How The Army Runs. A Senior Leader Reference Handbook 2009-2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES...recruiting objectives, carrying out engineer construction projects , by emphasizing the uniqueness of the function and providing associated specialty career...change, whether evolutionary or revolutionary, in cases where performance does not meet present requirements, or the projected security needs of the

Historical trends and high-resolution future climate projections in northern Tuscany (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Oria, Marco; Ferraresi, Massimo; Tanda, Maria Giovanna

2017-12-01

This paper analyzes the historical precipitation and temperature trends and the future climate projections with reference to the northern part of Tuscany (Italy). The trends are identified and quantified at monthly and annual scale at gauging stations with data collected for long periods (60-90 years). An ensemble of 13 Regional Climate Models (RCMs), based on two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), was then used to assess local scale future precipitation and temperature projections and to represent the uncertainty in the results. The historical data highlight a general decrease of the annual rainfall at a mean rate of 22 mm per decade but, in many cases, the tendencies are not statistically significant. Conversely, the annual mean temperature exhibits an upward trend, statistically significant in the majority of cases, with a warming rate of about 0.1 °C per decade. With reference to the model projections and the annual precipitation, the results are not concordant; the deviations between models in the same period are higher than the future changes at medium- (2031-2040) and long-term (2051-2060) and highlight that the model uncertainty and variability is high. According to the climate model projections, the warming of the study area is unequivocal; a mean positive increment of 0.8 °C at medium-term and 1.1 °C at long-term is expected with respect to the reference period (2003-2012) and the scenario RCP4.5; the increments grow to 0.9 °C and 1.9 °C for the RCP8.5. Finally, in order to check the observed climate change signals, the climate model projections were compared with the trends based on the historical data. A satisfactory agreement is obtained with reference to the precipitation; a systematic underestimation of the trend values with respect to the models, at medium- and long-term, is observed for the temperature data.

Task Design for Intercultural Telecollaboration in Secondary Schools: Insights from the EU project TILA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffstaedter, Petra; Kohn, Kurt

2014-01-01

Our contribution focuses on synchronous oral telecollaboration in secondary schools. With reference to the EU project TILA, aspects of task design and implementation are discussed against the backdrop of issues of technological quality in connection with class organisation in computer labs. Case study evidence is provided in favour of the…

Memory for Dialogue: Recalling an Anchor through Talk and Response.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaver, Pam

This paper reports on a project involving student recall of the dialogue in a movie and retention of the "anchor," which in this case refers to a videotape recording of "To Kill a Mockingbird." The project looked at how students retained knowledge over a few days and what kind of activities resulted from expertise with an…

The Transformation of Ergonomic Affordances into Cultural Affordances: The Case of the Alnuset System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiappini, Giampaolo

2012-01-01

Is it possible to study the ergonomic affordances offered by a system designed for educational aims and their transformation into cultural affordances? To this purpose, what references can we adopt? This work describes the theoretical framework used to realise this study referring to AlNuSet, a system realised within the EC ReMath project to…

Benefits of Integration of Aerojet Rocketdyne and RTI Advanced Gasification Technologies for Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Production

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

Gupta, Vijay; Denton, David; SHarma, Pradeep

The key objective for this project was to evaluate the potential to achieve substantial reductions in the production cost of H 2-rich syngas via coal gasification with near-zero emissions due to the cumulative and synergistic benefits realized when multiple advanced technologies are integrated into the overall conversion process. In this project, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s (AR’s) advanced gasification technology (currently being offered as R-GAS™) and RTI International’s (RTI’s) advanced warm syngas cleanup technologies were evaluated via a number of comparative techno-economic case studies. AR’s advanced gasification technology consists of a dry solids pump and a compact gasifier system. Based on the uniquemore » design of this gasifier, it has been shown to reduce the capital cost of the gasification block by between 40 and 50%. At the start of this project, actual experimental work had been demonstrated through pilot plant systems for both the gasifier and dry solids pump. RTI’s advanced warm syngas cleanup technologies consist primarily of RTI’s Warm Gas Desulfurization Process (WDP) technology, which effectively allows decoupling of the sulfur and CO 2 removal allowing for more flexibility in the selection of the CO 2 removal technology, plus associated advanced technologies for direct sulfur recovery and water gas shift (WGS). WDP has been demonstrated at pre-commercial scale using an activated amine carbon dioxide recovery process which would not have been possible if a majority of the sulfur had not been removed from the syngas by WDP. This pre-commercial demonstration of RTI’s advanced warm syngas cleanup system was conducted in parallel to the activities on this project. The technical data and cost information from this pre-commercial demonstration were extensively used in this project during the techno-economic analysis. With this project, both of RTI’s advanced WGS technologies were investigated. Because RT’s advanced fixed-bed WGS (AFWGS) process was successfully implemented in the WDP pre-commercial demonstration test mentioned above, this technology was used as part of RTI’s advanced warm syngas technology package for the techno-economic analyses for this project. RTI’s advanced transport-reactor-based WGS (ATWGS) process was still conceptual at the start of this project, but one of the tasks for this project was to evaluate the technical feasibility of this technology. In each of the three application-based comparison studies conducted as part of this project, the reference case was based on an existing Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE/NETL) system study. Each of these references cases used existing commercial technology and the system resulted in > 90% carbon capture. In the comparison studies for the use of the hydrogen-rich syngas generated in either an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) or a Coal-to-Methanol (CTM) plant, the comparison cases consisted of the reference case, a case with the integration of each individual advanced technology (either AR or RTI), and finally a case with the integration of all the advanced technologies (AR and RTI combined). In the Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) comparison study, the comparison study consisted of only three cases, which included a reference case, a case with just RTI’s advanced syngas cleaning technology, and a case with AR’s and RTI’s advanced technologies. The results from these comparison studies showed that the integration of the advanced technologies did result in substantial benefits, and by far the greatest benefits were achieved for cases integrating all the advanced technologies. For the IGCC study, the fully integrated case resulted in a 1.4% net efficiency improvement, an 18% reduction in capital cost per kW of capacity, a 12% reduction in the operating cost per kWh, and a 75–79% reduction in sulfur emissions. For the CTM case, the fully integrated plant resulted in a 22% reduction in capital cost, a 13% reduction in operating costs, a > 99% net reduction in sulfur emissions, and a reduction of 13–15% in CO 2 emissions. Because the capital cost represents over 60% of the methanol Required Selling Price (RSP), the significant reduction in the capital cost for the advanced technology case resulted in an 18% reduction in methanol RSP. For the CTL case, the fully integrated plant resulted in a 16% reduction in capital cost, which represented a 13% reduction in diesel RSP. Finally, the technical feasibility analysis of RTI’s ATWGS process demonstrated that a fluid-bed catalyst with sufficient attrition resistance and WGS activity could be made and that the process achieved about a 24% reduction in capital cost compared to a conventional fixed-bed commercial process.« less

The impact of anthropometric patient-phantom matching on organ dose: A hybrid phantom study for fluoroscopy guided interventions

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

Johnson, Perry B.; Geyer, Amy; Borrego, David

Purpose: To investigate the benefits and limitations of patient-phantom matching for determining organ dose during fluoroscopy guided interventions. Methods: In this study, 27 CT datasets representing patients of different sizes and genders were contoured and converted into patient-specific computational models. Each model was matched, based on height and weight, to computational phantoms selected from the UF hybrid patient-dependent series. In order to investigate the influence of phantom type on patient organ dose, Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate two cardiac projections (PA/left lateral) and two abdominal projections (RAO/LPO). Organ dose conversion coefficients were then calculated for each patient-specific andmore » patient-dependent phantom and also for a reference stylized and reference hybrid phantom. The coefficients were subsequently analyzed for any correlation between patient-specificity and the accuracy of the dose estimate. Accuracy was quantified by calculating an absolute percent difference using the patient-specific dose conversion coefficients as the reference. Results: Patient-phantom matching was shown most beneficial for estimating the dose to heavy patients. In these cases, the improvement over using a reference stylized phantom ranged from approximately 50% to 120% for abdominal projections and for a reference hybrid phantom from 20% to 60% for all projections. For lighter individuals, patient-phantom matching was clearly superior to using a reference stylized phantom, but not significantly better than using a reference hybrid phantom for certain fields and projections. Conclusions: The results indicate two sources of error when patients are matched with phantoms: Anatomical error, which is inherent due to differences in organ size and location, and error attributed to differences in the total soft tissue attenuation. For small patients, differences in soft tissue attenuation are minimal and are exceeded by inherent anatomical differences. For large patients, difference in soft tissue attenuation can be large. In these cases, patient-phantom matching proves most effective as differences in soft tissue attenuation are mitigated. With increasing obesity rates, overweight patients will continue to make up a growing fraction of all patients undergoing medical imaging. Thus, having phantoms that better represent this population represents a considerable improvement over previous methods. In response to this study, additional phantoms representing heavier weight percentiles will be added to the UFHADM and UFHADF patient-dependent series.« less

Issues in midterm analysis and forecasting 1998

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

NONE

1998-07-01

Issues in Midterm Analysis and Forecasting 1998 (Issues) presents a series of nine papers covering topics in analysis and modeling that underlie the Annual Energy Outlook 1998 (AEO98), as well as other significant issues in midterm energy markets. AEO98, DOE/EIA-0383(98), published in December 1997, presents national forecasts of energy production, demand, imports, and prices through the year 2020 for five cases -- a reference case and four additional cases that assume higher and lower economic growth and higher and lower world oil prices than in the reference case. The forecasts were prepared by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), using EIA`smore » National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). The papers included in Issues describe underlying analyses for the projections in AEO98 and the forthcoming Annual Energy Outlook 1999 and for other products of EIA`s Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting. Their purpose is to provide public access to analytical work done in preparation for the midterm projections and other unpublished analyses. Specific topics were chosen for their relevance to current energy issues or to highlight modeling activities in NEMS. 59 figs., 44 tabs.« less

Commercial nuclear power 1990

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

Not Available

1990-09-28

This report presents the status at the end of 1989 and the outlook for commercial nuclear capacity and generation for all countries in the world with free market economies (FME). The report provides documentation of the US nuclear capacity and generation projections through 2030. The long-term projections of US nuclear capacity and generation are provided to the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) for use in estimating nuclear waste fund revenues and to aid in planning the disposal of nuclear waste. These projections also support the Energy Information Administration's annual report, Domestic Uranium Miningmore » and Milling Industry: Viability Assessment, and are provided to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The foreign nuclear capacity projections are used by the DOE uranium enrichment program in assessing potential markets for future enrichment contracts. The two major sections of this report discuss US and foreign commercial nuclear power. The US section (Chapters 2 and 3) deals with (1) the status of nuclear power as of the end of 1989; (2) projections of nuclear capacity and generation at 5-year intervals from 1990 through 2030; and (3) a discussion of institutional and technical issues that affect nuclear power. The nuclear capacity projections are discussed in terms of two projection periods: the intermediate term through 2010 and the long term through 2030. A No New Orders case is presented for each of the projection periods, as well as Lower Reference and Upper Reference cases. 5 figs., 30 tabs.« less

Enterprise Reference Library

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickham, Grandin; Saile, Lynn; Havelka, Jacque; Fitts, Mary

2011-01-01

Introduction: Johnson Space Center (JSC) offers two extensive libraries that contain journals, research literature and electronic resources. Searching capabilities are available to those individuals residing onsite or through a librarian s search. Many individuals have rich collections of references, but no mechanisms to share reference libraries across researchers, projects, or directorates exist. Likewise, information regarding which references are provided to which individuals is not available, resulting in duplicate requests, redundant labor costs and associated copying fees. In addition, this tends to limit collaboration between colleagues and promotes the establishment of individual, unshared silos of information The Integrated Medical Model (IMM) team has utilized a centralized reference management tool during the development, test, and operational phases of this project. The Enterprise Reference Library project expands the capabilities developed for IMM to address the above issues and enhance collaboration across JSC. Method: After significant market analysis for a multi-user reference management tool, no available commercial tool was found to meet this need, so a software program was built around a commercial tool, Reference Manager 12 by The Thomson Corporation. A use case approach guided the requirements development phase. The premise of the design is that individuals use their own reference management software and export to SharePoint when their library is incorporated into the Enterprise Reference Library. This results in a searchable user-specific library application. An accompanying share folder will warehouse the electronic full-text articles, which allows the global user community to access full -text articles. Discussion: An enterprise reference library solution can provide a multidisciplinary collection of full text articles. This approach improves efficiency in obtaining and storing reference material while greatly reducing labor, purchasing and duplication costs. Most importantly, increasing collaboration across research groups provides unprecedented access to information relevant to NASA s mission. Conclusion: This project is an expansion and cost-effective leveraging of the existing JSC centralized library. Adding key word and author search capabilities and an alert function for notifications about new articles, based on users profiles, represent examples of future enhancements.

Long-term US energy outlook

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

Friesen, G.

Chase Econometrics summarizes the assumptions underlying long-term US energy forecasts. To illustrate the uncertainty involved in forecasting for the period to the year 2000, they compare Chase Econometrics forecasts with some recent projections prepared by the DOE Office of Policy, Planning and Analysis for the annual National Energy Policy Plan supplement. Scenario B, the mid-range reference case, is emphasized. The purpose of providing Scenario B as well as Scenarios A and C as alternate cases is to show the sensitivity of oil price projections to small swings in energy demand. 4 tables.

Effective Practices in Continuing Professional Development: Lessons from Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Earley, Peter; Porritt, Vivienne

2009-01-01

This book presents case studies of schools' journeys towards effective CPD practice as part of a TDA national project. It tells the story of the goals set and achieved, and the challenges and successes along the way. Each case study makes specific reference to the nine factors or approaches to CPD identified in the book as underpinning effective…

Robbing Public to Pay Private? Two Cases of Refinancing Education Infrastructure in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crump, Stephen; Slee, Roger

2005-01-01

This paper will explore private sector participation in public sector education in the Australian context, focusing on case studies of Queensland and New South Wales, with reference to developments in other states and territories and internationally. In Australia, most states and territories have PPP policies and key projects include the Southbank…

International Organization for Migration: experience on the need for medical evacuation of refugees during the Kosovo crisis in 1999.

PubMed

Szilard, Istvan; Cserti, Arpad; Hoxha, Ruhija; Gorbacheva, Olga; O'Rourke, Thomas

2002-04-01

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed and implemented a three-month project entitled Priority Medical Screening of Kosovar Refugees in Macedonia, within the Humanitarian Evacuation Program (HEP) for Kosovar refugees from FR Yugoslavia, which was adopted in May 1999. The project was based on an agreement with the office of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and comprised the entry of registration data of refugees with medical condition (Priority Medical Database), and classification (Priority Medical Screening) and medical evacuation of refugees (Priority Medical Evacuation) in Macedonia. To realize the Priority Medical Screening project plan, IOM developed and set up a Medical Database linked to IOM/UNHCR HEP database, recruited and trained a four-member data entry team, worked out and set up a referral system for medical cases from the refugee camps, and established and staffed medical contact office for refugees in Skopje and Tetovo. Furthermore, it organized and staffed a mobile medical screening team, developed and implemented the system and criteria for the classification of referred medical cases, continuously registered and classified the incoming medical reports, contacted regularly the national delegates and referred to them the medically prioritized cases asking for acceptance and evacuation, and co-operated and continuously exchanged the information with UNHCR Medical Co-ordination and HEP team. Within the timeframe of the project, 1,032 medical cases were successfully evacuated for medical treatment to 25 host countries throughout the world. IOM found that those refugees suffering from health problems, who at the time of the termination of the program were still in Macedonia and had not been assisted by the project, were not likely to have been priority one cases, whose health problems could be solved only in a third country. The majority of these vulnerable people needed social rather than medical care and assistance a challenge that international aid agencies needed to address in Macedonia and will need to address elsewhere.

Education and Social Innovation: The Youth Uncensored Project--A Case Study of Youth Participatory Research and Cultural Democracy in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conrad, Diane H.

2015-01-01

This article discusses social innovation in education informed by arts-based and Indigenous ways of knowing. I use the term Indigenous to refer to First Peoples' and their wisdom traditions from places around the world and the term Aboriginal to refer to the diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples of Canada. The article looks at the…

Case study of 4(f) litigation/rulings.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-06-01

This study addresses issues related to compliance with Section 4(f). By referring to the manual Cabinet employees will be to: 1) Conduct an assessment of proposed alternatives to evaluate prudence and feasibility of a proposed project alternative; 2)...

Modernizing the National Spatial Reference System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, D. A.

2016-12-01

The National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) is that system of datums, reference frames, shorelines, software and standards which serve the entire federal civilian geospatial community. It is the mission of the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to define, maintain and provide access to the NSRS. Currently the NSRS contains three geometric reference frames (NAD 83(2011), NAD 83(PA11) and NAD 83(MA11)), one dynamic height datum (IGLD 85) and 6 vertical datums (NAVD 88, PRVD02, ASVD02, NMVD03, GUVD04, VIVD09). All of these datums are built on aging technology and contain systematic errors that grow more noticeable as access to accurate positioning becomes more widespread. It was determined by NGS in 2007 that this was not sustainable and as such, all datums and reference frames are scheduled to be replaced in 2022. [At the time of this abstract, the exact names of the replacements are being finalized and are expected to be announced by the AGU fall meeting.] Replacing the official datums and reference frames requires a carefully coordinated effort of dozens of interrelated technical projects spanning years (over a decade in some cases) and involving a majority of NGS employees. This talk will cover the plans thus far, projects completed, projects underway and will summarize the NSRS as it is expected to look and be accessed in 2022 and beyond.

Using Dynamic Geometry Software To Add Contrast to Geometric Situations--A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holzl, Reinhard

2001-01-01

Uses of Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) are often limited purely to a verifying role. Presents a case study that emerged from a project in which DGS formed an integral part of the pedagogical arrangement. The study demonstrates how the contrasting power of DGS might be utilized in a guided discovery setting. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/ASK)

Enhancing Moral and Ethical Judgment through the Use of Case Histories: An Ethics Course for Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mc Danel de García, Mary Anne

2013-01-01

This article refers to an action research project involving pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine if specific learning outcomes could be successfully employed as objectives for an ethics course for preservice teacher preparation. Real life case histories were used by students to identify and reflect upon moral and…

A guide to unclassified sensitive information protection

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

Donahue, S.C.

1996-11-14

This document is a reference guide for CIC-Division employees who lead or participate in projects that use and/or produce unclassified sensitive information. It is intended for use on a case by case basis to develop project specific sensitive information handling procedures and standards. It contains criteria for identifying sensitive information and determining levels of sensitivity, and describes cost effective measures for protecting various levels of sensitive information. The goal of this document is to help establish good business practices that benefit both the Laboratory and its customers. Division personnel are encouraged to apply these guidelines.

What kinds of cases do paediatricians refer to clinical ethics? Insights from 184 case referrals at an Australian paediatric hospital.

PubMed

McDougall, Rosalind J; Notini, Lauren

2016-09-01

Clinical ethics has been developing in paediatric healthcare for several decades. However, information about how paediatricians use clinical ethics case consultation services is extremely limited. In this project, we analysed a large set of case records from the clinical ethics service of one paediatric hospital in Australia. We applied a paediatric-specific typology to the case referrals, based on the triadic doctor-patient-parent relationship. We reviewed the 184 cases referred to the service in the period 2005-2014, noting features including the type of case, the referring department(s) and the patient's age at referral. The two most common types of referral involved clinician uncertainty about the appropriate care pathway for the child (26% of total referrals) and situations where the child's parents disagreed with the doctors' recommendations for the child's care (22% of total referrals). Referrals came from 28 different departments. Cancer, cardiology/cardiac surgery and general medicine referred the highest numbers of cases. The most common patient age groups were children under 1, and 14-15 years old. For three controversial areas of paediatric healthcare, clinicians had initiated processes of routine review of cases by the clinical ethics service. These insights into the way in which one very active paediatric clinical ethics service is used further our understanding of the work of paediatric clinical ethics, particularly the kinds of ethically challenging cases that paediatricians view as appropriate to refer for clinical ethics support. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Measuring Changes in Energy Efficiency for the Annual Energy Outlook 2002

EIA Publications

2002-01-01

This paper describes the methodology used to develop the National Energy Modeling System estimate of projected aggregate energy efficiency and to describe the results of applying it to the Annual Energy Outlook 2002 (AEO2002) reference case.

Using the Case Study Method to Treat Several Problems in a Family Indicated for Child Neglect.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lutzker, John R.; And Others

1984-01-01

An example of the ecobehavioral perspective is offered of a family referred for child neglect which received a variety of services from one project, including interventions for health maintenance, cleanliness, and personal hygiene. (CL)

Mapping the literature of case management nursing.

PubMed

White, Pamela; Hall, Marilyn E

2006-04-01

Nursing case management provides a continuum of health care services for defined groups of patients. Its literature is multidisciplinary, emphasizing clinical specialties, case management methodology, and the health care system. This study is part of a project to map the literature of nursing, sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. The study identifies core journals cited in case management literature and indexing services that access those journals. Three source journals were identified based on established criteria, and cited references from each article published from 1997 to 1999 were analyzed. Nearly two-thirds of the cited references were from journals; others were from books, monographs, reports, government documents, and the Internet. Cited journal references were ranked in descending order, and Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied. The many journals constituting the top two zones reflect the diversity of this field. Zone 1 included journals from nursing administration, case management, general medicine, medical specialties, and social work. Two databases, PubMed/MEDLINE and OCLC ArticleFirst, provided the best indexing coverage. Collections that support case management require a relatively small group of core journals. Students and health care professionals will need to search across disciplines to identify appropriate literature.

Electronic-projecting Moire method applying CBR-technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuzyakov, O. N.; Lapteva, U. V.; Andreeva, M. A.

2018-01-01

Electronic-projecting method based on Moire effect for examining surface topology is suggested. Conditions of forming Moire fringes and their parameters’ dependence on reference parameters of object and virtual grids are analyzed. Control system structure and decision-making subsystem are elaborated. Subsystem execution includes CBR-technology, based on applying case base. The approach related to analysing and forming decision for each separate local area with consequent formation of common topology map is applied.

Annual Energy Outlook 2013 with Projections to 2040

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

None

The Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013), prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), presents long-term projections of energy supply, demand, and prices through 2040, based on results from EIA’s National Energy Modeling System. The report begins with an “Executive summary” that highlights key aspects of the projections. It is followed by a “Legislation and regulations” section that discusses evolving legislative and regulatory issues, including a summary of recently enacted legislation and regulations, such as: Updated handling of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for industrial boilers and process heaters; New light-duty vehiclemore » (LDV) greenhouse gas (GHG) and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for model years 2017 to 2025; Reinstatement of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) after the court’s announcement of intent to vacate the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR); and Modeling of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), which allows for representation of a cap-and-trade program developed as part of California’s GHG reduction goals for 2020. The “Issues in focus” section contains discussions of selected energy topics, including a discussion of the results in two cases that adopt different assumptions about the future course of existing policies, with one case assuming the elimination of sunset provisions in existing policies and the other case assuming the elimination of the sunset provisions and the extension of a selected group of existing public policies—CAFE standards, appliance standards, and production tax credits. Other discussions include: oil price and production trends in AEO2013; U.S. reliance on imported liquids under a range of cases; competition between coal and natural gas in electric power generation; high and low nuclear scenarios through 2040; and the impact of growth in natural gas liquids production. The “Market trends” section summarizes the projections for energy markets. The analysis in AEO2013 focuses primarily on a Reference case, Low and High Economic Growth cases, and Low and High Oil Price cases. Results from a number of other alternative cases also are presented, illustrating uncertainties associated with the Reference case projections for energy demand, supply, and prices. Complete tables for the five primary cases are provided in Appendixes A through C. Major results from many of the alternative cases are provided in Appendix D. Complete tables for all the alternative cases are available on EIA’s website in a table browser at http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/tablebrowser. AEO2013 projections are based generally on federal, state, and local laws and regulations in effect as of the end of September 2012. The potential impacts of pending or proposed legislation, regulations, and standards (and sections of existing legislation that require implementing regulations or funds that have not been appropriated) are not reflected in the projections. In certain situations, however, where it is clear that a law or regulation will take effect shortly after the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) is completed, it may be considered in the projection.« less

San Pedro River Basin Data Browser (http://fws-case-12.nmsu.edu/SanPedro/)

EPA Science Inventory

Acquisition of primary spatial data and database development are initial features of any type of landscape assessment project. They provide contemporary land cover and the ancillary datasets necessary to establish reference condition and develop alternative future scenarios that ...

REFERENT SELECTION IN CASE-CROSSOVER ANALYSES OF HEALTH EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION. (R825173)

EPA Science Inventory

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

The Second National Ballistics Imaging Comparison (NBIC-2)

PubMed Central

Vorburger, TV; Yen, J; Song, JF; Thompson, RM; Renegar, TB; Zheng, A; Tong, M; Ols, M

2014-01-01

In response to the guidelines issued by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB-International) to establish traceability and quality assurance in U.S. crime laboratories, NIST and the ATF initiated a joint project, entitled the National Ballistics Imaging Comparison (NBIC). The NBIC project aims to establish a national traceability and quality system for ballistics identifications in crime laboratories utilizing ATF’s National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN). The original NBIC was completed in 2010. In the second NBIC, NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2461 Cartridge Cases were used as reference standards, and 14 experts from 11 U.S. crime laboratories each performed 17 image acquisitions and correlations of the SRM cartridge cases over the course of about half a year. Resulting correlation scores were collected by NIST for statistical analyses, from which control charts and control limits were developed for the proposed quality system and for promoting future assessments and accreditations for firearm evidence in U.S. forensic laboratories in accordance with the ISO 17025 Standard. PMID:26601051

The Second National Ballistics Imaging Comparison (NBIC-2).

PubMed

Vorburger, T V; Yen, J; Song, J F; Thompson, R M; Renegar, T B; Zheng, A; Tong, M; Ols, M

2014-01-01

In response to the guidelines issued by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB-International) to establish traceability and quality assurance in U.S. crime laboratories, NIST and the ATF initiated a joint project, entitled the National Ballistics Imaging Comparison (NBIC). The NBIC project aims to establish a national traceability and quality system for ballistics identifications in crime laboratories utilizing ATF's National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN). The original NBIC was completed in 2010. In the second NBIC, NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2461 Cartridge Cases were used as reference standards, and 14 experts from 11 U.S. crime laboratories each performed 17 image acquisitions and correlations of the SRM cartridge cases over the course of about half a year. Resulting correlation scores were collected by NIST for statistical analyses, from which control charts and control limits were developed for the proposed quality system and for promoting future assessments and accreditations for firearm evidence in U.S. forensic laboratories in accordance with the ISO 17025 Standard.

Review Article: Structural flood-protection measures referring to several European case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kryžanowski, A.; Brilly, M.; Rusjan, S.; Schnabl, S.

2014-01-01

The paper presents a review of structural measures that were taken to cope with floods in some cities along the Danube River, such as Vienna, Bratislava, and Belgrade. These cities were also considered as case studies within the KULTURisk project. The structural measures are reviewed and compared to each other according to the type, duration of application, the return period of the design flood event, how the project measures are integrated into spatial planning and the problems that occur in the flood defences today. Based on this review, some suggestions are given on how to improve the flood risk management in flood-prone areas.

Solar For Schools: A Case Study in Identifying and Implementing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Projects in Three California School Districts

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

Kandt, A.

2011-01-01

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar America Showcase program seeks to accelerate demand for solar technologies among key end use market sectors. As part of this activity, DOE provides technical assistance through its national laboratories to large-scale, high-visibility solar installation projects. The Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project (SSAIP) in the San Francisco Bay Area was selected for a 2009 DOE Solar America Showcase award. SSAIP was formed through the efforts of the nonprofit Sequoia Foundation and includes three school districts: Berkeley, West Contra Costa, and Oakland Unified School Districts. This paper summarizes the technical assistance efforts that resulted frommore » this technical assistance support. It serves as a case study and reference document detailing the steps and processes that could be used to successfully identify, fund, and implement solar photovoltaics (PV) projects in school districts across the country.« less

Socio-Cultural Case Studies for Population Education in Morocco, Peru, Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Co-ordinated Action Programme for the Advancement of Population Education (CAPAPE).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). Population Education Section.

Developed to serve as a guide, this document contains four case studies which demonstrate the application of a conceptual and methodological reference model which promotes the use of socio-cultural research in national population education projects. Information obtained from these kinds of studies can be used in developing population education…

Monitoring hydrofrac-induced seismicity by surface arrays - the DHM-Project Basel case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blascheck, P.; Häge, M.; Joswig, M.

2012-04-01

The method "nanoseismic monitoring" was applied during the hydraulic stimulation at the Deep-Heat-Mining-Project (DHM-Project) Basel. Two small arrays in a distance of 2.1 km and 4.8 km to the borehole recorded continuously for two days. During this time more than 2500 seismic events were detected. The method of the surface monitoring of induced seismicity was compared to the reference which the hydrofrac monitoring presented. The latter was conducted by a network of borehole seismometers by Geothermal Explorers Limited. Array processing provides a outlier resistant, graphical jack-knifing localization method which resulted in a average deviation towards the reference of 850 m. Additionally, by applying the relative localization master-event method, the NNW-SSE strike direction of the reference was confirmed. It was shown that, in order to successfully estimate the magnitude of completeness as well as the b-value at the event rate and detection sensibility present, 3 h segments of data are sufficient. This is supported by two segment out of over 13 h of evaluated data. These segments were chosen so that they represent a time during the high seismic noise during normal working hours in daytime as well as the minimum anthropogenic noise at night. The low signal-to-noise ratio was compensated by the application of a sonogram event detection as well as a coincidence analysis within each array. Sonograms allow by autoadaptive, non-linear filtering to enhance signals whose amplitudes are just above noise level. For these events the magnitude was determined by the master-event method, allowing to compute the magnitude of completeness by the entire-magnitude-range method provided by the ZMAP toolbox. Additionally, the b-values were determined and compared to the reference values. An introduction to the method of "nanoseismic monitoring" will be given as well as the comparison to reference data in the Basel case study.

From shared care to disease management: key-influencing factors.

PubMed

Eijkelberg, I M; Spreeuwenberg, C; Mur-Veeman, I M; Wolffenbuttel, B H

2001-01-01

In order to improve the quality of care of chronically ill patients the traditional boundaries between primary and secondary care are questioned. To demolish these boundaries so-called 'shared care' projects have been initiated in which different ways of substitution of care are applied. When these projects end, disease management may offer a solution to expand the achieved co-operation between primary and secondary care. Answering the question: What key factors influence the development and implementation of shared care projects from a management perspective and how are they linked? The theoretical framework is based on the concept of the learning organisation. Reference point is a multiple case study that finally becomes a single case study. Data are collected by means of triangulation. The studied cases concern two interrelated Dutch shared care projects for type 2 diabetic patients, that in the end proceed as one disease management project. In these cases the predominant key-influencing factors appear to be the project management, commitment and local context, respectively. The factor project management directly links the latter two, albeit managing both appear prerequisites to its success. In practice this implies managing the factors' interdependency by the application of change strategies and tactics in a committed and skillful way. Project management, as the most important and active key factor, is advised to cope with the interrelationships of the influencing factors in a gradually more fundamental way by using strategies and tactics that enable learning processes. Then small-scale shared care projects may change into a disease management network at a large scale, which may yield the future blueprint to proceed.

C++ Coding Standards for the AMP Project

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

Evans, Thomas M; Clarno, Kevin T

2009-09-01

This document provides an initial starting point to define the C++ coding standards used by the AMP nuclear fuel performance integrated code project and a part of AMP's software development process. This document draws from the experiences, and documentation [1], of the developers of the Marmot Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Much of the software in AMP will be written in C++. The power of C++ can be abused easily, resulting in code that is difficult to understand and maintain. This document gives the practices that should be followed on the AMP project for all new code that ismore » written. The intent is not to be onerous but to ensure that the code can be readily understood by the entire code team and serve as a basis for collectively defining a set of coding standards for use in future development efforts. At the end of the AMP development in fiscal year (FY) 2010, all developers will have experience with the benefits, restrictions, and limitations of the standards described and will collectively define a set of standards for future software development. External libraries that AMP uses do not have to meet these requirements, although we encourage external developers to follow these practices. For any code of which AMP takes ownership, the project will decide on any changes on a case-by-case basis. The practices that we are using in the AMP project have been in use in the Denovo project [2] for several years. The practices build on those given in References [3-5]; the practices given in these references should also be followed. Some of the practices given in this document can also be found in [6].« less

Developing Tools to Counteract and Prevent Suicide Bomber Incidents: A Case Study in Value Sensitive Design.

PubMed

Royakkers, Lambèr; Steen, Marc

2017-08-01

Developers and designers make all sorts of moral decisions throughout an innovation project. In this article, we describe how teams of developers and designers engaged with ethics in the early phases of innovation based on case studies in the SUBCOP project (SUBCOP stands for 'SUicide Bomber COunteraction and Prevention'). For that purpose, Value Sensitive Design (VSD) will be used as a reference. Specifically, we focus on the following two research questions: How can researchers/developers learn about users' perspectives and values during the innovation process? and How can researchers/developers take into account these values, and related design criteria, in their decision-making during the innovation process? Based on a case study of several innovation processes in this project, we conclude the researchers/developers involved are able to do something similar to VSD (without them knowing about VSD or calling it 'VSD'), supported by relatively simple exercises in the project, e.g., meetings with potential end-users and discussions with members of the Ethical Advisory Board of the project. Furthermore, we also found-possibly somewhat counterintuitively-that a commercial, with its focus on understanding and satisfying customers' needs, can promote VSD.

An Economic Approach to Planting Trees for Carbon Storage

Treesearch

Peter J. Parks; David O. Hall; Bengt Kristrom; Omar R. Masera; Robert J. Multon; Andrew J. Plantinga; Joel N. Swisher; Jack K. Winjum

1997-01-01

Abstract: Methods are described for evaluating economic and carbon storage aspects of tree planting projects (e.g., plantations for restoration, roundwood, bioenergy, and nonwood products). Total carbon (C) stock is dynamic and comprises C in vegetation, decomposing matter, soil, products, and fuel substituted. An alternative (reference) case is...

The Impact of Automation on Libraries. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cline, Hugh F.; Sinnott, Loraine T.

This project examined a series of alternative policies for the management and funding of university libraries as they adopt and adapt to various information science technologies to accomplish the functions of acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and reference services. Comparative case studies were completed at the University of Chicago,…

A Model for Scholarship in Nursing: The Case of a Private Liberal Arts College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Margot L.

2001-01-01

Presents a scholarship model as an invitation to scholarship development in nursing. The model is useful for faculty self-evaluation and peer review, for orienting students to their own scholarly evolution, and to define criteria for graduate student projects. (Contains 21 references.) (Author/JOW)

Mitigating Joint Reflective Cracks using Stone Interlayers : Case Study on Louisiana Highway 5, Desoto Parish : Research Project Capsule

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-12-01

When Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement reaches an intolerable level of service, it is commonly overlaid with asphaltic concrete (AC) and is referred to as a composite pavement. Even though AC overlays are designed to resist failure mechanisms s...

REFERENT SELECTION IN CASE-CROSSOVER ANALYSES OF ACUTE HEALTH EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION. (R827355C001)

EPA Science Inventory

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

Mapping the literature of case management nursing

PubMed Central

White, Pamela; Hall, Marilyn E.

2006-01-01

Objectives: Nursing case management provides a continuum of health care services for defined groups of patients. Its literature is multidisciplinary, emphasizing clinical specialties, case management methodology, and the health care system. This study is part of a project to map the literature of nursing, sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. The study identifies core journals cited in case management literature and indexing services that access those journals. Methods: Three source journals were identified based on established criteria, and cited references from each article published from 1997 to 1999 were analyzed. Results: Nearly two-thirds of the cited references were from journals; others were from books, monographs, reports, government documents, and the Internet. Cited journal references were ranked in descending order, and Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied. The many journals constituting the top two zones reflect the diversity of this field. Zone 1 included journals from nursing administration, case management, general medicine, medical specialties, and social work. Two databases, PubMed/MEDLINE and OCLC ArticleFirst, provided the best indexing coverage. Conclusion: Collections that support case management require a relatively small group of core journals. Students and health care professionals will need to search across disciplines to identify appropriate literature. PMID:16710470

The contribution of a non-governmental organisation's Community Based Tuberculosis Care Programme to case finding in Myanmar: trend over time.

PubMed

Maung, Htet Myet Win; Saw, Saw; Isaakidis, Petros; Khogali, Mohammed; Reid, Anthony; Hoa, Nguyen Binh; Zaw, Ko Ko; Thein, Saw; Aung, Si Thu

2017-04-03

It is estimated that the standard, passive case finding (PCF) strategy for detecting cases of tuberculosis (TB) in Myanmar has not been successful: 26% of cases are missing. Therefore, alternative strategies, such as active case finding (ACF) by community volunteers, have been initiated since 2011. This study aimed to assess the contribution of a Community Based TB Care Programme (CBTC) by local non-government organizations (NGOs) to TB case finding in Myanmar over 4 years. This was a descriptive study using routine, monitoring data. Original data from the NGOs were sent to a central registry within the National TB Programme and data for this study were extracted from that database. Data from all 84 project townships in five regions and three states in Myanmar were used. The project was launched in 2011. Over time, the number of presumptive TB cases that were referred decreased, except in the Yangon Region, although in some areas, the numbers fluctuated. At the same time, there was a trend for the proportion of cases treated, compared to those referred, that decreased over time (P = 0.051). Overall, among 84 townships, the contribution of CBTC to total case detection deceased from 6% to 4% over time (P < 0.001). Contrary to expectations and evidence from previous studies in other countries, a concerning reduction in TB case finding by local NGO volunteer networks in several areas in Myanmar was recorded over 4 years. This suggests that measures to support the volunteer network and improve its performance are needed. They may include discussion with local NGOs human resources personnel, incentives for the volunteers, closer supervision of volunteers and improved monitoring and evaluation tools.

ME 5620 Fracture Mechanics in Engineering Design. Case Study Project

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-03

14 UNCLASSIFIED References 1 . A First Course in the Finite Element Method, 4th edition, by D.L. Logan, Thomson Engineering, 2006. 2. Altair ...collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources...currently valid OMB control number. 1 . REPORT DATE 03 APR 2011 2. REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED - 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Case Study

Project Delivery System Mode Decision Based on Uncertain AHP and Fuzzy Sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaishan, Liu; Huimin, Li

2017-12-01

The project delivery system mode determines the contract pricing type, project management mode and the risk allocation among all participants. Different project delivery system modes have different characteristics and applicable scope. For the owners, the selection of the delivery mode is the key point to decide whether the project can achieve the expected benefits, it relates to the success or failure of project construction. Under the precondition of comprehensively considering the influence factors of the delivery mode, the model of project delivery system mode decision was set up on the basis of uncertain AHP and fuzzy sets, which can well consider the uncertainty and fuzziness when conducting the index evaluation and weight confirmation, so as to rapidly and effectively identify the most suitable delivery mode according to project characteristics. The effectiveness of the model has been verified via the actual case analysis in order to provide reference for the construction project delivery system mode.

Dustfall design of open coal yard in the power plant-a case study on the closed reconstruction project of coal storage yard in shengli power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Kunpeng; Ji, Weidong; Zhang, Feifei; Yu, Wei; Zheng, Runqing

2018-02-01

This thesis, based on the closed reconstruction project of the coal storage yard of Shengli Power Plant which is affiliated to Sinopec Shengli Petroleum Administration, first makes an analysis on the significance of current dustfall reconstruction of open coal yard, then summarizes the methods widely adopted in the dustfall of large-scale open coal storage yard of current thermal power plant as well as their advantages and disadvantages, and finally focuses on this project, aiming at providing some reference and assistance to the future closed reconstruction project of open coal storage yard in thermal power plant.

From shared care to disease management: key-influencing factors

PubMed Central

Eijkelberg, Irmgard M.J.G.; Spreeuwenberg, Cor; Mur-Veeman, Ingrid M.; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H.R.

2001-01-01

Abstract Background In order to improve the quality of care of chronically ill patients the traditional boundaries between primary and secondary care are questioned. To demolish these boundaries so-called ‘shared care’ projects have been initiated in which different ways of substitution of care are applied. When these projects end, disease management may offer a solution to expand the achieved co-operation between primary and secondary care. Objective Answering the question: What key factors influence the development and implementation of shared care projects from a management perspective and how are they linked? Theory The theoretical framework is based on the concept of the learning organisation. Design Reference point is a multiple case study that finally becomes a single case study. Data are collected by means of triangulation. The studied cases concern two interrelated Dutch shared care projects for type 2 diabetic patients, that in the end proceed as one disease management project. Results In these cases the predominant key-influencing factors appear to be the project management, commitment and local context, respectively. The factor project management directly links the latter two, albeit managing both appear prerequisites to its success. In practice this implies managing the factors' interdependency by the application of change strategies and tactics in a committed and skilful way. Conclusion Project management, as the most important and active key factor, is advised to cope with the interrelationships of the influencing factors in a gradually more fundamental way by using strategies and tactics that enable learning processes. Then small-scale shared care projects may change into a disease management network at a large scale, which may yield the future blueprint to proceed. PMID:16896415

Leveraging tuberculosis case relative locations to enhance case detection and linkage to care in Swaziland.

PubMed

Brunetti, Marie; Rajasekharan, Sathyanath; Ustero, Piluca; Ngo, Katherine; Sikhondze, Welile; Mzileni, Buli; Mandalakas, Anna; Kay, Alexander W

2018-01-01

In Swaziland, as in many high HIV/TB burden settings, there is not information available regarding the household location of TB cases for identifying areas of increased TB incidence, limiting the development of targeted interventions. Data from "Butimba", a TB REACH active case finding project, was re-analyzed to provide insight into the location of TB cases surrounding Mbabane, Swaziland. The project aimed to identify geographical areas with high TB burdens to inform active case finding efforts. Butimba implemented household contact tracing; obtaining landmark based, informal directions, to index case homes, defined here as relative locations. The relative locations were matched to census enumeration areas (known location reference areas) using the Microsoft Excel Fuzzy Lookup function. Of 403 relative locations, an enumeration area reference was detected in 388 (96%). TB cases in each census enumeration area and the active case finders in each Tinkhundla, a local governmental region, were mapped using the geographic information system, QGIS 2.16. Urban Tinkhundla predictably accounted for most cases; however, after adjusting for population, the highest density of cases was found in rural Tinkhundla. There was no correlation between the number of active case finders currently assigned to the 7 Tinkhundla surrounding Mbabane and the total number of TB cases (Spearman rho = -0.57, p  = 0.17) or the population adjusted TB cases (Spearman rho = 0.14, p  = 0.75) per Tinkhundla. Reducing TB incidence in high-burden settings demands novel analytic approaches to study TB case locations. We demonstrated the feasibility of linking relative locations to more precise geographical areas, enabling data-driven guidance for National Tuberculosis Programs' resource allocation. In collaboration with the Swazi National Tuberculosis Control Program, this analysis highlighted opportunities to better align the active case finding national strategy with the TB disease burden.

Active solution of homography for pavement crack recovery with four laser lines.

PubMed

Xu, Guan; Chen, Fang; Wu, Guangwei; Li, Xiaotao

2018-05-08

An active solution method of the homography, which is derived from four laser lines, is proposed to recover the pavement cracks captured by the camera to the real-dimension cracks in the pavement plane. The measurement system, including a camera and four laser projectors, captures the projection laser points on the 2D reference in different positions. The projection laser points are reconstructed in the camera coordinate system. Then, the laser lines are initialized and optimized by the projection laser points. Moreover, the plane-indicated Plücker matrices of the optimized laser lines are employed to model the laser projection points of the laser lines on the pavement. The image-pavement homography is actively determined by the solutions of the perpendicular feet of the projection laser points. The pavement cracks are recovered by the active solution of homography in the experiments. The recovery accuracy of the active solution method is verified by the 2D dimension-known reference. The test case with the measurement distance of 700 mm and the relative angle of 8° achieves the smallest recovery error of 0.78 mm in the experimental investigations, which indicates the application potentials in the vision-based pavement inspection.

Analysis of Oil and Gas Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

EIA Publications

2004-01-01

This study analyzed the impact on future oil imports and expenditures of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to petroleum development. High, low, and mean ANWR oil resource case projections were compared to the Annual Energy Outlook 2004 reference case. The study also examined whether potential synergies exist in opening ANWR to petroleum development and the construction of an Alaska gas pipeline from the North Slope to the lower 48 states.

Diagnostic Challenges of Central Nervous System Tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Loeffler, Ann M.; Honarmand, Somayeh; Flood, Jennifer M.; Baxter, Roger; Jacobson, Susan; Alexander, Rick; Glaser, Carol A.

2008-01-01

Central nervous system tuberculosis (TB) was identified in 20 cases of unexplained encephalitis referred to the California Encephalitis Project. Atypical features (encephalitic symptoms, rapid onset, age) and diagnostic challenges (insensitive cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] TB PCR result, elevated CSF glucose levels in patients with diabetes, negative result for tuberculin skin test) complicated diagnosis. PMID:18760024

Internet-based transfusion audit system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maitan, Jacek; Haley, Rebecca

1995-03-01

This project is aimed at developing a cost-effective working environment for the transfusion medicine specialists of American Red Cross (ARC). In this project we are developing a multimedia-based consultation environment that uses Internet and teleconferencing to increase the quality of services and to replace currently used 800 telephone lines. Through the use of Internet/LAN/ISDN the physicians can share information and references while they discuss patient cases. A multimedia interface allows the physician to access data from the office and from the house. This paper discusses the approach, current status of the project and future plans to extend the approach to other areas of medicine.

CaseWorld™: Interactive, media rich, multidisciplinary case based learning.

PubMed

Gillham, David; Tucker, Katie; Parker, Steve; Wright, Victoria; Kargillis, Christina

2015-11-01

Nurse educators are challenged to keep up with highly specialised clinical practice, emerging research evidence, regulation requirements and rapidly changing information technology while teaching very large numbers of diverse students in a resource constrained environment. This complex setting provides the context for the CaseWorld project, which aims to simulate those aspects of clinical practice that can be represented by e-learning. This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of CaseWorld, a simulated learning environment that supports case based learning. CaseWorld provides nursing students with the opportunity to view unfolding authentic cases presented in a rich multimedia context. The first round of comprehensive summative evaluation of CaseWorld is discussed in the context of earlier formative evaluation, reference group input and strategies for integration of CaseWorld with subject content. This discussion highlights the unique approach taken in this project that involved simultaneous prototype development and large scale implementation, thereby necessitating strong emphasis on staff development, uptake and engagement. The lessons learned provide an interesting basis for further discussion of broad content sharing across disciplines and universities, and the contribution that local innovations can make to global education advancement. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non/Working Lives: Implications of "Non-Standard Work Practices" for Literacy and Numeracy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falk, Ian; Millar, Pat

Through a set of five detailed case studies of individuals representing the new conditions of un/employment, a research project generated new information and knowledge about effective communication skills, often referred to as generic and transferable, for people engaged in so-called new ways of working. These three research questions were…

Future Game Developers within a Virtual World: Learner Archetypes and Team Leader Attributes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franetovic, Marija

2016-01-01

This case study research sought to understand a subset of the next generation in reference to virtual world learning within a game development course. The students completed an ill-structured team project which was facilitated using authentic learning strategies within a virtual world over a period of seven weeks. Research findings emerged from…

Geography Teachers' Interpretation of a Curriculum Reform Initiative: The Case of the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raselimo, Mohaeka; Wilmot, Di

2013-01-01

This article addresses how teachers in a specific developing world context interpreted a curriculum reform initiative. It is located within a broader interpretive study that investigated the integration of Environmental Education into the formal education system of Lesotho with particular reference to secondary school geography. More specifically…

Localisation, Globalisation and SMEs in European Tourism: The "Virtual Enterprise" Model of Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davenport, Elisabeth

2000-01-01

Discussion of the effect of globalization on SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in Europe focuses on a case study of a current European Commission (EC) project, Net Quality, which is based on the virtual enterprise as an intervention model that may encourage small businesses to cooperate in strategic ventures. (Contains 29 references.)…

In the Midst of a Shift: Undergraduate STEM Education and "PBL" Enactment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Maria F. G.; Webb, Angela W.

2016-01-01

In the engineering field, problem- and project-based learning, both of which are often referred to as PBL, are the dominant instructional models called for by accreditation agencies. The aim of this qualitative case study is to analyze and capture a holistic perspective of PBL course design and its implementation in two communication-intensive…

Application of correspondence analysis in the assessment of mine tailings dam breakage risk in the Mediterranean region.

PubMed

Salgueiro, Ana Rita; Pereira, Henrique Garcia; Rico, Maria-Teresa; Benito, Gerado; Díez-Herreo, Andrés

2008-02-01

A new statistical approach for preliminary risk evaluation of breakage in tailings dam is presented and illustrated by a case study regarding the Mediterranean region. The objective of the proposed method is to establish an empirical scale of risk, from which guidelines for prioritizing the collection of further specific information can be derived. The method relies on a historical database containing, in essence, two sets of qualitative data: the first set concerns the variables that are observable before the disaster (e.g., type and size of the dam, its location, and state of activity), and the second refers to the consequences of the disaster (e.g., failure type, sludge characteristics, fatalities categorization, and downstream range of damage). Based on a modified form of correspondence analysis, where the second set of attributes are projected as "supplementary variables" onto the axes provided by the eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix referring to the first set, a "qualitative regression" is performed, relating the variables to be predicted (contained in the second set) with the "predictors" (the observable variables). On the grounds of the previously derived relationship, the risk of breakage in a new case can be evaluated, given observable variables. The method was applied in a case study regarding a set of 13 test sites where the ranking of risk obtained was validated by expert knowledge. Once validated, the procedure was included in the final output of the e-EcoRisk UE project (A Regional Enterprise Network Decision-Support System for Environmental Risk and Disaster Management of Large-Scale Industrial Spills), allowing for a dynamic historical database updating and providing a prompt rough risk evaluation for a new case. The aim of this section of the global project is to provide a quantified context where failure cases occurred in the past for supporting analogue reasoning in preventing similar situations.

Chapter 4 - The LANDFIRE Prototype Project reference database

Treesearch

John F. Caratti

2006-01-01

This chapter describes the data compilation process for the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Prototype Project (LANDFIRE Prototype Project) reference database (LFRDB) and explains the reference data applications for LANDFIRE Prototype maps and models. The reference database formed the foundation for all LANDFIRE tasks. All products generated by the...

"The Chinese Approach to Learning": Cultural Trait or Situated Response? The Case of a Self-Directed Learning Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gieve, Simon; Clark, Rose

2005-01-01

This paper raises the question of how flexible approaches to learning are to contextual factors, as opposed to being culturally determined, with specific reference to autonomy in Chinese students studying in the UK. We describe the outcome of a research project which investigated Chinese undergraduates studying English language as part of their UK…

South Winnipeg Integrated Geriatric Program (SWING): A Rapid Community-Response Program for the Frail Elderly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, Patrick R.; Fallis, Wendy M.

2003-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare enhanced access to geriatric assessment and case management to usual home care service provision for the frail elderly. This was a demonstration project, with randomized allocation to control or intervention groups of frail elderly persons who had been referred to the Home Care service in Winnipeg. Of the…

A Multi-Centre Audit of the Use of Medication for the Management of Behavioural Problems in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unwin, Gemma L.; Deb, Shoumitro

2008-01-01

The aim was to investigate prescribing practices surrounding the use of medication for the management of behavioural problems in adults with intellectual disabilities with reference to a national guideline development project. A case note review methodology was employed to explore adherence to the audit criteria that were derived from the…

Modeling Thermal Changes at Municipal Solid Waste Landfills: A Case Study of the Co-Disposal of Secondary Aluminum Processing Waste

EPA Science Inventory

The reaction of secondary aluminum processing waste (referred herein to as salt cake) with water has been documented to produce heat and gases such as hydrogen, methane, and ammonia (US EPA 2015). The objective of this project was to assess the impact of salt cake disposal on MS...

Objectivities of a Post-Normal Guideline Project: The Introduction of a Guideline for Sick-Listing Practices in Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sager, Morten; Eriksson, Lena

2015-01-01

In this article we describe and diagnose ailments suffered by the so-called "medical insurance decision-making support tool" that was published in 2007 as part of a major reform of the Swedish social insurance. Through document studies and interviews the guideline is analysed and compared with a reference case, a guideline within…

An evaluation of the discriminating power of an Integrated Ballistics Identification System® Heritage™system with the NIST standard cartridge case (Standard Reference Material 2461).

PubMed

Morris, Keith B; Law, Eric F; Jefferys, Roger L; Dearth, Elizabeth C; Fabyanic, Emily B

2017-11-01

Through analysis and comparison of firing pin, breech face, and ejector impressions, where appropriate, firearm examiners may connect a cartridge case to a suspect firearm with a certain likelihood in a criminal investigation. When a firearm is not present, an examiner may use the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS ® ), an automated search and retrieval system coupled with the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN), a database of images showing the markings on fired cartridge cases and bullets from crime scenes along with test fired firearms. For the purpose of measurement quality control of these IBIS ® systems the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated the Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2460/2461 standard bullets and cartridge cases project. The aim of this study was to evaluate the overall performance of the IBIS ® system by using NIST standard cartridge cases. By evaluating the resulting correlation scores, error rates, and percent recovery, both the variability between and within examiners when using IBIS ® , in addition to any inter- and intra-variability between SRM cartridge cases was observed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the feasibility and viability of modular pumped storage hydro (m-PSH) in the United States

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

Witt, Adam M.; Hadjerioua, Boualem; Martinez, Rocio

The viability of modular pumped storage hydro (m-PSH) is examined in detail through the conceptual design, cost scoping, and economic analysis of three case studies. Modular PSH refers to both the compactness of the project design and the proposed nature of product fabrication and performance. A modular project is assumed to consist of pre-fabricated standardized components and equipment, tested and assembled into modules before arrival on site. This technology strategy could enable m-PSH projects to deploy with less substantial civil construction and equipment component costs. The concept of m-PSH is technically feasible using currently available conventional pumping and turbine equipment,more » and may offer a path to reducing the project development cycle from inception to commissioning.« less

Tobacco and Alcohol in Relation to Male Breast Cancer: An Analysis of the Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project Consortium

PubMed Central

Cook, Michael B.; Guénel, Pascal; Gapstur, Susan M.; van den Brandt, Piet A.; Michels, Karin B.; Casagrande, John T.; Cooke, Rosie; Van Den Eeden, Stephen K.; Ewertz, Marianne; Falk, Roni T.; Gaudet, Mia M.; Gkiokas, George; Habel, Laurel A.; Hsing, Ann W.; Johnson, Kenneth; Kolonel, Laurence N.; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lynge, Elsebeth; Lubin, Jay H.; McCormack, Valerie A.; Negri, Eva; Olsson, Håkan; Parisi, Dominick; Petridou, Eleni Th.; Riboli, Elio; Sesso, Howard D.; Swerdlow, Anthony; Thomas, David B.; Willett, Walter C.; Brinton, Louise A.

2015-01-01

Background The etiology of male breast cancer is poorly understood, partly due to its relative rarity. Although tobacco and alcohol exposures are known carcinogens, their association with male breast cancer risk remains ill-defined. Methods The Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project consortium provided 2,378 cases and 51,959 controls for analysis from 10 case-control and 10 cohort studies. Individual participant data were harmonized and pooled. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate study design-specific (case-control/cohort) odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), which were then combined using fixed effects meta-analysis. Results Cigarette smoking status, smoking pack-years, duration, intensity, and age at initiation were not associated with male breast cancer risk. Relations with cigar and pipe smoking, tobacco chewing, and snuff use were also null. Recent alcohol consumption and average grams of alcohol consumed per day were also not associated with risk; only one sub-analysis of very high recent alcohol consumption (>60 grams/day) was tentatively associated with male breast cancer (ORunexposed referent=1.29, 95%CI:0.97–1.71; OR>0–<7 g/day referent=1.36, 95%CI:1.04–1.77). Specific alcoholic beverage types were not associated with male breast cancer. Relations were not altered when stratified by age or body mass index. Conclusions In this analysis of the Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project we found little evidence that tobacco and alcohol exposures were associated with risk of male breast cancer. Impact Tobacco and alcohol do not appear to be carcinogenic for male breast cancer. Future studies should aim to assess these exposures in relation to subtypes of male breast cancer. PMID:25515550

Tobacco and alcohol in relation to male breast cancer: an analysis of the male breast cancer pooling project consortium.

