, firstly, analyzing and evaluating the influence of landscape structure on water-bodies, pollution sources and pollutant removal processes to define the relationships between landscape spatial pattern and non-point source pollution and to decide the key polluted fields, and secondly, adjusting inherent landscape structures or/and joining new landscape factors to form new landscape pattern, and combining landscape planning and management through applying BMPs into planning to improve urban landscape heterogeneity and to control urban non-point source pollution.

Dynamic Data Management Based on Archival Process Integration at the Centre for Environmental Data Archival

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conway, Esther; Waterfall, Alison; Pepler, Sam; Newey, Charles

2015-04-01

In this paper we decribe a business process modelling approach to the integration of exisiting archival activities. We provide a high level overview of existing practice and discuss how procedures can be extended and supported through the description of preservation state. The aim of which is to faciliate the dynamic controlled management of scientific data through its lifecycle. The main types of archival processes considered are: • Management processes that govern the operation of an archive. These management processes include archival governance (preservation state management, selection of archival candidates and strategic management) . • Operational processes that constitute the core activities of the archive which maintain the value of research assets. These operational processes are the acquisition, ingestion, deletion, generation of metadata and preservation actvities, • Supporting processes, which include planning, risk analysis and monitoring of the community/preservation environment. We then proceed by describing the feasability testing of extended risk management and planning procedures which integrate current practices. This was done through the CEDA Archival Format Audit which inspected British Atmospherics Data Centre and National Earth Observation Data Centre Archival holdings. These holdings are extensive, comprising of around 2PB of data and 137 million individual files which were analysed and characterised in terms of format based risk. We are then able to present an overview of the risk burden faced by a large scale archive attempting to maintain the usability of heterogeneous environmental data sets. We conclude by presenting a dynamic data management information model that is capable of describing the preservation state of archival holdings throughout the data lifecycle. We provide discussion of the following core model entities and their relationships: • Aspirational entities, which include Data Entity definitions and their associated Preservation Objectives. • Risk entities, which act as drivers for change within the data lifecycle. These include Acquisitional Risks, Technical Risks, Strategic Risks and External Risks • Plan entities, which detail the actions to bring about change within an archive. These include Acquisition Plans, Preservation Plans and Monitoring plans • The Result entities describe the successful outcomes of the executed plans. These include Acquisitions, Mitigations and Accepted Risks.

SU-E-T-419: Workflow and FMEA in a New Proton Therapy (PT) Facility

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

Cheng, C; Wessels, B; Hamilton, H

2014-06-01

Purpose: Workflow is an important component in the operational planning of a new proton facility. By integrating the concept of failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) and traditional QA requirements, a workflow for a proton therapy treatment course is set up. This workflow serves as the blue print for the planning of computer hardware/software requirements and network flow. A slight modification of the workflow generates a process map(PM) for FMEA and the planning of QA program in PT. Methods: A flowchart is first developed outlining the sequence of processes involved in a PT treatment course. Each process consists of amore » number of sub-processes to encompass a broad scope of treatment and QA procedures. For each subprocess, the personnel involved, the equipment needed and the computer hardware/software as well as network requirements are defined by a team of clinical staff, administrators and IT personnel. Results: Eleven intermediate processes with a total of 70 sub-processes involved in a PT treatment course are identified. The number of sub-processes varies, ranging from 2-12. The sub-processes within each process are used for the operational planning. For example, in the CT-Sim process, there are 12 sub-processes: three involve data entry/retrieval from a record-and-verify system, two controlled by the CT computer, two require department/hospital network, and the other five are setup procedures. IT then decides the number of computers needed and the software and network requirement. By removing the traditional QA procedures from the workflow, a PM is generated for FMEA analysis to design a QA program for PT. Conclusion: Significant efforts are involved in the development of the workflow in a PT treatment course. Our hybrid model of combining FMEA and traditional QA program serves a duo purpose of efficient operational planning and designing of a QA program in PT.« less

Optimal integration of gravity in trajectory planning of vertical pointing movements.

PubMed

Crevecoeur, Frédéric; Thonnard, Jean-Louis; Lefèvre, Philippe

2009-08-01

The planning and control of motor actions requires knowledge of the dynamics of the controlled limb to generate the appropriate muscular commands and achieve the desired goal. Such planning and control imply that the CNS must be able to deal with forces and constraints acting on the limb, such as the omnipresent force of gravity. The present study investigates the effect of hypergravity induced by parabolic flights on the trajectory of vertical pointing movements to test the hypothesis that motor commands are optimized with respect to the effect of gravity on the limb. Subjects performed vertical pointing movements in normal gravity and hypergravity. We use a model based on optimal control to identify the role played by gravity in the optimal arm trajectory with minimal motor costs. First, the simulations in normal gravity reproduce the asymmetry in the velocity profiles (the velocity reaches its maximum before half of the movement duration), which typically characterizes the vertical pointing movements performed on Earth, whereas the horizontal movements present symmetrical velocity profiles. Second, according to the simulations, the optimal trajectory in hypergravity should present an increase in the peak acceleration and peak velocity despite the increase in the arm weight. In agreement with these predictions, the subjects performed faster movements in hypergravity with significant increases in the peak acceleration and peak velocity, which were accompanied by a significant decrease in the movement duration. This suggests that movement kinematics change in response to an increase in gravity, which is consistent with the hypothesis that motor commands are optimized and the action of gravity on the limb is taken into account. The results provide evidence for an internal representation of gravity in the central planning process and further suggest that an adaptation to altered dynamics can be understood as a reoptimization process.

Statistical analysis plan for the Alveolar Recruitment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Trial (ART). A randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Damiani, Lucas Petri; Berwanger, Otavio; Paisani, Denise; Laranjeira, Ligia Nasi; Suzumura, Erica Aranha; Amato, Marcelo Britto Passos; Carvalho, Carlos Roberto Ribeiro; Cavalcanti, Alexandre Biasi

2017-01-01

Background The Alveolar Recruitment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Trial (ART) is an international multicenter randomized pragmatic controlled trial with allocation concealment involving 120 intensive care units in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Malaysia, Spain, and Uruguay. The primary objective of ART is to determine whether maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration, adjusted according to the static compliance of the respiratory system (ART strategy), is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). Objective To describe the data management process and statistical analysis plan. Methods The statistical analysis plan was designed by the trial executive committee and reviewed and approved by the trial steering committee. We provide an overview of the trial design with a special focus on describing the primary (28-day survival) and secondary outcomes. We describe our data management process, data monitoring committee, interim analyses, and sample size calculation. We describe our planned statistical analyses for primary and secondary outcomes as well as pre-specified subgroup analyses. We also provide details for presenting results, including mock tables for baseline characteristics, adherence to the protocol and effect on clinical outcomes. Conclusion According to best trial practice, we report our statistical analysis plan and data management plan prior to locking the database and beginning analyses. We anticipate that this document will prevent analysis bias and enhance the utility of the reported results. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01374022. PMID:28977255

Validation results of specifications for motion control interoperability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szabo, Sandor; Proctor, Frederick M.

1997-01-01

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is participating in the Department of Energy Technologies Enabling Agile Manufacturing (TEAM) program to establish interface standards for machine tool, robot, and coordinate measuring machine controllers. At NIST, the focus is to validate potential application programming interfaces (APIs) that make it possible to exchange machine controller components with a minimal impact on the rest of the system. This validation is taking place in the enhanced machine controller (EMC) consortium and is in cooperation with users and vendors of motion control equipment. An area of interest is motion control, including closed-loop control of individual axes and coordinated path planning. Initial tests of the motion control APIs are complete. The APIs were implemented on two commercial motion control boards that run on two different machine tools. The results for a baseline set of APIs look promising, but several issues were raised. These include resolving differing approaches in how motions are programmed and defining a standard measurement of performance for motion control. This paper starts with a summary of the process used in developing a set of specifications for motion control interoperability. Next, the EMC architecture and its classification of motion control APIs into two classes, Servo Control and Trajectory Planning, are reviewed. Selected APIs are presented to explain the basic functionality and some of the major issues involved in porting the APIs to other motion controllers. The paper concludes with a summary of the main issues and ways to continue the standards process.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) plan for Canada : en route to intelligent mobility

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-11-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) include the application of advanced information processing, communications, sensor and control technologies and management strategies in an integrated manner to improve the functioning of the transportation sy...

GEOSPATIAL QUALITY COUNCIL

EPA Science Inventory

Geospatial Science is increasingly becoming an important tool in making Agency decisions. QualIty Control and Quality Assurance are required to be integrated during the planning, implementation and assessment of geospatial databases, processes and products. In order to ensure Age...

7 CFR 1940.318 - Completing environmental assessments for Class II actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

...) Throughout this assessment process, the preparer will keep in mind the criteria for determining a significant... action or its indirect impacts; soil erosion and sedimentation plans to control runoff during land...

7 CFR 1940.318 - Completing environmental assessments for Class II actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

...) Throughout this assessment process, the preparer will keep in mind the criteria for determining a significant... action or its indirect impacts; soil erosion and sedimentation plans to control runoff during land...

21 CFR 111.315 - What are the requirements for laboratory control processes?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... specifications; (b) Use of sampling plans for obtaining representative samples, in accordance with subpart E of... for distribution rather than for return to the supplier); and (5) Packaged and labeled dietary...

Minimal-effort planning of active alignment processes for beam-shaping optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haag, Sebastian; Schranner, Matthias; Müller, Tobias; Zontar, Daniel; Schlette, Christian; Losch, Daniel; Brecher, Christian; Roßmann, Jürgen

2015-03-01

In science and industry, the alignment of beam-shaping optics is usually a manual procedure. Many industrial applications utilizing beam-shaping optical systems require more scalable production solutions and therefore effort has been invested in research regarding the automation of optics assembly. In previous works, the authors and other researchers have proven the feasibility of automated alignment of beam-shaping optics such as collimation lenses or homogenization optics. Nevertheless, the planning efforts as well as additional knowledge from the fields of automation and control required for such alignment processes are immense. This paper presents a novel approach of planning active alignment processes of beam-shaping optics with the focus of minimizing the planning efforts for active alignment. The approach utilizes optical simulation and the genetic programming paradigm from computer science for automatically extracting features from a simulated data basis with a high correlation coefficient regarding the individual degrees of freedom of alignment. The strategy is capable of finding active alignment strategies that can be executed by an automated assembly system. The paper presents a tool making the algorithm available to end-users and it discusses the results of planning the active alignment of the well-known assembly of a fast-axis collimator. The paper concludes with an outlook on the transferability to other use cases such as application specific intensity distributions which will benefit from reduced planning efforts.

Orbiter data reduction complex data processing requirements for the OFT mission evaluation team (level C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

This document addresses requirements for post-test data reduction in support of the Orbital Flight Tests (OFT) mission evaluation team, specifically those which are planned to be implemented in the ODRC (Orbiter Data Reduction Complex). Only those requirements which have been previously baselined by the Data Systems and Analysis Directorate configuration control board are included. This document serves as the control document between Institutional Data Systems Division and the Integration Division for OFT mission evaluation data processing requirements, and shall be the basis for detailed design of ODRC data processing systems.

Red Plague Control Plan (RPCP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooke, Robert W.

2010-01-01

SCOPE: Prescribes the minimum requirements for the control of cuprous / cupric oxide corrosion (a.k.a. Red Plague) of silver-coated copper wire, cable, and harness assemblies. PURPOSE: Targeted for applications where exposure to assembly processes, environmental conditions, and contamination may promote the development of cuprous / cupric oxide corrosion (a.k.a. Red Plague) in silver-coated copper wire, cable, and harness assemblies. Does not exclude any alternate or contractor-proprietary documents or processes that meet or exceed the baseline of requirements established by this document. Use of alternate or contractor-proprietary documents or processes shall require review and prior approval of the procuring NASA activity.

Which Measures of Online Control Are Least Sensitive to Offline Processes?

PubMed

de Grosbois, John; Tremblay, Luc

2018-02-28

A major challenge to the measurement of online control is the contamination by offline, planning-based processes. The current study examined the sensitivity of four measures of online control to offline changes in reaching performance induced by prism adaptation and terminal feedback. These measures included the squared Z scores (Z 2 ) of correlations of limb position at 75% movement time versus movement end, variable error, time after peak velocity, and a frequency-domain analysis (pPower). The results indicated that variable error and time after peak velocity were sensitive to the prism adaptation. Furthermore, only the Z 2 values were biased by the terminal feedback. Ultimately, the current study has demonstrated the sensitivity of limb kinematic measures to offline control processes and that pPower analyses may yield the most suitable measure of online control.

NASA Thermal Control Technologies for Robotic Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swanson, Theodore D.; Birur, Gajanana C.

2003-01-01

Technology development is inevitably a dynamic process in search of an elusive goal. It is never truly clear whether the need for a particular technology drives its development, or the existence of a new capability initiates new applications. Technology development for the thermal control of spacecraft presents an excellent example of this situation. Nevertheless, it is imperative to have a basic plan to help guide and focus such an effort. Although this plan will be a living document that changes with time to reflect technological developments, perceived needs, perceived opportunities, and the ever-changing funding environment, it is still a very useful tool. This presentation summarizes the current efforts at NASA/Goddard and NASA/JPL to develop new thermal control technology for future robotic NASA missions.

Langley Wind Tunnel Data Quality Assurance-Check Standard Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemsch, Michael J.; Grubb, John P.; Krieger, William B.; Cler, Daniel L.

2000-01-01

A framework for statistical evaluation, control and improvement of wind funnel measurement processes is presented The methodology is adapted from elements of the Measurement Assurance Plans developed by the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) for standards and calibration laboratories. The present methodology is based on the notions of statistical quality control (SQC) together with check standard testing and a small number of customer repeat-run sets. The results of check standard and customer repeat-run -sets are analyzed using the statistical control chart-methods of Walter A. Shewhart long familiar to the SQC community. Control chart results are presented for. various measurement processes in five facilities at Langley Research Center. The processes include test section calibration, force and moment measurements with a balance, and instrument calibration.

A Capacity Forecast Model for Volatile Data in Maintenance Logistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berkholz, Daniel

2009-05-01

Maintenance, repair and overhaul processes (MRO processes) are elaborate and complex. Rising demands on these after sales services require reliable production planning and control methods particularly for maintaining valuable capital goods. Downtimes lead to high costs and an inability to meet delivery due dates results in severe contract penalties. Predicting the required capacities for maintenance orders in advance is often difficult due to unknown part conditions unless the goods are actually inspected. This planning uncertainty results in extensive capital tie-up by rising stock levels within the whole MRO network. The article outlines an approach to planning capacities when maintenance data forecasting is volatile. It focuses on the development of prerequisites for a reliable capacity planning model. This enables a quick response to maintenance orders by employing appropriate measures. The information gained through the model is then systematically applied to forecast both personnel capacities and the demand for spare parts. The improved planning reliability can support MRO service providers in shortening delivery times and reducing stock levels in order to enhance the performance of their maintenance logistics.

Improving DOE Project Performance Using the DOD Integrated Master Plan - 12481

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

Alleman, Glen B.; Nosbisch, Michael R.

2012-07-01

DOE O 413 measures a project's progress to plan by the consumption of funding, the passage of time, and the meeting of milestones. In March of 2003, then Under Secretary, Energy, Science, Card received a memo directing the implementation of Project Management and the Project Management Manual, including the Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule. This directive states 'the integrated master plan and schedule tie together all project tasks by showing their logical relationships and any constraints controlling the start or finish of each task. This process results in a hierarchy of related functional and layered schedules derived frommore » the Work Breakdown Structure that can be used for monitoring and controlling project progress'. This paper shows how restoring the IMP/IMS paradigm to DOE program management increases the probability of program success in ways not currently available using DOD O 413 processes alone. Using DOE O 413 series guidance, adding the Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule paradigm would provide a hierarchical set of performance measures for each 'package of work,' that provides measurable visibility to the increasing maturity of the project. This measurable maturity provides the mechanism to forecast future performance of cost, schedule, and technical outcomes in ways not available using just the activities in DOE O 413. With this information project managers have another tool available to address the issues identified in GAO-07-336 and GAO-09-406. (authors)« less

Differentiated Learning Environment--A Classroom for Quadratic Equation, Function and Graphs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinç, Emre

2017-01-01

This paper will cover the design of a learning environment as a classroom regarding the Quadratic Equations, Functions and Graphs. The goal of the learning environment offered in the paper is to design a classroom where students will enjoy the process, use their skills they already have during the learning process, control and plan their learning…

Anaerobic Digestion. Instructor's Guide. Biological Treatment Process Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnegie, John W., Ed.

This instructor's guide contains materials needed to teach a four-lesson unit on anaerobic digestion control. These materials include: (1) unit overview; (2) lesson plans; (3) lecture outlines; (4) student worksheets for each lesson (with answers); and (5) two copies of a final quiz (with and without answers). Lesson 1 is a review of the theory of…

Korea Air Force and Organization Development: Is There Potential for It?

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

control the situation or the client. (5) He must avoid defending, advising, premature persuation , and over-controlling. (6) The change agent must build in... negotiate a contract. The use of the term "contract" by Kolb and Frohman is "to define if and how the succeeding stages of the planned change process will be

Exploring Improvement Science in Education: Promoting College Access in Fresno Unified School District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguilar, Jorge; Nayfack, Michelle; Bush-Mecenas, Susan

2017-01-01

California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) requires districts to report multiple measures of student performance that reflect success in the goal of preparing students for college, career, and citizenship. As they engage in the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) process, they are expected to use state and local indicator data from…

Lessons Learned from a School/Community Strategic Planning Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauser, Billie A.

2004-01-01

The West Virginia State Board of Education assumed administrative control of the Lincoln county school system in June 2000, following a state report on the county?s failure to make adequate progress in rectifying major deficiencies identified in an October 1999 audit. One of the conditions for regaining local board control was that the Lincoln…

Looking before You Leap: A Theory of Motivated Control of Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liddle, Elizabeth B.; Scerif, Gaia; Hollis, Christopher P.; Batty, Martin J.; Groom, Madeleine J.; Liotti, Mario; Liddle, Peter F.

2009-01-01

The acquisition of volitional control depends, in part, on developing the ability to countermand a planned action. Many tasks have been used to tap the efficiency of this process, but few studies have investigated how it may be modulated by participants' motivation. Multiple mechanisms may be involved in the deliberate exercise of caution when…

Statistical control process to compare and rank treatment plans in radiation oncology: impact of heterogeneity correction on treatment planning in lung cancer.

