Toward Continual Reform: Progress in Academic Libraries in China.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ping, Ke

2002-01-01

Traces developments in China's academic libraries: managing human resources, restructuring library developments, revising and implementing new policies, evaluating services and operations, establishing library systems, building new structures, and exploring joint-use library models. Major focus was to improve services for library user. (Author/LRW)

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

Thomas, H. P.; Basso, T. S.; Kroposki, B.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Distributed Power Program (DPP) is conducting work to complete, validate in the field, and support the development of a national interconnection standard for distributed energy resources (DER), and to address the institutional and regulatory barriers slowing the commercial adoption of DER systems. This work includes support for the IEEE standards, including P1547 Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems, P1589 Standard for Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems, and the P1608 Application Guide. Work is also in progress on system integration research and development (R&D) on themore » interface and control of DER with local energy systems. Additional efforts are supporting high-reliability power for industry, evaluating innovative concepts for DER applications, and exploring plug-and-play interface and control technologies for intelligent autonomous interconnection systems. This paper summarizes (1) the current status of the IEEE interconnection standards and application guides in support of DER, and (2) the R&D in progress at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for interconnection and system integration and application of distributed energy resources.« less

Chapter 11: Monitoring and Assessment of Wetlands: Concepts, Case Studies, and Lessons Learned

EPA Science Inventory

Monitoring and assessment (M&A) have long been considered critical components of any resource management program where there is a need to evaluate progress and performance over time. Understanding the origins of current monitoring and assessment strategies and techniques for wetl...

Mathematics and statistics research department. Progress report, period ending June 30, 1981

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

Lever, W.E.; Kane, V.E.; Scott, D.S.

1981-09-01

This report is the twenty-fourth in the series of progress reports of the Mathematics and Statistics Research Department of the Computer Sciences Division, Union Carbide Corporation - Nuclear Division (UCC-ND). Part A records research progress in biometrics research, materials science applications, model evaluation, moving boundary problems, multivariate analysis, numerical linear algebra, risk analysis, and complementary areas. Collaboration and consulting with others throughout the UCC-ND complex are recorded in Part B. Included are sections on biology and health sciences, chemistry, energy, engineering, environmental sciences, health and safety research, materials sciences, safeguards, surveys, and uranium resource evaluation. Part C summarizes the variousmore » educational activities in which the staff was engaged. Part D lists the presentations of research results, and Part E records the staff's other professional activities during the report period.« less

Space ventures and society long-term perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, W. M.

1985-01-01

A futuristic evaluation of mankind's potential long term future in space is presented. Progress in space will not be inhibited by shortages of the Earth's physical resources, since long term economic growth will be focused on ways to constrain industrial productivity by changing social values, management styles, or government competence. Future technological progress is likely to accelerate with an emphasis on international cooperation, making possible such large joint projects as lunar colonies or space stations on Mars. The long term future in space looks exceedingly bright even in relatively pessimistic scenarios. The principal driving forces will be technological progress, commercial and public-oriented satellites, space industrialization, space travel, and eventually space colonization.

Performance of VPIC on Sequoia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nystrom, William

2014-10-01

Sequoia is a major DOE computing resource which is characteristic of future resources in that it has many threads per compute node, 64, and the individual processor cores are simpler and less powerful than cores on previous processors like Intel's Sandy Bridge or AMD's Opteron. An effort is in progress to port VPIC to the Blue Gene Q architecture of Sequoia and evaluate its performance. Results of this work will be presented on single node performance of VPIC as well as multi-node scaling.

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

NONE

This report summarizes geothermal technical assistance, R&D, and technology transfer activities of the Geo-Heat Center. It describes 95 contacts with parties during this period related to technical assistance with goethermal direct heat projects. Areas dealt with include geothermal heat pumps, space heating, greenhouses, aquaculture, equipment, economics, and resources. Research activities are summarized on geothermal district heating system cost evaluation and silica waste utilization project. Outreach activities include publication of a geothermal direct use Bulletin, dissemination of information, goethermal library, technical papers and seminars, and progress monitor reports on geothermal resources and utilization.

76 FR 1446 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-10

...). To request a copy of these documents, call the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243... and monthly progress reports, and topical workgroups that share ideas and resources among grantees...) from a range of grantee personnel to evaluate the implementation, expansion, and sustainability of...

Design and Evaluation of ExO: An Ontology for Exposure Science: Document Published in Nature Precedings: Pre-publication research and preliminary findings

EPA Science Inventory

Significant progress has been made in collecting and improving access to genomic, toxicology, and health data. These information resources lack exposure data required to translate molecular insights, elucidate environmental contributions to diseases, assess human health risks at ...

The Solar Power Satellite (SPS): Progress so far

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaser, Peter E.

1989-01-01

Major developments in key Solar Power Satellite (SPS)-related technologies are outlined and the significance of these developments are evaluated considering the SPS, both as an alternate energy option for use on Earth and as a potential stimulus for space infrastructure developments and expansion of the use of extraterrestrial resources.

Designing Playful Learning by Using Educational Board Game for Children in the Age Range of 7-12: (A Case Study: Recycling and Waste Separation Education Board Game)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mostowfi, Sara; Mamaghani, Nasser Koleini; Khorramar, Mehdi

2016-01-01

Due to a progressive deterioration of our planet and its resources, environmental education has become important and children are required to understand environmental issues at an early ages. So, they can cultivate the positive changes in the future. Over the past decade, many new evaluation methods have developed for evaluating user experience…

Programs and resources for control of job stress in the Federal workplace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joice, Wendell

1993-01-01

A couple of weeks ago, the American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health held a conference in Washingtion, D.C. entitled 'Stress in the 90's'. At this conference the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducted a session on 'Programs and Resources for the Control of Job Stress in the Federal Workplace'. I am going to present an overview of that three-hour session and some related information from the conference. My discussion covers stress terminology and models, selected programs and resources, evaluation research, some concerns about our progress, and plans to expand our efforts at OPM.

Health systems analysis of eye care services in Zambia: evaluating progress towards VISION 2020 goals.

PubMed

Bozzani, Fiammetta Maria; Griffiths, Ulla Kou; Blanchet, Karl; Schmidt, Elena

2014-02-28

VISION 2020 is a global initiative launched in 1999 to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020. The objective of this study was to undertake a situation analysis of the Zambian eye health system and assess VISION 2020 process indicators on human resources, equipment and infrastructure. All eye health care providers were surveyed to determine location, financing sources, human resources and equipment. Key informants were interviewed regarding levels of service provision, management and leadership in the sector. Policy papers were reviewed. A health system dynamics framework was used to analyse findings. During 2011, 74 facilities provided eye care in Zambia; 39% were public, 37% private for-profit and 24% owned by Non-Governmental Organizations. Private facilities were solely located in major cities. A total of 191 people worked in eye care; 18 of these were ophthalmologists and eight cataract surgeons, equivalent to 0.34 and 0.15 per 250,000 population, respectively. VISION 2020 targets for inpatient beds and surgical theatres were met in six out of nine provinces, but human resources and spectacles manufacturing workshops were below target in every province. Inequalities in service provision between urban and rural areas were substantial. Shortage and maldistribution of human resources, lack of routine monitoring and inadequate financing mechanisms are the root causes of underperformance in the Zambian eye health system, which hinder the ability to achieve the VISION 2020 goals. We recommend that all VISION 2020 process indicators are evaluated simultaneously as these are not individually useful for monitoring progress.

Multifunctional Interface Facility for Receiving and Processing Planetary Surface Materials for Science Investigation and Resource Evaluation at the Deep Space Gateway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibille, L.; Mantovani, J. G.; Townsend, I. I.; Mueller, R. P.

2018-02-01

The concepts describe hardware and instrumentation for the study of planetary surface materials at the Deep Space Gateway as a progressive evolution of capabilities for eliminating the need for special handling and Planetary Protection (PP) protocols inside the habitats.

Coorientational Accuracy during Regional Development of Energy Resources: Problems in Agency-Public Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowes, John E.; Stamm, Keith R.

This paper presents a progress report from a research program aimed at elucidating communication problems which arise among citizens and government agencies during the development of regional environmental policy. The eventual objective of the program is to develop a paradigm for evaluative research in communication that will provide for the…

Supervising undergraduate research: a collective approach utilising groupwork and peer support.

PubMed

Baker, Mary-Jane; Cluett, Elizabeth; Ireland, Lorraine; Reading, Sheila; Rourke, Susan

2014-04-01

Nursing education now requires graduate entry for professional registration. The challenge is to ensure that students develop independence and team working in a resource effective manner. The dissertation is one opportunity for this. To evaluate changing from individual dissertation supervision to group peer supervision. Group supervision was implemented for one cohort. Dissertation outcomes were compared with two previous cohorts. Student evaluative data was assessed. Group supervision did not adversely affect dissertation outcomes (p=0.85). 88% of students reported peer supervision to be helpful, with themes being 'support and sharing', and 'progress and moving forward'. Peer group support provided consistent supervision harnessing the energy and resources of the students and Faculty, without adversely affecting outcomes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using GeoRePORT to report socio-economic potential for geothermal development

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

Young, Katherine R.; Levine, Aaron

The Geothermal Resource Portfolio Optimization and Reporting Tool (GeoRePORT, http://en.openei.org/wiki/GeoRePORT) was developed for reporting resource grades and project readiness levels, providing the U.S. Department of Energy a consistent and comprehensible means of evaluating projects. The tool helps funding organizations (1) quantitatively identify barriers, (2) develop measureable goals, (3) objectively evaluate proposals, including contribution to goals, (4) monitor progress, and (5) report portfolio performance. GeoRePORT assesses three categories: geological, technical, and socio-economic. Here, we describe GeoRePORT, then focus on the socio-economic assessment and its applications for assessing deployment potential in the U.S. Socio-economic attributes include land access, permitting, transmission, and market.

A Resource Bulletin for Teachers of English--Grade 10: The Worlds of Discourse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baltimore County Board of Education, Towson, MD.

This sequential curriculum guide for grade ten uses a sequence which encourages the teacher to begin with student experience and language and to progress to a variety of learning experiences which integrate all elements of the language arts and which permit students to discover their own generalizations and periodically evaluate their own…

Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994–2003): socioeconomic monitoring results.

Treesearch

S. Charnley

2006-01-01

The socioeconomic monitoring report addresses two evaluation questions posed in the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) Record of Decision and assesses progress in meeting five Plan socioeconomic goals. Volume I of the report contains key findings. Volume II addresses the question, Are predictable levels of timber and nontimber resources available and being produced? It...

An integrated monitoring approach using multiple reference sites to assess sustainable restoration in coastal Louisiana

Treesearch

Gregory D. Steyer; Robert R. Twilley; Richard C. Raynie

2006-01-01

Achieving sustainable resource management in coastal Louisiana requires establishing reference conditions that incorporate the goals and objectives of restoration efforts. Since the reference condition is usually considered sustainable, it can be a gauge to assess the present condition of a (degraded) system or to evaluate progress of management actions toward some...

People, Power, and Participation. The Communities in Crisis Programme, 1986-9: An Evaluative Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batten, Julie

Communities in Crisis is a British training program for unemployed adults that was developed in response to the needs of community organizations in areas where community programs have few resources. Its underlying philosophy focuses on motivating and encouraging long-term unemployed people to take initiatives and reflect on their progress. The…

Data Acquisition and Linguistic Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strassel, Stephanie; Christianson, Caitlin; McCary, John; Staderman, William; Olive, Joseph

All human language technology demands substantial quantities of data for system training and development, plus stable benchmark data to measure ongoing progress. While creation of high quality linguistic resources is both costly and time consuming, such data has the potential to profoundly impact not just a single evaluation program but language technology research in general. GALE's challenging performance targets demand linguistic data on a scale and complexity never before encountered. Resources cover multiple languages (Arabic, Chinese, and English) and multiple genres -- both structured (newswire and broadcast news) and unstructured (web text, including blogs and newsgroups, and broadcast conversation). These resources include significant volumes of monolingual text and speech, parallel text, and transcribed audio combined with multiple layers of linguistic annotation, ranging from word aligned parallel text and Treebanks to rich semantic annotation.

Economic impact of disease progression in follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma

PubMed Central

Beveridge, Roy; Satram-Hoang, Sacha; Sail, Kavita; Darragh, Joseph; Chen, Clara; Forsyth, Michael; Reyes, Carolina

2011-01-01

Using a retrospective claims database, we estimated the economic costs of progression among patients with follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (f-NHL) treated in an outpatient community-based setting. Patients with f-NHL who received care between 1 July 2006 and 31 December 2009 were categorized into two cohorts based on whether they experienced progressive disease (PD) or not. Costs per patient per month (PPPM) were compared between patients with PD versus non-PD. Follow-up time was censored at the last entry for disease status or 6 months after the date of remission/stable disease or progression. Of the 1002 patients with f-NHL identified, 268 progressed and 734 did not. The mean overall costs PPPM over the 6-month follow-up period were significantly higher for patients with PD versus non-PD ($3527 vs. $860; difference = $2667; p < 0.001). This cost difference persisted within all resource categories evaluated. Results of this study indicate that therapies which delay progression for patients with f-NHL may result in potential cost savings. PMID:21745172

Health systems analysis of eye care services in Zambia: evaluating progress towards VISION 2020 goals

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background VISION 2020 is a global initiative launched in 1999 to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020. The objective of this study was to undertake a situation analysis of the Zambian eye health system and assess VISION 2020 process indicators on human resources, equipment and infrastructure. Methods All eye health care providers were surveyed to determine location, financing sources, human resources and equipment. Key informants were interviewed regarding levels of service provision, management and leadership in the sector. Policy papers were reviewed. A health system dynamics framework was used to analyse findings. Results During 2011, 74 facilities provided eye care in Zambia; 39% were public, 37% private for-profit and 24% owned by Non-Governmental Organizations. Private facilities were solely located in major cities. A total of 191 people worked in eye care; 18 of these were ophthalmologists and eight cataract surgeons, equivalent to 0.34 and 0.15 per 250,000 population, respectively. VISION 2020 targets for inpatient beds and surgical theatres were met in six out of nine provinces, but human resources and spectacles manufacturing workshops were below target in every province. Inequalities in service provision between urban and rural areas were substantial. Conclusion Shortage and maldistribution of human resources, lack of routine monitoring and inadequate financing mechanisms are the root causes of underperformance in the Zambian eye health system, which hinder the ability to achieve the VISION 2020 goals. We recommend that all VISION 2020 process indicators are evaluated simultaneously as these are not individually useful for monitoring progress. PMID:24575919

Difference in resource utilization between patients with acute and chronic heart failure from Japanese administrative database.

PubMed

Kuwabara, Kazuaki; Matsuda, Shinya; Anan, Makoto; Fushimi, Kiyohide; Ishikawa, Koichi B; Horiguchi, Hiromasa; Hayashida, Kenshi; Fujimori, Kenji

2010-06-11

Many studies have reported economic evaluation of evolving agents or therapies for patients with heart failure (HF). However, little is known whether the disease progression category (acute or chronic HF) would be considered as a risk adjustment in health service research. This study profiles the difference in resource use or medical care for acute versus chronic HF. This study analyzed 17,912 HF patients treated in 62 academic hospitals and 351 community hospitals. Study variables included demographic variables, comorbid status, physical activity or disease progression at admission, procedures and laboratory tests, type and dose of heart-related medications, length of stay (LOS), and total charges (TC; 1 US$= 100 yen) for acute and chronic HF. The independent contributions of disease progression categories on LOS and TC were identified using multivariate analysis. We identified 9813 chronic and 8099 acute HF patients. Median LOS was 18 days for both chronic and acute HF, whereas TC was US$5731 and US$6447, respectively. Regression analysis revealed that acute HF was associated with a slightly greater TC, whereas performance of procedures was the most prominent factor. As NYHA class was the next most influential factor, class 3 or 4 resulted in longer LOS or greater TC, than did class 1. This study suggests that acute HF increased resource use slightly, whereas use of some practices indicated in critical care was affected more by the procedures performed. Disease progression category should remain an indicator for appropriateness of medical care. Copyright (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capability Roadmap Progress Review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Gerald B.; Duke, Michael

2005-01-01

A progress review on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) capability is presented. The topics include: 1) In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capability Roadmap: Level 1; 2) ISRU Emphasized Architecture Overview; 3) ISRU Capability Elements: Level 2 and below; and 4) ISRU Capability Roadmap Wrap-up.

Strategy community development based on local resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meirinawati; Prabawati, I.; Pradana, G. W.

2018-01-01

The problem of progressing regions is not far from economic problems and is often caused by the inability of the regions in response to changes in economic conditions that occur, so the need for community development programs implemented to solve various problems. Improved community effort required with the real conditions and needs of each region. Community development based on local resources process is very important, because it is an increase in human resource capability in the optimal utilization of local resource potential. In this case a strategy is needed in community development based on local resources. The community development strategy are as follows:(1) “Eight Line Equalization Plus” which explains the urgency of rural industrialization, (2) the construction of the village will be more successful when combining strategies are tailored to regional conditions, (3) the escort are positioning themselves as the Planner, supervisor, information giver, motivator, facilitator, connecting at once evaluators.

Identification of Information Needs of the American Indian Community That Can Be Met by Library Services. Phase IV. Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Townley, Charles T.

Under a grant from the Bureau of Libraries and Learning Resources of the United States Office of Education, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) implemented a Library Project to identify library and information needs of Indian people and to establish, operate, and evaluate three demonstration sites. During this reporting period,…

State of the World, 1984: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress toward a Sustainable Society. First Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Lester R.; And Others

The first of a series of annual reports for policy makers, this publication focuses on evaluating changes in the interplay between the world's changing resource base and the economic system. Following an overview, content is divided into 10 additional chapters covering population stabilization, the world's dependence on oil, soil conservation,…

Development and Evaluation of a Web 2.0-Based Ubiquitous Learning Platform for Schoolyard Plant Identification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Haur; Chu, Hui-Chun; Chen, Beyin; Cheng, Zheng Shan

2014-01-01

The rapid progress of wireless communication, sensing, and mobile technologies has enabled students to learn in an environment that combines learning resources from both the real world and the digital world. It can be viewed as a new learning style which has been called context-aware ubiquitous learning. Most context-aware ubiquitous learning…

Voluntary medical male circumcision scale-up in Nyanza, Kenya: evaluating technical efficiency and productivity of service delivery.

PubMed

Omondi Aduda, Dickens S; Ouma, Collins; Onyango, Rosebella; Onyango, Mathews; Bertrand, Jane

2015-01-01

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) service delivery is complex and resource-intensive. In Kenya's context there is still paucity of information on resource use vis-à-vis outputs as programs scale up. Knowledge of technical efficiency, productivity and potential sources of constraints is desirable to improve decision-making. To evaluate technical efficiency and productivity of VMMC service delivery in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using data envelopment analysis. Comparative process evaluation of facilities providing VMMC in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using output orientated data envelopment analysis. Twenty one facilities were evaluated. Only 1 of 7 variables considered (total elapsed operation time) significantly improved from 32.8 minutes (SD 8.8) in 2011 to 30 minutes (SD 6.6) in 2012 (95%CI = 0.0350-5.2488; p = 0.047). Mean scale technical efficiency significantly improved from 91% (SD 19.8) in 2011 to 99% (SD 4.0) in 2012 particularly among outreach compared to fixed service delivery facilities (CI -31.47959-4.698508; p = 0.005). Increase in mean VRS technical efficiency from 84% (SD 25.3) in 2011 and 89% (SD 25.1) in 2012 was not statistically significant. Benchmark facilities were #119 and #125 in 2011 and #103 in 2012. Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) at fixed facilities declined by 2.5% but gained by 4.9% at outreach ones by 2012. Total factor productivity improved by 83% (p = 0.032) in 2012, largely due to progress in technological efficiency by 79% (p = 0.008). Significant improvement in scale technical efficiency among outreach facilities in 2012 was attributable to accelerated activities. However, ongoing pure technical inefficiency requires concerted attention. Technological progress was the key driver of service productivity growth in Nyanza. Incorporating service-quality dimensions and using stepwise-multiple criteria in performance evaluation enhances comprehensiveness and validity. These findings highlight site-level resource use and sources of variations in VMMC service productivity, which are important for program planning.

Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium. Quarterly technical progress report, May 1, 1997--July 31, 1997

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

NONE

Progress summaries are provided from the Amarillo National Center for Plutonium. Programs include the plutonium information resource center, environment, public health, and safety, education and training, nuclear and other material studies.

E-learning: controlling costs and increasing value.

PubMed

Walsh, Kieran

2015-04-01

E-learning now accounts for a substantial proportion of medical education provision. This progress has required significant investment and this investment has in turn come under increasing scrutiny so that the costs of e-learning may be controlled and its returns maximised. There are multiple methods by which the costs of e-learning can be controlled and its returns maximised. This short paper reviews some of those methods that are likely to be most effective and that are likely to save costs without compromising quality. Methods might include accessing free or low-cost resources from elsewhere; create short learning resources that will work on multiple devices; using open source platforms to host content; using in-house faculty to create content; sharing resources between institutions; and promoting resources to ensure high usage. Whatever methods are used to control costs or increase value, it is most important to evaluate the impact of these methods.

Can we do better? Economic analysis of human resource investment to improve home care service for the elderly in Serbia.

PubMed

Mihic, Marko M; Todorovic, Marija Lj; Obradovic, Vladimir Lj; Mitrovic, Zorica M

2016-01-01

Social services aimed at the elderly are facing great challenges caused by progressive aging of the global population but also by the constant pressure to spend funds in a rational manner. This paper focuses on analyzing the investments into human resources aimed at enhancing home care for the elderly since many countries have recorded progress in the area over the past years. The goal of this paper is to stress the significance of performing an economic analysis of the investment. This paper combines statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression analysis, methods of economic analysis, and scenario method. The economic analysis of investing in human resources for home care service in Serbia showed that the both scenarios of investing in either additional home care hours or more beneficiaries are cost-efficient. However, the optimal solution with the positive (and the highest) value of economic net present value criterion is to invest in human resources to boost the number of home care hours from 6 to 8 hours per week and increase the number of the beneficiaries to 33%. This paper shows how the statistical and economic analysis results can be used to evaluate different scenarios and enable quality decision-making based on exact data in order to improve health and quality of life of the elderly and spend funds in a rational manner.

[Quantitative evaluation of resource and environment pressure in Qinghai Province, China based on footprint family].

PubMed

Ma, Cai Hong; Zhao, Jing

2016-04-22

In order to effectively evaluate the influence of human activities on the resource and environment, this paper constructed an resource and environment pressure evaluation system based on footprint family, and calculated the ecological footprint, carbon footprint, water footprint, and resource and environment pressure in Qinghai Province. The results showed that from 1990 to 2013, the ecological footprint per capita in Qinghai Province increased from 1.32 hm 2 to 3.32 hm 2 , and biological capacity per capita decreased from 2.33 hm 2 to 2.07 hm 2 . Since 2006 there was ecological deficit. However, the biomass surplus existed during 1990-2013. The carbon footprint per capita increased from 5.82 t to 15.85 t, which had been more than 7.93 times of the target to address climate change. The water footprint per capita decreased from 967.67 m 3 to 732.05 m 3 . Since 1990, the ecological pressure was at low grade (1 b ), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions pressure was enhanced from low grade (1 b ) to above-average grade (2 b ), the water pressure was at very low grade (1 a ), the resource and environment pressure increased from very low grade (1 a ) to low grade (1 b ). The rate of contribution of ecological pressure and water resource pressure to resources and environment pressure gradually decreased, whereas, the rate of contribution of GHG emission pressure to resources and environment pressure gradually increased. The resource and environment pressure had spatial heterogeneity. In 2013, it was at very high grade (3 b ) in Xining City, at above-average grade (2 b ) in Haidong City, at below-average grade (2 a ) in Haixi State and atvery low grade (1 a ) in the rest regions. The main resource and environment pressure source also had obvious spatial heterogeneity. In future, differentiation strategies should be taken in the decompression progress.

Activity-based costing: a practical model for cost calculation in radiotherapy.

PubMed

Lievens, Yolande; van den Bogaert, Walter; Kesteloot, Katrien

2003-10-01

The activity-based costing method was used to compute radiotherapy costs. This report describes the model developed, the calculated costs, and possible applications for the Leuven radiotherapy department. Activity-based costing is an advanced cost calculation technique that allocates resource costs to products based on activity consumption. In the Leuven model, a complex allocation principle with a large diversity of cost drivers was avoided by introducing an extra allocation step between activity groups and activities. A straightforward principle of time consumption, weighed by some factors of treatment complexity, was used. The model was developed in an iterative way, progressively defining the constituting components (costs, activities, products, and cost drivers). Radiotherapy costs are predominantly determined by personnel and equipment cost. Treatment-related activities consume the greatest proportion of the resource costs, with treatment delivery the most important component. This translates into products that have a prolonged total or daily treatment time being the most costly. The model was also used to illustrate the impact of changes in resource costs and in practice patterns. The presented activity-based costing model is a practical tool to evaluate the actual cost structure of a radiotherapy department and to evaluate possible resource or practice changes.

Introduction to health economics and decision-making: Is economics relevant for the frontline clinician?

PubMed

Goeree, Ron; Diaby, Vakaramoko

2013-12-01

In a climate of escalating demands for new health care services and significant constraints on new resources, the disciplines of health economics and health technology assessment (HTA) have increasingly been turned to as explicit evidence-based frameworks to help make tough health care access and reimbursement decisions. Health economics is the discipline of economics concerned with the efficient allocation of health care resources, essentially trying to maximize health benefits to society contingent upon available resources. HTA is a broader field drawing upon several disciplines, but which relies heavily upon the tools of health economics and economic evaluation. Traditionally, health economics and economic evaluation have been widely used at the political (macro) and local (meso) decision-making levels, and have progressively had an important role even at informing individual clinical decisions (micro level). The aim of this paper is to introduce readers to health economics and discuss its relevance to frontline clinicians. Particularly, the content of the paper will facilitate clinicians' understanding of the link between economics and their medical practice, and how clinical decision-making reflects on health care resource allocation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Offsetting Faculty and Institutional Inflexibility: A Case Study in Developing an Alternative to Tenure with Reference to Faculty Development and Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinkrauss, Philip J.

This in-progress program and resource study presents an actual case study in developing an alternative to tenure. The College of St. Francis implemented during the 1979-80 academic year an alternative system, the Three Year Rolling Contract. It stated that all faculty members have academic freedom under any form of appointment; upon appointment as…

A New Perspective for the Training Assessment: Machine Learning-Based Neurometric for Augmented User's Evaluation

PubMed Central

Borghini, Gianluca; Aricò, Pietro; Di Flumeri, Gianluca; Sciaraffa, Nicolina; Colosimo, Alfredo; Herrero, Maria-Trinidad; Bezerianos, Anastasios; Thakor, Nitish V.; Babiloni, Fabio

2017-01-01

Inappropriate training assessment might have either high social costs and economic impacts, especially in high risks categories, such as Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers, or Surgeons. One of the current limitations of the standard training assessment procedures is the lack of information about the amount of cognitive resources requested by the user for the correct execution of the proposed task. In fact, even if the task is accomplished achieving the maximum performance, by the standard training assessment methods, it would not be possible to gather and evaluate information about cognitive resources available for dealing with unexpected events or emergency conditions. Therefore, a metric based on the brain activity (neurometric) able to provide the Instructor such a kind of information should be very important. As a first step in this direction, the Electroencephalogram (EEG) and the performance of 10 participants were collected along a training period of 3 weeks, while learning the execution of a new task. Specific indexes have been estimated from the behavioral and EEG signal to objectively assess the users' training progress. Furthermore, we proposed a neurometric based on a machine learning algorithm to quantify the user's training level within each session by considering the level of task execution, and both the behavioral and cognitive stabilities between consecutive sessions. The results demonstrated that the proposed methodology and neurometric could quantify and track the users' progresses, and provide the Instructor information for a more objective evaluation and better tailoring of training programs. PMID:28659751

A New Perspective for the Training Assessment: Machine Learning-Based Neurometric for Augmented User's Evaluation.

PubMed

Borghini, Gianluca; Aricò, Pietro; Di Flumeri, Gianluca; Sciaraffa, Nicolina; Colosimo, Alfredo; Herrero, Maria-Trinidad; Bezerianos, Anastasios; Thakor, Nitish V; Babiloni, Fabio

2017-01-01

Inappropriate training assessment might have either high social costs and economic impacts, especially in high risks categories, such as Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers, or Surgeons. One of the current limitations of the standard training assessment procedures is the lack of information about the amount of cognitive resources requested by the user for the correct execution of the proposed task. In fact, even if the task is accomplished achieving the maximum performance, by the standard training assessment methods, it would not be possible to gather and evaluate information about cognitive resources available for dealing with unexpected events or emergency conditions. Therefore, a metric based on the brain activity ( neurometric ) able to provide the Instructor such a kind of information should be very important. As a first step in this direction, the Electroencephalogram (EEG) and the performance of 10 participants were collected along a training period of 3 weeks, while learning the execution of a new task. Specific indexes have been estimated from the behavioral and EEG signal to objectively assess the users' training progress. Furthermore, we proposed a neurometric based on a machine learning algorithm to quantify the user's training level within each session by considering the level of task execution, and both the behavioral and cognitive stabilities between consecutive sessions. The results demonstrated that the proposed methodology and neurometric could quantify and track the users' progresses, and provide the Instructor information for a more objective evaluation and better tailoring of training programs.

Money Management in a Media Resources Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kent, Alvin

1983-01-01

Director of Iowa State University's Media Resources Center argues that fiscal progress is the most reliable measure of functional progress or growth. How money is controlled to allow for allocation of funds and manipulation of service priorities is described as well as how service functions are managed. (MBR)

5 CFR 9701.346 - Pay progression for new supervisors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Pay progression for new supervisors. 9701.346 Section 9701.346 Administrative Personnel DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES... SECURITY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Pay and Pay Administration Performance-Based Pay § 9701.346 Pay...

Progress on youth reproductive health.

PubMed

1998-06-01

The first round table meeting to review progress in implementing the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development was convened in April 1998 to consider progress on adolescent reproductive health and rights. The 30 participants from 24 countries concluded that while many countries have made progress, attitudes still need to be changed among those who continue to believe that provision of reproductive health services to adolescents leads to promiscuity. The topics considered during the meeting included: 1) improving accessibility and quality of information and services; 2) creating an "enabling environment" for adolescent reproductive health; 3) enhancing the role of parents and schools in providing sex education; 4) using national laws and policies to protect youth health and rights; and 5) mobilizing private sector and private foundation resources. The round table recommended that adolescent reproductive health programs 1) involve diverse groups of young people in the development of programs, services, and materials; 2) cooperate with a wide variety of other agencies; 3) encourage open discussions of sexuality; 4) train youth as peer counselors; 5) hire youth as paid staff; 6) use a range of quality communication resources; 7) train health care professionals who deal with adolescents; 8) develop evaluation indicators for social and emotional well-being; 9) increase youth access to the formal health sector; and 10) use the visibility of women's groups to promote young women's interests. The round table also asked UN agencies to strengthen their support for youth programs.

Evaluating the implementation of "managing the risk of suicide: a suicide prevention strategy for the ACT 2009-2014".

PubMed

Sheehan, Johann; Griffiths, Kathleen; Rickwood, Debra; Carron-Arthur, Bradley

2015-01-01

Over the past two decades, governments have invested significantly in policies and strategies to prevent the tragic loss of life to suicide. However, there has been little focus on evaluating the implementation of such policies. This paper reports on the evaluation of the implementation of "Managing the Risk of Suicide: A Suicide Prevention Strategy for the ACT 2009-2014," the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT) suicide prevention strategy. We sought to answer two questions: (1) Could agencies provide data reporting on their progress in implementing the activities for which they were responsible?; and (2) Could a judgment about implementation progress be made and, if so, to what extent was the activity implemented? Individually tailored electronic surveys were sent to 18 ACT agencies annually over 4 years to measure their progress in implementing activities for which they had responsibility. By year four, full data were provided for 64% of activities, maximal partial data for 9%, and minimal partial data for 27%. Forty-two per cent of activities were fully implemented, 20% were partially implemented, and 38% were not implemented or could not be measured. It is possible to measure implementation of suicide prevention strategies, but appropriate processes and dedicated resources must be in place at the outset.

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Scale-Up in Nyanza, Kenya: Evaluating Technical Efficiency and Productivity of Service Delivery

PubMed Central

Omondi Aduda, Dickens S.; Ouma, Collins; Onyango, Rosebella; Onyango, Mathews; Bertrand, Jane

2015-01-01

Background Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) service delivery is complex and resource-intensive. In Kenya’s context there is still paucity of information on resource use vis-à-vis outputs as programs scale up. Knowledge of technical efficiency, productivity and potential sources of constraints is desirable to improve decision-making. Objective To evaluate technical efficiency and productivity of VMMC service delivery in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using data envelopment analysis. Design Comparative process evaluation of facilities providing VMMC in Nyanza in 2011/2012 using output orientated data envelopment analysis. Results Twenty one facilities were evaluated. Only 1 of 7 variables considered (total elapsed operation time) significantly improved from 32.8 minutes (SD 8.8) in 2011 to 30 minutes (SD 6.6) in 2012 (95%CI = 0.0350–5.2488; p = 0.047). Mean scale technical efficiency significantly improved from 91% (SD 19.8) in 2011 to 99% (SD 4.0) in 2012 particularly among outreach compared to fixed service delivery facilities (CI -31.47959–4.698508; p = 0.005). Increase in mean VRS technical efficiency from 84% (SD 25.3) in 2011 and 89% (SD 25.1) in 2012 was not statistically significant. Benchmark facilities were #119 and #125 in 2011 and #103 in 2012. Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) at fixed facilities declined by 2.5% but gained by 4.9% at outreach ones by 2012. Total factor productivity improved by 83% (p = 0.032) in 2012, largely due to progress in technological efficiency by 79% (p = 0.008). Conclusions Significant improvement in scale technical efficiency among outreach facilities in 2012 was attributable to accelerated activities. However, ongoing pure technical inefficiency requires concerted attention. Technological progress was the key driver of service productivity growth in Nyanza. Incorporating service-quality dimensions and using stepwise-multiple criteria in performance evaluation enhances comprehensiveness and validity. These findings highlight site-level resource use and sources of variations in VMMC service productivity, which are important for program planning. PMID:25706119

Can we do better? Economic analysis of human resource investment to improve home care service for the elderly in Serbia

PubMed Central

Mihic, Marko M; Todorovic, Marija Lj; Obradovic, Vladimir Lj; Mitrovic, Zorica M

2016-01-01

Background Social services aimed at the elderly are facing great challenges caused by progressive aging of the global population but also by the constant pressure to spend funds in a rational manner. Purpose This paper focuses on analyzing the investments into human resources aimed at enhancing home care for the elderly since many countries have recorded progress in the area over the past years. The goal of this paper is to stress the significance of performing an economic analysis of the investment. Methods This paper combines statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression analysis, methods of economic analysis, and scenario method. Results The economic analysis of investing in human resources for home care service in Serbia showed that the both scenarios of investing in either additional home care hours or more beneficiaries are cost-efficient. However, the optimal solution with the positive (and the highest) value of economic net present value criterion is to invest in human resources to boost the number of home care hours from 6 to 8 hours per week and increase the number of the beneficiaries to 33%. Conclusion This paper shows how the statistical and economic analysis results can be used to evaluate different scenarios and enable quality decision-making based on exact data in order to improve health and quality of life of the elderly and spend funds in a rational manner. PMID:26869778

[Economic evaluation of health technologies: theory and practice].

PubMed

Abadi-Korek, Ifat; Shemer, Joshua

2008-06-01

Health care systems are committed to maintain and improve the health of their citizens in an effective, fair and accessible way. New medical technologies that offer improvement upon existing alternatives are progressing at a rapid pace. These new sophisticated health technologies are high priced and have been viewed as a significant factor in increasing the cost of healthcare expenditures. The abundance of new medical alternatives, combined with scarcity of resources, has led to the need for priority setting in a way that maximizes the health benefit of those insured. Economic evaluation of medical technologies is the analysis which compares the costs and consequences of alternative healthcare interventions. Economic evaluation of medical technologies can be used by policy makers as a tool to aid in resource allocation decisions. The inclusion of an economic perspective in the evaluation of health and health care has become an increasingly accepted component of health policy and planning. The health care system in Israel has come to acknowledge the advantages of this method. There is still a need for more suitable and structured guidelines to conducting economic evaluation in order to make this emergent and welcome process and its products useable.

Vitamin D Levels Predict Multiple Sclerosis Progression

MedlinePlus

... Record Research & Training Medical Research Initiatives Science Highlights Science Education Research in NIH Labs & Clinics Training Opportunities Library Resources Research Resources Clinical Research Resources Safety, Regulation ...

18 CFR 367.1070 - Account 107, Construction work in progress.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 107, Construction work in progress. 367.1070 Section 367.1070 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL... ACT OF 2005, FEDERAL POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR CENTRALIZED SERVICE...

Evaluation of the Florida coordinated school health program pilot schools project.

PubMed

Weiler, Robert M; Pigg, R Morgan; McDermott, Robert J

2003-01-01

The Florida Department of Education, with CDC funding, designed the Florida Coordinated School Health Program Pilot Schools Project (PSP) to encourage innovative approaches to promote coordinated school health programs (CSHP) in Florida schools. Each of eight pilot schools received $15,000 in project funding, three years of technical assistance including on-site and off-site assistance, a project office resource center, mailings of resource materials, needs assessment and evaluation assistance, and three PSP Summer Institutes. Project evaluators created a context evaluation, approaching each school independently as a "case study" to measure the school's progress in meeting goals established at baseline. Data were collected using the How Healthy is Your School? needs assessment instrument, a School Health Portfolio constructed by each school team, a Pilot Schools Project Team Member Survey instrument, midcourse team interviews, final team interviews, and performance indicator data obtained from pilot and control schools. The PSP posed two fundamental questions: "Can financial resources, professional training, and technical assistance enable individual schools to create and sustain a coordinated school health program?" and "What outcomes reasonably can one expect from a coordinated school health program, assuming programs receive adequate support over time?" First, activities at the eight schools confirmed that a coordinated school health programs can be established and sustained. Program strength and sustainability depend on long-term resources, qualified personnel, and administrative support. Second, though coordinated school health programs may improve school performance indicators, the PSP yielded insufficient evidence to support that belief. Future projects should include robust measurement and evaluation designs, thereby producing conclusive evidence about the influence of a coordinated school health program on such outcomes.

Research on environmental impacts of tourism in China: progress and prospect.

PubMed

Zhong, Linsheng; Deng, Jinyang; Song, Zengwen; Ding, Peiyi

2011-11-01

With the rapid development of tourism industry in China since 1980, the country has experienced an increasing use of its natural and cultural environment for tourism, resulting in tourism resources being adversely impacted in many tourism destinations. This paper described the research progress in tourism impacts on the environment in the context of China through a review of the growing literature in this field. Specifically, research on tourism impacts on the biophysical and socio-cultural environments, tourism carrying capacity, environmental quality assessment, and measures for the protection and management of tourism resources was reviewed. The review found that the majority of research was qualitative and descriptive in nature, and there was a lack of case studies and theoretical development. Future research should focus on the evaluation of environmental impacts, particularly those gradual cumulative impacts on the tourism environment; examination of the quantitative relationship between the impact and the level of tourism use for different activities; development of methods to estimate the carrying capacity; and understanding of positive impacts of tourism. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evidence and resources to implement Pharmacogenetic Knowledge for Precision Medicine

PubMed Central

Caudle, Kelly E.; Gammal, Roseann S.; Whirl-Carrillo, Michelle; Hoffman, James M.; Relling, Mary V.; Klein, Teri E.

2016-01-01

Purpose Implementation of pharmacogenetics into clinical practice has been relatively slow despite substantial scientific progress over the last decade. One barrier that inhibits uptake of pharmacogenetics into routine clinical practice is the lack of knowledge of how to translate a genetic test into a clinical action based on current evidence. The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of pharmacogenetic evidence and evidence-based resources that facilitate the uptake of pharmacogenetics into clinical practice. Summary Controversy exists over the required evidence threshold needed for routine clinical implementation of pharmacogenetics. Large randomized controlled trials are not clinically feasible or necessary for many pharmacogenetic applications. Online resources exist like the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) and the Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase (PharmGKB) that provide freely available, evidence-based resources that facilitate the translation of genetic laboratory test results into actionable prescribing recommendations for specific drugs. Conclusion Resources provided by organizations such as CPIC and PharmGKB that use standardized approaches to evaluate the literature and provide clinical guidance are essential for the implementation of pharmacogenetics into routine clinical practice. PMID:27864205

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

PubMed

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

2017-12-15

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

Weight as predictors of clinical progression and treatment failure: results from the TREAT Asia Pediatric HIV Observational Database.

PubMed

Kariminia, Azar; Durier, Nicolas; Jourdain, Gonzague; Saghayam, Suneeta; Do, Chau V; Nguyen, Lam Van; Hansudewechakul, Rawiwan; Lumbiganon, Pagakrong; Chokephaibulkit, Kulkanya; Truong, Khanh Huu; Sirisanthana, Virat; Ung, Vibol; Vonthanak, Saphonn; Ananworanich, Jintanat; Nik Yusoff, Nik Khairulddin; Kurniati, Nia; Azahar Razali, Kamarul; Fong, Moy Siew; Nallusamy, Revathy; Wati, Dewi Kumara

2014-09-01

To evaluate the value of time-updated weight and height in predicting clinical progression, and immunological and virological failure in children receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). We used Cox regression to analyze data of a cohort of Asian children. A total of 2608 children were included; median age at cART was 5.7 years. Time-updated weight for age z score < -3 was associated with mortality (P < 0.001) independent of CD4% and < -2 was associated with immunological failure (P ≤ 0.03) independent of age at cART. Weight monitoring provides useful data to inform clinical management of children on cART in resource-limited settings.

Agile Electro-Mechanical Product Accelerator - Final Research Performance Progress Report

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

Schmidt, Brian

2016-07-29

NCDMM recognized the need to focus on the most efficient use of limited resources while ensuring compliance with regulations and minimizing the energy intensity and environmental impact of manufactured components. This was accomplished through the evaluation of current machining and processing practices, and their efficiencies, to further the sustainability of manufacturing as a whole. Additionally, the activities also identified, and furthered the implementation of new “best practices” within the southwestern Pennsylvania manufacturing sector.

Progress and needs in agricultural research, development, and applications programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, D. G.; Myers, V. I.

1977-01-01

The dynamic nature of agriculture requires repetitive resource assessments such as those from remote sensing. Until recently, the use of remote sensing in agriculture has been limited primarily to site specific investigations without large-scale evaluations. Examples of successful applications at various user levels are provided. The stage of development for applying remote sensing to many agricultural problems is assessed, and goals for planning future data characteristics for increased use in agriculture are suggested.

[The Chinese experts' consensus on the evaluation and management of asthma exacerbation].

PubMed

2018-01-01

Asthma exacerbations can do a lot of harm to the patients and consume large amounts of medical resources. This consensus is based on the domestic and foreign guidelines and literatures to standardize the evaluation and management of asthma exacerbations in China. Asthma exacerbations are characterized by a progressive increase in symptoms of shortness of breath, cough, wheezing or chest tightness and progressive decrease in lung function, and usually require modification of treatment. Recognizing risk factors and triggering factors of asthma exacerbations is helpful for the prevention and long-term management. Evaluation of asthma exacerbations is based on symptoms, lung function, and arterial blood gas. Management is stratified according to the severity of disease. Different regimens to treat asthma exacerbations are discussed in this consensus. Glucocorticoids should be used properly. Overuse of antibiotics should be avoided. Management of life-threatening asthma is discussed separately. Special attention should be paid in some special respects, such as asthma during peri-operation period, gestation period, and childhood. Diagnosis and management of complications are also of great significance and are discussed in details.

Human cDNA mapping using fluorescence in situ hybridization. Final progress report, April 1, 1994--July 31, 1997

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

Korenberg, J.R.

The ultimate goal of this research is to generate and apply novel technologies to speed completion and integration of the human genome map and sequence with biomedical problems. To do this, techniques were developed and genome-wide resources generated. This includes a genome-wide Mapped and Integrated BAC/PAC Resource that has been used for gene finding, map completion and anchoring, breakpoint definition and sequencing. In the last period of the grant, the Human Mapped BAC/PAC Resource was also applied to determine regions of human variation and to develop a novel paradigm of primate evolution through to humans. Further, in order to moremore » rapidly evaluate animal models of human disease, a BAC Map of the mouse was generated in collaboration with the MTI Genome Center, Dr. Bruce Birren.« less

Common ground: the HealthWeb project as a model for Internet collaboration.

PubMed Central

Redman, P M; Kelly, J A; Albright, E D; Anderson, P F; Mulder, C; Schnell, E H

1997-01-01

The establishment of the HealthWeb project by twelve health sciences libraries provides a collaborative means of organizing and enhancing access to Internet resources for the international health sciences community. The project is based on the idea that the Internet is common ground for all libraries and that through collaboration a more comprehensive, robust, and long-lasting information product can be maintained. The participants include more than seventy librarians from the health sciences libraries of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium of twelve major research universities. The Greater Midwest Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine serves as a cosponsor. HealthWeb is an information resource that provides access to evaluated, annotated Internet resources via the World Wide Web. The project vision as well as the progress reported on its implementation may serve as a model for other collaborative Internet projects. PMID:9431420

A Progressive Concern: Productivity in Education. The Productivity for Results Series No. 7

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Cynthia G.; Miller, Raegen T.

2015-01-01

The authors concentrate on financial resources available to schools, how to improve fiscal equity, and how schools can use resources in smarter ways. They explain why political progressives should assist in--and even lead--efforts to bring the idea of managing performance with measurable outcomes to public schools. The first section dwells on…

The Resource-Infrastructure-Environment Index for Measuring Progress: An Application to Australia, Mexico and the US

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Natoli, Riccardo; Zuhair, Segu

2013-01-01

The resource-infrastructure-environment (RIE) index was proposed as an alternative measure of progress which was then employed to: (1) compare the aggregate (single summary) index findings between Australia (mid-industrialised nation), Mexico (emerging economy), and the US (highly industrialised nation); and (2) compare the RIE index against the…

Massive Open Online Courses in Public Health

PubMed Central

Gooding, Ira; Klaas, Brian; Yager, James D.; Kanchanaraksa, Sukon

2013-01-01

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) represent a new and potentially transformative model for providing educational opportunities to learners not enrolled in a formal educational program. The authors describe the experience of developing and offering eight MOOCs on a variety of public health topics. Existing institutional infrastructure and experience with both for-credit online education and open educational resources mitigated the institutional risk and resource requirements. Although learners are able to enroll easily and freely and do so in large numbers, there is considerable variety in the level of participation and engagement among enrollees. As a result, comprehensive and accurate assessment of meaningful learning progress remains a major challenge for evaluating the effectiveness of MOOCs for providing public health education. PMID:24350228

Evaluation of the healthy schools program: Part I. Interim progress.

PubMed

Beam, Margaret; Ehrlich, Ginny; Donze Black, Jessica; Block, Audrey; Leviton, Laura C

2012-01-01

Federal and state policies identify schools as a setting to prevent childhood obesity, but schools need better health-promoting strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate interim progress in schools receiving hands-on training from the Healthy Schools Program, the nation's largest school-based program aimed at preventing childhood obesity. The 4-year program targets schools with predominantly low-income, African American, or Hispanic students. In 2010 we assessed schools that enrolled in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years. School representatives completed an inventory of 8 content areas: policy and systems, school meals, competitive foods and beverages, health education, physical education, physical activity outside of physical education, before- and after-school programs, and school employee wellness. Schools' baseline inventory was compared by t test with the most recent inventory available. Schools made significant changes in all content areas, and effect sizes were moderate to large. Participating schools improved environmental policies and practices to prevent childhood obesity. The program is a resource to implement recent federal and state policies.

Determinants of health: a progressive political platform.

PubMed

Terris, M

1994-01-01

This paper is based on the statement in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion that "The fundamental conditions and resources for health are peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable eco-system, sustainable resources, social justice and equity. Improvement in health requires a secure foundation in these basic prerequisites." It attempts to formulate a progressive political platform for a number of these prerequisites, offering a series of recommendations regarding education, employment, income, and housing, and urging that the proposed programs be funded by progressive taxation and major reductions in the military budget.

Towards the Use of Space Resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Gary L.

2015-01-01

Humans are making technological progress at leveraging resources in space. Ames is a pioneer in In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU is among the only cost-effective ways to construct habitats off-world.

The Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium. Quarterly progress detailed report, 1 November 1996--31 January 1997

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

NONE

Progress for this quarter is given for each of the following Center programs: (1) plutonium information resource; (2) advisory function (DOE and state support); (3) environmental, public health and safety; (3) communication, education, and training; and (4) nuclear and other material studies. Both summaries of the activities and detailed reports are included.

The need for economic evaluation of telemedicine to evolve: the experience in Alberta, Canada.

PubMed

Hailey, David; Jennett, Penny

2004-01-01

Economic evaluation of telemedicine applications is required to provide decision makers in health care with appropriate information on costs and benefits of this information and communications technology. The level of economic evaluation should evolve as telemedicine applications mature. At the basic level, economic evaluation may include basic cost analysis and primarily observational data on nonmonetary benefits. The focus will change as telemedicine programs develop. At this intermediate level, practice patterns and workforce issues are addressed as they affect utilization and costs of telemedicine services. Longer-term economic evaluation, thus far not achieved in telemedicine assessment, should focus on assessment of health outcomes and economic impact. Alberta, Canada has made progress assessing telemedicine applications in psychiatry, radiology, rheumatology, and rehabilitation. Data availability and analytic resources continue to present challenges to economic assessment of telemedicine.

Analysis of ERTS-1 imagery of Wyoming and its application to evaluation of Wyoming's natural resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marrs, R. W.; Breckenridge, R. M.

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. The Wyoming investigation has progressed according to schedule during the Jan. - Feb., 1973 report period. A map of the maximum extent of Pleistocene glaciation was compiled for northwest Wyoming from interpretations of glacial features seen on ERTS-1 imagery. Using isodensitometry as a tool for image enhancement, techniques were developed which allowed accurate delineation of small urban areas and provided distinction of broad classifications within these small urban centers.

Remedying CERCLA`s natural resource damages provision: Incorporation of the public trust doctrine into natural resource damage actions

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

Chase, A.R.

When Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), it ushered in a sweeping approach to controlling the environmental effects of improper hazardous waste disposal. CERCLA`s cleanup provisions, which focus on removal and remediation of hazardous substances from inactive hazardous waste sites, have progressed through more than a decade of litigation and a great deal of public debate. However, CERCLA`s natural resource damage provisions have not shared this same degree of progress.

Developing a Theory-Based Simulation Educator Resource.

PubMed

Thomas, Christine M; Sievers, Lisa D; Kellgren, Molly; Manning, Sara J; Rojas, Deborah E; Gamblian, Vivian C

2015-01-01

The NLN Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators 2014 faculty development group identified a lack of a common language/terminology to outline the progression of expertise of simulation educators. The group analyzed Benner's novice-to-expert model and applied its levels of experience to simulation educator growth. It established common operational categories of faculty development and used them to organize resources that support progression toward expertise. The resulting theory-based Simulator Educator Toolkit outlines levels of ability and provides quality resources to meet the diverse needs of simulation educators and team members.

Frontiers of biomedical text mining: current progress

PubMed Central

Zweigenbaum, Pierre; Demner-Fushman, Dina; Yu, Hong; Cohen, Kevin B.

2008-01-01

It is now almost 15 years since the publication of the first paper on text mining in the genomics domain, and decades since the first paper on text mining in the medical domain. Enormous progress has been made in the areas of information retrieval, evaluation methodologies and resource construction. Some problems, such as abbreviation-handling, can essentially be considered solved problems, and others, such as identification of gene mentions in text, seem likely to be solved soon. However, a number of problems at the frontiers of biomedical text mining continue to present interesting challenges and opportunities for great improvements and interesting research. In this article we review the current state of the art in biomedical text mining or ‘BioNLP’ in general, focusing primarily on papers published within the past year. PMID:17977867

Analyzing compound and project progress through multi-objective-based compound quality assessment.

PubMed

Nissink, J Willem M; Degorce, Sébastien

2013-05-01

Compound-quality scoring methods designed to evaluate multiple drug properties concurrently are useful to analyze and prioritize output from drug-design efforts. However, formalized multiparameter optimization approaches are not widely used in drug design. We rank molecules synthesized in drug-discovery projects using simple and aggregated desirability functions reflecting medicinal chemistry 'rules'. Our quality score deals transparently with missing data, a key requirement in drug-hunting projects where data availability is often limited. We further estimate confidence in the interpretation of such a compound-quality measure. Scores and associated confidences provide systematic insight in the quality of emerging chemical equity. Tracking quality of synthetic output over time yields valuable insight into the progress of drug-design teams, with potential applications in risk and resource management of a drug portfolio.

A framework for prospectively defining progression rules for internal pilot studies monitoring recruitment.

PubMed

Hampson, Lisa V; Williamson, Paula R; Wilby, Martin J; Jaki, Thomas

2017-01-01

Just over half of publicly funded trials recruit their target sample size within the planned study duration. When recruitment targets are missed, the funder of a trial is faced with the decision of either committing further resources to the study or risk that a worthwhile treatment effect may be missed by an underpowered final analysis. To avoid this challenging situation, when there is insufficient prior evidence to support predicted recruitment rates, funders now require feasibility assessments to be performed in the early stages of trials. Progression criteria are usually specified and agreed with the funder ahead of time. To date, however, the progression rules used are typically ad hoc. In addition, rules routinely permit adaptations to recruitment strategies but do not stipulate criteria for evaluating their effectiveness. In this paper, we develop a framework for planning and designing internal pilot studies which permit a trial to be stopped early if recruitment is disappointing or to continue to full recruitment if enrolment during the feasibility phase is adequate. This framework enables a progression rule to be pre-specified and agreed upon prior to starting a trial. The novel two-stage designs stipulate that if neither of these situations arises, adaptations to recruitment should be made and subsequently evaluated to establish whether they have been successful. We derive optimal progression rules for internal pilot studies which minimise the expected trial overrun and maintain a high probability of completing the study when the recruitment rate is adequate. The advantages of this procedure are illustrated using a real trial example.