PubMed

Cook, Michael B; Guénel, Pascal; Gapstur, Susan M; van den Brandt, Piet A; Michels, Karin B; Casagrande, John T; Cooke, Rosie; Van Den Eeden, Stephen K; Ewertz, Marianne; Falk, Roni T; Gaudet, Mia M; Gkiokas, George; Habel, Laurel A; Hsing, Ann W; Johnson, Kenneth; Kolonel, Laurence N; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lynge, Elsebeth; Lubin, Jay H; McCormack, Valerie A; Negri, Eva; Olsson, Håkan; Parisi, Dominick; Petridou, Eleni Th; Riboli, Elio; Sesso, Howard D; Swerdlow, Anthony; Thomas, David B; Willett, Walter C; Brinton, Louise A

2015-03-01

The etiology of male breast cancer is poorly understood, partly due to its relative rarity. Although tobacco and alcohol exposures are known carcinogens, their association with male breast cancer risk remains ill-defined. The Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project consortium provided 2,378 cases and 51,959 controls for analysis from 10 case-control and 10 cohort studies. Individual participant data were harmonized and pooled. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate study design-specific (case-control/cohort) ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI), which were then combined using fixed-effects meta-analysis. Cigarette smoking status, smoking pack-years, duration, intensity, and age at initiation were not associated with male breast cancer risk. Relations with cigar and pipe smoking, tobacco chewing, and snuff use were also null. Recent alcohol consumption and average grams of alcohol consumed per day were also not associated with risk; only one subanalysis of very high recent alcohol consumption (>60 g/day) was tentatively associated with male breast cancer (ORunexposed referent = 1.29; 95% CI, 0.97-1.71; OR>0-<7 g/day referent = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.04-1.77). Specific alcoholic beverage types were not associated with male breast cancer. Relations were not altered when stratified by age or body mass index. In this analysis of the Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project, we found little evidence that tobacco and alcohol exposures were associated with risk of male breast cancer. Tobacco and alcohol do not appear to be carcinogenic for male breast cancer. Future studies should aim to assess these exposures in relation to subtypes of male breast cancer. ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.

Projecting the Water Footprint Associated with Shale Resource Production: Eagle Ford Shale Case Study.

PubMed

Ikonnikova, Svetlana A; Male, Frank; Scanlon, Bridget R; Reedy, Robert C; McDaid, Guinevere

2017-12-19

Production of oil from shale and tight reservoirs accounted for almost 50% of 2016 total U.S. production and is projected to continue growing. The objective of our analysis was to quantify the water outlook for future shale oil development using the Eagle Ford Shale as a case study. We developed a water outlook model that projects water use for hydraulic fracturing (HF) and flowback and produced water (FP) volumes based on expected energy prices; historical oil, natural gas, and water-production decline data per well; projected well spacing; and well economics. The number of wells projected to be drilled in the Eagle Ford through 2045 is almost linearly related to oil price, ranging from 20 000 wells at $30/barrel (bbl) oil to 97 000 wells at $100/bbl oil. Projected FP water volumes range from 20% to 40% of HF across the play. Our base reference oil price of $50/bbl would result in 40 000 additional wells and related HF of 265 × 10 9 gal and FP of 85 × 10 9 gal. The presented water outlooks for HF and FP water volumes can be used to assess future water sourcing and wastewater disposal or reuse, and to inform policy discussions.

Habitat Restoration and Monitoring in Urban Streams: The Case of Tryon Creek in Portland, OR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rios Touma, B. P.; Prescott, C.; Axtell, S.; Kondolf, G. M.

2013-12-01

Habitat enhancement in urban streams can be important for threatened species but challenging, because of altered catchment hydrology and urban encroachment on floodplains and channel banks. In Portland (OR) restoration actions have been undertaken at the watershed scale (e.g.: storm water management, protection of sites with high watershed value) to improve water quality, and at reach scale, when water quality and quantity are adequate, to increase habitat heterogeneity and stabilize banks. To evaluate reach-scale restoration projects in the Tryon Creek watershed, we sampled benthic macroinvertebrates and conducted habitat quality surveys pre-project and over 4 years post- project. Species sensitive to pollution and diversity of trophic groups increased after restoration. Although taxonomical diversity increased after restoration, but was still low compared to reference streams. We found no significant changes in trait proportions and functional diversity. Functional diversity, proportion of shredders and semivoltine invertebrates were significantly higher in reference streams than the restored stream reaches. We hypothesized that inputs of coarse particulate organic matter and land use at watershed scale may explain the differences in biodiversity between restored and reference stream reaches. Variables such as substrate composition, canopy cover or large wood pieces did not change from pre- to post-project, so could not explain the changes in the community. This may have been partly attributable to insensitivity of the visual estimate methods used, but likely also reflects an importance influence of watershed variables on aquatic biota - suggesting watershed actions may be more effective for the ecological recovery of streams. For future projects, we recommend multihabitat benthic sampling supported by studies of channel geomorphology to better understand stream response to restoration actions.

Exploring the clean development mechanism: Malaysian case study.

PubMed

Pedersen, Anne

2008-02-01

During 2006 the CDM market in Malaysia became established and by December 2007 a total of 20 Malaysian projects had registered with the CDM Executive Board. The Kyoto Protocol defines the Annex 1 countries, as countries that are obliged to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the clean development mechanism (CDM) allows Annex 1 countries to develop projects, which contribute to emission reduction, in non-Annex 1 (developing) countries. Currently, two projects have been corrected due to request for review and there is one project for which review is requested. Two projects have been rejected by the Executive Board. The broad knowledge of CDM in Malaysia and the number of successful projects are partly due to the well-functioning CDM institutional framework in Malaysia. As an illustration this article focuses on a Malaysian-Danish project and describes the implementation of CDM in Malaysia and refers to this specific project. The project was registered with the CDM Executive Board in May 2007 and is a methane avoidance project in which methane is captured from a landfill and used to generate electricity.

Conservation Science Fair Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soil Conservation Society of America, Ankeny, IA.

Included are ideas, suggestions, and examples for selecting and designing conservation science projects. Over 70 possible conservation subject areas are presented with suggested projects. References are cited with each of these subject areas, and a separate list of annotated references is included. The references pertain to general subject…

Readability and the Production of Instructional Text in the Royal Navy,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-11-01

Conclusions 28 References 35 Appendix A Royal Naval Educational and Training Establishrents Surveyed during the Project. Appendix B Readability and the...systematic assessment has been recognised for sone time. Educators understandably showed an interest in readability. Klare [351 reported cases of...covered, the purposes of the study were explained and discussed. 2. Subjects: Contact was made with all the major educational and training establishments

Land Vehicle Tire Qualification

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-25

Bead damage / separation -Severe open splices and/or liner separations - Tire induced loss of air -Exposed or broken casing -Bulges in tread or...sidewall SAE J2014 11 SAE J2014 4.14 Tire Treadlife Durability -10000 miles duration -Evaluate tread wear performance of candidate tire -Measurements at... Tread Depth measurement of reference and candidate tires taken at specified intervals • Candidate tires must complete the test and tread wear projections

Telemedicine in support of peacekeeping operations overseas: an audit.

PubMed

Navein, J; Hagmann, J; Ellis, J

1997-01-01

Since 1993, the Department of Defense has augmented the medical support for Army units on peacekeeping operations in Macedonia through the medium of telemedicine. This project, known as Operation Primetime 1, was the first satellite-based telemedicine system deployed in support of remote primary-care physician in the U.S. military. Its declared aims are: (1) to improve the standard of care; (2) to reduce evacuations; (3) to support junior physicians in the field; and (4) to improve the military effectiveness of the deployed units. This paper audits the success in attaining those goals for the period January 1994 to April 1995. A log was collated from the referring units and questionnaires completed by both referring and consulting physicians. The referring physicians were interviewed on their return from Macedonia, and a more detailed study was undertaken of cases in which a change in outcome was noted. Follow-up interview of consultants was not possible. A total of 53 consults were undertaken on 47 patients. The use of telemedicine affected the decision to evacuate 13 times (13/47), with a net reduction of 9 evacuations. Management of individual cases was changed in 30 of the 47 cases in which telemedicine was used. Physician confidence and military effectiveness were also improved. The level of utilization of the system was largely dependent on a training and sustainment program. Units and General Medical Officers who were trained in the clinical use of telemedicine and the technical sustainment of the equipment used the system; those who were not, did not. Most patients (45/47) were treated satisfactorily with a single consult. Telemedicine under these circumstances seems to be cost effective. The deployed sites chose the referral centers that provided the best service. Telemedicine is a valuable tool capable of augmenting medical support to deployed military units. A successful deployed telemedicine project requires an integrated support package that includes adequate provision for training and equipment sustainment at both ends of the link. Experience with telemedicine in Operation Primetime indicates the potential for substantial cost savings as well as cost-effective medical care. Further application of telemedicine should be encouraged. Successful deployment of telemedicine projects may hinge on an integrated support package.

3D heart motion from single-plane angiography of the coronary vasculature: a model-based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sherknies, Denis; Meunier, Jean; Tardif, Jean-Claude

2004-05-01

In order to complete a thorough examination of a patient heart muscle, physicians practice two common invasive procedures: the ventriculography, which allows the determination of the ejection fraction, and the coronarography, giving among other things, information on stenosis of arteries. We propose a method that allows the determination of a contraction index similar to ejection fraction, using only single-plane coronarography. Our method first reconstructs in 3D, selected points on the angiogram, using a 3D model devised from data published by Dodge ea. ['88, '92]. We then follow the point displacements through a complete heart contraction cycle. The objective function, minimizing the RMS distances between the angiogram and the model, relies on affine transformations, i.e. translation, rotation and isotropic scaling. We validate our method on simulated projections using cases from Dodge data. In order to avoid any bias, a leave-one-out strategy was used, which excludes the reference case when constructing the 3D coronary heart model. The simulated projections are created by transforming the reference case, with scaling, translation and rotation transformations, and by adding random 3D noise for each frame in the contraction cycle. Comparing the true scaling parameters to the reconstructed sequence, our method is quite robust (R2=96.6%, P<1%), even when noise error level is as high as 1 cm. Using 10 clinical cases we then proceeded to reconstruct the contraction sequence for a complete cardiac cycle starting at end-diastole. A simple heart contraction mathematical model permitted us to link the measured ejection fraction of the different cases to the maximum heart contraction amplitude (R2=57%, P<1%) determined by our method.

E-KIT: An Electronic-Knowledge Information Tool for Organizing Site Information and Improving Technical Communication with Stakeholders - 13082

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

Kautsky, Mark; Findlay, Richard C.; Hodges, Rex A.

2013-07-01

Managing technical references for projects that have long histories is hampered by the large collection of documents, each of which might contain discrete pieces of information relevant to the site conceptual model. A database application has been designed to improve the efficiency of retrieving technical information for a project. Although many databases are currently used for accessing analytical and geo-referenced data, applications designed specifically to manage technical reference material for projects are scarce. Retrieving site data from the array of available references becomes an increasingly inefficient use of labor. The electronic-Knowledge Information Tool (e-KIT) is designed as a project-level resourcemore » to access and communicate technical information. The e-KIT is a living tool that grows as new information becomes available, and its value to the project increases as the volume of site information increases. Having all references assembled in one location with complete reference citations and links to elements of the site conceptual model offers a way to enhance communication with outside groups. The published and unpublished references are incorporated into the e-KIT, while the compendium of references serves as a complete bibliography for the project. (authors)« less

Defining datasets and creating data dictionaries for quality improvement and research in chronic disease using routinely collected data: an ontology-driven approach.

PubMed

de Lusignan, Simon; Liaw, Siaw-Teng; Michalakidis, Georgios; Jones, Simon

2011-01-01

The burden of chronic disease is increasing, and research and quality improvement will be less effective if case finding strategies are suboptimal. To describe an ontology-driven approach to case finding in chronic disease and how this approach can be used to create a data dictionary and make the codes used in case finding transparent. A five-step process: (1) identifying a reference coding system or terminology; (2) using an ontology-driven approach to identify cases; (3) developing metadata that can be used to identify the extracted data; (4) mapping the extracted data to the reference terminology; and (5) creating the data dictionary. Hypertension is presented as an exemplar. A patient with hypertension can be represented by a range of codes including diagnostic, history and administrative. Metadata can link the coding system and data extraction queries to the correct data mapping and translation tool, which then maps it to the equivalent code in the reference terminology. The code extracted, the term, its domain and subdomain, and the name of the data extraction query can then be automatically grouped and published online as a readily searchable data dictionary. An exemplar online is: www.clininf.eu/qickd-data-dictionary.html Adopting an ontology-driven approach to case finding could improve the quality of disease registers and of research based on routine data. It would offer considerable advantages over using limited datasets to define cases. This approach should be considered by those involved in research and quality improvement projects which utilise routine data.

Analysis of reference transactions using packaged computer programs.

PubMed

Calabretta, N; Ross, R

1984-01-01

Motivated by a continuing education class attended by the authors on the measurement of reference desk activities, the reference department at Scott Memorial Library initiated a project to gather data on reference desk transactions and to analyze the data by using packaged computer programs. The programs utilized for the project were SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and SAS (Statistical Analysis System). The planning, implementation and development of the project are described.

Prevention of homicidal violence in schools in Germany: the Berlin Leaking Project and the Networks Against School Shootings Project (NETWASS).

PubMed

Leuschner, Vincenz; Bondü, Rebecca; Schroer-Hippel, Miriam; Panno, Jennifer; Neumetzler, Katharina; Fisch, Sarah; Scholl, Johanna; Scheithauer, Herbert

2011-01-01

Since 1999, Germany has experienced at least twelve serious cases of targeted school violence. This article describes two projects designed to fill the gap between universal prevention and emergency response in preventing severe forms of school violence in Germany. The Berlin Leaking Project examined the viability of preventive efforts based on early identification of leaking behavior that often precedes targeted school attacks. Leaking refers to any behavior or communication that indicates a student is preparing to carry out a violent attack. This would include explicit or implied threats of violence, apparent fascination with prior acts of violence such as Columbine, and any evidence of planning or preparation to carry out an attack. The NETWASS project will test a training program and intervention strategy based on those findings, examining the usefulness of a threat assessment approach to prevent violence by training teachers to recognize leaking behavior by students. This approach is extended by training teachers on a larger scale to identify leaking and then having a school-based team evaluate the student and initiate appropriate interventions, such as mental health services, and in some cases, law enforcement action. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

The Driver Whose Heart Was Full of Sand: Leigh's Story--A Play Therapy Case Study of a Bereaved Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robson, Maggie

2008-01-01

This paper describes the therapeutic journey of Leigh (not his real name), a nine-year-old boy who was referred for play therapy due to the death of his 15-year-old brother. The play therapy was offered through a joint project called "Playing through Loss" and run jointly between a UK university and the local branch of a national…

Coordinated EV adoption: double-digit reductions in emissions and fuel use for $40/vehicle-year.

PubMed

Choi, Dong Gu; Kreikebaum, Frank; Thomas, Valerie M; Divan, Deepak

2013-09-17

Adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) would affect the costs and sources of electricity and the United States efficiency requirements for conventional vehicles (CVs). We model EV adoption scenarios in each of six regions of the Eastern Interconnection, containing 70% of the United States population. We develop electricity system optimization models at the multidecade, day-ahead, and hour-ahead time scales, incorporating spatial wind energy modeling, endogenous modeling of CV efficiencies, projections for EV efficiencies, and projected CV and EV costs. We find two means to reduce total consumer expenditure (TCE): (i) controlling charge timing and (ii) unlinking the fuel economy regulations for CVs from EVs. Although EVs provide minimal direct GHG reductions, controlled charging provides load flexibility, lowering the cost of renewable electricity. Without EVs, a 33% renewable electricity standard (RES) would cost $193/vehicle-year more than the reference case (10% RES). Combining a 33% RES, EVs with controlled charging and unlinking would reduce combined electric- and vehicle-sector CO2 emissions by 27% and reduce gasoline consumption by 59% for $40/vehicle-year more than the reference case. Coordinating EV adoption with adoption of controlled charging, unlinked fuel economy regulations, and renewable electricity standards would provide low-cost reductions in emissions and fuel usage.

Absorption/transmission measurements of PSAP particle-laden filters from the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign

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

Presser, Cary; Nazarian, Ashot; Conny, Joseph M.

Absorptivity measurements with a laser-heating approach, referred to as the laser-driven thermal reactor (LDTR), were carried out in the infrared and applied at ambient (laboratory) nonreacting conditions to particle-laden filters from a three-wavelength (visible) particle/soot absorption photometer (PSAP). Here, the particles were obtained during the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign. The focus of this study was to determine the particle absorption coefficient from field-campaign filter samples using the LDTR approach, and compare results with other commercially available instrumentation (in this case with the PSAP, which has been compared with numerous other optical techniques).

Absorption/transmission measurements of PSAP particle-laden filters from the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign

DOE PAGES

Presser, Cary; Nazarian, Ashot; Conny, Joseph M.; ...

2016-12-02

Absorptivity measurements with a laser-heating approach, referred to as the laser-driven thermal reactor (LDTR), were carried out in the infrared and applied at ambient (laboratory) nonreacting conditions to particle-laden filters from a three-wavelength (visible) particle/soot absorption photometer (PSAP). Here, the particles were obtained during the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign. The focus of this study was to determine the particle absorption coefficient from field-campaign filter samples using the LDTR approach, and compare results with other commercially available instrumentation (in this case with the PSAP, which has been compared with numerous other optical techniques).

Building capacity in a health sciences library to support global health projects.

PubMed

Lackey, Mellanye; Swogger, Susan; McGraw, Kathleen A

2014-04-01

This paper describes how a large, academic health sciences library built capacity for supporting global health at its university and discusses related outcomes. Lean budgets require prioritization and organizational strategy. A committee, with leadership responsibilities assigned to one librarian, guided strategic planning and the pursuit of collaborative, global health outreach activities. A website features case studies and videos of user stories to promote how library partnerships successfully contributed to global health projects. Collaborative partnerships were formed through outreach activities and from follow-up to reference questions. The committee and a librarian's dedicated time established the library's commitment to help the university carry out its ambitious global agenda.

Implementing parallel spreadsheet models for health policy decisions: The impact of unintentional errors on model projections

PubMed Central

Bailey, Stephanie L.; Bono, Rose S.; Nash, Denis; Kimmel, April D.

2018-01-01

Background Spreadsheet software is increasingly used to implement systems science models informing health policy decisions, both in academia and in practice where technical capacity may be limited. However, spreadsheet models are prone to unintentional errors that may not always be identified using standard error-checking techniques. Our objective was to illustrate, through a methodologic case study analysis, the impact of unintentional errors on model projections by implementing parallel model versions. Methods We leveraged a real-world need to revise an existing spreadsheet model designed to inform HIV policy. We developed three parallel versions of a previously validated spreadsheet-based model; versions differed by the spreadsheet cell-referencing approach (named single cells; column/row references; named matrices). For each version, we implemented three model revisions (re-entry into care; guideline-concordant treatment initiation; immediate treatment initiation). After standard error-checking, we identified unintentional errors by comparing model output across the three versions. Concordant model output across all versions was considered error-free. We calculated the impact of unintentional errors as the percentage difference in model projections between model versions with and without unintentional errors, using +/-5% difference to define a material error. Results We identified 58 original and 4,331 propagated unintentional errors across all model versions and revisions. Over 40% (24/58) of original unintentional errors occurred in the column/row reference model version; most (23/24) were due to incorrect cell references. Overall, >20% of model spreadsheet cells had material unintentional errors. When examining error impact along the HIV care continuum, the percentage difference between versions with and without unintentional errors ranged from +3% to +16% (named single cells), +26% to +76% (column/row reference), and 0% (named matrices). Conclusions Standard error-checking techniques may not identify all errors in spreadsheet-based models. Comparing parallel model versions can aid in identifying unintentional errors and promoting reliable model projections, particularly when resources are limited. PMID:29570737

Implementing parallel spreadsheet models for health policy decisions: The impact of unintentional errors on model projections.

PubMed

Bailey, Stephanie L; Bono, Rose S; Nash, Denis; Kimmel, April D

2018-01-01

Spreadsheet software is increasingly used to implement systems science models informing health policy decisions, both in academia and in practice where technical capacity may be limited. However, spreadsheet models are prone to unintentional errors that may not always be identified using standard error-checking techniques. Our objective was to illustrate, through a methodologic case study analysis, the impact of unintentional errors on model projections by implementing parallel model versions. We leveraged a real-world need to revise an existing spreadsheet model designed to inform HIV policy. We developed three parallel versions of a previously validated spreadsheet-based model; versions differed by the spreadsheet cell-referencing approach (named single cells; column/row references; named matrices). For each version, we implemented three model revisions (re-entry into care; guideline-concordant treatment initiation; immediate treatment initiation). After standard error-checking, we identified unintentional errors by comparing model output across the three versions. Concordant model output across all versions was considered error-free. We calculated the impact of unintentional errors as the percentage difference in model projections between model versions with and without unintentional errors, using +/-5% difference to define a material error. We identified 58 original and 4,331 propagated unintentional errors across all model versions and revisions. Over 40% (24/58) of original unintentional errors occurred in the column/row reference model version; most (23/24) were due to incorrect cell references. Overall, >20% of model spreadsheet cells had material unintentional errors. When examining error impact along the HIV care continuum, the percentage difference between versions with and without unintentional errors ranged from +3% to +16% (named single cells), +26% to +76% (column/row reference), and 0% (named matrices). Standard error-checking techniques may not identify all errors in spreadsheet-based models. Comparing parallel model versions can aid in identifying unintentional errors and promoting reliable model projections, particularly when resources are limited.

The EPIRARE proposal of a set of indicators and common data elements for the European platform for rare disease registration.

PubMed

Taruscio, Domenica; Mollo, Emanuela; Gainotti, Sabina; Posada de la Paz, Manuel; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Vittozzi, Luciano

2014-01-01

The European Union acknowledges the relevance of registries as key instruments for developing rare disease (RD) clinical research, improving patient care and health service (HS) planning and funded the EPIRARE project to improve standardization and data comparability among patient registries and to support new registries and data collections. A reference list of patient registry-based indicators has been prepared building on the work of previous EU projects and on the platform stakeholders' information needs resulting from the EPIRARE surveys and consultations. The variables necessary to compute these indicators have been analysed for their scope and use and then organized in data domains. The reference indicators span from disease surveillance, to socio-economic burden, HS monitoring, research and product development, policy equity and effectiveness. The variables necessary to compute these reference indicators have been selected and, with the exception of more sophisticated indicators for research and clinical care quality, they can be collected as data elements common (CDE) to all rare diseases. They have been organized in data domains characterized by their contents and main goal and a limited set of mandatory data elements has been defined, which allows case notification independently of the physician or the health service. The definition of a set of CDE for the European platform for RD patient registration is the first step in the promotion of the use of common tools for the collection of comparable data. The proposed organization of the CDE contributes to the completeness of case ascertainment, with the possible involvement of patients and patient associations in the registration process.

Integrating Green Building Criteria Into Housing Design Processes Case Study: Tropical Apartment At Kebon Melati, Jakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farid, V. L.; Wonorahardjo, S.

2018-05-01

The implementation of Green Building criteria is relatively new in architectural practice, especially in Indonesia. Consequently, the integration of these criteria into design process has the potential to change the design process itself. The implementation of the green building criteria into the conventional design process will be discussed in this paper. The concept of this project is to design a residential unit with a natural air-conditioning system. To achieve this purpose, the Green Building criteria has been implemented since the beginning of the design process until the detailing process on the end of the project. Several studies was performed throughout the design process, such as: (1) Conceptual review, where several professionally proved theories related to Tropical Architecture and passive design are used for a reference, and (2) Computer simulations, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel simulation, used to represent the dynamic response of the surrounding environment towards the building. Hopefully this paper may become a reference for designing a green residential building.

A methodological and operative framework for the evaluation of an e-health project.

PubMed

Buccoliero, Luca; Calciolari, Stefano; Marsilio, Marta

2008-01-01

Assessing public sector ICT investments represents the premise for successful implementation of an e-health strategy. The recent literature stresses the importance of going beyond the mere financial and/or technical dimensions of the analysis. Consequently, the paper proposes an example of e-health project evaluation aiming to develop measures which get close to the notion of benefits to the different stakeholders involved: top management, patients, local community. The case study refers to an Italian health care organization that implemented a project of digitalization of its clinical reports production few years ago. Based on on-field research, different approaches are used to assess costs and benefits from different stakeholders' perspectives. The results of a multidimensional evaluation are reported to emphasize the need for different measures to assess the sustainability of an e-health project according to the financial convenience, the social role of the organization, and the contingent situation.

A novel evaluation method for building construction project based on integrated information entropy with reliability theory.

PubMed

Bai, Xiao-ping; Zhang, Xi-wei

2013-01-01

Selecting construction schemes of the building engineering project is a complex multiobjective optimization decision process, in which many indexes need to be selected to find the optimum scheme. Aiming at this problem, this paper selects cost, progress, quality, and safety as the four first-order evaluation indexes, uses the quantitative method for the cost index, uses integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies for progress, quality, and safety indexes, and integrates engineering economics, reliability theories, and information entropy theory to present a new evaluation method for building construction project. Combined with a practical case, this paper also presents detailed computing processes and steps, including selecting all order indexes, establishing the index matrix, computing score values of all order indexes, computing the synthesis score, sorting all selected schemes, and making analysis and decision. Presented method can offer valuable references for risk computing of building construction projects.

Monte Carlo reference data sets for imaging research: Executive summary of the report of AAPM Research Committee Task Group 195.

PubMed

Sechopoulos, Ioannis; Ali, Elsayed S M; Badal, Andreu; Badano, Aldo; Boone, John M; Kyprianou, Iacovos S; Mainegra-Hing, Ernesto; McMillan, Kyle L; McNitt-Gray, Michael F; Rogers, D W O; Samei, Ehsan; Turner, Adam C

2015-10-01

The use of Monte Carlo simulations in diagnostic medical imaging research is widespread due to its flexibility and ability to estimate quantities that are challenging to measure empirically. However, any new Monte Carlo simulation code needs to be validated before it can be used reliably. The type and degree of validation required depends on the goals of the research project, but, typically, such validation involves either comparison of simulation results to physical measurements or to previously published results obtained with established Monte Carlo codes. The former is complicated due to nuances of experimental conditions and uncertainty, while the latter is challenging due to typical graphical presentation and lack of simulation details in previous publications. In addition, entering the field of Monte Carlo simulations in general involves a steep learning curve. It is not a simple task to learn how to program and interpret a Monte Carlo simulation, even when using one of the publicly available code packages. This Task Group report provides a common reference for benchmarking Monte Carlo simulations across a range of Monte Carlo codes and simulation scenarios. In the report, all simulation conditions are provided for six different Monte Carlo simulation cases that involve common x-ray based imaging research areas. The results obtained for the six cases using four publicly available Monte Carlo software packages are included in tabular form. In addition to a full description of all simulation conditions and results, a discussion and comparison of results among the Monte Carlo packages and the lessons learned during the compilation of these results are included. This abridged version of the report includes only an introductory description of the six cases and a brief example of the results of one of the cases. This work provides an investigator the necessary information to benchmark his/her Monte Carlo simulation software against the reference cases included here before performing his/her own novel research. In addition, an investigator entering the field of Monte Carlo simulations can use these descriptions and results as a self-teaching tool to ensure that he/she is able to perform a specific simulation correctly. Finally, educators can assign these cases as learning projects as part of course objectives or training programs.

Fertility-sparing Surgery for Presumed Early-stage Invasive Cervical Cancer: A Survey of Practice in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Tzafetas, Menelaos; Mitra, Anita; Kalliala, Ilkka; Lever, Sarah; Fotopoulou, Christina; Farthing, Alan; Smith, John Richard; Martin-Hirsch, Pierre; Paraskevaidis, Evangelos; Kyrgiou, Maria

2018-06-01

To explore current practice in fertility-sparing surgery for cervical cancer in the UK. A web-based structured questionnaire was designed and circulated to all members of the British Gynaecological Cancer Society. From 111 recipients, a total of 49 responses were collected. The majority of centres treated between 20-29 cases of invasive cervical cancer surgically (21/49, 42.9%) and performed between 0-5 cases of radical trachelectomy annually (29/49, 59.2%). The vaginal approach was the one most commonly used and was offered by almost half of the centres (21/49, 42.9%); laparoscopic techniques were offered in 13 (13/49, 26.6%). The responses were divided as to whether these cases should have been referred to supra-regional centres (25/49, 51.0%). With the use of Human Papillomavirus vaccination leading to a projected decrease in the number of cervical cancer incidence, patients may need to be referred to supraregional centres in the future. Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Economic Security and National Security -- Interaction and Synthesis

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

phenomenon has not become the case in oil futures contracts; that is, progressively more oil is being traded in pri­ vate off-market arrangements...involving China, Iran, and Sudan, while Saudi Arabia is able to manipulate oil futures prices higher on rela­ tively light transactions volume, especially...and the ability of the United States to project hard or soft political power are daunting. Market technicians refer to this as the “ LUV problem

Summary Impacts of Modeled Provisions of the 2003 Conference Energy Bill

EIA Publications

2004-01-01

This service report was undertaken at the February 2, 2004, request of Senator John Sununu to perform an assessment of the Conference Energy Bill of 2003. This report summarizes the CEB provisions that can be analyzed using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) and have the potential to affect energy consumption, supply, and prices. The impacts are estimated by comparing the projections with the CEB provisions to the AEO2004 Reference Case.

Pathways Triple P and the Child Welfare System: A Promising Fit.

PubMed

Petra, Megan; Kohl, Patricia

2010-04-01

Parents referred to the child welfare system following maltreatment allegations are often ill-prepared to constructively address child disruptive behaviors, despite the high prevalence of these behaviors among this population. Evidence-based parent-mediated interventions are effective in improving parenting skills; however, they are rarely offered within the child welfare system. The purpose of this pilot project was to evaluate the fit and acceptability of one parent-mediated training program (Pathways Triple P) to case managers and parents within this system of care. We implemented Pathways Triple P and subsequently interviewed referring case managers and parents who had participated in the program. Case managers felt the program would work well within the existing child welfare system and would help them to better serve parents. They felt the program had potential to improve parenting skills and prevent future maltreatment. Parents appreciated the program's use of diverse methods, and the variety of parenting techniques taught. In keeping with case manager expectations, participants reported that their enhanced parenting skills and new ability to use non-physical discipline resulted in a better home life. We conclude that Pathways Triple P fits well within the child welfare system and is acceptable to both case managers and parents within this system.

The StratusLab cloud distribution: Use-cases and support for scientific applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Floros, E.

2012-04-01

The StratusLab project is integrating an open cloud software distribution that enables organizations to setup and provide their own private or public IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) computing clouds. StratusLab distribution capitalizes on popular infrastructure virtualization solutions like KVM, the OpenNebula virtual machine manager, Claudia service manager and SlipStream deployment platform, which are further enhanced and expanded with additional components developed within the project. The StratusLab distribution covers the core aspects of a cloud IaaS architecture, namely Computing (life-cycle management of virtual machines), Storage, Appliance management and Networking. The resulting software stack provides a packaged turn-key solution for deploying cloud computing services. The cloud computing infrastructures deployed using StratusLab can support a wide range of scientific and business use cases. Grid computing has been the primary use case pursued by the project and for this reason the initial priority has been the support for the deployment and operation of fully virtualized production-level grid sites; a goal that has already been achieved by operating such a site as part of EGI's (European Grid Initiative) pan-european grid infrastructure. In this area the project is currently working to provide non-trivial capabilities like elastic and autonomic management of grid site resources. Although grid computing has been the motivating paradigm, StratusLab's cloud distribution can support a wider range of use cases. Towards this direction, we have developed and currently provide support for setting up general purpose computing solutions like Hadoop, MPI and Torque clusters. For what concerns scientific applications the project is collaborating closely with the Bioinformatics community in order to prepare VM appliances and deploy optimized services for bioinformatics applications. In a similar manner additional scientific disciplines like Earth Science can take advantage of StratusLab cloud solutions. Interested users are welcomed to join StratusLab's user community by getting access to the reference cloud services deployed by the project and offered to the public.

Harnessing collaboration to build nursing research capacity: a research team journey.

PubMed

Priest, Helena; Segrott, Jeremy; Green, Barbara; Rout, Amelia

2007-08-01

This paper discusses a qualitative evaluation study, designed to explore nursing lecturers' research capability development through their engagement as co-researchers in a larger case study project (referred to as the 'main project'). It explores the justification for supporting research capacity development using this collaborative approach, the process and experience of undertaking collaborative research, and the effectiveness of this model of collaboration in developing new researchers. The paper also makes connections between the process of undertaking the research (designed to offer opportunities for inexperienced researchers to be involved) and the main project findings (which explored the ways in which academic schools develop research capacity). We first set the main project in its wider context and map key issues relating to research capacity development and collaboration in the literature, before outlining how we involved neophyte and 'midiphyte' researchers. The evaluative study, which is the focus of this paper, discusses the experiences of the neophyte researchers, and explores the synergies between the main project's key findings and the process of undertaking it. We conclude with some principles for using collaboration to build research capacity, visualised through a conceptual model. While this project was located within two universities in the UK, the development of research skills amongst nurses is likely to have broad international relevance. NB1 References to 'nursing', 'nursing research', and 'nursing education' are taken throughout to apply equally to midwifery, midwifery research, and midwifery education. NB2 For the purpose of this project, neophyte researchers are defined as staff needing formal training in research and involvement in others' research, and 'midiphyte' researchers as those with some training but needing support to develop research ideas.

The projection of a test genome onto a reference population and applications to humans and archaic hominins.

PubMed

Yang, Melinda A; Harris, Kelley; Slatkin, Montgomery

2014-12-01

We introduce a method for comparing a test genome with numerous genomes from a reference population. Sites in the test genome are given a weight, w, that depends on the allele frequency, x, in the reference population. The projection of the test genome onto the reference population is the average weight for each x, [Formula: see text]. The weight is assigned in such a way that, if the test genome is a random sample from the reference population, then [Formula: see text]. Using analytic theory, numerical analysis, and simulations, we show how the projection depends on the time of population splitting, the history of admixture, and changes in past population size. The projection is sensitive to small amounts of past admixture, the direction of admixture, and admixture from a population not sampled (a ghost population). We compute the projections of several human and two archaic genomes onto three reference populations from the 1000 Genomes project-Europeans, Han Chinese, and Yoruba-and discuss the consistency of our analysis with previously published results for European and Yoruba demographic history. Including higher amounts of admixture between Europeans and Yoruba soon after their separation and low amounts of admixture more recently can resolve discrepancies between the projections and demographic inferences from some previous studies. Copyright © 2014 by the Genetics Society of America.

ALL-PATHWAYS DOSE ANALYSIS FOR THE PORTSMOUTH ON-SITE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY

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

Smith, F.; Phifer, M.

A Portsmouth On-Site Waste Disposal Facility (OSWDF) All-Pathways analysis has been conducted that considers the radiological impacts to a resident farmer. It is assumed that the resident farmer utilizes a farm pond contaminated by the OSWDF to irrigate a garden and pasture and water livestock from which food for the resident farmer is obtained, and that the farmer utilizes groundwater from the Berea sandstone aquifer for domestic purposes (i.e. drinking water and showering). As described by FBP 2014b the Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) model (Schroeder et al. 1994) and the Surface Transport Over Multiple Phases (STOMP) model (Whitemore » and Oostrom 2000, 2006) were used to model the flow and transport from the OSWDF to the Points of Assessment (POAs) associated with the 680-ft elevation sandstone layer (680 SSL) and the Berea sandstone aquifer. From this modeling the activity concentrations radionuclides were projected over time at the POAs. The activity concentrations were utilized as input to a GoldSimTM (GTG 2010) dose model, described herein, in order to project the dose to a resident farmer over time. A base case and five sensitivity cases were analyzed. The sensitivity cases included an evaluation of the impacts of using a conservative inventory, an uncased well to the Berea sandstone aquifer, a low waste zone uranium distribution coefficient (Kd), different transfer factors, and reference person exposure parameters (i.e. at 95 percentile). The maximum base case dose within the 1,000 year assessment period was projected to be 1.5E-14 mrem/yr, and the maximum base case dose at any time less than 10,000 years was projected to be 0.002 mrem/yr. The maximum projected dose of any sensitivity case was approximately 2.6 mrem/yr associated with the use of an uncased well to the Berea sandstone aquifer. This sensitivity case is considered very unlikely because it assumes leakage from the location of greatest concentration in the 680 SSL in to the Berea sandstone aquiver over time and does not conform to standard private water well construction practices. The bottom-line is that all predicted doses from the base case and five sensitivity cases fall well below the DOE all-pathways 25 mrem/yr Performance Objective.« less

International Energy Agency Ocean Energy Systems Task 10 Wave Energy Converter Modeling Verification and Validation: Preprint

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

Wendt, Fabian F; Yu, Yi-Hsiang; Nielsen, Kim

This is the first joint reference paper for the Ocean Energy Systems (OES) Task 10 Wave Energy Converter modeling verification and validation group. The group is established under the OES Energy Technology Network program under the International Energy Agency. OES was founded in 2001 and Task 10 was proposed by Bob Thresher (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) in 2015 and approved by the OES Executive Committee EXCO in 2016. The kickoff workshop took place in September 2016, wherein the initial baseline task was defined. Experience from similar offshore wind validation/verification projects (OC3-OC5 conducted within the International Energy Agency Wind Task 30)more » [1], [2] showed that a simple test case would help the initial cooperation to present results in a comparable way. A heaving sphere was chosen as the first test case. The team of project participants simulated different numerical experiments, such as heave decay tests and regular and irregular wave cases. The simulation results are presented and discussed in this paper.« less

Quantum Weak Values and Logic: An Uneasy Couple

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svensson, Bengt E. Y.

2017-03-01

Quantum mechanical weak values of projection operators have been used to answer which-way questions, e. g. to trace which arms in a multiple Mach-Zehnder setup a particle may have traversed from a given initial to a prescribed final state. I show that this procedure might lead to logical inconsistencies in the sense that different methods used to answer composite questions, like "Has the particle traversed the way X or the way Y?", may result in different answers depending on which methods are used to find the answer. I illustrate the problem by considering some examples: the "quantum pigeonhole" framework of Aharonov et al., the three-box problem, and Hardy's paradox. To prepare the ground for my main conclusion on the incompatibility in certain cases of weak values and logic, I study the corresponding situation for strong/projective measurements. In this case, no logical inconsistencies occur provided one is always careful in specifying exactly to which ensemble or sample space one refers. My results cast doubts on the utility of quantum weak values in treating cases like the examples mentioned.

Building capacity in a health sciences library to support global health projects*

PubMed Central

Lackey, Mellanye; Swogger, Susan; McGraw, Kathleen A.

2014-01-01

This paper describes how a large, academic health sciences library built capacity for supporting global health at its university and discusses related outcomes. Lean budgets require prioritization and organizational strategy. A committee, with leadership responsibilities assigned to one librarian, guided strategic planning and the pursuit of collaborative, global health outreach activities. A website features case studies and videos of user stories to promote how library partnerships successfully contributed to global health projects. Collaborative partnerships were formed through outreach activities and from follow-up to reference questions. The committee and a librarian's dedicated time established the library's commitment to help the university carry out its ambitious global agenda. PMID:24860264

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

Kandt, A.

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar America Showcase program seeks to accelerate demand for solar technologies among key end use market sectors. As part of this activity the DOE provides Technical Assistance through its national laboratories to large-scale, high-visibility solar installation projects. The Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project (SSAIP) in the San Francisco Bay area was selected for a 2009 DOE Solar American Showcase award. SSAIP was formed through the efforts of the nonprofit Sequoia Foundation and includes three school districts: Berkeley, West Contra Costa, and Oakland Unified School Districts. This paper summarizes the technical assistance efforts that resultedmore » from this technical assistance support. It serves as a case study and reference document detailing the steps and processes that could be used to successfully identify, fund, and implement solar PV projects in school districts across the country.« less

Neurology objective structured clinical examination reliability using generalizability theory

PubMed Central

Park, Yoon Soo; Lukas, Rimas V.; Brorson, James R.

2015-01-01

Objectives: This study examines factors affecting reliability, or consistency of assessment scores, from an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in neurology through generalizability theory (G theory). Methods: Data include assessments from a multistation OSCE taken by 194 medical students at the completion of a neurology clerkship. Facets evaluated in this study include cases, domains, and items. Domains refer to areas of skill (or constructs) that the OSCE measures. G theory is used to estimate variance components associated with each facet, derive reliability, and project the number of cases required to obtain a reliable (consistent, precise) score. Results: Reliability using G theory is moderate (Φ coefficient = 0.61, G coefficient = 0.64). Performance is similar across cases but differs by the particular domain, such that the majority of variance is attributed to the domain. Projections in reliability estimates reveal that students need to participate in 3 OSCE cases in order to increase reliability beyond the 0.70 threshold. Conclusions: This novel use of G theory in evaluating an OSCE in neurology provides meaningful measurement characteristics of the assessment. Differing from prior work in other medical specialties, the cases students were randomly assigned did not influence their OSCE score; rather, scores varied in expected fashion by domain assessed. PMID:26432851

Neurology objective structured clinical examination reliability using generalizability theory.

PubMed

Blood, Angela D; Park, Yoon Soo; Lukas, Rimas V; Brorson, James R

2015-11-03

This study examines factors affecting reliability, or consistency of assessment scores, from an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in neurology through generalizability theory (G theory). Data include assessments from a multistation OSCE taken by 194 medical students at the completion of a neurology clerkship. Facets evaluated in this study include cases, domains, and items. Domains refer to areas of skill (or constructs) that the OSCE measures. G theory is used to estimate variance components associated with each facet, derive reliability, and project the number of cases required to obtain a reliable (consistent, precise) score. Reliability using G theory is moderate (Φ coefficient = 0.61, G coefficient = 0.64). Performance is similar across cases but differs by the particular domain, such that the majority of variance is attributed to the domain. Projections in reliability estimates reveal that students need to participate in 3 OSCE cases in order to increase reliability beyond the 0.70 threshold. This novel use of G theory in evaluating an OSCE in neurology provides meaningful measurement characteristics of the assessment. Differing from prior work in other medical specialties, the cases students were randomly assigned did not influence their OSCE score; rather, scores varied in expected fashion by domain assessed. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Utah Southwest Regional Geothermal Development Operations Research Project. Appendix 10 of regional operations research program for development of geothermal energy in the Southeast United States. Final technical report, June 1977--August 1978

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

Green, Stanley; Wagstaff, Lyle W.

1979-01-01

The Southwest Regional Geothermal Operations/Research project was initiated to investigate geothermal development in the five states within the region: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Although the region changed during the first year to include Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, the project objectives and procedures remained unchanged. The project was funded by the DOE/DGE and the Four Corners Regional Commission with participation by the New Mexico Energy Resources Board. The study was coordinated by the New Mexico Energy Institute at New Mexico State University, acting through a 'Core Team'. A 'state' team, assigned by the states,more » conducted the project within each state. This report details most of the findings of the first year's efforts by the Utah Operations/Research team. It is a conscientious effort to report the findings and activities of the Utah team, either explicitly or by reference. The results are neither comprehensive nor final, and should be regarded as preliminary efforts to much of what the Operations/Research project was envisioned to accomplish. In some cases the report is probably too detailed, in other cases too vague; hopefully, however, the material in the report, combined with the Appendices, will be able to serve as source material for others interested in geothermal development in Utah.« less

Smart Healthcare Agility Management - Tojisha Doctrine by Self-synchronization

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

impossibility at our age. One is the technology of space elevator and another is the space-walk tourism which the project has existed since the mid-20 th...In regards to the technologies of space-walk tourism , increase of patents related to the technologies of Pulse Detention Engine worldwide is some...medicine, and there is some reference cases such as "open agility" and "closed agility" is immersed in training specifically in sports science which

Where Did the Reference Desk Go? Transforming Staff and Space to Meet User Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunnett, Brian; Boehme, Andrea; Hardin, Steve; Arvin, Shelley; Evans, Karen; Huey, Paula; LaBella, Carey

2016-01-01

A sharp decline in the number of reference queries prompted the library administration at Indiana State University to begin a project to combine the circulation, reference, and IT desks to reduce staffing at a new consolidated service point. All faculty and staff in the reference/instruction and circulation units participated in the project. The…

A proposed coast-wide reference monitoring system for evaluating Wetland restoration trajectories in Louisiana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Steyer, G.D.; Sasser, C.E.; Visser, J.M.; Swenson, E.M.; Nyman, J.A.; Raynie, R.C.

2003-01-01

Wetland restoration efforts conducted in Louisiana under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act require monitoring the effectiveness of individual projects as well as monitoring the cumulative effects of all projects in restoring, creating, enhancing, and protecting the coastal landscape. The effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana has been limited because of difficulty in finding comparable reference sites. A multiple reference approach is proposed that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological condition for each stratum, with projects placed on a continuum of conditions found for that stratum. Trajectories in reference sites through time are then compared with project trajectories through time. Plant community zonation complicated selection of indicators, strata, and sample size. The approach proposed could serve as a model for evaluating wetland ecosystems.

A proposed coast-wide reference monitoring system for evaluating wetland restoration trajectories in Louisiana.

PubMed

Steyer, Gregory D; Sasser, Charles E; Visser, Jenneke M; Swenson, Erick M; Nyman, John A; Raynie, Richard C

2003-01-01

Wetland restoration efforts conducted in Louisiana under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act require monitoring the effectiveness of individual projects as well as monitoring the cumulative effects of all projects in restoring, creating, enhancing, and protecting the coastal landscape. The effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana has been limited because of difficulty in finding comparable reference sites. A multiple reference approach is proposed that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological condition for each stratum, with projects placed on a continuum of conditions found for that stratum. Trajectories in reference sites through time are then compared with project trajectories through time. Plant community zonation complicated selection of indicators, strata, and sample size. The approach proposed could serve as a model for evaluating wetland ecosystems.

A history of the INTERNIST-1 and Quick Medical Reference (QMR) computer-assisted diagnosis projects, with lessons learned.

PubMed

Miller, R A

2010-01-01

The INTERNIST-1/Quick Medical Reference (QMR) diagnostic decision support project spans four decades, from 1971-onward. This paper describes the history of the project and details insights gained of relevance to the general clinical and informatics communities.

24 CFR 241.251 - Cross-reference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... SUPPLEMENTARY FINANCING FOR INSURED PROJECT MORTGAGES Contract Rights and Obligations § 241.251 Cross-reference. (a) Projects with a HUD-insured or HUD-held mortgage. All of the provisions of subpart B, part 207 of... force and effect to multifamily project and group practice facility mortgages insured under section 241...

Pathology Imagebase-a reference image database for standardization of pathology.

PubMed

Egevad, Lars; Cheville, John; Evans, Andrew J; Hörnblad, Jonas; Kench, James G; Kristiansen, Glen; Leite, Katia R M; Magi-Galluzzi, Cristina; Pan, Chin-Chen; Samaratunga, Hemamali; Srigley, John R; True, Lawrence; Zhou, Ming; Clements, Mark; Delahunt, Brett

2017-11-01

Despite efforts to standardize histopathology practice through the development of guidelines, the interpretation of morphology is still hampered by subjectivity. We here describe Pathology Imagebase, a novel mechanism for establishing an international standard for the interpretation of pathology specimens. The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) established a reference image database through the input of experts in the field. Three panels were formed, one each for prostate, urinary bladder and renal pathology, consisting of 24 international experts. Each of the panel members uploaded microphotographs of cases into a non-public database. The remaining 23 experts were asked to vote from a multiple-choice menu. Prior to and while voting, panel members were unable to access the results of voting by the other experts. When a consensus level of at least two-thirds or 16 votes was reached, cases were automatically transferred to the main database. Consensus was reached in a total of 287 cases across five projects on the grading of prostate, bladder and renal cancer and the classification of renal tumours and flat lesions of the bladder. The full database is available to all ISUP members at www.isupweb.org. Non-members may access a selected number of cases. It is anticipated that the database will assist pathologists in calibrating their grading, and will also promote consistency in the diagnosis of difficult cases. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Global Transportation Energy Consumption Examination of Scenarios to 2040 using ITEDD

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

Energy consumption in the transportation sector is evolving. Over the next 25 years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook (IEO) 2016 Reference case projects that Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries’ transportation energy consumption will remain relatively flat. In contrast, non-OECD countries will grow to levels higher than in OECD countries by the early 2020s. This rapid non-OECD growth results in continued transportation energy consumption growth through at least 2040.

Genotype Imputation for Latinos Using the HapMap and 1000 Genomes Project Reference Panels.

PubMed

Gao, Xiaoyi; Haritunians, Talin; Marjoram, Paul; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta; Torres, Mina; Taylor, Kent D; Rotter, Jerome I; Gauderman, William J; Varma, Rohit

2012-01-01

Genotype imputation is a vital tool in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses of multiple GWAS results. Imputation enables researchers to increase genomic coverage and to pool data generated using different genotyping platforms. HapMap samples are often employed as the reference panel. More recently, the 1000 Genomes Project resource is becoming the primary source for reference panels. Multiple GWAS and meta-analyses are targeting Latinos, the most populous, and fastest growing minority group in the US. However, genotype imputation resources for Latinos are rather limited compared to individuals of European ancestry at present, largely because of the lack of good reference data. One choice of reference panel for Latinos is one derived from the population of Mexican individuals in Los Angeles contained in the HapMap Phase 3 project and the 1000 Genomes Project. However, a detailed evaluation of the quality of the imputed genotypes derived from the public reference panels has not yet been reported. Using simulation studies, the Illumina OmniExpress GWAS data from the Los Angles Latino Eye Study and the MACH software package, we evaluated the accuracy of genotype imputation in Latinos. Our results show that the 1000 Genomes Project AMR + CEU + YRI reference panel provides the highest imputation accuracy for Latinos, and that also including Asian samples in the panel can reduce imputation accuracy. We also provide the imputation accuracy for each autosomal chromosome using the 1000 Genomes Project panel for Latinos. Our results serve as a guide to future imputation based analysis in Latinos.

The Region 4 collaborative virtual reference project.

PubMed

Parker, Sandi K; Johnson, E Diane

2003-01-01

In May 2002, the Denison Memorial Library at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia, with funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine-Midcontinental Region, embarked on a collaborative, real-time reference project using the 24/7 Reference, Inc., software package. This paper describes how the project was conceived, and includes details on the service hours, staffing, training, marketing, lessons learned, and future plans for the service.

Apollo-Soyuz test project. Operations handbook command/service/docking modules (CSM 119/DM 1): Operational procedures reference issue

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

Operational and configuration checks for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project are presented. The checks include: backup crew prelaunch, prime crew prelaunch, boost and insertion, G and C reference data, G and N reference modes, rendezvous, navigation, Apollo-Soyuz operations, abort procedures, and emergency procedures.

Models of Reference Services in Australian Academic Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Liz

2008-01-01

This article reports on a project which was undertaken in 2006 to investigate the current modes and methods for delivering reference services in Australian academic libraries. The project included a literature review to assist in providing a definition of reference services as well as a snapshot of statistics showing staff and patron numbers from…

Supporting telemicroscopy and laboratory medicine activities. The Greek "TELE.INFO.MED.LAB" project.

PubMed

Miaoulis, G; Protopapa, E; Skourlas, C; Delides, G

1995-01-01

In this paper the authors present the basic results of the study for the "TELE.INFO.MED.LAB" project. This study is based on the local experience of the Metaxas Cancer Institute case and on international references. The possibilities rendered by current developments in telemedicine and particularly in telepathology accelerate and facilitate the communication of crucial medical data and creation of "second level" medical services overcoming the geographical particularities of the country. The availability of data transmission (signals, images, texts, etc.) enables the creation of a "uniform market" for various services. This system must take into account the financial realities, geographical aspects transportation problems and technological developments. Organization of this system, the choices of technical standards and the realization of a complete pilot project are described. For this system we also describe the functional and technical aspects, as well as software and hardware components for the different types of units.

FAST20XX: Achievements On European Suborbital Space Flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, A.; Steelant, J.; Adirim, H.; Lentsch, A.; Marini, M.; Pilz, N.

2011-05-01

In Europe, the EC co-funded project FAST20XX aims at exploring the borderline between aviation and space by investigating suborbital vehicles. The main focus is the identification and mastering of critical technologies for such vehicles rather than the vehicle development itself. Besides the objectives and overall layout of the project, the paper addresses also the progress made during the first period of the project. Two vehicle concepts are considered. A first one is a space vehicle launched from an airplane providing a low-energy ballistic flight experience using hybrid propulsion. The second is a vertically starting two-stage rocket space vehicle system concept taken as a basis to identify the conditions and constraints experienced during high- energy suborbital ultra-fast transport. The paper mainly discusses the two actual reference vehicles and the technical aspects of prerequisites for commercial operation including safety, human spaceflight, business cases, environmental and legal issues.

Conducting a FERC environmental assessment: a case study and recommendations from the Terror Lake Project

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

Olive, S.W.; Lamb, B.L.

This paper is an account of the process that evolved during acquisition of the license to operate the Terror Lake hydro-electric power project under the auspices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Terror River is located on Kodiak Island in Alaska. The river is within the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge; it supports excellent runs of several species of Pacific Salmon which are both commercially important and a prime source of nutrition for the Kodiak brown bear. This paper discusses both the fish and wildlife questions, but concentrates on instream uses and how protection of these uses was decided.more » In this focus the paper explains the FERC process, gives a history of the Terror Lake Project, and, ultimately, makes recommendations for improved management of controversies within the context of FERC licensing procedures. 64 references.« less

Evaluation of the SD Bioline Cholera Rapid Diagnostic Test During the 2016 Cholera Outbreak in Lusaka, Zambia.

PubMed

Mwaba, John; Ferreras, Eva; Chizema-Kawesa, Elizabeth; Mwimbe, Daniel; Tafirenyika, Francis; Rauzier, Jean; Blake, Alexandre; Rakesh, Ankur; Poncin, Marc; Stoitsova, Savina; Kwenda, Geoffrey; Azman, Andrew S; Chewe, Orbrie; Serafini, Micaela; Lukwesa-Musyani, Chileshe; Cohuet, Sandra; Quilici, Marie-Laure; Luquero, Francisco J; Page, Anne-Laure

2018-05-31

To assess the performance of the SD Bioline Cholera Ag O1/O139 rapid diagnostic test (RDT) compared to a reference standard combining culture and PCR for the diagnosis of cholera cases during an outbreak. RDT and bacterial culture were performed on site using fresh stools collected from cholera suspected cases, and from stools enriched in alkaline peptone water. Dried stool samples on filter paper were tested for V. cholerae by PCR in Lusaka (as part of a laboratory technology transfer project) and at a reference laboratory in Paris, France. A sample was considered positive for cholera by the reference standard if any of the culture or PCR tests was positive for V. cholerae O1 or O139. Among the 170 samples tested with SD Bioline and compared to the reference standard, the RDT showed a sensitivity of 90.9% (95% CI: 81.3-96.6) and specificity of 95.0% (95% CI: 89.1-98.4). After enrichment, the sensitivity was 95.5% (95% CI: 87.3-99.1) and specificity 100% (5% CI: 96.5-100). The observed sensitivity and specificity were within recommendations set by the Global Task Force for Cholera Control on the use of cholera RDT (sensitivity=90% : specificity=85%). Although the sample size was small, our findings suggest that the SD Bioline RDT could be used in the field to rapidly alert public health officials to the likely presence of cholera cases when an outbreak is suspected. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

[Unemployment and Addiction: The SUNRISE Project].