PubMed

Chaikh, Abdulhamid; Balosso, Jacques

2016-12-01

This study proposes a statistical process to compare different treatment plans issued from different irradiation techniques or different treatment phases. This approach aims to provide arguments for discussion about the impact on clinical results of any condition able to significantly alter dosimetric or ballistic related data. The principles of the statistical investigation are presented in the framework of a clinical example based on 40 fields of radiotherapy for lung cancers. Two treatment plans were generated for each patient making a change of dose distribution due to variation of lung density correction. The data from 2D gamma index (γ) including the pixels having γ≤1 were used to determine the capability index (Cp) and the acceptability index (Cpk) of the process. To measure the strength of the relationship between the γ passing rates and the Cp and Cpk indices, the Spearman's rank non-parametric test was used to calculate P values. The comparison between reference and tested plans showed that 95% of pixels have γ≤1 with criteria (6%, 6 mm). The values of the Cp and Cpk indices were lower than one showing a significant dose difference. The data showed a strong correlation between γ passing rates and the indices with P>0.8. The statistical analysis using Cp and Cpk, show the significance of dose differences resulting from two plans in radiotherapy. These indices can be used for adaptive radiotherapy to measure the difference between initial plan and daily delivered plan. The significant changes of dose distribution could raise the question about the continuity to treat the patient with the initial plan or the need for adjustments.

Parametric Modeling in the CAE Process: Creating a Family of Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Christopher J.

2011-01-01

This Presentation meant as an example - Give ideas of approaches to use - The significant benefit of PARAMETRIC geometry based modeling The importance of planning before you build Showcase some NX capabilities - Mesh Controls - Associativity - Divide Face - Offset Surface Reminder - This only had to be done once! - Can be used for any cabinet in that "family" Saves a lot of time if pre-planned Allows re-use in the future

Plans for Assessing Contractor Performance for the Camp Lemonnier Base Operations Support Contract Needed Improvement

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-27

ensure the functional assessment plans ( FAP ) for the three services contained all contractor work requiring assessment, measurable performance...review the FAPs after development and revisions to the FAPs , and did not require additional controls over the contractor assessment process in an...revised as follows: • Business Management System B-14.3 was updated to require the contract officer representative conduct a FAP review to ensure

Internal quality control: planning and implementation strategies.

PubMed

Westgard, James O

2003-11-01

The first essential in setting up internal quality control (IQC) of a test procedure in the clinical laboratory is to select the proper IQC procedure to implement, i.e. choosing the statistical criteria or control rules, and the number of control measurements, according to the quality required for the test and the observed performance of the method. Then the right IQC procedure must be properly implemented. This review focuses on strategies for planning and implementing IQC procedures in order to improve the quality of the IQC. A quantitative planning process is described that can be implemented with graphical tools such as power function or critical-error graphs and charts of operating specifications. Finally, a total QC strategy is formulated to minimize cost and maximize quality. A general strategy for IQC implementation is recommended that employs a three-stage design in which the first stage provides high error detection, the second stage low false rejection and the third stage prescribes the length of the analytical run, making use of an algorithm involving the average of normal patients' data.

Autonomous Mission Operations Roadmap

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, Jeremy David

2014-01-01

As light time delays increase, the number of such situations in which crew autonomy is the best way to conduct the mission is expected to increase. However, there are significant open questions regarding which functions to allocate to ground and crew as the time delays increase. In situations where the ideal solution is to allocate responsibility to the crew and the vehicle, a second question arises: should the activity be the responsibility of the crew or an automated vehicle function? More specifically, we must answer the following questions: What aspects of mission operation responsibilities (Plan, Train, Fly) should be allocated to ground based or vehicle based planning, monitoring, and control in the presence of significant light-time delay between the vehicle and the Earth?How should the allocated ground based planning, monitoring, and control be distributed across the flight control team and ground system automation? How should the allocated vehicle based planning, monitoring, and control be distributed between the flight crew and onboard system automation?When during the mission should responsibility shift from flight control team to crew or from crew to vehicle, and what should the process of shifting responsibility be as the mission progresses? NASA is developing a roadmap of capabilities for Autonomous Mission Operations for human spaceflight. This presentation will describe the current state of development of this roadmap, with specific attention to in-space inspection tasks that crews might perform with minimum assistance from the ground.

Preparing for Educational Change: Incorporating the Support Curriculum into the Basic Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hannifin, Michael J.; Barrett, Bradley K.

1983-01-01

Increased local control for support programs formerly federally funded will require planning and coordination. Curriculum systematization is a process for determining the compatibility of support programs with the existing local curriculum. (SK)

Overlearned responses hinder S-R binding.

PubMed

Moeller, Birte; Frings, Christian

2017-01-01

Two mechanisms that are important for human action control are the integration of individual action plans (see Hommel, Müsseler, Aschersleben, & Prinz, 2001) and the automatization of overlearned actions to familiar stimuli (see Logan, 1988). In the present study, we analyzed the influence of automatization on action plan integration. Integration with pronunciation responses were compared for response incompatible word and nonword stimuli. Stimulus-response binding effects were observed for nonwords. In contrast, words that automatically triggered an overlearned pronunciation response were not integrated with pronunciation of a different word. That is, automatized response retrieval hindered binding effects regarding the retrieving stimulus and a new response. The results are a first indication of the way that binding and learning processes interact, and might also be a first step to understanding the more complex interdependency of the processes responsible for stimulus-response binding in action control and stimulus-response associations in learning research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA) Impact on the National Airspace System (NAS) Work Package: Automation Impacts of ROA's in the NAS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

The purpose of this document is to analyze the impact of Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA) operations on current and planned Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation systems in the En Route, Terminal, and Traffic Flow Management domains. The operational aspects of ROA flight, while similar, are not entirely identical to their manned counterparts and may not have been considered within the time-horizons of the automation tools. This analysis was performed to determine if flight characteristics of ROAs would be compatible with current and future NAS automation tools. Improvements to existing systems / processes are recommended that would give Air Traffic Controllers an indication that a particular aircraft is an ROA and modifications to IFR flight plan processing algorithms and / or designation of airspace where an ROA will be operating for long periods of time.

Annual Statement of Assurance. Fiscal Year 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

risk) assessment rating process. In orientation sessions, we made a pointed effort to emphasize the statutory root of the IMC Program. We undertook... rating process. Training in the development of the management control plan was also provided using examples and a sample format. To illustrate the...application of IMC principles to the risk rating process, a case study approach was presented in a workshop mode with questions and answers following

How to unlock the benefits of MRP (materiel requirements planning) II and Just-in-Time.

PubMed

Jacobi, M A

1994-05-01

Manufacturing companies need to use the best and most applicable parts of MRP II and JIT to run their businesses effectively. MRP II provides the methodology to plan and control the total resources of the company and focuses on the processes that add value to their customers' products. It is the cornerstone of total quality management, as it reduces the variability and costly activities in the communication and subsequent execution of the required steps from customer order to shipment. JIT focuses on simplifying the total business operation and execution of business processes. MRP II and JIT are the foundations for successful manufacturing businesses.

Organization of population-based cancer control programs: Europe and the world.

PubMed

Otter, Renée; Qiao, You-Lin; Burton, Robert; Samiei, Massoud; Parkin, Max; Trapido, Edward; Weller, David; Magrath, Ian; Sutcliffe, Simon

2009-01-01

As cancer is to a large extent avoidable and treatable, a cancer control program should be able to reduce mortality and morbidity and improve the quality of life of cancer patients and their families. However, the extent to which the goals of a cancer control program can be achieved will depend on the resource constraints a country faces. Such population-based cancer control plans should prioritize effective interventions and programs that are beneficial to the largest part of the population, and should include activities devoted to prevention, screening and early detection, treatment, palliation and end-of-life care, and rehabilitation. In order to develop a successful cancer control program, leadership and the relevant stakeholders, including patient organizations, need to be identified early on in the process so that all partners can take ownership and responsibility for the program. Various tools have been developed to aid them in the planning and implementation process. However, countries developing a national cancer control program would benefit from a discussion of different models for planning and delivery of population-based cancer control in settings with differing levels of resource commitment, in order to determine how best to proceed given their current level of commitment, political engagement and resources. As the priority assigned to different components of cancer control will differ depending on available resources and the burden and pattern of cancer, it is important to consider the relative roles of prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care in a cancer control program, as well as how to align available resources to meet prioritized needs. Experiences from countries with differing levels of resources are presented and serve to illustrate the difficulties in developing and implementing cancer control programs, as well as the innovative strategies that are being used to maximize available resources and enhance the quality of care provided to cancer patients around the world.

Artificial Neural Network Based Mission Planning Mechanism for Spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhaoyu; Xu, Rui; Cui, Pingyuan; Zhu, Shengying

2018-04-01

The ability to plan and react fast in dynamic space environments is central to intelligent behavior of spacecraft. For space and robotic applications, many planners have been used. But it is difficult to encode the domain knowledge and directly use existing techniques such as heuristic to improve the performance of the application systems. Therefore, regarding planning as an advanced control problem, this paper first proposes an autonomous mission planning and action selection mechanism through a multiple layer perceptron neural network approach to select actions in planning process and improve efficiency. To prove the availability and effectiveness, we use autonomous mission planning problems of the spacecraft, which is a sophisticated system with complex subsystems and constraints as an example. Simulation results have shown that artificial neural networks (ANNs) are usable for planning problems. Compared with the existing planning method in EUROPA, the mechanism using ANNs is more efficient and can guarantee stable performance. Therefore, the mechanism proposed in this paper is more suitable for planning problems of spacecraft that require real time and stability.

Online adaptation and over-trial learning in macaque visuomotor control.

PubMed

Braun, Daniel A; Aertsen, Ad; Paz, Rony; Vaadia, Eilon; Rotter, Stefan; Mehring, Carsten

2011-01-01

When faced with unpredictable environments, the human motor system has been shown to develop optimized adaptation strategies that allow for online adaptation during the control process. Such online adaptation is to be contrasted to slower over-trial learning that corresponds to a trial-by-trial update of the movement plan. Here we investigate the interplay of both processes, i.e., online adaptation and over-trial learning, in a visuomotor experiment performed by macaques. We show that simple non-adaptive control schemes fail to perform in this task, but that a previously suggested adaptive optimal feedback control model can explain the observed behavior. We also show that over-trial learning as seen in learning and aftereffect curves can be explained by learning in a radial basis function network. Our results suggest that both the process of over-trial learning and the process of online adaptation are crucial to understand visuomotor learning.

Online Adaptation and Over-Trial Learning in Macaque Visuomotor Control

PubMed Central

Braun, Daniel A.; Aertsen, Ad; Paz, Rony; Vaadia, Eilon; Rotter, Stefan; Mehring, Carsten

2011-01-01

When faced with unpredictable environments, the human motor system has been shown to develop optimized adaptation strategies that allow for online adaptation during the control process. Such online adaptation is to be contrasted to slower over-trial learning that corresponds to a trial-by-trial update of the movement plan. Here we investigate the interplay of both processes, i.e., online adaptation and over-trial learning, in a visuomotor experiment performed by macaques. We show that simple non-adaptive control schemes fail to perform in this task, but that a previously suggested adaptive optimal feedback control model can explain the observed behavior. We also show that over-trial learning as seen in learning and aftereffect curves can be explained by learning in a radial basis function network. Our results suggest that both the process of over-trial learning and the process of online adaptation are crucial to understand visuomotor learning. PMID:21720526

A Search Algorithm for Generating Alternative Process Plans in Flexible Manufacturing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tehrani, Hossein; Sugimura, Nobuhiro; Tanimizu, Yoshitaka; Iwamura, Koji

Capabilities and complexity of manufacturing systems are increasing and striving for an integrated manufacturing environment. Availability of alternative process plans is a key factor for integration of design, process planning and scheduling. This paper describes an algorithm for generation of alternative process plans by extending the existing framework of the process plan networks. A class diagram is introduced for generating process plans and process plan networks from the viewpoint of the integrated process planning and scheduling systems. An incomplete search algorithm is developed for generating and searching the process plan networks. The benefit of this algorithm is that the whole process plan network does not have to be generated before the search algorithm starts. This algorithm is applicable to large and enormous process plan networks and also to search wide areas of the network based on the user requirement. The algorithm can generate alternative process plans and to select a suitable one based on the objective functions.

Reconfigurable manufacturing execution system for pipe cutting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Y. H.; Xie, J. Y.

2011-08-01

This article presents a reconfigurable manufacturing execution system (RMES) filling the gap between enterprise resource planning and resource layer for pipe-cutting production with mass customisation and rapid adaptation to dynamic market, which consists of planning and scheduling layer and executive control layer. Starting from customer's task and process requirements, the cutting trajectories are planned under generalised mathematical model able to reconfigure in accordance with various intersecting types' joint, and all tasks are scheduled by nesting algorithm to maximise the utilisation rate of rough material. This RMES for pipe cutting has been effectively implemented in more than 100 companies.

Modulation of auditory processing during speech movement planning is limited in adults who stutter

PubMed Central

Daliri, Ayoub; Max, Ludo

2015-01-01

Stuttering is associated with atypical structural and functional connectivity in sensorimotor brain areas, in particular premotor, motor, and auditory regions. It remains unknown, however, which specific mechanisms of speech planning and execution are affected by these neurological abnormalities. To investigate pre-movement sensory modulation, we recorded 12 stuttering and 12 nonstuttering adults’ auditory evoked potentials in response to probe tones presented prior to speech onset in a delayed-response speaking condition vs. no-speaking control conditions (silent reading; seeing nonlinguistic symbols). Findings indicate that, during speech movement planning, the nonstuttering group showed a statistically significant modulation of auditory processing (reduced N1 amplitude) that was not observed in the stuttering group. Thus, the obtained results provide electrophysiological evidence in support of the hypothesis that stuttering is associated with deficiencies in modulating the cortical auditory system during speech movement planning. This specific sensorimotor integration deficiency may contribute to inefficient feedback monitoring and, consequently, speech dysfluencies. PMID:25796060

Project management plan for asbestos control at Randolph Air Force Base

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

Broers, G.J.

1988-02-01

The United States Air Force Air Training Command (ATC) Headquarters requested assistance from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in February, 1987 to develop processes and procedures and provide program management to minimize and control asbestos hazard at its thirteen bases. This effort was requested by the ATC to comply with Executive Order 12088 under which the USAF is directed to meet all applicable federal, state, and local environmental regulations. In response to that request the efforts identified within this document provide the ATC with a thorough base-wide Asbestos Survey Report, an Asbestos Management Plan and an Operations and Maintenancemore » Plan for Randolph AFB which, when implemented, will comply with current and anticipated federal laws and provide the base with accurate information needed for long range asbestos management. The other twelve bases will be surveyed and sampled in the four years to follow with appropriate asbestos management plans developed for each. 6 figs.« less

Potential use of advanced process control for safety purposes during attack of a process plant.

PubMed

Whiteley, James R

2006-03-17

Many refineries and commodity chemical plants employ advanced process control (APC) systems to improve throughputs and yields. These APC systems utilize empirical process models for control purposes and enable operation closer to constraints than can be achieved with traditional PID regulatory feedback control. Substantial economic benefits are typically realized from the addition of APC systems. This paper considers leveraging the control capabilities of existing APC systems to minimize the potential impact of a terrorist attack on a process plant (e.g., petroleum refinery). Two potential uses of APC are described. The first is a conventional application of APC and involves automatically moving the process to a reduced operating rate when an attack first begins. The second is a non-conventional application and involves reconfiguring the APC system to optimize safety rather than economics. The underlying intent in both cases is to reduce the demands on the operator to allow focus on situation assessment and optimal response planning. An overview of APC is provided along with a brief description of the modifications required for the proposed new applications of the technology.

State survey of medical boards regarding abrupt loss of a prescriber of controlled substances.

PubMed

Sera, Leah; Brown, Micke; McPherson, Mary Lynn; Walker, Kathryn A; Klein-Schwartz, Wendy

The purpose of the study was to evaluate states' experiences with abrupt changes in controlled substances (CS) prescribing, to determine whether states have action plans in place to manage such situations, and describe the components of any such plans. A survey of executive directors of 51 medical boards was conducted to evaluate states' experiences with abrupt changes in CS prescribing, the extent of consumer complaints attributed to these events, and the types of plans in place to manage these situations. Forty-six executive directors of medical boards responded. Twenty boards (43.5 percent) confirmed that their state had experienced abrupt loss of CS providers and 11 (55 percent) of these executive directors indicated that the loss resulted in increased consumer complaints. The majority of executive directors (86 percent) had no action plan. Six executive directors reported some type of action plan or process consisting of regulatory action, patient-provider connection, professional education, patient education, or public notice. Most states do not have operational plans in place. However, a few have key strategies that may be useful in addressing potential problems following abrupt loss of a CS prescriber. State medical boards can play a significant role in the development of comprehensive preparedness plans to mitigate damage from the loss of CS prescribers in the community.

An effective self-control strategy for the reduction of aflatoxin M1 content in milk and to decrease the exposure of consumers.

PubMed

Kerekes, Kata; Bonilauri, Paolo; Serraino, Andrea; Giacometti, Federica; Piva, Silvia; Zambrini, Vittorio; Canever, Alessandra; Farkas, Zsuzsa; Ambrus, Árpád

2016-12-01

The study reports the results of testing the sensitivity of an early warning sampling plan for detecting milk batches with high aflatoxin AFM 1 concentration. The effectiveness of the method was investigated by the analysis of 9017 milk samples collected in Italian milk processing plants that applied control plans with different action limits (AL). For those milk processing plants where 30 ng kg -1 AL has been applied, the AFM 1 contamination was significantly lower at or above the 95th percentile of the milk samples when compared with plants that used 40 ng kg -1 AL. The results show that the control plan can be used effectively for early warning of occurrence of high AFM 1 contamination of milk and to carry out pro-active measures to limit the level of contamination. Estimation of dietary exposure was also carried out, based on the aflatoxin M 1 content of the milk samples and on Italian food consumption data. Estimated Daily Intakes (EDI) and Hazard Indices (HI) were calculated for different age groups of the population. HIs show that no adverse effects are expected for the adult population, but in the case of children under age three, the approximate HI values were considerably higher. This underlines the importance of the careful monitoring and control of aflatoxin M 1 in milk and dairy products.

