An Experimental Analysis of Computer-Mediated Instruction and Student Attitudes in a Principles of Financial Accounting Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basile, Anthony; D'Aquila, Jill M.

2002-01-01

Accounting students received either traditional instruction (n=46) or used computer-mediated communication and WebCT course management software. There were no significant differences in attitudes about the course. However, computer users were more positive about course delivery and course management tools. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)

Dynamic water accounting in heavily committed river basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilmant, Amaury; Marques, Guilherme

2014-05-01

Many river basins throughout the world are increasingly under pressure as water demands keep rising due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization and rising living standards. In the past, the typical answer to meet those demands focused on the supply-side and involved the construction of hydraulic infrastructures to capture more water from surface water bodies and from aquifers. As river basins were being more and more developed, downstream water users and ecosystems have become increasingly dependant on the management actions taken by upstream users. The increased interconnectedness between water users, aquatic ecosystems and the built environment is further compounded by climate change and its impact on the water cycle. Those pressures mean that it has become increasingly important to measure and account for changes in water fluxes and their corresponding economic value as they progress throughout the river system. Such basin water accounting should provide policy makers with important information regarding the relative contribution of each water user, infrastructure and management decision to the overall economic value of the river basin. This paper presents a dynamic water accounting approach whereby the entire river basin is considered as a value chain with multiple services including production and storage. Water users and reservoirs operators are considered as economic agents who can exchange water with their hydraulic neighbors at a price corresponding to the marginal value of water. Effective water accounting is made possible by keeping track of all water fluxes and their corresponding transactions using the results of a hydro-economic model. The proposed approach is illustrated with the Eastern Nile River basin in Africa.

A dynamic water accounting framework based on marginal resource opportunity cost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilmant, A.; Marques, G.; Mohamed, Y.

2014-10-01

Many river basins throughout the world are increasingly under pressure as water demands keep rising due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization and rising living standards. In the past, the typical answer to meet those demands focused on the supply-side and involved the construction of hydraulic infrastructures to capture more water from surface water bodies and from aquifers. As river basins were being more and more developed, downstream water users and ecosystems have become increasingly dependent on the management actions taken by upstream users. The increased interconnectedness between water users, aquatic ecosystems and the built environment is further compounded by climate change and its impact on the water cycle. Those pressures mean that it has become increasingly important to measure and account for changes in water fluxes and their corresponding economic value as they progress throughout the river system. Such basin water accounting should provide policy makers with important information regarding the relative contribution of each water user, infrastructure and management decision to the overall economic value of the river basin. This paper presents a dynamic water accounting approach whereby the entire river basin is considered as a value chain with multiple services including production and storage. Water users and reservoirs operators are considered as economic agents who can exchange water with their hydraulic neighbours at a price corresponding to the marginal value of water. Effective water accounting is made possible by keeping track of all water fluxes and their corresponding hypothetical transactions using the results of a hydro-economic model. The proposed approach is illustrated with the Eastern Nile River basin in Africa.

A dynamic water accounting framework based on marginal resource opportunity cost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilmant, A.; Marques, G.; Mohamed, Y.

2015-03-01

Many river basins throughout the world are increasingly under pressure as water demands keep rising due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization and rising living standards. In the past, the typical answer to meet those demands focused on the supply side and involved the construction of hydraulic infrastructures to capture more water from surface water bodies and from aquifers. As river basins have become more and more developed, downstream water users and ecosystems have become increasingly dependent on the management actions taken by upstream users. The increased interconnectedness between water users, aquatic ecosystems and the built environment is further compounded by climate change and its impact on the water cycle. Those pressures mean that it has become increasingly important to measure and account for changes in water fluxes and their corresponding economic value as they progress throughout the river system. Such basin water accounting should provide policy makers with important information regarding the relative contribution of each water user, infrastructure and management decision to the overall economic value of the river basin. This paper presents a dynamic water accounting approach whereby the entire river basin is considered as a value chain with multiple services including production and storage. Water users and reservoir operators are considered as economic agents who can exchange water with their hydraulic neighbors at a price corresponding to the marginal value of water. Effective water accounting is made possible by keeping track of all water fluxes and their corresponding hypothetical transactions using the results of a hydro-economic model. The proposed approach is illustrated with the Eastern Nile River basin in Africa.

Assessment of the development of aquifer management councils (COTAS) for sustainable groundwater management in Guanajuato, Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wester, Philippus; Sandoval Minero, Ricardo; Hoogesteger, Jaime

2011-06-01

Collective groundwater management by water users—self-regulation—is increasingly advocated as a complement to state regulation. This article analyzes the attempts by the Guanajuato State Water Commission (CEAG) in central Mexico to promote user self-regulation through the establishment and development of 14 Consejos Técnicos de Aguas (COTAS; Technical Water Councils). Based on a joint assessment by a former senior CEAG policy-maker and two researchers, Guanajuato's groundwater-management policy is reviewed to understand why user self-regulation was less successful than expected. It concludes that increasing awareness and improving the knowledge base on groundwater is not enough to trigger self-regulation by groundwater users. A wider delegation of responsibilities to the COTAS is necessary, combined with: (1) functioning mechanisms for enforcing groundwater legislation, especially concerning well permits and pumped volumes, and (2) mechanisms that ensure the legitimacy and accountability of users' representatives to both users and state agencies.

Economic impact of feeding a phenylalanine-restricted diet to adults with previously untreated phenylketonuria.

PubMed

Brown, M C; Guest, J F

1999-02-01

The aim of the present study was to estimate the direct healthcare cost of managing adults with previously untreated phenylketonuria (PKU) for one year before any dietary restrictions and for the first year after a phenylalanine- (PHE-) restricted diet was introduced. The resource use and corresponding costs were estimated from medical records and interviews with health care professionals experienced in caring for adults with previously untreated PKU. The mean annual cost of caring for a client being fed an unrestricted diet was estimated to be 83 996 pound silver. In the first year after introducing a PHE-restricted diet, the mean annual cost was reduced by 20 647 pound silver to 63 348 pound silver as a result of a reduction in nursing time, hospitalizations, outpatient clinic visits and medications. However, the economic benefit of the diet depended on whether the clients were previously high or low users of nursing care. Nursing time was the key cost-driver, accounting for 79% of the cost of managing high users and 31% of the management cost for low users. In contrast, the acquisition cost of a PHE-restricted diet accounted for up to 6% of the cost for managing high users and 15% of the management cost for low users. Sensitivity analyses showed that introducing a PHE-restricted diet reduces the annual cost of care, provided that annual nursing time was reduced by more than 8% or more than 5% of clients respond to the diet. The clients showed fewer negative behaviours when being fed a PHE-restricted diet, which may account for the observed reduction in nursing time needed to care for these clients. In conclusion, feeding a PHE-restricted diet to adults with previously untreated PKU leads to economic benefits to the UK's National Health Service and society in general.

Managing Online Search Statistics with dBASE III Plus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Speer, Susan C.

1987-01-01

Describes a computer program designed to manage statistics about online searches which reports the number of searches by vendor, purpose, and librarian; calculates charges to departments and individuals; and prints monthly invoices to users with standing accounts. (CLB)

EvolView, an online tool for visualizing, annotating and managing phylogenetic trees.

PubMed

Zhang, Huangkai; Gao, Shenghan; Lercher, Martin J; Hu, Songnian; Chen, Wei-Hua

2012-07-01

EvolView is a web application for visualizing, annotating and managing phylogenetic trees. First, EvolView is a phylogenetic tree viewer and customization tool; it visualizes trees in various formats, customizes them through built-in functions that can link information from external datasets, and exports the customized results to publication-ready figures. Second, EvolView is a tree and dataset management tool: users can easily organize related trees into distinct projects, add new datasets to trees and edit and manage existing trees and datasets. To make EvolView easy to use, it is equipped with an intuitive user interface. With a free account, users can save data and manipulations on the EvolView server. EvolView is freely available at: http://www.evolgenius.info/evolview.html.

EvolView, an online tool for visualizing, annotating and managing phylogenetic trees

PubMed Central

Zhang, Huangkai; Gao, Shenghan; Lercher, Martin J.; Hu, Songnian; Chen, Wei-Hua

2012-01-01

EvolView is a web application for visualizing, annotating and managing phylogenetic trees. First, EvolView is a phylogenetic tree viewer and customization tool; it visualizes trees in various formats, customizes them through built-in functions that can link information from external datasets, and exports the customized results to publication-ready figures. Second, EvolView is a tree and dataset management tool: users can easily organize related trees into distinct projects, add new datasets to trees and edit and manage existing trees and datasets. To make EvolView easy to use, it is equipped with an intuitive user interface. With a free account, users can save data and manipulations on the EvolView server. EvolView is freely available at: http://www.evolgenius.info/evolview.html. PMID:22695796

MyOcean Central Information System - Achievements and Perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Claverie, Vincent; Loubrieu, Thomas; Jolibois, Tony; de Dianous, Rémi; Blower, Jon; Romero, Laia; Griffiths, Guy

2013-04-01

Since 2009, MyOcean (http://www.myocean.eu) is providing an operational service, for forecasts, analysis and expertise on ocean currents, temperature, salinity, sea level, primary ecosystems and ice coverage. The production of observation and forecasting data is done by 42 Production Units (PU). Product download and visualisation are hosted by 25 Dissemination Units (DU). All these products and associated services are gathered in a single catalogue hiding the intricate distributed organization of PUs and DUs. Besides applying INSPIRE directive and OGC recommendations, MyOcean overcomes technical choices and challenges. This presentation focuses on 3 specific issues met by MyOcean and relevant for many Spatial Data Infrastructures: user's transaction accounting, large volume download and stream line the catalogue maintenance. Transaction Accounting: Set up powerful means to get detailed knowledge of system usage in order to subsequently improve the products (ocean observations, analysis and forecast dataset) and services (view, download) offer. This subject drives the following ones: Central authentication management for the distributed web services implementations: add-on to THREDDS Data Server for WMS and NETCDF sub-setting service, specific FTP. Share user management with co-funding projects. In addition to MyOcean, alternate projects also need consolidated information about the use of the cofunded products. Provide a central facility for the user management. This central facility provides users' rights to geographically distributed services and gathers transaction accounting history from these distributed services. Propose a user-friendly web interface to download large volume of data (several GigaBytes) as robust as basic FTP but intuitive and file/directory independent. This should rely on a web service drafting the INSPIRE to-be specification and OGC recommendations for download taking into account that FTP server is not enough friendly (need to know filenames, directories) and Web-page not allowing downloading several files. Streamline the maintenance of the central catalogue. The major update for MyOcean v3 (April 2013) is the usage of Geonetwork for catalogue management. This improves the system at different levels : The editing interface is more user-friendly and the catalogue updates are managed in a workflow. This workflow allows higher flexibility for minor updates without giving up the high level qualification requirements for the catalogue content. The distributed web services (download, view) are automatically harvested from the THREDDS Data Server. Thus the manual editing on the catalogue is reduced, the associated typos are avoided and the quality of information is finally improved.

76 FR 60454 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-29

.... Customers may submit payments to the USPTO by several methods, including credit card, deposit account... and trademark fees by credit card, establish and manage USPTO deposit accounts, request refunds, and set up user profiles. The USPTO uses this collection to process credit card payments, handle deposit...

SARS: Safeguards Accounting and Reporting Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammedi, B.; Saadi, S.; Ait-Mohamed, S.

In order to satisfy the requirements of the SSAC (State System for Accounting and Control of nuclear materials), for recording and reporting objectives; this computer program comes to bridge the gape between nuclear facilities operators and national inspection verifying records and delivering reports. The SARS maintains and generates at-facility safeguards accounting records and generates International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards reports based on accounting data input by the user at any nuclear facility. A database structure is built and BORLAND DELPHI programming language has been used. The software is designed to be user-friendly, to make extensive and flexible management of menus and graphs. SARS functions include basic physical inventory tacking, transaction histories and reporting. Access controls are made by different passwords.

Drug driving and the management of risk: the perspectives and practices of a sample of problem drug users.

PubMed

McIntosh, James; O'Brien, Tommy; McKeganey, Neil

2008-06-01

This paper reports on a qualitative study of the attitudes and risk management strategies of a sample of problem drug users in relation to driving while under the influence of drugs. Interviews were conducted with 26 individuals (21 men and 5 women) all of whom had been addicted to heroin and had admitted to driving while under the influence of illegal drugs. The drug users reported four main strategies for managing the risks associated with drug driving: attempting to limit their drug intake to their tolerance level; delaying driving after taking a drug until they felt safe; stopping driving if they felt unsafe while behind the wheel; and avoiding driving altogether under the influence of certain drugs. However, the interviewees' accounts of their drug driving behaviour suggest that these strategies are not only far from reliable, they may also act to encourage drug driving by creating a false sense of security. The reassurance they provide may also undermine any educational messages targeting drug driving. There was little in the problem users' accounts to suggest that media campaigns or a more effective method of detection would have much influence upon their behaviour. The paper concludes that the most realistic approach to the problem may be to incorporate drug driving interventions within drug treatment programmes.

Competencies development and self-assessment in maintenance management e-training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papathanassiou, Nikos; Pistofidis, Petros; Emmanouilidis, Christos

2013-10-01

The maintenance management function requires staff to possess a truly multidisciplinary set of skills. This includes competencies from engineering and information technology to health and safety, management and finance, while also taking into account the normative and legislative issues. This body of knowledge is rarely readily available within a single university course. The potential of e-learning in this field is significant, as it is a flexible and less costly alternative to conventional training. Furthermore, trainees can follow their own pace, as their available time is often a commodity. This article discusses the development of tools to support competencies development and self-assessment in maintenance management. Based on requirements arising from professional bodies' guidelines and a user survey, the developed tools implement a dedicated maintenance management training curriculum. The results from pilot testing on academic and industrial user groups are discussed and user evaluations are linked with specific e-learning design issues.

77 FR 67820 - Privacy Act of 1974; Report of a New System of Records; Food and Drug Administration User Fee System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-14

..., timely account disablement/deletion, configuration management, maintenance, system and information... paper or CD-ROM submissions): Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration... document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Division of Dockets Management...

Factors Affecting Relationships between the Contextual Variables and the Information Characteristics of Accounting Information Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choe, Jong-Min; Lee, Jinjoo

1993-01-01

Reports on a study of accounting information systems that explored the interactions among influence factors (e.g., user participation in the development process, top management support, capability of information systems personnel, and existence of steering committees), contextual variables (e.g., organizational structure and task characteristics),…

Detecting errors and anomalies in computerized materials control and accountability databases

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

Whiteson, R.; Hench, K.; Yarbro, T.

The Automated MC and A Database Assessment project is aimed at improving anomaly and error detection in materials control and accountability (MC and A) databases and increasing confidence in the data that they contain. Anomalous data resulting in poor categorization of nuclear material inventories greatly reduces the value of the database information to users. Therefore it is essential that MC and A data be assessed periodically for anomalies or errors. Anomaly detection can identify errors in databases and thus provide assurance of the integrity of data. An expert system has been developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory that examines thesemore » large databases for anomalous or erroneous data. For several years, MC and A subject matter experts at Los Alamos have been using this automated system to examine the large amounts of accountability data that the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility generates. These data are collected and managed by the Material Accountability and Safeguards System, a near-real-time computerized nuclear material accountability and safeguards system. This year they have expanded the user base, customizing the anomaly detector for the varying requirements of different groups of users. This paper describes the progress in customizing the expert systems to the needs of the users of the data and reports on their results.« less

Integrating management tools and concepts to develop an estuarine planning support system: A case study of the Humber Estuary, Eastern England.

PubMed

Lonsdale, Jemma-Anne; Weston, Keith; Barnard, Steve; Boyes, Suzanne J; Elliott, Michael

2015-11-15

Estuaries are important because of their multiple uses and users which often makes them challenging to manage since management must strike a balance between the needs of users, the estuaries' ecological and economic value and the context of multiple legislative drivers. To facilitate management we have therefore developed an Estuarine Planning Support System (EPSS) framework using the Humber Estuary, Eastern England, as a case study which integrates the current legislation tools and concepts. This integrated EPSS framework is an improvement on previous approaches for assessing cumulative impacts as it takes into account legislative drivers, management tools and other mechanisms for controlling plans/projects specific to the estuary. It therefore enables managers and users to assess and address both the current state and the way in which a new industrial, port or urban development could impact an estuary in an accessible and understandable framework. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of Watch Schedule Using Rules Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jurkevicius, Darius; Vasilecas, Olegas

The software for schedule creation and optimization solves a difficult, important and practical problem. The proposed solution is an online employee portal where administrator users can create and manage watch schedules and employee requests. Each employee can login with his/her own account and see his/her assignments, manage requests, etc. Employees set as administrators can perform the employee scheduling online, manage requests, etc. This scheduling software allows users not only to see the initial and optimized watch schedule in a simple and understandable form, but also to create special rules and criteria and input their business. The system using rules automatically will generate watch schedule.

76 FR 5830 - FBI Records Management Division; National Name Check Program Section; New User Fees Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-02

... study employed the same Activity Based Cost (ABC) accounting method detailed in the Final Rule establishing the process for setting fees (75 FR 24796 (May 6, 2010)). The ABC methodology is consistent with widely accepted accounting principles and complies with the provisions of 31 U.S.C. 9701 and other...

Multi-agent integrated password management (MIPM) application secured with encryption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awang, Norkhushaini; Zukri, Nurul Hidayah Ahmad; Rashid, Nor Aimuni Md; Zulkifli, Zuhri Arafah; Nazri, Nor Afifah Mohd

2017-10-01

Users use weak passwords and reuse them on different websites and applications. Password managers are a solution to store login information for websites and help users log in automatically. This project developed a system that acts as an agent managing passwords. Multi-Agent Integrated Password Management (MIPM) is an application using encryption that provides users with secure storage of their login account information such as their username, emails and passwords. This project was developed on an Android platform with an encryption agent using Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). The purpose of the embedded agents is to act as a third-party software to ease the encryption process, and in the future, the developed encryption agents can form part of the security system. This application can be used by the computer and mobile users. Currently, users log into many applications causing them to use unique passwords to prevent password leaking. The crypto agent handles the encryption process using an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption algorithm. As a whole, MIPM is developed on the Android application to provide a secure platform to store passwords and has high potential to be commercialised for public use.

Review, Analysis and Evaluation of Certain Areas and Facets of Policies, Systems, Processes and Management of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coopers & Lybrand, New York, NY.

Covered in this report of the 1978 project of the Joint Committee on Printing are aspects of three selected areas. Part one, Management Review and Assessment, contains a summary of management and user interviews, a review of GPO's goals and organizational structure, and an assessment of management systems and procedures. The accounting system is…

PFAM 2.0 - Documentations

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The advanced capabilities of PFAM include accounting for water and pest management practices and for degradation in soil and aquatic environments, as well as for post processing of discharged paddy waters to a user-defined receiving water.

Attaining and maintaining data integrity with configuration management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, Dorothy J.; Jeane, Shirley A.

1993-08-01

Managers and scientists are concerned about data integrity because they draw conclusions from data that can have far reaching effects. Projects managers use Configuration Management to insure that hardware, software, and project information are controlled. They have not, as yet, applied its rigorously to data. However, there is ample opportunity in the data collection and production process to jeopardize data integrity. Environmental changes, tampering and production problems can all affect data integrity. There are four functions included in the Configuration Management process: configuration identification, control, auditing and status accounting. These functions provide management the means to attain data integrity and the visibility into engineering processes needed to maintain data integrity. When project managers apply Configuration Management processes to data, the data user can trace back through history to validate data integrity. The user knows that the project allowed only orderly changes to the data. He is assured that project personnel followed procedures to maintain data quality. He also has access to status information about the data. The user receives data products with a known integrity level and a means to assess the impact of past events ont he conclusions derived from the data. To obtain these benefits, project managers should apply the Configuration Management discipline to data.

Impact of the social networking applications for health information management for patients and physicians.

PubMed

Sahama, Tony; Liang, Jian; Iannella, Renato

2012-01-01

Most social network users hold more than one social network account and utilize them in different ways depending on the digital context. For example, friendly chat on Facebook, professional discussion on LinkedIn, and health information exchange on PatientsLikeMe. Thus many web users need to manage many disparate profiles across many distributed online sources. Maintaining these profiles is cumbersome, time consuming, inefficient, and leads to lost opportunity. In this paper we propose a framework for multiple profile management of online social networks and showcase a demonstrator utilising an open source platform. The result of the research enables a user to create and manage an integrated profile and share/synchronise their profiles with their social networks. A number of use cases were created to capture the functional requirements and describe the interactions between users and the online services. An innovative application of this project is in public health informatics. We utilize the prototype to examine how the framework can benefit patients and physicians. The framework can greatly enhance health information management for patients and more importantly offer a more comprehensive personal health overview of patients to physicians.

Routines and rituals: a grounded theory of the pain management of drug users in acute care settings.

PubMed

McCreaddie, May; Lyons, Imogen; Watt, Debbie; Ewing, Elspeth; Croft, Jeanette; Smith, Marion; Tocher, Jennifer

2010-10-01

This study reviewed the perceptions and strategies of drug users and nurses with regard to pain management in acute care settings. Drug users present unique challenges in acute care settings with pain management noted to be at best suboptimal, at worst non-existent. Little is known about why and specifically how therapeutic effectiveness is compromised. Qualitative: constructivist grounded theory. A constructivist grounded theory approach incorporating a constant comparative method of data collection and analysis was applied. The data corpus comprised interviews with drug users (n = 11) and five focus groups (n = 22) of nurses and recovering drug users. Moral relativism as the core category both represents the phenomenon and explains the basic social process. Nurses and drug users struggle with moral relativism when addressing the issue of pain management in the acute care setting. Drug users lay claim to expectations of compassionate care and moralise via narration. Paradoxically, nurses report that the caring ideal and mutuality of caring are diminished. Drug users' individual sensitivities, anxieties and felt stigma in conjunction with opioid-induced hyperalgesia complicate the processes. Nurses' and hospitals' organisational routines challenge drug user rituals and vice versa leading both protagonists to become disaffected. Consequently, key clinical issues such as preventing withdrawal and managing pain are left unaddressed and therapeutic effectiveness is compromised. This study provides a robust account of nurses' and drug users' struggle with pain management in the acute care setting. Quick technological fixes such as urine screens, checklists or the transient effects of (cognitive-based) education (or training) are not the answer. This study highlights the need for nurses to engage meaningfully with this perceptibly 'difficult' group of patients. The key aspects likely to contribute to problematic interactions with this patient cohort are outlined so that they can be prevented and, or addressed. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-Compliant Ocular Telehealth Network for the Remote Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Retinopathy

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

Li, Yaquin; Karnowski, Thomas Paul; Tobin Jr, Kenneth William

2011-01-01

In this article, we present the design and implementation of a regional ocular telehealth network for remote assessment and management of diabetic retinopathy (DR), including the design requirements, network topology, protocol design, system work flow, graphics user interfaces, and performance evaluation. The Telemedical Retinal Image Analysis and Diagnosis Network is a computer-aided, image analysis telehealth paradigm for the diagnosis of DR and other retinal diseases using fundus images acquired from primary care end users delivering care to underserved patient populations in the mid-South and southeastern United States.

A health insurance portability and accountability act-compliant ocular telehealth network for the remote diagnosis and management of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Li, Yaqin; Karnowski, Thomas P; Tobin, Kenneth W; Giancardo, Luca; Morris, Scott; Sparrow, Sylvia E; Garg, Seema; Fox, Karen; Chaum, Edward

2011-10-01

In this article, we present the design and implementation of a regional ocular telehealth network for remote assessment and management of diabetic retinopathy (DR), including the design requirements, network topology, protocol design, system work flow, graphics user interfaces, and performance evaluation. The Telemedical Retinal Image Analysis and Diagnosis Network is a computer-aided, image analysis telehealth paradigm for the diagnosis of DR and other retinal diseases using fundus images acquired from primary care end users delivering care to underserved patient populations in the mid-South and southeastern United States.

CPE--A New Perspective: The Impact of the Technology Revolution. Proceedings of the Computer Performance Evaluation Users Group Meeting (19th, San Francisco, California, October 25-28, 1983). Final Report. Reports on Computer Science and Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mobray, Deborah, Ed.

Papers on local area networks (LANs), modelling techniques, software improvement, capacity planning, software engineering, microcomputers and end user computing, cost accounting and chargeback, configuration and performance management, and benchmarking presented at this conference include: (1) "Theoretical Performance Analysis of Virtual…

Smartphone-based secure authenticated session sharing in Internet of Personal Things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnan, Ram; Ninglekhu, Jiwan

2015-03-01

In the context of password-based authentication, a user can only memorize limited number of usernames and passwords. They are generally referred to as user-credentials. Longer character length of passwords further adds complication in mastering them. The expansion of the Internet and our growing dependency on it, has made it almost impossible for us to handle the big pool of user-credentials. Using simple, same or similar passwords is considered a poor practice, as it can easily be compromised by password cracking tools and social engineering attacks. Therefore, a robust and painless technique to manage personal credentials for websites is desirable. In this paper, a novel technique for user-credentials management via a smart mobile device such as a smartphone in a local network is proposed. We present a secure user-credential management scheme in which user's account login (username) and password associated with websites domain name is saved into the mobile device's database using a mobile application. We develop a custom browser extension application for client and use it to import user's credentials linked with the corresponding website from the mobile device via the local Wi-Fi network connection. The browser extension imports and identifies the authentication credentials and pushes them into the target TextBox locations in the webpage, ready for the user to execute. This scheme is suitably demonstrated between two personal devices in a local network.

Assigning unique identification numbers to new user accounts and groups in a computing environment with multiple registries

DOEpatents

DeRobertis, Christopher V.; Lu, Yantian T.

2010-02-23

A method, system, and program storage device for creating a new user account or user group with a unique identification number in a computing environment having multiple user registries is provided. In response to receiving a command to create a new user account or user group, an operating system of a clustered computing environment automatically checks multiple registries configured for the operating system to determine whether a candidate identification number for the new user account or user group has been assigned already to one or more existing user accounts or groups, respectively. The operating system automatically assigns the candidate identification number to the new user account or user group created in a target user registry if the checking indicates that the candidate identification number has not been assigned already to any of the existing user accounts or user groups, respectively.

Developing Access Control Model of Web OLAP over Trusted and Collaborative Data Warehouses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fugkeaw, Somchart; Mitrpanont, Jarernsri L.; Manpanpanich, Piyawit; Juntapremjitt, Sekpon

This paper proposes the design and development of Role- based Access Control (RBAC) model for the Single Sign-On (SSO) Web-OLAP query spanning over multiple data warehouses (DWs). The model is based on PKI Authentication and Privilege Management Infrastructure (PMI); it presents a binding model of RBAC authorization based on dimension privilege specified in attribute certificate (AC) and user identification. Particularly, the way of attribute mapping between DW user authentication and privilege of dimensional access is illustrated. In our approach, we apply the multi-agent system to automate flexible and effective management of user authentication, role delegation as well as system accountability. Finally, the paper culminates in the prototype system A-COLD (Access Control of web-OLAP over multiple DWs) that incorporates the OLAP features and authentication and authorization enforcement in the multi-user and multi-data warehouse environment.

Security in the management of information systems.

PubMed

Huston, T L; Huston, J L

1998-06-01

Although security technology exists in abundance in health information management systems, the implementation of that technology is often lacking. This lack of implementation can be heavily affected by the attitudes and perceptions of users and management, the "people part" of systems. Particular operational, organizational, and economic factors must be addressed along with employment of security objectives and accountability. Unique threats, as well as controls, pervade the use of microcomputer-based systems as these systems permeate health care information management.

Optimal joint management of a coastal aquifer and a substitute resource

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreaux, M.; Reynaud, A.

2004-06-01

This article characterizes the optimal joint management of a coastal aquifer and a costly water substitute. For this purpose we use a mathematical representation of the aquifer that incorporates the displacement of the interface between the seawater and the freshwater of the aquifer. We identify the spatial cost externalities created by users on each other and we show that the optimal water supply depends on the location of users. Users located in the coastal zone exclusively use the costly substitute. Those located in the more upstream area are supplied from the aquifer. At the optimum their withdrawal must take into account the cost externalities they generate on users located downstream. Last, users located in a median zone use the aquifer with a surface transportation cost. We show that the optimum can be implemented in a decentralized economy through a very simple Pigouvian tax. Finally, the optimal and decentralized extraction policies are simulated on a very simple example.

The ALICE Glance Shift Accounting Management System (SAMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martins Silva, H.; Abreu Da Silva, I.; Ronchetti, F.; Telesca, A.; Maidantchik, C.

2015-12-01

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is an experiment at the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) studying the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma. The experiment operation requires a 24 hours a day and 7 days a week shift crew at the experimental site, composed by the ALICE collaboration members. Shift duties are calculated for each institute according to their correlated members. In order to ensure the full coverage of the experiment operation as well as its good quality, the ALICE Shift Accounting Management System (SAMS) is used to manage the shift bookings as well as the needed training. ALICE SAMS is the result of a joint effort between the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the ALICE Collaboration. The Glance technology, developed by the UFRJ and the ATLAS experiment, sits at the basis of the system as an intermediate layer isolating the particularities of the databases. In this paper, we describe the ALICE SAMS development process and functionalities. The database has been modelled according to the collaboration needs and is fully integrated with the ALICE Collaboration repository to access members information and respectively roles and activities. Run, period and training coordinators can manage their subsystem operation and ensure an efficient personnel management. Members of the ALICE collaboration can book shifts and on-call according to pre-defined rights. ALICE SAMS features a user profile containing all the statistics and user contact information as well as the Institutes profile. Both the user and institute profiles are public (within the scope of the collaboration) and show the credit balance in real time. A shift calendar allows the Run Coordinator to plan data taking periods in terms of which subsystems shifts are enabled or disabled and on-call responsible people and slots. An overview display presents the shift crew present in the control room and allows the Run Coordination team to confirm the presence of both regular and trainees shift personnel, necessary for credit accounting.

gLExec and MyProxy integration in the ATLAS/OSG PanDA workload management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caballero, J.; Hover, J.; Litmaath, M.; Maeno, T.; Nilsson, P.; Potekhin, M.; Wenaus, T.; Zhao, X.

2010-04-01

Worker nodes on the grid exhibit great diversity, making it difficult to offer uniform processing resources. A pilot job architecture, which probes the environment on the remote worker node before pulling down a payload job, can help. Pilot jobs become smart wrappers, preparing an appropriate environment for job execution and providing logging and monitoring capabilities. PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis), an ATLAS and OSG workload management system, follows this design. However, in the simplest (and most efficient) pilot submission approach of identical pilots carrying the same identifying grid proxy, end-user accounting by the site can only be done with application-level information (PanDA maintains its own end-user accounting), and end-user jobs run with the identity and privileges of the proxy carried by the pilots, which may be seen as a security risk. To address these issues, we have enabled PanDA to use gLExec, a tool provided by EGEE which runs payload jobs under an end-user's identity. End-user proxies are pre-staged in a credential caching service, MyProxy, and the information needed by the pilots to access them is stored in the PanDA DB. gLExec then extracts from the user's proxy the proper identity under which to run. We describe the deployment, installation, and configuration of gLExec, and how PanDA components have been augmented to use it. We describe how difficulties were overcome, and how security risks have been mitigated. Results are presented from OSG and EGEE Grid environments performing ATLAS analysis using PanDA and gLExec.

How do nonprofit hospitals manage earnings?

PubMed

Leone, Andrew J; Van Horn, R Lawrence

2005-07-01

We hypothesize that, unlike for-profit firms, nonprofit hospitals have incentives to manage earnings to a range just above zero. We consider two ways managers can achieve this. They can adjust discretionary spending [Hoerger, T.J., 1991. 'Profit' variability in for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Journal of Health Economics 10, 259-289.] and/or they can adjust accounting accruals using the flexibility inherent in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). To test our hypothesis we use regressions as well as tests of the distribution of earnings by Burgstahler and Dichev [Burgstahler, D., Dichev, I., 1997. Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses. Journal of Accounting and Economics 24, 99-126.] on a sample of 1,204 hospitals and 8,179 hospital-year observations. Our tests support the use of discretionary spending and accounting accrual management. Like Hoerger (1991), we find evidence that nonprofit hospitals adjust discretionary spending to manage earnings. However, we also find significant use of discretionary accruals (e.g., adjustments to the third-party-allowance, and allowance for doubtful accounts) to meet earnings objectives. These findings have two important implications. First, the previous evidence by Hoerger that nonprofit hospitals show less variation in income may at least partly be explained by an accounting phenomenon. Second, our findings provide guidance to users of these financial statements in predicting the direction of likely bias in reported earnings.

Scaling-laws of human broadcast communication enable distinction between human, corporate and robot Twitter users.

PubMed

Tavares, Gabriela; Faisal, Aldo

2013-01-01

Human behaviour is highly individual by nature, yet statistical structures are emerging which seem to govern the actions of human beings collectively. Here we search for universal statistical laws dictating the timing of human actions in communication decisions. We focus on the distribution of the time interval between messages in human broadcast communication, as documented in Twitter, and study a collection of over 160,000 tweets for three user categories: personal (controlled by one person), managed (typically PR agency controlled) and bot-controlled (automated system). To test our hypothesis, we investigate whether it is possible to differentiate between user types based on tweet timing behaviour, independently of the content in messages. For this purpose, we developed a system to process a large amount of tweets for reality mining and implemented two simple probabilistic inference algorithms: 1. a naive Bayes classifier, which distinguishes between two and three account categories with classification performance of 84.6% and 75.8%, respectively and 2. a prediction algorithm to estimate the time of a user's next tweet with an R(2) ≈ 0.7. Our results show that we can reliably distinguish between the three user categories as well as predict the distribution of a user's inter-message time with reasonable accuracy. More importantly, we identify a characteristic power-law decrease in the tail of inter-message time distribution by human users which is different from that obtained for managed and automated accounts. This result is evidence of a universal law that permeates the timing of human decisions in broadcast communication and extends the findings of several previous studies of peer-to-peer communication.

Scaling-Laws of Human Broadcast Communication Enable Distinction between Human, Corporate and Robot Twitter Users

PubMed Central

Tavares, Gabriela; Faisal, Aldo

2013-01-01

Human behaviour is highly individual by nature, yet statistical structures are emerging which seem to govern the actions of human beings collectively. Here we search for universal statistical laws dictating the timing of human actions in communication decisions. We focus on the distribution of the time interval between messages in human broadcast communication, as documented in Twitter, and study a collection of over 160,000 tweets for three user categories: personal (controlled by one person), managed (typically PR agency controlled) and bot-controlled (automated system). To test our hypothesis, we investigate whether it is possible to differentiate between user types based on tweet timing behaviour, independently of the content in messages. For this purpose, we developed a system to process a large amount of tweets for reality mining and implemented two simple probabilistic inference algorithms: 1. a naive Bayes classifier, which distinguishes between two and three account categories with classification performance of 84.6% and 75.8%, respectively and 2. a prediction algorithm to estimate the time of a user's next tweet with an . Our results show that we can reliably distinguish between the three user categories as well as predict the distribution of a user's inter-message time with reasonable accuracy. More importantly, we identify a characteristic power-law decrease in the tail of inter-message time distribution by human users which is different from that obtained for managed and automated accounts. This result is evidence of a universal law that permeates the timing of human decisions in broadcast communication and extends the findings of several previous studies of peer-to-peer communication. PMID:23843945

KCNSC Automated RAIL

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

Branson, Donald

The KCNSC Automated RAIL (Rolling Action Item List) system provides an electronic platform to manage and escalate rolling action items within an business and manufacturing environment at Honeywell. The software enables a tiered approach to issue management where issues are escalated up a management chain based on team input and compared to business metrics. The software manages action items at different levels of the organization and allows all users to discuss action items concurrently. In addition, the software drives accountability through timely emails and proper visibility during team meetings.

Identifying and describing patients' learning experiences towards self-management of bipolar disorders: a phenomenological study.

PubMed

Van den Heuvel, S C G H; Goossens, P J J; Terlouw, C; Van Achterberg, T; Schoonhoven, L

2015-12-01

Existing evidence suggest that patient education in promoting self-management strategies of bipolar disorder (BD) is effective. However, results across the full range of service users with BD vary. Learning experiences of service users look to be a crucial factor to take into account when designing, delivering, and evaluating effective interventions that promote self-management in chronic illness. What learning activities service users actually undertake themselves when self-managing BD that might explain varying success rates, and guide future self-management educational programmes has not been examined. Unlike previous studies that suggest that outcomes in self-management depend on individual learning activities, the current study found that learning to self-manage BD takes place in a social network that functions as a learning environment in which it is saved for service users to make mistakes and to learn from these mistakes. Especially, coping with the dormant fear of a recurrent episode and acknowledging the limitations of an individual approach are important factors that facilitate this learning process. Practitioners who provide patient education in order to promote self-management of BD should tailor future interventions that facilitate learning by reflecting on the own experiences of service users. Community psychiatric nurses should keep an open discussion with service users and caregivers, facilitate the use of a network, and re-label problems into learning situations where both play an active role in building mutual trust, thereby enhancing self-management of BD. Existing evidence suggest that self-management education of bipolar disorder (BD) is effective. However, why outcomes differ across the full range of service users has not been examined. This study describes learning experiences of service users in self-managing BD that provide a possible explanation for this varying effectiveness. We have conducted a phenomenological study via face-to-face, in-depth interviews, guided by a topic list, along service users with BD I or II (n = 16) in three specialised community care clinics across the Netherlands. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to analysis in Atlas.ti 7. Unlike existing studies, which suggest that individual abilities of service users determine outcomes in self-management of BD, the current study found that self-management of BD is a learning process that takes place in a collaborative network. We identified five categories: acknowledgment of having BD, processing the information load, illness management, reflecting on living with BD, and self-management of BD. The success of self-management depends on the acknowledgment of individual limitations in learning to cope with BD and willingness to use a social network as a back-up instead. Especially, the dormant fear of a recurrent episode is a hampering factor in this learning process. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act–Compliant Ocular Telehealth Network for the Remote Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Retinopathy

PubMed Central

Li, Yaqin; Karnowski, Thomas P.; Tobin, Kenneth W.; Giancardo, Luca; Morris, Scott; Sparrow, Sylvia E.; Garg, Seema; Fox, Karen

2011-01-01

Abstract In this article, we present the design and implementation of a regional ocular telehealth network for remote assessment and management of diabetic retinopathy (DR), including the design requirements, network topology, protocol design, system work flow, graphics user interfaces, and performance evaluation. The Telemedical Retinal Image Analysis and Diagnosis Network is a computer-aided, image analysis telehealth paradigm for the diagnosis of DR and other retinal diseases using fundus images acquired from primary care end users delivering care to underserved patient populations in the mid-South and southeastern United States. PMID:21819244

User Accounts | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

see information on user account policies. ACCOUNT PASSWORDS Logging in for the first time? Forgot your Accounts User Accounts Learn how to request an NREL HPC user account. Request an HPC Account To request an HPC account, please complete our request form. This form is provided using DocuSign. REQUEST

Tracking implementation and (un)intended consequences: a process evaluation of an innovative peripheral health facility financing mechanism in Kenya

PubMed Central

Waweru, Evelyn; Goodman, Catherine; Kedenge, Sarah; Tsofa, Benjamin; Molyneux, Sassy

2016-01-01

In many African countries, user fees have failed to achieve intended access and quality of care improvements. Subsequent user fee reduction or elimination policies have often been poorly planned, without alternative sources of income for facilities. We describe early implementation of an innovative national health financing intervention in Kenya; the health sector services fund (HSSF). In HSSF, central funds are credited directly into a facility’s bank account quarterly, and facility funds are managed by health facility management committees (HFMCs) including community representatives. HSSF is therefore a finance mechanism with potential to increase access to funds for peripheral facilities, support user fee reduction and improve equity in access. We conducted a process evaluation of HSSF implementation based on a theory of change underpinning the intervention. Methods included interviews at national, district and facility levels, facility record reviews, a structured exit survey and a document review. We found impressive achievements: HSSF funds were reaching facilities; funds were being overseen and used in a way that strengthened transparency and community involvement; and health workers’ motivation and patient satisfaction improved. Challenges or unintended outcomes included: complex and centralized accounting requirements undermining efficiency; interactions between HSSF and user fees leading to difficulties in accessing crucial user fee funds; and some relationship problems between key players. Although user fees charged had not increased, national reduction policies were still not being adhered to. Finance mechanisms can have a strong positive impact on peripheral facilities, and HFMCs can play a valuable role in managing facilities. Although fiduciary oversight is essential, mechanisms should allow for local decision-making and ensure that unmanageable paperwork is avoided. There are also limits to what can be achieved with relatively small funds in contexts of enormous need. Process evaluations tracking (un)intended consequences of interventions can contribute to regional financing and decentralization debates. PMID:25920355

Tracking implementation and (un)intended consequences: a process evaluation of an innovative peripheral health facility financing mechanism in Kenya.

PubMed

Waweru, Evelyn; Goodman, Catherine; Kedenge, Sarah; Tsofa, Benjamin; Molyneux, Sassy

2016-03-01

In many African countries, user fees have failed to achieve intended access and quality of care improvements. Subsequent user fee reduction or elimination policies have often been poorly planned, without alternative sources of income for facilities. We describe early implementation of an innovative national health financing intervention in Kenya; the health sector services fund (HSSF). In HSSF, central funds are credited directly into a facility's bank account quarterly, and facility funds are managed by health facility management committees (HFMCs) including community representatives. HSSF is therefore a finance mechanism with potential to increase access to funds for peripheral facilities, support user fee reduction and improve equity in access. We conducted a process evaluation of HSSF implementation based on a theory of change underpinning the intervention. Methods included interviews at national, district and facility levels, facility record reviews, a structured exit survey and a document review. We found impressive achievements: HSSF funds were reaching facilities; funds were being overseen and used in a way that strengthened transparency and community involvement; and health workers' motivation and patient satisfaction improved. Challenges or unintended outcomes included: complex and centralized accounting requirements undermining efficiency; interactions between HSSF and user fees leading to difficulties in accessing crucial user fee funds; and some relationship problems between key players. Although user fees charged had not increased, national reduction policies were still not being adhered to. Finance mechanisms can have a strong positive impact on peripheral facilities, and HFMCs can play a valuable role in managing facilities. Although fiduciary oversight is essential, mechanisms should allow for local decision-making and ensure that unmanageable paperwork is avoided. There are also limits to what can be achieved with relatively small funds in contexts of enormous need. Process evaluations tracking (un)intended consequences of interventions can contribute to regional financing and decentralization debates. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

System of experts for intelligent data management (SEIDAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodenough, David G.; Iisaka, Joji; Fung, KO

1993-01-01

A proposal to conduct research and development on a system of expert systems for intelligent data management (SEIDAM) is being developed. CCRS has much expertise in developing systems for integrating geographic information with space and aircraft remote sensing data and in managing large archives of remotely sensed data. SEIDAM will be composed of expert systems grouped in three levels. At the lowest level, the expert systems will manage and integrate data from diverse sources, taking account of symbolic representation differences and varying accuracies. Existing software can be controlled by these expert systems, without rewriting existing software into an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language. At the second level, SEIDAM will take the interpreted data (symbolic and numerical) and combine these with data models. at the top level, SEIDAM will respond to user goals for predictive outcomes given existing data. The SEIDAM Project will address the research areas of expert systems, data management, storage and retrieval, and user access and interfaces.

System of Experts for Intelligent Data Management (SEIDAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodenough, David G.; Iisaka, Joji; Fung, KO

1992-01-01

It is proposed to conduct research and development on a system of expert systems for intelligent data management (SEIDAM). CCRS has much expertise in developing systems for integrating geographic information with space and aircraft remote sensing data and in managing large archives of remotely sensed data. SEIDAM will be composed of expert systems grouped in three levels. At the lowest level, the expert systems will manage and integrate data from diverse sources, taking account of symbolic representation differences and varying accuracies. Existing software can be controlled by these expert systems, without rewriting existing software into an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language. At the second level, SEIDAM will take the interpreted data (symbolic and numerical) and combine these with data models. At the top level, SEIDAM will respond to user goals for predictive outcomes given existing data. The SEIDAM Project will address the research areas of expert systems, data management, storage and retrieval, and user access and interfaces.

Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) system administration guide. Version 1.3

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

Burford, M.J.; Burnett, R.A.; Downing, T.R.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and analysis tool that was developed by the (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) (PNNL) under the direction of the U.S. Army Chemical Biological Defense Command. The FEMIS System Administration Guide defines FEMIS hardware and software requirements and gives instructions for installing the FEMIS software package. 91 This document also contains information on the following: software installation for the FEMIS data servers, communication server, mail server, and the emergency management workstations; distribution media loading and FEMIS installation validation and troubleshooting; and system management of FEMIS users, login, privileges, and usage.more » The system administration utilities (tools), available in the FEMIS client software, are described for user accounts and site profile. This document also describes the installation and use of system and database administration utilities that will assist in keeping the FEMIS system running in an operational environment.« less

Event-Based User Classification in Weibo Media

PubMed Central

Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately. PMID:25133235

Event-based user classification in Weibo media.

PubMed

Guo, Liang; Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately.

Municipal Water Demand: Statistical and Management Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, William E.

In the foreword to this volume, Charles W. Howe, general editor of the Westview Press series on water policy and management, states that the goal of this book is to emphasize “the potential for improved water management with reduced economic and environmental costs by utilizing modern methods of demand estimation that take into account user responsiveness to price, conservation measures, and economic-demographic changes.” The authors accomplish their purpose, but the book itself leaves much to be desired.

Trust Management and Accountability for Internet Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Wayne W.

2011-01-01

Adversarial yet interacting interdependent relationships in information sharing and service provisioning have been a pressing issue of the Internet. Such relationships exist among autonomous software agents, in networking system peers, as well as between "service users and providers." Traditional "ad hoc" security approaches effective in…

Dynamic Computation of Change Operations in Version Management of Business Process Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Küster, Jochen Malte; Gerth, Christian; Engels, Gregor

Version management of business process models requires that changes can be resolved by applying change operations. In order to give a user maximal freedom concerning the application order of change operations, position parameters of change operations must be computed dynamically during change resolution. In such an approach, change operations with computed position parameters must be applicable on the model and dependencies and conflicts of change operations must be taken into account because otherwise invalid models can be constructed. In this paper, we study the concept of partially specified change operations where parameters are computed dynamically. We provide a formalization for partially specified change operations using graph transformation and provide a concept for their applicability. Based on this, we study potential dependencies and conflicts of change operations and show how these can be taken into account within change resolution. Using our approach, a user can resolve changes of business process models without being unnecessarily restricted to a certain order.

User Account Passwords | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Account Passwords User Account Passwords For NREL's high-performance computing (HPC) systems, learn about user account password requirements and how to set up, log in, and change passwords. Password Logging In the First Time After you request an HPC user account, you'll receive a temporary password. Set

A Study of the Relationship between User Attitudes and the Success of the MAJCOM and AFRCE Work Information Management System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

subsystems including labor reporting, Prime BEEF (Base Engineer Emergency Forces) composition, work order control, material control, cost accounting...AirComan IL ARCE BallsticLangey AB,24 Misl Supr)-FC Norton AF CA ( Estr Region) - AFRCE (United Kingdom) Ruislip AB UK UntdSae0i Fre nErp * Ramstein AB...Air Force personnel and minimize information burden on users, providers, and handlers, thereby reducing the costs, labor and intensiveness, and time

Enhanced ABC costing for hospitals: directed expense costing.

PubMed

Ryan, J

1997-10-01

Space limitations do not allow a complete discussion of all the topics and many of the obvious questions that the preceding brief introduction to directed expense costing probably raised in the reader's mind. These include how errors in accounting practices like posting expenses to the wrong period are handled; and how the system automatically adjusts costs for expenses benefiting several periods but posted to the acquisition month. As was mentioned above, underlying this overtly simple costing method are a number of sophisticated and sometimes complex processes that are hidden from the normal user and designed to automatically protect the integrity and accuracy of the costing process. From a user's viewpoint, the system is straightforward, understandable, and easy to use and audit. From a software development perspective, it is not quite that effortless. By using a system that is understood by all users at all levels, these users can now communicate with each other in a new and effective way. This new communication channel only occurs after each user is satisfied as to the overall costing quality achieved by the process. However, not all managers or physicians are always happy that the institution is using this "understandable" cost accounting system. During one of the weekly meetings of a hospital's administrative council, complaints from several powerful department heads concerning the impact that the use of cost data was having on them were brought up for discussion. In defending the continued use of the system, one vice president stated to the group that cost accounting does not get any easier than this, or any less expensive, or any more accurate. The directed expense process works and works very well. Our department heads and physicians will have to come to grips with the accountably it provides us to assess their value to the hospital.

75 FR 63253 - State-56, Network User Account Records

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-14

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 7210] State-56, Network User Account Records SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Department of State proposes to create a system of records, Network User Account... named ``Network User Account Records.'' It is also proposed that the new system description will be...

'Allowing the right' and its currency in managing drug stigma in Greece.

PubMed

Fotopoulou, Maria; Munro, Alison; Taylor, Avril

2015-08-01

Evidence suggests that problem drug users are still subject to high levels of stigmatization. In countries, like Greece, where families occupy a central position and honour is collectively attained, secondary drug stigma is also highly prevalent. However, little is known about how drug users and their families manage drug stigma in the specific cultural milieu that makes up Greece. This article presents findings from a qualitative study exploring how drug stigma both manifests itself and is managed by drug users and parents in the context of Greek familial culture. The study was conducted in two state drug agencies in Thessaloniki - Greece and involved the participation of 40 problem drug users (PDU) (23 male/17 female) and 8 parents of PDU. Qualitative, in-depth, interviews were used to collect narrative accounts about experiences of managing addiction, drug stigma and secondary stigma in the Greek parental home. 'Allowing the right' - broadly understood as referring to passing to others information which might devalue a person and consequently that person's family - is discussed in terms of drug stigma management in Greece. We highlight how this culturally specific notion can be viewed as an active strategy adopted by both individual drug users and parents of PDU to manage stigmatization by illustrating the various way in which not 'allowing the right' was described by participants, including drug problem discovery or disclosure and subsequent management of drug using careers and drug stigma within the Greek family context. Given the significance of the cultural notion of 'allowing the right' in the trajectory of drug use amongst PDU and more particularly in stigma management and secondary stigma management, the paper highlights the need for further research into the field in Greece. The need for targeted culturally specific and culturally relevant interventions aimed at reducing drug stigma is also highlighted in relation to both policy and practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of an electronic radiation oncology patient information management system.

PubMed

Mandal, Abhijit; Asthana, Anupam Kumar; Aggarwal, Lalit Mohan

2008-01-01

The quality of patient care is critically influenced by the availability of accurate information and its efficient management. Radiation oncology consists of many information components, for example there may be information related to the patient (e.g., profile, disease site, stage, etc.), to people (radiation oncologists, radiological physicists, technologists, etc.), and to equipment (diagnostic, planning, treatment, etc.). These different data must be integrated. A comprehensive information management system is essential for efficient storage and retrieval of the enormous amounts of information. A radiation therapy patient information system (RTPIS) has been developed using open source software. PHP and JAVA script was used as the programming languages, MySQL as the database, and HTML and CSF as the design tool. This system utilizes typical web browsing technology using a WAMP5 server. Any user having a unique user ID and password can access this RTPIS. The user ID and password is issued separately to each individual according to the person's job responsibilities and accountability, so that users will be able to only access data that is related to their job responsibilities. With this system authentic users will be able to use a simple web browsing procedure to gain instant access. All types of users in the radiation oncology department should find it user-friendly. The maintenance of the system will not require large human resources or space. The file storage and retrieval process would be be satisfactory, unique, uniform, and easily accessible with adequate data protection. There will be very little possibility of unauthorized handling with this system. There will also be minimal risk of loss or accidental destruction of information.

Characteristics of a self-management support programme applicable in primary health care: a qualitative study of users' and health professionals' perceptions.

PubMed

Solberg, Hilde Strøm; Steinsbekk, Aslak; Solbjør, Marit; Granbo, Randi; Garåsen, Helge

2014-11-08

Development of more self-management support programmes in primary health care has been one option used to enhance positive outcomes in chronic disease management. At present, research results provide no consensus on what would be the best way to develop support programmes into new settings. The aim of the present study was therefore to explore users' and health professionals' perceptions of what would be the vital elements in a self - management support programme applicable in primary health care, how to account for them, and why. Four qualitative, semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in Central Norway. The informants possessed experience in development, provision, or participation in a self-management support programme. Data was analysed by the Systematic Text Condensation method. The results showed an overall positive expectation to the potential benefits of development of a self-management support programme in primary health care. Despite somewhat different arguments and perspectives, the users and the health professionals had a joint agreement on core characteristics; a self-management support programme in primary health care should therefore be generic, not disease specific, and delivered in a group- based format. A special focus should be on the everyday- life of the participants. The most challenging aspect was a present lack of competence and experience among health professionals to moderate self-management support programmes. The development and design of a relevant and applicable self-management support programme in primary health care should balance the interests of the users with the possibilities and constraints within each municipality. It would be vital to benefit from the closeness of the patients' every-day life situations. The user informants' perception of a self-management support programme as a supplement to regular medical treatment represented an expanded understanding of the self-management support concept. An exploring approach should be applied in the development of the health professionals' competence in practice. The effect of a self-management support programme based on the core characteristics found in this study needs to be evaluated.

Configuration management issues and objectives for a real-time research flight test support facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yergensen, Stephen; Rhea, Donald C.

1988-01-01

An account is given of configuration management activities for the Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) at NASA-Ames, whose primary function is the conduct of aeronautical research flight testing through real-time processing and display, tracking, and communications systems. The processing of WATR configuration change requests for specific research flight test projects must be conducted in such a way as to refrain from compromising the reliability of WATR support to all project users. Configuration management's scope ranges from mission planning to operations monitoring and performance trend analysis.

77 FR 65199 - Generic Drug User Fee-Backlog Fee Rate for Fiscal Year 2013

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-25

... payment to ensure that your backlog fee is fully paid. The account information is as follows: New York... INFORMATION CONTACT: David Miller, Office of Financial Management (HFA-100), Food and Drug Administration, 1350 Piccard Dr., PI50, rm. 210J, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-796-7103. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I...

The influence of involvement and outcome messages on consumer reference prices

Treesearch

Gerard Kyle; Ercan Sirakaya

1998-01-01

As public leisure and recreation services become more accountable for their service's fiscal independence, service providers dependence on user fees continues to be a contentious issue. Annually, service managers are required to recommend price changes for services offered the following year in order to maintain existing service quality. Despite the emergent role...

A computer-based tutorial structure for teaching and applying a complex process

Treesearch

Daniel L. Schmoldt; William G Bradshaw

1991-01-01

Economic accountability concerns for wildfire prevention planning have led to the development of an ignition management approach to fire problems. The Fire Loss Prevention Planning Process (FLPPP) systematizes fire problem analyses and concomitantly establishes a means for evaluating prescribed prevention programs. However, new users of the FLPPP have experienced...

User experience analysis of e-TB Manager, a nationwide electronic tuberculosis recording and reporting system in Ukraine.

PubMed

Konduri, Niranjan; Sawyer, Kelly; Nizova, Nataliya

2017-04-01

Ukraine has successfully implemented e-TB Manager nationwide as its mandatory national tuberculosis registry after first introducing it in 2009. Our objective was to perform an end-of-programme evaluation after formal handover of the registry administration to Ukraine's Centre for Disease Control in 2015. We conducted a nationwide, cross-sectional, anonymous, 18-point user experience survey, and stratified the registry's transaction statistics to demonstrate usability. Contrary to initial implementation experience, older users (aged >50 years), often with limited or no computer proficiency prior to using the registry, had significantly better user experience scores for at least six of the 12 measures compared to younger users (aged 18-29 years). Using the registry for >3 years was associated with significantly higher scores for having capacity, adequacy of training received and satisfaction with the registry. Of the 5.9 million transactions over a 4-year period, nine out of 24 oblasts (regions) and Kiev city accounted for 62.5% of all transactions, and corresponded to 59% of Ukraine's tuberculosis burden. There were 437 unique active users in 486 rayons (districts) of Ukraine, demonstrating extensive reach. Our key findings complement the World Health Organization and European Respiratory Society's agenda for action on digital health to help implement the End TB Strategy.

Development of a site analysis tool for distributed wind projects

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

Shaw, Shawn

The Cadmus Group, Inc., in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Encraft, was awarded a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a site analysis tool for distributed wind technologies. As the principal investigator for this project, Mr. Shawn Shaw was responsible for overall project management, direction, and technical approach. The product resulting from this project is the Distributed Wind Site Analysis Tool (DSAT), a software tool for analyzing proposed sites for distributed wind technology (DWT) systems. This user-friendly tool supports the long-term growth and stability of the DWT market by providing reliable, realistic estimatesmore » of site and system energy output and feasibility. DSAT-which is accessible online and requires no purchase or download of software-is available in two account types; Standard: This free account allows the user to analyze a limited number of sites and to produce a system performance report for each; and Professional: For a small annual fee users can analyze an unlimited number of sites, produce system performance reports, and generate other customizable reports containing key information such as visual influence and wind resources. The tool’s interactive maps allow users to create site models that incorporate the obstructions and terrain types present. Users can generate site reports immediately after entering the requisite site information. Ideally, this tool also educates users regarding good site selection and effective evaluation practices.« less

System Resource Allocation Requests | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Account to utilize the online allocation request system. If you need a HPC User Account, please request one online: Visit User Accounts. Click the green "Request Account" Button - this will direct . Follow the online instructions provided in the DocuSign form. Write "Need HPC User Account to use

Analysis and prediction of agricultural pest dynamics with Tiko'n, a generic tool to develop agroecological food web models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malard, J. J.; Rojas, M.; Adamowski, J. F.; Anandaraja, N.; Tuy, H.; Melgar-Quiñonez, H.

2016-12-01

While several well-validated crop growth models are currently widely used, very few crop pest models of the same caliber have been developed or applied, and pest models that take trophic interactions into account are even rarer. This may be due to several factors, including 1) the difficulty of representing complex agroecological food webs in a quantifiable model, and 2) the general belief that pesticides effectively remove insect pests from immediate concern. However, pests currently claim a substantial amount of harvests every year (and account for additional control costs), and the impact of insects and of their trophic interactions on agricultural crops cannot be ignored, especially in the context of changing climates and increasing pressures on crops across the globe. Unfortunately, most integrated pest management frameworks rely on very simple models (if at all), and most examples of successful agroecological management remain more anecdotal than scientifically replicable. In light of this, there is a need for validated and robust agroecological food web models that allow users to predict the response of these webs to changes in management, crops or climate, both in order to predict future pest problems under a changing climate as well as to develop effective integrated management plans. Here we present Tiko'n, a Python-based software whose API allows users to rapidly build and validate trophic web agroecological models that predict pest dynamics in the field. The programme uses a Bayesian inference approach to calibrate the models according to field data, allowing for the reuse of literature data from various sources and reducing the need for extensive field data collection. We apply the model to the cononut black-headed caterpillar (Opisina arenosella) and associated parasitoid data from Sri Lanka, showing how the modeling framework can be used to rapidly develop, calibrate and validate models that elucidate how the internal structures of food webs determine their behaviour and allow users to evaluate different integrated management options.