PubMed

Scherbaum, N; Specka, M; Kaspar, C; Mikoteit, T; Lieb, B

2018-01-01

In the SUNRISE-project, the unemployment benefit office refers long-term unemployed clients (25-49 years old) to medical and psychological specialists of an addiction clinic, if substance-related problems are suspected as an obstacle for job placement. The present study aims at characterizing these clients with respect to educational qualifications, vocational training, diagnosed addictive disorders, and other mental disorders. Of special interest is the temporal sequence of unemployment and addictive disorders. Officials referred clients to medical examination if substance abuse was suspected. The examination was based on Europ-ASI, diagnosis of mental disorders based on SCID-I and SCID-II. In 87 out of the first 100 examined persons, an addictive disorder was diagnosed, most frequently alcohol-related disorders, and often multiple addictive disorders. These 87 clients were on average 40 years old (SD 8.5), and mostly male (73 out of 87 clients). About one-third had very low school qualification, and 55.2% had not completed vocational training. An additional psychiatric diagnosis was made in 51.7%. Addictive disorders had commenced during adolescence or early adulthood in most cases. The longest duration of continuous employment was 3 years (median). In only a few cases (7.4%), the current period of unemployment had started before regular substance use. Many long-term unemployed clients examined here showed deficits in schooling and vocational training, early onset of regular substance use, and additional mental disorders. In most cases, the addictive disorder did not emerge as a consequence of unemployment, but had existed before. Programs combining the efforts of unemployment benefit offices and the healthcare system are needed for these clients to help them gain access to the regular job market. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Command generator tracker based direct model reference adaptive control of a PUMA 560 manipulator. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swift, David C.

1992-01-01

This project dealt with the application of a Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control algorithm to the control of a PUMA 560 Robotic Manipulator. This chapter will present some motivation for using Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control, followed by a brief historical review, the project goals, and a summary of the subsequent chapters.

A Survey of New Zealand Academic Reference Librarians: Current and Future Skills and Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chawner, Brenda; Oliver, Gillian

2013-01-01

A survey of New Zealand academic subject/reference librarians was conducted in mid-2011 to identify the most highly valued knowledge, skills and competencies of reference librarians working in libraries in the tertiary sector. The project was part of an international collaborative project involving 13 countries. The results from New Zealand show…

SRM 2460/2461 Standard Bullets and Casings Project

PubMed Central

Song, J.; Whitenton, E.; Kelley, D.; Clary, R.; Ma, L.; Ballou, S.; Ols, M.

2004-01-01

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2460/2461 standard bullets and casings project will provide support to firearms examiners and to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) in the United States. The SRM bullet is designed as both a virtual and a physical bullet profile signature standard. The virtual standard is a set of six digitized bullet profile signatures originally traced from six master bullets fired at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). By using the virtual signature standard to control the tool path on a numerically controlled diamond turning machine, 40 SRM bullets were produced. A profile signature measurement system was established for the SRM bullets. The profile signature differences are quantified by the maximum of the cross correlation function and by the signature difference between pairs of compared profile signatures measured on different SRM bullets. Initial measurement results showed high reproducibility for both the measurement system and production process of the SRM bullets. A traceability scheme has been proposed to establish the measurement traceability for nationwide bullet signature measurements to NIST, ATF and FBI. Prototype SRM casings have also been developed. PMID:27366632

Operations analysis for lunar surface construction: Results of two office of exploration case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Lisa Y.; Boles, Walter; Smith, Alvin

1991-08-01

In an environment of intense competition for Federal funding, the U.S. space research community is responsible for developing a feasible, cost-effective approach to establishing a surface base on the moon to fulfill long-term Government objectives. This report presents the results of a construction operations analysis of two lunar scenarios provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Activities necessary to install the lunar base surface elements are defined and scheduled, based on the productivities and availability of the base resources allocated to the projects depicted in each scenario. The only construction project in which the required project milestones were not completed within the nominal timeframe was the initial startup phase of NASA's FY89 Lunar Evolution Case Study (LECS), primarily because this scenario did not include any Earth-based telerobotic site preparation before the arrival of the first crew. The other scenario analyzed. Reference Mission A from NASA's 90-Day Study of the Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars, did use telerobotic site preparation before the manned phase of the base construction. Details of the analysis for LECS are provided, including spreadsheets indicating quantities of work and Gantt charts depicting the general schedule for the work. This level of detail is not presented for the scenario based on the 90-Day Study because many of the projects include the same (or similar) surface elements and facilities.

Automated distress surveys : analysis of network-level data.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-04-01

TxDOT Project 0-6663, Phase 1: Rutting : Applus, Dynatest, Fugro, Pathway and TxDOT : Reference: detailed project level (24 550-ft sections) : Phase 2: Distresses : Dynatest, Fugro, WayLink-OSU and TxDOT : Reference: detailed proj...

Improving referral to psychological support unit at Saudi Red Crescent Authority in Riyadh Region.

PubMed

Alzahrani, Ahmad Yousif; Mahmod, Sabri Abd Allah; Bakhamis, Thamer Mohammad; Al-Surimi, Khaled

2017-01-01

The Psychological Support Unit (PSU) performance in Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) showed that only a small number of case referred seeking psychological advice and management from PSU among all SRCA employees. However, research shows that between 28% and 52% of emergency medical services (EMS) providers usually seek psychological help in various EMS cultures, where 86% of them usually suffer from critical stress. Thus, we decided to design a quality improvement project that aims to improve the referral process by increasing cases referred to the PSU at SRCA in Riyadh Region by 75% in 2 months. A multidisciplinary team has been formed to analyse the problem using quality tools including, brainstorming, fishbone diagram and flow chart of the PSU processes. Several possible reasons have been identified, such as lack of awareness among the SRCA's employees about PSU and its services, and the concern about privacy and confidentiality during psychological consultations in the PSU, in addition to the long referring process to PSU. The team decided to test the following change ideas: increasing the awareness of employees about the PSU services, improving the privacy and confidentiality during the consultation using electronic channels, and finally re-engineering the referral process to make it lean and remove all the unnecessary steps. Several improvement interventions have been tested sequentially in three consecutive Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles on a weekly basis. The project findings demonstrated that the first change idea was successful but not reaching the target while the second change had led to huge impact exceeding our target but with short effect. On the other hand, although the third change idea of re-engineering the PSU referral process had led to negative result initially, over the following weeks of measurement the results turned to be positive and meeting our expectations. We concluded that re-engineering referral process is most effective improvement intervention among other change ideas in term of magnitude and sustainability of the effect on increasing the number of referral cases to the PSU. We recommend conducting further testing and measuring of these change ideas in other PSU across the SRCA to understand the diffident context in other regions of SRCA.

Implementing Value-Based Payment Reform: A Conceptual Framework and Case Examples.

PubMed

Conrad, Douglas A; Vaughn, Matthew; Grembowski, David; Marcus-Smith, Miriam

2016-08-01

This article develops a conceptual framework for implementation of value-based payment (VBP) reform and then draws on that framework to systematically examine six distinct multi-stakeholder coalition VBP initiatives in three different regions of the United States. The VBP initiatives deploy the following payment models: reference pricing, "shadow" primary care capitation, bundled payment, pay for performance, shared savings within accountable care organizations, and global payment. The conceptual framework synthesizes prior models of VBP implementation. It describes how context, project objectives, payment and care delivery strategies, and the barriers and facilitators to translating strategy into implementation affect VBP implementation and value for patients. We next apply the framework to six case examples of implementation, and conclude by discussing the implications of the case examples and the conceptual framework for future practice and research. © The Author(s) 2015.

7 CFR 1.626 - What regulations apply to a case referred for a hearing?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... referred for a hearing? (a) If NFS refers the case to OALJ, these regulations will continue to apply to the hearing process. (b) If NFS refers the case to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearing and Appeals, the regulations at 43 CFR 45.1 et seq. will apply from that point. (c) If NFS refers the case to...

7 CFR 1.626 - What regulations apply to a case referred for a hearing?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... referred for a hearing? (a) If NFS refers the case to OALJ, these regulations will continue to apply to the hearing process. (b) If NFS refers the case to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearing and Appeals, the regulations at 43 CFR 45.1 et seq. will apply from that point. (c) If NFS refers the case to...

7 CFR 1.626 - What regulations apply to a case referred for a hearing?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... referred for a hearing? (a) If NFS refers the case to OALJ, these regulations will continue to apply to the hearing process. (b) If NFS refers the case to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearing and Appeals, the regulations at 43 CFR 45.1 et seq. will apply from that point. (c) If NFS refers the case to...

7 CFR 1.626 - What regulations apply to a case referred for a hearing?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... referred for a hearing? (a) If NFS refers the case to OALJ, these regulations will continue to apply to the hearing process. (b) If NFS refers the case to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearing and Appeals, the regulations at 43 CFR 45.1 et seq. will apply from that point. (c) If NFS refers the case to...

7 CFR 1.626 - What regulations apply to a case referred for a hearing?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... referred for a hearing? (a) If NFS refers the case to OALJ, these regulations will continue to apply to the hearing process. (b) If NFS refers the case to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearing and Appeals, the regulations at 43 CFR 45.1 et seq. will apply from that point. (c) If NFS refers the case to...

Evaluation of Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Projects program: a reference research reactor. Project summary report

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

Baumann, B.L.; Miller, R.L.

1983-10-01

This document presents, in summary form, generic conceptual information relevant to the decommissioning of a reference research reactor (RRR). All of the data presented were extracted from NUREG/CR-1756 and arranged in a form that will provide a basis for future comparison studies for the Evaluation of Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Projects (ENFDP) program.

Chapter 10 - Using simulation modeling to assess historical reference conditions for vegetation and fire regimes for the LANDFIRE Prototype Project

Treesearch

Sarah Pratt; Lisa Holsinger; Robert E. Keane

2006-01-01

A critical component of the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Prototype Project, or LANDFIRE Prototype Project, was the development of a nationally consistent method for estimating historical reference conditions for vegetation composition and structure and wildland fire regimes. These estimates of past vegetation composition and condition are used...

Process-based reference conditions: An alternative approach for managed river systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grams, P.; Melis, T.; Wright, S.; Schmidt, J.; Topping, D.

2008-12-01

Physical reference conditions, whether based on historic information or the condition of nearby less impaired systems, provide necessary information that contributes to an assessment of stream condition and the nature of channel transformation. In many cases, however, the utility of this traditional 'reference' approach may end at the assessment stage and not be applicable to establishing and implementing restoration goals. Ongoing impacts such as continued existence of an upstream dam or the persistence of invasive vegetation may render restoration based on a physical reference infeasible. In these circumstances, an alternative approach is to identify and describe reference processes in place of physical reference conditions. This is the case for the Colorado River where large dams, a commitment to hydropower production, and legal mandates for regional distribution and off- channel consumption of water greatly reduce the relevance of historical conditions in setting goals for rehabilitation. In this setting, two strategies are available for setting reference conditions. One is maintenance of post-dam sediment mass balance, which attempts to ensure that the channel does not continue to degrade or aggrade and that riverine habitats do not continue to diverge from their historical condition. Post- dam sediment mass balance can be quantified at a reconnaissance or project scale. The second strategy is to define key processes that maintain the native ecosystem. These processes may, or may not, be consistent with maintenance of sediment mass balance, but they may be key to rejuvenation of spawning and rearing habitats, maintenance of historical ranges of temperature and turbidity, maintenance of a sustainable food base for the native aquatic community, or maintaining other riverine resources. Both strategies require careful monitoring of processes (e.g. sediment flux), which may add considerably to the cost and complexity of a monitoring program. An additional challenge in adopting the second strategy is that it is difficult to define when a process is adequately restored, since many ecosystem processes collectively limit recovery of populations of native communities.

A Practical Approach to Governance and Optimization of Structured Data Elements.

PubMed

Collins, Sarah A; Gesner, Emily; Morgan, Steven; Mar, Perry; Maviglia, Saverio; Colburn, Doreen; Tierney, Diana; Rocha, Roberto

2015-01-01

Definition and configuration of clinical content in an enterprise-wide electronic health record (EHR) implementation is highly complex. Sharing of data definitions across applications within an EHR implementation project may be constrained by practical limitations, including time, tools, and expertise. However, maintaining rigor in an approach to data governance is important for sustainability and consistency. With this understanding, we have defined a practical approach for governance of structured data elements to optimize data definitions given limited resources. This approach includes a 10 step process: 1) identification of clinical topics, 2) creation of draft reference models for clinical topics, 3) scoring of downstream data needs for clinical topics, 4) prioritization of clinical topics, 5) validation of reference models for clinical topics, and 6) calculation of gap analyses of EHR compared against reference model, 7) communication of validated reference models across project members, 8) requested revisions to EHR based on gap analysis, 9) evaluation of usage of reference models across project, and 10) Monitoring for new evidence requiring revisions to reference model.

Carroll County Competency Based Teacher Certification Project. Librarian's Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coker, Homer; Coker, Joan G.

Reference materials, slides, cassettes, books, pamphlets, materials from other states, and articles used in the Carroll County, Georgia, Competency Based Teacher Certification Project, 1973-74, are listed. Brief annotations are included for both the reference materials and articles. (MJM)

Use of the ecosystem services concept in landscape management in the Netherlands.

PubMed

van Wensem, Joke

2013-04-01

Increasing reference to the ecosystem services (ES) concept is made in publications on the need to use natural resources sustainably, to protect and enhance biodiversity, and to alleviate poverty in developing countries. To examine the significance of the concept in densely populated industrialized countries, this case study investigates its use in several sustainable landscape management projects in the Netherlands. Guidance by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project (TEEB) for local and regional policy and management serves as a reference. The projects studied show that the ES concept is seen as a tool for enhancing biodiversity, creating more sustainable regional development plans, supporting better spatial-planning decisions on soil sealing, and, most importantly, for getting the involvement of much broader stakeholder groups--not just to make better decisions, but also to attract more funding for the plans. Not only does the Netherlands have a high demand for various ecosystem services and a desire for multifunctional land use, it also has a long tradition of consensus-seeking. As a result, "Dutch practice" is complex and involves many different stakeholders. Because of increasing recognition of the role ecosystem services play in enhancing the visibility of natural resources in decision making, the ES concept seems to be gaining a foothold. However, the number of projects is still limited, and neither the use of the methods nor the results are monitored. So far, this has made it impossible to say whether the approach leads to more sustainable decisions-in other words, to the better protection and management of natural resources. Copyright © 2013 SETAC.

[The role of ecological studies to evaluate the impact of an enviromental factor on health: a case study on the results of the SENTIERI project].

PubMed

Donato, Francesco; Raffetti, Elena

2014-01-01

A case-study regarding the results of the SENTIERI project on the Brescia-Caffaro NPCS (National Priority Contaminated Site) is reported. This area has been polluted mainly by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been classified recently by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as human carcinogens (group 1), with sufficient evidence for melanoma and limited for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and breast cancer. The 3rd report of the SENTIERI project (2014) has shown an excess of cancer incidence with respect to the expected, on the basis of the incidence rates from the pool of Centre-North Italy cancer registries, but a mortality similar to that expected according to the regional rates, for melanoma, NHL and breast cancer. Furthermore, a higher than expected incidence has been found for various cancers which are not associated a priori with PCB exposure. The Brescia Local Health Authority has also carried out an analysis of cancer incidence, which has shown an incidence in the area similar to other ones in North Italy and a cluster of cases centered on Brescia town for melanoma only. A possible explanation of these discrepancies is the use of different reference populations for the comparisons (Region and pool of Centre-North Italy cancer registries), besides possible confounding bias. We discuss here the most critical aspects of modern ecological studies, their potential information content and interpretation limits.

Creation of a Multiresolution and Multiaccuracy Dtm: Problems and Solutions for Heli-Dem Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biagi, L.; Carcano, L.; Lucchese, A.; Negretti, M.

2013-01-01

The work is part of "HELI-DEM" (HELvetia-Italy Digital Elevation Model) project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund within the Italy-Switzerland cooperation program. The aim of the project is the creation of a unique DTM for the alpine and subalpine area between Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy) and Switzerland (Ticino and Grisons Cantons); at present, different DTMs, that are in different reference frames and have been obtained with different technologies, accuracies, and resolutions, have been acquired. The final DTM should be correctly georeferenced and produced validating and integrating the data that are available for the project. DTMs are fundamental in hydrogeological studies, especially in alpine areas where hydrogeological risks may exist. Moreover, when an event, like for example a landslide, happens at the border between countries, a unique and integrated DTM which covers the interest area is useful to analyze the scenario. In this sense, HELI-DEM project is helpful. To perform analyses along the borders between countries, transnational geographic information is needed: a transnational DTM can be obtained by merging regional low resolution DTMs. Moreover high resolution local DTMs should be used where they are available. To be merged, low and high resolution DTMs should be in the same three dimensional reference frame, should not present biases and should be consistent in the overlapping areas. Cross-validation between the different DTMs is therefore needed. Two different problems should be solved: the merging of regional, partly overlapping low and medium resolution DTMs into a unique low/medium resolution DTM and the merging with other local high resolution/high accuracy height data. This paper discusses the preliminary processing of the data for the fusion of low and high resolution DTMs in a study-case area within the Lombardy region: Valtellina valley. In this region the Lombardy regional low resolution DTM is available, with a horizontal resolution of 20 meters; in addition a LiDAR DTM with a horizontal resolution of 1 meter, which covers only the main hydrographic basins, is also available. The two DTMs have been transformed into the same reference frame. The cross-validation of the two datasets has been performed comparing the low resolution DTM with the local high resolution DTM. Then, where significant differences are present, GPS survey have been used as external validation. The results are presented. Moreover, a possible strategy for the future fusion of the data, is shortly summarized at the end of the paper.

Projections of Rainfall and Temperature from CMIP5 Models over BIMSTEC Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pattnayak, K. C.; Kar, S. C.; Ragi, A. R.

2014-12-01

Rainfall and surface temperature are the most important climatic variables in the context of climate change. Thus, these variables simulated from fifth phase of the Climate Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) models have been compared against Climatic Research Unit (CRU) observed data and projected for the twenty first century under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenarios. Results for the seven countries under Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand have been examined. Six CMIP5 models namely GFDL-CM3, GFDL-ESM2M, GFDL-ESM2G, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC and HadGEM2-ES have been chosen for this study. The study period has been considered is from 1861 to 2100. From this period, initial 145 years i.e. 1861 to 2005 is reference or historical period and the later 95 years i.e. 2005 to 2100 is projected period. The climate change in the projected period has been examined with respect to the reference period. In order to validate the models, the mean annual rainfall and temperature has been compared with CRU over the reference period 1901 to 2005. Comparison reveals that most of the models are able to capture the spatial distribution of rainfall and temperature over most of the regions of BIMSTEC countries. Therefore these model data can be used to study the future changes in the 21st Century. Four out six models shows that the rainfall over Central and North India, Thailand and eastern part of Myanmar shows decreasing trend and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka shows an increasing trend in both RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. In case of temperature, all of the models show an increasing trend over all the BIMSTEC countries in both scenarios, however, the rate of increase is relatively less over Sri Lanka than the other countries. Annual cycles of rainfall and temperature over Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand reveals that the magnitudes are more in 2070 to 2100 of RCP8.5. Inter-model comparison show that there are large more uncertainties within the CMIP5 model projections.

Projections of Rainfall and Surface Temperature from CMIP5 Models under RCP4.5 and 8.5 over BIMSTEC Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charan Pattnayak, Kanhu; Kar, Sarat Chandra; Kumari Pattnayak, Rashmita

2015-04-01

Rainfall and surface temperature are the most important climatic variables in the context of climate change. Thus, these variables simulated from fifth phase of the Climate Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) models have been compared against Climatic Research Unit (CRU) observed data and projected for the twenty first century under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenarios. Results for the seven countries under Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand have been examined. Six CMIP5 models namely GFDL-CM3, GFDL-ESM2M, GFDL-ESM2G, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC and HadGEM2-ES have been chosen for this study. The study period has been considered is from 1861 to 2100. From this period, initial 145 years i.e. 1861 to 2005 is reference or historical period and the later 95 years i.e. 2005 to 2100 is projected period. The climate change in the projected period has been examined with respect to the reference period. In order to validate the models, the mean annual rainfall and temperature has been compared with CRU over the reference period 1901 to 2005. Comparison reveals that most of the models are able to capture the spatial distribution of rainfall and temperature over most of the regions of BIMSTEC countries. Therefore these model data can be used to study the future changes in the 21st Century. Four out six models shows that the rainfall over Central and North India, Thailand and eastern part of Myanmar shows decreasing trend and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka shows an increasing trend in both RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. In case of temperature, all of the models show an increasing trend over all the BIMSTEC countries in both scenarios, however, the rate of increase is relatively less over Sri Lanka than the other countries. Annual cycles of rainfall and temperature over Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand reveals that the magnitudes are more in 2070 to 2100 of RCP8.5. Inter-model comparison show that there are large more uncertainties within the CMIP5 model projections.

Integrated response toward HIV: a health promotion case study from China.

PubMed

Jiang, Zhen; Wang, Debin; Yang, Sen; Duan, Mingyue; Bu, Pengbin; Green, Andrew; Zhang, Xuejun

2011-06-01

Integrated HIV response refers to a formalized, collaborative process among organizations in communities with HIV at-risk populations. It is a both comprehensive and flexible scheme, which may include community-based environment promotion, skill coalition, fund linkage, human resource collaboration and service system jointly for both HIV prevention and control. It enables decisions and actions responds over time. In 1997, the Chinese government developed a 10-year HIV project supported by World Bank Loan (H9-HIV/AIDS/STIs). It was the first integrated STI/HIV intervention project in China and provides a unique opportunity to explore the long-term comprehensive STI/HIV intervention in a low-middle income country setting. Significant outcomes were identified as development and promotion of the national strategic plan and its ongoing implementation; positive knowledge, behavioral and STI/HIV prevalence rate change; and valuable experiences for managing integrated HIV/STI intervention projects. Essential factors for the success of the project and the key tasks for the next step were identified and included well-designed intervention in rural and low economic regions, unified program evaluation framework and real-time information collection and assessment.

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing Management Using BIM Technology in Construction

PubMed Central

Ho, Shih-Ping; Tserng, Hui-Ping

2013-01-01

Construction knowledge can be communicated and reused among project managers and jobsite engineers to alleviate problems on a construction jobsite and reduce the time and cost of solving problems related to constructability. This paper proposes a new methodology for the sharing of construction knowledge by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. The main characteristics of BIM include illustrating 3D CAD-based presentations and keeping information in a digital format and facilitation of easy updating and transfer of information in the BIM environment. Using the BIM technology, project managers and engineers can gain knowledge related to BIM and obtain feedback provided by jobsite engineers for future reference. This study addresses the application of knowledge sharing management using BIM technology and proposes a BIM-based Knowledge Sharing Management (BIMKSM) system for project managers and engineers. The BIMKSM system is then applied in a selected case study of a construction project in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing knowledge in the BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the BIMKSM system can be used as a visual BIM-based knowledge sharing management platform by utilizing the BIM technology. PMID:24723790

Enhancing knowledge sharing management using BIM technology in construction.

PubMed

Ho, Shih-Ping; Tserng, Hui-Ping; Jan, Shu-Hui

2013-01-01

Construction knowledge can be communicated and reused among project managers and jobsite engineers to alleviate problems on a construction jobsite and reduce the time and cost of solving problems related to constructability. This paper proposes a new methodology for the sharing of construction knowledge by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. The main characteristics of BIM include illustrating 3D CAD-based presentations and keeping information in a digital format and facilitation of easy updating and transfer of information in the BIM environment. Using the BIM technology, project managers and engineers can gain knowledge related to BIM and obtain feedback provided by jobsite engineers for future reference. This study addresses the application of knowledge sharing management using BIM technology and proposes a BIM-based Knowledge Sharing Management (BIMKSM) system for project managers and engineers. The BIMKSM system is then applied in a selected case study of a construction project in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing knowledge in the BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the BIMKSM system can be used as a visual BIM-based knowledge sharing management platform by utilizing the BIM technology.

Conceptual frameworks, geomorphic interpretation and storytelling: Tales from Lockyer Creek , Australia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croke, Jacky; Phillips, Jonathan; Van Dyke, Chris

2017-04-01

Earth science knowledge and insight begins with case studies, and theories should be derived from and ultimately evaluated against empirical, case study evidence. However, isolated case studies not linked conceptually to other locations or embedded within a broader framework are often of limited use beyond the study site. Geomorphic evidence and phenomena may be interpreted using a variety of conceptual frameworks (theories, models, laws, methodologies, etc.). The evidence may be, or at least appear to be, consistent with multiple frameworks, even when those constructs are derived from entirely different assumptions or frames of reference. Thus different interpretations and stories can be derived from the same evidence. Our purpose here is to illustrate this phenomenon via a case study from Lockyer Creek, southeast Queensland, Australia. Lockyer Creek is fast becoming one of Australia's most studied catchments with a wealth of data emerging following two extreme flood events in 2011 and 2013. Whilst the initial objective of the Big Flood project was to provide information on the frequency and magnitude of these extreme events, in essence the project revealed a rich 'story' of river evolution and adjustment which at first glance did not appear to 'fit' many established conceptual frameworks and theories. This presentation tells the tale of Lockyer Creek as it relates to selected key conceptual frameworks and importantly how this information can then be used for more effective catchment and flood management.

The Many Dimensions of Program Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dean, Edwin B.

1992-01-01

For the purposes of this paper, program refers to a collection of activities or projects which must be performed according to a plan or schedule. The Space Exploration Initiative within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an example. Dimensionality refers to both the various perspectives of a program and to the components within that perspective. It is, thus, appropriate to think of dimensions of dimensionality. For example, one dimension or perspective of a program is the projects which perform the program. Within the project dimension, the individual projects are the components of that dimensionality. The number of projects defines the spatial dimensionality of the project dimension. Thus, each perspective or dimension has a dimensionality of its own. The structure and associated values of all the various perspectives of a program define the program. A project refers to the collection of activities required to conceive, sell, design, develop, evaluate, produce, operate, support, evolve, and retire a given system. A project thus effects the life cycle of given system. A project is, thus, the system to conceive, sell, design, develop, evaluate, produce, operate, support, evolve, and retire a system. A program, thus, effects the life cycle of the collection of projects required to effect the collection of systems required to implement the program.

A real-time photogrammetric algorithm for sensor and synthetic image fusion with application to aviation combined vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebedev, M. A.; Stepaniants, D. G.; Komarov, D. V.; Vygolov, O. V.; Vizilter, Yu. V.; Zheltov, S. Yu.

2014-08-01

The paper addresses a promising visualization concept related to combination of sensor and synthetic images in order to enhance situation awareness of a pilot during an aircraft landing. A real-time algorithm for a fusion of a sensor image, acquired by an onboard camera, and a synthetic 3D image of the external view, generated in an onboard computer, is proposed. The pixel correspondence between the sensor and the synthetic images is obtained by an exterior orientation of a "virtual" camera using runway points as a geospatial reference. The runway points are detected by the Projective Hough Transform, which idea is to project the edge map onto a horizontal plane in the object space (the runway plane) and then to calculate intensity projections of edge pixels on different directions of intensity gradient. The performed experiments on simulated images show that on a base glide path the algorithm provides image fusion with pixel accuracy, even in the case of significant navigation errors.

["When the ad is good, the product is sold." The MonitorACAO Project and drug advertising in Brazil].

PubMed

Soares, Jussara Calmon Reis de Souza

2008-04-01

This paper presents an analysis on drug advertising in Brazil, based on the final report of the MonitorACAO Project, by the group from the Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. Due to a partnership between the university and the National Agency for Health Surveillance (ANVISA), drug advertisements were monitored and analyzed for one year, according to the methodology defined by the Agency. The samples were collected in medical practices and hospitals, drugstores, pharmacies and in scientific magazines. TV and radio programs were monitored, in the case of OTC drugs. 159 advertisements referring to pharmaceuticals were sent to ANVISA,from a total of 263 irregular ads analyzed between October 2004 and August 2005. The main problems found were the poor quality of drug information to health professionals, as well as misleading drug use to lay population. Based on the results of this project and on other studies, the banning of drug advertising in Brazil is proposed.

Chemical Looping Gasification for Hydrogen Enhanced Syngas Production with In-Situ CO 2 Capture

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

Kathe, Mandar; Xu, Dikai; Hsieh, Tien-Lin

2014-12-31

This document is the final report for the project titled “Chemical Looping Gasification for Hydrogen Enhanced Syngas Production with In-Situ CO 2 Capture” under award number FE0012136 for the performance period 10/01/2013 to 12/31/2014.This project investigates the novel Ohio State chemical looping gasification technology for high efficiency, cost efficiency coal gasification for IGCC and methanol production application. The project developed an optimized oxygen carrier composition, demonstrated the feasibility of the concept and completed cold-flow model studies. WorleyParsons completed a techno-economic analysis which showed that for a coal only feed with carbon capture, the OSU CLG technology reduced the methanol requiredmore » selling price by 21%, lowered the capital costs by 28%, increased coal consumption efficiency by 14%. Further, using the Ohio State Chemical Looping Gasification technology resulted in a methanol required selling price which was lower than the reference non-capture case.« less

Innovating in the teaching of Chemical Equilibrium: Taking effective advantage of Information and Communication Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fonseca, Susana Cristina Morais da

Chemical Equilibrium (CE) is a good example of the specific nature of chemistry. The understanding of this theme requires the conceptualization of macroscopic events, as well as explanations of sub microscopic nature, application of symbolic language and mathematics. CE is commonly identified as a topic suitable for the pedagogical use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). However, the growth in the roll of digital resources for the teaching of CE, that took place in the last decades, was not accompanied by a decrease in the signalling of students' difficulties and misconceptions in the subject. This fact, points out the relevance of clarifying the circumstances under which digital resources turn out to be useful in the teaching of CE and develop educative modules that take into account the findings and recommendations from the literature. This project aims to bring a contribution to take advantage form ICT potential in the teaching of CE. The objectives underlying the main purpose of the project were defined according to literature review, which crosses three fundamental dimensions (scientific, pedagogical and technological). The project also benefited from the previous experience of the group and the collaboration with an European project (CROSSNET). The level of abstraction necessary for the understanding of the scientific model is pointed out as the major source of difficulties in the learning of CE, while also referred as a privileged target for the intervention of ICT. In this context, we introduce the expression "facilitating abstraction" to summarize the idea of supporting students' abstract thinking process during the learning of formal concepts. This idea has gained importance throughout the project leading to the development of a pedagogical approach to facilitate abstraction in the learning of CE. Although based on the use of ICT, the main purpose wasn't to introduce new digital resources in the saturated field of CE. Instead, the innovation resides in applying those resources in a properly planned approach, centred in promoting 'facilitated abstraction. The research model was designed in partnership with the CROSSNET project, consisting of the conduction of a case study for gathering information on the operation of the approach in classroom context (the major advantages, difficulties associated') Based on the results, a list of recommendations was established, as well as indicators for the upgrade of the resources used. Some hypotheses for further studies were also raised. The ultimate product of the project is the pedagogical approach that we refer to as 'FACE - Facilitating Abstraction in Chemical Equilibrium (learning), available online in Portuguese/English, uploaded on educational platforms based on Web 2.0. Keywords: Chemical Equilibrium, facilitated abstraction, digital resources, learning difficulties/ misconceptions, educational modules, case study, CROSSNET project. None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None

SOME POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF PROJECT OUTCOMES RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

DTIC Science & Technology

Section I, refers to the possibility of using the theory and methodology of Project Outcomes to problems of strategic information. It is felt that...purposes of assessing present and future organizational effectiveness . Section IV, refers to the applications that our study may have for problems of

Reference materials and representative test materials to develop nanoparticle characterization methods: the NanoChOp project case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roebben, Gert; Kestens, Vikram; Varga, Zoltan; Charoud-Got, Jean; Ramaye, Yannic; Gollwitzer, Christian; Bartczak, Dorota; Geißler, Daniel; Noble, James; Mazoua, Stéphane; Meeus, Nele; Corbisier, Philippe; Palmai, Marcell; Mihály, Judith; Krumrey, Michael; Davies, Julie; Resch-Genger, Ute; Kumarswami, Neelam; Minelli, Caterina; Sikora, Aneta; Goenaga-Infante, Heidi

2015-10-01

This paper describes the production and characteristics of the nanoparticle test materials prepared for common use in the collaborative research project NanoChOp (Chemical and optical characterisation of nanomaterials in biological systems), in casu suspensions of silica nanoparticles and CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots. This paper is the first to illustrate how to assess whether nanoparticle test materials meet the requirements of a 'reference material' (ISO Guide 30:2015) or rather those of the recently defined category of 'representative test material' (ISO TS 16195:2013). The NanoChOp test materials were investigated with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and centrifugal liquid sedimentation (CLS) to establish whether they complied with the required monomodal particle size distribution. The presence of impurities, aggregates, agglomerates and viable microorganisms in the suspensions was investigated with DLS, CLS, optical and electron microscopy and via plating on nutrient agar. Suitability of surface functionalization was investigated with attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (ATR-FTIR) and via the capacity of the nanoparticles to be fluorescently labeled or to bind antibodies. Between-unit homogeneity and stability were investigated in terms of particle size and zeta potential. This paper shows that only based on the outcome of a detailed characterization process one can raise the status of a test material to representative test material or reference material, and how this status depends on its intended use.

Comparing NASA and ESA Cost Estimating Methods for Human Missions to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunt, Charles D.; vanPelt, Michel O.

2004-01-01

To compare working methodologies between the cost engineering functions in NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), as well as to set-up cost engineering capabilities for future manned Mars projects and other studies which involve similar subsystem technologies in MSFC and ESTEC, a demonstration cost estimate exercise was organized. This exercise was a direct way of enhancing not only cooperation between agencies but also both agencies commitment to credible cost analyses. Cost engineers in MSFC and ESTEC independently prepared life-cycle cost estimates for a reference human Mars project and subsequently compared the results and estimate methods in detail. As a non-sensitive, public domain reference case for human Mars projects, the Mars Direct concept was chosen. In this paper the results of the exercise are shown; the differences and similarities in estimate methodologies, philosophies, and databases between MSFC and ESTEC, as well as the estimate results for the Mars Direct concept. The most significant differences are explained and possible estimate improvements identified. In addition, the Mars Direct plan and the extensive cost breakdown structure jointly set-up by MSFC and ESTEC for this concept are presented. It was found that NASA applied estimate models mainly based on historic Apollo and Space Shuttle cost data, taking into account the changes in technology since then. ESA used models mostly based on European satellite and launcher cost data, taking into account the higher equipment and testing standards for human space flight. Most of NASA's and ESA s estimates for the Mars Direct case are comparable, but there are some important, consistent differences in the estimates for: 1) Large Structures and Thermal Control subsystems; 2) System Level Management, Engineering, Product Assurance and Assembly, Integration and Test/Verification activities; 3) Mission Control; 4) Space Agency Program Level activities.

UK and Italian EIA systems: A comparative study on management practice and performance in the construction industry

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

Bassi, Andrea, E-mail: ab395@bath.co.uk; Howard, Robert, E-mail: robhoward@constcom.demon.co.uk; Geneletti, Davide, E-mail: davide.geneletti@ing.unitn.it

This study evaluates and contrasts the management practice and the performance that characterise Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) in Italy and in the UK. The methodology relies on the investigation of six carefully selected case studies, critically reviewed by referring to EIA and project design information, as well as collecting the opinion of key project participants. The study focuses on the construction industry and on specific key sectors like infrastructure for transport and renewable energy and commercial and tourism development. A main term of reference for the analyses has been established by critically reviewing international literature so as to outline commonmore » good practice, requirements for the enhancement of sustainability principles and typically incurred drawbacks. The proposed approach enhances transfer of knowledge and of experiences between the analyzed contexts and allows the provision of guidelines for practitioners. Distinctive differences between the UK and the Italian EIA systems have been detected for pivotal phases and elements of EIA, like screening, scoping, analysis of alternatives and of potential impacts, definition of mitigation strategies, review, decision making, public participation and follow up. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The Italian and the UK Environmental Impact Assessment systems are compared. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The research is centred on the construction industry. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Issues and shortcomings are analysed by investigating six case studies. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Integration of EIA with sustainability principles is appraised. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer General guidelines are provided to assist practitioners in the two national contexts.« less

Hydrogen use projections and supply options

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manvi, R.; Fujita, T.

1976-01-01

Reference and expanded use projections were developed to estimate future hydrogen demand. The rationale in the development of these projections, which estimate the growth of hydrogen usage of approximately 1 X 10 to the fifteenth power Btu in 1973 to approximately 5.5 X 10 to the fifteenth power for reference use and 22 X 10 to the fifteenth power Btu for expanded use projections in year 2000. Primary energy sources required to produce these demands are discussed in the light of transition from a low merchant to high merchant supply option.

Acute and chronic alcohol use correlated with methods of suicide in a Swiss national sample.

PubMed

Pfeifer, P; Bartsch, C; Hemmer, A; Reisch, T

2017-09-01

Chronic and acute alcohol use are highly associated risk factors for suicides worldwide. Therefore, we examined suicide cases with and without alcohol use disorder (AUD) using data from the SNSF project "Suicide in Switzerland: A detailed national survey". Our investigations focus on correlations between acute and chronic alcohol use with reference to suicide and potential interactions with the methods of suicide. We used data from the SNSF project in which all cases of registered completed suicide in Switzerland reported to any of the seven Swiss institutes of legal and forensic medicine between 2000 and 2010 were collected. We extracted cases that were tested for blood alcohol to use in our analysis. We compared clinical characteristics, blood alcohol concentrations, and methods of suicide in cases with and without AUD. Out of 6497 cases, 2946 subjects were tested for acute alcohol use and included in our analysis. Of the latter, 366 (12.4%) persons had a medical history of AUD. Subjects with AUD significantly had higher blood alcohol concentrations and were more often in medical treatment before suicide. Drug intoxication as method of suicide was more frequent in cases with AUD compared to NAUD. Overall, we found a high incidence of acute alcohol use at the time of death in chronic alcohol misusers (AUD). The five methods of suicide most commonly used in Switzerland differed considerably between individuals with and without AUD. Blood alcohol concentrations varied across different methods of suicide independently from the medical history in both groups. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Statistical Reference Datasets

National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

Statistical Reference Datasets (Web, free access)   The Statistical Reference Datasets is also supported by the Standard Reference Data Program. The purpose of this project is to improve the accuracy of statistical software by providing reference datasets with certified computational results that enable the objective evaluation of statistical software.

Round-Trip System Available to Measure Path Length Variation in Korea VLBI System for Geodesy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oh, Hongjong; Kondo, Tetsuro; Lee, Jinoo; Kim, Tuhwan; Kim, Myungho; Kim, Suchul; Park, Jinsik; Ju, Hyunhee

2010-01-01

The construction project of Korea Geodetic VLBI officially started in October 2008. The construction of all systems will be completed by the end of 2011. The project was named Korea VLBI system for Geodesy (KVG), and its main purpose is to maintain the Korea Geodetic Datum. In case of the KVG system, an observation room with an H-maser frequency standard is located in a building separated from the antenna by several tens of meters. Therefore KVG system will adopt a so-called round-trip system to transmit reference signals to the antenna with reduction of the effect of path length variations. KVG s round-trip system is designed not only to use either metal or optical fiber cables, but also to measure path length variations directly. We present this unique round trip system for KVG.

Trace element reference values in tissues from inhabitants of the EU. XII. Development of BioReVa program for statistical treatment.

PubMed

Iversen, B S; Sabbioni, E; Fortaner, S; Pietra, R; Nicolotti, A

2003-01-20

Statistical data treatment is a key point in the assessment of trace element reference values being the conclusive stage of a comprehensive and organized evaluation process of metal concentration in human body fluids. The EURO TERVIHT project (Trace Elements Reference Values in Human Tissues) was started for evaluating, checking and suggesting harmonized procedures for the establishment of trace element reference intervals in body fluids and tissues. Unfortunately, different statistical approaches are being used in this research field making data comparison difficult and in some cases impossible. Although international organizations such as International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) or International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) have issued recommended guidelines for reference values assessment, including the statistical data treatment, a unique format and a standardized data layout is still missing. The aim of the present study is to present a software (BioReVa) running under Microsoft Windows platform suitable for calculating the reference intervals of trace elements in body matrices. The main scope for creating an ease-of-use application was to control the data distribution, to establish the reference intervals according to the accepted recommendation, on the base of the simple statistic, to get a standard presentation of experimental data and to have an application to which further need could be integrated in future. BioReVa calculates the IFCC reference intervals as well as the coverage intervals recommended by IUPAC as a supplement to the IFCC intervals. Examples of reference values and reference intervals calculated with BioReVa software concern Pb and Se in blood; Cd, In and Cr in urine, Hg and Mo in hair of different general European populations. University of Michigan

Climate change impact assessment on Veneto and Friuli Plain groundwater. Part I: an integrated modeling approach for hazard scenario construction.

PubMed

Baruffi, F; Cisotto, A; Cimolino, A; Ferri, M; Monego, M; Norbiato, D; Cappelletto, M; Bisaglia, M; Pretner, A; Galli, A; Scarinci, A; Marsala, V; Panelli, C; Gualdi, S; Bucchignani, E; Torresan, S; Pasini, S; Critto, A; Marcomini, A

2012-12-01

Climate change impacts on water resources, particularly groundwater, is a highly debated topic worldwide, triggering international attention and interest from both researchers and policy makers due to its relevant link with European water policy directives (e.g. 2000/60/EC and 2007/118/EC) and related environmental objectives. The understanding of long-term impacts of climate variability and change is therefore a key challenge in order to address effective protection measures and to implement sustainable management of water resources. This paper presents the modeling approach adopted within the Life+ project TRUST (Tool for Regional-scale assessment of groUndwater Storage improvement in adaptation to climaTe change) in order to provide climate change hazard scenarios for the shallow groundwater of high Veneto and Friuli Plain, Northern Italy. Given the aim to evaluate potential impacts on water quantity and quality (e.g. groundwater level variation, decrease of water availability for irrigation, variations of nitrate infiltration processes), the modeling approach integrated an ensemble of climate, hydrologic and hydrogeologic models running from the global to the regional scale. Global and regional climate models and downscaling techniques were used to make climate simulations for the reference period 1961-1990 and the projection period 2010-2100. The simulation of the recent climate was performed using observed radiative forcings, whereas the projections have been done prescribing the radiative forcings according to the IPCC A1B emission scenario. The climate simulations and the downscaling, then, provided the precipitation, temperatures and evapo-transpiration fields used for the impact analysis. Based on downscaled climate projections, 3 reference scenarios for the period 2071-2100 (i.e. the driest, the wettest and the mild year) were selected and used to run a regional geomorphoclimatic and hydrogeological model. The final output of the model ensemble produced information about the potential variations of the water balance components (e.g. river discharge, groundwater level and volume) due to climate change. Such projections were used to develop potential hazard scenarios for the case study area, to be further applied within climate change risk assessment studies for groundwater resources and associated ecosystems. This paper describes the models' chain and the methodological approach adopted in the TRUST project and analyzes the hazard scenarios produced in order to investigate climate change risks for the case study area. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Project Management for International Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Axelrod, Valija M.; Magisos, Joel H.

A project developed a content model for international project management training. It also compiled a bibliography of project management references, identified specific project management training needs based upon a survey of international sponsors and contractor personnel, and documented the training needs of international project managers. Data…

SU-C-202-05: Pilot Study of Online Treatment Evaluation and Adaptive Re-Planning for Laryngeal SBRT

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

Mao, W; Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI; Liu, C

Purpose: We have instigated a phase I trial of 5-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for advanced-stage laryngeal cancer. We conducted this pilot dosimetric study to confirm the potential utility of online adaptive re-planning to preserve treatment quality. Methods: Ten cases of larynx cancer were evaluated. Baseline and daily SBRT treatment plans were generated per trial protocol. Daily volumetric images were acquired prior to every fraction of treatment. Reference simulation CT images were deformably registered to daily volumetric images using Eclipse. Planning contours were then deformably propagated to daily images. Reference SBRT plans were directly copied to calculate delivered dose distributionsmore » on deformed reference CT images. In-house software platform has been developed to calculate cumulative dose over a course of treatment in four steps: 1) deforming delivered dose grid to reference CT images using deformation information exported from Eclipse; 2) generating tetrahedrons using deformed dose grid as vertices; 3) resampling dose to a high resolution within every tetrahedron; 4) calculating dose-volume histograms. Our inhouse software was benchmarked with a commercial software, Mirada. Results: In all ten cases including 49 fractions of treatments, delivered daily doses were completely evaluated and treatment could be re-planned within 10 minutes. Prescription dose coverage of PTV was less than intended in 53% of fractions of treatment (mean: 94%, range: 84%–98%) while minimum coverage of CTV and GTV was 94% and 97%, respectively. Maximum bystander point dose limits to arytenoids, parotids, and spinal cord remained respected in all cases, although variances in carotid artery doses were observed in a minority of cases. Conclusion: Although GTV and CTV coverage is preserved by in-room 3D image guidance of larynx SBRT, PTV coverage can vary significantly from intended plans. Online adaptive treatment evaluation and re-planning is potentially necessary and our procedure is clinically applicable to fully preserve treatment quality. This project is supported by CPRIT Individual Investigator Research Award RP150386.« less

Diagnostic Accuracy of Ascites Fluid Gross Appearance in Detection of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis.

PubMed

Aminiahidashti, Hamed; Hosseininejad, Seyed Mohammad; Montazer, Hosein; Bozorgi, Farzad; Goli Khatir, Iraj; Jahanian, Fateme; Raee, Behnaz

2014-01-01

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) as a monomicrobial infection of ascites fluid is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in cirrhotic patients. This study was aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of ascites fluid color in detection of SBP in cirrhotic cases referred to the emergency department. Cirrhotic patients referred to the ED for the paracentesis of ascites fluid were enrolled. For all studied patients, the results of laboratory analysis and gross appearance of ascites fluid registered and reviewed by two emergency medicine specialists. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and positive and negative likelihood ration of the ascites fluid gross appearance in detection of SBP were measured with 95% confidence interval. The present project was performed in 80 cirrhotic patients with ascites (52.5 female). The mean of the subjects' age was 56.25±12.21 years (35-81). Laboratory findings revealed SBP in 23 (29%) cases. Fifty nine (73%) cases had transparent ascites fluid appearance of whom 17 (29%) ones suffered from SBP. From 21 (26%) cases with opaque ascites appearance, 15 (71%) had SBP. The sensitivity and specificity of the ascites fluid appearance in detection of SBP were 46.88% (Cl: 30.87-63.55) and 87.50% (95% Cl: 75.3-94.14), respectively. It seems that the gross appearance of ascites fluid had poor diagnostic accuracy in detection of SBP and considering its low sensitivity, it could not be used as a good screening tool for this propose.

Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

2010-01-01

In 1990, the U.S. Congress enacted the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in response to growing awareness of a land loss crisis in Louisiana. Projects funded by CWPPRA require monitoring and evaluation of project effectiveness, and there is also a need to assess the cumulative effects of all projects to achieve a sustainable coastal environment. In 2003, the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration (OCPR) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received approval from the CWPPRA Task Force to implement the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) as a mechanism to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of CWPPRA projects at the project, region, and coastwide levels. The CRMS design implements a multiple reference approach by using aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. The CRMS program is as dynamic as the coastal habitats it monitors. The program is currently funded through CWPPRA and provides data for a variety of user groups, including resource managers, academics, landowners, and researchers.

An ethnically relevant consensus Korean reference genome is a step towards personal reference genomes

PubMed Central

Cho, Yun Sung; Kim, Hyunho; Kim, Hak-Min; Jho, Sungwoong; Jun, JeHoon; Lee, Yong Joo; Chae, Kyun Shik; Kim, Chang Geun; Kim, Sangsoo; Eriksson, Anders; Edwards, Jeremy S.; Lee, Semin; Kim, Byung Chul; Manica, Andrea; Oh, Tae-Kwang; Church, George M.; Bhak, Jong

2016-01-01

Human genomes are routinely compared against a universal reference. However, this strategy could miss population-specific and personal genomic variations, which may be detected more efficiently using an ethnically relevant or personal reference. Here we report a hybrid assembly of a Korean reference genome (KOREF) for constructing personal and ethnic references by combining sequencing and mapping methods. We also build its consensus variome reference, providing information on millions of variants from 40 additional ethnically homogeneous genomes from the Korean Personal Genome Project. We find that the ethnically relevant consensus reference can be beneficial for efficient variant detection. Systematic comparison of human assemblies shows the importance of assembly quality, suggesting the necessity of new technologies to comprehensively map ethnic and personal genomic structure variations. In the era of large-scale population genome projects, the leveraging of ethnicity-specific genome assemblies as well as the human reference genome will accelerate mapping all human genome diversity. PMID:27882922

Climate Change Risk Management Consulting: The opportunity for an independent business practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciccozzi, R.

2009-04-01

The Paper outlines the main questions to be addressed with reference to the actual demand of climate change risk management consulting, in the financial services. Moreover, the Project shall also try to investigate if the Catastrophe Modelling Industry can start and manage a business practice specialised on climate change risk exposures. In this context, the Paper aims at testing the possibility to build a sound business case, based upon typical MBA course analysis tools, such as PEST(LE), SWOT, etc. Specific references to the tools to be used and to other contribution from academic literature and general documentation are also discussed in the body of the Paper and listed at the end. The analysis shall also focus on the core competencies required for an independent climate change risk management consulting business practice, with the purpose to outline a valid definition of how to achieve competitive advantage in climate change risk management consulting.

Student Transitions Project: Mobility of Transfer Students Sub-Committee Terms of Reference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ministry of Advanced Education, 2007

2007-01-01

The Student Transitions Project Steering Committee's terms of reference allow it to appoint sub-committees to provide advice. Recently, the committee appointed a Mobility of Transfer Students Sub-Committee (formerly the Enrolment Planning Data Sub-Committee, a sub-committee of the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer). The…

Cultural Reflections. Papers from the Project Contact Literature in Cross-National Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharrad, Paul, Ed.

Ten papers discuss the relationship between cultural awareness and literature, with specific references to cultural resonances between East and West and between developed and developing nations. The papers represent seminar presentations of the Contact Literature Project in Honolulu in 1981. Contact literature refers to the study of literary…

Women, Islam, and Pakistan: A Selected Annotated Bibliography. Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Brenda

This bibliography features selected books, book chapters, research projects, and journal articles, published between 1953 and 1994, about the social, legal, economic, educational political, and professional position of Muslim Pakistani women. Sixteen of the references are annotated. An additional 41 bibliographic references to other materials, not…

Color image quality in projection displays: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strand, Monica; Hardeberg, Jon Y.; Nussbaum, Peter

2005-01-01

Recently the use of projection displays has increased dramatically in different applications such as digital cinema, home theatre, and business and educational presentations. Even if the color image quality of these devices has improved significantly over the years, it is still a common situation for users of projection displays that the projected colors differ significantly from the intended ones. This study presented in this paper attempts to analyze the color image quality of a large set of projection display devices, particularly investigating the variations in color reproduction. As a case study, a set of 14 projectors (LCD and DLP technology) at Gjovik University College have been tested under four different conditions: dark and light room, with and without using an ICC-profile. To find out more about the importance of the illumination conditions in a room, and the degree of improvement when using an ICC-profile, the results from the measurements was processed and analyzed. Eye-One Beamer from GretagMacbeth was used to make the profiles. The color image quality was evaluated both visually and by color difference calculations. The results from the analysis indicated large visual and colorimetric differences between the projectors. Our DLP projectors have generally smaller color gamut than LCD projectors. The color gamuts of older projectors are significantly smaller than that of newer ones. The amount of ambient light reaching the screen is of great importance for the visual impression. If too much reflections and other ambient light reaches the screen, the projected image gets pale and has low contrast. When using a profile, the differences in colors between the projectors gets smaller and the colors appears more correct. For one device, the average ΔE*ab color difference when compared to a relative white reference was reduced from 22 to 11, for another from 13 to 6. Blue colors have the largest variations among the projection displays and makes them therefore harder to predict.

Color image quality in projection displays: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strand, Monica; Hardeberg, Jon Y.; Nussbaum, Peter

2004-10-01

Recently the use of projection displays has increased dramatically in different applications such as digital cinema, home theatre, and business and educational presentations. Even if the color image quality of these devices has improved significantly over the years, it is still a common situation for users of projection displays that the projected colors differ significantly from the intended ones. This study presented in this paper attempts to analyze the color image quality of a large set of projection display devices, particularly investigating the variations in color reproduction. As a case study, a set of 14 projectors (LCD and DLP technology) at Gjøvik University College have been tested under four different conditions: dark and light room, with and without using an ICC-profile. To find out more about the importance of the illumination conditions in a room, and the degree of improvement when using an ICC-profile, the results from the measurements was processed and analyzed. Eye-One Beamer from GretagMacbeth was used to make the profiles. The color image quality was evaluated both visually and by color difference calculations. The results from the analysis indicated large visual and colorimetric differences between the projectors. Our DLP projectors have generally smaller color gamut than LCD projectors. The color gamuts of older projectors are significantly smaller than that of newer ones. The amount of ambient light reaching the screen is of great importance for the visual impression. If too much reflections and other ambient light reaches the screen, the projected image gets pale and has low contrast. When using a profile, the differences in colors between the projectors gets smaller and the colors appears more correct. For one device, the average ΔE*ab color difference when compared to a relative white reference was reduced from 22 to 11, for another from 13 to 6. Blue colors have the largest variations among the projection displays and makes them therefore harder to predict.

Dispersion modeling of accidental releases of toxic gases - utility for the fire brigades.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stenzel, S.; Baumann-Stanzer, K.

2009-09-01

Several air dispersion models are available for prediction and simulation of the hazard areas associated with accidental releases of toxic gases. The most model packages (commercial or free of charge) include a chemical database, an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and automated graphical output for effective presentation of results. The models are designed especially for analyzing different accidental toxic release scenarios ("worst-case scenarios”), preparing emergency response plans and optimal countermeasures as well as for real-time risk assessment and management. The research project RETOMOD (reference scenarios calculations for toxic gas releases - model systems and their utility for the fire brigade) was conducted by the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in cooperation with the Viennese fire brigade, OMV Refining & Marketing GmbH and Synex Ries & Greßlehner GmbH. RETOMOD was funded by the KIRAS safety research program of the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (www.kiras.at). The main tasks of this project were 1. Sensitivity study and optimization of the meteorological input for modeling of the hazard areas (human exposure) during the accidental toxic releases. 2. Comparison of several model packages (based on reference scenarios) in order to estimate the utility for the fire brigades. For the purpose of our study the following models were tested and compared: ALOHA (Areal Location of Hazardous atmosphere, EPA), MEMPLEX (Keudel av-Technik GmbH), Trace (Safer System), Breeze (Trinity Consulting), SAM (Engineering office Lohmeyer). A set of reference scenarios for Chlorine, Ammoniac, Butane and Petrol were proceed, with the models above, in order to predict and estimate the human exposure during the event. Furthermore, the application of the observation-based analysis and forecasting system INCA, developed in the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in case of toxic release was investigated. INCA (Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis) data are calculated operationally with 1 km horizontal resolution and based on the weather forecast model ALADIN. The meteorological field's analysis with INCA include: Temperature, Humidity, Wind, Precipitation, Cloudiness and Global Radiation. In the frame of the project INCA data were compared with measurements from the meteorological observational network, conducted at traffic-near sites in Vienna. INCA analysis and very short term forecast fields (up to 6 hours) are found to be an advanced possibility to provide on-line meteorological input for the model package used by the fire brigade. Since the input requirements differ from model to model, and the outputs are based on unequal criteria for toxic area and exposure, a high degree of caution in the interpretation of the model results is required - especially in the case of slow wind speeds, stable atmospheric condition, and flow deflection by buildings in the urban area or by complex topography.

Evaluating the Potential of NASA's Earth Science Research Results for Improving Future Operational Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frederick, M. E.; Cox, E. L.; Friedl, L. A.