Neurocognitive Enhancement or Impairment? A Systematic Meta-Analysis of Prescription Stimulant Effects on Processing Speed, Decision-Making, Planning, and Cognitive Perseveration

PubMed Central

Marraccini, Marisa E.; Weyandt, Lisa L.; Rossi, Joseph S.; Gudmundsdottir, Bergljot Gyda

2016-01-01

Increasing numbers of adults, particularly college students, are misusing prescription stimulants primarily for cognitive/academic enhancement, so it is critical to explore whether empirical findings support neurocognitive benefits of prescription stimulants. Previous meta-analytic studies have supported small benefits from prescription stimulants for the cognitive domains of inhibitory control and memory; however, no meta-analytic studies have examined the effects on processing speed or the potential impairment on other domains of cognition, including planning, decision-making, and cognitive perseveration. Therefore, the present study conducted a meta-analysis of the available literature examining the effects of prescription stimulants on specific measures of processing speed, planning, decision-making, and cognitive perseveration among healthy adult populations. The meta-analysis results indicated a positive influence of prescription stimulant medication on processing speed accuracy, with an overall mean effect size of g = 0.282 (95% CI 0.077, 0.488; n = 345). Neither improvements nor impairments were revealed for planning time, planning accuracy, advantageous decision-making, or cognitive perseveration; however findings are limited by the small number of studies examining these outcomes. Findings support that prescription stimulant medication may indeed act as a neurocognitive enhancer for accuracy measures of processing speed without impeding other areas of cognition. Considering that adults are already engaging in illegal use of prescription stimulants for academic enhancement, as well as the potential for stimulant misuse to have serious side effects, the establishment of public policies informed by interdisciplinary research surrounding this issue, whether restrictive or liberal, is of critical importance. PMID:27454675

Green stormwater infrastructure eco-planning and development on the regional scale: a case study of Shanghai Lingang New City, East China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Haishun; Chen, Liang; Zhao, Bing; Zhang, Qiuzhuo; Cai, Yongli

2016-06-01

Urban underlying surface has been greatly changed with rapid urbanization, considered to be one of the major causes for the destruction of urban natural hydrological processes. This has imposed a huge challenge for stormwater management in cities. There has been a shift from gray water management to green stormwater management thinking. The green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is regarded as an effective and cost-efficient stormwater management eco-landscape approach. China's GSI practice and the development of its theoretical framework are still in the initial stage. This paper presents an innovative framework for stormwater management, integrating green stormwater infrastructure and landscape security patterns on a regional scale based on an urban master plan. The core concept of green stormwater infrastructure eco-planning is to form an interconnected GSI network (i.e., stormwater management landscape security pattern) which consists of the location, portion, size, layout, and structure of GSI so as to efficiently safeguard natural hydrological processes. Shanghai Lingang New City, a satellite new town of Shanghai, China was selected as a case study for GSI studies. Simulation analyses of hydrological processes were carried out to identify the critical significant landscape nodes in the highpriority watersheds for stormwater management. GSI should be planned and implemented in these identified landscape nodes. The comprehensive stormwater management landscape security pattern of Shanghai Lingang New City is designed with consideration of flood control, stormwater control, runoff reduction, water quality protection, and rainwater utilization objectives which could provide guidelines for smart growth and sustainable development of this city.

Automated micromanipulation desktop station based on mobile piezoelectric microrobots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fatikow, Sergej

1996-12-01

One of the main problems of present-day research on microsystem technology (MST) is to assemble a whole micro- system from different microcomponents. This paper presents a new concept of an automated micromanipulation desktop- station including piezoelectrically driven microrobots placed on a high-precise x-y-stage of a light microscope, a CCD-camera as a local sensor subsystem, a laser sensor unit as a global sensor subsystem, a parallel computer system with C167 microcontrollers, and a Pentium PC equipped additionally with an optical grabber. The microrobots can perform high-precise manipulations (with an accuracy of up to 10 nm) and a nondestructive transport (at a speed of about 3 cm/sec) of very small objects under the microscope. To control the desktop-station automatically, an advanced control system that includes a task planning level and a real-time execution level is being developed. The main function of the task planning sub-system is to interpret the implicit action plan and to generate a sequence of explicit operations which are sent to the execution level of the control system. The main functions of the execution control level are the object recognition, image processing and feedback position control of the microrobot and the microscope stage.

Progress and plan of KSTAR plasma control system upgrade

DOE PAGES

Hahn, Sang-hee; Kim, Y. J.; Penaflor, B. G.; ...

2016-06-01

The plasma control system (PCS) has been one of essential systems in annual KSTAR plasma campaigns: starting from a single-process version in 2008, extensive upgrades are done through the previous 7 years in order to achieve major goals of KSTAR performance enhancement. Here, major implementations are explained in this paper. In consequences of successive upgrades, the present KSTAR PCS is able to achieve ~48 s of 500 kA plasma pulses with full real-time shaping controls and real-time NB power controls. It has become a huge system capable of dealing with 8 separate categories of algorithms, 26 actuators directly controllable duringmore » the shot, and real-time data communication units consisting of +180 analog channels and +600 digital input/outputs through the reflective memory (RFM) network. The next upgrade of the KSTAR PCS is planned in 2015 before the campaign. An overview of the upgrade layout will be given for this paper. The real-time system box is planned to use the CERN MRG-Realtime OS, an ITER-compatible standard operating system. New hardware is developed for faster real-time streaming system for future installations of actuators/diagnostics.« less

Technology of combined chemical-mechanical fabrication of durable coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smolentsev, V. P.; Ivanov, V. V.; Portnykh, A. I.

2018-03-01

The article presents the scientific fundamentals of methodology for calculating the modes and structuring the technological processes of combined chemical-mechanical fabrication of durable coatings. It is shown that they are based on classical patterns, describing the processes of simultaneous chemical and mechanical impact. The paper demonstrates the possibility of structuring a technological process, taking into account the systematic approach to impact management and strengthening the reciprocal positive influence of each impact upon the combined process. The combined processes have been planned for fabricating the model types of chemical-mechanical coatings of durable products in machine construction. The planning methodology is underpinned by a scientific hypothesis of a single source of impact management through energy potential of process components themselves, or by means of external energy supply through mechanical impact. The control of it is fairly thoroughly studied in the case of pulsed external strikes of hard pellets, similar to processes of vibroimpact hardening, thoroughly studied and mastered in many scientific schools of Russia.

Dengue Contingency Planning: From Research to Policy and Practice

PubMed Central

Runge-Ranzinger, Silvia; Kroeger, Axel; Olliaro, Piero; McCall, Philip J.; Sánchez Tejeda, Gustavo; Lloyd, Linda S.; Hakim, Lokman; Bowman, Leigh R.; Horstick, Olaf; Coelho, Giovanini

2016-01-01

Background Dengue is an increasingly incident disease across many parts of the world. In response, an evidence-based handbook to translate research into policy and practice was developed. This handbook facilitates contingency planning as well as the development and use of early warning and response systems for dengue fever epidemics, by identifying decision-making processes that contribute to the success or failure of dengue surveillance, as well as triggers that initiate effective responses to incipient outbreaks. Methodology/Principal findings Available evidence was evaluated using a step-wise process that included systematic literature reviews, policymaker and stakeholder interviews, a study to assess dengue contingency planning and outbreak management in 10 countries, and a retrospective logistic regression analysis to identify alarm signals for an outbreak warning system using datasets from five dengue endemic countries. Best practices for managing a dengue outbreak are provided for key elements of a dengue contingency plan including timely contingency planning, the importance of a detailed, context-specific dengue contingency plan that clearly distinguishes between routine and outbreak interventions, surveillance systems for outbreak preparedness, outbreak definitions, alert algorithms, managerial capacity, vector control capacity, and clinical management of large caseloads. Additionally, a computer-assisted early warning system, which enables countries to identify and respond to context-specific variables that predict forthcoming dengue outbreaks, has been developed. Conclusions/Significance Most countries do not have comprehensive, detailed contingency plans for dengue outbreaks. Countries tend to rely on intensified vector control as their outbreak response, with minimal focus on integrated management of clinical care, epidemiological, laboratory and vector surveillance, and risk communication. The Technical Handbook for Surveillance, Dengue Outbreak Prediction/ Detection and Outbreak Response seeks to provide countries with evidence-based best practices to justify the declaration of an outbreak and the mobilization of the resources required to implement an effective dengue contingency plan. PMID:27653786

Integrating cultivation history into EBIPM

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecologically based invasive plant management (EBIPM) is a systematic thinking and planning process to assist with applying the appropriate combination of tools and strategies to addrress the underlying cause of invasion rather than simply controlling invasive annual grass abundance. Cultivation his...

Strategic deployment plan : intelligent transportation system (ITS) : early deployment study, Kansas City metropolitan bi-state area

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are systems that utilize advanced technologies, including computer, communications and process control technologies, to improve the efficiency and safety of the transportation system. These systems encompass a...

77 FR 56634 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection Requests; Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-13

... data at the center of ED's policy, management, and budget decision-making processes for all K-12... collection and OMB Control Number when making your request. Individuals who use a telecommunications device...

The Home Stretch Almost! Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope V

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ochs, Bill

2017-01-01

JWST has Made tremendous progress in the last few years. JWST Is fully immersed in integration and test, but testing JWST is a formable challenge. JWST's size, complexity, and cryogenic characteristics require a multifaceted test plan to verify mission readiness. Each of these tests are opportunities to uncover issues which must be corrected to be able to move forward. All observatory control, science planning, and science data processing operational systems are on schedule.?

Design and Implementation of Total Quality Management in a Civil Engineering Squadron

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

instruct employees and seek new ways to integrate quality into all functions, such as planning, marketing , and controlling. The second strategy is for...implement a TQM plan that contributes to the overall DOD TQM process. 7 2. Managers at all levels will provide leadership and integrate TQM principles... integral part of our daily activities. 8 3. Quality improvement is the key to productivity improvement and must be pursued with the necessary resources to

From perceived autonomy support to intentional behaviour: Testing an integrated model in three healthy-eating behaviours.

PubMed

Girelli, Laura; Hagger, Martin; Mallia, Luca; Lucidi, Fabio

2016-01-01

A motivational model integrating self-determination theory, the theory of planned behaviour, and the health action process approach was tested in three samples in three behavioural contexts: fruit and vegetable, breakfast, and snack consumption. Perceived support for autonomous (self-determined) forms of motivation from parents and autonomous motivation from self-determination theory were hypothesised to predict intention and behaviour indirectly via the mediation of attitude and perceived behavioural control from the theory of planned behaviour. It was also expected that planning strategies would mediate the effect of intention on behaviour. Relations in the proposed models were expected to be similar across the behaviours. A two-wave prospective design was adopted. Three samples of high-school students (total N = 1041; 59.60% female; M age = 17.13 years ± 1.57) completed measures of perceived autonomy support, autonomous motivation, theory of planned behaviour constructs, planning strategies and behaviour for each of the three behavioural contexts. Three months later, 816 participants (62,24% female; M age: 17.13 years, SD = 1.58) of the initial sample self-reported their behaviour referred to the previous three months. Structural equation models provided support for the key hypothesised effects of the proposed model for the three health-related behaviours. Two direct effects were significantly different across the three behaviours: the effect of perceived autonomy support on perceived behavioural control and the effect of attitude on intention. In addition, planning strategies mediated the effect of intention on behaviour in fruit and vegetable sample only. Findings extend knowledge of the processes by which psychological antecedents from the theories affect energy-balance related behaviours. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sire: An Automated Software Development Environment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

understanding the fundamental nature of the software process" (Osterweil, 1981: 35). In fact, the optimal environment for most applications is found by extending... resource planning and other management concerns that cause these problems. Therefore, a complete ASDE should attempt to provide the -21...management with some type of control over the project without impeding the actual development process. Facilities that estimate current resource

Review of Solids Handling. Instructor's Guide. Biological Treatment Process Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnegie, John W.

This unit (which consists of a single lesson) summarizes and reviews most of the solids handling processes in common use in municipal treatment plants. The instructor's guide for the unit includes: (1) an overview of the lesson; (2) lesson plan; (3) lecture outline (keyed to a set of 72 slides); (4) student worksheet (with answers); and (5) two…

Total Quality Management (TQM), an Overview

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

Quality Management (TQM). It discusses the reasons TQM is a current growth industry, what it is, and how one implements it. It describes the basic analytical tools, statistical process control, some advanced analytical tools, tools used by process improvement teams to enhance their own operations, and action plans for making improvements. The final sections discuss assessing quality efforts and measuring the quality to knowledge

A Global Space Control Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

ASAT testing and development before significant pushback is enacted. Further, a growing body of literature suggests that space-based intelligence...management process must be the foundation of plan- ning space operations and responses. Second, we must realize that in order to conduct effective space...end state where commanders considering multiple courses of action have a sensor architecture and a tasking, collection, processing , exploitation, and

40 CFR 60.4861 - How do I establish an affirmative defense for exceedance of an emission limit or standard during...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., and unavoidable failure of air pollution control and monitoring equipment, process equipment, or a... activity or event that could have been foreseen and avoided, or planned for, and (iv) Were not part of a... ambient air quality, the environment and human health, and (6) All emissions monitoring and control...

40 CFR 60.4861 - How do I establish an affirmative defense for exceedance of an emission limit or standard during...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., and unavoidable failure of air pollution control and monitoring equipment, process equipment, or a... activity or event that could have been foreseen and avoided, or planned for, and (iv) Were not part of a... ambient air quality, the environment and human health, and (6) All emissions monitoring and control...

The Meaning of "Choice and Control" for People with Intellectual Disabilities Who Are Planning Their Social Care and Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Val; Porter, Sue

2017-01-01

Background: This paper questions consumerist assumptions in current English social care policy and aims to look behind the processes of personalization to interrogate what "choice and control" means in the lives of a diverse group of people with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Data were from multiple interviews and direct practice…

ESP`s Tank 42 washwater transfer to the 241-F/H tank farms

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

Aponte, C.I.; Lee, E.D.

1997-12-01

As a result of the separation of the High-Level Liquid Waste Department into three separate organizations (formerly there were two) (Concentration, Storage, and Transfer (CST), Waste Pre-Treatment (WPT) and Waste Disposition (WD)) process interface controls were required. One of these controls is implementing the Waste the waste between CST and WPT. At present, CST`s Waste Acceptance Criteria is undergoing revision and WPT has not prepared the required Waste Compliance Plan (WCP). The Waste Pre-Treatment organization is making preparations for transferring spent washwater in Tank 42 to Tank 43 and/or Tank 22. The washwater transfer is expected to complete the washingmore » steps for preparing ESP batch 1B sludge. This report is intended to perform the function of a Waste Compliance Plan for the proposed transfer. Previously, transfers between the Tank Farm and ITP/ESP were controlled by requirements outlined in the Tank Farm`s Technical Standards and ITP/ESP`s Process Requirements. Additionally, these controls are implemented primarily in operating procedure 241-FH-7TSQ and ITP Operations Manual SW16.1-SOP-WTS-1 which will be completed prior to performing the waste transfers.« less

Obtaining resources for evidence-based public health initiatives at the local level: insights from the Central Sydney Tobacco Control Plan.

PubMed

Rissel, C; McMaugh, K; O'Connor, D; Balafas, A; Ward, J

1999-02-01

In response to inquiries regarding the processes of developing a Tobacco Control Plan (TCP) for the Central Sydney Area Health Service (which in 1997 allocated dedicated funding of $ 800,000 over 2 1/2 years to implement the plan), this article describes the strengths and weaknesses of the TCP and outlines the process which contributed to its funding. Consistent with national and state priorities, the TCP recommended strategies based on best available evidence in the four action areas: reducing sales of cigarettes to minors, marketing, passive smoking and smoking cessation. Funding of this amount for a single public health issue at a local level represents a unique achievement in the application of an evidence-based approach to population health. Key elements of our advocacy methods included the involvement of all key primary health care and clinical stakeholders; comprehensive background research to identify evidence-based strategies; careful attention to budget options; strategic lobbying of senior staff and decision makers; the proposal for a multidisciplinary management structure for the TCP and specifications for funding allocation and evaluation. Early achievements and other reflections are discussed.

Seismology software: state of the practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, W. Spencer; Zeng, Zheng; Carette, Jacques

2018-05-01

We analyzed the state of practice for software development in the seismology domain by comparing 30 software packages on four aspects: product, implementation, design, and process. We found room for improvement in most seismology software packages. The principal areas of concern include a lack of adequate requirements and design specification documents, a lack of test data to assess reliability, a lack of examples to get new users started, and a lack of technological tools to assist with managing the development process. To assist going forward, we provide recommendations for a document-driven development process that includes a problem statement, development plan, requirement specification, verification and validation (V&V) plan, design specification, code, V&V report, and a user manual. We also provide advice on tool use, including issue tracking, version control, code documentation, and testing tools.

Seismology software: state of the practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, W. Spencer; Zeng, Zheng; Carette, Jacques

2018-02-01

We analyzed the state of practice for software development in the seismology domain by comparing 30 software packages on four aspects: product, implementation, design, and process. We found room for improvement in most seismology software packages. The principal areas of concern include a lack of adequate requirements and design specification documents, a lack of test data to assess reliability, a lack of examples to get new users started, and a lack of technological tools to assist with managing the development process. To assist going forward, we provide recommendations for a document-driven development process that includes a problem statement, development plan, requirement specification, verification and validation (V&V) plan, design specification, code, V&V report, and a user manual. We also provide advice on tool use, including issue tracking, version control, code documentation, and testing tools.

Frontiers in planning optimization for lung SBRT.