Patient Accounting Systems: Are They Fit with the Users' Requirements?

PubMed

Ayatollahi, Haleh; Nazemi, Zahra; Haghani, Hamid

2016-01-01

A patient accounting system is a subsystem of a hospital information system. This system like other information systems should be carefully designed to be able to meet users' requirements. The main aim of this research was to investigate users' requirements and to determine whether current patient accounting systems meet users' needs or not. This was a survey study, and the participants were the users of six patient accounting systems used in 24 teaching hospitals. A stratified sampling method was used to select the participants (n = 216). The research instruments were a questionnaire and a checklist. The mean value of ≥3 showed the importance of each data element and the capability of the system. Generally, the findings showed that the current patient accounting systems had some weaknesses and were able to meet between 70% and 80% of users' requirements. The current patient accounting systems need to be improved to be able to meet users' requirements. This approach can also help to provide hospitals with more usable and reliable financial information.

77 FR 49774 - Notice of Request for Extension of a Currently Approved Information Collection; USDA Registration...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-17

... public and government businesses with a single sign-on capability for USDA applications, management of... employees, to obtain accounts as authorized users that will provide single sign-on capability to access USDA... announces and requests comments on the intention of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to...

76 FR 126 - Requirement for Commercial Users To Use Commercial Public Key Information (PKI) Certificate

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-03

..., SDDC will require all commercial accounts accessing transportation systems and applications to use a...: Department of Defense Instruction number 8520.2, 1 April 2004, 4.4 Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations..._8520.2.pdf ). Randy Moore, CAPT, USN, Division Chief, G6, Information Management/CIO. [FR Doc. 2010...

Interconnecting heterogeneous database management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gligor, V. D.; Luckenbaugh, G. L.

1984-01-01

It is pointed out that there is still a great need for the development of improved communication between remote, heterogeneous database management systems (DBMS). Problems regarding the effective communication between distributed DBMSs are primarily related to significant differences between local data managers, local data models and representations, and local transaction managers. A system of interconnected DBMSs which exhibit such differences is called a network of distributed, heterogeneous DBMSs. In order to achieve effective interconnection of remote, heterogeneous DBMSs, the users must have uniform, integrated access to the different DBMs. The present investigation is mainly concerned with an analysis of the existing approaches to interconnecting heterogeneous DBMSs, taking into account four experimental DBMS projects.

Allocation and User Account Policies | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Allocation and User Account Policies Allocation and User Account Policies For using NREL's high . When a project enters the Ended state: User access to project data is disabled. We reserve the right to agreements expire one (1) year after they become active or when the contractual arrangement between the

Managing fatigue after cancer treatment: development of RESTORE, a web-based resource to support self-management.

PubMed

Foster, C; Calman, L; Grimmett, C; Breckons, M; Cotterell, P; Yardley, L; Joseph, J; Hughes, S; Jones, R; Leonidou, C; Armes, J; Batehup, L; Corner, J; Fenlon, D; Lennan, E; Morris, C; Neylon, A; Ream, E; Turner, L; Richardson, A

2015-08-01

The aim of this study is to co-create an evidence-based and theoretically informed web-based intervention (RESTORE) designed to enhance self-efficacy to live with cancer-related fatigue (CRF) following primary cancer treatment. A nine-step process informed the development of the intervention: (1) review of empirical literature; (2) review of existing patient resources; (3) establish theoretical framework; (4) establish design team with expertise in web-based interventions, CRF and people affected by cancer; (5) develop prototype intervention; (6) user testing phase 1; (7) refinement of prototype; (8) user testing phase 2; and (9) develop final intervention. Key stakeholders made a critical contribution at every step of intervention development, and user testing, which involved an iterative process and resulted in the final intervention. The RESTORE intervention has five sessions; sessions 1 and 2 include an introduction to CRF and goal setting. Sessions 3-5 can be tailored to user preference and are designed to cover areas of life where CRF may have an impact: home and work life, personal relationships and emotional adjustment. It is feasible to systematically 'co-create' an evidence-based and theory-driven web-based self-management intervention to support cancer survivors living with the consequences of cancer and its treatment. This is the first account of the development of a web-based intervention to support self-efficacy to manage CRF. An exploratory trial to test the feasibility and acceptability of RESTORE is now warranted. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ORNL Direct Purchase Information System (DPIS) user's manual. [For PDP-10

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

Grubb, J.W.; Lovin, J.K.; Smith, M.B.

1980-08-01

The ORNL Management Information System (MIS) Direct Purchase Information System (DPIS) is an on-line interactive system of computer programs. The system can provide a manager with commitment and delivery schedule information on current direct purchase requisitions. The commitment data accounts for the orders that have been placed and those requisitions yet to be placed with a vendor. Information can be summarized at many different levels, and individuals can quickly determine the status of their requisitions. DPIS contains data only on active outside direct purchases, but has the capability to access historical data. It provides sufficient flexibility to be used tomore » answer many questions pertinent to the status of these direct purchases and their obligating costs. Even an inexperienced computer user should have little difficulty in learning to use DPIS. The User Module prompts the user on what type of response it is expecting. If the user has doubts as to the response, or if the meaning of the response is not clear, the module will give a detailed list of the options available at that level. The user has control of what data are to be considered, how they are to be grouped, and what format the output will take. As the user selects the options available at a given level, the module proceeds to the next lower level until sufficient input has been supplied to provide the requested information. A major benefit of this interactive, user-oriented system is that the manager can specify the information requirements and does not have to spend time going through a great deal of other data to locate what is needed. Because it is interactive, a search can begin at a summary level and then resort to a more detailed level if needed. DPIS allows the user direct control for selecting the type of commitment data, output, funds, and direct purchase.« less

User experience analysis of e-TB Manager, a nationwide electronic tuberculosis recording and reporting system in Ukraine

PubMed Central

Sawyer, Kelly; Nizova, Nataliya

2017-01-01

Ukraine has successfully implemented e-TB Manager nationwide as its mandatory national tuberculosis registry after first introducing it in 2009. Our objective was to perform an end-of-programme evaluation after formal handover of the registry administration to Ukraine's Centre for Disease Control in 2015. We conducted a nationwide, cross-sectional, anonymous, 18-point user experience survey, and stratified the registry's transaction statistics to demonstrate usability. Contrary to initial implementation experience, older users (aged >50 years), often with limited or no computer proficiency prior to using the registry, had significantly better user experience scores for at least six of the 12 measures compared to younger users (aged 18–29 years). Using the registry for >3 years was associated with significantly higher scores for having capacity, adequacy of training received and satisfaction with the registry. Of the 5.9 million transactions over a 4-year period, nine out of 24 oblasts (regions) and Kiev city accounted for 62.5% of all transactions, and corresponded to 59% of Ukraine's tuberculosis burden. There were 437 unique active users in 486 rayons (districts) of Ukraine, demonstrating extensive reach. Our key findings complement the World Health Organization and European Respiratory Society's agenda for action on digital health to help implement the End TB Strategy. PMID:28512634

User fees across ecosystem boundaries: Are SCUBA divers willing to pay for terrestrial biodiversity conservation?

PubMed

Roberts, Michaela; Hanley, Nick; Cresswell, Will

2017-09-15

While ecological links between ecosystems have been long recognised, management rarely crosses ecosystem boundaries. Coral reefs are susceptible to damage through terrestrial run-off, and failing to account for this within management threatens reef protection. In order to quantify the extent to that coral reef users are willing to support management actions to improve ecosystem quality, we conducted a choice experiment with SCUBA divers on the island of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. Specifically, we estimated their willingness to pay to reduce terrestrial overgrazing as a means to improve reef health. Willingness to pay was estimated using the multinomial, random parameter and latent class logit models. Willingness to pay for improvements to reef quality was positive for the majority of respondents. Estimates from the latent class model determined willingness to pay for reef improvements of between $31.17 - $413.18/year, dependent on class membership. This represents a significant source of funding for terrestrial conservation, and illustrates the potential for user fees to be applied across ecosystem boundaries. We argue that such across-ecosystem-boundary funding mechanisms are an important avenue for future investigation in many connected systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patient Accounting Systems: Are They Fit with the Users' Requirements?

PubMed Central

Ayatollahi, Haleh; Nazemi, Zahra

2016-01-01

Objectives A patient accounting system is a subsystem of a hospital information system. This system like other information systems should be carefully designed to be able to meet users' requirements. The main aim of this research was to investigate users' requirements and to determine whether current patient accounting systems meet users' needs or not. Methods This was a survey study, and the participants were the users of six patient accounting systems used in 24 teaching hospitals. A stratified sampling method was used to select the participants (n = 216). The research instruments were a questionnaire and a checklist. The mean value of ≥3 showed the importance of each data element and the capability of the system. Results Generally, the findings showed that the current patient accounting systems had some weaknesses and were able to meet between 70% and 80% of users' requirements. Conclusions The current patient accounting systems need to be improved to be able to meet users' requirements. This approach can also help to provide hospitals with more usable and reliable financial information. PMID:26893945

Residential Consumption Scheduling Based on Dynamic User Profiling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mangiatordi, Federica; Pallotti, Emiliano; Del Vecchio, Paolo; Capodiferro, Licia

Deployment of household appliances and of electric vehicles raises the electricity demand in the residential areas and the impact of the building's electrical power. The variations of electricity consumption across the day, may affect both the design of the electrical generation facilities and the electricity bill, mainly when a dynamic pricing is applied. This paper focuses on an energy management system able to control the day-ahead electricity demand in a residential area, taking into account both the variability of the energy production costs and the profiling of the users. The user's behavior is dynamically profiled on the basis of the tasks performed during the previous days and of the tasks foreseen for the current day. Depending on the size and on the flexibility in time of the user tasks, home inhabitants are grouped in, one over N, energy profiles, using a k-means algorithm. For a fixed energy generation cost, each energy profile is associated to a different hourly energy cost. The goal is to identify any bad user profile and to make it pay a highest bill. A bad profile example is when a user applies a lot of consumption tasks and low flexibility in task reallocation time. The proposed energy management system automatically schedules the tasks, solving a multi-objective optimization problem based on an MPSO strategy. The goals, when identifying bad users profiles, are to reduce the peak to average ratio in energy demand, and to minimize the energy costs, promoting virtuous behaviors.

Being in control? A thematic content analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with 2,4-dinitrophenol users.

PubMed

Ainsworth, Neha Prasad; Vargo, Elisabeth Julie; Petróczi, Andrea

2018-02-01

2,4-Dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is a compound with multiple industrial purposes. Currently unlicensed for human consumption, it is used by the gym-going population for drastic, short-term body fat loss. Nonetheless, physiological mechanisms can lead to potentially fatal hyperthermia. Reported fatal incidents have caused concern and highlighted the need for intervention. Understanding decision-making leading to 2,4-DNP use alongside the perceived outgroup attitudes is vital to forming effective harm minimisation policies targeting current and potential users. First-hand accounts from this elusive population are scarce. Fourteen novel and experienced users (13 male, 1 female) were recruited via "snowballing" techniques. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, comprising 28 questions. Thematic content analysis was conducted using 37 codes. Four characteristic themes emerged: 1. Users considered the Internet to be a crucial multifunctional resource directly impacting their 2,4-DNP use. 2. Users "respected" 2,4-DNP, proactively taking harm reduction measures. 3. Attitudinal polarisation towards 2,4-DNP within the gym-going community was consistent in all accounts. 4. Users perceived outgroup populations to have inherently negative attitudes towards their use. These themes fell under the all-encompassing theme of "being in control". For the first time, this study offers a rich detail of attitudes toward 2,4-DNP use by giving a collective voice to users. The element of control over every aspect of the users' life appears to be a significant contributor to the successful risk-management of 2,4-DNP use. In the absence of an established safe upper limit and effective regulatory control, education is critical to harm minimisation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Risk management perspective for climate service development - Results from a study on Finnish organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harjanne, Atte; Haavisto, Riina; Tuomenvirta, Heikki; Gregow, Hilppa

2017-10-01

Weather, climate and climate change can cause significant risks to businesses and public administration. However, understanding these processes can also create opportunities. Information can help to manage these risks and opportunities, but in order to do so, it must be in line with how risk management and decision making works. To better understand how climate risks and opportunities are reflected in different organizational processes and what types of information is needed and used, we conducted a study on the perceptions and management of weather and climate risks in Finnish organizations and on their use of weather and climate information. In addition, we collected feedback on how the existing climate information tools should be developed. Data on climate risk management was collected in an online survey and in one full-day workshop. The survey was aimed to the Finnish public and private organizations who use weather and climate data and altogether 118 responses were collected. The workshop consisted of two parts: weather and climate risk management processes in general and the development of the current information tools to further address user needs.

We found that climate risk management in organizations is quite diverse and often de-centralized and that external experts are considered the most useful sources of information. Consequently, users emphasize the need for networks of expertise and sector-specific information tools. Creating such services requires input and information sharing from the user side as well. Better temporal and spatial accuracy is naturally asked for, but users also stressed the need for transparency when it comes to communicating uncertainties, and the availability and up-to-datedness of information. Our results illustrate that weather and climate risks compete and blend in with other risks and changes perceived by the organizations and supporting information is sought from different types of sources. Thus the design and evaluation of climate services should take into account the context of existing and developing processes in organizational risk management.

Granular Security in a Graph Database

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

have a presence in more than one layer. For example, a single social media user may have an account in Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with... Instagram layers. This restriction re- flects the reality that user A’s Facebook account cannot connect directly to user B’s Twitter account. A security

Intermittent catheter users' symptom identification, description and management of urinary tract infection: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Okamoto, Ikumi; Prieto, Jacqui; Avery, Miriam; Moore, Katherine; Fader, Mandy; Sartain, Samantha; Clancy, Bridget

2017-09-03

To elucidate the views of intermittent catheter (IC) users regarding urinary tract infection (UTI) symptom presentation, terminology for describing signs and symptoms, the cause of UTI and management strategies. Qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. The transcribed text was analysed thematically. 12 general practitioner (GP) surgeries in Hampshire and Dorset, UK. A convenience sample of 30 IC users, aged over 18, using IC for at least 3 months who had at least one self-reported UTI since starting IC. Participants reported a variety of signs and symptoms, such as urine cloudiness and smell, as indicators of UTI. The terms used often differed from those in the modified National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) symptom set. IC users had difficulty distinguishing possible UTI symptoms from those of their comorbidities. They expressed uncertainty about the cause of UTI, often attributing it to poor hygiene and lifestyle behaviours. Whereas some viewed UTI as an expected consequence of IC use that could be self-managed, others felt more concerned and were more reliant on their GP for support. A range of management strategies was described, including drinking more fluids, increased attention to personal hygiene and self-medicating with antibiotics. There is uncertainty among IC users about UTI signs and symptoms and when to seek help. Individual accounts of UTI fitted generally within the modified NIDRR descriptors but adopted less technical and more 'lay' language. IC users' descriptions of UTI signs and symptoms can lack precision, owing partly to the presence of underlying health conditions. This, together with differing levels of concern about the need to seek help and self-medication with antibiotics, presents challenges for the GP. This study provides the basis for developing a self-help tool which may aid identification of UTI and enhance communication with healthcare professionals. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Implementation of a Shared Resource Financial Management System

PubMed Central

Caldwell, T.; Gerlach, R.; Israel, M.; Bobin, S.

2010-01-01

CF-6 Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School, administers 12 Life Sciences Shared Resources. These resources are diverse and offer multiple products and services. Previous methods for tracking resource use, billing, and financial management were time consuming, error prone and lacked appropriate financial management tools. To address these problems, we developed and implemented a web-based application with a built-in authorization system that uses Perl, ModPerl, Apache2, and Oracle as the software infrastructure. The application uses a role-based system to differentiate administrative users with those requesting services and includes many features requested by users and administrators. To begin development, we chose a resource that had an uncomplicated service, a large number of users, and required the use of all of the applications features. The Molecular Biology Core Facility at NCCC fit these requirements and was used as a model for developing and testing the application. After model development, institution wide deployment followed a three-stage process. The first stage was to interview the resource manager and staff to understand day-to-day operations. At the second stage, we generated and tested customized forms defining resource services. During the third stage, we added new resource users and administrators to the system before final deployment. Twelve months after deployment, resource administrators reported that the new system performed well for internal and external billing and tracking resource utilization. Users preferred the application's web-based system for distribution of DNA sequencing and other data. The sample tracking features have enhanced day-to-day resource operations, and an on-line scheduling module for shared instruments has proven a much-needed utility. Principal investigators now are able to restrict user spending to specific accounts and have final approval of the invoices before the billing, which has significantly reduced the number of unpaid invoices.

An initial approach towards quality of service based Spectrum Trading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastidas, Carlos E. Caicedo; Vanhoy, Garret; Volos, Haris I.; Bose, Tamal

Spectrum scarcity has become an important issue as demands for higher data rates increase in diverse wireless applications and aerospace communication scenarios. To address this problem, it becomes necessary to manage radio spectrum assignment in a way that optimizes the distribution of spectrum resources among several users while taking into account the quality of service (QoS) characteristics desired by the users of spectrum. In this paper, a novel approach to managing spectrum assignment based on Spectrum Trading (ST) will be presented. Market based spectrum assignment mechanisms such as spectrum trading are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies that are planning to increase the use of these mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. This paper presents some of our initial work into incorporating quality of service information into the mechanisms that determine how spectrum should be traded when using a spectrum exchange. Through simulations and a testbed implementation of a QoS aware spectrum exchange our results show the viability of using QoS based mechanisms in spectrum trading and in the enhancement of dynamic spectrum assignment systems.

Facilitating quality control for spectra assignments of small organic molecules: nmrshiftdb2--a free in-house NMR database with integrated LIMS for academic service laboratories.

PubMed

Kuhn, Stefan; Schlörer, Nils E

2015-08-01

nmrshiftdb2 supports with its laboratory information management system the integration of an electronic lab administration and management into academic NMR facilities. Also, it offers the setup of a local database, while full access to nmrshiftdb2's World Wide Web database is granted. This freely available system allows on the one hand the submission of orders for measurement, transfers recorded data automatically or manually, and enables download of spectra via web interface, as well as the integrated access to prediction, search, and assignment tools of the NMR database for lab users. On the other hand, for the staff and lab administration, flow of all orders can be supervised; administrative tools also include user and hardware management, a statistic functionality for accounting purposes, and a 'QuickCheck' function for assignment control, to facilitate quality control of assignments submitted to the (local) database. Laboratory information management system and database are based on a web interface as front end and are therefore independent of the operating system in use. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Are Health Facility Management Committees in Kenya ready to implement financial management tasks: findings from a nationally representative survey.

PubMed

Waweru, Evelyn; Opwora, Antony; Toda, Mitsuru; Fegan, Greg; Edwards, Tansy; Goodman, Catherine; Molyneux, Sassy

2013-10-10

Community participation in peripheral public health facilities has in many countries focused on including community representatives in Health Facility Management Committees (HFMCs). In Kenya, HFMC roles are being expanded with the phased implementation of the Health Sector Services Fund (HSSF). Under HSSF, HFMCs manage facility funds which are dispersed directly from central level into facility bank accounts. We assessed how prepared HFMCs were to undertake this new role in advance of HSSF roll out, and considered the implications for Kenya and other similar settings. Data were collected through a nationally representative sample of 248 public health centres and dispensaries in 24 districts in 2010. Data collection included surveys with in-charges (n = 248), HFMC members (n = 464) and facility users (n = 698), and record reviews. These data were supplemented by semi-structured interviews with district health managers in each district. Some findings supported preparedness of HFMCs to take on their new roles. Most facilities had bank accounts and HFMCs which met regularly. HFMC members and in-charges generally reported positive relationships, and HFMC members expressed high levels of motivation and job satisfaction. Challenges included users' low awareness of HFMCs, lack of training and clarity in roles among HFMCs, and some indications of strained relations with in-charges. Such challenges are likely to be common to many similar settings, and are therefore important considerations for any health facility based initiatives involving HFMCs. Most HFMCs have the basic requirements to operate. However to manage their own budgets effectively and meet their allocated roles in HSSF implementation, greater emphasis is needed on financial management training, targeted supportive supervision, and greater community awareness and participation. Once new budget management roles are fully established, qualitative and quantitative research on how HFMCs are adapting to their expanded roles, especially in financial management, would be valuable in informing similar financing mechanisms in Kenya and beyond.

Collective Intelligence Generation from User Contributed Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solachidis, Vassilios; Mylonas, Phivos; Geyer-Schulz, Andreas; Hoser, Bettina; Chapman, Sam; Ciravegna, Fabio; Lanfranchi, Vita; Scherp, Ansgar; Staab, Steffen; Contopoulos, Costis; Gkika, Ioanna; Bakaimis, Byron; Smrz, Pavel; Kompatsiaris, Yiannis; Avrithis, Yannis

In this paper we provide a foundation for a new generation of services and tools. We define new ways of capturing, sharing and reusing information and intelligence provided by single users and communities, as well as organizations by enabling the extraction, generation, interpretation and management of Collective Intelligence from user generated digital multimedia content. Different layers of intelligence are generated, which together constitute the notion of Collective Intelligence. The automatic generation of Collective Intelligence constitutes a departure from traditional methods for information sharing, since information from both the multimedia content and social aspects will be merged, while at the same time the social dynamics will be taken into account. In the context of this work, we present two case studies: an Emergency Response and a Consumers Social Group case study.

Testing a Model of Self-Management of Fluid Intake in Community-Residing Long-Term Indwelling Urinary Catheter Users

PubMed Central

Wilde, Mary H.; Crean, Hugh F.; McMahon, James M.; McDonald, Margaret V.; Tang, Wan; Brasch, Judith; Fairbanks, Eileen; Shah, Shivani; Zhang, Feng

2015-01-01

Background Urinary tract infection and blockage are serious and recurrent challenges for people with long-term indwelling catheters, and these catheter problems cause worry and anxiety when they disrupt normal daily activities. Objectives The goal was to determine whether urinary catheter-related self-management behaviors focusing on fluid intake would mediate fluid intake related self-efficacy toward decreasing catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and/or catheter blockage. Method The sample involved data collected from 180 adult community-living, long-term indwelling urinary catheter users. The authors tested a model of fluid intake self-management (F-SMG) related to fluid intake self-efficacy (F-SE) for key outcomes of CAUTI and blockage. To account for the large number of zeros in both outcomes, a zero inflated negative binomial (ZINB) structural equation model was tested. Results Structurally, F-SE was positively associated with F-SMG, suggesting that higher F-SE predicts more (higher) F-SMG; however, F-SMG was not associated with either the frequency of CAUTI’s or the presence or absence of CAUTI. F-SE was positively related to F-SMG and F-SMG predicted less frequency of catheter blockage, but neither F-SE nor F-SMG predicted the presence or absence of blockage. Discussion Further research is needed to better understand determinants of CAUTI in long-term catheter users and factors which might influence or prevent its occurrence. Increased confidence (self-efficacy) and self-management behaviors to promote fluid intake could be of value in long-term urinary catheter users to decrease catheter blockage. PMID:26938358

Distributed network management in the flat structured mobile communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balandina, Elena

2005-10-01

Delivering proper management into the flat structured mobile communities is crucial for improving users experience and increase applications diversity in mobile networks. The available P2P applications do application-centric management, but it cannot replace network-wide management, especially when a number of different applications are used simultaneously in the network. The network-wide management is the key element required for a smooth transition from standalone P2P applications to the self-organizing mobile communities that maintain various services with quality and security guaranties. The classical centralized network management solutions are not applicable in the flat structured mobile communities due to the decentralized nature and high mobility of the underlying networks. Also the basic network management tasks have to be revised taking into account specialties of the flat structured mobile communities. The network performance management becomes more dependent on the current nodes' context, which also requires extension of the configuration management functionality. The fault management has to take into account high mobility of the network nodes. The performance and accounting managements are mainly targeted in maintain an efficient and fair access to the resources within the community, however they also allow unbalanced resource use of the nodes that explicitly permit it, e.g. as a voluntary donation to the community or due to the profession (commercial) reasons. The security management must implement the new trust models, which are based on the community feedback, professional authorization, and a mix of both. For fulfilling these and another specialties of the flat structured mobile communities, a new network management solution is demanded. The paper presents a distributed network management solution for flat structured mobile communities. Also the paper points out possible network management roles for the different parties (e.g. operators, service providing hubs/super nodes, etc.) involved in a service providing chain.

Success rate evaluation of clinical governance implementation in teaching hospitals in Kerman (Iran) based on nine steps of Karsh's model.

PubMed

Vali, Leila; Mastaneh, Zahra; Mouseli, Ali; Kardanmoghadam, Vida; Kamali, Sodabeh

2017-07-01

One of the ways to improve the quality of services in the health system is through clinical governance. This method aims to create a framework for clinical services providers to be accountable in return for continuing improvement of quality and maintaining standards of services. To evaluate the success rate of clinical governance implementation in Kerman teaching hospitals based on 9 steps of Karsh's Model. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 on 94 people including chief executive officers (CEOs), nursing managers, clinical governance managers and experts, head nurses and nurses. The required data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire containing 38 questions with three-point Likert Scale (good, moderate, and weak). The Karsh's Model consists of nine steps including top management commitment to change, accountability for change, creating a structured approach for change, training, pilot implementation, communication, feedback, simulation, and end-user participation. Data analysis using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test was done by SPSS software version 16. About 81.9 % of respondents were female and 74.5 have a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) degree. In general, the status of clinical governance implementation in studied hospitals based on 9 steps of the model was 44 % (moderate). A significant relationship was observed among accountability and organizational position (p=0.0012) and field of study (p=0.000). Also, there were significant relationships between structure-based approach and organizational position (p=0.007), communication and demographic characteristics (p=0.000), and end-user participation with organizational position (p=0.03). Clinical governance should be implemented by correct needs assessment and participation of all stakeholders, to ensure its enforcement in practice, and to enhance the quality of services.

Discriminating bot accounts based solely on temporal features of microblog behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Junshan; Liu, Ying; Liu, Xiang; Hu, Hanping

2016-05-01

As the largest microblog service in China, Sina Weibo has attracted numerous automated applications (known as bots) due to its popularity and open architecture. We classify the active users from Sina Weibo into human, bot-based and hybrid groups based solely on the study of temporal features of their posting behavior. The anomalous burstiness parameter and time-interval entropy value are exploited to characterize automation. We also reveal different behavior patterns among the three types of users regarding their reposting ratio, daily rhythm and active days. Our findings may help Sina Weibo manage a better community and should be considered for dynamic models of microblog behaviors.

A microeconomic scheduler for parallel computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoica, Ion; Abdel-Wahab, Hussein; Pothen, Alex

1995-01-01

We describe a scheduler based on the microeconomic paradigm for scheduling on-line a set of parallel jobs in a multiprocessor system. In addition to the classical objectives of increasing the system throughput and reducing the response time, we consider fairness in allocating system resources among the users, and providing the user with control over the relative performances of his jobs. We associate with every user a savings account in which he receives money at a constant rate. When a user wants to run a job, he creates an expense account for that job to which he transfers money from his savings account. The job uses the funds in its expense account to obtain the system resources it needs for execution. The share of the system resources allocated to the user is directly related to the rate at which the user receives money; the rate at which the user transfers money into a job expense account controls the job's performance. We prove that starvation is not possible in our model. Simulation results show that our scheduler improves both system and user performances in comparison with two different variable partitioning policies. It is also shown to be effective in guaranteeing fairness and providing control over the performance of jobs.

Smart HVAC Control in IoT: Energy Consumption Minimization with User Comfort Constraints

PubMed Central

Verikoukis, Christos

2014-01-01

Smart grid is one of the main applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Within this context, this paper addresses the efficient energy consumption management of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in smart grids with variable energy price. To that end, first, we propose an energy scheduling method that minimizes the energy consumption cost for a particular time interval, taking into account the energy price and a set of comfort constraints, that is, a range of temperatures according to user's preferences for a given room. Then, we propose an energy scheduler where the user may select to relax the temperature constraints to save more energy. Moreover, thanks to the IoT paradigm, the user may interact remotely with the HVAC control system. In particular, the user may decide remotely the temperature of comfort, while the temperature and energy consumption information is sent through Internet and displayed at the end user's device. The proposed algorithms have been implemented in a real testbed, highlighting the potential gains that can be achieved in terms of both energy and cost. PMID:25054163

Smart HVAC control in IoT: energy consumption minimization with user comfort constraints.

PubMed

Serra, Jordi; Pubill, David; Antonopoulos, Angelos; Verikoukis, Christos

2014-01-01

Smart grid is one of the main applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Within this context, this paper addresses the efficient energy consumption management of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in smart grids with variable energy price. To that end, first, we propose an energy scheduling method that minimizes the energy consumption cost for a particular time interval, taking into account the energy price and a set of comfort constraints, that is, a range of temperatures according to user's preferences for a given room. Then, we propose an energy scheduler where the user may select to relax the temperature constraints to save more energy. Moreover, thanks to the IoT paradigm, the user may interact remotely with the HVAC control system. In particular, the user may decide remotely the temperature of comfort, while the temperature and energy consumption information is sent through Internet and displayed at the end user's device. The proposed algorithms have been implemented in a real testbed, highlighting the potential gains that can be achieved in terms of both energy and cost.

Congressional Report on Defense Business Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-15

by more than 1,700 users and used to store approximately 250 submissions a month. Each month, more than 2,000 documents are accessed and downloaded . 6...that is stored, managed and main- tained centrally. Data includes Geographic Information Systems ( GIS ) and Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD...Office FTP File Transfer Protocol FY Fiscal Year GAO Government Accountability Office GFEBS General Fund Enterprise Business System GIS Geographic

A new website with real-time dissemination of information on fire activity and meteorological fire danger in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DaCamara, Carlos; Trigo, Ricardo; Nunes, Sílvia; Pinto, Miguel; Oliveira, Tiago; Almeida, Rui

2017-04-01

In Portugal, like in Mediterranean Europe, fire activity is a natural phenomenon linking climate, humans and vegetation and is therefore conditioned by natural and anthropogenic factors. Natural factors include topography, vegetation cover and prevailing weather conditions whereas anthropogenic factors encompass land management practices and fire prevention policies. Land management practices, in particular the inadequate use of fire, is a crucial anthropogenic factor that accounts for about 90% of fire ignitions. Fire prevention policies require adequate and timely information about wildfire potential assessment, which is usually based on fire danger rating systems that provide indices to be used on an operational and tactical basis in decision support systems. We present a new website designed to provide the user community with relevant real-time information on fire activity and meteorological fire danger that will allow adopting the adequate measures to mitigate fire damage. The fire danger product consists of forecasts of fire danger over Portugal based on a statistical procedure that combines information about fire history derived from the Fire Radiative Power product disseminated by the Land Surface Analysis Satellite Application Facility (LSA SAF) with daily meteorological forecasts provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The aim of the website is fourfold; 1) to concentrate all information available (databases and maps) relevant to fire management in a unique platform so that access by end users becomes easier, faster and friendlier; 2) to supervise the access of users to the different products available; 3) to control and assist the access to the platform and obtain feedbacks from users for further improvements; 4) to outreach the operational community and foster the use of better information that increase efficiency in risk management. The website is sponsored by The Navigator Company, a leading force in the global pulp and paper market. Since the operational start of the website, the number of registered users has been steadily increasing up to a total of 300 users from a wide community that encompasses forest managers, firemen and civil protection officers, personnel from municipalities, academic researchers and private owners.

Computer software tool REALM for sustainable water allocation and management.

PubMed

Perera, B J C; James, B; Kularathna, M D U

2005-12-01

REALM (REsource ALlocation Model) is a generalised computer simulation package that models harvesting and bulk distribution of water resources within a water supply system. It is a modeling tool, which can be applied to develop specific water allocation models. Like other water resource simulation software tools, REALM uses mass-balance accounting at nodes, while the movement of water within carriers is subject to capacity constraints. It uses a fast network linear programming algorithm to optimise the water allocation within the network during each simulation time step, in accordance with user-defined operating rules. This paper describes the main features of REALM and provides potential users with an appreciation of its capabilities. In particular, it describes two case studies covering major urban and rural water supply systems. These case studies illustrate REALM's capabilities in the use of stochastically generated data in water supply planning and management, modelling of environmental flows, and assessing security of supply issues.

47 CFR 32.5083 - Special access revenue.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... (a) This account shall include all federally and state tariffed charges assessed for other than end user or switched access charges referred to in Account 5081, End user revenue, and Account 5082... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS...

PipelineDog: a simple and flexible graphic pipeline construction and maintenance tool.

PubMed

Zhou, Anbo; Zhang, Yeting; Sun, Yazhou; Xing, Jinchuan

2018-05-01

Analysis pipelines are an essential part of bioinformatics research, and ad hoc pipelines are frequently created by researchers for prototyping and proof-of-concept purposes. However, most existing pipeline management system or workflow engines are too complex for rapid prototyping or learning the pipeline concept. A lightweight, user-friendly and flexible solution is thus desirable. In this study, we developed a new pipeline construction and maintenance tool, PipelineDog. This is a web-based integrated development environment with a modern web graphical user interface. It offers cross-platform compatibility, project management capabilities, code formatting and error checking functions and an online repository. It uses an easy-to-read/write script system that encourages code reuse. With the online repository, it also encourages sharing of pipelines, which enhances analysis reproducibility and accountability. For most users, PipelineDog requires no software installation. Overall, this web application provides a way to rapidly create and easily manage pipelines. PipelineDog web app is freely available at http://web.pipeline.dog. The command line version is available at http://www.npmjs.com/package/pipelinedog and online repository at http://repo.pipeline.dog. ysun@kean.edu or xing@biology.rutgers.edu or ysun@diagnoa.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The Georgetown University Library Information System (LIS): a minicomputer-based integrated library system.

PubMed Central

Broering, N C

1983-01-01

Georgetown University's Library Information System (LIS), an integrated library system designed and implemented at the Dahlgren Memorial Library, is broadly described from an administrative point of view. LIS' functional components consist of eight "user-friendly" modules: catalog, circulation, serials, bibliographic management (including Mini-MEDLINE), acquisitions, accounting, networking, and computer-assisted instruction. This article touches on emerging library services, user education, and computer information services, which are also changing the role of staff librarians. The computer's networking capability brings the library directly to users through personal or institutional computers at remote sites. The proposed Integrated Medical Center Information System at Georgetown University will include interface with LIS through a network mechanism. LIS is being replicated at other libraries, and a microcomputer version is being tested for use in a hospital setting. PMID:6688749

Accounting utility for determining individual usage of production level software systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garber, S. C.

1984-01-01

An accounting package was developed which determines the computer resources utilized by a user during the execution of a particular program and updates a file containing accumulated resource totals. The accounting package is divided into two separate programs. The first program determines the total amount of computer resources utilized by a user during the execution of a particular program. The second program uses these totals to update a file containing accumulated totals of computer resources utilized by a user for a particular program. This package is useful to those persons who have several other users continually accessing and running programs from their accounts. The package provides the ability to determine which users are accessing and running specified programs along with their total level of usage.

User-Oriented Project Accounting System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Larry G.; Alcorn, Lisa S.

1990-01-01

The project accounting system used by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Chemical Sciences exchanges financial data with the campus' central accounting system and allows integration of this information with user-entered data to produce an easily read, fully obligated project accounting statement for the budget and period…

FermiGrid—experience and future plans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chadwick, K.; Berman, E.; Canal, P.; Hesselroth, T.; Garzoglio, G.; Levshina, T.; Sergeev, V.; Sfiligoi, I.; Sharma, N.; Timm, S.; Yocum, D. R.

2008-07-01

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. In order to better serve this community, Fermilab has placed its production computer resources in a Campus Grid infrastructure called 'FermiGrid'. The FermiGrid infrastructure allows the large experiments at Fermilab to have priority access to their own resources, enables sharing of these resources in an opportunistic fashion, and movement of work (jobs, data) between the Campus Grid and National Grids such as Open Science Grid (OSG) and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Collaboration (WLCG). FermiGrid resources support multiple Virtual Organizations (VOs), including VOs from the OSG, EGEE, and the WLCG. Fermilab also makes leading contributions to the Open Science Grid in the areas of accounting, batch computing, grid security, job management, resource selection, site infrastructure, storage management, and VO services. Through the FermiGrid interfaces, authenticated and authorized VOs and individuals may access our core grid services, the 10,000+ Fermilab resident CPUs, near-petabyte (including CMS) online disk pools and the multi-petabyte Fermilab Mass Storage System. These core grid services include a site wide Globus gatekeeper, VO management services for several VOs, Fermilab site authorization services, grid user mapping services, as well as job accounting and monitoring, resource selection and data movement services. Access to these services is via standard and well-supported grid interfaces. We will report on the user experience of using the FermiGrid campus infrastructure interfaced to a national cyberinfrastructure - the successes and the problems.

FermiGrid - experience and future plans

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

Chadwick, K.; Berman, E.; Canal, P.

2007-09-01

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. In order to better serve this community, Fermilab has placed its production computer resources in a Campus Grid infrastructure called 'FermiGrid'. The FermiGrid infrastructure allows the large experiments at Fermilab to have priority access to their own resources, enables sharing of these resources in an opportunistic fashion, and movement of work (jobs, data) between the Campus Grid and National Grids such as Open Science Grid and the WLCG. FermiGrid resources support multiple Virtual Organizations (VOs), including VOs from the Open Science Grid (OSG), EGEE and themore » Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Collaboration (WLCG). Fermilab also makes leading contributions to the Open Science Grid in the areas of accounting, batch computing, grid security, job management, resource selection, site infrastructure, storage management, and VO services. Through the FermiGrid interfaces, authenticated and authorized VOs and individuals may access our core grid services, the 10,000+ Fermilab resident CPUs, near-petabyte (including CMS) online disk pools and the multi-petabyte Fermilab Mass Storage System. These core grid services include a site wide Globus gatekeeper, VO management services for several VOs, Fermilab site authorization services, grid user mapping services, as well as job accounting and monitoring, resource selection and data movement services. Access to these services is via standard and well-supported grid interfaces. We will report on the user experience of using the FermiGrid campus infrastructure interfaced to a national cyberinfrastructure--the successes and the problems.« less

Web-Based Honorarium Confirmation System Prototype

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wisswani, N. W.; Catur Bawa, I. G. N. B.

2018-01-01

Improving services in academic environment can be applied by regulating salary payment process for all employees. As a form of control to maintain financial transparency, employees should have information concerning salary payment process. Currently, notification process of committee honorarium will be accepted by the employees in a manual manner. The salary will be received by the employee bank account and to know its details, they should go to the accounting unit to find out further information. Though there are some employees entering the accounting unit, they still find difficulty to obtain information about detailed honor information that they received in their accounts. This can be caused by many data collected and to be managed. Based on this issue, this research will design a prototype of web-based system for accounting unit system in order to provide detailed financial transaction confirmation to employee bank accounts that have been informed through mobile banking system. This prototype will be developed with Waterfall method through testing on final users after it is developed through PHP program with MySQL as DBMS

Using a Memory Test to Limit a User to One Account

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conitzer, Vincent

In many Web-based applications, there are incentives for a user to sign up for more than one account, under false names. By doing so, the user can send spam e-mail from an account (which will eventually cause the account to be shut down); distort online ratings by rating multiple times (in particular, she can inflate her own reputation ratings); indefinitely continue using a product with a free trial period; place shill bids on items that she is selling on an auction site; engage in false-name bidding in combinatorial auctions; etc. All of these behaviors are highly undesirable from the perspective of system performance. While CAPTCHAs can prevent a bot from automatically signing up for many accounts, they do not prevent a human from signing up for multiple accounts. It may appear that the only way to prevent the latter is to require the user to provide information that identifies her in the real world (such as a credit card or telephone number), but users are reluctant to give out such information.

Monitoring Student Immunization, Screening, and Training Records for Clinical Compliance: An Innovative Use of the Institutional Learning Management System.

PubMed

Elting, Julie Kientz

2017-12-13

Clinical compliance for nursing students is a complex process mandating them to meet facility employee occupational health requirements for immunization, screening, and training prior to patient contact. Nursing programs monitor clinical compliance with in-house management of student records, either paper or electronic, or by contracting with a vendor specializing in online record tracking. Regardless of method, the nursing program remains fully accountable for student preparation and bears the consequences of errors. This article describes how the institution's own learning management system can be used as an accurate, cost-neutral, user-friendly, and Federal Educational Rights Protection Act-compliant clinical compliance system.

Caregiver preferences regarding Personal Health Records in the management of ADHD

PubMed Central

Ronis, Sarah D; Baldwin, Constance D; McIntosh, Scott; McConnochie, Kenneth; Szilagyi, Peter G; Dolan, James

2015-01-01

Objective PHRs may address the needs of children with ADHD. Among parents, we assessed acceptance, barriers, and intentions regarding use of PHR for their children with ADHD. Methods Survey of parents from three practices in Rochester NY. Stepwise logistic regression analysis explored factors predicting respondents’ intentions for future use of PHR, accounting for care coordination needs, caregiver education, SES and satisfaction with providers. Results Of 184 respondents, 23% had used the PHR for their child, 82% intended future use. No difference was observed between users and non-users regarding gender, age, race, or education. Users were more likely than non-users to reside in the suburbs (p=0.03). Caregivers were more likely to plan future use of the PHR if they felt engaged as partners in their child’s care (AOR 2.3, 95%CI 1.2, 4.5). Conclusions Parents are enthusiastic about PHRs. Future work should focus on engaging them as members of the healthcare team. PMID:25567294

47 CFR 32.5081 - End user revenue.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false End user revenue. 32.5081 Section 32.5081 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions For Revenue Accounts § 32.5081 End user revenue. (a...

47 CFR 32.5081 - End user revenue.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false End user revenue. 32.5081 Section 32.5081 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions For Revenue Accounts § 32.5081 End user revenue. (a...

Latent Classes of Polydrug Users as a Predictor of Crash Involvement and Alcohol Consumption.

PubMed

Scherer, Michael; Romano, Eduardo; Voas, Robert; Taylor, Eileen

2018-05-01

Polydrug users have been shown to be at higher risk for alcohol consumption and crash involvement. However, research has shown that polydrug groups differ in some important ways. It is currently unknown how polydrug-using groups differ in terms of crash involvement and alcohol consumption. The current study used latent class analysis to examine subgroups of polydrug users (n = 384) among a sample of drivers in Virginia Beach, Virginia (N = 10,512). A series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between polydrug use categories and crash involvement and alcohol consumption. Four distinct subclasses of users were identified among polydrug-using drivers: Class 1 is the "marijuana-amphetamines class" and accounts for 21.6% of polydrug users. Class 2 is the "benzo-antidepressant class" and accounts for 39.0% of polydrug users. Class 3 is the "opioid-benzo class" and accounts for 32.7% of polydrug users. Finally, Class 4 is the "marijuana-cocaine class" and accounts for 6.7% of the study sample. Drivers in the opioid-benzo class were significantly more likely than those in any other class as well as non-drug users and single-drug users to be involved in a crash and were more likely than those in most other conditions to consume alcohol. No significant difference was found between marijuana-amphetamine users or benzo-antidepressant users and non-drug users on crash risk. Some polydrug users are indeed at greater risk for crash involvement and alcohol consumption; however, not all polydrug users are significantly worse than single-drug users and/or non-drug users, and the practice of lumping polydrug users together when predicting crash risk runs the risk of inaccurately attributing crash involvement to certain drivers.

Knowledge management impact of information technology Web 2.0/3.0. The case study of agent software technology usability in knowledge management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sołtysik-Piorunkiewicz, Anna

2015-02-01

How we can measure the impact of internet technology Web 2.0/3.0 for knowledge management? How we can use the Web 2.0/3.0 technologies for generating, evaluating, sharing, organizing knowledge in knowledge-based organization? How we can evaluate it from user-centered perspective? Article aims to provide a method for evaluate the usability of web technologies to support knowledge management in knowledge-based organizations of the various stages of the cycle knowledge management, taking into account: generating knowledge, evaluating knowledge, sharing knowledge, etc. for the modern Internet technologies based on the example of agent technologies. The method focuses on five areas of evaluation: GUI, functional structure, the way of content publication, organizational aspect, technological aspect. The method is based on the proposed indicators relating respectively to assess specific areas of evaluation, taking into account the individual characteristics of the scoring. Each of the features identified in the evaluation is judged first point wise, then this score is subject to verification and clarification by means of appropriate indicators of a given feature. The article proposes appropriate indicators to measure the impact of Web 2.0/3.0 technologies for knowledge management and verification them in an example of agent technology usability in knowledge management system.

Lost Keys: Understanding Service Providers' Impressions of Frequent Visitors to Psychiatric Emergency Services in Singapore.

PubMed

Poremski, Daniel; Kunjithapatham, Ganesh; Koh, Doris; Lim, Xin Ya; Alexander, Mark; Lee, Cheng

2017-04-01

This study used administrative data to identify characteristics of frequent users of Singapore's largest specialized psychiatric emergency department (ED). Qualitative interviews were conducted to understand staff opinions of frequent visitors. Data were from administrative records of all adult visits to the ED (N=16,123 visits of 10,108 individual users) in 2014. Random-effects logistic regressions were used to identify demographic and diagnostic characteristics of frequent visitors. To facilitate interpretation of administrative data in a convergent mixed-methods study design, interviews were conducted with 26 service providers who worked in the ED. Frequent use was defined as five or more visits in 2014. This cutoff distinguished the top 3% of users (N=331), and this group accounted for 16% of service use. Frequent users were more likely to have a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, personality disorder, or alcohol use disorder. Service provider groups (for example, physicians, nurses, and assistants) described similar groups of frequent users and noted that frequent use was related to lack of social supports outside the hospital and feelings of belonging within it. The most frequently cited challenges were managing intoxicated service seekers, managing expectations for admission, and dealing with threats of self-harm. The profiles of frequent ED users in Singapore resembled those reported in other large urban centers. The opinions of service providers and their reactions to difficult situations were similar to those of providers in nonpsychiatric settings. The service providers' perspectives highlight how societal pressures influence the way in which individuals with mental illnesses use services.

Computerised Decision Support Systems for the management of freshwater radioecological emergencies: assessment of the state-of-the-art with respect to the experiences and needs of end-users.

PubMed

Hofman, D; Monte, L; Boyer, P; Brittain, J; Donchyts, G; Gallego, E; Gheorghiu, D; Håkanson, L; Heling, R; Kerekes, A; Kocsy, G; Lepicard, S; Slavik, O; Slavnicu, D; Smith, J; Zheleznyak, M

2011-02-01

Assessment of the environmental and radiological consequences of a nuclear accident requires the management of a great deal of data and information as well as the use of predictive models. Computerised Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are essential tools for this kind of complex assessment and for assisting experts with a rational decision process. The present work focuses on the assessment of the main features of selected state-of-the-art CDSS for off-site management of freshwater ecosystems contaminated by radionuclides. This study involved both developers and end-users of the assessed CDSS and was based on practical customisation exercises, installation and application of the decision systems. Potential end-users can benefit from the availability of several ready-to-use CDSS that allow one to run different kinds of models aimed at predicting the behaviour of radionuclides in aquatic ecosystems, evaluating doses to humans, assessing the effectiveness of different kinds of environmental management interventions and ranking these interventions, accounting for their social, economic and environmental impacts. As a result of the present assessment, the importance of CDSS "integration" became apparent: in many circumstances, different CDSS can be used as complementary tools for the decision-making process. The results of this assessment can also be useful for the future development and improvement of the CDSS. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct SSH Gateway Access to Peregrine | High Performance Computing |

Science.gov Websites

can access peregrine-ssh.nrel.gov, you must have: An active NREL HPC user account (see User Accounts ) An OTP Token (see One Time Password Tokens) Logging into peregrine-ssh.nrel.gov With your HPC account

'Calling executives and clinicians to account': user involvement in commissioning cancer services.

PubMed

Evans, David H; Bacon, Roger J; Greer, Elizabeth; Stagg, Angela M; Turton, Pat

2015-08-01

English NHS guidance emphasizes the importance of involving users in commissioning cancer services. There has been considerable previous research on involving users in service improvement, but not on involvement in commissioning cancer services. To identify how users were involved as local cancer service commissioning projects sought to implement good practice and what has been learned. Participatory evaluation with four qualitative case studies based on semi-structured interviews with project stakeholders, observation and documentary analysis. Users were involved in every stage from design to analysis and reporting. Four English cancer network user involvement in commissioning projects, with 22 stakeholders interviewed. Thematic analysis identified nine themes: initial involvement, preparation for the role, ability to exercise voice, consistency and continuity, where decisions are made, closing the feedback loop, assessing impact, value of experience and diversity. Our findings on the impact of user involvement in commissioning cancer services are consistent with other findings on user involvement in service improvement, but highlight the specific issues for involvement in commissioning. Key points include the different perspectives users and professionals may have on the impact of user involvement in commissioning, the time necessary for meaningful involvement, the importance of involving users from the beginning and the value of senior management and PPI facilitator support and training. Users can play an important role in commissioning cancer services, but their ability to do so is contingent on resources being available to support them. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) system administration guide. Version 1.4

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

Arp, J.A.; Burnett, R.A.; Downing, T.R.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and analysis tool that was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under the direction of the US Army Chemical Biological Defense Command. The FEMIS System Administration Guide defines FEMIS hardware and software requirements and gives instructions for installing the FEMIS software package. This document also contains information on the following: software installation for the FEMIS data servers, communication server, mail server, and the emergency management workstations; distribution media loading and FEMIS installation validation and troubleshooting; and system management of FEMIS users, login privileges, and usage. Themore » system administration utilities (tools), available in the FEMIS client software, are described for user accounts and site profile. This document also describes the installation and use of system and database administration utilities that will assist in keeping the FEMIS system running in an operational environment. The FEMIS system is designed for a single Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) site that has multiple Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Each EOC has personal computers (PCs) that emergency planners and operations personnel use to do their jobs. These PCs are connected via a local area network (LAN) to servers that provide EOC-wide services. Each EOC is interconnected to other EOCs via telecommunications links.« less

Lessons Learned from the 14-Year Systems Development of the Marine Corps Standard Accounting, Budgeting and Reporting System (SABRS)

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

22202-4302. and to the Office of Managmnt and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Wahington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2...Project Officer ........................ 49 d. Program Management ..................... 50 2. User/Systems Development Team Relationship ...... 52 D...and 60’s, when programming and systems development was in its infancy, virtually all software was custom -made. The programmer designed, coded

Systems Acquisition Manager’s Guide for the Use of Models and Simulations

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-09-01

are many others that deserve recognition , but in fairness to all, there are too many to mention. The three research fellows would like to thank all of...information or user accounts: Modeling and Simulation Information System ATTN: Administrative Supr 1901 N. Beauregard St., Suite 510, Alexa . VA 22311...intelli- gence (e.g., understanding visual images, understanding speech and written text, problem 1-1 solving and medical diagnosis). (Krueger) Brawler

Simplified Metadata Curation via the Metadata Management Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shum, D.; Pilone, D.

2015-12-01

The Metadata Management Tool (MMT) is the newest capability developed as part of NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System's (EOSDIS) efforts to simplify metadata creation and improve metadata quality. The MMT was developed via an agile methodology, taking into account inputs from GCMD's science coordinators and other end-users. In its initial release, the MMT uses the Unified Metadata Model for Collections (UMM-C) to allow metadata providers to easily create and update collection records in the ISO-19115 format. Through a simplified UI experience, metadata curators can create and edit collections without full knowledge of the NASA Best Practices implementation of ISO-19115 format, while still generating compliant metadata. More experienced users are also able to access raw metadata to build more complex records as needed. In future releases, the MMT will build upon recent work done in the community to assess metadata quality and compliance with a variety of standards through application of metadata rubrics. The tool will provide users with clear guidance as to how to easily change their metadata in order to improve their quality and compliance. Through these features, the MMT allows data providers to create and maintain compliant and high quality metadata in a short amount of time.

The sudden removal of user fees: the perspective of a frontline manager in Burundi.

PubMed

Nimpagaritse, Manassé; Bertone, Maria Paola

2011-11-01

In May 2006, the President of Burundi announced the removal of user fees in all health centres and hospitals for children under 5 and women giving birth. As other studies also point out, the policy was adopted extremely suddenly, without much reflection on its ultimate aims and on the operational dimension of its implementation. From the perspective of a frontline manager, this paper provides a descriptive case study of the abolition of user fees in the Muramvya District and a first-hand account of the effects of the sudden reform in the management of a district and a district hospital. The analysis highlights the challenges that the district and hospital teams faced. The main issues were: the reduction of financial flows, which prevented the possibility of investments and caused frequent drugs stock-outs; the reduced quality of the services and the disruption of the referral system; the motivation of the health staff who saw the administrative workload increase (not necessarily because of increased utilization) and faced 'ethical dilemmas' caused by the imprecise targeting of the reform. Undoubtedly, the removal of user fees for certain groups was an equitable and necessary measure in an extremely poor country such as Burundi. However, the suddenness of the decision and the lack of preparation had critical and long-lasting consequences for the entire health system. This analysis, performed from the frontline perspective, clarifies the importance of a rigorous planning of any reform, as well as of involving peripheral actors and understanding the complex challenges that they face.

Direct facility funding as a response to user fee reduction: implementation and perceived impact among Kenyan health centres and dispensaries

PubMed Central

Opwora, Antony; Kabare, Margaret; Molyneux, Sassy; Goodman, Catherine

2010-01-01

There is increasing pressure for reduction of user fees, but this can have adverse effects by decreasing facility-level funds. To address this, direct facility funding (DFF) was piloted in Coast Province, Kenya, with health facility committees (HFCs) responsible for managing the funds. We evaluated the implementation and perceived impact 2.5 years after DFF introduction. Quantitative data collection at 30 public health centres and dispensaries included a structured interview with the in-charge, record reviews and exit interviews. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the in-charge and HFC members at 12 facilities, and with district staff and other stakeholders. DFF procedures were well established: HFCs met regularly and accounting procedures were broadly followed. DFF made an important contribution to facility cash income, accounting for 47% in health centres and 62% in dispensaries. The main items of expenditure were wages for support staff (32%), travel (21%), and construction and maintenance (18%). DFF was perceived to have a highly positive impact through funding support staff such as cleaners and patient attendants, outreach activities, renovations, patient referrals and increasing HFC activity. This was perceived to have improved health worker motivation, utilization and quality of care. A number of problems were identified. HFC training was reportedly inadequate, and no DFF documentation was available at facility level, leading to confusion. Charging user fees above those specified in the national policy remained common, and understanding of DFF among the broader community was very limited. Finally, relationships between HFCs and health workers were sometimes characterized by mistrust and resentment. Relatively small increases in funding may significantly affect facility performance when the funds are managed at the periphery. Kenya plans to scale up DFF nationwide. Our findings indicate this is warranted, but should include improved training and documentation, greater emphasis on community engagement, and insistence on user fee adherence. PMID:20211967

Direct facility funding as a response to user fee reduction: implementation and perceived impact among Kenyan health centres and dispensaries.

PubMed

Opwora, Antony; Kabare, Margaret; Molyneux, Sassy; Goodman, Catherine

2010-09-01

There is increasing pressure for reduction of user fees, but this can have adverse effects by decreasing facility-level funds. To address this, direct facility funding (DFF) was piloted in Coast Province, Kenya, with health facility committees (HFCs) responsible for managing the funds. We evaluated the implementation and perceived impact 2.5 years after DFF introduction. Quantitative data collection at 30 public health centres and dispensaries included a structured interview with the in-charge, record reviews and exit interviews. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the in-charge and HFC members at 12 facilities, and with district staff and other stakeholders. DFF procedures were well established: HFCs met regularly and accounting procedures were broadly followed. DFF made an important contribution to facility cash income, accounting for 47% in health centres and 62% in dispensaries. The main items of expenditure were wages for support staff (32%), travel (21%), and construction and maintenance (18%). DFF was perceived to have a highly positive impact through funding support staff such as cleaners and patient attendants, outreach activities, renovations, patient referrals and increasing HFC activity. This was perceived to have improved health worker motivation, utilization and quality of care. A number of problems were identified. HFC training was reportedly inadequate, and no DFF documentation was available at facility level, leading to confusion. Charging user fees above those specified in the national policy remained common, and understanding of DFF among the broader community was very limited. Finally, relationships between HFCs and health workers were sometimes characterized by mistrust and resentment. Relatively small increases in funding may significantly affect facility performance when the funds are managed at the periphery. Kenya plans to scale up DFF nationwide. Our findings indicate this is warranted, but should include improved training and documentation, greater emphasis on community engagement, and insistence on user fee adherence.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Climate Research Facility Operations Quarterly Report. October 1 - December 31, 2009.

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

D. L. Sisterson

2010-01-12

Individual raw data streams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF) fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real-time. Raw and processed data are then sent approximately daily to the ACRF Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual data stream, site, and monthmore » for the current year and (2) site and fiscal year (FY) dating back to 1998. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requires national user facilities to report time-based operating data. The requirements concern the actual hours of operation (ACTUAL); the estimated maximum operation or uptime goal (OPSMAX), which accounts for planned downtime; and the VARIANCE [1 - (ACTUAL/OPSMAX)], which accounts for unplanned downtime. The OPSMAX time for the first quarter of FY 2010 for the North Slope Alaska (NSA) locale is 1,987.20 hours (0.90 x 2,208); for the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site is 2,097.60 hours (0.95 x 2,208); and for the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) locale is 1,876.8 hours (0.85 x 2,208). The ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) deployment in Graciosa Island, the Azores, Portugal, continues; its OPSMAX time this quarter is 2,097.60 hours (0.95 x 2,208). The differences in OPSMAX performance reflect the complexity of local logistics and the frequency of extreme weather events. It is impractical to measure OPSMAX for each instrument or data stream. Data availability reported here refers to the average of the individual, continuous data streams that have been received by the Archive. Data not at the Archive are the result of downtime (scheduled or unplanned) of the individual instruments. Therefore, data availability is directly related to individual instrument uptime. Thus, the average percentage of data in the Archive represents the average percentage of the time (24 hours per day, 92 days for this quarter) the instruments were operating this quarter. The Site Access Request System is a web-based database used to track visitors to the fixed and mobile sites, all of which have facilities that can be visited. The NSA locale has the Barrow and Atqasuk sites. The SGP locale has historically had a central facility, 23 extended facilities, 4 boundary facilities, and 3 intermediate facilities. Beginning this quarter, the SGP began a transition to a smaller footprint (150 km x 150 km) by rearranging the original and new instrumentation made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The central facility and 4 extended facilities will remain, but there will be up to 16 surface new characterization facilities, 4 radar facilities, and 3 profiler facilities sited in the smaller domain. This new configuration will provide observations at scales more appropriate to current and future climate models. The TWP locale has the Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites. These sites will also have expanded measurement capabilities with the addition of new instrumentation made available through ARRA funds. It is anticipated that the new instrumentation at all the fixed sites will be in place within the next 12 months. The AMF continues its 20-month deployment in Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal, that started May 1, 2009. The AMF will also have additional observational capabilities within the next 12 months. Users can participate in field experiments at the sites and mobile facility, or they can participate remotely. Therefore, a variety of mechanisms are provided to users to access site information. Users who have immediate (real-time) needs for data access can request a research account on the local site data systems. This access is particularly useful to users for quick decisions in executing time-dependent activities associated with field campaigns at the fixed sites and mobile facility locations. The eight computers for the research accounts are located at the Barrow and Atqasuk sites; the SGP central facility; the TWP Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites; the AMF; and the DMF at PNNL. However, users are warned that the data provided at the time of collection have not been fully screened for quality and therefore are not considered to be official ACRF data. Hence, these accounts are considered to be part of the facility activities associated with field campaign activities, and users are tracked. In addition, users who visit sites can connect their computer or instrument to an ACRF site data system network, which requires an on-site device account. Remote (off-site) users can also have remote access to any ACRF instrument or computer system at any ACRF site, which requires an off-site device account. These accounts are also managed and tracked.« less

Materials management information systems.