2006-12-01

NASA's Earth Science Theme is charged with implementing NASA Strategic Goal 3A to "study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs." In the course of meeting this objective, NASA produces research results, such as scientific observatories, research models, advanced sensor and space system technology, data active archives and interoperability technology, high performance computing systems, and knowledge products. These research results have the potential to serve society beyond their intended purpose of answering pressing Earth system science questions. NASA's Applied Sciences Program systematically evaluates the potential of the portfolio of research results to serve society by conducting projects in partnership with regional/national scale operational partners with the statutory responsibility to inform decision makers. These projects address NASA's National Applications and the societal benefit areas under the IEOS and GEOSS. Prototyping methods are used in two ways in NASA's Applied Sciences Program. The first is part of the National Applications program element, referred to as Integrated Systems Solutions (ISS) projects. The approach for these projects is to use high fidelity prototypes to benchmark the assimilation of NASA research results into our partners' decision support systems. The outcome from ISS projects is a prototype system that has been rigorously tested with the partner to understand the scientific uncertainty and improved value of their modified system. In many cases, these completed prototypes are adopted or adapted for use by the operational partners. The second falls under the Crosscutting Solutions program element, referred to as Rapid Prototyping (RP) experiments. The approach for RP experiments is to use low fidelity prototypes that are low cost and quickly produced to evaluate the potential of the breadth of NASA research results to serve society. The outcome from the set of RP experiments is an evaluation of many and varied NASA research results for their potential to be candidates for further development as an ISS project. The intention is to seed the community with many creative ideas for projects that use "un-applied" NASA research results to serve society, such as simulations of future missions.

Enrichment of OpenStreetMap Data Completeness with Sidewalk Geometries Using Data Mining Techniques.

PubMed

Mobasheri, Amin; Huang, Haosheng; Degrossi, Lívia Castro; Zipf, Alexander

2018-02-08

Tailored routing and navigation services utilized by wheelchair users require certain information about sidewalk geometries and their attributes to execute efficiently. Except some minor regions/cities, such detailed information is not present in current versions of crowdsourced mapping databases including OpenStreetMap. CAP4Access European project aimed to use (and enrich) OpenStreetMap for making it fit to the purpose of wheelchair routing. In this respect, this study presents a modified methodology based on data mining techniques for constructing sidewalk geometries using multiple GPS traces collected by wheelchair users during an urban travel experiment. The derived sidewalk geometries can be used to enrich OpenStreetMap to support wheelchair routing. The proposed method was applied to a case study in Heidelberg, Germany. The constructed sidewalk geometries were compared to an official reference dataset ("ground truth dataset"). The case study shows that the constructed sidewalk network overlays with 96% of the official reference dataset. Furthermore, in terms of positional accuracy, a low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value (0.93 m) is achieved. The article presents our discussion on the results as well as the conclusion and future research directions.

Managing research and surveillance projects in real-time with a novel open-source eManagement tool designed for under-resourced countries.

PubMed

Steiner, Andreas; Hella, Jerry; Grüninger, Servan; Mhalu, Grace; Mhimbira, Francis; Cercamondi, Colin I; Doulla, Basra; Maire, Nicolas; Fenner, Lukas

2016-09-01

A software tool is developed to facilitate data entry and to monitor research projects in under-resourced countries in real-time. The eManagement tool "odk_planner" is written in the scripting languages PHP and Python. The odk_planner is lightweight and uses minimal internet resources. It was designed to be used with the open source software Open Data Kit (ODK). The users can easily configure odk_planner to meet their needs, and the online interface displays data collected from ODK forms in a graphically informative way. The odk_planner also allows users to upload pictures and laboratory results and sends text messages automatically. User-defined access rights protect data and privacy. We present examples from four field applications in Tanzania successfully using the eManagement tool: 1) clinical trial; 2) longitudinal Tuberculosis (TB) Cohort Study with a complex visit schedule, where it was used to graphically display missing case report forms, upload digitalized X-rays, and send text message reminders to patients; 3) intervention study to improve TB case detection, carried out at pharmacies: a tablet-based electronic referral system monitored referred patients, and sent automated messages to remind pharmacy clients to visit a TB Clinic; and 4) TB retreatment case monitoring designed to improve drug resistance surveillance: clinicians at four public TB clinics and lab technicians at the TB reference laboratory used a smartphone-based application that tracked sputum samples, and collected clinical and laboratory data. The user friendly, open source odk_planner is a simple, but multi-functional, Web-based eManagement tool with add-ons that helps researchers conduct studies in under-resourced countries. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis of Marine and Hydrokinetic Reference Models: Preprint

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

Jenne, D. S.; Yu, Y. H.; Neary, V.

2015-04-24

In 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy initiated the development of six marine energy converter reference models. The reference models are point designs of well-known marine energy converters. Each device was designed to operate in a specific marine resource, instead of a generic device that can be deployed at any location. This method allows each device to be used as a benchmark for future reference model to benchmark future devices. The six designs consist of three current energy converters and three wave energy converters. The reference model project has generated both technical and economic data sets that are available inmore » the public domain. The methodology to calculate the levelized cost of energy for the reference model project and an overall comparison of the cost of energy from these six reference-model designs are presented in this paper.« less

Two types of squalor: findings from a factor analysis of the Environmental Cleanliness and Clutter Scale (ECCS).

PubMed

Snowdon, John; Halliday, Graeme; Hunt, Glenn E

2013-07-01

Most people who collect and hoard, and then have difficulty discarding items, do not live in squalor, even though accumulation of hoarded items can make cleaning very difficult. Commonly, people living in squalor accumulate garbage, but relatively few fulfill proposed criteria for "hoarding disorder." We examined the overlap between hoarding and squalor among people referred because of unacceptable living conditions. Ongoing collection of data by a Squalor Project team, including ratings on the Environmental Cleanliness and Clutter Scale (ECCS), allowed (1) description of characteristics of cases and (2) examination of ratings of uncleanliness, and of the effect of accumulation of items or material on access within dwellings. Principal component analysis was used to examine latent variables underlying the ECCS. The mean age of the referred occupants (108 male, 95 female) was 61.9 years. The mean ECCS score in 186 rated cases was 18.5. Factor analysis of ECCS data showed a two-factor solution as the most plausible. Factor 1, comprising seven squalor items, accounted for 33.7% of the variance. Factor 2 comprised reduced accessibility and accumulation of items of little value (variance 17.6%). Accumulation of garbage loaded equally on the two factors. High levels of squalor and/or accumulation were recorded in 105 (56%) of the 186 dwellings. One-third scored high on accumulation/hoarding, while 38% scored high on squalor; 15% scored high on both squalor and accumulation. A quarter of those scoring high on squalor scored low on hoarding/accumulation. The ECCS is useful when describing whether referred cases show high levels of squalor, hoarding, or both.

Improving referral to psychological support unit at Saudi Red Crescent Authority in Riyadh Region

PubMed Central

Alzahrani, Ahmad Yousif; Mahmod, Sabri abd Allah; Bakhamis, Thamer Mohammad; Al-Surimi, Khaled

2017-01-01

The Psychological Support Unit (PSU) performance in Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) showed that only a small number of case referred seeking psychological advice and management from PSU among all SRCA employees. However, research shows that between 28% and 52% of emergency medical services (EMS) providers usually seek psychological help in various EMS cultures, where 86% of them usually suffer from critical stress. Thus, we decided to design a quality improvement project that aims to improve the referral process by increasing cases referred to the PSU at SRCA in Riyadh Region by 75% in 2 months. A multidisciplinary team has been formed to analyse the problem using quality tools including, brainstorming, fishbone diagram and flow chart of the PSU processes. Several possible reasons have been identified, such as lack of awareness among the SRCA’s employees about PSU and its services, and the concern about privacy and confidentiality during psychological consultations in the PSU, in addition to the long referring process to PSU. The team decided to test the following change ideas: increasing the awareness of employees about the PSU services, improving the privacy and confidentiality during the consultation using electronic channels, and finally re-engineering the referral process to make it lean and remove all the unnecessary steps. Several improvement interventions have been tested sequentially in three consecutive Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles on a weekly basis. The project findings demonstrated that the first change idea was successful but not reaching the target while the second change had led to huge impact exceeding our target but with short effect. On the other hand, although the third change idea of re-engineering the PSU referral process had led to negative result initially, over the following weeks of measurement the results turned to be positive and meeting our expectations. We concluded that re-engineering referral process is most effective improvement intervention among other change ideas in term of magnitude and sustainability of the effect on increasing the number of referral cases to the PSU. We recommend conducting further testing and measuring of these change ideas in other PSU across the SRCA to understand the diffident context in other regions of SRCA. PMID:29450278

The role of geomorphology in environmental impact assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavallin, A.; Marchetti, M.; Panizza, M.; Soldati, M.

1994-04-01

This paper aims to define the role of Geomorphology in the assessment of the impact of human activities on the environment. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) should be carried out for specific projects, in order to evaluate their suitability for the quality of the environment. In fact, each planned activity may have an impact on various environmental components. Among these, the natural component must be examined in terms of geomorphological hazards, which may endanger a project, and of geomorphological assets (elements forming the educational and cultural heritage of the landscape), which may be damaged to various extents by human activities. The relationships between humans and environment are taken into account, with particular attention to the effects of a project on the geomorphological environment. From a geomorphological point of view, after having assessed the suitability of a certain location, mainly with respect to its morphography and morphometry, the geomorphological hazards of the area which may threaten the project (risk) must be considered; then the geomorphological assets, which may be damaged by the same project (direct impact) have to be individuated. Human activities may produce two other kinds of effect: the first refers to the consequences of the geomorphological hazards induced by a project on the project itself (direct risk) and on the surronding areas (indirect risk); the second takes into account the potential deterioration of a geomorphological asset due to hazards induced by the project (indirect impact). Examples of these different cases are presented.

Prediction of microcephaly at birth using three reference ranges for fetal head circumference: can we improve prenatal diagnosis?

PubMed

Leibovitz, Z; Daniel-Spiegel, E; Malinger, G; Haratz, K; Tamarkin, M; Gindes, L; Schreiber, L; Ben-Sira, L; Lev, D; Shapiro, I; Bakry, H; Weizman, B; Zreik, A; Egenburg, S; Arad, A; Tepper, R; Kidron, D; Lerman-Sagie, T

2016-05-01

To evaluate the prediction of microcephaly at birth (micB) using established and two new reference ranges for fetal head circumference (HC) and to assess whether integrating additional parameters can improve prediction. Microcephaly in utero was defined as a fetal HC 3SD below the mean for gestational age according to Jeanty et al.'s reference range. The records of cases with fetal microcephaly (Fmic) were evaluated for medical history, imaging findings, biometry and postnatal examination/autopsy findings. Microcephaly was confirmed at birth (micB) by an occipitofrontal circumference (OFC) or a brain weight at autopsy 2SD below the mean for gestational age. The new INTERGROWTH-21(st) Project and a recent Israeli reference for fetal growth were applied for evaluation of the Fmic positive predictive value (PPV) for diagnosis of micB cases. Optimal HC cut-offs were determined for each of the new references with the aim of detecting all micB cases whilst minimizing the number of false positives found to have a normal HC at birth. We also assessed the difference between the Z-scores of the prenatal HC and the corresponding OFC at birth, the frequency of small-for-gestational age (SGA), decreased HC/abdominal circumference (AC) and HC/femur length (FL) ratios, the prevalence of associated malformations and family history. Forty-two fetuses were diagnosed as having Fmic according to the Jeanty reference, but micB was confirmed in only 24 (PPV, 57.1%). The optimal INTERGROWTH and Israeli reference HC cut-offs for micB diagnosis were mean - 3SD and mean - 2.3SD, resulting in a statistically non-significant improvement in PPV to 61.5% and 66.7%, respectively. The presence of a family history of microcephaly, SGA, associated malformations and application of stricter HC cut-offs resulted in a higher PPV of micB, although not statistically significant and with a concurrent increase in the number of false-negative results. The deviation of the HC from the mean, by all references, was significantly larger compared with the actual deviation of the OFC at birth, with mean differences between the corresponding Z-scores of -1.15, -1.95 and -0.74 for the Jeanty, INTERGROWTH and Israeli references, respectively. The evaluated reference ranges all result in considerable over-diagnosis of fetal microcephaly. The use of the two new HC reference ranges did not significantly improve micB prediction compared with that of Jeanty et al., whilst use of additional characteristics and stricter HC cut-offs could improve the PPV with an increase in false negatives. The postnatal OFC deviates significantly less from the mean compared with the prenatal HC, and we propose that adjustment for this would enable better prediction of the actual OFC deviation at birth. Copyright © 2015 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright © 2015 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Automatic cable artifact removal for cardiac C-arm CT imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haase, C.; Schäfer, D.; Kim, M.; Chen, S. J.; Carroll, J.; Eshuis, P.; Dössel, O.; Grass, M.

2014-03-01

Cardiac C-arm computed tomography (CT) imaging using interventional C-arm systems can be applied in various areas of interventional cardiology ranging from structural heart disease and electrophysiology interventions to valve procedures in hybrid operating rooms. In contrast to conventional CT systems, the reconstruction field of view (FOV) of C-arm systems is limited to a region of interest in cone-beam (along the patient axis) and fan-beam (in the transaxial plane) direction. Hence, highly X-ray opaque objects (e.g. cables from the interventional setup) outside the reconstruction field of view, yield streak artifacts in the reconstruction volume. To decrease the impact of these streaks a cable tracking approach on the 2D projection sequences with subsequent interpolation is applied. The proposed approach uses the fact that the projected position of objects outside the reconstruction volume depends strongly on the projection perspective. By tracking candidate points over multiple projections only objects outside the reconstruction volume are segmented in the projections. The method is quantitatively evaluated based on 30 simulated CT data sets. The 3D root mean square deviation to a reference image could be reduced for all cases by an average of 50 % (min 16 %, max 76 %). Image quality improvement is shown for clinical whole heart data sets acquired on an interventional C-arm system.

A First Look at the Upcoming SISO Space Reference FOM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crues, Edwin; Dexter, Dan; Madden, Michael; Garro, Alfred; Vankov, Alexander; Skuratovskiy, Anton; Moller, Bjorn

2016-01-01

Simulation is increasingly used in the space domain for several purposes. One example is analysis and engineering, from the mission level down to individual systems and subsystems. Another example is training of space crew and flight controllers. Several distributed simulations have been developed for example for docking vehicles with the ISS and for mission training, in many cases with participants from several nations. Space based scenarios are also used in the "Simulation Exploration Experience", SISO's university outreach program. We have thus realized that there is a need for a distributed simulation interoperability standard for data exchange within the space domain. Based on these experiences, SISO is developing a Space Reference FOM. Members of the product development group come from several countries and contribute experiences from projects within NASA, ESA and other organizations. Participants represent government, academia and industry. The first version will focus on handling of time and space. The Space Reference FOM will provide the following: (i) a flexible positioning system using reference frames for arbitrary bodies in space, (ii) a naming conventions for well known reference frames, (iii) definitions of common time scales, (iv) federation agreements for common types of time management with focus on time stepped simulation, and (v) support for physical entities, such as space vehicles and astronauts. The Space Reference FOM is expected to make collaboration politically, contractually and technically easier. It is also expected to make collaboration easier to manage and extend.

Genome-wide association study identifies three novel loci for type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Hara, Kazuo; Fujita, Hayato; Johnson, Todd A; Yamauchi, Toshimasa; Yasuda, Kazuki; Horikoshi, Momoko; Peng, Chen; Hu, Cheng; Ma, Ronald C W; Imamura, Minako; Iwata, Minoru; Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko; Morizono, Takashi; Shojima, Nobuhiro; So, Wing Yee; Leung, Ting Fan; Kwan, Patrick; Zhang, Rong; Wang, Jie; Yu, Weihui; Maegawa, Hiroshi; Hirose, Hiroshi; Kaku, Kohei; Ito, Chikako; Watada, Hirotaka; Tanaka, Yasushi; Tobe, Kazuyuki; Kashiwagi, Atsunori; Kawamori, Ryuzo; Jia, Weiping; Chan, Juliana C N; Teo, Yik Ying; Shyong, Tai E; Kamatani, Naoyuki; Kubo, Michiaki; Maeda, Shiro; Kadowaki, Takashi

2014-01-01

Although over 60 loci for type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been identified, there still remains a large genetic component to be clarified. To explore unidentified loci for T2D, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 6 209 637 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which were directly genotyped or imputed using East Asian references from the 1000 Genomes Project (June 2011 release) in 5976 Japanese patients with T2D and 20 829 nondiabetic individuals. Nineteen unreported loci were selected and taken forward to follow-up analyses. Combined discovery and follow-up analyses (30 392 cases and 34 814 controls) identified three new loci with genome-wide significance, which were MIR129-LEP [rs791595; risk allele = A; risk allele frequency (RAF) = 0.080; P = 2.55 × 10(-13); odds ratio (OR) = 1.17], GPSM1 [rs11787792; risk allele = A; RAF = 0.874; P = 1.74 × 10(-10); OR = 1.15] and SLC16A13 (rs312457; risk allele = G; RAF = 0.078; P = 7.69 × 10(-13); OR = 1.20). This study demonstrates that GWASs based on the imputation of genotypes using modern reference haplotypes such as that from the 1000 Genomes Project data can assist in identification of new loci for common diseases.

[Two cases of giant female urethral stone in long-term bedridden elderly].

PubMed

Kato, K; Murase, T; Kuromatsu, I; Hasegawa, M; Kawamura, J

2001-08-01

A 78-year-old female suffering from a cerebral infarction and subdural hematoma was referred to us due to a hard mass in the anterior vaginal wall which was disclosed during gynecological examination. An abdominal X-ray, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that a large spindle-shaped stone, 60 x 42 mm in size, was impacting the urethra. It was impossible to catheterize the urethra. The stone gradually projected through the external urethral meatus and was removed by grasping and drawing with forceps. Another 83-year-old female with senile dementia was referred to us because of macrohematuria. An abdominal X-ray and CT showed the presence of two oval bladder stones, 32 x 24 mm and 30 x 21 mm in size. During a follow-up, one of the stones projected partially through the external urethral meatus and was removed by drawing with forceps. After a week, the other stone impacted the urethra and was removed in the same way. Both women were frail, bedridden institutionalized elderly with severe dementia, and their urination had been managed with diapers for years. As the proportion of elderly people in Japan rapidly increases, female urethral stones migrating from the urinary bladder, once very rare, may increase in number, to which we must pay attention.

Smart-DS: Synthetic Models for Advanced, Realistic Testing: Distribution Systems and Scenarios

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

Krishnan, Venkat K; Palmintier, Bryan S; Hodge, Brian S

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Comillas-IIT, Spain) and GE Grid Solutions, is working on an ARPA-E GRID DATA project, titled Smart-DS, to create: 1) High-quality, realistic, synthetic distribution network models, and 2) Advanced tools for automated scenario generation based on high-resolution weather data and generation growth projections. Through these advancements, the Smart-DS project is envisioned to accelerate the development, testing, and adoption of advanced algorithms, approaches, and technologies for sustainable and resilient electric power systems, especially in the realm of U.S. distribution systems. This talk will present themore » goals and overall approach of the Smart-DS project, including the process of creating the synthetic distribution datasets using reference network model (RNM) and the comprehensive validation process to ensure network realism, feasibility, and applicability to advanced use cases. The talk will provide demonstrations of early versions of synthetic models, along with the lessons learnt from expert engagements to enhance future iterations. Finally, the scenario generation framework, its development plans, and co-ordination with GRID DATA repository teams to house these datasets for public access will also be discussed.« less

Challenges in a product development partnership: a malaria treatment case study.

PubMed

Luiza, Vera Lucia; Chaves, Gabriela Costa; Barboza, Tayná Marques Torres; Gonçalves, Luciana de Paula Barros; Stobbaerts, Eric G

2017-07-01

This paper examines the development of a treatment - a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and mefloquine - in Brazil, from three points of view: in terms of access to medication; to record and report successes; and to look at the lessons learned. This product development took place in the ambit of a public-private partnership. Semi-structured interviews were held with key actors involved in the different phases of the development, and documents were analyzed. Two important points of reference orienting the design of the study and analysis were: a logical model for access to medication; and evaluation of programs. It is concluded that there were several successes over the course of the project, but insufficient attention was given in the project's architecture to planning of adoption of the product: irregularities in demand caused difficulties in planning and production, and adoption of the product was irregular in the Americas. It is concluded that the project can be considered to have been successful: the product was created, and the aims were met - strengthening of institutional and individual capacities and alliances, and advocacy. However, there were weaknesses in the process, which need to be mitigated in future projects of the same type.

Graphic design and scientific research: the experience of the INGV Laboratorio Grafica e Immagini

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riposati, Daniela; D'Addezio, Giuliana; Chesi, Angela; Di Laura, Francesca; Palone, Sabrina

2016-04-01

The Laboratorio Grafica e Immagini is the INGV reference structure for the graphic and visual communication supporting institutional and research activities. Part of the activity is focused on the production of different materials concerning the INGV Educational and Outreach projects on the main themes of Geophysics and natural hazards. The forefront results of research activity, in fact, are periodically transferred to the public through an intense and comprehensive plan of scientific dissemination. In 10 years of activity, the Laboratorio has become an essential point of reference for this production, widely known within the scientific community. Positive experiences are the result of a strict relationship between graphic design and scientific research, in particular the process concerning the collaborative work between designers and researchers. In projects such as the realization of museum exhibition or the production of illustrative brochures, generally designed for broad-spectrum public, the goal is to make easier the understanding and to support the scientific message, making concepts enjoyable and fruitful through the emotional involvement that visual image can arouse. Our graphics and editorial products through composition of signs and images by using differt tools on different media (the use of colors, lettering, graphic design, visual design, web design etc.) link to create a strong identity "INGV style", in order to make them easily recognizable in Educational and Outreach projects: in one words "branding". For example, a project product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and colour, which unify the piece. Colour is used not only to help the "brand" stand out from the international overview, but in our case to have a unifying outcome across all the INGV sections. We also analysed the restyling project of different materials, one of the most important features of graphic design, especially when using pre-existing product or diverse elements, including web elements.

Making CORDEX accessible to users: case studies in the Middle East

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubois, Ghislain

2017-04-01

The current demand of long term climate projections corresponds to more applied requests from users: climate data and services are supposed to enable robust decision making in very diversified environments…Issues like uncertainty management (elaborating probabilistic projections based on full ensembles analysis) or tailoring of indicators should be central. However, an assessment of a sample of local, regional and national climate change adaptation strategies, in Europe and in the Med (Stoverinck, Dubois and Amelung 2013) highlighted the frequent insufficient robustness of climate information used to inform policy making. Some initiatives only refer to past climate data, use only one SRES or RCP scenario, one model or a too limited set of downscaling techniques. The CORDEX program (Coordinated regional climate downscaling experiment, coordinated by WCRP) forms the largest effort of climate downscaling so far. Its datasets, initially developed for scientific purposes have strong potential to improve regional and local adaptation policies. They can be considered as reference for the coming years, not only reflecting the improvement of our knowledge of climate, but also offering data in a much more harmonized and accessible way. The PROCLIM initiative (www.pro-clim.org) aims at developing a European climate service, proposing territorialized climate projections, supporting local adaptation frameworks, derived from CORDEX. This encompasses several methodological challenges: understanding users' needs at the European level, specifying indices, selecting relevant geographical domains, correcting systematic biases, selecting sub-ensembles of the CORDEX datasets so as to provide a sound uncertainty analysis, representing results in an user-friendly manner. The presentation will detail some features of PROCLIM, based on two recent experiments: the elaboration of long term climate projections, based on AFRICA-CORDEX, supporting the elaboration of the third national communication on climate change of Jordan; and the provision of high resolution hydro-climatic projections for Israel, Palestine and Jordan, which combined post-processing of CORDEX, and some dedicated runs of WRF, configured in climate mode.

Understanding Suicidal Behaviour in Young People Referred to Specialist CAMHS: A Qualitative Psychoanalytic Clinical Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Jan; Hurst, Margaret; Marques, Ana; Millar, David; Moya, Sue; Pover, Lesley; Stewart, Sue

2012-01-01

A qualitative psychoanalytic clinical research project using a post-Kleinian contemporary approach was undertaken by a team of seven qualified and experienced child psychotherapists working in community Tier 3 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). A number of referred young people who deliberately harmed themselves or attempted…

"State of the Nation": A Discussion of Some of the Project's Key Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Earley, Peter

2010-01-01

This paper considers several of the key findings of the State of the Nation research. Specific reference is made to three areas--impact evaluation, strategic leadership of professional development, and barriers and constraints to effective CPD practice--which are considered with reference to findings from the other TDA-funded projects conducted at…

Flood pulsing in wetlands: Restoring the natural hydrological balance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Middleton, Beth A.

2002-01-01

The latest cutting-edge research on flood pulsing and wetland restoration in North America.Presenting the latest research from leaders in the field of restoration ecology, Flood Pulsing in Wetlands reflects the current movement to incorporate flood pulsing into wetland restoration efforts. Emphasizing how integral flood pulsing is to successful wetland restoration, the book's contributors provide descriptions of restoration projects across North America in which flood pulsing has been primarily used to restore beneficial hydrodynamic conditions to floodplain areas, and improve or save vegetation, wildlife, and terrain.Detailing the importance and applicability of recreating flood-pulsed conditions on floodplains for successful restoration, the first chapter introduces the concept of flood pulse and its unique role in wetland restoration. The following chapters detail the strategies and results of individual projects and the impact flood pulsing had on the projects' overall goals. Case studies detail the history of each region, such as the Southwest, including the Sonoran Desert communities and the Middle Rio Grande; the Missouri River in Montana; the Illinois River Valley; and the Southeast, including Brushy Lake, Arkansas. Also documented is the most famous case of flood pulsing used in the restoration of an entire landscape, the Kissimmee River project. Approaches used to restore specific plant and animal populations, the unique ecological concerns of each region, and the future outlook for each area are fully described.Extensive bibliographies for each chapter make Flood Pulsing in Wetlands: Restoring the Natural Hydrological Balance the essential reference for restoration ecologists, consultants in wetland restoration, government and restoration agency employees, land managers, ecologists, foresters, and geologists.

Interactions of form and orientation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mittelstaedt, Horst

1989-01-01

It is well known that the orientation of an optical pattern relative to egocentric or extraneous references affects its figural quality, that is, alters its perceived form and concomitantly delays or quickens its identification (Rock 1973). A square presented in the frontal plane to an upright person (S), for instance, changes from a box to a diamond when it is rotated with respect to the S's median plane by 45 deg. This angle, that is, the angle between the orientations of the pattern in which the two apparent figures (Gestalten) attain a summit of purity and distinctness, will be called the figural disparity of the pattern. If, as in this case, the S is upright, the retinal meridian and the subjective vertical (SV) are both in the viewer's median plane. The question arises with respect to which of these orientation references the two figures are identified. The answer may be found when the pattern and the S are oriented in such a way that the projections of the retinal meridian and the SV into the plane of the pattern diverge by the pattern's figural disparity or its periodic multiples: that is, in this case of a square by 45 or 135 deg, respectively. Similarly, which reference determines whether an equilateral triangle is seen as a pyramid or a traffic warning sign may be revealed at a divergence of SV and retinal meridian of 60 or 180 deg, respectively. It is generally found that for head roll tilts (Rho) and figural disparities of up to 90 deg, the figure whose axis coincides with the SV is seen. At head tilts of Rho=180 deg, however, the retinal reference dominates, as a rule independently of the figural disparity.

Light deflection and Gauss-Bonnet theorem: definition of total deflection angle and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arakida, Hideyoshi

2018-05-01

In this paper, we re-examine the light deflection in the Schwarzschild and the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime. First, supposing a static and spherically symmetric spacetime, we propose the definition of the total deflection angle α of the light ray by constructing a quadrilateral Σ^4 on the optical reference geometry M^opt determined by the optical metric \\bar{g}_{ij}. On the basis of the definition of the total deflection angle α and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, we derive two formulas to calculate the total deflection angle α ; (1) the angular formula that uses four angles determined on the optical reference geometry M^opt or the curved (r, φ ) subspace M^sub being a slice of constant time t and (2) the integral formula on the optical reference geometry M^opt which is the areal integral of the Gaussian curvature K in the area of a quadrilateral Σ ^4 and the line integral of the geodesic curvature κ _g along the curve C_{Γ}. As the curve C_{Γ}, we introduce the unperturbed reference line that is the null geodesic Γ on the background spacetime such as the Minkowski or the de Sitter spacetime, and is obtained by projecting Γ vertically onto the curved (r, φ ) subspace M^sub. We demonstrate that the two formulas give the same total deflection angle α for the Schwarzschild and the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime. In particular, in the Schwarzschild case, the result coincides with Epstein-Shapiro's formula when the source S and the receiver R of the light ray are located at infinity. In addition, in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter case, there appear order O(Lambda;m) terms in addition to the Schwarzschild-like part, while order O(Λ) terms disappear.

Gravimetric preparation and characterization of primary reference solutions of molybdenum and rhodium.

PubMed

Kaltenbach, Angela; Noordmann, Janine; Görlitz, Volker; Pape, Carola; Richter, Silke; Kipphardt, Heinrich; Kopp, Gernot; Jährling, Reinhard; Rienitz, Olaf; Güttler, Bernd

2015-04-01

Gravimetrically prepared mono-elemental reference solutions having a well-known mass fraction of approximately 1 g/kg (or a mass concentration of 1 g/L) define the very basis of virtually all measurements in inorganic analysis. Serving as the starting materials of all standard/calibration solutions, they link virtually all measurements of inorganic analytes (regardless of the method applied) to the purity of the solid materials (high-purity metals or salts) they were prepared from. In case these solid materials are characterized comprehensively with respect to their purity, this link also establishes direct metrological traceability to The International System of Units (SI). This, in turn, ensures the comparability of all results on the highest level achievable. Several national metrology institutes (NMIs) and designated institutes (DIs) have been working for nearly two decades in close cooperation with commercial producers on making an increasing number of traceable reference solutions available. Besides the comprehensive characterization of the solid starting materials, dissolving them both loss-free and completely under strict gravimetric control is a challenging problem in the case of several elements like molybdenum and rhodium. Within the framework of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP), in the Joint Research Project (JRP) called SIB09 Primary standards for challenging elements, reference solutions of molybdenum and rhodium were prepared directly from the respective metals with a relative expanded uncertainty associated with the mass fraction of U rel(w) < 0.05 %. To achieve this, a microwave-assisted digestion procedure for Rh and a hotplate digestion procedure for Mo were developed along with highly accurate and precise inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) and multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) methods required to assist with the preparation and as dissemination tools.

An intermediate orbit calculated from three position vectors: accuracy of approximation of a perturbed motion. (Russian Title: Промежуточная орбита, вычисленная по трем векторам положения: точность аппроксимации возмущенного движения)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shefer, V. A.

2015-12-01

We examine intermediate perturbed orbit proposed by the author previously, defined from the three position vectors of a small celestial body. It is shown theoretically, that at a small reference time interval covering the body positions the approximation accuracy of real motion by this orbit corresponds approximately to the fourth order of tangency. The smaller reference interval of time, the better this correspondence. Laws of variation of the methodical errors in constructing intermediate orbit subject to the length of reference time interval are deduced. According to these laws, the convergence rate of the method to the exact solution (upon reducing the reference interval of time) in the general case is higher by three orders of magnitude than in the case of conventional methods using Keplerian unperturbed orbit. The considered orbit is among the most accurate in set of orbits of their class determined by the order of tangency. The theoretical results are validated by numerical examples. The work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, project no. 2014/223(1567).

Persistent dysphonia in two performers affecting the singing and projected speaking voice: a report on a collaborative approach to management.

PubMed

Baker, Janet

2002-01-01

The projected speaking voice and the singing voice are highly sensitive to external and internal influences, and teachers of spoken voice and singing are in a unique position to identify subtle and more serious vocal difficulties in their students. Persistent anomalies may herald early onset of changes in vocal fold structure, neurophysiological control, or emotional stability. Two cases are presented to illustrate the benefits of a collaborative approach to diagnosis and management. The first, a 21-year-old male drama and singing student with an abnormally high speaking voice and falsetto singing voice was found to have a psychogenic dysphonia referred to as "puberphonia" or "mutational falsetto". The second, a 34-year-old female alto with strained phonation and perceived stutter of the vocal folds was diagnosed with "adductor spasmodic dysphonia" or "focal laryngeal dystonia" of neurological origin.

Two case studies in river naturalization: planform migration and bank erosion control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abad, J. D.; Guneralp, I.; Rhoads, B. L.; Garcia, M. H.

2005-05-01

A sound understanding of river planform evolution and bank erosion control, along with integration of expertise from several disciplines is required for the development of predictive models for river naturalization. Over the last few years, several methodologies have been presented for naturalization projects, from purely heuristic to more advanced methods. Since the time and space scales of concern in naturalization vary widely, there is a need for appropriate tools at a variety of time and space scales. This study presents two case studies at different scales. The first case study describes the prediction of river planform evolution for a remeandering project based on a simplified two-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The second case study describes the applicability of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for evaluating the effectiveness of bank-erosion control structures in individual meander bends. Understanding the hydrodynamic influence of control structures on flow through bends allows accurate prediction of depositional and erosional distribution patterns, resulting in better assessment on river planform stability, especially for the case of natural complex systems. The first case study introduces a mathematical model for evolution of meandering rivers that can be used in remeandering projects. In United States in particular, several rivers have been channelized in the past causing environmental and ecological problems. Following Newton's third law, "for every action, there is a reaction", naturalization techniques evolve as natural reactive solutions to channelization. This model (herein referred as RVR Meander) can be used as a stand-alone Windows application or as module in a Geographic Information System. The model was applied to the Poplar Creek re-meanderization project and used to evaluate re-meandering alternatives for an approximately 800-meter long reach of Poplar Creek that was straightened in 1938. The second case study describes a streambank protection project using bendway weirs. In the State of Illinois, bendway weirs constructed of rock have been installed at hundreds of sites, especially on small streams, to control streambank erosion. Bendway weirs are low hard structures installed in the concave bank of a meander bend. Design criteria for these weirs are approximate and have not been rigorously evaluated for overall effectiveness at low-, medium- and high flows. This initial step of the study attempted to describe the hydrodynamics around the weirs and the influence of the hydrodynamic patterns on sediment transport (near-field and far-field). To do that, a state-of-the-art three-dimensional CFD model was used to simulate flow through meander bends where 3D velocity measurements have been obtained to validate model predictions at low stages. Results indicate that the weirs produce highly complex patterns of flow around the weirs, which in some cases may actually increase erosional potential near the outer bank. These two case studies represent components of an emerging initiative to develop predictive tools for naturalization over a range of spatial and temporal scales

Galerkin projection for geometrically-exact multilayer beams allowing for ply drop-off

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

Vu-Quoc, L.; Deng, H.

1995-12-31

Focusing on the static case in the present work, we develop a Galerkin projection of the resulting nonlinear governing equations of equilibrium for geometrically exact sandwich beams and 1-D plates developed. In the proposed theory, each layer in the beam can have different thickness and length. As such one can use the present formulation to model an important class of multilayer structures having ply drop-off. No restriction is imposed on the magnitude of the displacement field, whose continuity across the layer interfaces is exactly enforced. The layer cross section in the deformed beam is assumed to remain straight, but notmore » orthogonal to the layer centroidal line, thus shear deformation in each layer is accounted for. Also no restriction is imposed on the rotation of a layer cross section. It follows that the overall cross section in the deformed beam is continuous piecewise linear, and can be best thought of as a chain of rigid links, connected by hinges. The overall deformation of a multilayer beam can be described by the deformation of a reference layer. The unknown kinematic quantities are therefore the two displacement components of the deformed centroidal line of a reference layer, and the finite rotations of the layers. The present theory can be used to analyze large deformation in sandwich beams. Numerical examples, such as roll-up maneuver and sandwich beam with ply drop-off, which underline the salient features of the formulation are presented. Saint-Venant principle is demonstrated for very short sandwich beams. The readers are referred to the paper for detail.« less

Certification of a reference material for determination of total cyanide in soil to support implementation of the International Standard ISO 11262:2011.

PubMed

Scharf, Holger; Bremser, Wolfram

2015-04-01

Cyanides are among the most important inorganic pollutants to be tested and monitored in environmental compartments. They can be distinguished and determined as free cyanide, weak acid dissociable cyanide or as total cyanide. However, in any case obtained, measurement results are operationally defined referring to the applied analytical method. In 2011, the International Standard ISO 11262 has been published which specifies a normative analytical method for the determination of total cyanide in soil. The objective of the project described in this paper was to provide the first soil reference material (CRM) certified for its mass fraction of total cyanide on the basis of this standard. A total of 12 German laboratories with proven experience in the determination of cyanides in environmental samples participated in the certification study. Measurement results were evaluated in full compliance with the requirements of ISO Guide 35. Taking into account the results of the inter-laboratory comparison as well as the outcome of the homogeneity and stability studies, a certified mass fraction of total cyanide of 21.1 mg/kg and an expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of 1.3 mg/kg were assigned to the material. The reference material has been issued as CRM BAM-U114.

Regulatory and cost barriers are likely to limit biosimilar development and expected savings in the near future.

PubMed

Grabowski, Henry G; Guha, Rahul; Salgado, Maria

2014-06-01

In March 2010 Congress established an abbreviated Food and Drug Administration approval pathway for biosimilars-drugs that are very similar but not identical to a reference biological product and cost less. Because bringing biosimilars to the market currently requires large investments of money, fewer biosimilars are expected to enter the biologics market than has been the case with generic drugs entering the small-molecule drug market. Additionally, given the high regulatory hurdles to obtaining interchangeability-which would allow pharmacists to substitute a biosimilar for its reference product, subject to evolving state substitution laws-most biosimilars will likely compete as therapeutic alternatives instead of as therapeutic equivalents. In other words, biosimilars will need to compete with their reference product on the basis of quality; price; and manufacturer's reputation with physicians, insurers, and patient groups. Biosimilars also will face dynamic competition from new biologics in the same therapeutic class-including "biobetters," which offer incremental improvements on reference products, such as extended duration of action. The prospects for significant cost savings from the use of biosimilars appear to be limited for the next several years, but their use should increase over time because of both demand- and supply-side factors. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Variation in practice: an analysis of Scottish Surgical Profiles ENT data.

PubMed

Yeo, J C L; Ah-See, K W; Mackenzie, K

2013-02-01

Variation in otolaryngology intervention rates is reported in the Scottish Surgical Profiles Project. Tonsillectomy is one of the selected key indicator procedures. The variation in practice was discussed nationally at the Scottish Otolaryngology Society summer meetings in 2009 and 2010. NHS Grampian had a significantly higher tonsillectomy rate compared with other Scottish NHS boards. To determine the accuracy of NHS Grampian data reported by the Information Service Division (ISD) and to record the appropriateness of listing of patients for tonsillectomy with reference to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN). Retrospective review of case notes and surgical records of patients who had undergone tonsillectomy between March 2007 and March 2008 in NHS Grampian. Between March 2007 and March 2008, 509 tonsillectomy cases were performed in NHS Grampian. This corresponded to the data received from ISD. 87% of tonsillectomies performed were compliant with SIGN guidelines. The Scottish otolaryngology clinicians have found the reporting of the intervention rates stimulating and challenging. Discussion of the surgical profile project regularly at national specialty meetings resulted in a preliminary detailed targeted audit of those who were persistent outliers for tonsillectomy. This refuted the presumed reasons for this variation, namely inaccurate figures from ISD and inappropriate listings by clinicians.

Apocrine cystadenoma and apocrine hidrocystoma: examination of 21 cases with emphasis on nomenclature according to proliferative features.

PubMed

Sugiyama, Akiko; Sugiura, Mitsuhiro; Piris, Adriano; Tomita, Yasushi; Mihm, Martin C

2007-12-01

Apocrine cystadenoma (AC) and apocrine hidrocystoma (AH) have been used interchangeably in the literature to designate cystic lesions of apocrine glands. We reviewed 21 cases with biopsies of apocrine cystic lesions diagnosed as AH or AC stained by hematoxylin and eosin. The following histological characteristics were recorded: (a) number of cysts, (b) predominant architectural growth pattern of cyst wall, (c) tumor circumscription, (d) nuclear atypia, (e) mitotic activity, counted per 1 mm2 and (f) Ki-67 staining pattern. Our findings clearly show that there is a non-proliferative group and a proliferative group among the lesions. In the non-proliferative group, one may see some structures that resemble papillary projections but lack a fibrous core. In the proliferative group, we found true papillae, and this change was associated with atypia, mitotic activity and increased Ki-67 staining. Apocrine cystic lesions with true papillary projections should be referred to as AC rather than AH, to emphasize the proliferative adenomatous growth and depicted by their frequency of cytological atypia and high mitotic activity. Furthermore, we suggest complete excision of AC that are proliferative tumors.

Casimage project: a digital teaching files authoring environment.

PubMed

Rosset, Antoine; Muller, Henning; Martins, Martina; Dfouni, Natalia; Vallée, Jean-Paul; Ratib, Osman

2004-04-01

The goal of the Casimage project is to offer an authoring and editing environment integrated with the Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) for creating image-based electronic teaching files. This software is based on a client/server architecture allowing remote access of users to a central database. This authoring environment allows radiologists to create reference databases and collection of digital images for teaching and research directly from clinical cases being reviewed on PACS diagnostic workstations. The environment includes all tools to create teaching files, including textual description, annotations, and image manipulation. The software also allows users to generate stand-alone CD-ROMs and web-based teaching files to easily share their collections. The system includes a web server compatible with the Medical Imaging Resource Center standard (MIRC, http://mirc.rsna.org) to easily integrate collections in the RSNA web network dedicated to teaching files. This software could be installed on any PACS workstation to allow users to add new cases at any time and anywhere during clinical operations. Several images collections were created with this tool, including thoracic imaging that was subsequently made available on a CD-Rom and on our web site and through the MIRC network for public access.

Lunar lander ground support system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This year's project, like the previous Aerospace Group's project, involves a lunar transportation system. The basic time line will be the years 2010-2030 and will be referred to as a second generation system, as lunar bases would be present. The project design completed this year is referred to as the Lunar Lander Ground Support System (LLGSS). The area chosen for analysis encompasses a great number of vehicles and personnel. The design of certain elements of the overall lunar mission are complete projects in themselves. For this reason the project chosen for the Senior Aerospace Design is the design of specific servicing vehicles and additions or modifications to existing vehicles for the area of concern involving servicing and maintenance of the lunar lander while on the surface.

An Overview of the Smart Sensor Inter-Agency Reference Testbench (SSIART)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond S.; Braham, Stephen P.; Dufour, Jean-Francois; Barton, Richard J.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present an overview of a proposed collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), which is designed to facilitate the introduction of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) radios for smart-sensing applications into international spaceflight programs and projects. The proposed work will produce test hardware reference designs, test software reference architectures and example implementations, test plans in reference test environments, and test results, all of which will be shared between the agencies and documented for future use by mission planners. The proposed collaborative structure together with all of the anticipated tools and results produced under the effort is collectively referred to as the Smart Sensor Inter-agency Reference Testbench or SSIART. It is intended to provide guidance in technology selection and in increasing the related readiness levels of projects and missions as well as the space industry.

The Planteome database: an integrated resource for reference ontologies, plant genomics and phenomics

PubMed Central

Cooper, Laurel; Meier, Austin; Laporte, Marie-Angélique; Elser, Justin L; Mungall, Chris; Sinn, Brandon T; Cavaliere, Dario; Carbon, Seth; Dunn, Nathan A; Smith, Barry; Qu, Botong; Preece, Justin; Zhang, Eugene; Todorovic, Sinisa; Gkoutos, Georgios; Doonan, John H; Stevenson, Dennis W; Arnaud, Elizabeth

2018-01-01

Abstract The Planteome project (http://www.planteome.org) provides a suite of reference and species-specific ontologies for plants and annotations to genes and phenotypes. Ontologies serve as common standards for semantic integration of a large and growing corpus of plant genomics, phenomics and genetics data. The reference ontologies include the Plant Ontology, Plant Trait Ontology and the Plant Experimental Conditions Ontology developed by the Planteome project, along with the Gene Ontology, Chemical Entities of Biological Interest, Phenotype and Attribute Ontology, and others. The project also provides access to species-specific Crop Ontologies developed by various plant breeding and research communities from around the world. We provide integrated data on plant traits, phenotypes, and gene function and expression from 95 plant taxa, annotated with reference ontology terms. The Planteome project is developing a plant gene annotation platform; Planteome Noctua, to facilitate community engagement. All the Planteome ontologies are publicly available and are maintained at the Planteome GitHub site (https://github.com/Planteome) for sharing, tracking revisions and new requests. The annotated data are freely accessible from the ontology browser (http://browser.planteome.org/amigo) and our data repository. PMID:29186578

SANDS: A Service-Oriented Architecture for Clinical Decision Support in a National Health Information Network

PubMed Central

Wright, Adam; Sittig, Dean F.

2008-01-01

In this paper we describe and evaluate a new distributed architecture for clinical decision support called SANDS (Service-oriented Architecture for NHIN Decision Support), which leverages current health information exchange efforts and is based on the principles of a service-oriented architecture. The architecture allows disparate clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems to be seamlessly integrated over a network according to a set of interfaces and protocols described in this paper. The architecture described is fully defined and developed, and six use cases have been developed and tested using a prototype electronic health record which links to one of the existing prototype National Health Information Networks (NHIN): drug interaction checking, syndromic surveillance, diagnostic decision support, inappropriate prescribing in older adults, information at the point of care and a simple personal health record. Some of these use cases utilize existing decision support systems, which are either commercially or freely available at present, and developed outside of the SANDS project, while other use cases are based on decision support systems developed specifically for the project. Open source code for many of these components is available, and an open source reference parser is also available for comparison and testing of other clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems that wish to implement the SANDS architecture. PMID:18434256

101 Computer Projects for Libraries. 101 Micro Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewey, Patrick R.

The projects collected in this book represent a wide cross section of the way microcomputers are used in libraries. Each project description includes organization and contact information, hardware and software used, cost and project length estimates, and Web or print references when available. Projects come from academic and public libraries,…

TAFE Projects in Progress. No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skott, Diana, Comp.

1982-01-01

This publication contains a listing of educational research and development projects currently in progress in Australia, which is the first of a planned twice-yearly listing of projects in progress. Projects are listed by territories and are indexed by author and by subject. Information supplied for each project includes a reference number,…

The African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurdasani, Deepti; Carstensen, Tommy; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Pagani, Luca; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos; Karthikeyan, Savita; Iles, Louise; Pollard, Martin O.; Choudhury, Ananyo; Ritchie, Graham R. S.; Xue, Yali; Asimit, Jennifer; Nsubuga, Rebecca N.; Young, Elizabeth H.; Pomilla, Cristina; Kivinen, Katja; Rockett, Kirk; Kamali, Anatoli; Doumatey, Ayo P.; Asiki, Gershim; Seeley, Janet; Sisay-Joof, Fatoumatta; Jallow, Muminatou; Tollman, Stephen; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Bradman, Neil; Bojang, Kalifa; Ramsay, Michele; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Bekele, Endashaw; Motala, Ayesha; Norris, Shane A.; Pirie, Fraser; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Rotimi, Charles; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Sandhu, Manjinder S.

2015-01-01

Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterization of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project provides a resource with which to design, implement and interpret genomic studies in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. The African Genome Variation Project represents dense genotypes from 1,481 individuals and whole-genome sequences from 320 individuals across sub-Saharan Africa. Using this resource, we find novel evidence of complex, regionally distinct hunter-gatherer and Eurasian admixture across sub-Saharan Africa. We identify new loci under selection, including loci related to malaria susceptibility and hypertension. We show that modern imputation panels (sets of reference genotypes from which unobserved or missing genotypes in study sets can be inferred) can identify association signals at highly differentiated loci across populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Using whole-genome sequencing, we demonstrate further improvements in imputation accuracy, strengthening the case for large-scale sequencing efforts of diverse African haplotypes. Finally, we present an efficient genotype array design capturing common genetic variation in Africa.

The African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa.

PubMed

Gurdasani, Deepti; Carstensen, Tommy; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Pagani, Luca; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos; Karthikeyan, Savita; Iles, Louise; Pollard, Martin O; Choudhury, Ananyo; Ritchie, Graham R S; Xue, Yali; Asimit, Jennifer; Nsubuga, Rebecca N; Young, Elizabeth H; Pomilla, Cristina; Kivinen, Katja; Rockett, Kirk; Kamali, Anatoli; Doumatey, Ayo P; Asiki, Gershim; Seeley, Janet; Sisay-Joof, Fatoumatta; Jallow, Muminatou; Tollman, Stephen; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Bradman, Neil; Bojang, Kalifa; Ramsay, Michele; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Bekele, Endashaw; Motala, Ayesha; Norris, Shane A; Pirie, Fraser; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Rotimi, Charles; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Sandhu, Manjinder S

2015-01-15

Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterization of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project provides a resource with which to design, implement and interpret genomic studies in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. The African Genome Variation Project represents dense genotypes from 1,481 individuals and whole-genome sequences from 320 individuals across sub-Saharan Africa. Using this resource, we find novel evidence of complex, regionally distinct hunter-gatherer and Eurasian admixture across sub-Saharan Africa. We identify new loci under selection, including loci related to malaria susceptibility and hypertension. We show that modern imputation panels (sets of reference genotypes from which unobserved or missing genotypes in study sets can be inferred) can identify association signals at highly differentiated loci across populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Using whole-genome sequencing, we demonstrate further improvements in imputation accuracy, strengthening the case for large-scale sequencing efforts of diverse African haplotypes. Finally, we present an efficient genotype array design capturing common genetic variation in Africa.

Interactive bibliographical database on color

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caivano, Jose L.

2002-06-01

The paper describes the methodology and results of a project under development, aimed at the elaboration of an interactive bibliographical database on color in all fields of application: philosophy, psychology, semiotics, education, anthropology, physical and natural sciences, biology, medicine, technology, industry, architecture and design, arts, linguistics, geography, history. The project is initially based upon an already developed bibliography, published in different journals, updated in various opportunities, and now available at the Internet, with more than 2,000 entries. The interactive database will amplify that bibliography, incorporating hyperlinks and contents (indexes, abstracts, keywords, introductions, or eventually the complete document), and devising mechanisms for information retrieval. The sources to be included are: books, doctoral dissertations, multimedia publications, reference works. The main arrangement will be chronological, but the design of the database will allow rearrangements or selections by different fields: subject, Decimal Classification System, author, language, country, publisher, etc. A further project is to develop another database, including color-specialized journals or newsletters, and articles on color published in international journals, arranged in this case by journal name and date of publication, but allowing also rearrangements or selections by author, subject and keywords.

Epidemiology of Cranial Cruciate Ligament Disease Diagnosis in Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England.

PubMed

Taylor-Brown, Frances E; Meeson, Richard L; Brodbelt, Dave C; Church, David B; McGreevy, Paul D; Thomson, Peter C; O'Neill, Dan G

2015-08-01

To estimate the prevalence and risk factors for a diagnosis of cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease in dogs and to describe the management of such cases attending primary-care veterinary practices. Historical cohort with a nested case-control study. Nine hundred and fifty-three dogs diagnosed with CCL disease from 171,522 dogs attending 97 primary-care practices in England. Medical records of dogs attending practices participating in the VetCompass project that met selection criteria were assessed. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used to evaluate association of possible risk factors with diagnosis of CCL disease. The prevalence of CCL disease diagnosis was estimated at 0.56% (95% confidence interval 0.52-0.59). Compared with crossbred dogs, Rottweilers, West Highland White Terriers, Golden Retrievers, Yorkshire Terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers showed increased odds of CCL disease diagnosis while Cocker Spaniels showed reduced odds. Increasing bodyweight within breeds was associated with increased odds of diagnosis. Dogs aged over 3 years had increased odds of diagnosis compared with dogs aged less than 3 years. Neutered females had 2.1 times the odds of diagnosis compared with entire females. Insured dogs had 4 times the odds of diagnosis compared with uninsured dogs. Two-thirds of cases were managed surgically, with insured and heavier dogs more frequently undergoing surgery. Overall, 21% of cases were referred, with referral more frequent in heavier and insured dogs. Referred dogs more frequently had surgery and an osteotomy procedure. Breed predispositions and demographic factors associated with diagnosis and case management of CCL disease in dogs identified in this study can be used to help direct future research and management strategies. © Copyright 2015 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Refinement of Methods for Evaluation of Near-Hypersingular Integrals in BEM Formulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fink, Patricia W.; Khayat, Michael A.; Wilton, Donald R.

2006-01-01

In this paper, we present advances in singularity cancellation techniques applied to integrals in BEM formulations that are nearly hypersingular. Significant advances have been made recently in singularity cancellation techniques applied to 1 R type kernels [M. Khayat, D. Wilton, IEEE Trans. Antennas and Prop., 53, pp. 3180-3190, 2005], as well as to the gradients of these kernels [P. Fink, D. Wilton, and M. Khayat, Proc. ICEAA, pp. 861-864, Torino, Italy, 2005] on curved subdomains. In these approaches, the source triangle is divided into three tangent subtriangles with a common vertex at the normal projection of the observation point onto the source element or the extended surface containing it. The geometry of a typical tangent subtriangle and its local rectangular coordinate system with origin at the projected observation point is shown in Fig. 1. Whereas singularity cancellation techniques for 1 R type kernels are now nearing maturity, the efficient handling of near-hypersingular kernels still needs attention. For example, in the gradient reference above, techniques are presented for computing the normal component of the gradient relative to the plane containing the tangent subtriangle. These techniques, summarized in the transformations in Table 1, are applied at the sub-triangle level and correspond particularly to the case in which the normal projection of the observation point lies within the boundary of the source element. They are found to be highly efficient as z approaches zero. Here, we extend the approach to cover two instances not previously addressed. First, we consider the case in which the normal projection of the observation point lies external to the source element. For such cases, we find that simple modifications to the transformations of Table 1 permit significant savings in computational cost. Second, we present techniques that permit accurate computation of the tangential components of the gradient; i.e., tangent to the plane containing the source element.

The codesign of an interdisciplinary team-based intervention regarding initiating palliative care in pediatric oncology.

PubMed

Hill, Douglas L; Walter, Jennifer K; Casas, Jessica A; DiDomenico, Concetta; Szymczak, Julia E; Feudtner, Chris

2018-04-07

Children with advanced cancer are often not referred to palliative or hospice care before they die or are only referred close to the child's death. The goals of the current project were to learn about pediatric oncology team members' perspectives on palliative care, to collaborate with team members to modify and tailor three separate interdisciplinary team-based interventions regarding initiating palliative care, and to assess the feasibility of this collaborative approach. We used a modified version of experience-based codesign (EBCD) involving members of the pediatric palliative care team and three interdisciplinary pediatric oncology teams (Bone Marrow Transplant, Neuro-Oncology, and Solid Tumor) to review and tailor materials for three team-based interventions. Eleven pediatric oncology team members participated in four codesign sessions to discuss their experiences with initiating palliative care and to review the proposed intervention including patient case studies, techniques for managing uncertainty and negative emotions, role ambiguity, system-level barriers, and team communication and collaboration. The codesign process showed that the participants were strong supporters of palliative care, members of different teams had preferences for different materials that would be appropriate for their teams, and that while participants reported frustration with timing of palliative care, they had difficulty suggesting how to change current practices. The current project demonstrated the feasibility of collaborating with pediatric oncology clinicians to develop interventions about introducing palliative care. The procedures and results of this project will be posted online so that other institutions can use them as a model for developing similar interventions appropriate for their needs.