Sustainability at BPA 2013

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

None

THIS IS THE THIRD YEAR BPA has reported on sustainability program accomplishments. The report provides an opportunity to review progress made on sustainability initiatives, evaluate how far we have come and how much we can improve. The program has demonstrated maturation as the concepts of sustainability and resource conservation are communicated and understood. The sustainability program started as an employee-driven “grass roots” effort in 2010. Sustainability is becoming a consideration in how work is performed. The establishment of several policies supporting sustainability efforts proves the positive progress being made. In 2009, BPA became a founder and member of The Climatemore » Registry, a nonprofit collaboration that sets standards to calculate, verify and report greenhouse gas emissions. This year, BPA completed and published our Greenhouse Gas inventory for the years of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2012 inventory is currently in the process of third-party verification and scheduled for public release in January 2014. These inventories provide a concrete measure of the progress we are making.« less

Defining ecological and economical hydropoweroperations: a framework for managing dam releasesto meet multiple conflicting objectives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Irwin, Elise R.

2014-01-01

Hydroelectric dams are a flexible source of power, provide flood control, and contribute to the economic growth of local communities through real-estate and recreation. Yet the impoundment of rivers can alter and fragment miles of critical riverine habitat needed for other competing needs such as downstream consumptive water use, fish and wildlife population viability, or other forms of recreation. Multiple conflicting interests can compromise progressive management especially with recognized uncertainties related to whether management actions will fulfill the objectives of policy makers, resource managers and/or facility owners. Decision analytic tools were used in a stakeholder-driven process to develop and implement a template for evaluation and prediction of the effects of water resource management of multiple-use systems under the context provided by R.L. Harris Dam on the Tallapoosa River, Alabama, USA. The approach provided a transparent and structured framework for decision-making and incorporated both existing and new data to meet multiple management objectives. Success of the template has been evaluated by the stakeholder governing body in an adaptive resource management framework since 2005 and is ongoing. Consequences of management of discharge at the dam were evaluated annually relative to stakeholder satisfaction to allow for adjustment of both management scenarios and objectives. This template can be applied to attempt to resolve conflict inherent in many dam-regulated systems where management decisions impact diverse values of stakeholders.

Managing population health to prevent and detect cancer and non-communicable diseases.

PubMed

Bryant, Heather; Shin, Hai Rim; Forman, David; Stevanovic, Vladimir; Park, Sohee; Burton, Robert; Varghese, Cherian; Ullrich, Andreas; Sutcliffe, Catherine; Sutcliffe, Simon

2012-01-01

The goals of cancer control strategies are generally uniform across all constituencies and are to reduce cancer incidence, reduce cancer mortality, and improve quality of life for those affected by cancer. A well-constructed strategy will ensure that all of its elements can ultimately be connected to one of these goals. When a cancer control strategy is being implemented, it is essential to map progress towards these goals; without mapping progress, it is impossible to assess which components of the strategy require more attention or resources and which are not having the desired effect and need to be re-evaluated. In order to monitor and evaluate these strategies, systems need to be put in place to collect data and the appropriate indicators of performance need to be identified. Session 2 of the 4th International Cancer Control Congress (ICCC-4) focused on how to manage population health to prevent and detect cancers and non-communicable diseases through two plenary presentations and four interactive workshop discussions: 1) registries, measurement, and management in cancer control; 2) use of information for planning and evaluating screening and early detection programs; 3) alternative models for promoting community health, integrated care and illness management; and 4) control of non-communicable diseases. Workshop discussions highlighted that population based cancer registries are fundamental to understanding the cancer burden within a country. However, many countries in Africa, Asia, and South/ Central America do not have them in place. A new global initiative is underway, which brings together several international agencies, and aims to establish six IARC regional registration resource centres over the next five years. These will provide training, support, infrastructure and advocacy to local networks of cancer registries, and, it is hoped, improve the host countries' ability to assess and act on cancer issues within their jurisdictions. Multiple methods of programme evaluation were presented across workshops, but all were attuned to both the resource base and the specific questions to be addressed. Where innovative strategies were being tested, customized evaluation strategies should be undertaken. Where programmes are well-developed and data is being collected for evaluation, there is the opportunity for sophisticated analytical methods to be used to pinpoint specific areas or delivery sites for future quality improvement. Finally, unique opportunities now exist to integrate the strategies developed in cancer control and evaluation with those under development for other non-communicable diseases. This area will likely be one for future development.

Frequency of Testing to Detect Visual Field Progression Derived Using a Longitudinal Cohort of Glaucoma Patients.

PubMed

Wu, Zhichao; Saunders, Luke J; Daga, Fábio B; Diniz-Filho, Alberto; Medeiros, Felipe A

2017-06-01

To determine the time required to detect statistically significant progression for different rates of visual field loss using standard automated perimetry (SAP) when considering different frequencies of testing using a follow-up scheme that resembles clinical practice. Observational cohort study. One thousand seventy-two eyes of 665 patients with glaucoma followed up over an average of 4.3±0.9 years. Participants with 5 or more visual field tests over a 2- to 5-year period were included to derive the longitudinal measurement variability of SAP mean deviation (MD) using linear regressions. Estimates of variability then were used to reconstruct real-world visual field data by computer simulation to evaluate the time required to detect progression for various rates of visual field loss and different frequencies of testing. The evaluation was performed using a follow-up scheme that resembled clinical practice by requiring a set of 2 baseline tests and a confirmatory test to identify progression. Time (in years) required to detect progression. The time required to detect a statistically significant negative MD slope decreased as the frequency of testing increased, albeit not proportionally. For example, 80% of eyes with an MD loss of -2 dB/year would be detected after 3.3, 2.4, and 2.1 years when testing is performed once, twice, and thrice per year, respectively. For eyes with an MD loss of -0.5 dB/year, progression can be detected with 80% power after 7.3, 5.7, and 5.0 years, respectively. This study provides information on the time required to detect progression using MD trend analysis in glaucoma eyes when different testing frequencies are used. The smaller gains in the time to detect progression when testing is increased from twice to thrice per year suggests that obtaining 2 reliable tests at baseline followed by semiannual testing and confirmation of progression through repeat testing in the initial years of follow-up may provide a good compromise for detecting progression, while minimizing the burden on health care resources in clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Should patients with self-inflicted illness receive lower priority in access to healthcare resources? Mapping out the debate.

PubMed

Sharkey, Kerith; Gillam, Lynn

2010-11-01

The distribution of scarce healthcare resources is an increasingly important issue due to factors such as expensive 'high tech' medicine, longer life expectancies and the rising prevalence of chronic illness. Furthermore, in the current healthcare context lifestyle-related factors such as high blood pressure, tobacco use and obesity are believed to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. As such, this paper focuses on an ongoing debate in the academic literature regarding the role of responsibility for illness in healthcare resource allocation: should patients with self-caused illness receive lower priority in access to healthcare resources? This paper critically describes the lower priority debate's 12 key arguments and maps out their relationships. This analysis reveals that most arguments have been refuted and that the debate has stalled and remains unresolved. In conclusion, we suggest progression could be achieved by inviting multidisciplinary input from a range of stakeholders for the development of evidence-based critical evaluations of existing arguments and the development of novel arguments, including the outstanding rebuttals.

A Reliable TTP-Based Infrastructure with Low Sensor Resource Consumption for the Smart Home Multi-Platform

PubMed Central

Kang, Jungho; Kim, Mansik; Park, Jong Hyuk

2016-01-01

With the ICT technology making great progress in the smart home environment, the ubiquitous environment is rapidly emerging all over the world, but problems are also increasing proportionally to the rapid growth of the smart home market such as multiplatform heterogeneity and new security threats. In addition, the smart home sensors have so low computing resources that they cannot process complicated computation tasks, which is required to create a proper security environment. A service provider also faces overhead in processing data from a rapidly increasing number of sensors. This paper aimed to propose a scheme to build infrastructure in which communication entities can securely authenticate and design security channel with physically unclonable PUFs and the TTP that smart home communication entities can rely on. In addition, we analyze and evaluate the proposed scheme for security and performance and prove that it can build secure channels with low resources. Finally, we expect that the proposed scheme can be helpful for secure communication with low resources in future smart home multiplatforms. PMID:27399699

A Reliable TTP-Based Infrastructure with Low Sensor Resource Consumption for the Smart Home Multi-Platform.

PubMed

Kang, Jungho; Kim, Mansik; Park, Jong Hyuk

2016-07-05

With the ICT technology making great progress in the smart home environment, the ubiquitous environment is rapidly emerging all over the world, but problems are also increasing proportionally to the rapid growth of the smart home market such as multiplatform heterogeneity and new security threats. In addition, the smart home sensors have so low computing resources that they cannot process complicated computation tasks, which is required to create a proper security environment. A service provider also faces overhead in processing data from a rapidly increasing number of sensors. This paper aimed to propose a scheme to build infrastructure in which communication entities can securely authenticate and design security channel with physically unclonable PUFs and the TTP that smart home communication entities can rely on. In addition, we analyze and evaluate the proposed scheme for security and performance and prove that it can build secure channels with low resources. Finally, we expect that the proposed scheme can be helpful for secure communication with low resources in future smart home multiplatforms.

Tools, Techniques, and Training: Results of an E-Resources Troubleshooting Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rathmel, Angela; Mobley, Liisa; Pennington, Buddy; Chandler, Adam

2015-01-01

A primary role of any e-resources librarian or staff is troubleshooting electronic resources (e-resources). While much progress has been made in many areas of e-resources management (ERM) to understand the ERM lifecycle and to manage workflows, troubleshooting access remains a challenge. This collaborative study is the result of the well-received…

Project Final Report: Ubiquitous Computing and Monitoring System (UCoMS) for Discovery and Management of Energy Resources

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

Tzeng, Nian-Feng; White, Christopher D.; Moreman, Douglas

2012-07-14

The UCoMS research cluster has spearheaded three research areas since August 2004, including wireless and sensor networks, Grid computing, and petroleum applications. The primary goals of UCoMS research are three-fold: (1) creating new knowledge to push forward the technology forefronts on pertinent research on the computing and monitoring aspects of energy resource management, (2) developing and disseminating software codes and toolkits for the research community and the public, and (3) establishing system prototypes and testbeds for evaluating innovative techniques and methods. Substantial progress and diverse accomplishment have been made by research investigators in their respective areas of expertise cooperatively onmore » such topics as sensors and sensor networks, wireless communication and systems, computational Grids, particularly relevant to petroleum applications.« less

Evaluating the Role and Contribution of Innovation to Health and Wealth in the UK: A Review of Innovation, Health and Wealth: Phase 1 Final Report.

PubMed

Bienkowska-Gibbs, Teresa; Exley, Josephine; Saunders, Catherine L; Marjanovic, Sonja; Chataway, Joanna; MacLure, Calum; McDonald, Ruth; Ling, Tom

2016-06-20

The Department of Health's Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW) strategy aimed to introduce a more strategic approach to the spread of innovation across the NHS. This study represents the first phase of a three-year evaluation and aims to map progress towards the IHW strategy and its component actions. This evaluation used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods: document review, key informant interviews and stakeholder survey. This study also forms the basis for selecting case studies for phase two of the evaluation. Our findings from the interviews and survey suggest broad stakeholder support for the overarching ambitions of the IHW strategy. However, we found variable progress towards the overarching objectives of the eight IHW themes and an ambiguous relationship between many of the themes' objectives and their actions. It was difficult to assess progress on IHW's actions as commitment to the actions, implementation guidance and expected outcomes of the actions were not clearly articulated. The Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) were reported to be working well, which may be attributed to their clear structures of accountability and earmarked budgets. However, survey respondents and interviewees raised concerns that budgetary pressures may limit the impact of both AHSNs and the SBRI. The main challenges identified for ongoing action were the resources available for their implementation (e.g. Medtech Briefings), lack of awareness of the initiative (e.g. the NICE Implementation Collaborative) and the design of the actions (e.g. the Innovation Scorecard, web portal and High Impact Innovations).

International Cooperation in Environmental Management and Rational Use of Natural Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedulova, E. A.; Korchagina, I. V.; Vik, S. V.; Kalinina, O. I.; Martyanov, V. L.

2017-01-01

The progress in technologies is developing towards the unlimited growth of production and consumption, wasteful use of natural resources and biosphere. These problems require adequate response such as international cooperation and integration of the efforts of authorities, scientists, representatives of educational system. Such cooperation is important to ensure the transition to the sustainable, ecologically-oriented practices of natural resources rational use. This is impossible without establishing a new environmental management system based upon formation of ecological competence of all scientific and technological progress participants among which the higher school scholars must play a leading role.

Measles and Rubella Global Strategic Plan 2012-2020 midterm review report: Background and summary.

PubMed

Orenstein, Walter A; Cairns, Lisa; Hinman, Alan; Nkowane, Benjamin; Olivé, Jean-Marc; Reingold, Arthur L

2018-01-11

Measles, a vaccine-preventable illness, is one of the most infectious diseases known to man. In 2015, an estimated 134,200 measles deaths occurred globally. Rubella, also vaccine-preventable, is a concern because infection during pregnancy can result in congenital defects in the baby. More than 100,000 babies with congenital rubella syndrome were estimated to have been born globally in 2010. Eradication of both measles and rubella is considered to be feasible, beneficial, and more cost-effective than high-level control. All six World Health Organization (WHO) regions have measles elimination goals by 2020 and two have rubella elimination goals by that year. However, the World Health Assembly has not endorsed a global eradication goal for either disease. In 2012, the Measles and Rubella Initiative published a Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan, 2012-2020, referred to hereafter as the Plan, which aimed to achieve measles and rubella elimination in at least five WHO regions by end-2020 through the implementation of five core strategies, with progress evaluated against 2015 milestones. When, by end-2015, none of these milestones had been met, WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommended a mid-term review of the Plan to evaluate progress toward goals, assess the quality of strategy implementation, and formulate lessons learned. A five-member team reviewed documents and conducted interviews with stakeholders as the basis for the review's conclusions and recommendations. This team concluded that, although significant progress in measles elimination had been made, progress had slowed. It recommended that countries continue to work toward elimination goals with a focus on strengthening ongoing immunization systems. In addition, it concluded that the strategies articulated in the Plan were sound, however full implementation had been impeded by inadequate country ownership and global political will, reflected in inadequate resources. Detailed recommendations for each of the Plan's five strategies as well as the areas of polio transition, governance and resource mobilization are outlined. Copyright © 2017 World Health Organization. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Lifetime cost of everolimus vs axitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who failed prior sunitinib therapy in the US.

PubMed

Perrin, Allison; Sherman, Steven; Pal, Sumanta; Chua, Andrew; Gorritz, Magdaliz; Liu, Zhimei; Wang, Xufang; Culver, Kenneth; Casciano, Roman; Garrison, Louis P

2015-03-01

Everolimus and axitinib are approved in the US to treat patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after failure on sunitinib or sorafenib, and one prior systemic therapy (e.g., sunitinib), respectively. Two indirect comparisons performed to evaluate progression-free survival in patients treated with everolimus vs axitinib suggested similar efficacy between the two treatments. Therefore, this analysis compares the lifetime costs of these two therapies among sunitinib-refractory advanced RCC patients from a US payer perspective. A Markov model was developed to simulate a cohort of sunitinib-refractory advanced RCC patients and estimate the cost of treating patients with everolimus vs axitinib. The following health states were included: stable disease without adverse events (AEs), stable disease with AEs, disease progression (PD), and death. The model included the following resources: active treatments, post-progression treatments, adverse events, physician and nurse visits, scans and tests, and palliative care. Resource utilization inputs were derived from a US claims database analysis. Additionally, a 3% annual discount rate was applied to costs, and the robustness of the model results was tested by conducting sensitivity analyses, including those on dosing scheme and post-progression treatment costs. Base case results demonstrated that patients treated with everolimus cost an average of $12,985 (11%) less over their lifetimes than patients treated with axitinib. The primary difference in costs was related to active treatment, which was largely driven by axitinib's higher dose intensity. RESULTS remained consistent across sensitivity analyses for AE and PD treatment costs, as well as dose intensity and discount rates. The results suggest that everolimus likely leads to lower lifetime costs than axitinib for sunitinib-refractory advanced RCC patients in the US.

Developing an evaluation framework for clinical redesign programs: lessons learnt.

PubMed

Samaranayake, Premaratne; Dadich, Ann; Fitzgerald, Anneke; Zeitz, Kathryn

2016-09-19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present lessons learnt through the development of an evaluation framework for a clinical redesign programme - the aim of which was to improve the patient journey through improved discharge practices within an Australian public hospital. Design/methodology/approach The development of the evaluation framework involved three stages - namely, the analysis of secondary data relating to the discharge planning pathway; the analysis of primary data including field-notes and interview transcripts on hospital processes; and the triangulation of these data sets to devise the framework. The evaluation framework ensured that resource use, process management, patient satisfaction, and staff well-being and productivity were each connected with measures, targets, and the aim of clinical redesign programme. Findings The application of business process management and a balanced scorecard enabled a different way of framing the evaluation, ensuring measurable outcomes were connected to inputs and outputs. Lessons learnt include: first, the importance of mixed-methods research to devise the framework and evaluate the redesigned processes; second, the need for appropriate tools and resources to adequately capture change across the different domains of the redesign programme; and third, the value of developing and applying an evaluative framework progressively. Research limitations/implications The evaluation framework is limited by its retrospective application to a clinical process redesign programme. Originality/value This research supports benchmarking with national and international practices in relation to best practice healthcare redesign processes. Additionally, it provides a theoretical contribution on evaluating health services improvement and redesign initiatives.

Evaluation of the AHRQ Patient Safety Initiative: Synthesis of Findings

PubMed Central

Farley, Donna O; Damberg, Cheryl L

2009-01-01

Objective To present overall findings from the 4-year evaluation of the national patient safety initiative operated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Data Sources Interviews with AHRQ staff, grantees, and other patient safety stakeholders; published materials; and internal AHRQ documents. Study Design The evaluation was structured to address a system framework of five components involved in improving safety. The initiative's contributions to improving each system component were assessed qualitatively, comparing results from three separate analyses—AHRQ's achievement of its patient safety goals, our own assessment of the initiative's activities, and independent stakeholder ratings of AHRQ's contributions. Findings and Conclusions AHRQ has faced a daunting challenge for improving patient safety, given the complex problems of the U.S. health care system and the limited resources AHRQ has had to address them. The patient safety initiative achieved strongest progress for its contributions to knowledge of patient safety epidemiology and effective practices, where AHRQ has considerable experience, and to strengthening infrastructure to support adoption of safe practices. Progress was slower in establishing a national monitoring capability and dissemination of safe practices for adoption. AHRQ needs to expand efforts to apply new knowledge for stimulating use of safe practices in the field. PMID:21456115

Evaluation as institution: a contractarian argument for needs-based economic evaluation.

PubMed

Rogowski, Wolf H

2018-06-13

There is a gap between health economic evaluation methods and the value judgments of coverage decision makers, at least in Germany. Measuring preference satisfaction has been claimed to be inappropriate for allocating health care resources, e.g. because it disregards medical need. The existing methods oriented at medical need have been claimed to disregard non-consequentialist fairness concerns. The aim of this article is to propose a new, contractarian argument for justifying needs-based economic evaluation. It is based on consent rather than maximization of some impersonal unit of value to accommodate the fairness concerns. This conceptual paper draws upon contractarian ethics and constitution economics to show how economic evaluation can be viewed as an institution to overcome societal conflicts in the allocation of scarce health care resources. For this, the problem of allocating scarce health care resources in a society is reconstructed as a social dilemma. Both disadvantaged patients and affluent healthy individuals can be argued to share interests in a societal contract to provide technologies which ameliorate medical need, based on progressive funding. The use of needs-based economic evaluation methods for coverage determination can be interpreted as institutions for conflict resolution as far as they use consented criteria to ensure the social contract's sustainability and avoid implicit rationing or unaffordable contribution rates. This justifies the use of needs-based evaluation methods by Pareto-superiority and consent (rather than by some needs-based value function per se). The view of economic evaluation presented here may help account for fairness concerns in the further development of evaluation methods. This is because it directs the attention away from determining some unit of value to be maximized towards determining those persons who are most likely not to consent and meeting their concerns. Following this direction in methods development is likely to increase the acceptability of health economic evaluation by decision makers.

The Gene Therapy Resource Program: A Decade of Dedication to Translational Research by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

PubMed

Flotte, Terence R; Daniels, Eric; Benson, Janet; Bevett-Rose, Jeneé M; Cornetta, Kenneth; Diggins, Margaret; Johnston, Julie; Sepelak, Susan; van der Loo, Johannes C M; Wilson, James M; McDonald, Cheryl L

2017-12-01

Over a 10-year period, the Gene Therapy Resource Program (GTRP) of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has provided a set of core services to investigators to facilitate the clinical translation of gene therapy. These services have included a preclinical (research-grade) vector production core; current Good Manufacturing Practice clinical-grade vector cores for recombinant adeno-associated virus and lentivirus vectors; a pharmacology and toxicology core; and a coordinating center to manage program logistics and to provide regulatory and financial support to early-phase clinical trials. In addition, the GTRP has utilized a Steering Committee and a Scientific Review Board to guide overall progress and effectiveness and to evaluate individual proposals. These resources have been deployed to assist 82 investigators with 172 approved service proposals. These efforts have assisted in clinical trial implementation across a wide range of genetic, cardiac, pulmonary, and blood diseases. Program outcomes and potential future directions of the program are discussed.

Instructional Technologists at Public Schools: A Study of the Role and Effectiveness of Technology Resource Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moallem, Mahnaz; Micallef, Suzanne

Human resource positions that are becoming known as Technology Coordinator (for district-level personnel) and Technology Resource Teacher (for school-level personnel) have been created to help integrate technology into classroom instruction. This study assessed the progress and effectiveness of Technology Resource Teachers, or TRTs, as technical…

Challenges and Opportunities for the implementation of interventions to prevent and control CVD in low resource settings in Argentina

PubMed Central

Rubinstein, Adolfo; Irazola, Vilma E.; Poggio, Rosana; Gulayin, Pablo; Nejamis, Analía; Beratarrechea, Andrea

2015-01-01

In Argentina, Cardiovascular diseases are estimated to cause about 100,000 deaths and more than 250,000 coronary heart disease and stroke events annually, at a cost of more than one billion international dollars. Despite progress in the implementation of several programs to combat non-communicable diseases in Argentina over the last years, most health resources are still dedicated to infectious disease and maternal and child health. The Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, an independent academic institution affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires medical school, runs CESCAS (South American Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular Health), a center devoted to epidemiological, implementation and policy research. At CESCAS there are three ongoing randomized clinical trials focused on implementation science: 1) A Mobile health intervention to prevent progression of pre-hypertension in poor urban settings in Argentina, Guatemala and Peru; 2) A Comprehensive Approach for Hypertension Prevention and Control in low-resource settings in Argentina; and 3) An Educational Approach to Improve Physician Effectiveness in the Detection, Treatment and Control for patients with Hypercholesterolemia and high Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk in low-resource settings in Argentina. All these studies involve the design and implementation of complex interventions to change behaviors of providers and patients. The rationale of each of the three studies, the design of the interventions and the evaluation of processes and outcomes are described in this article together with the barriers and enabling factors associated with implementation research studies. There is a strong need in Argentina and the region at large to build the health research capacity and infrastructure necessary to undertake implementation studies to translate evidence from research findings into improvements in health policy and practice to address CVD and their risk factors. PMID:25754563

Progress in Public Health Emergency Preparedness—United States, 2001–2016

PubMed Central

Molinari, Noelle-Angelique M.; LeBlanc, Tanya T.; Vagi, Sara J.; Avchen, Rachel N.

2017-01-01

Objectives. To evaluate the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program’s progress toward meeting public health preparedness capability standards in state, local, and territorial health departments. Methods. All 62 PHEP awardees completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s self-administered PHEP Impact Assessment as part of program review measuring public health preparedness capability before September 11, 2001 (9/11), and in 2014. We collected additional self-reported capability self-assessments from 2016. We analyzed trends in congressional funding for public health preparedness from 2001 to 2016. Results. Before 9/11, most PHEP awardees reported limited preparedness capabilities, but considerable progress was reported by 2016. The number of jurisdictions reporting established capability functions within the countermeasures and mitigation domain had the largest increase, almost 200%, by 2014. However, more than 20% of jurisdictions still reported underdeveloped coordination between the health system and public health agencies in 2016. Challenges and barriers to building PHEP capabilities included lack of trained personnel, plans, and sustained resources. Conclusions. Considerable progress in public health preparedness capability was observed from before 9/11 to 2016. Support, sustainment, and advancement of public health preparedness capability is critical to ensure a strong public health infrastructure. PMID:28892440

Progress in Public Health Emergency Preparedness-United States, 2001-2016.

PubMed

Murthy, Bhavini Patel; Molinari, Noelle-Angelique M; LeBlanc, Tanya T; Vagi, Sara J; Avchen, Rachel N

2017-09-01

To evaluate the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program's progress toward meeting public health preparedness capability standards in state, local, and territorial health departments. All 62 PHEP awardees completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's self-administered PHEP Impact Assessment as part of program review measuring public health preparedness capability before September 11, 2001 (9/11), and in 2014. We collected additional self-reported capability self-assessments from 2016. We analyzed trends in congressional funding for public health preparedness from 2001 to 2016. Before 9/11, most PHEP awardees reported limited preparedness capabilities, but considerable progress was reported by 2016. The number of jurisdictions reporting established capability functions within the countermeasures and mitigation domain had the largest increase, almost 200%, by 2014. However, more than 20% of jurisdictions still reported underdeveloped coordination between the health system and public health agencies in 2016. Challenges and barriers to building PHEP capabilities included lack of trained personnel, plans, and sustained resources. Considerable progress in public health preparedness capability was observed from before 9/11 to 2016. Support, sustainment, and advancement of public health preparedness capability is critical to ensure a strong public health infrastructure.

The AMTEX Partnership{trademark}. Fourth quarter FY95 report

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

NONE

1995-09-01

The AMTEX Partnership{trademark} is a collaborative research and development program among the US Integrated Textile Industry, the Department of Energy (DOE), the national laboratories, other federal agencies and laboratories, and universities. The goal of AMTEX is to strengthen the competitiveness of this vital industry, thereby preserving and creating US jobs. The operations and program management of the AMTEX Partnership{trademark} is provided by the Program Office. This report is produced by the Program Office on a quarterly basis and provides information on the progress, operations, and project management of the partnership. Progress is reported on the following projects: computer-aided fabric evaluation;more » cotton biotechnology; demand activated manufacturing architecture; electronic embedded fingerprints; on-line process control for flexible fiber manufacturing; rapid cutting; sensors for agile manufacturing; and textile resource conservation.« less

Evaluating Educational Resources for Inclusion in the Dig Texas Instructional Blueprints for Earth & Space Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, B. E.; Bohls-Graham, E.; Martinez, A. O.; Ellins, K. K.; Riggs, E. M.; Serpa, L. F.; Stocks, E.; Fox, S.; Kent, M.

2014-12-01

Today's instruction in Earth's systems requires thoughtful selection of curricula, and in turn, high quality learning activities that address modern Earth science. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which are intended to guide K-12 science instruction, further demand a discriminating selection process. The DIG (Diversity & Innovation in Geoscience) Texas Instructional Blueprints attempt to fulfill this practice by compiling vetted educational resources freely available online into units that are the building blocks of the blueprints. Each blueprint is composed of 9 three-week teaching units and serves as a scope and sequence for teaching a one-year Earth science course. In the earliest stages of the project, teams explored the Internet for classroom-worthy resources, including laboratory investigations, videos, visualizations, and readings, and submitted the educational resources deemed suitable for the project into the project's online review tool. Each team member evaluated the educational resources chosen by fellow team members according to a set of predetermined criteria that had been incorporated into the review tool. Resources rated as very good or excellent by all team members were submitted to the project PIs for approval. At this stage, approved resources became candidates for inclusion in the blueprint units. Team members tagged approved resources with descriptors for the type of resource and instructional strategy, and aligned these to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Earth and Space Science and the Earth Science Literacy Principles. Each team then assembled and sequenced resources according to content strand, balancing the types of learning experiences within each unit. Once units were packaged, teams then considered how they addressed the NGSS and identified the relevant disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices. In addition to providing a brief overview of the project, this presentation will detail the intensive review process educators utilized to determine the viability of the resources included in the blueprints. A short summary of first-year implementation results will be shared, along with the second year now in progress.

Data Resources | Cancer Trends Progress Report

Cancer.gov

The Cancer Trends Progress Report, first issued in 2001, summarizes our nation's advances against cancer in relation to Healthy People targets set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services.

State of the States 2009: Renewable Energy Development and the Role of Policy

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

Doris, E.; McLaren, J.; Healey, V.

2009-10-01

As U.S. states increasingly focus on developing renewable energy resources, there is a need to track the progress of development, as well as the policies and support mechanisms being implemented to encourage this development. Beyond tracking, the evaluation of policy measures is necessary to determine their effectiveness, guide future efforts, and efficiently allocate resources. This report addresses each of these needs. It provides a detailed picture of the status of renewable energy development in each of the U.S. states using a variety of metrics and discusses the policies being used to encourage this development. The report then explores the contextmore » in which renewable energy development occurs by discussing the factors that can affect the uptake of power generation technologies. The analysis offers suggestions on how policies can be used to address these variables, which leads to tailored policy support that considers the specific circumstances within each state. The analysis presents results of several quantitative evaluation methods that have been designed to explore the link between policy implementation and actual development. Finally, the report discusses contextual factors, aside from policy, that affect renewable energy development. The report concludes with a summary of the main points from each chapter, discussion of next steps, and a list of resources.« less

Simulated Trauma and Resuscitation Team Training course-evolution of a multidisciplinary trauma crisis resource management simulation course.

PubMed

Gillman, Lawrence M; Brindley, Peter; Paton-Gay, John Damian; Engels, Paul T; Park, Jason; Vergis, Ashley; Widder, Sandy

2016-07-01

We previously reported on a pilot trauma multidisciplinary crisis resource course titled S.T.A.R.T.T. (Simulated Trauma and Resuscitative Team Training). Here, we study the course's evolution. Satisfaction was evaluated by postcourse survey. Trauma teams were evaluated using the Ottawa global rating scale and an Advanced Trauma Life Support primary survey checklist. Eleven "trauma teams," consisting of physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists, each completed 4 crisis simulations over 3 courses. Satisfaction remained high among participants with overall mean satisfaction being 4.39 on a 5-point Likert scale. As participants progressed through scenarios, improvements in global rating scale scores were seen between the 1st and 4th (29.8 vs 36.1 of 42, P = .022), 2nd and 3rd (28.2 vs 34.6, P = .017), and 2nd and 4th (28.2 vs 36.1, P = .003) scenarios. There were no differences in Advanced Trauma Life Support checklist with mean scores for each scenario ranging 11.3 to 13.2 of 17. The evolved Simulated Trauma and Resuscitative Team Training curriculum has maintained high participant satisfaction and is associated with improvement in team crisis resource management skills over the duration of the course. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The wave and tidal resource of Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neill, Simon; Vogler, Arne; Lewis, Matt; Goward-Brown, Alice

2017-04-01

As the marine renewable energy industry evolves, in parallel with an increase in the quantity of available data and improvements in validated numerical simulations, it is occasionally appropriate to re-assess the wave and tidal resource of a region. This is particularly true for Scotland - a leading nation that the international community monitors for developments in the marine renewable energy industry, and which has witnessed much progress in the sector over the last decade. With 7 leased wave and 17 leased tidal sites, Scotland is well poised to generate significant levels of electricity from its abundant natural marine resources. In this review of Scotland's wave and tidal resource, I present the theoretical and technical resource, and provide an overview of commercial progress. I also discuss issues that affect future development of the marine energy seascape in Scotland, applicable to other regions of the world, including the potential for developing lower energy sites, and grid connectivity.

Challenges in economic evaluation of new drugs: experience with rituximab in Hungary.

PubMed

Brodszky, Valentin; Orlewska, Ewa; Pentek, Martha; Karpati, Krisztian; Skoupa, Jana; Gulacsi, Laszlo

2010-01-01

Implementation of a new therapy into clinical practice is a complex process. Various countries have different requirements for information but most often focus on economic evaluation, which often plays a stronger role in healthcare decision making than does clinical evidence. To identify all potential challenges in economic evaluation, the case of a new biological drug, rituximab, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, has been taken as an example. We present methods and results of economic assessment, highlighting the specific issues that should be considered in countries with economic and health care conditions similar to those of Hungary. In principle, economic evaluation requires data on characteristics of target population, disease progression, treatment impact, preferences, resource utilization and unit prices. Treatment effect/relative risk reduction and clinical practice patterns (resource use) may be more generalizable, whereas prices and baseline risk need to be jurisdiction specific. In order to address issues of transferability, investments need to be made in the collection of epidemiological and demographic data, plus data on clinical practice patterns, resource use, costs and health state valuation. In Hungary this problem has been solved through conducting a well designed 255 patient cross-sectional study. The Hungarian example shows that there should be more investment in data collection for those parameters that are thought to differ most from place to place. Owing to the similarities between Central and Eastern Europe countries in health care systems, clinical practice patterns and economic indicators, they may be able to develop partnerships to develop relevant regional databases and registries.

Policy of Labor Management and Health Education: a ProgeSUS experience.

PubMed

Magnago, Carinne; Pierantoni, Celia Regina; França, Tania; Vieira, Swheelen de Paula; Miranda, Rômulo Gonçalves de; Nascimento, Dayane Nunes

2017-05-01

To evaluate the stage of labor management and education policies in municipal and state health secretariats (SMS and SES, respectively), having as reference the adherence to a qualification and structuring program of work management and education in the Unified Health System. A descriptive and quantitative study, developed with 519 representatives from the Human Resources (HR) area of SMS and SES, through a survey composed of 56 questions, via a computer-assisted telephone interview in 2012. Responses were processed in a computerized database and the data treated by descriptive statistics. Changes in professional qualification, the establishment of job and salary plans and negotiation processes were identified; on the other hand, there was no progress related to the financial and budgetary autonomy of the area of work management and health education. It is observed progress in the incorporation of innovations in the management in SES and SMS from the process of training of managers and financial induction. It is necessary to monitor and periodically evaluate the operationalization of labor and education policies aimed at strengthening them, correcting directions and implementing innovative actions.

Human Resource Management. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Cynthia D.; And Others

This book offers students, practicing managers, and human resource professionals a comprehensive, current, research-based introduction to the human resource management (HRM) function. It is organized in eight sections, logically following the progression of individuals into, through, and out of the organization. Part 1, overview and introduction,…

Children and adolescents' internal models of food-sharing behavior include complex evaluations of contextual factors.

PubMed

Markovits, Henry; Benenson, Joyce F; Kramer, Donald L

2003-01-01

This study examined internal representations of food sharing in 589 children and adolescents (8-19 years of age). Questionnaires, depicting a variety of contexts in which one person was asked to share a resource with another, were used to examine participants' expectations of food-sharing behavior. Factors that were varied included the value of the resource, the relation between the two depicted actors, the quality of this relation, and gender. Results indicate that internal models of food-sharing behavior showed systematic patterns of variation, demonstrating that individuals have complex contextually based internal models at all ages, including the youngest. Examination of developmental changes in use of individual patterns is consistent with the idea that internal models reflect age-specific patterns of interactions while undergoing a process of progressive consolidation.

A thirst for advancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsiao, Benjamin S.; Chigome, Samuel; Torto, Nelson

2018-03-01

The resource-rich continent of Africa is showing signs of significant progress in materials science research and is harnessing a plethora of human and material resources to tackle a wide range of challenges.

Renewable Substitutability Index: Maximizing Renewable Resource Use in Buildings

EPA Science Inventory

In order to achieve a material and energy balance in buildings that is sustainable in the long run, there is an urgent need to assess the renewable and non-renewable resources used in the manufacturing process and to progressively replace non-renewable resources with renewables. ...

Methods and Strategies: Making the Climate Connection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Bruce

2010-01-01

This article presents classroom resources for teaching both weather and climate along with background resources for teachers who want to beef up their own knowledge in the subjects. In addition, the author proposes learning progressions that teachers can use to guide their instruction. (Contains 13 online resources.)

Performance Assessment Links in Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quellmalz, Edys; Schank, Patricia; Hinojosa, Thomas; Padilla, Christine

1999-01-01

Describes work in progress at SRI International in the Performance Assessment Links in Science (PALS) project, which is developing an online, standards-based, interactive resource bank of science performance assessments. Coupled with the development of the resource bank is a program of research on effective use of these resources. (SLD)

dV/dt - Accelerating the Rate of Progress towards Extreme Scale Collaborative Science

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

Livny, Miron

This report introduces publications that report the results of a project that aimed to design a computational framework that enables computational experimentation at scale while supporting the model of “submit locally, compute globally”. The project focuses on estimating application resource needs, finding the appropriate computing resources, acquiring those resources,deploying the applications and data on the resources, managing applications and resources during run.

The Concept of Ecologically Oriented Progress and Natural Resource Preservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasanov, M. A.; Kolotov, K. A.; Demidenko, K. A.; Podgornaya, E. A.; Kadnikova, O. V.

2017-01-01

The most important issue of scientific and technological progress is considering the environment challenges of industrial development. It means that the progress must be ecologically oriented and environmentally friendly. The most adequate concept for the approach to the issue of “man - society - nature” relations is the ontology of the noosphere - the idea of a common space for human beings and nature. It presents an ideal example of an optimistic attitude towards the coordination between accelerating the scientific and technological development and natural resource saving. However, to maintain the balance between human needs and environmental processes determined by this concept, it is essential to include the lean production training into technological development of society.

Progressive-Era Resources on the World Wide Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howenstein, Amanda

1999-01-01

Provides a list of Progressive-era websites with the address and a detailed description of each of the websites. Includes topics such as the womens suffrage movement, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the Prohibition, labor-management conflicts, the Hull House, the Chicago fire, Emma Goldman, Progressive-era entertainment, and the Worlds Fair.…

Simulating nailfold capillaroscopy sequences to evaluate algorithms for blood flow estimation.

PubMed

Tresadern, P A; Berks, M; Murray, A K; Dinsdale, G; Taylor, C J; Herrick, A L

2013-01-01

The effects of systemic sclerosis (SSc)--a disease of the connective tissue causing blood flow problems that can require amputation of the fingers--can be observed indirectly by imaging the capillaries at the nailfold, though taking quantitative measures such as blood flow to diagnose the disease and monitor its progression is not easy. Optical flow algorithms may be applied, though without ground truth (i.e. known blood flow) it is hard to evaluate their accuracy. We propose an image model that generates realistic capillaroscopy videos with known flow, and use this model to quantify the effect of flow rate, cell density and contrast (among others) on estimated flow. This resource will help researchers to design systems that are robust under real-world conditions.

Open Educational Resources: Staff Attitudes and Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rolfe, Vivien

2012-01-01

Attitudes are changing in education globally to promote the open sharing of educational courses and resources. The aim of this study was to explore staff awareness and attitudes towards "open educational resources" (OER) as a benchmark for monitoring future progress. Faculty staff (n = 6) were invited to participate in semi-structured…

Toward Nucleating the Concept of the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF): Perspective from the Principal Actors.

PubMed

Coats, Erik R; Wilson, Patrick I

2017-04-18

Wastewater resource recovery has been advocated for decades; necessary structural pathways were long-ago articulated, and established and emerging technologies exist. Nevertheless, broad wastewater valorization remains elusive. In considering implementation barriers, the argument is made that decision-makers focus on avoiding permit violations and negative publicity by embracing a conservative/safe approach-seemingly ignoring research on economic/environmental benefits. Conversely positing that economics is a primary barrier, we investigated, characterized, and described nontechnical socio-political barriers to realizing wastewater resource recovery. Principal actors in the Pacific NW region of the U.S. (representing a progressive populace facing stringent water quality regulations) were interviewed. Results revealed that economics were, indeed, the primary barrier to implementation/expansion of the WRRF concept. Consistent throughout interviews was a prevalent sense that the "cost of doing something (different)" was a principal consideration in resource recovery actions/policies. Moreover, "economics drives decisions," and "95% the bottom line is money. Show return on investment, it will get people's attention." Who pays was also a concern: "Government isn't going to pay. The states and Federal government won't give any grants, and we can't raise rates." Applying business case evaluations was seen as a pathway to actualizing resource recovery. Most encouragingly, the consensus was that resource recovery is a necessary future paradigm, and that real barriers are surmountable.

Geological Survey research 1981

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1982-01-01

This U.S. Geological Survey activities report includes a summary of 1981 fiscal year scientific and economic results accompanied by a list of geologic, hydrologic, and cartographic investigations in progress. The summary of results includes: (1) Mineral, (2) Water resources, (3) Engineering geology and hydrology, (4) Regional geology, (5) Principles and processes, (6) Laboratory and field methods, (7) Topographic surveys and mapping, (8) Management of resources on public lands, (9) Land information and analysis, and (10) Investigations in other countries. Also included are lists of investigations in progress.

The USGS national geothermal resource assessment: An update

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, C.F.; Reed, M.J.; Galanis, S.P.; DeAngelo, J.

2007-01-01

The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) is working with the Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Program and other geothermal organizations on a three-year effort to produce an updated assessment of available geothermal resources. The new assessment will introduce significant changes in the models for geothermal energy recovery factors, estimates of reservoir volumes, and limits to temperatures and depths for electric power production. It will also include the potential impact of evolving Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology. An important focus in the assessment project is on the development of geothermal resource models consistent with the production histories and observed characteristics of exploited geothermal fields. New models for the recovery of heat from heterogeneous, fractured reservoirs provide a physically realistic basis for evaluating the production potential of both natural geothermal reservoirs and reservoirs that may be created through the application of EGS technology. Project investigators have also made substantial progress studying geothermal systems and the factors responsible for their formation through studies in the Great Basin-Modoc Plateau region, Coso, Long Valley, the Imperial Valley and central Alaska, Project personnel are also entering the supporting data and resulting analyses into geospatial databases that will be produced as part of the resource assessment.

Exclusion-Based Capture and Enumeration of CD4+ T Cells from Whole Blood for Low-Resource Settings.

PubMed

Howard, Alexander L; Pezzi, Hannah M; Beebe, David J; Berry, Scott M

2014-06-01

In developing countries, demand exists for a cost-effective method to evaluate human immunodeficiency virus patients' CD4(+) T-helper cell count. The TH (CD4) cell count is the current marker used to identify when an HIV patient has progressed to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which results when the immune system can no longer prevent certain opportunistic infections. A system to perform TH count that obviates the use of costly flow cytometry will enable physicians to more closely follow patients' disease progression and response to therapy in areas where such advanced equipment is unavailable. Our system of two serially-operated immiscible phase exclusion-based cell isolations coupled with a rapid fluorescent readout enables exclusion-based isolation and accurate counting of T-helper cells at lower cost and from a smaller volume of blood than previous methods. TH cell isolation via immiscible filtration assisted by surface tension (IFAST) compares well against the established Dynal T4 Quant Kit and is sensitive at CD4 counts representative of immunocompromised patients (less than 200 TH cells per microliter of blood). Our technique retains use of open, simple-to-operate devices that enable IFAST as a high-throughput, automatable sample preparation method, improving throughput over previous low-resource methods. © 2013 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Making sense of autism: Progressive engagement with science among parents of young, recently diagnosed autistic children.

PubMed

Feinstein, Noah Weeth

2014-07-01

This exploratory study examines the significance of science to parents whose children were recently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. It asks: (I) In what manner did science emerge in parents' concerns and resources as they attempted to understand and advocate for their children? (2) Did some parents engage with science in a qualitatively deeper or more intense manner? Using longitudinal data from interviews and a novel data collection strategy called engagement mapping, it shows that parents asked questions and used resources that were strongly associated with science, but these were vastly outnumbered by "near-science" concerns and resources that mingled meanings from science and daily life. Several parents in the study wove together concerns and resources in an iterative pattern referred to here as progressive engagement with science.

Resource Prospector Mission Animation (June 2018)

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-30

Expanding human presence beyond low-Earth orbit will require the maximum possible use of local materials, so-called in-situ resources (ISRU). The Moon presents a unique destination to conduct robotic investigations that advance ISRU capabilities, as well as providing significant exploration and science value. This video animation shows one mission concept under study by NASA called Resource Prospector (RP), an ISRU prospecting and technology demonstration mission. RP would scan the surface and sub-surface terrain, and demonstrate extraction of hydrogen and oxygen from lunar regolith to validate one possible ISRU approach. As NASA plans a series of progressive robotic missions to the lunar surface, the agency is considering a variety of approaches to evolve progressively larger landers leading to an eventual human lander capability. Part of this expanded lunar campaign includes early flight of select instruments from Resource Prospector to the Moon.

Human resource development for a community-based health extension program: a case study from Ethiopia.

PubMed

Teklehaimanot, Hailay D; Teklehaimanot, Awash

2013-08-20

Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries most affected by high disease burden, aggravated by a shortage and imbalance of human resources, geographical distance, and socioeconomic factors. In 2004, the government introduced the Health Extension Program (HEP), a primary care delivery strategy, to address the challenges and achieve the World Health Organization Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within a context of limited resources. The health system was reformed to create a platform for integration and institutionalization of the HEP with appropriate human capacity, infrastructure, and management structures. Human resources were developed through training of female health workers recruited from their prospective villages, designed to limit the high staff turnover and address gender, social and cultural factors in order to provide services acceptable to each community. The service delivery modalities include household, community and health facility care. Thus, the most basic health post infrastructure, designed to rapidly and cost-effectively scale up HEP, was built in each village. In line with the country's decentralized management system, the HEP service delivery is under the jurisdiction of the district authorities. The nationwide implementation of HEP progressed in line with its target goals. In all, 40 training institutions were established, and over 30,000 Health Extension Workers have been trained and deployed to approximately 15,000 villages. The potential health service coverage reached 92.1% in 2011, up from 64% in 2004. While most health indicators have improved, performance in skilled delivery and postnatal care has not been satisfactory. While HEP is considered the most important institutional framework for achieving the health MDGs in Ethiopia, quality of service, utilization rate, access and referral linkage to emergency obstetric care, management, and evaluation of the program are the key challenges that need immediate attention. This article describes the strategies, human resource developments, service delivery modalities, progress in service coverage, and the challenges in the implementation of the HEP. The Ethiopian approach of revitalization of primary care through innovative, locally appropriate and acceptable strategies will provide important lessons to other poorly resourced countries. It is hoped that the approaches and strategies described in this paper will aid in that process.

The CWF pipeline system from Shen mu to the Yellow Sea

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

Ercolani, D.

1993-12-31

A feasibility study on the applicability of coal-water fuel (CWF) technology in the People`s Republic of China (PRC) is in progress. This study, awarded to Snamprogetti by the International Centre for Scientific Culture (World Laboratory) of Geneva, Switzerland, is performed on behalf of Chinese Organizations led by the Ministry of Energy Resources and the Academy of Sciences of the People`s Republic of China. Slurry pipelines appear to be a solution for solving the logistic problems created by a progressively increasing coal consumption and a limited availability of conventional transport infrastructures in the PRC. Within this framework, CWF pipelines are themore » most innovative technological option in consideration of the various advantages the technology offers with respect to conventional slurry pipelines. The PRC CWF pipeline system study evaluates two alternative transport streams, but originating from the same slurry production plant, located at Shachuanguo, about 100 km from Sheng Mu.« less

Predictors of high healthcare resource utilization and liver disease progression among patients with chronic hepatitis C.

PubMed

LaMori, Joyce; Tandon, Neeta; Laliberté, François; Germain, Guillaume; Pilon, Dominic; Lefebvre, Patrick; Prabhakar, Avinash

2016-01-01

Since hepatitis C virus therapy is typically prioritized for patients with more advanced disease, predicting which patients will progress could help direct scarce resources to those likely to benefit most. This study aims to identify demographics and clinical characteristics associated with high healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and liver disease progression among CHC patients. Using health insurance claims (January 2001-March 2013), adult patients with ≥2 CHC claims (ICD-9-CM: 070.44 or 070.54), and ≥6 months of continuous insurance coverage before and ≥36 months after the first CHC diagnosis were included. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus were excluded. Generalized estimating equations were used to identify the demographic and clinical characteristics of being in the 20% of patients with the highest HRU. Factors predicting liver disease progression were also identified. In the study population (n = 4898), liver disease severity and both CHC- and non-CHC-related comorbidities and conditions were strong predictors of high healthcare costs, with odds ratios (ORs; 95% confidence interval [CI]) for ≥2 CHC-related and ≥2 non-CHC-related comorbidities/conditions of 2.78 (2.48-3.12) and 2.19 (1.76-2.72), respectively. CHC- and non-CHC-related comorbidities and conditions were also strong predictors of liver disease progression with ORs (95% CI) for ≥2 CHC-related and ≥2 non-CHC-related comorbidities and conditions of 2.18 (1.83-2.60) and 1.50 (1.14-1.97), respectively. Potential inaccuracies in claims data, information or classification bias, and findings based on a privately insured population. This study suggests that CHC patients with high healthcare resource utilization have a high level of comorbidity at baseline and also that non-CHC comorbidities and conditions are strong predictors of high HRU. Non-cirrhotic CHC patients with one or more comorbidities are at high risk of progressing to cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease.

An Optimal Mobile Service for Telecare Data Synchronization using a Role-based Access Control Model and Mobile Peer-to-Peer Technology.

PubMed

Ke, Chih-Kun; Lin, Zheng-Hua

2015-09-01

The progress of information and communication technologies (ICT) has promoted the development of healthcare which has enabled the exchange of resources and services between organizations. Organizations want to integrate mobile devices into their hospital information systems (HIS) due to the convenience to employees who are then able to perform specific healthcare processes from any location. The collection and merage of healthcare data from discrete mobile devices are worth exploring possible ways for further use, especially in remote districts without public data network (PDN) to connect the HIS. In this study, we propose an optimal mobile service which automatically synchronizes the telecare file resources among discrete mobile devices. The proposed service enforces some technical methods. The role-based access control model defines the telecare file resources accessing mechanism; the symmetric data encryption method protects telecare file resources transmitted over a mobile peer-to-peer network. The multi-criteria decision analysis method, ELECTRE (Elimination Et Choice Translating Reality), evaluates multiple criteria of the candidates' mobile devices to determine a ranking order. This optimizes the synchronization of telecare file resources among discrete mobile devices. A prototype system is implemented to examine the proposed mobile service. The results of the experiment show that the proposed mobile service can automatically and effectively synchronize telecare file resources among discrete mobile devices. The contribution of this experiment is to provide an optimal mobile service that enhances the security of telecare file resource synchronization and strengthens an organization's mobility.

48 CFR 32.503-5 - Administration of progress payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... considered desirable by the ACO to determine the validity of progress payments already made and expected to... resources to complete the contract; and (4) There is reason to doubt the adequacy and reliability of the...

Progression in Complexity: Contextualizing Sustainable Marine Resources Management in a 10th Grade Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bravo-Torija, Beatriz; Jimenez-Aleixandre, Maria-Pilar

2012-01-01

Sustainable management of marine resources raises great challenges. Working with this socio-scientific issue in the classroom requires students to apply complex models about energy flow and trophic pyramids in order to understand that food chains represent transfer of energy, to construct meanings for sustainable resources management through…

Target, Act, Graph (TAG): Teachers Empowering Classroom Resource Personnel in Monitoring Student Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rizzi, Gleides A. L.

2016-01-01

This article provides teachers in rural settings with suggestions on how to engage classroom resource personnel (i.e., volunteers, instructional assistants) in monitoring students' achievement. The target, act, and graph (TAG) strategy offers rural special educators ways to empower classroom resource persons through training and use of the TAG…

Drug Discovery Algorithm for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

PubMed Central

Grogl, Max; Hickman, Mark; Ellis, William; Hudson, Thomas; Lazo, John S.; Sharlow, Elizabeth R.; Johnson, Jacob; Berman, Jonathan; Sciotti, Richard J.

2013-01-01

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is clinically widespread but lacks treatments that are effective and well tolerated. Because all present drugs have been grandfathered into clinical use, there are no examples of a pre-clinical product evaluation scheme that lead to new candidates for formal development. To provide oral agents for development targeting cutaneous leishmaniasis, we have implemented a discovery scheme that incorporates in vitro and in vivo testing of efficacy, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics/metabolism. Particular emphasis is placed on in vivo testing, progression from higher-throughput models to those with most clinical relevance, and efficient use of resources. PMID:23390221

Fragment-based hit identification: thinking in 3D.

PubMed

Morley, Andrew D; Pugliese, Angelo; Birchall, Kristian; Bower, Justin; Brennan, Paul; Brown, Nathan; Chapman, Tim; Drysdale, Martin; Gilbert, Ian H; Hoelder, Swen; Jordan, Allan; Ley, Steven V; Merritt, Andy; Miller, David; Swarbrick, Martin E; Wyatt, Paul G

2013-12-01

The identification of high-quality hits during the early phases of drug discovery is essential if projects are to have a realistic chance of progressing into clinical development and delivering marketed drugs. As the pharmaceutical industry goes through unprecedented change, there are increasing opportunities to collaborate via pre-competitive networks to marshal multifunctional resources and knowledge to drive impactful, innovative science. The 3D Fragment Consortium is developing fragment-screening libraries with enhanced 3D characteristics and evaluating their effect on the quality of fragment-based hit identification (FBHI) projects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cornell University remote sensing program. [selected research projects in land and water resource management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liang, T.; Belcher, D. J.; Mcnair, A. J.

1974-01-01

The major activities of the program staff from December 1, 1973 to May 31, 1974 are reported and include: (1) communication and instruction; (2) data and facilities; (3) research completed; (4) research in progress; (5) selected correspondence; (6) grant sponsored travel; and (7) seminars and newsletters. Detailed information and maps are given for the following selected projects: (1) ERTS mapping of waterways in the Tug Hill region of New York State; (2) photo-archeological investigation of Great Gully, New York; and (3) evaluation of selected highway impacts using aerial photography.

Interdisciplinary and participatory approaches: the key to effective groundwater management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barthel, Roland; Foster, Stephen; Villholth, Karen G.

2017-11-01

The challenges of a changing world, which are progressively threatening sustainable use of groundwater resources, can only be rationally and effectively addressed through close collaboration between experts and practitioners from different disciplines. Furthermore, science and management need to build on stakeholder opinions and processes in order to generate useful knowledge and positive outcomes in terms of sustainable and equitable groundwater management. This essay provides a discussion of the status of and vision for participatory and inter-disciplinary approaches to groundwater evaluation and management as well as a conceptual framework and relevant research questions that will facilitate such approaches.