PubMed

Giglioli, Francesca Romana; Clemente, Stefania; Esposito, Marco; Fiandra, Christian; Marino, Carmelo; Russo, Serenella; Strigari, Lidia; Villaggi, Elena; Stasi, Michele; Mancosu, Pietro

2017-12-01

Emerging data are showing the safety and the efficacy of Stereotactic Body Radiation therapy (SBRT) in lung cancer management. In this context, the very high doses delivered to the Planning Target Volume, make the planning phase essential for achieving high dose levels conformed to the shape of the target in order to have a good prognosis for tumor control and to avoid an overdose in relevant healthy adjacent tissue. In this non-systematic review we analyzed the technological and the physics aspects of SBRT planning for lung cancer. In particular, the aims of the study were: (i) to evaluate prescription strategies (homogeneous or inhomogeneous), (ii) to outline possible geometrical solutions by comparing the dosimetric results (iii) to describe the technological possibilities for a safe and effective treatment, (iv) to present the issues concerning radiobiological planning and the automation of the planning process. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated system for single leg walking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmons, Reid; Krotkov, Eric; Roston, Gerry

1990-07-01

The Carnegie Mellon University Planetary Rover project is developing a six-legged walking robot capable of autonomously navigating, exploring, and acquiring samples in rugged, unknown environments. This report describes an integrated software system capable of navigating a single leg of the robot over rugged terrain. The leg, based on an early design of the Ambler Planetary Rover, is suspended below a carriage that slides along rails. To walk, the system creates an elevation map of the terrain from laser scanner images, plans an appropriate foothold based on terrain and geometric constraints, weaves the leg through the terrain to position it above the foothold, contacts the terrain with the foot, and applies force enough to advance the carriage along the rails. Walking both forward and backward, the system has traversed hundreds of meters of rugged terrain including obstacles too tall to step over, trenches too deep to step in, closely spaced obstacles, and sand hills. The implemented system consists of a number of task-specific processes (two for planning, two for perception, one for real-time control) and a central control process that directs the flow of communication between processes.

Advanced optical sensing and processing technologies for the distributed control of large flexible spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, G. M.; Fraser, J. C.

1991-01-01

The objective was to examine state-of-the-art optical sensing and processing technology applied to control the motion of flexible spacecraft. Proposed large flexible space systems, such an optical telescopes and antennas, will require control over vast surfaces. Most likely distributed control will be necessary involving many sensors to accurately measure the surface. A similarly large number of actuators must act upon the system. The used technical approach included reviewing proposed NASA missions to assess system needs and requirements. A candidate mission was chosen as a baseline study spacecraft for comparison of conventional and optical control components. Control system requirements of the baseline system were used for designing both a control system containing current off-the-shelf components and a system utilizing electro-optical devices for sensing and processing. State-of-the-art surveys of conventional sensor, actuator, and processor technologies were performed. A technology development plan is presented that presents a logical, effective way to develop and integrate advancing technologies.

Consolidating strategic planning and operational frameworks for integrated vector management in Eritrea.

PubMed

Chanda, Emmanuel; Ameneshewa, Birkinesh; Mihreteab, Selam; Berhane, Araia; Zehaie, Assefash; Ghebrat, Yohannes; Usman, Abdulmumini

2015-12-02

Contemporary malaria vector control relies on the use of insecticide-based, indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). However, malaria-endemic countries, including Eritrea, have struggled to effectively deploy these tools due technical and operational challenges, including the selection of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors. This manuscript outlines the processes undertaken in consolidating strategic planning and operational frameworks for vector control to expedite malaria elimination in Eritrea. The effort to strengthen strategic frameworks for vector control in Eritrea was the 'case' for this study. The integrated vector management (IVM) strategy was developed in 2010 but was not well executed, resulting in a rise in malaria transmission, prompting a process to redefine and relaunch the IVM strategy with integration of other vector borne diseases (VBDs) as the focus. The information sources for this study included all available data and accessible archived documentary records on malaria vector control in Eritrea. Structured literature searches of published, peer-reviewed sources using online, scientific, bibliographic databases, Google Scholar, PubMed and WHO, and a combination of search terms were utilized to gather data. The literature was reviewed and adapted to the local context and translated into the consolidated strategic framework. In Eritrea, communities are grappling with the challenge of VBDs posing public health concerns, including malaria. The global fund financed the scale-up of IRS and LLIN programmes in 2014. Eritrea is transitioning towards malaria elimination and strategic frameworks for vector control have been consolidated by: developing an integrated vector management (IVM) strategy (2015-2019); updating IRS and larval source management (LSM) guidelines; developing training manuals for IRS and LSM; training of national staff in malaria entomology and vector control, including insecticide resistance monitoring techniques; initiating the global plan for insecticide resistance management; conducting needs' assessments and developing standard operating procedure for insectaries; developing a guidance document on malaria vector control based on eco-epidemiological strata, a vector surveillance plan and harmonized mapping, data collection and reporting tools. Eritrea has successfully consolidated strategic frameworks for vector control. Rational decision-making remains critical to ensure that the interventions are effective and their choice is evidence-based, and to optimize the use of resources for vector control. Implementation of effective IVM requires proper collaboration and coordination, consistent technical and financial capacity and support to offer greater benefits.

An annual employee education calendar as the capstone of educational assessment, planning, and delivery.

PubMed

Morton, Paula G

2005-01-01

Staff development educators can better control their workload and provide a more comprehensive employee education program when the organization adopts a formal five-step process that culminates in the publication of an annual employee education calendar. This article describes the five steps of organization-wide learning needs assessment, resource allocation, priority setting, documentation of the educational plan, and calendar development, including elements and timelines. The annual calendar reflects involvement of staff throughout the facility in the identification, planning, and delivery of education programs. Its publication enhances staff and supervisors' awareness of learning opportunities. Its longer-range perspective assists managers and employees to better plan to meet learning needs and improves participation in staff development activities.

Social marketing: the family planning experience.

PubMed

El-ansary, A I; Kramer Oe, J

1973-07-01

The authors explore social marketing applications in the Louisiana model of statewide program for family planning. The marketing concept has 4 major elements: 1) consumer orientation; 2) social process; 3) integrated effort; 4) profitable operation. Success of program and continued growth are the results of defining services needed by consumer; determining market target; taking services to customer; and emphasizing concept of selling family planning rather than giving free birth control method. Another important facet is the recognition of many participants--community agencies, the church, the American Medical Association, funding sources, and hospitals. This project used anyaltical marketing tools and defined services as human services rather than the narrow family planning services. It also extended activities to multinational environment and adapted the product offering to meet these needs.

Situating Green Infrastructure in Context: Adaptive Socio-Hydrology for Sustainable Cities - poster

EPA Science Inventory

The benefits of green infrastructure (GI) in controlling urban hydrologic processes have largely focused on practical matters like stormwater management, which drives the planning stage. Green Infrastructure design and implementation usually takes into account physical site chara...

Space Communications Technology Conference: Onboard Processing and Switching

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Papers and presentations from the conference are presented. The topics covered include the following: satellite network architecture, network control and protocols, fault tolerance and autonomy, multichanned demultiplexing and demodulation, information switching and routing, modulation and coding, and planned satellite communications systems.

48 CFR 209.570-2 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... DEFENSE ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest... appropriate steps to prevent any organizational conflict of interest in the selection process; or (2) The... which the entity exercised no control. (c) In accordance with Section 802 of the National Defense...

48 CFR 34.202 - Integrated Baseline Reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... inherent risks in offerors'/contractors' performance plans and the underlying management control systems...) The degree to which the management process provides effective and integrated technical/schedule/cost... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Integrated Baseline...

A framework for developing an evidence-based, comprehensive tobacco control program

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Tobacco control is an area where the translation of evidence into policy would seem to be straightforward, given the wealth of epidemiological, behavioural and other types of research available. Yet, even here challenges exist. These include information overload, concealment of key (industry-funded) evidence, contextualization, assessment of population impact, and the changing nature of the threat. Methods In the context of Israel's health targeting initiative, Healthy Israel 2020, we describe the steps taken to develop a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. We elaborate on the following: a) scientific issues influencing the choice of tobacco control strategies; b) organization of existing evidence of effectiveness of interventions into a manageable form, and c) consideration of relevant philosophical and political issues. We propose a framework for developing a plan and illustrate this process with a case study in Israel. Results Broad consensus exists regarding the effectiveness of most interventions, but current recommendations differ in the emphasis they place on different strategies. Scientific challenges include integration of complex and sometimes conflicting information from authoritative sources, and lack of estimates of population impact of interventions. Philosophical and political challenges include the use of evidence-based versus innovative policymaking, the importance of individual versus governmental responsibility, and whether and how interventions should be prioritized. The proposed framework includes: 1) compilation of a list of potential interventions 2) modification of that list based on local needs and political constraints; 3) streamlining the list by categorizing interventions into broad groupings of related interventions; together these groupings form the basis of a comprehensive plan; and 4) refinement of the plan by comparing it to existing comprehensive plans. Conclusions Development of a comprehensive tobacco control plan is a complex endeavour, involving crucial decisions regarding intervention components. "Off the shelf" plans, which need to be adapted to local settings, are available from a variety of sources, and a multitude of individual recommendations are available. The proposed framework for adapting existing approaches to the local social and political climate may assist others planning for smoke-free societies. Additionally, this experience has implications for development of evidence-based health plans addressing other risk factors. PMID:20507612

A framework for developing an evidence-based, comprehensive tobacco control program.

PubMed

Rosen, Laura; Rosenberg, Elliot; McKee, Martin; Gan-Noy, Shosh; Levin, Diane; Mayshar, Elana; Shacham, Galia; Borowski, John; Nun, Gabi Bin; Lev, Boaz

2010-05-27

Tobacco control is an area where the translation of evidence into policy would seem to be straightforward, given the wealth of epidemiological, behavioural and other types of research available. Yet, even here challenges exist. These include information overload, concealment of key (industry-funded) evidence, contextualization, assessment of population impact, and the changing nature of the threat. In the context of Israel's health targeting initiative, Healthy Israel 2020, we describe the steps taken to develop a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. We elaborate on the following: a) scientific issues influencing the choice of tobacco control strategies; b) organization of existing evidence of effectiveness of interventions into a manageable form, and c) consideration of relevant philosophical and political issues. We propose a framework for developing a plan and illustrate this process with a case study in Israel. Broad consensus exists regarding the effectiveness of most interventions, but current recommendations differ in the emphasis they place on different strategies. Scientific challenges include integration of complex and sometimes conflicting information from authoritative sources, and lack of estimates of population impact of interventions. Philosophical and political challenges include the use of evidence-based versus innovative policymaking, the importance of individual versus governmental responsibility, and whether and how interventions should be prioritized.The proposed framework includes: 1) compilation of a list of potential interventions 2) modification of that list based on local needs and political constraints; 3) streamlining the list by categorizing interventions into broad groupings of related interventions; together these groupings form the basis of a comprehensive plan; and 4) refinement of the plan by comparing it to existing comprehensive plans. Development of a comprehensive tobacco control plan is a complex endeavour, involving crucial decisions regarding intervention components. "Off the shelf" plans, which need to be adapted to local settings, are available from a variety of sources, and a multitude of individual recommendations are available. The proposed framework for adapting existing approaches to the local social and political climate may assist others planning for smoke-free societies. Additionally, this experience has implications for development of evidence-based health plans addressing other risk factors.

Automating Mission Scheduling for Space-Based Observatories

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pell, Barney; Muscettola, Nicola; Hansson, Othar; Mohan, Sunil

1998-01-01

In this paper we describe the use of our planning and scheduling framework, HSTS, to reduce the complexity of science mission planning. This work is part of an overall project to enable a small team of scientists to control the operations of a spacecraft. The present process is highly labor intensive. Users (scientists and operators) rely on a non-codified understanding of the different spacecraft subsystems and of their operating constraints. They use a variety of software tools to support their decision making process. This paper considers the types of decision making that need to be supported/automated, the nature of the domain constraints and the capabilities needed to address them successfully, and the nature of external software systems with which the core planning/scheduling engine needs to interact. HSTS has been applied to science scheduling for EUVE and Cassini and is being adapted to support autonomous spacecraft operations in the New Millennium initiative.

Performance of an improved first generation optical CT scanner for 3D dosimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Xin; Adamovics, John; Wuu, Cheng-Shie

2013-12-01

Performance analysis of a modified 3D dosimetry optical scanner based on the first generation optical CT scanner OCTOPUS is presented. The system consists of PRESAGE™ dosimeters, the modified 3D scanner, and a new developed in-house user control panel written in Labview program which provides more flexibility to optimize mechanical control and data acquisition technique. The total scanning time has been significantly reduced from initial 8 h to ∼2 h by using the modified scanner. The functional performance of the modified scanner has been evaluated in terms of the mechanical integrity uncertainty of the data acquisition process. Optical density distribution comparison between the modified scanner, OCTOPUS and the treatment plan system has been studied. It has been demonstrated that the agreement between the modified scanner and treatment plans is comparable with that between the OCTOPUS and treatment plans.

TQM in a test environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chambers, Gary D.; King, Elizabeth A.; Oleson, Keith

1992-01-01

In response to the changing aerospace economic climate, Martin Marietta Astronautics Group (MMAG) has adopted a Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy to maintain a competitive edge. TQM emphasizes continuous improvement of processes, motivation to improve from within, cross-functional involvement, people empowerment, customer satisfaction, and modern process control techniques. The four major initiatives of TQM are Product Excellence, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), People Empowerment, and Subcontract Management. The Defense Space and Communications (DS&C) Test Lab's definition and implementation of the MRP II and people empowerment initiatives within TQM are discussed. The application of MRP II to environmental test planning and operations processes required a new and innovative approach. In an 18 month span, the test labs implemented MRP II and people empowerment and achieved a Class 'A' operational status. This resulted in numerous benefits, both tangible and intangible, including significant cost savings and improved quality of life. A detailed description of the implementation process and results are addressed.

TQM in a test environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, Gary D.; King, Elizabeth A.; Oleson, Keith

1992-11-01

In response to the changing aerospace economic climate, Martin Marietta Astronautics Group (MMAG) has adopted a Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy to maintain a competitive edge. TQM emphasizes continuous improvement of processes, motivation to improve from within, cross-functional involvement, people empowerment, customer satisfaction, and modern process control techniques. The four major initiatives of TQM are Product Excellence, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), People Empowerment, and Subcontract Management. The Defense Space and Communications (DS&C) Test Lab's definition and implementation of the MRP II and people empowerment initiatives within TQM are discussed. The application of MRP II to environmental test planning and operations processes required a new and innovative approach. In an 18 month span, the test labs implemented MRP II and people empowerment and achieved a Class 'A' operational status. This resulted in numerous benefits, both tangible and intangible, including significant cost savings and improved quality of life. A detailed description of the implementation process and results are addressed.

Usefulness and engagement with a guided workbook intervention (WorkPlan) to support work related goals among cancer survivors.

PubMed

Schumacher, Lauren; Armaou, Maria; Rolf, Pauline; Sadhra, Steven; Sutton, Andrew John; Zarkar, Anjali; Grunfeld, Elizabeth A

2017-10-04

Returning to work after cancer is associated with improved physical and psychological functioning, but managing this return can be a challenging process. A workbook based intervention (WorkPlan) was developed to support return-to-work among cancer survivors. The aim of this study was to explore how participants using the workbook engaged with the intervention and utilised the content of the intervention in their plan to return-to-work. As part of a feasibility randomised controlled trial, 23 participants from the intervention group were interviewed 4-weeks post intervention. Interviews focussed on intervention delivery and data was analysed using Framework analysis. Participants revealed a sense of empowerment and changes in their outlook as they transitioned from patient to employee, citing the act of writing as a medium for creating their own return-to-work narrative. Participants found the generation of a return-to-work plan useful for identifying potential problems and solutions, which also served as a tool for aiding discussion with the employer on return-to-work. Additionally, participants reported feeling less uncertain and anxious about returning to work. Timing of the intervention in coordination with ongoing cancer treatments was crucial to perceived effectiveness; participants identified the sole or final treatment as the ideal time to receive the intervention. The self-guided workbook supports people diagnosed with cancer to build their communication and planning skills to successfully manage their return-to-work. Further research could examine how writing plays a role in this process. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN56342476 . Retrospectively registered 14 October 2015.

Applying the theory of planned behavior to self-report dental attendance in Norwegian adults through structural equation modelling approach.

PubMed

Åstrøm, Anne N; Lie, Stein Atle; Gülcan, Ferda

2018-05-31

Understanding factors that affect dental attendance behavior helps in constructing effective oral health campaigns. A socio-cognitive model that adequately explains variance in regular dental attendance has yet to be validated among younger adults in Norway. Focusing a representative sample of younger Norwegian adults, this cross-sectional study provided an empirical test of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) augmented with descriptive norm and action planning and estimated direct and indirect effects of attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms, perceived behavioral control and action planning on intended and self-reported regular dental attendance. Self-administered questionnaires provided by 2551, 25-35 year olds, randomly selected from the Norwegian national population registry were used to assess socio-demographic factors, dental attendance as well as the constructs of the augmented TPB model (attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms, intention, action planning). A two-stage process of structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the augmented TPB model. Confirmatory factor analysis, CFA, confirmed the proposed correlated 6-factor measurement model after re-specification. SEM revealed that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms and descriptive norms explained intention. The corresponding standardized regression coefficients were respectively (β = 0.70), (β =0.18), (β = - 0.17) and (β =0.11) (p < 0.001). Intention (β =0.46) predicted action planning and action planning (β =0.19) predicted dental attendance behavior (p < 0.001). The model revealed indirect effects of intention and perceived behavioral control on behavior through action planning and through intention and action planning, respectively. The final model explained 64 and 41% of the total variance in intention and dental attendance behavior. The findings support the utility of the TPB, the expanded normative component and action planning in predicting younger adults' intended- and self-reported dental attendance. Interventions targeting young adults' dental attendance might usefully focus on positive consequences following this behavior accompanied with modeling and group performance.

Quality Control of High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy: Treatment Delivery Analysis Using Statistical Process Control

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

Able, Charles M., E-mail: cable@wfubmc.edu; Bright, Megan; Frizzell, Bart

Purpose: Statistical process control (SPC) is a quality control method used to ensure that a process is well controlled and operates with little variation. This study determined whether SPC was a viable technique for evaluating the proper operation of a high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment delivery system. Methods and Materials: A surrogate prostate patient was developed using Vyse ordnance gelatin. A total of 10 metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) were placed from prostate base to apex. Computed tomography guidance was used to accurately position the first detector in each train at the base. The plan consisted of 12 needles withmore » 129 dwell positions delivering a prescribed peripheral dose of 200 cGy. Sixteen accurate treatment trials were delivered as planned. Subsequently, a number of treatments were delivered with errors introduced, including wrong patient, wrong source calibration, wrong connection sequence, single needle displaced inferiorly 5 mm, and entire implant displaced 2 mm and 4 mm inferiorly. Two process behavior charts (PBC), an individual and a moving range chart, were developed for each dosimeter location. Results: There were 4 false positives resulting from 160 measurements from 16 accurately delivered treatments. For the inaccurately delivered treatments, the PBC indicated that measurements made at the periphery and apex (regions of high-dose gradient) were much more sensitive to treatment delivery errors. All errors introduced were correctly identified by either the individual or the moving range PBC in the apex region. Measurements at the urethra and base were less sensitive to errors. Conclusions: SPC is a viable method for assessing the quality of HDR treatment delivery. Further development is necessary to determine the most effective dose sampling, to ensure reproducible evaluation of treatment delivery accuracy.« less

Langley Research Center's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel: Testing Capabilities and Recent Modernization Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Micol, John R.