Assimilation of satellite altimetry data in hydrological models for improved inland surface water information: Case studies from the "Sentinel-3 Hydrologic Altimetry Processor prototypE" project (SHAPE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gustafsson, David; Pimentel, Rafael; Fabry, Pierre; Bercher, Nicolas; Roca, Mónica; Garcia-Mondejar, Albert; Fernandes, Joana; Lázaro, Clara; Ambrózio, Américo; Restano, Marco; Benveniste, Jérôme

2017-04-01

This communication is about the Sentinel-3 Hydrologic Altimetry Processor prototypE (SHAPE) project, with a focus on the components dealing with assimilation of satellite altimetry data into hydrological models. The SHAPE research and development project started in September 2015, within the Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM) programme of the European Space Agency. The objectives of the project are to further develop and assess recent improvement in altimetry data, processing algorithms and methods for assimilation in hydrological models, with the overarching goal to support improved scientific use of altimetry data and improved inland water information. The objective is also to take scientific steps towards a future Inland Water dedicated processor on the Sentinel-3 ground segment. The study focuses on three main variables of interest in hydrology: river stage, river discharge and lake level. The improved altimetry data from the project is used to estimate river stage, river discharge and lake level information in a data assimilation framework using the hydrological dynamic and semi-distributed model HYPE (Hydrological Predictions for the Environment). This model has been developed by SMHI and includes data assimilation module based on the Ensemble Kalman filter method. The method will be developed and assessed for a number of case studies with available in situ reference data and satellite altimetry data based on mainly the CryoSat-2 mission on which the new processor will be run; Results will be presented from case studies on the Amazon and Danube rivers and Lake Vänern (Sweden). The production of alti-hydro products (water level time series) are improved thanks to the use of water masks. This eases the geo-selection of the CryoSat-2 altimetric measurements since there are acquired from a geodetic orbit and are thus spread along the river course in space and and time. The specific processing of data from this geodetic orbit space-time pattern will be discussed as well as the subsequent possible strategies for data assimilation into models (and eventually highlight a generalized approach toward multi-mission data processing). Notably, in case of data assimilation along the course of rivers, the river slope might be estimated and compensated for, in order to produce local water level "pseudo time series" at arbitrary locations, and specifically at model's inlets.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Ascites Fluid Gross Appearance in Detection of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis

PubMed Central

Aminiahidashti, Hamed; Hosseininejad, Seyed Mohammad; Montazer, Hosein; Bozorgi, Farzad; Goli Khatir, Iraj; Jahanian, Fateme; Raee, Behnaz

2014-01-01

Introduction: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) as a monomicrobial infection of ascites fluid is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in cirrhotic patients. This study was aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of ascites fluid color in detection of SBP in cirrhotic cases referred to the emergency department. Methods: Cirrhotic patients referred to the ED for the paracentesis of ascites fluid were enrolled. For all studied patients, the results of laboratory analysis and gross appearance of ascites fluid registered and reviewed by two emergency medicine specialists. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and positive and negative likelihood ration of the ascites fluid gross appearance in detection of SBP were measured with 95% confidence interval. Results: The present project was performed in 80 cirrhotic patients with ascites (52.5 female). The mean of the subjects’ age was 56.25±12.21 years (35-81). Laboratory findings revealed SBP in 23 (29%) cases. Fifty nine (73%) cases had transparent ascites fluid appearance of whom 17 (29%) ones suffered from SBP. From 21 (26%) cases with opaque ascites appearance, 15 (71%) had SBP. The sensitivity and specificity of the ascites fluid appearance in detection of SBP were 46.88% (Cl: 30.87-63.55) and 87.50% (95% Cl: 75.3-94.14), respectively. Conclusion: It seems that the gross appearance of ascites fluid had poor diagnostic accuracy in detection of SBP and considering its low sensitivity, it could not be used as a good screening tool for this propose. PMID:26495366

A controlled trial of implementing a complex mental health intervention for carers of vulnerable young people living in out-of-home care: the ripple project.

PubMed

Herrman, Helen; Humphreys, Cathy; Halperin, Stephen; Monson, Katherine; Harvey, Carol; Mihalopoulos, Cathrine; Cotton, Susan; Mitchell, Penelope; Glynn, Tony; Magnus, Anne; Murray, Lenice; Szwarc, Josef; Davis, Elise; Havighurst, Sophie; McGorry, Patrick; Tyano, Sam; Kaplan, Ida; Rice, Simon; Moeller-Saxone, Kristen

2016-12-07

Out-of-home care (OoHC) refers to young people removed from their families by the state because of abuse, neglect or other adversities. Many of the young people experience poor mental health and social function before, during and after leaving care. Rigorously evaluated interventions are urgently required. This publication describes the protocol for the Ripple project and notes early findings from a controlled trial demonstrating the feasibility of the work. The Ripple project is implementing and evaluating a complex mental health intervention that aims to strengthen the therapeutic capacities of carers and case managers of young people (12-17 years) in OoHC. The study is conducted in partnership with mental health, substance abuse and social services in Melbourne, with young people as participants. It has three parts: 1. Needs assessment and implementation of a complex mental health intervention; 2. A 3-year controlled trial of the mental health, social and economic outcomes; and 3. Nested process evaluation of the intervention. Early findings characterising the young people, their carers and case managers and implementing the intervention are available. The trial Wave 1 includes interviews with 176 young people, 52% of those eligible in the study population, 104 carers and 79 case managers. Implementing and researching an affordable service system intervention appears feasible and likely to be applicable in other places and countries. Success of the intervention will potentially contribute to reducing mental ill-health among these young people, including suicide attempts, self-harm and substance abuse, as well as reducing homelessness, social isolation and contact with the criminal justice system. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000501549 . Retrospectively registered 19 May 2015.

A selective screening program for the early detection of mucopolysaccharidosis: Results of the FIND project - a 2-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Colón, Cristóbal; Alvarez, J Victor; Castaño, Cristina; Gutierrez-Solana, Luís G; Marquez, Ana M; O'Callaghan, María; Sánchez-Valverde, Félix; Yeste, Carmen; Couce, María-Luz

2017-05-01

The mucopolysaccharidoses (MPSs) are underdiagnosed but they are evaluated in few newborn screening programs, probably due to the many challenges remaining, such as the identification of late-onset phenotypes. Systematic screening at the onset of clinical symptoms could help to early identify patients who may benefit from specific treatments. The aim of this prospective study was to assess a novel selective screening program, the FIND project, targeting patients aged 0 to 16 years with clinical manifestations of MPS. The project was designed to increase awareness of these diseases among pediatricians and allow early diagnosis.From July 2014 to June 2016, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) levels normalized to creatinine levels were determined in urine-impregnated analytical paper submitted by pediatricians who had patients with clinical signs and/or symptoms compatible with MPS. When high GAG concentrations were detected, a new liquid urine sample was requested to confirm and identify the GAG present. When a specific form of MPS was suspected, enzyme activity was analyzed using blood-impregnated paper to determine MPS type (I, IIIB, IIIC, IVA, IVB, VI, or VII). Age-specific reference values for GAG were previously established using 145 urine samples from healthy children.GAG levels were normal in 147 (81.7%) of the 180 initial samples received. A liquid sample was requested for the other 33 cases (18.3%); GAG levels were normal in 13 of these and slightly elevated in 12, although the electrophoresis study showed no evidence of MPS. Elevated levels with corresponding low enzymatic activity were confirmed in 8 cases. The mean time from onset of clinical symptoms to detection of MPS was 22 months, and just 2 cases were detected at the beginning of the project were detected with 35 and 71 months of evolution of clinical symptoms. Our screening strategy for MPS had a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 85%, and a positive predictive value of 24%.The FIND project is a useful and cost-effective screening method for increasing awareness of MPS among pediatricians and enabling the detection of MPS at onset of clinical symptoms.

A retrospective of the GREGOR solar telescope in scientific literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denker, C.; von der Lühe, O.; Feller, A.; Arlt, K.; Balthasar, H.; Bauer, S.-M.; Bello González, N.; Berkefeld, Th.; Caligari, P.; Collados, M.; Fischer, A.; Granzer, T.; Hahn, T.; Halbgewachs, C.; Heidecke, F.; Hofmann, A.; Kentischer, T.; Klva{ňa, M.; Kneer, F.; Lagg, A.; Nicklas, H.; Popow, E.; Puschmann, K. G.; Rendtel, J.; Schmidt, D.; Schmidt, W.; Sobotka, M.; Solanki, S. K.; Soltau, D.; Staude, J.; Strassmeier, K. G.; Volkmer, R.; Waldmann, T.; Wiehr, E.; Wittmann, A. D.; Woche, M.

2012-11-01

In this review, we look back upon the literature, which had the GREGOR solar telescope project as its subject including science cases, telescope subsystems, and post-focus instruments. The articles date back to the year 2000, when the initial concepts for a new solar telescope on Tenerife were first presented at scientific meetings. This comprehensive bibliography contains literature until the year 2012, i.e., the final stages of commissioning and science verification. Taking stock of the various publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings also provides the ``historical'' context for the reference articles in this special issue of Astronomische Nachrichten/Astronomical Notes.

Problem-based learning in the NICU.

PubMed

Pilcher, Jobeth

2014-01-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational strategy that provides learners with the opportunity to investigate and solve realistic problem situations. It is also referred to as project-based learning or work-based learning. PBL combines several learning strategies including the use of case studies coupled with collaborative, facilitated, and self-directed learning. Research has demonstrated that use of PBL can result in learners having improved problem-solving skills, increased breadth and analysis of complex data, higher-level thinking skills, and improved collaboration. This article will include background information and a description of PBL, followed by examples of how this strategy can be used for learning in neonatal settings.

The SERENITY Runtime Monitoring Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spanoudakis, George; Kloukinas, Christos; Mahbub, Khaled

This chapter describes SERENITY’s approach to runtime monitoring and the framework that has been developed to support it. Runtime monitoring is required in SERENITY in order to check for violations of security and dependability properties which are necessary for the correct operation of the security and dependability solutions that are available from the SERENITY framework. This chapter discusses how such properties are specified and monitored. The chapter focuses on the activation and execution of monitoring activities using S&D Patterns and the actions that may be undertaken following the detection of property violations. The approach is demonstrated in reference to one of the industrial case studies of the SERENITY project.

Sample size of the reference sample in a case-augmented study.

PubMed

Ghosh, Palash; Dewanji, Anup

2017-05-01

The case-augmented study, in which a case sample is augmented with a reference (random) sample from the source population with only covariates information known, is becoming popular in different areas of applied science such as pharmacovigilance, ecology, and econometrics. In general, the case sample is available from some source (for example, hospital database, case registry, etc.); however, the reference sample is required to be drawn from the corresponding source population. The required minimum size of the reference sample is an important issue in this regard. In this work, we address the minimum sample size calculation and discuss related issues. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Here, There, and Everywhere: Reference at the Point-of-Need.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trump, Judith F.; Tuttle, Ian P.

2001-01-01

Growing numbers of libraries are experimenting with a new form of interactive reference to extend service to their patrons at the point-of-need and time-of-need. Examines digital reference for the altered user culture and point-of-need service products. Describes a pilot project offering chat reference service. Discuses developing service…

Moving Reference to the Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGlamery, Susan; Coffman, Steve

2000-01-01

Explores the possibility of using Web contact center software to offer reference assistance to remote users. Discusses a project by the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System/Santiago Library System consortium to test contact center software and to develop a virtual reference network. (Author/LRW)

GridAPPS-D Conceptual Design v1.0

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

Melton, Ronald B.; Schneider, Kevin P.; McDermott, Thomas E.

2017-05-31

The purpose of this document is to provide a conceptual design of the distribution system application development platform being developed for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) Program by the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium project GM0063. The platform will be referred to as GridAPPS-D. This document provides a high level, conceptual view of the platform and provides related background and contextual information. This document is intended to both educate readers about the technical work of the project and to serve as a point of reference for the project team. The document will be updated as themore » project progresses.« less

Isocyanate exposure and occupational asthma: a case-referent study

PubMed Central

Meredith, S; Bugler, J; Clark, R

2000-01-01

OBJECTIVE—To examine the quantitative relation between exposure to isocyanates and occupational asthma, and to explore the role of atopy and smoking in occurrence of the disease.
METHOD—A case-referent study was undertaken of cases from two manufacturing companies (A and B) from which referents without disease could be selected and reliable exposure measurements were available. In company A, 27 cases mainly attributed to toluene diisocyanate (TDI) were matched to 51 referents on work area, start and duration of employment, sex, and age. Exposures were estimated from existing measurements by job category. In company B there were seven cases attributed to 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) in two areas of the plant; 12 non-cases from the same areas were used as referents. Personal exposure measurements were available for all cases and 11 referents.
RESULTS—No difference in peak exposures between cases and referents was found in either plant; but in both, time weighted average (TWA) exposures at the time of onset of asthma were higher for cases. In A, the mean TWA exposure for cases was 1.5 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.2 to 1.8) ppb compared with 1.2 (1.0 to 1.4) ppb for referents. From a matched analysis, the odds ratio (OR) associated with 8 hour TWA exposure to isocyanates greater than 1.125 ppb (the median concentration for the referent group) was 3.2 (95% CI 0.96 to 10.6; p=0.06). Occupational asthma was associated with a pre-employment history of atopic illness (OR 3.5, p=0.04) and, less strongly, with smoking (OR 2.1, p=0.14). In B, small numbers limited analysis, but three of seven cases had at least one TWA exposure measurement greater than 5 ppb compared with one of 11 referents (OR 7.5, p=0.09).
CONCLUSION—Asthma can occur at low concentrations of isocyanates, but even at low concentrations, the higher the exposure the greater the risk. By contrast with other studies, smoking and atopy seemed to increase the odds of occupational asthma due to isocyanates, but did not affect the estimate of risk associated with exposure.


Keywords: occupational asthma; isocyanates PMID:11077012

Alignment of 1000 Genomes Project reads to reference assembly GRCh38.

PubMed

Zheng-Bradley, Xiangqun; Streeter, Ian; Fairley, Susan; Richardson, David; Clarke, Laura; Flicek, Paul

2017-07-01

The 1000 Genomes Project produced more than 100 trillion basepairs of short read sequence from more than 2600 samples in 26 populations over a period of five years. In its final phase, the project released over 85 million genotyped and phased variants on human reference genome assembly GRCh37. An updated reference assembly, GRCh38, was released in late 2013, but there was insufficient time for the final phase of the project analysis to change to the new assembly. Although it is possible to lift the coordinates of the 1000 Genomes Project variants to the new assembly, this is a potentially error-prone process as coordinate remapping is most appropriate only for non-repetitive regions of the genome and those that did not see significant change between the two assemblies. It will also miss variants in any region that was newly added to GRCh38. Thus, to produce the highest quality variants and genotypes on GRCh38, the best strategy is to realign the reads and recall the variants based on the new alignment. As the first step of variant calling for the 1000 Genomes Project data, we have finished remapping all of the 1000 Genomes sequence reads to GRCh38 with alternative scaffold-aware BWA-MEM. The resulting alignments are available as CRAM, a reference-based sequence compression format. The data have been released on our FTP site and are also available from European Nucleotide Archive to facilitate researchers discovering variants on the primary sequences and alternative contigs of GRCh38. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Criminal Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse: A Comparison of Cases Referred to the Prosecutor to Those Not Referred.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroud, Delores D.; Martens, Sonja L.; Barker, Julia

2000-01-01

This study compared characteristics of child sexual abuse cases either referred for criminal prosecution (N=587) or dropped (N=456) by investigators. Differences were found between groups in relation to child characteristics (age, sex, and ethnicity), offender characteristics (age, sex, and relationship to child), and case characteristics…

Citation patterns of a controversial and high-impact paper: Worm et al. (2006) "Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services".

PubMed

Branch, Trevor A

2013-01-01

Citation patterns were examined for Worm et al. 2006 (Science 314:787-790), a high-impact paper that focused on relationships between marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper sparked much controversy through its projection, highlighted in the press release, that all marine fisheries would be collapsed by 2048. Analysis of 664 citing papers revealed that only a small percentage (11%) referred to the 2048 projection, while 39% referred to fisheries collapse in general, and 40% to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The 2048 projection was mentioned more often in papers published soon after the original paper, in low-impact journals, and in journals outside of fields that would be expected to focus on biodiversity. Citing papers also mentioned the 2048 projection more often if they had few authors (28% of single-author papers vs. 2% of papers with 10 or more authors). These factors suggest that the more knowledgeable the authors of citing papers were about the controversy over the 2048 projection, the less likely they were to refer to it. A noteworthy finding was that if the original authors were also involved in the citing papers, they rarely (1 of 55 papers, 2%) mentioned the 2048 projection. Thus the original authors have emphasized the broader concerns about biodiversity loss, rather than the 2048 projection, as the key result of their study.

Beyond Portfolios: Looking at Students' Projects as Teaching and Evaluation Devices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sokolik, Maggi; Tillyer, Anthea

1992-01-01

Based on classroom experience, this article discusses the advantages of research project writing rather than "portfolio" writing. Projects are more focused and can prepare students for study in their field. (eight references) (KM)

Prototype development and demonstration for integrated dynamic transit operations.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

This document serves as the Final Report specific to the Integrated Dynamic Transit Operations (IDTO) Prototype Development and Deployment Project, hereafter referred to as IDTO Prototype Deployment or IDTO PD project. This project was performed unde...

Forest loss in New England: A projection of recent trends

PubMed Central

Thompson, Jonathan R.; Plisinski, Joshua S.; Olofsson, Pontus; Holden, Christopher E.; Duveneck, Matthew J.

2017-01-01

New England has lost more than 350,000 ha of forest cover since 1985, marking a reversal of a two-hundred-year trend of forest expansion. We a cellular land-cover change model to project a continuation of recent trends (1990–2010) in forest loss across six New England states from 2010 to 2060. Recent trends were estimated using a continuous change detection algorithm applied to twenty years of Landsat images. We addressed three questions: (1) What would be the consequences of a continuation of the recent trends in terms of changes to New England's forest cover mosaic? (2) What social and biophysical attributes are most strongly associated with recent trends in forest loss, and how do these vary geographically? (3) How sensitive are projections of forest loss to the reference period—i.e. how do projections based on the period spanning 1990-to-2000 differ from 2000-to-2010, or from the full period, 1990-to-2010? Over the full reference period, 8201 ha yr-1 and 468 ha yr-1 of forest were lost to low- and high-density development, respectively. Forest loss was concentrated in suburban areas, particularly near Boston. Of the variables considered, 'distance to developed land' was the strongest predictor of forest loss. The next most important predictor varied geographically: 'distance to roads' ranked second in the more developed regions in the south and 'population density' ranked second in the less developed north. The importance and geographical variation in predictor variables were relatively stable between reference periods. In contrast, there was 55% more forest loss during the 1990-to-2000 reference period compared to the 2000-to-2010 period, highlighting the importance of understanding the variation in reference periods when projecting land cover change. The projection of recent trends is an important baseline scenario with implications for the management of forest ecosystems and the services they provide. PMID:29240810

Forest loss in New England: A projection of recent trends.

PubMed

Thompson, Jonathan R; Plisinski, Joshua S; Olofsson, Pontus; Holden, Christopher E; Duveneck, Matthew J

2017-01-01

New England has lost more than 350,000 ha of forest cover since 1985, marking a reversal of a two-hundred-year trend of forest expansion. We a cellular land-cover change model to project a continuation of recent trends (1990-2010) in forest loss across six New England states from 2010 to 2060. Recent trends were estimated using a continuous change detection algorithm applied to twenty years of Landsat images. We addressed three questions: (1) What would be the consequences of a continuation of the recent trends in terms of changes to New England's forest cover mosaic? (2) What social and biophysical attributes are most strongly associated with recent trends in forest loss, and how do these vary geographically? (3) How sensitive are projections of forest loss to the reference period-i.e. how do projections based on the period spanning 1990-to-2000 differ from 2000-to-2010, or from the full period, 1990-to-2010? Over the full reference period, 8201 ha yr-1 and 468 ha yr-1 of forest were lost to low- and high-density development, respectively. Forest loss was concentrated in suburban areas, particularly near Boston. Of the variables considered, 'distance to developed land' was the strongest predictor of forest loss. The next most important predictor varied geographically: 'distance to roads' ranked second in the more developed regions in the south and 'population density' ranked second in the less developed north. The importance and geographical variation in predictor variables were relatively stable between reference periods. In contrast, there was 55% more forest loss during the 1990-to-2000 reference period compared to the 2000-to-2010 period, highlighting the importance of understanding the variation in reference periods when projecting land cover change. The projection of recent trends is an important baseline scenario with implications for the management of forest ecosystems and the services they provide.

Criminal investigation of child sexual abuse: a comparison of cases referred to the prosecutor to those not referred.

PubMed

Stroud, D D; Martens, S L; Barker, J

2000-05-01

The present study sought to identify characteristics of child sexual abuse cases which differentiate cases referred for criminal prosecution ("criminal-action") from those not referred ("dropped") by investigators. The study sample consisted of 1043 children who completed a forensic interview for sexual abuse that allegedly occurred at the hands of an adult between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 1996 in Bernalillo County of New Mexico. Data was systematically obtained from forensic interview files and offender records at the local prosecutor's office. Differences between criminal-action and dropped cases were found in relation to the children (age, sex and ethnicity), the alleged offenders (age, sex and relationship to child), and the case characteristics (disclosure and injury to the child). The present study provided insight into the characteristics of a previously ignored population (reported child sexual abuse cases that are not referred for prosecution). Recommendations are made to address the needs of these children and their families.

Effect of Transitioning from Standard Reference Material 2806a to Standard Reference Material 2806b for Light Obscuration Particle Countering

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

Reference Material 2806b for Light Obscuration Particle Countering April 2016 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Joel Schmitigal 27809 Standard Form 298 (Rev...Standard Reference Material 2806b for Light Obscuration Particle Countering 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...Reference Material 2806a to Standard Reference Material 2806b for Light Obscuration Particle Countering Joel Schmitigal Force Projection

Effect of defuzzification method of fuzzy modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapohos, Tibor; Buchal, Ralph O.

1994-10-01

Imprecision can arise in fuzzy relational modeling as a result of fuzzification, inference and defuzzification. These three sources of imprecision are difficult to separate. We have determined through numerical studies that an important source of imprecision is the defuzzification stage. This imprecision adversely affects the quality of the model output. The most widely used defuzzification algorithm is known by the name of `center of area' (COA) or `center of gravity' (COG). In this paper, we show that this algorithm not only maps the near limit values of the variables improperly but also introduces errors for middle domain values of the same variables. Furthermore, the behavior of this algorithm is a function of the shape of the reference sets. We compare the COA method to the weighted average of cluster centers (WACC) procedure in which the transformation is carried out based on the values of the cluster centers belonging to each of the reference membership functions instead of using the functions themselves. We show that this procedure is more effective and computationally much faster than the COA. The method is tested for a family of reference sets satisfying certain constraints, that is, for any support value the sum of reference membership function values equals one and the peak values of the two marginal membership functions project to the boundaries of the universe of discourse. For all the member sets of this family of reference sets the defuzzification errors do not get bigger as the linguistic variables tend to their extreme values. In addition, the more reference sets that are defined for a certain linguistic variable, the less the average defuzzification error becomes. In case of triangle shaped reference sets there is no defuzzification error at all. Finally, an alternative solution is provided that improves the performance of the COA method.

Base-Case 1% Yield Increase (BC1), All Energy Crops scenario of the 2016 Billion Ton Report

DOE Data Explorer

Davis, Maggie R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181319328); Hellwinkel, Chad [University of Tennessee] (ORCID:0000000173085058); Eaton, Laurence [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312709626); Langholtz, Matthew H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000281537154); Turhollow, Anthony [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000228159350); Brandt, Craig [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000214707379); Myers, Aaron (ORCID:0000000320373827)

2016-07-13

Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as the base-case scenario for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios to compare these projections of potential biomass supplies against a reference case (agricultural baseline 10.11578/1337885). The simulation runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used but not reported. How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: This exogenous price simulations (also referred to as “specified-price” simulations) introduces a farmgate price, and POLYSYS solves for biomass supplies that may be brought to market in response to these prices. In specified-price scenarios, a specified farmgate price is offered constantly in all counties over all years of the simulation. This simulation begins in 2015 with an offered farmgate price for primary crop residues only between 2015 and 2018 and long-term contracts for dedicated crops beginning in 2019. Expected mature energy crop yield grows at a compounding rate of 1% beginning in 2016. The yield growth assumptions are fixed after crops are planted such that yield gains do not apply to crops already planted, but new plantings do take advantage of the gains in expected yield growth. Instruments used: Policy Analysis System –POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B), an agricultural policy modeling system of U.S. agriculture (crops and livestock), supplied by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.

Utility assessment of a map-based online geo-collaboration tool.

PubMed

Sidlar, Christopher L; Rinner, Claus

2009-05-01

Spatial group decision-making processes often include both informal and analytical components. Discussions among stakeholders or planning experts are an example of an informal component. When participants discuss spatial planning projects they typically express concerns and comments by pointing to places on a map. The Argumentation Map model provides a conceptual basis for collaborative tools that enable explicit linkages of arguments to the places to which they refer. These tools allow for the input of explicitly geo-referenced arguments as well as the visual access to arguments through a map interface. In this paper, we will review previous utility studies in geo-collaboration and evaluate a case study of a Web-based Argumentation Map application. The case study was conducted in the summer of 2005 when student participants discussed planning issues on the University of Toronto St. George campus. During a one-week unmoderated discussion phase, 11 participants wrote 60 comments on issues such as safety, facilities, parking, and building aesthetics. By measuring the participants' use of geographic references, we draw conclusions on how well the software tool supported the potential of the underlying concept. This research aims to contribute to a scientific approach to geo-collaboration in which the engineering of novel spatial decision support methods is complemented by a critical assessment of their utility in controlled, realistic experiments.

Launch Condition Deviations of Reusable Launch Vehicle Simulations in Exo-Atmospheric Zoom Climbs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urschel, Peter H.; Cox, Timothy H.

2003-01-01

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has proposed a two-stage system to deliver a small payload to orbit. The proposal calls for an airplane to perform an exo-atmospheric zoom climb maneuver, from which a second-stage rocket is launched carrying the payload into orbit. The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has conducted an in-house generic simulation study to determine how accurately a human-piloted airplane can deliver a second-stage rocket to a desired exo-atmospheric launch condition. A high-performance, fighter-type, fixed-base, real-time, pilot-in-the-loop airplane simulation has been modified to perform exo-atmospheric zoom climb maneuvers. Four research pilots tracked a reference trajectory in the presence of winds, initial offsets, and degraded engine thrust to a second-stage launch condition. These launch conditions have been compared to the reference launch condition to characterize the expected deviation. At each launch condition, a speed change was applied to the second-stage rocket to insert the payload onto a transfer orbit to the desired operational orbit. The most sensitive of the test cases was the degraded thrust case, yielding second-stage launch energies that were too low to achieve the radius of the desired operational orbit. The handling qualities of the airplane, as a first-stage vehicle, have also been investigated.

Benefits of investing in ecosystem restoration.

PubMed

DE Groot, Rudolf S; Blignaut, James; VAN DER Ploeg, Sander; Aronson, James; Elmqvist, Thomas; Farley, Joshua

2013-12-01

Measures aimed at conservation or restoration of ecosystems are often seen as net-cost projects by governments and businesses because they are based on incomplete and often faulty cost-benefit analyses. After screening over 200 studies, we examined the costs (94 studies) and benefits (225 studies) of ecosystem restoration projects that had sufficient reliable data in 9 different biomes ranging from coral reefs to tropical forests. Costs included capital investment and maintenance of the restoration project, and benefits were based on the monetary value of the total bundle of ecosystem services provided by the restored ecosystem. Assuming restoration is always imperfect and benefits attain only 75% of the maximum value of the reference systems over 20 years, we calculated the net present value at the social discount rates of 2% and 8%. We also conducted 2 threshold cum sensitivity analyses. Benefit-cost ratios ranged from about 0.05:1 (coral reefs and coastal systems, worst-case scenario) to as much as 35:1 (grasslands, best-case scenario). Our results provide only partial estimates of benefits at one point in time and reflect the lower limit of the welfare benefits of ecosystem restoration because both scarcity of and demand for ecosystem services is increasing and new benefits of natural ecosystems and biological diversity are being discovered. Nonetheless, when accounting for even the incomplete range of known benefits through the use of static estimates that fail to capture rising values, the majority of the restoration projects we analyzed provided net benefits and should be considered not only as profitable but also as high-yielding investments. Beneficios de Invertir en la Restauración de Ecosistemas. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Conducting a FERC environmental assessment: a case study and recommendations from the Terror Lake Project

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

Olive, S.W.; Lamb, B.L.

This paper is an account of the process that evolved during acquisition of the license to operate the Terror Lake hydroelectric power project under the auspices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Commission is responsible for granting these licenses under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 792 et seq.). This act provides, in part, that FERC may condition a license to protect the public interest. The public interest in these cases has come to include both instream and terrestrial values. The Terror River is located on Kodiak Island in Alaska. The river is within the Kodiak National Wildlifemore » Refuge; it supports excellent runs of several species of Pacific Salmon which are both commercially important and a prime source of nutrition for the Kodiak brown bear. The river is also a prime resource for generating electric power. One major concern in the negotiations was the impact of land disturbance and management practices on brown bear habitat - i.e., protection of the brown bear. Maintenance of the bears' habitat is the main purpose of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. But, like many other projects, resolving the instream flow issue was of major importance in the issuance of the FERC license. This paper discusses the fish and wildlife questions, but concentrates on instream uses and how protection of these uses was decided. With this as a focus, the paper explains the FERC process, gives a history of the Terror Lake Project, and, ultimately, makes recommendations for improved management of controversies within the context of the FERC licensing procedures. 65 references.« less

THe Case Method of Instruction (CMI) Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McWilliam, P. J.; And Others

This final report describes the Case Method of Instruction (CMI) Project, a project to develop, field test, and disseminate training materials to facilitate the use of the Case Method of Instruction by inservice and preservice instructors in developmental disabilities. CMI project activities focused on developing a collection of case stories and…

Alternative Fuels Data Center

Science.gov Websites

Utility Company Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Load Projection Requirement The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority requires electric distribution companies to integrate EV charging load projections into the EV charging load projections for the company's distribution planning. (Reference Connecticut

In-Flight Manual Electronics Repair for Deep-Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pettegrew, Richard; Easton, John; Struk, Peter; Anderson, Eric

2007-01-01

Severe limitations on mass and volume available for spares on long-duration spaceflight missions will require electronics repair to be conducted at the component level, rather than at the sub-assembly level (referred to as Orbital Replacement Unit, or 'ORU'), as is currently the case aboard the International Space Station. Performing reliable component-level repairs in a reduced gravity environment by crew members will require careful planning, and some specialty tools and systems. Additionally, spacecraft systems must be designed to enable such repairs. This paper is an overview of a NASA project which examines all of these aspects of component level electronic repair. Results of case studies that detail how NASA, the U.S. Navy, and a commercial company currently approach electronics repair are presented, along with results of a trade study examining commercial technologies and solutions which may be used in future applications. Initial design recommendations resulting from these studies are also presented.

[Conjunctival fibrous histiocytoma simulating atipical pterygium in the Amazon region: case report].

PubMed

Carvalho, Roberto Murillo Limongi de Souza; Taleb, Alexandre; Carvalho, Giulianna Limongi de Souza; Avila, Marcos

2010-01-01

An inedited case in the Brazilian literature of conjunctival fibrous histiocytoma discovered during a wide scale community project accomplished by the team of the Center of Reference in Ophthalmology of the Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Goiás in the Amazon region is reported. A 38 year-old caucasian woman presented with a vascularized lesion on the medial portion of the bulbar conjunctiva and caruncular region of the right eye with extension for the limbus and invading about 2 mm of the medial cornea resembling a pterygium. Pathologic findings revealed that the lesion was constituted by spindle-shaped cells, with storiform arrangement, and large histocytelike cells. The immunohistochemistry revealed strong positivity for vimentin and the neoplastic cells were negative for AE1/AE3, HMB 45, S 100 protein. The histopathologic diagnosis was fibrous histiocytoma. The evolution demonstrated the tumoral growth and the possibility of a malignant lesion.

Pharmacoepidemiology at Nordic School of Public Health NHV: Examples from 1999 to 2014.

PubMed

Stålsby Lundborg, Cecilia; Gyllensten, Hanna; Hedna, Khedidja; Hakkarainen, Katja M; Lesén, Eva; Andersson Sundell, Karolina; Gyllensten, H; Hedna, K; Hakkarainen, K M; Lesén, E; Sundell, K Andersson

2015-08-01

Pharmacoepidemiology is a branch of public health and had a place at the Nordic School of Public Health. Courses, Master's theses and Doctorates of Public Health (DrPH) in Pharmacoepidemiology were a relatively minor, but still important part of the school's activities. This paper gives a short background, followed by some snapshots of the activities at NHV, and then some illustrative case-studies. These case-studies list their own responsible co-authors and have separate reference lists. In the Nordic context, NHV was a unique provider of training and research in pharmacoepidemiology, with single courses to complete DrPH training, as well as implementation of externally-funded research projects. With the closure of NHV at the end of 2014, it is unclear if such a comprehensive approach towards pharmacoepidemiology will be found elsewhere in the Nordic countries. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

Mapping moderate-scale land-cover over very large geographic areas within a collaborative framework: A case study of the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project (SWReGAP)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lowry, J.; Ramsey, R.D.; Thomas, K.; Schrupp, D.; Sajwaj, T.; Kirby, J.; Waller, E.; Schrader, S.; Falzarano, S.; Langs, L.; Manis, G.; Wallace, C.; Schulz, K.; Comer, P.; Pohs, K.; Rieth, W.; Velasquez, C.; Wolk, B.; Kepner, W.; Boykin, K.; O'Brien, L.; Bradford, D.; Thompson, B.; Prior-Magee, J.

2007-01-01

Land-cover mapping efforts within the USGS Gap Analysis Program have traditionally been state-centered; each state having the responsibility of implementing a project design for the geographic area within their state boundaries. The Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project (SWReGAP) was the first formal GAP project designed at a regional, multi-state scale. The project area comprises the southwestern states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The land-cover map/dataset was generated using regionally consistent geospatial data (Landsat ETM+ imagery (1999-2001) and DEM derivatives), similar field data collection protocols, a standardized land-cover legend, and a common modeling approach (decision tree classifier). Partitioning of mapping responsibilities amongst the five collaborating states was organized around ecoregion-based "mapping zones". Over the course of 21/2 field seasons approximately 93,000 reference samples were collected directly, or obtained from other contemporary projects, for the land-cover modeling effort. The final map was made public in 2004 and contains 125 land-cover classes. An internal validation of 85 of the classes, representing 91% of the land area was performed. Agreement between withheld samples and the validated dataset was 61% (KHAT = .60, n = 17,030). This paper presents an overview of the methodologies used to create the regional land-cover dataset and highlights issues associated with large-area mapping within a coordinated, multi-institutional management framework. ?? 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Night Owl: Maryland's After-Hours Reference Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duke, Deborah C.

1994-01-01

Discusses "Night Owl," a Maryland public library's after hours telephone reference service. Issues include project start-up, user profiles, types of questions, volume, after hours reference accessibility, security, costs, service limits, publicity, staffing, and employee turnover. Similar services in other states are cited. (Contains six…

Results for Phase I of the IAEA Coordinated Research Program on HTGR Uncertainties

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

Strydom, Gerhard; Bostelmann, Friederike; Yoon, Su Jong

2015-01-01

The quantification of uncertainties in design and safety analysis of reactors is today not only broadly accepted, but in many cases became the preferred way to replace traditional conservative analysis for safety and licensing analysis. The use of a more fundamental methodology is also consistent with the reliable high fidelity physics models and robust, efficient, and accurate codes available today. To facilitate uncertainty analysis applications a comprehensive approach and methodology must be developed and applied. High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGR) has its own peculiarities, coated particle design, large graphite quantities, different materials and high temperatures that also require other simulationmore » requirements. The IAEA has therefore launched a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the HTGR Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling (UAM) in 2013 to study uncertainty propagation specifically in the HTGR analysis chain. Two benchmark problems are defined, with the prismatic design represented by the General Atomics (GA) MHTGR-350 and a 250 MW modular pebble bed design similar to the HTR-PM (INET, China). This report summarizes the contributions of the HTGR Methods Simulation group at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) up to this point of the CRP. The activities at INL have been focused so far on creating the problem specifications for the prismatic design, as well as providing reference solutions for the exercises defined for Phase I. An overview is provided of the HTGR UAM objectives and scope, and the detailed specifications for Exercises I-1, I-2, I-3 and I-4 are also included here for completeness. The main focus of the report is the compilation and discussion of reference results for Phase I (i.e. for input parameters at their nominal or best-estimate values), which is defined as the first step of the uncertainty quantification process. These reference results can be used by other CRP participants for comparison with other codes or their own reference results. The status on the Monte Carlo modeling of the experimental VHTRC facility is also discussed. Reference results were obtained for the neutronics stand-alone cases (Ex. I-1 and Ex. I-2) using the (relatively new) Monte Carlo code Serpent, and comparisons were performed with the more established Monte Carlo codes MCNP and KENO-VI. For the thermal-fluids stand-alone cases (Ex. I-3 and I-4) the commercial CFD code CFX was utilized to obtain reference results that can be compared with lower fidelity tools.« less

Teachers' tendencies to promote student-led science projects: Associations with their views about science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bencze, J. Lawrence; Bowen, G. Michael; Alsop, Steve

2006-05-01

School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects. For various possible reasons, however, students tend not to be engaged in such inquiries. Among factors that may limit their opportunities to engage in open-ended inquiries of their design are teachers' conceptions about science. To explore possible relationships between teachers' conceptions about science and the types of inquiry activities in which they engage students, instrumental case studies of five secondary science teachers were developed, using field notes, repertory grids, samples of lesson plans and student activities, and semistructured interviews. Based on constructivist grounded theory analysis, participating teachers' tendencies to promote student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects seemed to correspond with positions about the nature of science to which they indicated adherence. A tendency to encourage and enable students to carry out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects appeared to be associated with adherence to social constructivist views about science. Teachers who opposed social constructivist views tended to prefer tight control of student knowledge building procedures and conclusions. We suggest that these results can be explained with reference to human psychological factors, including those associated with teachers' self-esteem and their relationships with knowledge-building processes in the discipline of their teaching.

The 'Geographic Emission Benchmark' model: a baseline approach to measuring emissions associated with deforestation and degradation.

PubMed

Kim, Oh Seok; Newell, Joshua P

2015-10-01

This paper proposes a new land-change model, the Geographic Emission Benchmark (GEB), as an approach to quantify land-cover changes associated with deforestation and forest degradation. The GEB is designed to determine 'baseline' activity data for reference levels. Unlike other models that forecast business-as-usual future deforestation, the GEB internally (1) characterizes 'forest' and 'deforestation' with minimal processing and ground-truthing and (2) identifies 'deforestation hotspots' using open-source spatial methods to estimate regional rates of deforestation. The GEB also characterizes forest degradation and identifies leakage belts. This paper compares the accuracy of GEB with GEOMOD, a popular land-change model used in the UN-REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Program. Using a case study of the Chinese tropics for comparison, GEB's projection is more accurate than GEOMOD's, as measured by Figure of Merit. Thus, the GEB produces baseline activity data that are moderately accurate for the setting of reference levels.

VOClient: Application Integration in the Virtual Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitzpatrick, Michael J.; Tody, D.

2007-12-01

We present VOClient, a new software package that provides a high-level, easy-to-use, programmable interface between desktop applications and the distributed VO framework, providing access to remote VO data and services, reference implementations for VO data-providers and end-user applications. Applications have traditionally been written to deal directly with local images, catalogs or spectra; VOClient allows these applications to use remote VO data and services without requiring a developer to know the details of the underlying and evolving VO technologies. The programmable interface provides equivalent functionality for a wide variety of both legacy and modern development languages and environments and can be easily extended to add new functionality. The server component of the project provides a reference implementation and toolkit which can be used to build VO data services, and the commandline tools provide ready-to-use applications to access VO data and services from the desktop or scripting environment. The use of VOClient to integrate VO technologies with legacy systems such as IRAF is examined as a case-study, and the use of these techniques in other environments, especially their applicability to legacy code and systems, is also discussed. VOClient is meant both for the astronomer wishing to revive an old and trusted task with new VO capabiities, as well as the institutional project providing data or services to the Virtual Observatory.

Development of Ground Reference GIS for Assessing Land Cover Maps of Northeast Yellowstone National Park

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spruce, Joe; Warner, Amanda; Terrie, Greg; Davis, Bruce

2001-01-01

GIS technology and ground reference data often play vital roles in assessing land cover maps derived from remotely sensed data. This poster illustrates these roles, using results from a study done in Northeast Yellowstone National Park. This area holds many forest, range, and wetland cover types of interest to park managers. Several recent studies have focused on this locale, including the NASA Earth Observations Commercial Applications Program (EOCAP) hyperspectral project performed by Yellowstone Ecosystems Studies (YES) on riparian and in-stream habitat mapping. This poster regards a spin-off to the EOCAP project in which YES and NASA's Earth Science Applications Directorate explored the potential for synergistic use of hyperspecral, synthetic aperture radar, and multiband thermal imagery in mapping land cover types. The project included development of a ground reference GIS for site-specific data needed to evaluate maps from remotely sensed imagery. Field survey data included reflectance of plant communities, native and exotic plant species, and forest health conditions. Researchers also collected GPS points, annotated aerial photographs, and took hand held photographs of reference sites. The use of ESRI, ERDAS, and ENVI software enabled reference data entry into a GIS for comparision to georeferenced imagery and thematic maps. The GIS-based ground reference data layers supported development and assessment of multiple maps from remotely sensed data sets acquired over the study area.

The Non-Impact of Scientific Reviews of Oil Sands Environmental Impact Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kienzle, S. W.; Byrne, J.

2008-12-01

Schindler (Science, Vol. 192: 509; 1976) stated that Environmental Impact Assessments authors "conduct the studies regardless of how quickly results are demanded, write large, diffuse reports containing reams of uninterpreted and incomplete descriptive data, and in some cases, construct "predictive" models, irrespective of the quality of the data base." Schindler offered a solution: "If we are to protect both our resources and scientific integrity, environmental scientists must seek to put their studies on a scientifically credible basis-to see that problems, terms of reference, funding, time constraints, reports, and conclusions are all within a bona fide scientific framework." When the first scientific panel was formed in 2003 by the Mikisew Cree First Nations (MCFN), Alberta, to objectively review EIAs of proposed oil sands mining projects, the scientific panel uncovered many severe omissions, errors, and a significant lack of substance that could not withstand scientific scrutiny. Neither the Terms of Reference for two major oilsands projects, estimated to be worth approximately CND 15 billion, nor the EIAs (one single EIA was over 11,000 pages long) contained the terms "climate change", "trend analysis", or "risk analysis", and nearly all environmental impacts were described by the proponents as "negligible". The Hydrology Section (over 950 pages in length) of one EIA did not contain a single peer-reviewed scientific publication. In summary, nothing had changed since Schindler's observations 27 years earlier. Since 2003, the authors have reviewed more than a dozen EIAs of proposed oilsands projects in northern Alberta. The "non-impact" of scientific reviews on the quality of EIAs and the insincerity of the stewards of the land are very sobering: apart from cosmetic improvements in the requirements of the Terms of Reference and the writing of the EIAs, no meaningful improvement of scientific content has been made. Key environmental concerns around water resource utilization and contamination, massive boreal forest ecosystem disruption and destruction, insignificant reclamation, and dramatic increases in emission of acidic pollutants and GHGs have never been adequately addressed. Spills of contaminated tailings fluids into the Athabasca River have occurred in the past, and Mikisew Cree Elders have both anecdotal and physical evidence of contamination of downstream areas through to Lake Athabasca. As the Alberta government has declared a sell-out of very large areas of boreal forest for fast profit, the scientific reviews have been ignored. With the exception of a few cosmetic improvements to the EIAs (e.g. climate change is now discussed, however, with incomplete data and incorrect interpretations), the scientific quality of EIAs has not improved. In fact, the Terms of Reference differ in content requirements with each oilsands project, which means that there is inconsistency between EIAs, prohibiting the evaluation of the evolution of the Terms of Reference. The consequences of the disregard of scientific standards are enormous environmental impacts in terms of carbon dioxide output, acid rain, severe health risks of the local population, water quality, and negligible reclamation efforts.

Software Engineering Research/Developer Collaborations in 2004 (C104)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pressburger, Tom; Markosian, Lawrance

2005-01-01

In 2004, six collaborations between software engineering technology providers and NASA software development personnel deployed a total of five software engineering technologies (for references, see Section 7.2) on the NASA projects. The main purposes were to benefit the projects, infuse the technologies if beneficial into NASA, and give feedback to the technology providers to improve the technologies. Each collaboration project produced a final report (for references, see Section 7.1). Section 2 of this report summarizes each project, drawing from the final reports and communications with the software developers and technology providers. Section 3 indicates paths to further infusion of the technologies into NASA practice. Section 4 summarizes some technology transfer lessons learned. Section 6 lists the acronyms used in this report.

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

Michael Ebert

This is the final report for the DOE-NETL grant entitled 'Creating New Incentives for Risk Identification & Insurance Processes for the Electric Utility Industry' and later, 'Energy & Risk Transfer Assessment'. It reflects work done on projects from 15 August 2004 to 29 February 2008. Projects were on a variety of topics, including commercial insurance for electrical utilities, the Electrical Reliability Organization, cost recovery by Gulf State electrical utilities after major hurricanes, and review of state energy emergency plans. This Final Technical Report documents and summarizes all work performed during the award period, which in this case is from 15more » August 2004 (date of notification of original award) through 29 February 2008. This report presents this information in a comprehensive, integrated fashion that clearly shows a logical and synergistic research trajectory, and is augmented with findings and conclusions drawn from the research as a whole. Four major research projects were undertaken and completed during the 42 month period of activities conducted and funded by the award; these are: (1) Creating New Incentives for Risk Identification and Insurance Process for the Electric Utility Industry (also referred to as the 'commercial insurance' research). Three major deliverables were produced: a pre-conference white paper, a two-day facilitated stakeholders workshop conducted at George Mason University, and a post-workshop report with findings and recommendations. All deliverables from this work are published on the CIP website at http://cipp.gmu.edu/projects/DoE-NETL-2005.php. (2) The New Electric Reliability Organization (ERO): an examination of critical issues associated with governance, standards development and implementation, and jurisdiction (also referred to as the 'ERO study'). Four major deliverables were produced: a series of preliminary memoranda for the staff of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability ('OE'), an ERO interview protocol and stakeholder/experts interviews, a formal research paper, and a data quality and availability study of North American Electric Reliability Corporation/ERO's disturbances and outages working group ('DAWG') databases. (3) Critical Electric Power Infrastructure Recovery and Reconstruction: Issues & New Policy Initiatives in Four Gulf Coast States After 2005's Catastrophic Hurricanes (also referred to as the 'Gulf Coast cost recovery study'). Four deliverables were produced: the original research paper providing preliminary findings and recommendations (29 September 2006), a formal presentation of that report to officials, staff and invited guests at OE's Washington, DC headquarters, a series of update memoranda and quarterly activity updates (1 November 2006 through Q3-2007), and a final cumulative update of the original research report (February 2008). Documentation and information on these research activities can be found on the CIP website at http://cipp.gmu.edu/projects/DoE-NETL-2006.php. (4) Evaluation of State Energy Emergency Response Plans (also referred to as the 'SEERP project'). Two major deliverables were produced: an evaluation of 47 SEERPs with findings, statistical analyses, geospatial renderings (mappings of the States whose plans were evaluated with statistical analysis underpinnings) and recommendations (17 September 2007), and a major revision to the original deliverable to include one additional plan (Missouri), with fully updated findings, statistical analyses, geospatial renderings, and recommendations (Revision 1, 29 February 2008).« less

EVER-EST: European Virtual Environment for Research in Earth Science Themes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glaves, H.; Albani, M.

2016-12-01

EVER-EST is an EC Horizon 2020 project having the goal to develop a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) providing a state-of-the-art solution to allow Earth Scientists to preserve their work and publications for reference and future reuse, and to share with others. The availability of such a solution, based on an innovative concept and state of art technology infrastructure, will considerably enhance the quality of how Earth Scientists work together within their own institution and also across other organizations, regions and countries. The concept of Research Objects (ROs), used in the Earth Sciences for the first time, will form the backbone of the EVER-EST VRE infrastructure. ROs will enhance the ability to preserve, re-use and share entire or individual parts of scientific workflows and all the resources related to a specific scientific investigation. These ROs will also potentially be used as part of the scholarly publication process. EVER-EST is building on technologies developed during almost 15 years of research on Earth Science data management infrastructures. The EVER-EST VRE Service Oriented Architecture is being meticulously designed to accommodate at best the requirements of a wide range of Earth Science communities and use cases: focus is put on common requirements and on minimising the level of complexity in the EVER-EST VRE to ensure future sustainability within the user communities beyond the end of the project. The EVER-EST VRE will be validated through its customisation and deployment by four Virtual Research Communities (VRCs) from different Earth Science disciplines and will support enhanced interaction between data providers and scientists in the Earth Science domain. User community will range from bio-marine researchers (Sea Monitoring use case), to common foreign and security policy institutions and stakeholders (Land Monitoring for Security use case), natural hazards forecasting systems (Natural Hazards use case), and disaster and risk management teams (Supersites use case). The EVER-EST project will coordinate and collaborate with other relevant initiatives worldwide mainly through the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Virtual Research Environments interest group (VRE-IG).

Unified Bayesian Estimator of EEG Reference at Infinity: rREST (Regularized Reference Electrode Standardization Technique).

PubMed

Hu, Shiang; Yao, Dezhong; Valdes-Sosa, Pedro A

2018-01-01

The choice of reference for the electroencephalogram (EEG) is a long-lasting unsolved issue resulting in inconsistent usages and endless debates. Currently, both the average reference (AR) and the reference electrode standardization technique (REST) are two primary, apparently irreconcilable contenders. We propose a theoretical framework to resolve this reference issue by formulating both (a) estimation of potentials at infinity, and (b) determination of the reference, as a unified Bayesian linear inverse problem, which can be solved by maximum a posterior estimation. We find that AR and REST are very particular cases of this unified framework: AR results from biophysically non-informative prior; while REST utilizes the prior based on the EEG generative model. To allow for simultaneous denoising and reference estimation, we develop the regularized versions of AR and REST, named rAR and rREST, respectively. Both depend on a regularization parameter that is the noise to signal variance ratio. Traditional and new estimators are evaluated with this framework, by both simulations and analysis of real resting EEGs. Toward this end, we leverage the MRI and EEG data from 89 subjects which participated in the Cuban Human Brain Mapping Project. Generated artificial EEGs-with a known ground truth, show that relative error in estimating the EEG potentials at infinity is lowest for rREST. It also reveals that realistic volume conductor models improve the performances of REST and rREST. Importantly, for practical applications, it is shown that an average lead field gives the results comparable to the individual lead field. Finally, it is shown that the selection of the regularization parameter with Generalized Cross-Validation (GCV) is close to the "oracle" choice based on the ground truth. When evaluated with the real 89 resting state EEGs, rREST consistently yields the lowest GCV. This study provides a novel perspective to the EEG reference problem by means of a unified inverse solution framework. It may allow additional principled theoretical formulations and numerical evaluation of performance.

Optimal image alignment with random projections of manifolds: algorithm and geometric analysis.

PubMed

Kokiopoulou, Effrosyni; Kressner, Daniel; Frossard, Pascal

2011-06-01

This paper addresses the problem of image alignment based on random measurements. Image alignment consists of estimating the relative transformation between a query image and a reference image. We consider the specific problem where the query image is provided in compressed form in terms of linear measurements captured by a vision sensor. We cast the alignment problem as a manifold distance minimization problem in the linear subspace defined by the measurements. The transformation manifold that represents synthesis of shift, rotation, and isotropic scaling of the reference image can be given in closed form when the reference pattern is sparsely represented over a parametric dictionary. We show that the objective function can then be decomposed as the difference of two convex functions (DC) in the particular case where the dictionary is built on Gaussian functions. Thus, the optimization problem becomes a DC program, which in turn can be solved globally by a cutting plane method. The quality of the solution is typically affected by the number of random measurements and the condition number of the manifold that describes the transformations of the reference image. We show that the curvature, which is closely related to the condition number, remains bounded in our image alignment problem, which means that the relative transformation between two images can be determined optimally in a reduced subspace.

Maternal Exposure to Bisphenol-A and Fetal Growth Restriction: A Case-Referent Study

PubMed Central

Burstyn, Igor; Martin, Jonathan W.; Beesoon, Sanjay; Bamforth, Fiona; Li, Qiaozhi; Yasui, Yutaka; Cherry, Nicola M.

2013-01-01

We conducted a case-referent study of the effect of exposure to bisphenol-A on fetal growth in utero in full-term, live-born singletons in Alberta, Canada. Newborns <10 percentile of expected weight for gestational age and sex were individually matched on sex, maternal smoking and maternal age to referents with weight appropriate to gestational age. Exposure of the fetus to bisphenol-A was estimated from maternal serum collected at 15–16 weeks of gestation. We pooled sera across subjects for exposure assessment, stratified on case-referent status and sex. Individual 1:1 matching was maintained in assembling 69 case and 69 referent pools created from 550 case-referent pairs. Matched pools had an equal number of aliquots from individual women. We used an analytical strategy conditioning on matched set and total pool-level values of covariates to estimate individual-level effects. Pools of cases and referents had identical geometric mean bisphenol-A concentrations (0.5 ng/mL) and similar geometric standard deviations (2.3–2.5). Mean difference in concentration between matched pools was 0 ng/mL, standard deviation: 1 ng/mL. Stratification by sex and control for confounding did not suggest bisphenol-A increased fetal growth restriction. Our analysis does not provide evidence to support the hypothesis that bisphenol-A contributes to fetal growth restriction in full-term singletons. PMID:24336026

Model-based sphere localization (MBSL) in x-ray projections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawall, Stefan; Maier, Joscha; Leinweber, Carsten; Funck, Carsten; Kuntz, Jan; Kachelrieß, Marc

2017-08-01

The detection of spherical markers in x-ray projections is an important task in a variety of applications, e.g. geometric calibration and detector distortion correction. Therein, the projection of the sphere center on the detector is of particular interest as the used spherical beads are no ideal point-like objects. Only few methods have been proposed to estimate this respective position on the detector with sufficient accuracy and surrogate positions, e.g. the center of gravity, are used, impairing the results of subsequent algorithms. We propose to estimate the projection of the sphere center on the detector using a simulation-based method matching an artificial projection to the actual measurement. The proposed algorithm intrinsically corrects for all polychromatic effects included in the measurement and absent in the simulation by a polynomial which is estimated simultaneously. Furthermore, neither the acquisition geometry nor any object properties besides the fact that the object is of spherical shape need to be known to find the center of the bead. It is shown by simulations that the algorithm estimates the center projection with an error of less than 1% of the detector pixel size in case of realistic noise levels and that the method is robust to the sphere material, sphere size, and acquisition parameters. A comparison to three reference methods using simulations and measurements indicates that the proposed method is an order of magnitude more accurate compared to these algorithms. The proposed method is an accurate algorithm to estimate the center of spherical markers in CT projections in the presence of polychromatic effects and noise.

23 CFR 180.1 - Cross-reference to credit assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

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23 CFR 180.1 - Cross-reference to credit assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

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23 CFR 180.1 - Cross-reference to credit assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Cross-reference to credit assistance. 180.1 Section 180.1 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PAYMENT PROCEDURES CREDIT ASSISTANCE FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS § 180.1 Cross-reference to credit assistance. The regulations...

23 CFR 180.1 - Cross-reference to credit assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Cross-reference to credit assistance. 180.1 Section 180.1 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PAYMENT PROCEDURES CREDIT ASSISTANCE FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS § 180.1 Cross-reference to credit assistance. The regulations...