PubMed

1996-01-01

The hospital materials management function--ensuring that goods and services get from a source to an end user--encompasses many areas of the hospital and can significantly affect hospital costs. Performing this function in a manner that will keep costs down and ensure adequate cash flow requires effective management of a large amount of information from a variety of sources. To effectively coordinate such information, most hospitals have implemented some form of materials management information system (MMIS). These systems can be used to automate or facilitate functions such as purchasing, accounting, inventory management, and patient supply charges. In this study, we evaluated seven MMISs from seven vendors, focusing on the functional capabilities of each system and the quality of the service and support provided by the vendor. This Evaluation is intended to (1) assist hospitals purchasing an MMIS by educating materials managers about the capabilities, benefits, and limitations of MMISs and (2) educate clinical engineers and information system managers about the scope of materials management within a healthcare facility. Because software products cannot be evaluated in the same manner as most devices typically included in Health Devices Evaluations, our standard Evaluation protocol was not applicable for this technology. Instead, we based our ratings on our observations (e.g., during site visits), interviews we conducted with current users of each system, and information provided by the vendor (e.g., in response to a request for information [RFI]). We divided the Evaluation into the following sections: Section 1. Responsibilities and Information Requirements of Materials Management: Provides an overview of typical materials management functions and describes the capabilities, benefits, and limitations of MMISs. Also includes the supplementary article, "Inventory Cost and Reimbursement Issues" and the glossary, "Materials Management Terminology." Section 2. The MMIS Selection Process: Outlines steps to follow and describes factors to consider when selecting an MMIS. Also includes our Materials Management Process Evaluation and Needs Assessment Worksheet (which is also available online through ECRInet(TM)) and a list of suggested interview questions to be used when gathering user experience information for systems under consideration. Section 3A. MMIS Vendor Profiles: Presents information for the evaluated systems in a standardized, easy-to-compare format. Profiles include an Executive Summary describing our findings, a discussion of user comments, a listing of MMIS specifications, and information on the vendor's business background. Section 3B. Discussion of Vendor Profile Conclusions and Ratings: Presents our ratings and summarizes our rationale for all evaluated systems. Also includes a blank Vendor Profile Template to be used when gathering information on other vendors and systems. We found that, in general, all of the evaluated systems are able to meet most of the functional needs of a materials management department. However, we did uncover significant differences in the quality of service and support provided by each vendor, and our ratings reflect these differences: we rated two of the systems Acceptable--Preferred and four of the systems Acceptable. We have not yet rated the seventh system because our user experience information may not reflect the vendor's new ownership and management. When this vendor provides the references we requested, we will interview users and supply a rating. We caution readers against basing purchasing decisions solely on our ratings. Each hospital must consider the unique needs of its users and its overall strategic plans--a process that can be aided by using our Process Evaluation and Needs Assessment Worksheet. Our conclusions can then be used to narrow down the number of vendors under consideration...

Concept and modular telemedicine platform for measuring of vital signs, ADL and behavioral patterns of elderly in home settings.

PubMed

Czabke, A; Loeschke, J; Lueth, T C

2011-01-01

In this contribution a new centralized platform for telemedicine is presented. It combines functions for measuring of vital signs, ADL and behavioral patterns and is especially designed for home care scenarios and the use by elderly people who are not familiar with the use of a PC. Unlike many other approaches we did not use a modified standard PC but developed a new dedicated hardware platform. It comes with various interfaces to communicate with different medical home care systems. We implemented a modular software architecture, which allows managing multiple user accounts with different personal settings. Every account can be adapted individually to the user. Every medical device that can be connected to the platform has its own software module, in which data is analyzed, displayed, stored to an internal database or transmitted to a server. Though the user is not bothered with technical issues such as setting up a connection to the internet, he keeps control on his data because he decides if and when data is transferred to a web server. The device was developed in an iterative process and evaluated in focus groups by n = 31 subjects (average age: 67 years) under the supervision of a psychogerontologist. All findings obtained from those sessions were directly incorporated in the presented work.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program climate research facility operations quarterly report July 1 - September 30, 2008.

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

Sisterson, D. L.

2008-10-08

Individual raw data streams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF) fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real-time. Raw and processed data are then sent daily to the ACRF Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual data stream, site, and month formore » the current year and (2) site and fiscal year (FY) dating back to 1998. Table 1 shows the accumulated maximum operation time (planned uptime), actual hours of operation, and variance (unplanned downtime) for the period July 1 - September 30, 2008, for the fixed sites. The AMF has been deployed to China, but the data have not yet been released. The fourth quarter comprises a total of 2,208 hours. The average exceeded our goal this quarter. The Site Access Request System is a web-based database used to track visitors to the fixed and mobile sites, all of which have facilities that can be visited. The NSA locale has the Barrow and Atqasuk sites. The SGP site has a central facility, 23 extended facilities, 4 boundary facilities, and 3 intermediate facilities. The TWP locale has the Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites. HFE represents the AMF statistics for the Shouxian, China, deployment in 2008. FKB represents the AMF statistics for the Haselbach, Germany, past deployment in 2007. NIM represents the AMF statistics for the Niamey, Niger, Africa, past deployment in 2006. PYE represents just the AMF Archive statistics for the Point Reyes, California, past deployment in 2005. In addition, users who do not want to wait for data to be provided through the ACRF Archive can request a research account on the local site data system. The seven computers for the research accounts are located at the Barrow and Atqasuk sites; the SGP central facility; the TWP Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites; and the DMF at PNNL. In addition, the ACRF serves as a data repository for a long-term Arctic atmospheric observatory in Eureka, Canada (80 degrees 05 minutes N, 86 degrees 43 minutes W) as part of the multiagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Program. NOAA began providing instruments for the site in 2005, and currently cloud radar data are available. The intent of the site is to monitor the important components of the Arctic atmosphere, including clouds, aerosols, atmospheric radiation, and local-scale atmospheric dynamics. Because of the similarity of ACRF NSA data streams and the important synergy that can be formed between a network of Arctic atmospheric observations, much of the SEARCH observatory data are archived in the ARM archive. Instruments will be added to the site over time. For more information, please visit http://www.db.arm.gov/data. The designation for the archived Eureka data is YEU and is now included in the ACRF user metrics. This quarterly report provides the cumulative numbers of visitors and user accounts by site for the period October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008. Table 2 shows the summary of cumulative users for the period October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008. For the fourth quarter of FY 2008, the overall number of users is down substantially (about 30%) from last quarter. Most of this decrease resulted from a reduction in the ACRF Infrastructure users (e.g., site visits, research accounts, on-site device accounts, etc.) associated with the AMF China deployment. While users had easy access to the previous AMF deployment in Germany that resulted in all-time high user statistics, physical and remote access to on-site accounts are extremely limited for the AMF deployment in China. Furthermore, AMF data have not yet been released from China to the Data Management Facility for processing, which affects Archive user statistics. However, Archive users are only down about 10% from last quarter. Another reason for the apparent reduction in Archive users is that data from the Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC), a major field campaign conducted on the North Slope of Alaska, are not yet available to users. For reporting purposes, the three ACRF sites and the AMF operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 52 weeks per year. Time is reported in days instead of hours. If any lost work time is incurred by any employee, it is counted as a workday loss. Table 3 reports the consecutive days since the last recordable or reportable injury or incident causing damage to property, equipment, or vehicle for the period July 1 - September 30, 2008. There were no incidents this reporting period.« less

Defense Horizons. Number 77, October 2014

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

companies do not proactively monitor user content and instead ask users to report instances of abuse or offensive matter. Any account closure...days. Its networks are so well connected and content interdependent that users do not have to work hard to discover new accounts. Trying to close ev...Again_DOS) that responds directly to users who tweet pro- jihadist content . Those behind the Think Again program respond with realistic information

Development of the Physical activity and Your Nutrition for Cancer (PYNC) smartphone app for preventing breast cancer in women.

PubMed

Coughlin, Steven S; Besenyi, Gina M; Bowen, Deborah; De Leo, Gianluca

2017-01-01

In the U.S., breast cancer accounts for more cancer deaths in women than any site other than lung cancer. Based upon attributable risks, about 30-35% of breast cancers could potentially be prevented by addressing obesity, physical inactivity, increased alcohol consumption, and carcinogenic exposures such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). We need methods of reducing women's risks of this disease that are attractive and easy to use, widely accessible to diverse women, and able to be easily amended to account for new research. The overall objective of this 12-month project is to develop and test a smartphone app to provide women with information about how they can reduce their risk of breast cancer through healthy behaviors such as physical activity, weight management, restricting caloric intake, consuming a healthy diet and proper nutrition, engaging in regular physical activity, and avoiding carcinogenic exposures such as HRT and alcohol. The specific aims are: (I) to develop a smartphone app for breast cancer prevention using a behavioral framework; (II) to ensure interconnectivity with commercially available products (Fitbit device for monitoring physical activity and the LoseIt! smartphone app for monitoring and tracking diet and nutrition); and (III) to ensure that the mHealth intervention is suitable for women with varying levels of health literacy and eHealth literacy. The app, referred to as Physical activity and Your Nutrition for Cancer (PYNC), is being coded on an iOS platform. Users will be able to access the breast cancer prevention app using their smartphone or tablet. The app's design will ensure interconnectivity with commercially available products for monitoring and tracking physical activity, caloric intake, diet and nutrition. Using the app, it will be feasible for users to connect and sync their Fitbit and LoseIt! accounts so that information collected about physical activity, caloric intake, diet, and nutrition can be conveniently assessed from one portal. The Fitbit device and app provides reminders and allows users to set physical activity goals. Users will be able to access health education information about breast cancer risk-reduction with attractive graphics and visual displays. Future directions will include testing the efficacy of the mHealth intervention in increasing physical activity, improving diet and nutrition, and weight management through a randomized controlled trial, and widespread dissemination and implementation research.

Recreational user attitudes towards management strategies of Allegany State Park

Treesearch

Michael Nisengard; Miklos Gratzer

1998-01-01

This project examines attitudes towards management strategies of four Allegany State Park recreational user groups: cabin users, recreational vehicle users, tent users, and day users. It investigates recreational user group attitude differences, and attitude change over a ten year time period, in regard to the following park management strategy categories: park...

Natural-technological risk assessment and management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burova, Valentina; Frolova, Nina

2016-04-01

EM-DAT statistical data on human impact and economic damages in the 1st semester 2015 are the highest since 2011: 41% of disasters were floods, responsible for 39% of economic damage and 7% of events were earthquakes responsible for 59% of total death toll. This suggests that disaster risk assessment and management still need to be improved and stay the principle issue in national and international related programs. The paper investigates the risk assessment and management practice in the Russian Federation at different levels. The method is proposed to identify the territories characterized by integrated natural-technological hazard. The maps of the Russian Federation zoning according to the integrated natural-technological hazard level are presented, as well as the procedure of updating the integrated hazard level taking into account the activity of separate processes. Special attention is paid to data bases on past natural and technological processes consequences, which are used for verification of current hazard estimation. The examples of natural-technological risk zoning for the country and some regions territory are presented. Different output risk indexes: both social and economic, are estimated taking into account requirements of end-users. In order to increase the safety of population of the Russian Federation the trans-boundaries hazards are also taken into account.

Natural language modeling

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

Sharp, J.K.

1997-11-01

This seminar describes a process and methodology that uses structured natural language to enable the construction of precise information requirements directly from users, experts, and managers. The main focus of this natural language approach is to create the precise information requirements and to do it in such a way that the business and technical experts are fully accountable for the results. These requirements can then be implemented using appropriate tools and technology. This requirement set is also a universal learning tool because it has all of the knowledge that is needed to understand a particular process (e.g., expense vouchers, projectmore » management, budget reviews, tax, laws, machine function).« less

77 FR 15033 - Privacy Act Systems of Records; APHIS Veterinary Services User Fee System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

... UFS tracks the accuracy of expenditures and collections transactions of credit accounts. Information obtained in the credit account application is entered into the Foundation Financial Information System... information about the user's credit account, including charges and payments made, date(s) and type of service...

Development of regional climate scenarios in the Netherlands - involvement of users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bessembinder, Janette; Overbeek, Bernadet

2013-04-01

Climate scenarios are consistent and plausible pictures of possible future climates. They are intended for use in studies exploring the impacts of climate change, and to formulate possible adaptation strategies. To ensure that the developed climate scenarios are relevant to the intended users, interaction with the users is needed. As part of the research programmes "Climate changes Spatial Planning" and "Knowledge for Climate" several projects on climate services, tailoring of climate information and communication were conducted. Some of the important lessons learned about user interaction are: *) To be able to deliver relevant climate information in the right format, proper knowledge is required on who will be using the climate information and data, how it will be used and why they use it; *) Users' requirements can be very diverse and requirements may change over time. Therefore, sustained (personal) contact with users is required; *) Organising meetings with climate researchers and users of climate information together, and working together in projects results in mutual understanding on the requirements of users and the limitations to deliver certain types of climate information, which facilitates the communication and results in more widely accepted products; *) Information and communication should be adapted to the type of users (e.g. impact researchers or policy makers) and to the type of problem (unstructured problems require much more contact with the users). In 2001 KNMI developed climate scenarios for the National Commission on Water management in the 21st century (WB21 scenarios). In 2006 these were replaced by a the KNMI'06 scenarios, intended for a broader group of users. The above lessons are now taken into account during the development of the next generation of climate scenarios for the Netherlands, expected at the end of 2013, after the publication of the IPCC WG1 report: *) users' requirements are taken into account explicitly in the whole process of the development of the climate scenarios; *) users are involved already in the early phases of the development of new scenarios, among others in the following way: **) workshops on users' requirements to check whether they have changed and to get more information; **) feedback group of users to get more detailed feedback on the modes of communication; **) newsletter with information on the progress and procedures to be followed and separate workshops for researchers and policy makers with different levels of detail; **) projects together with impact researchers: tailoring of data and in order to be able to present impact information consistent with the climate scenarios much earlier. During the presentation more detailed information will be given on the interaction with users.

Computer-aided design and computer science technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fulton, R. E.; Voigt, S. J.

1976-01-01

A description is presented of computer-aided design requirements and the resulting computer science advances needed to support aerospace design. The aerospace design environment is examined, taking into account problems of data handling and aspects of computer hardware and software. The interactive terminal is normally the primary interface between the computer system and the engineering designer. Attention is given to user aids, interactive design, interactive computations, the characteristics of design information, data management requirements, hardware advancements, and computer science developments.

Centralized Authorization Using a Direct Service, Part II

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

Wachsmann, A

Authorization is the process of deciding if entity X is allowed to have access to resource Y. Determining the identity of X is the job of the authentication process. One task of authorization in computer networks is to define and determine which user has access to which computers in the network. On Linux, the tendency exists to create a local account for each single user who should be allowed to logon to a computer. This is typically the case because a user not only needs login privileges to a computer but also additional resources like a home directory to actuallymore » do some work. Creating a local account on every computer takes care of all this. The problem with this approach is that these local accounts can be inconsistent with each other. The same user name could have a different user ID and/or group ID on different computers. Even more problematic is when two different accounts share the same user ID and group ID on different computers: User joe on computer1 could have user ID 1234 and group ID 56 and user jane on computer2 could have the same user ID 1234 and group ID 56. This is a big security risk in case shared resources like NFS are used. These two different accounts are the same for an NFS server so that these users can wipe out each other's files. The solution to this inconsistency problem is to have only one central, authoritative data source for this kind of information and a means of providing all your computers with access to this central source. This is what a ''Directory Service'' is. The two directory services most widely used for centralizing authorization data are the Network Information Service (NIS, formerly known as Yellow Pages or YP) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).« less

PhotoExam: adoption of an iOS-based clinical image capture application at Mayo Clinic.

PubMed

Wyatt, Kirk D; Willaert, Brian N; Pallagi, Peter J; Uribe, Richard A; Yiannias, James A; Hellmich, Thomas R

2017-12-01

Mayo Clinic developed an internal iOS-based, point-of-care clinical image capture application for clinicians. We aimed to assess the adoption and utilization of the application at Mayo Clinic. Metadata of 22,784 photos of 6417 patients taken by 606 users over 8040 clinical encounters between 3/1/2015 and 10/31/2015 were analyzed. A random sample of photos from 100 clinical encounters was assessed for quality using a five-item rubric. Use of traditional medical photography services before and after application launch were compared. The largest group of users was residents/fellows, accounting for 31% of users but only 18% of all photos. Attending physicians accounted for 29% of users and 30% of photos. Nurses accounted for 14% of users and 28% of photos. Surgical specialties had the most users (36% of users), followed by dermatology (14% of users); however, dermatology accounted for 54% of all photos, and surgery accounted for 26% of photos. Images received an average of 91% of possible points on the quality scoring rubric. Most frequent reasons for missing points were the location on the body not clearly being demonstrated (19% of encounters) and the perspective/scale not being clearly demonstrated (12% of encounters). There was no discernible pre-post effect of the application's launch on use of traditional medical photography services. Point-of-care clinical photography is a growing phenomenon with potential to become the new standard of care. Patient and provider attitudes and the impact on patient outcomes remain unclear. © 2017 The International Society of Dermatology.

Modular modeling system for building distributed hydrologic models with a user-friendly software package

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wi, S.; Ray, P. A.; Brown, C.

2015-12-01

A software package developed to facilitate building distributed hydrologic models in a modular modeling system is presented. The software package provides a user-friendly graphical user interface that eases its practical use in water resources-related research and practice. The modular modeling system organizes the options available to users when assembling models according to the stages of hydrological cycle, such as potential evapotranspiration, soil moisture accounting, and snow/glacier melting processes. The software is intended to be a comprehensive tool that simplifies the task of developing, calibrating, validating, and using hydrologic models through the inclusion of intelligent automation to minimize user effort, and reduce opportunities for error. Processes so far automated include the definition of system boundaries (i.e., watershed delineation), climate and geographical input generation, and parameter calibration. Built-in post-processing toolkits greatly improve the functionality of the software as a decision support tool for water resources system management and planning. Example post-processing toolkits enable streamflow simulation at ungauged sites with predefined model parameters, and perform climate change risk assessment by means of the decision scaling approach. The software is validated through application to watersheds representing a variety of hydrologic regimes.

78 FR 15013 - Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-08

... account information between local exchange carriers (LECs) and interexchange carriers (IXCs). The... to supply customer account information to IXCs when: (1) the LEC places an end user on, or removes an... account information via her LEC; (3) an IXC requests billing name and address information for an end user...

A Job Monitoring and Accounting Tool for the LSF Batch System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkar, Subir; Taneja, Sonia

2011-12-01

This paper presents a web based job monitoring and group-and-user accounting tool for the LSF Batch System. The user oriented job monitoring displays a simple and compact quasi real-time overview of the batch farm for both local and Grid jobs. For Grid jobs the Distinguished Name (DN) of the Grid users is shown. The overview monitor provides the most up-to-date status of a batch farm at any time. The accounting tool works with the LSF accounting log files. The accounting information is shown for a few pre-defined time periods by default. However, one can also compute the same information for any arbitrary time window. The tool already proved to be an extremely useful means to validate more extensive accounting tools available in the Grid world. Several sites have already been using the present tool and more sites running the LSF batch system have shown interest. We shall discuss the various aspects that make the tool essential for site administrators and end-users alike and outline the current status of development as well as future plans.

Designing environmental research for impact.

PubMed

Campbell, C A; Lefroy, E C; Caddy-Retalic, S; Bax, N; Doherty, P J; Douglas, M M; Johnson, D; Possingham, H P; Specht, A; Tarte, D; West, J

2015-11-15

Transdisciplinary research, involving close collaboration between researchers and the users of research, has been a feature of environmental problem solving for several decades, often spurred by the need to find negotiated outcomes to intractable problems. In 2005, the Australian government allocated funding to its environment portfolio for public good research, which resulted in consecutive four-year programmes (Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities, National Environmental Research Program). In April 2014, representatives of the funders, researchers and research users associated with these programmes met to reflect on eight years of experience with these collaborative research models. This structured reflection concluded that successful multi-institutional transdisciplinary research is necessarily a joint enterprise between funding agencies, researchers and the end users of research. The design and governance of research programmes need to explicitly recognise shared accountabilities among the participants, while respecting the different perspectives of each group. Experience shows that traditional incentive systems for academic researchers, current trends in public sector management, and loose organisation of many end users, work against sustained transdisciplinary research on intractable problems, which require continuity and adaptive learning by all three parties. The likelihood of research influencing and improving environmental policy and management is maximised when researchers, funders and research users have shared goals; there is sufficient continuity of personnel to build trust and sustain dialogue throughout the research process from issue scoping to application of findings; and there is sufficient flexibility in the funding, structure and operation of transdisciplinary research initiatives to enable the enterprise to assimilate and respond to new knowledge and situations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

All new custom path photo book creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wiley; Muzzolini, Russ

2012-03-01

In this paper, we present an all new custom path to allow consumers to have full control to their photos and the format of their books, while providing them with guidance to make their creation fast and easy. The users can choose to fully automate the initial creation, and then customize every page. The system manage many design themes along with numerous design elements, such as layouts, backgrounds, embellishments and pattern bands. The users can also utilize photos from multiple sources including their computers, Shutterfly accounts, Shutterfly Share sites and Facebook. The users can also use a photo as background, add, move and resize photos and text - putting what they want where they want instead of being confined to templates. The new path allows users to add embellishments anywhere in the book, and the high-performance platform can support up to 1,000 photos per book and up to 25 pictures per page. The path offers either Smart Autofill or Storyboard features allowing customers to populate their books with photos so they can add captions and customize the pages.

BioUSeR: a semantic-based tool for retrieving Life Science web resources driven by text-rich user requirements

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Open metadata registries are a fundamental tool for researchers in the Life Sciences trying to locate resources. While most current registries assume that resources are annotated with well-structured metadata, evidence shows that most of the resource annotations simply consists of informal free text. This reality must be taken into account in order to develop effective techniques for resource discovery in Life Sciences. Results BioUSeR is a semantic-based tool aimed at retrieving Life Sciences resources described in free text. The retrieval process is driven by the user requirements, which consist of a target task and a set of facets of interest, both expressed in free text. BioUSeR is able to effectively exploit the available textual descriptions to find relevant resources by using semantic-aware techniques. Conclusions BioUSeR overcomes the limitations of the current registries thanks to: (i) rich specification of user information needs, (ii) use of semantics to manage textual descriptions, (iii) retrieval and ranking of resources based on user requirements. PMID:23635042

Identifying preferences for mobile health applications for self-monitoring and self-management: focus group findings from HIV-positive persons and young mothers.

PubMed

Ramanathan, Nithya; Swendeman, Dallas; Comulada, W Scott; Estrin, Deborah; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane

2013-04-01

Self-management of risk behaviors is a cornerstone of future population health interventions. Using mobile phones for routine self-monitoring and feedback is a cost-efficient strategy for self-management and ecological momentary interventions (EMI). However, mobile health applications need to be designed to be highly attractive and acceptable to a broad range of user groups. To inform the design of an adaptable mobile health application we aimed to identify the dimensions and range of user preferences for application features by different user groups. Five focus group interviews were conducted: two (n=9; n=20) with people living with HIV (PLH) and three with young mothers (n=6; n=8; n=10). Thematic analyses were conducted on the focus group sessions' notes and transcripts. Both groups considered customization of reminders and prompts as necessary, and goal setting, motivational messaging, problem solving, and feedback as attractive. For PLH, automated and location-based reminders for medication adherence and sharing data with healthcare providers were both acceptable and attractive features. Privacy protection and invasiveness were the primary concerns, particularly around location tracking, illegal drug use, and sexual partner information. Concerns were ameliorated by use scenario or purpose, monetary incentives, and password protection. Privacy was not a major concern to mothers who considered passwords burdensome. Mothers' preferences focused on customization that supports mood, exercise and eating patterns, and especially using the mobile phone camera to photograph food to increase self-accountability. Individualization emerged as the key feature and design principle to reduce user burden and increase attractiveness and acceptability. Mobile phone EMI uniquely enables individualization, context-aware and real-time feedback, and tailored intervention delivery. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

A Quality-Control-Oriented Database for a Mesoscale Meteorological Observation Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lussana, C.; Ranci, M.; Uboldi, F.

2012-04-01

In the operational context of a local weather service, data accessibility and quality related issues must be managed by taking into account a wide set of user needs. This work describes the structure and the operational choices made for the operational implementation of a database system storing data from highly automated observing stations, metadata and information on data quality. Lombardy's environmental protection agency, ARPA Lombardia, manages a highly automated mesoscale meteorological network. A Quality Assurance System (QAS) ensures that reliable observational information is collected and disseminated to the users. The weather unit in ARPA Lombardia, at the same time an important QAS component and an intensive data user, has developed a database specifically aimed to: 1) providing quick access to data for operational activities and 2) ensuring data quality for real-time applications, by means of an Automatic Data Quality Control (ADQC) procedure. Quantities stored in the archive include hourly aggregated observations of: precipitation amount, temperature, wind, relative humidity, pressure, global and net solar radiation. The ADQC performs several independent tests on raw data and compares their results in a decision-making procedure. An important ADQC component is the Spatial Consistency Test based on Optimal Interpolation. Interpolated and Cross-Validation analysis values are also stored in the database, providing further information to human operators and useful estimates in case of missing data. The technical solution adopted is based on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php) system, constituting an open source environment suitable for both development and operational practice. The ADQC procedure itself is performed by R scripts directly interacting with the MySQL database. Users and network managers can access the database by using a set of web-based Php applications.

System Access | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

) systems. Photo of man looking at a large computer monitor with a colorful, visual display of data. System secure shell gateway (SSH) or virtual private network (VPN). User Accounts Request a user account

BetterThanPin: Empowering Users to Fight Phishing (Poster)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Teik Guan

The BetterThanPin concept is an online security service that allows users to enable almost any Cloud or Web-based account (e.g. Gmail, MSN, Yahoo, etc) to be protected with "almost" 2-factor authentication (2FA). The result is that users can now protect their online accounts with better authentication, without waiting for the service or cloud provider.

RoboCal: An automated nondestructive assay system

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

Staley, H.C.; Hollen, R.M.; Bonner, C.A.

1990-01-01

The manager of a facility handling special nuclear material (SNM) is caught in a squeeze between increased state and federal regulations and tighter funding. RoboCal uses a robot to manipulate canisters containing SNM to lower worker radiation exposure and to provide increased utilization of expensive assay equipment. In addition, it helps with accountability and material tracking. It consists of a hierarchical network of more than a dozen computers and provides a single point of contact for the user to accomplish multiple assays.

15 CFR 711.8 - How to request authorization from BIS to make electronic submissions of declarations or reports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...-DESI use. (iv) To prevent misuse of the Web-DESI account: (A) If Web-DESI user account information (i.e... the loss, theft or compromise of the user account information, immediately, by calling BIS at (202..., DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION REGULATIONS GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING DECLARATION...

75 FR 8703 - Notice of Public Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-25

... account information between local exchange carriers (LECs) and interexchange carriers (IXCs). The... to supply customer account information to IXCs when: (1) the LEC places an end user on, or removes an... account information via her LEC; (3) an IXC requests billing name and address information for an end user...

75 FR 22131 - Notice of Public Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to the Office of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-27

... account information between local exchange carriers (LECs) and interexchange carriers (IXCs). The... to supply customer account information to IXCs when: (1) the LEC places an end user on, or removes an... account information via her LEC; (3) an IXC requests billing name and address information for an end user...

Irrigation Dynamics and Tactics - Developing a Sustainable and Profitable Irrigation Strategy for Agricultural Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Opstal, J.; Neale, C. M. U.; Lecina, S.

2014-12-01

Irrigation management is a dynamic process that adapts according to weather conditions and water availability, as well as socio-economic influences. The goal of water users is to adapt their management to achieve maximum profits. However, these decisions should take into account the environmental impact on the surroundings. Agricultural irrigation systems need to be viewed as a system that is an integral part of a watershed. Therefore changes in the infrastructure, operation and management of an irrigated area, has an impact on the water quantity and quality available for other water users. A strategy can be developed for decision-makers using an irrigation system modelling tool. Such a tool can simulate the impact of the infrastructure, operation and management of an irrigation area on its hydrology and agricultural productivity. This combination of factors is successfully simulated with the Ador model, which is able to reproduce on-farm irrigation and water delivery by a canal system. Model simulations for this study are supported with spatial analysis tools using GIS and remote sensing. Continuous measurements of drainage water will be added to indicate the water quality aspects. The Bear River Canal Company located in Northern Utah (U.S.A.) is used as a case study for this research. The irrigation area encompasses 26,000 ha and grows mainly alfalfa, grains, corn and onions. The model allows the simulation of different strategies related to water delivery, on-farm water use, crop rotations, and reservoirs and networks capacities under different weather and water availability conditions. Such changes in the irrigation area will have consequences for farmers in the study area regarding crop production, and for downstream users concerning both the quantity and quality of outflows. The findings from this study give insight to decision-makers and water users for changing irrigation water delivery strategies to improve the sustainability and profitability of agriculture in the future.

An artificial intelligence framework for compensating transgressions and its application to diet management.

PubMed

Anselma, Luca; Mazzei, Alessandro; De Michieli, Franco

2017-04-01

Today, there is considerable interest in personal healthcare. The pervasiveness of technology allows to precisely track human behavior; however, when dealing with the development of an intelligent assistant exploiting data acquired through such technologies, a critical issue has to be taken into account; namely, that of supporting the user in the event of any transgression with respect to the optimal behavior. In this paper we present a reasoning framework based on Simple Temporal Problems that can be applied to a general class of problems, which we called cake&carrot problems, to support reasoning in presence of human transgression. The reasoning framework offers a number of facilities to ensure a smart management of possible "wrong behaviors" by a user to reach the goals defined by the problem. This paper describes the framework by means of the prototypical use case of diet domain. Indeed, following a healthy diet can be a difficult task for both practical and psychological reasons and dietary transgressions are hard to avoid. Therefore, the framework is tolerant to dietary transgressions and adapts the following meals to facilitate users in recovering from such transgressions. Finally, through a simulation involving a real hospital menu, we show that the framework can effectively achieve good results in a realistic scenario. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Experiences of multidisciplinary development team members during user-centered design of telecare products and services: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Vermeulen, Joan; Verwey, Renée; Hochstenbach, Laura M J; van der Weegen, Sanne; Man, Yan Ping; de Witte, Luc P

2014-05-19

User-centered design (UCD) methodologies can help take the needs and requirements of potential end-users into account during the development of innovative telecare products and services. Understanding how members of multidisciplinary development teams experience the UCD process might help to gain insight into factors that members with different backgrounds consider critical during the development of telecare products and services. The primary objective of this study was to explore how members of multidisciplinary development teams experienced the UCD process of telecare products and services. The secondary objective was to identify differences and similarities in the barriers and facilitators they experienced. Twenty-five members of multidisciplinary development teams of four Research and Development (R&D) projects participated in this study. The R&D projects aimed to develop telecare products and services that can support self-management in elderly people or patients with chronic conditions. Seven participants were representatives of end-users (elderly persons or patients with chronic conditions), three were professional end-users (geriatrician and nurses), five were engineers, four were managers (of R&D companies or engineering teams), and six were researchers. All participants were interviewed by a researcher who was not part of their own development team. The following topics were discussed during the interviews: (1) aim of the project, (2) role of the participant, (3) experiences during the development process, (4) points of improvement, and (5) what the project meant to the participant. Experiences of participants related to the following themes: (1) creating a development team, (2) expectations regarding responsibilities and roles, (3) translating user requirements into technical requirements, (4) technical challenges, (5) evaluation of developed products and services, and (6) valorization. Multidisciplinary team members from different backgrounds often reported similar experienced barriers (eg, different members of the development team speak a "different language") and facilitators (eg, team members should voice expectations at the start of the project to prevent miscommunication at a later stage). However, some experienced barriers and facilitators were reported only by certain groups of participants. For example, only managers reported the experience that having different ideas about what a good business case is within one development team was a barrier, whereas only end-users emphasized the facilitating role of project management in end-user participation and the importance of continuous feedback from researchers on input of end-users. Many similarities seem to exist between the experienced barriers and facilitators of members of multidisciplinary development teams during UCD of telecare products and services. However, differences in experiences between team members from various backgrounds exist as well. Insights into these similarities and differences can improve understanding between team members from different backgrounds, which can optimize collaboration during the development of telecare products and services.

Upgrading physical activity counselling in primary care in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Verwey, Renée; van der Weegen, Sanne; Spreeuwenberg, Marieke; Tange, Huibert; van der Weijden, Trudy; de Witte, Luc

2016-06-01

The systematic development of a counselling protocol in primary care combined with a monitoring and feedback tool to support chronically ill patients to achieve a more active lifestyle. An iterative user-centred design method was used to develop a counselling protocol: the Self-management Support Programme (SSP). The needs and preferences of future users of this protocol were identified by analysing the literature, through qualitative research, and by consulting an expert panel. The counselling protocol is based on the Five A's model. Practice nurses apply motivational interviewing, risk communication and goal setting to support self-management of patients in planning how to achieve a more active lifestyle. The protocol consists of a limited number of behaviour change consultations intertwined with interaction with and responses from the It's LiFe! monitoring and feedback tool. This tool provides feedback on patients' physical activity levels via an app on their smartphone. A summary of these levels is automatically sent to the general practice so that practice nurses can respond to this information. A SSP to stimulate physical activity was defined based on user requirements of care providers and patients, followed by a review by a panel of experts. By following this user-centred approach, the organization of care was carefully taken into account, which has led to a practical and affordable protocol for physical activity counselling combined with mobile technology. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Bioinformatics training: selecting an appropriate learning content management system--an example from the European Bioinformatics Institute.

PubMed

Wright, Victoria Ann; Vaughan, Brendan W; Laurent, Thomas; Lopez, Rodrigo; Brooksbank, Cath; Schneider, Maria Victoria

2010-11-01

Today's molecular life scientists are well educated in the emerging experimental tools of their trade, but when it comes to training on the myriad of resources and tools for dealing with biological data, a less ideal situation emerges. Often bioinformatics users receive no formal training on how to make the most of the bioinformatics resources and tools available in the public domain. The European Bioinformatics Institute, which is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI), holds the world's most comprehensive collection of molecular data, and training the research community to exploit this information is embedded in the EBI's mission. We have evaluated eLearning, in parallel with face-to-face courses, as a means of training users of our data resources and tools. We anticipate that eLearning will become an increasingly important vehicle for delivering training to our growing user base, so we have undertaken an extensive review of Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs). Here, we describe the process that we used, which considered the requirements of trainees, trainers and systems administrators, as well as taking into account our organizational values and needs. This review describes the literature survey, user discussions and scripted platform testing that we performed to narrow down our choice of platform from 36 to a single platform. We hope that it will serve as guidance for others who are seeking to incorporate eLearning into their bioinformatics training programmes.

Perspectives for geographically oriented management of fusarium mycotoxins in the cereal supply chain.

PubMed

van der Fels-Klerx, H J; Booij, C J H

2010-06-01

This article provides an overview of available systems for management of Fusarium mycotoxins in the cereal grain supply chain, with an emphasis on the use of predictive mathematical modeling. From the state of the art, it proposes future developments in modeling and management and their challenges. Mycotoxin contamination in cereal grain-based feed and food products is currently managed and controlled by good agricultural practices, good manufacturing practices, hazard analysis critical control points, and by checking and more recently by notification systems and predictive mathematical models. Most of the predictive models for Fusarium mycotoxins in cereal grains focus on deoxynivalenol in wheat and aim to help growers make decisions about the application of fungicides during cultivation. Future developments in managing Fusarium mycotoxins should include the linkage between predictive mathematical models and geographical information systems, resulting into region-specific predictions for mycotoxin occurrence. The envisioned geographically oriented decision support system may incorporate various underlying models for specific users' demands and regions and various related databases to feed the particular models with (geographically oriented) input data. Depending on the user requirements, the system selects the best fitting model and available input information. Future research areas include organizing data management in the cereal grain supply chain, developing predictive models for other stakeholders (taking into account the period up to harvest), other Fusarium mycotoxins, and cereal grain types, and understanding the underlying effects of the regional component in the models.

Effective user management with high strength crypto -key in dynamic group environment in cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, P. J.; Suganya, P.; Karthik, G.

2017-11-01

Cloud Clusters consists of various collections of files which are being accessed by multiple users of Cloud. The users are managed as a group and the association of the user to a particular group is dynamic in nature. Every group has a manager who handles the membership of a user to a particular group by issuing keys for encryption and decryption. Due to the dynamic nature of a user he/she may leave the group very frequently. But an attempt can be made by the user who has recently left the group to access a file maintained by that group. Key distribution becomes a critical issue while the behavior of the user is dynamic. Existing techniques to manage the users of group in terms of security and key distribution has been investigated so that to arrive at an objective to identify the scopes to increase security and key management scheme in cloud. The usage of various key combinations to measure the strength of security and efficiency of user management in dynamic cloud environment has been investigated.

Service user governors in mental health foundation trusts: accountability or business as usual?

PubMed

MacDonald, Dee; Barnes, Marian; Crawford, Mike; Omeni, Edward; Wilson, Aaron; Rose, Diana

2015-12-01

National Health Foundation Trusts present opportunities for individual mental health service users to be active in the governance of trusts. This is one of a range of mechanisms for patient and public involvement and one which promotes an individual rather than collective approach to involvement. Within the context of a broader study of the impact of service user involvement in mental health services, the objective of this article was to explore the experience of service user governors in foundation trusts and their capacity to hold boards to account. The Council of Governors in three foundation trusts were observed for a year. Focus groups with service user governors were undertaken in each trust. Service users had different expectations and understandings of the role and approached it in different ways. Key themes that emerged concerned: the role of a governor, conduct and content of meetings, agenda setting, relationships and representation. The experiences of mental health service user governors need to be understood within the complex environment of patient and public involvement in general and of mental health service user involvement in particular. The dislocation of the service user governor role from other forms of service user activity and involvement result in confusion about how notions of holding a trust to account and representation of other service users can be addressed within a boundaried institutional environment. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS): A case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crandall, Karen S.; Auping, Judith V.; Megargle, Robert G.

1987-01-01

In the late 70's, a refurbishment of the analytical laboratories serving the Materials Division at NASA Lewis Research Center was undertaken. As part of the modernization efforts, a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) was to be included. Preliminary studies indicated a custom-designed system as the best choice in order to satisfy all of the requirements. A scaled down version of the original design has been in operation since 1984. The LIMS, a combination of computer hardware, provides the chemical characterization laboratory with an information data base, a report generator, a user interface, and networking capabilities. This paper is an account of the processes involved in designing and implementing that LIMS.

Beliefs and Attitudes Associated with ERP Adoption Behaviours: A Grounded Theory Study from IT Manager and End-user Perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arunthari, Santipat; Hasan, Helen

(1998, p. 121) defines an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system as an enterprise system that promises seamless integration of all information flowing through a company, including financial and accounting information, human resource information, supply chain information, customer information. ERP systems came on the scene in the early 1990s as a response to the proliferation of standalone business applications to service these separate information needs in most large organisations. Enterprise wide projects, such as data warehousing, requiring integrated approaches to organisational operations and information management were inhibited through a proliferation of incompatible off-the-shelf packages, in-house developments and aging legacy systems.

A Web-Based GIS for Reporting Water Usage in the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, M.; Deeds, N.; Winckler, M.

2012-12-01

The High Plains Underground Water Conservation District (HPWD) is the largest and oldest of the Texas water conservation districts, and oversees approximately 1.7 million irrigated acres. Recent rule changes have motivated HPWD to develop a more automated system to allow owners and operators to report well locations, meter locations, meter readings, the association between meters and wells, and contiguous acres. INTERA, Inc. has developed a web-based interactive system for HPWD water users to report water usage and for the district to better manage its water resources. The HPWD web management system utilizes state-of-the-art GIS techniques, including cloud-based Amazon EC2 virtual machine, ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE and ArcGIS Viewer for Flex, to support web-based water use management. The system enables users to navigate to their area of interest using a well-established base-map and perform a variety of operations and inquiries against their spatial features. The application currently has six components: user privilege management, property management, water meter registration, area registration, meter-well association and water use report. The system is composed of two main databases: spatial database and non-spatial database. With the help of Adobe Flex application at the front end and ArcGIS Server as the middle-ware, the spatial feature geometry and attributes update will be reflected immediately in the back end. As a result, property owners, along with the HPWD staff, collaborate together to weave the fabric of the spatial database. Interactions between the spatial and non-spatial databases are established by Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services to record water-use report, user-property associations, owner-area associations, as well as meter-well associations. Mobile capabilities will be enabled in the near future for field workers to collect data and synchronize them to the spatial database. The entire solution is built on a highly scalable cloud server to dynamically allocate the computational resources so as to reduce the cost on security and hardware maintenance. In addition to the default capabilities provided by ESRI, customizations include 1) enabling interactions between spatial and non-spatial databases, 2) providing role-based feature editing, 3) dynamically filtering spatial features on the map based on user accounts and 4) comprehensive data validation.

Looking back, looking forward: Recovery journeys in a high secure hospital.

PubMed

McKeown, Mick; Jones, Fiona; Foy, Paul; Wright, Karen; Paxton, Tracey; Blackmon, Mike

2016-06-01

A qualitative study of staff and service users' views of recovery was undertaken in a UK high secure hospital working to implement recovery practices. 30 staff and 25 service users participated in semi-structured interviews or focus groups. Thematic analysis identified four broad accounts of how recovery was made sense of in the high secure environment: the importance of meaningful occupation; valuing relationships; recovery journeys and dialogue with the past; and recovery as personal responsibility. These themes are discussed with an emphasis on service user strategies of cooperation or resistance, respectively advancing or impeding progress through the system. In this context the notion of cooperation is, for many, commensurate with compliance with a dominant medical model. The policy framing of recovery opens up contemplation of treatment alternatives, more participatory approaches to risk management, and emphasise the value of relational skills, but may not elude the overarching bio-psychiatric episteme. © 2016 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Information Tailoring Enhancements for Large-Scale Social Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-15

Linked Accounts: In addition to linking Twitter accounts, users can now link their Instagram accounts. This is encouraged because users can use their...privileges regarding Twitter data collection is shown here.  Instagram Limits: All limits and privileges regarding Instagram data collection is shown...here. Page | 5 Intelligent Automation Incorporated  Analytics Limits: The availability of analytics for Twitter and Instagram is shown

Water Accounting Plus (WA+) - a water accounting procedure for complex river basins based on satellite measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimi, P.; Bastiaanssen, W. G. M.; Molden, D.

2012-11-01

Coping with the issue of water scarcity and growing competition for water among different sectors requires proper water management strategies and decision processes. A pre-requisite is a clear understanding of the basin hydrological processes, manageable and unmanageable water flows, the interaction with land use and opportunities to mitigate the negative effects and increase the benefits of water depletion on society. Currently, water professionals do not have a common framework that links hydrological flows to user groups of water and their benefits. The absence of a standard hydrological and water management summary is causing confusion and wrong decisions. The non-availability of water flow data is one of the underpinning reasons for not having operational water accounting systems for river basins in place. In this paper we introduce Water Accounting Plus (WA+), which is a new framework designed to provide explicit spatial information on water depletion and net withdrawal processes in complex river basins. The influence of land use on the water cycle is described explicitly by defining land use groups with common characteristics. Analogous to financial accounting, WA+ presents four sheets including (i) a resource base sheet, (ii) a consumption sheet, (iii) a productivity sheet, and (iv) a withdrawal sheet. Every sheet encompasses a set of indicators that summarize the overall water resources situation. The impact of external (e.g. climate change) and internal influences (e.g. infrastructure building) can be estimated by studying the changes in these WA+ indicators. Satellite measurements can be used for 3 out of the 4 sheets, but is not a precondition for implementing WA+ framework. Data from hydrological models and water allocation models can also be used as inputs to WA+.

Strategic relevance and accountability expectations: new perspectives for health care information technology design.

PubMed

Tan, J K; Modrow, R E

1999-05-01

In this article, we discuss the traditional systems analysis perspective on end-user information requirements analysis and extend it to merge with the new accountability expectations perspective to guide the future planning and design of health organization information systems. Underlying the strategic relevance of health care information technology (HCIT) are three critical questions: (1) What is the ideal HCIT model for the health organization in terms of achieving strategic expertise and competitive advantage? Specifically, how does this model link industry performance standards with organizational performance and accountability expectations? (2) How should the limitations of past HCIT models be reconciled to the benefits presented by the superior arrangement of the ideal model in the context of changing accountability expectations? (3) How should alternative HCIT solutions be evaluated in light of evidence-based accountability and organizational performance benchmarking? Insights into these questions will ensure that health care managers, HCIT practitioners and researchers can continue to focus on the most critical issues in harnessing today's fast-paced changing technologies for evolving strategically relevant, performance-based health organization systems.

Accounting for enforcement costs in the spatial allocation of marine zones.

PubMed

Davis, Katrina; Kragt, Marit; Gelcich, Stefan; Schilizzi, Steven; Pannell, David

2015-02-01

Marine fish stocks are in many cases extracted above sustainable levels, but they may be protected through restricted-use zoning systems. The effectiveness of these systems typically depends on support from coastal fishing communities. High management costs including those of enforcement may, however, deter fishers from supporting marine management. We incorporated enforcement costs into a spatial optimization model that identified how conservation targets can be met while maximizing fishers' revenue. Our model identified the optimal allocation of the study area among different zones: no-take, territorial user rights for fisheries (TURFs), or open access. The analysis demonstrated that enforcing no-take and TURF zones incurs a cost, but results in higher species abundance by preventing poaching and overfishing. We analyzed how different enforcement scenarios affected fishers' revenue. Fisher revenue was approximately 50% higher when territorial user rights were enforced than when they were not. The model preferentially allocated area to the enforced-TURF zone over other zones, demonstrating that the financial benefits of enforcement (derived from higher species abundance) exceeded the costs. These findings were robust to increases in enforcement costs but sensitive to changes in species' market price. We also found that revenue under the existing zoning regime in the study area was 13-30% lower than under an optimal solution. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for both the benefits and costs of enforcement in marine conservation, particularly when incurred by fishers. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Analysis of emergency physicians' Twitter accounts.

PubMed

Lulic, Ileana; Kovic, Ivor

2013-05-01

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media networks for communication between users via short messages. Technology proficient physicians have demonstrated enthusiasm in adopting social media for their work. To identify and create the largest directory of emergency physicians on Twitter, analyse their user accounts and reveal details behind their connections. Several web search tools were used to identify emergency physicians on Twitter with biographies completely or partially written in English. NodeXL software was used to calculate emergency physicians' Twitter network metrics and create visualisation graphs. The authors found 672 Twitter accounts of self-identified emergency physicians. Protected accounts were excluded from the study, leaving 632 for further analysis. Most emergency physicians were located in USA (55.4%), had created their accounts in 2009 (43.4%), used their full personal name (77.5%) and provided a custom profile picture (92.2%). Based on at least one published tweet in the last 15 days, there were 345 (54.6%) active users on 31 December 2011. Active users mostly used mobile devices based on the Apple operating system to publish tweets (69.2%). Visualisation of emergency physicians' Twitter network revealed many users with no connections with their colleagues, and a small group of most influential users who were highly interconnected. Only a small proportion of registered emergency physicians use Twitter. Among them exists a smaller inner network of emergency physicians with strong social bonds that is using Twitter's full potentials for professional development.

Stakeholder views of management and decision support tools to integrate climate change into Great Lakes Lake Whitefish management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lynch, Abigail J.; Taylor, William W.; McCright, Aaron M.

2016-01-01

Decision support tools can aid decision making by systematically incorporating information, accounting for uncertainties, and facilitating evaluation between alternatives. Without user buy-in, however, decision support tools can fail to influence decision-making processes. We surveyed fishery researchers, managers, and fishers affiliated with the Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis fishery in the 1836 Treaty Waters of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior to assess opinions of current and future management needs to identify barriers to, and opportunities for, developing a decision support tool based on Lake Whitefish recruitment projections with climate change. Approximately 64% of 39 respondents were satisfied with current management, and nearly 85% agreed that science was well integrated into management programs. Though decision support tools can facilitate science integration into management, respondents suggest that they face significant implementation barriers, including lack of political will to change management and perceived uncertainty in decision support outputs. Recommendations from this survey can inform development of decision support tools for fishery management in the Great Lakes and other regions.

Management accounting use and financial performance in public health-care organisations: evidence from the Italian National Health Service.

PubMed

Macinati, Manuela S; Anessi-Pessina, E

2014-07-01

Reforms of the public health-care sector have emphasised the role of management accounting (MA). However, there is little systematic evidence on its use and benefits. To fill this gap, we propose a contingency-based model which addresses three related issues, that is, whether: (i) MA use is influenced by contextual variables and MA design; (ii) top-management satisfaction with MA mediates the relationship between MA design and MA use; and (iii) financial performance is influenced by MA use. A questionnaire was mailed out to all Italian public health-care organisations. Structural equation modelling was performed to validate the research hypotheses. The response rate was 49%. Our findings suggest that: (i) cost-containment strategies encourage more sophisticated MA designs; (ii) MA use is directly and indirectly influenced by contingency, organisational, and behavioural variables; (iii) a weakly significant positive relationship exists between MA use and financial performance. These findings are relevant from the viewpoint of both top managers and policymakers. The former must make sure that MA is not only technically advanced, but also properly understood and appreciated by users. The latter need to be aware that MA may improve performance in ways and along dimensions that may not fully translate into better financial results. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hearing loss on social media: Who is winning hearts and minds?

PubMed

Crowson, Matthew G; Tucci, Debara L; Kaylie, David

2018-06-01

To analyze specific patterns of Twitter usage using common references to hearing loss, and characterize the virtual public that comprises the hearing loss community to inform hearing loss stakeholders for opportunities for engagement and outreach. Social media network analysis. Twitter tweets were sampled from July 2016 to September 2016 using #hearing, #hearingloss, #deaf, #hearingimpairment, #hardofhearing, #deafness, #hearingmatters, #hearinghealth, and #hearingimpaired tags. User and Twitter social community metrics were examined including temporal trends, tweet content, user activity, tweet reach, and an analysis of the tweets' social network. We identified and analyzed 49,208 tweets from July 2016 to September 2016 with tags relevant to hearing loss. Of the 100 most active Twitter accounts, organizations owned 67% compared to 33% owned by individuals. Commercial/for profit and informational organizations were the most common organization account owners (26% and 16%, respectively). Five unique tweets were identified as each having a reach of over 100,000 Twitter users, with the greatest reach exceeding 250,000 users. Temporal analysis identified marked retweet outliers (>300 retweets per hour) that corresponded with a widely publicized event involving the dismissal of a deaf employee from a fast-food chain store. Twitter accounts owned by organizations outnumbered individual accounts, and commercial/for profit user accounts were the most frequently active organization account type. Tweets pertaining to hearing loss may have a broad reach to a large community base. Analyses of social media use can be helpful in discovering issues of interest to the hearing loss community, as well as determining which users and organizations are dominating social network conversations. NA. Laryngoscope, 128:1453-1461, 2018. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Spacelab Data Processing Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The Spacelab Data Processing Facility (SDPF) processes, monitors, and accounts for the payload data from Spacelab and other Shuttle missions and forwards relevant data to various user facilities worldwide. The SLDPF is divided into the Spacelab Input Processing System (SIPS) and the Spacelab Output Processing System (SOPS). The SIPS division demultiplexes, synchronizes, time tags, quality checks, accounts for the data, and formats the data onto tapes. The SOPS division further edits, blocks, formats, and records the data on tape for shipment to users. User experiments must conform to the Spacelab's onboard High Rate Multiplexer (HRM) format for maximum process ability. Audio, analog, instrumentation, high density, experiment data, input/output data, quality control and accounting, and experimental channel tapes along with a variety of spacelab ancillary tapes are provided to the user by SLDPF.

Illegal fishing and territorial user rights in Chile.

PubMed

Oyanedel, Rodrigo; Keim, Andres; Castilla, Juan Carlos; Gelcich, Stefan

2017-11-07

Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14-30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers' incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Medical technology management: from planning to application.

PubMed

David, Y; Jahnke, E

2005-01-01

Appropriate deployment of technological innovation contributes to improvement in the quality of healthcare delivered, the containment of cost, and access to the healthcare system. Hospitals have been allocating a significant portion of their resources to procuring and managing capital assets; they are continuously faced with demands for new medical equipment and are asked to manage existing inventory for which they are not well prepared. To objectively manage their investment, hospitals are developing medical technology management programs that need pertinent information and planning methodology for integrating new equipment into existing operations as well as for optimizing costs of ownership of all equipment. Clinical engineers can identify technological solutions based on the matching of new medical equipment with hospital's objectives. They can review their institution's overall technological position, determine strengths and weaknesses, develop equipment-selection criteria, supervise installations, train users and monitor post procurement performance to assure meeting of goals. This program, together with cost accounting analysis, will objectively guide the capital assets decision-making process. Cost accounting analysis is a multivariate function that includes determining the amount, based upon a strategic plan and financial resources, of funding to be allocated annually for medical equipment acquisition and replacement. Often this function works closely with clinical engineering to establish equipment useful life and prioritization of acquisition, upgrade, and replacement of inventory within budget confines and without conducting time consuming, individual financial capital project evaluations.

The risk environment of anabolic-androgenic steroid users in the UK: Examining motivations, practices and accounts of use.

PubMed

Hanley Santos, Gisella; Coomber, Ross

2017-02-01

The numbers using illicit anabolic-androgenic steroids are a cause of concern for those seeking to reduce health harms. Using the 'risk environment' as a conceptual framework to better comprehend how steroid users' practices and perspectives impact on health risks, this paper examines steroid user motivations, patterns of use, and the ways in which these practices are accounted for. As part of a wider mixed-method study into performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) use and supply in one mid-sized city in South West England, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 22 steroid users. Participants were recruited from a local safer injecting service, rather than bodybuilding gyms, in order to access a wider cross-section of steroid users. A limitation of this approach is potential sample bias towards those showing more health optimising behaviours. The research findings highlight that patterns of steroid use varied according to motivation for use, experience and knowledge gained. Most reported having had little or no knowledge on steroids prior to use, with first use being based on information gained from fellow users or suppliers-sometimes inaccurate or incomplete. In accounting for their practices, many users differentiated themselves from other groups of steroid users-for example, older users expressed concern over patterns of use of younger and (what they saw as) inexperienced steroid users. Implicit in these accounts were intimations that the 'other' group engaged in riskier behaviour than they did. Examining social contexts of use and user beliefs and motivations is vital to understanding how 'risk' behaviours are experienced so that this, in turn, informs harm reduction strategies. This paper examines the ways in which use of steroids is socially situated and the implications of this for policy and practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Production roll out plan for HANDI 2000 business management system

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

Adams, D.E.

The Hanford Data Integration 2000 (HANDI 2000) Project will result in an integrated and comprehensive set of functional applications containing core information necessary to support the Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC). It is based on the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product solution with commercially proven business processes. The COTS product solution set, of Passport (PP) and PeopleSoft (PS) software, supports finance, supply, human resources, and payroll activities under the current PHMC direction. The PP software is an integrated application for Accounts Payable, Contract Management, Inventory Management, Purchasing and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). The PS software is an integrated application for Projects,more » General Ledger, Human Resources Training, Payroll, and Base Benefits. This set of software constitutes the Business Management System (BMS) and MSDS, a subset of the HANDI 2000 suite of systems. The primary objective of the Production Roll Out Plan is to communicate the methods and schedules for implementation and roll out to end users of BMS.« less

Information accountability and usability: are there any connections?

PubMed

Sahama, Tony; Kushniruk, Andre; Kuwata, Shigeki

2013-01-01

Availability of health information is rapidly increasing and the expansion and proliferation of health information is inevitable. The Electronic Healthcare Record, Electronic Medical Record and Personal Health Record are at the core of this trend and are required for appropriate and practicable exchange and sharing of health information. However, it is becoming increasingly recognized that it is essential to preserve patient privacy and information security when utilising sensitive information for clinical, management and administrative processes. Furthermore, the usability of emerging healthcare applications is also becoming a growing concern. This paper proposes a novel approach for integrating consideration of information accountability with a perspective from usability engineering that can be applied when developing healthcare information technology applications. A social networking user case in the healthcare information exchange will be presented in the context of our approach.

Implementation uncertainty when using recreational hunting to manage carnivores

PubMed Central

Bischof, Richard; Nilsen, Erlend B; Brøseth, Henrik; Männil, Peep; Ozoliņš, Jaānis; Linnell, John D C; Bode, Michael

2012-01-01

1. Wildlife managers often rely on resource users, such as recreational or commercial hunters, to achieve management goals. The use of hunters to control wildlife populations is especially common for predators and ungulates, but managers cannot assume that hunters will always fill annual quotas set by the authorities. It has been advocated that resource management models should account for uncertainty in how harvest rules are realized, requiring that this implementation uncertainty be estimated. 2. We used a survival analysis framework and long-term harvest data from large carnivore management systems in three countries (Estonia, Latvia and Norway) involving four species (brown bear, grey wolf, Eurasian lynx and wolverine) to estimate the performance of hunters with respect to harvest goals set by managers. 3. Variation in hunter quota-filling performance was substantial, ranging from 40% for wolverine in Norway to nearly 100% for lynx in Latvia. Seasonal and regional variation was also high within country–species pairs. We detected a positive relationship between the instantaneous potential to fill a quota slot and the relative availability of the target species for both wolverine and lynx in Norway. 4. Survivor curves and hazards – with survival time measured as the time from the start of a season until a quota slot is filled – can indicate the extent to which managers can influence harvest through adjustments of season duration and quota limits. 5. Synthesis and applications. We investigated seven systems where authorities use recreational hunting to manage large carnivore populations. The variation and magnitude of deviation from harvest goals was substantial, underlining the need to incorporate implementation uncertainty into resource management models and decisions-making. We illustrate how survival analysis can be used by managers to estimate the performance of resource users with respect to achieving harvest goals set by managers. The findings in this study come at an opportune time given the growing popularity of management strategy evaluation (MSE) models in fisheries and a push towards incorporating MSE into terrestrial harvest management. PMID:23197878

Improving service user self-management: development and implementation of a strategy for the Richmond Response and Rehabilitation Team.