A study of Minnesota land and water resources using remote sensing, volume 13

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

Progress in the use of LANDSAT data to classify wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River Valley and efforts to evaluate stress in corn and soybean crops are described. Satellite remote sensing data was used to measure particle concentrations in Lake Superior and several different kinds of remote sensing data were synergistically combined in order to identify near surface bedrock in Minnesota. Data analysis techniques which separate those activities requiring extensive computing form those involving a great deal of user interaction were developed to allow the latter to be done in the user's office or in the field.

Multipurpose Wetlands Phase II/III: final design and ongoing research investigations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Babbitt, Bruce; Beard, Daniel P.; Hancock, Lawrence F.

1994-01-01

The Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), and the National Biological Survey (NBS), in consultation with other governmental agencies, the academic community, and environmental groups, are involved in a cooperative wetlands research and demonstration effort. This report reflects progress through the first 3 years of a 5-year program. The goal of the Multipurpose Wetlands Research and Demonstration Project is to evaluate and expand the use of reclaimed water and contaminated ground water through the incorporation of multipurpose constructed wetlands into EMWD's total water resources management program. The focus of the wetlands is the development of design, construction, and operation criteria that will provide a cost-effective and innovative alternative for managing water resources and provide other public benefits in arid areas. The program also recognizes the fact that naturally-occurring wetlands, both coastal and inland, have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

Wildlife habitat management on the northern prairie landscape

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Douglas H.; Haseltine, Susan D.; Cowardin, Lewis M.

1994-01-01

The northern prairie landscape has changed dramatically within the past century as a result of settlement by Europeans. Natural ecosystems have been disrupted and wildlife populations greatly altered. Natural resource agencies control only limited areas within the landscape, which they cannot manage independently of privately owned lands. Wildlife managers need first to set quantifiable objectives, based on the survival, reproduction, and distribution of wildlife. Second, they need to build public support and partnerships for meeting those objectives. Finally, they need to evaluate progress not only with respect to attitudes of the public and partners but, more importantly, of the wildlife response. This paper describes some useful tools for managing information at all phases of this process. We follow by discussing management options at a landscape level. Examples are given that involve agency lands as well as private lands, managed for biological resources and diversity as well as economic sustainability.

Library management in the tight budget seventies. Problems, challenges, and opportunities.

PubMed

White, H S

1977-01-01

This paper examines changes in the management of university, special, and medical libraries brought about by the budget curtailments that followed the more affluent funding period of the mid-1960s. Based on a study conducted for the National Science Foundation by the Indiana University Graduate Library School, this paper deals with misconceptions that have arisen in the relationship between publishers and librarians, and differentiates between the priority perceptions of academic and of special librarians in the allocation of progressively scarcer resources. It concludes that libraries must make strong efforts to reduce the growing erosion of materials acquisitions budgets because of growing labor costs as a percentage of all library expenditures; that they must make a working reality of the resource-sharing mechanisms established through consortia and networks; and that they must use advanced evaluative techniques in the determination of which services and programs to implement, expand, and retain, and which to curtail and abandon.

Integrating resource, social, and managerial indicators of quality into carrying capacity decision-making

USGS Publications Warehouse

Newman, P.; Marion, J.; Cahill, K.

2001-01-01

In park and wilderness management, integrating social and resource indicators is essential to meet park mandates that require the protection of both experiential and resource conditions. This paper will address the challenges we face in integrating social and resource data and outline a study in progress in Yosemite National Park. This study will develop and apply a management model that integrates resource, social and managerial indicators of quality into carrying capacity decisionmaking.

Evaluating barnyard Best Management Practices in Wisconsin using upstream-downstream monitoring

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuntebeck, Todd D.

1995-01-01

The Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program was created in 1978 by the Wisconsin Legislature. The goal of the program is to improve and protect the water quality of lakes, streams, wetlands, and ground water within selected priority watersheds by controlling sources of nonpoint pollution. For each selected watershed, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources drafts a management plan that guides the implementation of pollution-control strategies known as Best Management Practices (BMP's). This plan summarizes resource and land-use inventories, describes the results of pollution-source modeling, and suggests pollution reduction goals. The U.S. Geological Survey, through a cooperative effort with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is monitoring water-quality improvements that result from the implementation of BMP's. The data collected are then compared to the watershed plans to assess progress and determine whether goals are being realized. This fact sheet describes the data-collection efforts, preliminary results, and planned data-analysis techniques of monitoring projects for pre-BMP conditions at two barnyards, one each on Otter Creek and Halfway Prairie Creek.

The need for sustained and integrated high-resolution mapping of dynamic coastal environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stockdon, Hilary F.; Lillycrop, Jeff W.; Howd, Peter A.; Wozencraft, Jennifer M.

2007-01-01

The evolution of the United States' coastal zone response to both human activities and natural processes is dynamic. Coastal resource and population protection requires understanding, in detail, the processes needed for change as well as the physical setting. Sustained coastal area mapping allows change to be documented and baseline conditions to be established, as well as future behavior to be predicted in conjunction with physical process models. Hyperspectral imagers and airborne lidars, as well as other recent mapping technology advances, allow rapid national scale land use information and high-resolution elevation data collection. Coastal hazard risk evaluation has critical dependence on these rich data sets. A fundamental storm surge model parameter in predicting flooding location, for example, is coastal elevation data, and a foundation in identifying the most vulnerable populations and resources is land use maps. A wealth of information for physical change process study, coastal resource and community management and protection, and coastal area hazard vulnerability determination, is available in a comprehensive national coastal mapping plan designed to take advantage of recent mapping technology progress and data distribution, management, and collection.

Progress and challenges to the global waste management system.

PubMed

Singh, Jagdeep; Laurenti, Rafael; Sinha, Rajib; Frostell, Björn

2014-09-01

Rapid economic growth, urbanization and increasing population have caused (materially intensive) resource consumption to increase, and consequently the release of large amounts of waste to the environment. From a global perspective, current waste and resource management lacks a holistic approach covering the whole chain of product design, raw material extraction, production, consumption, recycling and waste management. In this article, progress and different sustainability challenges facing the global waste management system are presented and discussed. The study leads to the conclusion that the current, rather isolated efforts, in different systems for waste management, waste reduction and resource management are indeed not sufficient in a long term sustainability perspective. In the future, to manage resources and wastes sustainably, waste management requires a more systems-oriented approach that addresses the root causes for the problems. A specific issue to address is the development of improved feedback information (statistics) on how waste generation is linked to consumption. © The Author(s) 2014.

Semantic biomedical resource discovery: a Natural Language Processing framework.

PubMed

Sfakianaki, Pepi; Koumakis, Lefteris; Sfakianakis, Stelios; Iatraki, Galatia; Zacharioudakis, Giorgos; Graf, Norbert; Marias, Kostas; Tsiknakis, Manolis

2015-09-30

A plethora of publicly available biomedical resources do currently exist and are constantly increasing at a fast rate. In parallel, specialized repositories are been developed, indexing numerous clinical and biomedical tools. The main drawback of such repositories is the difficulty in locating appropriate resources for a clinical or biomedical decision task, especially for non-Information Technology expert users. In parallel, although NLP research in the clinical domain has been active since the 1960s, progress in the development of NLP applications has been slow and lags behind progress in the general NLP domain. The aim of the present study is to investigate the use of semantics for biomedical resources annotation with domain specific ontologies and exploit Natural Language Processing methods in empowering the non-Information Technology expert users to efficiently search for biomedical resources using natural language. A Natural Language Processing engine which can "translate" free text into targeted queries, automatically transforming a clinical research question into a request description that contains only terms of ontologies, has been implemented. The implementation is based on information extraction techniques for text in natural language, guided by integrated ontologies. Furthermore, knowledge from robust text mining methods has been incorporated to map descriptions into suitable domain ontologies in order to ensure that the biomedical resources descriptions are domain oriented and enhance the accuracy of services discovery. The framework is freely available as a web application at ( http://calchas.ics.forth.gr/ ). For our experiments, a range of clinical questions were established based on descriptions of clinical trials from the ClinicalTrials.gov registry as well as recommendations from clinicians. Domain experts manually identified the available tools in a tools repository which are suitable for addressing the clinical questions at hand, either individually or as a set of tools forming a computational pipeline. The results were compared with those obtained from an automated discovery of candidate biomedical tools. For the evaluation of the results, precision and recall measurements were used. Our results indicate that the proposed framework has a high precision and low recall, implying that the system returns essentially more relevant results than irrelevant. There are adequate biomedical ontologies already available, sufficiency of existing NLP tools and quality of biomedical annotation systems for the implementation of a biomedical resources discovery framework, based on the semantic annotation of resources and the use on NLP techniques. The results of the present study demonstrate the clinical utility of the application of the proposed framework which aims to bridge the gap between clinical question in natural language and efficient dynamic biomedical resources discovery.

Foothill Transit Battery Electric Bus Demonstration Results: Second Report

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

Eudy, Leslie; Jeffers, Matthew

This report summarizes results of a battery electric bus (BEB) evaluation at Foothill Transit, located in the San Gabriel and Pomona Valley region of Los Angeles County, California. Foothill Transit is collaborating with the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory to evaluate its fleet of Proterra BEBs in revenue service. The focus of this evaluation is to compare performance of the BEBs to that of conventional technology and to track progress over time toward meeting performance targets. This project has also provided an opportunity for DOE to conduct a detailed evaluationmore » of the BEBs and charging infrastructure. This is the second report summarizing the results of the BEB demonstration at Foothill Transit and it provides data on the buses from August 2015 through December 2016. Data are provided on a selection of compressed natural gas buses as a baseline comparison.« less

Real Income, Poverty, Resources. Rural Development, Poverty, and Natural Resources Working Paper Series, Part III.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoch, Irving; And Others

This paper reports progress on the development of improved measures of income and poverty by accounting for differences in living costs between regions, and on the tracing of relationships between natural resources and income; a reviewer's comments conclude the contents of this workshop collection. The overview describes how a measure of income…

Simulating Nailfold Capillaroscopy Sequences to Evaluate Algorithms for Blood Flow Estimation

PubMed Central

Tresadern, P. A.; Berks, M.; Murray, A. K.; Dinsdale, G.; Taylor, C. J.; Herrick, A. L.

2016-01-01

The effects of systemic sclerosis (SSc) – a disease of the connective tissue causing blood flow problems that can require amputation of the fingers – can be observed indirectly by imaging the capillaries at the nailfold, though taking quantitative measures such as blood flow to diagnose the disease and monitor its progression is not easy. Optical flow algorithms may be applied, though without ground truth (i.e. known blood flow) it is hard to evaluate their accuracy. We propose an image model that generates realistic capillaroscopy videos with known flow, and use this model to quantify the effect of flow rate, cell density and contrast (among others) on estimated flow. This resource will help researchers to design systems that are robust under real-world conditions. PMID:24110268

What does a Performance Measurement System Tell Us about the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program?

PubMed Central

Townsend, Julie S.; Moore, Angela R.; Mulder, Tiffani N.; Boyd, Mary

2015-01-01

Context The National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) performance measurement system seeks to understand both the processes that funded programs undertake with their respective coalitions to implement the objectives of their cancer plans and outcomes of those efforts. Objective To identify areas of achievement and technical assistance needs of NCCCP awardees. Design Program performance was assessed through surveys completed by program directors on performance indicators in 2009 and 2010 and queries from a web-based management information system in 2011 and 2012. Setting Programs funded by CDC’s NCCCP. Participants 69 programs. Main Outcome Measure(s) The key performance measures assessed were: inclusion of diverse partners and key sectors in cancer coalitions; partners’ involvement in activities; receiving in-kind resources from partners; using evidence-based interventions and data for setting priorities; conducting program evaluation; using community- or organization-level strategies to address cancer control efforts; and demonstrating progress toward achieving health outcomes. Results Most programs reported having active coalitions that represent diverse organizational sectors. Nearly all programs routinely assess the burden of cancer. In-kind resources to implement activities peaked at $64,716 in the second year of a five year funding cycle, and declined in subsequent project years. By year 3, over 70% of programs reported having an evaluation plan. While programs reported that nearly two-thirds of their interventions were evidence-based, some programs implemented non-evidence-based interventions. A majority of programs successfully used at least one community- or organization-level change strategy. However, many programs did not incorporate objectives linked to health outcomes as they reported progress in implementing interventions. Conclusions: While NCCCP programs were strong at building and maintaining infrastructure, some programs may need additional technical assistance to increase the adoption of evidence-based interventions, develop solid and responsive evaluation plans, and better link efforts to population-based measures that demonstrate impact toward reducing the burden of cancer. PMID:25136936

High definition systems in Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elkus, Richard J., Jr.; Cohen, Robert B.; Dayton, Birney D.; Messerschmitt, David G.; Schreiber, William F.; Tannas, Lawrence E., Jr.; Shelton, Duane

1991-01-01

The successful implementation of a strategy to produce high-definition systems within the Japanese economy will favorably affect the fundamental competitiveness of Japan relative to the rest of the world. The development of an infrastructure necessary to support high-definition products and systems in that country involves major commitments of engineering resources, plants and equipment, educational programs and funding. The results of these efforts appear to affect virtually every aspect of the Japanese industrial complex. The results of assessments of the current progress of Japan toward the development of high-definition products and systems are presented. The assessments are based on the findings of a panel of U.S. experts made up of individuals from U.S. academia and industry, and derived from a study of the Japanese literature combined with visits to the primary relevant industrial laboratories and development agencies in Japan. Specific coverage includes an evaluation of progress in R&D for high-definition television (HDTV) displays that are evolving in Japan; high-definition standards and equipment development; Japanese intentions for the use of HDTV; economic evaluation of Japan's public policy initiatives in support of high-definition systems; management analysis of Japan's strategy of leverage with respect to high-definition products and systems.

Strengthening the HIV Care Continuum in the Dominican Republic: Application of a Triadic Implementation Framework to Meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90 Treatment Goal.

PubMed

Bowman, Alex S; Mehta, Mili; Lerebours Nadal, Leonel; Halpern, Mina; Nicholas, Stephen W; Amesty, Silvia

2017-10-01

Innovative empirical frameworks to evaluate progress in efforts addressing HIV treatment and prevention barriers in resource-limited areas are sorely needed to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal (90% diagnosed, 90% on treatment, and 90% virally suppressed). A triadic implementation framework (TIF) is a comprehensive conceptual tool for (1) monitoring attrition, (2) evaluating operational programs, and (3) measuring the impact of specific implementation goals within the care continuum. TIF will assess the effects of enhanced programs on adherence and virologic suppression within the HIV care continuum at a regional clinic in the Dominican Republic (Clínica de Familia La Romana [CFLR]) and its program serving high-risk, migratory batey (sugarcane cultivation) communities. A retrospective cohort study completed during 2015 collected deidentified data from a CFLR chart review of adult HIV patients diagnosed in 2013. The results were quantitatively analyzed and compared to 2011 cohort data. In 2013, 310 patients were diagnosed HIV positive. The results demonstrated 73% enrolling in care, 28% adhering to care, and 16% achieving viral load suppression. Engagement increased across all steps of the care continuum compared to a 2011 cohort, culminating in a significant increase in undetectable viral load from 4% to 16% (p < 0.001). The batey program showed significant increases in patient enrollment compared to the 2011 cohort (p < 0.001). Meeting the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal requires enhanced services in high-burden, resource-limited regions. CFLR employs TIF to assess progress and programmatic areas in need of strengthening. Data suggest enhanced CFLR services improve outcomes. Given improvements, maintenance and expansion of similar programs are warranted to achieve the 90-90-90 goal.

NASA Space Engineering Research Center for utilization of local planetary resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramohalli, Kumar; Lewis, John S.

1990-01-01

The University of Arizona and NASA have joined to form the UA/NASA Space Engineering Research Center. The purpose of the Center is to discover, characterize, extract, process, and fabricate useful products from the extraterrestrial resources available in the inner solar system (the moon, Mars, and nearby asteroids). Individual progress reports covering the center's research projects are presented and emphasis is placed on the following topics: propellant production, oxygen production, ilmenite, lunar resources, asteroid resources, Mars resources, space-based materials processing, extraterrestrial construction materials processing, resource discovery and characterization, mission planning, and resource utilization.

Utility of warning signs in guiding admission and predicting severe disease in adult dengue

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The recommendation from the 2009 World Health Organization guidelines for managing dengue suggests that patients with any warning sign can be hospitalized for observation and management. We evaluated the utility of using warning signs to guide hospital admission and predict disease progression in adults. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study from January 2010 to September 2012. Daily demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected from adult dengue patients. Warning signs were recorded. The proportion of admitted patients using current admission criteria and warning signs was compared. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of warning signs in predicting disease progression were also evaluated. Results Four hundred and ninety-nine patients with confirmed dengue were analyzed. Using warning signs instead of the current admission criteria will lead to a 44% and 31% increase in admission for DHF II-IV and SD cases respectively. The proportion of non-severe dengue cases which were admitted also increased by 32% for non DHF II-IV and 33% for non-SD cases. Absence of any warning signs had a NPV of 91%, 100% and 100% for DHF I-IV, DHF II-IV and SD. Of those who progressed to severe illness, 16.3% had warning signs on the same day while 51.3% had warning signs the day before developing severe illness, respectively. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that patients without any warning signs can be managed safely with ambulatory care to reduce hospital resource burden. No single warning sign can independently predict disease progression. The window from onset of warning sign to severe illness in most cases was within one day. PMID:24152678

U.S. Geological Survey Science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative - 2008 Annual Report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bowen, Zachary H.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Anderson, Patrick J.; Assal, Timothy J.; Baer, Lori Anne; Bristol, R. Sky; Carr, Natasha B.; Chong, Geneva W.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Fedy, Bradley C.; Garman, Steven L.; Germaine, Stephen S.; Grauch, Richard I.; Homer, Collin G.; Manier, Daniel J.; Kauffman, Matthew J.; Latysh, Natalie; Melcher, Cynthia P.; Miller, Kirk A.; Montag, Jessica; Nutt, Constance J.; Potter, Christopher; Sawyer, Hall; Smith, David B.; Sweat, Michael J.; Wilson, Anna B.

2009-01-01

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) was launched in 2007 in response to concerns about threats to the State's world class wildlife resources, especially the threat posed by rapidly increasing energy development in southwest Wyoming. The overriding purpose of the WLCI is to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale, while facilitating responsible energy and other types of development. The WLCI includes partners from Federal, State, and local agencies, with participation from public and private entities, industry, and landowners. As a principal WLCI partner, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides multidisciplinary scientific and technical support to inform decisionmaking in the WLCI. To address WLCI management needs, USGS has designed and implemented five integrated work activities: (1) Baseline Synthesis, (2) Targeted Monitoring and Research, (3) Integration and Coordination, (4) Data and Information Management, and (5) Decisionmaking and Evaluation. Ongoing information management of data and products acquired or generated through the integrated work activities will ensure that crucial scientific information is available to partners and stakeholders in a readily accessible and useable format for decisionmaking and evaluation. Significant progress towards WLCI goals has been achieved in many Science and Technical Assistance tasks of the work activities. Available data were identified, acquired, compiled, and integrated into a comprehensive database for use by WLCI partners and to support USGS science activities. A Web-based platform for sharing these data and products has been developed and is already in use. Numerous map products have been completed and made available to WLCI partners, and other products are in progress. Initial conceptual, habitat, and climate change models have been developed or refined. Monitoring designs for terrestrial and aquatic indicators have been completed, pilot data have been collected for terrestrial indicators, and evaluations of alternative monitoring designs are underway. Initial models and map products have been developed for assessing vegetation, surface disturbance, oil and gas resources, mineral resources, surficial geology, invasive species, aspen treatments, ungulate migration corridors, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis), and songbirds, and data were collected or compiled to validate and refine the models. Coordination and collaboration among partners has led to the production of several documents addressing WLCI objectives, strategies, and guiding principles, and has facilitated implementation of on-the-ground habitat treatments.

Tracking progress towards global drinking water and sanitation targets: A within and among country analysis.

PubMed

Fuller, James A; Goldstick, Jason; Bartram, Jamie; Eisenberg, Joseph N S

2016-01-15

Global access to safe drinking water and sanitation has improved dramatically during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in progress between countries and inequality within countries. We assessed countries' temporal patterns in access to drinking water and sanitation using publicly available data. We then classified countries using non-linear modeling techniques as having one of the following trajectories: 100% coverage, linear growth, linear decline, no change, saturation, acceleration, deceleration, negative acceleration, or negative deceleration. We further assessed the degree to which temporal profiles follow a sigmoidal pattern and how these patterns might vary within a given country between rural and urban settings. Among countries with more than 10 data points, between 15% and 38% showed a non-linear trajectory, depending on the indicator. Overall, countries' progress followed a sigmoidal trend, but some countries are making better progress and some worse progress than would be expected. We highlight several countries that are not on track to meet the MDG for water or sanitation, but whose access is accelerating, suggesting better performance during the coming years. Conversely, we also highlight several countries that have made sufficient progress to meet the MDG target, but in which access is decelerating. Patterns were heterogeneous and non-linearity was common. Characterization of these heterogeneous patterns will help policy makers allocate resources more effectively. For example, policy makers can identify countries that could make use of additional resources or might be in need of additional institutional capacity development to properly manage resources; this will be essential to meet the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Moving California Ahead: An Executive Summary Concerning Two Commission Higher Education Long-Range Planning Reports, Providing for Progress and Policy for Progress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Postsecondary Education Commission, Sacramento.

This is an executive summary of two long-range higher education planning reports completed at the outset of the 21st century by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. They are "Providing for Progress: California Higher Education Enrollment Demand and Resources into the 21st Century" and the companion "Policy for…

Characteristics, burden of illness, and physical functioning of patients with relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional US survey.

PubMed

Gross, Hillary J; Watson, Crystal

2017-01-01

Although most patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) will develop secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), little is known about the burden of multiple sclerosis by disease subtype. This study describes the burden of disease in terms of demographics, disease severity, symptoms, health care resource and disease-modifying therapy (DMT) utilization, work and activity impairment, and physical functioning of SPMS and RRMS patients. SPMS and RRMS patient responses from the 2012 and 2013 waves of the US National Health and Wellness Survey were evaluated to detect differences in demographics, disease severity, symptoms, and health care resource and DMT utilization. In addition, data from the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment and Short Form-36 questionnaires were analyzed. SPMS patients were older than RRMS patients (mean age 55.7 vs 48.9 years; P <0.001); a lower proportion were female (56.2% with SPMS vs 71.6% with RRMS; P =0.002), and fewer SPMS than RRMS patients were employed (20.0% vs 39.7%; P <0.001). SPMS patients described their disease as more severe, reporting several neurological symptoms more frequently and higher hospitalization rates than RRMS patients. A lower percentage of SPMS than RRMS patients reported DMT use. SPMS patients had greater overall work and activity impairment than RRMS patients. After controlling for baseline characteristics, impairment in physical functioning was greater in SPMS patients. Overall, SPMS patients had a higher burden of illness than RRMS patients, underscoring the need to treat RRMS patients early to delay disability progressing using therapies that are effective in real-world settings.

Integrated versus fragmented implementation of complex innovations in acute health care.

PubMed

Woiceshyn, Jaana; Blades, Kenneth; Pendharkar, Sachin R

Increased demand and escalating costs necessitate innovation in health care. The challenge is to implement complex innovations-those that require coordinated use across the adopting organization to have the intended benefits. We wanted to understand why and how two of five similar hospitals associated with the same health care authority made more progress with implementing a complex inpatient discharge innovation whereas the other three experienced more difficulties in doing so. We conducted a qualitative comparative case study of the implementation process at five comparable urban hospitals adopting the same inpatient discharge innovation mandated by their health care authority. We analyzed documents and conducted 39 interviews of the health care authority and hospital executives and frontline managers across the five sites over a 1-year period while the implementation was ongoing. In two and a half years, two of the participating hospitals had made significant progress with implementing the innovation and had begun to realize benefits; they exemplified an integrated implementation mode. Three sites had made minimal progress, following a fragmented implementation mode. In the former mode, a semiautonomous health care organization developed a clear overall purpose and chose one umbrella initiative to implement it. The integrative initiative subsumed the rest and guided resource allocation and the practices of hospital executives, frontline managers, and staff who had bought into it. In contrast, in the fragmented implementation mode, the health care authority had several overlapping, competing innovations that overwhelmed the sites and impeded their implementation. Implementing a complex innovation across hospital sites required (a) early prioritization of one initiative as integrative, (b) the commitment of additional (traded off or new) human resources, (c) deliberate upfront planning and continual support for and evaluation of implementation, and (d) allowance for local customization within the general principles of standardization.

Spatiotemporal associations between Pacific herring spawn and surf scoter spring migration: evaluating a "silver wave" hypothesis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lok, E.K.; Esler, Daniel N.; Takekawa, John Y.; De La Cruz, S.W.; Boyd, W.S.; Nysewander, D.R.; Evenson, J.R.; Ward, D.H.

2012-01-01

Surf scoters Melanitta perspicillata are sea ducks that aggregate at spawning events of Pacific herring Clupea pallasi and forage on the eggs, which are deposited in abundance during spring at discrete sites. We evaluated whether migrating scoters followed a ‘silver wave’ of resource availability, analogous to the ‘green wave’ of high-quality foraging conditions that herbivorous waterfowl follow during spring migration. We confirmed that herring spawning activity began later in the year at higher latitudes, creating a northward-progressing wave of short-term localized food availability. Using satellite telemetry and aerial surveys, we documented the chronology of scoter spring migration and the use of stopover locations in relation to herring spawn timing and locations. We found that the migration chronology paralleled the northward progression of herring spawning events. Although there was considerable variability in the timing of both scoter migration and the initiation of herring spawning, the processes were related beyond a coincidental northward progression. During migration, 60% of the tracked scoters visited at least 1 spawn site, and those that used spawn sites were located on spawn sites for approximately one-third of their migration locations. Surf scoters showed close spatiotemporal associations with herring spawning events, confirming that the presence of herring spawn was a factor determining habitat use for many individuals. Surf scoters showed close spatiotemporal associations with herring spawning events, confirming that the presence of herring spawn was a factor determining habitat use for many individuals, a conclusion that is consistent with previous studies which used physiologically based metrics to evaluate the importance of herring spawn.

Something's got to give: the effects of dual-goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancies on resource allocation.

PubMed

Schmidt, Aaron M; Dolis, Chad M

2009-05-01

The current study developed and tested a model of the interplay among goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancy over time in influencing resource allocation toward competing demands. The results provided broad support for the theoretical model. As predicted, dual-goal expectancy-the perceived likelihood of meeting both goals in competition-played a central role, moderating the relationship between relative goal progress and resource allocation. Dual-goal difficulty was also found to exert an important influence on multiple-goal self-regulation. Although it did not influence total productivity across both tasks combined, it did combine with other model components to influence the relative emphasis of one task over another. These results suggest that the cumulative demands placed by multiple difficult goals may exceed individuals' perceived capabilities and may lead to partial or total abandonment of 1 goal to ensure attainment of the other. The model helps shed light on some of the conflicting theoretical propositions and empirical results obtained in prior work. Implications for theory and research regarding multiple-goal self-regulation are discussed. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Quality tools and resources to support organisational improvement integral to high-quality primary care: a systematic review of published and grey literature.

PubMed

Janamian, Tina; Upham, Susan J; Crossland, Lisa; Jackson, Claire L

2016-04-18

To conduct a systematic review of the literature to identify existing online primary care quality improvement tools and resources to support organisational improvement related to the seven elements in the Primary Care Practice Improvement Tool (PC-PIT), with the identified tools and resources to progress to a Delphi study for further assessment of relevance and utility. Systematic review of the international published and grey literature. CINAHL, Embase and PubMed databases were searched in March 2014 for articles published between January 2004 and December 2013. GreyNet International and other relevant websites and repositories were also searched in March-April 2014 for documents dated between 1992 and 2012. All citations were imported into a bibliographic database. Published and unpublished tools and resources were included in the review if they were in English, related to primary care quality improvement and addressed any of the seven PC-PIT elements of a high-performing practice. Tools and resources that met the eligibility criteria were then evaluated for their accessibility, relevance, utility and comprehensiveness using a four-criteria appraisal framework. We used a data extraction template to systematically extract information from eligible tools and resources. A content analysis approach was used to explore the tools and resources and collate relevant information: name of the tool or resource, year and country of development, author, name of the organisation that provided access and its URL, accessibility information or problems, overview of each tool or resource and the quality improvement element(s) it addresses. If available, a copy of the tool or resource was downloaded into the bibliographic database, along with supporting evidence (published or unpublished) on its use in primary care. This systematic review identified 53 tools and resources that can potentially be provided as part of a suite of tools and resources to support primary care practices in improving the quality of their practice, to achieve improved health outcomes.

24 CFR 1006.430 - Corrective and remedial action.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... plan; (3) Made substantial progress in carrying out its program and achieving its quantifiable goals as... to submit progress schedules for completing activities or complying with the requirements of the Act... appropriate technical assistance using existing grant funds or other available resources to overcome the...

Education and training in pediatric robotic surgery: lessons learned from an inaugural multinational workshop.

PubMed

Cundy, Thomas P; Mayer, Erik K; Camps, Juan I; Olsen, Lars H; Pelizzo, Gloria; Yang, Guang-Zhong; Darzi, Ara; Najmaldin, Azad S

2015-03-01

The introduction of robotic surgery into clinical practice brings new and specific needs for education and training. Application to the pediatric setting comes with unique considerations, warranting dedicated training resources that are accessible. A pediatric robotic surgery workshop was convened to address initial education and training requirements. The event was designed to offer an exposure rich environment for delegates to familiarize and learn basic principles in a maximally efficient manner. Pre- and post-workshop survey responses were evaluated to reflect on the quality of the educational experience and scope for improvement. Feasibility and sustainability of such events was further evaluated by reviewing various challenges encountered. A total of 29 surgeons participated in the workshop, with 7 countries represented. The majority of delegates (94 %) indicated they were "very satisfied" with the overall program. Delegates almost unanimously expressed preference and satisfaction for hands-on content. Qualitative feedback favored a stepwise and modular workshop structure, transitioning from didactic teaching to progressively more advanced training. At the basic and intermediate level, this style of event is able to satisfy initial training and educational needs. Feasibility and sustainability of such events is highly dependent on infrastructure resources that have numerous barriers to accessibility.

Measuring financial protection against catastrophic health expenditures: methodological challenges for global monitoring.

PubMed

Hsu, Justine; Flores, Gabriela; Evans, David; Mills, Anne; Hanson, Kara

2018-05-31

Monitoring financial protection against catastrophic health expenditures is important to understand how health financing arrangements in a country protect its population against high costs associated with accessing health services. While catastrophic health expenditures are generally defined to be when household expenditures for health exceed a given threshold of household resources, there is no gold standard with several methods applied to define the threshold and household resources. These different approaches to constructing the indicator might give different pictures of a country's progress towards financial protection. In order for monitoring to effectively provide policy insight, it is critical to understand the sensitivity of measurement to these choices. This paper examines the impact of varying two methodological choices by analysing household expenditure data from a sample of 47 countries. We assess sensitivity of cross-country comparisons to a range of thresholds by testing for restricted dominance. We further assess sensitivity of comparisons to different methods for defining household resources (i.e. total expenditure, non-food expenditure and non-subsistence expenditure) by conducting correlation tests of country rankings. We found country rankings are robust to the choice of threshold in a tenth to a quarter of comparisons within the 5-85% threshold range and this increases to half of comparisons if the threshold is restricted to 5-40%, following those commonly used in the literature. Furthermore, correlations of country rankings using different methods to define household resources were moderate to high; thus, this choice makes less difference from a measurement perspective than from an ethical perspective as different definitions of available household resources reflect varying concerns for equity. Interpreting comparisons from global monitoring based on a single threshold should be done with caution as these may not provide reliable insight into relative country progress. We therefore recommend financial protection against catastrophic health expenditures be measured across a range of thresholds using a catastrophic incidence curve as shown in this paper. We further recommend evaluating financial protection in relation to a country's health financing system arrangements in order to better understand the extent of protection and better inform future policy changes.

Natural resource protection on buffer lands: integrating resource evaluation and economics.

PubMed

Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Greenberg, Michael

2008-07-01

Environmental managers are faced with the wise management, sustainability, and stewardship of their land for natural resource values. This task requires the integration of ecological evaluation with economics. Using the Department of Energy (DOE) as a case study, we examine the why, who, what, where, when, and how questions about assessment and natural resource protection of buffer lands. We suggest that managers evaluate natural resources for a variety of reasons that revolve around land use, remediation/restoration, protection of natural environments, and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). While DOE is the manager of its lands, and thus its natural resources, a range of natural resource trustees and public officials have co-responsibility. We distinguish four types of natural resource evaluations: (1) the resources themselves (to the ecosystem), (2) the value of specific resources to people (e.g. hunting/fishing/bird-watching/herbal medicines), (3) the value of ecological resources to services for communities (e.g. clean air/water), and (4) the value of the intact ecosystems (e.g. forests or estuaries). Resource evaluations should occur initially to provide information about the status of those resources, and continued evaluation is required to provide trends data. Additional natural resource evaluation is required before, during and immediately following changes in land use, and remediation or restoration. Afterwards, additional monitoring and evaluations are required to evaluate the effects of the land use change or the efficacy of remediation/restoration. There are a wide range of economic methods available to evaluate natural resources, but the methods chosen depend upon the nature of the resource being evaluated, the purpose of the evaluation, and the needs of the agencies, natural resource trustees, public officials, and the public. We discuss the uses, and the advantages and disadvantages of different evaluation methods for natural resources.

Natural resource protection on buffer lands: integrating resource evaluation and economics

PubMed Central

Gochfeld, Michael; Greenberg, Michael

2014-01-01

Environmental managers are faced with the wise management, sustainability, and stewardship of their land for natural resource values. This task requires the integration of ecological evaluation with economics. Using the Department of Energy (DOE) as a case study, we examine the why, who, what, where, when, and how questions about assessment and natural resource protection of buffer lands. We suggest that managers evaluate natural resources for a variety of reasons that revolve around land use, remediation/restoration, protection of natural environments, and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). While DOE is the manager of its lands, and thus its natural resources, a range of natural resource trustees and public officials have co-responsibility. We distinguish four types of natural resource evaluations: (1) the resources themselves (to the ecosystem), (2) the value of specific resources to people (e.g. hunting/fishing/bird-watching/herbal medicines), (3) the value of ecological resources to services for communities (e.g. clean air/water), and (4) the value of the intact ecosystems (e.g. forests or estuaries). Resource evaluations should occur initially to provide information about the status of those resources, and continued evaluation is required to provide trends data. Additional natural resource evaluation is required before, during and immediately following changes in land use, and remediation or restoration. Afterwards, additional monitoring and evaluations are required to evaluate the effects of the land use change or the efficacy of remediation/restoration. There are a wide range of economic methods available to evaluate natural resources, but the methods chosen depend upon the nature of the resource being evaluated, the purpose of the evaluation, and the needs of the agencies, natural resource trustees, public officials, and the public. We discuss the uses, and the advantages and disadvantages of different evaluation methods for natural resources. PMID:17899418

The Mitigation Rule Retrospective: A Review of the 2008 Regulations Governing Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA report summarizing the progress made in implementing the 2008 Mitigation Rule, including analysis of trends in aquatic resource impacts and compensation from 2010 through 2014.

How Can We Improve Outcomes for Patients and Families Under Palliative Care? Implementing Clinical Audit for Quality Improvement in Resource Limited Settings

PubMed Central

Selman, Lucy; Harding, Richard

2010-01-01

Palliative care in India has made enormous advances in providing better care for patients and families living with progressive disease, and many clinical services are well placed to begin quality improvement initiatives, including clinical audit. Clinical audit is recognized globally to be essential in all healthcare, as a way of monitoring and improving quality of care. However, it is not common in developing country settings, including India. Clinical audit is a cyclical activity involving: identification of areas of care in need of improvement, through data collection and analysis utilizing an appropriate questionnaire; setting measurable quality of care targets in specific areas; designing and implementing service improvement strategies; and then re-evaluating quality of care to assess progress towards meeting the targets. Outcome measurement is an important component of clinical audit that has additional advantages; for example, establishing an evidence base for the effectiveness of services. In resource limited contexts, outcome measurement in clinical audit is particularly important as it enables service development to be evidence-based and ensures resources are allocated effectively. Key success factors in conducting clinical audit are identified (shared ownership, training, managerial support, inclusion of all members of staff and a positive approach). The choice of outcome measurement tool is discussed, including the need for a culturally appropriate and validated measure which is brief and simple enough to incorporate into clinical practice and reflects the holistic nature of palliative care. Support for clinical audit is needed at a national level, and development and validation of an outcome measurement tool in the Indian context is a crucial next step. PMID:20859465

Measuring the evolution and output of cross-disciplinary collaborations within the NCI Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers Network.

PubMed

Basner, Jodi E; Theisz, Katrina I; Jensen, Unni S; Jones, C David; Ponomarev, Ilya; Sulima, Pawel; Jo, Karen; Eljanne, Mariam; Espey, Michael G; Franca-Koh, Jonathan; Hanlon, Sean E; Kuhn, Nastaran Z; Nagahara, Larry A; Schnell, Joshua D; Moore, Nicole M

2013-12-01

Development of effective quantitative indicators and methodologies to assess the outcomes of cross-disciplinary collaborative initiatives has the potential to improve scientific program management and scientific output. This article highlights an example of a prospective evaluation that has been developed to monitor and improve progress of the National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers (PS-OC) program. Study data, including collaboration information, was captured through progress reports and compiled using the web-based analytic database: Interdisciplinary Team Reporting, Analysis, and Query Resource. Analysis of collaborations was further supported by data from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database, MEDLINE database, and a web-based survey. Integration of novel and standard data sources was augmented by the development of automated methods to mine investigator pre-award publications, assign investigator disciplines, and distinguish cross-disciplinary publication content. The results highlight increases in cross-disciplinary authorship collaborations from pre- to post-award years among the primary investigators and confirm that a majority of cross-disciplinary collaborations have resulted in publications with cross-disciplinary content that rank in the top third of their field. With these evaluation data, PS-OC Program officials have provided ongoing feedback to participating investigators to improve center productivity and thereby facilitate a more successful initiative. Future analysis will continue to expand these methods and metrics to adapt to new advances in research evaluation and changes in the program.

Design and operation of an outdoor microalgae test facility

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

Weissman, J.C.; Tillett, D.M.; Goebel, R.P.

The objective of the project covered in this report is to establish and operate a facility in the American Southwest to test the concept of producing microalgae on a large scale. This microalgae would then be used as a feedstock for producing liquid fuels. The site chosen for this project was an existing water research station in Roswell, New Mexico; the climate and water resources are representative of those in the Southwest. For this project, researchers tested specific designs, modes of operation, and strains of microalgae; proposed and evaluated modifications to technological concepts; and assessed the progress toward meeting costmore » objectives.« less

Progress toward a National Water Census

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Sonya A.

2015-01-01

By evaluating large-scale effects of changes in land use and land cover, water use, and climate on occurrence and distribution of water, water quality, and human and aquatic-ecosystem health, the NWC will also help to inform a broader initiative by the Department of the Interior, WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow), which provides multiagency funding to pursue a sustainable water supply for the Nation as directed under the SECURE Water Act. Through the NWC, the USGS actively engages Federal, regional, and local stakeholders to identify research priorities and leverages current studies and program activities to provide information that is relevant at both the national and regional scales.

Diabetes Mellitus Standards of Care.

PubMed

Mays, Lucy

2015-12-01

Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic with a high cost regarding consumption of health care resources and is associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality. The complex nature of diabetes requires the use of evidence-based guidelines regarding diabetes management. These evidence-based guidelines are lengthy and do not readily translate into nursing care. As an integral component of the interprofessional team, the nurse must provide a thorough assessment of patients with diabetes and work to achieve individual patient treatment goals. Evaluation of patient progress toward treatment goals with regular/frequent follow-up is necessary to promote effective self-management of diabetes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developing a response to family violence in primary health care: the New Zealand experience.

PubMed

Gear, Claire; Koziol-McLain, Jane; Wilson, Denise; Clark, Faye

2016-08-20

Despite primary health care being recognised as an ideal setting to effectively respond to those experiencing family violence, responses are not widely integrated as part of routine health care. A lack of evidence testing models and approaches for health sector integration, alongside challenges of transferability and sustainability, means the best approach in responding to family violence is still unknown. The Primary Health Care Family Violence Responsiveness Evaluation Tool was developed as a guide to implement a formal systems-led response to family violence within New Zealand primary health care settings. Given the difficulties integrating effective, sustainable responses to family violence, we share the experience of primary health care sites that embarked on developing a response to family violence, presenting the enablers, barriers and resources required to maintain, progress and sustain family violence response development. In this qualitative descriptive study data were collected from two sources. Firstly semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted during 24-month follow-up evaluation visits of primary health care sites to capture the enablers, barriers and resources required to maintain, progress and sustain a response to family violence. Secondly the outcomes of a group activity to identify response development barriers and implementation strategies were recorded during a network meeting of primary health care professionals interested in family violence prevention and intervention; findings were triangulated across the two data sources. Four sites, representing three PHOs and four general practices participated in the focus group interviews; 35 delegates from across New Zealand attended the network meeting representing a wider perspective on family violence response development within primary health care. Enablers and barriers to developing a family violence response were identified across four themes: 'Getting started', 'Building effective relationships', 'Sourcing funding' and 'Shaping a national approach to family violence'. The strong commitment of key people dedicated to addressing family violence is essential for response sustainability and would be strengthened by prioritising family violence response as a national health target with dedicated resourcing. Further analysis of the health care system as a complex adaptive system may provide insight into effective approaches to response development and health system integration.

Benefits of State-by-State Comparisons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Gary W.

1991-01-01

Suggests that the National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP) Trial State Assessment (TSA) will provide reliable and valid state-by-state comparisons of what students have learned and will assess their progress over time. The TSA will also provide information on home learning environments, instructional practices, educational resources,…

EPA releases progress report on hydraulic fracturing study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2013-01-01

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided a 21 December progress report on its ongoing national study about the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. The agency said that a draft of the congressionally requested study will be released in 2014 for public and peer review and that its progress report does not draw conclusions about the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing, often referred to as fracking.

Welfare Reform: Progress in Meeting Work-Focused TANF Goals. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagnoni, Cynthia M.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined progress in meeting work-focused goals of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The following issues were considered: (1) states' progress in implementing TANF; (2) the status of families who have left welfare; (3) the characteristics of adults currently receiving TANF; (4) states'…

Microenvironmental independence associated with tumor progression.

PubMed

Anderson, Alexander R A; Hassanein, Mohamed; Branch, Kevin M; Lu, Jenny; Lobdell, Nichole A; Maier, Julie; Basanta, David; Weidow, Brandy; Narasanna, Archana; Arteaga, Carlos L; Reynolds, Albert B; Quaranta, Vito; Estrada, Lourdes; Weaver, Alissa M

2009-11-15

Tumor-microenvironment interactions are increasingly recognized to influence tumor progression. To understand the competitive dynamics of tumor cells in diverse microenvironments, we experimentally parameterized a hybrid discrete-continuum mathematical model with phenotypic trait data from a set of related mammary cell lines with normal, transformed, or tumorigenic properties. Surprisingly, in a resource-rich microenvironment, with few limitations on proliferation or migration, transformed (but not tumorigenic) cells were most successful and outcompeted other cell types in heterogeneous tumor simulations. Conversely, constrained microenvironments with limitations on space and/or growth factors gave a selective advantage to phenotypes derived from tumorigenic cell lines. Analysis of the relative performance of each phenotype in constrained versus unconstrained microenvironments revealed that, although all cell types grew more slowly in resource-constrained microenvironments, the most aggressive cells were least affected by microenvironmental constraints. A game theory model testing the relationship between microenvironment resource availability and competitive cellular dynamics supports the concept that microenvironmental independence is an advantageous cellular trait in resource-limited microenvironments.

Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium quarterly technical progress report, August 1, 1997--October 31, 1997

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

NONE

This report summarizes activities of the Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium during the quarter. The report describes the Electronic Resource Library; DOE support activities; current and future environmental health and safety programs; pollution prevention and pollution avoidance; communication, education, training, and community involvement programs; and nuclear and other material studies, including plutonium storage and disposition studies.

Teachers' Awareness and Use of Scales to Map the Progress of Children Who Speak English as an Additional Language or Dialect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Courcy, Michele; Adoniou, Misty; Ngoc, Doan Ba

2014-01-01

With the development of the English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) Teacher Resource, the educational needs and outcomes of refugee and immigrant children have been placed on the national mainstream teaching agenda. This new national resource sits alongside a plethora of other resources, known as scales and standards, which have been…

Conservation of resources theory in nurse burnout and patient safety.

PubMed

Prapanjaroensin, Aoyjai; Patrician, Patricia A; Vance, David E

2017-11-01

To examine how the Conservation of Resources theory explains burnout in the nursing profession. Burnout, which is an accumulation of work-related mental stress in people-oriented occupations, has been an issue of concern for decades for healthcare workers, especially nurses. Yet, few studies have examined a unified theory that explains the aetiology, progression and consequences of nurse burnout. This discussion article integrates current knowledge on nurse burnout using Conservation of Resources theory, which focuses on four resources (i.e., objects, conditions, personal characteristics and energy). The databases that were used in this study included CINAHL, PubMed and PsycINFO. All reviewed articles were published between January 2006 - June 2016. The Conservation of Resources theory explains that burnout will occur as a result of perceived or actual loss of these four resources. Furthermore, nurse burnout could affect work performance, leading to lower alertness and overall quality of care. Healthcare organizations and nursing administration should develop strategies to protect nurses from the threat of resource loss to decrease nurse burnout, which may improve nurse and patient safety. The Conservation of Resources theory can guide interventions to decrease burnout and future research that examines the relationship between professional nurse burnout and patient safety. The Conservation of Resources theory explains the aetiology, progression and consequences of nurse burnout. Future studies must explore whether nurse performance is a mediating factor between nurse burnout and patient safety. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

50 years of physical growth and impressive technological advances unmatched by health human resources reform and cultural change.

PubMed

Scott, Graham W S

2012-01-01

The year 1962 was pre-medicare. The public was concerned about access and individual affordability of care. Funding involved public or private responsibility and the role of government. Physicians, the most influential providers, were concerned that government funding would result in the loss of their independence and their becoming state employees. The retrospective analysis "Looking Back 50 Years in Hospital Administration" by Graham and Sibbald is arresting as it underlines just how much progress we have made in what could be termed "hardware" in support of healthcare policy and hospital administration. From this perspective, the progress has been eye opening, given the advent of universal healthcare, the advancement in our physical facilities, the development of high-quality diagnostic equipment, the explosion of new research centres and new and complex clinical procedures. The development of this hardware has given our providers better weapons and contributed to a remarkable improvement in life expectancy. But progress in health administration and policy management involves more than hardware. If the hardware constitutes the tools, then the "software" of the healthcare system involves the human resources and the culture change that must be positioned to make maximum use of the hardware. In 2062, looking back at the 2012 experience, the legacy test may be whether we dealt with health human resources and culture change at a rate that matched our progress in hardware.

Impact of training of traditional birth attendants on the newborn care.

PubMed

Satishchandra, D M; Naik, V A; Wantamutte, A S; Mallapur, M D

2009-01-01

To study the impact of training of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on the Newborn care in resource poor setting in rural area. A community based study in the Primary Health Center (PHC) area was conducted over one year period between March 2006 to February 2007. The study participants were 50 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs)who conduct home deliveries in the PHC area. Training was conducted for two days which included topics on techniques of conducting safe delivery and newborn care practices. Pre-test evaluation regarding knowledge and practices about newborn care was done. Post-test evaluation was done at first month (early) and at fifth month (late) after the training. Analysis was done by using Mc. Nemer's test, Chi- square test with Yates's correction and Fischer's exact test. Pre-test evaluation showed that, knowledge and practices about newborn care services provided by the previously trained TBAs and untrained TBAs were poor. Early and late post-test evaluation showed that, there was a progressive improvement in the newborn care provided by both the groups. Preintervention period (one year prior to the training) and postintervention period (one year after the training) showed that, there was a statistically significant (p<0.05) reduction in the perinatal deaths (11 to 3) and neonatal deaths (10 to 2) among the deliveries conducted by TBAs after the training. Training programme for TBAs with regular reinforcements in the resource poor setting will not only improve the quality of newborn care but also reduces perinatal deaths.

Evaluating public health resources: what happens when funding disappears?

PubMed

Freedman, Ariela M; Kuester, Sarah A; Jernigan, Jan

2013-11-14

Although various factors affect the sustainability of public health programs, funding levels can influence many aspects of program continuity. Program evaluation in public health typically does not assess the progress of initiatives after discontinuation of funding. The objective of this study was to describe the effect of funding loss following expiration of a 5-year federal grant awarded to state health departments for development of statewide obesity prevention partnerships. The study used qualitative methods involving semistructured key informant interviews with state health departments. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis for effect of funding loss on staffing, programs, partnerships, and implementation of state plans. Many of the programs that continued to run after the grant expired operated at reduced capacity, either reaching fewer people or conducting fewer program activities for the same population. Although many states were able to leverage funding from other sources, this shift in funding source often resulted in priorities changing to meet new funding requirements. Evaluation capacity suffered in all states. Nearly all states reported losing infrastructure and capacity to communicate widely with partners. All states reported a severe or complete loss of their ability to provide training and technical assistance to partners. Despite these reduced capacities, states reported several key resources that facilitated continued work on the state plan. Decisions regarding continuation of funding are often dependent on budget constraints, evidence of success, and perceived ability to succeed in the future. Evaluating public health funding decisions may help guide development of best practice strategies for supporting long-term program success.

A risk assessment tool applied to the study of shale gas resources.

PubMed

Veiguela, Miguel; Hurtado, Antonio; Eguilior, Sonsoles; Recreo, Fernando; Roqueñi, Nieves; Loredo, Jorge

2016-11-15

The implementation of a risk assessment tool with the capacity to evaluate the risks for health, safety and the environment (HSE) from extraction of non-conventional fossil fuel resources by the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technique can be a useful tool to boost development and progress of the technology and winning public trust and acceptance of this. At the early project stages, the lack of data related the selection of non-conventional gas deposits makes it difficult the use of existing approaches to risk assessment of fluids injected into geologic formations. The qualitative risk assessment tool developed in this work is based on the approach that shale gas exploitation risk is dependent on both the geologic site and the technological aspects. It follows from the Oldenburg's 'Screening and Ranking Framework (SRF)' developed to evaluate potential geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites. These two global characteristics: (1) characteristics centered on the natural aspects of the site and (2) characteristics centered on the technological aspects of the Project, have been evaluated through user input of Property values, which define Attributes, which define the Characteristics. In order to carry out an individual evaluation of each of the characteristics and the elements of the model, the tool has been implemented in a spreadsheet. The proposed model has been applied to a site with potential for the exploitation of shale gas in Asturias (northwestern Spain) with tree different technological options to test the approach. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Fast Pyrolysis and Hydrotreating Bio-Oil to Produce Hydrocarbon Fuels

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

Adom, Felix K.; Cai, Hao; Dunn, Jennifer B.

2016-03-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) aims at developing and deploying technologies to transform renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts and biopower through public and private partnerships (DOE, 2015). BETO and its national laboratory teams conduct in-depth techno-economic assessments (TEA) of technologies to produce biofuels. These assessments evaluate feedstock production, logistics of transporting the feedstock, and conversion of the feedstock to biofuel. There are two general types of TEAs. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables identification of data gaps and research andmore » development needs, and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, a state of technology (SOT) analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases, and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available.« less

[Hemodialysis in patients with chronic renal insufficiency].

PubMed

Canaud, Bernard; Leray-Moragués, Hélène; Chenine-Koualef, Leila; Patrier, Laure

2012-01-01

Hemodialysis is the most advanced form of artificial renal support. It ensures the survival of almost 2 million patients wordwide. Considerable progress has been made in recent years thanks to a better understanding of uremia, optimization of treatment modalities and more personalized treatment schedules. Increase of uremic toxins removal, improvement of hemodynamic tolerance of the sessions, reduction of proinflammatory reactions due to the bioincompatibility system are major advances that may explain the reduction of morbidity and mortality in dialysis patients. New technologies (nanotechnology, biotechnology, microelectronics) are now expected to introduce further progresses by miniaturizing devices and providing them with an "artificial intelligence" capable of interacting with the patient. The main obstacle remains ageing of uremic patients, increasing prevalence of comorbidities and shortage of social resources that are not conducive to innovation. By promoting a more physiological, longer and more effective hemodialysis performed at home with help of teledialysis monitoring that would probably be an interesting option to evaluate on a medico-economical point of view.

[Separation of functions in the System of Social Protection in Health, Mexico 2009: progress and challenges].

PubMed

González-Robledo, Luz María; Nigenda, Gustavo; González-Robledo, María Cecilia; Reich, Michael

2011-01-01

To evaluate advancements and challenges in the separation of functions within Mexico's System of Social Protection in Health. A 2009 evaluation study involving nine states and the National Commission for Social Protection in Health was carried out via semi-structured interviews with key actors and literature analysis. The main advancement has been the creation of the State Regimens for Social Protection in Health (REPSS in Spanish) which act as intermediaries between users and health service providers, making these state-level entities responsible for both managing financial resources and shaping and coordinating the health care delivery network. However, most of the REPSS studied were found to be in a state of inertia, leading to inadequate compliance with legally mandated functions. Normative, technical, political and managerial obstacles persist, impeding the successful separation of functions.

Notification: EPA Progress on Meeting Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Statutory Mandate for Minimum Frequency of Inspections at Hazardous Waste Disposal Facilities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Project #OPE-FY15-0018, January 20, 2015. The EPA OIG plans to begin preliminary research on EPA’s progress in meeting minimum inspection requirements under the RCRA at treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDFs).

Women in PR: Progression or Retrogression?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathews, Wilma

1988-01-01

Contends that the issue that most determines women's progress in leadership and management is pay equity. Concludes that women need to overcome their temerity in dealing openly with financial matters and combine their resources, talents, and energies before they can hope to overcome unequal pay treatment and attain equality. (MS)

Economic Perspectives of Technological Progress: New Dimensions for Forecasting Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Twiss, Brian

1976-01-01

Discusses the causal relationship between the allocation of financial resources and technological growth. Argues that economic constraints are becoming an important determinant of technological progress that must be incorporated into technology forecasting techniques. (Available from IPC (America) Inc., 205 East 42 Street, New York, NY 10017;…

Nanoinformatics workshop report: Current resources, community needs, and the proposal of a collaborative framework for data sharing and information integration.