CD-ROM + Fax = Shared Reference Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzwater, Diana; Fradkin, Bernard

1988-01-01

Describes the Reference by GammaFax Project, which joined nine area libraries to provide cooperative reference access to optical disk databases. The configuration of disk players, microcomputers, and facsimile equipment used by the libraries is explained, and the improvements in cost effectiveness, provision of service, and librarian expertise are…

Going Prime Time with Live Chat Reference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoag, Tara J.; Cichanowicz, Edana McCaffrey

2001-01-01

Describes the development of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System's live, online chat reference service, a pilot project for public libraries in Suffolk County (New York). Topics include chat software selection; a virtual reference collection; marketing; funding; staffing; evaluation; expanded hours of service; email; and extracting data from…

Data discovery and data processing for environmental research infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Los, Wouter; Beranzoli, Laura; Corriero, Giuseppe; Cossu, Roberto; Fiore, Nicola; Hardisty, Alex; Legré, Yannick; Pagano, Pasquale; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Sorvari, Sanna; Turunen, Esa

2013-04-01

The European ENVRI project (Common operations of Environmental Research Infrastructures) is addressing common ICT solutions for the research infrastructures as selected in the ESFRI Roadmap. More specifically, the project is looking for solutions that will assist interdisciplinary users who want to benefit from the data and other services of more than a single research infrastructure. However, the infrastructure architectures, the data, data formats, scales and granularity are very different. Indeed, they deal with diverse scientific disciplines, from plate tectonics, the deep sea, sea and land surface up to atmosphere and troposphere, from the dead to the living environment, and with a variety of instruments producing increasingly larger amounts of data. One of the approaches in the ENVRI project is to design a common Reference Model that will serve to promote infrastructure interoperability at the data, technical and service levels. The analysis of the characteristics of the environmental research infrastructures assisted in developing the Reference Model, and which is also an example for comparable infrastructures worldwide. Still, it is for users already now important to have the facilities available for multi-disciplinary data discovery and data processing. The rise of systems research, addressing Earth as a single complex and coupled system is requiring such capabilities. So, another approach in the project is to adapt existing ICT solutions to short term applications. This is being tested for a few study cases. One of these is looking for possible coupled processes following a volcano eruption in the vertical column from deep sea to troposphere. Another one deals with volcano either human impacts on atmospheric and sea CO2 pressure and the implications for sea acidification and marine biodiversity and their ecosystems. And a third one deals with the variety of sensor and satellites data sensing the area around a volcano cone. Preliminary results on these studies will be reported. The common results will assist in shaping more generic solutions to be adopted by the appropriate research infrastructures.

Re-Construction of Reference Population and Generating Weights by Decision Tree

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-21

2017 Claflin University Orangeburg, SC 29115 DEFENSE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND STRATEGIC...Original Dataset 32 List of Figures in Appendix B Figure 1: Flow and Components of Project 20 Figure 2: Decision Tree 31 Figure 3: Effects of Weight...can compare the sample data. The dataset of this project has the reference population on unit level for group and gender, which is in red-dotted box

Determinants of project success

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, D. C.; Baker, B. N.; Fisher, D.

1974-01-01

The interactions of numerous project characteristics, with particular reference to project performance, were studied. Determinants of success are identified along with the accompanying implications for client organization, parent organization, project organization, and future research. Variables are selected which are found to have the greatest impact on project outcome, and the methodology and analytic techniques to be employed in identification of those variables are discussed.

The PDA as a reference tool: libraries' role in enhancing nursing education.

PubMed

Scollin, Patrick; Callahan, John; Mehta, Apurva; Garcia, Elizabeth

2006-01-01

"The PDA as a Reference Tool: The Libraries' Role in Enhancing Nursing Education" is a pilot project funded by the University of Massachusetts President's Office Information Technology Council through their Professional Development Grant program in 2004. The project's goal is to offer faculty and students in nursing programs at two University of Massachusetts campuses access to an array of medical reference information, such as handbooks, dictionaries, calculators, and diagnostic tools, on small handheld computers called personal digital assistants. Through exposure to the variety of information resources in this digital format, participants can discover and explore these resources at no personal financial cost. Participants borrow handhelds from the University Library's circulation desks. The libraries provide support in routine resynchronizing of handhelds to update information. This report will discuss how the projects were administered, what we learned about what did and did not work, the problems and solutions, and where we hope to go from here.

EUPOS - Satellite multifunctional system of reference stations in Central and Eastern Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sledzinski, J.

2003-04-01

The European project EUPOS (European Position Determination System) of establishment of a system of multifunctional satellite reference stations in Central and Eastern Europe is described in the paper. Fifteen countries intend to participate in the project: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. One common project will be prepared for all countries, however it will include the existing or developed infrastructure in particular countries. The experiences of establishing and operating of the German network SAPOS as well as experiences gained by other countries will be used. The European network of stations will be compatible with the system SAPOS and future European system Galileo. The network of reference stations will provide signal for both positioning of the geodetic control points and for land, air and marine navigation. Several levels of positioning accuracy will be delivered.

U.S. Geological Survey Standard Reference Sample Project: Performance Evaluation of Analytical Laboratories

USGS Publications Warehouse

Long, H. Keith; Daddow, Richard L.; Farrar, Jerry W.

1998-01-01

Since 1962, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated the Standard Reference Sample Project to evaluate the performance of USGS, cooperator, and contractor analytical laboratories that analyze chemical constituents of environmental samples. The laboratories are evaluated by using performance evaluation samples, called Standard Reference Samples (SRSs). SRSs are submitted to laboratories semi-annually for round-robin laboratory performance comparison purposes. Currently, approximately 100 laboratories are evaluated for their analytical performance on six SRSs for inorganic and nutrient constituents. As part of the SRS Project, a surplus of homogeneous, stable SRSs is maintained for purchase by USGS offices and participating laboratories for use in continuing quality-assurance and quality-control activities. Statistical evaluation of the laboratories results provides information to compare the analytical performance of the laboratories and to determine possible analytical deficiences and problems. SRS results also provide information on the bias and variability of different analytical methods used in the SRS analyses.

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

Not Available

The study was funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency on behalf of the Municipality of Greater Istanbul. Summarized in the report are the results of two feasibility studies. The first, referred to as Task No. 6, was conducted to develop technical specifications and terms of reference for the design, construction, and operation of a landfill gas-to-electrical energy project at a new European landfill. The second, the Umraniye Dump Stabilization Project (Task No. 7), addresses the stabilization measures necessary to prevent future failure at the Umraniye dump site. The summary report is divided into the following sections: Task No.more » 6-(1) Terms of reference for the DBOT Contract; (2) Estimated Value of the DBOT Contracts; (3) Foreign Trade Potential; (4) Project Financing; Task No. 7-(1) Results of the Services; (2) Foreign Trade Potential. Also included is a list of U.S. solid waste firms, landfill gas recovery and energy generation firms, and equipment and product suppliers.« less

Comparative study of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in transmission, attenuated total reflection, and total reflection modes for the analysis of plastics in the cultural heritage field.

PubMed

Picollo, Marcello; Bartolozzi, Giovanni; Cucci, Costanza; Galeotti, Monica; Marchiafava, Veronica; Pizzo, Benedetto

2014-01-01

This study was completed within the framework of two research projects dealing with the conservation of contemporary artworks. The first is the Seventh Framework Project (FP7) of the European Union, Preservation of Plastic ARTefacts in Museum Collections (POPART), spanning years 2008-2012, and the second is the Italian project funded by the Tuscan Region, Preventive Conservation of Contemporary Art (Conservazione Preventiva dell'Arte Contemporanea (COPAC)), spanning 2011-2013. Both of these programs pointed out the great importance of having noninvasive and portable analytical techniques that can be used to investigate and characterize modern and contemporary artworks, especially those consisting of synthetic polymers. Indeed, despite the extensive presence of plastics in museum collections, there is still a lack of analytical tools for identifying, characterizing, and setting up adequate conservation strategies for these materials. In this work, the potentials of in situ and noninvasive Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, implemented by means of portable devices that operate in reflection mode, are investigated with a view to applying the results in large-scale surveys of plastic objects in museums. To this end, an essential prerequisite are the reliability of spectral data acquired in situ and the availability of spectral databases acquired from reference materials. A collection of polymeric samples, which are available commercially as ResinKit, was analyzed to create a reference spectral archive. All the spectra were recorded using three FT-IR configurations: transmission (trans), attenuated total reflection (ATR), and total reflection (TR). A comparative evaluation of the data acquired using the three instrumental configurations is presented, together with an evaluation of the similarity percentages and a discussion of the critical cases.

Referred pain elicited by manual exploration of the lateral rectus muscle in chronic tension-type headache.

PubMed

Fernández-de-Las-Peñas, César; Cuadrado, Maria Luz; Gerwin, Robert D; Pareja, Juan A

2009-01-01

To analyze the presence of referred pain elicited by manual examination of the lateral rectus muscle in patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). A case-control blinded study. It has been found previously that the manual examination of the superior oblique muscle can elicit referred pain to the head in some patients with migraine or tension-type headache. However, a referred pain from other extraocular muscles has not been investigated. Fifteen patients with CTTH and 15 healthy subjects without headache history were included. A blinded assessor performed a manual examination focused on the search for myofascial trigger points (TrPs) in the right and left lateral rectus muscles. TrP diagnosis was made when there was referred pain evoked by maintained pressure on the lateral corner of the orbit (anatomical projection of the lateral rectus muscle) for 20 seconds, and increased referred pain while the subject maintained a medial gaze on the corresponding side (active stretching of the muscle) for 15 seconds. On each side, a 10-point numerical pain rate scale was used to assess the intensity of referred pain at both stages of the examination. Ten patients with CTTH (66.6%) had referred pain that satisfied TrPs diagnostic criteria, while only one healthy control (0.07%) reported referred pain upon the examination of the lateral rectus muscles (P < 0.001). The elicited referred pain was perceived as a deep ache located at the supraorbital region or the homolateral forehead. Pain was evoked on both sides in all subjects with TrPs, with no difference in pain intensity between the right and the left. The average pain intensity was significantly greater in the patient group (P < 0.001). All CTTH patients with referred pain recognized it as the frontal pain that they usually experienced during their headache attacks, which was consistent with active TrPs. In some patients with CTTH, the manual examination of lateral rectus muscle TrPs elicits a referred pain that extends to the supraorbital region or the homolateral forehead. Nociceptive inputs from the extraocular muscles may sustain the activation of trigeminal neuron, thus sensitizing central pain pathways and exacerbating headache.

Student Ownership of Projects in an Upper-Division Optics Laboratory Course: A Multiple Case Study of Successful Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dounas-Frazer, Dimitri R.; Stanley, Jacob T.; Lewandowski, H. J.

2017-01-01

We investigate students' sense of ownership of multiweek final projects in an upper-division optics lab course. Using a multiple case study approach, we describe three student projects in detail. Within-case analyses focused on identifying key issues in each project, and constructing chronological descriptions of those events. Cross-case analysis…

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of pancreatic cancer: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z; Jacobs, Eric J; Arslan, Alan A; Qi, Dai; Patel, Alpa V; Helzlsouer, Kathy J; Weinstein, Stephanie J; McCullough, Marjorie L; Purdue, Mark P; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wilkins, Lynn R; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Albanes, Demetrius; Cai, Qiuyin; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard; Clipp, Sandra; Horst, Ronald L; Irish, Lonn; Koenig, Karen; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N

2010-07-01

Results from epidemiologic studies examining pancreatic cancer risk and vitamin D intake or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations (the best indicator of vitamin D derived from diet and sun) have been inconsistent. Therefore, the authors conducted a pooled nested case-control study of participants from 8 cohorts within the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP) (1974-2006) to evaluate whether prediagnostic circulating 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. In total, 952 incident pancreatic adenocarcinoma cases occurred among participants (median follow-up, 6.5 years). Controls (n = 1,333) were matched to each case by cohort, age, sex, race/ethnicity, date of blood draw, and follow-up time. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to calculate smoking-, body mass index-, and diabetes-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pancreatic cancer. Clinically relevant 25(OH)D cutpoints were compared with a referent category of 50-<75 nmol/L. No significant associations were observed for participants with lower 25(OH)D status. However, a high 25(OH)D concentration (> or =100 nmol/L) was associated with a statistically significant 2-fold increase in pancreatic cancer risk overall (odds ratio = 2.12, 95% confidence interval: 1.23, 3.64). Given this result, recommendations to increase vitamin D concentrations in healthy persons for the prevention of cancer should be carefully considered.

SANDS: a service-oriented architecture for clinical decision support in a National Health Information Network.

PubMed

Wright, Adam; Sittig, Dean F

2008-12-01

In this paper, we describe and evaluate a new distributed architecture for clinical decision support called SANDS (Service-oriented Architecture for NHIN Decision Support), which leverages current health information exchange efforts and is based on the principles of a service-oriented architecture. The architecture allows disparate clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems to be seamlessly integrated over a network according to a set of interfaces and protocols described in this paper. The architecture described is fully defined and developed, and six use cases have been developed and tested using a prototype electronic health record which links to one of the existing prototype National Health Information Networks (NHIN): drug interaction checking, syndromic surveillance, diagnostic decision support, inappropriate prescribing in older adults, information at the point of care and a simple personal health record. Some of these use cases utilize existing decision support systems, which are either commercially or freely available at present, and developed outside of the SANDS project, while other use cases are based on decision support systems developed specifically for the project. Open source code for many of these components is available, and an open source reference parser is also available for comparison and testing of other clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems that wish to implement the SANDS architecture. The SANDS architecture for decision support has several significant advantages over other architectures for clinical decision support. The most salient of these are:

Entamoeba histolytica: construction and applications of subgenomic databases.

PubMed

Hofer, Margit; Duchêne, Michael

2005-07-01

Knowledge about the influence of environmental stress such as the action of chemotherapeutic agents on gene expression in Entamoeba histolytica is limited. We plan to use oligonucleotide microarray hybridization to approach these questions. As the basis for our array, sequence data from the genome project carried out by the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the Sanger Institute were used to annotate parts of the parasite genome. Three subgenomic databases containing enzymes, cytoskeleton genes, and stress genes were compiled with the help of the ExPASy proteomics website and the BLAST servers at the two genome project sites. The known sequences from reference species, mostly human and Escherichia coli, were searched against TIGR and Sanger E. histolytica sequence contigs and the homologs were copied into a Microsoft Access database. In a similar way, two additional databases of cytoskeletal genes and stress genes were generated. Metabolic pathways could be assembled from our enzyme database, but sometimes they were incomplete as is the case for the sterol biosynthesis pathway. The raw databases contained a significant number of duplicate entries which were merged to obtain curated non-redundant databases. This procedure revealed that some E. histolytica genes may have several putative functions. Representative examples such as the case of the delta-aminolevulinate synthase/serine palmitoyltransferase are discussed.

Cervical enamel projections in unusual locations: a case report and mini-review.

PubMed

Chan, Hsun-Liang; Oh, Tae-Ju; Bashutski, Jill; Fu, Jia-Hui; Wang, Hom-Lay

2010-05-01

Periodontitis is primarily a bacteria-induced disease that can be modified by tooth-related local factors. Cervical enamel projections (CEPs) are a common tooth anomaly that can act as contributing factors in the development of periodontitis. They are most commonly found at the buccal surfaces of mandibular molars. A 57-year-old female was referred to our clinic for treatment of chronic periodontitis. A clinical examination revealed moderate attachment loss that was localized to the palatal side of the maxillary second molars. The rest of the dentition was less affected, with a diagnosis of generalized slight chronic periodontitis. An initial non-surgical periodontal treatment was provided followed by apically positioned flap surgery in the maxillary right and left posterior areas. At the time of surgery, CEPs were found where the periodontium was most affected. Because surgical intervention exposed the CEPs, they were not removed. After the active therapy, which resulted in inflammation resolution and maintainable probing depths, the patient was placed on a 3-month recall for periodontal maintenance. CEPs were found in an unusual location on the palatal roots of maxillary second molars. The findings of this case report confirm the role of CEPs as a local contributing factor in localized chronic periodontitis.

Cervical enamel projections in unusual locations: A case report and mini-review.

PubMed

Chan, Hsun-Liang; Oh, Tae-Ju; Bashutski, Jill; Fu, Jia-Hui; Wang, Hom-Lay

2010-02-02

Background: Periodontitis is primarily a bacteria-induced disease that can be modified by tooth-related local factors. Cervical enamel projections (CEPs) are a common tooth anomaly that can act as a contributing factor in the development of periodontitis. They are most commonly found at the buccal surfaces of mandibular molars. Methods: A 57-year-old female was referred to our clinic for treatment of chronic periodontitis. Clinical examination revealed moderate attachment loss that was localized to the palatal side of the maxillary secondary molars. The rest of the dentition was less affected, with a diagnosis of generalized slight chronic periodontitis. Initial non-surgical periodontal treatment was provided, followed by apically positioned flap surgery in the maxillary right and left posterior areas. At the time of surgery, CEPs were found where the periodontium was most affected. Results: Due to the fact that surgical intervention exposed the CEPs, they were not removed. After the active therapy, which resulted in inflammation resolution and maintainable probing depth, the patient was placed on a three-month recall for periodontal maintenance. Conclusions: This case report presents CEPs in an unusual location in the palatal roots of maxillary secondary molars. CEPs confirm their role as a local contributing factor in localized chronic periodontitis.

Command and Control Software Development Memory Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joseph, Austin Pope

2017-01-01

This internship was initially meant to cover the implementation of unit test automation for a NASA ground control project. As is often the case with large development projects, the scope and breadth of the internship changed. Instead, the internship focused on finding and correcting memory leaks and errors as reported by a COTS software product meant to track such issues. Memory leaks come in many different flavors and some of them are more benign than others. On the extreme end a program might be dynamically allocating memory and not correctly deallocating it when it is no longer in use. This is called a direct memory leak and in the worst case can use all the available memory and crash the program. If the leaks are small they may simply slow the program down which, in a safety critical system (a system for which a failure or design error can cause a risk to human life), is still unacceptable. The ground control system is managed in smaller sub-teams, referred to as CSCIs. The CSCI that this internship focused on is responsible for monitoring the health and status of the system. This team's software had several methods/modules that were leaking significant amounts of memory. Since most of the code in this system is safety-critical, correcting memory leaks is a necessity.

Emission Impacts of Electric Vehicles in the US Transportation Sector Following Optimistic Cost and Efficiency Projections.

PubMed

Keshavarzmohammadian, Azadeh; Henze, Daven K; Milford, Jana B

2017-06-20

This study investigates emission impacts of introducing inexpensive and efficient electric vehicles into the US light duty vehicle (LDV) sector. Scenarios are explored using the ANSWER-MARKAL model with a modified version of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 9-region database. Modified cost and performance projections for LDV technologies are adapted from the National Research Council (2013) optimistic case. Under our optimistic scenario (OPT) we find 15% and 47% adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2030 and 2050, respectively. In contrast, gasoline vehicles (ICEVs) remain dominant through 2050 in the EPA reference case (BAU). Compared to BAU, OPT gives 16% and 36% reductions in LDV greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 2030 and 2050, respectively, corresponding to 5% and 9% reductions in economy-wide emissions. Total nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and SO 2 emissions are similar in the two scenarios due to intersectoral shifts. Moderate, economy-wide GHG fees have little effect on GHG emissions from the LDV sector but are more effective in the electricity sector. In the OPT scenario, estimated well-to-wheels GHG emissions from full-size BEVs with 100-mile range are 62 gCO 2 -e mi -1 in 2050, while those from full-size ICEVs are 121 gCO 2 -e mi -1 .

Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration : KYTC—Roundabout Installation Project in London, Kentucky.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-11-01

This document serves as the final report on the construction and opening of the Roundabout Project in London, Kentucky (Kentucky Item Number 11904.1). This project (hereafter referred to as the London Roundabout) was constructed on the authority o...

Pre-Project Planning of Capital Facilities at NASA

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-12-01

recognize the unfailing love and support of my extended family; Jim and Nancy Marasco , Dan and Monica Mustard, Jimmy and Jodi Marasco , Irene Brekelmans...completion Attachment B 116 Bibliography/References Dumont, Peter R. (1995). Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for Industrial Projects. Austin

Ladybirds as Teaching Aids: 2. Potential for Practical and Project Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Majerus, M. E. N.; And Others

1989-01-01

Presented are several ideas for projects involving ladybird beetles. Discussed is background information about the insects; and projects involving life histories, intra-specific variation, taxonomy, genetics, behavior, ecology, habitat surveys, population biology, and overwintering biology. Lists 12 references. (CW)

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Qualitative Synthesis Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Cheryl Tatano

2003-01-01

Describes a project that required graduate nursing students to conduct qualitative meta-synthesis of ethnographic research, using Noblit and Hare's approach. Discusses the process of meta-synthesis, interpretation of outcomes, and students' reactions to the project. (Contains 16 references.) (SK)

Ecotourism: The Santa Elena Rainforest Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wearing, Stephen

1993-01-01

Describes an ecotourism project in which the community of Santa Elena, Costa Rica, are developing a rainforest reserve on government land leased permanently to the local high school. Discusses the impact of the project on the community's economy and environment. (Contains 30 references.) (MDH)

Virtual Reference, Real Money: Modeling Costs in Virtual Reference Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eakin, Lori; Pomerantz, Jeffrey

2009-01-01

Libraries nationwide are in yet another phase of belt tightening. Without an understanding of the economic factors that influence library operations, however, controlling costs and performing cost-benefit analyses on services is difficult. This paper describes a project to develop a cost model for collaborative virtual reference services. This…

Circuit Riding: A Method for Providing Reference Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plunket, Linda; And Others

1983-01-01

Discussion of the design and implementation of the Circuit Rider Librarian Program, a shared services project for delivering reference services to eight hospitals in Maine, includes a cost analysis of services and description of user evaluation survey. Five references, composite results of the survey, and postgrant options proposal are appended.…

USA hCG reference service, 10-year report.

PubMed

Cole, Laurence A; Laidler, Laura L; Muller, Carolyn Y

2010-08-01

The USA hCG Reference Service has been dealing with cases of persistent low levels of hCG and gestational trophoblastic diseases for 10years. Here we present the complete experience. Total hCG in serum and urine was measured using the Siemen's Immulite 1000 assay. Hyperglycosylated hCG, nicked hCG, free ss-subunit and ss-core fragment were measured using microtiterplate assays with antibodies B152, B151, FBT11 and B210, respectively. The USA hCG Reference Service has identified 83 cases of false-positive hCG, 71 cases of aggressive gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD), 52 cases of minimally invasive GTD, 168 cases of quiescent GTD and 22 cases of placenta site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT). In addition, 103 cases of pituitary hCG have been identified, 60 cases of nontrophoblastic tumor, 4 cases of inherited hCG and 2 cases of Munchausen's syndrome. This is 565 cases total. Multiple new methods are described and tested for diagnosing all of these disorders. The USA hCG Reference Service experience shows new methods for detecting multiple hCG-related disorders and recommends new approaches for detecting these hCG-related disorders. 2010 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Specification and evaluation of a regional PACS in the SaxTeleMed project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemke, Heinz U.; Niederlag, W.; Heuser, H.

2002-05-01

During the early development phase of PACS, its implementation was mainly a matter of the radiological department of a hospital. This is changing rapidly and PACS planning and realization is increasingly seen in the context of a hospital-wide approach. With a growth of networking amongst healthcare institutions and the growing relevance of teleradiological scenarios, new strategies must be followed which take not only local but also regional and global aspects of PACS into consideration. One such regional PACS project was initiated by the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. This 'reference model program for the digitization of imaging procedures and communication of images between hospitals in the free state of Saxony' (SaxTeleMed) covers seven regional projects distributed throughout Saxony. Each regional project is organized around so called lead hospitals, which network with other cooperating hospitals and medical practices. The regional reference projects are designed to be largely independent from one another. In some instances, however, a network connection between reference projects is also considered. Altogether, 39 hospitals and medical centers are involved in the model program. The aim of this program is to test the technical, organizational, legal and economic problems in the area of digitization and networking within the free State of Saxony. With the knowledge gained it is expected to improve future investment decisions in healthcare and above all to implement secure systems.

7 CFR 1.625 - What will the Forest Service do with any hearing requests?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... answer, NFS will refer the case for a hearing as follows: (1) If the hearing is to be conducted by USDA, NFS will refer the case to the OALJ. (2) If the hearing is to be conducted by another Department, NFS... paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Notice. At the time NFS refers the case for a hearing, it must provide a...

7 CFR 1.625 - What will the Forest Service do with any hearing requests?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... answer, NFS will refer the case for a hearing as follows: (1) If the hearing is to be conducted by USDA, NFS will refer the case to the OALJ. (2) If the hearing is to be conducted by another Department, NFS... paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Notice. At the time NFS refers the case for a hearing, it must provide a...

7 CFR 1.625 - What will the Forest Service do with any hearing requests?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... answer, NFS will refer the case for a hearing as follows: (1) If the hearing is to be conducted by USDA, NFS will refer the case to the OALJ. (2) If the hearing is to be conducted by another Department, NFS... paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Notice. At the time NFS refers the case for a hearing, it must provide a...

7 CFR 1.625 - What will the Forest Service do with any hearing requests?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... answer, NFS will refer the case for a hearing as follows: (1) If the hearing is to be conducted by USDA, NFS will refer the case to the OALJ. (2) If the hearing is to be conducted by another Department, NFS... paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Notice. At the time NFS refers the case for a hearing, it must provide a...

7 CFR 1.625 - What will the Forest Service do with any hearing requests?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... answer, NFS will refer the case for a hearing as follows: (1) If the hearing is to be conducted by USDA, NFS will refer the case to the OALJ. (2) If the hearing is to be conducted by another Department, NFS... paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Notice. At the time NFS refers the case for a hearing, it must provide a...

A transportation economics reference for practitioners : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-01

Transportation projects and policies are rooted in economic considerations and consequences. This report : documents the development of a relatively comprehensive transportation economics reference for practitioners, : entitled The Economics of Trans...

The AuScope Project and Trans-Tasman VLBI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovell, Jim; Dickey, John; Gulyaev, Sergei; Natusch, Tim; Titov, Oleg; Tingay, Steven

2010-01-01

Three 12-meter radio telescopes are being built in Australia (the AuScope project) and one in New Zealand. These facilities will be fully-equipped for undertaking S and X-band geodetic VLBI observations and correlation will take place on a software correlator (part of the AuScope project). All sites are equipped with permanent GPS receivers to provide co-location of several space geodetic techniques. The following scientific tasks of geodesy and astrometry are considered. 1. Improvement and densification of the International Celestial Reference Frame in the southern hemisphere; 2. Improvement of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame in the region; 3. Measurement of intraplate deformation of the Australian tectonic plate.

Risk-benefit analysis and public policy: a bibliography

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

Clark, E.M.; Van Horn, A.J.

1976-11-01

Risk-benefit analysis has been implicitly practiced whenever decision-makers are confronted with decisions involving risks to life, health, or to the environment. Various methodologies have been developed to evaluate relevant criteria and to aid in assessing the impacts of alternative projects. Among these have been cost-benefit analysis, which has been widely used for project evaluation. However, in many cases it has been difficult to assign dollar costs to those criteria involving risks and benefits which are not now assigned explicit monetary values in our economic system. Hence, risk-benefit analysis has evolved to become more than merely an extension of cost-benefit analysis,more » and many methods have been applied to examine the trade-offs between risks and benefits. In addition, new scientific and statistical techniques have been developed for assessing current and future risks. The 950 references included in this bibliography are meant to suggest the breadth of those methodologies which have been applied to decisions involving risk.« less

[4th report of German Association of Cardiologists in private practice (BNK) on quality assurance in cardiac catheterization and coronary intervention 1999-2002].

PubMed

Levenson, Benny; Albrecht, Alexander; Göhring, Stefan; Haerer, Winfried; Herholz, Harald; Kaltenbach, Martin; Reifart, Nicolaus; Sauer, Gregor; Silber, Sigmund; Troger, Bernhard

2003-06-01

The Society of German Cardiologists in private practice (BNK) reports about its project on quality assurance in invasive cardiology (QuIK). Results of a computerized data collection and analysis of cardiac catheterizations and interventions in the years 1999-2002 are presented. These results are compared with other registries. The QuIK-project is done voluntarily by 70% of the society's cardiologists who perform invasive methods. A total of 225,562 diagnostic and 64,895 interventional procedures are documented over the 4 years. Patient characteristics and procedural data kept unchanged. Complication rates were low (< 2%), MACE < 0.5%. There was a rising number of patients referred with acute myocardial infarction. Less time was used to complete procedures from 1 year to another. Two out of three of the centers underwent a monitoring/auditing process in 2002. The desirable post-interventional follow-up after discharge in all cases appears to be impossible to fulfill under the given economical circumstances.

Leadership models with an emphasis on relationships and the completion of the project in information science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damaskinou, Aikaterini I.; Drivas, Ioannis C.; Sakas, Damianos P.

2015-02-01

While attempting decision-making in leadership, one of the criteria that should be considered is the actual behavior of the leader towards the work group. The object of this study is the prevalence of two key leadership models, the Task Behavior and the Relationship Behavior. Firstly, the leader's behavior is focused on completing the project combined with a leadership style which is more interventionist and less conciliatory. The second leadership model focuses on working relationships, developed between leaders and employees. In this case, the character of the model is associated with a leadership behavior more supportive, motivating and participative. This article refers to the characteristics of the two models and the mechanisms and strategies that can be adopted in both leadership behaviors. Furthermore, through the research which took place, we have come to conclusions regarding the public's views about the different leadership behaviors and, also, the possibility of combining the two styles of leadership.

Family planning in the workplace in Jamaica.

PubMed

1987-08-01

The Jamaica Family Planning Association started holding presentations and discussions in the workplace in January 1986, now reaching 8000 people in 32 companies. The firms are primarily manufacturers (21) and hotels(7), but also include publishing, construction, printing and supermarket businessess. In these companies as well as many of the 480 members of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, employees are usually women of reproductive age who cannot afford to take time off to attend a clinic. There is a great demand for information and discussion on sexually transmitted diseases and clarification of the contraindications of various contraceptive methods. At the end of the discussions, educators offer pills, condoms and neo-sampoon, and may refer people for clinical services. Almost new acceptors have been recruited. The success of the project depends heavily on cooperation of management, supervisors and union representatives. In some cases union representives or company nurses act as distributors of contraceptives. This project has been so successful that some companies expressed an interest in participating in the Associations's resource development program.

Books on acoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaw, Neil A.

2004-05-01

The legacy of a man is not limited to just his projects. His writings in many cases are a more lasting, and a definitely more accessible, monument. For 60 years, Leo L. Beranek has produced books on acoustics, acoustic measurements, sound control, music and architecture, noise and vibration control, concert halls, and opera houses in addition to teaching and consulting. His books are standard references and still cited in other books and in technical and professional articles. Many of his books were among, if not, the first comprehensive modern treatment of the subject and many are still foremost. A review of Dr. Beranek's many books as well as some anecdotes about the circumstances and consequences of same will be presented.

Minerva: User-Centered Science Operations Software Capability for Future Human Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deans, Matthew; Marquez, Jessica J.; Cohen, Tamar; Miller, Matthew J.; Deliz, Ivonne; Hillenius, Steven; Hoffman, Jeffrey; Lee, Yeon Jin; Lees, David; Norheim, Johannes;

Left lower lobe sleeve lobectomy for lung cancer using the Da Vinci surgical system.

PubMed

Zhao, Yandong; Jiao, Wenjie; Ren, Xiaoyang; Zhang, Liangdong; Qiu, Tong; Fu, Bo; Wang, Lei

2016-04-12

Despite the robotic surgery is widely applied, sleeve lobectomy for lung cancer using the Da Vinci surgical system is still less performed. We described a sleeve lobectomy for adenocarcinoma located at the left lower lobe using the Da Vinci surgical system. A case of 57-year old female referred to our hospital. Computed tomography scan showed an occupation located at the left lower lobe and adenocarcinoma project from the lobe bronchus was diagnosed by bronchoscope examination. A sleeve lobectomy was performed using the Da Vinci surgical system and the postoperative recovery was uneventful. Robotic thoracic surgery is feasible to perform sleeve lobectomy inspite of inadequate experience.

Hierarchical Ada robot programming system (HARPS)- A complete and working telerobot control system based on the NASREM model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leake, Stephen; Green, Tom; Cofer, Sue; Sauerwein, Tim

1989-01-01

HARPS is a telerobot control system that can perform some simple but useful tasks. This capability is demonstrated by performing the ORU exchange demonstration. HARPS is based on NASREM (NASA Standard Reference Model). All software is developed in Ada, and the project incorporates a number of different CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools. NASREM was found to be a valid and useful model for building a telerobot control system. Its hierarchical and distributed structure creates a natural and logical flow for implementing large complex robust control systems. The ability of Ada to create and enforce abstraction enhanced the implementation of such control systems.

Landsat Radiometry Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

This final report summarizes three years of work characterizing the radiometry of the Landsat 4, 5 and 7 Thematic Mappers. It is divided into six sections that are representative of the major areas of effort: 1) Internal Calibrator Lamp Monitoring; 2) Vicarious Calibration; 3) Relative Gain Analysis; 4) Outgassing; 5) Landsat 4 Absolute Calibration; and 6) Landsat 5 Scene Invariant Analysis. Each section provides a summary overview of the work that has been performed at SDSU. Major results are highlighted. In several cases, references are given to publications that have developed from this work, Several team members contributed to this report: Tim Ruggles, Dave Aaron, Shriharsha Madhavan, Esad Micijevic, Cory Mettler, and Jim Dewald. At the end of the report is a summary section.

Coal Transportation Rate Sensitivity Analysis

EIA Publications

2005-01-01

On December 21, 2004, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) requested that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) analyze the impact of changes in coal transportation rates on projected levels of electric power sector energy use and emissions. Specifically, the STB requested an analysis of changes in national and regional coal consumption and emissions resulting from adjustments in railroad transportation rates for Wyoming's Powder River Basin (PRB) coal using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). However, because NEMS operates at a relatively aggregate regional level and does not represent the costs of transporting coal over specific rail lines, this analysis reports on the impacts of interregional changes in transportation rates from those used in the Annual Energy Outlook 2005 (AEO2005) reference case.

The Evolution of the Sustainability Assessment Tool SBToolPT: From Buildings to the Built Environment

PubMed Central

Bragança, Luís

2014-01-01

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population's well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT is also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, the SBToolPT-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool. PMID:24592171

The evolution of the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT: from buildings to the built environment.

PubMed

Castanheira, Guilherme; Bragança, Luís

2014-01-01

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population's well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment tool SBTool(PT) is also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, the SBTool(PT)-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool.

Integrated assessment in the Mediterranean: the CIRCE case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodess, C. M.; Agnew, M. D.; Hemming, D.; Giannakopoulos, C.

2012-04-01

The heterogeneous nature of the Mediterranean environment, combined with a wide diversity of economic, social and cultural identities, make this region particularly amenable to integrated research on climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptive response. Within the framework of the EU FP7 CIRCE project, eleven case-study locations were selected to reflect three generic environments (urban, rural and coastal), to quantify current and future climate change and to assess the potential consequences to human communities and ecosystems at the regional to local scale. The case studies (Athens, Beirut, Alexandria, Tuscany, Apulia, Tel Hadya, Judean Foothills, Gulf of Valencia, Gulf of Oran, Gulf of Gabes, West Nile Delta) were chosen to reflect the east-west and north-south contrasts across the Mediterranean, using common selection criteria. A rigorous common framework, referred to as the CIRCE Case studies Integrating Framework was developed to facilitate a structured and systematic basis for identifying and selecting indicators. Within this framework, climate dynamics is viewed as a key driver of changes in social and biogeophysical systems and is modulated by the inherent dynamics of these systems. The top-down, indicator-based approach was complemented by a bottom-up approach involving local and regional stakeholders. A participatory level of involvement was aimed for, with stakeholder dialogue on an informal basis throughout the project, culminating in a series of more formal regional stakeholder workshops. Identification and construction of physical and socio-economic indicators was the most challenging and time-consuming aspect of the case-study work. A detailed set of selection criteria was defined and the process of reviewing and refining indicators was iterative. Nonetheless, a number of data and methodological challenges were encountered. Despite these issues, indicator linkages diagrams provided a useful preparatory stage for structuring the integrated assessment for each case study. In the first and major assessment stage, impacts and vulnerability due to exposure to hazards associated with current and recent climate variability and change were explored using observed data. This then provided the context for considering future changes. The latter work was based on climate projections derived from the CIRCE global and regional climate model simulations which have the main novel characteristic of incorporating coupling between the Mediterranean Sea and atmosphere. Natural and human systems in all eleven case studies were found to be vulnerable to current climate variability and change as well as to social dynamics or drivers. The climate projections of increases in mean and extreme high temperature and decreases in precipitation are considered to be robust, although there is uncertainty with regards to the magnitude of change. They indicate that all case studies will experience continuing and increasing vulnerability to climate change in the absence of mitigation or adaptation. Projections for other extreme weather events, such as heavy precipitation and flooding, are highly uncertain, but any increase in such events would further increase vulnerability. At the same time, social dynamics and drivers such as population growth (at least in the short term and in the southern Mediterranean) are likely to further increase vulnerability.

Implementing the INTERGROWTH-21st fetal growth standards in France: a 'flash study' of the College Français d'Echographie Foetale (CFEF).

PubMed

Stirnemann, J J; Fries, N; Bessis, R; Fontanges, M; Mangione, R; Salomon, L J

2017-04-01

To assess potential differences in fetal size between the French population and the international population from the INTERGROWTH-21 st (IG-21 st ) Project and to measure the impact of switching to the IG-21 st reference standards for fetal size. This was a nationwide cross-sectional study of fetal ultrasound biometry. Low-risk singleton pregnancies were recruited prospectively within the network of the national French College of Fetal Ultrasound, CFEF, over a 6-week period. Further selection was performed based on the criteria of the IG-21 st Project in order to obtain a comparable population. Head circumference (HC) was used as the main fat-free skeletal measure of growth for comparison of French fetal size with that of the IG-21 st population. The impact of switching to the IG-21 st fetal growth standards was quantified by comparing Z-scores calculated using the IG-21 st standards with those calculated using locally derived reference ranges for HC, abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL). Following selection, 4858 cases were analyzed. The distribution of HC demonstrated clear similarity between our French population and the IG-21 st population: our observed centile curves closely matched those of IG-21 st and the Z-scores were close to 0 across gestational age. The IG-21 st standards performed as well as did locally derived charts in terms of screening for small-for-gestational age by AC, while they identified significantly fewer small FL values than were expected and than did the locally derived charts. Under strict selection criteria, fetal size in France is similar to that of the international population used in the IG-21 st Project. The discrepancies in FL are unlikely to impact on prenatal management. Therefore, switching from locally derived reference ranges to the IG-21 st standards appears to be a safe option. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Trilateral South-American project: a reference system for measuring electric power up to 100 kHz – progress report II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyriazis, G. A.; Di Lillo, L.; Slomovitz, D.; Iuzzolino, R.; Yasuda, E.; Trigo, L.; de Souza, R. M.; Laiz, H.; Debatin, R. M.; Afonso, E.

2018-03-01

Three countries in South America are jointly developing a reference system for measuring electric power up to 100 kHz. The objective is the construction of three similar measuring systems, one for each institute. This project will contribute to provide calibration services in measuring ranges still not covered by the three institutes. The status of its development by the end of 2017 is described here.

Laboratory twinning to build capacity for rabies diagnosis.

PubMed

Fooks, Anthony R; Drew, Trevor W; Tu, Changchun

2016-03-05

In 2009, the UK's OIE Reference Laboratory for rabies, based at the APHA in Weybridge, was awarded a project to twin with the Changchun Veterinary Research Institute in the People's Republic of China to help the institute develop the skills and methods necessary to become an OIE Reference Laboratory itself. Here, Tony Fooks, Trevor Drew and Changchun Tu describe the OIE's twinning project and the success that has since been realised in China. British Veterinary Association.

Iterative optimizing quantization method for reconstructing three-dimensional images from a limited number of views

DOEpatents

Lee, Heung-Rae

1997-01-01

A three-dimensional image reconstruction method comprises treating the object of interest as a group of elements with a size that is determined by the resolution of the projection data, e.g., as determined by the size of each pixel. One of the projections is used as a reference projection. A fictitious object is arbitrarily defined that is constrained by such reference projection. The method modifies the known structure of the fictitious object by comparing and optimizing its four projections to those of the unknown structure of the real object and continues to iterate until the optimization is limited by the residual sum of background noise. The method is composed of several sub-processes that acquire four projections from the real data and the fictitious object: generate an arbitrary distribution to define the fictitious object, optimize the four projections, generate a new distribution for the fictitious object, and enhance the reconstructed image. The sub-process for the acquisition of the four projections from the input real data is simply the function of acquiring the four projections from the data of the transmitted intensity. The transmitted intensity represents the density distribution, that is, the distribution of absorption coefficients through the object.

Referred knee pain in a young athlete: a case study.

PubMed

Tippett, S R

1994-02-01

Parapatellar pain is a common complaint in the active adolescent patient population. Patello-femoral pain syndrome, Osgood-Schlatter disease, Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome, patellar tendinitis, and other stress failure conditions are the primary causes of these parapatellar symptoms. Not all cases of knee discomfort are related to knee pathology. This case study discusses hip pathology as a source of referred knee pain in an 8-year-old male athlete. Care must be taken to evaluate all possible sources of both primary and referred pain in all cases.

NASA Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, Jon F.; Poole, Kenneth W.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this document is to provide program/project teams necessary instruction and guidance in the best practices for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and WBS dictionary development and use for project implementation and management control. This handbook can be used for all types of NASA projects and work activities including research, development, construction, test and evaluation, and operations. The products of these work efforts may be hardware, software, data, or service elements (alone or in combination). The aim of this document is to assist project teams in the development of effective work breakdown structures that provide a framework of common reference for all project elements. The WBS and WBS dictionary are effective management processes for planning, organizing, and administering NASA programs and projects. The guidance contained in this document is applicable to both in-house, NASA-led effort and contracted effort. It assists management teams from both entities in fulfilling necessary responsibilities for successful accomplishment of project cost, schedule, and technical goals. Benefits resulting from the use of an effective WBS include, but are not limited to: providing a basis for assigned project responsibilities, providing a basis for project schedule and budget development, simplifying a project by dividing the total work scope into manageable units, and providing a common reference for all project communication.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2010-01-01

The purpose of this document is to provide program/project teams necessary instruction and guidance in the best practices for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and WBS dictionary development and use for project implementation and management control. This handbook can be used for all types of NASA projects and work activities including research, development, construction, test and evaluation, and operations. The products of these work efforts may be hardware, software, data, or service elements (alone or in combination). The aim of this document is to assist project teams in the development of effective work breakdown structures that provide a framework of common reference for all project elements. The WBS and WBS dictionary are effective management processes for planning, organizing, and administering NASA programs and projects. The guidance contained in this document is applicable to both in-house, NASA-led effort and contracted effort. It assists management teams from both entities in fulfilling necessary responsibilities for successful accomplishment of project cost, schedule, and technical goals. Benefits resulting from the use of an effective WBS include, but are not limited to: providing a basis for assigned project responsibilities, providing a basis for project schedule development, simplifying a project by dividing the total work scope into manageable units, and providing a common reference for all project communication.

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

Bolinger, Mark

In the relatively brief history of utility-scale wind generation, the 'community wind' sector - defined here as consisting of relatively small utility-scale wind power projects that are at least partly owned by one or more members of the local community - has played a vitally important role as a 'test bed' or 'proving ground' for wind turbine manufacturers. In the 1980s and 1990s, for example, Vestas and other now-established European wind turbine manufacturers relied heavily on community wind projects in Scandinavia and Germany to install - and essentially field-test - new turbine designs. The fact that orders from community windmore » projects seldom exceeded more than a few turbines at a time enabled the manufacturers to correct any design flaws or manufacturing defects fairly rapidly, and without the risk of extensive (and expensive) serial defects that can accompany larger orders. Community wind has been slower to take root in the United States - the first such projects were installed in the state of Minnesota around the year 2000. Just as in Europe, however, the community wind sector in the U.S. has similarly served as a proving ground - but in this case for up-and-coming wind turbine manufacturers that are trying to break into the broader U.S. wind power market. For example, community wind projects have deployed the first U.S. installations of wind turbines from Suzlon (in 2003), DeWind (2008), Americas Wind Energy (2008) and later Emergya Wind Technologies (2010),1 Goldwind (2009), AAER/Pioneer (2009), Nordic Windpower (2010), Unison (2010), and Alstom (2011). Just as it has provided a proving ground for new turbines, so too has the community wind sector in the United States served as a laboratory for experimentation with innovative new financing structures. For example, a variation of one of the most common financing arrangements in the U.S. wind market today - the 'partnership flip structure' - was first developed by community wind projects in Minnesota more than a decade ago (and is therefore sometimes referred to as the 'Minnesota flip' model) before being adapted by the broader wind market. More recently, a handful of community wind projects built in the United States over the past year have been financed via new and creative structures that push the envelope of wind project finance in the U.S. - in many cases, moving beyond the now-standard partnership flip structures. These projects include: (1) a 4.5 MW project in Maine that combines low-cost government debt with local tax equity, (2) a 25.3 MW project in Minnesota using a sale/leaseback structure, (3) a 10.5 MW project in South Dakota financed by an intrastate offering of both debt and equity, (4) a 6 MW project in Washington state that taps into 'New Markets Tax Credits' using an 'inverted' or 'pass-through' lease structure, and (5) a 9 MW project in Oregon that combines a variety of state and federal incentives and loans with unconventional equity from high-net-worth individuals. In most cases, these are first-of-their-kind financing structures that could serve as useful examples for other projects - both community and commercial wind alike. This new wave of financial innovation occurring in the community wind sector has been facilitated by policy changes, most of them recent. Most notably, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ('the Recovery Act') enables, for a limited time, wind power (and other types of) projects to elect either a 30% investment tax credit ('ITC') or a 30% cash grant (the 'Section 1603 grant') in lieu of the federal incentive that has historically been available to wind projects in the U.S. - a 10-year production tax credit ('PTC'). This flexibility, in turn, enables wind power projects to pursue lease financing for the first time - leasing is not possible under the PTC. Because they are based on a project's cost rather than energy generation, the 30% ITC and Section 1603 grant also reduce performance risk relative to the PTC - this, too, is an important enabler of lease financing. Finally, by providing a cash rather than tax incentive, the Section 1603 grant alone reduces (but does not eliminate) the need for tax appetite among project owners. All of these policy changes can be particularly useful to community wind projects, and have helped to support the different financial structures mentioned above. This special report - which is distilled from a longer Berkeley Lab report - briefly describes just two of these innovative new financing structures: the sale/leaseback structure used in Minnesota and the intrastate offering conducted in South Dakota. Readers interested in more detail on these two structures, as well as the other three projects not covered here, are encouraged to reference the full Berkeley Lab report.« less

Scholarly Context Adrift: Three out of Four URI References Lead to Changed Content

PubMed Central

Tobin, Richard; Grover, Claire

2016-01-01

Increasingly, scholarly articles contain URI references to “web at large” resources including project web sites, scholarly wikis, ontologies, online debates, presentations, blogs, and videos. Authors reference such resources to provide essential context for the research they report on. A reader who visits a web at large resource by following a URI reference in an article, some time after its publication, is led to believe that the resource’s content is representative of what the author originally referenced. However, due to the dynamic nature of the web, that may very well not be the case. We reuse a dataset from a previous study in which several authors of this paper were involved, and investigate to what extent the textual content of web at large resources referenced in a vast collection of Science, Technology, and Medicine (STM) articles published between 1997 and 2012 has remained stable since the publication of the referencing article. We do so in a two-step approach that relies on various well-established similarity measures to compare textual content. In a first step, we use 19 web archives to find snapshots of referenced web at large resources that have textual content that is representative of the state of the resource around the time of publication of the referencing paper. We find that representative snapshots exist for about 30% of all URI references. In a second step, we compare the textual content of representative snapshots with that of their live web counterparts. We find that for over 75% of references the content has drifted away from what it was when referenced. These results raise significant concerns regarding the long term integrity of the web-based scholarly record and call for the deployment of techniques to combat these problems. PMID:27911955

A Directory of Research and Curriculum Development Projects in Social Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lester, Sid; And Others

This directory is designed as a reference for the educator on the activities of the new social studies research and curriculum development projects. It is not an analysis or an evaluation; it merely reports the information supplied by the 100 various projects --name, director, address, purpose, grade, subject, and products. These projects cover…

Project Manager Performance and the Decision to Backsource the Project Management Office

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lively, William R.

2014-01-01

This paper reviews a management decision of an Information Technology Outsource (ITO) provider to backshore the management oversight of its Project Management Office (PMO) after only one year of offshore operations. Governance is a term used in project management to refer to management oversight. The review is a quantitative analysis of existing…

Office of Maternal and Child Health Active Projects FY 1989. An Annotated Listing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health, Washington, DC.

An annotated listing is presented of projects offering maternal and child health care services. These projects, referred to as special projects of regional and national significance (SPRANS), are supported by the Office of Maternal and Child Health of the Department of Health and Human Services. The first section provides information on services…

49 CFR 511.53 - Appeal from initial decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... position taken on each question, with specific page references to the record and legal or other material... matters in the brief, with page references, and a table of cases (alphabetically arranged), textbooks, statutes, and other material cited, with page references thereto; (2) A concise statement of the case; (3...

49 CFR 511.53 - Appeal from initial decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... position taken on each question, with specific page references to the record and legal or other material... matters in the brief, with page references, and a table of cases (alphabetically arranged), textbooks, statutes, and other material cited, with page references thereto; (2) A concise statement of the case; (3...

49 CFR 511.53 - Appeal from initial decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... position taken on each question, with specific page references to the record and legal or other material... matters in the brief, with page references, and a table of cases (alphabetically arranged), textbooks, statutes, and other material cited, with page references thereto; (2) A concise statement of the case; (3...

Multislice CT Angiography in Renal Artery Stent Evaluation: Prospective Comparison with Intra-Arterial Digital Subtraction Angiography

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

Raza, Syed A.; Chughtai, Aamer R.; Wahba, Mona

2004-01-15

Purpose: To assess the role of multislice computed tomography angiography (MCTA) in the evaluation of renal artery stents, using intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as the gold standard. Methods: Twenty consecutive patients (15 men, 5 women) with 23 renal artery stents prospectively underwent both MCTA and DSA. Axial images, multiplanar reconstructions and maximum intensity projection images were used for diagnosis. The MCTA and DSA images were each interpreted without reference to the result of the other investigation. Results:The three cases of restenosis on DSA were detected correctly by MCTA; in 19 cases where MCTA showed a fully patent stent, themore » DSA was also negative. Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of MCTA were therefore 100%. In four cases, MCTA showed apparently minimal disease which was not shown on DSA. These cases are taken as false positive giving a specificity of 80% and a positive predictive value of 43%. Conclusion: The high sensitivity and NPV suggest MCTA may be useful as a noninvasive screen for renal artery stentrestenosis. MCTA detected mild disease in a few patients which was not confirmed on angiography.« less

The Artists-in-the-Classroom Project: A Closer Look.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogg, Terry L.; Smith, Marilyn

2001-01-01

Interviews with teachers involved in an elementary school's artists-in-the-classroom project revealed a range of attitudes: enthusiasts, supporters, skeptics, individualists, and tired teachers. Test scores, school climate, and attendance improved. Teachers' willingness to participate was crucial to the project's success. (Contains 23 references.)…

8. Center bay of the east elevation (Note project supervisor ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

8. Center bay of the east elevation (Note project supervisor Mary Ellen Strain and project historian James Jacobs discussing the extant house in reference to a 1758 drawing of the structure). - John Bartram House & Garden, House, 54th Street & Lindbergh Boulevard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

18 CFR 5.18 - Application content.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... other reference point; describe the topography and climate; and discuss major land uses and economic... development of project works or changes in project operation. This analysis must be based on the information... environmental measures, including, but not limited to, changes in the project design or operations, to address...

Group Projects and the Computer Science Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joy, Mike

2005-01-01

Group projects in computer science are normally delivered with reference to good software engineering practice. The discipline of software engineering is rapidly evolving, and the application of the latest 'agile techniques' to group projects causes a potential conflict with constraints imposed by regulating bodies on the computer science…

18 CFR 4.103 - General provisions for case-specific exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.103 General provisions for case-specific exemption. (a) Exemptible projects. Subject to... exempt on a case-specific basis any small hydroelectric power project from all or part of Part I of the...

18 CFR 4.103 - General provisions for case-specific exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

..., EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.103 General provisions for case-specific exemption. (a) Exemptible projects. Subject to... exempt on a case-specific basis any small hydroelectric power project from all or part of Part I of the...

18 CFR 4.103 - General provisions for case-specific exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

..., EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.103 General provisions for case-specific exemption. (a) Exemptible projects. Subject to... exempt on a case-specific basis any small hydroelectric power project from all or part of Part I of the...

18 CFR 4.103 - General provisions for case-specific exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

..., EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.103 General provisions for case-specific exemption. (a) Exemptible projects. Subject to... exempt on a case-specific basis any small hydroelectric power project from all or part of Part I of the...

18 CFR 4.103 - General provisions for case-specific exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

..., EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.103 General provisions for case-specific exemption. (a) Exemptible projects. Subject to... exempt on a case-specific basis any small hydroelectric power project from all or part of Part I of the...

Bibliography. Computer-Oriented Projects, 1987.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Richard L., Comp.

1988-01-01

Provides an annotated list of references on computer-oriented projects. Includes information on computers; hands-on versus simulations; games; instruction; students' attitudes and learning styles; artificial intelligence; tutoring; and application of spreadsheets. (RT)

New era / new solutions: The role of alternative tariff structures in water supply projects.

PubMed

Pinto, F Silva; Marques, R Cunha

2017-12-01

Water utilities face different challenges that may force them to seek prioritized objectives. When doing so, particular projects may have to be developed, being important to understand their impact on water tariffs, and thus, on customers. Such consequences may bear an increased relevance in cases stressed with, e.g., resource scarcity, poverty, and the need for infrastructure investments. The resulting cost and revenue variability demand a comprehensive study. If the first may require a stochastic modeling (in major cost components) in order to consider its inherent uncertainty, the second needs to be modeled following context-specific objectives set by the relevant stakeholders. The solutions achieved will likely promote distinct revenue sources, as well as diversified water tariff structures. A multi-objective optimization model (i.e., a Framework for Suitable Prices) is built to deal with those diversified requirements (e.g., stochastic energy costs, affordability, cost recovery, or administrative simplicity). The model is solved through achievement scalarizing functions with several weighting coefficients for a reference point, so as to provide a significant perception of possible revenue options (and their impact) to the decision makers. The proposed method is applied to a case study, Boa Vista Island in Cabo Verde, in which the background characteristics, namely water sources availability (e.g., the adoption of desalination technologies), economic development and other contextual factors were considered. The key role of tariff structure selection is displayed, instead of assuming it a priori, giving important insights regarding project feasibility. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community Wind: Once Again Pushing the Envelope of Project Finance

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

bolinger, Mark A.