PubMed

Sanders, Julie; Fitzpatrick, Joanne M

2017-01-01

Community rapid response and rehabilitation teams are used to prevent avoidable hospital admissions for adults living with multiple long-term conditions and to support early hospital discharge by providing short-term intensive multidisciplinary support. Supporting self-management is an important service intervention if desired outcomes are to be achieved. A Care Quality Commission inspection of the Richmond Response and Rehabilitation Team in 2014 identified that self-management plans were not routinely developed with service users and reported this as requiring improvement. This quality improvement project aimed to develop and implement a self-management strategy for service users and for 90% of service users to have a personalised self-management plan within 3 months. The quality improvement intervention used the Plan-Do-Study-Act model comprising: (1) the development of a self-management plan, (2) staff education to support service users to self-manage using motivational interviewing techniques, (3) piloting the self-management plan with service users, (4) implementation of the self-management plan and (5) monthly audit and feedback. Evaluation involved an audit of the number and quality of self-management plans developed with service users and a survey of staff knowledge and confidence to support service users to self-manage. Following implementation of the intervention, the number of self-management plans developed in collaboration with service users increased from 0 to 187 over a 4-week period. Monthly audit data confirmed that this improvement has been sustained. Results indicated that staff knowledge and confidence improved after an education intervention. Quality improvement methods facilitated development and operationalisation of a self-management strategy by a community rapid response and rehabilitation team. The next phase of the project is to evaluate the impact of the self-management strategy on key service outcomes including self-efficacy, unplanned and emergency hospital admissions and early discharges.

Experiences of Multidisciplinary Development Team Members During User-Centered Design of Telecare Products and Services: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background User-centered design (UCD) methodologies can help take the needs and requirements of potential end-users into account during the development of innovative telecare products and services. Understanding how members of multidisciplinary development teams experience the UCD process might help to gain insight into factors that members with different backgrounds consider critical during the development of telecare products and services. Objective The primary objective of this study was to explore how members of multidisciplinary development teams experienced the UCD process of telecare products and services. The secondary objective was to identify differences and similarities in the barriers and facilitators they experienced. Methods Twenty-five members of multidisciplinary development teams of four Research and Development (R&D) projects participated in this study. The R&D projects aimed to develop telecare products and services that can support self-management in elderly people or patients with chronic conditions. Seven participants were representatives of end-users (elderly persons or patients with chronic conditions), three were professional end-users (geriatrician and nurses), five were engineers, four were managers (of R&D companies or engineering teams), and six were researchers. All participants were interviewed by a researcher who was not part of their own development team. The following topics were discussed during the interviews: (1) aim of the project, (2) role of the participant, (3) experiences during the development process, (4) points of improvement, and (5) what the project meant to the participant. Results Experiences of participants related to the following themes: (1) creating a development team, (2) expectations regarding responsibilities and roles, (3) translating user requirements into technical requirements, (4) technical challenges, (5) evaluation of developed products and services, and (6) valorization. Multidisciplinary team members from different backgrounds often reported similar experienced barriers (eg, different members of the development team speak a “different language”) and facilitators (eg, team members should voice expectations at the start of the project to prevent miscommunication at a later stage). However, some experienced barriers and facilitators were reported only by certain groups of participants. For example, only managers reported the experience that having different ideas about what a good business case is within one development team was a barrier, whereas only end-users emphasized the facilitating role of project management in end-user participation and the importance of continuous feedback from researchers on input of end-users. Conclusions Many similarities seem to exist between the experienced barriers and facilitators of members of multidisciplinary development teams during UCD of telecare products and services. However, differences in experiences between team members from various backgrounds exist as well. Insights into these similarities and differences can improve understanding between team members from different backgrounds, which can optimize collaboration during the development of telecare products and services. PMID:24840245

Social networking sites: a novel portal for communication.

PubMed

Farmer, A D; Bruckner Holt, C E M; Cook, M J; Hearing, S D

2009-09-01

The internet has transformed many spheres of society. Most notably the advent of social networking websites, such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, have attracted many millions of users worldwide. There are over 350 such sites in operation across the internet. There is a paucity of data in the adult literature examining the medical usage of this interesting facet of modern life. To ascertain whether Facebook has user groups that are connected with common medical conditions, and to classify the user groups that were identified as well as enumerating the number of individual users contained therein. We conducted a search of the entire Facebook website between December 2007 and January 2009. We used medical and lay nomenclature for the most prevalent non-communicable diseases as identified from the World Health Organisation Burden of Disease publication to identify whether they were represented among individual Facebook users and user groups. We identified 290,962 individual users who were part of 757 groups. Patient groups accounted for 47.4%, patient/carer support groups 28.1%, fund raising groups 18.6%, and others 5.8%. Notably, there were other groups containing representations from the scientific research community in addition to educational resources. The groups with the most individual members pertained to malignant neoplasms and cardiovascular disease (141,458 users) consistent with their worldwide prevalence. Facebook is providing a readily accessible portal for patients, carers and healthcare professionals to share their experiences of investigation, diagnosis and management of disease. Furthermore, this technology is being used for research, education and fundraising. Further research is warranted to explore the further potential of this new technology.

Enabling Earth Science: The Facilities and People of the NCCS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

The NCCS's mass data storage system allows scientists to store and manage the vast amounts of data generated by these computations, and its high-speed network connections allow the data to be accessed quickly from the NCCS archives. Some NCCS users perform studies that are directly related to their ability to run computationally expensive and data-intensive simulations. Because the number and type of questions scientists research often are limited by computing power, the NCCS continually pursues the latest technologies in computing, mass storage, and networking technologies. Just as important as the processors, tapes, and routers of the NCCS are the personnel who administer this hardware, create and manage accounts, maintain security, and assist the scientists, often working one on one with them.

Specialized microbial databases for inductive exploration of microbial genome sequences

PubMed Central

Fang, Gang; Ho, Christine; Qiu, Yaowu; Cubas, Virginie; Yu, Zhou; Cabau, Cédric; Cheung, Frankie; Moszer, Ivan; Danchin, Antoine

2005-01-01

Background The enormous amount of genome sequence data asks for user-oriented databases to manage sequences and annotations. Queries must include search tools permitting function identification through exploration of related objects. Methods The GenoList package for collecting and mining microbial genome databases has been rewritten using MySQL as the database management system. Functions that were not available in MySQL, such as nested subquery, have been implemented. Results Inductive reasoning in the study of genomes starts from "islands of knowledge", centered around genes with some known background. With this concept of "neighborhood" in mind, a modified version of the GenoList structure has been used for organizing sequence data from prokaryotic genomes of particular interest in China. GenoChore , a set of 17 specialized end-user-oriented microbial databases (including one instance of Microsporidia, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, a member of Eukarya) has been made publicly available. These databases allow the user to browse genome sequence and annotation data using standard queries. In addition they provide a weekly update of searches against the world-wide protein sequences data libraries, allowing one to monitor annotation updates on genes of interest. Finally, they allow users to search for patterns in DNA or protein sequences, taking into account a clustering of genes into formal operons, as well as providing extra facilities to query sequences using predefined sequence patterns. Conclusion This growing set of specialized microbial databases organize data created by the first Chinese bacterial genome programs (ThermaList, Thermoanaerobacter tencongensis, LeptoList, with two different genomes of Leptospira interrogans and SepiList, Staphylococcus epidermidis) associated to related organisms for comparison. PMID:15698474

Review of HIV and HCV infection among drug users in China.

PubMed

Bao, Yan-ping; Liu, Zhi-min; Lu, Lin

2010-05-01

Drug abuse has resulted in a huge public health and economic burden in China, especially the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Multiple HIV and HCV subtypes were detected among drug users in China, this study reviews the molecular distribution of HIV and HCV among injection drug users (IDUs) and explores new epidemiologic trends of HIV and HCV among drug users in China. The 2009 National Narcotic Control Commission report showed that the percentage of users of 'new-type drugs', including amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS: methamphetamine and MDMA/ecstasy) and ketamine, was about 27% of total drug users. The pooled data from published papers showed that CRF07BC was the predominant HIV-1 subtype, which accounted for 38.8%, and it was followed by AE, which accounted for 22.7% among HIV-positive IDUs. Following these, the CRF08BC, B' and C subtypes accounted for about 10.8%, 9.9% and 9.2%, respectively. Subtype 6a was the predominant HCV subtype, accounting for 36.7%, and subtypes 3b, 1a, 3a and 1b were the next most predominant subtypes. With the increase of 'new-type drugs' use and AE HIV-1 subtype infection among IDUs, the situation regarding HIV/AIDS and HCV infection has become complicated. More comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies should be instigated for the extensive high-risk populations in China.

A telemonitoring tool based on serious games addressing money management skills for people with intellectual disability.

PubMed

Lopez-Basterretxea, Asier; Mendez-Zorrilla, Amaia; Garcia-Zapirain, Begonya

2014-02-25

This article presents a telemonitoring tool based on computer games, aimed at money management skill improvement for people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). The presented tool is divided into two parts: on one hand, some training activities related to payments and currency discrimination based on Serious Games are proposed to the user using a multitouch device. On the other hand, the psychologists and specialist who work with them, can access to the Serious Games results using an online application in order to evaluate their evolution. The results are measured according to the number of errors they have during the proposed activities, the time they need to complete them and the score. The article show the results of an experiment made with a clinical sample of 12 users with ID between 12 and 15 years, taking into account that all of them are capable of correct oral communication and they do not have severe physical coordination problems. Only two users completed all the games without errors. Males obtained a mean of 28.25 errors, whereas females obtained a mean of 17.75. The results show significant difference between the selection of games 1, 2 or 3, because all of them prefer the game 1 related with "Payments" probably because it permits more interaction using the multitouch device. The authors also made a qualitative evaluation and the results have been very promising and satisfactory.

Achieving progress through clinical governance? A national study of health care managers' perceptions in the NHS in England

PubMed Central

Freeman, T; Walshe, K

2004-01-01

Background: A national cross sectional study was undertaken to explore the perceptions concerning the importance of, and progress in, aspects of clinical governance among board level and directorate managers in English acute, ambulance, and mental health/learning disabilities (MH/LD) trusts. Participants: A stratified sample of acute, ambulance, and mental health/learning disabilities trusts in England (n = 100), from each of which up to 10 board level and 10 directorate level managers were randomly sampled. Methods: Fieldwork was undertaken between April and July 2002 using the Organisational Progress in Clinical Governance (OPCG) schedule to explore managers' perceptions of the importance of, and organisational achievement in, 54 clinical governance competency items in five aggregated domains: improving quality; managing risks; improving staff performance; corporate accountability; and leadership and collaboration. The difference between ratings of importance and achievement was termed a shortfall. Results: Of 1916 individuals surveyed, 1177 (61.4%) responded. The competency items considered most important and recording highest perceived achievement related to corporate accountability structures and clinical risks. The highest shortfalls between perceived importance and perceived achievement were reported in joint working across local health communities, feedback of performance data, and user involvement. When aggregated into domains, greatest achievement was perceived in the assurance related areas of corporate accountability and risk management, with considerably less perceived achievement and consequently higher shortfalls in quality improvement and leadership and collaboration. Directorate level managers' perceptions of achievement were found to be significantly lower than those of their board level colleagues on all domains other than improving performance. No differences were found in perceptions of achievement between different types of trusts, or between trusts at different stages in the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) review cycle. Conclusions: While structures and systems for clinical governance seem well established, there is more perceived progress in areas concerned with quality assurance than quality improvement. This study raises some uncomfortable questions about the impact of CHI review visits. PMID:15465936

Achieving progress through clinical governance? A national study of health care managers' perceptions in the NHS in England.

PubMed

Freeman, T; Walshe, K

2004-10-01

A national cross sectional study was undertaken to explore the perceptions concerning the importance of, and progress in, aspects of clinical governance among board level and directorate managers in English acute, ambulance, and mental health/learning disabilities (MH/LD) trusts. A stratified sample of acute, ambulance, and mental health/learning disabilities trusts in England (n = 100), from each of which up to 10 board level and 10 directorate level managers were randomly sampled. Fieldwork was undertaken between April and July 2002 using the Organisational Progress in Clinical Governance (OPCG) schedule to explore managers' perceptions of the importance of, and organisational achievement in, 54 clinical governance competency items in five aggregated domains: improving quality; managing risks; improving staff performance; corporate accountability; and leadership and collaboration. The difference between ratings of importance and achievement was termed a shortfall. Of 1916 individuals surveyed, 1177 (61.4%) responded. The competency items considered most important and recording highest perceived achievement related to corporate accountability structures and clinical risks. The highest shortfalls between perceived importance and perceived achievement were reported in joint working across local health communities, feedback of performance data, and user involvement. When aggregated into domains, greatest achievement was perceived in the assurance related areas of corporate accountability and risk management, with considerably less perceived achievement and consequently higher shortfalls in quality improvement and leadership and collaboration. Directorate level managers' perceptions of achievement were found to be significantly lower than those of their board level colleagues on all domains other than improving performance. No differences were found in perceptions of achievement between different types of trusts, or between trusts at different stages in the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) review cycle. While structures and systems for clinical governance seem well established, there is more perceived progress in areas concerned with quality assurance than quality improvement. This study raises some uncomfortable questions about the impact of CHI review visits.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program climate research facility operations quarterly report October 1 - December 31, 2006.

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

Sisterson, D. L.

2007-03-14

Individual raw data streams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF) fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real time. Raw and processed data are then sent daily to the ACRF Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual data stream, site, and monthmore » for the current year and (2) site and fiscal year dating back to 1998. Table 1 shows the accumulated maximum operation time (planned uptime), the actual hours of operation, and the variance (unplanned downtime) for the period October 1 through December 31, 2006, for the fixed and mobile sites. Although the AMF is currently up and running in Niamey, Niger, Africa, the AMF statistics are reported separately and not included in the aggregate average with the fixed sites. The first quarter comprises a total of 2,208 hours. For all fixed sites, the actual data availability (and therefore actual hours of operation) exceeded the individual (and well as aggregate average of the fixed sites) operational goal for the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2007. The Site Access Request System is a web-based database used to track visitors to the fixed sites, all of which have facilities that can be visited. The NSA locale has the Barrow and Atqasuk sites. The SGP site has a Central Facility, 23 extended facilities, 4 boundary facilities, and 3 intermediate facilities. The TWP locale has the Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites. NIM represents the AMF statistics for the current deployment in Niamey, Niger, Africa. PYE represents the AMF statistics for the Point Reyes, California, past deployment in 2005. In addition, users who do not want to wait for data to be provided through the ACRF Archive can request an account on the local site data system. The eight research computers are located at the Barrow and Atqasuk sites; the SGP Central Facility; the TWP Manus, Nauru, and Darwin sites; the DMF at PNNL; and the AMF in Niger. This report provides the cumulative numbers of visitors and user accounts by site for the period January 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006. The U.S. Department of Energy requires national user facilities to report facility use by total visitor days-broken down by institution type, gender, race, citizenship, visitor role, visit purpose, and facility-for actual visitors and for active user research computer accounts. During this reporting period, the ACRF Archive did not collect data on user characteristics in this way. Work is under way to collect and report these data. Table 2 shows the summary of cumulative users for the period January 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006. For the first quarter of FY 2007, the overall number of users is up from the last reporting period. The historical data show that there is an apparent relationship between the total number of users and the 'size' of field campaigns, called Intensive Operation Periods (IOPs): larger IOPs draw more of the site facility resources, which are reflected by the number of site visits and site visit days, research accounts, and device accounts. These types of users typically collect and analyze data in near-real time for a site-specific IOP that is in progress. However, the Archive accounts represent persistent (year-to-year) ACRF data users that often mine from the entire collection of ACRF data, which mostly includes routine data from the fixed and mobile sites, as well as cumulative IOP data sets. Archive data users continue to show a steady growth, which is independent of the size of IOPs. For this quarter, the number of Archive data user accounts was 961, the highest since record-keeping began. For reporting purposes, the three ACRF sites and the AMF operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 52 weeks per year. Although the AMF is not officially collecting data this quarter, personnel are regularly involved with teardown, packing, hipping, unpacking, setup, and maintenance activities, so they are included in the safety statistics. Time is reported in days instead of hours. If any lost work time is incurred by any employee, it is counted as a workday loss. Table 3 reports the consecutive days since the last recordable or reportable injury or incident causing damage to property, equipment, or vehicle for the period October 1 - December 31, 2006. There were no recordable or lost workdays or incidents for the first quarter of FY 2007.« less

Perceived Case Management Needs and Service Preferences of Frequent Emergency Department Users: Lessons Learned in a Large Urban Centre.

PubMed

Kahan, Deborah; Poremski, Daniel; Wise-Harris, Deborah; Pauly, Daniel; Leszcz, Molyn; Wasylenki, Donald; Stergiopoulos, Vicky

2016-01-01

This study aimed to explore the service needs and preferences of frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions concerns who participated in a brief intensive case management intervention. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 20 frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions challenges, 13 service providers involved in the delivery of a brief case management intervention, and a focus group with intervention case managers. Thematic analysis was used to explore perceived service user profiles, service needs and preferences of care. Service users experienced complex health and social needs and social isolation, while exhibiting resilience and the desire to contribute. They described multiple instances of stigmatization in interactions with healthcare professionals. Components of the brief intensive case management intervention perceived to be helpful included system navigation, advocacy, intermediation, and practical needs assistance. Frequent service users valued relational responsiveness, a non-judgmental stance, and a recovery orientation in case managers. Interventions for frequent service users in mental health may be enhanced by focusing on the engagement of formal and informal social supports, practical needs assistance, system navigation, advocacy and intermediation, and attention to the recovery goals of service users.

Interpretation of Series National Standards of China on “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting and Reporting for Enterprises”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Liang; Zong, Jianfang; Guo, Huiting; Sun, Liang; Liu, Mei

2018-05-01

Standardization is playing an increasingly important role in reducing greenhouse gas emission and in climatic change adaptation, especially in the “three” greenhouse gas emission aspects (measurement, report, verification). Standardization has become one of the most important ways in mitigating the global climate change. Standardization Administration of China (SAC) has taken many productive measures in actively promoting standardization work to cope with climate change. In April 2014, SAC officially approved the establishment of “National Carbon Emission Management Standardization Technical Committee” In November 2015, SAC officially issued the first 11 national standards on carbon management including <> and the requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting in 10 sectors including power generation, power grid, iron and steel, chemical engineering, electrolytic aluminum, magnesium smelting, plate glass, cement, ceramics and civil aviation, which proposes unified requirements of “what to calculate and how to calculate” the greenhouse gas emission for enterprises. This paper focuses on the detailed interpretation of the main contents of the first 11 national standards, so as to provide technical supports for users of the standards and to comprehensively promote the emission reduction of greenhouse gas at the enterprise level.

Proactive pavement asset management with climate change aspects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zofka, Adam

2018-05-01

Pavement Asset Management System is a systematic and objective tool to manage pavement network based on the rational, engineering and economic principles. Once implemented and mature Pavement Asset Management System serves the entire range of users starting with the maintenance engineers and ending with the decision-makers. Such a system is necessary to coordinate agency management strategy including proactive maintenance. Basic inputs in the majority of existing Pavement Asset Management System approaches comprise the actual pavement inventory with associated construction history and condition, traffic information as well as various economical parameters. Some Pavement Management System approaches include also weather aspects which is of particular importance considering ongoing climate changes. This paper presents challenges in implementing the Pavement Asset Management System for those National Road Administrations that manage their pavement assets using more traditional strategies, e.g. worse-first approach. Special considerations are given to weather-related inputs and associated analysis to demonstrate the effects of climate change in a short- and long-term range. Based on the presented examples this paper concludes that National Road Administrations should account for the weather-related factors in their Pavement Management Systems as this has a significant impact on the system outcomes from the safety and economical perspective.

Usability and Functional Enhancements to an Online Interface for Predicting Post Fire Erosion (WEPP-PEP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lew, Roger; Dobre, Mariana; Elliot, William; Robichaud, Pete; Brooks, Erin; Frankenberger, Jim

2017-04-01

There is an increased interest in the United States to use soil burn severity maps in watershed-scale hydrologic models to estimate post-fire sediment erosion from burned areas. This information is needed by stakeholders in order to concentrate their pre- or post-fire management efforts in ecologically sensitive areas to decrease the probability of post-fire sediment delivery. But these tools traditionally have been time consuming and difficult to use by managers because input datasets must be obtained and correctly processed for valid results. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) has previously been developed as an online and easy-to-use interface to help land managers with running simulations without any knowledge of computer programming or hydrologic modeling. The interface automates the acquisition of DEM, climate, soils, and landcover data, and also automates channel and hillslope delineation for the users. The backend is built with Mapserver, GDAL, PHP, C++, Python while the front end uses OpenLayers, and, of course, JavaScript. The existing WEPP online interface was enhanced to provide better usability to stakeholders in United States (Forest Service, BLM, USDA) as well as to provide enhanced functionality for managing both pre-fire and post-fire treatments. Previously, only site administrators could add burn severity maps. The interface now allows users to create accounts to upload and share FlamMap prediction maps, differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR), or Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) maps. All maps are loaded into a sortable catalog so users can quickly find their area of interest. Once loaded, the interface has been modified to support running comparisons between baseline condition with "no burn" and with a burn severity classification map. The interface has also been enhanced to allow users to conduct single storm analyses to examine, for example, how much soil loss would result after a 100-year storm. An OpenLayers map allows users to overlay the watershed hillslopes and channels, burn severity, and erosion. The interface provides flowpath results for each hillslope and at the outlet, as well as return period and frequency analysis reports. Once problematic areas have been identified, the interface allows users to export the watershed in a format that can be used by the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) and Disturbed WEPP (post-disturbance modeling) for more detailed hillslope-level analyses. Numerous other changes were made to improve the overall usability of the interface: allow simulations in both SI and English units, added immovable pop-up dialogs to guide the users, and removed extraneous information from the interface. In upcoming months, a workshop will be conducted to demonstrate these new capabilities to stakeholders. Efforts are underway to use site-specific SSURGO soils to that are modified based on burn severity rather than using generic soil classes.

Use of paired management action grids for ease in depicting differences between users' and managers' perceptions of problems

Treesearch

R. J. Steele; James E. Fletcher

1992-01-01

This research was to determine whether differences exist between users and managers concerning perceptions of actual and perceived problems in parks and primarily to present a method of graphically depicting the differing perceptions of problems which exist between users and park managers which can be easily employed by area managers and related to the public, upper...

Waste Management Information System (WMIS) User Guide

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

R. E. Broz

2008-12-22

This document provides the user of the Waste Management Information System (WMIS) instructions on how to use the WMIS software. WMIS allows users to initiate, track, and close waste packages. The modular design supports integration and utilization of data throuh the various stages of waste management. The phases of the waste management work process include generation, designation, packaging, container management, procurement, storage, treatment, transportation, and disposal.

Hanford business structure for HANDI 2000 business management system

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

Wilson, D.

The Hanford Business Structure integrates the project`s technical, schedule, and cost baselines; implements the use of a standard code of accounts; and streamlines performance reporting and cost collection. Technical requirements drive the technical functions and come from the RDD 100 database. The functions will be identified in the P3 scheduling system and also in the PeopleSoft system. Projects will break their work down from the technical requirements in the P3 schedules. When the level at which they want to track cost via the code of accounts is reached, a Project ID will be generated in the PeopleSoft system. P3 maymore » carry more detailed schedules below the Project ID level. The standard code of accounts will identify discrete work activities done across the site and various projects. They will include direct and overhead type work scopes. Activities in P3 will roll up to this standard code of accounts. The field that will be used to record this in PeopleSoft is ``Activity``. In Passport it is a user-defined field. It will have to be added to other feeder systems. Project ID and code of accounts are required fields on all cost records.« less

A web-based clinical trial management system for a sham-controlled multicenter clinical trial in depression.

PubMed

Durkalski, Valerie; Wenle Zhao; Dillon, Catherine; Kim, Jaemyung

2010-04-01

Clinical trial investigators and sponsors invest vast amounts of resources and energy into conducting trials and often face daily challenges with data management, project management, and data quality control. Rather than waiting months for study progress reports, investigators need the ability to use real-time data for the coordination and management of study activities across all study team members including site investigators, oversight committees, data and safety monitoring boards, and medical safety monitors. Web-based data management systems are beginning to meet this need but what distinguishes one system from the other are user needs/requirements and cost. To illustrate the development and implementation of a web-based data and project management system for a multicenter clinical trial designed to test the superiority of repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation versus sham for the treatment of patients with major depression. The authors discuss the reasons for not using a commercially available system for this study and describe the approach to developing their own web-based system for the OPT-TMS study. Timelines, effort, system architecture, and lessons learned are shared with the hope that this information will direct clinical trial researchers and software developers towards more efficient, user-friendly systems. The developers use a combination of generic and custom application code to allow for the flexibility to adapt the system to the needs of the study. Features of the system include: central participant registration and randomization; secure data entry at the site; participant progress/study calendar; safety data reporting; device accounting; monitor verification; and user-configurable generic reports and built-in customized reports. Hard coding was more time-efficient to address project-specific issues compared with the effort of creating a generic code application. As a consequence of this strategy, the required maintenance of the system is increased and the value of using this system for other trials is reduced. Web-based central computerized systems offer time-saving, secure options for managing clinical trial data. The choice of a commercially available system or an internally developed system is determined by the requirements of the study and users. Pros and cons to both approaches were discussed. If the intention is to use the system for various trials (single and multi-center, phases I-III) across various therapeutic areas, then the overall design should be a generic structure that simplifies the general application with minimal loss of functionality.

Risk and threat factors in prior representations of driving situations among powered two-wheeler riders and car drivers.

PubMed

Ragot-Court, Isabelle; Mundutéguy, Christophe; Fournier, Jean-Yves

2012-11-01

Our research objective is to contribute to gaining a better understanding of the difficulties inherent to managing interactions between power two-wheeler riders and car drivers. 132 power two-wheeler riders and 94 car drivers have been asked what they perceive as being riskiest in driving situations for the representatives of their generic reference group. From all the answers produced, only those which provide information on risk factors related to the other and the occurrence of interferences due to the dynamic situation have been retained and analysed. The results provide a partial explanation of the difficulties related to the two types of users' taking each other into account. On the one hand, the frequency with which the other is mentioned as a source of risk is linked to the concept of conspicuity. This interpretation is related to the relative frequency of the interactions and the difference of real and perceived vulnerability between the users. On the other hand, the specific risk factors attributed to the other illustrates a mutual misunderstanding or ignorance of the driving situation's determinants. These include various practices among users which can be related to the physical and dynamic characteristics of their vehicle and their level of familiarity with other users. The potential road safety consequences of prior representations of risk factors among users are presented and suggestions for improving road user safety are proposed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advancing the Big Five of user-oriented care and accounting for its variations.

PubMed

Kajonius, Petri; Kazemi, Ali

2016-01-01

Care process quality (i.e. how care is enacted by a care worker toward a client at the interpersonal level) is a strong predictor of satisfaction in a wide range of health care services. The purpose of this paper is to describe the basic elements of care process quality as user-oriented care. Specifically, the questions of how and why quality in user-oriented care varies were investigated in the context of elderly care. Two municipalities were selected for in-depth field studies. First, in each municipality, the authors interviewed and observed care workers' interactions with the older persons in both home care and nursing homes during two weeks (Study 1). Second, in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of why process quality in terms of user-oriented care varies, the authors conducted interviews with care workers and care unit managers (Study 2). A new taxonomy for categorizing process quality variation, the Big Five of user-oriented care (task-focus, person-focus, affect, cooperation, and time-use), is proposed. In addition, the perceived reasons for process quality variation are reported in our own developed Quality Agents Model, suggesting that variations in care process evaluations may be explained from different perspectives at multiple levels (i.e., older person, care worker-, unit-, department-, and municipality level). The proposed taxonomy and model are useful for describing user-oriented care quality and the reasons for its variations. These findings are of relevance for future quality developments of elderly care services, but also may be adapted to applications in any other enterprise employing a user-oriented approach.

Accounting Data to Web Interface Using PERL

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

Hargeaves, C

2001-08-13

This document will explain the process to create a web interface for the accounting information generated by the High Performance Storage Systems (HPSS) accounting report feature. The accounting report contains useful data but it is not easily accessed in a meaningful way. The accounting report is the only way to see summarized storage usage information. The first step is to take the accounting data, make it meaningful and store the modified data in persistent databases. The second step is to generate the various user interfaces, HTML pages, that will be used to access the data. The third step is tomore » transfer all required files to the web server. The web pages pass parameters to Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts that generate dynamic web pages and graphs. The end result is a web page with specific information presented in text with or without graphs. The accounting report has a specific format that allows the use of regular expressions to verify if a line is storage data. Each storage data line is stored in a detailed database file with a name that includes the run date. The detailed database is used to create a summarized database file that also uses run date in its name. The summarized database is used to create the group.html web page that includes a list of all storage users. Scripts that query the database folder to build a list of available databases generate two additional web pages. A master script that is run monthly as part of a cron job, after the accounting report has completed, manages all of these individual scripts. All scripts are written in the PERL programming language. Whenever possible data manipulation scripts are written as filters. All scripts are written to be single source, which means they will function properly on both the open and closed networks at LLNL. The master script handles the command line inputs for all scripts, file transfers to the web server and records run information in a log file. The rest of the scripts manipulate the accounting data or use the files created to generate HTML pages. Each script will be described in detail herein. The following is a brief description of HPSS taken directly from an HPSS web site. ''HPSS is a major development project, which began in 1993 as a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between government and industry. The primary objective of HPSS is to move very large data objects between high performance computers, workstation clusters, and storage libraries at speeds many times faster than is possible with today's software systems. For example, HPSS can manage parallel data transfers from multiple network-connected disk arrays at rates greater than 1 Gbyte per second, making it possible to access high definition digitized video in real time.'' The HPSS accounting report is a canned report whose format is controlled by the HPSS developers.« less

Understanding the Effects of Users' Behaviors on Effectiveness of Different Exogenous Regulatory Common Pool Resource Management Institutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madani, K.; Dinar, A.

2013-12-01

Tragedy of the commons is generally recognized as one of the possible destinies for common pool resources (CPRs). To avoid the tragedy of the commons and prolonging the life of CPRs, users may show different behavioral characteristics and use different rationales for CPR planning and management. Furthermore, regulators may adopt different strategies for sustainable management of CPRs. The effectiveness of different regulatory exogenous management institutions cannot be evaluated through conventional CPR models since they assume that either users base their behavior on individual rationality and adopt a selfish behavior (Nash behavior), or that the users seek the system's optimal solution without giving priority to their own interests. Therefore, conventional models fail to reliably predict the outcome of CPR problems in which parties may have a range of behavioral characteristics, putting them somewhere in between the two types of behaviors traditionally considered. This work examines the effectiveness of different regulatory exogenous CPR management institutions through a user-based model (as opposed to a system-based model). The new modeling framework allows for consideration of sensitivity of the results to different behavioral characteristics of interacting CPR users. The suggested modeling approach is applied to a benchmark groundwater management problem. Results indicate that some well-known exogenous management institutions (e.g. taxing) are ineffective in sustainable management of CPRs in most cases. Bankruptcy-based management can be helpful, but determination of the fair level of cutbacks remains challenging under this type of institution. Furthermore, some bankruptcy rules such as the Constrained Equal Award (CEA) method are more beneficial to wealthier users, failing to establish social justice. Quota-based and CPR status-based management perform as the most promising and robust regulatory exogenous institutions in prolonging the CPR's life and increasing the long-term benefits to its users.

Perceived Case Management Needs and Service Preferences of Frequent Emergency Department Users: Lessons Learned in a Large Urban Centre

PubMed Central

Kahan, Deborah; Poremski, Daniel; Wise-Harris, Deborah; Pauly, Daniel; Leszcz, Molyn; Wasylenki, Donald; Stergiopoulos, Vicky

2016-01-01

Objectives This study aimed to explore the service needs and preferences of frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions concerns who participated in a brief intensive case management intervention. Methods We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 20 frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions challenges, 13 service providers involved in the delivery of a brief case management intervention, and a focus group with intervention case managers. Thematic analysis was used to explore perceived service user profiles, service needs and preferences of care. Results Service users experienced complex health and social needs and social isolation, while exhibiting resilience and the desire to contribute. They described multiple instances of stigmatization in interactions with healthcare professionals. Components of the brief intensive case management intervention perceived to be helpful included system navigation, advocacy, intermediation, and practical needs assistance. Frequent service users valued relational responsiveness, a non-judgmental stance, and a recovery orientation in case managers. Conclusion Interventions for frequent service users in mental health may be enhanced by focusing on the engagement of formal and informal social supports, practical needs assistance, system navigation, advocacy and intermediation, and attention to the recovery goals of service users. PMID:28002491

[Evaluation of the family focus and community orientation in the Family Health Strategy].

PubMed

Alencar, Monyk Neves de; Coimbra, Liberata Campos; Morais, Ana Patrícia Pereira; Silva, Antônio Augusto Moura da; Pinheiro, Siane Rocha de Almeida; Queiroz, Rejane Christine de Sousa

2014-02-01

The Family Health Strategy should be focused on the family unit and constructed operationally within the community sphere. The research assessed the family focus and community orientation as attributes of Primary Health Care, comparing if the responses differed among users, professionals and managers. It is an evaluative study of a population-based quantitative approach conducted between January 2010 and March 2011 in São Luís in the state of Maranhão. The study involved a population of 32 managers and 80 professionals with more than six months experience in the Family Health Strategy, and 883 users were selected by means of cluster sampling. Questionnaires validated in Brazil were used based on the components of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool). The composite index of the family focus was 2.7 for users, 4.9 for professionals and 5.3 for managers. In the posttest phase, differences were detected between users and professionals, and users and managers. The composite index of community orientation was 2.9 for users, 3.9 for professionals and 4.8 for managers (p < 0.001). Managers attributed higher percentages in all indicators, followed by professionals and lastly users. Both attributes were rated as being unsatisfactory in the perception of the users.

Personalizing Information Retrieval Using Task Features, Topic Knowledge, and Task Products

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Jingjing

2010-01-01

Personalization of information retrieval tailors search towards individual users to meet their particular information needs by taking into account information about users and their contexts, often through implicit sources of evidence such as user behaviors and contextual factors. The current study looks particularly at users' dwelling behavior,…

An Empirical Investigation of the Relevant Skills of Forensic Accountants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiGabriele, James A.

2008-01-01

The author investigated whether views of the relevant skills of forensic accountants differ among forensic accounting practitioners, accounting academics, and users of forensic accounting services. Universities and colleges are currently considering adding forensic accounting courses to their curriculum. The results of the present study provide…

7 CFR 354.4 - User fees for certain domestic services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OVERTIME SERVICES RELATING TO IMPORTS AND EXPORTS; AND USER... appropriate, his or her agent, agrees to maintain a balance in the user fee payment account equal to the cost...

7 CFR 354.4 - User fees for certain domestic services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OVERTIME SERVICES RELATING TO IMPORTS AND EXPORTS; AND USER... appropriate, his or her agent, agrees to maintain a balance in the user fee payment account equal to the cost...

Evaluation of the user requirements processes for NASA terrestrial applications programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

To support the evolution of increasingly sound user requirements definition processes that would meet the broad range of NASA's terrestrial applications planning and management needs during the 1980's, the user requirements processes as they function in the real world at the senior and middle management levels were evaluated. Special attention was given to geologic mapping and domestic crop reporting to provide insight into problems associated with the development and management of user established conventional practices and data sources. An attempt was made to identify alternative NASA user interfaces that sustain strengths, alleviate weaknesses, maximize application to multiple problems, and simplify management cognizance. Some of the alternatives are outlined and evaluated. It is recommended that NASA have an identified organizational point of focus for consolidation and oversight of the user processes.

Quality, value, accountability and information as transforming strategies for patient-centred care: a commentary from an international perspective.

PubMed

Ramirez, Bernardo; Nazaretian, Mihran

2005-01-01

The reviewed paper describes how one of the largest integrated healthcare systems in the US has successfully transformed itself to provide 21st-century healthcare. Even though there are other examples of successful transformation of public health services, it is difficult for large, bureaucratic systems to change, and a substantial number of ministries of health or social security health systems in the developing world are run under the assumption that change is very difficult if not impossible to achieve. The VA has significant differences and more financial resources compared to most of the developing world public health institutions; but still, change is often not only about money, but also about strategic direction, commitment and leadership. On the basis of the main strategies used by the VA in its transformation process, the author makes some comments and suggestions for improving developing world healthcare organizations through lessons learned from the VA management strategies. Demand-driven or patient-centred systems are key for success and for the buy-in and involvement of the population and users of healthcare services, but this is easier said than done, especially in developing healthcare systems with immature information systems, access mechanisms and knowledge management. There is a belief in general that large bureaucratic organizations have a hard time adapting and transforming in response to the rapid change of society, technology and most importantly the needs and expectations of their users. The article describes how the largest integrated healthcare organization in the United States, the Veterans Health Administration, has undertaken changes that have turned it into a modern, well-managed organization that outperforms its competitors and has significantly increased its efficiency and users' satisfaction.

Evaluation of a Modified User Guide for Hearing Aid Management.

PubMed

Caposecco, Andrea; Hickson, Louise; Meyer, Carly; Khan, Asaduzzaman

2016-01-01

This study investigated if a hearing aid user guide modified using best practice principles for health literacy resulted in superior ability to perform hearing aid management tasks, compared with the user guide in the original form. This research utilized a two-arm study design to compare the original manufacturer's user guide with a modified user guide for the same hearing aid--an Oticon Acto behind-the-ear aid with an open dome. The modified user guide had a lower reading grade level (4.2 versus 10.5), used a larger font size, included more graphics, and had less technical information. Eighty-nine adults ages 55 years and over were included in the study; none had experience with hearing aid use or management. Participants were randomly assigned either the modified guide (n = 47) or the original guide (n = 42). All participants were administered the Hearing Aid Management test, designed for this study, which assessed their ability to perform seven management tasks (e.g., change battery) with their assigned user guide. The regression analysis indicated that the type of user guide was significantly associated with performance on the Hearing Aid Management test, adjusting for 11 potential covariates. In addition, participants assigned the modified guide required significantly fewer prompts to perform tasks and were significantly more likely to perform four of the seven tasks without the need for prompts. The median time taken by those assigned the modified guide was also significantly shorter for three of the tasks. Other variables associated with performance on the Hearing Aid Management test were health literacy level, finger dexterity, and age. Findings indicate that the need to design hearing aid user guides in line with best practice principles of health literacy as a means of facilitating improved hearing aid management in older adults.

Detailed Design and Implementation of a Multiprogramming Operating System for Sixteen-Bit Microprocessors.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

4 Multiuser Support ...... .......... 11-5 User Interface . .. .. ................ .. 11- 7 Inter -user Communications ................ 11- 7 Memory...user will greatly help facilitate the learning process. Inter -User Communication The inter -user communications of the operating system can be done using... inter -user communications would be met by using one or both of them. AMemory and File Management Memory and file management is concerned with four basic

A Survey of Health Management User Objectives Related to Diagnostic and Prognostic Metrics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wheeler, Kevin R.; Kurtoglu, Tolga; Poll, Scott D.

2010-01-01

One of the most prominent technical challenges to effective deployment of health management systems is the vast difference in user objectives with respect to engineering development. In this paper, a detailed survey on the objectives of different users of health management systems is presented. These user objectives are then mapped to the metrics typically encountered in the development and testing of two main systems health management functions: diagnosis and prognosis. Using this mapping, the gaps between user goals and the metrics associated with diagnostics and prognostics are identified and presented with a collection of lessons learned from previous studies that include both industrial and military aerospace applications.

DooSo6: Easy Collaboration over Shared Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignat, Claudia-Lavinia; Oster, Gérald; Molli, Pascal

Existing tools for supporting parallel work feature some disadvantages that prevent them to be widely used. Very often they require a complex installation and creation of accounts for all group members. Users need to learn and deal with complex commands for efficiently using these collaborative tools. Some tools require users to abandon their favourite editors and impose them to use a certain co-authorship application. In this paper, we propose the DooSo6 collaboration tool that offers support for parallel work, requires no installation, no creation of accounts and that is easy to use, users being able to continue working with their favourite editors. User authentication is achieved by means of a capability-based mechanism.

Electromedical devices test laboratories accreditation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murad, C.; Rubio, D.; Ponce, S.; Álvarez Abri, A.; Terrón, A.; Vicencio, D.; Fascioli, E.

2007-11-01

In the last years, the technology and equipment at hospitals have been increase in a great way as the risks of their implementation. Safety in medical equipment must be considered an important issue to protect patients and their users. For this reason, test and calibrations laboratories must verify the correct performance of this kind of devices under national and international standards. Is an essential mission for laboratories to develop their measurement activities taking into account a quality management system. In this article, we intend to transmit our experience working to achieve an accredited Test Laboratories for medical devices in National technological University.

Patient Data Synchronization Process in a Continuity of Care Environment

PubMed Central

Haras, Consuela; Sauquet, Dominique; Ameline, Philippe; Jaulent, Marie-Christine; Degoulet, Patrice

2005-01-01

In a distributed patient record environment, we analyze the processes needed to ensure exchange and access to EHR data. We propose an adapted method and the tools for data synchronization. Our study takes into account the issues of user rights management for data access and of decreasing the amount of data exchanged over the network. We describe a XML-based synchronization model that is portable and independent of specific medical data models. The implemented platform consists of several servers, of local network clients, of workstations running user’s interfaces and of data exchange and synchronization tools. PMID:16779049

The safety attitudes of people who use multi-purpose recreation facilities as a physical activity setting.

PubMed

Finch, Caroline F; Otago, Leonie; White, Peta; Donaldson, Alex; Mahoney, Mary

2011-06-01

Multi-purpose recreation facilities (MPRFs) are a popular setting for physical activity and it is therefore important that they are safe for all patrons. However, the attitudes of MPRF users towards safety are a potential barrier to the success of injury prevention programmes implemented within MPRFs. This article reports a survey of the safety attitudes of over 700 users of four indoor MPRFs. Factor analysis of 12 five-point Likert scale statements showed that the attitudes clustered around three major dimensions - the importance of safety, the benefits of safety and the perceptions of injury risk. Together, these three dimensions accounted for 49% of the variability in the attitudes. More than 85% of respondents agreed/strongly agreed that: safety was an important aspect of physical activity participation; being injured affected enjoyment of physical activity; people should adopt appropriate safety measures for all physical activity; and individuals were responsible for their own safety. The MPRF users, particularly women and older people, were generally safety conscious, believed in adopting safety measures, and were willing to take responsibility for their own safety. Facility managers can be confident that if they provide evidence-based injury prevention interventions in these settings, then users will respond appropriately and adopt the promoted behaviours.

Detecting Anomalous Insiders in Collaborative Information Systems

PubMed Central

Chen, You; Nyemba, Steve; Malin, Bradley

2012-01-01

Collaborative information systems (CISs) are deployed within a diverse array of environments that manage sensitive information. Current security mechanisms detect insider threats, but they are ill-suited to monitor systems in which users function in dynamic teams. In this paper, we introduce the community anomaly detection system (CADS), an unsupervised learning framework to detect insider threats based on the access logs of collaborative environments. The framework is based on the observation that typical CIS users tend to form community structures based on the subjects accessed (e.g., patients’ records viewed by healthcare providers). CADS consists of two components: 1) relational pattern extraction, which derives community structures and 2) anomaly prediction, which leverages a statistical model to determine when users have sufficiently deviated from communities. We further extend CADS into MetaCADS to account for the semantics of subjects (e.g., patients’ diagnoses). To empirically evaluate the framework, we perform an assessment with three months of access logs from a real electronic health record (EHR) system in a large medical center. The results illustrate our models exhibit significant performance gains over state-of-the-art competitors. When the number of illicit users is low, MetaCADS is the best model, but as the number grows, commonly accessed semantics lead to hiding in a crowd, such that CADS is more prudent. PMID:24489520

Lead User Design: Medication Management in Electronic Medical Records.

PubMed

Price, Morgan; Weber, Jens H; Davies, Iryna; Bellwood, Paule

2015-01-01

Improvements in medication management may lead to a reduction of preventable errors. Usability and user experience issues are common and related to achieving benefits of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). This paper reports on a novel study that combines the lead user method with a safety engineering review to discover an innovative design for the medication management module in EMRs in primary care. Eight lead users were recruited that represented prescribers and clinical pharmacists with expertise in EMR design, evidence-based medicine, medication safety and medication research. Eight separate medication management module designs were prototyped and validated, one with each lead user. A parallel safety review of medicaiton management was completed. The findings were synthesized into a single common set of goals, activities and one interactive, visual prototype. The lead user method with safety review proved to be an effective way to elicit diverse user goals and synthesize them into a common design. The resulting design ideas focus on meeting the goals of quality, efficiency, safety, reducing the cognitive load on the user, and improving communication wih the patient and the care team. Design ideas are being adapted to an existing EMR product, providing areas for further work.

Phisherman v 1.0

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

Phisherman is an online software tool that was created to help experimenters study phishing. It can potentially be re-purposed to run other human studies. Phisherman enables studies to be run online, so that users can participate from their own computers. This means that experimenters can get data from subjects in their natural settings. Alternatively, an experimenter can also run the app online in a lab-based setting, if that is desired. The software enables the online deployment of a study that is comprised of three main parts: (1) a consent page, (2) a survey, and (3) an identification task, with instruction/transitionmore » screens between each part, allowing the experimenter to provide the user with instructions and messages. Upon logging in, the subject is taken to the permission page, where they agree to or do not agree to take part in the study. If the subject agrees to participate, then the software randomly chooses between doing the survey first (and identification task second) or the identification task first (and survey second). This is to balance possible order effects in the data. Procedurally, in the identification task, the software shows the stimuli to the subject, and asks if she thinks it is a phish (yes/no) and how confident she is about her answer. The subject is given 5 levels of certainty to select from, labeled "low" (1), to "medium" (3), to "high" (5), with the option of picking a level between low and medium (2), and between medium and high (4). After selecting his/her confidence level, then the "Next" button activates, allowing a user to move to the next email. The software saves a given subject's progress in the identification task, so that she may log in and out of the site. The consent page is a space for the experimenter to provide the subject with human studies board /internal review board information, and to formally consent to participate in the study. The survey is a space for the experimenter to provide questions and spaces for the users to input answers (allowing both multiple-choice and free-answer options). Phisherman includes administrative pages for managing the stimuli and users. This includes a tool for the experimenter to create, preview, edit, delete (if desired), and manage stimuli (emails). The stimuli may include pictures (uploaded to an appropriate folder) and links, for realism. The software includes a safety feature that prevents the user from going to any link location or opening a file/image. Instead of re-directing the subject's browser, the software provides a pop-up box with the URL location of where the user would have gone. Another administrative page may be used to create fake subject accounts for testing the software prior to deployment, as well as to delete subject accounts when necessary. Data from the experiment can be downloaded from another administrative page.« less

Characteristics and drug utilization patterns for heavy users of prescription drugs among the elderly: a Danish register-based drug utilization study.

PubMed

Øymoen, Anita; Pottegård, Anton; Almarsdóttir, Anna Birna

2015-06-01

The objectives of this study were to (1) identify and characterize heavy users of prescription drugs among persons aged 60 years and above; (2) investigate the association of demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related variables with being a heavy drug user; and (3) study the most frequently used drugs among heavy drug users and development in use over time. This is a descriptive study. Heavy drug users were defined as the accumulated top 1 percentile who accounted for the largest share of prescription drug use measured in number of dispensed defined daily doses (DDDs). The nationwide Danish registers were used to obtain data. Multivariable logistic binary regression was used to determine which factors were associated with being a heavy drug user. Heavy drug users among persons aged 60 years and above accounted for 6.8, 6.0, and 5.5% of prescription drug use in 2002, 2007, and 2012, respectively. Male gender, those aged 60-69 years, being divorced, shorter education, low annual income, and recent hospitalization were all significantly associated with being in the top 1 percentile group of drug users (p < 0.05). The ten most frequently used drug classes among heavy drug users accounted for 75.4% of their use in 2012, and five of these were cardiovascular drugs. The development over time for the ten most used drug classes followed the same pattern among heavy drug users and in the general population. There is a skewed utilization of prescription drugs. Contrary to earlier findings, being male was associated with heavy prescription drug use both with respect to number of drugs used and drug expenditure.

Electronic referrals: what matters to the users.

PubMed

Warren, Jim; Gu, Yulong; Day, Karen; White, Sue; Pollock, Malcolm

2012-01-01

Between September 2010 and May 2011 we evaluated three implementations of electronic referral (eReferral) systems at Hutt Valley, Northland and Canterbury District Health Boards in New Zealand. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through project documentation, database records and stakeholder interviews. This paper reports on the user perspectives based on interviews with 78 clinical, management and operational stakeholders in the three regions. Themes that emerge across the regions are compared and synthesised. Interviews focused on pre-planned domains including quality of referral, ease of use and patient safety, but agendas were adapted progressively to elaborate and triangulate on themes emerging from earlier interviews and to clarify indications from analysis of database records. The eReferral users, including general practitioners, specialists and administrative staff, report benefits in the areas of: (1) availability and transparency of referral-related data; (2) work transformation; (3) improved data quality and (4) the convenience of auto-population from the practice management system into the referral forms. eReferral provides enhanced visibility of referral data and status within the limits of the implementation (which only goes to the hospital door in some cases). Users in all projects indicated the desire to further exploit IT to enhance two-way communication between community and hospital. Reduced administrative handling is a clear work transformation benefit with mixed feedback regarding clinical workload impact. Innovations such as GP eReferral triaging teams illustrate the further potential for workflow transformation. Consistent structure in eReferrals, as well as simple legibility, enhances data quality. Efficiency and completeness is provided by auto-population of forms from system data, but opens issues around data accuracy. All three projects highlight the importance of user involvement in design, implementation and refinement. In keeping with this, Canterbury utilises a systematic pathway definition process that brings together GPs and specialist to debate and agree on the local management of a condition. User feedback exposes many opportunities for improving usability. The findings are based on individual experiences accounted by participating stakeholders; the risk of bias is mitigated, however, by triangulation across three distinct implementations of eReferrals. Quantitative follow-up on key outstanding issues, notably impact of structured eReferral forms on GP time to write a referral, is warranted. Key eReferral users include clinicians on both ends of the referral process as well as the administrative staff. User experience in three eReferral projects has shown that they particularly appreciate improvement of referral visibility, as well as information quality; promising workflow transformations have been achieved in some places. Auto-population of forms leads to opportunities, and issues, that are prompting further attention to data quality. While the importance of user feedback should be obvious, it is not universal to seek it or to provide resources to effectively follow up with improvements driven by such feedback. To maximise benefits, innovative health IT projects must take an iterative approach guided by ongoing user experience.

77 FR 62283 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-12

... using a Nasdaq Workstation or Weblink ACT 2.0 user account. Member firms subscribing to the ACT Reject... Workstation and Weblink ACT 2.0 user account selected for subscription to the ACT Reject Scan service. Nasdaq..., per month. Use of the ACT Reject Scan service is voluntary and the subscription fee will be imposed on...

A Cross-Cultural Usability Study on the Internationalization of User Interfaces Based on an Empirical Five Factor Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chakraborty, Joyram

2009-01-01

With the internationalization of e-commerce, it is no longer viable to design one user interface for all environments. Web-based applications and services can be accessed from all over the globe. To account for this globalization process, software developers need to understand that simply accounting for language translation of their websites for…

Online decision support system for surface irrigation management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wenchao; Cui, Yuanlai

2017-04-01

Irrigation has played an important role in agricultural production. Irrigation decision support system is developed for irrigation water management, which can raise irrigation efficiency with few added engineering services. An online irrigation decision support system (OIDSS), in consist of in-field sensors and central computer system, is designed for surface irrigation management in large irrigation district. Many functions have acquired in OIDSS, such as data acquisition and detection, real-time irrigation forecast, water allocation decision and irrigation information management. The OIDSS contains four parts: Data acquisition terminals, Web server, Client browser and Communication system. Data acquisition terminals are designed to measure paddy water level, soil water content in dry land, ponds water level, underground water level, and canals water level. A web server is responsible for collecting meteorological data, weather forecast data, the real-time field data, and manager's feedback data. Water allocation decisions are made in the web server. Client browser is responsible for friendly displaying, interacting with managers, and collecting managers' irrigation intention. Communication system includes internet and the GPRS network used by monitoring stations. The OIDSS's model is based on water balance approach for both lowland paddy and upland crops. Considering basic database of different crops water demands in the whole growth stages and irrigation system engineering information, the OIDSS can make efficient decision of water allocation with the help of real-time field water detection and weather forecast. This system uses technical methods to reduce requirements of user's specialized knowledge and can also take user's managerial experience into account. As the system is developed by the Browser/Server model, it is possible to make full use of the internet resources, to facilitate users at any place where internet exists. The OIDSS has been applied in Zhanghe Irrigation District (Center China) to manage the required irrigation deliveries. Two years' application indicates that the proposed OIDSS can achieve promising performance for surface irrigation. Historical data of rice growing period in 2014 has been applied to test the OIDSS: it gives out 3 irrigation decisions, which is consistent with actual irrigation times and the forecast irrigation dates are well fit with the actual situations; the corresponding amount of total irrigation decreases by 15.13% compared to those without using the OIDSS.

Evaluating user impacts and management controls: Implications for recreation choice behavior

Treesearch

Harriet H. Christensen; Nanette J. Davis

1985-01-01

This paper describes potential factors affecting recreation choice behavior. Freedom and lack of constraints are experiences frequently sought by recreationists. Data in the paper are based on questionnaires completed by agency managers and informal conversations with users in the Mount Rainier area of Washington State. Managers' and users' perceptions of...

A Telemonitoring Tool based on Serious Games Addressing Money Management Skills for People with Intellectual Disability

PubMed Central

Lopez-Basterretxea, Asier; Mendez-Zorrilla, Amaia; Garcia-Zapirain, Begonya

2014-01-01

This article presents a telemonitoring tool based on computer games, aimed at money management skill improvement for people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). The presented tool is divided into two parts: on one hand, some training activities related to payments and currency discrimination based on Serious Games are proposed to the user using a multitouch device. On the other hand, the psychologists and specialist who work with them, can access to the Serious Games results using an online application in order to evaluate their evolution. The results are measured according to the number of errors they have during the proposed activities, the time they need to complete them and the score. The article show the results of an experiment made with a clinical sample of 12 users with ID between 12 and 15 years, taking into account that all of them are capable of correct oral communication and they do not have severe physical coordination problems. Only two users completed all the games without errors. Males obtained a mean of 28.25 errors, whereas females obtained a mean of 17.75. The results show significant difference between the selection of games 1, 2 or 3, because all of them prefer the game 1 related with “Payments” probably because it permits more interaction using the multitouch device. The authors also made a qualitative evaluation and the results have been very promising and satisfactory. PMID:24573223

Smart sensing to drive real-time loads scheduling algorithm in a domotic architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santamaria, Amilcare Francesco; Raimondo, Pierfrancesco; De Rango, Floriano; Vaccaro, Andrea

2014-05-01

Nowadays the focus on power consumption represent a very important factor regarding the reduction of power consumption with correlated costs and the environmental sustainability problems. Automatic control load based on power consumption and use cycle represents the optimal solution to costs restraint. The purpose of these systems is to modulate the power request of electricity avoiding an unorganized work of the loads, using intelligent techniques to manage them based on real time scheduling algorithms. The goal is to coordinate a set of electrical loads to optimize energy costs and consumptions based on the stipulated contract terms. The proposed algorithm use two new main notions: priority driven loads and smart scheduling loads. The priority driven loads can be turned off (stand by) according to a priority policy established by the user if the consumption exceed a defined threshold, on the contrary smart scheduling loads are scheduled in a particular way to don't stop their Life Cycle (LC) safeguarding the devices functions or allowing the user to freely use the devices without the risk of exceeding the power threshold. The algorithm, using these two kind of notions and taking into account user requirements, manages loads activation and deactivation allowing the completion their operation cycle without exceeding the consumption threshold in an off-peak time range according to the electricity fare. This kind of logic is inspired by industrial lean manufacturing which focus is to minimize any kind of power waste optimizing the available resources.

A Smartphone Application Significantly Improved Diabetes Self-Care Activities with High User Satisfaction

PubMed Central

Kim, Yu Jin; Byun, Jong Kyu; Park, So Young; Hong, Soo Min; Chin, Sang Ouk; Chon, Suk; Oh, Seungjoon; Woo, Jeong-taek; Kim, Sung Woon; Kim, Young Seol

2015-01-01

Background We developed for the first time a smartphone application designed for diabetes self-management in Korea and registered a patent for the relevant algorithm. We also investigated the user satisfaction with the application and the change in diabetes related self-care activities after using the application. Methods We conducted a questionnaire survey on volunteers with diabetes who were using the application. Ninety subjects responded to the questionnaire between June 2012 and March 2013. A modified version of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) was used in this study. Results The survey results exhibited a mean subject age of 44.0 years old, and males accounted for 78.9% of the subjects. Fifty percent of the subjects had diabetes for less than 3 years. The majority of respondents experienced positive changes in their clinical course after using the application (83.1%) and were satisfied with the structure and completeness of the application (86.7%). Additionally, the respondents' answers indicated that the application was easy to use (96.7%) and recommendable to others (97.7%) and that they would continue using the application to manage their diabetes (96.7%). After using the Diabetes Notepad application, diabetes related self-care activities assessed by SDSCA displayed statistically significant improvements (P<0.05), except for the number of days of drinking. Conclusion This smartphone-based application can be a useful tool leading to positive changes in diabetes related self-care activities and increase user satisfaction. PMID:26124991

Volunteered Cloud Computing for Disaster Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, J. D.; Hao, W.; Chettri, S. R.

2014-12-01

Disaster management relies increasingly on interpreting earth observations and running numerical models; which require significant computing capacity - usually on short notice and at irregular intervals. Peak computing demand during event detection, hazard assessment, or incident response may exceed agency budgets; however some of it can be met through volunteered computing, which distributes subtasks to participating computers via the Internet. This approach has enabled large projects in mathematics, basic science, and climate research to harness the slack computing capacity of thousands of desktop computers. This capacity is likely to diminish as desktops give way to battery-powered mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) in the consumer market; but as cloud computing becomes commonplace, it may offer significant slack capacity -- if its users are given an easy, trustworthy mechanism for participating. Such a "volunteered cloud computing" mechanism would also offer several advantages over traditional volunteered computing: tasks distributed within a cloud have fewer bandwidth limitations; granular billing mechanisms allow small slices of "interstitial" computing at no marginal cost; and virtual storage volumes allow in-depth, reversible machine reconfiguration. Volunteered cloud computing is especially suitable for "embarrassingly parallel" tasks, including ones requiring large data volumes: examples in disaster management include near-real-time image interpretation, pattern / trend detection, or large model ensembles. In the context of a major disaster, we estimate that cloud users (if suitably informed) might volunteer hundreds to thousands of CPU cores across a large provider such as Amazon Web Services. To explore this potential, we are building a volunteered cloud computing platform and targeting it to a disaster management context. Using a lightweight, fault-tolerant network protocol, this platform helps cloud users join parallel computing projects; automates reconfiguration of their virtual machines; ensures accountability for donated computing; and optimizes the use of "interstitial" computing. Initial applications include fire detection from multispectral satellite imagery and flood risk mapping through hydrological simulations.

Geophysical approach for emergency management of landslide: the experience of Basilicata Civil Protection (southern Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colangelo, G.; Lapenna, V.; Perrone, A.; Loperte, A.