PubMed

Harper, Stacey L; Hutchison, James E; Baker, Nathan; Ostraat, Michele; Tinkle, Sally; Steevens, Jeffrey; Hoover, Mark D; Adamick, Jessica; Rajan, Krishna; Gaheen, Sharon; Cohen, Yoram; Nel, Andre; Cachau, Raul E; Tuominen, Mark

2013-01-01

The quantity of information on nanomaterial properties and behavior continues to grow rapidly. Without a concerted effort to collect, organize and mine disparate information coming out of current research efforts, the value and effective use of this information will be limited at best. Data will not be translated to knowledge. At worst, erroneous conclusions will be drawn and future research may be misdirected. Nanoinformatics can be a powerful approach to enhance the value of global information in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Much progress has been made through grassroots efforts in nanoinformatics resulting in a multitude of resources and tools for nanoscience researchers. In 2012, the nanoinformatics community believed it was important to critically evaluate and refine currently available nanoinformatics approaches in order to best inform the science and support the future of predictive nanotechnology. The Greener Nano 2012: Nanoinformatics Tools and Resources Workshop brought together informatics groups with materials scientists active in nanoscience research to evaluate and reflect on the tools and resources that have recently emerged in support of predictive nanotechnology. The workshop goals were to establish a better understanding of current nanoinformatics approaches and to clearly define immediate and projected informatics infrastructure needs of the nanotechnology community. The theme of nanotechnology environmental health and safety (nanoEHS) was used to provide real-world, concrete examples on how informatics can be utilized to advance our knowledge and guide nanoscience. The benefit here is that the same properties that impact the performance of products could also be the properties that inform EHS. From a decision management standpoint, the dual use of such data should be considered a priority. Key outcomes include a proposed collaborative framework for data collection, data sharing and information integration.

Nanoinformatics workshop report: Current resources, community needs, and the proposal of a collaborative framework for data sharing and information integration

PubMed Central

Harper, Stacey L; Hutchison, James E; Baker, Nathan; Ostraat, Michele; Tinkle, Sally; Steevens, Jeffrey; Hoover, Mark D; Adamick, Jessica; Rajan, Krishna; Gaheen, Sharon; Cohen, Yoram; Nel, Andre; Cachau, Raul E; Tuominen, Mark

2014-01-01

The quantity of information on nanomaterial properties and behavior continues to grow rapidly. Without a concerted effort to collect, organize and mine disparate information coming out of current research efforts, the value and effective use of this information will be limited at best. Data will not be translated to knowledge. At worst, erroneous conclusions will be drawn and future research may be misdirected. Nanoinformatics can be a powerful approach to enhance the value of global information in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Much progress has been made through grassroots efforts in nanoinformatics resulting in a multitude of resources and tools for nanoscience researchers. In 2012, the nanoinformatics community believed it was important to critically evaluate and refine currently available nanoinformatics approaches in order to best inform the science and support the future of predictive nanotechnology. The Greener Nano 2012: Nanoinformatics Tools and Resources Workshop brought together informatics groups with materials scientists active in nanoscience research to evaluate and reflect on the tools and resources that have recently emerged in support of predictive nanotechnology. The workshop goals were to establish a better understanding of current nanoinformatics approaches and to clearly define immediate and projected informatics infrastructure needs of the nanotechnology community. The theme of nanotechnology environmental health and safety (nanoEHS) was used to provide real-world, concrete examples on how informatics can be utilized to advance our knowledge and guide nanoscience. The benefit here is that the same properties that impact the performance of products could also be the properties that inform EHS. From a decision management standpoint, the dual use of such data should be considered a priority. Key outcomes include a proposed collaborative framework for data collection, data sharing and information integration. PMID:24454543

The Nevada NSF EPSCoR infrastructure for climate change science, education, and outreach project: highlights and progress on investigations of ecological change and water resources along elevational gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, L.; Biondi, F.; Fenstermaker, L. F.; Arnone, J.; Devitt, D.; Riddle, B.; Young, M.

2010-12-01

In 2008, the Nevada System of Higher Education received a 5-year, $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The mission of the project is to create a statewide interdisciplinary program to stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach about the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem services (especially water resources), and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders. The overarching question that this effort will address is: how will climate change affect water resources, disturbance regimes and linked ecosystem and human services? While the overall project includes cyberinfrastructure, policy, education and climate modeling, this presentation will focus on the ecological change and water resources components. The goals of these two components are: 1) improving understanding of processes controlling local- and basin-wide impacts of climate on species dynamics, disturbance regimes, and water recharge rates; 2) evaluating interactions between landscape-level processes and biophysical indicators; 3) evaluating interactions between surface and groundwater systems; 4) predicting changes in wildfire regime, primary productivity, and biodiversity (including invasive species); and 5) assessing how interactions between water and ecology will differ under climate change and/or climate variability scenarios. To achieve these goals, the two components will quantify present-day climate variability at multiple temporal and spatial scales, including at multiple elevations within Nevada’s Basin and Range ecosystem continuum. This presentation will discuss key elements for achieving these goals, including the establishment of instrumented transects spanning a range of elevations and vegetation zones in eastern and southern Nevada.

Healthy Eating and Activity Across the Lifespan (HEAL): A call to action to integrate research, clinical practice, policy, and community resources to address weight-related health disparities.

PubMed

Berge, Jerica M; Adamek, Margaret; Caspi, Caitlin; Loth, Katie A; Shanafelt, Amy; Stovitz, Steven D; Trofholz, Amanda; Grannon, Katherine Y; Nanney, Marilyn S

2017-08-01

Despite intense nationwide efforts to improve healthy eating and physical activity across the lifespan, progress has plateaued. Moreover, health inequities remain. Frameworks that integrate research, clinical practice, policy, and community resources to address weight-related behaviors are needed. Implementation and evaluation of integration efforts also remain a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) Describe the planning and development process of an integrator entity, HEAL (Healthy Eating and Activity across the Lifespan); (2) present outcomes of the HEAL development process including the HEAL vision, mission, and values statements; (3) define the planned integrator functions of HEAL; and (4) describe the ongoing evaluation of the integration process. HEAL team members used a theoretically-driven, evidence-based, systemic, twelve-month planning process to guide the development of HEAL and to lay the foundation for short- and long-term integration initiatives. Key development activities included a review of the literature and case studies, identifying guiding principles and infrastructure needs, conducting stakeholder/key informant interviews, and continuous capacity building among team members. Outcomes/deliverables of the first year of HEAL included a mission, vision, and values statements; definitions of integration and integrator functions and roles; a set of long-range plans; and an integration evaluation plan. Application of the HEAL integration model is currently underway through community solicited initiatives. Overall, HEAL aims to lead real world integrative work that coalesce across research, clinical practice, and policy with community resources to inspire a culture of health equity aimed at improving healthy eating and physical activity across the lifespan. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Human Computation in Visualization: Using Purpose Driven Games for Robust Evaluation of Visualization Algorithms.

PubMed

Ahmed, N; Zheng, Ziyi; Mueller, K

2012-12-01

Due to the inherent characteristics of the visualization process, most of the problems in this field have strong ties with human cognition and perception. This makes the human brain and sensory system the only truly appropriate evaluation platform for evaluating and fine-tuning a new visualization method or paradigm. However, getting humans to volunteer for these purposes has always been a significant obstacle, and thus this phase of the development process has traditionally formed a bottleneck, slowing down progress in visualization research. We propose to take advantage of the newly emerging field of Human Computation (HC) to overcome these challenges. HC promotes the idea that rather than considering humans as users of the computational system, they can be made part of a hybrid computational loop consisting of traditional computation resources and the human brain and sensory system. This approach is particularly successful in cases where part of the computational problem is considered intractable using known computer algorithms but is trivial to common sense human knowledge. In this paper, we focus on HC from the perspective of solving visualization problems and also outline a framework by which humans can be easily seduced to volunteer their HC resources. We introduce a purpose-driven game titled "Disguise" which serves as a prototypical example for how the evaluation of visualization algorithms can be mapped into a fun and addicting activity, allowing this task to be accomplished in an extensive yet cost effective way. Finally, we sketch out a framework that transcends from the pure evaluation of existing visualization methods to the design of a new one.

Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: A Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

Stressing the importance of collective efforts among families, early childhood care and education programs, communities, and policymakers in supporting the learning and development of children, this resource guide provides a framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for young children…

Economic incentives to capture ecosystem services through increased temporal intensification of crop production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land resources are becoming progressively more constrained with increasing demands for food, feed, fiber, and now fuel production. Developing strategies to intensify crop production without increasing the negative impacts on water, soil, and air resources are critical. Much of the best agricultural ...

FROM COAST TO OFFSHORE: SOME PROGRESS ON DEVELOPING MULTI-RESOURCE DESIGNS FOR GREAT LAKES MONITORING

EPA Science Inventory

In the next generation of monitoring the condition of very large aquatic systems, we need to explore designs that integrate across multiple aquatic resource types, including coastal subsystems, nearshore, and offshore components, which together make up the total hydroscape. This ...

Test Resource Guide, 1987.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, NY. Div. of Special Education.

The Test Resource Guide (TRG) is designed to provide professionals in the New York City (New York) Public Schools with a compendium of assessment devices for use in decision making; specifically, determining eligibility for special education services, planning an instructional program, and charting progress. The introduction to TRG describes: (1)…

Treatment of helminth co-infection in HIV-1 infected individuals in resource-limited settings

PubMed Central

Walson, Judd L; John-Stewart, Grace

2012-01-01

Background The HIV-1 pandemic has disproportionately affected individuals in resource-constrained settings. These areas often also have high prevalence of other infectious diseases, such as helminth infections. It is important to determine if helminth infection affects the progression of HIV-1 in these co-infected individuals. There are biologically plausible reasons for possible effects of helminth infection in HIV-1 infected individuals and findings from some observational studies suggest that helminth infection may adversely affect HIV-1 progression. We sought to evaluate the available evidence from published and unpublished studies to determine if treatment of helminth infection in HIV-1 co-infected individuals impacts HIV-1 progression. Objectives Our objective was to determine if treating helminth infection in individuals with HIV-1 can reduce the progression of HIV-1 as determined by changes in CD4 count, viral load, or clinical disease progression (including mortality). Search strategy We searched online for published and unpublished studies in The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2006), MEDLINE (November 2006), EMBASE (November 2006), CENTRAL (July 2006), AIDSEARCH (August 2006). We also searched databases listing conference abstracts, scanned reference lists of articles, and contacted authors of included studies. Selection criteria We searched for randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials that compared HIV-1 progression as measured by changes in CD4 count, viral load, or clinical disease progression in HIV-1 infected individuals receiving anti-helminth therapy. Observational studies with relevant data were also included. Data collection and analysis Data regarding changes in CD4 count, HIV-1 RNA levels, clinical staging and/or mortality after treatment of helminth co-infection were extracted from the reports of the studies. Main results Of 6,384 abstracts identified, 15 met criteria for potential inclusion, of which five were eligible for inclusion. In the single randomized controlled trial (RCT) identified, HIV-1 and schistosomiasis co-infected individuals receiving treatment for schistosomiasis had a significantly lower change in plasma HIV-1 RNA over three months (−0.001 log10 copies/mL) compared to those receiving no treatment (+0.21 log10 copies/mL), (p=0.03). Four observational studies met inclusion criteria and all of these suggested a possible beneficial effect of helminth eradication on plasma HIV-1 RNA levels when compared to plasma HIV-1 RNA changes prior to helminth treatment or to helminth-uninfected or persistently helminth-infected individuals. Follow-up duration in these studies ranged from three to six months. The reported magnitude of effect on HIV-1 RNA was variable, ranging from 0.07–1.05 log10 copies/mL. None of the included studies showed a significant benefit of helminth treatment on CD4 decline, clinical staging, or mortality. Authors' conclusions There are insufficient data available to determine the potential benefit of helminth eradication in HIV-1 and helminth co-infected adults. Data from a single RCT and multiple observational studies suggest possible benefit in reducing plasma viral load. The impact of de-worming on markers of HIV-1 progression should be addressed in larger randomized studies evaluating species-specific effects and with a sufficient duration of follow-up to document potential differences on clinical outcomes and CD4 decline. PMID:18254104

Storms in Space: Bringing NASA Earth-Sun Science Educational Resources to Hearing- Impaired Students.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowry, K.; Sindt, M.; Jahn, J.

2007-12-01

Using assistive technology, children with hearing loss can actively participate in the hearing world. However, to develop the necessary skills, hearing-impaired students need to be immersed in a language-rich environment which compensates for the lack of "incidental" learning that typifies the language acquisition of their peers with typical hearing. For any subject matter taught in class, this means that the conceptual and language framework of the topic has to be provided in addition to regular class materials. In a collaboration between the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children and the Southwest Research Institute, we are exploring how NASA-developed educational resources covering Space Science topics can be incorporated successfully in blended classrooms containing children with hearing loss and those with typical hearing in grades 3-5. Utilizing the extensive routine language monitoring performed at Sunshine Cottage, student progress is directly monitored during the year as well as from year to year. This allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the resources used. Since all instruction at Sunshine Cottage is auditory-oral, our experiences in using those materials can be fed back directly into mainstream classrooms of the same grade levels.

Equity in resource allocation for health: a comparative study of the Ashanti and Northern Regions of Ghana.

PubMed

Asante, Augustine Danso; Zwi, Anthony Barry; Ho, Maria Theresa

2006-10-01

Debate over the equitable allocation of financial resources in the health sector has focused overwhelmingly on allocation from national to regional levels. More equitable allocation of such resources within regions has been virtually ignored, creating a vacuum in knowledge regarding how resources are allocated intra-regionally and their potential influence on promoting health equity. In this paper, we report an empirical study examining progress towards equity in intra-regional resource allocation in the Ashanti and Northern regions of Ghana. Relative deprivation across the 31 districts of the two regions was measured as a proxy of health needs. The result was used to develop an equity-adjusted share index (EAS) applied as a yardstick against which progress towards equity was assessed. The study found a significant correlation between districts' share of donor pooled funds (DPF) and the EAS in the Northern region for three of the 4 years investigated. In Ashanti region, a worsening trend in relation to equity in DPF allocation was discovered. The proportion of variance in the share of DPF that could be explained by the EAS reduced incrementally from 56% in 1999 to less than 1% in 2002. The study highlights the need for more emphasis on intra-regional equity in resource allocation in Ghana.

Variation in Phenometric Lapse Rates in Pasture Resources across Four Rayons in Kyrgyzstan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henebry, G. M.; Tomaszewska, M. A.; Kelgenbaeva, K.

2017-12-01

High elevation pasture resources form the foundation of agro-pastoralist livelihoods in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere in montane Central Asia. We explore the temporal and the topographical variation in phenometric lapse rates (PLRs: the change in a phenometric as a function of elevation) across four rayons in two oblasts of the Kyrgyz Republic—Alay, At-Bashy, Chong Alay, and Naryn—with the aim of identifying and quantifying robust generic patterns in the PLRs. We evaluate two fundamental phenometrics derived from the downward convex quadratic model of land surface phenology that links the NDVI to accumulated growing degree-day (AGDD). The peak height (PH) is the maximum NDVI value obtained from the fitted model. The thermal time to peak (TTP) is the amount of AGDD required to reach the PH. We fitted sixteen years of Landsat NDVI data at 30 m spatial resolution to annual AGDD progressions derived from MODIS land surface temperature time series at 1 km spatial resolution, yielding maps for each phenometric. If the coefficient of determination was less than 0.5, then the model fit was deemed a failure. We classified the reliability of pasture resources into five classes based on the number of years of successful model fit: very persistent (14-16 y); persistent (11-13 y); marginal (7-10 y); occasional (4-6); and rare (1-3). We explore the interactive roles of elevation, slope, aspect, latitude, and rayon on the PLRs and pasture resource persistence to identify critical areas for resource management.

A Resource Guide for Information/Library Education in Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zahari, Noor Liza Ahmad

This annotated guide to resources on library and information science education in developing countries includes materials on library schools, training and education of library staff, and the progress of libraries in specific countries. Materials in the guide were selected from the indexes of Library Literature, Library and Information Science…

Information Resources Management (IRM): A Revolution in Progress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Louise Giovane

1980-01-01

Discusses the emergence of information resources management (IRM) as a focus for managing information activities, particularly those related to federal administration. The IRM office and its manager are described within the context of an organization. Impact of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 on IRM is discussed. (SW)

Summary appraisals of the Nation's ground-water resources; Lower Mississippi region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Terry, J.E.; Hosman, R.L.; Bryant, C.T.

1979-01-01

Great advances have been made in hydrologic technology in recent years. Predictive models have been developed that make it possible for the hydroiogist to simulate aquifer responses to proposed development or other stresses. These models would be invaluable tools in progressive water-resources planning and management.

Models and Resources for Advancing Sustainable Institutional and Societal Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Litten, Larry H.; Terkla, Dawn Geronimo

2007-01-01

Institutional researchers can take advantage of a variety of resources for understanding sustainability issues and keeping abreast of developments on this front. Models exist both within and outside of higher education for analyzing and presenting data. Sustainability Indicators in Comprehensive Sustainability Reports and Fact Books are appended.…

Resource Guide to Literature on Barrier-Free Environments with Selected Annotations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, Washington, DC.

The result of a survey of barrier related literature, research, studies, and legislation completed or in progress, the resource guide lists approximately 1,500 citations regarding barrier free access for disabled persons. Bibliographic information (date, title, author, ordering and price specifications, pagination); descriptors; and a brief…

Differential Expression of Social Dominance as a Function of Age and Maltreatment Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teisl, Michael; Rogosch, Fred A.; Oshri, Assaf; Cicchetti, Dante

2012-01-01

Recent perspectives on social dominance in normative populations have suggested a developmental progression from using primarily coercive strategies to incorporation of more socially competent strategies to attain material and social resources. Parental influences on the resource control strategies children use have been proposed but not…

Shared Resources

Treesearch

David B. Butts

1987-01-01

Wildfires do not respect property boundaries. Whole geographic regions are typically impacted by major wildfire outbreaks. Various fire related resources can be shared to solve such crises; whether they are shared, and how they are shared depends to a great extent upon the rapport among the agencies involved. Major progress has been achieved over the past decade...

76 FR 28415 - Fresno County Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-17

... items to be covered include: (1) Accept new project proposals and (2) Review progress and monitoring... Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The Fresno County Resource Advisory Committee will be meeting in Prather, California, June 29, 2011 and July 27, 2011. The purpose of these meetings will be to...

Unesco's General Information Programme for the 80s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). General Information Programme.

Developing countries are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that specialized information is essential to their economic and social development, and that it is an indispensable factor in the rational use of natural resources, the development of human resources, scientific and technological advancement, and progress in agriculture, industry,…

America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty. Elementary Edition. First Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston Independent School District, TX.

These curriculum materials are intended to supplement school resources for elementary school teachers as they deliver instruction. They focus on developing an understanding about the nation's factual and philosophical heritage to promote freedom, unity, progress, and responsibility among students and citizens. The resource points out that the…

Comprehensive Study on Small and Low Cost Satellite Technology for Earth Observation with Case Study for Indonesia: Projection for 2002-2022

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djojodihardjo, Harijono

and economic progress, while facing global competitiveness locally as opportunities and challenges. Of particular importance is the utilization and development of earth observation capabilities for environmental natural resources imperatives to this end is quite significant. On one hand there may appear challenges to achieve unique and high quality requirements on many of the elements of social and economic progress, i.e. natural resources, human resources, market opportunities and geographical advantage; on the other hand one may face constraints in the financial system, cultural inertia and paradigm, and the need to carry forward large momentum that may pull back technological and economic progress that may be characterized by a "roller coaster" dynamics. Satellite Technology for Earth Observation, its Utilization and Development is carried out with Indonesian Development Interest in mind. Space System Services and Players are identified. Mission objectives associated with Urban and Rural Areas as well as Satellite-Based Multimedia Technology Applications For Promoting Rural Development will be identified. System design analysis and synthesis will be elaborated and some alternatives will be presented following a unified system outlook. Ground Segment and Space Segment Architecture will be elaborated by carrying out Architecture Optimization.

Microgravity Science Glovebox

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roark, Walt; Cockrell, Dave; Coker, Cindy; Baugher, Charles

2001-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a versatile research facility designed to permit the flexibility of crew manipulated investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). The MSG configuration has been planned around the concept of an experimental workstation where a variety of experiments can be installed and operated in a fashion very similar to their operation in a ground-based laboratory. The approach has been to provide a large working volume with a significant set of power, data and imaging resources, all enclosed, but accessible by the crew through sealed glove ports. This arrangement allows the advantage of interactive experimentation without unduly compromising the experiment design with restrictions imposed by protective and containment challenges that normally arise in manned space-flight laboratories. In addition, the data and imaging resources allow cooperative monitoring of experiment progress between the crew and ground-based scientists. As ISS utilization evolves, the MSG is scheduled to become a major pathfinder for developing and exploiting the scientific advantages of truly enabling the coupling of experimentation in space with an evaluative response from the crew and investigators.

Library management in the tight budget seventies. Problems, challenges, and opportunities.

PubMed Central

White, H S

1977-01-01

This paper examines changes in the management of university, special, and medical libraries brought about by the budget curtailments that followed the more affluent funding period of the mid-1960s. Based on a study conducted for the National Science Foundation by the Indiana University Graduate Library School, this paper deals with misconceptions that have arisen in the relationship between publishers and librarians, and differentiates between the priority perceptions of academic and of special librarians in the allocation of progressively scarcer resources. It concludes that libraries must make strong efforts to reduce the growing erosion of materials acquisitions budgets because of growing labor costs as a percentage of all library expenditures; that they must make a working reality of the resource-sharing mechanisms established through consortia and networks; and that they must use advanced evaluative techniques in the determination of which services and programs to implement, expand, and retain, and which to curtail and abandon. PMID:831887

The Parliamentarian, NGO and Youth Fora.

PubMed

1999-01-01

Three fora, namely, the Parliamentarian's Forum, the Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Forum, and the Youth Forum, immediately preceded the Hague Forum. Each of the forums assessed achievements in implementing the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD-PA) and formulated recommendations that provided valuable input to the International Forum. The Parliamentarian's Forum, attended by 210 parliamentarians from 103 countries, evaluated the progress in development of the parliamentarians' movement after the ICPD. The parliamentarians focused their discussions on the following priority areas: reproductive health and rights; gender and population; adolescents, youth, the elderly, and persons with disabilities; population, environment, and food security; resource mobilization; economic crises; and parliamentarian networks. The NGO Forum, on the other hand, emphasized the need to achieve consensus on policy formulation that includes NGOs as partners; establish permanent mechanisms for ICPD-PA implementation; and mobilize financial resources for sexual and reproductive health initiatives. Lastly, the Youth Forum highlighted the central role that youth can play in the development of policies and programs for ICPD-PA implementation.

Health care funding in New South Wales: from health care needs to hospital outputs.

PubMed

Hindle, Don

2002-01-01

This paper summarises the structure of the State's health care system, and then focuses on the main processes of resource allocation: needs-based funding of 17 Area Health Services, and output-based funding of specific service providers. The general model is widely accepted by informed observers to be fundamentally sound. In particular, the resource distribution formula whereby needs-based allocations are made is a largely valid model that has been progressively refined over fifteen years and is probably as good as any in the world. I conclude that the recent decision to require Area Health Services to use a common framework for out-put-based funding was long overdue, and that many of its features represent best practice. However, I argue that more should be done to refine some of the details and that NSW Health might need to give more consideration to ideas that have been tested and evaluated in other health care systems.

Assessing the uptake of persistent identifiers by research infrastructure users

PubMed Central

Maull, Keith E.

2017-01-01

Significant progress has been made in the past few years in the development of recommendations, policies, and procedures for creating and promoting citations to data sets, software, and other research infrastructures like computing facilities. Open questions remain, however, about the extent to which referencing practices of authors of scholarly publications are changing in ways desired by these initiatives. This paper uses four focused case studies to evaluate whether research infrastructures are being increasingly identified and referenced in the research literature via persistent citable identifiers. The findings of the case studies show that references to such resources are increasing, but that the patterns of these increases are variable. In addition, the study suggests that citation practices for data sets may change more slowly than citation practices for software and research facilities, due to the inertia of existing practices for referencing the use of data. Similarly, existing practices for acknowledging computing support may slow the adoption of formal citations for computing resources. PMID:28394907

[Reflection on the psychiatric financial allocation in France].

PubMed

Boyer, L; Fond, G; Devictor, B; Samuelian, J-C; Lancon, C; Rouillon, F; Gaillard, R; Zendjidjian, X; Llorca, P-M

2016-08-01

For 25years work has been underway in France for the implementation of an alternative to public financing of health care. In the absence of progress, some regional health agencies are engaged in work related to the reallocation of public finances between psychiatric institutions. We propose a reflection with suggestion on the method proposed by the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur Regional Health Agency. Without questioning the need for a reallocation of resources between psychiatric institutions, the method proposed here needs to evolve further to be applied in a legitimate and appropriate manner. There is a kind of urgency for a reallocation of resources between psychiatric institutions in France, but it implies a collective thinking and especially the definition of evaluation procedures for the selected models. These conditions are necessary to guarantee the quality of French psychiatry and equity in access to psychiatric care. Copyright © 2016 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Response to waste electrical and electronic equipments in China: legislation, recycling system, and advanced integrated process.

PubMed

Zhou, Lei; Xu, Zhenming

2012-05-01

Over the past 30 years, China has been suffering from negative environmental impacts from distempered waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE) recycling activities. For the purpose of environmental protection and resource reusing, China made a great effort to improve WEEE recycling. This article reviews progresses of three major fields in the development of China's WEEE recycling industry: legal system, formal recycling system, and advanced integrated process. Related laws concerning electronic waste (e-waste) management and renewable resource recycling are analyzed from aspects of improvements and loopholes. The outcomes and challenges for existing formal recycling systems are also discussed. The advantage and deficiency related to advanced integrated recycling processes for typical e-wastes are evaluated respectively. Finally, in order to achieve high disposal rates of WEEE, high-quantify separation of different materials in WEEE and high added value final products produced by separated materials from WEEE, an idea of integrated WEEE recycling system is proposed to point future development of WEEE recycling industry. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Predicting reading outcomes with progress monitoring slopes among middle grade students

PubMed Central

Tolar, Tammy D.; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David J.; Vaughn, Sharon

2013-01-01

Effective implementation of response-to-intervention (RTI) frameworks depends on efficient tools for monitoring progress. Evaluations of growth (i.e., slope) may be less efficient than evaluations of status at a single time point, especially if slopes do not add to predictions of outcomes over status. We examined progress monitoring slope validity for predicting reading outcomes among middle school students by evaluating latent growth models for different progress monitoring measure-outcome combinations. We used multi-group modeling to evaluate the effects of reading ability, reading intervention, and progress monitoring administration condition on slope validity. Slope validity was greatest when progress monitoring was aligned with the outcome (i.e., word reading fluency slope was used to predict fluency outcomes in contrast to comprehension outcomes), but effects varied across administration conditions (viz., repeated reading of familiar vs. novel passages). Unless the progress monitoring measure is highly aligned with outcome, slope may be an inefficient method for evaluating progress in an RTI context. PMID:24659899

Psychosocial predictors of coronary artery calcification progression in postmenopausal women.

PubMed

Low, Carissa A; Matthews, Karen A; Kuller, Lewis H; Edmundowicz, Daniel

2011-01-01

Coronary artery calcification (CAC) has been associated with psychosocial factors in some but not all cross-sectional analyses. The goal of this study was to determine whether positive and negative psychosocial factors prospectively predict CAC progression in postmenopausal women. Participants from the Healthy Women Study who also participated in the Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center protocol (n = 149) completed self-report psychosocial measures before two electron beam computed tomographic scans of CAC separated by an average of 3.3 years. Results of exploratory factor analysis were used to create aggregate psychosocial indices: psychological risk (depressive symptoms, perceived stress, cynicism, and anger-in) and psychosocial resources (optimism, purpose in life, mastery, self-esteem, and social support). The psychological risk index predicted significantly greater CAC progression over 3 years (β = 0.16, p = .035, ΔR(2) = 0.03), whereas the psychosocial resources index was not predictive of CAC progression (β = -0.08, p = .30, ΔR(2) = 0.01). On individual scales, higher scores on cynicism emerged as a significant predictor of CAC progression, along with a trend linking anger-in to atherosclerosis progression. A post hoc analysis showed a significant interaction between cynicism and anger-in (β = 0.20, p = .01, ΔR(2) = 0.03), such that women reporting high levels of both cynicism and anger suppression exhibited the most CAC progression. These findings highlight psychosocial risk factors that may accelerate the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in older women, suggest the potential importance of examining combinations of psychosocial risk factors, and identify potential targets for psychological interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk.

Baltimore Community Schools: Promise & Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durham, Rachel E.; Connolly, Faith

2016-01-01

This report documents the interim progress of the Baltimore Community School (CommSch) strategy by examining outcomes for the 2014-15 school year. Results show that CommSch parents more often reported being connected with community resources by school staff compared to parents at other schools. They also were more likely to report that school…

"I'm still me - I'm still here!" Understanding the person's sense of self in the provision of self-management support for people with progressive neurological long-term conditions.

PubMed

Kulnik, Stefan Tino; Hollinshead, Lucinda; Jones, Fiona

2018-01-11

There is increasing interest in tailoring self-management support, but little detail is available on the relevance and impact of such approaches for people with progressive neurological conditions. The aim of this study was to draw on individuals' experiences to inform the practice of self-management support for these groups. Community rehabilitation service users were purposively recruited and took part in in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data analysis was iterative and interpretative, taking a phenomenological approach. Strategies to enhance rigor were auditability, peer review, and researcher reflexivity. The sample consisted of 10 adults (age 20-79 years) who were living with a range of progressive neurological conditions. Individuals demonstrated resourcefulness in developing practice-based self-management strategies. Beyond practical strategies, interviewees' experiences were signified by reflecting on and upholding a sense of identity and a desire for purpose against the background of losses and gains over time. Linking with this overarching theme of "Sense of self" were aspects of "My body and mind", "Time", "Space", "Relationships", and "What I do". Self-management approaches for individuals with progressive neurological conditions will benefit from incorporating ways of recognizing, articulating, and supporting the person's sense of identity and purpose. Implications for rehabilitation Self-management approaches for people with progressive neurological conditions need to take account of individuals' wishes to contribute, connect with others, and be valued as a person. Person-centred self-management support can be realized through a broader approach than solely managing disease progression. The experiences and words of people with progressive neurological conditions can be used to inform meaningful evaluation of self-management support to drive service delivery by measuring what really matters. Rehabilitation practitioners need to adapt their conceptualisations of goal setting to account for how people with progressive neurological conditions themselves interpret "progress" and "improvement". Person-centred conversation that values who the person is can be an effective starting point for self-management interventions in people with progressive neurological conditions.

Formative evaluation of AARP's Active for Life campaign to improve walking and bicycling environments in two cities.

PubMed

Emery, James; Crump, Carolyn; Hawkins, Margaret

2007-10-01

AARP conducted a 2.5-year social-marketing campaign to improve physical activity levels among older adults in Richmond, Virginia and Madison, Wisconsin. This article presents formative evaluation findings from the campaign's policy/environmental change component. Evaluation data were abstracted from technical-assistance documentation and telephone interviews. Results include 11 policy and 14 environmental changes attained or in-process by campaign closure. Differences between the cities' results are explained through differences in program implementation (e.g., types of changes planned, formalization of partnerships). Project teams took less time deciding to pursue policy change than environmental change; however, planning the policy activities took longer than planning environmental-change activities. Recommendations for future policy/environmental change interventions focus on the selection of strategies; planning for administrative resources; formalizing partnerships to ensure sustainability of impact; ensuring training and technical assistance; and documenting progress. Similar intervention results may be attainable with a multi-year timeframe, adequate part-time coordination, and committed volunteers.

A Systematic Review of Health Economics Simulation Models of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

PubMed

Zafari, Zafar; Bryan, Stirling; Sin, Don D; Conte, Tania; Khakban, Rahman; Sadatsafavi, Mohsen

2017-01-01

Many decision-analytic models with varying structures have been developed to inform resource allocation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To review COPD models for their adherence to the best practice modeling recommendations and their assumptions regarding important aspects of the natural history of COPD. A systematic search of English articles reporting on the development or application of a decision-analytic model in COPD was performed in MEDLINE, Embase, and citations within reviewed articles. Studies were summarized and evaluated on the basis of their adherence to the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards. They were also evaluated for the underlying assumptions about disease progression, heterogeneity, comorbidity, and treatment effects. Forty-nine models of COPD were included. Decision trees and Markov models were the most popular techniques (43 studies). Quality of reporting and adherence to the guidelines were generally high, especially in more recent publications. Disease progression was modeled through clinical staging in most studies. Although most studies (n = 43) had incorporated some aspects of COPD heterogeneity, only 8 reported the results across subgroups. Only 2 evaluations explicitly considered the impact of comorbidities. Treatment effect had been mostly modeled (20) as both reduction in exacerbation rate and improvement in lung function. Many COPD models have been developed, generally with similar structural elements. COPD is highly heterogeneous, and comorbid conditions play an important role in its burden. These important aspects, however, have not been adequately addressed in most of the published models. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Final Report for Annex II--Assessment of Solar Radiation Resources In Saudi Arabia, 1998-2000

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

Myers, D. R.; Wilcox, S. M.; Marion, W. F.

2002-04-01

The Final Report for Annex II - Assessment of Solar Radiation Resources in Saudi Arabia 1998-2000 summarizes the accomplishment of work performed, results achieved, and products produced under Annex II, a project established under the Agreement for Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy Research and Development between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The report covers work and accomplishments from January 1998 to December 2000. A previous progress report, Progress Report for Annex II - Assessment of Solar Radiation Resources in Saudi Arabia 1993-1997, NREL/TP-560-29374, summarizes earlier work and technical transfer of information under the project.more » The work was performed in at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and at selected weather stations of the Saudi Meteorological and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA).« less

From leaf to basin: evaluating the impacts of introduced plant species on evapotranspiration fluxes from riparian ecosystems in the southwestern U.S

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hultine, K. R.; Bush, S.; Nagler, P. L.; Morino, K.; Burtch, K.; Dennison, P. E.; Glenn, E. P.; Ehleringer, J.

2010-12-01

Global change processes such as climate change and intensive land use pose significant threats to water resources, particularly in arid regions where potential evapotranspiration far exceeds annual rainfall. Potentially compounding these shortages is the progressive expansion of introduced plant species in riparian areas along streams, canals and rivers in geographically arid regions. The question of whether these invasive species have had or will have impacts on water resources is currently under intense debate. We identify a framework for assessing when and where introduced riparian plant species are likely to have the highest potential impact on hydrologic fluxes of arid and semi-arid river systems. We focus on three introduced plant systems that currently dominate southwestern U.S. riparian forests: tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), Russian olive (Eleagnus angustifolia), and Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens). Our framework focuses on two main criteria: 1) the ecophysiological traits that promote establishment of invasive species across environmental gradients, and 2) an assessment of how hydrologic fluxes are altered by the establishment of introduced species at varying scales. The framework identifies when and where introduced species should have the highest potential impact on the water cycle. This framework will assist land managers and policy makers with restoration and conservation priorities to preserve water resources and valued riparian habitat given limited economic resources.

Community participation in primary health care projects of the Muldersdrift Health and Development Programme.

PubMed

Barker, M; Klopper, H

2007-06-01

After numerous teething problems (1974-1994), the Department of Nursing Education of WITS University took responsibility for the Muldersdrift Health and Development Programme (MHDP). The nursing science students explored and implemented an empowerment approach to community participation. The students worked with MHDP health workers to improve health through community participation, in combination with primary health care (PHC) activities and the involvement of a variety of community groups. As the PHC projects evolved over time, the need arose to evaluate the level of community participation and how much community ownership was present over decision-making and resources. This led to the question "What was the level of community participation in PHC projects of the MHDP?" Based on the question the following objectives were set, i.e. (i) to evaluate the community participation in PHC initiatives; (ii) to provide the project partners with motivational affirmation on the level of community participation criteria thus far achieved; (iii) to indicate to participants the mechanisms that should still be implemented if they wanted to advance to higher levels of community participation; (iv) to evaluate the MHDP's implementation of a people-centred approach to community participation in PHC; and (v) the evaluation of the level of community participation in PHC projects in the MHDP. An evaluative, descriptive, contextual and quantitative research design was used. Ethical standards were adhered to throughout the study. The MHDP had a study population of twenty-three (N=23) PHC projects. A purposive sample of seven PHC initiatives was chosen according to specific selection criteria and evaluated according to the "Criteria to evaluate community participation in PHC projects" instrument (a quantitative tool). Structured group interviews were done with PHC projects' executive committee members. The Joint Management Committee's data was collected through mailed self-administered questionnaires. Validity and reliability were ensured according to strict criteria. Thereafter results were analysed and plotted on a radiating arm continuum. The following factors had component scores: organization, leadership, resources, management; needs and skills. A spider graph was produced after each factor's continuum was connected in a spoke figuration that brought them together at the base where participation was at its most narrow. The results are presented and a graph and discussion is provided on each of the PHC projects. The research results indicated that although community participation was broadened, there was minimal success in forcing a shift in power over decision-making and resources. This demonstrated that power over planning and resources should remain in the hands of the partners if community participation was to remain progressive and sustained. Results furthermore indicated that the people-centred approach to With regard to the Joint Management Committee's evaluation of community participation, it was concluded that power over decision-making and resources remained with health professionals rather than with the community, and that a people-centred approach had not been adopted.

DNA-informed breeding of rosaceous crops: promises, progress and prospects

PubMed Central

Peace, Cameron P

2017-01-01

Crops of the Rosaceae family provide valuable contributions to rural economies and human health and enjoyment. Sustained solutions to production challenges and market demands can be met with genetically improved new cultivars. Traditional rosaceous crop breeding is expensive and time-consuming and would benefit from improvements in efficiency and accuracy. Use of DNA information is becoming conventional in rosaceous crop breeding, contributing to many decisions and operations, but only after past decades of solved challenges and generation of sufficient resources. Successes in deployment of DNA-based knowledge and tools have arisen when the ‘chasm’ between genomics discoveries and practical application is bridged systematically. Key steps are establishing breeder desire for use of DNA information, adapting tools to local breeding utility, identifying efficient application schemes, accessing effective services in DNA-based diagnostics and gaining experience in integrating DNA information into breeding operations and decisions. DNA-informed germplasm characterization for revealing identity and relatedness has benefitted many programs and provides a compelling entry point to reaping benefits of genomics research. DNA-informed germplasm evaluation for predicting trait performance has enabled effective reallocation of breeding resources when applied in pioneering programs. DNA-based diagnostics is now expanding from specific loci to genome-wide considerations. Realizing the full potential of this expansion will require improved accuracy of predictions, multi-trait DNA profiling capabilities, streamlined breeding information management systems, strategies that overcome plant-based features that limit breeding progress and widespread training of current and future breeding personnel and allied scientists. PMID:28326185

Influence in times of crisis: how social and financial resources affect men's and women's evaluations of glass-cliff positions.

PubMed

Rink, Floor; Ryan, Michelle K; Stoker, Janka I

2012-01-01

In two scenario-based studies, we found that women and men evaluate glass-cliff positions (i.e., precarious leadership positions at organizations in crisis) differently depending on the social and financial resources available. Female and male participants evaluated a hypothetical leadership position in which they would have both social and financial resources, financial resources but no social resources, or social resources but no financial resources. Women evaluated the position without social resources most negatively, whereas men evaluated the position without financial resources most negatively. In study 2, we found that women and men considered different issues when evaluating these leadership positions. Women's evaluations and expected levels of influence as leaders depended on the degree to which they expected to be accepted by subordinates. In contrast, men's evaluations and expected levels of acceptance by subordinates depended on the degree to which they expected to be influential in the position. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the glass-cliff phenomenon and gendered leadership stereotypes.

NRC assessment of improvements in licensee procurement and dedication programs

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

Grimes, B.K.; Potapovs, U.; Campbell, L.L.

1991-01-01

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently conducted a series of on-site assessments at selected nuclear plants to review improvements that the licenses had made to their procurement and dedication activities. The assessments included an evaluation of the progress made by licensees to strengthen their commercial-grade dedication programs to comply with 10CRF50, Appendix B, and to implement the comprehensive procurement improvements suggested in Nuclear Management and Resource Council (NUMARC) publication 901-3. This paper discusses the overall purpose of the assessments, procurement areas assessed, major strengths and weaknesses identified in licensee procurement programs, and the NRC's perspective of the industry's responsemore » to NUMARC procurement initiatives.« less

Measuring software development characteristics in the local environment. [considering project requirements for spacecraft control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basili, V. R.; Zelkowitz, M. V.

1978-01-01

In a brief evaluation of software-related considerations, it is found that suitable approaches for software development depend to a large degree on the characteristics of the particular project involved. An analysis is conducted of development problems in an environment in which ground support software is produced for spacecraft control. The amount of work involved is in the range from 6 to 10 man-years. Attention is given to a general project summary, a programmer/analyst survey, a component summary, a component status report, a resource summary, a change report, a computer program run analysis, aspects of data collection on a smaller scale, progress forecasting, problems of overhead, and error analysis.

Health effects research program. Summary report for fiscal years 1974-1978

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

Thomas, R.D.; Taylor, A.D.; Gordon, J.G.

1979-12-01

The Federal Interagency Energy/Environment Research and Development Program which is coordinated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was initiated in the latter half of fiscal year 1974 to ensure that health and environmental problems related to energy resource development would be anticipated and evaluated. This document provides an overview of the Interagency-supported health effects research program from an administrative as well as various technical perspectives. In this updated program review, which is based on the individual task progress reports available for fiscal years 1974 through 1978, the research projects are reviewed and discussed according to King-Muir objectives and selected scientificmore » discipline, biological endpoint, and agent/pollutant categories.« less

Operational Concept Evaluation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Space Vehicle Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poast, Kenneth I.

2011-01-01

With the end of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA is evaluating many different technologies to support future missions. Green propellants, like liquid methane and liquid oxygen, have potential advantages for some applications. A Lander propelled with LOX/methane engines is one such application. When the total vehicle design and infrastructure are considered, the advantages of the integration of propulsion, heat rejection, life support and power generation become attractive for further evaluation. Scavenged residual propellants from the propulsion tanks could be used to generate needed electric power, heat and water with a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell(SOFC). In-Situ Resource Utilization(ISRU) technologies may also generate quantities of green propellants to refill these tanks and/or supply these fuel cells. Technology demonstration projects such as the Morpheus Lander are currently underway to evaluate the practicality of such designs and operational concepts. Tethered tests are currently in progress on this vertical test bed to evaluate the propulsion and avionics systems. Evaluation of the SOFC seeks to determine the feasibility of using these green propellants to supply power and identify the limits to the integration of this technology into a space vehicle prototype.

[Reasearch progress in health economic evaluation of colorectal cancer screening in China].

PubMed

Huang, Huiyao; Shi, Jufang; Dai, Min

2015-08-01

Burden of colorectal cancer is rising in China. More attention and financial input have been paid to it by central government that colorectal cancer screening program has been carried out recently in many areas in China. Diversity of screening strategies and limited health resources render selecting the best strategy in a population-wide program a challenging task that economy was also required to be considered except safety and efficacy. To provide a reference for the subsequent further economic evaluation, here we reviewed the evidence available on the economic evaluation of colorectal cancer screening in China. Meanwhile, information related to screening strategies, participation and mid-term efficacy of screening, information and results on economic evaluation were extracted and summarized. Three of the four studies finally included evaluated strategies combining immunochemical fecel occult blood test (iFOBT) with high-risk factor questionnaire as initial screening, colonoscopy as diagnostic screening. There was a consensus regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of screening compared to no screening. Whereas the lack and poor comparability between studies, multi-perspective and multi-phase economic evaluation of colorectal cancer screening is needed, relying on current population-based screening program to conduct a comprehensive cost accounting.

Communities Around the World. Our Community: Economic Aspects. Teacher's Resource Unit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Project Social Studies Curriculum Center.

Teaching strategies for the study of the economic aspects of the student's own community are emphasized in this resource unit developed from materials produced by the Project Social Studies Curriculum Center. This unit should make progress toward teaching children the following: 1) concepts: consumer, producer, capital goods, durable goods,…

The Indian Resources Development and Internship Program (IRDI), Fiscal Year 1979-1980. Annual Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces.

The Indian Resources Development and Internship (IRDI) Program marked its fifth year by continuing to assist Indian tribes in developing a managerial, professional, and scientific corps of American Indians through college academic education and related practical work experience. Participants attended universities and pursued majors of their…

What's in a Title? Gender Micro-Inequities in a University Human Resources Database

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saporu, Darlene F.; Herbers, Joan M.

2015-01-01

Men and women are perceived differently, and those perceptions can be damaging in a professional context. Unconscious bias expressed within work environments can introduce "micro-inequities" that impede career progression for women compared to men. This study examines title prefixes for faculty in the human resources database of a large…

Incentivizing the Production and Use of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annand, David; Jensen, Tilly

2017-01-01

Substituting open educational resources (OER) for commercially-produced textbooks results in demonstrable cost savings for students in most higher education institutions. Yet OER are still not widely used, and progress toward large-scale adoption in most colleges and universities has been slow. This article reviews the literature informing…

Redesign of Library Workflows: Experimental Models for Electronic Resource Description.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calhoun, Karen

This paper explores the potential for and progress of a gradual transition from a highly centralized model for cataloging to an iterative, collaborative, and broadly distributed model for electronic resource description. The purpose is to alert library managers to some experiments underway and to help them conceptualize new methods for defining,…

Advancing water resource management in agricultural, rural, and urbanizing watersheds: Enhancing University involvement

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In this research editorial we make four points relative to solving water resource issues: (1) they are complex problems and difficult to solve, (2) some progress has been made on solving these issues, (3) external non-stationary drivers such as land use changes, climate change and variability, and s...

Inland water resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The work is reported of the panel concerning the application of space technology to the improved management of the nation's inland resources. The progress since the 1967-68 study is briefly reviewed. The data needed for the management of inlet water ways, and the potential benefits of better management are discussed along with 16 proposed demonstration projects.

University and Polytechnic Objectives, Resource Allocation and Performance Indices in the Central Services. Program on Institutional Management in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Graeme, Ed.

Research progress by member institutions is reviewed with regard to university administration, computing, committees, libraries, and student welfare. Consideration is given to effectiveness and efficiency, management information, management by objectives, periodic review of objectives, strategy, and analytic resource allocation. Two research…

Financing Education: Why Should Tax Justice Be Part of the Solution?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ron Balsera, Maria; Klees, Steven J.; Archer, David

2018-01-01

This forum seeks to problematise issues related to the lack of resources to adequately finance public education systems. It explores potential solutions based on increased domestic resource mobilisation through progressive taxation in order to meet the growing financing gap needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. While many…

ENERGY FROM THE WEST: A PROGRESS REPORT OF A TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT OF WESTERN ENERGY RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EPA Science Inventory

This report covers a three year technology assessment of the development of six energy resources (coal, geothermal, natural gas, oil, oil shale, and uranium) in eight western states (Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming) during the period fr...

ENERGY FROM THE WEST: A PROGRESS REPORT OF A TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT OF WESTERN ENERGY RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT. VOLUME I. SUMMARY REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

This report discusses development of six energy resources (coal, geothermal, natural gas, oil, oil shale, and uranium) in eight western states (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming) during the period from the present to the year 20...

U.S. Sorghum genetic resources collection: 15 years of progress (2001-2016)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The U.S. sorghum genetic resources collection at Griffin, GA, is one of the largest collections in the National Plant Germplasm System. In 2001, improved maintenance was greatly needed as accessions weren’t regenerated routinely, viability tests weren’t conducted, and most seed was stored in 4C inst...

Consumer Education: Ecological Resource Management. Home & Family Life Curriculum Guide: H.E. Bulletin No. 43.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Olympia.

The future ability of secondary students to interact in a progressively technologically-oriented society is the purpose of this curriculum guide on consumer education. The guide teaches consumer decision-making, resource management, and advocacy/action. The introduction discusses the future of society and technology. Each of three sections…

Human Resource Education in the Middle East Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dirani, Khalil M.; Hamie, Christine Silva

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of human resource development (HRD) education in Middle Eastern countries. In particular, the authors discuss the current state of HRD education, country readiness and challenges that hinder HRD progress in Middle Eastern countries. They argue that HRD programs need to prepare young…

A Case Study Optimizing Human Resources in Rwanda's First Dental School: Three Innovative Management Tools.

PubMed

Hackley, Donna M; Mumena, Chrispinus H; Gatarayiha, Agnes; Cancedda, Corrado; Barrow, Jane R

2018-06-01

Harvard School of Dental Medicine, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, and the University of Rwanda (UR) are collaborating to create Rwanda's first School of Dentistry as part of the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Rwanda initiative that aims to strengthen the health care system of Rwanda. The HRH oral health team developed three management tools to measure progress in systems-strengthening efforts: 1) the road map is an operations plan for the entire dental school and facilitates delivery of the curriculum and management of human and material resources; 2) each HRH U.S. faculty member develops a work plan with targeted deliverables for his or her rotation, which is facilitated with biweekly flash reports that measure progress and keep the faculty member focused on his or her specific deliverables; and 3) the redesigned HRH twinning model, changed from twinning of an HRH faculty member with a single Rwandan faculty member to twinning with multiple Rwandan faculty members based on shared academic interests and goals, has improved efficiency, heightened engagement of the UR dental faculty, and increased the impact of HRH U.S. faculty members. These new tools enable the team to measure its progress toward the collaborative's goals and understand the successes and challenges in moving toward the planned targets. The tools have been valuable instruments in fostering discussion around priorities and deployment of resources as well as in developing strong relationships, enabling two-way exchange of knowledge, and promoting sustainability.

The global survey of physicists: A collaborative effort illuminates the situation of women in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivie, Rachel; Tesfaye, Casey Langer; Czujko, Roman; Chu, Raymond

2013-03-01

The results of the Global Survey of Physicists draw attention to the need to focus on factors other than representation when discussing the situation of women in physics. Previous studies of women in physics have mostly focused on the lack of women in the field. This study goes beyond the obvious shortage of women and shows that there are much deeper issues. For the first time, a multinational study was conducted with approximately 15,000 respondents from 130 countries, showing that problems for women in physics transcend national borders. Across all countries, women have fewer resources and opportunities and are more affected by cultural expectations concerning child care. We show that limited resources and opportunities hurt career progress, and because women have fewer opportunities and resources, their careers progress more slowly. We also show the disproportionate effects of children on women physicists' careers. Cultural expectations about home and family are difficult to change. However, for women to have successful outcomes and advance in physics, they must have equal access to resources and opportunities.

Measuring the evolution and output of cross-disciplinary collaborations within the NCI Physical Sciences–Oncology Centers Network

PubMed Central

Basner, Jodi E.; Theisz, Katrina I.; Jensen, Unni S.; Jones, C. David; Ponomarev, Ilya; Sulima, Pawel; Jo, Karen; Eljanne, Mariam; Espey, Michael G.; Franca-Koh, Jonathan; Hanlon, Sean E.; Kuhn, Nastaran Z.; Nagahara, Larry A.; Schnell, Joshua D.; Moore, Nicole M.

2013-01-01

Development of effective quantitative indicators and methodologies to assess the outcomes of cross-disciplinary collaborative initiatives has the potential to improve scientific program management and scientific output. This article highlights an example of a prospective evaluation that has been developed to monitor and improve progress of the National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences—Oncology Centers (PS-OC) program. Study data, including collaboration information, was captured through progress reports and compiled using the web-based analytic database: Interdisciplinary Team Reporting, Analysis, and Query Resource. Analysis of collaborations was further supported by data from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database, MEDLINE database, and a web-based survey. Integration of novel and standard data sources was augmented by the development of automated methods to mine investigator pre-award publications, assign investigator disciplines, and distinguish cross-disciplinary publication content. The results highlight increases in cross-disciplinary authorship collaborations from pre- to post-award years among the primary investigators and confirm that a majority of cross-disciplinary collaborations have resulted in publications with cross-disciplinary content that rank in the top third of their field. With these evaluation data, PS-OC Program officials have provided ongoing feedback to participating investigators to improve center productivity and thereby facilitate a more successful initiative. Future analysis will continue to expand these methods and metrics to adapt to new advances in research evaluation and changes in the program. PMID:24808632

Effective social justice advocacy: a theory-of-change framework for assessing progress.

PubMed

Klugman, Barbara

2011-11-01

This article offers a theory-of-change framework for social justice advocacy. It describes broad outcome categories against which activists, donors and evaluators can assess progress (or lack thereof) in an ongoing manner: changes in organisational capacity, base of support, alliances, data and analysis from a social justice perspective, problem definition and potential policy options, visibility, public norms, and population level impacts. Using these for evaluation enables activists and donors to learn from and rethink their strategies as the political context and/or actors change over time. The paper presents a case study comparing factors that facilitated reproductive rights policy wins during the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa and factors that undermined their implementation in the post-apartheid period. It argues that after legal and policy victories had been won, failure to maintain strong organizations and continually rethink strategies contributed to the loss of government focus on and resources for implementation of new policies. By implication, evaluating effectiveness only by an actual policy change does not allow for ongoing learning to ensure appropriate strategies. It also fails to recognise that a policy win can be overturned and needs vigilant monitoring and advocacy for implementation. This means that funding and organising advocacy should seldom be undertaken as a short-term proposition. It also suggests that the building and maintenance of organisational and leadership capacity is as important as any other of the outcome categories in enabling success. Copyright © 2011 Foundation Review. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discussion of death and dying in surgical textbooks.

PubMed

Easson, A M; Crosby, J A; Librach, S L

2001-07-01

Quality end-of-life care is an increasing concern for the public and the medical profession. Surgical textbooks could serve as an important educational and reference resource to improve this care. Four general surgical textbooks were scored for helpful information on death and dying for eight surgical diseases. For each disease, nine content domains related to care of the dying patient were evaluated. Three texts included a chapter on cancer that was evaluated separately. Disease epidemiology, prognosis/prevention, progression, and medical interventions were generally well discussed in all textbooks. However, little helpful information was provided with regards to breaking bad news/advanced care planning, mode of death, treatment decision-making, effect on family/surgeon, and symptom management. Cancer chapters also addressed only a few of these concerns. Death and the dying patient are sufficiently frequent in surgical practice that it would be appropriate to increase the amount of information provided.