In the United States, the 'community wind' sector - loosely defined here as consisting of relatively small utility-scale wind power projects that sell power on the wholesale market and that are developed and owned primarily by local investors - has historically served as a 'test bed' or 'proving grounds' for up-and-coming wind turbine manufacturers that are trying to break into the U.S. wind power market. For example, community wind projects - and primarily those located in the state of Minnesota - have deployed the first U.S. installations of wind turbines from Suzlon (in 2003), DeWind (2008), Americas Wind Energy (2008)more » and later Emergya Wind Technologies (2010), Goldwind (2009), AAER/Pioneer (2009), Nordic Windpower (2010), Unison (2010), and Alstom (2011). Thus far, one of these turbine manufacturers - Suzlon - has subsequently achieved some success in the broader U.S. wind market as well. Just as it has provided a proving grounds for new turbines, so too has the community wind sector served as a laboratory for experimentation with innovative new financing structures. For example, a variation of one of the most common financing arrangements in the U.S. wind market today - the special allocation partnership flip structure (see Figure 1 in Section 2.1) - was first developed by community wind projects in Minnesota more than a decade ago (and is therefore sometimes referred to as the 'Minnesota flip' model) before being adopted by the broader wind market. More recently, a handful of community wind projects built over the past year have been financed via new and creative structures that push the envelope of wind project finance in the U.S. - in many cases, moving beyond the now-standard partnership flip structures involving strategic tax equity investors. These include: (1) a 4.5 MW project in Maine that combines low-cost government debt with local tax equity, (2) a 25.3 MW project in Minnesota using a sale/leaseback structure, (3) a 10.5 MW project in South Dakota financed by an intrastate offering of both debt and equity, (4) a 6 MW project in Washington state that taps into New Markets Tax Credits using an 'inverted' or 'pass-through' lease structure, and (5) a 9 MW project in Oregon that combines a variety of state and federal incentives and loans with unconventional equity from high-net-worth individuals. In most cases, these are first-of-their-kind structures that could serve as useful examples for other projects - both community and commercial wind alike. This report describes each of these innovative new financing structures in some detail, using a case-study approach. The purpose is twofold: (1) to disseminate useful information on these new financial structures, most of which are widely replicable; and (2) to highlight the recent policy changes - many of them temporary unless extended - that have facilitated this innovation. Although the community wind market is currently only a small sub-sector of the U.S. wind market - as defined here, less than 2% of the overall market at the end of 2009 (Wiser and Bolinger 2010) - its small size belies its relevance to the broader market. As such, the information provided in this report has relevance beyond its direct application to the community wind sector. The next two sections of this report briefly summarize how most community wind projects in the U.S. have been financed historically (i.e., prior to this latest wave of innovation) and describe the recent federal policy changes that have enabled a new wave of financial innovation to occur, respectively. Section 4 contains brief case studies of how each of the five projects mentioned above were financed, noting the financial significance of each. Finally, Section 5 concludes by distilling a number of general observations or pertinent lessons learned from the experiences of these five projects.« less

The CASE Project: Evaluation of Case-Based Approaches to Learning and Teaching in Statistics Service Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fawcett, Lee

2017-01-01

The CASE project (Case-based Approaches to Statistics Education; see www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/~nlf8/innovation) was established to investigate how the use of real-life, discipline-specific case study material in Statistics service courses could improve student engagement, motivation, and confidence. Ultimately, the project aims to promote deep learning…

Drought and heatwaves in Europe: historical reconstruction and future projections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samaniego, Luis; Thober, Stephan; Kumar, Rohini; Rakovec, Olda; Wood, Eric; Sheffield, Justin; Pan, Ming; Wanders, Niko; Prudhomme, Christel

2017-04-01

Heat waves and droughts are creeping hydro-meteorological events that may bring societies and natural systems to their limits by inducing large famines, increasing health risks to the population, creating drinking and irrigation water shortfalls, inducing natural fires and degradation of soil and water quality, and in many cases causing large socio-economic losses. Europe, in particular, has endured large scale drought-heat-wave events during the recent past (e.g., 2003 European drought), which have induced enormous socio-economic losses as well as casualties. Recent studies showed that the prediction of droughts and heatwaves is subject to large-scale forcing and parametric uncertainties that lead to considerable uncertainties in the projections of extreme characteristics such as drought magnitude/duration and area under drought, among others. Future projections are also heavily influenced by the RCP scenario uncertainty as well as the coarser spatial resolution of the models. The EDgE project funded by the Copernicus programme (C3S) provides an unique opportunity to investigate the evolution of droughts and heatwaves from 1950 until 2099 over the Pan-EU domain at a scale of 5x5 km2. In this project, high-resolution multi-model hydrologic simulations with the mHM (www.ufz.de/mhm), Noah-MP, VIC and PCR-GLOBWB have been completed for the historical period 1955-2015. Climate projections have been carried out with five CMIP-5 GCMs: GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, NorESM1-M from 2006 to 2099 under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5. Using these multi-model unprecedented simulations, daily soil moisture index and temperature anomalies since 1955 until 2099 will be estimated. Using the procedure proposed by Samaniego et al. (2013), the probabilities of exceeding the benchmark events in the reference period 1980-2010 will be estimated for each RCP scenario. References http://climate.copernicus.eu/edge-end-end-demonstrator-improved-decision-making-water-sector-europe Samaniego, L., R. Kumar, and M. Zink, 2013: Implications of parameter uncertainty on soil moisture drought analysis in Germany. J. Hydrometeor., 14, 47-68, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-12-075.1. Samaniego, L., et al. 2016: Propagation of forcing and model uncertainties on to hydrological drought characteristics in a multi-model century-long experiment in large river basins. Climatic Change. 1-15.

[Interdisciplinary teleconsultation: first practical experiences with 100 patients].

PubMed

Gollnick, I; Frehiwot, M; Krause, E M; Schaller, S; Limpert, E; Strauß, G; Lipp, T; Scherz, M; Injac, Z

2013-06-01

PROBLEM DEFINITION: Increasing specialization can be observed in the various medical fields and as a consequence there is little professional exchange between ear nose and throat (ENT) specialists and general practitioners. At the same time there has been significant technological development in telemedicine over the last 5 years; however, this potential is not being sufficiently exploited. The objective of this project is to implement a practicable solution for teleconsulation between ENT specialists and general practitioners. The connection is based on a secure broadband internet connection, the corresponding server structure and a video endoscopic system. In the period from 01 January 2011 to 30 June 2012 (18 months) a total of 102 patients were included in the study in which 4 general practitioners and 5 ENT specialists participated. The protocol comprised the following parameters: indications and typical questions, number of patients presenting to the ENT specialist due to the available teleconsultation service (CBO), number of patients referred to the ENT specialist after teleconsultation (CIO), assessment of the quality of the additional expert opinion (LOQ GP), assessment of the accuracy of the specialist physician tele-diagnosis (TDS-FA) and assessment of the impact of the expert physician diagnosis on the general medical treatment (COS). Teleconsultation was most frequently used for diagnostics on tonsils (37% of the presented cases), the external auditory canal (32%) and the inner nose (15%). Of the patients analyzed were 53.9% presented to the ENT specialist only because the teleconsultation service provided an effortless opportunity and after teleconsultation 40.1% of the patients were referred to the ENT specialist. General practitioners assessed the benefit from the specialist opinion with 64 points. Diagnostic certainty of the specialist opinion, i.e. the validity scale of the diagnosis made, was on average 2.0. In approximately 35.3% of the cases (36 out of 102 patients) participating general practitioners documented a considerable impact of teleconsultation on the diagnosis and/or therapy. Teleconsultation between general practitioners and ENT specialists can provide an advantage in treatment quality and patient comfort. According to the experience gained there is a very low risk of diminishing the professional competency of ENT medicine and the involvement of the expert group in the early project stage allows a greater leeway in project implementation. This could also have an impact on future medical performance specifications. According to the ENT experts involved in the project further applications of teleconsultation are very conceivable.

SLUDGE TREATMENT PROJECT KOP DISPOSITION - THERMAL AND GAS ANALYSIS FOR THE COLD VACUUM DRYING FACILITY

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

SWENSON JA; CROWE RD; APTHORPE R

2010-03-09

The purpose of this document is to present conceptual design phase thermal process calculations that support the process design and process safety basis for the cold vacuum drying of K Basin KOP material. This document is intended to demonstrate that the conceptual approach: (1) Represents a workable process design that is suitable for development in preliminary design; and (2) Will support formal safety documentation to be prepared during the definitive design phase to establish an acceptable safety basis. The Sludge Treatment Project (STP) is responsible for the disposition of Knock Out Pot (KOP) sludge within the 105-K West (KW) Basin.more » KOP sludge consists of size segregated material (primarily canister particulate) from the fuel and scrap cleaning process used in the Spent Nuclear Fuel process at K Basin. The KOP sludge will be pre-treated to remove fines and some of the constituents containing chemically bound water, after which it is referred to as KOP material. The KOP material will then be loaded into a Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO), dried at the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility (CVDF) and stored in the Canister Storage Building (CSB). This process is patterned after the successful drying of 2100 metric tons of spent fuel, and uses the same facilities and much of the same equipment that was used for drying fuel and scrap. Table ES-l present similarities and differences between KOP material and fuel and between MCOs loaded with these materials. The potential content of bound water bearing constituents limits the mass ofKOP material in an MCO load to a fraction of that in an MCO containing fuel and scrap; however, the small particle size of the KOP material causes the surface area to be significantly higher. This relatively large reactive surface area represents an input to the KOP thermal calculations that is significantly different from the calculations for fuel MCOs. The conceptual design provides for a copper insert block that limits the volume available to receive KOP material, enhances heat conduction, and functions as a heat source and sink during drying operations. This use of the copper insert represents a significant change to the thermal model compared to that used for the fuel calculations. A number of cases were run representing a spectrum of normal and upset conditions for the drying process. Dozens of cases have been run on cold vacuum drying of fuel MCOs. Analysis of these previous calculations identified four cases that provide a solid basis for judgments on the behavior of MCO in drying operations. These four cases are: (1) Normal Process; (2) Degraded vacuum pumping; (3) Open MCO with loss of annulus water; and (4) Cool down after vacuum drying. The four cases were run for two sets of input parameters for KOP MCOs: (1) a set of parameters drawn from safety basis values from the technical data book and (2) a sensitivity set using parameters selected to evaluate the impact of lower void volume and smaller particle size on MCO behavior. Results of the calculations for the drying phase cases are shown in Table ES-2. Cases using data book safety basis values showed dry out in 9.7 hours and heat rejection sufficient to hold temperature rise to less than 25 C. Sensitivity cases which included unrealistically small particle sizes and corresponding high reactive surface area showed higher temperature increases that were limited by water consumption. In this document and in the attachment (Apthorpe, R. and M.G. Plys, 2010) cases using Technical Databook safety basis values are referred to as nominal cases. In future calculations such cases will be called safety basis cases. Also in these documents cases using parameters that are less favorable to acceptable performance than databook safety values are referred to as safety cases. In future calculations such cases will be called sensitivity cases or sensitivity evaluations Calculations to be performed in support of the detailed design and formal safety basis documentation will expand the calculations presented in this document to include: additional features of the drying cycle, more realistic treatment of uranium metal consumption during oxidation, larger water inventory, longer time scales, and graphing of results of hydrogen gas concentration.« less

Discrepancies in reporting the CAG repeat lengths for Huntington's disease

PubMed Central

Quarrell, Oliver W; Handley, Olivia; O'Donovan, Kirsty; Dumoulin, Christine; Ramos-Arroyo, Maria; Biunno, Ida; Bauer, Peter; Kline, Margaret; Landwehrmeyer, G Bernhard

2012-01-01

Huntington's disease results from a CAG repeat expansion within the Huntingtin gene; this is measured routinely in diagnostic laboratories. The European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY project centrally measures CAG repeat lengths on fresh samples; these were compared with the original results from 121 laboratories across 15 countries. We report on 1326 duplicate results; a discrepancy in reporting the upper allele occurred in 51% of cases, this reduced to 13.3% and 9.7% when we applied acceptable measurement errors proposed by the American College of Medical Genetics and the Draft European Best Practice Guidelines, respectively. Duplicate results were available for 1250 lower alleles; discrepancies occurred in 40% of cases. Clinically significant discrepancies occurred in 4.0% of cases with a potential unexplained misdiagnosis rate of 0.3%. There was considerable variation in the discrepancy rate among 10 of the countries participating in this study. Out of 1326 samples, 348 were re-analysed by an accredited diagnostic laboratory, based in Germany, with concordance rates of 93% and 94% for the upper and lower alleles, respectively. This became 100% if the acceptable measurement errors were applied. The central laboratory correctly reported allele sizes for six standard reference samples, blind to the known result. Our study differs from external quality assessment (EQA) schemes in that these are duplicate results obtained from a large sample of patients across the whole diagnostic range. We strongly recommend that laboratories state an error rate for their measurement on the report, participate in EQA schemes and use reference materials regularly to adjust their own internal standards. PMID:21811303

Greenhouse gas mitigation options in the Forest sector of Russia: National and project level assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vinson, Ted S.; Kolchugina, Tatyana P.; Andrasko, Kenneth A.

1996-01-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation options in the Russian forest sector include: afforestation and reforestation of unforested/degraded land area; enhanced forest productivity; incorporation of nondestructive methods of wood harvesting in the forest industry; establishment of land protective forest stands; increase in stand age of final harvest in the European part of Russia; increased fire control; increased disease and pest control; and preservation of old growth forests in the Russian Far-East, which are presently threatened. Considering the implementation of all of the options presented, the GHG mitigation potential within the forest and agroforestry sectors of Russia is approximately 0.6 0.7 Pg C/yr or one half of the industrial carbon emissions of the United States. The difference between the GHG mitigation potential and the actual level of GHGs mitigated in the Russian forest sector will depend to a great degree on external financing that may be available. One possibility for external financing is through joint implementation (JI). However, under the JI process, each project will be evaluated by considering a number of criteria including also the difference between the carbon emissions or sequestration for the baseline (or reference) and the project case, the permanence of the project, and leakage. Consequently, a project level assessment must appreciate the near-term constraints that will face practitioners who attempt to realize the GHG mitigation potential in the forest and agroforestry sectors of their countries.

Title II Task Force Issues Reading and Media Selection Aid; ESEA Title II and the Right to Read Notable Reading Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.

The 21 reading projects described in this report range from a bilingual reading project for second-grade students to a secondary school reading project in career education. Objectives of some of the other projects described include: to motivate pupils to read for pleasure, to develop skill in reading and learn the use of reference materials in the…

Ten Days at Sea: For Grades K through 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seddon, Marian

1977-01-01

Outlines a 10-day unit in oceanography for the primary grades. Suggest stories, chalkboard work, topics for discussion, coloring projects, experiments, films, reference books, and topics for research projects. (CS)

Evidence from Social Service Enhancement Projects: Selected Cases from Norway's HUSK Project.

PubMed

Johannessen, Asbjorn; Eide, Solveig Botnen

2015-01-01

Through this article the authors describe the social service context of the HUSK (The University Research Program to Support Selected Municipal Social Service Offices) projects and briefly describe 10 of the 50 projects funded throughout the country. The welfare state context for the cases and the criteria for case selection are also provided. The 10 cases are organized into three categories that feature the role of dialogue, educational innovation, and service innovation. These cases provide the foundation for the analysis and implications located in the subsequent articles of the special issue.

18 CFR 16.8 - Consultation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

....6 of this chapter. (4) The Director of the Office of Energy Projects will, upon request, provide a... otherwise extended by the Director of Office of Energy Projects pursuant to paragraph (b)(6) of this section... Office of Energy Projects (Director) for resolution. (ii) The entity referring the dispute must serve a...

18 CFR 16.8 - Consultation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

....6 of this chapter. (4) The Director of the Office of Energy Projects will, upon request, provide a... otherwise extended by the Director of Office of Energy Projects pursuant to paragraph (b)(6) of this section... Office of Energy Projects (Director) for resolution. (ii) The entity referring the dispute must serve a...

18 CFR 16.8 - Consultation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

....6 of this chapter. (4) The Director of the Office of Energy Projects will, upon request, provide a... otherwise extended by the Director of Office of Energy Projects pursuant to paragraph (b)(6) of this section... Office of Energy Projects (Director) for resolution. (ii) The entity referring the dispute must serve a...

Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria: A Reference Guide to C/SCSC information

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-01

Smith, Larry A. "Mainframe ARTEMIS: More than a Project Management Tool -- Earned Value Analysis ( PEVA )," Project Management Journal, 19:23-28 (April 1988...A. "Mainframe ARTEMIS: More than a Project Management Tool - Earned Value Analysis ( PEVA )," Project Management Journal, 19:23-28 (April 1988). 14...than a Project Management Tool -- Earned Value Analysis ( PEVA )," Project Management Journal, 19:23-28 (April 1988). 17. Trufant, Thomas M. and Robert

39 CFR 952.25 - Exceptions to initial decision or tentative decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... subject index of the matters presented, with page references; a table of cases alphabetically arranged; a list of statutes and texts cited with page references; (2) A concise abstract or statement of the case... relied upon in support of or in opposition to each exception taken, together with specific references to...

39 CFR 952.25 - Exceptions to initial decision or tentative decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... subject index of the matters presented, with page references; a table of cases alphabetically arranged; a list of statutes and texts cited with page references; (2) A concise abstract or statement of the case... relied upon in support of or in opposition to each exception taken, together with specific references to...

The Woodworker's Website: A Project Management Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jance, Marsha

2014-01-01

A case study that focuses on building a website for a woodworking business is discussed. Project management and linear programming techniques can be used to determine the time required to complete the website project discussed in the case. This case can be assigned to students in an undergraduate or graduate decision modeling or management science…

Evaluation of Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Projects program: a reference test reactor. Project summary report

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

Boing, L.E.; Miller, R.L.

1983-10-01

This document presents, in summary form, generic conceptual information relevant to the decommissioning of a reference test reactor (RTR). All of the data presented were extracted from NUREG/CR-1756 and arranged in a form that will provide a basis for future comparison studies for the Evaluation of Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Projects (ENFDP) program. During the data extraction process no attempt was made to challenge any of the assumptions used in the original studies nor was any attempt made to update assumed methods or processes to state-of-the-art decommissioning techniques. In a few instances obvious errors were corrected after consultation with the studymore » author.« less

Effect of Selected Modeling Assumptions on Subsurface Radionuclide Transport Projections for the Potential Environmental Management Disposal Facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee

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

Painter, Scott L.

2016-06-28

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management recently revised a Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study (RI/FS) that included an analysis of subsurface radionuclide transport at a potential new Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) in East Bear Creek Valley near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The effect of three simplifying assumptions used in the RI/FS analyses are investigated using the same subsurface pathway conceptualization but with more flexible modeling tools. Neglect of vadose zone dispersion was found to be conservative or non-conservative, depending on the retarded travel time and the half-life. For a given equilibrium distribution coefficient, a relatively narrow range of half-lifemore » was identified for which neglect of vadose zone transport is non-conservative and radionuclide discharge into surface water is non-negligible. However, there are two additional conservative simplifications in the reference case that compensate for the non-conservative effect of neglecting vadose zone dispersion: the use of a steady infiltration rate and vadose zone velocity, and the way equilibrium sorption is used to represent transport in the fractured material of the saturated aquifer. With more realistic representations of all three processes, the RI/FS reference case was found to either provide a reasonably good approximation to the peak concentration or was significantly conservative (pessimistic) for all parameter combinations considered.« less

Impacts of potential CO2-reduction policies on air quality in the United States.

PubMed

Trail, Marcus A; Tsimpidi, Alexandra P; Liu, Peng; Tsigaridis, Kostas; Hu, Yongtao; Rudokas, Jason R; Miller, Paul J; Nenes, Athanasios; Russell, Armistead G

2015-04-21

Impacts of emissions changes from four potential U.S. CO2 emission reduction policies on 2050 air quality are analyzed using the community multiscale air quality model (CMAQ). Future meteorology was downscaled from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE General Circulation Model (GCM) to the regional scale using the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model. We use emissions growth factors from the EPAUS9r MARKAL model to project emissions inventories for two climate tax scenarios, a combined transportation and energy scenario, a biomass energy scenario and a reference case. Implementation of a relatively aggressive carbon tax leads to improved PM2.5 air quality compared to the reference case as incentives increase for facilities to install flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. However, less capital is available to install NOX reduction technologies, resulting in an O3 increase. A policy aimed at reducing CO2 from the transportation sector and electricity production sectors leads to reduced emissions of mobile source NOX, thus reducing O3. Over most of the U.S., this scenario leads to reduced PM2.5 concentrations. However, increased primary PM2.5 emissions associated with fuel switching in the residential and industrial sectors leads to increased organic matter (OM) and PM2.5 in some cities.

A regional assessment of salt marsh restoration and monitoring in the Gulf of Maine

USGS Publications Warehouse

Konisky, R.A.; Burdick, D.M.; Dionne, M.; Neckles, H.A.

2006-01-01

We compiled salt marsh monitoring datasets from 36 complete or imminent restoration projects in the Gulf of Maine to assess regional monitoring and restoration practices. Data were organized by functional indicators and restoration project types (culvert replacement, excavation works, or ditch plugging) then pooled to generate mean values for indicators before restoration, after restoration, and at reference sites. Monitoring data were checked against the regional standards of a voluntary protocol for the Gulf of Maine. Data inventories showed that vegetation and salinity indicators were most frequently collected (89 and 78% of sites, respectively), whereas nekton, bird, and hydrologic measures were collected at only about half of the sites. Reference conditions were monitored at 72% of sites. Indicators were analyzed to see if project sites were degraded relative to reference areas and to detect ecological responses to restoration activities. Results showed that compared to reference areas, prerestoration sites had smaller tidal ranges, reduced salinity levels, greater cover of brackish plants species, and lower cover of halophyte plants. Following restoration, physical factors rebounded rapidly with increased flood and salinity levels after about one year, especially for culvert projects. Biological responses were less definitive and occurred over longer time frames. Plant communities trended toward recovered halophytes and reduced brackish species at 3+ years following restoration. Nekton and avian indicators were indistinguishable among reference, impacted, and restored areas. The protocol was successful in demonstrating restoration response for the region, but results were limited by regional inconsistencies in field practices and relatively few multiyear datasets. To improve future assessment capabilities, we encourage greater adherence to the standard protocol throughout the Gulf of Maine salt marsh restoration community.

1000 Norms Project: protocol of a cross-sectional study cataloging human variation.

PubMed

McKay, Marnee J; Baldwin, Jennifer N; Ferreira, Paulo; Simic, Milena; Vanicek, Natalie; Hiller, Claire E; Nightingale, Elizabeth J; Moloney, Niamh A; Quinlan, Kate G; Pourkazemi, Fereshteh; Sman, Amy D; Nicholson, Leslie L; Mousavi, Seyed J; Rose, Kristy; Raymond, Jacqueline; Mackey, Martin G; Chard, Angus; Hübscher, Markus; Wegener, Caleb; Fong Yan, Alycia; Refshauge, Kathryn M; Burns, Joshua

2016-03-01

Clinical decision-making regarding diagnosis and management largely depends on comparison with healthy or 'normal' values. Physiotherapists and researchers therefore need access to robust patient-centred outcome measures and appropriate reference values. However there is a lack of high-quality reference data for many clinical measures. The aim of the 1000 Norms Project is to generate a freely accessible database of musculoskeletal and neurological reference values representative of the healthy population across the lifespan. In 2012 the 1000 Norms Project Consortium defined the concept of 'normal', established a sampling strategy and selected measures based on clinical significance, psychometric properties and the need for reference data. Musculoskeletal and neurological items tapping the constructs of dexterity, balance, ambulation, joint range of motion, strength and power, endurance and motor planning will be collected in this cross-sectional study. Standardised questionnaires will evaluate quality of life, physical activity, and musculoskeletal health. Saliva DNA will be analysed for the ACTN3 genotype ('gene for speed'). A volunteer cohort of 1000 participants aged 3 to 100 years will be recruited according to a set of self-reported health criteria. Descriptive statistics will be generated, creating tables of mean values and standard deviations stratified for age and gender. Quantile regression equations will be used to generate age charts and age-specific centile values. This project will be a powerful resource to assist physiotherapists and clinicians across all areas of healthcare to diagnose pathology, track disease progression and evaluate treatment response. This reference dataset will also contribute to the development of robust patient-centred clinical trial outcome measures. Copyright © 2015 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 1209.40 - Programs, plans, and projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... requirements for quality control, grade standards, supply management programs, or other programs that would..., plan, or project, no reference to a brand name, trade name, or State or regional identification of any...

Implementing Financial Assurance for Mitigation Project Success

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Institute for Water Resources (IWR) prepared this white paper on financial assurance for mitigation project success to provide a reference resource for Corps district staff involved with establishing and overseeing financial assurances.

Public dashboard

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-03-19

This website provides information on road construction projects in Virginia. The Dashboard is divided into four sections. The far left hand column is referred to as the Advertisement Section. This column deals with planned projects that are being pre...

A guide to federal-aid programs and projects

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-05-01

This guide provides basic information about Federal-aid programs, projects, and other program characteristics. The information sheets contained in the guide provide fiscal information, statutory and regulatory references, general eligibility and back...

Reference-free ground truth metric for metal artifact evaluation in CT images.

PubMed

Kratz, Bärbel; Ens, Svitlana; Müller, Jan; Buzug, Thorsten M

2011-07-01

In computed tomography (CT), metal objects in the region of interest introduce data inconsistencies during acquisition. Reconstructing these data results in an image with star shaped artifacts induced by the metal inconsistencies. To enhance image quality, the influence of the metal objects can be reduced by different metal artifact reduction (MAR) strategies. For an adequate evaluation of new MAR approaches a ground truth reference data set is needed. In technical evaluations, where phantoms can be measured with and without metal inserts, ground truth data can easily be obtained by a second reference data acquisition. Obviously, this is not possible for clinical data. Here, an alternative evaluation method is presented without the need of an additionally acquired reference data set. The proposed metric is based on an inherent ground truth for metal artifacts as well as MAR methods comparison, where no reference information in terms of a second acquisition is needed. The method is based on the forward projection of a reconstructed image, which is compared to the actually measured projection data. The new evaluation technique is performed on phantom and on clinical CT data with and without MAR. The metric results are then compared with methods using a reference data set as well as an expert-based classification. It is shown that the new approach is an adequate quantification technique for artifact strength in reconstructed metal or MAR CT images. The presented method works solely on the original projection data itself, which yields some advantages compared to distance measures in image domain using two data sets. Beside this, no parameters have to be manually chosen. The new metric is a useful evaluation alternative when no reference data are available.

Automatic reference selection for quantitative EEG interpretation: identification of diffuse/localised activity and the active earlobe reference, iterative detection of the distribution of EEG rhythms.

PubMed

Wang, Bei; Wang, Xingyu; Ikeda, Akio; Nagamine, Takashi; Shibasaki, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Masatoshi

2014-01-01

EEG (Electroencephalograph) interpretation is important for the diagnosis of neurological disorders. The proper adjustment of the montage can highlight the EEG rhythm of interest and avoid false interpretation. The aim of this study was to develop an automatic reference selection method to identify a suitable reference. The results may contribute to the accurate inspection of the distribution of EEG rhythms for quantitative EEG interpretation. The method includes two pre-judgements and one iterative detection module. The diffuse case is initially identified by pre-judgement 1 when intermittent rhythmic waveforms occur over large areas along the scalp. The earlobe reference or averaged reference is adopted for the diffuse case due to the effect of the earlobe reference depending on pre-judgement 2. An iterative detection algorithm is developed for the localised case when the signal is distributed in a small area of the brain. The suitable averaged reference is finally determined based on the detected focal and distributed electrodes. The presented technique was applied to the pathological EEG recordings of nine patients. One example of the diffuse case is introduced by illustrating the results of the pre-judgements. The diffusely intermittent rhythmic slow wave is identified. The effect of active earlobe reference is analysed. Two examples of the localised case are presented, indicating the results of the iterative detection module. The focal and distributed electrodes are detected automatically during the repeating algorithm. The identification of diffuse and localised activity was satisfactory compared with the visual inspection. The EEG rhythm of interest can be highlighted using a suitable selected reference. The implementation of an automatic reference selection method is helpful to detect the distribution of an EEG rhythm, which can improve the accuracy of EEG interpretation during both visual inspection and automatic interpretation. Copyright © 2013 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Flap Thickness on Nipple Projection After Nipple Reconstruction Using a Modified Star Flap.

PubMed

Ishii, Naohiro; Ando, Jiro; Harao, Michiko; Takemae, Masaru; Kishi, Kazuo

2018-05-07

In nipple reconstruction, the width, length, and thickness of modified star flaps are concerns for long-term reconstructed nipple projection. However, the flap's projection has not been analyzed, based on its thickness. The aim of the present study was to investigate how flap thickness in a modified star flap influences the resulting reconstructed nipple and achieves an appropriate flap width in design. Sixty-three patients who underwent nipple reconstruction using a modified star flap following implant-based breast reconstruction between August 2014 and July 2016 were included in this case-controlled study. The length of laterally diverging flaps was 1.5 times their width. The thickness of each flap was measured using ultrasonography, and the average thickness was defined as the flap thickness. We investigated the correlation between the resulting reconstructed nipple and flap thickness, and the difference of the change in the reconstructed nipple projection after using a thin or thick flap. The average flap thickness was 3.8 ± 1.7 (range 2.5-6.0) mm. There was a significant, linear correlation between the flap thickness and resulting reconstructed nipple projection (β = 0.853, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the difference between the thin and thick flaps in the resulting reconstructed nipple projection was significant (p < 0.01). Measuring the flap thickness preoperatively may allow surgeons to achieve an appropriate flap width; otherwise, alternative methods for higher projection might be used. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

SU-D-BRF-04: Digital Tomosynthesis for Improved Daily Setup in Treatment of Liver Lesions

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

Armstrong, H; Jones, B; Miften, M

Purpose: Daily localization of liver lesions with cone-beam CT (CBCT) is difficult due to poor image quality caused by scatter, respiratory motion, and the lack of radiographic contrast between the liver parenchyma and the lesion(s). Digital tomosynthesis (DTS) is investigated as a modality to improve liver visualization and lesion/parenchyma contrast for daily setup. Methods: An in-house tool was developed to generate DTS images using a point-by-point filtered back-projection method from on-board CBCT projection data. DTS image planes are generated in a user defined orientation to visualize the anatomy at various depths. Reference DTS images are obtained from forward projection ofmore » the planning CT dataset at each projection angle. The CBCT DTS image set can then be registered to the reference DTS image set as a means for localization. Contour data from the planning CT's associate RT Structure file and forward projected similarly to the planning CT data. DTS images are created for each contoured structure, which can then be overlaid onto the DTS images for organ volume visualization. Results: High resolution DTS images generated from CBCT projections show fine anatomical detail, including small blood vessels, within the patient. However, the reference DTS images generated from forward projection of the planning CT lacks this level of detail due to the low resolution of the CT voxels as compared to the pixel size in the projection images; typically 1mm-by-1mm-by-3mm (lat, vrt, lng) for the planning CT vs. 0.4mm-by-0.4mm for CBCT projections. Overlaying of the contours onto the DTS image allows for visualization of structures of interest. Conclusion: The ability to generate DTS images over a limited range of projection angles allows for reduction in the amount of respiratory motion within each acquisition. DTS may provide improved visualization of structures and lesions as compared to CBCT for highly mobile tumors.« less

Glucose Measurement: Time for a Gold Standard

PubMed Central

Hagvik, Joakim

2007-01-01

There is no internationally recognized reference method for the measurement of blood glucose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted the need for standardization some years ago when a project was started. The project objectives were to (1) investigate whether there are significant differences in calibration levels among currently used glucose monitors for home use and (2) develop a reference method for glucose determination. A first study confirmed the assumption that currently used home-use monitors differ significantly and that standardization is necessary in order to minimize variability and to improve patient care. As a reference method, CDC recommended a method based on isotope dilution gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, an assay that has received support from clinical chemists worldwide. CDC initiated a preliminary study to establish the suitability of this method, but then the project came to a halt. It is hoped that CDC, with support from the industry, as well as academic and professional organizations such as the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, will be able to finalize the project and develop the long-awaited and much needed “gold standard” for glucose measurement. PMID:19888402

The openEHR Java reference implementation project.

PubMed

Chen, Rong; Klein, Gunnar

2007-01-01

The openEHR foundation has developed an innovative design for interoperable and future-proof Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems based on a dual model approach with a stable reference information model complemented by archetypes for specific clinical purposes.A team from Sweden has implemented all the stable specifications in the Java programming language and donated the source code to the openEHR foundation. It was adopted as the openEHR Java Reference Implementation in March 2005 and released under open source licenses. This encourages early EHR implementation projects around the world and a number of groups have already started to use this code. The early Java implementation experience has also led to the publication of the openEHR Java Implementation Technology Specification. A number of design changes to the specifications and important minor corrections have been directly initiated by the implementation project over the last two years. The Java Implementation has been important for the validation and improvement of the openEHR design specifications and provides building blocks for future EHR systems.

Identifying Glucokinase Monogenic Diabetes in a Multiethnic Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Cohort: New Pregnancy Screening Criteria and Utility of HbA1c.

PubMed

Rudland, Victoria L; Hinchcliffe, Marcus; Pinner, Jason; Cole, Stuart; Mercorella, Belinda; Molyneaux, Lynda; Constantino, Maria; Yue, Dennis K; Ross, Glynis P; Wong, Jencia

2016-01-01

Glucokinase monogenic diabetes (GCK-maturity-onset diabetes of the young [MODY]) should be differentiated from gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) because management differs. New pregnancy-specific screening criteria (NSC) have been proposed to identify women who warrant GCK genetic testing. We tested NSC and HbA1c in a multiethnic GDM cohort and examined projected referrals for GCK testing. Using a GDM database, 63 of 776 women had a postpartum oral glucose tolerance test suggestive of GCK-MODY. Of these 63 women, 31 agreed to undergo GCK testing. NSC accuracy and HbA1c were examined. Projected referrals were calculated by applying the NSC to a larger GDM database (n = 4,415). Four of 31 women were confirmed as having GCK-MODY (prevalence ∼0.5-1/100 with GDM). The NSC identified all Anglo-Celtic women but did not identify one Indian woman. The NSC will refer 6.1% of GDM cases for GCK testing, with more Asian/Indian women referred despite lower disease prevalence. Antepartum HbA1c was not higher in those with GCK-MODY. The NSC performed well in Anglo-Celtic women. Ethnic-specific criteria should be explored. © 2016 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

Standardisation of DNA quantitation by image analysis: quality control of instrumentation.

PubMed

Puech, M; Giroud, F

1999-05-01

DNA image analysis is frequently performed in clinical practice as a prognostic tool and to improve diagnosis. The precision of prognosis and diagnosis depends on the accuracy of analysis and particularly on the quality of image analysis systems. It has been reported that image analysis systems used for DNA quantification differ widely in their characteristics (Thunissen et al.: Cytometry 27: 21-25, 1997). This induces inter-laboratory variations when the same sample is analysed in different laboratories. In microscopic image analysis, the principal instrumentation errors arise from the optical and electronic parts of systems. They bring about problems of instability, non-linearity, and shading and glare phenomena. The aim of this study is to establish tools and standardised quality control procedures for microscopic image analysis systems. Specific reference standard slides have been developed to control instability, non-linearity, shading and glare phenomena and segmentation efficiency. Some systems have been controlled with these tools and these quality control procedures. Interpretation criteria and accuracy limits of these quality control procedures are proposed according to the conclusions of a European project called PRESS project (Prototype Reference Standard Slide). Beyond these limits, tested image analysis systems are not qualified to realise precise DNA analysis. The different procedures presented in this work determine if an image analysis system is qualified to deliver sufficiently precise DNA measurements for cancer case analysis. If the controlled systems are beyond the defined limits, some recommendations are given to find a solution to the problem.

The Hemiptera (Insecta) of Canada: Constructing a Reference Library of DNA Barcodes

PubMed Central

Gwiazdowski, Rodger A.; Foottit, Robert G.; Maw, H. Eric L.; Hebert, Paul D. N.

2015-01-01

DNA barcode reference libraries linked to voucher specimens create new opportunities for high-throughput identification and taxonomic re-evaluations. This study provides a DNA barcode library for about 45% of the recognized species of Canadian Hemiptera, and the publically available R workflow used for its generation. The current library is based on the analysis of 20,851 specimens including 1849 species belonging to 628 genera and 64 families. These individuals were assigned to 1867 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs), sequence clusters that often coincide with species recognized through prior taxonomy. Museum collections were a key source for identified specimens, but we also employed high-throughput collection methods that generated large numbers of unidentified specimens. Many of these specimens represented novel BINs that were subsequently identified by taxonomists, adding barcode coverage for additional species. Our analyses based on both approaches includes 94 species not listed in the most recent Canadian checklist, representing a potential 3% increase in the fauna. We discuss the development of our workflow in the context of prior DNA barcode library construction projects, emphasizing the importance of delineating a set of reference specimens to aid investigations in cases of nomenclatural and DNA barcode discordance. The identification for each specimen in the reference set can be annotated on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), allowing experts to highlight questionable identifications; annotations can be added by any registered user of BOLD, and instructions for this are provided. PMID:25923328

Conditions for Productive Learning in Networked Learning Environments: A Case Study from the VO@NET Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryberg, Thomas; Koottatep, Suporn; Pengchai, Petch; Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Lone

2006-01-01

In this article we bring together experiences from two international research projects: the Kaleidoscope ERT research collaboration and the VO@NET project. We do this by using a shared framework identified for cross-case analyses within the Kaleidoscope ERT to analyse a particular case in the VO@NET project, a training course called "Green…

Project Career: A qualitative examination of five college students with traumatic brain injuries.

PubMed

Nardone, Amanda; Sampson, Elaine; Stauffer, Callista; Leopold, Anne; Jacobs, Karen; Hendricks, Deborah J; Elias, Eileen; Chen, Hui; Rumrill, Phillip

2015-01-01

Project Career is an interprofessional five-year development project designed to improve the employment success of undergraduate college and university students with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The case study information was collected and synthesized by the project's Technology and Employment Coordinators (TECs) at each of the project's three university sites. The project's evaluation is occurring independently through JBS International, Inc. Five case studies are presented to provide an understanding of student participants' experiences within Project Career. Each case study includes background on the student, engagement with technology, vocational supports, and interactions with his/her respective TEC. A qualitative analysis from the student's case notes is provided within each case study, along with a discussion of the overall qualitative analysis. Across all five students, the theme Positive Outcomes was mentioned most often in the case notes. Of all the different type of challenges, Cognitive Challenges were most often mentioned during meetings with the TECs, followed by Psychological Challenges, Physical Challenges, Other Challenges, and Academic Challenges, respectively. Project Career is providing academic enrichment and career enhancement that may substantially improve the unsatisfactory employment outcomes that presently await students with TBI following graduation.

Transitioning from conceptual design to construction performance specification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeffers, Paul; Warner, Mark; Craig, Simon; Hubbard, Robert; Marshall, Heather

2012-09-01

On successful completion of a conceptual design review by a funding agency or customer, there is a transition phase before construction contracts can be placed. The nature of this transition phase depends on the Project's approach to construction and the particular subsystem being considered. There are generically two approaches; project retention of design authority and issuance of build to print contracts, or issuance of subsystem performance specifications with controlled interfaces. This paper relates to the latter where a proof of concept (conceptual or reference design) is translated into performance based sub-system specifications for competitive tender. This translation is not a straightforward process and there are a number of different issues to consider in the process. This paper deals with primarily the Telescope mount and Enclosure subsystems. The main subjects considered in this paper are: • Typical status of design at Conceptual Design Review compared with the desired status of Specifications and Interface Control Documents at Request for Quotation. • Options for capture and tracking of system requirements flow down from science / operating requirements and sub-system requirements, and functional requirements derived from reference design. • Requirements that may come specifically from the contracting approach. • Methods for effective use of reference design work without compromising a performance based specification. • Management of project team's expectation relating to design. • Effects on cost estimates from reference design to actual. This paper is based on experience and lessons learned through this process on both the VISTA and the ATST projects.

The African Reference Frame (AFREF) project: a fundamental geodetic tool for Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farah, H.

2009-04-01

AFREF has as objective the establishment and maintenance of a unified geodetic reference frame for Africa, which will support and facilitate fundamental scientific and technical projects. The installation of observation systems all over Africa will provide important data that can be used in many different scientific fields (e.g., geodynamics, meteorological). Furthermore, AFREF will create an uniform frame that will support development projects, uniform environmental and mapping programmes as well as aid in resolving current and future international boundary disputes. This reference frame will be based on the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) and will be realised through the establishment of a network of permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In close collaboration with several institutional role players, AFREF is an initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Committee on Development Information (CODI). A steering committee is currently responsible for the over-all management and coordination of the implementation of AFREF. Implementation of AFREF is envisaged to be at national level in collaboration with National Mapping Organizations. Furthermore, many scientific Institutions are contributing for the densification of the network. The current status of the AFREF network will be discussed in detail. Several CORS systems have been installed to support AFREF specifically. In addition, most or all of the IGS stations located in Africa will automatically qualify as AFREF core stations. Furthermore, we will show examples of interaction between specific projects and AFREF that are contributing for the development of science in Africa.

Iterative optimizing quantization method for reconstructing three-dimensional images from a limited number of views

DOEpatents

Lee, H.R.

1997-11-18

A three-dimensional image reconstruction method comprises treating the object of interest as a group of elements with a size that is determined by the resolution of the projection data, e.g., as determined by the size of each pixel. One of the projections is used as a reference projection. A fictitious object is arbitrarily defined that is constrained by such reference projection. The method modifies the known structure of the fictitious object by comparing and optimizing its four projections to those of the unknown structure of the real object and continues to iterate until the optimization is limited by the residual sum of background noise. The method is composed of several sub-processes that acquire four projections from the real data and the fictitious object: generate an arbitrary distribution to define the fictitious object, optimize the four projections, generate a new distribution for the fictitious object, and enhance the reconstructed image. The sub-process for the acquisition of the four projections from the input real data is simply the function of acquiring the four projections from the data of the transmitted intensity. The transmitted intensity represents the density distribution, that is, the distribution of absorption coefficients through the object. 5 figs.

A combined reference panel from the 1000 Genomes and UK10K projects improved rare variant imputation in European and Chinese samples

PubMed Central

Chou, Wen-Chi; Zheng, Hou-Feng; Cheng, Chia-Ho; Yan, Han; Wang, Li; Han, Fang; Richards, J. Brent; Karasik, David; Kiel, Douglas P.; Hsu, Yi-Hsiang

2016-01-01

Imputation using the 1000 Genomes haplotype reference panel has been widely adapted to estimate genotypes in genome wide association studies. To evaluate imputation quality with a relatively larger reference panel and a reference panel composed of different ethnic populations, we conducted imputations in the Framingham Heart Study and the North Chinese Study using a combined reference panel from the 1000 Genomes (N = 1,092) and UK10K (N = 3,781) projects. For rare variants with 0.01% < MAF ≤ 0.5%, imputation in the Framingham Heart Study with the combined reference panel increased well-imputed genotypes (with imputation quality score ≥0.4) from 62.9% to 76.1% when compared to imputation with the 1000 Genomes. For the North Chinese samples, imputation of rare variants with 0.01% < MAF ≤ 0.5% with the combined reference panel increased well-imputed genotypes by from 49.8% to 61.8%. The predominant European ancestry of the UK10K and the combined reference panels may explain why there was less of an increase in imputation success in the North Chinese samples. Our results underscore the importance and potential of larger reference panels to impute rare variants, while recognizing that increasing ethnic specific variants in reference panels may result in better imputation for genotypes in some ethnic groups. PMID:28004816

Modeling the Acceleration of Global Surface Temperture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B.

2017-12-01

A mathematical projection focusing on the changing rate of acceleration of Global Surface Temperatures. Using historical trajectory and informed expert near-term prediction, it is possible to extend this further forward drawing a reference arc of acceleration. Presented here is an example of this technique based on data found in the Summary of Findings of A New Estimate of the Average Earth Surface Land Temperature Spanning 1753 to 2011 and that same team's stated prediction to 2050. With this, we can project a curve showing future acceleration: Decade (midpoint) Change in Global Land Temp Degrees C Known Slope Projected Trend 1755 0.000 1955 0.600 0.0030 2005 1.500 0.0051 2045 3.000 0.0375 2095 5.485 0.0497 2145 8.895 0.0682 2195 13.488 0.0919 Observations: Slopes are getting steeper and doing so faster in an "acceleration of the acceleration" or an "arc of acceleration". This is consistent with the non-linear accelerating feedback loops of global warming. Such projected temperatures threaten human civilization and human life. This `thumbnail' projection is consistent with the other long term predictions based on anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This projection is low when compared to those whose forecasts include greenhouse gases released from thawing permafrost and clathrate hydrates. A reference line: This curve should be considered a point of reference. In the near term and absent significant drawdown of greenhouse gases, my "bet" for this AGU session is that future temperatures will generally be above this reference curve. For example, the decade ending 2020 - more than 1.9C and the decade ending 2030 - more than 2.3C - again measured from the 1750 start point. *Caveat: The long term curve and prediction assumes that mankind does not move quickly away from high cost fossil fuels and does not invent, mobilize and take actions drawing down greenhouse gases. Those seeking a comprehensive action plan are directed to drawdown.org

Federal lands highway project development and design manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-11-01

This manual has been developed to provide information and guidance to engineering staffs involved with project development and design of highways. It identifies those standards, specifications, guides, and references approved for use in carrying out ...

A Cooperative Conversion Project from Vertical File Hardcopy to Jacketed Microfiche.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worden, Diane D.

1981-01-01

Describes a cooperative project to convert a library's hardcopy materials to microfiche, including the steps involved in conversion, conversion costs, sources of funding, and staff performance rates. Six references are listed. (FM)

Advanced transportation management technologies : participant reference guide : Demonstration Project No. 105

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-04-01

This demonstration project will provide an opportunity for policy and decision makers from transportation agencies including State and local Departments of Transportation (DOTs), Departments of Public Works (DPWs), and Metropolitan Planning Organizat...

Investing in Preschool.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bracey, Gerald W.

2003-01-01

Reviews several studies examining long-term academic, economic, and social benefits of investment in early childhood education. Includes the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program, the Abecedarian Project, and Head Start. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Aurora Solar Energy Project |

Science.gov Websites

development Start Year: 2020 Do you have more information, corrections, or comments? Background Technology : 495,000 MWh/yr (Expected) Contact(s): Webmaster Solar Key References: Fact sheet Break Ground: 2018 Start

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Tamarugal Solar Energy Project |

Science.gov Websites

Gross: 450.0 MW Status: Under development Start Year: 2021 Do you have more information, corrections, or Key References: Fact sheet Break Ground: 2018 Start Production: 2021 Participants Developer(s): Solar

THE COLUMBIA-HARVAD-YALE MEDICAL LIBRARIES COMPUTERIZATION PROJECT, A REVIEW WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE PHASE I OF THE PROJECT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BREGZIS, RITVARS

THE PRINCIPAL GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS THE ACTIVATION OF A REAL- TIME MEDICAL LITERATURE SYSTEM, WITH THE CONCEPT FOR THE PROJECT BASED ON RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS AND AN APPRAISAL OF EXPECTED FUTURE INFORMATION SYSTEMS. DURING THE FIRST PHASE, A DATA FILE HAS BEEN CREATED WHICH, WITH SOME ADJUSTMENTS, CAN BE EMPLOYED FOR TIME-SHARED…

Same Planet, Different Worlds: Why Projects Continue to Fail. A Generalist Review of Project Management with Special Reference to Electronic Research Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Ian

2006-01-01

Implementation of IT "solutions" in the context of changes to business processes and efficiency is a common trigger for using formalised project management techniques. The trigger may include topical activities such as job evaluation schemes or quality assurance accreditation. This has led to a blurring of the boundary between projects and…

Evolutionary space platform concept study. Volume 3: Programmatics for manned space platform concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The programmatic data for the reference concept of the Manned Space Platform is presented. Details regarding work breakdown structure (WBS) and dictionary, the facilities and equipment required to produce the modules, the project schedule and logic diagram, a preliminary assessment of environmental impacts and details regarding the estimated costs for the reference concept are included. The proposed WBS which was developed to provide summary and system level segregation of the nonrecurring and recurring portions of the Manned Space Platform project is also included. The accompanying dictionary outlines the function and activities contained within each WBS element. The facility and equipment required to produce the various modules is discussed. Generally, required equipment is within the existing state of the art although the size of some of the items to be manufactured is a consideration. A preliminary manufacturing flow was also provided. The project schedules presented consist of the Master Project Summary Schedule, the Master Project Phasing Chart and the Logic Network.

MetroFission: New high-temperature references and sensors for the nuclear industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadli, M.; del Campo, D.; de Podesta, M.; Deuzé, T.; Failleau, G.; Elliott, C. J.; Fourrez, S.; García, C.; Pearce, J. V.

2013-09-01

The European metrology research programme (EMRP) allows funding for metrology-oriented projects in the frame of targeted calls aimed at improving metrology for important contemporary and future needs in different fields such as energy, environment and industry. A joint research project (JRP), called "MetroFission", was selected for funding in the "Energy" call of 2010. This JRP, led by NPL (UK), aims to anticipate and to start addressing the metrological needs of the next generation of nuclear power plants. The need for improving the accuracy and reliability of temperature measurements at temperatures higher than those currently measured in nuclear power plants is dealt with in the first workpackage of the project. This project started in September 2010 and will last for three years. This paper summarizes the activities of the first half of the project and the expected final achievements, which will be essentially oriented towards new temperature references and new devices, adapted to the high temperature range as well as the particularly harsh working conditions.

Building a Unified Information Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avram, Henriette D.

1988-01-01

Discusses cooperative efforts between research organizations and libraries to create a national information network. Topics discussed include the Linked System Project (LSP); technical processing versus reference and research functions; Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model; the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET); and…

National Bone Health Alliance Bone Turnover Marker Project: current practices and the need for US harmonization, standardization, and common reference ranges.

PubMed

Bauer, D; Krege, J; Lane, N; Leary, E; Libanati, C; Miller, P; Myers, G; Silverman, S; Vesper, H W; Lee, D; Payette, M; Randall, S

2012-10-01

This position paper reviews how the National Bone Health Alliance (NBHA) will execute a project to help assure health professionals of the clinical utility of bone turnover markers; the current clinical approaches concerning osteoporosis and the status and use of bone turnover markers in the USA; the rationale for focusing this effort around two specific bone turnover markers; the need to standardize bone marker sample collection procedures, reference ranges, and bone turnover marker assays in clinical laboratories; and the importance of harmonization for future research of bone turnover markers. Osteoporosis is a major global health problem, with the prevalence and incidence of osteoporosis for at-risk populations estimated to be 44 million Americans. The potential of bone markers as an additional tool for health care professionals to improve patient outcomes and impact morbidity and mortality is crucial in providing better health care and addressing rising health care costs. This need to advance the field of bone turnover markers has been recognized by a number of organizations, including the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), National Osteoporosis Foundation, International Federation of Clinical Chemistry, and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and the NBHA. This position paper elucidates how this project will standardize bone turnover marker sample collection procedures in the USA, establish a USA reference range for one bone formation (serum procollagen type I N propeptide, s-PINP) and one bone resorption (serum C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen, s-CTX) marker, and standardize bone turnover marker assays used in clinical laboratories. This effort will allow clinicians from the USA to have confidence in their use of bone turnover markers to help monitor osteoporosis treatment and assess future fracture risk. This project builds on the recommendations of the IOF/IFCC Bone Marker Standards Working Group by developing USA reference standards for s-PINP and s-CTX, the markers identified as most promising for use as reference markers. The goals of this project will be realized through the NBHA and will include its governmental, academic, for-profit, and non-profit sector stakeholders as well as major academic and commercial laboratories. Upon completion, a parallel effort will be pursued to make bone turnover marker measurements reliable and accepted by all health care professionals for facilitating treatment decisions and ultimately be reimbursed by all health insurance payers. Successful completion of this project will help assure health professionals from the USA of the clinical utility of bone turnover markers and ties in with the parallel effort of the IOF/IFCC to develop worldwide bone turnover reference ranges.

Placement Component, Lincoln Career Education Project. Final Report. March, 1973-June, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novak, Carl D.; And Others

The goal of the placement component of the 3-year Lincoln Career Education Project, Nebraska, was to establish placement services for youth of participating project schools. "Placement" referred not only to helping exiting senior high youth find employment, but also to developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes which lead to…

Industrially-Situated Project-Based Learning: A Study of Feedback and Diffusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbuena, Debra M.

2013-01-01

The Virtual Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Process Development Project provides the context for the two areas of the research presented in this dissertation. The first area, generally referred to as feedback in this dissertation, focuses on student learning and the interactions of students and instructors that take place in the project,…

Lessons from an International e-Learning Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breen, Paul

2007-01-01

This paper offers a critical examination of an e-learning project in the context of a Distance Education training program delivered to teacher trainers in Rwanda. In examining the successes and failures of the project, it uses a framework based on ideas promulgated by Moore (1995) and strives to provide guidance and reference for future projects…

18 CFR 16.5 - Site access for a competing applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... in providing access, including energy generation lost as a result of modification of project... the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner specified in § 16.8(b)(5) prior to the... access may be referred to the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner...

18 CFR 16.5 - Site access for a competing applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... in providing access, including energy generation lost as a result of modification of project... the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner specified in § 16.8(b)(5) prior to the... access may be referred to the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner...

18 CFR 16.5 - Site access for a competing applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... in providing access, including energy generation lost as a result of modification of project... the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner specified in § 16.8(b)(5) prior to the... access may be referred to the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner...

18 CFR 16.5 - Site access for a competing applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... in providing access, including energy generation lost as a result of modification of project... the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner specified in § 16.8(b)(5) prior to the... access may be referred to the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner...

18 CFR 16.5 - Site access for a competing applicant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... in providing access, including energy generation lost as a result of modification of project... the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner specified in § 16.8(b)(5) prior to the... access may be referred to the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for resolution in the manner...

ARSENIC REMOVAL FROM DRINKING WATER BY ADSORPTIVE MEDIA. USEPA DEMONSTRATION PROJECT AT VALLEY VISTA, AZ FINAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

This report documents the activities performed during and the results obtained from the arsenic removal treatment technology demonstration project at an Arizona Water Company (AWC) facility in Sedona, AZ, commonly referred to as Valley Vista. The objectives of the project were t...

76 FR 62400 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Focus Groups as...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-07

... Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Focus Groups as Used by EPA for Economics Projects (Renewal... used by EPA for Economics Projects (Renewal). ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 2205.07, OMB Control No. 2090... interviews (hereafter jointly referred to as focus groups) related to economics projects. Over the next three...

76 FR 61475 - Environmental Impact Statement: Walton and Bay Counties, Florida

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-04

...) will be prepared for a proposed highway project in Walton and Bay Counties, Florida. FOR FURTHER... public and agency review and comment. Additional project information can be found at the following web... 98) in Walton County, FL. The FDOT refers to this project as West Bay Parkway, Segment 1. This...

The epidemiology of invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae serotype a in the Canadian North from 2000 to 2010.

PubMed

Rotondo, Jenny L; Sherrard, Lindsey; Helferty, Melissa; Tsang, Raymond; Desai, Shalini

2013-01-01

The International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) project is a population-based surveillance network. Since 2000, Canada has participated in the ICS Invasive Bacterial Disease Working Group's surveillance of invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae (Hi). A standardized case report form containing demographic and clinical information was completed for all reported Hi cases in the study regions. Isolates were sent to a reference laboratory for confirmation and serotyping. Analysis was conducted on all Hi serotype a (Hia) cases reported from 2000 to 2010. The northern Canadian population was estimated using Statistics Canada information. Of the 130 Hi cases reported from 2000 to 2010, 72 (56% of cases with serotype information) were due to Hia. The number of Hia cases reported each year ranged from 2 in 2008 to 13 in 2010. The average Hia incidence over the 11 years was 4.6 cases per 100,000 population per year. The majority of Hia occurred in infants less than 2 years of age (73% of cases). This age group had an average annual incidence of 87.5 cases per 100,000 population. Among cases for which ethnicity was indicated, 91% of Hia cases reported Aboriginal status with the average incidence being 6.9 cases per 100,000 population per year. The most common clinical presentation was meningitis (reported in 37% of cases), followed by bacteraemia (34%) and pneumonia (27%). More than 90% of cases were hospitalized, and there were 4 deaths, resulting in a case fatality ratio of 5.6%. In the last decade, Hia has become an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the Canadian North. More detailed surveillance information from a national perspective is needed. Further work on vaccine development should be encouraged.

A case study of autonomy and motivation in a student-led game development project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prigmore, M.; Taylor, R.; De Luca, D.

2016-07-01

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory case study into the relationship between student autonomy and motivation in project based learning, using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to frame the investigation. The case study explores how different forms of motivation affect the students' response to challenges and their intention to complete the project. Earlier studies have made little explicit use of theoretical perspectives on student autonomy and motivation, a weakness this study attempts to address. As an exploratory case study seeking to evaluate the suitability of a particular theoretical framework, we chose a small case: three students on a one-term computer games development project. Given the small scale, the approach is necessarily qualitative, drawing on project documentation and one-to-one interviews with the students. Our conclusion is that the concepts of SDT provide a useful framework for analysing students' motivations to undertake project work, and its predictions can offer useful guidance on how to initiate and supervise such projects.

Optimal SVM parameter selection for non-separable and unbalanced datasets.

PubMed

Jiang, Peng; Missoum, Samy; Chen, Zhao

2014-10-01

This article presents a study of three validation metrics used for the selection of optimal parameters of a support vector machine (SVM) classifier in the case of non-separable and unbalanced datasets. This situation is often encountered when the data is obtained experimentally or clinically. The three metrics selected in this work are the area under the ROC curve (AUC), accuracy, and balanced accuracy. These validation metrics are tested using computational data only, which enables the creation of fully separable sets of data. This way, non-separable datasets, representative of a real-world problem, can be created by projection onto a lower dimensional sub-space. The knowledge of the separable dataset, unknown in real-world problems, provides a reference to compare the three validation metrics using a quantity referred to as the "weighted likelihood". As an application example, the study investigates a classification model for hip fracture prediction. The data is obtained from a parameterized finite element model of a femur. The performance of the various validation metrics is studied for several levels of separability, ratios of unbalance, and training set sizes.