2009-04-01

The Basilicata region (Southern Italy), being dissected by numerous and often significant rivers and characterized by the outcrop of terrains with bad mechanical properties, is one of the more exposed regions of the southern Apennine chain to hydrogeologic hazard and shows a complete panorama of mass movements. During the last years, after strong precipitations, this region has been affected by the reactivation of many quiescent landslides that involved buildings and infrastructures constructed on the slopes. The risk for people and assets needed the intervention of the end users involved in the risk management and, in particular, the inspection of Regional Department of Infrastructure and Civil Protection (RDICP). In many involved areas and for many families evacuation decrees have been issued in order to allow the damage valuation. An important contribution has been provided by the geophysical data and, in particular, by the 2D electrical resistivity tomographies (ERTs) that have been carried out in the areas some days after the event by IMAA-CNR. In this work we present the results regarding the application of unconventional geoelectrical techniques used for the emergency management of landslide in Basilicata Region (southern Italy). The information obtained by the application of indirect surveys appeared to be particularly useful for the end users involved in the risks management. In particular, taking into account the cycle of landslides emergency, the obtained data could give a valid contribution during the post-event phase which mainly regards the damage valuation. Indeed, only a corrected assessment of the damage and a precise geometric reconstruction of the landslide body, can direct the intervention actions of the end users. The results represent a valid cognitive support to choose the most appropriate technical solution for strengthening of the slopes and an example of best practice for the cooperation between the research activity (IMAA-CNR) and field emergency (Regional Civil Protection).

Costs associated with implementation of computer-assisted clinical decision support system for antenatal and delivery care: case study of Kassena-Nankana district of northern Ghana.

PubMed

Dalaba, Maxwell Ayindenaba; Akweongo, Patricia; Williams, John; Saronga, Happiness Pius; Tonchev, Pencho; Sauerborn, Rainer; Mensah, Nathan; Blank, Antje; Kaltschmidt, Jens; Loukanova, Svetla

2014-01-01

This study analyzed cost of implementing computer-assisted Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) in selected health care centres in Ghana. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in the Kassena-Nankana district (KND). CDSS was deployed in selected health centres in KND as an intervention to manage patients attending antenatal clinics and the labour ward. The CDSS users were mainly nurses who were trained. Activities and associated costs involved in the implementation of CDSS (pre-intervention and intervention) were collected for the period between 2009-2013 from the provider perspective. The ingredients approach was used for the cost analysis. Costs were grouped into personnel, trainings, overheads (recurrent costs) and equipment costs (capital cost). We calculated cost without annualizing capital cost to represent financial cost and cost with annualizing capital costs to represent economic cost. Twenty-two trained CDSS users (at least 2 users per health centre) participated in the study. Between April 2012 and March 2013, users managed 5,595 antenatal clients and 872 labour clients using the CDSS. We observed a decrease in the proportion of complications during delivery (pre-intervention 10.74% versus post-intervention 9.64%) and a reduction in the number of maternal deaths (pre-intervention 4 deaths versus post-intervention 1 death). The overall financial cost of CDSS implementation was US$23,316, approximately US$1,060 per CDSS user trained. Of the total cost of implementation, 48% (US$11,272) was pre-intervention cost and intervention cost was 52% (US$12,044). Equipment costs accounted for the largest proportion of financial cost: 34% (US$7,917). When economic cost was considered, total cost of implementation was US$17,128-lower than the financial cost by 26.5%. The study provides useful information in the implementation of CDSS at health facilities to enhance health workers' adherence to practice guidelines and taking accurate decisions to improve maternal health care.

Persistent Identifiers in Earth science data management environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weigel, Tobias; Stockhause, Martina; Lautenschlager, Michael

2014-05-01

Globally resolvable Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) that carry additional context information (which can be any form of metadata) are increasingly used by data management infrastructures for fundamental tasks. The notion of a Persistent Identifier is originally an abstract concept that aims to provide identifiers that are quality-controlled and maintained beyond the life time of the original issuer, for example through the use of redirection mechanisms. Popular implementations of the PID concept are for example the Handle System and the DOI System based on it. These systems also move beyond the simple identification concept by providing facilities that can hold additional context information. Not only in the Earth sciences, data managers are increasingly attracted to PIDs because of the opportunities these facilities provide; however, long-term viable principles and mechanisms for efficient organization of PIDs and context information are not yet available or well established. In this respect, promising techniques are to type the information that is associated with PIDs and to construct actionable collections of PIDs. There are two main drivers for extended PID usage: Earth science data management middleware use cases and applications geared towards scientific end-users. Motivating scenarios from data management include hierarchical data and metadata management, consistent data tracking and improvements in the accountability of processes. If PIDs are consistently assigned to data objects, context information can be carried over to subsequent data life cycle stages much easier. This can also ease data migration from one major curation domain to another, e.g. from early dissemination within research communities to formal publication and long-term archival stages, and it can help to document processes across technical and organizational boundaries. For scientific end users, application scenarios include for example more personalized data citation and improvements in the amount of context available for unfamiliar datasets. We can see how Earth system model data is spatially and temporally transformed to better fit the differing scenarios relevant in consecutive life cycle stages. At the end, users often want to cite and use distinct subsets of data which are disseminated through e-science infrastructures. If actionable collections of fine-granular PIDs are available, much more precise citation and use can be supported. This can also help to establish interoperable input and output references for processing tasks during intermediate life cycle stages. The current working draft API of the Research Data Alliance's working group on PID Information Types combined with more elaborate collection mechanisms can provide the necessary foundations and tools to enable wide-spread use of PIDs for data life cycle management and user applications. This contribution will highlight some of the available mechanisms and existing efforts with particular focus on applications for institutional data management and e-science infrastructures such as the Earth System Grid Federation.

Health workers' views of a program to facilitate physical health care in mental health settings: implications for implementation and training.

PubMed

Baker, Wendy; Harris, Melanie; Battersby, Malcolm

2014-12-01

Physical comorbidities shorten the lifespan of people with severe mental illness therefore mental health clinicians need to support service users in risk factor-related behaviour change. We investigated mental health care workers' views of a physical health self-management support program in order to identify implementation requirements. Qualitative interviews were conducted with workers who had differing levels of experience with a self-management support program. Themes were identified using interpretive descriptive analysis and then matched against domains used in implementation models to draw implications for successful practice change. Three main themes emerged related to: (1) understandings of disease management within job roles; (2) requirements for putting self-management support into practice; and (3) challenges of coordination in disease management. Priority domains from implementation models were inner and outer health service settings. While staff training is required, practice change for care which takes account of both mental and physical health also requires changes in organisational frameworks. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

User requirements for NASA data base management systems. Part 1: Oceanographic discipline

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fujimoto, B.

1981-01-01

Generic oceanographic user requirements were collected and analyzed for use in developing a general multipurpose data base management system for future missions of the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA) of NASA. The collection of user requirements involved; studying the state-of-the-art technology in data base management systems; analyzing the results of related studies; formulating a viable and diverse list of scientists to be interviewed; developing a presentation format and materials; and interviewing oceanographic data users. More effective data management systems are needed to handle the increasing influx of data.

Prerequisite Change and Its Effect on Intermediate Accounting Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Jiunn; O'Shaughnessy, John; Wagner, Robin

2005-01-01

As of Fall 1996, San Francisco State University changed its introductory financial accounting course to focus on a "user's" perspective, de-emphasizing the accounting cycle. Anticipating that these changes could impair subsequent performance, the Department of Accounting instituted a new prerequisite for intermediate accounting: Students would…

Public accountability needs to be enforced -a case study of the governance arrangements and accountability practices in a rural health district in Ghana.

PubMed

Van Belle, Sara; Mayhew, Susannah H

2016-10-12

Improving public accountability is currently high on the global agenda. At the same time, the organisation of health services in low- and middle-income countries is taking place in fragmented institutional landscapes. State and non-state actors are involved in increasingly complex governance arrangements. This often leads to coordination problems, confusion of roles and responsibilities and possibly accountability gaps. This study aimed at assessing the governance arrangements and the accountability practices of key health actors at the level of a Ghanaian health district with the aim to understand how far public accountability is achieved. We adopted the case study design as it allows for in-depth analysis of the governance arrangements and accountability relations between actors, their formal policies and actual accountability practices towards the public and towards stakeholders. Data were collected at a rural health district using in-depth interviews, observation and document review. In the analysis, we used a four-step sequence: identification of the key actors and their relationships, description of the multi-level governance arrangements, identification of the actual accountability relations and practices between all actors and finally appraisal of the public accountability practices, which we define as those practices that ensure direct accountability towards the public. In this rural health district with few (international) non-governmental organisations and private sector providers, accountability linkages towards management and partners in health programmes were found to be strong. Direct accountability towards the public, however, was woefully underdeveloped. This study shows that in settings where there is a small number of actors involved in organising health care, and where the state actors are underfunded, the intense interaction can lead to a web of relations that favours collaboration between partners in health service delivery, but fails public accountability. It is clear that new formal channels need to be created by all actors involved in health service delivery to address the demand of the public for accountability. If the public does not find an adequate response to its genuine concerns, distrust between communities and service users on one hand, and providers, international non-governmental organisations and District Health Management Teams on the other is likely to increase to the detriment of all parties' interests.

End-user searching: impetus for an expanding information management and technology role for the hospital librarian.

PubMed Central

Klein, M S; Ross, F

1997-01-01

Using the results of the 1993 Medical Library Association (MLA) Hospital Libraries Section survey of hospital-based end-user search services, this article describes how end-user search services can become an impetus for an expanded information management and technology role for the hospital librarian. An end-user services implementation plan is presented that focuses on software, hardware, finances, policies, staff allocations and responsibilities, educational program design, and program evaluation. Possibilities for extending end-user search services into information technology and informatics, specialized end-user search systems, and Internet access are described. Future opportunities are identified for expanding the hospital librarian's role in the face of changing health care management, advances in information technology, and increasing end-user expectations. PMID:9285126

Lesson 6: Registration

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Lesson 6 provides CROMERR checklist items grouped under the Registration Process, where users establish their accounts in the system. This process typically requires users to provide information about them.

TERSSE: Definition of the Total Earth Resources System for the Shuttle Era. Volume 7: User Models: A System Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

User models defined as any explicit process or procedure used to transform information extracted from remotely sensed data into a form useful as a resource management information input are discussed. The role of the user models as information, technological, and operations interfaces between the TERSSE and the resource managers is emphasized. It is recommended that guidelines and management strategies be developed for a systems approach to user model development.

[Questionnaire survey of the actual working conditions of care-managers].

PubMed

Yagame, Mitsunori; Takasuna, Hiroko; Aoki, Jun'ichi; Abe, Mitsuhiro; Ogiwara, Masumi; Saito, Norimoto; Shiozaki, Yoshihiro; Nagai, Masako; Yamano, Atsushi; Yoshitaki, Ken'ichi; Yonehana, Nao; Tanaka, Chieko; Seto, Tsunehiko; Saito, Manabu; Narukawa, Yoshio

2003-12-01

In order to clarify the present status of care-managers, a questionnaire was sent to 1,714 care-managers working in Kanagawa Prefecture in June 2002. The aspects Investigated included their background, amount of care-management and degree of achievement, conditions of employment, opinion poll and training system. The response rate was 45.6% (782 out of 1,714). Concerning the total number of users in care at present, 37% of care-managers had less than 30 people, 24% from 31 to 50 and, surprisingly, 39% had more than 51 people. However, 42% answered that less than 30 was an appropriate number of users, 52% said 31 to 50 and only 6% answered that more than 51 people was an appropriate number. The conferences of users service representative were held only 8%. Concerning the burden of care-management, 87% of them answered the evaluation of every month and 86% did the conferences of users service representative. The cases requiring much time for the support, had problems not only the users but also in the household, who lacked the understanding and judgment for long-term care insurance. Most care-managers needed information on the available services and newly open care-service institutions. 27% of care-managers satisfied their care-management, 25% dissatisfied and the remainder were neither off nor on. The satisfaction to the care-management correlated well with the intelligibility of the management leader, motivation regarding care-management and the degree of satisfaction with their income. It is concluded that the number of users per care-manager is too large, and that unfortunately it might further increase in the future. The conferences of users service representative were extremely held too low. It is also showed that information of the other service office and informal service with the exception of long-term care insurance are required.

[Questionnaire survey of the actual working conditions of care-managers].

PubMed

Yagame, Mitsunori; Takasuna, Hiroko; Aoki, Jun'ichi; Abe, Mitsuhiro; Ogiwara, Masumi; Saito, Norimoto; Shiozaki, Yoshihiro; Nagai, Masako; Yamano, Atsushi; Yoshitaki, Ken'ichi; Yonehana, Nao; Tanaka, Chieko; Seto, Tsunehiko; Saito, Manabu; Narukawa, Yoshio

2003-12-01

In order to clarify the present status of care-managers, a questionnaire was sent to 1,714 care-managers working in Kanagawa Prefecture in June 2002. The aspects investigated included their background, amount of care-management and degree of achievement, conditions of employment, opinion poll and training system. The response rate was 45.6% (782 out of 1,714). Concerning the total number of users in care at present, 37% of care-managers had less than 30 people, 24% from 31 to 50 and, surprisingly, 39% had more than 51 people. However, 42% answered that less than 30 was an appropriate number of users, 52% said 31 to 50 and only 6% answered that more than 51 people was an appropriate number. The conferences of users service representative were held only 8%. Concerning the burden of care-management, 87% of them answered the evaluation of every month and 86% did the conferences of users service representative. The cases requiring much time for the support, had problems not only the users but also in the household, who lacked the understanding and judgment for long-term care insurance. Most care-managers needed information on the available services and newly open care-service institutions. 27% of care-managers satisfied their care-management, 25% dissatisfied and the remainder were neither off nor on. The satisfaction to the care-management correlated well with the intelligibility of the management leader, motivation regarding care management and the degree of satisfaction with their income. It is concluded that the number of users per care-manager is too large, and that unfortunately it might further increase in the future. The conferences of users service representative were extremely held too low. It is also showed that information of the other service office and informal service with the exception of long-term care insurance are required.

Reliability and Validity of Assessing User Satisfaction With Web-Based Health Interventions.

PubMed

Boß, Leif; Lehr, Dirk; Reis, Dorota; Vis, Christiaan; Riper, Heleen; Berking, Matthias; Ebert, David Daniel

2016-08-31

The perspective of users should be taken into account in the evaluation of Web-based health interventions. Assessing the users' satisfaction with the intervention they receive could enhance the evidence for the intervention effects. Thus, there is a need for valid and reliable measures to assess satisfaction with Web-based health interventions. The objective of this study was to analyze the reliability, factorial structure, and construct validity of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire adapted to Internet-based interventions (CSQ-I). The psychometric quality of the CSQ-I was analyzed in user samples from 2 separate randomized controlled trials evaluating Web-based health interventions, one from a depression prevention intervention (sample 1, N=174) and the other from a stress management intervention (sample 2, N=111). At first, the underlying measurement model of the CSQ-I was analyzed to determine the internal consistency. The factorial structure of the scale and the measurement invariance across groups were tested by multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. Additionally, the construct validity of the scale was examined by comparing satisfaction scores with the primary clinical outcome. Multigroup confirmatory analyses on the scale yielded a one-factorial structure with a good fit (root-mean-square error of approximation =.09, comparative fit index =.96, standardized root-mean-square residual =.05) that showed partial strong invariance across the 2 samples. The scale showed very good reliability, indicated by McDonald omegas of .95 in sample 1 and .93 in sample 2. Significant correlations with change in depressive symptoms (r=-.35, P<.001) and perceived stress (r=-.48, P<.001) demonstrated the construct validity of the scale. The proven internal consistency, factorial structure, and construct validity of the CSQ-I indicate a good overall psychometric quality of the measure to assess the user's general satisfaction with Web-based interventions for depression and stress management. Multigroup analyses indicate its robustness across different samples. Thus, the CSQ-I seems to be a suitable measure to consider the user's perspective in the overall evaluation of Web-based health interventions.

Watercraft user characteristics, management preferences, and user encounters on the upper Delaware scenic and recreational river: 1979-1996

Treesearch

Stephen M. Bowes; Chad P. Dawson

1998-01-01

Recreational boaters on the National Park Service managed Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River were surveyed about their characteristics, management preferences, and user encounters. Field interviews were conducted from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend during the summer of 1996. A total of 650 boaters were contacted at public and commercial access...

PDM and the Internet: A Look at Product Management and Its Internet Opportunities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendel, Alan

1997-01-01

Discusses the impact of internet technology on product data management (PDM) vendor's and the users' purchasing decisions. Internet users anticipate graphical user interface (GUI) and two-way communication which allow users to enter and modify data as well as access it. Examines PDM and the Internet: price and performance, the World Wide Web,…

The User-Subjective Approach to Personal Information Management Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Ofer; Beyth-Marom, Ruth; Nachmias, Rafi

2003-01-01

Explains personal information management (PIM) systems and suggests a user-subjective approach to PIM system design. Advocates that PIM systems relate to the subjective value-added attributes that the user gives the stored data so that the user can find information again, recall it when needed, and use it effectively in the next interaction.…

Adoption of Library 2.0 Functionalities by Academic Libraries and Users: A Knowledge Management Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yong-Mi; Abbas, June

2010-01-01

This study investigates the adoption of Library 2.0 functionalities by academic libraries and users through a knowledge management perspective. Based on randomly selected 230 academic library Web sites and 184 users, the authors found RSS and blogs are widely adopted by academic libraries while users widely utilized the bookmark function.…

Confidentiality Protection of User Data and Adaptive Resource Allocation for Managing Multiple Workflow Performance in Service-Based Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Ho

2012-01-01

In this dissertation, two interrelated problems of service-based systems (SBS) are addressed: protecting users' data confidentiality from service providers, and managing performance of multiple workflows in SBS. Current SBSs pose serious limitations to protecting users' data confidentiality. Since users' sensitive data is sent in…

Operation management system evaluation in the central Finland health care district - end users' view of system implementation.

PubMed

Lemmetty, Kaisa; Häyrinen, Eija

2005-01-01

In this paper we evaluate the implementation of the operation management system in the Central Finland Health Care District. The implementation of the operation management system changed the practice of operation management for the surgical clinic and concerned 500 personnel in total. A survey was carried out to investigate the end users' views on the system's usefulness, usability and the training and user support provided. The users' possibilities to accomplish their tasks and the kind of obstacles they face in operation management were explored. The assessment revealed that more end support is needed after the system implementation, even though a generally positive attitude towards the system was manifested among the staff.

A Novel Resource Management Method of Providing Operating System as a Service for Mobile Transparent Computing

PubMed Central

Huang, Suzhen; Wu, Min; Zhang, Yaoxue; She, Jinhua

2014-01-01

This paper presents a framework for mobile transparent computing. It extends the PC transparent computing to mobile terminals. Since resources contain different kinds of operating systems and user data that are stored in a remote server, how to manage the network resources is essential. In this paper, we apply the technologies of quick emulator (QEMU) virtualization and mobile agent for mobile transparent computing (MTC) to devise a method of managing shared resources and services management (SRSM). It has three layers: a user layer, a manage layer, and a resource layer. A mobile virtual terminal in the user layer and virtual resource management in the manage layer cooperate to maintain the SRSM function accurately according to the user's requirements. An example of SRSM is used to validate this method. Experiment results show that the strategy is effective and stable. PMID:24883353

A novel resource management method of providing operating system as a service for mobile transparent computing.

PubMed

Xiong, Yonghua; Huang, Suzhen; Wu, Min; Zhang, Yaoxue; She, Jinhua

2014-01-01

This paper presents a framework for mobile transparent computing. It extends the PC transparent computing to mobile terminals. Since resources contain different kinds of operating systems and user data that are stored in a remote server, how to manage the network resources is essential. In this paper, we apply the technologies of quick emulator (QEMU) virtualization and mobile agent for mobile transparent computing (MTC) to devise a method of managing shared resources and services management (SRSM). It has three layers: a user layer, a manage layer, and a resource layer. A mobile virtual terminal in the user layer and virtual resource management in the manage layer cooperate to maintain the SRSM function accurately according to the user's requirements. An example of SRSM is used to validate this method. Experiment results show that the strategy is effective and stable.

Engineering of Data Acquiring Mobile Software and Sustainable End-User Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Benton T.

2013-01-01

The criteria for which data acquiring software and its supporting infrastructure should be designed should take the following two points into account: the reusability and organization of stored online and remote data and content, and an assessment on whether abandoning a platform optimized design in favor for a multi-platform solution significantly reduces the performance of an end-user application. Furthermore, in-house applications that control or process instrument acquired data for end-users should be designed with a communication and control interface such that the application's modules can be reused as plug-in modular components in greater software systems. The application of the above mentioned is applied using two loosely related projects: a mobile application, and a website containing live and simulated data. For the intelligent devices mobile application AIDM, the end-user interface have a platform and data type optimized design, while the database and back-end applications store this information in an organized manner and manage access to that data to only to authorized user end application(s). Finally, the content for the website was derived from a database such that the content can be included and uniform to all applications accessing the content. With these projects being ongoing, I have concluded from my research that the applicable methods presented are feasible for both projects, and that a multi-platform design for the mobile application only marginally drop the performance of the mobile application.

National record linkage study of mortality for a large cohort of opioid users ascertained by drug treatment or criminal justice sources in England, 2005-2009.

PubMed

Pierce, Matthias; Bird, Sheila M; Hickman, Matthew; Millar, Tim

2015-01-01

Globally, opioid drug use is an important cause of premature mortality. In many countries, opioid using populations are ageing. The current study investigates mortality in a large cohort of opioid users; with a focus on testing whether excess mortality changes with age. 198,247 opioid users in England were identified from drug treatment and criminal justice sources (April, 2005 to March, 2009) and linked to mortality records. Mortality rates and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated by age-group and gender. There were 3974 deaths from all causes (SMR 5.7, 95% Confidence Interval: 5.5 to 5.9). Drug-related poisonings (1715) accounted for 43% of deaths. Relative to gender-and-age-appropriate expectation, mortality was elevated for a range of major causes including: infectious, respiratory, circulatory, liver disease, suicide, and homicide. Drug-related poisoning mortality risk continued to increase beyond 45 years and there were age-related increases in SMRs for specific causes of death (infectious, cancer, liver cirrhosis, and homicide). A gender by age-group interaction revealed that whilst men have a greater drug-related poisoning mortality risk than women at younger ages, the difference narrows with increasing age. Opioid users' excess mortality persists into old age and for some causes is exacerbated. This study highlights the importance of managing the complex health needs of older opioid users. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

User Experience Evaluation in the Mobile Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obrist, Marianna; Meschtscherjakov, Alexander; Tscheligi, Manfred

Multimedia services on mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular. Whereas the mobile phone is the most likely platform for mobile TV, PDAs, portable game consoles, and music players are attractive alternatives. Mobile TV consumption on mobile phones allows new kinds of user experiences, but it also puts designers and researchers in front of new challenges. On the one hand, designers have to take these novel experience potentials into account. On the other hand, the right methods to collect user feedback to further improve services for the mobile context have to be applied. In this chapter the importance of user experience research for mobile TV within the mobile context is highlighted. We present how different experience levels can be evaluated taking different mobile context categories into account. In particular, we discuss the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which seems to be a fruitful approach for investigating user TV experiences.

Barriers to Managing Fertility: Findings From the Understanding Fertility Management in Contemporary Australia Facebook Discussion Group.

PubMed

Holton, Sara; Rowe, Heather; Kirkman, Maggie; Jordan, Lynne; McNamee, Kathleen; Bayly, Christine; McBain, John; Sinnott, Vikki; Fisher, Jane

2016-02-15

As part of research investigating the complexities of managing fertility in Australia, public opinions about how Australians manage their fertility were sought from women and men. To identify public opinion about sexual and reproductive health in Australia. To ensure access to a diverse group of people throughout Australia, an online group was advertised and convened on Facebook from October through December 2013. In a closed-group moderated discussion, participants responded to questions about how people in Australia attempt to manage three aspects of fertility: avoiding pregnancy, achieving pregnancy, and difficulties conceiving. Nonidentifiable demographic information was sought; no personal accounts of fertility management were requested. The discussion transcript was analyzed thematically. There were 61 female and 2 male Facebook users aged 18 to 50 years living in Australia participating in the study. Four main themes about fertility management were identified: access, geographical location, knowledge, and cost. Participants reported that young people and people from rural areas face barriers accessing contraception and fertility services. Limited knowledge about sex and reproduction and the cost of fertility services and contraception were also said to impede effective fertility management. Reasons for inequalities in effective fertility management that are amenable to change were identified. Facebook is an effective method for gaining insights into public opinion about sexual and reproductive health.

Supporting self-management by Community Matrons through a group intervention; an action research study.

PubMed

Barkham, Abigail M; Ersser, Steven J

2017-07-01

The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility and impact of a group intervention by Community Matrons to support those living with multiple long-terms conditions. Little evidence exists as to how the role of the Community Matron (CM) should be delivered to effectively enhance disease self-management and levels of self-efficacy for the service users. This qualitative participatory action research study explored the use of group work as a method of intervention by CMs. A purposive sample of 29 participants was recruited. Each patient group had 8-10 participants, led by a CM working in both the researcher and practitioner role, operating over 12-month period. Data were collected by participant observation, researcher reflexive account and interviews. Grounded theory method was used to systematically analyse the data. Three main data categories emerged: (i) comparison by patients that leads to re-motivation of the self; (ii) learning, leading to enhanced self-management techniques, through storytelling and understanding of each other's experiences; and (iii) ownership that resulted in the self-awareness, cognisance and insight into the role of the support group they were based in and how it benefited them. The core category of 'Taking back the self - understanding the whole,' conveyed the impact that this care delivery method had upon readjusting the balance of power between health professional and service users and its consequence in refreshing and improving their self-management and the patients' self-efficacy. It was concluded that CM intervention using a model of group learning can lead to more effective and efficient support, through improving self-efficacy and patients' related self-management ability. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dynamic and accretive composition of patient engagement instruments for personalized plan generation.

PubMed

Hsueh, Pei-Yun S; Zhu, Xinxin; Deng, Vincent; Ramarishnan, Sreeram; Ball, Marion

2014-01-01

Patient engagement is important to help patients become more informed and active in managing their health. Effective patient engagement demands short, yet valid instruments for measuring self-efficacy in various care dimensions. However, the static instruments are often too lengthy to be effective for assessment purposes. Furthermore, these tests could neither account for the dynamicity of measurements over time, nor differentiate care dimensions that are more critical to certain sub-populations. To remedy these disadvantages, we devise a dynamic instrument composition approach that can model the measurement of patient self-efficacy over time and iteratively select critical care dimensions and appropriate assessment questions based on dynamic user categorization. The dynamically composed instruments are expected to guide patients through self-management reinforcement cycles within or across care dimensions, while tightly integrated into clinical workflow and standard care processes.

[Random Variable Read Me File

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teubert, Christopher; Sankararaman, Shankar; Cullo, Aiden

2017-01-01

Readme for the Random Variable Toolbox usable manner. is a Web-based Git version control repository hosting service. It is mostly used for computer code. It offers all of the distributed version control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. It provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.[3] GitHub offers both plans for private and free repositories on the same account[4] which are commonly used to host open-source software projects.[5] As of April 2017, GitHub reports having almost 20 million users and 57 million repositories,[6] making it the largest host of source code in the world.[7] GitHub has a mascot called Octocat, a cat with five tentacles and a human-like face

From Management to Negotiation: Technical and Institutional Innovations for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Upper Comoé River Basin, Burkina Faso

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roncoli, Carla; Kirshen, Paul; Etkin, Derek; Sanon, Moussa; Somé, Léopold; Dembélé, Youssouf; Sanfo, Bienvenue J.; Zoungrana, Jacqueline; Hoogenboom, Gerrit

2009-10-01

This study focuses on the potential role of technical and institutional innovations for improving water management in a multi-user context in Burkina Faso. We focus on a system centered on three reservoirs that capture the waters of the Upper Comoé River Basin and servicing a diversity of users, including a sugar manufacturing company, a urban water supply utility, a farmer cooperative, and other downstream users. Due to variable and declining rainfall and expanding users’ needs, drastic fluctuations in water supply and demand occur during each dry season. A decision support tool was developed through participatory research to enable users to assess the impact of alternative release and diversion schedules on deficits faced by each user. The tool is meant to be applied in the context of consultative planning by a local user committee that has been created by a new national integrated water management policy. We contend that both solid science and good governance are instrumental in realizing efficient and equitable water management and adaptation to climate variability and change. But, while modeling tools and negotiation platforms may assist users in managing climate risk, they also introduce additional uncertainties into the deliberative process. It is therefore imperative to understand how these technological and institutional innovations frame water use issues and decisions to ensure that such framing is consistent with the goals of integrated water resource management.

GRACC: New generation of the OSG accounting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retzke, K.; Weitzel, D.; Bhat, S.; Levshina, T.; Bockelman, B.; Jayatilaka, B.; Sehgal, C.; Quick, R.; Wuerthwein, F.

2017-10-01

Throughout the last decade the Open Science Grid (OSG) has been fielding requests from user communities, resource owners, and funding agencies to provide information about utilization of OSG resources. Requested data include traditional accounting - core-hours utilized - as well as users certificate Distinguished Name, their affiliations, and field of science. The OSG accounting service, Gratia, developed in 2006, is able to provide this information and much more. However, with the rapid expansion and transformation of the OSG resources and access to them, we are faced with several challenges in adapting and maintaining the current accounting service. The newest changes include, but are not limited to, acceptance of users from numerous university campuses, whose jobs are flocking to OSG resources, expansion into new types of resources (public and private clouds, allocation-based HPC resources, and GPU farms), migration to pilot-based systems, and migration to multicore environments. In order to have a scalable, sustainable and expandable accounting service for the next few years, we are embarking on the development of the next-generation OSG accounting service, GRACC, that will be based on open-source technology and will be compatible with the existing system. It will consist of swappable, independent components, such as Logstash, Elasticsearch, Grafana, and RabbitMQ, that communicate through a data exchange. GRACC will continue to interface EGI and XSEDE accounting services and provide information in accordance with existing agreements. We will present the current architecture and working prototype.

Selecting a Control Strategy for Plug and Process Loads

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

Lobato, C.; Sheppy, M.; Brackney, L.

2012-09-01

Plug and Process Loads (PPLs) are building loads that are not related to general lighting, heating, ventilation, cooling, and water heating, and typically do not provide comfort to the building occupants. PPLs in commercial buildings account for almost 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. On an individual building level, they account for approximately 25% of the total electrical load in a minimally code-compliant commercial building, and can exceed 50% in an ultra-high efficiency building such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Research Support Facility (RSF) (Lobato et al. 2010). Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the designmore » and operation of an energy-efficient building. A complex array of technologies that measure and manage PPLs has emerged in the marketplace. Some fall short of manufacturer performance claims, however. NREL has been actively engaged in developing an evaluation and selection process for PPLs control, and is using this process to evaluate a range of technologies for active PPLs management that will cap RSF plug loads. Using a control strategy to match plug load use to users' required job functions is a huge untapped potential for energy savings.« less

An Integrated Decision Support System with Hydrological Processes and Socio-economic Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yang; Disse, Markus; Yu, Ruide

2017-04-01

The debate over the effectiveness of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in practice has lasted for years. As the complexity and scope of IWRM increases, the difficulties of hydrological modeling is shifting from the model itself into the links with other cognate sciences, to understand the interactions among water, earth, ecosystem and humans. This work presents the design and development of a decision support system (DSS) that links the outputs of hydrological models with real-time decision making on social-economic assessments and land use changes. Discharge and glacier geometry changes were simulated with hydrological model WASA. Irrigation and ecological water were simulated by a new commercial software MIKE HYDRO. Groundwater was simulated by MODFLOW. All the outputs of theses hydrological models were integrated as inputs into the DSS in three types of links: regression equations, stationary data inputs, or dynamic data inputs into DSS as the models running parallel in the simulation periods. Within DSS, three types of logics were established: equations, conditional statements and fuzzy logics. The programming was realized in C++. The implementation of DSS takes place in the Tarim River Basin. With the mainstream of 1,321km and located in an arid area in northwest China, the Tarim River is China's longest inland river. The Tarim basin on the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert is an extremely arid region. In this region, agricultural water consumption and allocation management are crucial to address the conflicts among irrigation water users from upstream to downstream. Since 2011, the German Ministry of Science and Education BMBF established the Sino-German SuMaRiO project, for the sustainable management of river oases along the Tarim River. Project SuMaRiO focus on realizable management strategies, considering social, economic and ecological criteria. This will have positive effects for nearly 10 million inhabitants of different ethnic groups. DSS is the main outcome of SuMaRiO. The overall goal of the DSS is to integrate all crucial research results of SuMaRiO, also including stakeholder perspectives, into a model based decision support system, which allows a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) within regional planning. This SIA will take into account the perspectives of all relevant actors in the problem field of land and water management in the Tarim River Basin, to understand ecosystem services (ESS) and integrating them into land and water management. Under scenario assumptions, possible actions and their impacts are estimated in a semi-quantitative way with the help of sustainable indicators, which includes climate indicators, socio-economic Indicators, management Indicators, and ESS Indicators. A user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to assist the decision-makers and common users, with Chinese and English versions available at the moment.

Discrete Abstractions of Hybrid Systems: Verification of Safety and Application to User-Interface Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oishi, Meeko; Tomlin, Claire; Degani, Asaf

2003-01-01

Human interaction with complex hybrid systems involves the user, the automation's discrete mode logic, and the underlying continuous dynamics of the physical system. Often the user-interface of such systems displays a reduced set of information about the entire system. In safety-critical systems, how can we identify user-interface designs which do not have adequate information, or which may confuse the user? Here we describe a methodology, based on hybrid system analysis, to verify that a user-interface contains information necessary to safely complete a desired procedure or task. Verification within a hybrid framework allows us to account for the continuous dynamics underlying the simple, discrete representations displayed to the user. We provide two examples: a car traveling through a yellow light at an intersection and an aircraft autopilot in a landing/go-around maneuver. The examples demonstrate the general nature of this methodology, which is applicable to hybrid systems (not fully automated) which have operational constraints we can pose in terms of safety. This methodology differs from existing work in hybrid system verification in that we directly account for the user's interactions with the system.

International Space Station Alpha user payload operations concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald A.; Crysel, William B.; Duncan, Elaine F.; Rider, James W.

1994-01-01

International Space Station Alpha (ISSA) will accommodate a variety of user payloads investigating diverse scientific and technology disciplines on behalf of five international partners: Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States. A combination of crew, automated systems, and ground operations teams will control payload operations that require complementary on-board and ground systems. This paper presents the current planning for the ISSA U.S. user payload operations concept and the functional architecture supporting the concept. It describes various NASA payload operations facilities, their interfaces, user facility flight support, the payload planning system, the onboard and ground data management system, and payload operations crew and ground personnel training. This paper summarizes the payload operations infrastructure and architecture developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to prepare and conduct ISSA on-orbit payload operations from the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC), and from various user operations locations. The authors pay particular attention to user data management, which includes interfaces with both the onboard data management system and the ground data system. Discussion covers the functional disciplines that define and support POIC payload operations: Planning, Operations Control, Data Management, and Training. The paper describes potential interfaces between users and the POIC disciplines, from the U.S. user perspective.

The intelligent user interface for NASA's advanced information management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, William J.; Short, Nicholas, Jr.; Rolofs, Larry H.; Wattawa, Scott L.

1987-01-01

NASA has initiated the Intelligent Data Management Project to design and develop advanced information management systems. The project's primary goal is to formulate, design and develop advanced information systems that are capable of supporting the agency's future space research and operational information management needs. The first effort of the project was the development of a prototype Intelligent User Interface to an operational scientific database, using expert systems and natural language processing technologies. An overview of Intelligent User Interface formulation and development is given.

Social media in epilepsy: A quantitative and qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Meng, Ying; Elkaim, Lior; Wang, Justin; Liu, Jessica; Alotaibi, Naif M; Ibrahim, George M; Fallah, Aria; Weil, Alexander G; Valiante, Taufik A; Lozano, Andres M; Rutka, James T

2017-06-01

While the social burden of epilepsy has been extensively studied, an evaluation of social media related to epilepsy may provide novel insight into disease perception, patient needs and access to treatments. The objective of this study is to assess patterns in social media and online communication usage related to epilepsy and its associated topics. We searched two major social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) for public accounts dedicated to epilepsy. Results were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The former involved thematic and word count analysis for online posts and tweets on these platforms, while the latter employed descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. Facebook had a higher number of pages (840 accounts) and users (3 million) compared to Twitter (137 accounts and 274,663 users). Foundation and support groups comprised most of the accounts and users on both Facebook and Twitter. The number of accounts increased by 100% from 2012 to 2016. Among the 403 posts and tweets analyzed, "providing information" on medications or correcting common misconceptions in epilepsy was the most common theme (48%). Surgical interventions for epilepsy were only mentioned in 1% of all posts and tweets. The current study provides a comprehensive reference on the usage of social media in epilepsy. The number of online users interested in epilepsy is likely the highest among all neurological conditions. Surgery, as a method of treating refractory epilepsy, however, could be underrepresented on social media. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sustains--direct access for the patient to the medical record over the Internet.

PubMed

Eklund, Benny; Joustra-Enquist, Ingrid

2004-01-01

The basic idea of Sustains III is to emulate the Internet banking for Health Care. Instead of an "Internet Bank Account" the user has a "Health Care Account". The user logs in using a One Time Password which is sent to the user's mobile phone as an SMS, three seconds after the PIN code is entered. Thus personal information can be transferred both ways in a secure way, with acceptable privacy. The user can then explore the medical record in detail. Also get full and complete list of prescriptions, lab-result etc. It's also an easy way of exchange written information between the doctor and the patient. So far Sustains has showed that patients are very satisfied and is also beneficial for the physicians.

Synthesizing Marketing, Community Engagement, and Systems Science Approaches for Advancing Translational Research.

PubMed

Kneipp, Shawn M; Leeman, Jennifer; McCall, Pamela; Hassmiller-Lich, Kristen; Bobashev, Georgiy; Schwartz, Todd A; Gilmore, Robert; Riggan, Scott; Gil, Benjamin

2015-01-01

The adoption and implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are the goals of translational research; however, potential end-users' perceptions of an EBI value have contributed to low rates of adoption. In this article, we describe our application of emerging dissemination and implementation science theoretical perspectives, community engagement, and systems science principles to develop a novel EBI dissemination approach. Using consumer-driven, graphics-rich simulation, the approach demonstrates predicted implementation effects on health and employment outcomes for socioeconomically disadvantaged women at the local level and is designed to increase adoption interest of county program managers accountable for improving these outcomes in their communities.

The neuron classification problem

PubMed Central

Bota, Mihail; Swanson, Larry W.

2007-01-01

A systematic account of neuron cell types is a basic prerequisite for determining the vertebrate nervous system global wiring diagram. With comprehensive lineage and phylogenetic information unavailable, a general ontology based on structure-function taxonomy is proposed and implemented in a knowledge management system, and a prototype analysis of select regions (including retina, cerebellum, and hypothalamus) presented. The supporting Brain Architecture Knowledge Management System (BAMS) Neuron ontology is online and its user interface allows queries about terms and their definitions, classification criteria based on the original literature and “Petilla Convention” guidelines, hierarchies, and relations—with annotations documenting each ontology entry. Combined with three BAMS modules for neural regions, connections between regions and neuron types, and molecules, the Neuron ontology provides a general framework for physical descriptions and computational modeling of neural systems. The knowledge management system interacts with other web resources, is accessible in both XML and RDF/OWL, is extendible to the whole body, and awaits large-scale data population requiring community participation for timely implementation. PMID:17582506

Risks and Threats of Social Media Websites: Twitter and the Proana Movement.

PubMed

Bert, Fabrizio; Gualano, Maria Rosaria; Camussi, Elisa; Siliquini, Roberta

2016-04-01

In recent years, there was a spread of "proanorexia" Web sites. The aim of our study is to investigate the presence, popularity, and content of the "proana" accounts on Twitter. On January 2015, we used "Twitter Search" to retrieve the "proana" accounts. For each account, we analyzed the number of followers, tweets, and the biographical information of the users. We followed these accounts for 4 weeks, assessing the variations in followers and tweets. We also investigated the most used hashtags and the main contents of these profiles. We retrieved 341 accounts. These accounts were popular (mean followers: 2360.9, range: 5-32,700) and active (mean tweets: 4351.2, range: 5-85,700). The users were mostly girls (97.9 percent), in general teenagers (mean age: 17.9 years, range: 12-28). Only around six percent of the accounts presented a warning text about the dangerous content. Each week, we found a mean increase in both followers and tweets. The five most used hashtags resulted in descending order as follows: "thinspo," "thinspiration," "Thin15," "EDprobs," and "proana." The most commonly used contents were in the following order: autobiographic, "thinspiration" photos (inspirational photos of extremely thin girls), "thinspiration" quotes (motivational mottos), "ana tips" (advices for weight loss), and "fasting competition." We underlined a concerning high number and popularity of Twitter proanorexia groups. These accounts contain dangerous information, especially considering the young age of the users. Given the lack of warnings in almost all the accounts, a first step to control this phenomenon could be the increase of such written alerts.

Environmental assessment: The Eden project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roza, Christodoulaki

Non domestic buildings account for about one-sixth of the U.K.'s entire C02 emissions and one-third of the building related ones 2 . Their proportion of energy consumption, particularly electricity, has also been growing 2 . New buildings are not necessarily better, with energy use often proving to be much higher than their designers anticipated 2 . Annual C02 emissions of two- and sometimes three- times design expectations are far from unusual, leaving a massive credibility gap 2 . These and other global environmental and human health related concerns have motivated an increasing number of designers, developers and building users to pursue more environmentally sustainable designs and construction strategies 5 . However, these buildings can be difficult to evaluate, since they are large in scale, complex in materials and function and temporally dynamic due to limited service life of building components and changing user requirements 5 . All of these factors make environmental assessment of the buildings challenging. Previous Post Occupancy Review of Buildings and their Engineering (PROBE) building investigations have uncovered serious shortcomings in facilities management, or at least mismatches between a building's management needs and the ability of the occupiers to provide the right level of management 1 . Consequently, large differences between energy performance expectations and outcomes can occur virtually unnoticed, while designers continue to repeat flawed descriptions 2 . This investigation attempts to evaluate the building's operation and to help achieving demonstrable improvements in terms of energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction. The scope of this study is to evaluate the actual environmental performance of a building notable for its advanced design. The Education Resource Centre at the Eden Project was selected to compare design expectations with post occupancy performance. This report contains a small-scale survey of user satisfaction with the chosen building, an analysis of the building's energy use and information about the physical and managerial circumstances operating 24 . The author has attempted to zoom in on specific issues, such as energy performance and lighting consumption. Both successes and failures have been reported, providing owners, designers and end users with valuable, real-world information.

SNiPlay: a web-based tool for detection, management and analysis of SNPs. Application to grapevine diversity projects.

PubMed

Dereeper, Alexis; Nicolas, Stéphane; Le Cunff, Loïc; Bacilieri, Roberto; Doligez, Agnès; Peros, Jean-Pierre; Ruiz, Manuel; This, Patrice

2011-05-05

High-throughput re-sequencing, new genotyping technologies and the availability of reference genomes allow the extensive characterization of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletion events (indels) in many plant species. The rapidly increasing amount of re-sequencing and genotyping data generated by large-scale genetic diversity projects requires the development of integrated bioinformatics tools able to efficiently manage, analyze, and combine these genetic data with genome structure and external data. In this context, we developed SNiPlay, a flexible, user-friendly and integrative web-based tool dedicated to polymorphism discovery and analysis. It integrates:1) a pipeline, freely accessible through the internet, combining existing softwares with new tools to detect SNPs and to compute different types of statistical indices and graphical layouts for SNP data. From standard sequence alignments, genotyping data or Sanger sequencing traces given as input, SNiPlay detects SNPs and indels events and outputs submission files for the design of Illumina's SNP chips. Subsequently, it sends sequences and genotyping data into a series of modules in charge of various processes: physical mapping to a reference genome, annotation (genomic position, intron/exon location, synonymous/non-synonymous substitutions), SNP frequency determination in user-defined groups, haplotype reconstruction and network, linkage disequilibrium evaluation, and diversity analysis (Pi, Watterson's Theta, Tajima's D).Furthermore, the pipeline allows the use of external data (such as phenotype, geographic origin, taxa, stratification) to define groups and compare statistical indices.2) a database storing polymorphisms, genotyping data and grapevine sequences released by public and private projects. It allows the user to retrieve SNPs using various filters (such as genomic position, missing data, polymorphism type, allele frequency), to compare SNP patterns between populations, and to export genotyping data or sequences in various formats. Our experiments on grapevine genetic projects showed that SNiPlay allows geneticists to rapidly obtain advanced results in several key research areas of plant genetic diversity. Both the management and treatment of large amounts of SNP data are rendered considerably easier for end-users through automation and integration. Current developments are taking into account new advances in high-throughput technologies.SNiPlay is available at: http://sniplay.cirad.fr/.

"Recovery" in bipolar disorder: how can service users be supported through a self-management intervention? A qualitative focus group study.

PubMed

Todd, Nicholas J; Jones, Steven H; Lobban, Fiona A

2012-04-01

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic and recurrent affective disorder. Recovery is defined as the process by which people can live fulfilling lives despite experiencing symptoms. To explore how an opportunistically recruited group of service users with BD experience recovery and self-management to understand more about how a service users' recovery may be supported. Twelve service users with BD took part in a series of focus groups. Service users' responses to questions about their personal experiences of self-management and recovery were analysed. Focus groups were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis ([ Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101]) was employed to identify common themes in the data. Four key themes were identified: (1) Recovery is not about being symptom free; (2) Recovery requires taking responsibility for your own wellness; (3) Self-management: building on existing techniques; (4) Overcoming barriers to recovery: negativity, stigma and taboo. Service users with BD have provided further support for the concept of recovery and have suggested a number of ways recovery can be supported. A self-management approach informed by the recovery literature has been proposed as a way to support service users' recovery.

In-depth statistical analysis of the use of a website providing patients' narratives on lifestyle change when living with chronic back pain or coronary heart disease.

PubMed

Schweier, Rebecca; Grande, Gesine; Richter, Cynthia; Riedel-Heller, Steffi G; Romppel, Matthias

2018-07-01

To investigate the use of lebensstil-aendern.de ("lifestyle change"), a website providing peer narratives of experiences with successful lifestyle change, and to analyze whether peer model characteristics, clip content, and media type have an influence on the number of visitors, dwell time, and exit rates. An in-depth statistical analysis of website use with multilevel regression analyses. In two years, lebensstil-aendern.de attracted 12,844 visitors. The in-depth statistical analysis of usage rates demonstrated that audio clips were less popular than video or text-only clips, longer clips attracted more visitors, and clips by younger and female interviewees were preferred. User preferences for clip content categories differed between heart and back pain patients. Clips about stress management drew the smallest numbers of visitors in both indication modules. Patients are interested in the experiences of others. Because the quality of information for user-generated content is generally low, healthcare providers should include quality-assured patient narratives in their interventions. User preferences for content, medium, and peer characteristics need to be taken into account. If healthcare providers decide to include patient experiences in their websites, they should plan their intervention according to the different needs and preferences of users. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Distributed Dynamic Programming-Based Solution for Load Management in Smart Grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Xu, Yinliang; Li, Sisi; Zhou, MengChu; Liu, Wenxin; Xu, Ying

2018-03-01

Load management is being recognized as an important option for active user participation in the energy market. Traditional load management methods usually require a centralized powerful control center and a two-way communication network between the system operators and energy end-users. The increasing user participation in smart grids may limit their applications. In this paper, a distributed solution for load management in emerging smart grids is proposed. The load management problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem aiming at maximizing the overall utility of users while meeting the requirement for load reduction requested by the system operator, and is solved by using a distributed dynamic programming algorithm. The algorithm is implemented via a distributed framework and thus can deliver a highly desired distributed solution. It avoids the required use of a centralized coordinator or control center, and can achieve satisfactory outcomes for load management. Simulation results with various test systems demonstrate its effectiveness.

Identifying Effective Signals to Predict Deleted and Suspended Accounts on Twitter across Languages

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

Volkova, Svitlana; Bell, Eric B.

Social networks have an ephemerality to them where accounts and messages are constantly being edited, deleted, or marked as private. This continuous change comes from concerns around privacy, a potential desire for deception, and spam-like behavior. In this study we analyze multiple large datasets of thousands of active and deleted Twitter accounts to produce a series of predictive features for the removal or shutdown of an account. We have selected these accounts from speakers of three languages -- Russian, Spanish, and English to evaluate if speakers of various languages behave differently with regards to deleting accounts. We find that unlikemore » previously used profile and network features, the discourse of deleted vs. active accounts forms the basis for highly accurate account deletion prediction. More precisely, we observed that the presence of a certain set of terms in user tweets leads to a higher likelihood for that user's account deletion. We show that the predictive power of profile, language, affect, and network features is not consistent across speakers of the three evaluated languages.« less

STAR: an integrated solution to management and visualization of sequencing data.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Liu, Jie; Shen, Li; Tonti-Filippini, Julian; Zhu, Yun; Jia, Haiyang; Lister, Ryan; Whitaker, John W; Ecker, Joseph R; Millar, A Harvey; Ren, Bing; Wang, Wei

2013-12-15

Easily visualization of complex data features is a necessary step to conduct studies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. We developed STAR, an integrated web application that enables online management, visualization and track-based analysis of NGS data. STAR is a multilayer web service system. On the client side, STAR leverages JavaScript, HTML5 Canvas and asynchronous communications to deliver a smoothly scrolling desktop-like graphical user interface with a suite of in-browser analysis tools that range from providing simple track configuration controls to sophisticated feature detection within datasets. On the server side, STAR supports private session state retention via an account management system and provides data management modules that enable collection, visualization and analysis of third-party sequencing data from the public domain with over thousands of tracks hosted to date. Overall, STAR represents a next-generation data exploration solution to match the requirements of NGS data, enabling both intuitive visualization and dynamic analysis of data. STAR browser system is freely available on the web at http://wanglab.ucsd.edu/star/browser and https://github.com/angell1117/STAR-genome-browser.

[BALANCED SCORECARD AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL IN CLINICAL NUTRITION].

PubMed

Gutiérrez López, Cristina; Mauriz, Jose L; Culebras, Jesús M

2015-07-01

Nowadays, balanced scorecards have updated traditional management systems in the business sector. In this way, Kaplan and Norton propose performance measurement through several perspectives with a logical sequence: internal processes and learning impact client services, so that financial performance is affected. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the main characteristics of balanced scorecard when it is applied to non-for-profit companies and, specifically to the health sector in the clinical nutrition field. This model improves the economic vision of management with clinical indicators that represent healthcare professional's perspective. The balanced scorecard would allow a proper monitoring and tracking system for the main healthcare indicators. This contributes to a better control in comparison with standards that are associated with adequate quality assistance. Owing to the role of management accounting and cost calculations, the definition of healthcare professionals as clients or users, and clinical results relevance, it is necessary to adapt the balanced scorecard to the specific characteristics of the clinical field, redefining both perspectives and indicators. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

Improving Population Health Management Strategies: Identifying Patients Who Are More Likely to Be Users of Avoidable Costly Care and Those More Likely to Develop a New Chronic Disease.

PubMed

Hibbard, Judith H; Greene, Jessica; Sacks, Rebecca M; Overton, Valerie; Parrotta, Carmen

2017-08-01

To explore using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) for identifying patients more likely to have ambulatory care-sensitive (ACS) utilization and future increases in chronic disease. Secondary data are extracted from the electronic health record of a large accountable care organization. This is a retrospective cohort design. The key predictor variable, PAM score, is measured in 2011, and is used to predict outcomes in 2012-2014. Outcomes include ACS utilization and the likelihood of a new chronic disease. Our sample of 98,142 adult patients was drawn from primary care clinic users. To be included, patients had to have a PAM score in 2011 and at least one clinic visit in each of the three subsequent years. PAM level is a significant predictor of ACS utilization. Less activated patients had significantly higher odds of ACS utilization compared to those with high PAM scores. Similarly, patients with low PAM scores were more likely to have a new chronic disease diagnosis over each of the years of observation. Assessing patient activation may help to identify patients who could benefit from greater support. Such an approach may help ACOs reach population health management goals. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Are Health Facility Management Committees in Kenya ready to implement financial management tasks: findings from a nationally representative survey

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Community participation in peripheral public health facilities has in many countries focused on including community representatives in Health Facility Management Committees (HFMCs). In Kenya, HFMC roles are being expanded with the phased implementation of the Health Sector Services Fund (HSSF). Under HSSF, HFMCs manage facility funds which are dispersed directly from central level into facility bank accounts. We assessed how prepared HFMCs were to undertake this new role in advance of HSSF roll out, and considered the implications for Kenya and other similar settings. Methods Data were collected through a nationally representative sample of 248 public health centres and dispensaries in 24 districts in 2010. Data collection included surveys with in-charges (n = 248), HFMC members (n = 464) and facility users (n = 698), and record reviews. These data were supplemented by semi-structured interviews with district health managers in each district. Results Some findings supported preparedness of HFMCs to take on their new roles. Most facilities had bank accounts and HFMCs which met regularly. HFMC members and in-charges generally reported positive relationships, and HFMC members expressed high levels of motivation and job satisfaction. Challenges included users’ low awareness of HFMCs, lack of training and clarity in roles among HFMCs, and some indications of strained relations with in-charges. Such challenges are likely to be common to many similar settings, and are therefore important considerations for any health facility based initiatives involving HFMCs. Conclusion Most HFMCs have the basic requirements to operate. However to manage their own budgets effectively and meet their allocated roles in HSSF implementation, greater emphasis is needed on financial management training, targeted supportive supervision, and greater community awareness and participation. Once new budget management roles are fully established, qualitative and quantitative research on how HFMCs are adapting to their expanded roles, especially in financial management, would be valuable in informing similar financing mechanisms in Kenya and beyond. PMID:24107094

Qualitative assessment of Diabetes-STAR: a patient portal with disease management functions.

PubMed

Ross, Stephen E; Nowels, Carolyn T; Haverhals, Leah M; Bull, Sheana S; Lin, Chen-Tan; Main, Deborah S

2007-10-11

Diabetes-STAR is a disease management program integrated with an online patient portal. Of 331 patients enrolled in a randomized trial, we interviewed 37 users about benefits, barriers and recommendations for program improvements. User preferences included 1) addressing differences in types of users, 2) sending out alerts when new information is available, and 3) providing more oversight of user diary data.

A Concept for Continuous Monitoring that Reduces Redundancy in Information Assurance Processes

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

System.out.println(“Driver loaded”); String url=“jdbc:postgresql://localhost/IAcontrols”; String user = “ postgres ”; String pwd... postgres ”; Connection DB_mobile_conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url,user,pwd); System.out.println(“Database Connect ok...user = “ postgres ”; String pwd = “ postgres ”; Connection DB_mobile_conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url,user,pwd); System.out.println

Social media networking in pediatric hydrocephalus: a point-prevalence analysis of utilization.

PubMed

Elkarim, Ghassan Awad; Alotaibi, Naif M; Samuel, Nardin; Wang, Shelly; Ibrahim, George M; Fallah, Aria; Weil, Alexander G; Kulkarni, Abhaya V

2017-08-01

OBJECTIVE A recent survey has shown that caregivers of children with shunt-treated hydrocephalus frequently use social media networks for support and information gathering. The objective of this study is to describe and assess social media utilization among users interested in hydrocephalus. METHODS Publicly accessible accounts and videos dedicated to the topic of hydrocephalus were comprehensively searched across 3 social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) throughout March 2016. Summary statistics were calculated on standard metrics of social media popularity. A categorization framework to describe the purpose of pages, groups, accounts, channels, and videos was developed following the screening of 100 titles. Categorized data were analyzed using nonparametric tests for statistical significance. RESULTS The authors' search identified 30 Facebook pages, 213 Facebook groups, 17 Twitter accounts, and 253 YouTube videos. These platforms were run by patients, caregivers, nonprofit foundations, and patient support groups. Most accounts were from the United States (n = 196), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 31), Canada (n = 17), India (n = 15), and Germany (n = 12). The earliest accounts were created in 2007, and a peak of 65 new accounts were created in 2011. The total number of users in Facebook pages exceeded those in Facebook groups (p < 0.001). The majority of users in Facebook groups were in private groups, in contrast to public groups (p < 0.001). The YouTube videos with the highest median number of views were for surgical products and treatment procedures. CONCLUSIONS This study presents novel observations into the characteristics of social media use in the topic of hydrocephalus. Users interested in hydrocephalus seek privacy for support communications and are attracted to treatment procedure and surgical products videos. These findings provide insight into potential avenues of hydrocephalus outreach, support, or advocacy in social media.

Flexible Macroblock Ordering for Context-Aware Ultrasound Video Transmission over Mobile WiMAX

PubMed Central

Martini, Maria G.; Hewage, Chaminda T. E. R.

2010-01-01

The most recent network technologies are enabling a variety of new applications, thanks to the provision of increased bandwidth and better management of Quality of Service. Nevertheless, telemedical services involving multimedia data are still lagging behind, due to the concern of the end users, that is, clinicians and also patients, about the low quality provided. Indeed, emerging network technologies should be appropriately exploited by designing the transmission strategy focusing on quality provision for end users. Stemming from this principle, we propose here a context-aware transmission strategy for medical video transmission over WiMAX systems. Context, in terms of regions of interest (ROI) in a specific session, is taken into account for the identification of multiple regions of interest, and compression/transmission strategies are tailored to such context information. We present a methodology based on H.264 medical video compression and Flexible Macroblock Ordering (FMO) for ROI identification. Two different unequal error protection methodologies, providing higher protection to the most diagnostically relevant data, are presented. PMID:20827292

Caregiver Preferences Regarding Personal Health Records in the Management of ADHD.

PubMed

Ronis, Sarah D; Baldwin, Constance D; McIntosh, Scott; McConnochie, Kenneth; Szilagyi, Peter G; Dolan, James

2015-07-01

Personal health records (PHRs) may address the needs of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Among parents, we assessed acceptance, barriers, and intentions regarding use of PHR for their children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Survey of parents from 3 practices in Rochester, NY. Stepwise logistic regression analysis explored factors predicting respondents' intentions for future use of PHR, accounting for care coordination needs, caregiver education, socioeconomic status, and satisfaction with providers. Of 184 respondents, 23% had used the PHR for their child, 82% intended future use. No difference was observed between users and nonusers regarding gender, age, race, or education. Users were more likely than nonusers to reside in the suburbs (P = .03). Caregivers were more likely to plan future use of the PHR if they felt engaged as partners in their child's care (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval = 1.2, 4.5). Parents are enthusiastic about PHRs. Future work should focus on engaging them as members of the health care team. © The Author(s) 2015.

Selecting and implementing the PBS scheduler on an SGI Onyx 2/Orgin 2000.

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

Bittner, S.