2001-01-01

Description, capabilities, initiatives, and utilization of the NASA Langley Research Center's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel are presented. A brief overview of the facility's operational capabilities and testing techniques is provided. A recent Construction of Facilities (CoF) project to improve facility productivity and efficiency through facility automation has been completed and is discussed. Several new and maturing thrusts are underway that include systematic efforts to provide credible assessment for data quality, modifications to the new automation control system for increased compatibility with the Modern Design Of Experiments (MDOE) testing methodology, and process improvements for better test coordination, planning, and execution.

Langley Research Center's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel: Testing Capabilities and Recent Modernization Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Micol, John R.

2001-01-01

Description, capabilities, initiatives, and utilization of the NASA Langley Research Center's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel are presented. A brief overview of the facility's operational capabilities and testing techniques is provided. A recent Construction of Facilities (Car) project to improve facility productivity and efficiency through facility automation has been completed and is discussed. Several new and maturing thrusts are underway that include systematic efforts to provide credible assessment for data quality, modifications to the new automation control system for increased compatibility with the Modern Design of Experiments (MDOE) testing methodology, and process improvements for better test coordination, planning, and execution.

Analysis of the potential application of the Davenport/Short information technology model to a research and development organization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decker, Deron R.

1991-01-01

Part of the role of the Mission Operations Lab is the development of budget inputs for Huntsville Operations/Payload Crew Training Center/Payload Operations Control Center (HOSC/PCTC/POCC) activity. These budget inputs are part of the formal Program Operating Plan (POP) process, which occurs twice yearly, and of the formal creation of the yearly operating plan. Both POPs and the operation plan serve the purpose of mapping out planned expenditures for the next fiscal year and for a number of outlying years. Based on these plans, the various Project Offices at the Center fund the HOSC/PCTC/POCC activity. Because of Mission Operations Lab's role in budget development, some of the Project Offices have begun looking to Mission Operations, and specifically the EO02 branch, to track expenditures and explain/justify any deviations from plans. EO02 has encountered difficulties acquiring the necessary information to perform this function. It appears that the necessary linkages with other units had not been fully developed and integrated with the flow of information in budget implementation. The purpose of this study is to document the budget process from the point of view of EO02 and to identify the steps necessary for it to effectively perform this role on a continuous basis.

Neurocognitive enhancement or impairment? A systematic meta-analysis of prescription stimulant effects on processing speed, decision-making, planning, and cognitive perseveration.

PubMed

Marraccini, Marisa E; Weyandt, Lisa L; Rossi, Joseph S; Gudmundsdottir, Bergljot Gyda

2016-08-01

Increasing numbers of adults, particularly college students, are misusing prescription stimulants primarily for cognitive/academic enhancement, so it is critical to explore whether empirical findings support neurocognitive benefits of prescription stimulants. Previous meta-analytic studies have supported small benefits from prescription stimulants for the cognitive domains of inhibitory control and memory; however, no meta-analytic studies have examined the effects on processing speed or the potential impairment on other domains of cognition, including planning, decision-making, and cognitive perseveration. Therefore, the present study conducted a meta-analysis of the available literature examining the effects of prescription stimulants on specific measures of processing speed, planning, decision-making, and cognitive perseveration among healthy adult populations. The meta-analysis results indicated a positive influence of prescription stimulant medication on processing speed accuracy, with an overall mean effect size of g = 0.282 (95% CI [0.077, 0.488]; n = 345). Neither improvements nor impairments were revealed for planning time, planning accuracy, advantageous decision-making, or cognitive perseveration; however, findings are limited by the small number of studies examining these outcomes. Findings support that prescription stimulant medication may indeed act as a neurocognitive enhancer for accuracy measures of processing speed without impeding other areas of cognition. Considering that adults are already engaging in illegal use of prescription stimulants for academic enhancement, as well as the potential for stimulant misuse to have serious side effects, the establishment of public policies informed by interdisciplinary research surrounding this issue, whether restrictive or liberal, is of critical importance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

40 CFR 62.5100 - Identification of plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF STATE PLANS FOR DESIGNATED FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS Maryland Plan for Control... plan. (a) Identification of plan. Maryland Plan for Control Designated Pollutants from Existing Facilities (Section 111(d) plan). (b) The plan was officially submitted as follows: (1) Control of sulfuric...

Operator-assisted planning and execution of proximity operations subject to operational constraints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grunwald, Arthur J.; Ellis, Stephen R.

1991-01-01

Future multi-vehicle operations will involve multiple scenarios that will require a planning tool for the rapid, interactive creation of fuel-efficient trajectories. The planning process must deal with higher-order, non-linear processes involving dynamics that are often counter-intuitive. The optimization of resulting trajectories can be difficult to envision. An interaction proximity operations planning system is being developed to provide the operator with easily interpreted visual feedback of trajectories and constraints. This system is hosted on an IRIS 4D graphics platform and utilizes the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations. An inverse dynamics algorithm is used to remove non-linearities while the trajectory maneuvers are decoupled and separated in a geometric spreadsheet. The operator has direct control of the position and time of trajectory waypoints to achieve the desired end conditions. Graphics provide the operator with visualization of satisfying operational constraints such as structural clearance, plume impingement, approach velocity limits, and arrival or departure corridors. Primer vector theory is combined with graphical presentation to improve operator understanding of suggested automated system solutions and to allow the operator to review, edit, or provide corrective action to the trajectory plan.

Manifestations of metacognitive activity during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathabathe, Kgadi Clarrie; Potgieter, Marietjie

2017-07-01

This paper elaborates a process followed to characterise manifestations of cognitive regulation during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations. Metacognitive activity was defined as the demonstration of planning, monitoring, control and evaluation of cognitive activities by students while carrying out the chemistry task. Inherent in collaborative learning is the social aspect of metacognition, which in this study was evidenced in social cognitive regulation (notably of intra- and interpersonal metacognitive regulations) as groups of students went about planning their practical investigations. Discussions of two of the learning groups (n = 4; n = 3) as they planned the extended practical investigation were recorded, transcribed and analysed for indicators of any inherent metacognitive activity. The process of characterising the manifestations of metacognition resulted in the development of a coding system which specifies not only the regulatory strategies at play but the type of regulation (self or other), the area of regulation (cognition, task performance or behaviour) as well as the depth of regulatory contributions (high or low). The fine-grained coding system allowed for a finer theoretical elucidation of the social nature of metacognition. The implications of this study for metacognition and chemistry education research are highlighted.

Robust path planning for flexible needle insertion using Markov decision processes.

PubMed

Tan, Xiaoyu; Yu, Pengqian; Lim, Kah-Bin; Chui, Chee-Kong

2018-05-11

Flexible needle has the potential to accurately navigate to a treatment region in the least invasive manner. We propose a new planning method using Markov decision processes (MDPs) for flexible needle navigation that can perform robust path planning and steering under the circumstance of complex tissue-needle interactions. This method enhances the robustness of flexible needle steering from three different perspectives. First, the method considers the problem caused by soft tissue deformation. The method then resolves the common needle penetration failure caused by patterns of targets, while the last solution addresses the uncertainty issues in flexible needle motion due to complex and unpredictable tissue-needle interaction. Computer simulation and phantom experimental results show that the proposed method can perform robust planning and generate a secure control policy for flexible needle steering. Compared with a traditional method using MDPs, the proposed method achieves higher accuracy and probability of success in avoiding obstacles under complicated and uncertain tissue-needle interactions. Future work will involve experiment with biological tissue in vivo. The proposed robust path planning method can securely steer flexible needle within soft phantom tissues and achieve high adaptability in computer simulation.

Attitudes and exercise adherence: test of the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour.

PubMed

Smith, R A; Biddle, S J

1999-04-01

Three studies of exercise adherence and attitudes are reported that tested the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. In a prospective study of adherence to a private fitness club, structural equation modelling path analysis showed that attitudinal and social normative components of the Theory of Reasoned Action accounted for 13.1% of the variance in adherence 4 months later, although only social norm significantly predicted intention. In a second study, the Theory of Planned Behaviour was used to predict both physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Path analyses showed that attitude and perceived control, but not social norm, predicted total physical activity. Physical activity was predicted from intentions and control over sedentary behaviour. Finally, an intervention study with previously sedentary adults showed that intentions to be active measured at the start and end of a 10-week intervention were associated with the planned behaviour variables. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed no significant multivariate effects for time on the planned behaviour variables measured before and after intervention. Qualitative data provided evidence that participants had a positive experience on the intervention programme and supported the role of social normative factors in the adherence process.

Stakeholder insights on the planning and development of an independent benchmark standard for responsible food marketing.

PubMed

Cairns, Georgina; Macdonald, Laura

2016-06-01

A mixed methods qualitative survey investigated stakeholder responses to the proposal to develop an independently defined, audited and certifiable set of benchmark standards for responsible food marketing. Its purpose was to inform the policy planning and development process. A majority of respondents were supportive of the proposal. A majority also viewed the engagement and collaboration of a broad base of stakeholders in its planning and development as potentially beneficial. Positive responses were associated with views that policy controls can and should be extended to include all form of marketing, that obesity and non-communicable diseases prevention and control was a shared responsibility and an urgent policy priority and prior experience of independent standardisation as a policy lever for good practice. Strong policy leadership, demonstrable utilisation of the evidence base in its development and deployment and a conceptually clear communications plan were identified as priority targets for future policy planning. Future research priorities include generating more evidence on the feasibility of developing an effective community of practice and theory of change, the strengths and limitations of these and developing an evidence-based step-wise communications strategy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-assortment rhythmic production planning and control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skolud, B.; Krenczyk, D.; Zemczak, M.

2015-11-01

A method for production planning in a repetitive manufacturing system which allows for estimating the possibility of processing work orders in due time is presented. The difference between two approaches are presented; the first one one-piece flow elaborated in Toyota and the second one elaborated by authors that consists in defining sufficient conditions to filter all solutions and providing a set of admissible solutions for both the client and the producer. In the paper attention is focused on the buffer allocation. Illustrative examples are presented.

When Optimal Feedback Control Is Not Enough: Feedforward Strategies Are Required for Optimal Control with Active Sensing.

PubMed

Yeo, Sang-Hoon; Franklin, David W; Wolpert, Daniel M

2016-12-01

Movement planning is thought to be primarily determined by motor costs such as inaccuracy and effort. Solving for the optimal plan that minimizes these costs typically leads to specifying a time-varying feedback controller which both generates the movement and can optimally correct for errors that arise within a movement. However, the quality of the sensory feedback during a movement can depend substantially on the generated movement. We show that by incorporating such state-dependent sensory feedback, the optimal solution incorporates active sensing and is no longer a pure feedback process but includes a significant feedforward component. To examine whether people take into account such state-dependency in sensory feedback we asked people to make movements in which we controlled the reliability of sensory feedback. We made the visibility of the hand state-dependent, such that the visibility was proportional to the component of hand velocity in a particular direction. Subjects gradually adapted to such a sensory perturbation by making curved hand movements. In particular, they appeared to control the late visibility of the movement matching predictions of the optimal controller with state-dependent sensory noise. Our results show that trajectory planning is not only sensitive to motor costs but takes sensory costs into account and argues for optimal control of movement in which feedforward commands can play a significant role.

CIM at GE's factory of the future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldman, H.

Functional features of a highly automated aircraft component batch processing factory are described. The system has processing, working, and methodology components. A rotating parts operation installed 20 yr ago features a high density of numerically controlled machines, and is connected to a hierarchical network of data communications and apparatus for moving the rotating parts and tools of engines. Designs produced at one location in the country are sent by telephone link to other sites for development of manufacturing plans, tooling, numerical control programs, and process instructions for the rotating parts. Direct numerical control is implemented at the work stations, which have instructions stored on tape for back-up in case the host computer goes down. Each machine is automatically monitored at 48 points and notice of failure can originate from any point in the system.

Mission Control Center (MCC) System Specification for the Shuttle Orbital Flight Test (OFT) Timeframe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

System specifications to be used by the mission control center (MCC) for the shuttle orbital flight test (OFT) time frame were described. The three support systems discussed are the communication interface system (CIS), the data computation complex (DCC), and the display and control system (DCS), all of which may interfere with, and share processing facilities with other applications processing supporting current MCC programs. The MCC shall provide centralized control of the space shuttle OFT from launch through orbital flight, entry, and landing until the Orbiter comes to a stop on the runway. This control shall include the functions of vehicle management in the area of hardware configuration (verification), flight planning, communication and instrumentation configuration management, trajectory, software and consumables, payloads management, flight safety, and verification of test conditions/environment.

Distinct Facets of Impulsivity Exhibit Differential Associations with Substance Use Disorder Treatment Processes: A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Investigation Among Military Veterans

PubMed Central

Heinz, Adrienne J.; Bui, Leena; Thomas, Katherine M.; Blonigen, Daniel M.

2015-01-01

Impulsivity, a multi-faceted construct characterized by rash, unplanned actions and a disregard for long-term consequences, is associated with poor substance use disorder (SUD) treatment outcomes. Little is known though about the influence of impulsivity on treatment process variables critical for initiating and maintaining behavioral change. This knowledge gap is important as different aspects of impulsivity may be susceptible to diverse cognitive, behavioral and pharmacological influences. The present study examined two distinct facets of impulsivity (lack of planning and immoderation - a proxy of urgency) as predictors of processes that impact SUD treatment success (active coping, avoidant coping, self-efficacy, and interpersonal problems). Participants were 200 Veterans who completed impulsivity and treatment process assessments upon entering a SUD treatment program and treatment process assessments at treatment discharge. Results from multivariate models revealed that lack of planning was associated with lower active coping and higher avoidant coping and interpersonal problems at intake, though not with lower self-efficacy to abstain from substances. Immoderation was associated with higher avoidant coping and lower self-efficacy to abstain from substances at intake, but not with lower active coping or higher interpersonal problems. Higher immoderation, but not lack of planning, predicted lower self-efficacy to abstain from substances at treatment discharge. These findings suggest that different facets of impulsivity confer risk for different SUD treatment process indicators and that clinicians should consider the behavioral expression of patients’ impulse control problems in treatment planning and delivery. PMID:25770869

PROCESS DESIGN MANUAL FOR SLUDGE TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this manual is to provide the engineering community and related industry with a new source of information to be used in the planning, design, and operation of present and future wastewater pollution control facilities. This manual supplements this existing knowledg...

An Integration, Long Range Planning, and Migration Guide for the Stock Point Logistics Integrated Communications Project.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-03-01

and universal terminal/printer interface mapping ( TMAP ) software. When the Burroughs HYPERchannel software package (i.e., Burroughs NETEX) provided...and terminal device and security functions placed under the control of the FDC’s SAS/ TMAP processes. Without processing efficiency enhancements, TAPS...FDC’s SAS/ TMAP processes. As was also previously indicated, the performance of TAPS II on TANDEM is poor today, and there are questions as whether

A multi-disciplinary approach to the removal of emerging contaminants in municipal wastewater treatment plans in New York State, 2003-2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Philips, Patrick J.; Stinson, Beverley; Zaugg, Steven D.; Furlong, Edward T.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Esposito, Kathleen; Bodniewicz, B.; Pape, R.; Anderson, J.

2005-01-01

The second phase of the study focused on one of the most common wastewater treatment processes operated in the United States, the Activated Sludge process. Using four controlled parallel activated sludge pilots, a more detailed assessment of the impact of Sludge Retention Time (SRT) on the reduction or removal of ECs was performed.

A Comparative History of Department of Defense Management Reform from 1947 to 2005

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

type of management reform agenda to improve the Department of Defense business processes and incorporate recent management ideas from the business ...introduce some type of management reform agenda to improve the Department of Defense business processes and incorporate recent management ideas...Steering Group BMMP Business Management Modernization Plan BRAC Base Realignment and Closure C3I Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence

The Shock and Vibration Digest, Volume 12, Number 9,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

include diesel engine noise, process plant noise, and environ- dynamic mechanical properties of viscoelastic mate- mental noise and planning. rials...new numerical methods are presented in- plant noise control, design of facilities for noise in the twelve articles of the mathematics section. control...International Symposium for Innovative the seminar: 31 16 = ,,-,==. ’d-m w .’ " Dynamic Testing of Nuclear Power Plant Struc- ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS

Total Quality Management: Getting Started

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

Quality Management (TQM) program using Organizational Development (OD) intervention techniques to gain acceptance of the program. It emphasizes human behavior and the need for collaborative management and consensus in organizational change. Lessons learned stress the importance of choosing a skilled TQM facilitator, training process action teams, and fostering open communication and teamwork to minimize resistance to change. Keywords: Management planning and control, Quality control, Quality , Management , Organization change, Organization development,

Orion Integrated Guidance, Navigation, and Control [GN and C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chevray, Kay

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the integrated Guidance, Navigation and Control (iGN&C) system in the design for the Orion spacecraft. Included in the review are the plans for the design and development of the external interfaces, the functional architecture, the iGN&C software, the development and validation process, and the key challenges that are involved in the development of the iGN&C system

Quality Control Analysis of Selected Aspects of Programs Administered by the Bureau of Student Financial Assistance. Task 1 and Quality Control Sample; Error-Prone Modeling Analysis Plan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saavedra, Pedro; And Others

Parameters and procedures for developing an error-prone model (EPM) to predict financial aid applicants who are likely to misreport on Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) applications are introduced. Specifications to adapt these general parameters to secondary data analysis of the Validation, Edits, and Applications Processing Systems…

Integrated Dynamic Process Planning and Scheduling in Flexible Manufacturing Systems via Autonomous Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nejad, Hossein Tehrani Nik; Sugimura, Nobuhiro; Iwamura, Koji; Tanimizu, Yoshitaka

Process planning and scheduling are important manufacturing planning activities which deal with resource utilization and time span of manufacturing operations. The process plans and the schedules generated in the planning phase shall be modified in the execution phase due to the disturbances in the manufacturing systems. This paper deals with a multi-agent architecture of an integrated and dynamic system for process planning and scheduling for multi jobs. A negotiation protocol is discussed, in this paper, to generate the process plans and the schedules of the manufacturing resources and the individual jobs, dynamically and incrementally, based on the alternative manufacturing processes. The alternative manufacturing processes are presented by the process plan networks discussed in the previous paper, and the suitable process plans and schedules are searched and generated to cope with both the dynamic status and the disturbances of the manufacturing systems. We initiatively combine the heuristic search algorithms of the process plan networks with the negotiation protocols, in order to generate suitable process plans and schedules in the dynamic manufacturing environment. A simulation software has been developed to carry out case studies, aimed at verifying the performance of the proposed multi-agent architecture.