Influences of high-flow events on a stream channel altered by construction of a highway bridge: A case study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hedrick, Lara B.; Welsh, Stuart A.; Anderson, James T.

2009-01-01

Impacts of highway construction on streams in the central Appalachians are a growing concern as new roads are created to promote tourism and economic development in the area. Alterations to the streambed of a first-order stream, Sauerkraut Run, Hardy County, WV, during construction of a highway overpass included placement and removal of a temporary culvert, straightening and regrading of a section of stream channel, and armourment of a bank with a reinforced gravel berm. We surveyed longitudinal profiles and cross sections in a reference reach and the altered reach of Sauerkraut Run from 2003 through 2007 to measure physical changes in the streambed. During the four-year period, three high-flow events changed the streambed downstream of construction including channel widening and aggradation and then degradation of the streambed. Upstream of construction, at a reinforced gravel berm, bank erosion was documented. The reference section remained relatively unchanged. Knowledge gained by documenting channel changes in response to natural and anthropogenic variables can be useful for managers and engineers involved in highway construction projects.

Possible astronomical references in two megalithic building of ancient Latium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magli, G.

In the wide area of the ancient Latium Vetus - roughly enclosed within the coast and the Apennines between Rome and Terracina, in Central Italy - there are several examples of town's walls and buildings constructed with the spectacular megalithic technique called polygonal, in which enormous blocks are cut in irregular shapes and perfectly fit together without mortar. In many cases, for instance in Alatri, Arpino, Circei, Norba and Segni, the megalithic size of the blocks and the ingenuity in construction reach the same magnificence and impression of power and pride which characterize the worldwide famous Mycenaean towns of Tiryns and Mycenae, constructed around the XIII century BC. In Italy however, all polygonal walls are currently attributed to the Romans, and dated to the first centuries of the Roman republic (V-III century BC), although for most of these constructions no reliable stratigraphy is available. In the present work, which is part of an ongoing project aiming at a complete study of these buildings, we investigate the possible astronomical references in the planning of two among the most imposing of them, namely the so called Acropolis of Alatri and Circei.

GEOdetic Data assimilation and EStimation of references for climate change InvEstigation. An overall presentation of the French GEODESIE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahmani, S.; Coulot, D.; Biancale, R.; Bizouard, C.; Bonnefond, P.; Bouquillon, S.; Collilieux, X.; Deleflie, F.; Garayt, B.; Lambert, S. B.; Laurent-Varin, S.; Marty, J. C.; Mercier, F.; Metivier, L.; Meyssignac, B.; Pollet, A.; Rebischung, P.; Reinquin, F.; Richard, J. Y.; Tertre, F.; Woppelmann, G.

2017-12-01

Many major indicators of climate change are monitored with space observations. This monitoring is highly dependent on references that only geodesy can provide. The current accuracy of these references does not permit to fully support the challenges that the constantly evolving Earth system gives rise to, and can consequently limit the accuracy of these indicators. Thus, in the framework of the GGOS, stringent requirements are fixed to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) for the next decade: an accuracy at the level of 1 mm and a stability at the level of 0.1 mm/yr. This means an improvement of the current quality of ITRF by a factor of 5-10. Improving the quality of the geodetic references is an issue which requires a thorough reassessment of the methodologies involved. The most relevant and promising method to improve this quality is the direct combination of the space-geodetic measurements used to compute the official references of the IERS. The GEODESIE project aims at (i) determining highly-accurate global and consistent references and (ii) providing the geophysical and climate research communities with these references, for a better estimation of geocentric sea level rise, ice mass balance and on-going climate changes. Time series of sea levels computed from altimetric data and tide gauge records with these references will also be provided. The geodetic references will be essential bases for Earth's observation and monitoring to support the challenges of the century. The geocentric time series of sea levels will permit to better apprehend (i) the drivers of the global mean sea level rise and of regional variations of sea level and (ii) the contribution of the global climate change induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions to these drivers. All the results and computation and quality assessment reports will be available at geodesie_anr.ign.fr.This project, supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for the period 2017-2020, will be an unprecedented opportunity to provide the French Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) with complete simulation and data processing capabilities to prepare the future arrival of space missions such as the European Geodetic Reference Antenna in SPace (E-GRASP) and to significantly contribute to the GGOS with accurate references.

Anatomy of an upgraded pulverized coal facility: Combustion modification through flue gas scrubbing

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

Watts, J.U.; Savichky, W.J.; O`Dea, D.T.

1997-12-31

Regeneration is a biological term for formation or creating anew. In the case of Milliken station, a species of steam generation (Tangentus coali) regeneration refers to refitting critical systems with the latest technological advances to reduce emissions while maintaining or improving performance. The plant has undergone a series of operations which provided anatomical changes as well as a face lift. Each of the two units were place in suspended animation (outage) to allow these changes to be made. The paper describes the project which includes retrofitting combustion systems, pulverizers, boiler liners, scrubbers, and control room. This retrofit is meant tomore » increase thermal efficiency while reducing the formation of nitrogen oxides.« less

Changing homelessness services: revanchism, 'professionalisation' and resistance.

PubMed

Scullion, Lisa; Somerville, Peter; Brown, Philip; Morris, Gareth

2015-07-01

This paper argues that the increasing international salience of homelessness can be partially explained by reference to the revanchist thesis (involving processes of coerced exclusion and abjection), but the situation on the ground is more complex. It reports on interviews with 18 representatives of 11 homelessness service providers in one city in England. As Cloke et al. found, these providers tended to be either larger, more 'professional', 'insider' services or smaller, more 'amateur', 'outsider' services. However, this does not mean that the former were necessarily more revanchist and the latter less so. Rather, the actions of both types of organisation could, in some cases, be construed as both advancing and counteracting a revanchist project. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reference aircraft for ICAO Working Group E

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

The results of an advanced supersonic transport aircraft/engine integration study to be used as a detail preliminary design case to assist in the assessment of noise standards applicable to future supersonic transports are summarized. The design considered reflects the application of the advanced technologies which are projected to be available for program initiation in the 1980-1985 time period. Suppression characteristics included were obtained in simulated forward flight in the Rolls-Royce spin rig using a small scale model. The engine size selected produces a noise no greater than 108 EPNdB at any of the three Far Part 36 (Stage 2) defined measuring points and is sized slightly larger than the optimum cruise size to meet this noise constraint condition.

Population-Based Pediatric Reference Intervals in General Clinical Chemistry: A Swedish Survey.

PubMed

Ridefelt, Peter

2015-01-01

Very few high quality studies on pediatric reference intervals for general clinical chemistry and hematology analytes have been performed. Three recent prospective community-based projects utilising blood samples from healthy children in Sweden, Denmark and Canada have substantially improved the situation. The Swedish survey included 701 healthy children. Reference intervals for general clinical chemistry and hematology were defined.

Projecting Images of the "Good" and the "Bad School": Top Scorers in Educational Large-Scale Assessments as Reference Societies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waldow, Florian

2017-01-01

Researchers interested in the global flow of educational ideas and programmes have long been interested in the role of so-called "reference societies." The article investigates how top scorers in large-scale assessments are framed as positive or negative reference societies in the education policy-making debate in German mass media and…

Utility Sector Impacts of Reduced Electricity Demand

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

Coughlin, Katie

2014-12-01

This report presents a new approach to estimating the marginal utility sector impacts associated with electricity demand reductions. The method uses publicly available data and provides results in the form of time series of impact factors. The input data are taken from the Energy Information Agency's Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) projections of how the electric system might evolve in the reference case, and in a number of side cases that incorporate different effciency and other policy assumptions. The data published with the AEO are used to define quantitative relationships between demand-side electricity reductions by end use and supply-side changes tomore » capacity by plant type, generation by fuel type and emissions of CO2, Hg, NOx and SO2. The impact factors define the change in each of these quantities per unit reduction in site electricity demand. We find that the relative variation in these impacts by end use is small, but the time variation can be significant.« less

Acquisition and review of diagnostic images for use in medical research and medical testing examinations via the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauley, Mark A.; Dalrymple, Glenn V.; Zhu, Quiming; Chu, Wei-Kom

2000-12-01

With the continued centralization of medical care into large, regional centers, there is a growing need for a flexible, inexpensive, and secure system to rapidly provide referring physicians in the field with the results of the sophisticated medical tests performed at these facilities. Furthermore, the medical community has long recognized the need for a system with similar characteristics to maintain and upgrade patient case sets for oral and written student examinations. With the move toward filmless radiographic instrumentation, the widespread and growing use of digital methods and the Internet, both of these processes can now be realized. This article describes the conceptual development and testing of a protocol that allow users to transmit, modify, remotely store and display the images and textual information of medical cases via the Internet. We also discuss some of the legal issues we encountered regarding the transmission of medical information; these issues have had a direct impact on the implementation of the results of this project.

A protein coated piezoelectric crystal detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suleiman, Ahmad; Pender, Marie; Ngeh-Ngwainbi, Jerome; Lubrano, Glenn; Guilbault, George

1990-05-01

The purpose of this project was to develop a protein coated, portable piezoelectric crystal detector for organophosphorus compounds. The performance of acetylcholinesterase, GD-1 anti-soman, anti-DMMP antibody, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) coatings was evaluated. Different immobilization methods were also tested. The responses obtained with the protein coatings immobilized via cross-linking with glutaraldehyde were acceptable, provided that the reference crystal was coated with dextran. The proposed coatings showed good stability and reasonable lifetimes that ranged from approximately three weeks in the case of the antibody coatings to several months in the case of BSA. Although moisture, gasoline, and sulfur are potential interferents, their effects on the sensor were eliminated by using a sodium sulfate scrubber which did not affect the performance of the detector towards organophosphates. A small, battery operated portable instrument capable of real time measurements with alarm function was produced. The instrument can be used in a wide range of applications, depending on the coatings applied to the crystals.

Curriculum Alignment Projects: Toward Developing a Need To Know.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinkerton, K. David

2001-01-01

Describes the Curriculum Alignment Projects (CAPs) with the example of Bicarbonate Squeeze Play, which is an 18-week curriculum. Describes the three important outcomes of the CAPs; motivation, achievement, and teaching. Includes 16 references. (YDS)

Environmentally sensitive maintenance for dirt and gravel roads

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-10-01

This is a nonpoint source pollution project that identifies, documents, and encourages the use of environmentally sensitive maintenance of dirt and gravel roads. Specifically, this project involved the development of a reference manual and related te...

Classroom Environment in the Implementation of an Innovative Curriculum Project in Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suarez, Mercedes; Pias, Rosa; Membiela, Pedro; Dapia, Dolores

1998-01-01

Analyzes the perceptions of students, teachers, and external observers in order to study the influence of classroom environment on the implementation of an innovative project in science education. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

Application of the BRAFO tiered approach for benefit-risk assessment to case studies on heat processing contaminants.

PubMed

Schütte, Katrin; Boeing, Heiner; Hart, Andy; Heeschen, Walther; Reimerdes, Ernst H; Santare, Dace; Skog, Kerstin; Chiodini, Alessandro

2012-11-01

The aim of the European Funded Project BRAFO (benefit-risk analysis of foods) project was to develop a framework that allows quantitative comparison of human health risks and benefits of foods based on a common scale of measurement. This publication describes the application of the BRAFO methodology to three different case studies: the formation of acrylamide in potato and cereal based products, the formation of benzo(a)pyrene through smoking and grilling of meat and fish and the heat-treatment of milk. Reference, alternative scenario and target population represented the basic structure to test the tiers of the framework. Various intervention methods intended to reduce acrylamide in potato and cereal products were evaluated against the historical production methods. In conclusion the benefits of the acrylamide-reducing measures were considered prevailing. For benzo(a)pyrene, three illustrated alternative scenarios were evaluated against the most common smoking practice. The alternative scenarios were assessed as delivering benefits, introducing only minimal potential risks. Similar considerations were made for heat treatment of milk where the comparison of the microbiological effects of heat treatment, physico-chemical changes of milk constituents with positive and negative health effects was assessed. In general, based on data available, benefits of the heat treatment were outweighing any risks. Copyright © 2012 ILSI Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Hypersonic Navier Stokes Comparisons to Orbiter Flight Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Charles H.; Nompelis, Ioannis; Candler, Graham; Barnhart, Michael; Yoon, Seokkwan

2009-01-01

Hypersonic chemical nonequilibrium simulations of low earth orbit entry flow fields are becoming increasingly commonplace as software and computational capabilities become more capable. However, development of robust and accurate software to model these environments will always encounter a significant barrier in developing a suite of high quality calibration cases. The US3D hypersonic nonequilibrium Navier Stokes analysis capability has been favorably compared to a number of wind tunnel test cases. Extension of the calibration basis for this software to Orbiter flight conditions will provide an incremental increase in confidence. As part of the Orbiter Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment and the Hypersonic Thermodynamic Infrared Measurements project, NASA is performing entry flight testing on the Orbiter to provide valuable aerothermodynamic heating data. An increase in interest related to orbiter entry environments is resulting from this activity. With the advent of this new data, comparisons of the US3D software to the new flight testing data is warranted. This paper will provide information regarding the framework of analyses that will be applied with the US3D analysis tool. In addition, comparisons will be made to entry flight testing data provided by the Orbiter BLT Flight Experiment and HYTHIRM projects. If data from digital scans of the Orbiter windward surface become available, simulations will also be performed to characterize the difference in surface heating between the CAD reference OML and the digitized surface provided by the surface scans.

Evaluating the completeness of the national ALS registry, United States.

PubMed

Kaye, Wendy E; Wagner, Laurie; Wu, Ruoming; Mehta, Paul

2018-02-01

Our objective was to evaluate the completeness of the United States National ALS Registry (Registry). We compared persons with ALS who were passively identified by the Registry with those actively identified in the State and Metropolitan Area ALS Surveillance project. Cases in the two projects were matched using a combination of identifiers, including, partial social security number, name, date of birth, and sex. The distributions of cases from the two projects that matched/did not match were compared and Chi-square tests conducted to determine statistical significance. There were 5883 ALS cases identified by the surveillance project. Of these, 1116 died before the Registry started, leaving 4767 cases. We matched 2720 cases from the surveillance project to those in the Registry. The cases identified by the surveillance project that did not match cases in the Registry were more likely to be non-white, Hispanic, less than 65 years of age, and from western states. The methods used by the Registry to identify ALS cases, i.e. national administrative data and self-registration, worked well but missed cases. These findings suggest that developing strategies to identify and promote the Registry to those who were more likely to be missing, e.g. non-white and Hispanic, could be beneficial to improving the completeness of the Registry.

A Sneak Preview of the E-ELT Design Reference Science Plan Questionnaire Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kissler-Patig, M.; Küpcü Yoldaş, A.; Liske, J.

2009-12-01

The European Extremely Large Telescope is in its detailed design phase until the end of 2010. During this period, the telescope design is being consolidated and instrument and operation concepts are being studied. The scientific users are feeding back requirements into the project in numerous ways. One of them, the Design Reference Science Plan, was an opportunity for the entire community to provide direct feedback to the project. Here, we summarise the first results from this study. The full report will appear in the first half of 2010.

Radio tuning effects on visual and driving performance measures : simulator and test track studies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-05-01

Existing driver distraction guidelines for visual-manual device interface operation specify traditional : manual radio tuning as a reference task. This project evaluated the radio tuning reference task through two activities. : The first activity con...

Unified Bayesian Estimator of EEG Reference at Infinity: rREST (Regularized Reference Electrode Standardization Technique)

PubMed Central

Hu, Shiang; Yao, Dezhong; Valdes-Sosa, Pedro A.

2018-01-01

The choice of reference for the electroencephalogram (EEG) is a long-lasting unsolved issue resulting in inconsistent usages and endless debates. Currently, both the average reference (AR) and the reference electrode standardization technique (REST) are two primary, apparently irreconcilable contenders. We propose a theoretical framework to resolve this reference issue by formulating both (a) estimation of potentials at infinity, and (b) determination of the reference, as a unified Bayesian linear inverse problem, which can be solved by maximum a posterior estimation. We find that AR and REST are very particular cases of this unified framework: AR results from biophysically non-informative prior; while REST utilizes the prior based on the EEG generative model. To allow for simultaneous denoising and reference estimation, we develop the regularized versions of AR and REST, named rAR and rREST, respectively. Both depend on a regularization parameter that is the noise to signal variance ratio. Traditional and new estimators are evaluated with this framework, by both simulations and analysis of real resting EEGs. Toward this end, we leverage the MRI and EEG data from 89 subjects which participated in the Cuban Human Brain Mapping Project. Generated artificial EEGs—with a known ground truth, show that relative error in estimating the EEG potentials at infinity is lowest for rREST. It also reveals that realistic volume conductor models improve the performances of REST and rREST. Importantly, for practical applications, it is shown that an average lead field gives the results comparable to the individual lead field. Finally, it is shown that the selection of the regularization parameter with Generalized Cross-Validation (GCV) is close to the “oracle” choice based on the ground truth. When evaluated with the real 89 resting state EEGs, rREST consistently yields the lowest GCV. This study provides a novel perspective to the EEG reference problem by means of a unified inverse solution framework. It may allow additional principled theoretical formulations and numerical evaluation of performance. PMID:29780302

Combining Adaptive Hypermedia with Project and Case-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papanikolaou, Kyparisia; Grigoriadou, Maria

2009-01-01

In this article we investigate the design of educational hypermedia based on constructivist learning theories. According to the principles of project and case-based learning we present the design rational of an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia system prototype named MyProject; learners working with MyProject undertake a project and the system…

The Future of Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs in the United States: Projected Spending and Savings to 2025

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

Barbose, Galen; Goldman, Charles; Hoffman, Ian

2012-09-11

We develop projections of future spending on, and savings from, energy efficiency programs funded by electric and gas utility customers in the United States, under three scenarios through 2025. Our analysis, which updates a previous LBNL study, relies on detailed bottom-up modeling of current state energy efficiency policies, regulatory decisions, and demand-side management and utility resource plans. The three scenarios are intended to represent a range of potential outcomes under the current policy environment (i.e., without considering possible major new policy developments). By 2025, spending on electric and gas efficiency programs (excluding load management programs) is projected to double frommore » 2010 levels to $9.5 billion in the medium case, compared to $15.6 billion in the high case and $6.5 billion in the low case. Compliance with statewide legislative or regulatory savings or spending targets is the primary driver for the increase in electric program spending through 2025, though a significant share of the increase is also driven by utility DSM planning activity and integrated resource planning. Our analysis suggests that electric efficiency program spending may approach a more even geographic distribution over time in terms of absolute dollars spent, with the Northeastern and Western states declining from over 70% of total U.S. spending in 2010 to slightly more than 50% in 2025, with the South and Midwest splitting the remainder roughly evenly. Under our medium case scenario, annual incremental savings from customer-funded electric energy efficiency programs increase from 18.4 TWh in 2010 in the U.S. (which is about 0.5% of electric utility retail sales) to 28.8 TWh in 2025 (0.8% of retail sales). These savings would offset the majority of load growth in the Energy Information Administration’s most recent reference case forecast, given specific assumptions about the extent to which future energy efficiency program savings are captured in that forecast. However, the pathway that customer-funded efficiency programs ultimately take will depend on a series of key challenges and uncertainties associated both with the broader market and policy context and with the implementation and regulatory oversight of the energy efficiency programs themselves.« less

Improved imputation accuracy in Hispanic/Latino populations with larger and more diverse reference panels: applications in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)

PubMed Central

Nelson, Sarah C.; Stilp, Adrienne M.; Papanicolaou, George J.; Taylor, Kent D.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Thornton, Timothy A.; Laurie, Cathy C.

2016-01-01

Imputation is commonly used in genome-wide association studies to expand the set of genetic variants available for analysis. Larger and more diverse reference panels, such as the final Phase 3 of the 1000 Genomes Project, hold promise for improving imputation accuracy in genetically diverse populations such as Hispanics/Latinos in the USA. Here, we sought to empirically evaluate imputation accuracy when imputing to a 1000 Genomes Phase 3 versus a Phase 1 reference, using participants from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Our assessments included calculating the correlation between imputed and observed allelic dosage in a subset of samples genotyped on a supplemental array. We observed that the Phase 3 reference yielded higher accuracy at rare variants, but that the two reference panels were comparable at common variants. At a sample level, the Phase 3 reference improved imputation accuracy in Hispanic/Latino samples from the Caribbean more than for Mainland samples, which we attribute primarily to the additional reference panel samples available in Phase 3. We conclude that a 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3 reference panel can yield improved imputation accuracy compared with Phase 1, particularly for rare variants and for samples of certain genetic ancestry compositions. Our findings can inform imputation design for other genome-wide association studies of participants with diverse ancestries, especially as larger and more diverse reference panels continue to become available. PMID:27346520

The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders. I: overview and methodology for assessment of validity.

PubMed

Schiffman, Eric L; Truelove, Edmond L; Ohrbach, Richard; Anderson, Gary C; John, Mike T; List, Thomas; Look, John O

2010-01-01

The purpose of the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) Validation Project was to assess the diagnostic validity of this examination protocol. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the project's methodology, descriptive statistics, and data for the study participant sample. This article also details the development of reliable methods to establish the reference standards for assessing criterion validity of the Axis I RDC/TMD diagnoses. The Axis I reference standards were based on the consensus of two criterion examiners independently performing a comprehensive history, clinical examination, and evaluation of imaging. Intersite reliability was assessed annually for criterion examiners and radiologists. Criterion examination reliability was also assessed within study sites. Study participant demographics were comparable to those of participants in previous studies using the RDC/TMD. Diagnostic agreement of the criterion examiners with each other and with the consensus-based reference standards was excellent with all kappas > or = 0.81, except for osteoarthrosis (moderate agreement, k = 0.53). Intrasite criterion examiner agreement with reference standards was excellent (k > or = 0.95). Intersite reliability of the radiologists for detecting computed tomography-disclosed osteoarthrosis and magnetic resonance imaging-disclosed disc displacement was good to excellent (k = 0.71 and 0.84, respectively). The Validation Project study population was appropriate for assessing the reliability and validity of the RDC/TMD Axis I and II. The reference standards used to assess the validity of Axis I TMD were based on reliable and clinically credible methods.

Terrain Correction on the moving equal area cylindrical map projection of the surface of a reference ellipsoid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ardalan, A.; Safari, A.; Grafarend, E.

2003-04-01

An operational algorithm for computing the ellipsoidal terrain correction based on application of closed form solution of the Newton integral in terms of Cartesian coordinates in the cylindrical equal area map projected surface of a reference ellipsoid has been developed. As the first step the mapping of the points on the surface of a reference ellipsoid onto the cylindrical equal area map projection of a cylinder tangent to a point on the surface of reference ellipsoid closely studied and the map projection formulas are computed. Ellipsoidal mass elements with various sizes on the surface of the reference ellipsoid is considered and the gravitational potential and the vector of gravitational intensity of these mass elements has been computed via the solution of Newton integral in terms of ellipsoidal coordinates. The geographical cross section areas of the selected ellipsoidal mass elements are transferred into cylindrical equal area map projection and based on the transformed area elements Cartesian mass elements with the same height as that of the ellipsoidal mass elements are constructed. Using the close form solution of the Newton integral in terms of Cartesian coordinates the potential of the Cartesian mass elements are computed and compared with the same results based on the application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral over the ellipsoidal mass elements. The results of the numerical computations show that difference between computed gravitational potential of the ellipsoidal mass elements and Cartesian mass element in the cylindrical equal area map projection is of the order of 1.6 × 10-8m^2/s^2 for a mass element with the cross section size of 10 km × 10 km and the height of 1000 m. For a 1 km × 1 km mass element with the same height, this difference is less than 1.5 × 10-4 m^2}/s^2. The results of the numerical computations indicate that a new method for computing the terrain correction based on the closed form solution of the Newton integral in terms of Cartesian coordinates and with accuracy of ellipsoidal terrain correction has been achieved! In this way one can enjoy the simplicity of the solution of the Newton integral in terms of Cartesian coordinates and at the same time the accuracy of the ellipsoidal terrain correction, which is needed for the modern theory of geoid computations.

Creation of a cerebellar diameter reference standard and its clinical application to the detection of cerebellar hypoplasia unique to trisomy 18.

PubMed

Hayata, Kei; Hiramatsu, Yuji; Masuyama, Hisashi; Etou, Eriko; Nobumoto, Etsuko; Mitsui, Takashi

2015-12-01

We created a new reference standard focusing on the hemispheric anteroposterior cerebellar diameter (APCD) in addition to the transverse cerebellar diameter (TCD) and discussed whether or not the cerebellar measurement was useful for the detection of trisomy 18 (T18). In 150 normal fetuses between 14 and 36 weeks of gestational age (GA), the TCD and APCD were prospectively measured. In 26 cases with T18, the value was compared with the control. At <22 weeks of gestation, the TCD reference standard was calculated as follows: TCD = (1.027 × GA) - 0.674 (R(2) = 0.97, P < 0.001). The reference standard of the APCD was calculated as follows: APCD = (0.682 × GA) - 3.925 (R(2) = 0.73, P < 0.001). In eight cases with T18, the TCD was below the 5th percentile value in 7/8 (88%) cases and the APCD was below the 5th percentile value in 8/8 (100%) cases. At >22 weeks of gestation, the reference standard of the TCD was calculated as follows: TCD = (1.603 × GA) - 13.216 (R(2) = 0.92, P < 0.001). The reference standard of the APCD was calculated as follows: APCD = (0.859 × GA) - 7.30 (R(2) = 0.84, P < 0.001). In 18 cases with T18, the TCD was below the 5th percentile value in 14/18 (78%) cases and the APCD was below the 5th percentile value in 18/18 (100%) cases. APCD reference standard, divided by the gestational age of more or less than 22 weeks, might be useful to diagnose T18. © 2015 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Student ownership of projects in an upper-division optics laboratory course: A multiple case study of successful experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dounas-Frazer, Dimitri R.; Stanley, Jacob T.; Lewandowski, H. J.

2017-12-01

We investigate students' sense of ownership of multiweek final projects in an upper-division optics lab course. Using a multiple case study approach, we describe three student projects in detail. Within-case analyses focused on identifying key issues in each project, and constructing chronological descriptions of those events. Cross-case analysis focused on identifying emergent themes with respect to five dimensions of project ownership: student agency, instructor mentorship, peer collaboration, interest and value, and affective responses. Our within- and cross-case analyses yielded three major findings. First, coupling division of labor with collective brainstorming can help balance student agency, instructor mentorship, and peer collaboration. Second, students' interest in the project and perceptions of its value can increase over time; initial student interest in the project topic is not a necessary condition for student ownership of the project. Third, student ownership is characterized by a wide range of emotions that fluctuate as students alternate between extended periods of struggle and moments of success while working on their projects. These findings not only extend the literature on student ownership into a new educational domain—namely, upper-division physics labs—they also have concrete implications for the design of experimental physics projects in courses for which student ownership is a desired learning outcome. We describe the course and projects in sufficient detail that others can adapt our results to their particular contexts.

Reference set for performance testing of pediatric vaccine safety signal detection methods and systems.

PubMed

Brauchli Pernus, Yolanda; Nan, Cassandra; Verstraeten, Thomas; Pedenko, Mariia; Osokogu, Osemeke U; Weibel, Daniel; Sturkenboom, Miriam; Bonhoeffer, Jan

2016-12-12

Safety signal detection in spontaneous reporting system databases and electronic healthcare records is key to detection of previously unknown adverse events following immunization. Various statistical methods for signal detection in these different datasources have been developed, however none are geared to the pediatric population and none specifically to vaccines. A reference set comprising pediatric vaccine-adverse event pairs is required for reliable performance testing of statistical methods within and across data sources. The study was conducted within the context of the Global Research in Paediatrics (GRiP) project, as part of the seventh framework programme (FP7) of the European Commission. Criteria for the selection of vaccines considered in the reference set were routine and global use in the pediatric population. Adverse events were primarily selected based on importance. Outcome based systematic literature searches were performed for all identified vaccine-adverse event pairs and complemented by expert committee reports, evidence based decision support systems (e.g. Micromedex), and summaries of product characteristics. Classification into positive (PC) and negative control (NC) pairs was performed by two independent reviewers according to a pre-defined algorithm and discussed for consensus in case of disagreement. We selected 13 vaccines and 14 adverse events to be included in the reference set. From a total of 182 vaccine-adverse event pairs, we classified 18 as PC, 113 as NC and 51 as unclassifiable. Most classifications (91) were based on literature review, 45 were based on expert committee reports, and for 46 vaccine-adverse event pairs, an underlying pathomechanism was not plausible classifying the association as NC. A reference set of vaccine-adverse event pairs was developed. We propose its use for comparing signal detection methods and systems in the pediatric population. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Harmonization in laboratory medicine: Requests, samples, measurements and reports.

PubMed

Plebani, Mario

2016-01-01

In laboratory medicine, the terms "standardization" and "harmonization" are frequently used interchangeably as the final goal is the same: the equivalence of measurement results among different routine measurement procedures over time and space according to defined analytical and clinical quality specifications. However, the terms define two distinct, albeit closely linked, concepts based on traceability principles. The word "standardization" is used when results for a measurement are equivalent and traceable to the International System of Units (SI) through a high-order primary reference material and/or a reference measurement procedure (RMP). "Harmonization" is generally used when results are equivalent, but neither a high-order primary reference material nor a reference measurement procedure is available. Harmonization is a fundamental aspect of quality in laboratory medicine as its ultimate goal is to improve patient outcomes through the provision of accurate and actionable laboratory information. Patients, clinicians and other healthcare professionals assume that clinical laboratory tests performed by different laboratories at different times on the same sample and specimen can be compared, and that results can be reliably and consistently interpreted. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case, because many laboratory test results are still highly variable and poorly standardized and harmonized. Although the initial focus was mainly on harmonizing and standardizing analytical processes and methods, the scope of harmonization now also includes all other aspects of the total testing process (TTP), such as terminology and units, report formats, reference intervals and decision limits as well as tests and test profiles, requests and criteria for interpretation. Several projects and initiatives aiming to improve standardization and harmonization in the testing process are now underway. Laboratory professionals should therefore step up their efforts to provide interchangeable and comparable laboratory information in order to ultimately assure better diagnosis and treatment in patient care.

EVALUATION OF THE EOA REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS--1966-67. RESEARCH REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HAKKARAINEN, EDWARD A.

A REMEDIAL READING INSTRUCTION PROJECT TO IMPROVE THE SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS IS EVALUATED. CENTERS WERE ESTABLISHED AT THREE SITES TO SERVE 750 DROPOUTS REFERRED BY VARIOUS COMMUNITY AGENCIES. THE PROJECT WAS STAFFED BY SIX REMEDIAL READING TEACHERS, SEVEN COMMUNITY AIDES, AND ONE LIAISON WORKER. INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION USING A VARIETY…

Preventive Rehabilitation; A Promise for the Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhode Island State Dept. of Education, Providence. Div. of Vocational-Technical Education.

To provide preventive treatment, counselors from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) worked through a school project to serve adolescents with disabilities which might make job adjustment difficult. During the 5-year project, over 5,000 adolescents were referred; 1,800 or 40% of whom were in the school project; more than 1,000 or 55%…

Chapter 8 - Mapping existing vegetation composition and structure for the LANDFIRE Prototype Project

Treesearch

Zhiliang Zhu; James Vogelmann; Donald Ohlen; Jay Kost; Xuexia Chen; Brian Tolk

2006-01-01

The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Prototype Project, or LANDFIRE Prototype Project, required the mapping of existing vegetation composition (cover type) and structural stages at a 30-m spatial resolution to provide baseline vegetation data for the development of wildland fuel maps and for comparison to simulated historical vegetation reference...

A Window on Science: Exploring the JASON Project and Student Conceptions of Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, David M.

2003-01-01

Describes how the JASON project was implemented in a self-contained 4th grade classroom and examines this project within the overall context of student-scientist partnership (SSP) models of science education reform. Examines changes in student conceptions of the nature of science as a result of participating in science. (Contains 24 references.)…

The Administration of Sponsored Programs. Handbook for Developing and Managing Research Activities and Other Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beasley, Kenneth L.; And Others

Designed as a standard reference and training resource for administrators and project managers, this handbook discusses how to plan, organize, and manage sponsored projects in any organizational setting. It provides detailed, how-to-do-it information and many resources for: negotiating grants, awards, and contracts; organizing a sponsored projects…

Advancing Project Management in Learning Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourne, Lynda; Walker, Derek H. T.

2004-01-01

Effective project managers are required to have both "hard" technical skills to help control the iron triangle of time, cost and functional scope as well as relationship management skills to work effectively with people and get the best out of them. This paper argues that project managers also need a third skill: we refer to it as tapping into the…

Software conversion history of the Flight Dynamics System (FDS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, K.

1984-01-01

This report summarizes the overall history of the Flight Dynamics System (FDS) applications software conversion project. It describes the background and nature of the project; traces the actual course of conversion; assesses the process, product, and personnel involved; and offers suggestions for future projects. It also contains lists of pertinent reference material and examples of supporting data.

Using Community Health Workers in Community-Based Growth Promotion: What Stakeholders Think

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afulani, Patience A.; Awoonor-Williams, John K.; Opoku, Ernest C.; Asunka, Joseph

2012-01-01

The Nutrition and Malaria Control for Child Survival Project is a community-based growth promotion project that utilizes Community Health Workers (CHWs), referred to as Community Child Growth Promoters (CCGPs), as the principal change agents. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of key stakeholders about the project and the role…

Inspector's manual for mechanically stabilized earth walls.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-06-01

The scope of the project is to develop a condition rating system, creation of an inspector's manual to reference during : inspection or address any training for inspectors at the district level. The research project will develop a MSE wall : conditio...

Innovative Remediation Technologies: Field-Scale Demonstration Projects in North America, 2nd Edition

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This report consolidates key reference information in a matrix that allows project mangers to quickly identify new technologies that may answer their cleanup needs and contacts for obtaining technology demonstration results and other information.

Evaluation of public-private partnership contract types for roadway construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-31

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in transportation infrastructure projects refer to contractual agreements formed : between a public Agency and a private sector entity to allow for greater private sector participation in project : delivery. At the ...

Summary of Prometheus Radiation Shielding Nuclear Design Analysis

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

J. Stephens

2006-01-13

This report transmits a summary of radiation shielding nuclear design studies performed to support the Prometheus project. Together, the enclosures and references associated with this document describe NRPCT (KAPL & Bettis) shielding nuclear design analyses done for the project.

Project Management Professional Development: An Industry Led Programme.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gale, Andrew; Brown, Mike

2003-01-01

Describes a modular master's program in project management. Explores relationships between return on investment, management competencies, and learning outcomes in the context of industry-academic partnerships. Discusses the managed learning environment using WebCT. (Contains 40 references.) (SK)

Lander Propulsion Overview and Technology Requirements Discussion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Thomas M.

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the lunar lander propulsion requirements. It includes discussion on: Lander Project Overview, Project Evolution/Design Cycles, Lunar Architecture & Lander Reference Missions, Lander Concept Configurations, Descent and Ascent propulsion reviews, and a review of the technology requirements.

International Multidisciplinary Artificial Gravity (IMAG) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laurini, Kathy

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the efforts of the International Multidisciplinary Artificial Gravity Project. Specifically it reviews the NASA Exploration Planning Status, NASA Exploration Roadmap, Status of Planning for the Moon, Mars Planning, Reference health maintenance scenario, and The Human Research Program.

Targeting the initial investigation and management in cases of acute pulmonary embolism.

PubMed

Moore, Nicholas; Hawkins, Peter

2013-01-01

It was noted by consultants in our hospital that the early investigation of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) lacked structure. This was causing delays in definitive diagnosis and early management. The resulting unnecessary use of investigation was also wasting resources. In particular, the inappropriate use of serum d-dimer tests was causing concern. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend use of the 2-level Well's score to target investigation in suspected PE. A baseline audit against the NICE guideline revealed that Well's scores were rarely used (only calculated in 12% of cases) and confirmed the suspicion that early investigation was poorly targeted. This project intervened using educational talks promoting the use of Well's scores in cases of suspected PE. Well's score proformas were placed in the emergency department and emergency assessment unit for reference. Their availability was advertised. This significantly increased the use of Well's scores (46% vs 11%, p<0.001). Fewer patients underwent unnecessary d-dimer measurements in cases of likely PE (65% vs 86%). Initial investigation was more targeted in cases where a Well's score had been calculated than in cases without a Well's score. For example, significantly fewer unnecessary d-dimer tests were performed in these cases (45% vs 100%, p<0.05). The cost of unnecessary investigation in suspected PE is not only significant financially but also in the resulting delay in definitive diagnosis and management for the patient. The simple intervention used here was effective in addressing this problem.

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of Quality Management Unit University of Sumatera Utara software using SCAMPI C

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawan, D.; Amalia, A.; Rahmat, R. F.; Muchtar, M. A.; Siregar, I.

2018-02-01

Identification of software maturity level is a technique to determine the quality of the software. By identifying the software maturity level, the weaknesses of the software can be observed. As a result, the recommendations might be a reference for future software maintenance and development. This paper discusses the software Capability Level (CL) with case studies on Quality Management Unit (Unit Manajemen Mutu) University of Sumatera Utara (UMM-USU). This research utilized Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement class C (SCAMPI C) model with continuous representation. This model focuses on activities for developing quality products and services. The observation is done in three process areas, such as Project Planning (PP), Project Monitoring and Control (PMC), and Requirements Management (REQM). According to the measurement of software capability level for UMM-USU software, turns out that the capability level for the observed process area is in the range of CL1 and CL2. Planning Project (PP) is the only process area which reaches capability level 2, meanwhile, PMC and REQM are still in CL 1 or in performed level. This research reveals several weaknesses of existing UMM-USU software. Therefore, this study proposes several recommendations for UMM-USU to improve capability level for observed process areas.

Potential reduction of energy consumption in public university library

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noranai, Z.; Azman, ADF

2017-09-01

Efficient electrical energy usage has been recognized as one of the important factor to reduce cost of electrical energy consumption. Various parties have been emphasized about the importance of using electrical energy efficiently. Inefficient usage of electrical energy usage lead to biggest factor increasing of administration cost in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. With this in view, a project the investigate potential reduction electrical energy consumption in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia was carried out. In this project, a case study involving electrical energy consumption of Perpustakaan Tunku Tun Aminah was conducted. The scopes of this project are to identify energy consumption in selected building and to find the factors that contributing to wastage of electrical energy. The MS1525:2001, Malaysian Standard - Code of practice on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy for non-residential buildings was used as reference. From the result, 4 saving measure had been proposed which is change type of the lamp, install sensor, decrease the number of lamp and improve shading coefficient on glass. This saving measure is suggested to improve the efficiency of electrical energy consumption. Improve of human behaviour toward saving energy measure can reduce 10% from the total of saving cost while on building technical measure can reduce 90% from total saving cost.

EGS hydraulic stimulation monitoring by surface arrays - location accuracy and completeness magnitude: the Basel Deep Heat Mining Project case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Häge, Martin; Blascheck, Patrick; Joswig, Manfred

2013-01-01

The potential and limits of monitoring induced seismicity by surface-based mini arrays was evaluated for the hydraulic stimulation of the Basel Deep Heat Mining Project. This project aimed at the exploitation of geothermal heat from a depth of about 4,630 m. As reference for our results, a network of borehole stations by Geothermal Explorers Ltd. provided ground truth information. We utilized array processing, sonogram event detection and outlier-resistant, graphical jackknife location procedures to compensate for the decrease in signal-to-noise ratio at the surface. We could correctly resolve the NNW-SSE striking fault plane by relative master event locations. Statistical analysis of our catalog data resulted in M L 0.36 as completeness magnitude, but with significant day-to-night dependency. To compare to the performance of borehole data with M W 0.9 as completeness magnitude, we applied two methods for converting M L to M W which raised our M C to M W in the range of 0.99-1.13. Further, the b value for the duration of our measurement was calculated to 1.14 (related to M L), respectively 1.66 (related to M W), but changes over time could not be resolved from the error bars.

Regional air quality management aspects of climate change: impact of climate mitigation options on regional air emissions.

PubMed

Rudokas, Jason; Miller, Paul J; Trail, Marcus A; Russell, Armistead G

2015-04-21

We investigate the projected impact of six climate mitigation scenarios on U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOX) associated with energy use in major sectors of the U.S. economy (commercial, residential, industrial, electricity generation, and transportation). We use the EPA U.S. 9-region national database with the MARKet Allocation energy system model to project emissions changes over the 2005 to 2050 time frame. The modeled scenarios are two carbon tax, two low carbon transportation, and two biomass fuel choice scenarios. In the lower carbon tax and both biomass fuel choice scenarios, SO2 and NOX achieve reductions largely through pre-existing rules and policies, with only relatively modest additional changes occurring from the climate mitigation measures. The higher carbon tax scenario projects greater declines in CO2 and SO2 relative to the 2050 reference case, but electricity sector NOX increases. This is a result of reduced investments in power plant NOX controls in earlier years in anticipation of accelerated coal power plant retirements, energy penalties associated with carbon capture systems, and shifting of NOX emissions in later years from power plants subject to a regional NOX cap to those in regions not subject to the cap.

Future Projections of Heating and Cooling Degree Days in a Changing Climate of Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Nazan; Turp, M. Tufan; Kurnaz, M. Levent

2017-04-01

The use of the degree days method is the most practical way to forsee the future changes in energy demand due to climate change-induced heating and cooling. Since the temperatures in Turkey vary considerably on a regional basis, the periods 2016-2035 and 2046-2065 have been respectively examined with reference to the period of 1981-2000, taking the mean temperature values into consideration in order to make the most accurate estimation. The future projections were applied based on the RCP8.5 (BAU-business as usual case) emission scenario using regional climate model called RegCM. According to the result of the study, it is projected that the numbers of heating degree days (HDDs) will decrease in the whole country, whereas the frequency of cooling degree days(CDDs) will increase in general. This decrease in HDDs and the increase in CDDs will be higher in the period of 2046-2065 than in the period of 2016-2035. These findings are also consistent with the expectation of temperature increases over these regions for the future period, obtained from the studies of climate modeling for the Mediterranean Basin and Turkey as well. Acknowledgement: This research has been supported by Bogazici University Research Fund Grant Number 12220.

Energy Guide: A Directory of Information Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bemis, Virginia; And Others

This guide is a collection of various information sources pertaining to energy. The chapters separate references according to the type of material (instructional aids, texts, periodicals, reference materials), or the issuing organization (non-government organizations, government services, courses, programs, centers, and research projects). One…

Framework See-Think as a Tool for Crowdsourcing Support - Case Study on Crisis Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Netek, R.; Panek, J.

2016-06-01

See-Think-Do is a framework originally used as an approach focused on a service and product marketing on the Internet. Customers can be classified into three groups according to their involvement from potential users to real customers. The article presents an idea of public involvement in community mapping in three levels: "See"—almost any user; "Think"—potential contributors; and "Do"—interested users. The case study implements the See-Think-Do framework as an awareness-based approach used for The Crisis Map of the Czech Republic. It is an Ushahidi-based crowdsourcing platform for sharing spatial and multimedia information during crisis situations, e.g. disaster floods in 2013. While the current crisis projects use public mapping just at the onset of the disaster, according to See-Think-Do any user can be considered as a potential contributor even during the dormant period. The focus is put on the "See" and "Think" groups of contributors, which are currently ignored. The objective of this paper is to summarize approaches (social networks, mass-media, emailing, gamification, …) and tools (GIT/GIS, ICT, multimedia) for increasing the awareness about the project within the resting phase. That recruits a higher number of both active and passive users during the disaster. It allows the training in ICT, cartographical, spatial and GIS skills in a non-stressful way and the targeting on specific operators. Volunteers from the "Think" group may be used for data processing or rectification, GIS professionals from the "Do" group for data verification. The results refer that contributors with already established skills and required literacy (interface, data uploading) provide data faster and more accurate, the usability of the project increases based on users' comments.

Towards a virtual observatory for ecosystem services and poverty alleviation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buytaert, W.; Baez, S.; Cuesta, F.; Veliz Rosas, C.

2010-12-01

Over the last decades, near real-time environmental observation, technical advances in computer power and cyber-infrastructure, and the development of environmental software algorithms have increased dramatically. The integration of these evolutions, which is commonly referred to as the establishment of a virtual observatory, is one of the major challenges of the next decade for environmental sciences. Worldwide, many coordinated activities are ongoing to make this integration a reality. However, far less attention is paid to the question of how these developments can benefit environmental services management in a poverty alleviation context. Such projects are typically faced with issues of large predictive uncertainties, limited resources, limited local scientific capacity. At the same time, the complexity of the socio-economic contexts requires a very strong bottom-up oriented and interdisciplinary approach to environmental data collection and processing. In this study, we present three natural resources management cases in the Andes and the Amazon basin, and investigate how "virtual observatory" technology can improve ecosystem management. Each of these case studies present scientific challenges in terms of model coupling, real-time data assimilation and visualisation for management purposes. The first project deals with water resources management in the Peruvian Andes. Using a rainfall-runoff model, novel visualisations are used to give farmers insight in the water production and regulation capacity of their catchments, which can then be linked to land management practices such as conservation agriculture, wetland protection and grazing density control. In a project in the Amazonian floodplains, optimal allocation of the nesting availability and quality of the giant freshwater turtle are determined using a combined hydraulic model and weather forecasts. Finally, in the rainforest of the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador, biodiversity models are used to quantify the impacts of hunting and logging on community composition and wildlife populations.

Using NASA's Reference Architecture: Comparing Polar and Geostationary Data Processing Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ullman, Richard; Burnett, Michael

2013-01-01

The JPSS and GOES-R programs are housed at NASA GSFC and jointly implemented by NASA and NOAA to NOAA requirements. NASA's role in the JPSS Ground System is to develop and deploy the system according to NOAA requirements. NASA's role in the GOES-R ground segment is to provide Systems Engineering expertise and oversight for NOAA's development and deployment of the system. NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Reference Architecture is a document developed by NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Group that describes a NASA Earth Observing Mission Ground system as a generic abstraction. The authors work within the respective ground segment projects and are also separately contributors to the Reference Architecture document. Opinions expressed are the author's only and are not NOAA, NASA or the Ground Projects' official positions.

High-bandwidth and flexible tracking control for precision motion with application to a piezo nanopositioner.

PubMed

Feng, Zhao; Ling, Jie; Ming, Min; Xiao, Xiao-Hui

2017-08-01

For precision motion, high-bandwidth and flexible tracking are the two important issues for significant performance improvement. Iterative learning control (ILC) is an effective feedforward control method only for systems that operate strictly repetitively. Although projection ILC can track varying references, the performance is still limited by the fixed-bandwidth Q-filter, especially for triangular waves tracking commonly used in a piezo nanopositioner. In this paper, a wavelet transform-based linear time-varying (LTV) Q-filter design for projection ILC is proposed to compensate high-frequency errors and improve the ability to tracking varying references simultaneously. The LVT Q-filter is designed based on the modulus maximum of wavelet detail coefficients calculated by wavelet transform to determine the high-frequency locations of each iteration with the advantages of avoiding cross-terms and segmenting manually. The proposed approach was verified on a piezo nanopositioner. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach can locate the high-frequency regions accurately and achieve the best performance under varying references compared with traditional frequency-domain and projection ILC with a fixed-bandwidth Q-filter, which validates that through implementing the LTV filter on projection ILC, high-bandwidth and flexible tracking can be achieved simultaneously by the proposed approach.

The Holocaust in Hungary and Poland: Case Studies of Response to Genocide. Curriculum Project. Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminars Abroad Program, 1998 (Hungary/Poland).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, William L.

This curriculum project was designed primarily to be incorporated into a larger world history unit on the Holocaust and World War II. The project can be adapted for a lesson on 'situational ethics' for use in a philosophy class. The lesson requires students to examine a historical case and to write and discuss that particular case. The project's…

Improving Pain Care with Project ECHO in Community Health Centers.

PubMed

Anderson, Daren; Zlateva, Ianita; Davis, Bennet; Bifulco, Lauren; Giannotti, Tierney; Coman, Emil; Spegman, Douglas

2017-10-01

Pain is an extremely common complaint in primary care, and patient outcomes are often suboptimal. This project evaluated the impact of Project ECHO Pain videoconference case-based learning sessions on knowledge and quality of pain care in two Federally Qualified Health Centers. Quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention, with comparison group. Two large, multisite federally qualified health centers in Connecticut and Arizona. Intervention (N = 10) and comparison (N = 10) primary care providers. Primary care providers attended 48 weekly Project ECHO Pain sessions between January and December 2013, led by a multidisciplinary pain specialty team. Surveys and focus groups assessed providers' pain-related knowledge and self-efficacy. Electronic health record data were analyzed to evaluate opioid prescribing and specialty referrals. Compared with control, primary care providers in the intervention had a significantly greater increase in pain-related knowledge and self-efficacy. Providers who attended ECHO were more likely to use formal assessment tools and opioid agreements and refer to behavioral health and physical therapy compared with control providers. Opioid prescribing decreased significantly more among providers in the intervention compared with those in the control group. Pain is an extremely common and challenging problem, particularly among vulnerable patients such as those cared for at the more than 1,200 Federally Qualified Health Centers in the United States. In this study, attendance at weekly Project ECHO Pain sessions not only improved knowledge and self-efficacy, but also altered prescribing and referral patterns, suggesting that knowledge acquired during ECHO sessions translated into practice changes. © 2017 American Academy of Pain Medicine.

18 CFR 4.106 - Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... LICENSES, PERMITS, EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.106 Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing. Any case-specific exemption from licensing granted for a small hydroelectric power project is...

18 CFR 4.106 - Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... LICENSES, PERMITS, EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.106 Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing. Any case-specific exemption from licensing granted for a small hydroelectric power project is...

18 CFR 4.106 - Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... LICENSES, PERMITS, EXEMPTIONS, AND DETERMINATION OF PROJECT COSTS Exemption of Small Hydroelectric Power Projects of 5 Megawatts or Less § 4.106 Standard terms and conditions of case-specific exemption from licensing. Any case-specific exemption from licensing granted for a small hydroelectric power project is...

Teaching Case: Enterprise Architecture Specification Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steenkamp, Annette Lerine; Alawdah, Amal; Almasri, Osama; Gai, Keke; Khattab, Nidal; Swaby, Carval; Abaas, Ramy

2013-01-01

A graduate course in enterprise architecture had a team project component in which a real-world business case, provided by an industry sponsor, formed the basis of the project charter and the architecture statement of work. The paper aims to share the team project experience on developing the architecture specifications based on the business case…

Impacts to Dungeness Crab from the Southwest Washington Littoral Drift Restoration Project

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

Williams, Greg D.; Kohn, Nancy P.; Pearson, Walter H.

2005-11-09

The Benson Beach littoral drift restoration project is a demonstration project that will replenish sand on Benson Beach, the public beach north of the North Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River (MCR), using material dredged from the river during normal maintenance dredging of the navigational channel. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) proposal involves pumping the material from a sump area on the south side of the jetty to Benson Beach using a cutter suction dredge, also known as a pipeline dredge. If this one-time demonstration project proves feasible and successful, up to a million cubic yardsmore » of sediment could be used to replenish the outer coast littoral drift system in successive years by the same process. The primary goal of this study was to assess the potential risk of impacts to Dungeness crab from the proposed Benson Beach littoral drift restoration process of using the cutter suction dredge to move sediment from the proposed sump area on one side of the North Jetty to the beach on the other side of the jetty. Because there are no direct measurements of crab entrainment by pipeline dredge operating outside of the lower Columbia River navigation channel, dredge impacts for the proposed demonstration project were estimated using a modification of the dredge impact model (DIM) of Armstrong et al. (1987). The model estimates adult equivalent loss (AEL) of crabs using crab population density from trawl surveys, dredge project information (gear type, season, location, volume), and an entrainment function relating crab population density to entrainment by the dredge. The input used in applying the DIM to the Benson Beach littoral drift restoration included the specific dredging scenario provided by the Corps, existing data on crab density in previously proposed sump areas, and a series of entrainment functions. A total of fourteen scenarios were modeled and the outcomes compared with six reference scenarios intended to represent realistic to worst cases. Dungeness crab entrainment and subsequent loss of recruitment to adult age classes and the crab fishery estimated for the Benson Beach littoral drift restoration project varied widely (over three orders of magnitude) because of the range of assumptions about initial crab density, dredging scenarios, and entrainment functions. Although the comparison to reference scenarios helps put the results in perspective, losses to the crab fishery could still span two orders of magnitude. This uncertainty can only be assessed by direct measurements of crab entrainment during the demonstration project if crab losses are to be more accurately estimated for the demonstration, which is recommended in order to evaluate cumulative crab losses from successive replenishment efforts.« less

The development of an automatic recognition system for earmark and earprint comparisons.

PubMed

Junod, Stéphane; Pasquier, Julien; Champod, Christophe

2012-10-10

The value of earmarks as an efficient means of personal identification is still subject to debate. It has been argued that the field is lacking a firm systematic and structured data basis to help practitioners to form their conclusions. Typically, there is a paucity of research guiding as to the selectivity of the features used in the comparison process between an earmark and reference earprints taken from an individual. This study proposes a system for the automatic comparison of earprints and earmarks, operating without any manual extraction of key-points or manual annotations. For each donor, a model is created using multiple reference prints, hence capturing the donor within source variability. For each comparison between a mark and a model, images are automatically aligned and a proximity score, based on a normalized 2D correlation coefficient, is calculated. Appropriate use of this score allows deriving a likelihood ratio that can be explored under known state of affairs (both in cases where it is known that the mark has been left by the donor that gave the model and conversely in cases when it is established that the mark originates from a different source). To assess the system performance, a first dataset containing 1229 donors elaborated during the FearID research project was used. Based on these data, for mark-to-print comparisons, the system performed with an equal error rate (EER) of 2.3% and about 88% of marks are found in the first 3 positions of a hitlist. When performing print-to-print transactions, results show an equal error rate of 0.5%. The system was then tested using real-case data obtained from police forces. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dose evaluation for paediatric chest x-ray examinations in Brazil and Sudan: low doses and reliable examinations can be achieved in developing countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamadain, K. E. M.; da Rosa, L. A. R.; Azevedo, A. C. P.; Guebel, M. R. N.; Boechat, M. C. B.; Habani, F.

2004-03-01

Radiation protection in paediatric radiology deserves special attention since it is assumed that children are more sensitive to radiation than adults. The aim of this work is to estimate the entrance skin dose (ESD), the body organ dose (BOD) and the effective dose (E) for chest x-ray exposure of paediatric patients in five large units, three in Sudan and two in Brazil, and to compare the results obtained in both countries with each other and with other values obtained by some European countries. Two examination projections have been investigated, namely, postero-anterior (PA) and antero-posterior (AP). The age intervals considered were: 0-1 year, 1-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 years. The results have been obtained with the use of a software called DoseCal. Results of mean ESD for the age interval 1-5 years and AP projection are: 66 µGy (Instituto de Pediatria e Puericultura Martagão Gesteira—IPPMG Hospital), 41, 86 and 68 µGy (Instituto Fernandes Figueira—IFF Hospital), 161 µGy (Omdurman Hospital), 395 µGy (Khartoum Hospital) and 23 µGy (Ahmed Gasim Hospital). In the case of the IFF Hospital, the results refer, respectively, to rooms 1, 2 and for the six mobile equipments. The reference dose values given by the European Guidelines were exceeded in the Khartoum Hospital whilst in all the other hospitals results obtained were below CEC reference values and comparable with the results found in Sweden, Germany, Spain and Italy. The mean E for the same age interval was 11 µSv in the IPPMG, 6, 15 and 11 µSv in the IFF, respectively for rooms 1, 2 and the 6 mobiles, 25 µSv in the Omdurman Hospital, 45 µSv in the Khartoum Hospital and 3 µSv in the Ahmed Gasim Hospital. These are some examples of the large discrepancies that have been detected in this survey.