1999-06-28

In the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne, the demand for resources on the Onyx 2 exceeds the resources available for consumption. To distribute these scarce resources effectively, we need a scheduling and resource management package with multiple capabilities. In particular, it must accept standard interactive user logins, allow batch jobs, backfill the system based on available resources, and permit system activities such as accounting to proceed without interruption. The package must include a mechanism to treat the graphic pipes as a schedulable resource. Also required is the ability to create advance reservations, offer dedicated system modes for largemore » resource runs and benchmarking, and track the resources consumed for each job run. Furthermore, our users want to be able to obtain repeatable timing results on job runs. And, of course, package costs must be carefully considered. We explored several options, including NQE and various third-party products, before settling on the PBS scheduler.« less

A Secure Web Application Providing Public Access to High-Performance Data Intensive Scientific Resources - ScalaBLAST Web Application

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

Curtis, Darren S.; Peterson, Elena S.; Oehmen, Chris S.

2008-05-04

This work presents the ScalaBLAST Web Application (SWA), a web based application implemented using the PHP script language, MySQL DBMS, and Apache web server under a GNU/Linux platform. SWA is an application built as part of the Data Intensive Computer for Complex Biological Systems (DICCBS) project at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). SWA delivers accelerated throughput of bioinformatics analysis via high-performance computing through a convenient, easy-to-use web interface. This approach greatly enhances emerging fields of study in biology such as ontology-based homology, and multiple whole genome comparisons which, in the absence of a tool like SWA, require a heroicmore » effort to overcome the computational bottleneck associated with genome analysis. The current version of SWA includes a user account management system, a web based user interface, and a backend process that generates the files necessary for the Internet scientific community to submit a ScalaBLAST parallel processing job on a dedicated cluster.« less

Development of a HIPAA-compliant environment for translational research data and analytics.

PubMed

Bradford, Wayne; Hurdle, John F; LaSalle, Bernie; Facelli, Julio C

2014-01-01

High-performance computing centers (HPC) traditionally have far less restrictive privacy management policies than those encountered in healthcare. We show how an HPC can be re-engineered to accommodate clinical data while retaining its utility in computationally intensive tasks such as data mining, machine learning, and statistics. We also discuss deploying protected virtual machines. A critical planning step was to engage the university's information security operations and the information security and privacy office. Access to the environment requires a double authentication mechanism. The first level of authentication requires access to the university's virtual private network and the second requires that the users be listed in the HPC network information service directory. The physical hardware resides in a data center with controlled room access. All employees of the HPC and its users take the university's local Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act training series. In the first 3 years, researcher count has increased from 6 to 58.

A Distributed Sensor Network for the Control of a Bioclimatic House in Spain

PubMed Central

Gutiérrez, Álvaro; Jiménez-Leube, Javier; Magdalena, Luis

2009-01-01

The XXI century home should be a digital habitat, a connected residence, but at the same time it should be involved in sustainability and the environment. The location of new technologies at home, and its acceptance by the user, requires, among other actions, a significant diffusion and activity to be undertaken. This work proposes the development of a Smart House network designed for its integration into a sustainable and bioclimatic solar house. The paper focuses on a specific aspect of the house design, the control system bus, developed for the management of the different parameters, variables, sensors and actuators which coexist at home. Finally, the system has been installed in a laboratory bioclimatic house. Environmental variable experiments based on the control of passive elements, such as phase shift gels, are presented. Experimental results show that the system is able to benefit from the bioclimatic elements in the house by taking into account the user preferences. PMID:22408501

A distributed sensor network for the control of a bioclimatic house in Spain.

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Alvaro; Jiménez-Leube, Javier; Magdalena, Luis

2009-01-01

The XXI century home should be a digital habitat, a connected residence, but at the same time it should be involved in sustainability and the environment. The location of new technologies at home, and its acceptance by the user, requires, among other actions, a significant diffusion and activity to be undertaken. This work proposes the development of a Smart House network designed for its integration into a sustainable and bioclimatic solar house. The paper focuses on a specific aspect of the house design, the control system bus, developed for the management of the different parameters, variables, sensors and actuators which coexist at home. Finally, the system has been installed in a laboratory bioclimatic house. Environmental variable experiments based on the control of passive elements, such as phase shift gels, are presented. Experimental results show that the system is able to benefit from the bioclimatic elements in the house by taking into account the user preferences.

Medium Range Ensembles Flood Forecasts for Community Level Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fakhruddin, S.; Kawasaki, A.; Babel, M. S.; AIT

2013-05-01

Early warning is a key element for disaster risk reduction. In recent decades, there has been a major advancement in medium range and seasonal forecasting. These could provide a great opportunity to improve early warning systems and advisories for early action for strategic and long term planning. This could result in increasing emphasis on proactive rather than reactive management of adverse consequences of flood events. This can be also very helpful for the agricultural sector by providing a diversity of options to farmers (e.g. changing cropping pattern, planting timing, etc.). An experimental medium range (1-10 days) flood forecasting model has been developed for Bangladesh which provides 51 set of discharge ensembles forecasts of one to ten days with significant persistence and high certainty. This could help communities (i.e. farmer) for gain/lost estimation as well as crop savings. This paper describe the application of ensembles probabilistic flood forecast at the community level for differential decision making focused on agriculture. The framework allows users to interactively specify the objectives and criteria that are germane to a particular situation, and obtain the management options that are possible, and the exogenous influences that should be taken into account before planning and decision making. risk and vulnerability assessment was conducted through community consultation. The forecast lead time requirement, users' needs, impact and management options for crops, livestock and fisheries sectors were identified through focus group discussions, informal interviews and questionnaire survey.

A money management-based substance use treatment increases valuation of future rewards.

PubMed

Black, Anne C; Rosen, Marc I

2011-01-01

A positive association between delay discounting and substance use has been documented; substance users tend to discount future rewards more than non-users. However, studies detailing the responsiveness of delay discounting to interventions are lacking, and few have examined how any behavioral intervention affects delay discounting and whether these effects moderate changes in substance abuse. This study assesses the effectiveness of a money management intervention, Advisor-Teller Money Manager (ATM), in reducing delay discounting over time and the relationship of these effects to changes in cocaine use. Ninety psychiatric patients with histories of cocaine and/or alcohol use were randomly assigned to 36-weeks of ATM treatment or to a minimal-attention control condition. Delay discounting and cocaine use were measured throughout the intervention with a 52-week follow up measure of cocaine use. Analyses were conducted of (a) the effect of ATM on slopes of delay discounting and cocaine abstinence and (b) the relationship between change in delay discounting and change in cocaine abstinence. The ATM intervention was associated with significantly less delay discounting and less cocaine use over time relative to controls. Increases in delay discounting were associated with decreased abstinence from cocaine. ATM treatment decreased delay discounting rates and these effects extended to cocaine use. Concrete conceptualizations of future events, as occur in financial planning, with higher perceived probability may account for higher valuation of future rewards in counseled patients. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenges to the Transdisciplinarity of Climate Services: A Coffee Farming Case from Jamaica's Blue Mountains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guido, Z.

2017-12-01

Climate information is heralded as helping to build adaptive capacity, improve resource management, and contribute to more effective risk management. However, decision makers often find it challenging to use climate information for reasons attributed to a disconnect between technical experts who produce the information and end users. Consequently, many climate service projects are now applying an end-to-end approach that links information users and producers in the design, development, and delivery of services. This collaboration confronts obstacles that can undermine the objectives of the project. Despite this, few studies in the burgeoning field of climate services have assessed the challenges. To address this gap, I provide a reflective account and analysis of the collaborative challenges experienced in an ongoing, complex four-year project developing climate services for small-scale coffee producers in Jamaica. The project has involved diverse activities, including social data collection, research and development of information tools, periodic engagement with coffee sector representatives, and community-based trainings. Contributions to the project were made routinely by 18 individuals who represent 9 institutions located in three countries. These individuals work for academic and governmental organizations and bring expertise in anthropology, plant pathology, and climatology, among others. In spanning diverse disciplines, large geographic distances, and different cultures, the project team has navigated challenges in communication, problem framing, organizational agendas, disciplinary integration, and project management. I contextualize these experiences within research on transdisciplinary and team science, and share some perspectives on strategies to lessen their impact.

Computer Viruses and Related Threats: A Management Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wack, John P.; Carnahan, Lisa J.

This document contains guidance for managing the threats of computer viruses, Trojan horses, network worms, etc. and related software along with unauthorized use. It is geared towards managers of end-user groups, managers dealing with multi-user systems, personal computers, and networks. The guidance is general and addresses the vulnerabilities…

Prototype road weather performance management (RWPM) tool installation instructions & user manual.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-07-20

This document is the Installation Instructions and User Manual for the Road Weather Performance Management (RW-PM) Tool developed for the project on Development and Demonstration of a Prototype Road Weather Performance Management Application that Use...

Prototype road weather performance management tool : installation instructions & user manual.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-07-20

This document is the Installation Instructions and User Manual for the Road Weather Performance Management (RW-PM) Tool developed for the project on Development and Demonstration of a Prototype Road Weather Performance Management Application that Use...

Are multidose drug dispensing systems initiated for the appropriate patients?

PubMed

Mertens, Bram J; Kwint, H F; van Marum, Rob J; Bouvy, Marcel L

2018-05-16

It is unknown if multidose drug dispensing (MDD) systems are initiated for the appropriate patients. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the medication management problems of patients who were about to start with a MDD system (MDD patients) and patients who continued manually dispensed medication (non-MDD users) in order to identify if the appropriate patients receive a MDD system. Patient interviews (semi-structured) were conducted by 44 community pharmacists at the patient's home. Patients over 65 years of age, home dwelling and using at least five chronic drugs, were eligible for the study. An assessment tool was developed including 22 potential medication management problems, covering four domains: functional (7), organizational (7), medication adherence (6), and medication knowledge (2). Median scores were calculated with the interquartile range. Additionally, cognitive function was assessed with the Mini-Cog and frailty using the Groningen Frailty Indicator. One hundred eighty-eight MDD users and 230 non-MDD users were interviewed. MDD users were older, more often female, and using more drugs. Forty-two percent of the MDD users were possibly cognitively impaired and 63% were assessed as frail compared to 20 and 27% respectively of the non-MDD users. MDD users had more potential organizational problems (3 vs. 1; p < 0.01), functional problems (2 vs. 1; p < 0.01), medication adherence problems (1 vs. 0; p < 0.01), and medication knowledge problems (1 vs. 0; p < 0.01) compared to non-MDD users. Seventy percent of the MDD users scored six or more potential medication management problems while this was 22% among non-MDD users. The majority of MDD systems were initiated for patients who experienced multiple potential medication management problems suggesting a decreased medication management capacity.

ADAMS: AIRLAB data management system user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Conrad, C. L.; Ingogly, W. F.; Lauterbach, L. A.

1986-01-01

The AIRLAB Data Management System (ADAMS) is an online environment that supports research at NASA's AIRLAB. ADAMS provides an easy to use interactive interface that eases the task of documenting and managing information about experiments and improves communication among project members. Data managed by ADAMS includes information about experiments, data sets produced, software and hardware available in AIRLAB as well as that used in a particular experiment, and an on-line engineer's notebook. The User's Guide provides an overview of the ADAMS system as well as details of the operations available within ADAMS. A tutorial section takes the user step-by-step through a typical ADAMS session. ADAMS runs under the VAX/VMS operating system and uses the ORACLE database management system and DEC/FMS (the Forms Management System). ADAMS can be run from any VAX connected via DECnet to the ORACLE host VAX. The ADAMS system is designed for simplicity, so interactions within the underlying data management system and communications network are hidden from the user.

Integration of design information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderton, G. L.

1980-01-01

The overall concepts of the integrated programs for aerospace-vehicle design (IPAD) from the user's viewpoint are discussed. Also a top-level view of what the user requires from such a system is provided, and the interactions between the system and user are described. The four major components discussed are design process; data storage, management and manipulation; user interface; and project management. Although an outgrowth of aerospace production experience, the basic concepts discussed, and especially their emphasis on integration, are considered applicable to all problem solving. Thus, these concepts may offer a broad base for exploitation by industry in general. This is the first in a set of three papers, the other two being Future Integrated Design Process, by D. D. Mayer, and Requirements for Company-Wide Management of Engineering Information, by J. W. Southall. In addition to tying the three together, how project management can be handled in a computing environment and also the user interface needs are discussed in detail.

Dashboard Task Monitor for Managing ATLAS User Analysis on the Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sargsyan, L.; Andreeva, J.; Jha, M.; Karavakis, E.; Kokoszkiewicz, L.; Saiz, P.; Schovancova, J.; Tuckett, D.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

The organization of the distributed user analysis on the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) infrastructure is one of the most challenging tasks among the computing activities at the Large Hadron Collider. The Experiment Dashboard offers a solution that not only monitors but also manages (kill, resubmit) user tasks and jobs via a web interface. The ATLAS Dashboard Task Monitor provides analysis users with a tool that is independent of the operating system and Grid environment. This contribution describes the functionality of the application and its implementation details, in particular authentication, authorization and audit of the management operations.

Duty of care and autonomy: how support workers managed the tension between protecting service users from risk and promoting their independence in a specialist group home.

PubMed

Hawkins, R; Redley, M; Holland, A J

2011-09-01

In the UK those paid to support adults with intellectual disabilities must manage two potentially conflicting duties that are set out in policy documents as being vital to their role: protecting service users (their duty of care) and recognising service users' autonomy. This study focuses specifically on the support of people with the genetically determined condition, Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Due to the behaviours associated with PWS, the support of this group of people vividly illustrates the tension between respect for autonomy and duty of care. This article explores how support workers working in a residential group home managed their competing duties of managing risk and promoting independence in practice. An ethnographic study, comprising of qualitative observations, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, was undertaken to investigate the work of support workers in a UK residential group home specialising in the support of adults diagnosed with PWS. The study focused on how support workers attempted to reconcile the tension between protecting service users from the risks associated with the syndrome and acknowledging service users' autonomy by enabling independence. Findings demonstrate that risk was central to the structure of care delivery at the group home and support workers often adhered to standardised risk management procedures. The organisation also required support workers to promote service users' independence and many thought acknowledging service users' autonomy through the promotion of their independence was important. To manage tensions between their differing duties, some support workers deviated from standardised risk management procedures to allow service users a degree of independence. There is a tension between the duty of care and the duty to recognise autonomy at the level of service delivery in residential homes. Support workers attempt to manage this tension; however, further work needs to be done by both residential services and policy makers to facilitate the reconciliation of the duty of care with the duty to recognise service users' autonomy in practice. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Data base management system configuration specification. [computer storage devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neiers, J. W.

1979-01-01

The functional requirements and the configuration of the data base management system are described. Techniques and technology which will enable more efficient and timely transfer of useful data from the sensor to the user, extraction of information by the user, and exchange of information among the users are demonstrated.

Managing the Risks Associated with End-User Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alavi, Maryam; Weiss, Ira R.

1986-01-01

Identifies organizational risks of end-user computing (EUC) associated with different stages of the end-user applications life cycle (analysis, design, implementation). Generic controls are identified that address each of the risks enumerated in a manner that allows EUC management to select those most appropriate to their EUC environment. (5…

Managing End User Computing in the Federal Government.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Services Administration, Washington, DC.

This report presents an initial approach developed by the General Services Administration for the management of end user computing in federal government agencies. Defined as technology used directly by individuals in need of information products, end user computing represents a new field encompassing such technologies as word processing, personal…

Study of systems and techniques for data base management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

Data management areas were studied to identify pertinent problems and issues that will affect future NASA data users in terms of performance and cost. Specific topics discussed include the identifications of potential NASA data users other than those normally discussed, consideration affecting the clustering of minicomputers, low cost computer system for information retrieval and analysis, the testing of minicomputer based data base management systems, ongoing work related to the use of dedicated systems for data base management, and the problems of data interchange among a community of NASA data users.

Climate Change and Water Working Group - User Needs to Manage Hydrclimatic Risk from Days to Decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raff, D. A.; Brekke, L. D.; Werner, K.; Wood, A.; White, K. D.

2012-12-01

The Federal Climate Change Water Working Group (CCAWWG) provides engineering and scientific collaborations in support of water management. CCAWWG objectives include building working relationships across federal science and water management agencies, provide a forum to share expertise and leverage resources, develop education and training forums, to work with water managers to understand scientific needs and to foster collaborative efforts across the Federal and non-Federal water management and science communities to address those needs. Identifying and addressing water management needs has been categorized across two major time scales: days to a decade and multi-decadal, respectively. These two time periods are termed "Short-Term" and "Long-Term" in terms of the types of water management decisions they support where Short-Term roughly correlates to water management operations and Long-Term roughly correlates to planning activities. This presentation will focus on portraying the identified water management user needs across these two time periods. User Needs for Long-Term planning were identified in the 2011 Reclamation and USACE "Addressing Climate Change in Long-Term Water Resources Planning and Management: User Needs for Improving Tools and Information." User needs for Long-Term planning are identified across eight major categories: Summarize Relevant Literature, Obtain Climate Change Information, Make Decisions About How to Use the Climate Change Information, Assess Natural Systems Response, Assess Socioeconomic and Institutional Response, Assess System Risks and Evaluate Alternatives, Assess and Characterize Uncertainties, and Communicating Results and Uncertainties to Decisionmakers. User Needs for Short-Term operations are focused on needs relative to available or desired monitoring and forecast products from the hydroclimatic community. These needs are presenting in the 2012 USACE, Reclamation, and NOAA - NWS "Short-Term Water Management Decisions: User Needs for Improved Climate, Weather, and Hydrologic Information." Identified needs are presented in four categories: Monitoring, Forecasting, Understanding on Product Relationships and Utilization in Water Management, and Information Services Enterprise. These needs represent everything from continuation and enhancement of in situ monitoring products such as USGS water gages and precipitation networks to supporting product maintenance and evolution to accommodate newly developed technologies.

27 CFR 20.264 - User's records and report of products and processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... of products and processes. 20.264 Section 20.264 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms ALCOHOL AND... AND RUM Records and Reports § 20.264 User's records and report of products and processes. (a) Records. (1) Each user shall maintain separate accountings of— (i) The number of gallons of each formula of...

A new service support tool for COSMO-SkyMed: civil user coordination service and civil request management optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daraio, M. G.; Battagliere, M. L.; Sacco, P.; Fasano, L.; Coletta, A.

2015-10-01

COSMO-SkyMed is a dual-use program for both civilian and defense provides user community (institutional and commercial) with SAR data in several environmental applications. In the context of COSMO-SkyMed data and User management, one of the aspects carefully monitored is the user satisfaction level, it is links to satisfaction of submitted user requests. The operational experience of the first years of operational phase, and the consequent lessons learnt by the COSMO-SkyMed data and user management, have demonstrated that a lot of acquisition rejections are due to conflicts (time conflicts or system conflicts) among two or more civilian user requests, and they can be managed and solved implementing an improved coordination of users and their requests on a daily basis. With this aim a new Service Support Tool (SST) has been designed and developed to support the operators in the User Request coordination. The Tool allow to analyze conflicts among Acquisition Requests (ARs) before the National Rankization phase and to elaborate proposals for conflict resolution. In this paper the most common causes of the occurred rejections will be showed, for example as the impossibility to aggregate different orders, and the SST functionalities will be described, in particular how it works to remove or minimize the conflicts among different orders.

Are personal health records safe? A review of free web-accessible personal health record privacy policies.

PubMed

Carrión Señor, Inmaculada; Fernández-Alemán, José Luis; Toval, Ambrosio

2012-08-23

Several obstacles prevent the adoption and use of personal health record (PHR) systems, including users' concerns regarding the privacy and security of their personal health information. To analyze the privacy and security characteristics of PHR privacy policies. It is hoped that identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the PHR systems will be useful for PHR users, health care professionals, decision makers, and designers. We conducted a systematic review using the principal databases related to health and computer science to discover the Web-based and free PHR systems mentioned in published articles. The privacy policy of each PHR system selected was reviewed to extract its main privacy and security characteristics. The search of databases and the myPHR website provided a total of 52 PHR systems, of which 24 met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 17 (71%) allowed users to manage their data and to control access to their health care information. Only 9 (38%) PHR systems permitted users to check who had accessed their data. The majority of PHR systems used information related to the users' accesses to monitor and analyze system use, 12 (50%) of them aggregated user information to publish trends, and 20 (83%) used diverse types of security measures. Finally, 15 (63%) PHR systems were based on regulations or principles such as the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode). Most privacy policies of PHR systems do not provide an in-depth description of the security measures that they use. Moreover, compliance with standards and regulations in PHR systems is still low.

Promoting free online CME for intimate partner violence: what works at what cost?

PubMed

Harris, John M; Novalis-Marine, Cheryl; Amend, Robert W; Surprenant, Zita J

2009-01-01

There is a need to provide practicing physicians with training on the recognition and management of intimate partner violence (IPV). Online continuing medical education (CME) could help meet this need, but there is little information on the costs and effectiveness of promoting online CME to physicians. This lack of information may discourage IPV training efforts and the use of online CME in general. We promoted an interactive, multimedia, online IPV CME program, which offered free CME credit, to 92,000 California physicians for 24 months. We collected data on user satisfaction, the costs of different promotional strategies, and self-reported user referral source. We evaluated California physician awareness of the promotion via telephone surveys. Over 2 years, the CME program was used by 1869 California physicians (2% of market), who rated the program's overall quality highly (4.52 on a 1-5 scale; 5 = excellent). The average promotional cost per physician user was $75. Direct mail was the most effective strategy, costing $143 each for 821 users. E-promotion via search engine advertising and e-mail solicitation had less reach, but was more cost efficient ($30-$80 per user). Strategies with no direct cost, such as notices in professional newsletters, accounted for 31% (578) of physician users. Phone surveys found that 24% of California physicians were aware of the online IPV CME program after 18 months of promotion. Promoting online CME, even well-received free CME, to busy community physicians requires resources, in this case at least $75 per physician reached. The effective use of promotional resources needs to be considered when developing social marketing strategies to improve community physician practices. Organizations with an interest in promoting online training might consider the use of e-promotion techniques along with conventional promotion strategies.

Interfacing HTCondor-CE with OpenStack

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bockelman, B.; Caballero Bejar, J.; Hover, J.

2017-10-01

Over the past few years, Grid Computing technologies have reached a high level of maturity. One key aspect of this success has been the development and adoption of newer Compute Elements to interface the external Grid users with local batch systems. These new Compute Elements allow for better handling of jobs requirements and a more precise management of diverse local resources. However, despite this level of maturity, the Grid Computing world is lacking diversity in local execution platforms. As Grid Computing technologies have historically been driven by the needs of the High Energy Physics community, most resource providers run the platform (operating system version and architecture) that best suits the needs of their particular users. In parallel, the development of virtualization and cloud technologies has accelerated recently, making available a variety of solutions, both commercial and academic, proprietary and open source. Virtualization facilitates performing computational tasks on platforms not available at most computing sites. This work attempts to join the technologies, allowing users to interact with computing sites through one of the standard Computing Elements, HTCondor-CE, but running their jobs within VMs on a local cloud platform, OpenStack, when needed. The system will re-route, in a transparent way, end user jobs into dynamically-launched VM worker nodes when they have requirements that cannot be satisfied by the static local batch system nodes. Also, once the automated mechanisms are in place, it becomes straightforward to allow an end user to invoke a custom Virtual Machine at the site. This will allow cloud resources to be used without requiring the user to establish a separate account. Both scenarios are described in this work.

Trajectory Based Behavior Analysis for User Verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pao, Hsing-Kuo; Lin, Hong-Yi; Chen, Kuan-Ta; Fadlil, Junaidillah

Many of our activities on computer need a verification step for authorized access. The goal of verification is to tell apart the true account owner from intruders. We propose a general approach for user verification based on user trajectory inputs. The approach is labor-free for users and is likely to avoid the possible copy or simulation from other non-authorized users or even automatic programs like bots. Our study focuses on finding the hidden patterns embedded in the trajectories produced by account users. We employ a Markov chain model with Gaussian distribution in its transitions to describe the behavior in the trajectory. To distinguish between two trajectories, we propose a novel dissimilarity measure combined with a manifold learnt tuning for catching the pairwise relationship. Based on the pairwise relationship, we plug-in any effective classification or clustering methods for the detection of unauthorized access. The method can also be applied for the task of recognition, predicting the trajectory type without pre-defined identity. Given a trajectory input, the results show that the proposed method can accurately verify the user identity, or suggest whom owns the trajectory if the input identity is not provided.

GRACC: New generation of the OSG accounting

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

Retzke, K.; Weitzel, D.; Bhat, S.

2016-10-14

Throughout the last decade the Open Science Grid (OSG) has been fielding requests from user communities, resource owners, and funding agencies to provide information about utilization of OSG resources. Requested data include traditional accounting - core-hours utilized - as well as users certicate Distinguished Name, their affiliations, and eld of science. The OSG accounting service, Gratia, developed in 2006, is able to provide this information and much more. However, with the rapid expansion and transformation of the OSG resources and access to them, we are faced with several challenges in adapting and maintaining the current accounting service. The newest changesmore » include, but are not limited to, acceptance of users from numerous university campuses, whose jobs are flocking to OSG resources, expansion into new types of resources (public and private clouds, allocation-based HPC resources, and GPU farms), migration to pilot-based systems, and migration to multicore environments. In order to have a scalable, sustainable and expandable accounting service for the next few years, we are embarking on the development of the next-generation OSG accounting service, GRACC, that will be based on open-source technology and will be compatible with the existing system. It will consist of swappable, independent components, such as Logstash, Elasticsearch, Grafana, and RabbitMQ, that communicate through a data exchange. GRACC will continue to interface EGI and XSEDE accounting services and provide information in accordance with existing agreements. Lastly, we will present the current architecture and working prototype.« less

Individual and Group-Based Engagement in an Online Physical Activity Monitoring Program in Georgia.

PubMed

Smith, Matthew Lee; Durrett, Nicholas K; Bowie, Maria; Berg, Alison; McCullick, Bryan A; LoPilato, Alexander C; Murray, Deborah

2018-06-07

Given the rising prevalence of obesity in the United States, innovative methods are needed to increase physical activity (PA) in community settings. Evidence suggests that individuals are more likely to engage in PA if they are given a choice of activities and have support from others (for encouragement, motivation, and accountability). The objective of this study was to describe the use of the online Walk Georgia PA tracking platform according to whether the user was an individual user or group user. Walk Georgia is a free, interactive online tracking platform that enables users to log PA by duration, activity, and perceived difficulty, and then converts these data into points based on metabolic equivalents. Users join individually or in groups and are encouraged to set weekly PA goals. Data were examined for 6,639 users (65.8% were group users) over 28 months. We used independent sample t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare means between individual and group users. Two linear regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with activity logging. Users logged 218,766 activities (15,119,249 minutes of PA spanning 592,714 miles [41,858,446 points]). On average, group users had created accounts more recently than individual users (P < .001); however, group users logged more activities (P < .001). On average, group users logged more minutes of PA (P < .001) and earned more points (P < .001). Being in a group was associated with a larger proportion of weeks in which 150 minutes or more of weekly PA was logged (B = 20.47, P < .001). Use of Walk Georgia was significantly higher among group users than among individual users. To expand use and dissemination of online tracking of PA, programs should target naturally occurring groups (eg, workplaces, schools, faith-based groups).

User's Satisfaction of Multiple Accounting Record System.

PubMed

Chen, M C; Yu, H C

2016-01-01

The study hospital had developed a multiple account recording system that generates the accounting information of the consumed materials based on daily nursing records. A questionnaire survey was delivered to further investigate the impact of the system. Four concepts of the system were investigated. (1) Supportive and time saving; (2) impact on workflows and job satisfactions; (3) ease of use; and (4) overall satisfactions. The system scored 4.03 out of 5 as the highest for helpfulness for daily practices, 3.98 for decrease the time for recording material consumptions, 3.98 for actually changed the way they work. Users mostly expressed positive attitude towards the system.

Multi-agent Water Resources Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castelletti, A.; Giuliani, M.

2011-12-01

Increasing environmental awareness and emerging trends such as water trading, energy market, deregulation and democratization of water-related services are challenging integrated water resources planning and management worldwide. The traditional approach to water management design based on sector-by-sector optimization has to be reshaped to account for multiple interrelated decision-makers and many stakeholders with increasing decision power. Centralized management, though interesting from a conceptual point of view, is unfeasible in most of the modern social and institutional contexts, and often economically inefficient. Coordinated management, where different actors interact within a full open trust exchange paradigm under some institutional supervision is a promising alternative to the ideal centralized solution and the actual uncoordinated practices. This is a significant issue in most of the Southern Alps regulated lakes, where upstream hydropower reservoirs maximize their benefit independently form downstream users; it becomes even more relevant in the case of transboundary systems, where water management upstream affects water availability downstream (e.g. the River Zambesi flowing through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique or the Red River flowing from South-Western China through Northern Vietnam. In this study we apply Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) theory to design an optimal management in a decentralized way, considering a set of multiple autonomous agents acting in the same environment and taking into account the pay-off of individual water users, which are inherently distributed along the river and need to coordinate to jointly reach their objectives. In this way each real-world actor, representing the decision-making entity (e.g. the operator of a reservoir or a diversion dam) can be represented one-to-one by a computer agent, defined as a computer system that is situated in some environment and that is capable of autonomous action in this environment in order to meet its design objectives. The proposed approach is numerically tested on a synthetic case study, characterized by two multi-purpose reservoirs in cascade, two diversion dams and four different conflicting water uses: hydropower energy production, drinking supply, flooding prevention along the reservoir shores and irrigation supply. The system is therefore composed by four agents: the two operators of the diversion dams, which are purely reactive agents since they simply respond directly to the environment, and the operators of the two reservoirs, which are more complex agents because they have an internal state and their decisions are taken according to a closed-loop control scheme. In particular, the set of agents can act considering only their own objectives or they can coordinate to jointly reach better compromise solutions. Different interaction scenarios between the two extreme behaviours of centralized management and completely non-cooperation are simulated and analysed.

Technical Communication--Taking the User into Account.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-08-01

the effect of cognitive style on instructional design, it may be more cost-effective to evaluate how different instructional formats impact different...deck, 2 SONY VCK-3210 televison cameras, and a SONY Switcher/Fader SEG-l special effects generator. One television camera was positioned next to the ...AD-A1O? 030 NEW YORK STATE COLL OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES -ETC F/ S /9 TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION--TAKING THE USER INTO ACCOUNT U) AUG Al T L

The watershed and river systems management program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Markstrom, S.L.; Frevert, D.; Leavesley, G.H.; ,

2005-01-01

The Watershed and River System Management Program (WaRSMP), a joint effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), is focused on research and development of decision support systems and their application to achieve an equitable balance among diverse water resource management demands. Considerations include: (1) legal and political constraints; (2) stake holder and consensus-building; (3) sound technical knowledge; (4) flood control, consumptive use, and hydropower; (5) water transfers; (6) irrigation return flows and water quality; (7) recreation; (8) habitat for endangered species; (9) water supply and proration; (10) near-surface groundwater; and (11) water ownership, accounting, and rights. To address the interdisciplinary and multi-stake holder needs of real-time watershed management, WaRSMP has developed a decision support system toolbox. The USGS Object User Interface facilitates the coupling of Reclamation's RiverWare reservoir operations model with the USGS Modular Modeling and Precipitation Runoff Modeling Systems through a central database. This integration is accomplished through the use of Model and Data Management Interfaces. WaRSMP applications include Colorado River Main stem and Gunnison Basin, the Yakima Basin, the Middle Rio Grande Basin, the Truckee-Carson Basin, and the Umatilla Basin.

Socio-hydrology and integrated water resources management in northern Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Douglas, Michael; Jackson, Sue

2017-04-01

Australia's tropical rivers account for more than half of the nation's freshwater resources. Nearly all of these rivers flow freely to the sea, with less than 0. 01% of river flows diverted for human use, but there is increasing interest in developing the region's water resources for irrigated agriculture. Interdisciplinary research conducted over the past decade has demonstrated the reliance of biodiversity on free-flowing rivers and has also identified a broad range of benefits that people derive from these river systems including irrigated agriculture, tourism, commercial and recreational fishing and Indigenous subsistence harvesting. This has revealed the highly coupled nature of the socio-hydrological system in northern Australia's catchments and the trade-offs among different water users. This paper provides an overview of past and current research with a focus on how socio-hydrology may assist in undertaking integrated water resource management in this region.

Web-Based Software for Managing Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoadley, Sherwood T.; Ingraldi, Anthony M.; Gough, Kerry M.; Fox, Charles; Cronin, Catherine K.; Hagemann, Andrew G.; Kemmerly, Guy T.; Goodman, Wesley L.

2007-01-01

aeroCOMPASS is a software system, originally designed to aid in the management of wind tunnels at Langley Research Center, that could be adapted to provide similar aid to other enterprises in which research is performed in common laboratory facilities by users who may be geographically dispersed. Included in aeroCOMPASS is Web-interface software that provides a single, convenient portal to a set of project- and test-related software tools and other application programs. The heart of aeroCOMPASS is a user-oriented document-management software subsystem that enables geographically dispersed users to easily share and manage a variety of documents. A principle of "write once, read many" is implemented throughout aeroCOMPASS to eliminate the need for multiple entry of the same information. The Web framework of aeroCOMPASS provides links to client-side application programs that are fully integrated with databases and server-side application programs. Other subsystems of aeroCOMPASS include ones for reserving hardware, tracking of requests and feedback from users, generating interactive notes, administration of a customer-satisfaction questionnaire, managing execution of tests, managing archives of metadata about tests, planning tests, and providing online help and instruction for users.

International utilization and operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldberg, Stanley R.

1989-01-01

The international framework of the Space Station Freedom Program is described. The discussion covers the U.S. space policy, international agreements, international Station elements, overall program management structure, and utilization and operations management. Consideration is also given to Freedom's user community, Freedom's crew, pressurized payload and attached payload accommodations, utilization and operations planning, user integration, and user operations.

23 CFR 630.1106 - Policy and procedures for work zone safety management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... established in accordance with 23 CFR 630.1006, shall include the consideration and management of road user...; Exposure Control Measures to avoid or minimize worker exposure to motorized traffic and road user exposure... road users. (b) Agency processes, procedures, and/or guidance should be based on consideration of...

Patient account managers' role comes into focus.

PubMed

Pellar, J R; MacFarlane, W A

1991-04-01

As hospitals begin to see their accounts receivable as a sleeping giant, the role of patient accounts managers may increase in importance. A 1991 survey of patient accounts managers reveals a 25 percent average salary increase over the 1988 figure. The responsibilities of patient accounts managers have remained much the same, with increased emphasis on the basics: receivables management, billing, and collection. A majority of patient accounts managers aspire to higher positions within healthcare finance and management. Most aspirants are well qualified in terms of education but may require professional certification before advancing.

Preliminary ISIS users manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grantham, C.

1979-01-01

The Interactive Software Invocation (ISIS), an interactive data management system, was developed to act as a buffer between the user and host computer system. The user is provided by ISIS with a powerful system for developing software or systems in the interactive environment. The user is protected from the idiosyncracies of the host computer system by providing such a complete range of capabilities that the user should have no need for direct access to the host computer. These capabilities are divided into four areas: desk top calculator, data editor, file manager, and tool invoker.

A Distributed Multi-Agent System for Collaborative Information Management and Learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, James R.; Wolfe, Shawn R.; Wragg, Stephen D.; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

In this paper, we present DIAMS, a system of distributed, collaborative agents to help users access, manage, share and exchange information. A DIAMS personal agent helps its owner find information most relevant to current needs. It provides tools and utilities for users to manage their information repositories with dynamic organization and virtual views. Flexible hierarchical display is integrated with indexed query search-to support effective information access. Automatic indexing methods are employed to support user queries and communication between agents. Contents of a repository are kept in object-oriented storage to facilitate information sharing. Collaboration between users is aided by easy sharing utilities as well as automated information exchange. Matchmaker agents are designed to establish connections between users with similar interests and expertise. DIAMS agents provide needed services for users to share and learn information from one another on the World Wide Web.

TWIST User Presentation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Wastewater Information System Tool (TWIST) is downloadable, user-friendly management tool that will allow state and local health departments to effectively inventory and manage small wastewater treatment systems in their jurisdictions.

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA user interface development and management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1991-01-01

The transportable Applications Environment Plus (TAE Plus), developed at the NASA Goddard Space FLight Center, is a portable, What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) user interface development and management system. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated software environment that allows interactive prototyping and development of graphical user interfaces, as well as management of the user interface within the operational domain. TAE Plus is being applied to many types of applications, and what TAE Plus provides, how the implementation has utilizes state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, and how it has been used both within and without NASA are discussed.

Managing Personal and Group Collections of Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfe, Shawn R.; Wragg, Stephen D.; Chen, James R.; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

The internet revolution has dramatically increased the amount of information available to users. Various tools such as search engines have been developed to help users find the information they need from this vast repository. Users often also need tools to help manipulate the growing amount of useful information they have discovered. Current tools available for this purpose are typically local components of web browsers designed to manage URL bookmarks. They provide limited functionalities to handle high information complexities. To tackle this have created DIAMS, an agent-based tool to help users or groups manage their information collections and share their collections with other. the main features of DIAMS are described here.

Session management for web-based healthcare applications.

PubMed Central

Wei, L.; Sengupta, S.

1999-01-01

In health care systems, users may access multiple applications during one session of interaction with the system. However, users must sign on to each application individually, and it is difficult to maintain a common context among these applications. We are developing a session management system for web-based applications using LDAP directory service, which will allow single sign-on to multiple web-based applications, and maintain a common context among those applications for the user. This paper discusses the motivations for building this system, the system architecture, and the challenges of our approach, such as the session objects management for the user, and session security. PMID:10566511

75 FR 43110 - User Fees Relating to Enrollment and Preparer Tax Identification Numbers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-23

... certified public accountants, attorneys, enrolled agents, or registered tax return preparers are denied.... Except as provided in any transitional period, only attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled... public accountants (NAICS code 541211). Entities identified as tax preparation services and offices of...

Grid accounting service: state and future development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levshina, T.; Sehgal, C.; Bockelman, B.; Weitzel, D.; Guru, A.

2014-06-01

During the last decade, large-scale federated distributed infrastructures have been continually developed and expanded. One of the crucial components of a cyber-infrastructure is an accounting service that collects data related to resource utilization and identity of users using resources. The accounting service is important for verifying pledged resource allocation per particular groups and users, providing reports for funding agencies and resource providers, and understanding hardware provisioning requirements. It can also be used for end-to-end troubleshooting as well as billing purposes. In this work we describe Gratia, a federated accounting service jointly developed at Fermilab and Holland Computing Center at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Open Science Grid, Fermilab, HCC, and several other institutions have used Gratia in production for several years. The current development activities include expanding Virtual Machines provisioning information, XSEDE allocation usage accounting, and Campus Grids resource utilization. We also identify the direction of future work: improvement and expansion of Cloud accounting, persistent and elastic storage space allocation, and the incorporation of WAN and LAN network metrics.

Adoption of online health management tools among healthy older adults: An exploratory study.

PubMed

Zettel-Watson, Laura; Tsukerman, Dmitry

2016-06-01

As the population ages and chronic diseases abound, overburdened healthcare systems will increasingly require individuals to manage their own health. Online health management tools, quickly increasing in popularity, have the potential to diminish or even replace in-person contact with health professionals, but overall efficacy and usage trends are unknown. The current study explored perceptions and usage patterns among users of online health management tools, and identified barriers and barrier-breakers among non-users. An online survey was completed by 169 computer users (aged 50+). Analyses revealed that a sizable minority (37%) of participants use online health management tools and most users (89%) are satisfied with these tools, but a limited range of tools are being used and usage occurs in relatively limited domains. Improved awareness and education for online health management tools could enhance people's abilities to remain at home as they age, reducing the financial burden on formal assistance programs. © The Author(s) 2014.

Barriers to Managing Fertility: Findings From the Understanding Fertility Management in Contemporary Australia Facebook Discussion Group

PubMed Central

Rowe, Heather

2016-01-01

Background As part of research investigating the complexities of managing fertility in Australia, public opinions about how Australians manage their fertility were sought from women and men. Objective To identify public opinion about sexual and reproductive health in Australia. Methods To ensure access to a diverse group of people throughout Australia, an online group was advertised and convened on Facebook from October through December 2013. In a closed-group moderated discussion, participants responded to questions about how people in Australia attempt to manage three aspects of fertility: avoiding pregnancy, achieving pregnancy, and difficulties conceiving. Nonidentifiable demographic information was sought; no personal accounts of fertility management were requested. The discussion transcript was analyzed thematically. Results There were 61 female and 2 male Facebook users aged 18 to 50 years living in Australia participating in the study. Four main themes about fertility management were identified: access, geographical location, knowledge, and cost. Participants reported that young people and people from rural areas face barriers accessing contraception and fertility services. Limited knowledge about sex and reproduction and the cost of fertility services and contraception were also said to impede effective fertility management. Conclusions Reasons for inequalities in effective fertility management that are amenable to change were identified. Facebook is an effective method for gaining insights into public opinion about sexual and reproductive health. PMID:26878865

Software Engineering for User Interfaces. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Draper, Stephen W.; Norman, Donald A.

The discipline of software engineering can be extended in a natural way to deal with the issues raised by a systematic approach to the design of human-machine interfaces. The user should be treated as part of the system being designed and projects should be organized to take into account the current lack of a priori knowledge of user interface…

Towards a more complete SOCCR: Establishing a Coastal Carbon Data Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pidgeon, E.; Howard, J.; Tang, J.; Kroeger, K. D.; Windham-Myers, L.

2015-12-01

The 2007 State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR) was highly influential in ensuring components of the carbon cycle were accounted for in national policy and related management. However, while SOCCR detailed the significance of North American coastal wetlands, it was not until recently that leading governments began to fully recognized these ecosystems for their carbon sequestration and storage capacity and hence the significant role coastal ecosystems can play in GHG emission reductions strategies, offset mechanisms, coastal management strategies and climate mitigation policy. The new attention on coastal carbon systems has exposed limitations in terms of data availability and data quality, as well as insufficient knowledge of coastal carbon distributions, characteristics and coastal carbon cycle processes. In addition to restricting scientific progress, lack of comprehensive, comparable, and quality-controlled coastal carbon data is hindering progress towards carbon based conservation and coastal management. To directly address those limitations, we are developing a Global Science and Data Network for Coastal "Blue" Carbon, with support from the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group. Goals include: • Improving basic and applied science on carbon and GHG cycling in vegetated coastal ecosystems; • Supporting a coastal carbon and associated GHG data archive for use by the science community, coastal and climate practitioners and other data users; • Building the capacity of coastal carbon stakeholders globally to collect and interpret high quality coastal carbon science and data; • Providing a forum and mechanism to promote exchange and collaboration between scientists and coastal carbon data users globally; and • Outreach activities to ensure the best available data are globally accessible and that science is responsive to the needs of coastal managers and policy-makers.

Multiple use management preferences by visitors with differing leisure identity salience

Treesearch

Ingrid E. Schneider; Patricia B. Winter

1998-01-01

Multiple use area management is of particular interest to both outdoor and urban planners due to an increase in and diversity of users. These areas pose special management challenges due to the diverse and potential conflicting interests involved. Diverse users are frequently excluded from management decisions, however. Further, when visitor input is solicited, it is...

Software for Sharing and Management of Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, James R.; Wolfe, Shawn R.; Wragg, Stephen D.

2003-01-01

DIAMS is a set of computer programs that implements a system of collaborative agents that serve multiple, geographically distributed users communicating via the Internet. DIAMS provides a user interface as a Java applet that runs on each user s computer and that works within the context of the user s Internet-browser software. DIAMS helps all its users to manage, gain access to, share, and exchange information in databases that they maintain on their computers. One of the DIAMS agents is a personal agent that helps its owner find information most relevant to current needs. It provides software tools and utilities for users to manage their information repositories with dynamic organization and virtual views. Capabilities for generating flexible hierarchical displays are integrated with capabilities for indexed- query searching to support effective access to information. Automatic indexing methods are employed to support users queries and communication between agents. The catalog of a repository is kept in object-oriented storage to facilitate sharing of information. Collaboration between users is aided by matchmaker agents and by automated exchange of information. The matchmaker agents are designed to establish connections between users who have similar interests and expertise.

Video Game Addiction and Life Style Changes: Implications for Caregivers Burden.

PubMed

Sharma, Manoj Kumar

2016-01-01

Limitation of available information on caregiver perspective on managing the users excessive use of technology. The present case series explore the caregiver burden related to users addictive use of video game. The users and caregivers approached the service of healthy use of technology (SHUT clinic) for management. They were assessed using Griffith criteria for video game; General Health questionnaire and family burden interview schedule. It demonstrate the addictive use of video game and its impact on users life style and the presence of psychiatric distress/family burden in the caregivers. Caregivers also reported presence of disturbance in psychosocial domains and helplessness to manage the excessive use. It has implications for building support group and service to handle parents' distress and enabling them to handle the dysfunction in users.

Costs Associated with Implementation of Computer-Assisted Clinical Decision Support System for Antenatal and Delivery Care: Case Study of Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana

PubMed Central

Dalaba, Maxwell Ayindenaba; Akweongo, Patricia; Williams, John; Saronga, Happiness Pius; Tonchev, Pencho; Sauerborn, Rainer; Mensah, Nathan; Blank, Antje; Kaltschmidt, Jens; Loukanova, Svetla

2014-01-01

Objective This study analyzed cost of implementing computer-assisted Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) in selected health care centres in Ghana. Methods A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in the Kassena-Nankana district (KND). CDSS was deployed in selected health centres in KND as an intervention to manage patients attending antenatal clinics and the labour ward. The CDSS users were mainly nurses who were trained. Activities and associated costs involved in the implementation of CDSS (pre-intervention and intervention) were collected for the period between 2009–2013 from the provider perspective. The ingredients approach was used for the cost analysis. Costs were grouped into personnel, trainings, overheads (recurrent costs) and equipment costs (capital cost). We calculated cost without annualizing capital cost to represent financial cost and cost with annualizing capital costs to represent economic cost. Results Twenty-two trained CDSS users (at least 2 users per health centre) participated in the study. Between April 2012 and March 2013, users managed 5,595 antenatal clients and 872 labour clients using the CDSS. We observed a decrease in the proportion of complications during delivery (pre-intervention 10.74% versus post-intervention 9.64%) and a reduction in the number of maternal deaths (pre-intervention 4 deaths versus post-intervention 1 death). The overall financial cost of CDSS implementation was US$23,316, approximately US$1,060 per CDSS user trained. Of the total cost of implementation, 48% (US$11,272) was pre-intervention cost and intervention cost was 52% (US$12,044). Equipment costs accounted for the largest proportion of financial cost: 34% (US$7,917). When economic cost was considered, total cost of implementation was US$17,128–lower than the financial cost by 26.5%. Conclusions The study provides useful information in the implementation of CDSS at health facilities to enhance health workers' adherence to practice guidelines and taking accurate decisions to improve maternal health care. PMID:25180831

Doing Your Science While You're in Orbit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Mark L.; Miller, Stephen D.; Vazhkudai, Sudharshan S.; Trater, James R.

2010-11-01

Large-scale neutron facilities such as the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory need easy-to-use access to Department of Energy Leadership Computing Facilities and experiment repository data. The Orbiter thick- and thin-client and its supporting Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based services (available at https://orbiter.sns.gov) consist of standards-based components that are reusable and extensible for accessing high performance computing, data and computational grid infrastructure, and cluster-based resources easily from a user configurable interface. The primary Orbiter system goals consist of (1) developing infrastructure for the creation and automation of virtual instrumentation experiment optimization, (2) developing user interfaces for thin- and thick-client access, (3) provide a prototype incorporating major instrument simulation packages, and (4) facilitate neutron science community access and collaboration. The secure Orbiter SOA authentication and authorization is achieved through the developed Virtual File System (VFS) services, which use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for data repository file access, thin-and thick-client functionality and application access, and computational job workflow management. The VFS Relational Database Management System (RDMS) consists of approximately 45 database tables describing 498 user accounts with 495 groups over 432,000 directories with 904,077 repository files. Over 59 million NeXus file metadata records are associated to the 12,800 unique NeXus file field/class names generated from the 52,824 repository NeXus files. Services that enable (a) summary dashboards of data repository status with Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, (b) data repository NeXus file field/class name full text search capabilities within a Google like interface, (c) fully functional RBAC browser for the read-only data repository and shared areas, (d) user/group defined and shared metadata for data repository files, (e) user, group, repository, and web 2.0 based global positioning with additional service capabilities are currently available. The SNS based Orbiter SOA integration progress with the Distributed Data Analysis for Neutron Scattering Experiments (DANSE) software development project is summarized with an emphasis on DANSE Central Services and the Virtual Neutron Facility (VNF). Additionally, the DANSE utilization of the Orbiter SOA authentication, authorization, and data transfer services best practice implementations are presented.

A Framework for Automated Digital Forensic Reporting

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

provide a simple way to extract local accounts from a full system image. Unix, Linux and the BSD variants store user accounts in the /etc/ passwd file...with hashes of the user passwords in the /etc/shadow file for linux or /etc/master.passwd for BSD. /etc/ passwd also contains mappings from usernames to... passwd file may not map directly to real-world names, it can be a crucial link in this eventual mapping. Following are two examples where it could prove

An accounting system for water and consumptive use along the Colorado River, Hoover Dam to Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Raymond, Lee H.

1996-01-01

An accounting system for estimating and distributing consumptive use of water by vegetation to water users was developed for the Colorado River to meet the requirements of a U.S. Supreme Court decree and used with data from calendar year 1984. The system is based on a water-budget method to estimate total consumptive use by vegetation which is apportioned to agricultural users by using percentages of total evapotranspiration by vegetation estimated from digital-image analysis of satellite data.

Using NetMaster to manage IBM networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ginsburg, Guss

1991-01-01

After defining a network and conveying its importance to support the activities at the JSC, the need for network management based on the size and complexity of the IBM SNA network at JSC is demonstrated. Network Management consists of being aware of component status and the ability to control resources to meet the availability and service needs of users. The concerns of the user are addressed as well as those of the staff responsible for managing the network. It is explained how NetMaster (a network management system for managing SNA networks) is used to enhance reliability and maximize service to SNA network users through automated procedures. The following areas are discussed: customization, problem and configuration management, and system measurement applications of NetMaster. Also, several examples are given that demonstrate NetMaster's ability to manage and control the network, integrate various product functions, as well as provide useful management information.

The Effects of Different Teaching Approaches in Introductory Financial Accounting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiang, Bea; Nouri, Hossein; Samanta, Subarna

2014-01-01

The purpose of the research is to examine the effect of the two different teaching approaches in the first accounting course on student performance in a subsequent finance course. The study compares 128 accounting and finance students who took introductory financial accounting by either a user approach or a traditional preparer approach to examine…

Automated Instructional Management Systems (AIMS) Version III, Users Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York Inst. of Tech., Old Westbury.

This document sets forth the procedures necessary to utilize and understand the operating characteristics of the Automated Instructional Management System - Version III, a computer-based system for management of educational processes. Directions for initialization, including internal and user files; system and operational input requirements;…

Navy Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS). Environmental Exposure Module. Users’ Manual

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-16

menus , controls user and device access to the system, manages the security features associated with menus , devices, and users, provides...in the files, or the number of files in the system. 2-2 3.0 MODULE INPUT PROCESSES 3.1 Summary of Input Processes The EE module contains many menu ...Output Processes The EE module contains many menu options which enable the user to obtain needed information from the module. These options can be

End-user involvement in a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative research of non-pharmacological interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder delivered in school settings: reflections on the impacts and challenges.

PubMed

Coon, Jo Thompson; Gwernan-Jones, Ruth; Moore, Darren; Richardson, Michelle; Shotton, Catherine; Pritchard, Will; Morris, Christopher; Stein, Ken; Ford, Tamsin

2016-10-01

The benefits of end-user involvement in health-care research are widely recognized by research agencies. There are few published evaluations of end-user involvement in systematic reviews. (i) Describe end-user involvement in a complex mixed-methods systematic review of ADHD in schools, (ii) reflect on the impact of end-user involvement, (iii) highlight challenges and benefits experienced and (iv) provide suggestions to inform future involvement. End-users were involved in all stages of the project, both as authors and as members of an advisory group. In addition, several events were held with groups of relevant end-users during the project. End-user input (i) guided the direction of the research, (ii) contributed to a typology of interventions and outcomes, (iii) contributed to the direction of data analysis and (iv) contributed to the robustness of the syntheses by demonstrating the alignment of interim findings with lived experiences. Challenges included (i) managing expectations, (ii) managing the intensity of emotion, (iii) ensuring that involvement was fruitful for all not just the researcher, (iv) our capacity to communicate and manage the process and (v) engendering a sense of involvement amongst end-users. End-user involvement was an important aspect of this project. To minimize challenges in future projects, a recognition by the project management team and the funding provider that end-user involvement even in evidence synthesis projects is resource intensive is essential to allow appropriate allocation of time and resources for meaningful engagement. © 2015 The Authors. Health Expectations. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

76 FR 59329 - User Fees Relating to the Registered Tax Return Preparer Competency Examination and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-26

... and requiring tax return preparers who are not attorneys, certified public accountants, or enrolled... only attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and registered tax return preparers are...-6 permits specified individuals who are supervised by the attorney, certified public accountant...

Wildlife in the cloud: a new approach for engaging stakeholders in wildlife management.

PubMed

Chapron, Guillaume

2015-11-01

Research in wildlife management increasingly relies on quantitative population models. However, a remaining challenge is to have end-users, who are often alienated by mathematics, benefiting from this research. I propose a new approach, 'wildlife in the cloud,' to enable active learning by practitioners from cloud-based ecological models whose complexity remains invisible to the user. I argue that this concept carries the potential to overcome limitations of desktop-based software and allows new understandings of human-wildlife systems. This concept is illustrated by presenting an online decision-support tool for moose management in areas with predators in Sweden. The tool takes the form of a user-friendly cloud-app through which users can compare the effects of alternative management decisions, and may feed into adjustment of their hunting strategy. I explain how the dynamic nature of cloud-apps opens the door to different ways of learning, informed by ecological models that can benefit both users and researchers.

Perspectives on User Satisfaction Surveys.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cullen, Rowena

2001-01-01

Discusses academic libraries, digital environments, increasing competition, the relationship between service quality and user satisfaction, and user surveys. Describes the SERVQUAL model that measures service quality and user satisfaction in academic libraries; considers gaps between user expectations and managers' perceptions of user…

Enabling User Preferences Through Data Exchange

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-08-01

This paper describes a process, via user- air traffic management (ATM) data : exchange, for enabling user preferences in an ATM-based system. User : preferences may be defined in terms of a four-dimensional (4D) user-preferred : trajectory, or a seri...

Optimizing the resource usage in Cloud based environments: the Synergy approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zangrando, L.; Llorens, V.; Sgaravatto, M.; Verlato, M.

2017-10-01

Managing resource allocation in a cloud based data centre serving multiple virtual organizations is a challenging issue. In fact, while batch systems are able to allocate resources to different user groups according to specific shares imposed by the data centre administrator, without a static partitioning of such resources, this is not so straightforward in the most common cloud frameworks, e.g. OpenStack. In the current OpenStack implementation, it is only possible to grant fixed quotas to the different user groups and these resources cannot be exceeded by one group even if there are unused resources allocated to other groups. Moreover in the existing OpenStack implementation, when there aren’t resources available, new requests are simply rejected: it is then up to the client to later re-issue the request. The recently started EU-funded INDIGO-DataCloud project is addressing this issue through “Synergy”, a new advanced scheduling service targeted for OpenStack. Synergy adopts a fair-share model for resource provisioning which guarantees that resources are distributed among users following the fair-share policies defined by the administrator, taken also into account the past usage of such resources. We present the architecture of Synergy, the status of its implementation, some preliminary results and the foreseen evolution of the service.

Micro practices of coordination based on complex adaptive systems: user needs and strategies for coordinating public health in Denmark.

PubMed

Terkildsen, Morten Deleuran; Wittrup, Inge; Burau, Viola

2015-01-01

Many highly formalised approaches to coordination poorly fit public health and recent studies call for coordination based on complex adaptive systems. Our contribution is two-fold. Empirically, we focus on public health, and theoretically we build on the patient perspective and treat coordination as a process of contingent, two-level negotiations of user needs. The paper draws on the concept of user needs-based coordination and sees coordination as a process, whereby needs emerging from the life world of the user are made amenable to the health system through negotiations. The analysis is based on an explorative case study of a health promotion initiative in Denmark. It adopts an anthropological qualitative approach and uses a range of qualitative data. The analysis identifies four strategies of coordination: the coordinator focusing on the individual user or on relations with other professionals; and the manager coaching the coordinator or providing structural support. Crucially, the coordination strategies by management remain weak as they do not directly relate to specific user needs. In process of bottom-up negotiations user needs become blurred and this is especially a challenge for management. The study therefore calls for an increased focus on the level nature of negotiations to bridge the gap that currently weakens coordination strategies by management.

PIMS sequencing extension: a laboratory information management system for DNA sequencing facilities.

PubMed

Troshin, Peter V; Postis, Vincent Lg; Ashworth, Denise; Baldwin, Stephen A; McPherson, Michael J; Barton, Geoffrey J

2011-03-07

Facilities that provide a service for DNA sequencing typically support large numbers of users and experiment types. The cost of services is often reduced by the use of liquid handling robots but the efficiency of such facilities is hampered because the software for such robots does not usually integrate well with the systems that run the sequencing machines. Accordingly, there is a need for software systems capable of integrating different robotic systems and managing sample information for DNA sequencing services. In this paper, we describe an extension to the Protein Information Management System (PIMS) that is designed for DNA sequencing facilities. The new version of PIMS has a user-friendly web interface and integrates all aspects of the sequencing process, including sample submission, handling and tracking, together with capture and management of the data. The PIMS sequencing extension has been in production since July 2009 at the University of Leeds DNA Sequencing Facility. It has completely replaced manual data handling and simplified the tasks of data management and user communication. Samples from 45 groups have been processed with an average throughput of 10000 samples per month. The current version of the PIMS sequencing extension works with Applied Biosystems 3130XL 96-well plate sequencer and MWG 4204 or Aviso Theonyx liquid handling robots, but is readily adaptable for use with other combinations of robots. PIMS has been extended to provide a user-friendly and integrated data management solution for DNA sequencing facilities that is accessed through a normal web browser and allows simultaneous access by multiple users as well as facility managers. The system integrates sequencing and liquid handling robots, manages the data flow, and provides remote access to the sequencing results. The software is freely available, for academic users, from http://www.pims-lims.org/.

Activity-Based Management Accounting for DoD Depot Maintenance

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-08-01

used to establish a management accounting system for the depots is described. The current accounting system does not provide the information to answer...nondirect costs are tied solely to direct labor hours. A possible alternative management accounting system uses Activity-Based Costing (ABC). ABC links...along with its probable benefits and costs. Accounting, Management accounting , Cost analysis, Depot maintenance cost.

Infrastructure Management Information System User Manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-10-01

This publication describes and explains the user interface for the Infrastructure Management Information System (IMIS). The IMIS is designed to answer questions regarding public water supply, wastewater treatment, and census information. This publica...

[Management of human resources, materials, and organization processes in radioprotection].