The effect of sensory uncertainty due to amblyopia (lazy eye) on the planning and execution of visually-guided 3D reaching movements.

PubMed

Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa; Goltz, Herbert C; Chandrakumar, Manokaraananthan; Wong, Agnes M F

2012-01-01

Impairment of spatiotemporal visual processing in amblyopia has been studied extensively, but its effects on visuomotor tasks have rarely been examined. Here, we investigate how visual deficits in amblyopia affect motor planning and online control of visually-guided, unconstrained reaching movements. Thirteen patients with mild amblyopia, 13 with severe amblyopia and 13 visually-normal participants were recruited. Participants reached and touched a visual target during binocular and monocular viewing. Motor planning was assessed by examining spatial variability of the trajectory at 50-100 ms after movement onset. Online control was assessed by examining the endpoint variability and by calculating the coefficient of determination (R(2)) which correlates the spatial position of the limb during the movement to endpoint position. Patients with amblyopia had reduced precision of the motor plan in all viewing conditions as evidenced by increased variability of the reach early in the trajectory. Endpoint precision was comparable between patients with mild amblyopia and control participants. Patients with severe amblyopia had reduced endpoint precision along azimuth and elevation during amblyopic eye viewing only, and along the depth axis in all viewing conditions. In addition, they had significantly higher R(2) values at 70% of movement time along the elevation and depth axes during amblyopic eye viewing. Sensory uncertainty due to amblyopia leads to reduced precision of the motor plan. The ability to implement online corrections depends on the severity of the visual deficit, viewing condition, and the axis of the reaching movement. Patients with mild amblyopia used online control effectively to compensate for the reduced precision of the motor plan. In contrast, patients with severe amblyopia were not able to use online control as effectively to amend the limb trajectory especially along the depth axis, which could be due to their abnormal stereopsis.

The Effect of Sensory Uncertainty Due to Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) on the Planning and Execution of Visually-Guided 3D Reaching Movements

PubMed Central

Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa; Goltz, Herbert C.; Chandrakumar, Manokaraananthan; Wong, Agnes M. F.

2012-01-01

Background Impairment of spatiotemporal visual processing in amblyopia has been studied extensively, but its effects on visuomotor tasks have rarely been examined. Here, we investigate how visual deficits in amblyopia affect motor planning and online control of visually-guided, unconstrained reaching movements. Methods Thirteen patients with mild amblyopia, 13 with severe amblyopia and 13 visually-normal participants were recruited. Participants reached and touched a visual target during binocular and monocular viewing. Motor planning was assessed by examining spatial variability of the trajectory at 50–100 ms after movement onset. Online control was assessed by examining the endpoint variability and by calculating the coefficient of determination (R2) which correlates the spatial position of the limb during the movement to endpoint position. Results Patients with amblyopia had reduced precision of the motor plan in all viewing conditions as evidenced by increased variability of the reach early in the trajectory. Endpoint precision was comparable between patients with mild amblyopia and control participants. Patients with severe amblyopia had reduced endpoint precision along azimuth and elevation during amblyopic eye viewing only, and along the depth axis in all viewing conditions. In addition, they had significantly higher R2 values at 70% of movement time along the elevation and depth axes during amblyopic eye viewing. Conclusion Sensory uncertainty due to amblyopia leads to reduced precision of the motor plan. The ability to implement online corrections depends on the severity of the visual deficit, viewing condition, and the axis of the reaching movement. Patients with mild amblyopia used online control effectively to compensate for the reduced precision of the motor plan. In contrast, patients with severe amblyopia were not able to use online control as effectively to amend the limb trajectory especially along the depth axis, which could be due to their abnormal stereopsis. PMID:22363549

Intelligent flight control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stengel, Robert F.

1993-01-01

The capabilities of flight control systems can be enhanced by designing them to emulate functions of natural intelligence. Intelligent control functions fall in three categories. Declarative actions involve decision-making, providing models for system monitoring, goal planning, and system/scenario identification. Procedural actions concern skilled behavior and have parallels in guidance, navigation, and adaptation. Reflexive actions are spontaneous, inner-loop responses for control and estimation. Intelligent flight control systems learn knowledge of the aircraft and its mission and adapt to changes in the flight environment. Cognitive models form an efficient basis for integrating 'outer-loop/inner-loop' control functions and for developing robust parallel-processing algorithms.

Set as an instance of a real-world visual-cognitive task.

PubMed

Nyamsuren, Enkhbold; Taatgen, Niels A

2013-01-01

Complex problem solving is often an integration of perceptual processing and deliberate planning. But what balances these two processes, and how do novices differ from experts? We investigate the interplay between these two in the game of SET. This article investigates how people combine bottom-up visual processes and top-down planning to succeed in this game. Using combinatorial and mixed-effect regression analysis of eye-movement protocols and a cognitive model of a human player, we show that SET players deploy both bottom-up and top-down processes in parallel to accomplish the same task. The combination of competition and cooperation of both types of processes is a major factor of success in the game. Finally, we explore strategies players use during the game. Our findings suggest that within-trial strategy shifts can occur without the need of explicit meta-cognitive control, but rather implicitly as a result of evolving memory activations. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Planning and executing motions for multibody systems in free-fall. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cameron, Jonathan M.

1991-01-01

The purpose of this research is to develop an end-to-end system that can be applied to a multibody system in free-fall to analyze its possible motions, save those motions in a database, and design a controller that can execute those motions. A goal is for the process to be highly automated and involve little human intervention. Ideally, the output of the system would be data and algorithms that could be put in ROM to control the multibody system in free-fall. The research applies to more than just robots in space. It applies to any multibody system in free-fall. Mathematical techniques from nonlinear control theory were used to study the nature of the system dynamics and its possible motions. Optimization techniques were applied to plan motions. Image compression techniques were proposed to compress the precomputed motion data for storage. A linearized controller was derived to control the system while it executes preplanned trajectories.

[The control of urban growth in Mexico City. Suppositions regarding poor planning].

PubMed

Aguilar, A G; Olvera, G

1991-01-01

It is argued that mechanisms for planning land use and controlling urban expansion in Mexico City have failed to achieve their aims. Although in theory Mexico's urban planning process has recently attempted to go beyond purely physical aspects to include socioeconomic dimensions, it has in fact been inflexible and oriented to exclusively to technical and administrative aspects, to the detriment of social distribution goals. Planning instruments have not included important aspects such as specific mechanisms for altering employment structures or income levels or mechanisms for providing access to land or housing to the most disadvantaged groups. The urban planning process in Mexico City, instead of assuming a socially compensatory role in favor of disadvantaged groups, has maintained the status quo or discriminated in favor of the already advantaged. The spatial and technical orientation or urban planning in Mexico City does not leave room for a well-defined social policy. The population of the Mexico City metropolitan Zone increased from 3 million in 1950 to 18 million in 1985, while its total area increased from 11,750 hectares in 1940 to 125,000 in 1985. Transfer of population from the Federal District to the conurban municipios of the state of Mexico has been very significant since the 1970s. Around 20% of the total area of metropolitan Mexico City has been settled through illegal means, with communal and ejido lands accounting for a large share. Settlements on some 60% of lands in metroplitan Mexico City were illegal or irregular at some time. Low income housing is the cheapest form for the government because the frequently illegal status of settlers prevents them from making any demands for services or equipment for the 1st several years. Construction is undertaken and financed almost entirely by the settlers themselves, freeing the government of responsibility in regard to the constitutionally mandated right of all Mexicans to housing. The Urban Development Plan of the state of Mexico published in 1986 proposed 2 important programs for controlling urban growth. The territorial reserves program aimed to anticipate the need and make available through purchase, expropriation, or other means sufficient lands for housing to which the lowest income groups would share access. The "Paint Your Line" program establiished physical limits for urban expansion in each of the 17 conurban municipios in the State of Mexico. To date, however, few lands have been set aside for legal acquisition and the Paint Your Line program has been slow in delimiting the areas to be settled. Data from a 1989 study in the municipios of Chalco and Ixtapaluca demonstrate the shortcomings of the programs, which do not address the true processes and agents that control new settlements and especially illegal occupations and which fail to satisfy the needs of low-income population sectors.

The ends of uncertainty: Air quality science and planning in Central California

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

Fine, James

Air quality planning in Central California is complicated and controversial despite millions of dollars invested to improve scientific understanding. This research describes and critiques the use of photochemical air quality simulation modeling studies in planning to attain standards for ground-level ozone in the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley during the 1990's. Data are gathered through documents and interviews with planners, modelers, and policy-makers at public agencies and with representatives from the regulated and environmental communities. Interactions amongst organizations are diagramed to identify significant nodes of interaction. Dominant policy coalitions are described through narratives distinguished by theirmore » uses of and responses to uncertainty, their exposures to risks, and their responses to the principles of conservatism, civil duty, and caution. Policy narratives are delineated using aggregated respondent statements to describe and understand advocacy coalitions. I found that models impacted the planning process significantly, but were used not purely for their scientific capabilities. Modeling results provided justification for decisions based on other constraints and political considerations. Uncertainties were utilized opportunistically by stakeholders instead of managed explicitly. Ultimately, the process supported the partisan views of those in control of the modeling. Based on these findings, as well as a review of model uncertainty analysis capabilities, I recommend modifying the planning process to allow for the development and incorporation of uncertainty information, while addressing the need for inclusive and meaningful public participation. By documenting an actual air quality planning process these findings provide insights about the potential for using new scientific information and understanding to achieve environmental goals, most notably the analysis of uncertainties in modeling applications. Concurrently, needed uncertainty information is identified and capabilities to produce it are assessed. Practices to facilitate incorporation of uncertainty information are suggested based on research findings, as well as theory from the literatures of the policy sciences, decision sciences, science and technology studies, consensus-based and communicative planning, and modeling.« less

Climate Action Planning Process | Climate Neutral Research Campuses | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Action Planning Process Climate Action Planning Process For research campuses, NREL has developed a five-step process to develop and implement climate action plans: Determine baseline energy consumption Analyze technology options Prepare a plan and set priorities Implement the climate action plan Measure and

Focus on motivation in the work rehabilitation planning process: a qualitative study from the employer's perspective.

PubMed

Gard, Gunvor; Larsson, Agneta

2003-09-01

Since the working environment act was passed in 1991, employers in Sweden are to plan and control the working environment conditions in workplaces. They are responsible for organized rehabilitation at the workplace including the development of rehabilitation plans and a plan for interventions in order for a sick-listed client to be able to return to work. The aim of this study was to describe employers' experiences of how motivation can be improved in a work rehabilitation process. Qualitative interviews were performed with 10 employers who had employees that had taken part in a period of vocational rehabilitation at a rehabilitation center in the north of Sweden, over a 2-year period. The result showed that increased focus on motivation for change is needed in work rehabilitation. The clients' motivation for change could be improved by a focus on motivational conversations at the workplace aiming at motivation for change in their working and living conditions. The employers' power of initiative, competence, economic resources, and motivation are needed for creative solutions at the workplace.

How can the rehabilitation planning process at the workplace be improved? A qualitative study from employers' perspective.

PubMed

Larsson, Agneta; Gard, Gunvor

2003-09-01

Employers in Sweden are by law responsible for planning and controlling the working environment situation in their companies and for ensuring that any need for rehabilitation is noted as soon as possible and that action is taken. This includes developing a plan for rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to describe employers' experiences of the work rehabilitation planning process at the workplace, and how it can be improved with a focus on quality and cost-effectiveness. Qualitative interviews were performed with 10 employers of employee/s that had participated in vocational rehabilitation at a rehabilitation center in the North of Sweden. The results showed that employers were interested in detecting work rehabilitation needs and in taking action early. Rehabilitation at the workplace could be improved by development of routines, improved work relations and work technique, and environment in-service training at the workplace. Prevention was perceived as a prerequisite for a good result of rehabilitation. Attention to social and geographic conditions is needed. Organizational and financial limitations exist.

End-State Comfort Across the Lifespan: A Cross-Sectional Investigation of How Movement Context Influences Motor Planning in an Overturned Glass Task.

PubMed

Scharoun, Sara M; Gonzalez, David A; Roy, Eric A; Bryden, Pamela J

2018-04-01

Young adults plan actions in advance to minimize the cost of movement. This is exemplified by the end-state comfort (ESC) effect. A pattern of improvement in ESC in children is linked to the development of cognitive control processes, and decline in older adults is attributed to cognitive decline. This study used a cross-sectional design to examine how movement context (pantomime, demonstration with image/glass as a guide, actual grasping) influences between-hand differences in ESC planning. Children (5- to 12-year-olds), young adults, and two groups of older adults (aged 60-70, and aged 71 and older) were assessed. Findings provide evidence for adult-like patterns of ESC in 8-year-olds. Results are attributed to improvements in proprioceptive acuity and proficiency in generating and implementing internal representations of action. For older adults early in the aging process, sensitivity to ESC did not differ from young adults. However, with increasing age, differences reflect challenges in motor planning with increases in cognitive demand, similar to previous work. Findings have implications for understanding lifespan motor behavior.

The influence of viewing an entertainment-education program on cornea donation intention: a test of the theory of planned behavior.

PubMed

Bae, Hyuhn-Suhck; Kang, Seok

2008-01-01

This study was designed to examine the role of issue involvement and the 3 components of the theory of planned behavior in predicting intentions to sign a cornea donor card. This study also compares viewers and nonviewers of an entertainment-education program in terms of issue involvement and the theory of planned behavior. The breakdown of effects for the latent constructs confirms that issue involvement is an important intermediary in the persuasion process. Issue involvement is a common causal antecedent of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, the last 2 of which, in turn, predict intentions, whereas attitude does not. The revised path model confirms that involvement directly influences intentions. In the comparison of viewers with nonviewers, viewers exhibit a significantly higher degree of involvement, attitude toward cornea donation, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention to sign a cornea donor card. The overall findings of this study suggest that adding issue involvement in the theory of planned behavior enhances the explanatory power of the theory in predicting intentions.

ATHLETE's Feet: Mu1ti-Resolution Planning for a Hexapod Robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Tristan B.; Barreiro, Javier; Smith, David E.; SunSpiral, Vytas; Chavez-Clemente, Daniel

2008-01-01

ATHLETE is a large six-legged tele-operated robot. Each foot is a wheel; travel can be achieved by walking, rolling, or some combination of the two. Operators control ATHLETE by selecting parameterized commands from a command dictionary. While rolling can be done efficiently with a single command, any motion involving steps is cumbersome - walking a few meters through difficult terrain can take hours. Our goal is to improve operator efficiency by automatically generating sequences of motion commands. There is increasing uncertainty regarding ATHLETE s actual configuration over time and decreasing quality of terrain data farther away from the current position. This, combined with the complexity that results from 36 degrees of kinematic freedom, led to an architecture that interleaves planning and execution at multiple levels, ranging from traditional configuration space motion planning algorithms for immediate moves to higher level task and path planning algorithms for overall travel. The modularity of the architecture also simplifies the development process and allows the operator to interact with and control the system at varying levels of autonomy depending on terrain and need.

MO-B-BRB-01: Optimize Treatment Planning Process in Clinical Environment

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

Feng, W.

The radiotherapy treatment planning process has evolved over the years with innovations in treatment planning, treatment delivery and imaging systems. Treatment modality and simulation technologies are also rapidly improving and affecting the planning process. For example, Image-guided-radiation-therapy has been widely adopted for patient setup, leading to margin reduction and isocenter repositioning after simulation. Stereotactic Body radiation therapy (SBRT) and Radiosurgery (SRS) have gradually become the standard of care for many treatment sites, which demand a higher throughput for the treatment plans even if the number of treatments per day remains the same. Finally, simulation, planning and treatment are traditionally sequentialmore » events. However, with emerging adaptive radiotherapy, they are becoming more tightly intertwined, leading to iterative processes. Enhanced efficiency of planning is therefore becoming more critical and poses serious challenge to the treatment planning process; Lean Six Sigma approaches are being utilized increasingly to balance the competing needs for speed and quality. In this symposium we will discuss the treatment planning process and illustrate effective techniques for managing workflow. Topics will include: Planning techniques: (a) beam placement, (b) dose optimization, (c) plan evaluation (d) export to RVS. Planning workflow: (a) import images, (b) Image fusion, (c) contouring, (d) plan approval (e) plan check (f) chart check, (g) sequential and iterative process Influence of upstream and downstream operations: (a) simulation, (b) immobilization, (c) motion management, (d) QA, (e) IGRT, (f) Treatment delivery, (g) SBRT/SRS (h) adaptive planning Reduction of delay between planning steps with Lean systems due to (a) communication, (b) limited resource, (b) contour, (c) plan approval, (d) treatment. Optimizing planning processes: (a) contour validation (b) consistent planning protocol, (c) protocol/template sharing, (d) semi-automatic plan evaluation, (e) quality checklist for error prevention, (f) iterative process, (g) balance of speed and quality Learning Objectives: Gain familiarity with the workflow of modern treatment planning process. Understand the scope and challenges of managing modern treatment planning processes. Gain familiarity with Lean Six Sigma approaches and their implementation in the treatment planning workflow.« less

MO-B-BRB-00: Optimizing the Treatment Planning Process

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

NONE

The radiotherapy treatment planning process has evolved over the years with innovations in treatment planning, treatment delivery and imaging systems. Treatment modality and simulation technologies are also rapidly improving and affecting the planning process. For example, Image-guided-radiation-therapy has been widely adopted for patient setup, leading to margin reduction and isocenter repositioning after simulation. Stereotactic Body radiation therapy (SBRT) and Radiosurgery (SRS) have gradually become the standard of care for many treatment sites, which demand a higher throughput for the treatment plans even if the number of treatments per day remains the same. Finally, simulation, planning and treatment are traditionally sequentialmore » events. However, with emerging adaptive radiotherapy, they are becoming more tightly intertwined, leading to iterative processes. Enhanced efficiency of planning is therefore becoming more critical and poses serious challenge to the treatment planning process; Lean Six Sigma approaches are being utilized increasingly to balance the competing needs for speed and quality. In this symposium we will discuss the treatment planning process and illustrate effective techniques for managing workflow. Topics will include: Planning techniques: (a) beam placement, (b) dose optimization, (c) plan evaluation (d) export to RVS. Planning workflow: (a) import images, (b) Image fusion, (c) contouring, (d) plan approval (e) plan check (f) chart check, (g) sequential and iterative process Influence of upstream and downstream operations: (a) simulation, (b) immobilization, (c) motion management, (d) QA, (e) IGRT, (f) Treatment delivery, (g) SBRT/SRS (h) adaptive planning Reduction of delay between planning steps with Lean systems due to (a) communication, (b) limited resource, (b) contour, (c) plan approval, (d) treatment. Optimizing planning processes: (a) contour validation (b) consistent planning protocol, (c) protocol/template sharing, (d) semi-automatic plan evaluation, (e) quality checklist for error prevention, (f) iterative process, (g) balance of speed and quality Learning Objectives: Gain familiarity with the workflow of modern treatment planning process. Understand the scope and challenges of managing modern treatment planning processes. Gain familiarity with Lean Six Sigma approaches and their implementation in the treatment planning workflow.« less

MO-B-BRB-03: Systems Engineering Tools for Treatment Planning Process Optimization in Radiation Medicine

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

Kapur, A.