Why Do Health Economists Promote Technology Adoption Rather Than the Search for Efficiency? A Proposal for a Change in Our Approach to Economic Evaluation in Health Care.

PubMed

Scotland, Graham; Bryan, Stirling

2017-02-01

At a time of intense pressure on health care budgets, the technology management challenge is for disinvestment in low-value technologies and reinvestment in higher value alternatives. The aim of this article is to explore ways in which health economists might begin to redress the observed imbalance between the evaluation of new and existing in-use technologies. The argument is not against evaluating new technologies but in favor of the "search for efficiency," where the ultimate objective is to identify reallocations that improve population health in the face of resource scarcity. We explore why in-use technologies may be of low value and consider how economic evaluation analysts might embrace a broader efficiency lens, first through "technology management" (a process of analysis and evidence-informed decision making throughout a technology's life cycle) and progressing through "pathway management" (the search for efficiency gains across entire clinical care pathways). A number of model-based examples are used to illustrate the approaches.

Technology in Education. The Progress of Education Reform, 2006. Volume 6, Number 6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiss, Suzanne

2006-01-01

For policymakers, educators and others interested in learning more about the one-to-one computing movement, this issue of "The Progress of Education Reform" spotlights three particularly useful resources: (1) a detailed review of the challenges faced by states and districts implementing laptop programs, and of lessons learned to date in…

Monitoring road safety development at regional level: A case study in the ASEAN region.

PubMed

Chen, Faan; Wang, Jianjun; Wu, Jiaorong; Chen, Xiaohong; Zegras, P Christopher

2017-09-01

Persistent monitoring of progress, evaluating the results of interventions and recalibrating to achieve continuous improvement over time is widely recognized as being crucial towards the successful development of road safety. In the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region there is a lack of well-resourced teams that contain multidisciplinary safety professionals, and specialists in individual countries, who are able to carry out this work effectively. In this context, not only must the monitoring framework be effective, it must also be easy to use and adapt. This paper provides a case study that can be easily reproduced; based on an updated and refined Road Safety Development Index (RSDI), by means of the RSR (Rank-sum ratio)-based model, for monitoring/reporting road safety development at regional level. The case study was focused on the road safety achievements in eleven Southeast Asian countries; identifying the areas of poor performance, potential problems and delays. These countries are finally grouped into several classes based on an overview of their progress and achievements regarding to road safety. The results allow the policymakers to better understand their own road safety progress toward their desired impact; more importantly, these results enable necessary interventions to be made in a quick and timely manner. Keeping action plans on schedule if things are not progressing as desired. This would avoid 'reinventing the wheel' and trial and error approaches to road safety, making the implementation of action plans more effective. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-country analysis of strategies for achieving progress towards global goals for women's and children's health.

PubMed

Ahmed, Syed Masud; Rawal, Lal B; Chowdhury, Sadia A; Murray, John; Arscott-Mills, Sharon; Jack, Susan; Hinton, Rachael; Alam, Prima M; Kuruvilla, Shyama

2016-05-01

To identify how 10 low- and middle-income countries achieved accelerated progress, ahead of comparable countries, towards meeting millennium development goals 4 and 5A to reduce child and maternal mortality. We synthesized findings from multistakeholder dialogues and country policy reports conducted previously for the Success Factors studies in 10 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Viet Nam. A framework approach was used to analyse and synthesize the data from the country reports, resulting in descriptive or explanatory conclusions by theme. Successful policy and programme approaches were categorized in four strategic areas: leadership and multistakeholder partnerships; health sector; sectors outside health; and accountability for resources and results. Consistent and coordinated inputs across sectors, based on high-impact interventions, were assessed. Within the health sector, key policy and programme strategies included defining standards, collecting and using data, improving financial protection, and improving the availability and quality of services. Outside the health sector, strategies included investing in girls' education, water, sanitation and hygiene, poverty reduction, nutrition and food security, and infrastructure development. Countries improved accountability by strengthening and using data systems for planning and evaluating progress. Reducing maternal and child mortality in the 10 fast-track countries can be linked to consistent and coordinated policy and programme inputs across health and other sectors. The approaches used by successful countries have relevance to other countries looking to scale-up or accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals.

Behavior of wet precast beam column connections under progressive collapse scenario: an experimental study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nimse, Rohit B.; Joshi, Digesh D.; Patel, Paresh V.

2014-12-01

Progressive collapse denotes a failure of a major portion of a structure that has been initiated by failure of a relatively small part of the structure such as failure of any vertical load carrying element (typically columns). Failure of large part of any structure will results into substantial loss of human lives and natural resources. Therefore, it is important to prevent progressive collapse which is also known as disproportionate collapse. Nowadays, there is an increasing trend toward construction of buildings using precast concrete. In precast concrete construction, all the components of structures are produced in controlled environment and they are being transported to the site. At site such individual components are connected appropriately. Connections are the most critical elements of any precast structure, because in past major collapse of precast structure took place because of connection failure. In this study, behavior of three different 1/3rd scaled wet precast beam column connections under progressive collapse scenario are studied and its performance is compared with monolithic connection. Precast connections are constructed by adopting different connection detailing at the junction by considering reinforced concrete corbel for two specimens and steel billet for one specimen. Performance of specimen is evaluated on the basis of ultimate load carrying capacity, maximum deflection and deflection measured along the span of the beam. From the results, it is observed that load carrying capacity and ductility of precast connections considered in this study are more than that of monolithic connections.

A fuzzy logic expert system for evaluating policy progress towards sustainability goals.

PubMed

Cisneros-Montemayor, Andrés M; Singh, Gerald G; Cheung, William W L

2017-12-16

Evaluating progress towards environmental sustainability goals can be difficult due to a lack of measurable benchmarks and insufficient or uncertain data. Marine settings are particularly challenging, as stakeholders and objectives tend to be less well defined and ecosystem components have high natural variability and are difficult to observe directly. Fuzzy logic expert systems are useful analytical frameworks to evaluate such systems, and we develop such a model here to formally evaluate progress towards sustainability targets based on diverse sets of indicators. Evaluation criteria include recent (since policy enactment) and historical (from earliest known state) change, type of indicators (state, benefit, pressure, response), time span and spatial scope, and the suitability of an indicator in reflecting progress toward a specific objective. A key aspect of the framework is that all assumptions are transparent and modifiable to fit different social and ecological contexts. We test the method by evaluating progress towards four Aichi Biodiversity Targets in Canadian oceans, including quantitative progress scores, information gaps, and the sensitivity of results to model and data assumptions. For Canadian marine systems, national protection plans and biodiversity awareness show good progress, but species and ecosystem states overall do not show strong improvement. Well-defined goals are vital for successful policy implementation, as ambiguity allows for conflicting potential indicators, which in natural systems increases uncertainty in progress evaluations. Importantly, our framework can be easily adapted to assess progress towards policy goals with different themes, globally or in specific regions.

An evaluation method of the sustainability of water resource in karst region: a case study of Zunyi, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bo; Wang, Ganlu; Ding, Hanghang; Chen, Yulong

2017-06-01

Water resource is of great significance to the survival and development of human. However, the water resource system in karst regions is sensitive to external interference owing to the special geological processes which cause soil impoverishment, severe rocky desertification and large topographic height difference. Therefore, evaluating the sustainability of the water resource in karst regions is beneficial to reasonably use and protect water resource. This paper puts forward to evaluate the water resource from four aspects, including water resources system, water requirement system, ecosystem and social economic system. Moreover, on this basis, 18 evaluation indexes were selected to construct the sustainability evaluation index system and method. This method was used to evaluate the sustainability of the water resource in the typical karst region—Zunyi, Guizhou province, China, and was verified according to the actual situation in the research area. All these provide reference for the evaluation of the sustainability of the water resource in similar regions.

[Evaluation of comprehensive capacity of resources and environments in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone].

PubMed

Song, Yan-Chun; Yu, Dan

2014-10-01

With the development of the society and economy, the contradictions among population, resources and environment are increasingly worse. As a result, the capacity of resources and environment becomes one of the focal issues for many countries and regions. Through investigating and analyzing the present situation and the existing problems of resources and environment in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone, seven factors were chosen as the evaluation criterion layer, namely, land resources, water resources, biological resources, mineral resources, ecological-geological environment, water environment and atmospheric environment. Based on the single factor evaluation results and with the county as the evaluation unit, the comprehensive capacity of resources and environment was evaluated by using the state space method in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone. The results showed that it boasted abundant biological resources, quality atmosphere and water environment, and relatively stable geological environment, while restricted by land resource, water resource and mineral resource. Currently, although the comprehensive capacity of the resources and environments in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone was not overloaded as a whole, it has been the case in some counties/districts. State space model, with clear indication and high accuracy, could serve as another approach to evaluating comprehensive capacity of regional resources and environment.

Terrestrial tight oil reservoir characteristics and Graded Resource Assessment in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shejiao; Wu, Xiaozhi; Guo, Giulin

2016-04-01

The success of shale/tight plays and the advanced exploitation technology applied in North America have triggered interest in exploring and exploiting tight oil in China. Due to the increased support of exploration and exploitation，great progress has been made in Erdos basin, Songliao basin, Junggar basin, Santanghu basin, Bohai Bay basin, Qaidam Basin, and Sichuan basin currently. China's first tight oil field has been found in Erdos basin in 2015, called xinanbian oil field, with over one hundred million tons oil reserves and one million tons of production scale. Several hundred million tons of tight oil reserve has been found in other basins, showing a great potential in China. Tight oil in China mainly developed in terrestrial sedimentary environment. According to the relations of source rock and reservoir, the source-reservoir combination of tight oil can be divided into three types, which are bottom generating and top storing tight oil,self- generating and self-storing tight oil，top generating and bottom storing tight oil. The self- generating and self-storing tight oil is the main type discovered at present. This type of tight oil has following characteristics:(1) The formation and distribution of tight oil are controlled by high quality source rocks. Terrestrial tight oil source rocks in China are mainly formed in the deep to half deep lacustrine facies. The lithology includes dark mudstone, shale, argillaceous limestone and dolomite. These source rocks with thickness between 20m-150m, kerogen type mostly I-II, and peak oil generation thermal maturity(Ro 0.6-1.4%), have great hydrocarbon generating potential. Most discovered tight oil is distributed in the area of TOC greater than 2 %.( 2) the reservoir with strong heterogeneity is very tight. In these low porosity and permeability reservoir,the resources distribution is controlled by the physical property. Tight sandstone, carbonate and hybrid sedimentary rocks are three main tight reservoir types in China. The porosity is 2-14%(average 5-10%)and the permeability is less than 1mD. The laboratory test and exploration practice confirmed that the oil content was positively related to physical property. The higher the porosity, the better the oil content will have. (3) Source rock and reservoir are superimposed. From the contact relationship of source rock and reservoir, the reservoir developed in the source rock has the advantage of capturing oil and gas, so the oil saturation can be as high as 70-80%. (4) The increased pressure caused by hydrocarbon generation and the connected fracture are the key factors for tight oil accumulation. The Fuyu tight oil formed underling source rock in Songliao Basin is a good example. The fracture system is the key factor for tight oil accumulation. Considering the strong heterogeneity of terrestrial tight oil reservoir in china, we create hierarchical resource abundance analogy, EUR analogy, cell element volumetric methods to evaluate tight oil resource potential. In order to find exploration "sweet spots", establishing tight oil resource classification evaluation standards are key steps to objectively evaluate tight oil resource distribution. The resource classification evaluation standards are established by the relationship analysis between reservoir properties and oil properties, and the correlation analysis between production, resource abundance, and reservoir thickness. The first-grade tight oil resource, which is recently available and can easily be developed, has following main parameters: the porosity is greater than 8%, thickness is over 10m, resource abundance is above 150,000 tons / km2, and pressure coefficient is greater than 1.3; The second-grade tight oil resource is currently unavailable, but with advanced technology can expected to be developed. The main parameters are as following: the porosity is 5% -8%, thickness is less than 5-10m, resource abundance is 50000-150000 tons / km2, the pressure coefficient is 1.0 to 1.3; The third-grade resource has poor quality, need long-term to be effective explored, has following main parameters: porosity is less than 5%, the thickness is less than 5m, resource abundance is less than 50,000 tons / km2, the pressure coefficient is less than 1.0. Using created resource evaluation methods, the tight oil resources has been calculated in china. The first-grade recoverable resource of tight oil is about 610 million tons. The second-grade recoverable resource is 450 million tons. And the third-grade recoverable resource is 400 million tons. The first-grade and second-grade recoverable resources are mainly distributed in the Ordos basin, Bohai Bay basin, Songliao basin, Junggar basin, and Qaidam Basin. The third-grade resources are mainly distributed in Sichuan and Santanghu basin.

Protecting resources for primary health care under fiscal federalism: options for resource allocation.

PubMed

Okorafor, Okore A; Thomas, Stephen

2007-11-01

The introduction of fiscal federalism or decentralization of functions to lower levels of government is a reform not done primarily with health sector concerns. A major concern for the health sector is that devolution of expenditure responsibilities to sub-national levels of government can adversely affect the equitable distribution of financial resources across local jurisdictions. Since the adoption of fiscal federalism in South Africa, progress towards achieving a more equitable distribution of public sector health resources (financial) has slowed down considerably. This study attempts to identify appropriate resource allocation mechanisms under the current South African fiscal federal system that could be employed to promote equity in primary health care (PHC) allocations across provinces and districts. The study uses data from interviews with government officials involved in the budgeting and resource allocation process for PHC, literature on fiscal federalism and literature on international experience to inform analysis and recommendations. The results from the study identify historical incremental budgeting, weak managerial capacity at lower levels of government, poor accounting of PHC expenditure, and lack of protection for PHC funds as constraints to the realization of a more equitable distribution of PHC allocations. Based on interview data, no one resource allocation mechanism received unanimous support from stakeholders. However, the study highlights the particularly high level of autonomy enjoyed by provincial governments with regards to decision making for allocations to health and PHC services as the major constraint to achieving a more equitable distribution of PHC resources. The national government needs to have more involvement in decision making for resource allocation to PHC services if significant progress towards equity is to be achieved.

ERIC Annual Report, 1999: Summarizing the Recent Accomplishments of the Educational Resources Information Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smarte, Lynn

This 1999 annual report, summarizing the accomplishments of the Educational Resources Information System (ERIC) system in 1998, begins with a section that highlights progress towards meeting goals, as well as selected statistics. The second section, comprising the bulk of the report, provides an overview of ERIC, including the ERIC database, user…

ERIC Annual Report, 2000: Summarizing the Recent Accomplishments of the Educational Resources Information Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smarte, Lynn

This 2000 annual report, summarizing the accomplishments of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system in 1999, begins with a section that highlights progress towards meeting goals, as well as selected statistics. The second section, comprising the bulk of the report, provides an overview of ERIC, including the ERIC database, user…

Educational Equity and Adequacy for Disadvantaged Minority Students: School and Teacher Resource Gaps toward National Mathematics Proficiency Standard

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jaekyung

2012-01-01

This study addresses the issue of educational inadequacy and inequity for disadvantaged minority students. It estimates desired national standards and examines interrelated gaps in key school-teacher resources and mathematics achievement by linking national education data sets (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], Common Core of…

Discrete return lidar in natural resources: Recommendations for project planning, data processing, and deliverables

Treesearch

Jeffrey S. Evans; Andrew T. Hudak; Russ Faux; Alistair M. S. Smith

2009-01-01

Recent years have seen the progression of light detection and ranging (lidar) from the realm of research to operational use in natural resource management. Numerous government agencies, private industries, and public/private stakeholder consortiums are planning or have recently acquired large-scale acquisitions, and a national U.S. lidar acquisition is likely before...

Cross-Lagged Relationships between Person-Based Resources, Self-Perceptions, and Career and Life Satisfaction in Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haratsis, Jessica M.; Creed, Peter A.; Hood, Michelle

2016-01-01

We tested the across-time relationships between the person-based resources of assimilation (or goal pursuit) and accommodation (or goal adjustment) and two well-being outcomes (satisfaction with career progress and life satisfaction), and assessed if these relationships were mediated by self-perceptions (perceived goal attainability and optimism).…

Allocation model for firefighting resources ... a progress report

Treesearch

Frederick W. Bratten

1970-01-01

A study is underway at the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station to develop computer techniques for planning suppression efforts in large wildfires. A mathematical model for allocation of firefighting resources in a going fire has been developed. Explicit definitions are given for strategic and tactical planning functions. How the model might be used is...

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for glioblastoma multiforme: a phase II study evaluating a prolonged high-dose of boronophenylalanine (BPA).

PubMed

Henriksson, Roger; Capala, Jacek; Michanek, Annika; Lindahl, Sten-Ake; Salford, Leif G; Franzén, Lars; Blomquist, Erik; Westlin, Jan-Erik; Bergenheim, A Tommy

2008-08-01

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) using a novel protocol for the boronophenylalanine-fructose (BPA-F) infusion. This phase II study included 30 patients, 26-69 years old, with a good performance status of which 27 have undergone debulking surgery. BPA-F (900 mg BPA/kg body weight) was given i.v. over 6h. Neutron irradiation started 2h after the completion of the infusion. Follow-up reports were monitored by an independent clinical research institute. The boron-blood concentration during irradiation was 15.2-33.7 microg/g. The average weighted absorbed dose to normal brain was 3.2-6.1 Gy (W). The minimum dose to the tumour volume ranged from 15.4 to 54.3 Gy (W). Seven patients suffered from seizures, 8 from skin/mucous problem, 5 patients were stricken by thromboembolism and 4 from abdominal disturbances in close relation to BNCT. Four patients displayed 9 episodes of grade 3-4 events (WHO). At the time for follow-up, minimum ten months, 23 out of the 29 evaluable patients were dead. The median time from BNCT treatment to tumour progression was 5.8 months and the median survival time after BNCT was 14.2 months. Following progression, 13 patients were given temozolomide, two patients were re-irradiated, and two were re-operated. Patients treated with temozolomide lived considerably longer (17.7 vs. 11.6 months). The quality of life analysis demonstrated a progressive deterioration after BNCT. Although, the efficacy of BNCT in the present protocol seems to be comparable with conventional radiotherapy and the treatment time is shorter, the observed side effects and the requirement of complex infrastructure and higher resources emphasize the need of further phase I and II studies, especially directed to improve the accumulation of (10)B in tumour cells.

Integrated versus fragmented implementation of complex innovations in acute health care

PubMed Central

Woiceshyn, Jaana; Blades, Kenneth; Pendharkar, Sachin R.

2017-01-01

Background: Increased demand and escalating costs necessitate innovation in health care. The challenge is to implement complex innovations—those that require coordinated use across the adopting organization to have the intended benefits. Purpose: We wanted to understand why and how two of five similar hospitals associated with the same health care authority made more progress with implementing a complex inpatient discharge innovation whereas the other three experienced more difficulties in doing so. Methodology: We conducted a qualitative comparative case study of the implementation process at five comparable urban hospitals adopting the same inpatient discharge innovation mandated by their health care authority. We analyzed documents and conducted 39 interviews of the health care authority and hospital executives and frontline managers across the five sites over a 1-year period while the implementation was ongoing. Findings: In two and a half years, two of the participating hospitals had made significant progress with implementing the innovation and had begun to realize benefits; they exemplified an integrated implementation mode. Three sites had made minimal progress, following a fragmented implementation mode. In the former mode, a semiautonomous health care organization developed a clear overall purpose and chose one umbrella initiative to implement it. The integrative initiative subsumed the rest and guided resource allocation and the practices of hospital executives, frontline managers, and staff who had bought into it. In contrast, in the fragmented implementation mode, the health care authority had several overlapping, competing innovations that overwhelmed the sites and impeded their implementation. Practice Implications: Implementing a complex innovation across hospital sites required (a) early prioritization of one initiative as integrative, (b) the commitment of additional (traded off or new) human resources, (c) deliberate upfront planning and continual support for and evaluation of implementation, and (d) allowance for local customization within the general principles of standardization. PMID:26469705

Facilitating Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals through Open Scientific Data and Indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; Levy, M. A.; de Sherbinin, A. M.; Fischer, A.

2015-12-01

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent an unprecedented international commitment to a shared future encompassing sustainable management of the planet and significant improvement in the human condition around the world. The scientific community has both an ethical responsibility and substantial self-interest—as residents of this planet—to help the world community to better understand the complex, interlinked behavior of human and environmental systems and to elucidate pathways to achieve long-term sustainability. Critical to making progress towards the SDGs is the open availability of timely, reliable, usable, and well integrated data and indicators relevant to all SDGs and associated targets. Such data and indicators will not only be valuable in monitoring and evaluation of progress, but also in developing policies and making decisions on environmental and societal issues affecting sustainability from local to global scales. The open availability of such data and indicators can help motivate performance, promote accountability, and facilitate cooperation. A range of scientific, technical, organizational, political, and resource challenges need to be addressed in developing a coherent SDG monitoring and indicator framework. For example, assembling and integrating diverse data on consistent spatial and temporal scales across the relevant natural, social, health, and engineering sciences pose both scientific and technical difficulties, and may require new ways to interlink and organize existing cyberinfrastructure, reconcile different data policy regimes, and fund integration efforts. New information technologies promise more timely and efficient ways of collecting many types of data, but may also raise privacy, control, and equity issues. Scientific review processes to ensure data quality need to be coordinated with the types of quality control and review employed by national statistical agencies for trusted economic and social statistics. Although large investments are already being made in some observing systems such as satellite-based remote sensing, additional resources are needed to fill key gaps, make data useful for decision making, and build capacity in developing countries. Broad engagement by the scientific community is urgently needed.

Effectiveness of a simple lymphoedema treatment regimen in podoconiosis management in southern ethiopia: one year follow-up.

PubMed

Sikorski, Catherine; Ashine, Meskele; Zeleke, Zewdie; Davey, Gail

2010-11-30

Podoconiosis is a non-filarial elephantiasis caused by long-term barefoot exposure to volcanic soils in endemic areas. Irritant silicate particles penetrate the skin, causing a progressive, debilitating lymphoedema of the lower leg, often starting in the second decade of life. A simple patient-led treatment approach appropriate for resource poor settings has been developed, comprising (1) education on aetiology and prevention of podoconiosis, (2) foot hygiene (daily washing with soap, water and an antiseptic), (3) the regular use of emollient, (4) elevation of the limb at night, and (5) emphasis on the consistent use of shoes and socks. We did a 12-month, non-comparative, longitudinal evaluation of 33 patients newly presenting to one clinic site of a non-government organization (the Mossy Foot Treatment & Prevention Association, MFTPA) in southern Ethiopia. Outcome measures used for the monitoring of disease progress were (1) the clinical staging system for podoconiosis, and (2) the Amharic Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), both of which have been recently validated for use in this setting. Digital photographs were also taken at each visit. Twenty-seven patients completed follow up. Characteristics of patients completing follow-up were not significantly different to those not. Mean clinical stage and lower leg circumference decreased significantly (mean difference -0.67 (95% CI -0.38 to -0.96) and -2.00 (95% CI -1.26 to -2.74), respectively, p<0.001 for both changes). Mean DLQI diminished from 21 (out of a maximum of 30) to 6 (p<0.001). There was a non-significant change in proportion of patients with mossy lesions (p = 0.375). This simple, resource-appropriate regimen has a considerable impact both on clinical progression and self-reported quality of life of affected individuals. The regimen appears ideal for scaling up to other endemic regions in Ethiopia and internationally. We recommend that further research in the area include analysis of cost-effectiveness of the regimen.

State of the World, 1985: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress toward a Sustainable Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Lester R.; And Others

The second of a series of annual reports designed to provide a global assessment of progress toward a sustainable society, this publication monitors changes in the global resource base (land, water, energy, and biological support systems), focusing particularly on how these changes affect the economy. Included in the report are news on innovative…

Progression of external and internal carotid artery stenosis is associated with a higher risk of ischemic neurologic events in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis.

PubMed

Masoomi, Reza; Shah, Zubair; Dawn, Buddhadeb; Vamanan, Karthik; Nanjundappa, Aravinda; Gupta, Kamal

2017-10-01

A small percentage of patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS) who are on optimal medical management do go on to develop ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attacks (IS/TIA). Several diagnostic tools have been studied to identify those patients who are at increased risk. However, most of these diagnostic tools are not available for routine clinical use or are resource intensive. We performed a retrospective study to assess the incremental value of external carotid artery stenosis progression (ECASP) along with internal carotid artery stenosis progression (ICASP) in predicting risk of ipsilateral IS/TIA in a cohort of patients with ACAS. We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with ACAS who had at least two serial duplex ultrasounds (DUS) at our center. A total of 356 patients (712 carotid arteries) were included in the study (mean age 74.7±9 years, 49.2% male) with a mean follow-up of 60.7±32.7 months. In univariate analysis, concurrent progression of ICA and ECA stenosis on the same side arteries was associated with a very significant increased risk of ipsilateral IS/TIA (14.7% vs 4.6%, p<0.001). Also, multivariable regression analysis showed that concurrent ECA/ICA progression was an independent predictor of IS/TIA (OR=3.6, 95% CI 1.64-7.8; p=0.001). ECASP along with ICASP is significantly associated with increased risk of ipsilateral IS/TIA and provides incremental risk stratification over that provided by ICASP alone. The ECA is routinely evaluated in clinical practice, and it could serve as an additional marker for identifying higher risk patients with ACAS.

H2@Scale Resource and Market Analysis

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

Ruth, Mark

This presentation overviews progress to date on the H2@Scale resource and market analysis work. The work finds, for example, that hydrogen demand of 60 MMT/yr is possible when transportation and industry are considered; resources are available to meet that demand; using renewable resources would reduce emissions and fossil use by over 15%; further impacts are possible when considering synergistic benefits; additional analysis is underway to improve understanding of potential markets and synergistic impacts; and further analysis will be necessary to estimate impacts due to spatial characteristics, feedback effects in the economy, and inertia characteristics.

Earth resources-regional transfer activity contracts review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bensko, J., Jr.; Daniels, J. L.; Downs, S. W., Jr.; Jones, N. L.; Morton, R. R.; Paludan, C. T.

1977-01-01

A regional transfer activity contracts review held by the Earth Resources Office was summarized. Contracts in the earth resources field primarily directed toward applications of satellite data and technology in solution of state and regional problems were reviewed. A summary of the progress of each contract was given in order to share experiences of researchers across a seven state region. The region included Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Research in several earth science disciplines included forestry, limnology, water resources, land use, geology, and mathematical modeling. The use of computers for establishment of information retrieval systems was also emphasized.

An integrated study of earth resources in the state of California using remote sensing techniques. [water and forest management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N.

1974-01-01

Progress and results of an integrated study of California's water resources are discussed. The investigation concerns itself primarily with the usefulness of remote sensing of relation to two categories of problems: (1) water supply; and (2) water demand. Also considered are its applicability to forest management and timber inventory. The cost effectiveness and utility of remote sensors such as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite for water and timber management are presented.

Challenges of diagnosis and management of axial spondyloarthritis in North Africa and the Middle East: An expert consensus.

PubMed

Hammoudeh, Mohammed; Abdulaziz, Sultana; Alosaimi, Hanan; Al-Rayes, Hanan; Aldeen Sarakbi, Hussam; Baamer, Matouqa; Baraliakos, Xenofon; Dahou Makhloufi, Chafia; Janoudi, Nahid; Shirazy, Khalid; Sieper, Joachim; Sukhbir, Uppal

2016-04-01

Axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a spectrum of inflammatory disease with stages characterized by both nonradiographic and radiographic sacroiliitis. Nonradiographic axial SpA is associated with health-related quality-of-life impairment and may progress to ankylosing spondylitis. Axial SpA has a low prevalence in some countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and pooling of data and resources is needed to increase understanding of the regional picture. Early diagnosis and effective treatment are required to reduce disease burden and prevent progression. Anti-TNF therapy is recommended for patients with persistently high disease activity despite conventional treatment, and has been shown to be effective in patients without radiographic damage. Diagnostic delays can be an obstacle to early treatment and appropriate referral strategies are needed. In some countries, restricted access to magnetic resonance imaging and anti-TNF agents presents a challenge. In this article, a group of experts from North Africa and the Middle East evaluated the diagnosis and management of axial SpA with particular reference to this region. © The Author(s) 2016.

Evaluating participation in water resource management: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, G.; BlöSchl, G.; Loucks, D. P.

2012-11-01

Key documents such as the European Water Framework Directive and the U.S. Clean Water Act state that public and stakeholder participation in water resource management is required. Participation aims to enhance resource management and involve individuals and groups in a democratic way. Evaluation of participatory programs and projects is necessary to assess whether these objectives are being achieved and to identify how participatory programs and projects can be improved. The different methods of evaluation can be classified into three groups: (i) process evaluation assesses the quality of participation process, for example, whether it is legitimate and promotes equal power between participants, (ii) intermediary outcome evaluation assesses the achievement of mainly nontangible outcomes, such as trust and communication, as well as short- to medium-term tangible outcomes, such as agreements and institutional change, and (iii) resource management outcome evaluation assesses the achievement of changes in resource management, such as water quality improvements. Process evaluation forms a major component of the literature but can rarely indicate whether a participation program improves water resource management. Resource management outcome evaluation is challenging because resource changes often emerge beyond the typical period covered by the evaluation and because changes cannot always be clearly related to participation activities. Intermediary outcome evaluation has been given less attention than process evaluation but can identify some real achievements and side benefits that emerge through participation. This review suggests that intermediary outcome evaluation should play a more important role in evaluating participation in water resource management.

Charting the evolution of approaches employed by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) to address inequities in access to immunization: a systematic qualitative review of GAVI policies, strategies and resource allocation mechanisms through an equity lens (1999-2014).

PubMed

Gandhi, Gian

2015-11-30

GAVI's focus on reducing inequities in access to vaccines, immunization, and GAVI funds, - both between and within countries - has changed over time. This paper charts that evolution. A systematic qualitative review was conducted by searching PubMed, Google Scholar and direct review of available GAVI Board papers, policies, and program guidelines. Documents were included if they described or evaluated GAVI policies, strategies, or programs and discussed equity of access to vaccines, utilization of immunization services, or GAVI funds in countries currently or previously eligible for GAVI support. Findings were grouped thematically, categorized into time periods covering GAVI's phases of operations, and assessed depending on whether the approaches mediated equity of opportunity or equity of outcomes between or within countries. Serches yielded 2816 documents for assessment. After pre-screening and removal of duplicates, 552 documents underwent detailed evaluation and pertinent information was extracted from 188 unique documents. As a global funding mechanism, GAVI responded rationally to a semi-fixed funding constraint by focusing on between-country equity in allocation of resources. GAVI's predominant focus and documented successes have been in addressing between-country inequities in access to vaccines comparing lower income (GAVI-eligible) countries with higher income (ineligible) countries. GAVI has had mixed results at addressing between-country inequities in utilization of immunization services, and has only more recently put greater emphasis and resources towards addressing within-country inequities in utilization to immunization services. Over time, GAVI has progressively added vaccines to its portfolio. This expansion should have addressed inter-country, inter-regional, inter-generational and gender inequities in disease burden, however, evidence is scant with respect to final outcomes. In its next phase of operations, the Alliance can continue to demonstrate its strength as a highly effective multi-partner enterprise, capable of learning and innovating in a world that has changed much since its inception. By building on its successes, developing more coherent and consistent approaches to address inequities between and within countries and by monitoring progress and outcomes, GAVI is well-positioned to bring the benefits of vaccination to previously unreached and underserved communities towards provision of universal health coverage.

The Influence of Evaluators' Principles on Evaluation Resource Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crohn, Kara Shea Davis

2009-01-01

This study examines ways in which evaluators' principles influence decisions about evaluation resources. Evaluators must seek-out and allocate (often scarce) resources (e.g., money, time, data, people, places) in a way that allows them to conduct the best possible evaluation given clients' and evaluation participants' constraints. Working within…

Rest and Return to Activity After Sport-Related Concussion: A Systematic Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

McLeod, Tamara C. Valovich; Lewis, Joy H.; Whelihan, Kate; Bacon, Cailee E. Welch

2017-01-01

Objective: To systematically review the literature regarding rest and return to activity after sport-related concussion. Data Sources: The search was conducted in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Educational Resources Information Center, Ovid MEDLINE, and PubMed using terms related to concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, physical and cognitive rest, and return to activity. Study Selection: Studies were included if they were published in English; were original research; and evaluated the use of, compliance with, or effectiveness of physical or cognitive rest or provided empirical evidence supporting the graded return-to-activity progression. Data Extraction: The study design, patient or participant sample, interventions used, outcome measures, main results, and conclusions were extracted, as appropriate, from each article. Data Synthesis: Articles were categorized into groups based on their ability to address one of the primary clinical questions of interest: use of rest, rest effectiveness, compliance with recommendations, or outcome after graded return-to-activity progression. A qualitative synthesis of the results was provided, along with summary tables. Conclusions: Our main findings suggest that rest is underused by health care providers, recommendations for rest are broad and not specific to individual patients, an initial period of moderate physical and cognitive rest (eg, limited physical activity and light mental activity) may improve outcomes during the acute postinjury phase, significant variability in the use of assessment tools and compliance with recommended return-to-activity guidelines exists, and additional research is needed to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of graded return-to-activity progressions. Furthermore, there is a significant need to translate knowledge of best practices in concussion management to primary care providers. PMID:28387547

Cost of illness associated with Niemann-Pick disease type C in the UK.

PubMed

Imrie, Jackie; Galani, Carmen; Gairy, Kerry; Lock, Kevin; Hunsche, Elke

2009-09-01

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare and devastating genetic disorder characterised by a range of progressive neurological symptoms, which imposes a burden on patients, family members, the healthcare system and society overall. The objective of this study was to assess direct and indirect costs associated with NP-C in the UK. This was a non-interventional, retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study based on responses from patients and/or their carers/guardians recruited from a UK NP-C database. Resource use and direct medical, direct non-medical and indirect costs were evaluated using data collected via postal survey in October 2007, which included a Medical Resource Use questionnaire. Total annual costs per patient were estimated. In total, 18 Medical Resource Use questionnaires (29% response rate) were received and analysed. The mean total annual cost (SD) of NP-C per patient was 39,168 pounds (50,315 pounds); 46% were direct medical costs, to which home visits and residential care contributed 68% and 15%, respectively. Direct non-medical costs accounted for 24% of the average annual cost per patient, mainly due to specialist education, and indirect costs 30%. If only direct medical costs were considered, the mean annual cost (SD) per patient was reduced to 18,012 pounds (46,536 pounds). The direct annual per-patient cost of NP-C illness in 2007 appears moderate when compared with other rare and severely disabling diseases. However, cost estimates may be conservative, since findings are limited by a small sample size, low survey response rate and potential recall bias. As demonstrated by this study, a substantial proportion of the cost is shifted from the healthcare system to the patient, family and non-medical providers. These findings highlight the need for treatments that can slow or stop disease progression in NP-C.

Involving local health departments in community health partnerships: evaluation results from the partnership for the public's health initiative.

PubMed

Cheadle, Allen; Hsu, Clarissa; Schwartz, Pamela M; Pearson, David; Greenwald, Howard P; Beery, William L; Flores, George; Casey, Maria Campbell

2008-03-01

Improving community health "from the ground up" entails a comprehensive ecological approach, deep involvement of community-based entities, and addressing social determinants of population health status. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of the Surgeon General, and other authorities have called for public health to be an "inter-sector" enterprise, few models have surfaced that feature local health departments as a key part of the collaborative model for effecting community-level change. This paper presents evaluation findings and lessons learned from the Partnership for the Public's Health (PPH), a comprehensive community initiative that featured a central role for local health departments with their community partners. Funded by The California Endowment, PPH provided technical and financial resources to 39 community partnerships in 14 local health department jurisdictions in California to promote community and health department capacity building and community-level policy and systems change designed to produce long-term improvements in population health. The evaluation used multiple data sources to create progress ratings for each partnership in five goal areas related to capacity building, community health improvement programs, and policy and systems change. Overall results were generally positive; in particular, of the 37 partnerships funded continuously throughout the 5 years of the initiative, between 25% and 40% were able to make a high level of progress in each of the Initiative's five goal areas. Factors associated with partnership success were also identified by local evaluators. These results showed that health departments able to work effectively with community groups had strong, committed leaders who used creative financing mechanisms, inclusive planning processes, organizational changes, and open communication to promote collaboration with the communities they served.

The national response for preventing healthcare-associated infections: system capacity and sustainability for improvement.

PubMed

Mendel, Peter; Weinberg, Daniel A; Gall, Elizabeth M; Leuschner, Kristin J; Kahn, Katherine L

2014-02-01

Strengthening capacity across the healthcare system for improvement is critical to ensuring that past efforts and investments establish a foundation for sustaining progress in patient safety. The objective of this analysis was to identify key system capacity issues for sustainability from evaluation of the Action Plan to prevent healthcare-associated infections, a major national initiative launched by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2009. The analysis involves the review and synthesis of results across the components of a 3-year evaluation of the Action Plan, as described in the evaluation framework and detailed in separate analyses elsewhere in this special issue. Data collection methods included interviews with government and private stakeholders, document and literature reviews, and observations of meetings and conferences at multiple time points. Key developments in healthcare-associated infection prevention system capacity were extracted on the basis of "major activities" identified through multiple methods and organized into the level of progress based on perspectives of multiple stakeholders. Activities within each level were then examined and compared according to our evaluation's framework of 4 system functions and 5 system properties. Key system capacity and sustainability issues for the Action Plan to be addressed centered on coordination and alignment (among participating agencies, with other federal initiatives, and across levels of healthcare), infrastructure for data and accountability (including more efficient technologies and unintended consequences), cultural embedding of prevention practices, and uncertainty and variability in resources. Sustainability depends on improvements across system functions and properties and how they reinforce each other. Change is more robust if different system elements support and incentivize behavior in similar directions.

[Is the introduction of clinical management programs for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease useful? Comparison of the effectiveness of two interventions on the clinical progress and care received].

PubMed

Solanes, Ingrid; Bolíbar, Ignasi; Llauger, Maria Antònia; Peiro, Meritxell; Valverde, Pepi; Fraga, Mar; Medrano, Casimira; Bigorra, Teresa; Freixas, Montserrat; Ligüerre, Iskra; Pou, Maria Antònia; Domínguez, Leandra; Valero, Carles; Solà, Judit; Giner, Jordi; Plaza, Vicente

2018-03-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of two management programs on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A study with a quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions (I1, I2) for the care of patients with COPD after a mean follow-up of 31.2months. Primary Care Centres in two Barcelona Health Areas and their referral hospitals. Patients with COPD selected by simple random sampling using any disease code corresponding to COPD. I1: Integrated management program that was optimised and coordinated the resources. Training was given, as well as quality control of spirometry. I2: Isolated interventions like a call-centre. Care circuits and computerised clinical notes were shared. Variables were recorded as regards lung function, severity, use of inhalers, lifestyles, quality of life, and exacerbations. Of the 393 patients evaluated at the beginning, 120 and 104 (I1 and I2, respectively) received the final evaluation. With I1, there was a reduction in patients who smoked (P=.034). Lung function and quality of life did not change significantly in either group, but shortness of breath was slightly worse. There was an increase in the correct use of inhalers, although it only reached 48% and 61% with interventions I1 and I2, respectively. The percentage of patients with exacerbations decreased with I1 compared to that of I2 (P<.001), and there were less hospital admissions due to exacerbations with I2 compared to I1 (P<.003]). Both interventions achieved significant improvements, and no overall worsening of a chronic and progressive disease as is COPD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Artificial photosynthesis for sustainable fuel and chemical production.

PubMed

Kim, Dohyung; Sakimoto, Kelsey K; Hong, Dachao; Yang, Peidong

2015-03-09

The apparent incongruity between the increasing consumption of fuels and chemicals and the finite amount of resources has led us to seek means to maintain the sustainability of our society. Artificial photosynthesis, which utilizes sunlight to create high-value chemicals from abundant resources, is considered as the most promising and viable method. This Minireview describes the progress and challenges in the field of artificial photosynthesis in terms of its key components: developments in photoelectrochemical water splitting and recent progress in electrochemical CO2 reduction. Advances in catalysis, concerning the use of renewable hydrogen as a feedstock for major chemical production, are outlined to shed light on the ultimate role of artificial photosynthesis in achieving sustainable chemistry. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Mineral-Resource Assessment of Northern Nye County, Nevada - A Progress Report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ludington, Steve; John, David A.; Muntean, John L.; Hanson, Andrew D.; Castor, Stephen B.; Henry, Christopher D.; Wintzer, Niki; Cline, Jean S.; Simon, Adam C.

2009-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), which is a part of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), have completed the first year of data collection and analysis in preparation for a new mineral- and energy-resource assessment of northern Nye County, Nevada. This report provides information about work completed before October 1, 2009. Existing data are being compiled, including geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and mineral-deposit information. Field studies are underway, which are primarily designed to address issues raised during the review of existing information. In addition, new geochemical studies are in progress, including reanalyzing existing stream-sediment samples with modern methods, and analyzing metalliferous black shales.

An Introduction to "My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant" (MEERA), a Web-Based Resource for Self-Directed Learning about Environmental Education Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zint, Michaela

2010-01-01

My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant or "MEERA" is a web-site designed to support environmental educators' program evaluation activities. MEERA has several characteristics that set it apart from other self-directed learning evaluation resources. Readers are encouraged to explore the site and to reflect on the role that…

Evaluating stakeholder participation in water management: intermediary outcomes as potential indicators for future resource management outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Gemma; Bloeschl, Guenter; Loucks, Daniel Pete

2013-04-01

Evaluation of participation programmes, projects and activities is essential to identify whether stakeholder involvement has been successful in achieving its aims. Aims may include an improvement in water resource management such as enhanced ecological functioning, an improvement in human wellbeing and economic conditions, or overcoming a conflict between interest groups. Evaluating against "interest-based" resource management criteria requires that a desirable outcome can be identified, agreed upon and be measured at the time of evaluation. In many water management situations where collaborative approaches are applied, multiple interests and objectives are present, or stakeholders have not yet identified their own positions and priorities. Even if a resource management objective has been identified and strategy agreed upon, resource management changes tend to emerge over longer timescales and evaluation frequently takes place before they can be recognised. Evaluating against resource management criteria may lead evaluators to conclude that a programme has failed because it has not achieved a resource management objective at the time of evaluation. This presents a critical challenge to researchers assessing the effectiveness of stakeholder participation programmes. One strategy to overcome this is to conduct "goal-free" evaluation to identify what the programme is actually achieving. An evaluation framework that includes intermediary outcomes that are both tangible achievements such as innovation, creation of new organisations, and shared information and knowledge, as well as intangible achievements such as trust and network development can be applied to more broadly assess a programme's success. Analysis of case-studies in the published literature for which a resource management outcome has been achieved shows that intermediary outcomes frequently precede resource management outcomes. They seem to emerge over shorter timescales than resource management outcomes. Furthermore, failure to achieve intermediary outcomes correlates to failure to achieve resource management outcomes. Evaluating intermediary outcomes leads to both a broader assessment of a programme's achievements at the time of evaluation, and can indicate whether a programme will go on to achieve resource management objectives in the future.

Diagnosis and Management of Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Ronita; Burns, Andrew; Rodden, Diane; Chang, Frances; Chaum, Manita; Garcia, Nancy; Bollipalli, Nikitha; Niemz, Angelika

2015-10-01

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects more than 200 million people globally, with increasing incidence, especially in developing countries. HCV infection frequently progresses to chronic liver disease, creating a heavy economic burden on resource-poor countries and lowering patient quality of life. Effective HCV diagnosis, treatment selection, and treatment monitoring are important in stopping disease progression. Serological assays, which detect anti-HCV antibodies in the patient after seroconversion, are used for initial HCV diagnosis. Qualitative and quantitative molecular assays are used to confirm initial diagnosis, determine viral load, and genotype the dominant strain. Viral load and genotype information are used to guide appropriate treatment. Various other biomarker assays are performed to assess liver function and enable disease staging. Most of these diagnostic methods are mature and routinely used in high-resource countries with well-developed laboratory infrastructure. Few technologies, however, are available that address the needs of low-resource areas with high HCV prevalence, such as Africa and Southeast Asia. © 2015 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Development and Evaluation of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay To Detect Histoplasma capsulatum Antigenuria in Immunocompromised Patients▿

PubMed Central

Scheel, Christina M.; Samayoa, Blanca; Herrera, Alejandro; Lindsley, Mark D.; Benjamin, Lynette; Reed, Yvonne; Hart, John; Lima, Sandra; Rivera, Blanca E.; Raxcaco, Gabriella; Chiller, Tom; Arathoon, Eduardo; Gómez, Beatriz L.

2009-01-01

Histoplasma capsulatum infection causes significant morbidity and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals, particularly those in countries with limited access to rapid diagnostics or antiretroviral therapies. The fungus easily disseminates in persons with AIDS, resulting in progressive disseminated histoplasmosis (PDH), which can progress rapidly to death if undiagnosed. The availability of a simple, rapid method to detect H. capsulatum infection in less developed countries where the infection is endemic would dramatically decrease the time to diagnosis and treatment of PDH. We have developed an antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect PDH antigenuria in infected patients. The assay uses polyclonal antibodies against H. capsulatum as both capture and detection reagents, and a standard reference curve is included to quantify antigenuria and ensure reproducibility. We evaluated this assay using specimens collected from patients with AIDS and culture-proven histoplasmosis in a Guatemalan clinic (n = 48), from healthy persons (n = 83), and from patients with other, nonhistoplasmosis diseases (n = 114). The ELISA demonstrated a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 95% in detecting H. capsulatum antigen in urine. This assay relies on simple technology that can be performed in institutions with limited resources. Use of this test will facilitate rapid diagnosis of PDH in countries where mortality is high, expediting treatment and likely reducing PDH-related mortality. PMID:19357311

Evaluation of caries progression in dentin treated by fluoride-containing materials using an in-air micro-PIGE and micro-PIXE measurement system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamamoto, H.; Iwami, Y.; Yagi, K.; Hayashi, M.; Komatsu, H.; Okuyama, K.; Matsuda, Y.; Yasuda, K.

2015-04-01

It is well-known that fluorine (F) is involved in the progression of caries. The evaluation of caries progression has conventionally been based on the change in mineral content using transverse microradiography (TMR). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the progression of dentinal caries by the change in calcium (Ca) content using Particle-Induced Gamma-ray Emission/Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIGE/PIXE) techniques at the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center. We also assessed the relationship between caries progression rate and the concentration of F penetration into dentin from dental fluoride-containing materials (FCMs). Dentin sections of six extracted human teeth were prepared to obtain various amounts of F uptake using three types of FCMs. F and Ca distribution of specimens were obtained using PIGE/PIXE techniques. After evaluation, the specimens were immersed in 10 ml of demineralizing solution (pH 4.5) to simulate caries attack. To estimate caries progression rates, the same portions of the specimens were evaluated after caries attack treatment using PIGE/PIXE. A negative correlation between the F uptake in dentin and the rate of caries progression was observed. Therefore, caries progression in dentin was reduced by increasing the amount of F uptake from FCMs. This demonstrates that PIGE/PIXE techniques are valuable for estimating caries progression rates.

InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Council of Chief State School Officers, 2013

2013-01-01

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), through its Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), offers this set of combined resources that define and support ongoing teacher effectiveness to ensure students reach college and career ready standards. This document includes the "InTASC Model Core Teaching…

Effective Utilization and Management of Emerging Information Technologies. Information Resources Management Association International Conference (Boston, Massachusetts, May 17-20, 1998).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khosrowpour, Mehdi, Ed.

This proceeding of the 1998 Information Resources Management Association International Conference contains 80 full papers, 87 research in progress papers, 33 abstracts, and 15 panel, workshop, and tutorial summaries. The papers focus on issues of managing information technology (IT) in organizations around the world. Issues covered include:…

An Assessment of 4th-, 8th-, and 11th-Grade Students' Environmental Science Knowledge Related to Oregon's Marine Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brody, Michael J.

1996-01-01

Assesses the understanding that a sample of Oregon public school students (n=159) had of geology, physical and chemical characteristics, ecology, and natural resources as related to a marine environment. Results indicate that student understanding in some areas does not progress beyond the early grades and that the interdisciplinary approach of…

Linking Resources to Results: The Chicago Public Education Fund's Master Teacher Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grantmakers for Education, 2012

2012-01-01

"Linking Resources to Results" explores the deliberate approach--including specific goals, a clearly articulated grantmaking strategy and benchmarks for measuring progress--the Chicago Public Education Fund used to help the Chicago Public Schools recognize, reward and deploy high-quality teachers. The case study is intended to help…

AgRISTARS: Agriculture and resources inventory surveys through aerospace remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The rationale, objectives, participants, and approach of the AgRISTARS program are described. Progress is reported in activities related to early warning and crop condition assessment; inventory technology development (formerly foreign commodity production forecasting); yield model development; supporting research; soil moisture; renewable resources inventory; domestic crops and land cover; and conservation and pollution. Emphasis is on technological highlights.

Integration of Reading and Writing Strategies in Primary Level Special Education Resource Students To Improve Reading Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Kathy S.

A program was developed for improving the reading level of primary special education resource students in a progressive suburban community in the midwest. The problem was originally noted by an increase in the need for support services and low standardized test scores. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students lacked knowledge of the…

A comprehensive view of the web-resources related to sericulture

PubMed Central

Singh, Deepika; Chetia, Hasnahana; Kabiraj, Debajyoti; Sharma, Swagata; Kumar, Anil; Sharma, Pragya; Deka, Manab; Bora, Utpal

2016-01-01

Recent progress in the field of sequencing and analysis has led to a tremendous spike in data and the development of data science tools. One of the outcomes of this scientific progress is development of numerous databases which are gaining popularity in all disciplines of biology including sericulture. As economically important organism, silkworms are studied extensively for their numerous applications in the field of textiles, biomaterials, biomimetics, etc. Similarly, host plants, pests, pathogens, etc. are also being probed to understand the seri-resources more efficiently. These studies have led to the generation of numerous seri-related databases which are extremely helpful for the scientific community. In this article, we have reviewed all the available online resources on silkworm and its related organisms, including databases as well as informative websites. We have studied their basic features and impact on research through citation count analysis, finally discussing the role of emerging sequencing and analysis technologies in the field of seri-data science. As an outcome of this review, a web portal named SeriPort, has been created which will act as an index for the various sericulture-related databases and web resources available in cyberspace. Database URL: http://www.seriport.in/ PMID:27307138

TRENDS IN ENGINEERING GEOLOGIC AND RELATED MAPPING.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Varnes, David J.; Keaton, Jeffrey R.

1983-01-01

Progress is reviewed that has been made during the period 1972-1982 in producing medium- and small-scale engineering geologic maps with a variety of content. Improved methods to obtain and present information are evolving. Standards concerning text and map content, soil and rock classification, and map symbols have been proposed. Application of geomorphological techniques in terrain evaluation has increased, as has the use of aerial photography and other remote sensing. Computers are being used to store, analyze, retrieve, and print both text and map information. Development of offshore resources, especially petroleum, has led to marked improvement and growth in marine engineering geology and geotechnology. Coordinated planning for societal needs has required broader scope and increased complexity of both engineering geologic and environmental geologic studies. Refs.

The concept of outcome.

PubMed

Hunt, S

1997-01-01

The Enuresis Resource and Information Centre in the UK has recently launched a second edition of Guidelines on Minimum Standards of Practice in the Treatment of Enuresis. The purpose of the Guidelines is to provide a blueprint for service delivery in the UK, leading to enuresis services that offer effective, accessible and dependable treatment. In particular, these Guidelines propose minimum and target standards that enuresis services should aim to achieve, relating to referral, assessment and treatment, as well as catchment area appointments, research and referral. In addition, the Guidelines may be used to provide a framework within which enuresis services can be audited and evaluated. Successive cycles of observation, appraisal and action should encourage a continual improvement process in each clinic, resulting in a progressive development of the service offered.

NASA remote sensing programs: Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raney, W. P.

1981-01-01

In the Earth remote sensing area, NASA's three functions are to understand the basic mechanics and behavior of the Earth, evaluate what resources are available (in the way of minerals, and hydrocarbons on a general scale), and to arrange a scheme for managing our national assets. The capabilities offered by LANDSAT D and technology improvements needed are discussed. The French SPOT system, its orbits, possibilities for stereo imagery, and levels of preprocessing and processing with several degrees of radiometric and geometric corrections are examined. Progress in the AgRISTARS project is mentioned as well as future R & D programs in the use of fluorescence, microwave measurements, and synthetic aperture radar. Other areas of endeaver include studying man environment interactions and Earth radiation budgets, and the establishment of data systems programs.

Ten Years Old & Competent. The Fourth Stage of the Competent Children Project: A Summary of the Main Findings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wylie, Cathy

The Competent Children Project is following a group of about 500 children in the Wellington region of New Zealand from around the age of 5 until they leave school. The main aims of the project are to describe children's progress over time and to chart contributions to their progress made by family resources, early childhood education, school…

Audit in the therapy professions: some constraints on progress.

PubMed

Robinson, S

1996-12-01

To ascertain views about constraints on the progress of audit experienced by members of four of the therapy professions: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and clinical psychology. Interviews in six health service sites with a history of audit in these professions. 62 interviews were held with members of the four professions and 60 with other personnel with relevant involvement. Five main themes emerged as the constraints on progress: resources; expertise; relations between groups; organisational structures; and overall planning of audit activities. Concerns about resources focused on lack of time, insufficient finance, and lack of access to appropriate systems of information technology. Insufficient expertise was identified as a major constraint on progress. Guidance on designing instruments for collection of data was the main concern, but help with writing proposals, specifying and keeping to objectives, analysing data, and writing reports was also required. Although sources of guidance were sometimes available, more commonly this was not the case. Several aspects of relations between groups were reported as constraining the progress of audit. These included support and commitment, choice of audit topics, conflicts between staff, willingness to participate and change practice, and concerns about confidentiality. Organisational structures which constrained audit included weak links between heads of professional services and managers of provider units, the inhibiting effect of change, the weakening of professional coherence when therapists were split across directorates, and the ethos of regarding audit findings as business secrets. Lack of an overall plan for audit meant that while some resources were available, others equally necessary for successful completion of projects were not. Members of four of the therapy professions identified a wide range of constraints on the progress of audit. If their commitment to audit is to be maintained these constraints require resolution. It is suggested that such expert advice, but also that these are directed towards the particular needs of the four professions. Moreover, a forum is required within which all those with a stake in therapy audit can acknowledge and resolve the different agendas which they may have in the enterprise.

Audit in the therapy professions: some constraints on progress.