PubMed

Coppola, V

1999-06-01

The radiologist must learn to face daily management responsibilities and therefore he/she needs the relevant knowledge. Aside from the mechanisms of management accounting, which differ only slightly from similar analysis methods used in other centers, the managing radiologist (the person in charge) is directly responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling radiation protection, a major discipline characterizing diagnostic imaging. We will provide some practical management hints, keeping in mind that radiation protection must not be considered a simple (or annoying) technical task, but rather an extraordinary positive element for the radiologist's cultural differentiation and professional identity. The managing radiologist can use the theory and practice of management techniques successfully applied in business, customizing them to the ethics and economics of health care. Meeting the users' needs must obviously prevail on balancing the budget from both a logical and an accounting viewpoints, since non-profit organizations are involved. In radiological practice, distinguishing the management of human from structural resources (direct funding is not presently available) permits to use internal benchmarking for the former and controlled acquisition and planned replacement of technologies in the latter, obviously after evaluation of specific indicators and according to the relevant laws and technical guidelines. Managing human resources means safeguarding the patient, the operator and the population, which can be achieved or improved using benchmarking in a diagnostic imaging department. The references for best practice will be set per tabulas based on the relevant laws and (inter)national guidelines. The physical-technical and bureaucratic-administrative factors involved will be considered as process indices to evaluate the gap from normal standards. Among the different elements involved in managing structural resources, the appropriate acquisition of a piece of radiological equipment is important from both a radiation protection and an economic viewpoints. In the acquisition process, the first and the last steps (technology assessment and planned replacement, respectively) are specifically important for the radiologist and play a major role in global management. In both cases the radiologist must be able to lay out autonomous and objective working projects, also using evaluation algorithms.

The GRIN-Global Information Management System – A Preview and Opportunity for Public User Input

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The GRIN-Global Information Management System, under development for the past two years, will provide the world's crop genebanks and plant genetic resource (PGR) users with a powerful, flexible, easy-to-use PGR information management system. Developed jointly by the USDA Agricultural Research Servi...

Proximity Displays for Access Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaniea, Kami

2012-01-01

Managing access to shared digital information, such as photographs and documents. is difficult for end users who are accumulating an increasingly large and diverse collection of data that they want to share with others. Current policy-management solutions require a user to proactively seek out and open a separate policy-management interface when…

Navy Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS). Hazardous Materials Control Module. Users’ Manual

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-16

Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS) 6 Hazardous Materials Control Module (HMC) User’s Manual 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization...Materials Control (HMC) module of the Naval Medical Command’s (NAVMED) Navy Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS). After presenting

Who are mobile app users from healthy lifestyle websites? Analysis of patterns of app use and user characteristics.

PubMed

Elavsky, Steriani; Smahel, David; Machackova, Hana

2017-12-01

The use of online communities and websites for health information has proliferated along with the use of mobile apps for managing health behaviors such as diet and exercise. The scarce evidence available to date suggests that users of these websites and apps differ in significant ways from non-users but most data come from US- and UK-based populations. In this study, we recruited users of nutrition, weight management, and fitness-oriented websites in the Czech Republic to better understand who uses mobile apps and who does not, including user sociodemographic and psychological profiles. Respondents aged 13-39 provided information on app use through an online survey (n = 669; M age = 24.06, SD = 5.23; 84% female). Among users interested in health topics, respondents using apps for managing nutrition, weight, and fitness (n = 403, 60%) were more often female, reported more frequent smartphone use, and more expert phone skills. In logistic regression models, controlling for sociodemographics, web, and phone activity, mHealth app use was predicted by levels of excessive exercise (OR 1.346, 95% CI 1.061-1.707, p < .01). Among app users, we found differences in types of apps used by gender, age, and weight status. Controlling for sociodemographics and web and phone use, drive for thinness predicted the frequency of use of apps for healthy eating (β = 0.14, p < .05), keeping a diet (β = 0.27, p < .001), and losing weight (β = 0.33, p < .001), whereas excessive exercise predicted the use of apps for keeping a diet (β = 0.18, p < .01), losing weight (β = 0.12, p < .05), and managing sport/exercise (β = 0.28, p < .001). Sensation seeking was negatively associated with the frequency of use of apps for maintaining weight (β = - 0.13, p < .05). These data unveil the user characteristics of mHealth app users from nutrition, weight management, and fitness websites, helping inform subsequent design of mHealth apps and mobile intervention strategies.

A web based Radiation Oncology Dose Manager with a rich User Interface developed using AJAX, ruby, dynamic XHTML and the new Yahoo/EXT User Interface Library.

PubMed

Vali, Faisal; Hong, Robert

2007-10-11

With the evolution of AJAX, ruby on rails, advanced dynamic XHTML technologies and the advent of powerful user interface libraries for javascript (EXT, Yahoo User Interface Library), developers now have the ability to provide truly rich interfaces within web browsers, with reasonable effort and without third-party plugins. We designed and developed an example of such a solution. The User Interface allows radiation oncology practices to intuitively manage different dose fractionation schemes by helping estimate total dose to irradiated organs.

Automated Rocket Propulsion Test Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walters, Ian; Nelson, Cheryl; Jones, Helene

2007-01-01

The Rocket Propulsion Test-Automated Management System provides a central location for managing activities associated with Rocket Propulsion Test Management Board, National Rocket Propulsion Test Alliance, and the Senior Steering Group business management activities. A set of authorized users, both on-site and off-site with regard to Stennis Space Center (SSC), can access the system through a Web interface. Web-based forms are used for user input with generation and electronic distribution of reports easily accessible. Major functions managed by this software include meeting agenda management, meeting minutes, action requests, action items, directives, and recommendations. Additional functions include electronic review, approval, and signatures. A repository/library of documents is available for users, and all items are tracked in the system by unique identification numbers and status (open, closed, percent complete, etc.). The system also provides queries and version control for input of all items.

Mental models of a water management system in a green building.

PubMed

Kalantzis, Anastasia; Thatcher, Andrew; Sheridan, Craig

2016-11-01

This intergroup case study compared users' mental models with an expert design model of a water management system in a green building. The system incorporates a constructed wetland component and a rainwater collection pond that together recycle water for re-use in the building and its surroundings. The sample consisted of five building occupants and the cleaner (6 users) and two experts who were involved with the design of the water management system. Users' mental model descriptions and the experts' design model were derived from in-depth interviews combined with self-constructed (and verified) diagrams. Findings from the study suggest that there is considerable variability in the user mental models that could impact the efficient functioning of the water management system. Recommendations for improvements are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Meaning of healthy living for health users, professionals and managers].

PubMed

Backes, Dirce Stein; Backes, Marli Terezinha Stein; Rangel, Rosiane Filipin; Erdmann, Alacoque Lorenzini; Büscher, Andreas

2011-01-01

Qualitative research guided by grounded theory method that aimed to understand the meaning of healthy living in a community socially vulnerable for health users, professionals and managers. Data were collected through individual interview with 25 participants, among health users, professionals and managers. Data analysis was done in a comparative way according to grounded theory. For health users, healthy living is associated with basic living conditions, with inclusion opportunities and social participation and with interaction and associative possibilities; for health professionals, healthy living is related to political and social articulations; and for managers, it is related to the development of strategies that can reorient the current health model. We conclude that healthy living is a singular, plural and complex process that is built based on the imaginary and on the experiences of each human being.

Effectiveness of Pavement Management System and its Effects to the Closing of Final Account in Construction Project in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakaria, Zarabizan; Ismail, Syuhaida; Yusof, Aminah Md

2013-04-01

Federal roads maintenance needs a systematic and effective mechanism to ensure that the roads are in good condition and provide comfort to the road user. In implementing effective maintenance, budget is main the factor limiting this endeavor. Thus Public Works Department (PWD) Malaysia used Highway Development and Management (HDM-4) System to help the management of PWD Malaysia in determining the location and length of the road to be repaired according to the priority based on its analysis. For that purpose, PWD Malaysia has applied Pavement Management System (PMS) which utilizes HDM-4 as the analysis engine to conduct technical and economic analysis in generating annual work programs for pavement maintenance. As a result, a lot of feedback and comment have been received from Supervisory and Roads Maintenance Unit (UPPJ) Zonal on the accuracy of the system output and problems that arise in the closing of final account. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to evaluate current system accuracy in terms of generating the annual work program for periodic pavement maintenance, to identify factors contributing to the system inaccuracy in selecting the location and length of roads that require for treatment and to propose improvement measures for the system accuracy. The factors affecting the closing of final account caused by result received from the pavement management system are also defined. The scope of this paper is on the existing HDM-4 System which cover four states specifically Perlis, Selangor, Kelantan and Johor which is analysed via the work program output data for the purpose of evaluating the system accuracy. The method used in this paper includes case study, interview, discussion and analysis of the HDM-4 System output data. This paper has identified work history not updated and the analysis is not using the current data as factors contributing to the system accuracy. From the result of this paper, it is found that HDM-4's system accuracy used by PWD Malaysia attains average 65 per cent only and had not achieved level that had been set by PWD Malaysia namely 80 per cent. Hence, this paper has revealed the causes of the occurrances in the pavement management system in construction project in Malaysia and investigated the consequences of the late payments and final account problems confronted by contractors in Malaysia, which eventually proposed strategic actions that could be taken by the contractors in securing their payments.

Exploring representations and experiences of case-management users: towards difficulties and solutions to leading qualitative interviews with older people with complex living conditions.

PubMed

Balard, Frédéric; Corre, Stéphanie Pin Le; Trouvé, Hélène; Saint-Jean, Olivier; Somme, Dominique

2013-01-01

By matching needs to resource services, case management could be a useful tool for improving the care of older people with complex living conditions. Collecting and analysing the users' experiences represents a good way to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a case-management service. However, in the literature, fieldwork is very rarely considered and the users included in qualitative research seem to be the most accessible. This study was undertaken to describe the challenges of conducting qualitative research with older people with complex living conditions in order to understand their experiences with case-management services. Reflective analysis was applied to describe the process of recruiting and interviewing older people with complex living conditions in private homes, describing the protocol with respect to fieldwork chronology. The practical difficulties inherent in this type of study are addressed, particularly in terms of defining a sample, the procedure for contacting the users and conducting the interview. The users are people who suffer from a loss of autonomy because of cognitive impairment, severe disease and/or psychiatric or social problems. Notably, most of them refuse care and assistance. Reflective analysis of our protocol showed that the methodology and difficulties encountered constituted the first phase of data analysis. Understanding the experience of users of case management to analyse the outcomes of case-management services requires a clear methodology for the fieldwork.

75 FR 60316 - User Fees Relating to Enrollment and Preparer Tax Identification Numbers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-30

... a PTIN, a tax return preparer must be an attorney, certified public accountant, enrolled agent, or... that tax return preparers who are attorneys, certified public accountants, or enrolled agents already... who are not otherwise licensed as an attorney, certified public accountant, or enrolled agent...

National record linkage study of mortality for a large cohort of opioid users ascertained by drug treatment or criminal justice sources in England, 2005–2009

PubMed Central

Pierce, Matthias; Bird, Sheila M.; Hickman, Matthew; Millar, Tim

2015-01-01

Background Globally, opioid drug use is an important cause of premature mortality. In many countries, opioid using populations are ageing. The current study investigates mortality in a large cohort of opioid users; with a focus on testing whether excess mortality changes with age. Methods 198,247 opioid users in England were identified from drug treatment and criminal justice sources (April, 2005 to March, 2009) and linked to mortality records. Mortality rates and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated by age-group and gender. Results There were 3974 deaths from all causes (SMR 5.7, 95% Confidence Interval: 5.5 to 5.9). Drug-related poisonings (1715) accounted for 43% of deaths. Relative to gender-and-age-appropriate expectation, mortality was elevated for a range of major causes including: infectious, respiratory, circulatory, liver disease, suicide, and homicide. Drug-related poisoning mortality risk continued to increase beyond 45 years and there were age-related increases in SMRs for specific causes of death (infectious, cancer, liver cirrhosis, and homicide). A gender by age-group interaction revealed that whilst men have a greater drug-related poisoning mortality risk than women at younger ages, the difference narrows with increasing age. Conclusion Opioid users’ excess mortality persists into old age and for some causes is exacerbated. This study highlights the importance of managing the complex health needs of older opioid users. PMID:25454405

Issues and challenges of involving users in medical device development.

PubMed

Bridgelal Ram, Mala; Grocott, Patricia R; Weir, Heather C M

2008-03-01

User engagement has become a central tenet of health-care policy. This paper reports on a case study in progress that highlights user engagement in the research process in relation to medical device development. To work with a specific group of medical device users to uncover unmet needs, translating these into design concepts, novel technologies and products. To validate a knowledge transfer model that may be replicated for a range of medical device applications and user groups. In depth qualitative case study to elicit and analyse user needs. The focus is on identifying design concepts for medical device applications from unmet needs, and validating these in an iterative feedback loop to the users. The case study has highlighted three interrelated challenges: ensuring unmet needs drive new design concepts and technology development; managing user expectations and managing the research process. Despite the challenges, active participation of users is crucial to developing usable and clinically effective devices.

PERIGRAMMA--A System for the Support of People with Cognitive or Movement Impairments Working in Secretarial Positions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Destounis, Panagiotis; Garofalakis, John; Kondilis, Theodore; Mavritsakis, George; Rigou, Maria; Sirmakessis, Spiros; Tzimas, John

In spite of the growing interest in interaction design, there remains a large user population that needs special interest: users with special needs. These users can dramatically benefit from software that better responds to their interaction needs, not to mention the fact that designing software that takes into account the special needs of such…

Impact of user fees on day use attendance at New Hampshire state parks

Treesearch

Allison A. Rechisky; Bradford N. Williamson

1992-01-01

This paper examines state park day use attendance data over a ten year period, 1980 - 1990, for variations in attendance effected by increases in user fees. A non-controllable variable the weather has been taken into account. The results of this paper suggest that user fees can be successfully collected at specific locations and provide positive income without...

Security Analysis of Accountable Anonymous Group Communication in Dissent

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-31

instance, group discussion forums or instant messaging. Misbehaving users may abuse this anonymity to disrupt communication, however, and existing...Abstract Users often wish to communicate anonymously on the Internet using, for instance, group discussion forums or instant messaging. Misbehaving users may...personal reprisal (Stein 2003). Yet anonymity makes it difficult to trace or exclude misbehaving participants (Davenport 2002). Online proto- cols

User participation in a Municipal Acute Ward in Norway: dilemmas in the interface between policy ideals and work conditions.

PubMed

Johannessen, Anne-Kari; Tveiten, Sidsel; Werner, Anne

2017-08-23

User participation has become an increasingly important principle in health care over the last few decades. Healthcare professionals are expected to involve patients in treatment decisions. Clear guidance as to what this should entail for professionals in clinical work is not accounted for in legislation. In this study, we explore how healthcare professionals in a Municipal Acute Ward perceived, experienced and performed user participation. The ward represents a new short-time service model for emergency assistance in Norway. We focused on the challenges the professionals faced in clinical work and how they dealt with these. Data were drawn from qualitative interviews with 11 healthcare professionals and from 10 observations in relation to previsits and physician's rounds in the ward. Transcripts of interviews and observations were analysed using a method for systematic text condensation. In the analysis, we applied Lipsky's perspective on dilemmas of street-level bureaucrats. The results show that that the professionals perceived user participation as an important and natural part of their work. They experienced difficulties related to collaboration with patients, caregivers, and professionals in other services, and with framework conditions that caused conflicting expectations, responsibility, and priorities. The professionals seemed to take a pragmatic approach to user participation, managing it within narrow perspectives. Our study indicates that the participants dealt with the dilemmas at the cost of user participation. The results demonstrate that there is a gap between the outlined health policy and the professionals' opportunities to fulfil this policy in clinical work regarding user participation. The policy decision-makers should recognise the balancing work required of healthcare professionals to deal with difficulties in clinical work. The knowledge that professionals possess as performers of services and the need for valuing in policy processes should be acknowledged. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Mental health, social inclusion and the green agenda: an evaluation of a land based rehabilitation project designed to promote occupational access and inclusion of service users in North Somerset, UK.

PubMed

Stepney, Paul; Davis, Paul

2004-01-01

The current debate about social inclusion in the field of mental health reveals a tension between the political and economic objectives of social policy. The former utilises the language of citizen empowerment and rights, whilst the latter is concerned with reducing welfare dependency through labour market activation. A central question here is whether a suitable programme of therapeutic work, training and support will produce better outcomes than those predicted by either a clinical diagnostic assessment or indeed open employment in the labour market. This article evaluates a research project with mental health users designed to develop pathways towards inclusion. The principal means for achieving this was a programme of 'green' land-based activities, training and social support. The researchers employed a mixed method approach, utilising a quasi-experimental design with a hypothetical control and standardised testing. This was followed by interviews with users, staff and focus group discussion. The evaluation produced some unexpected findings; for example, it was found that no strong correlation existed between diagnosis and performance. Many users performed better than had been predicted by their diagnostic assessment. However, the reasons for this remained unclear until the qualitative interviews enabled users to give accounts of the problems they faced, explain what inclusion meant for them, and outline how the project had brought gains in confidence, motivation and self belief. The data gathered during the research derived from different epistemological positions. This can be seen as representing two ways of 'slicing the reality cake' rather than producing one complete view of mental health users reality. One construction related to how 'the system' diagnosed, processed, and 'objectively' managed them. The other was about how users' responded to their situation, utilised the opportunities available, and made 'subjective' sense of their experience.

Incorporating User Preferences Within an Optimal Traffic Flow Management Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Joseph Lucio; Sheth, Kapil S.; Guiterrez-Nolasco, Sebastian Armardo

2010-01-01

The effectiveness of future decision support tools for Traffic Flow Management in the National Airspace System will depend on two major factors: computational burden and collaboration. Previous research has focused separately on these two aspects without consideration of their interaction. In this paper, their explicit combination is examined. It is shown that when user preferences are incorporated with an optimal approach to scheduling, runtime is not adversely affected. A benefit-cost ratio is used to measure the influence of user preferences on an optimal solution. This metric shows user preferences can be accommodated without inordinately, negatively affecting the overall system delay. Specifically, incorporating user preferences will increase delays proportionally to increased user satisfaction.

Toward an Ethical Framework for Climate Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilby, R.; Adams, P.; Eitland, E.; Hewitson, B.; Shumake, J.; Vaughan, C.; Zebiak, S. E.

2015-12-01

Climate services offer information and tools to help stakeholders anticipate and/or manage risks posed by climate change. However, climate services lack a cohesive ethical framework to govern their development and application. This paper describes a prototype, open-ended process to form a set of ethical principles to ensure that climate services are effectively deployed to manage climate risks, realize opportunities, and advance human security.We begin by acknowledging the multiplicity of competing interests and motivations across individuals and institutions. Growing awareness of potential climate impacts has raised interest and investments in climate services and led to the entrance of new providers. User demand for climate services is also rising, as are calls for new types of services. Meanwhile, there is growing pressure from funders to operationalize climate research.Our proposed ethical framework applies reference points founded on diverse experiences in western and developing countries, fundamental and applied climate research, different sectors, gender, and professional practice (academia, private sector, government). We assert that climate service providers should be accountable for both their practices and products by upholding values of integrity, transparency, humility, and collaboration.Principles of practice include: communicating all value judgements; eschewing climate change as a singular threat; engaging in the co-exploration of knowledge; establishing mechanisms for monitoring/evaluating procedures and products; declaring any conflicts of interest. Examples of principles of products include: clear and defensible provenance of information; descriptions of the extent and character of uncertainties using terms that are meaningful to intended users; tools and information that are tailored to the context of the user; and thorough documentation of methods and meta-data.We invite the community to test and refine these points.

Distributed data analysis in ATLAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nilsson, Paul; Atlas Collaboration

2012-12-01

Data analysis using grid resources is one of the fundamental challenges to be addressed before the start of LHC data taking. The ATLAS detector will produce petabytes of data per year, and roughly one thousand users will need to run physics analyses on this data. Appropriate user interfaces and helper applications have been made available to ensure that the grid resources can be used without requiring expertise in grid technology. These tools enlarge the number of grid users from a few production administrators to potentially all participating physicists. ATLAS makes use of three grid infrastructures for the distributed analysis: the EGEE sites, the Open Science Grid, and Nordu Grid. These grids are managed by the gLite workload management system, the PanDA workload management system, and ARC middleware; many sites can be accessed via both the gLite WMS and PanDA. Users can choose between two front-end tools to access the distributed resources. Ganga is a tool co-developed with LHCb to provide a common interface to the multitude of execution backends (local, batch, and grid). The PanDA workload management system provides a set of utilities called PanDA Client; with these tools users can easily submit Athena analysis jobs to the PanDA-managed resources. Distributed data is managed by Don Quixote 2, a system developed by ATLAS; DQ2 is used to replicate datasets according to the data distribution policies and maintains a central catalog of file locations. The operation of the grid resources is continually monitored by the Ganga Robot functional testing system, and infrequent site stress tests are performed using the Hammer Cloud system. In addition, the DAST shift team is a group of power users who take shifts to provide distributed analysis user support; this team has effectively relieved the burden of support from the developers.

77 FR 67410 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The National Securities Clearing Corporation; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-09

... transmission, and the settlement of such payments, with regard to investor accounts held on an omnibus account... payment of 12b-1 fees \\6\\ with regard to investor accounts held in Omnibus, and (v) establish the fees that NSCC will charge users of the Service with regard to investor accounts held in Omnibus. \\6\\ This...

Do Service Users with Intellectual Disabilities Want to Be Involved in the Risk Management Process? A Thematic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilcommons, Aoiffe M.; Withers, Paul; Moreno-Lopez, Agueda

2012-01-01

Background: Involving ID service users in risk decision making necessitates consideration of an individual's ability to assess the implications and associated risks and thus make an informed choice. This calls for research on service users' awareness and understanding of risk management (RM). Method: Thirteen people in a residential ID service who…

Data base management study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

Data base management techniques and applicable equipment are described. Recommendations which will assist potential NASA data users in selecting and using appropriate data base management tools and techniques are presented. Classes of currently available data processing equipment ranging from basic terminals to large minicomputer systems were surveyed as they apply to the needs of potential SEASAT data users. Cost and capabilities projections for this equipment through 1985 were presented. A test of a typical data base management system was described, as well as the results of this test and recommendations to assist potential users in determining when such a system is appropriate for their needs. The representative system tested was UNIVAC's DMS 1100.

Decision Support System for an efficient irrigation water management in semi arid environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, M. A.; Islam, M.; Hafeez, M. M.; Flugel, W. A.

2009-12-01

A significant increase in agricultural productivity over the last few decades has protected the world from episodes of hunger and food shortages. Water management in irrigated agriculture was instrumental in achieving those gains. Water resources are under high pressure due to rapid population growth and increased competition among various sectors. Access to reliable data on water availability, quantity and quality can provide the necessary foundation for sound management of water resources. There are many traditional methods for matching water demand and supply, however imbalances between demand and supply remain inevitable. It is possible to reduce the imbalances considerably through development of appropriate irrigation water management tool that take into account various factors such as soil type, irrigation water supply, and crop water demand. All components of water balance need to be understood and quantified for efficient and sustainable management of water resources. Application of an intelligent Decision Support System (DSS) is becoming significant. A DSS incorporates knowledge and expertise within the decision support framework. It is an integrated set of data, functions, models and other relevant information that efficiently processes input data, simulates models and displays the results in a user friendly format. It helps in decision-making process, to analyse the problem and explore various scenarios to make the most appropriate decision for water management. This paper deals with the Coleambally Irrigation Area (CIA) located in Murrumbidgee catchment, NSW, Australia. An Integrated River Information System called Coleambally IRIS has been developed to improve the irrigation water management ranging from farm to sub-system and system level. It is a web-based information management system with a focus on time series and geospatial hydrological, climatic and remote sensing data including land cover class, surface temperature, soil moisture, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Evapotranspiration (ET). Coleambally IRIS provides user friendly environment for data input and output, and an adaptable set of functions for data analysis, management and decision making to develops strategies for sustainable irrigation water management. Coleambally IRIS is used to assist the managers of irrigation service provider and the farmers in their decision making by providing relevant information over the web. The developed DSS has been practically used in managing irrigation water under the current drought conditions. The DSS will be further extended for forecasting irrigation water demand in the future.

Usability and Acceptance of the Librarian Infobutton Tailoring Environment: An Open Access Online Knowledge Capture, Management, and Configuration Tool for OpenInfobutton.

PubMed

Jing, Xia; Cimino, James J; Del Fiol, Guilherme

2015-11-30

The Librarian Infobutton Tailoring Environment (LITE) is a Web-based knowledge capture, management, and configuration tool with which users can build profiles used by OpenInfobutton, an open source infobutton manager, to provide electronic health record users with context-relevant links to online knowledge resources. We conducted a multipart evaluation study to explore users' attitudes and acceptance of LITE and to guide future development. The evaluation consisted of an initial online survey to all LITE users, followed by an observational study of a subset of users in which evaluators' sessions were recorded while they conducted assigned tasks. The observational study was followed by administration of a modified System Usability Scale (SUS) survey. Fourteen users responded to the survey and indicated good acceptance of LITE with feedback that was mostly positive. Six users participated in the observational study, demonstrating average task completion time of less than 6 minutes and an average SUS score of 72, which is considered good compared with other SUS scores. LITE can be used to fulfill its designated tasks quickly and successfully. Evaluators proposed suggestions for improvements in LITE functionality and user interface.

Economic analysis of cloud-based desktop virtualization implementation at a hospital

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Cloud-based desktop virtualization infrastructure (VDI) is known as providing simplified management of application and desktop, efficient management of physical resources, and rapid service deployment, as well as connection to the computer environment at anytime, anywhere with anydevice. However, the economic validity of investing in the adoption of the system at a hospital has not been established. Methods This study computed the actual investment cost of the hospital-wide VDI implementation at the 910-bed Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Korea and the resulting effects (i.e., reductions in PC errors and difficulties, application and operating system update time, and account management time). Return on investment (ROI), net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR) indexes used for corporate investment decision-making were used for the economic analysis of VDI implementation. Results The results of five-year cost-benefit analysis given for 400 Virtual Machines (VMs; i.e., 1,100 users in the case of SNUBH) showed that the break-even point was reached in the fourth year of the investment. At that point, the ROI was 122.6%, the NPV was approximately US$192,000, and the IRR showed an investment validity of 10.8%. From our sensitivity analysis to changing the number of VMs (in terms of number of users), the greater the number of adopted VMs was the more investable the system was. Conclusions This study confirms that the emerging VDI can have an economic impact on hospital information system (HIS) operation and utilization in a tertiary hospital setting. PMID:23110661

Forecasting model for Pea seed-borne mosaic virus epidemics in field pea crops in a Mediterranean-type environment.

PubMed

Congdon, B S; Coutts, B A; Jones, R A C; Renton, M

2017-09-15

An empirical model was developed to forecast Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV) incidence at a critical phase of the annual growing season to predict yield loss in field pea crops sown under Mediterranean-type conditions. The model uses pre-growing season rainfall to calculate an index of aphid abundance in early-August which, in combination with PSbMV infection level in seed sown, is used to forecast virus crop incidence. Using predicted PSbMV crop incidence in early-August and day of sowing, PSbMV transmission from harvested seed was also predicted, albeit less accurately. The model was developed so it provides forecasts before sowing to allow sufficient time to implement control recommendations, such as having representative seed samples tested for PSbMV transmission rate to seedlings, obtaining seed with minimal PSbMV infection or of a PSbMV-resistant cultivar, and implementation of cultural management strategies. The model provides a disease forecast risk indication, taking into account predicted percentage yield loss to PSbMV infection and economic factors involved in field pea production. This disease risk forecast delivers location-specific recommendations regarding PSbMV management to end-users. These recommendations will be delivered directly to end-users via SMS alerts with links to web support that provide information on PSbMV management options. This modelling and decision support system approach would likely be suitable for use in other world regions where field pea is grown in similar Mediterranean-type environments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Economic analysis of cloud-based desktop virtualization implementation at a hospital.

PubMed

Yoo, Sooyoung; Kim, Seok; Kim, Taeki; Baek, Rong-Min; Suh, Chang Suk; Chung, Chin Youb; Hwang, Hee

2012-10-30

Cloud-based desktop virtualization infrastructure (VDI) is known as providing simplified management of application and desktop, efficient management of physical resources, and rapid service deployment, as well as connection to the computer environment at anytime, anywhere with any device. However, the economic validity of investing in the adoption of the system at a hospital has not been established. This study computed the actual investment cost of the hospital-wide VDI implementation at the 910-bed Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Korea and the resulting effects (i.e., reductions in PC errors and difficulties, application and operating system update time, and account management time). Return on investment (ROI), net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR) indexes used for corporate investment decision-making were used for the economic analysis of VDI implementation. The results of five-year cost-benefit analysis given for 400 Virtual Machines (VMs; i.e., 1,100 users in the case of SNUBH) showed that the break-even point was reached in the fourth year of the investment. At that point, the ROI was 122.6%, the NPV was approximately US$192,000, and the IRR showed an investment validity of 10.8%. From our sensitivity analysis to changing the number of VMs (in terms of number of users), the greater the number of adopted VMs was the more investable the system was. This study confirms that the emerging VDI can have an economic impact on hospital information system (HIS) operation and utilization in a tertiary hospital setting.

Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) Status and Compliance Requirements for EM Consolidated Business Center Contracts - 13204

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

Sanford, P.C.; Moe, M.A.; Hombach, W.G.

2013-07-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has developed a web-accessible database to collect actual cost data from completed EM projects to support cost estimating and analysis. This Environmental Cost Analysis System (ECAS) database was initially deployed in early 2009 containing the cost and parametric data from 77 decommissioning, restoration, and waste management projects completed under the Rocky Flats Closure Project. In subsequent years we have added many more projects to ECAS and now have a total of 280 projects from 8 major DOE sites. This data is now accessible to DOE users through a web-based reportingmore » tool that allows users to tailor report outputs to meet their specific needs. We are using it as a principal resource supporting the EM Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) and the EM Applied Cost Engineering (ACE) team cost estimating and analysis efforts across the country. The database has received Government Accountability Office review as supporting its recommended improvements in DOE's cost estimating process, as well as review from the DOE Office of Acquisition and Project Management (APM). Moving forward, the EMCBC has developed a Special Contract Requirement clause or 'H-Clause' to be included in all current and future EMCBC procurements identifying the process that contractors will follow to provide DOE their historical project data in a format compatible with ECAS. Changes to DOE O 413.3B implementation are also in progress to capture historical costs as part of the Critical Decision project closeout process. (authors)« less

Factors affecting collective action for forest fire management: a comparative study of community forest user groups in central Siwalik, Nepal.

PubMed

Sapkota, Lok Mani; Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad; Jourdain, Damien; Shivakoti, Ganesh P

2015-01-01

The attributes of social ecological systems affect the management of commons. Strengthening and enhancing social capital and the enforcement of rules and sanctions aid in the collective action of communities in forest fire management. Using a set of variables drawn from previous studies on the management of commons, we conducted a study across 20 community forest user groups in Central Siwalik, Nepal, by dividing the groups into two categories based on the type and level of their forest fire management response. Our study shows that the collective action in forest fire management is consistent with the collective actions in other community development activities. However, the effectiveness of collective action is primarily dependent on the complex interaction of various variables. We found that strong social capital, strong enforcement of rules and sanctions, and users' participation in crafting the rules were the major variables that strengthen collective action in forest fire management. Conversely, users' dependency on a daily wage and a lack of transparency were the variables that weaken collective action. In fire-prone forests such as the Siwalik, our results indicate that strengthening social capital and forming and enforcing forest fire management rules are important variables that encourage people to engage in collective action in fire management.

PIMS-Universal Payload Information Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elmore, Ralph; McNair, Ann R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

As the overall manager and integrator of International Space Station (ISS) science payloads and experiments, the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) at Marshall Space Flight Center had a critical need to provide an information management system for exchange and management of ISS payload files as well as to coordinate ISS payload related operational changes. The POIC's information management system has a fundamental requirement to provide secure operational access not only to users physically located at the POIC, but also to provide collaborative access to remote experimenters and International Partners. The Payload Information Management System (PIMS) is a ground based electronic document configuration management and workflow system that was built to service that need. Functionally, PIMS provides the following document management related capabilities: 1. File access control, storage and retrieval from a central repository vault. 2. Collect supplemental data about files in the vault. 3. File exchange with a PMS GUI client, or any FTP connection. 4. Files placement into an FTP accessible dropbox for pickup by interfacing facilities, included files transmitted for spacecraft uplink. 5. Transmission of email messages to users notifying them of new version availability. 6. Polling of intermediate facility dropboxes for files that will automatically be processed by PIMS. 7. Provide an API that allows other POIC applications to access PIMS information. Functionally, PIMS provides the following Change Request processing capabilities: 1. Ability to create, view, manipulate, and query information about Operations Change Requests (OCRs). 2. Provides an adaptable workflow approval of OCRs with routing through developers, facility leads, POIC leads, reviewers, and implementers. Email messages can be sent to users either involving them in the workflow process or simply notifying them of OCR approval progress. All PIMS document management and OCR workflow controls are coordinated through and routed to individual user's "to do" list tasks. A user is given a task when it is their turn to perform some action relating to the approval of the Document or OCR. The user's available actions are restricted to only functions available for the assigned task. Certain actions, such as review or action implementation by non-PIMS users, can also be coordinated through automated emails.

Based on user interest level of modeling scenarios and browse content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yang

2017-08-01

User interest modeling is the core of personalized service, taking into account the impact of situational information on user preferences, the user behavior days of financial information. This paper proposes a method of user interest modeling based on scenario information, which is obtained by calculating the similarity of the situation. The user's current scene of the approximate scenario set; on the "user - interest items - scenarios" three-dimensional model using the situation pre-filtering method of dimension reduction processing. View the content of the user interested in the theme, the analysis of the page content to get each topic of interest keywords, based on the level of vector space model user interest. The experimental results show that the user interest model based on the scenario information is within 9% of the user's interest prediction, which is effective.

Bringing Federated Identity to Grid Computing

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

Teheran, Jeny

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) is facing the challenge of providing scientific data access and grid submission to scientific collaborations that span the globe but are hosted at FNAL. Users in these collaborations are currently required to register as an FNAL user and obtain FNAL credentials to access grid resources to perform their scientific computations. These requirements burden researchers with managing additional authentication credentials, and put additional load on FNAL for managing user identities. Our design integrates the existing InCommon federated identity infrastructure, CILogon Basic CA, and MyProxy with the FNAL grid submission system to provide secure access formore » users from diverse experiments and collab orations without requiring each user to have authentication credentials from FNAL. The design automates the handling of certificates so users do not need to manage them manually. Although the initial implementation is for FNAL's grid submission system, the design and the core of the implementation are general and could be applied to other distributed computing systems.« less

Development and acceptability testing of decision trees for self-management of prosthetic socket fit in adults with lower limb amputation.

PubMed

Lee, Daniel Joseph; Veneri, Diana A

2018-05-01

The most common complaint lower limb prosthesis users report is inadequacy of a proper socket fit. Adjustments to the residual limb-socket interface can be made by the prosthesis user without consultation of a clinician in many scenarios through skilled self-management. Decision trees guide prosthesis wearers through the self-management process, empowering them to rectify fit issues, or referring them to a clinician when necessary. This study examines the development and acceptability testing of patient-centered decision trees for lower limb prosthesis users. Decision trees underwent a four-stage process: literature review and expert consultation, designing, two-rounds of expert panel review and revisions, and target audience testing. Fifteen lower limb prosthesis users (average age 61 years) reviewed the decision trees and completed an acceptability questionnaire. Participants reported agreement of 80% or above in five of the eight questions related to acceptability of the decision trees. Disagreement was related to the level of experience of the respondent. Decision trees were found to be easy to use, illustrate correct solutions to common issues, and have terminology consistent with that of a new prosthesis user. Some users with greater than 1.5 years of experience would not use the decision trees based on their own self-management skills. Implications for Rehabilitation Discomfort of the residual limb-prosthetic socket interface is the most common reason for clinician visits. Prosthesis users can use decision trees to guide them through the process of obtaining a proper socket fit independently. Newer users may benefit from using the decision trees more than experienced users.

AQUA-USERS: AQUAculture USEr Driven Operational Remote Sensing Information Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laanen, Marnix; Poser, Kathrin; Peters, Steef; de Reus, Nils; Ghebrehiwot, Semhar; Eleveld, Marieke; Miller, Peter; Groom, Steve; Clements, Oliver; Kurekin, Andrey; Martinez Vicente, Victor; Brotas, Vanda; Sa, Carolina; Couto, Andre; Brito, Ana; Amorim, Ana; Dale, Trine; Sorensen, Kai; Boye Hansen, Lars; Huber, Silvia; Kaas, Hanne; Andersson, Henrik; Icely, John; Fragoso, Bruno

2015-12-01

The FP7 project AQUA-USERS provides the aquaculture industry with user-relevant and timely information based on the most up-to-date satellite data and innovative optical in-situ measurements. Its key purpose is to develop an application that brings together satellite information on water quality and temperature with in-situ observations as well as relevant weather prediction and met-ocean data. The application and its underlying database are linked to a decision support system that includes a set of (user-determined) management options. Specific focus is on the development of indicators for aquaculture management including indicators for harmful algae bloom (HAB) events. The methods and services developed within AQUA-USERS are tested by the members of the user board, who represent different geographic areas and aquaculture production systems.

"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.

Graphical User Interface Development and Design to Support Airport Runway Configuration Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Debra G.; Lenox, Michelle; Onal, Emrah; Latorella, Kara A.; Lohr, Gary W.; Le Vie, Lisa

2015-01-01

The objective of this effort was to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) System Oriented Runway Management (SORM) decision support tool to support runway management. This tool is expected to be used by traffic flow managers and supervisors in the Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities.

Semantic Web Technologies for Mobile Context-Aware Services

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

for Context-Aware Service Provisioning 6 Communication toolkit (http, e-mail, IM, etc.) User interaction manager Platform manager White & yellow ...NAICS] North American Industry Classification System , http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html [OS00] Opermann, R., and Specht , M., A Context...toolkit (http, e-mail, IM, etc.) User interaction manager Platform manager White & yellow pages MAS administration toolkit N ET W O R K knowledge

Intelligent data management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, William J.

1985-01-01

Intelligent data management is the concept of interfacing a user to a database management system with a value added service that will allow a full range of data management operations at a high level of abstraction using human written language. The development of such a system will be based on expert systems and related artificial intelligence technologies, and will allow the capturing of procedural and relational knowledge about data management operations and the support of a user with such knowledge in an on-line, interactive manner. Such a system will have the following capabilities: (1) the ability to construct a model of the users view of the database, based on the query syntax; (2) the ability to transform English queries and commands into database instructions and processes; (3) the ability to use heuristic knowledge to rapidly prune the data space in search processes; and (4) the ability to use an on-line explanation system to allow the user to understand what the system is doing and why it is doing it. Additional information is given in outline form.

Cost (non)-recovery by platform technology facilities in the Bio21 Cluster.

PubMed

Gibbs, Gerard; Clark, Stella; Quinn, Julieanne; Gleeson, Mary Joy

2010-04-01

Platform technologies (PT) are techniques or tools that enable a range of scientific investigations and are critical to today's advanced technology research environment. Once installed, they require specialized staff for their operations, who in turn, provide expertise to researchers in designing appropriate experiments. Through this pipeline, research outputs are raised to the benefit of the researcher and the host institution. Platform facilities provide access to instrumentation and expertise for a wide range of users beyond the host institution, including other academic and industry users. To maximize the return on these substantial public investments, this wider access needs to be supported. The question of support and the mechanisms through which this occurs need to be established based on a greater understanding of how PT facilities operate. This investigation was aimed at understanding if and how platform facilities across the Bio21 Cluster meet operating costs. Our investigation found: 74% of platforms surveyed do not recover 100% of direct operating costs and are heavily subsidized by their home institution, which has a vested interest in maintaining the technology platform; platform managers play a major role in establishing the costs and pricing of the facility, normally in a collaborative process with a management committee or institutional accountant; and most facilities have a three-tier pricing structure recognizing internal academic, external academic, and commercial clients.

Cost (Non)-Recovery by Platform Technology Facilities in the Bio21 Cluster

PubMed Central

Gibbs, Gerard; Clark, Stella; Quinn, JulieAnne; Gleeson, Mary Joy

2010-01-01

Platform technologies (PT) are techniques or tools that enable a range of scientific investigations and are critical to today's advanced technology research environment. Once installed, they require specialized staff for their operations, who in turn, provide expertise to researchers in designing appropriate experiments. Through this pipeline, research outputs are raised to the benefit of the researcher and the host institution.1 Platform facilities provide access to instrumentation and expertise for a wide range of users beyond the host institution, including other academic and industry users. To maximize the return on these substantial public investments, this wider access needs to be supported. The question of support and the mechanisms through which this occurs need to be established based on a greater understanding of how PT facilities operate. This investigation was aimed at understanding if and how platform facilities across the Bio21 Cluster meet operating costs. Our investigation found: 74% of platforms surveyed do not recover 100% of direct operating costs and are heavily subsidized by their home institution, which has a vested interest in maintaining the technology platform; platform managers play a major role in establishing the costs and pricing of the facility, normally in a collaborative process with a management committee or institutional accountant; and most facilities have a three-tier pricing structure recognizing internal academic, external academic, and commercial clients. PMID:20357980

Environmental assessment of waste incineration in a life-cycle-perspective (EASEWASTE).

PubMed

Riber, Christian; Bhander, Gurbakhash S; Christensen, Thomas H

2008-02-01

A model for life-cycle assessment of waste incinerators is described and applied to a case study for illustrative purposes. As life-cycle thinking becomes more integrated into waste management, quantitative tools for assessing waste management technologies are needed. The presented model is a module in the life-cycle assessment model EASEWASTE. The module accounts for all uses of materials and energy and credits the incinerator for electricity and heat recovered. The energy recovered is defined by the user as a percentage of the energy produced, calculated on the lower heating value of the wet waste incinerated. Emissions are either process-specific (related to the amount of waste incinerated) or input-specific (related to the composition of the waste incinerated), while mass transfer to solid outputs are governed by transfer coefficients specified by the user. The waste input is defined by 48 material fractions and their chemical composition. The model was used to quantify the environmental performance of the incineration plant in Aarhus, Denmark before and after its upgrading in terms of improved flue gas cleaning and energy recovery. It demonstrated its usefulness in identifying the various processes and substances that contributed to environmental loadings as well as to environmental savings. The model was instrumental in demonstrating the importance of the energy recovery system not only for electricity but also heat from the incinerator.

GEOELECTRICAL TOMOGRAPHY AS AN OPERATIVE TOOL FOR THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OF LANDSLIDE: AN APPLICATION IN BASILICATA REGION, ITALY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerardo, C.; Lapenna, V.; Loperte, A.; Perrone, A.

2009-12-01

A new approach has been applied for investigating some landslides of recent genesis in Basilicata region (southern Italy), in particular a geophysical technique has been used to study a landslide bodies. Electrical resistivity tomography method has been applied to obtain information about the deep characteristics of the landslide bodies. The high resolution of the 2D ERTs allowed to locate the possible sliding surfaces of the landslide body. They also highlighted areas characterized by high water content, the increase of the saturation degree and pore pressures in these areas could have caused a weakening of the slopes. The information obtained by the application of indirect surveys appeared to be particularly useful for the end users involved in the risks management. In particular, taking into account the cycle of landslides emergency, the obtained data could give a valid contribution during the post-event phase which mainly regards the damage valuation. Indeed, only a corrected assessment of the damage and a precise geometric reconstruction of the landslide body, can direct the intervention actions of the end users. The results represent a valid cognitive support to choose the most appropriate technical solution for strengthening of the slopes and an example of best practice for the cooperation between the research activity (IMAA-CNR) and field emergency (Basilicata Civil Protection).

NED-2 User's Guide

Treesearch

Mark J. Twery; Peter D. Knopp; Scott A. Thomasma; Donald E. Nute

2011-01-01

This is the user's guide for NED-2, which is the latest version of NED, a forest ecosystem management decision support system. This software is part of a family of software products intended to help resource managers develop goals, assess current and future conditions, and produce sustainable management plans for forest properties. Designed for stand-alone Windows...

Identifying Twitter influencer profiles for health promotion in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Albalawi, Yousef; Sixsmith, Jane

2017-06-01

New media platforms, such as Twitter, provide the ideal opportunity to positively influence the health of large audiences. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest number of Twitter users of any country, some of whom are very influential in setting agendas and contributing to the dissemination of ideas. Those opinion leaders, both individuals and organizations, influential in the new media environment have the potential to raise awareness of health issues, advocate for health and potentially instigate change at a social level. To realize the potential of the new media platforms for public health, the function of opinion leaders is key. This study aims to identify and profile the most influential Twitter accounts in Saudi Arabia. Multiple measures, including: number of followers and four influence scores, were used to evaluate Twitter accounts. The data were then filtered and analysed using ratio and percentage calculations to identify the most influential users. In total, 99 Saudi Twitter accounts were classified, resulting in the identification of 25 religious men/women, 16 traditional media, 14 sports related, 10 new media, 6 political, 6 company and 4 health accounts. The methods used to identify the key influential Saudi accounts can be applied to inform profile development of Twitter users in other countries. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The construction of a public key infrastructure for healthcare information networks in Japan.

PubMed

Sakamoto, N

2001-01-01

The digital signature is a key technology in the forthcoming Internet society for electronic healthcare as well as for electronic commerce. Efficient exchanges of authorized information with a digital signature in healthcare information networks require a construction of a public key infrastructure (PKI). In order to introduce a PKI to healthcare information networks in Japan, we proposed a development of a user authentication system based on a PKI for user management, user authentication and privilege management of healthcare information systems. In this paper, we describe the design of the user authentication system and its implementation. The user authentication system provides a certification authority service and a privilege management service while it is comprised of a user authentication client and user authentication serves. It is designed on a basis of an X.509 PKI and is implemented with using OpenSSL and OpenLDAP. It was incorporated into the financial information management system for the national university hospitals and has been successfully working for about one year. The hospitals plan to use it as a user authentication method for their whole healthcare information systems. One implementation of the system is free to the national university hospitals with permission of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Another implementation is open to the other healthcare institutes by support of the Medical Information System Development Center (MEDIS-DC). We are moving forward to a nation-wide construction of a PKI for healthcare information networks based on it.

PROSPECT: a practical method for formulating evidence-based expert recommendations for the management of postoperative pain.

PubMed

Neugebauer, E A M; Wilkinson, R C; Kehlet, H; Schug, S A

2007-07-01

Many patients still suffer severe acute pain in the postoperative period. Although guidelines for treating acute pain are widely published and promoted, most do not consider procedure-specific differences in pain experienced or in techniques that may be most effective and appropriate for different surgical settings. The procedure-specific postoperative pain management (PROSPECT) Working Group provides procedure-specific recommendations for postoperative pain management together with supporting evidence from systematic literature reviews and related procedures at http://www.postoppain.org The methodology for PROSPECT reviews was developed and refined by discussion of the Working Group, and it adapts existing methods for formulation of consensus recommendations to the specific requirements of PROSPECT. To formulate PROSPECT recommendations, we use a methodology that takes into account study quality and source and level of evidence, and we use recognized methods for achieving group consensus, thus reducing potential bias. The new methodology is first applied in full for the 2006 update of the PROSPECT review of postoperative pain management for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Transparency in PROSPECT processes allows the users to be fully aware of any limitations of the evidence and recommendations, thereby allowing for appropriate decisions in their own practice setting.

STAR: an integrated solution to management and visualization of sequencing data

PubMed Central

Wang, Tao; Liu, Jie; Shen, Li; Tonti-Filippini, Julian; Zhu, Yun; Jia, Haiyang; Lister, Ryan; Whitaker, John W.; Ecker, Joseph R.; Millar, A. Harvey; Ren, Bing; Wang, Wei

2013-01-01

Motivation: Easily visualization of complex data features is a necessary step to conduct studies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. We developed STAR, an integrated web application that enables online management, visualization and track-based analysis of NGS data. Results: STAR is a multilayer web service system. On the client side, STAR leverages JavaScript, HTML5 Canvas and asynchronous communications to deliver a smoothly scrolling desktop-like graphical user interface with a suite of in-browser analysis tools that range from providing simple track configuration controls to sophisticated feature detection within datasets. On the server side, STAR supports private session state retention via an account management system and provides data management modules that enable collection, visualization and analysis of third-party sequencing data from the public domain with over thousands of tracks hosted to date. Overall, STAR represents a next-generation data exploration solution to match the requirements of NGS data, enabling both intuitive visualization and dynamic analysis of data. Availability and implementation: STAR browser system is freely available on the web at http://wanglab.ucsd.edu/star/browser and https://github.com/angell1117/STAR-genome-browser. Contact: wei-wang@ucsd.edu PMID:24078702

Popularity Prediction Tool for ATLAS Distributed Data Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beermann, T.; Maettig, P.; Stewart, G.; Lassnig, M.; Garonne, V.; Barisits, M.; Vigne, R.; Serfon, C.; Goossens, L.; Nairz, A.; Molfetas, A.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

This paper describes a popularity prediction tool for data-intensive data management systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). It is fed by the DDM popularity system, which produces historical reports about ATLAS data usage, providing information about files, datasets, users and sites where data was accessed. The tool described in this contribution uses this historical information to make a prediction about the future popularity of data. It finds trends in the usage of data using a set of neural networks and a set of input parameters and predicts the number of accesses in the near term future. This information can then be used in a second step to improve the distribution of replicas at sites, taking into account the cost of creating new replicas (bandwidth and load on the storage system) compared to gain of having new ones (faster access of data for analysis). To evaluate the benefit of the redistribution a grid simulator is introduced that is able replay real workload on different data distributions. This article describes the popularity prediction method and the simulator that is used to evaluate the redistribution.

Supporting ontology adaptation and versioning based on a graph of relevance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sassi, Najla; Jaziri, Wassim; Alharbi, Saad

2016-11-01

Ontologies recently have become a topic of interest in computer science since they are seen as a semantic support to explicit and enrich data-models as well as to ensure interoperability of data. Moreover, supporting ontology adaptation becomes essential and extremely important, mainly when using ontologies in changing environments. An important issue when dealing with ontology adaptation is the management of several versions. Ontology versioning is a complex and multifaceted problem as it should take into account change management, versions storage and access, consistency issues, etc. The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach and tool for ontology adaptation and versioning. A series of techniques are proposed to 'safely' evolve a given ontology and produce a new consistent version. The ontology versions are ordered in a graph according to their relevance. The relevance is computed based on four criteria: conceptualisation, usage frequency, abstraction and completeness. The techniques to carry out the versioning process are implemented in the Consistology tool, which has been developed to assist users in expressing adaptation requirements and managing ontology versions.

Substance abuse treatment in persons with HIV/AIDS: challenges in managing triple diagnosis.

PubMed

Durvasula, Ramani; Miller, Theodore R

2014-01-01

Clinical management of HIV must account for the "triple diagnosis" of HIV, psychiatric diagnosis, and substance use disorders and requires integrated treatment services that focus beyond just mitigation of substance use and psychiatric and medical symptoms but also address other health behaviors. Because clinical management of HIV/AIDS has shifted significantly with the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) in the mid 1990s, a literature review focusing on literature published since 2000, and using relevant key words was conducted using a wide range of literature search databases. This literature review was complemented by studies to expand on specific treatment modalities for which there was a dearth of literature addressing HIV infected cohorts and to provide discussion of issues around substance abuse treatment as an HIV prevention tool. Existing models of substance abuse treatment including cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing have proven to be useful for enhancing adherence and reducing substance use in outpatient populations, while methadone maintenance and directly observed treatment have been useful with specific subgroups of users. Contextualization of services heightens the likelihood of successful outcomes and relapse prevention.

Actionable Science in the Gulf of Mexico: Connecting Researchers and Resource Managers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lartigue, J.; Parker, F.; Allee, R.; Young, C.

2017-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) RESTORE Science Program was established in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to to carry out research, observation, and monitoring to support the long-term sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, including its fisheries. Administered in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Science Program emphasizes a connection between science and decision-making. This emphasis translated into an engagement process that allowed for resource managers and other users of information about the ecosystem to provide direct input into the science plan for the program. In developing funding opportunities, the Science Program uses structured conversations with resource managers and other decision makers to focus competitions on specific end user needs. When evaluating proposals for funding, the Science Program uses criteria that focus on applicability of a project's findings and products, end user involvement in project planning, and the approach for transferring findings and products to the end user. By including resource managers alongside scientific experts on its review panels, the Science Program ensures that these criteria are assessed from both the researcher and end user perspectives. Once funding decisions are made, the Science Program assigns a technical monitor to each award to assist with identifying and engaging end users. Sharing of best practices among the technical monitors has provided the Science Program insight on how best to bridge the gap between research and resource management and how to build successful scientist-decision maker partnerships. During the presentation, we will share two case studies: 1) design of a cooperative (fisheries scientist, fisheries managers, and fishers), Gulf-wide conservation and monitoring program for fish spawning aggregations and 2) development of habitat-specific ecosystem indicators for use by federal and state resource managers.

Waste treatability guidance program. User`s guide. Revision 0

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

Toth, C.

1995-12-21

DOE sites across the country generate and manage radioactive, hazardous, mixed, and sanitary wastes. It is necessary for each site to find the technologies and associated capacities required to manage its waste. One role of DOE HQ Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management is to facilitate the integration of the site- specific plans into coherent national plans. DOE has developed a standard methodology for defining and categorizing waste streams into treatability groups based on characteristic parameters that influence waste management technology needs. This Waste Treatability Guidance Program automates the Guidance Document for the categorization of waste information into treatabilitymore » groups; this application provides a consistent implementation of the methodology across the National TRU Program. This User`s Guide provides instructions on how to use the program, including installations instructions and program operation. This document satisfies the requirements of the Software Quality Assurance Plan.« less

DATALINK: Records inventory data collection software. User`s guide

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

Cole, B.A.

1995-03-01

DATALINK was created to provide an easy to use data collection program for records management software products. It provides several useful tools for capturing and validating record index data in the field. It also allows users to easily create a comma delimited, ASCII text file for data export into most records management software products. It runs on virtually any computer us MS-DOS.

User Access Management Based on Network Pricing for Social Network Applications

PubMed Central

Ma, Xingmin; Gu, Qing

2018-01-01

Social applications play a very important role in people’s lives, as users communicate with each other through social networks on a daily basis. This presents a challenge: How does one receive high-quality service from social networks at a low cost? Users can access different kinds of wireless networks from various locations. This paper proposes a user access management strategy based on network pricing such that networks can increase its income and improve service quality. Firstly, network price is treated as an optimizing access parameter, and an unascertained membership algorithm is used to make pricing decisions. Secondly, network price is adjusted dynamically in real time according to network load. Finally, selecting a network is managed and controlled in terms of the market economy. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can effectively balance network load, reduce network congestion, improve the user's quality of service (QoS) requirements, and increase the network’s income. PMID:29495252

Fish stocking in protected areas: Summary of a workshop

USGS Publications Warehouse

Corn, Paul Stephen; Knapp, Roland A.

2000-01-01

Native and nonnative sport fish have been introduced into the majority of historically fishless lakes in wilderness, generating conflicts between managing wilderness as natural ecosystems and providing opportunities for recreation. Managers faced with controversial and difficult decisions about how to manage wilderness lakes may not always have ready access to research relevant to these decisions. To address this problem, and to expose scientists to the concerns and constraints of managers and wilderness users, a workshop was held in October 1998 at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana. Participants included 43 scientists, state and federal managers, wilderness users and advocates and students. Four subject areas were addressed: federal, state, tribal and user perspectives, community and ecosystem effects, species effects and management recommendations. Papers from the workshop are being developed for an issue of the journal Ecosystems.

77 FR 45359 - Medical Device User Fee Rates for Fiscal Year 2013

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-31

... the following account information when sending a wire transfer: New York Federal Reserve Bank, U.S... ensure that your invoice is fully paid. Use the following account information when sending a wire... following account information when sending a wire transfer: New York Federal Reserve Bank, U.S. Dept of...

Library Research in the Federal Republic of Germany.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koch, Hans-Albrecht

1984-01-01

Report on current state of research in academic and research librarianship in Federal Republic of Germany highlights projects concerning acquisition of books; work procedure investigations; personnel requirements; cost accounting; investigations of library use (user research, user education); public relations work; librarianship; and subject…

Grid accounting service: state and future development

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

Levshina, T.; Sehgal, C.; Bockelman, B.

2014-01-01

During the last decade, large-scale federated distributed infrastructures have been continually developed and expanded. One of the crucial components of a cyber-infrastructure is an accounting service that collects data related to resource utilization and identity of users using resources. The accounting service is important for verifying pledged resource allocation per particular groups and users, providing reports for funding agencies and resource providers, and understanding hardware provisioning requirements. It can also be used for end-to-end troubleshooting as well as billing purposes. In this work we describe Gratia, a federated accounting service jointly developed at Fermilab and Holland Computing Center at Universitymore » of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Open Science Grid, Fermilab, HCC, and several other institutions have used Gratia in production for several years. The current development activities include expanding Virtual Machines provisioning information, XSEDE allocation usage accounting, and Campus Grids resource utilization. We also identify the direction of future work: improvement and expansion of Cloud accounting, persistent and elastic storage space allocation, and the incorporation of WAN and LAN network metrics.« less

Data management and its role in delivering science at DOE BES user facilities - Past, Present, and Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Stephen D.; Herwig, Kenneth W.; Ren, Shelly; Vazhkudai, Sudharshan S.; Jemian, Pete R.; Luitz, Steffen; Salnikov, Andrei A.; Gaponenko, Igor; Proffen, Thomas; Lewis, Paul; Green, Mark L.

2009-07-01

The primary mission of user facilities operated by Basic Energy Sciences under the Department of Energy is to produce data for users in support of open science and basic research [1]. We trace back almost 30 years of history across selected user facilities illustrating the evolution of facility data management practices and how these practices have related to performing scientific research. The facilities cover multiple techniques such as X-ray and neutron scattering, imaging and tomography sciences. Over time, detector and data acquisition technologies have dramatically increased the ability to produce prolific volumes of data challenging the traditional paradigm of users taking data home upon completion of their experiments to process and publish their results. During this time, computing capacity has also increased dramatically, though the size of the data has grown significantly faster than the capacity of one's laptop to manage and process this new facility produced data. Trends indicate that this will continue to be the case for yet some time. Thus users face a quandary for how to manage today's data complexity and size as these may exceed the computing resources users have available to themselves. This same quandary can also stifle collaboration and sharing. Realizing this, some facilities are already providing web portal access to data and computing thereby providing users access to resources they need [2]. Portal based computing is now driving researchers to think about how to use the data collected at multiple facilities in an integrated way to perform their research, and also how to collaborate and share data. In the future, inter-facility data management systems will enable next tier cross-instrument-cross facility scientific research fuelled by smart applications residing upon user computer resources. We can learn from the medical imaging community that has been working since the early 1990's to integrate data from across multiple modalities to achieve better diagnoses [3] - similarly, data fusion across BES facilities will lead to new scientific discoveries.