The radiotherapy treatment planning process has evolved over the years with innovations in treatment planning, treatment delivery and imaging systems. Treatment modality and simulation technologies are also rapidly improving and affecting the planning process. For example, Image-guided-radiation-therapy has been widely adopted for patient setup, leading to margin reduction and isocenter repositioning after simulation. Stereotactic Body radiation therapy (SBRT) and Radiosurgery (SRS) have gradually become the standard of care for many treatment sites, which demand a higher throughput for the treatment plans even if the number of treatments per day remains the same. Finally, simulation, planning and treatment are traditionally sequentialmore » events. However, with emerging adaptive radiotherapy, they are becoming more tightly intertwined, leading to iterative processes. Enhanced efficiency of planning is therefore becoming more critical and poses serious challenge to the treatment planning process; Lean Six Sigma approaches are being utilized increasingly to balance the competing needs for speed and quality. In this symposium we will discuss the treatment planning process and illustrate effective techniques for managing workflow. Topics will include: Planning techniques: (a) beam placement, (b) dose optimization, (c) plan evaluation (d) export to RVS. Planning workflow: (a) import images, (b) Image fusion, (c) contouring, (d) plan approval (e) plan check (f) chart check, (g) sequential and iterative process Influence of upstream and downstream operations: (a) simulation, (b) immobilization, (c) motion management, (d) QA, (e) IGRT, (f) Treatment delivery, (g) SBRT/SRS (h) adaptive planning Reduction of delay between planning steps with Lean systems due to (a) communication, (b) limited resource, (b) contour, (c) plan approval, (d) treatment. Optimizing planning processes: (a) contour validation (b) consistent planning protocol, (c) protocol/template sharing, (d) semi-automatic plan evaluation, (e) quality checklist for error prevention, (f) iterative process, (g) balance of speed and quality Learning Objectives: Gain familiarity with the workflow of modern treatment planning process. Understand the scope and challenges of managing modern treatment planning processes. Gain familiarity with Lean Six Sigma approaches and their implementation in the treatment planning workflow.« less

SU-E-T-595: Design of a Graphical User Interface for An In-House Monte Carlo Based Treatment Planning System: Planning and Contouring Tools

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

EMAM, M; Eldib, A; Lin, M

2014-06-01

Purpose: An in-house Monte Carlo based treatment planning system (MC TPS) has been developed for modulated electron radiation therapy (MERT). Our preliminary MERT planning experience called for a more user friendly graphical user interface. The current work aimed to design graphical windows and tools to facilitate the contouring and planning process. Methods: Our In-house GUI MC TPS is built on a set of EGS4 user codes namely MCPLAN and MCBEAM in addition to an in-house optimization code, which was named as MCOPTIM. Patient virtual phantom is constructed using the tomographic images in DICOM format exported from clinical treatment planning systemsmore » (TPS). Treatment target volumes and critical structures were usually contoured on clinical TPS and then sent as a structure set file. In our GUI program we developed a visualization tool to allow the planner to visualize the DICOM images and delineate the various structures. We implemented an option in our code for automatic contouring of the patient body and lungs. We also created an interface window displaying a three dimensional representation of the target and also showing a graphical representation of the treatment beams. Results: The new GUI features helped streamline the planning process. The implemented contouring option eliminated the need for performing this step on clinical TPS. The auto detection option for contouring the outer patient body and lungs was tested on patient CTs and it was shown to be accurate as compared to that of clinical TPS. The three dimensional representation of the target and the beams allows better selection of the gantry, collimator and couch angles. Conclusion: An in-house GUI program has been developed for more efficient MERT planning. The application of aiding tools implemented in the program is time saving and gives better control of the planning process.« less

Optimization Tool For Allocation Of Watershed Management Practices For Sediment And Nutrient Control

EPA Science Inventory

Implementation of conservation programs are perceived as being crucial for restoring and protecting waters and watersheds from nonpoint source pollution. Success of these programs depends to a great extent on planning tools that can assist the watershed management process. Herein...

2005 5th Annual CMMI Technology Conference and User Group. Volume 4: Thursday

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-11-17

Identification and Involvement in the CMMI, Mr. James R. Armstrong , Systems and Software Consortium Ensuring the Right Process is Deployed Right...Customer-Driven Organization Chart Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control Philip Kotler © Prentice Hall Being Customer

WATERSHED MANIPULATION PROJECT: QUALITY ASSURANCE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR 1986-1989

EPA Science Inventory

The Watershed Manipulation Project (WMP) was implemented by EPA to: identify and quantify the relative importance of various processes in controlling surface water acidification with particular emphasis on the role of sulfate adsorption and base cation supply in the long-term wat...

Microbiological, Geochemical and Hydrologic Processes Controlling Uranium Mobility: An Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge Site at Rifle, Colorado, Quality Assurance Project Plan

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

Fix, N. J.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is cleaning up and/or monitoring large, dilute plumes contaminated by metals, such as uranium and chromium, whose mobility and solubility change with redox status. Field-scale experiments with acetate as the electron donor have stimulated metal-reducing bacteria to effectively remove uranium [U(VI)] from groundwater at the Uranium Mill Tailings Site in Rifle, Colorado. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a multidisciplinary team of national laboratory and academic collaborators has embarked on a research proposed for the Rifle site, the object of which is to gain a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of the microbial factors andmore » associated geochemistry controlling uranium mobility so that DOE can confidently remediate uranium plumes as well as support stewardship of uranium-contaminated sites. This Quality Assurance Project Plan provides the quality assurance requirements and processes that will be followed by the Rifle Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge Project.« less

An Intelligent Agent-Controlled and Robot-Based Disassembly Assistant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jungbluth, Jan; Gerke, Wolfgang; Plapper, Peter

2017-09-01

One key for successful and fluent human-robot-collaboration in disassembly processes is equipping the robot system with higher autonomy and intelligence. In this paper, we present an informed software agent that controls the robot behavior to form an intelligent robot assistant for disassembly purposes. While the disassembly process first depends on the product structure, we inform the agent using a generic approach through product models. The product model is then transformed to a directed graph and used to build, share and define a coarse disassembly plan. To refine the workflow, we formulate “the problem of loosening a connection and the distribution of the work” as a search problem. The created detailed plan consists of a sequence of actions that are used to call, parametrize and execute robot programs for the fulfillment of the assistance. The aim of this research is to equip robot systems with knowledge and skills to allow them to be autonomous in the performance of their assistance to finally improve the ergonomics of disassembly workstations.

Information processing characteristics in subtypes of multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

De Sonneville, L M J; Boringa, J B; Reuling, I E W; Lazeron, R H C; Adèr, H J; Polman, C H

2002-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate information processing characteristics in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We selected 53 patients with MS and 58 matched healthy controls. Using computerized tests, we investigated focused, divided, sustained attention, and executive function, and attempted to pinpoint deficits in attentional control to peripheral or central processing stages. The results substantiate the hypothesis that the slowing of attention-demanding (controlled) information processing underlying more complex cognitive skills is general, i.e. irrespective of type of controlled processing, with MS patients being 40% slower than controls. MS patients may suffer from focused, and divided and sustained attention deficits, as well as from compromised central processing stages, with secondary progressive (SP) patients showing the most extensive range of deficits, closely followed by primary progressive (PP) patients, while relapsing-remitting (RR) patients appear to be much less affected. General slowing appears to be highest in PP and SP type MS patients (50% slower) versus relapsing-remitting MS (24% slower). In contrast to most previous results, (complex) processing speed appeared to be robustly correlated with severity of MS as measured by the expanded disability status scale and with disease duration. Patients did much less differ in accuracy of processing from controls, suggesting the importance of using time strategies in planning everyday life and job activities to compensate for or alleviate MS-related speed handicaps. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Fast and automatic depth control of iterative bone ablation based on optical coherence tomography data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuchs, Alexander; Pengel, Steffen; Bergmeier, Jan; Kahrs, Lüder A.; Ortmaier, Tobias

2015-07-01

Laser surgery is an established clinical procedure in dental applications, soft tissue ablation, and ophthalmology. The presented experimental set-up for closed-loop control of laser bone ablation addresses a feedback system and enables safe ablation towards anatomical structures that usually would have high risk of damage. This study is based on combined working volumes of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Er:YAG cutting laser. High level of automation in fast image data processing and tissue treatment enables reproducible results and shortens the time in the operating room. For registration of the two coordinate systems a cross-like incision is ablated with the Er:YAG laser and segmented with OCT in three distances. The resulting Er:YAG coordinate system is reconstructed. A parameter list defines multiple sets of laser parameters including discrete and specific ablation rates as ablation model. The control algorithm uses this model to plan corrective laser paths for each set of laser parameters and dynamically adapts the distance of the laser focus. With this iterative control cycle consisting of image processing, path planning, ablation, and moistening of tissue the target geometry and desired depth are approximated until no further corrective laser paths can be set. The achieved depth stays within the tolerances of the parameter set with the smallest ablation rate. Specimen trials with fresh porcine bone have been conducted to prove the functionality of the developed concept. Flat bottom surfaces and sharp edges of the outline without visual signs of thermal damage verify the feasibility of automated, OCT controlled laser bone ablation with minimal process time.

Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME): Software User's Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

A user's guide for the Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME) software is presented. The ACME consists of two major components, a complexity analysis tool and user interface. The Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT) analyzes complexity off-line, producing data files which may be examined interactively via the Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT). The Complexity Analysis Tool is composed of three independently executing processes that communicate via PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) and Unix sockets. The Runtime Data Management and Control process (RUNDMC) extracts flight plan and track information from a SAR input file, and sends the information to GARP (Generate Aircraft Routes Process) and CAT (Complexity Analysis Task). GARP in turn generates aircraft trajectories, which are utilized by CAT to calculate sector complexity. CAT writes flight plan, track and complexity data to an output file, which can be examined interactively. The Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT) provides an interactive graphic environment for examining the complexity data produced by the Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT). CDAT can also play back track data extracted from System Analysis Recording (SAR) tapes. The CDAT user interface consists of a primary window, a controls window, and miscellaneous pop-ups. Aircraft track and position data is displayed in the main viewing area of the primary window. The controls window contains miscellaneous control and display items. Complexity data is displayed in pop-up windows. CDAT plays back sector complexity and aircraft track and position data as a function of time. Controls are provided to start and stop playback, adjust the playback rate, and reposition the display to a specified time.

Automated Hazard Analysis

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

Riddle, F. J.

2003-06-26

The Automated Hazard Analysis (AHA) application is a software tool used to conduct job hazard screening and analysis of tasks to be performed in Savannah River Site facilities. The AHA application provides a systematic approach to the assessment of safety and environmental hazards associated with specific tasks, and the identification of controls regulations, and other requirements needed to perform those tasks safely. AHA is to be integrated into existing Savannah River site work control and job hazard analysis processes. Utilization of AHA will improve the consistency and completeness of hazard screening and analysis, and increase the effectiveness of the workmore » planning process.« less

Interactive Dose Shaping - efficient strategies for CPU-based real-time treatment planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziegenhein, P.; Kamerling, C. P.; Oelfke, U.

2014-03-01

Conventional intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning is based on the traditional concept of iterative optimization using an objective function specified by dose volume histogram constraints for pre-segmented VOIs. This indirect approach suffers from unavoidable shortcomings: i) The control of local dose features is limited to segmented VOIs. ii) Any objective function is a mathematical measure of the plan quality, i.e., is not able to define the clinically optimal treatment plan. iii) Adapting an existing plan to changed patient anatomy as detected by IGRT procedures is difficult. To overcome these shortcomings, we introduce the method of Interactive Dose Shaping (IDS) as a new paradigm for IMRT treatment planning. IDS allows for a direct and interactive manipulation of local dose features in real-time. The key element driving the IDS process is a two-step Dose Modification and Recovery (DMR) strategy: A local dose modification is initiated by the user which translates into modified fluence patterns. This also affects existing desired dose features elsewhere which is compensated by a heuristic recovery process. The IDS paradigm was implemented together with a CPU-based ultra-fast dose calculation and a 3D GUI for dose manipulation and visualization. A local dose feature can be implemented via the DMR strategy within 1-2 seconds. By imposing a series of local dose features, equal plan qualities could be achieved compared to conventional planning for prostate and head and neck cases within 1-2 minutes. The idea of Interactive Dose Shaping for treatment planning has been introduced and first applications of this concept have been realized.

Stakeholder engagement: a model for tobacco policy planning in Oklahoma Tribal communities.

PubMed

Blanchard, Jessica W; Petherick, J T; Basara, Heather

2015-01-01

Oklahoma law pre-empts local governments from enacting smoking restrictions inside public places that are stricter than state law, but the sovereign status of Oklahoma's 38 Tribal nations means they are uniquely positioned to stand apart as leaders in the area of tobacco policy. To provide recommendations for employing university-Tribal partnerships as an effective strategy for tobacco policy planning in tribal communities. Using a community-based participatory research approach, researchers facilitated a series of meetings with key Tribal stakeholders in order to develop a comprehensive tobacco policy plan. Ongoing engagement activities held between January 2011 and May 2012, including interdepartmental visits, facility site tours, interviews, and attendance at tribal activities, were critical for fostering constructive and trusting relationships between all partners involved in the policy planning process. The 17-month collaborative engagement produced a plan designed to regulate the use of commercial tobacco in all Tribally owned properties. The extended period of collaboration between the researchers and Tribal stakeholders facilitated: (1) levels of trust between partners; and (2) a steadfast commitment to the planning process, ensuring completion of the plan amid uncertain political climates and economic concerns about tobacco bans. Extended engagement produced an effective foundation for policy planning that promoted collaboration between otherwise dispersed Tribal departments, and facilitated communication of diverse stakeholder interests related to the goal of tobacco policies. The findings of this study provide useful strategies and best practices for those looking to employ Tribal-university partnerships as strategies for tobacco control planning and policy-based research. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SU-C-BRB-02: Automatic Planning as a Potential Strategy for Dose Escalation for Pancreas SBRT?

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

Wang, S; Zheng, D; Ma, R

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been suggested to provide high rates of local control for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. However, the close proximity of highly radiosensitive normal tissues usually causes the labor-intensive planning process, and may impede further escalation of the prescription dose. The present study evaluates the potential of an automatic planning system as a dose escalation strategy. Methods: Ten pancreatic cancer patients treated with SBRT were studied retrospectively. SBRT was delivered over 5 consecutive fractions with 6 ∼ 8Gy/fraction. Two plans were generated by Pinnacle Auto-Planning with the original prescription and escalated prescription, respectively. Escalated prescriptionmore » adds 1 Gy/fraction to the original prescription. Manually-created planning volumes were excluded in the optimization goals in order to assess the planning efficiency and quality simultaneously. Critical organs with closest proximity were used to determine the plan normalization to ensure the OAR sparing. Dosimetric parameters including D100, and conformity index (CI) were assessed. Results: Auto-plans directly generate acceptable plans for 70% of the cases without necessity of further improvement, and two more iterations at most are necessary for the rest of the cases. For the pancreas SBRT plans with the original prescription, autoplans resulted in favorable target coverage and PTV conformity (D100 = 96.3% ± 1.48%; CI = 0.88 ± 0.06). For the plans with the escalated prescriptions, no significant target under-dosage was observed, and PTV conformity remains reasonable (D100 = 93.3% ± 3.8%, and CI = 0.84 ± 0.05). Conclusion: Automatic planning, without substantial human-intervention process, results in reasonable PTV coverage and PTV conformity on the premise of adequate OAR sparing for the pancreas SBRT plans with escalated prescription. The results highlight the potential of autoplanning as a dose escalation strategy for pancreas SBRT treatment planning. Further investigations with a larger number of patients are necessary. The project is partially supported by Philips Medical Systems.« less

Some data processing requirements for precision Nap-Of-the-Earth (NOE) guidance and control of rotorcraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, Warren F.; Mcruer, Duane T.; Magdeleno, Raymond E.

1987-01-01

Nap-Of-the-Earth (NOE) flight in a conventional helicopter is extremely taxing for two pilots under visual conditions. Developing a single pilot all-weather NOE capability will require a fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control capability for which innovative guidance and control concepts were examined. Constrained time-optimality provides a validated criterion for automatically controlled NOE maneuvers if the pilot is to have confidence in the automated maneuvering technique. A second focus was to organize the storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles in course-oriented coordinates indexed to the mission flight plan. A method is presented for using pre-flight geodetic parameter identification to establish guidance commands for planned flight profiles and alternates. A method is then suggested for interpolating this guidance command information with the aid of forward and side looking sensors within the resolution of the stored data base, enriching the data content with real-time display, guidance, and control purposes. A third focus defined a class of automatic anticipative guidance algorithms and necessary data preview requirements to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands dictated by the updated flight profiles and to address the effects of processing delays in digital guidance and control system candidates. The results of this three-fold research effort offer promising alternatives designed to gain pilot acceptance for automatic guidance and control of rotorcraft in NOE operations.