PubMed Central

Robinson, S

1996-01-01

AIMS: To ascertain views about constraints on the progress of audit experienced by members of four of the therapy professions: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and clinical psychology. METHODS: Interviews in six health service sites with a history of audit in these professions. 62 interviews were held with members of the four professions and 60 with other personnel with relevant involvement. Five main themes emerged as the constraints on progress: resources; expertise; relations between groups; organisational structures; and overall planning of audit activities. RESULTS: Concerns about resources focused on lack of time, insufficient finance, and lack of access to appropriate systems of information technology. Insufficient expertise was identified as a major constraint on progress. Guidance on designing instruments for collection of data was the main concern, but help with writing proposals, specifying and keeping to objectives, analysing data, and writing reports was also required. Although sources of guidance were sometimes available, more commonly this was not the case. Several aspects of relations between groups were reported as constraining the progress of audit. These included support and commitment, choice of audit topics, conflicts between staff, willingness to participate and change practice, and concerns about confidentiality. Organisational structures which constrained audit included weak links between heads of professional services and managers of provider units, the inhibiting effect of change, the weakening of professional coherence when therapists were split across directorates, and the ethos of regarding audit findings as business secrets. Lack of an overall plan for audit meant that while some resources were available, others equally necessary for successful completion of projects were not. CONCLUSION: Members of four of the therapy professions identified a wide range of constraints on the progress of audit. If their commitment to audit is to be maintained these constraints require resolution. It is suggested that such expert advice, but also that these are directed towards the particular needs of the four professions. Moreover, a forum is required within which all those with a stake in therapy audit can acknowledge and resolve the different agendas which they may have in the enterprise. PMID:10164144

Best practices in bioinformatics training for life scientists.

PubMed

Via, Allegra; Blicher, Thomas; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Brazas, Michelle D; Brooksbank, Cath; Budd, Aidan; De Las Rivas, Javier; Dreyer, Jacqueline; Fernandes, Pedro L; van Gelder, Celia; Jacob, Joachim; Jimenez, Rafael C; Loveland, Jane; Moran, Federico; Mulder, Nicola; Nyrönen, Tommi; Rother, Kristian; Schneider, Maria Victoria; Attwood, Teresa K

2013-09-01

The mountains of data thrusting from the new landscape of modern high-throughput biology are irrevocably changing biomedical research and creating a near-insatiable demand for training in data management and manipulation and data mining and analysis. Among life scientists, from clinicians to environmental researchers, a common theme is the need not just to use, and gain familiarity with, bioinformatics tools and resources but also to understand their underlying fundamental theoretical and practical concepts. Providing bioinformatics training to empower life scientists to handle and analyse their data efficiently, and progress their research, is a challenge across the globe. Delivering good training goes beyond traditional lectures and resource-centric demos, using interactivity, problem-solving exercises and cooperative learning to substantially enhance training quality and learning outcomes. In this context, this article discusses various pragmatic criteria for identifying training needs and learning objectives, for selecting suitable trainees and trainers, for developing and maintaining training skills and evaluating training quality. Adherence to these criteria may help not only to guide course organizers and trainers on the path towards bioinformatics training excellence but, importantly, also to improve the training experience for life scientists.

Computer-implemented land use classification with pattern recognition software and ERTS digital data. [Mississippi coastal plains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joyce, A. T.

1974-01-01

Significant progress has been made in the classification of surface conditions (land uses) with computer-implemented techniques based on the use of ERTS digital data and pattern recognition software. The supervised technique presently used at the NASA Earth Resources Laboratory is based on maximum likelihood ratioing with a digital table look-up approach to classification. After classification, colors are assigned to the various surface conditions (land uses) classified, and the color-coded classification is film recorded on either positive or negative 9 1/2 in. film at the scale desired. Prints of the film strips are then mosaicked and photographed to produce a land use map in the format desired. Computer extraction of statistical information is performed to show the extent of each surface condition (land use) within any given land unit that can be identified in the image. Evaluations of the product indicate that classification accuracy is well within the limits for use by land resource managers and administrators. Classifications performed with digital data acquired during different seasons indicate that the combination of two or more classifications offer even better accuracy.

Tobacco promotion in the Pacific: the current state of tobacco promotion bans and options for accelerating progress.

PubMed

Cussen, Ashleigh; McCool, Judith

2011-01-01

Tobacco consumption is a major contributor to the burden of chronic noncommunicable disease within the Pacific region. Low and lower-middle income countries are acutely vulnerable to exploitation by the tobacco industry as they often lack the resources and capacity to implement protective tobacco control policies. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which has been signed by 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories, was introduced in 2004 to guide the priorities for tobacco control policy implementation. Legislation, tobacco industry documents, and peer-reviewed journals were evaluated to assess the current status of tobacco advertising bans of the 8 low and lower-middle income countries within the Pacific region. identified that of the 8 Pacific countries reviewed, 3 had comprehensive tobacco advertising bans that prohibit tobacco advertisements in 5 to 7 forms of media, and the remaining 5 countries have weak tobacco advertising bans that provide no protection for youth against tobacco advertising. This research reveals the need for resources to support the introduction of effective policies around tobacco advertising in the low and lower-middle income countries within the Pacific region.

Best practices in bioinformatics training for life scientists

PubMed Central

Blicher, Thomas; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Brazas, Michelle D.; Brooksbank, Cath; Budd, Aidan; De Las Rivas, Javier; Dreyer, Jacqueline; Fernandes, Pedro L.; van Gelder, Celia; Jacob, Joachim; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Loveland, Jane; Moran, Federico; Mulder, Nicola; Nyrönen, Tommi; Rother, Kristian; Schneider, Maria Victoria; Attwood, Teresa K.

2013-01-01

The mountains of data thrusting from the new landscape of modern high-throughput biology are irrevocably changing biomedical research and creating a near-insatiable demand for training in data management and manipulation and data mining and analysis. Among life scientists, from clinicians to environmental researchers, a common theme is the need not just to use, and gain familiarity with, bioinformatics tools and resources but also to understand their underlying fundamental theoretical and practical concepts. Providing bioinformatics training to empower life scientists to handle and analyse their data efficiently, and progress their research, is a challenge across the globe. Delivering good training goes beyond traditional lectures and resource-centric demos, using interactivity, problem-solving exercises and cooperative learning to substantially enhance training quality and learning outcomes. In this context, this article discusses various pragmatic criteria for identifying training needs and learning objectives, for selecting suitable trainees and trainers, for developing and maintaining training skills and evaluating training quality. Adherence to these criteria may help not only to guide course organizers and trainers on the path towards bioinformatics training excellence but, importantly, also to improve the training experience for life scientists. PMID:23803301

Lebensraum: paradoxically, population growth may eventually end wars.

PubMed

Simon, J L

1989-03-01

Population growth may progressively reduce 1 of the motives for making war. Namely, population growth threatens shortages of resources, and especially land. Impending shortages cause a search for ways to mitigate the shortages. The discoveries eventually produce greater availability of resources than if population growth and pressure on resources had never occurred. The argument runs as follows: 1) Rhetoric about resources scarcity induced by population density has often contributed to international conflict, even if economics has not been the main motive in making war. 2) In the pre-modern era, war to obtain land and other resources may sometimes have been an economically sound policy. 3) Politicians and others in industrially developed nations believe resources may still be a casus belli. 4) Land and other productive resources are no longer worth acquiring at the cost of war.

Pre-cART Elevation of CRP and CD4+ T-Cell Immune Activation Associated With HIV Clinical Progression in a Multinational Case-Cohort Study.

PubMed

Balagopal, Ashwin; Asmuth, David M; Yang, Wei-Teng; Campbell, Thomas B; Gupte, Nikhil; Smeaton, Laura; Kanyama, Cecilia; Grinsztejn, Beatriz; Santos, Breno; Supparatpinyo, Khuanchai; Badal-Faesen, Sharlaa; Lama, Javier R; Lalloo, Umesh G; Zulu, Fatima; Pawar, Jyoti S; Riviere, Cynthia; Kumarasamy, Nagalingeswaran; Hakim, James; Li, Xiao-Dong; Pollard, Richard B; Semba, Richard D; Thomas, David L; Bollinger, Robert C; Gupta, Amita

2015-10-01

Despite the success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), a subset of HIV-infected patients who initiate cART develop early clinical progression to AIDS; therefore, some cART initiators are not fully benefitted by cART. Immune activation pre-cART may predict clinical progression in cART initiators. A case-cohort study (n = 470) within the multinational Prospective Evaluation of Antiretrovirals in Resource-Limited Settings clinical trial (1571 HIV treatment-naive adults who initiated cART; CD4 T-cell count <300 cells/mm; 9 countries) was conducted. A subcohort of 30 participants per country was randomly selected; additional cases were added from the main cohort. Cases [n = 236 (random subcohort 36; main cohort 200)] had clinical progression (incident WHO stage 3/4 event or death) within 96 weeks after cART initiation. Immune activation biomarkers were quantified pre-cART. Associations between biomarkers and clinical progression were examined using weighted multivariable Cox-proportional hazards models. Median age was 35 years, 45% were women, 49% black, 31% Asian, and 9% white. Median CD4 T-cell count was 167 cells per cubic millimeter. In multivariate analysis, highest quartile C-reactive protein concentration [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 2.53; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02 to 6.28] and CD4 T-cell activation (aHR, 5.18; 95% CI: 1.09 to 24.47) were associated with primary outcomes, compared with lowest quartiles. sCD14 had a trend toward association with clinical failure (aHR, 2.24; 95% CI: 0.96 to 5.21). Measuring C-reactive protein and CD4 T-cell activation may identify patients with CD4 T-cell counts <300 cells per cubic millimeter at risk for early clinical progression when initiating cART. Additional vigilance and symptom-based screening may be required in this subset of patients even after beginning cART.

Pre-cART Elevation of CRP and CD4+ T-cell Immune Activation Associated with HIV Clinical Progression in a Multinational Case-Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Balagopal, Ashwin; Asmuth, David M.; Yang, Wei-Teng; Campbell, Thomas B.; Gupte, Nikhil; Smeaton, Laura; Kanyama, Cecilia; Grinsztejn, Beatriz; Santos, Breno; Supparatpinyo, Khuanchai; Badal-Faesen, Sharlaa; Lama, Javier R.; Lalloo, Umesh G.; Zulu, Fatima; Pawar, Jyoti S; Riviere, Cynthia; Kumarasamy, Nagalingeswaran; Hakim, James; Li, Xiao-Dong; Pollard, Richard B.; Semba, Richard D.; Thomas, David L.; Bollinger, Robert C.; Gupta, Amita

2015-01-01

Background Despite the success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), a subset of HIV-infected patients who initiate cART develop early clinical progression to AIDS; therefore some cART initiators are not fully benefitted by cART. Immune activation pre-cART may predict clinical progression in cART initiators. Methods A case-cohort study (n=470) within the multinational Prospective Evaluation of Antiretrovirals in Resource-Limited Settings (PEARLS) clinical trial (1571 HIV treatment-naïve adults who initiated cART; CD4+ T cell count <300 cells/mm3; nine countries) was conducted. A subcohort of 30 participants/country was randomly selected; additional cases were added from the main cohort. Cases (n=236 [random subcohort–36; main cohort–200]) had clinical progression (incident WHO Stage 3/4 event or death) within 96 weeks following cART initiation. Immune activation biomarkers were quantified pre-cART. Associations between biomarkers and clinical progression were examined using weighted multivariable Cox-proportional hazards models. Results Median age was 35 years, 45% were women, 49% black, 31% Asian, and 9% white. Median CD4+ T-cell count was 167 cells/mm3. In multivariate analysis, highest quartile CRP concentration (adjusted hazards ratio [aHR] 2.53, 95%CI 1.02-6.28) and CD4+ T-cell activation (aHR 5.18, 95CI 1.09-24.47) were associated with primary outcomes, compared to lowest quartiles. sCD14 had a trend towards association with clinical failure (aHR 2.24, 95%CI 0.96–5.21). Conclusions Measuring CRP and CD4+ T-cell activation may identify patients with CD4+ T cell counts < 300 cells/mm3 at risk for early clinical progression when initiating cART. Additional vigilance and symptom-based screening may be required in this subset of patients even after beginning cART. PMID:26017661

Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

NCI is the nation's leader in cancer research. Learn more about NCI's cancer research areas, key initiatives, progress made in cancer research, and resources for researchers like research tools, specimens and data.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Presentation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The first presentation (86-slides), provided by Environmental Management Services (contractor to Cavenham Forest Industries) covers work progress being undertaken with respect to the corrective action.

Evaluating the Impacts of Urbanization on Hydrological Processes and Water Resources by Comparing Two Neighboring Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, M.; Zhao, G.; Gao, H.

2017-12-01

Texas, the fastest growing state in the US, has seen significant land cover/land use change due to urbanization over the past decades. With most of the region being arid/semi-arid, water issues are unprecedentedly pressing. Among the 15 major river basins, two adjacent river basins located in south-central Texas—the San Antonio River Basin (SARB) and the Guadalupe River Basin (GRB)—form an ideal testbed for evaluating the impacts of urbanization on both hydrological processes and water resources. These two basins are similar in size and in climate pattern, but differ in terms of urbanization progress. In SARB, where the city of San Antonio is located, the impervious area has increased from 0.6% (1929) to 7.8% (2011). In contrast, there is little land cover change in the GRB. With regard to the underground components, both basins intersect with the Edward Aquifer (more than 15% of basin area in both cases). The Edward Aquifer acts as one of the major municipal water supplies for San Antonio, and as the water source for local agricultural uses (and for the surrounding habitat). This aquifer has the characteristic of being highly sensitive to changes in surface water conditions, like the descending trend of the underground water table due to over exploitation. In this study, a distributed hydrologic model—DHSVM (the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model)—is used to compare the hydrologic characteristics (and their impacts on water resources) over the two basins. With a 200m spatial resolution, the model is calibrated and validated during the historical period over both basins. The objectives of the comparisons are two-fold: First, the urbanization effects on peak flows are evaluated for selected extreme rainfall events; Second, the Edward Aquifer recharge rate from surface water under flood and/or drought conditions within the two basins is analyzed. Furthermore, future urbanization scenarios are tested to provide information relevant to decision making.

Scaling up ATLAS Event Service to production levels on opportunistic computing platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benjamin, D.; Caballero, J.; Ernst, M.; Guan, W.; Hover, J.; Lesny, D.; Maeno, T.; Nilsson, P.; Tsulaia, V.; van Gemmeren, P.; Vaniachine, A.; Wang, F.; Wenaus, T.; ATLAS Collaboration

2016-10-01

Continued growth in public cloud and HPC resources is on track to exceed the dedicated resources available for ATLAS on the WLCG. Examples of such platforms are Amazon AWS EC2 Spot Instances, Edison Cray XC30 supercomputer, backfill at Tier 2 and Tier 3 sites, opportunistic resources at the Open Science Grid (OSG), and ATLAS High Level Trigger farm between the data taking periods. Because of specific aspects of opportunistic resources such as preemptive job scheduling and data I/O, their efficient usage requires workflow innovations provided by the ATLAS Event Service. Thanks to the finer granularity of the Event Service data processing workflow, the opportunistic resources are used more efficiently. We report on our progress in scaling opportunistic resource usage to double-digit levels in ATLAS production.

Exploration Criteria for Low Permeability Geothermal Resources

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

Norton, D

1977-03-01

The decision to drill deep holes in a prospective geothermal system implies that geothermal energy resources exist at depth. The drill hole location and budget result from hypothesis regarding the location and depth of the resource within the overall system. Although operational decisions normally dictate the practicality of drilling, the characteristics, we must first understand how unique various surface or shallow subsurface data are in assessing the nature of the resource. The following progress report summarizes the results of numerical simulations of heat and mass transport around igneous plutons and the synthesis of geologic data. To date, the results ofmore » the study describe the transient nature of thermal resources and the ambiguities which must be accounted for in using current technology to assess the nation's geothermal resources. [DJE-2005]« less

[Application of synthetic biology to sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources].

PubMed

Huang, Lu-Qi; Gao, Wei; Zhou, Yong-Jin

2014-01-01

Bioactive natural products are the material bases of Chinese materia medica resources. With successful applications of synthetic biology strategies to the researches and productions of taxol, artemisinin and tanshinone, etc, the potential ability of synthetic biology in the sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources has been attracted by many researchers. This paper reviews the development of synthetic biology, the opportunities of sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources, and the progress of synthetic biology applied to the researches of bioactive natural products. Furthermore, this paper also analyzes how to apply synthetic biology to sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources and what the crucial factors are. Production of bioactive natural products with synthetic biology strategies will become a significant approach for the sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources.

Comparing the sensitivity of linear and volumetric MRI measurements to detect changes in the size of vestibular schwannomas in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 on bevacizumab treatment.

PubMed

Morris, Katrina A; Parry, Allyson; Pretorius, Pieter M

2016-09-01

To compare the sensitivity of linear and volumetric measurements on MRI in detecting schwannoma progression in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 on bevacizumab treatment as well as the extent to which this depends on the size of the tumour. We compared retrospectively, changes in linear tumour dimensions at a range of thresholds to volumetric tumour measurements performed using Brainlab iPlan(®) software (Feldkirchen, Germany) and classified for tumour progression according to the Response Evaluation in Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis (REiNS) criteria. Assessment of 61 schwannomas in 46 patients with a median follow-up of 20 months (range 3-43 months) was performed. There was a mean of 7 time points per tumour (range 2-12 time points). Using the volumetric REiNS criteria as the gold standard, a sensitivity of 86% was achieved for linear measurement using a 2-mm threshold to define progression. We propose that a change in linear measurement by 2 mm (particularly in tumours with starting diameters 20-30 mm, the majority of this cohort) could be used as a filter to identify cases of possible progression requiring volumetric analysis. This pragmatic approach can be used if stabilization of a previously growing schwannoma is sufficient for a patient to continue treatment in such a circumstance. We demonstrate the real-world limitations of linear vs volumetric measurement in tumour response assessment and identify limited circumstances where linear measurements can be used to determine which patients require the more resource-intensive volumetric measurements.

Cross-country analysis of strategies for achieving progress towards global goals for women’s and children’s health

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Syed Masud; Rawal, Lal B; Chowdhury, Sadia A; Murray, John; Arscott-Mills, Sharon; Jack, Susan; Hinton, Rachael; Alam, Prima M

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To identify how 10 low- and middle-income countries achieved accelerated progress, ahead of comparable countries, towards meeting millennium development goals 4 and 5A to reduce child and maternal mortality. Methods We synthesized findings from multistakeholder dialogues and country policy reports conducted previously for the Success Factors studies in 10 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Viet Nam. A framework approach was used to analyse and synthesize the data from the country reports, resulting in descriptive or explanatory conclusions by theme. Findings Successful policy and programme approaches were categorized in four strategic areas: leadership and multistakeholder partnerships; health sector; sectors outside health; and accountability for resources and results. Consistent and coordinated inputs across sectors, based on high-impact interventions, were assessed. Within the health sector, key policy and programme strategies included defining standards, collecting and using data, improving financial protection, and improving the availability and quality of services. Outside the health sector, strategies included investing in girls’ education, water, sanitation and hygiene, poverty reduction, nutrition and food security, and infrastructure development. Countries improved accountability by strengthening and using data systems for planning and evaluating progress. Conclusion Reducing maternal and child mortality in the 10 fast-track countries can be linked to consistent and coordinated policy and programme inputs across health and other sectors. The approaches used by successful countries have relevance to other countries looking to scale-up or accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals. PMID:27147765

30 CFR 402.12 - Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts. 402.12 Section 402.12 Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WATER-RESOURCES RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE WATER-RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Application, Evaluation...

30 CFR 402.12 - Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts. 402.12 Section 402.12 Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WATER-RESOURCES RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE WATER-RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Application, Evaluation...

30 CFR 402.12 - Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts. 402.12 Section 402.12 Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WATER-RESOURCES RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE WATER-RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Application, Evaluation...

30 CFR 402.12 - Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts. 402.12 Section 402.12 Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WATER-RESOURCES RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE WATER-RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Application, Evaluation...

30 CFR 402.12 - Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Evaluation of applications for grants and contracts. 402.12 Section 402.12 Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WATER-RESOURCES RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE WATER-RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Application, Evaluation...

Reducing Uncertainty for Acute Febrile Illness in Resource-Limited Settings: The Current Diagnostic Landscape

PubMed Central

Robinson, Matthew L.; Manabe, Yukari C.

2017-01-01

Diagnosing the cause of acute febrile illness in resource-limited settings is important—to give the correct antimicrobials to patients who need them, to prevent unnecessary antimicrobial use, to detect emerging infectious diseases early, and to guide vaccine deployment. A variety of approaches are yielding more rapid and accurate tests that can detect more pathogens in a wider variety of settings. After decades of slow progress in diagnostics for acute febrile illness in resource-limited settings, a wave of converging advancements will enable clinicians in resource-limited settings to reduce uncertainty for the diagnosis of acute febrile illness. PMID:28719277

Impact of Training of Traditional Birth Attendants on Maternal Health Care: A Community-based Study.

PubMed

Satishchandra, D M; Naik, V A; Wantamutte, A S; Mallapur, M D; Sangolli, H N

2013-12-01

To study the impact of Training of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on maternal health care in a rural area. An interventional study in the Primary Health Center area was conducted over 1-year period between March 2006 and February 2007, which included all the 50 Traditional Birth Attendants (30 previously trained and 20 untrained), as study participants. Pretest evaluation regarding knowledge, attitude, and practices about maternal care was done. Post-test evaluation was done at the first month (early) and at the fifth month (late) after the training. Analysis was done by using Mc. Nemer's test, Chi-square test with Yates's correction and Fischer's exact test. Early and late post-test evaluation showed that there was a progressive improvement in the maternal health care provided by both the groups. Significant reduction in the maternal and perinatal deaths among the deliveries conducted by TBAs after the training was noted. Training programme for TBAs with regular follow-ups in the resource-poor setting will not only improve the quality of maternal care but also reduce perinatal deaths.

The role of digital health in making progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 in conflict-affected populations.

PubMed

Asi, Yara M; Williams, Cynthia

2018-06-01

The progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) shows that sustained global action can achieve success. Despite the unprecedented achievements in health and education, more than one billion people, many of them in conflict-affected areas, were unable to reap the benefits of the MDG gains. The recently developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are even more ambitious then their predecessor. SDG 3 prioritizes health and well-being for all ages in specific areas such as maternal mortality, communicable diseases, mental health, and healthcare workforce. However, without a shift in the approach used for conflict-affected areas, the world's most vulnerable people risk being left behind in global development yet again. We must engage in meaningful discussions about employing innovative strategies to address health challenges fragile, low-resource, and often remote settings. In this paper, we will argue that to meet the ambitious health goals of SDG 3, digital health can help to bridge healthcare gaps in conflict-affected areas. First, we describe the health needs of populations in conflict-affected environments, and how they overlap with the SDG 3 targets. Secondly, we discuss how digital health can address the unique needs of conflict-affected areas. Finally, we evaluate the various challenges in deploying digital technologies in fragile environments, and discuss potential policy solutions. Persons in conflict-affected areas may benefit from the diffusive nature of digital health tools. Innovations using cellular technology or cloud-based solutions overcome physical barriers. Additionally, many of the targets of SDG 3 could see significant progress if efficacious education and outreach efforts were supported, and digital health in the form of mHealth and telehealth offers a relatively low-resource platform for these initiatives. Lastly, lack of data collection, especially in conflict-affected or otherwise fragile states, was one of the primary limitations of the MDGs. Greater investment in data collection efforts, supported by digital health technologies, is necessary if SDG 3 targets are to be measured and progress assessed. Standardized EMR systems as well as context-specific data warehousing efforts will assist in collecting and managing accurate data. Stakeholders such as patients, providers, and NGOs, must be proactive and collaborative in their efforts for continuous progress toward SDG 3. Digital health can assist in these inter-organizational communication efforts. The SDGS are complex, ambitious, and comprehensive; even in the most stable environments, achieving full completion towards every goal will be difficult, and in conflict-affected environments, this challenge is much greater. By engaging in a collaborative framework and using the appropriate digital health tools, we can support humanitarian efforts to realize sustained progress in SDG 3 outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Challenges associated with tracking resources allocation for reproductive health in sub-Saharan African countries: the UNFPA/NIDI resource flows project experience.

PubMed

Sidze, Estelle M; Beekink, Erik; Maina, Beatrice W

2015-05-05

Universal access to reproductive health services entails strengthening health systems, but requires significant resource commitments as well as efficient and effective use of those resources. A number of international organizations and governments in developing countries are putting efforts into tracking the flow of health resources in order to inform resource mobilization and allocation, strategic planning, priority setting, advocacy and general policy making. The UNFPA/NIDI-led Resource Flows Project ("The UNFPA/NIDI RF Project") has conducted annual surveys since 1997 to monitor progress achieved by developing countries in implementing reproductive health financial targets. This commentary summarizes the Project experiences and challenges in gathering data on allocation of resources for reproductive health at the domestic level in sub-Saharan African countries. One key lesson learnt from the Project experience is the need for strengthening tracking mechanisms in sub-Saharan African countries and making information on reproductive health resources and expenditures available, in particular the private sector resources.

Curriculum-Based Measurement of Oral Reading: Multi-Study Evaluation of Schedule, Duration, and Dataset Quality on Progress Monitoring Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christ, Theodore J.; Zopluoglu, Cengiz; Monaghen, Barbara D.; Van Norman, Ethan R.

2013-01-01

Curriculum-Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM-R) is used to collect time series data, estimate the rate of student achievement, and evaluate program effectiveness. A series of 5 studies were carried out to evaluate the validity, reliability, precision, and diagnostic accuracy of progress monitoring across a variety of progress monitoring…

Strategies for Sustainable Communities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The guidebook offers potential strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions using smart growth strategies, indicators to track progress, and resources for 10 community types ranging from major cities to rural communities.

The DLESE Evaluation Toolkit Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buhr, S. M.; Barker, L. J.; Marlino, M.

2002-12-01

The Evaluation Toolkit and Community project is a new Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) collection designed to raise awareness of project evaluation within the geoscience education community, and to enable principal investigators, teachers, and evaluators to implement project evaluation more readily. This new resource is grounded in the needs of geoscience educators, and will provide a virtual home for a geoscience education evaluation community. The goals of the project are to 1) provide a robust collection of evaluation resources useful for Earth systems educators, 2) establish a forum and community for evaluation dialogue within DLESE, and 3) disseminate the resources through the DLESE infrastructure and through professional society workshops and proceedings. Collaboration and expertise in education, geoscience and evaluation are necessary if we are to conduct the best possible geoscience education. The Toolkit allows users to engage in evaluation at whichever level best suits their needs, get more evaluation professional development if desired, and access the expertise of other segments of the community. To date, a test web site has been built and populated, initial community feedback from the DLESE and broader community is being garnered, and we have begun to heighten awareness of geoscience education evaluation within our community. The web site contains features that allow users to access professional development about evaluation, search and find evaluation resources, submit resources, find or offer evaluation services, sign up for upcoming workshops, take the user survey, and submit calendar items. The evaluation resource matrix currently contains resources that have met our initial review. The resources are currently organized by type; they will become searchable on multiple dimensions of project type, audience, objectives and evaluation resource type as efforts to develop a collection-specific search engine mature. The peer review criteria and process for ensuring that the site contains robust and useful resources has been drafted and received initial feedback from the project advisory board, which consists of members of every segment of the target audience. The review criteria are based upon DLESE peer review criteria, the MERLOT digital library peer review criteria, digital resource evaluation criteria, and evaluation best practices. In geoscience education, as in most endeavors, improvements are made by asking questions and acting upon information about successes and failures; project evaluation can be thought of as the systematic process of asking these questions and gathering the right information. The Evaluation Toolkit seeks to help principal investigators, teachers, and evaluators use the evaluation process to improve our projects and our field.

Science and technology issues in coastal ecotourism. Background paper

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

Not Available

Nature-based tourism, increasingly called 'ecotourism'--one of the fastest growing sectors of tourism worldwide, is fast gaining the attention of developed and developing countries as a potential means to conserve natural resources and support sustainable economic progress. The paper presents information on the ecotourism trends; identifies issues related to resource conservation, ecotourism development and management, and planning; and presents questions for possible further consideration.

Distributional Properties of the PIRLS-Home Resource for Learning Scale and Observed Effects on Reading Achievement: Are Measurements of Educational Inequalities by Latent Indices without Bias?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walzebug, Anke; Kasper, Daniel

2018-01-01

In "Progress in International Reading Literacy Study" (PIRLS) educational inequalities are measured, amongst others, through the relationship between students' reading achievements and the home resource for learning (HRL) scale. By applying the partial credit model and using the WLE estimates for the person parameters it is accepted that…

National Agenda: Development of Best Practices in Human Resources Using "Ways of Knowing through the Realms of Meaning" as the Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cloud, Michelle; Kritsonis, William Allan

2007-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine "Ways of Knowing through the Realms of Meaning" by Dr. William Allan Kritsonis as a framework that innovative and progressive leaders in education can use to implement and utilize the absolute best practices regarding Human Resources in an educational organization. Dr Kritsonis's "Ways of Knowing through…

Learning Center for Advancing Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability in the Mexican State of Jalisco

Treesearch

Celedonio Aguirre-Bravo; Hans Schreuder

2006-01-01

This paper addresses the need and opportunity for creating a learning center for advancing the monitoring and assessment of ecosystems resources and their sustainability in the Mexican state of Jalisco. It is an initiative that responds to the growing needs of a more sophisticated world in which knowledge is the tool for creating social and environmental progress and...

Are the investments in national HIV monitoring and evaluation systems paying off?

PubMed

Peersman, Greet; Rugg, Deborah; Erkkola, Taavi; Kiwango, Eva; Yang, Ju

2009-12-01

Concerted efforts and substantial financial resources have gone toward strengthening national monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for HIV programs. This article explores whether those investments have made a difference in terms of data availability, quality and use for assessing whether national programs are on track to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halting and reversing the HIV epidemic. Descriptive analyses, including trends, of the National Composite Policy Index data and M&E expenditures were conducted. Global Fund funding continuation assessments were reviewed for concerns related to M&E. Availability of population-based survey data was assessed. There has been a marked increase in the number of countries where the prerequisites for a national HIV M&E system are in place and in human resources devoted to M&E at the national level. However, crucial gaps remain in M&E capacity, available M&E data, and data quality assurance. The extent to which data are used for program improvement is difficult to ascertain. There is a potential threat to sustaining the current momentum in M&E as governments have not committed long-term funding and current M&E-related expenditures are below the minimum needed to make M&E systems fully functional. There is evidence of rapid scale-up of basic HIV M&E systems, but if M&E is to fulfil its role in guiding optimal use of resources, ensuring effective HIV programs and providing evidence of progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the HIV epidemic, essential data gaps will need to be filled urgently and those data will need to be used to guide decision making.

A holistic model for evaluating the impact of individual technology-enhanced learning resources.

PubMed

Pickering, James D; Joynes, Viktoria C T

2016-12-01

The use of technology within education has now crossed the Rubicon; student expectations, the increasing availability of both hardware and software and the push to fully blended learning environments mean that educational institutions cannot afford to turn their backs on technology-enhanced learning (TEL). The ability to meaningfully evaluate the impact of TEL resources nevertheless remains problematic. This paper aims to establish a robust means of evaluating individual resources and meaningfully measure their impact upon learning within the context of the program in which they are used. Based upon the experience of developing and evaluating a range of mobile and desktop based TEL resources, this paper outlines a new four-stage evaluation process, taking into account learner satisfaction, learner gain, and the impact of a resource on both the individual and the institution in which it has been adapted. A new multi-level model of TEL resource evaluation is proposed, which includes a preliminary evaluation of need, learner satisfaction and gain, learner impact and institutional impact. Each of these levels are discussed in detail, and in relation to existing TEL evaluation frameworks. This paper details a holistic, meaningful evaluation model for individual TEL resources within the specific context in which they are used. It is proposed that this model is adopted to ensure that TEL resources are evaluated in a more meaningful and robust manner than is currently undertaken.

The U.S culture collection network lays the foundation for progress in preservation of valuable microbial resources

Treesearch

K. McCluskey; A. Alvarez; R. Bennett; D. Bokati; K. Boundy-Mills; D. D. Brown; C. T. Bull; M. Coffey; T. Dreaden; C. Duke; G. Dye; E. Ehmke; K. Eversole; K. Fenstermacher; D. Geiser; Jessie A. Glaeser; S. Greene; L. Gribble; M. P. Griffith; K. Hanser; R. Humber; B. W. Johnson; A. Kermode; M. Krichevsky; M. Laudon; J. Leach; J. Leslie; M. May; U. Melcher; D. Nobles; N. R. Fonseca; S. Robinson; M. Ryan; J. Scott; C. Silflow; A. Vidaver; K. M. Webb; J. E. Wertz; S. Yentsch; S. Zehr

2016-01-01

The U.S. Culture Collection Network was formed in 2012 by a group of culture collection scientists and stakeholders in order to continue the progress established previously through efforts of an ad hoc group. The network is supported by a Research Coordination Network grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and has the goals of promoting interaction among...

The U.S.Culture Collection Network lays the foundation for progress in preservation of valuable microbial resources

Treesearch

Kevin McCluskey; Anne Alvarez; Rick Bennett; Deepak Bokati; Kyria Boundy-Mills; Daniel Brown; Carolee T. Bull; Michael Coffey; Tyler Dreaden; Clifford Duke; Greg Dye; Erin Ehmke; Kellye Eversole; Kristi Fenstermacher; David Geiser; Jessie A. Glaeser; Stephanie Greene; Lisa Gribble; M. Patrick Griffith; Kathryn Hanser; Richard Humber; Barbara W. Johnson; Anthony Kermode; Micah Krichevsky; Matt Laudon; Jan Leach; John Leslie; Meghan May; Ulrich Melcher; David Nobles; Natalia Risso Fonseca; Sara Robinson; Matthew Ryan; James Scott; Carolyn Silflow; Anne Vidaver; Kimberly M. Webb; John E. Wertz; Sara Yentsch; Sarah Zehr

2016-01-01

The U. S. Culture Collection Network was formed in 2012 by a group of culture collection scientists and stakeholders in order to continue the progress established previously through efforts of an ad hock group.  The network is supported by a Research Coordination Network grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and has the goals of promoting interaction...

Green Innovation Design of Products under the Perspective of Sustainable Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

yi-fei, Guo

2017-01-01

with the continuous development and progress of productivity, product design spans with the age now and forms a diversified formation. But when there is a progress of science and technology, the speed of consumption of resources is also increasing, the relationship between mankind and the nature further worsens, resources will be exhausted, pollution is increasingly serious and shocking public nuisance events occur frequently. People pay more attention to the environment due to the harms to the nature caused by the development of industry, science and technology. Nowadays, people have clearly recognized the important role of design in environmental protection. The ecological research on constructing a new aesthetic relationship between human and nature has drawn wide attention from all circles of the society. Green innovation design has become the focus of global concern.

Women in physics in the UK: Update 2008-2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Carol; Marks, Ann; Wilkin, Nicola; Leslie, Dawn; D'Amico, Irene; Dyer, Jennifer

2013-03-01

Positive progress has continued in the past three years for women in physics in the UK. The Institute of Physics has aggressively advocated and organized initiatives for women in science through its Diversity Programme and its Women in Physics Group. Surveys are routinely carried out and acted upon, most recently on postdoctoral researchers and childcare issues. The Institute's Juno Award program encourages higher education institutes to address the underrepresentation of women in physics. The UK Resource Centre for Women in SET (science, engineering, and technology) provides resources and support for women working in physics and other science and engineering disciplines. The Equality Act of 2010 provides renewed focus on equality and a framework within which women physicists can continue to push for progress. The recent achievements of women physicists are noted.

A System Method for the Assessment of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Mountain Watershed Areas: The Case of the "Giffre" Watershed (France)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charnay, Bérengère

2011-07-01

In the last fifty years, many mountain watersheds in temperate countries have known a progressive change from self-standing agro-silvo-pastoral systems to leisure dominated areas characterized by a concentration of tourist accommodations, leading to a drinking water peak during the winter tourist season, when the water level is lowest in rivers and sources. The concentration of water uses increases the pressure on "aquatic habitats" and competition between uses themselves. Consequently, a new concept was developed following the international conferences in Dublin (International Conference on Water and the Environment - ICWE) and Rio de Janeiro (UN Conference on Environment and Development), both in 1992, and was broadly acknowledged through international and European policies. It is the concept of Integrated Water Resource Management ( IWRM). It meets the requirements of different uses of water and aquatic zones whilst preserving the natural functions of such areas and ensuring a satisfactory economic and social development. This paper seeks to evaluate a local water resources management system in order to implement it using IWRM in mountain watersheds. The assessment method is based on the systemic approach to take into account all components influencing a water resources management system at the watershed scale. A geographic information system was built to look into interactions between water resources, land uses, and water uses. This paper deals specifically with a spatial comparison between hydrologically sensitive areas and land uses. The method is applied to a French Alps watershed: the Giffre watershed (a tributary of the Arve in Haute-Savoie). The results emphasize both the needs and the gaps in implementing IWRM in vulnerable mountain regions.

The Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study: a resource for the study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of myocardial infarction in South Asia

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

The burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) is increasing at a greater rate in South Asia than in any other region globally, but there is little direct evidence about its determinants. The Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS) is an epidemiological resource to enable reliable study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of CHD in South Asia. By March 2009, PROMIS had recruited over 5,000 cases of first-ever confirmed acute myocardial infarction (MI) and over 5,000 matched controls aged 30–80 years. For each participant, information has been recorded on demographic factors, lifestyle, medical and family history, anthropometry, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram. A range of biological samples has been collected and stored, including DNA, plasma, serum and whole blood. During its next stage, the study aims to expand recruitment to achieve a total of about 20,000 cases and about 20,000 controls, and, in subsets of participants, to enrich the resource by collection of monocytes, establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines, and by resurveying participants. Measurements in progress include profiling of candidate biochemical factors, assay of 45,000 variants in 2,100 candidate genes, and a genomewide association scan of over 650,000 genetic markers. We have established a large epidemiological resource for CHD in South Asia. In parallel with its further expansion and enrichment, the PROMIS resource will be systematically harvested to help identify and evaluate genetic and other determinants of MI in South Asia. Findings from this study should advance scientific understanding and inform regionally appropriate disease prevention and control strategies. PMID:19404752

The ClearEarth Project: Preliminary Findings from Experiments in Applying the CLEARTK NLP Pipeline and Annotation Tools Developed for Biomedicine to the Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duerr, R.; Thessen, A.; Jenkins, C. J.; Palmer, M.; Myers, S.; Ramdeen, S.

2016-12-01

The ability to quickly find, easily use and effortlessly integrate data from a variety of sources is a grand challenge in Earth sciences, one around which entire research programs have been built. A myriad of approaches to tackling components of this challenge have been demonstrated, often with some success. Yet finding, assessing, accessing, using and integrating data remains a major challenge for many researchers. A technology that has shown promise in nearly every aspect of the challenge is semantics. Semantics has been shown to improve data discovery, facilitate assessment of a data set, and through adoption of the W3C's Linked Data Platform to have improved data integration and use at least for data amenable to that paradigm. Yet the creation of semantic resources has been slow. Why? Amongst a plethora of other reasons, it is because semantic expertise is rare in the Earth and Space sciences; the creation of semantic resources for even a single discipline is labor intensive and requires agreement within the discipline; best practices, methods and tools for supporting the creation and maintenance of the resources generated are in flux; and the human and financial capital needed are rarely available in the Earth sciences. However, other fields, such as biomedicine, have made considerable progress in these areas. The NSF-funded ClearEarth project is adapting the methods and tools from these communities for the Earth sciences in the expectation that doing so will enhance progress and the rate at which the needed semantic resources are created. We discuss progress and results to date, lessons learned from this adaptation process, and describe our upcoming efforts to extend this knowledge to the next generation of Earth and data scientists.

Evaluation and Countermeasures on sustainable development of nickel resources in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Zhifeng

2017-08-01

Nickel is an important strategic resource in China. With the gradual reduction of nickel re-sources and the increasing competition of the global mineral resources market, the safety of nickel resources in China has been seriously threatened. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the sustainable develop-ment of nickel resources in China and put forward the corresponding countermeasures. In this paper, the concept and research situation of sustainable development are analyzed. Based on the specific development of nickel resources in China, this paper uses AHP to evaluate the safety of nickel resources in china. Finally, it puts forward the concrete measures to implement the sustainable development strategy of nickel resources in China.

Evaluating urban eco-tourism resources and environment: a case study in Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Qi; Yin, Jie

2018-02-01

In this paper, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, China has been selected as the study area. The overall status and the development conditions of resources and environment have been analyzed for the park. The eco-tourism resources and environment of Chenshan Botanical Garden were further evaluated synthetically by using expert analysis and questionnaire. A comprehensive evaluation system including 16 indices has been initially established from three aspects of tourism resource element value, resource development condition and eco-environment condition. The characteristics of eco-tourism resources and the score of each indicator for Chenshan Botanical Garden have subsequently been generated. The results show that the comprehensive evaluation score of eco-tourism resources and environment for Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden is 72.06, which belongs to third level of excellent tourism resources and environment. Finally, five suggestions are proposed for future development of its eco-tourism resources and environment.

Assessing Student Evaluations of Resources: Approximation of Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Ernie

2010-01-01

Teaching the evaluation of information resources can be daunting for both students and educators. In an information environment in which resource types are ever-changing, how does the school librarian assess the evaluative skills of students? The assessments ought to reflect the malleable nature of online resources. To engage students in a…

A primer on evaluation and use of natural resource information for corporate data bases

Treesearch

H. Gyde Lund; Charles E. Thomas; Robert G. Bailey; James E. Brickell; William H. Clerke; Robert S. Cunningham; Raymond L. Czaplewski; Susan J. DeLost; Fran Evanisko; Harold R. Greenlee; Paul Howard; Randy Moore; Jerry F. Ragus; Brian M. Spears; Wayne Valentine

1995-01-01

This primer provides resource inventory specialists with information on how to evaluate existing natural resource information and how to use it in preparing new resource inventortes. Subjects covered indude determining information needs, finding existing lnformation, determining its utility, evaluating Its suitability and quality, and incorporating It into new...

Electronic Resources Evaluation Central: Using Off-the-Shelf Software, Web 2.0 Tools, and LibGuides to Manage an Electronic Resources Evaluation Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

England, Lenore; Fu, Li

2011-01-01

A critical part of electronic resources management, the electronic resources evaluation process is multi-faceted and includes a seemingly endless range of resources and tools involving numerous library staff. A solution is to build a Web site to bring all of the components together that can be implemented quickly and result in an organizational…

Evaluation of Water Resources Carrying Capacity in Shandong Province Based on Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Qiang; Gao, Qian; Zhu, Mingyue; Li, Xiumei

2018-06-01

Water resources carrying capacity is the maximum available water resources supporting by the social and economic development. Based on investigating and statisticing on the current situation of water resources in Shandong Province, this paper selects 13 factors including per capita water resources, water resources utilization, water supply modulus, rainfall, per capita GDP, population density, per capita water consumption, water consumption per million yuan, The water consumption of industrial output value, the agricultural output value of farmland, the irrigation rate of cultivated land, the water consumption rate of ecological environment and the forest coverage rate were used as the evaluation factors. Then,the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model was used to analyze the water resources carrying capacity Force status evaluation. The results showed : The comprehensive evaluation results of water resources in Shandong Province were lower than 0.6 in 2001-2009 and higher than 0.6 in 2010-2015, which indicating that the water resources carrying capacity of Shandong Province has been improved.; In addition, most of the years a value of less than 0.6, individual years below 0.4, the interannual changes are relatively large, from that we can see the level of water resources is generally weak, the greater the interannual changes in Shandong Province.

Energy as a Natural Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seeger, Raymond J.

1971-01-01

Briefly discusses energy consumption per capita as an index of technical progress, a historical review of concepts related to energy conservation, energy conversion, natural sources, man-made sources, and social implications. (PR)

25 CFR 162.010 - How do I obtain a lease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... subpart E for wind energy evaluation, wind resource, or solar resource leases; and (3) Prospective lessees..., residential, business, wind energy evaluation, wind resource, and solar resource leases will not be advertised...

25 CFR 162.010 - How do I obtain a lease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... subpart E for wind energy evaluation, wind resource, or solar resource leases; and (3) Prospective lessees..., residential, business, wind energy evaluation, wind resource, and solar resource leases will not be advertised...

Scaling and Sustaining Effective Early Childhood Programs Through School-Family-University Collaboration.

PubMed

Reynolds, Arthur J; Hayakawa, Momoko; Ou, Suh-Ruu; Mondi, Christina F; Englund, Michelle M; Candee, Allyson J; Smerillo, Nicole E

2017-09-01

We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive preschool to third grade prevention program for the goals of sustaining services at a large scale. The Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Expansion is a multilevel collaborative school reform model designed to improve school achievement and parental involvement from ages 3 to 9. By increasing the dosage, coordination, and comprehensiveness of services, the program is expected to enhance the transition to school and promote more enduring effects on well-being in multiple domains. We review and evaluate evidence from two longitudinal studies (Midwest CPC, 2012 to present; Chicago Longitudinal Study, 1983 to present) and four implementation examples of how the guiding principles of shared ownership, committed resources, and progress monitoring for improvement can promote effectiveness. The implementation system of partners and further expansion using "Pay for Success" financing shows the feasibility of scaling the program while continuing to improve effectiveness. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

[Assessment of the announcement procedure in 29 cancer-accredited hospitals in the Aquitaine region: the EVADA project].

PubMed

Rongère-Casteigt, Julie; Pinon, Elodie; Domecq, Sandrine; Hoppe, Stéphanie; Bousser, Véronique; Vimard, Edwige; Saillour-Glenisson, Florence

2015-01-01

An announcement procedure is mandatory to obtain accreditation to treat cancer patients. Health care professionals in the Aquitaine region evaluated the organization of this announcement procedure in their institutions and the patients' perception, in order to initiate actions to improve the structure and traceability of this procedure. Self-assessment approach based on a retrospective study plan comprising three concomitant steps: organizational audit, medical records audit and patient experience survey. 29 institutions participated in the study. Heterogeneous organizations were observed, although progress had been made in the deployment of the announcement procedure in terms of personnel training,formal organization and the resources devoted to this procedure, but there remains considerable room for improvement in terms of traceability, coordination between doctors and nursing staff, and referral of patients to supportive care. This evaluation triggered active mobilization of hospital teams concerning the announcement procedure in the Aquitaine region and a better awareness of the patient's perception. The regional dynamic allowed exchanges between institutions, facilitating the implementation of improvement actions.

Comprehensive benefit analysis of regional water resources based on multi-objective evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chi, Yixia; Xue, Lianqing; Zhang, Hui

2018-01-01

The purpose of the water resources comprehensive benefits analysis is to maximize the comprehensive benefits on the aspects of social, economic and ecological environment. Aiming at the defects of the traditional analytic hierarchy process in the evaluation of water resources, it proposed a comprehensive benefit evaluation of social, economic and environmental benefits index from the perspective of water resources comprehensive benefit in the social system, economic system and environmental system; determined the index weight by the improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP), calculated the relative index of water resources comprehensive benefit and analyzed the comprehensive benefit of water resources in Xiangshui County by the multi-objective evaluation model. Based on the water resources data in Xiangshui County, 20 main comprehensive benefit assessment factors of 5 districts belonged to Xiangshui County were evaluated. The results showed that the comprehensive benefit of Xiangshui County was 0.7317, meanwhile the social economy has a further development space in the current situation of water resources.

When Progressive Disease Does Not Mean Treatment Failure: Reconsidering the Criteria for Progression

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Although progression-based endpoints, such as progression-free survival, are often key clinical trial endpoints for anticancer agents, the clinical meaning of “objective progression” is much less certain. As scrutiny of progression-based endpoints in clinical trials increases, it should be remembered that the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) progression criteria were not developed as a surrogate for survival. Now that progression-free survival has come to be an increasingly important trial endpoint, the criteria that define progression deserve critical evaluation to determine whether alternate definitions of progression might facilitate the development of stronger surrogate endpoints and more meaningful trial results. In this commentary, we review the genesis of the criteria for progression, highlight recent data that question their value as a marker of treatment failure, and advocate for several research strategies that could lay the groundwork for a clinically validated definition of disease progression in solid tumor oncology. PMID:22927506

15 CFR 923.94 - Application for program development or implementation grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AND COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM REGULATIONS Applications for Program...) The cumulative progress toward meeting the requirements for preliminary or final approval of a coastal...

15 CFR 923.94 - Application for program development or implementation grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... AND COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM REGULATIONS Applications for Program...) The cumulative progress toward meeting the requirements for preliminary or final approval of a coastal...

On the Ideological Conditions of Canadian Independence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Robert F.

1975-01-01

Article focused on the effect of international professional migration as that migration raises critical questions of appropriate human resource utilization for economically progressive and politically automnomous development in Canada. (Author/RK)

Exploring Early Adolescents' Evaluation of Academic and Commercial Online Resources Related to Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiili, Carita; Leu, Donald J.; Marttunen, Miika; Hautala, Jarkko; Leppänen, Paavo H. T.

2018-01-01

This study assessed the ability of 426 students (ages 12-13) to critically evaluate two types of online locations on health issues: an academic resource and a commercial resource. The results indicated limited evaluation abilities, especially for the commercial resource, and only a small, partial association with prior stance and offline reading…

The value of neuroscience strategies to accelerate progress in psychological treatment research.

PubMed

Moras, Karla

2006-11-01

Major findings from the past 55 years of psychological treatment research indicate that 3 questions are now pivotal to continued practice-relevant progress: What is the nature of the problem(s) to be treated? What are the causal change mechanisms of efficacious psychological treatments? Can more efficient and broadly effective psychological treatments be developed? Contemporary cognitive, affective, and behavioural neurosciences offer particularly promising resources for psychological treatment research that can help accelerate progress regarding these questions. This article explains why the questions are pivotal and presents neuroscience findings to illustrate how progress can be made on each one and for diverse problems and disorders such as major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, drug addiction, and regulation of negative affect.

Progress and privilege: America in the age of environmentalism

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

Tucker, W.

Environmentalism, which was a rarity in the 1960s, approaches a national religion in the 1980s, with some environmentalists experiencing pleasure at the prospect of limited resources and no growth. The author explores this new ambivalence toward progress, and concludes that accomplishment can dampen ambition. His analysis of environmentalism as an expression of privilege examines the political and economic characteristics of environmentalists, the major environmental issues, and the public revolt against science to uncover an aristocratic element that is diappearing from our culture. Progress will continue, however, because of global ambitions. The US can build on what has been learned duringmore » the Age of Environmentalism and get on with the progress of humanity. 159 references, 1 figure. (DCK)« less

Human Support Technology Research to Enable Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joshi, Jitendra

2003-01-01

Contents include the following: Advanced life support. System integration, modeling, and analysis. Progressive capabilities. Water processing. Air revitalization systems. Why advanced CO2 removal technology? Solid waste resource recovery systems: lyophilization. ISRU technologies for Mars life support. Atmospheric resources of Mars. N2 consumable/make-up for Mars life. Integrated test beds. Monitoring and controlling the environment. Ground-based commercial technology. Optimizing size vs capability. Water recovery systems. Flight verification topics.

Development of Career Opportunities for Technicians in the Nuclear Medicine Field, Phase I. Interim Report Number 1: Survey of Job Characteristics, Manpower Needs and Training Resources, July 1969.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Technical Education Research Center, Cambridge, MA.

Phase I of a multiphase research program in progress at the Technical Education Research Center, Inc., was conducted to analyze needs and resources in terms of job performance tasks, career opportunities, and training requirements for nuclear medical technicians. Data were gathered through personal interviews with 203 persons, mostly physicians,…

Measuring Malaysia School Resource Centers' Standards through iQ-PSS: An Online Management Information System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zainudin, Fadzliaton; Ismail, Kamarulzaman

2010-01-01

The Ministry of Education has come up with an innovative way to monitor the progress of 9,843 School Resource Centers (SRCs) using an online management information system called iQ-PSS (Quality Index of SRC). This paper aims to describe the data collection method and analyze the current state of SRCs in Malaysia and explain how the results can be…

Laboratory challenges conducting international clinical research in resource-limited settings.

PubMed

Fitzgibbon, Joseph E; Wallis, Carole L

2014-01-01

There are many challenges to performing clinical research in resource-limited settings. Here, we discuss several of the most common laboratory issues that must be addressed. These include issues relating to organization and personnel, laboratory facilities and equipment, standard operating procedures, external quality assurance, shipping, laboratory capacity, and data management. Although much progress has been made, innovative ways of addressing some of these issues are still very much needed.

Program of Research in the Field of Human Resources Development with Special Reference to Asia and the Far East; Annotated List of Research Projects Completed and Proposed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehta, M.M.

Summaries of nine research projects completed and 26 research projects proposed or in progress, titles of papers produced in coordinated research and teaching programs, and a list of 13 international, national, or regional, seminars, conferences, or expert working group meetings contributing to human resources development in Asia and the Far East…

[Application of niche theory in evaluation of main tourism scenic areas in Zhangjiajie City].

PubMed

Xiang, Yan-ping; Xiang, Chang-guo; Chen, You-lian

2010-05-01

Five tourism scenic areas in Zhangjiajie City were selected as research objects, and fifty kinds of resource conditions affecting the development of tourism scenic area were taken as evaluation indices. Through disposing and consolidating the indices level by level, an analysis was made on the niche breadth and niche overlap of the five tourism scenic areas at three levels (I, II, and III). In the five scenic areas, index level had significant effects on the niche breadth (F = 10.278, P = 0.006), but less effects on the relative niche breadth, suggesting that in the evaluation of the development potential of tourism scenic area, relative niche breadth was more reasonable than absolute niche breadth. From level III to level I, the niche overlap of the five scenic areas was increasing, indicating that level choice would affect the evaluation of the actual niche overlap of the scenic areas. With the progressive refinement of the indices to certain level, and when the difference between observed and Monte Carlo-simulated Pianka indices achieved to significant level, this index level could be used as the minimum standard of the refinement, and the simulated niche overlap could be taken as an important reference in the competition evaluation of tourism scenic area.

Institutionalising health technology assessment: establishing the Medical Technology Assessment Board in India.