Identifying online user reputation in terms of user preference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Lu; Guo, Qiang; Liu, Xiao-Lu; Liu, Jian-Guo; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

2018-03-01

Identifying online user reputation is significant for online social systems. In this paper, taking into account the preference physics of online user collective behaviors, we present an improved group-based rating method for ranking online user reputation based on the user preference (PGR). All the ratings given by each specific user are mapped to the same rating criteria. By grouping users according to their mapped ratings, the online user reputation is calculated based on the corresponding group sizes. Results for MovieLens and Netflix data sets show that the AUC values of the PGR method can reach 0.9842 (0.9493) and 0.9995 (0.9987) for malicious (random) spammers, respectively, outperforming the results generated by the traditional group-based method, which indicates that the online preference plays an important role for measuring user reputation.

A Strategy for Improving the Quality of Entry-Level Management Accountants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kreuze, Jerry G.; Newell, Gale E.

1996-01-01

Reasons for a lack of management accounting topics in business education include the following: (1) already full curriculum; (2) shortage of qualified teachers (Certified Public Accounting faculty outnumber Certified Management Accounting faculty 7:1); and (3) students prefer public accounting. (SK)

A software for managing after-hours activities in research user facilities

DOE PAGES

Camino, F. E.

2017-05-01

Here, we present an afterhours activity management program for shared facilities, which handles the processes required for afterhours access (request, approval, extension, etc.). It implements the concept of permitted afterhours activities, which consists of a list of well-defined activities that each user can perform afterhours. The program provides an easy and unambiguous way for users to know which activities they are allowed to perform afterhours. In addition, the program can enhance its safety efficacy by interacting with lab and instrument access control systems commonly present in user facilities.

A software for managing after-hours activities in research user facilities

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

Camino, F. E.

Here, we present an afterhours activity management program for shared facilities, which handles the processes required for afterhours access (request, approval, extension, etc.). It implements the concept of permitted afterhours activities, which consists of a list of well-defined activities that each user can perform afterhours. The program provides an easy and unambiguous way for users to know which activities they are allowed to perform afterhours. In addition, the program can enhance its safety efficacy by interacting with lab and instrument access control systems commonly present in user facilities.

Interactive tree of life (iTOL) v3: an online tool for the display and annotation of phylogenetic and other trees.

PubMed

Letunic, Ivica; Bork, Peer

2016-07-08

Interactive Tree Of Life (http://itol.embl.de) is a web-based tool for the display, manipulation and annotation of phylogenetic trees. It is freely available and open to everyone. The current version was completely redesigned and rewritten, utilizing current web technologies for speedy and streamlined processing. Numerous new features were introduced and several new data types are now supported. Trees with up to 100,000 leaves can now be efficiently displayed. Full interactive control over precise positioning of various annotation features and an unlimited number of datasets allow the easy creation of complex tree visualizations. iTOL 3 is the first tool which supports direct visualization of the recently proposed phylogenetic placements format. Finally, iTOL's account system has been redesigned to simplify the management of trees in user-defined workspaces and projects, as it is heavily used and currently handles already more than 500,000 trees from more than 10,000 individual users. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

The impact of cost and network topology on urban mobility: a study of public bicycle usage in 2 U.S. cities.

PubMed

Jurdak, Raja

2013-01-01

Understanding the drivers of urban mobility is vital for epidemiology, urban planning, and communication networks. Human movements have so far been studied by observing people's positions in a given space and time, though most recent models only implicitly account for expected costs and returns for movements. This paper explores the explicit impact of cost and network topology on mobility dynamics, using data from 2 city-wide public bicycle share systems in the USA. User mobility is characterized through the distribution of trip durations, while network topology is characterized through the pairwise distances between stations and the popularity of stations and routes. Despite significant differences in station density and physical layout between the 2 cities, trip durations follow remarkably similar distributions that exhibit cost sensitive trends around pricing point boundaries, particularly with long-term users of the system. Based on the results, recommendations for dynamic pricing and incentive schemes are provided to positively influence mobility patterns and guide improved planning and management of public bicycle systems to increase uptake.

Communication of uncertainty in hydrological predictions: a user-driven example web service for Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fry, Matt; Smith, Katie; Sheffield, Justin; Watts, Glenn; Wood, Eric; Cooper, Jon; Prudhomme, Christel; Rees, Gwyn

2017-04-01

Water is fundamental to society as it impacts on all facets of life, the economy and the environment. But whilst it creates opportunities for growth and life, it can also cause serious damages to society and infrastructure through extreme hydro-meteorological events such as floods or droughts. Anticipation of future water availability and extreme event risks would both help optimise growth and limit damage through better preparedness and planning, hence providing huge societal benefits. Recent scientific research advances make it now possible to provide hydrological outlooks at monthly to seasonal lead time, and future projections up to the end of the century accounting for climatic changes. However, high uncertainty remains in the predictions, which varies depending on location, time of the year, prediction range and hydrological variable. It is essential that this uncertainty is fully understood by decision makers so they can account for it in their planning. Hence, the challenge is to finds ways to communicate such uncertainty for a range of stakeholders with different technical background and environmental science knowledge. The project EDgE (End-to end Demonstrator for improved decision making in the water sector for Europe) funded by the Copernicus programme (C3S) is a proof-of-concept project that develops a unique service to support decision making for the water sector at monthly to seasonal and to multi-decadal lead times. It is a mutual effort of co-production between hydrologists and environmental modellers, computer scientists and stakeholders representative of key decision makers in Europe for the water sector. This talk will present the iterative co-production process of a web service that serves the need of the user community. Through a series of Focus Group meetings in Spain, Norway and the UK, options for visualising the hydrological predictions and associated uncertainties are presented and discussed first as mock-up dash boards, off-line tools and pre-operational services. Feedbacks received from the users are listed and prioritised for the next-generation of development to take place. In addition, sprint-review webinars are also organised to insure the developed services address the users' demands correctly. The tools are formally tested through a set of case studies representative of decision making in contrasting water sectors, including hydro-power in snow-dominated regions, public water supply in heavily regulated countries, and river basin management in an arid environments with multiple users. In addition to the visualisation, a key component of the project is the provision of user guidance. This helps the user understand the challenges of dealing with uncertainty and interpretation of the results, provides contextual background information, describes the service's functionality, and showcases examples of good practice.

Linking a Medical User Survey to Management for Library Effectiveness: II, A Checkland Soft Systems Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brember, V. L.

1985-01-01

Presents Checkland's soft systems methodology, discusses it in terms of the systems approach, and illustrates how it was used to relate evidence of user survey to practical problems of library management. Difficulties in using methodology are described and implications for library management and information science research are presented. (8…

Variation in use of Internet-based patient portals by parents of children with chronic disease.

PubMed

Byczkowski, Terri L; Munafo, Jennifer K; Britto, Maria T

2011-05-01

To assess the use of Internet-based portals among families of children with chronic diseases and to describe characteristics of portal registrants and users. Retrospective observational study. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, using data from September 1, 2003, through February 29, 2008. Patients/ Parents of children with diabetes mellitus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or cystic fibrosis. Parents of children with a chronic disease were given the opportunity to access health-related information for their children via an Internet-based portal. Percentage of families who obtained a portal account (registered), used the portal for the first time within 3 months and again 3 to 6 months after registration, number of times logged in, and session length. Of 1900 families, 27.9% obtained a portal account. Of those, 47.8% used the portal within 3 months of registration and 15.9% continued to use the portal 3 to 6 months after registration. Families of African American patients and of patients insured by Medicaid were less likely to obtain a portal account. More outpatient visits and having private health insurance coverage were associated with increased portal registration and use. Understanding the feasibility of portal use by parents is an important first step to using portals for improving self-management, patient-provider interactions, and outcomes for children with chronic diseases. Subsequent studies should address parent perceptions of the value portals add to the management of the chronic disease of their child and ways to increase that value. Barriers to using portals among racial minorities and publicly insured families should also be studied to address disparities.

Potential approaches to the management of third-party impacts from groundwater transfers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skurray, James H.; Pannell, David J.

2012-08-01

Groundwater extraction can have varied and diffuse effects. Negative external effects may include costs imposed on other groundwater users and on surrounding ecosystems. Environmental damages are commonly not reflected in market transactions. Groundwater transfers have the potential to cause spatial redistribution, concentration, and qualitative transformation of the impacts from pumping. An economically and environmentally sound groundwater transfer scheme would ensure that marginal costs from trades do not exceed marginal benefits, accounting for all third-party impacts, including those of a non-monetary nature as well as delayed effects. This paper proposes a menu of possible management strategies that would help preclude unacceptable impacts by restricting transfers with certain attributes, ideally ensuring that permitted transfers are at least welfare-neutral. Management tools would require that transfers limit or reduce environmental impacts, and provide for the compensation of financial impacts. Three management tools are described. While these tools can limit impacts from a given level of extraction, they cannot substitute for sustainable overall withdrawal limits. Careful implementation of transfer limits and exchange rates, and the strategic use of management area boundaries, may enable a transfer system to restrict negative externalities mainly to monetary costs. Provision for compensation of these costs could be built into the system.

Environmental and socio-economic methodologies and solutions towards integrated water resources management.

PubMed

Friesen, Jan; Rodriguez Sinobas, Leonor; Foglia, Laura; Ludwig, Ralf

2017-03-01

Semi-arid regions are facing the challenge of managing water resources under conditions of increasing scarcity and drought. These are recently pressured by the impact of climate change favoring the shifting from using surface water to groundwater without taking sustainability issues into account. Likewise, water scarcity raises the competition for water among users, increasing the risk of social conflicts, as the availability of fresh water in sufficient quality and quantity is already one of the major factors limiting socio-economic development. In terms of hydrology, semi-arid regions are characterized by very complex hydro- and hydrogeological systems. The complexity of the water cycle contrasts strongly with the poor data availability, (1) which limits the number of analysis techniques and methods available to researchers, (2) limits the accuracy of models and predictions, and (3) consequently challenges the capabilities to develop appropriate management measures to mitigate or adapt the environment to scarcity and drought conditions. Integrated water resources management is a holistic approach to focus on both environmental as well as on socio-economic factors influencing water availability and supply. The management approaches and solutions adopted, e.g. in form of decision support for specific water resources systems, are often highly specific for individual case studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

JUICE: a data management system that facilitates the analysis of large volumes of information in an EST project workflow.

PubMed

Latorre, Mariano; Silva, Herman; Saba, Juan; Guziolowski, Carito; Vizoso, Paula; Martinez, Veronica; Maldonado, Jonathan; Morales, Andrea; Caroca, Rodrigo; Cambiazo, Veronica; Campos-Vargas, Reinaldo; Gonzalez, Mauricio; Orellana, Ariel; Retamales, Julio; Meisel, Lee A

2006-11-23

Expressed sequence tag (EST) analyses provide a rapid and economical means to identify candidate genes that may be involved in a particular biological process. These ESTs are useful in many Functional Genomics studies. However, the large quantity and complexity of the data generated during an EST sequencing project can make the analysis of this information a daunting task. In an attempt to make this task friendlier, we have developed JUICE, an open source data management system (Apache + PHP + MySQL on Linux), which enables the user to easily upload, organize, visualize and search the different types of data generated in an EST project pipeline. In contrast to other systems, the JUICE data management system allows a branched pipeline to be established, modified and expanded, during the course of an EST project. The web interfaces and tools in JUICE enable the users to visualize the information in a graphical, user-friendly manner. The user may browse or search for sequences and/or sequence information within all the branches of the pipeline. The user can search using terms associated with the sequence name, annotation or other characteristics stored in JUICE and associated with sequences or sequence groups. Groups of sequences can be created by the user, stored in a clipboard and/or downloaded for further analyses. Different user profiles restrict the access of each user depending upon their role in the project. The user may have access exclusively to visualize sequence information, access to annotate sequences and sequence information, or administrative access. JUICE is an open source data management system that has been developed to aid users in organizing and analyzing the large amount of data generated in an EST Project workflow. JUICE has been used in one of the first functional genomics projects in Chile, entitled "Functional Genomics in nectarines: Platform to potentiate the competitiveness of Chile in fruit exportation". However, due to its ability to organize and visualize data from external pipelines, JUICE is a flexible data management system that should be useful for other EST/Genome projects. The JUICE data management system is released under the Open Source GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). JUICE may be downloaded from http://genoma.unab.cl/juice_system/ or http://www.genomavegetal.cl/juice_system/.

JUICE: a data management system that facilitates the analysis of large volumes of information in an EST project workflow

PubMed Central

Latorre, Mariano; Silva, Herman; Saba, Juan; Guziolowski, Carito; Vizoso, Paula; Martinez, Veronica; Maldonado, Jonathan; Morales, Andrea; Caroca, Rodrigo; Cambiazo, Veronica; Campos-Vargas, Reinaldo; Gonzalez, Mauricio; Orellana, Ariel; Retamales, Julio; Meisel, Lee A

2006-01-01

Background Expressed sequence tag (EST) analyses provide a rapid and economical means to identify candidate genes that may be involved in a particular biological process. These ESTs are useful in many Functional Genomics studies. However, the large quantity and complexity of the data generated during an EST sequencing project can make the analysis of this information a daunting task. Results In an attempt to make this task friendlier, we have developed JUICE, an open source data management system (Apache + PHP + MySQL on Linux), which enables the user to easily upload, organize, visualize and search the different types of data generated in an EST project pipeline. In contrast to other systems, the JUICE data management system allows a branched pipeline to be established, modified and expanded, during the course of an EST project. The web interfaces and tools in JUICE enable the users to visualize the information in a graphical, user-friendly manner. The user may browse or search for sequences and/or sequence information within all the branches of the pipeline. The user can search using terms associated with the sequence name, annotation or other characteristics stored in JUICE and associated with sequences or sequence groups. Groups of sequences can be created by the user, stored in a clipboard and/or downloaded for further analyses. Different user profiles restrict the access of each user depending upon their role in the project. The user may have access exclusively to visualize sequence information, access to annotate sequences and sequence information, or administrative access. Conclusion JUICE is an open source data management system that has been developed to aid users in organizing and analyzing the large amount of data generated in an EST Project workflow. JUICE has been used in one of the first functional genomics projects in Chile, entitled "Functional Genomics in nectarines: Platform to potentiate the competitiveness of Chile in fruit exportation". However, due to its ability to organize and visualize data from external pipelines, JUICE is a flexible data management system that should be useful for other EST/Genome projects. The JUICE data management system is released under the Open Source GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). JUICE may be downloaded from or . PMID:17123449

The Third Annual NASA Science Internet User Working Group Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lev, Brian S. (Editor); Gary, J. Patrick (Editor)

1993-01-01

The NASA Science Internet (NSI) User Support Office (USO) sponsored the Third Annual NSI User Working Group (NSIUWG) Conference March 30 through April 3, 1992, in Greenbelt, MD. Approximately 130 NSI users attended to learn more about the NSI, hear from projects which use NSI, and receive updates about new networking technologies and services. This report contains material relevant to the conference; copies of the agenda, meeting summaries, presentations, and descriptions of exhibitors. Plenary sessions featured a variety of speakers, including NSI project management, scientists, and NSI user project managers whose projects and applications effectively use NSI, and notable citizens of the larger Internet community. The conference also included exhibits of advanced networking applications; tutorials on internetworking, computer security, and networking technologies; and user subgroup meetings on the future direction of the conference, networking, and user services and applications.

Quality of longer term mental health facilities in Europe: validation of the quality indicator for rehabilitative care against service users' views.

PubMed

Killaspy, Helen; White, Sarah; Wright, Christine; Taylor, Tatiana L; Turton, Penny; Kallert, Thomas; Schuster, Mirjam; Cervilla, Jorge A; Brangier, Paulette; Raboch, Jiri; Kalisova, Lucie; Onchev, Georgi; Alexiev, Spiridon; Mezzina, Roberto; Ridente, Pina; Wiersma, Durk; Visser, Ellen; Kiejna, Andrzej; Piotrowski, Patryk; Ploumpidis, Dimitris; Gonidakis, Fragiskos; Caldas-de-Almeida, José Miguel; Cardoso, Graça; King, Michael

2012-01-01

The Quality Indicator for Rehabilitative Care (QuIRC) is a staff rated, international toolkit that assesses care in longer term hospital and community based mental health facilities. The QuIRC was developed from review of the international literature, an international Delphi exercise with over 400 service users, practitioners, carers and advocates from ten European countries at different stages of deinstitutionalisation, and review of the care standards in these countries. It can be completed in under an hour by the facility manager and has robust content validity, acceptability and inter-rater reliability. In this study, we investigated the internal validity of the QuIRC. Our aim was to identify the QuIRC domains of care that independently predicted better service user experiences of care. At least 20 units providing longer term care for adults with severe mental illness were recruited in each of ten European countries. Service users completed standardised measures of their experiences of care, quality of life, autonomy and the unit's therapeutic milieu. Unit managers completed the QuIRC. Multilevel modelling allowed analysis of associations between service user ratings as dependent variables with unit QuIRC domain ratings as independent variables. 1750/2495 (70%) users and the managers of 213 units from across ten European countries participated. QuIRC ratings were positively associated with service users' autonomy and experiences of care. Associations between QuIRC ratings and service users' ratings of their quality of life and the unit's therapeutic milieu were explained by service user characteristics (age, diagnosis and functioning). A hypothetical 10% increase in QuIRC rating resulted in a clinically meaningful improvement in autonomy. Ratings of the quality of longer term mental health facilities made by service managers were positively associated with service users' autonomy and experiences of care. Interventions that improve quality of care in these settings may promote service users' autonomy.

Software Management Environment (SME) release 9.4 user reference material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hendrick, R.; Kistler, D.; Manter, K.

1992-01-01

This document contains user reference material for the Software Management Environment (SME) prototype, developed for the Systems Development Branch (Code 552) of the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The SME provides an integrated set of management tools that can be used by software development managers in their day-to-day management and planning activities. This document provides an overview of the SME, a description of all functions, and detailed instructions concerning the software's installation and use.

INTERMARS: User-controlled international management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmitt, Harrison H.

1986-01-01

Existing international space law as well as the best interest of all nations are consistent with the establishment of a user-based international organization, herein called INTERMARS. INTERMARS would provide access to facilities and services at a Martian base which would be of high functional potential, quality, safety, and reliability. These opportunities would be available on an open and nondiscriminatory basis to all peaceful users and investors. INTERMARS is a model organization concept tailored to provide cooperative international management of a Martian base for the benefit of its members, users, and investors. Most importantly, INTERMARS would provide such management through a sharing of both sovereignty and opportunity rather then unilateral control by any one nation or set of competing nations. Through an Assembly of Parties, a Board of Governors, a Board of Users and Investors, and a Director General, INTERMARS would meet its primary goal as it would be in the self-interest of all members, users, and investors to do so. The internal structure and philosophy of INTERMARS would provide not only for all participants to have representation in decisions affecting its activities, but also would insure effective and responsive management. Surely this is the precedent wished for, to establish for mankind at the now not-so-distant shores of the new ocean of space.

Providing Effective Access to Shared Resources: A COIN Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Airiau, Stephane; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Managers of systems of shared resources typically have many separate goals. Examples are efficient utilization of the resources among its users and ensuring no user s satisfaction in the system falls below a preset minimal level. Since such goals will usually conflict with one another, either implicitly or explicitly the manager must determine the relative importance of the goals, encapsulating that into an overall utility function rating the possible behaviors of the entire system. Here we demonstrate a distributed, robust, and adaptive way to optimize that overall function. Our approach is to interpose adaptive agents between each user and the system, where each such agent is working to maximize its own private utility function. In turn, each such agent's function should be both relatively easy for the agent to learn to optimize, and "aligned" with the overall utility function of the system manager - an overall function that is based on but in general different from the satisfaction functions of the individual users. To ensure this we enhance the Collective INtelligence (COIN) framework to incorporate user satisfaction functions in the overall utility function of the system manager and accordingly in the associated private utility functions assigned to the users agents. We present experimental evaluations of different COIN-based private utility functions and demonstrate that those COIN-based functions outperform some natural alternatives.

Providing Effective Access to Shared Resources: A COIN Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Airiau, Stephane; Wolpert, David H.; Sen, Sandip; Tumer, Kagan

2003-01-01

Managers of systems of shared resources typically have many separate goals. Examples are efficient utilization of the resources among its users and ensuring no user's satisfaction in the system falls below a preset minimal level. Since such goals will usually conflict with one another, either implicitly or explicitly the manager must determine the relative importance of the goals, encapsulating that into an overall utility function rating the possible behaviors of the entire system. Here we demonstrate a distributed, robust, and adaptive way to optimize that overall function. Our approach is to interpose adaptive agents between each user and the system, where each such agent is working to maximize its own private utility function. In turn, each such agent's function should be both relatively easy for the agent to learn to optimize, and 'aligned' with the overall utility function of the system manager - an overall function that is based on but in general different from the satisfaction functions of the individual users. To ensure this we enhance the COllective INtelligence (COIN) framework to incorporate user satisfaction functions in the overall utility function of the system manager and accordingly in the associated private utility functions assigned to the users agents. We present experimental evaluations of different COIN-based private utility functions and demonstrate that those COIN-based functions outperform some natural alternatives.

What Contributes Most to High Health Care Costs? Health Care Spending in High Resource Patients.

PubMed

Pritchard, Daryl; Petrilla, Allison; Hallinan, Shawn; Taylor, Donald H; Schabert, Vernon F; Dubois, Robert W

2016-02-01

U.S. health care spending nearly doubled in the decade from 2000-2010. Although the pace of increase has moderated recently, the rate of growth of health care costs is expected to be higher than the growth in the economy for the near future. Previous studies have estimated that 5% of patients account for half of all health care costs, while the top 1% of spenders account for over 27% of costs. The distribution of health care expenditures by type of service and the prevalence of particular health conditions for these patients is not clear, and is likely to differ from the overall population. To examine health care spending patterns and what contributes to costs for the top 5% of managed health care users based on total expenditures. This retrospective observational study employed a large administrative claims database analysis of health care claims of managed care enrollees across the full age and care spectrum. Direct health care expenditures were compared during calendar year 2011 by place of service (outpatient, inpatient, and pharmacy), payer type (commercially insured, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid managed care), and therapy area between the full population and high resource patients (HRP). The mean total expenditure per HRP during calendar year 2011 was $43,104 versus $3,955 per patient for the full population. Treatment of back disorders and osteoarthritis contributed the largest share of expenditures in both HRP and the full study population, while chronic renal failure, heart disease, and some oncology treatments accounted for disproportionately higher expenditures in HRP. The share of overall expenditures attributed to inpatient services was significantly higher for HRP (40.0%) compared with the full population (24.6%), while the share of expenditures attributed to pharmacy (HRP = 18.1%, full = 21.4%) and outpatient services (HRP = 41.9%, full = 54.1%) was reduced. This pattern was observed across payer type. While the use of physician-administered pharmaceuticals was slightly higher in HRP, their use did not alter this spending pattern. Overall, expenditures in the HRP population are more than 10-fold higher compared with the full population. Managed care pharmacy can benefit from understanding what contributes to these higher costs, and managed care directors should consider an appropriately balanced assessment of the share of total spend by service and therapeutic category in HRP when devising drug usage and related cost-management strategies.

7 CFR 3560.302 - Accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting, and financial management systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Financial Management § 3560.302 Accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting, and financial management systems. (a... the accounting system reflects the amount escrowed. (5) Regardless of the number or types of accounts... two or more housing projects as long as the borrower's accounting system segregates and tracks funds...

Algorithm research for user trajectory matching across social media networks based on paragraph2vec

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Qian; Chen, Hongchang; Zhi, Hongxin; Wang, Yanchuan

2018-04-01

Identifying users across different social media networks (SMN) is to link accounts of the same user that belong to the same individual across SMNs. The problem is fundamental and important, and its results can benefit many applications such as cross SMN user modeling and recommendation. With the development of GPS technology and mobile communication, more and more social networks provide location services. This provides a new opportunity for cross SMN user identification. In this paper, we solve cross SMN user identification problem in an unsupervised manner by utilizing user trajectory data in SMNs. A paragraph2vec based algorithm is proposed in which location sequence feature of user trajectory is captured in temporal and spatial dimensions. Our experimental results validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our algorithm.

Do service users with intellectual disabilities want to be involved in the risk management process? A thematic analysis.

PubMed

Kilcommons, Aoiffe M; Withers, Paul; Moreno-Lopez, Águeda

2012-09-01

Involving ID service users in risk decision making necessitates consideration of an individual's ability to assess the implications and associated risks and thus make an informed choice. This calls for research on service users' awareness and understanding of risk management (RM). Thirteen people in a residential ID service who were reviewed under the risk management process (RMP) participated in the research. Thematic analysis explored participants' knowledge and understanding of risk management to establish ability to make informed choice. Two main meta-themes (lack of awareness about RM and awareness about RM) and four meta-themes (extent of RM awareness, locus of control, compliance and empowerment) emerged. Nine of 13 participants demonstrated some knowledge and awareness of RM and wanted to contribute to the RMP, despite not being consulted about or given the opportunity to be involved in RM. The majority of service users in this sample had some awareness of the purpose of RM and could make partially informed decisions about whether they would like to be involved in the RMP. The findings highlight the need for professionals to actively attempt to involve ID service users in the management of their own risk. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

MATS--Management Accounting Tutorial System. Version 1.0. Project Documentation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wardle, Andrew; O'Connor, Rodric

The Management Accounting Tutorial System (MATS) is a management accounting database for a carpet manufacturing company. The system allows the display and output of monthly activities, and is intended to provide a means of illustrating the main topics of the second year management accounting course at Manchester University. The system itself…

Mobile NBM - Android medical mobile application designed to help in learning how to identify the different regions of interest in the brain's white matter.

PubMed

Sánchez-Rola, Iskander; Zapirain, Begoña García

2014-07-18

One of the most critical tasks when conducting neurological studies is identifying the different regions of interest in the brain's white matter. Currently few programs or applications are available that serve as an interactive guide in this process. This is why a mobile application has been designed and developed in order to teach users how to identify the referred regions of the brain. It also enables users to share the results obtained and take an examination on the knowledge thus learnt. In order to provide direct user-user or user-developer contact, the project includes a website and a Twitter account. An application has been designed with a basic, minimalist look, which anyone can access easily in order to learn to identify a specific region in the brain's white matter. A survey has also been conducted on people who have used it, which has shown that the application is attractive both in the student (final mean satisfaction of 4.2/5) and in the professional (final mean satisfaction of 4.3/5) environment. The response obtained in the online part of the project reflects the high practical value and quality of the application, as shown by the fact that the website has seen a large number of visitors (over 1000 visitors) and the Twitter account has a high number of followers (over 280 followers). Mobile NBM is the first mobile application to be used as a guide in the process of identifying a region of interest in the brain's white matter. Although initially not many areas are available in the application, new ones can be added as required by users in their respective studies. Apart from the application itself, the online resources provided (website and Twitter account) significantly enhance users' experience.

PIMS sequencing extension: a laboratory information management system for DNA sequencing facilities

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Facilities that provide a service for DNA sequencing typically support large numbers of users and experiment types. The cost of services is often reduced by the use of liquid handling robots but the efficiency of such facilities is hampered because the software for such robots does not usually integrate well with the systems that run the sequencing machines. Accordingly, there is a need for software systems capable of integrating different robotic systems and managing sample information for DNA sequencing services. In this paper, we describe an extension to the Protein Information Management System (PIMS) that is designed for DNA sequencing facilities. The new version of PIMS has a user-friendly web interface and integrates all aspects of the sequencing process, including sample submission, handling and tracking, together with capture and management of the data. Results The PIMS sequencing extension has been in production since July 2009 at the University of Leeds DNA Sequencing Facility. It has completely replaced manual data handling and simplified the tasks of data management and user communication. Samples from 45 groups have been processed with an average throughput of 10000 samples per month. The current version of the PIMS sequencing extension works with Applied Biosystems 3130XL 96-well plate sequencer and MWG 4204 or Aviso Theonyx liquid handling robots, but is readily adaptable for use with other combinations of robots. Conclusions PIMS has been extended to provide a user-friendly and integrated data management solution for DNA sequencing facilities that is accessed through a normal web browser and allows simultaneous access by multiple users as well as facility managers. The system integrates sequencing and liquid handling robots, manages the data flow, and provides remote access to the sequencing results. The software is freely available, for academic users, from http://www.pims-lims.org/. PMID:21385349

Instructional Plans and Situated Learning: The Challenge of Suchman's Theory of Situated Action for Instructional Designers and Instructional Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Streibel, Michael J.

This paper discusses the implications of Lucy Suchman's conclusion that a theory of situated action--i.e., the actual sense that specific users make out of specific Xeroxing events--is truer to the lived experience of Xerox users than a cognitive account of the user's plans--e.g., the hierarchy of subprocedures for how Xerox machines should be…

Conflict management in online relationships.

PubMed

Ishii, Kumi

2010-08-01

With the diffusion of networked technology, personal relationships can be easily formed and maintained online today. Similar to a face-to-face situation, conflict is also seen in these online relationships. Early theories suggested that computer-mediated communication (CMC) tends to increase conflicts because of the lack of social-context cues, and CMC is not rich enough to manage conflict. As CMC has become part of our daily life, we often face conflict online, and thus we need to understand how people manage conflict online. This study explored how online users manage interpersonal conflict. Self-report survey data from 159 university students were analyzed to examine their conflict-management styles in association with the perceived closeness of the online relationship and a future intention toward the relationship. The results indicated that online users select cooperative management styles to handle conflict in their close relationships. In addition, online users avoid less cooperative styles when they want to continue the relationship.

Managing Patient-Generated Health Data Through Mobile Personal Health Records: Analysis of Usage Data.

PubMed

Park, Yu Rang; Lee, Yura; Kim, Ji Young; Kim, Jeonghoon; Kim, Hae Reong; Kim, Young-Hak; Kim, Woo Sung; Lee, Jae-Ho

2018-04-09

Personal health records (PHRs) and mHealth apps are considered essential tools for patient engagement. Mobile PHRs (mPHRs) can be a platform to integrate patient-generated health data (PGHD) and patients' medical information. However, in previous studies, actual usage data and PGHD from mPHRs have not been able to adequately represent patient engagement. By analyzing 5 years' PGHD from an mPHR system developed by a tertiary hospital in South Korea, we aimed to evaluate how PGHD were managed and identify issues in PGHD management based on actual usage data. Additionally, we analyzed how to improve patient engagement with mPHRs by analyzing the actively used services and long-term usage patterns. We gathered 5 years (December 2010 to December 2015) of log data from both hospital patients and general users of the app. We gathered data from users who entered PGHD on body weight, blood pressure (BP), blood glucose levels, 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, metabolic syndrome risk, medication schedule, insulin, and allergy. We classified users according to whether they were patients or general users based on factors related to continuous use (≥28 days for weight, BP, and blood glucose, and ≥180 days for CVD and metabolic syndrome), and analyzed the patients' characteristics. We compared PGHD entry counts and the proportion of continuous users for each PGHD by user type. The total number of mPHR users was 18,265 (patients: n=16,729, 91.59%) with 3620 users having entered weight, followed by BP (n=1625), blood glucose (n=1374), CVD (n=764), metabolic syndrome (n=685), medication (n=252), insulin (n=72), and allergy (n=61). Of those 18,256 users, 3812 users had at least one PGHD measurement, of whom 175 used the PGHD functions continuously (patients: n=142, 81.14%); less than 1% of the users had used it for more than 4 years. Except for weight, BP, blood glucose, CVD, and metabolic syndrome, the number of PGHD records declined. General users' continuous use of PGHD was significantly higher than that of patients in the blood glucose (P<.001) and BP (P=.03) functions. Continuous use of PGHD in health management (BP, blood glucose, and weight) was significantly greater among older users (P<.001) and men (P<.001). In health management (BP, weight, and blood glucose), overall chronic disease and continuous use of PGHD were not statistically related (P=.08), but diabetes (P<.001) and cerebrovascular diseases (P=.03) were significant. Although a small portion of users managed PGHD continuously, PGHD has the potential to be useful in monitoring patient health. To realize the potential, specific groups of continuous users must be identified, and the PGHD service must target them. Further evaluations for the clinical application of PGHD, feedback regarding user interfaces, and connections with wearable devices are needed. ©Yu Rang Park, Yura Lee, Ji Young Kim, Jeonghoon Kim, Hae Reong Kim, Young-Hak Kim, Woo Sung Kim, Jae-Ho Lee. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 09.04.2018.

A user interface development tool for space science systems Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1990-01-01

The Transportable Applications Environment Plus (TAE PLUS), developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a portable What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) user interface development and management system. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated software environment that allows interactive prototyping and development that of user interfaces, as well as management of the user interface within the operational domain. Although TAE Plus is applicable to many types of applications, its focus is supporting user interfaces for space applications. This paper discusses what TAE Plus provides and how the implementation has utilized state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, windowing systems and object-oriented programming languages.

Research on multi-user encrypted search scheme in cloud environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Zonghua; Lin, Sui

2017-05-01

Aiming at the existing problems of multi-user encrypted search scheme in cloud computing environment, a basic multi-user encrypted scheme is proposed firstly, and then the basic scheme is extended to an anonymous hierarchical management authority. Compared with most of the existing schemes, the scheme not only to achieve the protection of keyword information, but also to achieve the protection of user identity privacy; the same time, data owners can directly control the user query permissions, rather than the cloud server. In addition, through the use of a special query key generation rules, to achieve the hierarchical management of the user's query permissions. The safety analysis shows that the scheme is safe and that the performance analysis and experimental data show that the scheme is practicable.

A framework for analyzing the economic tradeoffs between urban commerce and security against terrorism.

PubMed

Rose, Adam; Avetisyan, Misak; Chatterjee, Samrat

2014-08-01

This article presents a framework for economic consequence analysis of terrorism countermeasures. It specifies major categories of direct and indirect costs, benefits, spillover effects, and transfer payments that must be estimated in a comprehensive assessment. It develops a spreadsheet tool for data collection, storage, and refinement, as well as estimation of the various components of the necessary economic accounts. It also illustrates the usefulness of the framework in the first assessment of the tradeoffs between enhanced security and changes in commercial activity in an urban area, with explicit attention to the role of spillover effects. The article also contributes a practical user interface to the model for emergency managers. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

Interactive Tree Of Life v2: online annotation and display of phylogenetic trees made easy.

PubMed

Letunic, Ivica; Bork, Peer

2011-07-01

Interactive Tree Of Life (http://itol.embl.de) is a web-based tool for the display, manipulation and annotation of phylogenetic trees. It is freely available and open to everyone. In addition to classical tree viewer functions, iTOL offers many novel ways of annotating trees with various additional data. Current version introduces numerous new features and greatly expands the number of supported data set types. Trees can be interactively manipulated and edited. A free personal account system is available, providing management and sharing of trees in user defined workspaces and projects. Export to various bitmap and vector graphics formats is supported. Batch access interface is available for programmatic access or inclusion of interactive trees into other web services.

Comprehensive monitoring for heterogeneous geographically distributed storage

DOE PAGES

Ratnikova, Natalia; Karavakis, E.; Lammel, S.; ...

2015-12-23

Storage capacity at CMS Tier-1 and Tier-2 sites reached over 100 Petabytes in 2014, and will be substantially increased during Run 2 data taking. The allocation of storage for the individual users analysis data, which is not accounted as a centrally managed storage space, will be increased to up to 40%. For comprehensive tracking and monitoring of the storage utilization across all participating sites, CMS developed a space monitoring system, which provides a central view of the geographically dispersed heterogeneous storage systems. The first prototype was deployed at pilot sites in summer 2014, and has been substantially reworked since then.more » In this study, we discuss the functionality and our experience of system deployment and operation on the full CMS scale.« less

Die Starter: A New System to Manage Early Feasibility in Sheet Metal Forming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narainen, Rodrigue; Porzner, Harald

2016-08-01

Die Starter, a new system developed by ESI Group, allows the user to drastically reduce the number of iterations during the early tool process feasibility. This innovative system automatically designs the first quick die face, generating binder and addendum surfaces (NURBS surfaces) by taking account the full die process. Die Starter also improves the initial die face based on feasibility criteria (avoiding splits, wrinkles) by automatically generating the geometrical modifications of the binder and addendum and the bead restraining forces with minimal material usage. This paper presents a description of the new system and the methodology of Die Starter. Some industrial examples are presented from the part geometry to final die face including automatic developed flanges, part on binder and inner binder.

Allowing for crystalline structure effects in Geant4

DOE PAGES

Bagli, Enrico; Asai, Makoto; Dotti, Andrea; ...

2017-03-24

In recent years, the Geant4 toolkit for the Monte Carlo simulation of radiation with matter has seen large growth in its divers user community. A fundamental aspect of a successful physics experiment is the availability of a reliable and precise simulation code. Geant4 currently does not allow for the simulation of particle interactions with anything other than amorphous matter. To overcome this limitation, the GECO (GEant4 Crystal Objects) project developed a general framework for managing solid-state structures in the Geant4 kernel and validate it against experimental data. As a result, accounting for detailed geometrical structures allows, for example, simulation ofmore » diffraction from crystal planes or the channeling of charged particle.« less

Research on water management system based on Android

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dongjiang; Hu, Songlin

2018-04-01

With the rapid development of Smart city, Smart water is an important part of Smart city, which is paid more and more attention. It obtains and deals with urban water information through information technology. It can effectively manage urban water supply, The sale of water and other processes. At the same time, due to the popularity of Smartphones, Smartphone applications have covered every aspect of life and become an indispensable part of people's daily life. Through the Smartphone applications, the user can achieve online mobile water purchase, query the water situation, water quality and other basic situation, greatly facilitate the use of the user, for wisdom water construction is of great significance. In this paper, the water management system based on Android is designed and implemented according to the user's needs. It includes intelligent water meter terminal, monitoring center server, Smartphone application and wireless communication network. The user can use the Smartphone at any time and at any place to view the user's water information in real time providing great convenience for users. So its application prospect is very broad as an important part of smart city.

Management preferences of recreationists in a scenic corridor: Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

Treesearch

Deborah J. Allen; B. L. Driver; Richard Shikiar

1982-01-01

Public input has become a necessary part of public land management planning (Bettwy 1978). In recreation resource planning, information on user's preferences can be an important input (Driver and Brown 1978). This paper reports on 1977 and 1978 studies of the preferences of Oak Creek Canyon users. Those studies were requested by USDA Forest Service managers to...

Use and Users of the Cranberry Backcountry in West Virginia: insights for eastern backcountry management

Treesearch

Herbert E. Echelberger; George H. Moeller

1977-01-01

Management of backcountry recreation areas in the eastern United States should be based in part on information about the identity of backcountry users and what they seek in their backcountry experiences. Because little of this kind of information is now available, managers may be adopting some strategies with inadequate knowledge of the consequences of their decisions...

Kacang Cerdik: A Conceptual Design of an Idea Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murah, Mohd Zamri; Abdullah, Zuraidah; Hassan, Rosilah; Bakar, Marini Abu; Mohamed, Ibrahim; Amin, Hazilah Mohd

2013-01-01

An idea management system is where ideas are stored and then can be evaluated and analyzed. It provides the structure and the platform for users to contribute ideas for innovation and creativity. Designing and developing an idea management system is a complex task because it involves many users and lot of ideas. Some of the critical features for…

Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) user manual (version 2006.01.18)

Treesearch

Peter R. Robichaud; William J. Elliot; Fredrick B. Pierson; David E. Hall; Corey A. Moffet; Louise E. Ashmun

2007-01-01

The decision of where, when, and how to apply the most effective post-fire erosion mitigation treatments requires land managers to assess the risk of damaging runoff and erosion events occurring after a fire. To aid in this assessment, the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) was developed. This user manual describes the input parameters, input interface, model...

Implications of Boy Scout group use of public lands for natural resource managers: a regional comparison

Treesearch

Gail A. Vander Stoep

1992-01-01

Resource managers can apply group-specific rather than generic communications and management strategies to different public land user groups. This study compares use patterns of one user group, Boy Scout troops, from two regions of the United States. It identifies their public land use patterns, activities, needs, and motivations. Results can be used by resource...

Responsible Management and Use of a Personal Take-Home Naloxone Supply: A Pilot Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAuley, Andrew; Lindsay, George; Woods, Maureen; Louttit, Derek

2010-01-01

Aims: To assess if Scottish drug users, their family and friends could be trained in critical incident management and the safe and effective administration of naloxone. The project also sought to monitor whether drug users can manage their own personal take-home naloxone (THN) supply and use it appropriately in an emergency opiate overdose…

SIMULATION MODEL FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLANNING. VOLUME 2. MODEL USER MANUAL

EPA Science Inventory

This report provides a user manual for the hydrologic, nonpoint source pollution simulation of the generalized planning model for evaluating forest and farming management alternatives. The manual contains an explanation of application of specific code and indicates changes that s...

Achieving excellence in the management of accounts receivable.

PubMed

Ladewig, T L; Hecht, B A

1993-09-01

Recent changes in healthcare reimbursement rules and practices have made the task of accounts receivable management a particularly demanding one for most financial managers. One multihospital system, after pursuing numerous strategies to reduce its accounts receivable with only marginal levels of success, launched a systemwide initiative to share both the positive and the negative accounts receivable management experiences of each department at each hospital in the system with all patient accounting staff. The objective of the initiative was to use the lessons learned from those experiences to attain excellence in accounts receivable management throughout the system. The ultimate success of the initiative is detailed in the following article.

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEM OF WASTE WATER DISPOSAL SYSTEMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hori, Michihiro; Tsuruta, Takashi; Kaito, Kiyoyuki; Kobayashi, Kiyoshi

Sewage works facilities consist of various assets groups. And there are many kinds of financial resources. In order to optimize the maintenance plan, and to secure the stability and sustainability of sewage works management, it is necessary to carry out financial simulation based on the life-cycle cost analysis. Furthermore, it is important to develop management accounting system that is interlinked with the financial accounting system, because many sewage administration bodies have their financial accounting systems as public enterprises. In this paper, a management accounting system, which is designed to provide basic information for asset management of sewage works facilities, is presented. Also the applicability of the management accounting system presented in this paper is examined through financial simulations.

Patient accounts managers: the reality behind the myth.

PubMed

Hackett, K L

1988-10-01

Rising receivables and slowed cash flow have put a greater emphasis on the position of patient accounts manager. As the patient accounts manager becomes increasingly important to the long-term viability of hospitals, the person filling that role is placed in the spotlight. In the first survey of its kind, HFMA and the American Guild of Patient Accounts Management profile today's patient accounts manager. The average patient accounts manager is a male in large institutions and female in smaller facilities, has a college degree, is between 31 and 50 years of age, and has been in the healthcare field for almost 10 years. In addition, they earn $33,600 a year and aspire to higher positions including consultant and chief financial officer.

Exploring the Role of Twitter in Promoting Women's Health in the Arab World: Lessons Learned.

PubMed

Bahkali, Salwa; Almaiman, Ahmad; Altassan, Nahla; Almaiman, Sarah; Househ, Mowafa; Alsurimi, Khaled

2015-01-01

Women's health is a topic that has been largely overlooked within the Arab world. Nevertheless, the constant growth in the use of social media provides an opportunity to improve women's health in the Arab world. In this paper, we discuss our experiences and lessons learned with the development of a women's health promotional campaign in the Arabic language using Twitter, a popular social media platform in the Arab world. We analyzed the combined experiences of five researchers in the development of the Twitter account. Two separate meetings were held, one on March 10 and another on March 25, 2015 with the researchers to review their experiences and lessons learned in developing a Twitter health promotion platform for women's health in the Arab world. The shared experiences were thematically transcribed, coded, matched and grouped under six key themes identified as the main driving forces for the development of a successful health promotion Twitter account. We found that the success of the Twitter account was the result of: defining clear goals, being passionate about the health promotion campaign, being motivated and creative, being knowledgeable about the health promotion area, developing trust between Twitter accounts users and the healthcare provider, and being patient in communicating with Twitter account users. Future research needs to focus on a more detailed analysis of the twitter feeds shared between the users and the health practitioners which can enhance our understanding of the social media based public health educational interventions.

Duty of Care and Autonomy: How Support Workers Managed the Tension between Protecting Service Users from Risk and Promoting Their Independence in a Specialist Group Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, R.; Redley, M.; Holland, A. J.

2011-01-01

Background: In the UK those paid to support adults with intellectual disabilities must manage two potentially conflicting duties that are set out in policy documents as being vital to their role: protecting service users (their duty of care) and recognising service users' autonomy. This study focuses specifically on the support of people with the…

A Distributed Value of Information (VoI)-Based Approach for Mission-Adaptive Context-Aware Information Management and Presentation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-16

metrics involve regulating automation of complex systems , such as aircraft .12 Additionally, adaptive management of content in user interfaces has also...both the user and environmental context would aid in deciding how to present the information to the Warfighter. The prototype system currently...positioning system , and rate sensors can provide user - specific context to disambiguate physiologic data. The consumer “quantified self” market has driven

Database Access Manager for the Software Engineering Laboratory (DAMSEL) user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

Operating instructions for the Database Access Manager for the Software Engineering Laboratory (DAMSEL) system are presented. Step-by-step instructions for performing various data entry and report generation activities are included. Sample sessions showing the user interface display screens are also included. Instructions for generating reports are accompanied by sample outputs for each of the reports. The document groups the available software functions by the classes of users that may access them.

Two graphical user interfaces for managing and analyzing MODFLOW groundwater-model scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Banta, Edward R.

2014-01-01

Scenario Manager and Scenario Analyzer are graphical user interfaces that facilitate the use of calibrated, MODFLOW-based groundwater models for investigating possible responses to proposed stresses on a groundwater system. Scenario Manager allows a user, starting with a calibrated model, to design and run model scenarios by adding or modifying stresses simulated by the model. Scenario Analyzer facilitates the process of extracting data from model output and preparing such display elements as maps, charts, and tables. Both programs are designed for users who are familiar with the science on which groundwater modeling is based but who may not have a groundwater modeler’s expertise in building and calibrating a groundwater model from start to finish. With Scenario Manager, the user can manipulate model input to simulate withdrawal or injection wells, time-variant specified hydraulic heads, recharge, and such surface-water features as rivers and canals. Input for stresses to be simulated comes from user-provided geographic information system files and time-series data files. A Scenario Manager project can contain multiple scenarios and is self-documenting. Scenario Analyzer can be used to analyze output from any MODFLOW-based model; it is not limited to use with scenarios generated by Scenario Manager. Model-simulated values of hydraulic head, drawdown, solute concentration, and cell-by-cell flow rates can be presented in display elements. Map data can be represented as lines of equal value (contours) or as a gradated color fill. Charts and tables display time-series data obtained from output generated by a transient-state model run or from user-provided text files of time-series data. A display element can be based entirely on output of a single model run, or, to facilitate comparison of results of multiple scenarios, an element can be based on output from multiple model runs. Scenario Analyzer can export display elements and supporting metadata as a Portable Document Format file.

Software Tools Streamline Project Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2009-01-01

Three innovative software inventions from Ames Research Center (NETMARK, Program Management Tool, and Query-Based Document Management) are finding their way into NASA missions as well as industry applications. The first, NETMARK, is a program that enables integrated searching of data stored in a variety of databases and documents, meaning that users no longer have to look in several places for related information. NETMARK allows users to search and query information across all of these sources in one step. This cross-cutting capability in information analysis has exponentially reduced the amount of time needed to mine data from days or weeks to mere seconds. NETMARK has been used widely throughout NASA, enabling this automatic integration of information across many documents and databases. NASA projects that use NETMARK include the internal reporting system and project performance dashboard, Erasmus, NASA s enterprise management tool, which enhances organizational collaboration and information sharing through document routing and review; the Integrated Financial Management Program; International Space Station Knowledge Management; Mishap and Anomaly Information Reporting System; and management of the Mars Exploration Rovers. Approximately $1 billion worth of NASA s projects are currently managed using Program Management Tool (PMT), which is based on NETMARK. PMT is a comprehensive, Web-enabled application tool used to assist program and project managers within NASA enterprises in monitoring, disseminating, and tracking the progress of program and project milestones and other relevant resources. The PMT consists of an integrated knowledge repository built upon advanced enterprise-wide database integration techniques and the latest Web-enabled technologies. The current system is in a pilot operational mode allowing users to automatically manage, track, define, update, and view customizable milestone objectives and goals. The third software invention, Query-Based Document Management (QBDM) is a tool that enables content or context searches, either simple or hierarchical, across a variety of databases. The system enables users to specify notification subscriptions where they associate "contexts of interest" and "events of interest" to one or more documents or collection(s) of documents. Based on these subscriptions, users receive notification when the events of interest occur within the contexts of interest for associated document or collection(s) of documents. Users can also associate at least one notification time as part of the notification subscription, with at least one option for the time period of notifications.

User and group storage management the CMS CERN T2 centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerminara, G.; Franzoni, G.; Pfeiffer, A.

2015-12-01

A wide range of detector commissioning, calibration and data analysis tasks is carried out by CMS using dedicated storage resources available at the CMS CERN Tier-2 centre. Relying on the functionalities of the EOS disk-only storage technology, the optimal exploitation of the CMS user/group resources has required the introduction of policies for data access management, data protection, cleanup campaigns based on access pattern, and long term tape archival. The resource management has been organised around the definition of working groups and the delegation to an identified responsible of each group composition. In this paper we illustrate the user/group storage management, and the development and operational experience at the CMS CERN Tier-2 centre in the 2012-2015 period.

The Clue to Minimizing the Developer-User Divide by Good Practice in Earth and Space Science Informatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Messerotti, M.

2009-04-01

Earth and Space Science research, as well as many other disciplines, can nowadays benefit from advanced data handling techniques and tools capable to significantly relieve the scientist of the burden of data search, retrieval, visualization and manipulation, and to exploit the data information content. Some typical examples are Virtual Observatories (VO) specific to a variety of sub-disciplines but anyway interlinked, a feature intrinsic to the VO architecture, Virtual Globes as advanced 3D selection and visualization interfaces to distributed data repositories, and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. These information systems are proving also effective in education and outreach activities as they are usable via web interfaces to give access to, to display and to download nonhomogeneous datasets in order to raise the awareness of the students and the public on the relevant disciplines. Despite of that, all of this effective machineries are still poorly used both by the scientific community and by the community active in education and outreach. All such infrastructures are designed and developed according to the state-of-the-art information and computer engineering techniques and are provided with top features such as ontology- and semantics-based data management, and advanced unified web-based interfaces. Anyway, a careful analysis of the issue mentioned above indicates a key aspect that play a major role, i.e., the inadequate interaction with the users' communities during the design, the development, the deployment and the test phases. Even the best technical tool can appear inadequate to the final user when it does not meet the user's requirements in terms of achievable goals and use friendliness. In this work, we consider the user-side features to be taken into account for the optimum exploitation of an information system in the framework of the interaction among the design engineers and the target communities towards the setting of a good practice for minimizing the developer-user divide.

NASA ARCH- A FILE ARCHIVAL SYSTEM FOR THE DEC VAX

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, P. J.

1994-01-01

The function of the NASA ARCH system is to provide a permanent storage area for files that are infrequently accessed. The NASA ARCH routines were designed to provide a simple mechanism by which users can easily store and retrieve files. The user treats NASA ARCH as the interface to a black box where files are stored. There are only five NASA ARCH user commands, even though NASA ARCH employs standard VMS directives and the VAX BACKUP utility. Special care is taken to provide the security needed to insure file integrity over a period of years. The archived files may exist in any of three storage areas: a temporary buffer, the main buffer, and a magnetic tape library. When the main buffer fills up, it is transferred to permanent magnetic tape storage and deleted from disk. Files may be restored from any of the three storage areas. A single file, multiple files, or entire directories can be stored and retrieved. archived entities hold the same name, extension, version number, and VMS file protection scheme as they had in the user's account prior to archival. NASA ARCH is capable of handling up to 7 directory levels. Wildcards are supported. User commands include TEMPCOPY, DISKCOPY, DELETE, RESTORE, and DIRECTORY. The DIRECTORY command searches a directory of savesets covering all three archival areas, listing matches according to area, date, filename, or other criteria supplied by the user. The system manager commands include 1) ARCHIVE- to transfer the main buffer to duplicate magnetic tapes, 2) REPORTto determine when the main buffer is full enough to archive, 3) INCREMENT- to back up the partially filled main buffer, and 4) FULLBACKUP- to back up the entire main buffer. On-line help files are provided for all NASA ARCH commands. NASA ARCH is written in DEC VAX DCL for interactive execution and has been implemented on a DEC VAX computer operating under VMS 4.X. This program was developed in 1985.

Empty rituals? A qualitative study of users' experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India.

PubMed

Shukla, Anuprita; Teedon, Paul; Cornish, Flora

2016-11-01

In global health initiatives, particularly in the context of private philanthropy and its 'business minded' approach, detailed programme data plays an increasing role in informing assessments, improvements, evaluations, and ultimately continuation or discontinuation of funds for individual programmes. The HIV/AIDS literature predominantly treats monitoring as unproblematic. However, the social science of audit and indicators emphasises the constitutive power of indicators, noting that their effects at a grassroots level are often at odds with the goals specified in policy. This paper investigates users' experiences of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems in the context of HIV interventions in western India. Six focus groups (totalling 51 participants) were held with employees of 6 different NGOs working for government or philanthropy-funded HIV interventions for sex workers in western India. Ten donor employees were interviewed. Thematic analysis was conducted. NGO employees described a major gap between what they considered their "real work" and the indicators used to monitor it. They could explain the official purposes of M&E systems in terms of programme improvement and financial accountability. More cynically, they valued M&E experience on their CVs and the rhetorical role of data in demonstrating their achievements. They believed that inappropriate and unethical means were being used to meet targets, including incentives and coercion, and criticised indicators for being misleading and inflexible. Donor employees valued the role of M&E in programme improvement, financial accountability, and professionalising NGO-donor relationships. However, they were suspicious that NGOs might be falsifying data, criticised the insensitivity of indicators, and complained that data were under-used. For its users, M& E appears an 'empty ritual', enacted because donors require it, but not put to local use. In this context, monitoring is constituted as an instrument of performance management rather than as a means of rational programme improvement. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A detailed description of the implementation of inpatient insulin orders with a commercial electronic health record system.

PubMed

Neinstein, Aaron; MacMaster, Heidemarie Windham; Sullivan, Mary M; Rushakoff, Robert

2014-07-01

In the setting of Meaningful Use laws and professional society guidelines, hospitals are rapidly implementing electronic glycemic management order sets. There are a number of best practices established in the literature for glycemic management protocols and programs. We believe that this is the first published account of the detailed steps to be taken to design, implement, and optimize glycemic management protocols in a commercial computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system. Prior to CPOE implementation, our hospital already had a mature glycemic management program. To transition to CPOE, we underwent the following 4 steps: (1) preparation and requirements gathering, (2) design and build, (3) implementation and dissemination, and (4) optimization. These steps required more than 2 years of coordinated work between physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and programmers. With the move to CPOE, our complex glycemic management order sets were successfully implemented without any significant interruptions in care. With feedback from users, we have continued to refine the order sets, and this remains an ongoing process. Successful implementation of glycemic management protocols in CPOE is dependent on broad stakeholder input and buy-in. When using a commercial CPOE system, there may be limitations of the system, necessitating workarounds. There should be an upfront plan to apply resources for continuous process improvement and optimization after implementation. © 2014 Diabetes Technology Society.

Globus Nexus: A Platform-as-a-Service Provider of Research Identity, Profile, and Group Management.

PubMed

Chard, Kyle; Lidman, Mattias; McCollam, Brendan; Bryan, Josh; Ananthakrishnan, Rachana; Tuecke, Steven; Foster, Ian

2016-03-01

Globus Nexus is a professionally hosted Platform-as-a-Service that provides identity, profile and group management functionality for the research community. Many collaborative e-Science applications need to manage large numbers of user identities, profiles, and groups. However, developing and maintaining such capabilities is often challenging given the complexity of modern security protocols and requirements for scalable, robust, and highly available implementations. By outsourcing this functionality to Globus Nexus, developers can leverage best-practice implementations without incurring development and operations overhead. Users benefit from enhanced capabilities such as identity federation, flexible profile management, and user-oriented group management. In this paper we present Globus Nexus, describe its capabilities and architecture, summarize how several e-Science applications leverage these capabilities, and present results that characterize its scalability, reliability, and availability.

Globus Nexus: A Platform-as-a-Service provider of research identity, profile, and group management

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

Chard, Kyle; Lidman, Mattias; McCollam, Brendan

Globus Nexus is a professionally hosted Platform-as-a-Service that provides identity, profile and group management functionality for the research community. Many collaborative e-Science applications need to manage large numbers of user identities, profiles, and groups. However, developing and maintaining such capabilities is often challenging given the complexity of modern security protocols and requirements for scalable, robust, and highly available implementations. By outsourcing this functionality to Globus Nexus, developers can leverage best-practice implementations without incurring development and operations overhead. Users benefit from enhanced capabilities such as identity federation, flexible profile management, and user-oriented group management. In this paper we present Globus Nexus,more » describe its capabilities and architecture, summarize how several e-Science applications leverage these capabilities, and present results that characterize its scalability, reliability, and availability.« less

Pilot In Command: A Feasibility Assessment of Autonomous Flight Management Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wing, David J.; Ballin, Mark G.; Krishnamurthy, Karthik

2004-01-01

Several years of NASA research have produced the air traffic management operational concept of Autonomous Flight Management with high potential for operational feasibility, significant system and user benefits, and safety. Among the chief potential benefits are demand-adaptive or scalable capacity, user flexibility and autonomy that may finally enable truly successful business strategies, and compatibility with current-day operations such that the implementation rate can be driven from within the user community. A concept summary of Autonomous Flight Management is provided, including a description of how these operations would integrate in shared airspace with existing ground-controlled flight operations. The mechanisms enabling the primary benefits are discussed, and key findings of a feasibility assessment of airborne autonomous operations are summarized. Concept characteristics that impact safety are presented, and the potential for initially implementing Autonomous Flight Management is discussed.

Globus Nexus: A Platform-as-a-Service Provider of Research Identity, Profile, and Group Management

PubMed Central

Lidman, Mattias; McCollam, Brendan; Bryan, Josh; Ananthakrishnan, Rachana; Tuecke, Steven; Foster, Ian

2015-01-01

Globus Nexus is a professionally hosted Platform-as-a-Service that provides identity, profile and group management functionality for the research community. Many collaborative e-Science applications need to manage large numbers of user identities, profiles, and groups. However, developing and maintaining such capabilities is often challenging given the complexity of modern security protocols and requirements for scalable, robust, and highly available implementations. By outsourcing this functionality to Globus Nexus, developers can leverage best-practice implementations without incurring development and operations overhead. Users benefit from enhanced capabilities such as identity federation, flexible profile management, and user-oriented group management. In this paper we present Globus Nexus, describe its capabilities and architecture, summarize how several e-Science applications leverage these capabilities, and present results that characterize its scalability, reliability, and availability. PMID:26688598

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA tool for building and managing graphical user interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1991-01-01

The Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus, developed at GSFC, is an advanced portable user interface development environment which simplifies the process of creating and managing complex application graphical user interfaces (GUI's), supports prototyping, allows applications to be ported easily between different platforms and encourages appropriate levels of user interface consistency between applications. The following topics are discussed: the capabilities of the TAE Plus tool; how the implementation has utilized state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations; and how it has been used both within and outside of NASA.