Control and Diagnosis in Integrated Product Development - Observations during the Development of an AGV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stetter, R.; Simundsson, A.

2015-11-01

This paper is concerned with the integration of control and diagnosis functionalities into the development of complete systems which include mechanical, electrical and electronic subsystems. For the development of such systems the strategies, methods and tools of integrated product development have attracted significant attention during the last decades. Today, it is generally observed that product development processes of complex systems can only be successful if the activities in the different domains are well connected and synchronised and if an ongoing communication is present - an ongoing communication spanning the technical domains and also including functions such as production planning, marketing/distribution, quality assurance, service and project planning. Obviously, numerous approaches to tackle this challenge are present in scientific literature and in industrial practice, as well. Today, the functionality and safety of most products is to a large degree dependent on control and diagnosis functionalities. Still, there is comparatively little research concentrating on the integration of the development of these functionalities into the overall product development processes. The main source of insight of the presented research is the product development process of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) which is intended to be used on rough terrain. The paper starts with a background describing Integrated Product Development. The second section deals with the product development of the sample product. The third part summarizes some insights and formulates first hypotheses concerning control and diagnosis in Integrated Product Development.

Career planning and development for nurses: the time has come.

PubMed

Donner, G J; Wheeler, M M

2001-06-01

Developments in how the nursing profession is perceived by nurses and by society, along with unparalleled changes in health care systems, have created an environment in which individual nurses must take control of their careers and futures. Educators, employers and professional organizations also have a key role to play in fostering the career planning and development of nurses, usually the largest employee group in most health care organizations. This article provides an overview of what career planning and development is and why it is important for nurses. A career planning and development model is described that provides nurses with a focused strategy to take greater responsibility for engaging in the ongoing planning process that is crucial throughout the major stages of their career. Finally, educators, employers and professional organizations are challenged to collaborate with individual nurses on career-development activities that will enable nurses to continue to provide high-quality care in ever-changing health care systems.

Safety Analysis of Soybean Processing for Advanced Life Support

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hentges, Dawn L.

1999-01-01

Soybeans (cv. Hoyt) is one of the crops planned for food production within the Advanced Life Support System Integration Testbed (ALSSIT), a proposed habitat simulation for long duration lunar/Mars missions. Soybeans may be processed into a variety of food products, including soymilk, tofu, and tempeh. Due to the closed environmental system and importance of crew health maintenance, food safety is a primary concern on long duration space missions. Identification of the food safety hazards and critical control points associated with the closed ALSSIT system is essential for the development of safe food processing techniques and equipment. A Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) model was developed to reflect proposed production and processing protocols for ALSSIT soybeans. Soybean processing was placed in the type III risk category. During the processing of ALSSIT-grown soybeans, critical control points were identified to control microbiological hazards, particularly mycotoxins, and chemical hazards from antinutrients. Critical limits were suggested at each CCP. Food safety recommendations regarding the hazards and risks associated with growing, harvesting, and processing soybeans; biomass management; and use of multifunctional equipment were made in consideration of the limitations and restraints of the closed ALSSIT.

[Design of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan to assure the safety of a bologna product produced by a meat processing plant].

PubMed

Bou Rached, Lizet; Ascanio, Norelis; Hernández, Pilar

2004-03-01

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a systematic integral program used to identify and estimate the hazards (microbiological, chemical and physical) and the risks generated during the primary production, processing, storage, distribution, expense and consumption of foods. To establish a program of HACCP has advantages, being some of them: to emphasize more in the prevention than in the detection, to diminish the costs, to minimize the risk of manufacturing faulty products, to allow bigger trust to the management, to strengthen the national and international competitiveness, among others. The present work is a proposal based on the design of an HACCP program to guarantee the safety of the Bologna Special Type elaborated by a meat products industry, through the determination of hazards (microbiological, chemical or physical), the identification of critical control points (CCP), the establishment of critical limits, plan corrective actions and the establishment of documentation and verification procedures. The used methodology was based in the application of the seven basic principles settled down by the Codex Alimentarius, obtaining the design of this program. In view of the fact that recently the meat products are linked with pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes, these were contemplated as microbiological hazard for the establishment of the HACCP plan whose application will guarantee the obtaining of a safe product.

Design requirements for SRB production control system. Volume 3: Package evaluation, modification and hardware

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The software package evaluation was designed to analyze commercially available, field-proven, production control or manufacturing resource planning management technology and software package. The analysis was conducted by comparing SRB production control software requirements and conceptual system design to software package capabilities. The methodology of evaluation and the findings at each stage of evaluation are described. Topics covered include: vendor listing; request for information (RFI) document; RFI response rate and quality; RFI evaluation process; and capabilities versus requirements.

20 CFR 632.17 - Planning process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Planning process. 632.17 Section 632.17... EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAMS Program Planning, Application and Modification Procedures § 632.17 Planning process. (a) Each Native American grantee shall establish a planning process for the development of its...

Autonomous Agents for Dynamic Process Planning in the Flexible Manufacturing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nik Nejad, Hossein Tehrani; Sugimura, Nobuhiro; Iwamura, Koji; Tanimizu, Yoshitaka

Rapid changes of market demands and pressures of competition require manufacturers to maintain highly flexible manufacturing systems to cope with a complex manufacturing environment. This paper deals with development of an agent-based architecture of dynamic systems for incremental process planning in the manufacturing systems. In consideration of alternative manufacturing processes and machine tools, the process plans and the schedules of the manufacturing resources are generated incrementally and dynamically. A negotiation protocol is discussed, in this paper, to generate suitable process plans for the target products real-timely and dynamically, based on the alternative manufacturing processes. The alternative manufacturing processes are presented by the process plan networks discussed in the previous paper, and the suitable process plans are searched and generated to cope with both the dynamic changes of the product specifications and the disturbances of the manufacturing resources. We initiatively combine the heuristic search algorithms of the process plan networks with the negotiation protocols, in order to generate suitable process plans in the dynamic manufacturing environment.

A tailored online safety and health intervention for women experiencing intimate partner violence: the iCAN Plan 4 Safety randomized controlled trial protocol.

PubMed

Ford-Gilboe, Marilyn; Varcoe, Colleen; Scott-Storey, Kelly; Wuest, Judith; Case, James; Currie, Leanne M; Glass, Nancy; Hodgins, Marilyn; MacMillan, Harriet; Perrin, Nancy; Wathen, C Nadine

2017-03-21

Intimate partner violence (IPV) threatens the safety and health of women worldwide. Safety planning is a widely recommended, evidence-based intervention for women experiencing IPV, yet fewer than 1 in 5 Canadian women access safety planning through domestic violence services. Rural, Indigenous, racialized, and immigrant women, those who prioritize their privacy, and/or women who have partners other than men, face unique safety risks and access barriers. Online IPV interventions tailored to the unique features of women's lives, and to maximize choice and control, have potential to reduce access barriers, and improve fit and inclusiveness, maximizing effectiveness of these interventions for diverse groups. In this double blind randomized controlled trial, 450 Canadian women who have experienced IPV in the previous 6 months will be randomized to either a tailored, interactive online safety and health intervention (iCAN Plan 4 Safety) or general online safety information (usual care). iCAN engages women in activities designed to increase their awareness of safety risks, reflect on their plans for their relationships and priorities, and create a personalize action plan of strategies and resources for addressing their safety and health concerns. Self-reported outcome measures will be collected at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline. Primary outcomes are depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, Revised) and PTSD Symptoms (PTSD Checklist, Civilian Version). Secondary outcomes include helpful safety actions, safety planning self-efficacy, mastery, and decisional conflict. In-depth qualitative interviews with approximately 60 women who have completed the trial and website utilization data will be used to explore women's engagement with the intervention and processes of change. This trial will contribute timely evidence about the effectiveness of online safety and health interventions appropriate for diverse life contexts. If effective, iCAN could be readily adopted by health and social services and/or accessed by women to work through options independently. This study will produce contextualized knowledge about how women engage with the intervention; its strengths and weaknesses; whether specific groups benefit more than others; and the processes explaining any positive outcomes. Such information is critical for effective scale up of any complex intervention. Clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT02258841 (Registered on Oct 2, 2014).

The patient reporting and action for a safe environment (PRASE) intervention: a feasibility study.

PubMed

O'Hara, Jane K; Lawton, Rebecca J; Armitage, Gerry; Sheard, Laura; Marsh, Claire; Cocks, Kim; McEachan, Rosie R C; Reynolds, Caroline; Watt, Ian; Wright, John

2016-11-28

There is growing interest in the role of patients in improving patient safety. One such role is providing feedback on the safety of their care. Here we describe the development and feasibility testing of an intervention that collects patient feedback on patient safety, brings together staff to consider this feedback and to plan improvement strategies. We address two research questions: i) to explore the feasibility of the process of systematically collecting feedback from patients about the safety of care as part of the PRASE intervention; and, ii) to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the PRASE intervention for staff, and to understand more about how staff use the patient feedback for service improvement. We conducted a feasibility study using a wait-list controlled design across six wards within an acute teaching hospital. Intervention wards were asked to participate in two cycles of the PRASE (Patient Reporting & Action for a Safe Environment) intervention across a six-month period. Participants were patients on participating wards. To explore the acceptability of the intervention for staff, observations of action planning meetings, interviews with a lead person for the intervention on each ward and recorded researcher reflections were analysed thematically and synthesised. Recruitment of patients using computer tablets at their bedside was straightforward, with the majority of patients willing and able to provide feedback. Randomisation of the intervention was acceptable to staff, with no evidence of differential response rates between intervention and control groups. In general, ward staff were positive about the use of patient feedback for service improvement and were able to use the feedback as a basis for action planning, although engagement with the process was variable. Gathering a multidisciplinary team together for action planning was found to be challenging, and implementing action plans was sometimes hindered by the need to co-ordinate action across multiple services. The PRASE intervention was found to be acceptable to staff and patients. However, before proceeding to a full cluster randomised controlled trial, the intervention requires adaptation to account for the difficulties in implementing action plans within three months, the need for a facilitator to support the action planning meetings, and the provision of training and senior management support for participating ward teams. The PRASE intervention represents a promising method for the systematic collection of patient feedback about the safety of hospital care.

Discharging patients earlier in the day: a concept worth evaluating.

PubMed

Kravet, Steven J; Levine, Rachel B; Rubin, Haya R; Wright, Scott M

2007-01-01

Patient discharges from the hospital often occur late in the day and are frequently clustered after 4 PM. When inpatients leave earlier in the day, quality is improved because new admissions awaiting beds are able to leave the emergency department sooner and emergency department waiting room backlog is reduced. Nursing staff, whose work patterns traditionally result in high activity of discharge and admission between 5 PM and 8 PM, benefit by spreading out their work across a longer part of the day. Discharging patients earlier in the day also has the potential to increase patient satisfaction. Despite multiple stakeholders in the discharge planning process, physicians play the most important role. Getting physician buy-in requires an ability to teach physicians about the concept of early-in-the-day discharges and their impact on the process. We defined a new physician-centered discharge planning process and introduced it to an internal medicine team with an identical control team as a comparison. Discharge time of day was analyzed for 1 month. Mean time of day of discharge was 13:39 for the intervention group versus 15:45 for the control group (P<.001). If reproduced successfully, this process could improve quality at an important transition point in patient care.

[Microbiological assessment of the Gouda-type cheese-making process in a Venezuelan industry].

PubMed

Dáivila, Jacqueline; Reyes, Genara; Corzo, Otoniel

2006-03-01

The adoption of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is necessary to assure the safety of the product in the cheese-making industry. The compliment of pre-requisite programs as Good Manufacture Practices (GMPs) and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) are required before the implementation of the HACCP plan. GMPs are the standards related to equipments, tools, personnel, etc. SSOPs are the procedures related to hygiene and sanitation of the plant and workers. The aim of this study was to assess the compliment of the pre-requisite programs and the microbiological conditions of the Gouda type cheese-making process in a Venezuelan processing plant before designing a HACCP plan. Samples were: (a) raw milk, pasteurized milk, curd and ripened cheese, (b) water, (c) environment of the production areas and ripening premises, (d) equipments before and after sanitation, (e) food handlers. Microbiological analyses were done according to COVENIN standards. This study showed that even though pasteurization process was effective to kill pathogen bacteria of the raw milk and the water was safe, however there are deficient manufacture practices in the hygiene as well as in sanitation of the plant and food handlers. Prerequisite programs (GMP-SSOP) of this industry need to be well established, controlled and evaluated.

Intelligent robots for planetary exploration and construction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Albus, James S.

1992-01-01

Robots capable of practical applications in planetary exploration and construction will require realtime sensory-interactive goal-directed control systems. A reference model architecture based on the NIST Real-time Control System (RCS) for real-time intelligent control systems is suggested. RCS partitions the control problem into four basic elements: behavior generation (or task decomposition), world modeling, sensory processing, and value judgment. It clusters these elements into computational nodes that have responsibility for specific subsystems, and arranges these nodes in hierarchical layers such that each layer has characteristic functionality and timing. Planetary exploration robots should have mobility systems that can safely maneuver over rough surfaces at high speeds. Walking machines and wheeled vehicles with dynamic suspensions are candidates. The technology of sensing and sensory processing has progressed to the point where real-time autonomous path planning and obstacle avoidance behavior is feasible. Map-based navigation systems will support long-range mobility goals and plans. Planetary construction robots must have high strength-to-weight ratios for lifting and positioning tools and materials in six degrees-of-freedom over large working volumes. A new generation of cable-suspended Stewart platform devices and inflatable structures are suggested for lifting and positioning materials and structures, as well as for excavation, grading, and manipulating a variety of tools and construction machinery.

MO-B-BRB-02: Maintain the Quality of Treatment Planning for Time-Constraint Cases

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

Chang, J.

The radiotherapy treatment planning process has evolved over the years with innovations in treatment planning, treatment delivery and imaging systems. Treatment modality and simulation technologies are also rapidly improving and affecting the planning process. For example, Image-guided-radiation-therapy has been widely adopted for patient setup, leading to margin reduction and isocenter repositioning after simulation. Stereotactic Body radiation therapy (SBRT) and Radiosurgery (SRS) have gradually become the standard of care for many treatment sites, which demand a higher throughput for the treatment plans even if the number of treatments per day remains the same. Finally, simulation, planning and treatment are traditionally sequentialmore » events. However, with emerging adaptive radiotherapy, they are becoming more tightly intertwined, leading to iterative processes. Enhanced efficiency of planning is therefore becoming more critical and poses serious challenge to the treatment planning process; Lean Six Sigma approaches are being utilized increasingly to balance the competing needs for speed and quality. In this symposium we will discuss the treatment planning process and illustrate effective techniques for managing workflow. Topics will include: Planning techniques: (a) beam placement, (b) dose optimization, (c) plan evaluation (d) export to RVS. Planning workflow: (a) import images, (b) Image fusion, (c) contouring, (d) plan approval (e) plan check (f) chart check, (g) sequential and iterative process Influence of upstream and downstream operations: (a) simulation, (b) immobilization, (c) motion management, (d) QA, (e) IGRT, (f) Treatment delivery, (g) SBRT/SRS (h) adaptive planning Reduction of delay between planning steps with Lean systems due to (a) communication, (b) limited resource, (b) contour, (c) plan approval, (d) treatment. Optimizing planning processes: (a) contour validation (b) consistent planning protocol, (c) protocol/template sharing, (d) semi-automatic plan evaluation, (e) quality checklist for error prevention, (f) iterative process, (g) balance of speed and quality Learning Objectives: Gain familiarity with the workflow of modern treatment planning process. Understand the scope and challenges of managing modern treatment planning processes. Gain familiarity with Lean Six Sigma approaches and their implementation in the treatment planning workflow.« less

Multidisciplinary and multisectoral coalitions as catalysts for action against antimicrobial resistance: Implementation experiences at national and regional levels.

PubMed

Joshi, Mohan P; Chintu, Chifumbe; Mpundu, Mirfin; Kibuule, Dan; Hazemba, Oliver; Andualem, Tenaw; Embrey, Martha; Phulu, Bayobuya; Gerba, Heran

2018-03-20

The multi-faceted complexities of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) require consistent action, a multidisciplinary approach, and long-term political commitment. Building coalitions can amplify stakeholder efforts to carry out effective AMR prevention and control strategies. We have developed and implemented an approach to help local stakeholders kick-start the coalition-building process. The five-step process is to (1) mobilise support, (2) understand the local situation, (3) develop an action plan, (4) implement the plan, and (5) monitor and evaluate. We first piloted the approach in Zambia in 2004, then used the lessons learned to expand it for use in Ethiopia and Namibia and to the regional level through the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network [EPN]. Call-to-action declarations and workshops helped promote a shared vision, resulting in the development of national AMR action plans, revision of university curricula to incorporate relevant topics, infection control activities, engagement with journalists from various mass media outlets, and strengthening of drug quality assurance systems. Our experience with the coalition-building approach in Ethiopia, Namibia, Zambia, and with the EPN shows that coalitions can form in a variety of ways with many different stakeholders, including government, academia, and faith-based organisations, to organise actions to preserve the effectiveness of existing antimicrobials and contain AMR.

Identification, assessment, and control of hazards in water supply: experiences from Water Safety Plan implementations in Germany.

PubMed

Mälzer, H-J; Staben, N; Hein, A; Merkel, W

2010-01-01

According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Water Safety Plans (WSP), a Technical Risk Management was developed, which considers standard demands in drinking water treatment in Germany. It was already implemented at several drinking water treatment plants of different size and treatment processes in Germany. Hazards affecting water quality, continuity, and the reliability of supply from catchment to treatment and distribution could be identified by a systematic approach, and suitable control measures were defined. Experiences are presented by detailed examples covering methods, practical consequences, and further outcomes. The method and the benefits for the water suppliers are discussed and an outlook on the future role of WSPs in German water supply is given.

Strategic enterprise resource planning in a health-care system using a multicriteria decision-making model.

PubMed

Lee, Chang Won; Kwak, N K

2011-04-01

This paper deals with strategic enterprise resource planning (ERP) in a health-care system using a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) model. The model is developed and analyzed on the basis of the data obtained from a leading patient-oriented provider of health-care services in Korea. Goal criteria and priorities are identified and established via the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Goal programming (GP) is utilized to derive satisfying solutions for designing, evaluating, and implementing an ERP. The model results are evaluated and sensitivity analyses are conducted in an effort to enhance the model applicability. The case study provides management with valuable insights for planning and controlling health-care activities and services.