PubMed

Downey, Laura E; Mehndiratta, Abha; Grover, Ashoo; Gauba, Vijay; Sheikh, Kabir; Prinja, Shankar; Singh, Ravinder; Cluzeau, Francoise A; Dabak, Saudamini; Teerawattananon, Yot; Kumar, Sanjiv; Swaminathan, Soumya

2017-01-01

India is at crossroads with a commitment by the government to universal health coverage (UHC), driving efficiency and tackling waste across the public healthcare sector. Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important policy reform that can assist policy-makers to tackle inequities and inefficiencies by improving the way in which health resources are allocated towards cost-effective, appropriate and feasible interventions. The equitable and efficient distribution of health budget resources, as well as timely uptake of good value technologies, are critical to strengthen the Indian healthcare system. The government of India is set to establish a Medical Technology Assessment Board to evaluate existing and new health technologies in India, assist choices between comparable technologies for adoption by the healthcare system and improve the way in which priorities for health are set. This initiative aims to introduce a more transparent, inclusive, fair and evidence-based process by which decisions regarding the allocation of health resources are made in India towards the ultimate goal of UHC. In this analysis article, we report on plans and progress of the government of India for the institutionalisation of HTA in the country. Where India is home to one-sixth of the global population, improving the health services that the population receives will have a resounding impact not only for India but also for global health.

Institutionalising health technology assessment: establishing the Medical Technology Assessment Board in India

PubMed Central

Downey, Laura E; Mehndiratta, Abha; Grover, Ashoo; Gauba, Vijay; Sheikh, Kabir; Prinja, Shankar; Singh, Ravinder; Cluzeau, Francoise A; Dabak, Saudamini; Teerawattananon, Yot; Kumar, Sanjiv; Swaminathan, Soumya

2017-01-01

India is at crossroads with a commitment by the government to universal health coverage (UHC), driving efficiency and tackling waste across the public healthcare sector. Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important policy reform that can assist policy-makers to tackle inequities and inefficiencies by improving the way in which health resources are allocated towards cost-effective, appropriate and feasible interventions. The equitable and efficient distribution of health budget resources, as well as timely uptake of good value technologies, are critical to strengthen the Indian healthcare system. The government of India is set to establish a Medical Technology Assessment Board to evaluate existing and new health technologies in India, assist choices between comparable technologies for adoption by the healthcare system and improve the way in which priorities for health are set. This initiative aims to introduce a more transparent, inclusive, fair and evidence-based process by which decisions regarding the allocation of health resources are made in India towards the ultimate goal of UHC. In this analysis article, we report on plans and progress of the government of India for the institutionalisation of HTA in the country. Where India is home to one-sixth of the global population, improving the health services that the population receives will have a resounding impact not only for India but also for global health. PMID:29225927

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

PubMed

Johna, Samir; Woodward, Brandon

2015-01-01

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

Resources for your career in orthopaedic traumatology: what can the OTA do for you?

PubMed

Mehta, Samir; Smith, Jeffrey M

2012-09-01

For those choosing a career in orthopaedic traumatology, several resources have been established by the Orthopaedic Trauma Association to facilitate progression from the years in training to the early years in practice. Young practitioners have access to educational programming, such as preparation for Part II of the Board Examination, web-based resources, such as on-line job postings, advocacy in health policy for the issues that will affect their ability to practice, and public relations efforts to increase their presence in the community. Ultimately, the resources set aside for the young practitioner by the Orthopaedic Trauma Association are intended to facilitate a sense of excellence, service, and community.

Physics in perspective, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

Progress in physics and its subfields is presented and the contribution of physics is related to progress in other scientific disciplines and the manner in which these have been utilized by our civilization. The future course of endeavor in the various subfields of physics and the extent to which these will require resources of manpower, facilities, and funding are discussed. The rational responses of the total research effort in physics to alternative funding levels are assayed.

Hospital Management Between The Modern Image And Aging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dadulescu, Ana-Maria

2015-09-01

Hospital management has experienced significant progress with the evolution of the Romanian health system reform, it has made strides in terms of resource allocation and cost control, new systems for classification, evaluation and monitoring (DRGs, SIUI, CaPeSaRo) were implemented, some taken from other countries and adapted to local conditions, but not always integrated with the other components and sometimes incompletely implemented and developed. This material does not offer definite solutions to current problems. It only briefly addresses the main aspects of hospital activity, and points out some failures with whom hospital managers are presently faced. Once the problems are identified it creates prerequisites for solving them, it opens channels of research and development of new methodologies or correlation of the existing deficient workflows that can be corrected.

Biogasification of Walt Disney World biomass waste blend. Annual report Jan-Dec 82

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

Biljetina, R.; Chynoweth, D.P.; Janulis, J.

1983-05-01

The objective of this research is to develop efficient processes for conversion of biomass-waste blends to methane and other resources. To evaluate the technical and economic feasibility, an experimental test facility (ETU) is being designed and installed at the Reedy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. The facility will integrate a biomethanogenic conversion process with a waste-water treatment process employing water hyacinth ponds for secondary and tertiary treatment of sewage produced at Walt Disney World. The ETU will be capable of feeding 1-wet ton per day of water hyacinth-sludge blends to the digestion system for productionmore » of methane and other byproducts. The detailed design of the facility has been completed and procurement of equipment is in progress.« less

Enhancing Environmental Educators' Evaluation Competencies: Insights from an Examination of the Effectiveness of the "My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant" (MEERA) Website

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zint, Michaela T.; Dowd, Patrick F.; Covitt, Beth A.

2011-01-01

To conduct evaluations that can benefit individual programs as well as the field as a whole, environmental educators must have the necessary evaluation competencies. This exploratory study was conducted to determine to what extent a self-directed learning resource entitled "My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant" (MEERA) can…

Perspectives on geopressured resources within the geothermal program

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

Dibona, B.

1980-06-01

This work reviews the potential of geothermal energy in the U.S. Current sources of and uses for geothermal energy are described. The study outlines how geopressured resources fit into the geothermal program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Description of the program status includes progress in drilling and assessing geopressured resources. The Division of Geothermal Energy within DOE is responsible for geothermal resources comprising point heat sources (igneous); high heat flow regions such as those between the Sierras and the Rockies; radiogenic heat sources of moderate temperatures of the eastern U.S. coast; geopressured zones; and hot dry rock systems.more » Interest in these resources focuses on electric power production, direct heat application, and methane production from the geopressured aquifers.« less

RSTensorFlow: GPU Enabled TensorFlow for Deep Learning on Commodity Android Devices

PubMed Central

Alzantot, Moustafa; Wang, Yingnan; Ren, Zhengshuang; Srivastava, Mani B.

2018-01-01

Mobile devices have become an essential part of our daily lives. By virtue of both their increasing computing power and the recent progress made in AI, mobile devices evolved to act as intelligent assistants in many tasks rather than a mere way of making phone calls. However, popular and commonly used tools and frameworks for machine intelligence are still lacking the ability to make proper use of the available heterogeneous computing resources on mobile devices. In this paper, we study the benefits of utilizing the heterogeneous (CPU and GPU) computing resources available on commodity android devices while running deep learning models. We leveraged the heterogeneous computing framework RenderScript to accelerate the execution of deep learning models on commodity Android devices. Our system is implemented as an extension to the popular open-source framework TensorFlow. By integrating our acceleration framework tightly into TensorFlow, machine learning engineers can now easily make benefit of the heterogeneous computing resources on mobile devices without the need of any extra tools. We evaluate our system on different android phones models to study the trade-offs of running different neural network operations on the GPU. We also compare the performance of running different models architectures such as convolutional and recurrent neural networks on CPU only vs using heterogeneous computing resources. Our result shows that although GPUs on the phones are capable of offering substantial performance gain in matrix multiplication on mobile devices. Therefore, models that involve multiplication of large matrices can run much faster (approx. 3 times faster in our experiments) due to GPU support. PMID:29629431

RSTensorFlow: GPU Enabled TensorFlow for Deep Learning on Commodity Android Devices.

PubMed

Alzantot, Moustafa; Wang, Yingnan; Ren, Zhengshuang; Srivastava, Mani B

2017-06-01

Mobile devices have become an essential part of our daily lives. By virtue of both their increasing computing power and the recent progress made in AI, mobile devices evolved to act as intelligent assistants in many tasks rather than a mere way of making phone calls. However, popular and commonly used tools and frameworks for machine intelligence are still lacking the ability to make proper use of the available heterogeneous computing resources on mobile devices. In this paper, we study the benefits of utilizing the heterogeneous (CPU and GPU) computing resources available on commodity android devices while running deep learning models. We leveraged the heterogeneous computing framework RenderScript to accelerate the execution of deep learning models on commodity Android devices. Our system is implemented as an extension to the popular open-source framework TensorFlow. By integrating our acceleration framework tightly into TensorFlow, machine learning engineers can now easily make benefit of the heterogeneous computing resources on mobile devices without the need of any extra tools. We evaluate our system on different android phones models to study the trade-offs of running different neural network operations on the GPU. We also compare the performance of running different models architectures such as convolutional and recurrent neural networks on CPU only vs using heterogeneous computing resources. Our result shows that although GPUs on the phones are capable of offering substantial performance gain in matrix multiplication on mobile devices. Therefore, models that involve multiplication of large matrices can run much faster (approx. 3 times faster in our experiments) due to GPU support.

Primate amygdala neurons evaluate the progress of self-defined economic choice sequences

PubMed Central

Grabenhorst, Fabian; Hernadi, Istvan; Schultz, Wolfram

2016-01-01

The amygdala is a prime valuation structure yet its functions in advanced behaviors are poorly understood. We tested whether individual amygdala neurons encode a critical requirement for goal-directed behavior: the evaluation of progress during sequential choices. As monkeys progressed through choice sequences toward rewards, amygdala neurons showed phasic, gradually increasing responses over successive choice steps. These responses occurred in the absence of external progress cues or motor preplanning. They were often specific to self-defined sequences, typically disappearing during instructed control sequences with similar reward expectation. Their build-up rate reflected prospectively the forthcoming choice sequence, suggesting adaptation to an internal plan. Population decoding demonstrated a high-accuracy progress code. These findings indicate that amygdala neurons evaluate the progress of planned, self-defined behavioral sequences. Such progress signals seem essential for aligning stepwise choices with internal plans. Their presence in amygdala neurons may inform understanding of human conditions with amygdala dysfunction and deregulated reward pursuit. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18731.001 PMID:27731795

Primate amygdala neurons evaluate the progress of self-defined economic choice sequences.

PubMed

Grabenhorst, Fabian; Hernadi, Istvan; Schultz, Wolfram

2016-10-12

The amygdala is a prime valuation structure yet its functions in advanced behaviors are poorly understood. We tested whether individual amygdala neurons encode a critical requirement for goal-directed behavior: the evaluation of progress during sequential choices. As monkeys progressed through choice sequences toward rewards, amygdala neurons showed phasic, gradually increasing responses over successive choice steps. These responses occurred in the absence of external progress cues or motor preplanning. They were often specific to self-defined sequences, typically disappearing during instructed control sequences with similar reward expectation. Their build-up rate reflected prospectively the forthcoming choice sequence, suggesting adaptation to an internal plan. Population decoding demonstrated a high-accuracy progress code. These findings indicate that amygdala neurons evaluate the progress of planned, self-defined behavioral sequences. Such progress signals seem essential for aligning stepwise choices with internal plans. Their presence in amygdala neurons may inform understanding of human conditions with amygdala dysfunction and deregulated reward pursuit.

Evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Study Reports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckendahl, Chad W.; Davis, Susan L.; Plake, Barbara S.; Sireci, Stephen G.; Hambleton, Ronald K.; Zenisky, April L.; Wells, Craig S.

2009-01-01

The "Evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress: Study Reports" describes the special studies that comprised the design of the evaluation. In the Final Report, the authors presented a practical discussion of the evaluation studies to its primary, intended audience, namely policymakers. On this accompanying CD, readers…

A Pilot Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Treatments in Newly Diagnosed High-Grade Gliomas: The Example of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Compared With White-Light Surgery

PubMed Central

Alves, Marta; Castel-Branco, Marta; Stummer, Walter

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: High-grade gliomas are aggressive, incurable tumors characterized by extensive diffuse invasion of the normal brain parenchyma. Novel therapies at best prolong survival; their costs are formidable and benefit is marginal. Economic restrictions thus require knowledge of the cost-effectiveness of treatments. Here, we show the cost-effectiveness of enhanced resections in malignant glioma surgery using a well-characterized tool for intraoperative tumor visualization, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of 5-ALA fluorescence-guided neurosurgery compared with white-light surgery in adult patients with newly diagnosed high-grade glioma, adopting the perspective of the Portuguese National Health Service. METHODS: We used a Markov model (cohort simulation). Transition probabilities were estimated with the use of data from 1 randomized clinical trial and 1 noninterventional prospective study. Utility values and resource use were obtained from published literature and expert opinion. Unit costs were taken from official Portuguese reimbursement lists (2012 values). The health outcomes considered were quality-adjusted life-years, life-years, and progression-free life-years. Extensive 1-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are below €10 000 in all evaluated outcomes, being around €9100 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, €6700 per life-year gained, and €8800 per progression-free life-year gained. The probability of 5-ALA fluorescence-guided surgery cost-effectiveness at a threshold of €20000 is 96.0% for quality-adjusted life-year, 99.6% for life-year, and 98.8% for progression-free life-year. CONCLUSION: 5-ALA fluorescence-guided surgery appears to be cost-effective in newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas compared with white-light surgery. This example demonstrates cost-effectiveness analyses for malignant glioma surgery to be feasible on the basis of existing data. ABBREVIATIONS: 5-ALA, 5-aminolevulinic acid ICER, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio LY, life-year PFLY, progression-free life-year QALY, quality-adjusted life-year PMID:25714513

The 1981 Environmental Quality Index.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Wildlife, 1981

1981-01-01

Describes trends in the state of the nation's wildlife, minerals, air, water, forests, living space, and soil resources. Positive gains in 1980 are offset by threats to the progress made during the past decade. (WB)

Indicators and Measurement Tools for Health Systems Integration: A Knowledge Synthesis.

PubMed

Suter, Esther; Oelke, Nelly D; da Silva Lima, Maria Alice Dias; Stiphout, Michelle; Janke, Robert; Witt, Regina Rigatto; Van Vliet-Brown, Cheryl; Schill, Kaela; Rostami, Mahnoush; Hepp, Shelanne; Birney, Arden; Al-Roubaiai, Fatima; Marques, Giselda Quintana

2017-11-13

Despite far reaching support for integrated care, conceptualizing and measuring integrated care remains challenging. This knowledge synthesis aimed to identify indicator domains and tools to measure progress towards integrated care. We used an established framework and a Delphi survey with integration experts to identify relevant measurement domains. For each domain, we searched and reviewed the literature for relevant tools. From 7,133 abstracts, we retrieved 114 unique tools. We found many quality tools to measure care coordination, patient engagement and team effectiveness/performance. In contrast, there were few tools in the domains of performance measurement and information systems, alignment of organizational goals and resource allocation. The search yielded 12 tools that measure overall integration or three or more indicator domains. Our findings highlight a continued gap in tools to measure foundational components that support integrated care. In the absence of such targeted tools, "overall integration" tools may be useful for a broad assessment of the overall state of a system. Continued progress towards integrated care depends on our ability to evaluate the success of strategies across different levels and context. This study has identified 114 tools that measure integrated care across 16 domains, supporting efforts towards a unified measurement framework.

Health for all: a public health vision.

PubMed

McBeath, W H

1991-12-01

The approach of a millennial passage invites public health to a review of past performance and a preview of future prospects toward assuring a healthy public. Since the 1974 Canadian Lalonde report, the best national plans for health progress have emphasized disease prevention and health promotion. WHO's multinational Health for All by the Year 2000 promotes basic health services essential to leading a socially and economically productive life. Healthy People 2000, the latest US guide, establishes three goals: increase healthy life span, reduce health disparities, and achieve universal access to preventive services. Its objectives can be used to excite public understanding, equip program development, evaluate progress, and encourage public accountability for health initiatives. Needed is federal leadership in defining requisite action and securing necessary resources. Elsewhere a "new public health" emphasizes community life-style and multisectoral "healthy public policy." In the United States, a national health program is needed to achieve equity in access to personal health care. Even more essential is equitable sharing in basic health determinants in society--nutritious food, basic education, safe water, decent housing, secure employment, adequate income, and peace. Vital to such a future is able and active leadership now from governments and public health professionals.

Health for all: a public health vision.

PubMed Central

McBeath, W H

1991-01-01

The approach of a millennial passage invites public health to a review of past performance and a preview of future prospects toward assuring a healthy public. Since the 1974 Canadian Lalonde report, the best national plans for health progress have emphasized disease prevention and health promotion. WHO's multinational Health for All by the Year 2000 promotes basic health services essential to leading a socially and economically productive life. Healthy People 2000, the latest US guide, establishes three goals: increase healthy life span, reduce health disparities, and achieve universal access to preventive services. Its objectives can be used to excite public understanding, equip program development, evaluate progress, and encourage public accountability for health initiatives. Needed is federal leadership in defining requisite action and securing necessary resources. Elsewhere a "new public health" emphasizes community life-style and multisectoral "healthy public policy." In the United States, a national health program is needed to achieve equity in access to personal health care. Even more essential is equitable sharing in basic health determinants in society--nutritious food, basic education, safe water, decent housing, secure employment, adequate income, and peace. Vital to such a future is able and active leadership now from governments and public health professionals. PMID:1746649

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

Fri, R.W.

Now that analysts have had seven months to ponder the achievements of the Earth Summit, it is time to consider the next step in attaining sustainable development. As the summit revealed, the big issues are formidable - among them, overconsumption in the North, overpopulation in the South, insufficient resource transfers from North to South, and limited resources to devote to global environmental problems. Each of these issues requires a trade-off between long-term global concerns and immediate national interests. Since technological solutions to the dilemma of furthering economic development are neither quick nor cheap, this political reality suggests that progress maymore » hinge on attention to some modest goals. Helping developing countries to define and balance their own economic and environmental priorities, and using these priorities to guide the planning of both public and private sector investments, would be welcome signs of progress. Such feasible and inexpensive assistance would exert useful leverage over the substantial transfers of financial and technological resources that are already taking place, especially in the private sector. Equally encouraging would be growing investments in the development of technology to use natural and environmental resources more efficiently and in creating the market and other institutional mechanisms needed to assure use of these technologies. Efficient resource use may not prove to be a complete answer to the big questions of environment and development, much less one with no regrets. However, it will at least reduce the cost of dealing with the hard issues, and so make them more tractable.« less

Progress with enhancing veterinary surveillance in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Lysons, R E; Gibbens, J C; Smith, L H

2007-01-27

The UK has experienced various animal health events that have had national impact in recent years. In response, a ;Veterinary Surveillance Strategy' (VSS) was published in 2003, with the objective of enhancing and coordinating national veterinary surveillance practice in a way that would enable important animal health events to be detected and assessed more rapidly and reliably. The VSS adopts an integrated UK-wide approach, which includes widespread engagement with interested parties both within government and beyond. It proposes enhancing surveillance through improved collaboration; transparent and defensible prioritisation of government resources to surveillance; deriving better value from existing resources, and assuring quality of the surveillance reports and source data. This article describes progress with implementing the VSS, in particular the methodology for developing a functional network and creating an effective, quality-assured, information management system, RADAR.

Energy resource alternatives competition. Progress report for the period February 1, 1975--December 31, 1975. [Space heating and cooling, hot water, and electricity for homes, farms, and light industry

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

Matzke, D.J.; Osowski, D.M.; Radtke, M.L.

1976-01-01

This progress report describes the objectives and results of the intercollegiate Energy Resource Alternatives competition. The one-year program concluded in August 1975, with a final testing program of forty student-built alternative energy projects at the Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The goal of the competition was to design and build prototype hardware which could provide space heating and cooling, hot water, and electricity at a level appropriate to the needs of homes, farms, and light industry. The hardware projects were powered by such nonconventional energy sources as solar energy, wind, biologically produced gas, coal, and ocean waves. The competitionmore » rules emphasized design innovation, economic feasibility, practicality, and marketability. (auth)« less

Analysis of Water Resource Utilization Potential for Jiangsu Coastal Area ' in Nantong City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Li; Liu, Jin-Tao; Ni, Jian-Jun

2015-04-01

Along with the advance of the growth of population and social economy, requirements for water quality and quantity in coastal areas is getting higher and higher, but due to the uneven distribution of rainfall years and water exploitation, use and management level, the influence of the shortage of water resources is increasingly prominent, seriously restricting the social and economic sustainable development in this region. Accordingly, water resource utilization potential in Jiangsu coastal region is vital for water security in the region. Taking Nantong City as the study area, the regional water resources development and utilization status were evaluated. In this paper, the meaning of water resources, water resources development and utilization, and water resources development and utilization of the three stages of concepts such as system were discussed. Then the development and utilization of regional water resource evaluation were carried out, and the significance of regional society, economy, resources and environment and its development status quo of water resources were exploited. According to conditions and area source, an evaluation index system for development and utilization of water resources of Nantong was built up. The index layer was composed of 16 indicators. In this study, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine of weights of indicators at all levels in the index system. Multistage fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model was selected to evaluate the water resources development and utilization status of Nantong, and then water resource utilization potential of Nantong was analyzed.

Quantitative Evaluation of Heavy Duty Machine Tools Remanufacturing Based on Modified Catastrophe Progression Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

shunhe, Li; jianhua, Rao; lin, Gui; weimin, Zhang; degang, Liu

2017-11-01

The result of remanufacturing evaluation is the basis for judging whether the heavy duty machine tool can remanufacture in the EOL stage of the machine tool lifecycle management.The objectivity and accuracy of evaluation is the key to the evaluation method.In this paper, the catastrophe progression method is introduced into the quantitative evaluation of heavy duty machine tools’ remanufacturing,and the results are modified by the comprehensive adjustment method,which makes the evaluation results accord with the standard of human conventional thinking.Using the catastrophe progression method to establish the heavy duty machine tools’ quantitative evaluation model,to evaluate the retired TK6916 type CNC floor milling-boring machine’s remanufacturing.The evaluation process is simple,high quantification,the result is objective.

Supply-side interventions to improve health: Findings from the Salud Mesoamérica Initiative.

PubMed

Mokdad, Ali H; Palmisano, Erin B; Zúñiga-Brenes, Paola; Ríos-Zertuche, Diego; Johanns, Casey K; Schaefer, Alexandra; Desai, Sima S; Haakenstad, Annie; Gagnier, Marielle C; McNellan, Claire R; Colombara, Danny V; López Romero, Sonia; Castillo, Leolin; Salvatierra, Benito; Hernandez, Bernardo; Betancourt-Cravioto, Miguel; Mujica-Rosales, Ricardo; Regalia, Ferdinando; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Iriarte, Emma

2018-01-01

Results-based aid (RBA) is increasingly used to incentivize action in health. In Mesoamerica, the region consisting of southern Mexico and Central America, the RBA project known as the Salud Mesoamérica Initiative (SMI) was designed to target disparities in maternal and child health, focusing on the poorest 20% of the population across the region. Data were first collected in 365 intervention health facilities to establish a baseline of indicators. For the first follow-up measure, 18 to 24 months later, 368 facilities were evaluated in these same areas. At both stages, we measured a near-identical set of supply-side performance indicators in line with country-specific priorities in maternal and child health. All countries showed progress in performance indicators, although with different levels. El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama reached their 18-month targets, while the State of Chiapas in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize did not. A second follow-up measurement in Chiapas and Guatemala showed continued progress, as they achieved previously missed targets nine to 12 months later, after implementing a performance improvement plan. Our findings show an initial success in the supply-side indicators of SMI. Our data suggest that the RBA approach can be a motivator to improve availability of drugs and services in poor areas. Moreover, our innovative monitoring and evaluation framework will allow health officials with limited resources to identify and target areas of greatest need.

Integrating palliative care into neurology services: what do the professionals say?

PubMed Central

Gao, Wei; Evans, Catherine J; Jackson, Diana; van Vliet, Liesbeth M; Byrne, Anthony; Crosby, Vincent; Groves, Karen E; Lindsay, Fiona; Higginson, Irene J

2018-01-01

Objectives Evaluations of new services for palliative care in non-cancer conditions are few. OPTCARE Neuro is a multicentre trial evaluating the effectiveness of short-term integrated palliative care (SIPC) for progressive long-term neurological conditions. Here, we present survey results describing the current levels of collaboration between neurology and palliative care services and exploring the views of professionals towards the new SIPC service. Methods Neurology and palliative care teams from six UK trial sites (London, Nottingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Brighton and Chertsey) were approached via email to complete an online survey. The survey was launched in July 2015 and consisted of multiple choice or open comment questions with responses collected using online forms. Results 33 neurology and 26 palliative care professionals responded. Collaborations between the two specialties were reported as being ‘good/excellent’ by 36% of neurology and by 58% of palliative care professionals. However, nearly half (45%) of neurology compared with only 12% of palliative care professionals rated current levels as being ‘poor/none’. Both professional groups felt that the new SIPC service would influence future collaborations for the better. However, they identified a number of barriers for the new SIPC service such as resources and clinician awareness. Conclusions Our results demonstrate the opportunity to increase collaboration between neurology and palliative care services for people with progressive neurological conditions, and the acceptability of SIPC as a model to support this. Trial registration number ISRCTN18337380; Pre-results. PMID:28774963

Resource recycling technique of abandoned TNT-RDX-AL mixed explosive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Siyang; Ding, Yukui

2017-08-01

TNT-RDX-AL mixed explosive is a kind of high energy mixed explosive. It has the detonation characteristics even when reaching the scrapping standard. Inappropriate disposal often causes serious accident. Employing the resource recycling technique, the abandoned TNT-RDX-AL mixed explosive can be recycled. This paper summarized the progress of recycling of abandoned mixed explosive. What's more, three kinds of technological process of resource recycling abandoned TNT-RDX-AL mixed explosives are introduced. The author analysis of the current recovery processes and provided a reference for the recycling of the other same type explosive.

Geological Survey research 1976

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1976-01-01

This U.S. Geological Survey activities report includes a summary of recent (1976 fiscal year) scientific and economic results accompanied by a list of geologic and hydrologic investigations in progress and a report on the status of topographic mapping. The summary of results includes: (1) Mineral resources, Water resources, (2) Engineering geology and hydrology, (3) Regional geology, (4) Principles and processes, (5) Laboratory and field methods, (6) Topographic surveys and mapping, (7) Management of resources on public lands, (8) Land information and analysis, and (9) Investigations in other countries. Also included are lists of cooperating agencies and Geological Survey offices. (Woodard-USGS)

Results at Mallik highlight progress in gas hydrate energy resource research and development

USGS Publications Warehouse

Collett, T.S.

2005-01-01

The recent studies that project the role of gas hydrates in the future energy resource management are reviewed. Researchers have long speculated that gas hydrates could eventually be a commercial resource for the future. A Joint Industry Project led by ChevronTexaco and the US Department of Energy is designed to characterize gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico. Countries including Japan, canada, and India have established large gas hydrate research and development projects, while China, Korea and Mexico are investigating the viability of forming government-sponsored gas hydrate research projects.

Utilization potential evaluation of plant resources in the dry-hot valley of Jinsha River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xi, Rong; Xu, Naizhong; Liu, Shengxiang; Ren, Tingyan

2017-08-01

Plant resources in the dry-hot valley of Jinsha River are endemic to a class of district. The article adopts the analytic hierarchy process method to evaluate the exploitation and utilization potential of plant resources of thirty typical plant resources on the basis of their characteristics in the dry-hot valley of Jinsha River, which provide scientific evidence for quantitative evaluation of regional plant resources, and we also suggest pathways offering protection and development.

Tracing the Assessment Triangle with Learning Progression-Aligned Assessments in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai, Emily R.; Kobrin, Jennifer L.; DiCerbo, Kristen E.; Holland, Laura R.

2017-01-01

We describe an application of the assessment triangle, using a learning progression as the "cognition" vertex. We summarize two studies to evaluate whether evidence of student performance is consistent with our progression. In Study 1, we conducted think alouds using draft assessment activities and evaluated responses in relation to the…

[Designing dental manpower index to evaluate dental manpower resources].

PubMed

Li, Gang; Ni, Zong-zan

2004-06-01

The purpose of this investigation is to find out a method to evaluate dental manpower resources. We selected population, GDP, number of dentist and number of different oral health professionals from certain internet stations, published books and journals from 1996 to 2000 as our investigating data. Data was collected from 100 countries. Our investigation found that the design of dental manpower index to evaluate dental manpower resources was effective and convenient. Dental manpower index is a good method to evaluate dental manpower resources.

Cloud ice: A climate model challenge with signs and expectations of progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waliser, Duane E.; Li, Jui-Lin F.; Woods, Christopher P.; Austin, Richard T.; Bacmeister, Julio; Chern, Jiundar; Del Genio, Anthony; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Kuang, Zhiming; Meng, Huan; Minnis, Patrick; Platnick, Steve; Rossow, William B.; Stephens, Graeme L.; Sun-Mack, Szedung; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Tompkins, Adrian M.; Vane, Deborah G.; Walker, Christopher; Wu, Dong

2009-04-01

Present-day shortcomings in the representation of upper tropospheric ice clouds in general circulation models (GCMs) lead to errors in weather and climate forecasts as well as account for a source of uncertainty in climate change projections. An ongoing challenge in rectifying these shortcomings has been the availability of adequate, high-quality, global observations targeting ice clouds and related precipitating hydrometeors. In addition, the inadequacy of the modeled physics and the often disjointed nature between model representation and the characteristics of the retrieved/observed values have hampered GCM development and validation efforts from making effective use of the measurements that have been available. Thus, even though parameterizations in GCMs accounting for cloud ice processes have, in some cases, become more sophisticated in recent years, this development has largely occurred independently of the global-scale measurements. With the relatively recent addition of satellite-derived products from Aura/Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and CloudSat, there are now considerably more resources with new and unique capabilities to evaluate GCMs. In this article, we illustrate the shortcomings evident in model representations of cloud ice through a comparison of the simulations assessed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, briefly discuss the range of global observational resources that are available, and describe the essential components of the model parameterizations that characterize their "cloud" ice and related fields. Using this information as background, we (1) discuss some of the main considerations and cautions that must be taken into account in making model-data comparisons related to cloud ice, (2) illustrate present progress and uncertainties in applying satellite cloud ice (namely from MLS and CloudSat) to model diagnosis, (3) show some indications of model improvements, and finally (4) discuss a number of remaining questions and suggestions for pathways forward.

Development and examination of a rubric for evaluating point-of-care medical applications for mobile devices.

PubMed

Butcher, Robyn; MacKinnon, Martin; Gadd, Kathleen; LeBlanc-Duchin, Denise

2015-01-01

The rapid development and updates of mobile medical resource applications (apps) highlight the need for an evaluation tool to assess the content of these resources. The purpose of the study was to develop and test a new evaluation rubric for medical resource apps. The evaluation rubric was designed using existing literature and through a collaborative effort between a hospital and an academic librarian. Testing found scores ranging from 23% to 88% for the apps. The evaluation rubric proved able to distinguish levels of quality within each content component of the apps, demonstrating potential for standardization of medical resource app evaluations.

Moving from data collection to application: a systematic literature review of surgical capacity assessments and their applications.

PubMed

Carlson, Lucas C; Lin, Joseph A; Ameh, Emmanuel A; Mulwafu, Wakisa; Donkor, Peter; Derbew, Miliard; Rodas, Edgar; Mkandawire, Nyengo C; Dhanaraj, Mitra; Yangni-Angate, Herve; Sani, Rachid; Labib, Mohamed; Barbero, Roxana; Clarke, Damian; Smith, Martin D; Sherman, Lawrence; Mutyaba, Frederick A; Alexander, Philip; Hadley, Larry G P; VanRooyen, Michael J; Kushner, Adam L

2015-04-01

Over the past decade, assessments of surgical capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have contributed to our understanding of barriers to the delivery of surgical services in a number of countries. It is yet unclear, however, how the findings of these assessments have been applied and built upon within the published literature. A systematic literature review of surgical capacity assessments in LMICs was performed to evaluate current levels of understanding of global surgical capacity and to identify areas for future study. A reverse snowballing method was then used to follow-up citations of the identified studies to assess how this research has been applied and built upon in the literature. Twenty-one papers reporting the findings of surgical capacity assessments conducted in 17 different LMICs in South Asia, East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa were identified. These studies documented substantial deficits in human resources, infrastructure, equipment, and supplies. Only seven additional papers were identified which applied or built upon the studies. Among these, capacity assessment findings were most commonly used to develop novel tools and intervention strategies, but they were also used as baseline measurements against which updated capacity assessments were compared. While the global surgery community has made tremendous progress in establishing baseline values of surgical capacity in LMICs around the world, further work is necessary to build upon and apply the foundational knowledge established through these efforts. Capacity assessment data should be coordinated and used in ongoing research efforts to monitor and evaluate progress in global surgery and to develop targeted intervention strategies. Intervention strategy development may also be further incorporated into the evaluation process itself.

Interactive Scripting for Analysis and Visualization of Arbitrarily Large, Disparately Located Climate Data Ensembles Using a Progressive Runtime Server

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, C.; Summa, B.; Scorzelli, G.; Lee, J. W.; Venkat, A.; Bremer, P. T.; Pascucci, V.

2017-12-01

Massive datasets are becoming more common due to increasingly detailed simulations and higher resolution acquisition devices. Yet accessing and processing these huge data collections for scientific analysis is still a significant challenge. Solutions that rely on extensive data transfers are increasingly untenable and often impossible due to lack of sufficient storage at the client side as well as insufficient bandwidth to conduct such large transfers, that in some cases could entail petabytes of data. Large-scale remote computing resources can be useful, but utilizing such systems typically entails some form of offline batch processing with long delays, data replications, and substantial cost for any mistakes. Both types of workflows can severely limit the flexible exploration and rapid evaluation of new hypotheses that are crucial to the scientific process and thereby impede scientific discovery. In order to facilitate interactivity in both analysis and visualization of these massive data ensembles, we introduce a dynamic runtime system suitable for progressive computation and interactive visualization of arbitrarily large, disparately located spatiotemporal datasets. Our system includes an embedded domain-specific language (EDSL) that allows users to express a wide range of data analysis operations in a simple and abstract manner. The underlying runtime system transparently resolves issues such as remote data access and resampling while at the same time maintaining interactivity through progressive and interruptible processing. Computations involving large amounts of data can be performed remotely in an incremental fashion that dramatically reduces data movement, while the client receives updates progressively thereby remaining robust to fluctuating network latency or limited bandwidth. This system facilitates interactive, incremental analysis and visualization of massive remote datasets up to petabytes in size. Our system is now available for general use in the community through both docker and anaconda.

Making the nursing curriculum more inclusive for students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD): embedding specialist study skills into a core module.

PubMed

Wray, Jane; Aspland, Jo; Taghzouit, Jayne; Pace, Kerry

2013-06-01

Wray et al. (2012) found that providing specialist 'add on' study skills sessions to students with SpLD increased the likelihood of progression and earlier identification. However, 48% of students identified as 'at risk' of having a SpLD did not pursue further assessment/support, which is of concern. OBJECTIVES/DESIGN/PARTICIPANTS/SETTINGS: The study aimed to explore the impact of embedding nine study skills sessions designed for students with SpLD into the mainstream curriculum on pre-registration nursing students in one HEI in the north of England. Two cohorts (September 2009 (n=257) and February 2010 (n=127)) took part; a total of 300 students completed a student feedback questionnaire (201 from September 2009, 99 from February 2010 (response rates of 87% and 80%)). The study used an outcome evaluation approach (Watson et al., 2008) to explore the impact of the sessions using a range of measures: (i) a student feedback questionnaire, (ii) length of time from registration to first contact with Disability Services, and (iii) progression data. Overall, the sessions were received very positively, especially those on essay writing, reflection and learning techniques. Students in the study cohorts made contact with Disability Services 4-6 weeks earlier than other cohorts; referrals were also higher. Equally, students with SpLD with access to study skills had higher rates of progression (e.g. 87% in 2009) than in years with no sessions (e.g. 62% in 2008); progression rates were comparable to their non-disabled peers. Mainstreaming what had previously been a reasonable adjustment made time- and resource-savings for the institution. Such approaches to embedding are important in encouraging and retaining talented and able students. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Global Nutrition Report 2014: Actions and Accountability to Accelerate the World’s Progress on Nutrition1–4

PubMed Central

Haddad, Lawrence; Achadi, Endang; Bendech, Mohamed Ag; Ahuja, Arti; Bhatia, Komal; Bhutta, Zulfiqar; Blössner, Monika; Borghi, Elaine; Colecraft, Esi; de Onis, Mercedes; Eriksen, Kamilla; Fanzo, Jessica; Flores-Ayala, Rafael; Fracassi, Patrizia; Kimani-Murage, Elizabeth; Koukoubou, Eunice Nago; Krasevec, Julia; Newby, Holly; Nugent, Rachel; Oenema, Stineke; Martin-Prével, Yves; Randel, Judith; Requejo, Jennifer; Shyam, Tara; Udomkesmalee, Emorn; Reddy, K Srinath

2016-01-01

In 2013, the Nutrition for Growth Summit called for a Global Nutrition Report (GNR) to strengthen accountability in nutrition so that progress in reducing malnutrition could be accelerated. This article summarizes the results of the first GNR. By focusing on undernutrition and overweight, the GNR puts malnutrition in a new light. Nearly every country in the world is affected by malnutrition, and multiple malnutrition burdens are the “new normal.” Unfortunately, the world is off track to meet the 2025 World Health Assembly (WHA) targets for nutrition. Many countries are, however, making good progress on WHA indicators, providing inspiration and guidance for others. Beyond the WHA goals, nutrition needs to be more strongly represented in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework. At present, it is only explicitly mentioned in 1 of 169 SDG targets despite the many contributions improved nutritional status will make to their attainment. To achieve improvements in nutrition status, it is vital to scale up nutrition programs. We identify bottlenecks in the scale-up of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive approaches and highlight actions to accelerate coverage and reach. Holding stakeholders to account for delivery on nutrition actions requires a well-functioning accountability infrastructure, which is lacking in nutrition. New accountability mechanisms need piloting and evaluation, financial resource flows to nutrition need to be made explicit, nutrition spending targets should be established, and some key data gaps need to be filled. For example, many UN member states cannot report on their WHA progress and those that can often rely on data >5 y old. The world can accelerate malnutrition reduction substantially, but this will require stronger accountability mechanisms to hold all stakeholders to account. PMID:25740908

Forage resource evaluation system for habitat—deer: an interactive deer habitat model

Treesearch

Thomas A. Hanley; Donald E. Spalinger; Kenrick J. Mock; Oran L. Weaver; Grant M. Harris

2012-01-01

We describe a food-based system for quantitatively evaluating habitat quality for deer called the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat and provide its rationale and suggestions for use. The system was developed as a tool for wildlife biologists and other natural resource managers and planners interested in evaluating habitat quality and, especially, comparing...

[Development and perspective of bio-based chemical fiber industry].

PubMed

Li, Zengjun

2016-06-25

Bio-based fiber is environment friendly, reproducible, easily biodegradable. Therefore, rapid development of bio-based fiber industry is an obvious in progress to replace petrochemical resources, develop sustainable economy, build resource saving and environment friendly society. This article describes the current development of bio-based fiber industry, analyzes existing problems, indicates the trends and objectives of bio-based fiber materials technology innovation and recommends developing bio-based fibers industry of our country.

The Mathematics Assessment Resource Services (MARS) Toolkit: Resources for Leaders in Mathematics Education--Lessons Learned from an Experiment to Develop Tools to Support Change Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. John, Mark; Regan, Mary; Tambe, Pamela; Heenan, Barbara

2007-01-01

The purpose of this report is two-fold. First, it is intended to describe the work and progress of the "MARS Toolkit for Change" project. Toward that end the report provides documentation and portrayal of the project from an outside perspective. The second and primary purpose of the report is to illuminate the lessons learned about the overall…

Swarmathon 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-19

At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students monitor progress as their Swarmie robots as they search for "resources." The goal is for the robots to pick up cubes with AprilTags, which are similar to bar codes. The Swarmies then move the cubes to a white square in the center of the completion arena. The small, four-wheeled robots are designed to effectively and efficiently locate hidden resources while astronauts explore distant destinations such as the moon or Mars.

Application of Multi-level Grey Evaluation on Geological Tourism Resources’ Economic Values of Geopark: A Case Study of Huashan Geopark in Shaanxi Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yang; Gong, Xianjie

2018-01-01

Geo-park gives priority to geographical relic landscapes. It has not only rich geological touristic resources but also extraordinarily high values for economic development. Taking Huashan Geological Park as an example, the thesis systematically analyzes the characteristics of the geological touristic resources in this park. It applies the method of multilevel grey evaluation to establish the evaluation model for the economic values of the touristic resources in the geological park and presents detailed result of the assessment. The result concludes an excellent grade for the comprehensive evaluation of the economic values of Huashan geological touristic resources, reflecting the outstanding natural advantages of the park in geological resources. Moreover, in the single-item evaluations, the scientific evaluation ranks the highest in score, indicating that the geological touristic resources of the park have extraordinary geologically science-popularizing values as a significant condition for the development of scientific tours. It shows that the park is endowed with excellent prospects for economic development.

Progressive and Accelerated Disability Onset by Race/Ethnicity and Education among Late Midlife and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Latham, Kenzie

2012-01-01

Objectives This study explores the pace of severe disability onset with an emphasis on the role of race/ethnicity and education. More specifically, this research examines whether race/ethnicity and educational attainment are independent predictors of progressive and accelerated disability onset. Methods Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Waves 2–10 (1994–2010), a series of discrete-time Cox proportional hazards models with multiple competing events were created to ascertain whether respondents developed progressive or accelerated disability in subsequent waves. Results Black and Hispanic respondents were at an increased risk of developing progressive disability. Respondents without a high school degree were more likely to experience progressive or accelerated disability. Discussion Low educational attainment was a particularly strong predictor of accelerated disability onset and may represent an acute lack of resources over the life course. Race and ethnicity were important predictors of progressive disability onset, which may reflect racial/ethnic variations in the disabling process. PMID:22982972

"Pushing the Limits": Rethinking Motor and Cognitive Resources After a Highly Challenging Balance Training Program for Parkinson Disease.

PubMed

Leavy, Breiffni; Roaldsen, Kirsti Skavberg; Nylund, Kamilla; Hagströmer, Maria; Franzén, Erika

2017-01-01

There is growing evidence for the positive effects of exercise training programs on balance control in Parkinson disease (PD). To be effective, balance training needs to be specific, progressive, and highly challenging. Little evidence exists, however, for how people with PD-related balance impairments perceive highly challenging and progressive balance training programs with dual-task components. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of a highly challenging balance training program among people with mild to moderate PD. This study was qualitative in nature. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 individuals with mild to moderate PD who had participated in a highly challenging balance training program. Interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, with an inductive approach. The analysis revealed 3 subthemes concerning participants' perceptions of highly challenging and progressive balance training: (1) movement to counter the disease, (2) dual-task training in contrast to everyday strategies, and (3) the struggle to maintain positive effects. The first subtheme reflects how physical activity was used as a short-term and long-term strategy for counteracting PD symptoms and their progression. The second subtheme incorporates the described experiences of being maximally challenged in a secure and supportive group environment, circumstances that stood in contrast to participants' everyday lives. The third subtheme describes participants' long-term struggle to maintain program effects on cognitive and physical function in the face of disease progression. Interpretation of the underlying patterns of these subthemes resulted in one overarching theme: training at the limits of balance capacity causes a rethinking motor and cognitive resources. The findings of this study cannot be considered to reflect the beliefs of those with weaker or negative beliefs concerning physical activity or be transferred to those at more severe stages of the disease. Findings from this study suggest that being pushed to the limits of balance capacity provoked people with mild to moderate PD to rethink their individual motor and cognitive resources, a process that was further enabled by the PD-specific group setting. © 2017 American Physical Therapy Association

Ultrasonic Monitoring of the Progress of Lactic Acid Fermentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masuzawa, Nobuyoshi; Kimura, Akihiro; Ohdaira, Etsuzo

2003-05-01

Promotion of lactic acid fermentation by ultrasonic irradiation has been attempted. It is possible to determine the progress of fermentation and production of a curd, i.e., yoghurt and or kefir, by measuring acidity using a pH meter. However, this method is inconvenient and indirect for the evaluation of the progress of lactic acid fermentation under anaerobic condition. In this study, an ultrasonic monitoring method for evaluating the progress of lactic acid fermentation was examined.

[Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of various treatment modalities for accommodation disorders and acquired progressive myopia].

PubMed

Tarutta, E P; Tarasova, N A

2015-01-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of non-surgical treatment of accommodation disorders and progressive myopia in children. A total of 190 patients (380 eyes) with myopia aged from 6 to 18 years (10.79±0.18 years on average) were enrolled and divided into 9 groups depending on the treatment prescribed. Comparative evaluation of different hardware-based treatment modalities for progressive myopia allowed to work out their optimal combination: "Visotronic", "MACDEL 09", and magnetophoresis of Taufon 4%. Such courses, provided twice a year, were associated with optimization of accommodative response and 1.9-2.8 times reduction of the rate of myopia progression. On the contrary, pleoptic therapy showed a negative effect on accommodative tonus and the rate of progression of acquired myopia. Comparative evaluation of different hardware-based treatment modalities for progressive myopia and accommodation disorders allowed to work out their optimal combination: "Visotronic", "MACDEL 09" and magnetophoresis of Taufon 4%. This treatment, provided twice a year, allows to increase accommodative reserves and volume, improve objective accommodative response, and reduce accommodative hypertonus as well as the rate of myopia progression (1.9-2.8 times over a 1.5-year period). Under pleoptic therapy (specialized software, near field speckles, color pulse therapy, Ambliokor device), both accommodative tonus and the rate of myopia progression increased (1.3-1.5 and 1.6 times correspondingly).

Effect of final evaluation on job motivation from the perspective of nurses in Ahvaz Hospitals in 2012

PubMed Central

Faraji Khiavi, F; Amiri, E; Ghobadian, S; Roshankar, R

2015-01-01

Background: Increasing nurses’ motivation is among the most important and complex nursing duties. Performance evaluation system could be used as a means to improve the quantity and quality of the human resources. Therefore, current research objected to evaluate the effect of final evaluation on job motivation from the perspective of nurses in Ahvaz hospitals according to Herzberg scheme. Methods: This investigation conducted in 2012. Research population included nurses in Ahvaz educational hospitals. The sample size was calculated 120 and sampling was performed based on classification and random sampling. Research instrument was a self-made questionnaire with confirmed validity through content analysis and Cronbach’s alpha calculated at 0.94. Data examined utilizing ANOVA, T-Test, and descriptive statistics. Results: The nurses considered the final evaluation on management policy (3.2 ± 1.11) and monitoring (3.15 ± 1.15) among health items and responsibility (3.15 ± 1.15) and progress (3.06 ± 1.24) among motivational factors relatively effective. There was a significant association between scores of nurses' views in different age and sex groups (P = 0.01), but there was no significant association among respondents in educational level and marital status. Conclusion: Experienced nurses believed that evaluation has little effect on job motivation. If annual assessment of the various job aspects are considered, managers could use it as an efficient tool to motivate nurses. PMID:28316733

Effect of final evaluation on job motivation from the perspective of nurses in Ahvaz Hospitals in 2012.

PubMed

Faraji Khiavi, F; Amiri, E; Ghobadian, S; Roshankar, R

2015-01-01

Background: Increasing nurses' motivation is among the most important and complex nursing duties. Performance evaluation system could be used as a means to improve the quantity and quality of the human resources. Therefore, current research objected to evaluate the effect of final evaluation on job motivation from the perspective of nurses in Ahvaz hospitals according to Herzberg scheme. Methods: This investigation conducted in 2012. Research population included nurses in Ahvaz educational hospitals. The sample size was calculated 120 and sampling was performed based on classification and random sampling. Research instrument was a self-made questionnaire with confirmed validity through content analysis and Cronbach's alpha calculated at 0.94. Data examined utilizing ANOVA, T-Test, and descriptive statistics. Results: The nurses considered the final evaluation on management policy (3.2 ± 1.11) and monitoring (3.15 ± 1.15) among health items and responsibility (3.15 ± 1.15) and progress (3.06 ± 1.24) among motivational factors relatively effective. There was a significant association between scores of nurses' views in different age and sex groups (P = 0.01), but there was no significant association among respondents in educational level and marital status. Conclusion: Experienced nurses believed that evaluation has little effect on job motivation. If annual assessment of the various job aspects are considered, managers could use it as an efficient tool to motivate nurses.

Evaluating the Quality of Education at Dentistry School of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

PubMed Central

Farzianpour, Fereshteh; Monzavi, Abbas; Yassini, Esmaeil

2011-01-01

Background: Educational evaluation is a process which deals with data collection and assessment of academic activities’ progress. In this research, educational evaluation of Dentistry School of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, which trains students in undergraduate and residency courses, was studied. Methods: This descriptive study was done with a model of educational evaluation in ten steps and 13 fields including purposes and mission objectives, management and organization, academic board members, students, human resources and support, educational, research, health and treatment spaces, educational, diagnostic, research and laboratory tools, educational, research, health and treatment programs and courses, process of teaching and learning, evaluation and assessment, alumni, and patients satisfaction. Data were collected using observation, interviews, questionnaires, and checklists. Results: Results of the study were mainly qualitative and in some cases quantitative, based on defined optimal situation. The total mean of qualitative results of educational evaluation of dentistry school in all 13 fields was 55.98% which is relatively desirable. In the case of quantitative ones, results of some fields such as treatment quality of patients and education and learning of the students were relatively desirable (61.32% and 60.16% respectively). Conclusion: According to the results, educational goals and missions, educational and research facilities and spaces which were identified as the weakest areas need to be considered and paid more serious attention. PMID:22013466

"ALS reversals": demographics, disease characteristics, treatments, and co-morbidities.

PubMed

Harrison, Daniel; Mehta, Paul; van Es, Michael A; Stommel, Elijah; Drory, Vivian E; Nefussy, Beatrice; van den Berg, Leonard H; Crayle, Jesse; Bedlack, Richard

2018-04-02

To identify differences in demographics, disease characteristics, treatments, and co-morbidities between patients with "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) reversals" and those with typically progressive ALS. Cases of possible ALS reversals were found in prior publications, in the Duke ALS clinic, through self-referral or referral from other Neurologists, and on the internet. Of 89 possible reversals identified, 36 cases were included because chart or literature review confirmed their diagnosis and a robust, sustained improvement in at least one objective measure. Controls were participants in the Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials database and the National ALS Registry. Cases and controls were compared using descriptive statistics. ALS reversals were more likely to be male, have limb onset disease, and initially progress faster. The prevalences of myasthenia gravis (MG) and purely lower motor neuron disease in cases were higher than estimates of these prevalences in the general population. The odds of taking curcumin, luteolin, cannabidiol, azathioprine, copper, glutathione, vitamin D, and fish oil were greater for cases than controls. When compared to patients with typically progressive ALS, patients with reversals differed in their demographics, disease characteristics, and treatments. While some of these patients may have had a rare antibody-mediated ALS mimicker, such as atypical myasthenia gravis, details of their exams, EMGs and family histories argue that this was unlikely. Instead, our data suggest that ALS reversals warrant evaluation for mechanisms of disease resistance and that treatments associated with multiple ALS reversals deserve further study.

MicroRNAs for osteosarcoma in the mouse: a meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Chang, Junli; Yao, Min; Li, Yimian; Zhao, Dongfeng; Hu, Shaopu; Cui, Xuejun; Liu, Gang; Shi, Qi; Wang, Yongjun; Yang, Yanping

2016-01-01

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone carcinoma with high morbidity that happens mainly in children and young adults. As the key components of gene-regulatory networks, microRNAs (miRNAs) control many critical pathophysiological processes, including initiation and progression of cancers. The objective of this study is to summarize and evaluate the potential of miRNAs as targets for prevention and treatment of OS in mouse models, and to explore the methodological quality of current studies. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Wan Fang Database, VIP Database, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, and Chinese BioMedical since their beginning date to 10 May 2016. Two reviewers separately screened the controlled studies, which estimate the effects of miRNAs on osteosarcoma in mice. A pair-wise analysis was performed. Thirty six studies with enough randomization were selected and included in the meta-analysis. We found that blocking oncogenic or restoring decreased miRNAs in cancer cells could significantly suppress the progression of OS in vivo, as assessed by tumor volume and tumor weight. This meta-analysis suggests that miRNAs are potential therapeutic targets for OS and correction of the altered expression of miRNAs significantly suppresses the progression of OS in mouse models, however, the overall methodological quality of studies included here was low, and more animal studies with the rigourous design must be carried out before a miRNA-based treatment could be translated from animal studies to clinical trials. PMID:27852052

Climate Leadership webinar on Greenhouse Gas Management Resources for Small Businesses

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Small businesses can calculate their carbon footprint and construct a greenhouse gas inventory to help track progress towards reaching emissions reduction goals. One strategy for this is EPA's Simplified GHG Emissions Calculator.

Aviation security : slow progress in addressing long-standing screener performance problems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-03-16

This is the statement of Gerald L. Dillingham, Associate Director, Transportation Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Represent...

Aviation Security: Progress Being Made, but Long-Term Attention is Needed

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-05-14

This is the statement of Keith O. Fultz, Assistant Comptroller General, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives. Currently t...

Economic evaluation of nivolumab for the treatment of second-line advanced squamous NSCLC in Canada: a comparison of modeling approaches to estimate and extrapolate survival outcomes.

PubMed

Goeree, Ron; Villeneuve, Julie; Goeree, Jeff; Penrod, John R; Orsini, Lucinda; Tahami Monfared, Amir Abbas

2016-06-01

Background Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world and is associated with significant mortality. Nivolumab demonstrated statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were previously treated. The cost-effectiveness of nivolumab has not been assessed in Canada. A contentious component of projecting long-term cost and outcomes in cancer relates to the modeling approach adopted, with the two most common approaches being partitioned survival (PS) and Markov models. The objectives of this analysis were to estimate the cost-utility of nivolumab and to compare the results using these alternative modeling approaches. Methods Both PS and Markov models were developed using docetaxel and erlotinib as comparators. A three-health state model was used consisting of progression-free, progressed disease, and death. Disease progression and time to progression were estimated by identifying best-fitting survival curves from the clinical trial data for PFS and OS. Expected costs and health outcomes were calculated by combining health-state occupancy with medical resource use and quality-of-life assigned to each of the three health states. The health outcomes included in the model were survival and quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs). Results Nivolumab was found to have the highest expected per-patient cost, but also improved per-patient life years (LYs) and QALYs. Nivolumab cost an additional $151,560 and $140,601 per QALY gained compared to docetaxel and erlotinib, respectively, using a PS model approach. The cost-utility estimates using a Markov model were very similar ($152,229 and $141,838, respectively, per QALY gained). Conclusions Nivolumab was found to involve a trade-off between improved patient survival and QALYs, and increased cost. It was found that the use of a PS or Markov model produced very similar estimates of expected cost, outcomes, and incremental cost-utility.

Evaluation of the Zooplankton Community of Livingston Reservoir, Texas, as Related to Paddlefish Food Resources

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

EVALUATION OF THE ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY OF LIVINGSTON RESERVOIR. TEXAS, AS RELATED TO PADDLEFISH FOOD RESOURCES A Thesis by CASEY KENNETH MOORE...OF LIVINGSTON RESERVOIR, TEXAS. AS RELATED TO PADDLEFISH FOOD RESOURCES A Thesis by CASEY KENNETH MOORE Submitted to Texas A&M University in partial...Fisheries Sciences iii ABSTRACT Evaluation of the Zooplankton Community of Livingston Reservoir, Texas, as Related to Paddlefish Food Resources

Materials for Integrating Science and Social Studies with the Language Arts (Instructional Resources).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spiegel, Dixie Lee

1990-01-01

Discusses evaluating resources for integrating science and social studies with the language arts by using questions that teacher-reviewers used when evaluating those resources. Reviews trade books and other resources designed for the integration of science and social studies. (MG)

Reorienting programme budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) towards disinvestment.

PubMed

Mortimer, Duncan

2010-10-14

Remarkable progress has been made over the past 40 years in developing rational, evidence-based mechanisms for the allocation of health resources. Much of this progress has centred on mechanisms for commissioning new medical devices and pharmaceuticals. The attention of fund-managers and policy-makers is only now turning towards development of mechanisms for decommissioning, disinvesting or redeploying resources from currently funded interventions. While Programme Budgeting and Marginal Analysis would seem well-suited to this purpose, past applications include both successes and failures in achieving disinvestment and resource release. Drawing on recent successes/failures in achieving disinvestment and resource release via PBMA, this paper identifies four barriers/enablers to disinvestment via PBMA: (i) specification of the budget constraint, (ii) scope of the programme budget, (iii) composition and role of the advisory group, and (iv) incentives for/against contributing to a 'shift list' of options for disinvestment and resource release. A number of modifications to the PBMA process are then proposed with the aim of reorienting PBMA towards disinvestment. The reoriented model is differentiated by four features: (i) hard budget constraint with budgetary pressure; (ii) programme budgets with broad scope but specific investment proposals linked to disinvestment proposals with similar input requirements; (iii) advisory/working groups that include equal representation of sectional interests plus additional members with responsibility for advocating in favour of disinvestment, (iv) 'shift lists' populated and developed prior to 'wish lists' and investment proposals linked to disinvestment proposals within a relatively narrow budget area. While the argument and evidence presented here suggest that the reoriented model will facilitate disinvestment and resource release, this remains an empirical question. Likewise, further research will be required to determine whether or not the re-oriented model sacrifices feasibility and acceptability to obtain its hypothesised greater emphasis on disinvestment.

Reorienting programme budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) towards disinvestment

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Remarkable progress has been made over the past 40 years in developing rational, evidence-based mechanisms for the allocation of health resources. Much of this progress has centred on mechanisms for commissioning new medical devices and pharmaceuticals. The attention of fund-managers and policy-makers is only now turning towards development of mechanisms for decommissioning, disinvesting or redeploying resources from currently funded interventions. While Programme Budgeting and Marginal Analysis would seem well-suited to this purpose, past applications include both successes and failures in achieving disinvestment and resource release. Discussion Drawing on recent successes/failures in achieving disinvestment and resource release via PBMA, this paper identifies four barriers/enablers to disinvestment via PBMA: (i) specification of the budget constraint, (ii) scope of the programme budget, (iii) composition and role of the advisory group, and (iv) incentives for/against contributing to a 'shift list' of options for disinvestment and resource release. A number of modifications to the PBMA process are then proposed with the aim of reorienting PBMA towards disinvestment. Summary The reoriented model is differentiated by four features: (i) hard budget constraint with budgetary pressure; (ii) programme budgets with broad scope but specific investment proposals linked to disinvestment proposals with similar input requirements; (iii) advisory/working groups that include equal representation of sectional interests plus additional members with responsibility for advocating in favour of disinvestment, (iv) 'shift lists' populated and developed prior to 'wish lists' and investment proposals linked to disinvestment proposals within a relatively narrow budget area. While the argument and evidence presented here suggest that the reoriented model will facilitate disinvestment and resource release, this remains an empirical question. Likewise, further research will be required to determine whether or not the re-oriented model sacrifices feasibility and acceptability to obtain its hypothesised greater emphasis on disinvestment. PMID:20942972

Program Evaluation Resources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

These resources list tools to help you conduct evaluations, find organizations outside of EPA that are useful to evaluators, and find additional guides on how to do evaluations from organizations outside of EPA.

Health sector reform in Brazil: a case study of inequity.

PubMed

Almeida, C; Travassos, C; Porto, S; Labra, M E

2000-01-01

Health sector reform in Brazil built the Unified Health System according to a dense body of administrative instruments for organizing decentralized service networks and institutionalizing a complex decision-making arena. This article focuses on the equity in health care services. Equity is defined as a principle governing distributive functions designed to reduce or offset socially unjust inequalities, and it is applied to evaluate the distribution of financial resources and the use of health services. Even though in the Constitution the term "equity" refers to equal opportunity of access for equal needs, the implemented policies have not guaranteed these rights. Underfunding, fiscal stress, and lack of priorities for the sector have contributed to a progressive deterioration of health care services, with continuing regressive tax collection and unequal distribution of financial resources among regions. The data suggest that despite regulatory measures to increase efficiency and reduce inequalities, delivery of health care services remains extremely unequal across the country. People in lower income groups experience more difficulties in getting access to health services. Utilization rates vary greatly by type of service among income groups, positions in the labor market, and levels of education.

Hungry Horse Dam Fisheries Mitigation : Fish Passage and Habitat Improvement in the Upper Flathead River Basin, 1991-1996 Progress Report.

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

Knotek, W.Ladd; Deleray, Mark; Marotz, Brian L.

1997-08-01

In the past 50 years, dramatic changes have occurred in the Flathead Lake and River system. Degradation of fishery resources has been evident, in part due to deterioration of aquatic habitat and introduction of non-endemic fish and invertebrate species. Habitat loss has been attributed to many factors including the construction and operation of Hungry Horse Dam, unsound land use practices, urban development, and other anthropogenic and natural disturbances. Fish migration has also been limited by barriers such as dams and impassible culverts. Cumulatively, these factors have contributed to declines in the distribution and abundance of native fish populations. Recovery ofmore » fish populations requires that a watershed approach be developed that incorporates long-term aquatic habitat needs and promotes sound land use practices and cooperation among natural resource management agencies. In this document, the authors (1) describe completed and ongoing habitat improvement and fish passage activities under the Hungry Horse Fisheries Mitigation Program, (2) describe recently identified projects that are in the planning stage, and (3) develop a framework for identifying prioritizing, implementing, and evaluating future fish habitat improvement and passage projects.« less

Dimensions of Learning Organizations Questionnaire (DLOQ) in a low-resource health care setting in Nepal.

PubMed

Leufvén, Mia; Vitrakoti, Ravi; Bergström, Anna; Ashish, K C; Målqvist, Mats

2015-01-22

Knowledge-based organizations, such as health care systems, need to be adaptive to change and able to facilitate uptake of new evidence. To be able to assess organizational capability to learn is therefore an important part of health systems strengthening. The aim of the present study is to assess context using the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) in a low-resource health setting in Nepal. DLOQ was translated and administered to 230 employees at all levels of the hospital. Data was analyzed using non-parametric tests. The DLOQ was able to detect variations across employee's perceptions of the organizational context. Nurses scored significantly lower than doctors on the dimension "Empowerment" while doctors scored lower than nurses on "Strategic leadership". These results suggest that the hospital's organization carries attributes of a centralized, hierarchical structure that might hinder a progress towards a learning organization. This study demonstrates that, despite the designing and developing of the DLOQ in the USA and its main utilization in company settings, it can be used and applied in hospital settings in low-income countries. The application of DLOQ provides valuable insights and understanding when designing and evaluating efforts for healthcare improvement.

FuGeF: A Resource Bound Secure Forwarding Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Umar, Idris Abubakar; Mohd Hanapi, Zurina; Sali, A.; Zulkarnain, Zuriati A.

2016-01-01

Resource bound security solutions have facilitated the mitigation of spatio-temporal attacks by altering protocol semantics to provide minimal security while maintaining an acceptable level of performance. The Dynamic Window Secured Implicit Geographic Forwarding (DWSIGF) routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been proposed to achieve a minimal selection of malicious nodes by introducing a dynamic collection window period to the protocol’s semantics. However, its selection scheme suffers substantial packet losses due to the utilization of a single distance based parameter for node selection. In this paper, we propose a Fuzzy-based Geographic Forwarding protocol (FuGeF) to minimize packet loss, while maintaining performance. The FuGeF utilizes a new form of dynamism and introduces three selection parameters: remaining energy, connectivity cost, and progressive distance, as well as a Fuzzy Logic System (FLS) for node selection. These introduced mechanisms ensure the appropriate selection of a non-malicious node. Extensive simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed FuGeF protocol as compared to DWSIGF variants. The simulation results show that the proposed FuGeF outperforms the two DWSIGF variants (DWSIGF-P and DWSIGF-R) in terms of packet delivery. PMID:27338411

Regional action plan handling of social welfare problem in nganjuk regency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zain, IM; Utami, WS; Setyawan, KG

2018-01-01

Local action plans are expected to ensure a social protection for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups or PMKS. The method used in this research is by primary survey and secondary survey. The condition of the people who still belong to PMKS requires the state to come to the community to solve the problems faced. Stakeholders should be involved to handle PMKS. The activities presented should also receive periodic monitoring and evaluation so that there is progress reporting at any time. Implementable poverty reduction strategies and policies are social protection strategies, opportunity expansion strategies, resource capacity building strategies, community empowerment strategies and partnership strategies. The flow of PMKS is the validation and updating of data, the fulfillment of the basic needs of the PMKS family, the development of PMKS human resources, the improvement of the quality of life for poor families, the institutions of poverty alleviation stakeholders and the unemployed at the base level. The Regional Action Plan (RAP) is prepared as a reference in the context of carrying out PMKS mitigation which is expected to serve as a guide for managers and program implementers with relevant agencies that are conducted jointly and continuously for the period of time specified.

FuGeF: A Resource Bound Secure Forwarding Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Umar, Idris Abubakar; Mohd Hanapi, Zurina; Sali, A; Zulkarnain, Zuriati A

2016-06-22

Resource bound security solutions have facilitated the mitigation of spatio-temporal attacks by altering protocol semantics to provide minimal security while maintaining an acceptable level of performance. The Dynamic Window Secured Implicit Geographic Forwarding (DWSIGF) routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been proposed to achieve a minimal selection of malicious nodes by introducing a dynamic collection window period to the protocol's semantics. However, its selection scheme suffers substantial packet losses due to the utilization of a single distance based parameter for node selection. In this paper, we propose a Fuzzy-based Geographic Forwarding protocol (FuGeF) to minimize packet loss, while maintaining performance. The FuGeF utilizes a new form of dynamism and introduces three selection parameters: remaining energy, connectivity cost, and progressive distance, as well as a Fuzzy Logic System (FLS) for node selection. These introduced mechanisms ensure the appropriate selection of a non-malicious node. Extensive simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed FuGeF protocol as compared to DWSIGF variants. The simulation results show that the proposed FuGeF outperforms the two DWSIGF variants (DWSIGF-P and DWSIGF-R) in terms of packet delivery.

The technology roadmap for plant/crop-based renewable resources 2020

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

McLaren, J.

1999-02-22

The long-term well-being of the nation and maintenance of a sustainable leadership position in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing, clearly depend on current and near-term support of multidisciplinary research for the development of a reliable renewable resource base. This document sets a roadmap and priorities for that research. America needs leadership that will continue to recognize, support, and move rapidly to meet the need to expand the use of sustainable renewable resources. This roadmap has highlighted potential ways for progress and has identified goals in specific components of the system. Achieving success with these goals will provide the opportunity to hitmore » the vision target of a fivefold increase in renewable resource use by 2020.« less

The Technology Roadmap for Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020

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

None

1999-02-01

The long-term well-being of the nation and maintenance of a sustainable leadership position in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing, clearly depend on current and near-term support of multidisciplinary research for the development of a reliable renewable resource base. This document sets a roadmap and priorities for that research. America needs leadership that will continue to recognize, support, and move rapidly to meet the need to expand the use of sustainable renewable resources. This roadmap has highlighted potential ways for progress and has identified goals in specific components of the system. Achieving success with these goals will provide the opportunity to hitmore » the vision target of a fivefold increase in renewable resource use by 2020.« less

[Analysis of projects funded by NSFC in field of Chinese material medica resource in recent three years].

PubMed

Gao, Wei; Guo, Shu-Zhen; Han, Li-Wei; Zhang, Feng-Zhu

2016-10-01

The paper reviewed the sponsorship and final reports of projects focus on Science of Chinese materia medica resource in Medical Science Department, National Natural Science Foundation of China. The applicant and supportive organizations were analyzed. The progress and results of some projects were summarized by research fields including formation mechanism of Dao-di herbs, research of plant taxonomy, breeding and cultivation of medical plants, ecological and environmental adaptability of Chinese materia medica resource, quality assessment of Chinese materia medica resource, and biosynthesis and regulation of active compounds. In addition, the potential problems and the most and least focused areas in the application were summarized for reference. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Assessing dementia in resource-poor regions.

PubMed

Maestre, Gladys E

2012-10-01

The numbers and proportions of elderly are increasing rapidly in developing countries, where prevalence of dementia is often high. Providing cost-effective services for dementia sufferers and their caregivers in these resource-poor regions poses numerous challenges; developing resources for diagnosis must be the first step. Capacity building for diagnosis involves training and education of healthcare providers, as well as the general public, development of infrastructure, and resolution of economic and ethical issues. Recent progress in some low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) provides evidence that partnerships between wealthy and resource-poor countries, and between developing countries, can improve diagnostic capabilities. Without the involvement of the mental health community of developed countries in such capacity-building programs, dementia in the developing world is a disaster waiting to happen.

Activities of the Water Resources Division, California District, in the 1986 fiscal year

USGS Publications Warehouse

Griner, C. A.; Anttila, P.W.

1987-01-01

This report summarizes the progress of water resources studies in California by the U.S. Geological Survey during the fiscal yr 1986. Much of the work was done in cooperation with State and local agencies. Additional supporting funds were transferred from other Federal agencies or appropriated directly to the Geological Survey. The water resources program in California consisted of 42 projects. Each project is briefly described. Brief descriptions are given of the origin of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Water Resources Division 's basic mission. An abbreviated organizational structure of the California District, sources of funding, a summary of water conditions, and a listing of reports published during fiscal year 1986 are also included. (USGS)

Activities of the Water Resources Division, California District, fiscal year 1993

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeBortoli, M. L.

1994-01-01

This report summarizes the progress of water- resources studies in California by the U.S. Geological Survey during fiscal year 1993. Much of the work was done in cooperation with State and local agencies. Additional supporting funds were transferred from other Federal agencies or appropriated directly to the U.S. Geological Survey. The water-resources program in California consisted of 41 projects. This report includes a brief discussion of each project and also contains a brief description of the origin of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Water Resources Division's basic mission, an abbreviated organizational structure of the California District, sources of funding, and a summary of water condition. Also included is a listing of reports published during fiscal year 1993.

Activities of the Water Resources Division, California District, fiscal year 1992

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeBortoli, M. L.

1993-01-01

This report summarizes the progress of water- resources studies in California by the U.S. Geological Survey during fiscal year 1992. Much of the work was done in cooperation with State and local agencies. Additional supporting funds were transferred from other Federal agencies or appropriated directly to the Geological Survey. The water-resources program in California consisted of 41 projects. This report includes a brief discussion of each project and also contains a brief description of the origin of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Water Resources Division's basic mission, an abbreviated organizational structure of the California District, sources of funding, and a summary of water conditions. Also included is a listing of reports published during fiscal year 1992.

The search for crustal resources - MAGSAT and beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, P. T.; Hinze, W. J.; Ravat, D. N.

1992-01-01

In the decade since global satellite magnetic field data have been available from MAGSAT, notable progress has been made in processing these data for purposes of mapping crustal anomalies. Several regional magnetic anomaly maps compiled using these new techniques (e.g. Kursk region, U.S.S.R.; central Africa; Kiruna, Sweden; and the U.S.A. midcontinent) provide insight into the nature and tectonic evolution of the crust that contribute to conceptual crustal models useful in regional resource exploration. A recent mail survey of geopotential-field specialists involved in resource exploration indicates interest in MAGSAT data and future satellite missions with improved resolution. It is apparent that magnetic anomalies derived from satellite observations can aid in the search for crustal resources.

The e-Bug project in France.

PubMed

Touboul, Pia; Dunais, Brigitte; Urcun, Jeanne-Marie; Michard, Jean-Louis; Loarer, Christian; Azanowsky, Jean-Michel; Vincent, Isabelle; Jestin, Christine; Housseau, Bruno; de Warren, Anne; Dellamonica, Pierre

2011-06-01

The high rates of antibiotic prescriptions and antimicrobial resistance in France motivated its participation in the European e-Bug school project concerning microbes, and infection transmission, prevention and treatment. The prospect of raising awareness among children, helping them to adopt suitable attitudes and behaviour towards infection transmission and treatment starting from childhood, generated enthusiastic support from relevant national educational and health institutions throughout the Project. France was actively involved in every stage: background research showed that the subject matter was best suited to the national science curricula of the fourth and fifth forms in junior schools, and the sixth and ninth forms in senior schools; a focus group study with junior and senior teachers elicited teachers' needs concerning teaching resources; and a qualitative and quantitative evaluation, after translation and pack review, enabled further adaptation of the packs. This evaluation showed an overall enthusiastic reception by teachers and their students in France, and reassured teachers on the ease of use of the Project's resources and students' progress. The e-Bug Project was launched through a national institutional implementation plan in September 2009 and orders for e-Bug tools increased rapidly. By the end of October, 57% of all senior science teachers and 16% of all junior school teachers had ordered the pack. France is one of the most frequent users of the e-Bug web site. The collaboration with both educational and health partners was particularly helpful to implementing the Project, and this was confirmed by the favourable reception and participation of teachers and students in the field.

A new matrix for scoring the functionality of national laboratory networks in Africa: introducing the LABNET scorecard.

PubMed

Ondoa, Pascale; Datema, Tjeerd; Keita-Sow, Mah-Sere; Ndihokubwayo, Jean-Bosco; Isadore, Jocelyn; Oskam, Linda; Nkengasong, John; Lewis, Kim

2016-01-01

Functional national laboratory networks and systems are indispensable to the achievement of global health security targets according to the International Health Regulations. The lack of indicators to measure the functionality of national laboratory network has limited the efficiency of past and current interventions to enhance laboratory capacity in resource-limited-settings. We have developed a matrix for the assessment of national laboratory network functionality and progress thereof, with support from the African Society of Laboratory Medicine and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. The laboratory network (LABNET) scorecard was designed to: (1) Measure the status of nine overarching core capabilities of laboratory network required to achieve global health security targets, as recommended by the main normative standards; (2) Complement the World Health Organization joint external evaluation tool for the assessment of health system preparedness to International Health Regulations (2005) by providing detailed information on laboratory systems; and (3) Serve as a clear roadmap to guide the stepwise implementation of laboratory capability to prevent, detect and act upon infectious threats. The application of the LABNET scorecard under the coordination of the African Society of Laboratory Medicine and the Association of Public Health Laboratories could contribute to the design, monitoring and evaluation of upcoming Global Health Security Agenda-supported laboratory capacity building programmes in sub Saharan-Africa and other resource-limited settings, and inform the development of national laboratory policies and strategic plans. Endorsement by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa is foreseen.

Recent Progress in Energy-Driven Water Splitting.

PubMed

Tee, Si Yin; Win, Khin Yin; Teo, Wee Siang; Koh, Leng-Duei; Liu, Shuhua; Teng, Choon Peng; Han, Ming-Yong

2017-05-01

Hydrogen is readily obtained from renewable and non-renewable resources via water splitting by using thermal, electrical, photonic and biochemical energy. The major hydrogen production is generated from thermal energy through steam reforming/gasification of fossil fuel. As the commonly used non-renewable resources will be depleted in the long run, there is great demand to utilize renewable energy resources for hydrogen production. Most of the renewable resources may be used to produce electricity for driving water splitting while challenges remain to improve cost-effectiveness. As the most abundant energy resource, the direct conversion of solar energy to hydrogen is considered the most sustainable energy production method without causing pollutions to the environment. In overall, this review briefly summarizes thermolytic, electrolytic, photolytic and biolytic water splitting. It highlights photonic and electrical driven water splitting together with photovoltaic-integrated solar-driven water electrolysis.

Recent Progress in Energy‐Driven Water Splitting

PubMed Central

Tee, Si Yin; Win, Khin Yin; Teo, Wee Siang; Koh, Leng‐Duei; Liu, Shuhua; Teng, Choon Peng

2017-01-01

Hydrogen is readily obtained from renewable and non‐renewable resources via water splitting by using thermal, electrical, photonic and biochemical energy. The major hydrogen production is generated from thermal energy through steam reforming/gasification of fossil fuel. As the commonly used non‐renewable resources will be depleted in the long run, there is great demand to utilize renewable energy resources for hydrogen production. Most of the renewable resources may be used to produce electricity for driving water splitting while challenges remain to improve cost‐effectiveness. As the most abundant energy resource, the direct conversion of solar energy to hydrogen is considered the most sustainable energy production method without causing pollutions to the environment. In overall, this review briefly summarizes thermolytic, electrolytic, photolytic and biolytic water splitting. It highlights photonic and electrical driven water splitting together with photovoltaic‐integrated solar‐driven water electrolysis. PMID:28546906

Evaluating Programs That Promote Climate and Energy Education-Meeting Teacher Needs for Online Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynds, S. E.; Buhr, S. M.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Pathway, is a National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Pathways project that was begun in 2010. The main goal of CLEAN is to generate a reviewed collection of educational resources that are aligned with the Essential Principles of Climate Science (EPCS). Another goal of the project is to support a community that will assist students, teachers, and citizens in climate literacy. A complementary program begun in 2010 is the ICEE (Inspiring Climate Education Excellence) program, which is developing online modules and courses designed around the climate literacy principles for use by teachers and other interested citizens. In these projects, we learn about teacher needs through a variety of evaluation mechanisms. The programs use evaluation to assist in the process of providing easy access to high quality climate and energy learning resources that meet classroom requirements. The internal evaluation of the CLEAN program is multidimensional. At the CLEAN resource review camps, teachers and scientists work together in small groups to assess the value of online resources for use in the classroom. The review camps are evaluated using observation and feedback surveys; the resulting evaluation reports provide information to managers to fine-tune future camps. In this way, a model for effective climate resource development meetings has been refined. Evaluation methods used in ICEE and CLEAN include teacher needs assessment surveys, teacher feedback at professional development opportunities, scientist feedback at resource review workshops, and regular analysis of online usage of resources, forums, and education modules. This paper will review the most successful strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of online climate and energy education resources and their use by educators and the general public.

Environmental scan and evaluation of best practices for online systematic review resources.

PubMed

Parker, Robin M N; Boulos, Leah M; Visintini, Sarah; Ritchie, Krista; Hayden, Jill

2018-04-01

Online training for systematic review methodology is an attractive option due to flexibility and limited availability of in-person instruction. Librarians often direct new reviewers to these online resources, so they should be knowledgeable about the variety of available resources. The objective for this project was to conduct an environmental scan of online systematic review training resources and evaluate those identified resources. The authors systematically searched for electronic learning resources pertaining to systematic review methods. After screening for inclusion, we collected data about characteristics of training resources and assigned scores in the domains of (1) content, (2) design, (3) interactivity, and (4) usability by applying a previously published evaluation rubric for online instruction modules. We described the characteristics and scores for each training resource and compared performance across the domains. Twenty training resources were evaluated. Average overall score of online instructional resources was 61%. Online courses (n=7) averaged 73%, web modules (n=5) 64%, and videos (n=8) 48%. The top 5 highest scoring resources were in course or web module format, featured high interactivity, and required a longer (>5hrs) time commitment from users. This study revealed that resources include appropriate content but are less likely to adhere to principles of online training design and interactivity. Awareness of these resources will allow librarians to make informed recommendations for training based on patrons' needs. Future online systematic review training resources should use established best practices for e-learning to provide high-quality resources, regardless of format or user time commitment.

A qualitative perspectival review of the Australian and New Zealand Urology Education and Training program.

PubMed

Rashid, Prem

2017-03-01

To conduct a prospective, qualitative review to explore the challenges associated with the delivery of current and future high-quality urological training, and to report the reflective considerations and opinions of leaders in the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) urological surgical training programme. Ethics-approved semi-structured, template-based, qualitative interview techniques were used to evaluate key aspects of the current urology training programme. Those interviewed were senior office bearers and management staff involved in the Surgical Education and Training (SET) programme. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Grounded theory was used with thematic analysis to assess the data. The initial impression given by the data was used to identify critical codes and themes, which were then developed and abstracted to bring together global concepts. Twenty-four extracted themes were outlined. The recent evolution of urology training was documented as the pathway into training has changed several times over the years. The changes in the programme have led to concern from opinion leaders that the 'pendulum has swung too far.' Surgical teachers will only truly develop if appropriate resources are allocated. This can be achieved by making up-skilling courses accessible, relevant and, ultimately, a part of the accreditation of training posts. Management of underperforming trainees is challenging and continues to occupy a significant and disproportionate allocation of resources. Early constructive intervention is very important to avoid unnecessary escalation of complex issues and the resultant inter-personal consequences. The ANZ SET urology programme began, like many of the other surgical specialties, from humble beginnings. It is now a mature programme, but there remain areas needing improvement. The workload of supervisors and office bearers has been increasing and the management of underperforming trainees takes time and resources away from progress in educational development. Progressive steps can be instituted to improve supervisor up-skilling, and structural changes can be made to ensure that office bearers can continue to undertake their valuable work without undue pressure and stress. Some of this will involve separating innovation in education and training from day-to-day trainee management. © 2016 The Author BJU International © 2016 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4: An evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 "Level of water stress".

PubMed

Vanham, D; Hoekstra, A Y; Wada, Y; Bouraoui, F; de Roo, A; Mekonnen, M M; van de Bund, W J; Batelaan, O; Pavelic, P; Bastiaanssen, W G M; Kummu, M; Rockström, J; Liu, J; Bisselink, B; Ronco, P; Pistocchi, A; Bidoglio, G

2018-02-01

Target 6.4 of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deals with the reduction of water scarcity. To monitor progress towards this target, two indicators are used: Indicator 6.4.1 measuring water use efficiency and 6.4.2 measuring the level of water stress (WS). This paper aims to identify whether the currently proposed indicator 6.4.2 considers the different elements that need to be accounted for in a WS indicator. WS indicators compare water use with water availability. We identify seven essential elements: 1) both gross and net water abstraction (or withdrawal) provide important information to understand WS; 2) WS indicators need to incorporate environmental flow requirements (EFR); 3) temporal and 4) spatial disaggregation is required in a WS assessment; 5) both renewable surface water and groundwater resources, including their interaction, need to be accounted for as renewable water availability; 6) alternative available water resources need to be accounted for as well, like fossil groundwater and desalinated water; 7) WS indicators need to account for water storage in reservoirs, water recycling and managed aquifer recharge. Indicator 6.4.2 considers many of these elements, but there is need for improvement. It is recommended that WS is measured based on net abstraction as well, in addition to currently only measuring WS based on gross abstraction. It does incorporate EFR. Temporal and spatial disaggregation is indeed defined as a goal in more advanced monitoring levels, in which it is also called for a differentiation between surface and groundwater resources. However, regarding element 6 and 7 there are some shortcomings for which we provide recommendations. In addition, indicator 6.4.2 is only one indicator, which monitors blue WS, but does not give information on green or green-blue water scarcity or on water quality. Within the SDG indicator framework, some of these topics are covered with other indicators. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating IAIMS at Yale: information access.

PubMed

Grajek, S E; Calarco, P; Frawley, S J; McKay, J; Miller, P L; Paton, J A; Roderer, N K; Sullivan, J E

1997-01-01

To evaluate use of information resources during the first year of IAIMS implementation at the Yale-New Haven Medical Center. The evaluation asked: (1) Which information resources are being used? (2) Who uses information resources? (3) Where are information resources used? (4) Are multiple sources of information being integrated? Measures included monthly usage data for resources delivered network-wide, in the Medical Library, and in the Hospital; online surveys of library workstation users; an annual survey of a random, stratified sample of Medical Center faculty, postdoctoral trainees, students, nurses, residents, and managerial and professional staff; and user comments. Eighty-three percent of the Medical Center community use networked information resources, and use of resources is increasing. Both status (faculty, student, nurse, etc.) and mission (teaching, research, patient care) affect use of individual resources. Eighty-eight percent of people use computers in more than one location, and increases in usage of traditional library resources such as MEDLINE are due to increased access from outside the Library. Both survey and usage data suggest that people are using multiple resources during the same information seeking session. Almost all of the Medical Center community is using networked information resources in more settings. It is necessary to support increased demand for information access from remote locations and to specific populations, such as nurses. People are integrating information from multiple sources, but true integration within information systems is just beginning. Other institutions are advised to incorporate pragmatic evaluation into their IAIMS activities and to share evaluation results with decision-makers.

HIV disease progression despite suppression of viral replication is associated with exhaustion of lymphopoiesis

PubMed Central

Sauce, Delphine; Larsen, Martin; Fastenackels, Solène; Pauchard, Michèle; Ait-Mohand, Hocine; Schneider, Luminita; Guihot, Amélie; Boufassa, Faroudy; Zaunders, John; Iguertsira, Malika; Bailey, Michelle; Gorochov, Guy; Duvivier, Claudine; Carcelain, Guislaine; Kelleher, Anthony D.; Simon, Anne; Meyer, Laurence; Costagliola, Dominique; Deeks, Steven G.; Lambotte, Olivier; Autran, Brigitte; Hunt, Peter W.; Katlama, Christine

2011-01-01

The mechanisms of CD4+ T-cell count decline, the hallmark of HIV disease progression, and its relationship to elevated levels of immune activation are not fully understood. Massive depletion of CD4+ T cells occurs during the course of HIV-1 infection, so that maintenance of adequate CD4+ T-cell levels probably depends primarily on the capacity to renew depleted lymphocytes, that is, the lymphopoiesis. We performed here a comprehensive study of quantitative and qualitative attributes of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells directly from the blood of a large set of HIV-infected persons compared with uninfected donors, in particular the elderly. Our analyses underline a marked impairment of primary immune resources with the failure to maintain adequate lymphocyte counts. Systemic immune activation emerges as a major correlate of altered lymphopoiesis, which can be partially reversed with prolonged antiretroviral therapy. Importantly, HIV disease progression despite elite control of HIV replication or virologic success on antiretroviral treatment is associated with persistent damage to the lymphopoietic system or exhaustion of lymphopoiesis. These findings highlight the importance of primary hematopoietic resources in HIV pathogenesis and the response to antiretroviral treatments. PMID:21436070

Progress on the Fabric for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Box, Dennis; Boyd, Joseph; Dykstra, Dave; Garzoglio, Gabriele; Herner, Kenneth; Kirby, Michael; Kreymer, Arthur; Levshina, Tanya; Mhashilkar, Parag; Sharma, Neha

2015-12-01

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is an ambitious, major-impact initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division designed to lead the computing model for Fermilab experiments. FIFE is a collaborative effort between experimenters and computing professionals to design and develop integrated computing models for experiments of varying needs and infrastructure. The major focus of the FIFE project is the development, deployment, and integration of Open Science Grid solutions for high throughput computing, data management, database access and collaboration within experiment. To accomplish this goal, FIFE has developed workflows that utilize Open Science Grid sites along with dedicated and commercial cloud resources. The FIFE project has made significant progress integrating into experiment computing operations several services including new job submission services, software and reference data distribution through CVMFS repositories, flexible data transfer client, and access to opportunistic resources on the Open Science Grid. The progress with current experiments and plans for expansion with additional projects will be discussed. FIFE has taken a leading role in the definition of the computing model for Fermilab experiments, aided in the design of computing for experiments beyond Fermilab, and will continue to define the future direction of high throughput computing for future physics experiments worldwide.

A six step approach for developing computer based assessment in medical education.

PubMed

Hassanien, Mohammed Ahmed; Al-Hayani, Abdulmoneam; Abu-Kamer, Rasha; Almazrooa, Adnan

2013-01-01

Assessment, which entails the systematic evaluation of student learning, is an integral part of any educational process. Computer-based assessment (CBA) techniques provide a valuable resource to students seeking to evaluate their academic progress through instantaneous, personalized feedback. CBA reduces examination, grading and reviewing workloads and facilitates training. This paper describes a six step approach for developing CBA in higher education and evaluates student perceptions of computer-based summative assessment at the College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University. A set of questionnaires were distributed to 341 third year medical students (161 female and 180 male) immediately after examinations in order to assess the adequacy of the system for the exam program. The respondents expressed high satisfaction with the first Saudi experience of CBA for final examinations. However, about 50% of them preferred the use of a pilot CBA before its formal application; hence, many did not recommend its use for future examinations. Both male and female respondents reported that the range of advantages offered by CBA outweighed any disadvantages. Further studies are required to monitor the extended employment of CBA technology for larger classes and for a variety of subjects at universities.

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

PubMed Central

Snyder, Frank J.

2015-01-01

More and more researchers are studying socio-emotional and character development (SECD). The rise and progress in SECD research is encouraging, but there is a critical issue with such a multidisciplinary and fast-developing field: SECD research and evaluation can be more consistent to prevent heterogeneity in definitions and disparate theoretical, measurement, and program models. After summarizing SECD-related literature, I recommend the theory of triadic influence (TTI) as a force to generate consistency and a resource to assist in guiding the design and evaluation of SECD-related programs. The theory fills a gulf in the literature that seeks an ecological theory aligned with SECD-related programs and etiology. The recommendation of the TTI stems from 3 main advantages: (1) The TTI integrates a full range of risk and protective factors in a detailed mediation and moderation framework; (2) it takes a comprehensive view of all the stakeholders in the educational system (i.e., youth, schools, families, and communities); (3) and its utility has been substantiated by empirical evidence from a variety of fields. I discuss applications of the TTI in SECD-related work and suggest improvements for etiology research and the design and evaluation of SECD programs. PMID:26478721

Second program on energy research and technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The second major energy research and development program is described. Renewable and nonrenewable energy resources are presented which include nuclear technology and future energy sources, like fusion. The current status and outlook for future progress are given.

The Problem of Technical Progress and Mineral Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lukashev, Konstantin I.

1974-01-01

Examines the estimates of known potential reserves of the major raw materials, future sources therof, the geological and technological problems associated with these, the manufacture of artifical minerals, and international cooperation in this sphere. (Author/GS)

Adaptive Instruction: Building on Diversity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Margaret C.

1980-01-01

The use of alternative instructional strategies and resources to meet the learning needs of individual students incorporates the diagnosis of student learning progress, the teaching of self-management skills, organizational supports, and family involvement into an effective educational program. (JN)

76 FR 21712 - Meeting of the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Industry Sub-Panel

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-18

... creative problem-solving to overcome impediments to industry progress toward deploying operational projects... held at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, 1201 New York Avenue, NW., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20005...

Hydrocarbons and the evolution of human culture.

PubMed

Hall, Charles; Tharakan, Pradeep; Hallock, John; Cleveland, Cutler; Jefferson, Michael

2003-11-20

Most of the progress in human culture has required the exploitation of energy resources. About 100 years ago, the major source of energy shifted from recent solar to fossil hydrocarbons, including liquid and gaseous petroleum. Technology has generally led to a greater use of hydrocarbon fuels for most human activities, making civilization vulnerable to decreases in supply. At this time our knowledge is not sufficient for us to choose between the different estimates of, for example, resources of conventional oil.

Analysis of requirements for accelerating the development of geothermal energy resources in California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fredrickson, C. D.

1978-01-01

Various resource data are presented showing that geothermal energy has the potential of satisfying a singificant part of California's increasing energy needs. General factors slowing the development of geothermal energy in California are discussed and required actions to accelerate its progress are presented. Finally, scenarios for developing the most promising prospects in the state directed at timely on-line power are given. Specific actions required to realize each of these individual scenarios are identified.

NASA Space Engineering Research Center for Utilization of Local Planetary Resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramohalli, Kumar; Lewis, John S.

1989-01-01

Progress toward the goal of exploiting extraterrestrial resources for space missions is documented. Some areas of research included are as follows: Propellant and propulsion optimization; Automation of propellant processing with quantitative simulation; Ore reduction through chlorination and free radical production; Characterization of lunar ilmenite and its simulants; Carbothermal reduction of ilmenite with special reference to microgravity chemical reactor design; Gaseous carbonyl extraction and purification of ferrous metals; Overall energy management; and Information management for space processing.

Phytoremediation of heavy metal polluted soils and water: Progresses and perspectives*

PubMed Central

Lone, Mohammad Iqbal; He, Zhen-li; Stoffella, Peter J.; Yang, Xiao-e

2008-01-01

Environmental pollution affects the quality of pedosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Great efforts have been made in the last two decades to reduce pollution sources and remedy the polluted soil and water resources. Phytoremediation, being more cost-effective and fewer side effects than physical and chemical approaches, has gained increasing popularity in both academic and practical circles. More than 400 plant species have been identified to have potential for soil and water remediation. Among them, Thlaspi, Brassica, Sedum alfredii H., and Arabidopsis species have been mostly studied. It is also expected that recent advances in biotechnology will play a promising role in the development of new hyperaccumulators by transferring metal hyperaccumulating genes from low biomass wild species to the higher biomass producing cultivated species in the times to come. This paper attempted to provide a brief review on recent progresses in research and practical applications of phytoremediation for soil and water resources. PMID:18357623

A Study on Developing Evaluation Criteria for Electronic Resources in Evaluation Indicators of Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noh, Younghee

2010-01-01

This study aimed to improve the current state of electronic resource evaluation in libraries. While the use of Web DB, e-book, e-journal, and other e-resources such as CD-ROM, DVD, and micro materials is increasing in libraries, their use is not comprehensively factored into the general evaluation of libraries and may diminish the reliability of…

Development of indicators for measuring outcomes of water safety plans

PubMed Central

Lockhart, Gabriella; Oswald, William E.; Hubbard, Brian; Medlin, Elizabeth; Gelting, Richard J.

2015-01-01

Water safety plans (WSPs) are endorsed by the World Health Organization as the most effective method of protecting a water supply. With the increase in WSPs worldwide, several valuable resources have been developed to assist practitioners in the implementation of WSPs, yet there is still a need for a practical and standardized method of evaluating WSP effectiveness. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a conceptual framework for the evaluation of WSPs, presenting four key outcomes of the WSP process: institutional, operational, financial and policy change. In this paper, we seek to operationalize this conceptual framework by providing a set of simple and practical indicators for assessing WSP outcomes. Using CDC’s WSP framework as a foundation and incorporating various existing performance monitoring indicators for water utilities, we developed a set of approximately 25 indicators of institutional, operational, financial and policy change within the WSP context. These outcome indicators hold great potential for the continued implementation and expansion of WSPs worldwide. Having a defined framework for evaluating a WSP’s effectiveness, along with a set of measurable indicators by which to carry out that evaluation, will help implementers assess key WSP outcomes internally, as well as benchmark their progress against other WSPs in their region and globally. PMID:26361540

Sustainability Assessment of indicators for integrated water resources management.

PubMed

Pires, A; Morato, J; Peixoto, H; Botero, V; Zuluaga, L; Figueroa, A

2017-02-01

The scientific community strongly recommends the adoption of indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of progress towards sustainable development. Furthermore, international organizations consider that indicators are powerful decision-making tools. Nevertheless, the quality and reliability of the indicators depends on the application of adequate and appropriate criteria to assess them. The general objective of this study was to evaluate how indicators related to water use and management perform against a set of sustainability criteria. Our research identified 170 indicators related to water use and management. These indicators were assessed by an international panel of experts that evaluated whether they fulfil the four sustainability criteria: social, economic, environmental, and institutional. We employed an evaluation matrix that classified all indicators according to the DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) framework. A pilot study served to test and approve the research methodology before carrying out the full implementation. The findings of the study show that 24 indicators comply with the majority of the sustainability criteria; 59 indicators are bi-dimensional (meaning that they comply with two sustainability criteria); 86 are one-dimensional indicators (fulfilling just one of the four sustainability criteria) and one indicator do not fulfil any of the sustainability criteria. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A pilot cost-effectiveness analysis of treatments in newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas: the example of 5-aminolevulinic Acid compared with white-light surgery.

PubMed

Esteves, Susana; Alves, Marta; Castel-Branco, Marta; Stummer, Walter

2015-05-01

High-grade gliomas are aggressive, incurable tumors characterized by extensive diffuse invasion of the normal brain parenchyma. Novel therapies at best prolong survival; their costs are formidable and benefit is marginal. Economic restrictions thus require knowledge of the cost-effectiveness of treatments. Here, we show the cost-effectiveness of enhanced resections in malignant glioma surgery using a well-characterized tool for intraoperative tumor visualization, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of 5-ALA fluorescence-guided neurosurgery compared with white-light surgery in adult patients with newly diagnosed high-grade glioma, adopting the perspective of the Portuguese National Health Service. We used a Markov model (cohort simulation). Transition probabilities were estimated with the use of data from 1 randomized clinical trial and 1 noninterventional prospective study. Utility values and resource use were obtained from published literature and expert opinion. Unit costs were taken from official Portuguese reimbursement lists (2012 values). The health outcomes considered were quality-adjusted life-years, life-years, and progression-free life-years. Extensive 1-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are below &OV0556;10 000 in all evaluated outcomes, being around &OV0556;9100 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, &OV0556;6700 per life-year gained, and &OV0556;8800 per progression-free life-year gained. The probability of 5-ALA fluorescence-guided surgery cost-effectiveness at a threshold of &OV0556;20000 is 96.0% for quality-adjusted life-year, 99.6% for life-year, and 98.8% for progression-free life-year. 5-ALA fluorescence-guided surgery appears to be cost-effective in newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas compared with white-light surgery. This example demonstrates cost-effectiveness analyses for malignant glioma surgery to be feasible on the basis of existing data.

Developing new automated alternation flicker using optic disc photography for the detection of glaucoma progression

PubMed Central

Ahn, J; Yun, I S; Yoo, H G; Choi, J-J; Lee, M

2017-01-01

Purpose To evaluate a progression-detecting algorithm for a new automated matched alternation flicker (AMAF) in glaucoma patients. Methods Open-angle glaucoma patients with a baseline mean deviation of visual field (VF) test>−6 dB were included in this longitudinal and retrospective study. Functional progression was detected by two VF progression criteria and structural progression by both AMAF and conventional comparison methods using optic disc and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) photography. Progression-detecting performances of AMAF and the conventional method were evaluated by an agreement between functional and structural progression criteria. RNFL thickness changes measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) were compared between progressing and stable eyes determined by each method. Results Among 103 eyes, 47 (45.6%), 21 (20.4%), and 32 (31.1%) eyes were evaluated as glaucoma progression using AMAF, the conventional method, and guided progression analysis (GPA) of the VF test, respectively. The AMAF showed better agreement than the conventional method, using GPA of the VF test (κ=0.337; P<0.001 and κ=0.124; P=0.191, respectively). The rates of RNFL thickness decay using OCT were significantly different between the progressing and stable eyes when progression was determined by AMAF (−3.49±2.86 μm per year vs −1.83±3.22 μm per year; P=0.007) but not by the conventional method (−3.24±2.42 μm per year vs −2.42±3.33 μm per year; P=0.290). Conclusions The AMAF was better than the conventional comparison method in discriminating structural changes during glaucoma progression, and showed a moderate agreement with functional progression criteria. PMID:27662466

Contracts for field projects and supporting research on enhanced oil recovery. Progress review number 83, quarter ending June 30, 1995

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

NONE

Summaries of 41 research projects on enhanced recovery are presented under the following sections: (1) chemical flooding; (2) gas displacement; (3) thermal recovery; (4) geoscience technology; (5) resource assessment technology; and (6) reservoir classes. Each presentation gives the title of the project, contract number, research facility, contract date, expected completion data, amount of the award, principal investigator, and DOE program manager, and describes the objectives of the project and a summary of the technical progress.

Assessing and Improving Performance: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Priority Setting and Resource Allocation in a Canadian Health Region

PubMed Central

Hall, William; Smith, Neale; Mitton, Craig; Urquhart, Bonnie; Bryan, Stirling

2018-01-01

Background: In order to meet the challenges presented by increasing demand and scarcity of resources, healthcare organizations are faced with difficult decisions related to resource allocation. Tools to facilitate evaluation and improvement of these processes could enable greater transparency and more optimal distribution of resources. Methods: The Resource Allocation Performance Assessment Tool (RAPAT) was implemented in a healthcare organization in British Columbia, Canada. Recommendations for improvement were delivered, and a follow up evaluation exercise was conducted to assess the trajectory of the organization’s priority setting and resource allocation (PSRA) process 2 years post the original evaluation. Results: Implementation of RAPAT in the pilot organization identified strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s PSRA process at the time of the original evaluation. Strengths included the use of criteria and evidence, an ability to reallocate resources, and the involvement of frontline staff in the process. Weaknesses included training, communication, and lack of program budgeting. Although the follow up revealed a regression from a more formal PSRA process, a legacy of explicit resource allocation was reported to be providing ongoing benefit for the organization. Conclusion: While past studies have taken a cross-sectional approach, this paper introduces the first longitudinal evaluation of PSRA in a healthcare organization. By including the strengths, weaknesses, and evolution of one organization’s journey, the authors’ intend that this paper will assist other healthcare leaders in meeting the challenges of allocating scarce resources. PMID:29626400

Recommended Resources for Planning to Evaluate Program Improvement Efforts (Including the SSIP)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Systemic Improvement at WestEd, 2015

2015-01-01

This document provides a list of recommended existing resources for state Part C and Part B 619 staff and technical assistance (TA) providers to utilize to support evaluation planning for program improvement efforts (including the State Systemic Improvement Plan, SSIP). There are many resources available related to evaluation and evaluation…

Meta-analysis of landscape conservation plan evaluations

Treesearch

Michaela Foster; M. Nils Peterson; Frederick Cubbage; Gerard McMahon

2016-01-01

The number of studies evaluating the quality and content of many types of plans have grown in recent decades. Natural resource conservation plans have been included in some of these plan evaluation studies; however, no meta-analysis of natural resource planning literature has been conducted. This focus is needed because natural resource conservation planning differs...

Maximizing the Impact of Systematic Reviews in Health Care Decision Making: A Systematic Scoping Review of Knowledge-Translation Resources

PubMed Central

Chambers, Duncan; Wilson, Paul M; Thompson, Carl A; Hanbury, Andria; Farley, Katherine; Light, Kate

2011-01-01

Context: Barriers to the use of systematic reviews by policymakers may be overcome by resources that adapt and present the findings in formats more directly tailored to their needs. We performed a systematic scoping review to identify such knowledge-translation resources and evaluations of them. Methods: Resources were eligible for inclusion in this study if they were based exclusively or primarily on systematic reviews and were aimed at health care policymakers at the national or local level. Resources were identified by screening the websites of health technology assessment agencies and systematic review producers, supplemented by an email survey. Electronic databases and proceedings of the Cochrane Colloquium and HTA International were searched as well for published and unpublished evaluations of knowledge-translation resources. Resources were classified as summaries, overviews, or policy briefs using a previously published classification. Findings: Twenty knowledge-translation resources were identified, of which eleven were classified as summaries, six as overviews, and three as policy briefs. Resources added value to systematic reviews by, for example, evaluating their methodological quality or assessing the reliability of their conclusions or their generalizability to particular settings. The literature search found four published evaluation studies of knowledge-translation resources, and the screening of abstracts and contact with authors found three more unpublished studies. The majority of studies reported on the perceived usefulness of the service, although there were some examples of review-based resources being used to assist actual decision making. Conclusions: Systematic review producers provide a variety of resources to help policymakers, of which focused summaries are the most common. More evaluations of these resources are required to ensure users’ needs are being met, to demonstrate their impact, and to justify their funding. PMID:21418315

Documenting Progress and Demonstrating Results: Evaluating Local Out-of-School Time Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Priscilla; DuPree, Sharon; Deich, Sharon

A collaborative publication between Harvard Family Research Project and The Finance Project, this brief offers guidance in documenting progress and demonstrating results in local out-of-school-time programs. Following introductory remarks providing a rationale for program evaluation, discussing principles of program evaluation, and clarifying key…

Laser machined plastic laminates. Towards portable diagnostic devices for use in low resource environments

DOE PAGES

Harper, Jason C.; Carson, Bryan D.; Bachand, George D.; ...

2015-07-14

Despite significant progress in development of bioanalytical devices cost, complexity, access to reagents and lack of infrastructure have prevented use of these technologies in resource-limited regions. To provide a sustainable tool in the global effort to combat infectious diseases the diagnostic device must be low cost, simple to operate and read, robust, and have sensitivity and specificity comparable to laboratory analysis. Thus, in this mini-review we describe recent work using laser machined plastic laminates to produce diagnostic devices that are capable of a wide variety of bioanalytical measurements and show great promise towards future use in low-resource environments.

Development of Genetic Occurrence Models for Geothermal Prospecting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, J. D.; Sabin, A.; Unruh, J.; Monastero, F. C.; Combs, J.

2007-12-01

Exploration for utility-grade geothermal resources has mostly relied on identifying obvious surface manifestations of possible geothermal activity, e.g., locating and working near steaming ground or hot springs. This approach has lead to the development of over 130 resources worldwide, but geothermal exploration done in this manner is akin to locating hydrocarbon plays by searching for oil seeps. Confining exploration to areas with such features will clearly not discover a blind resource, that is, one that does not have surface expression. Blind resources, however, constitute the vast majority of hydrocarbon plays; this may be the case for geothermal resources as well. We propose a geothermal exploration strategy for finding blind systems that is based on an understanding of the geologic processes that transfer heat from the mantle to the upper crust and foster the conditions for hydrothermal circulation or enhanced geothermal exploration. The strategy employs a genetically based screening protocol to assess potential geothermal sites. The approach starts at the plate boundary scale and progressively focuses in on the scale of a producing electrical-grade field. Any active margin or hot spot is a potential location for geothermal resources. Although Quaternary igneous activity provides a clear indication of active advection of hot material into the upper crust, it is not sufficient to guarantee a potential utility-grade resource. Active faulting and/or evidence of high strain rates appear to be the critical features associated with areas of utility-grade geothermal potential. This is because deformation on its own can advect sufficient heat into the upper crust to create conditions favorable for geothermal exploitation. In addition, active deformation is required to demonstrate that open pathways for circulation of geothermal fluids are present and/or can be maintained. The last step in the screening protocol is to identify any evidence of geothermal activity, including high heat flow, anomalous temperature water wells, high-temperature indications from aqueous geothermometry and geochemistry, Pliocene or younger ages from low-temperature thermochronometers, as well as more obvious factors such as geysers and fumaroles (which by definition will be missing for blind resources). Our occurrence-model strategy inverts the current approach that relies first on obvious evidence of geothermal activity. We evaluated our approach by retrospectively applying the protocol to the characteristics of producing geothermal fields, and in all cases, known resource areas fit the parameters identified from a genetic perspective.

Conceptualising the technical relationship of animal disease surveillance to intervention and mitigation as a basis for economic analysis

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Surveillance and intervention are resource-using activities of strategies to mitigate the unwanted effects of disease. Resources are scarce, and allocating them to disease mitigation instead of other uses necessarily involves the loss of alternative sources of benefit to people. For society to obtain the maximum benefits from using resources, the gains from disease mitigation must be compared to the resource costs, guiding decisions made with the objective of achieving the optimal net outcome. Discussion Economics provides criteria to guide decisions aimed at optimising the net benefits from the use of scarce resources. Assessing the benefits of disease mitigation is no exception. However, the technical complexity of mitigation means that economic evaluation is not straightforward because of the technical relationship of surveillance to intervention. We argue that analysis of the magnitudes and distribution of benefits and costs for any given strategy, and hence the outcome in net terms, requires that mitigation is considered in three conceptually distinct stages. In Stage I, 'sustainment', the mitigation objective is to sustain a free or acceptable status by preventing an increase of a pathogen or eliminating it when it occurs. The role of surveillance is to document that the pathogen remains below a defined threshold, giving early warning of an increase in incidence or other significant changes in risk, and enabling early response. If a pathogen is not contained, the situation needs to be assessed as Stage II, 'investigation'. Here, surveillance obtains critical epidemiological information to decide on the appropriate intervention strategy to reduce or eradicate a disease in Stage III, 'implementation'. Stage III surveillance informs the choice, timing, and scale of interventions and documents the progress of interventions directed at prevalence reduction in the population. Summary This article originates from a research project to develop a conceptual framework and practical tool for the economic evaluation of surveillance. Exploring the technical relationship between mitigation as a source of economic value and surveillance and intervention as sources of economic cost is crucial. A framework linking the key technical relationships is proposed. Three conceptually distinct stages of mitigation are identified. Avian influenza, salmonella, and foot and mouth disease are presented to illustrate the framework. PMID:21929812

[The supervisor has a crucial role in the medical student's degree projects. Experiences from seven semesters at Karolinska Institutet].

PubMed

Möller, Riitta; Shoshan, Maria; Ponzer, Sari

2015-01-13

In Sweden degree projects have a central role in evaluation of higher education, wherefore significant resources are spent on developing students' research competence. The undergraduate medical program at Karolinska Institutet introduced its degree project course in 2010. This paper gives an overview of the course and summarizes experiences from the first seven terms. In order to finalize their projects within one term, most students need substantial support. A highly structured course and frequent progress monitoring are advantageous. Other crucial factors are the quality of the supervision and students' verbal skills as well as support in scientific writing. In addition, increased awareness of the learning outcomes already at the beginning of the course may help students to achieve the expected results. Finally, students need to recognize their own responsibility for learning.