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Sample records for administration attribution process

  1. Preference for pharmaceutical formulation and treatment process attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stewart KD

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Katie D Stewart,1 Joseph A Johnston,2 Louis S Matza,1 Sarah E Curtis,2 Henry A Havel,3 Stephanie A Sweetana,3 Heather L Gelhorn1 1Outcomes Research, Evidera, Bethesda, MD, USA; 2Global Patient Outcomes & Real World Evidence, 3Small Molecule Design and Development, Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA Purpose: Pharmaceutical formulation and treatment process attributes, such as dose frequency and route of administration, can have an impact on quality of life, treatment adherence, and disease outcomes. The aim of this literature review was to examine studies on preferences for pharmaceutical treatment process attributes, focusing on research in diabetes, oncology, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders.Methods: The literature search focused on identifying studies reporting preferences for attributes of the pharmaceutical treatment process. Studies were required to use formal quantitative preference assessment methods, such as utility valuation, conjoint analysis, or contingent valuation. Searches were conducted using Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Health Economic Evaluation Database, and National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (January 1993–October 2013.Results: A total of 42 studies met inclusion criteria: 19 diabetes, nine oncology, five osteoporosis, and nine autoimmune. Across these conditions, treatments associated with shorter treatment duration, less frequent administration, greater flexibility, and less invasive routes of administration were preferred over more burdensome or complex treatments. While efficacy and safety often had greater relative importance than treatment process, treatment process also had a quantifiable impact on preference. In some instances, particularly in diabetes and autoimmune disorders, treatment process attributes had greater relative importance than some or all efficacy and safety attributes. Some studies suggested that relative importance of treatment process depends on disease (eg

  2. Process attributes in bio-ontologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrade André Q

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Biomedical processes can provide essential information about the (mal- functioning of an organism and are thus frequently represented in biomedical terminologies and ontologies, including the GO Biological Process branch. These processes often need to be described and categorised in terms of their attributes, such as rates or regularities. The adequate representation of such process attributes has been a contentious issue in bio-ontologies recently; and domain ontologies have correspondingly developed ad hoc workarounds that compromise interoperability and logical consistency. Results We present a design pattern for the representation of process attributes that is compatible with upper ontology frameworks such as BFO and BioTop. Our solution rests on two key tenets: firstly, that many of the sorts of process attributes which are biomedically interesting can be characterised by the ways that repeated parts of such processes constitute, in combination, an overall process; secondly, that entities for which a full logical definition can be assigned do not need to be treated as primitive within a formal ontology framework. We apply this approach to the challenge of modelling and automatically classifying examples of normal and abnormal rates and patterns of heart beating processes, and discuss the expressivity required in the underlying ontology representation language. We provide full definitions for process attributes at increasing levels of domain complexity. Conclusions We show that a logical definition of process attributes is feasible, though limited by the expressivity of DL languages so that the creation of primitives is still necessary. This finding may endorse current formal upper-ontology frameworks as a way of ensuring consistency, interoperability and clarity.

  3. Extending Attribution Theory: Considering Students' Perceived Control of the Attribution Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fishman, Evan J.; Husman, Jenefer

    2017-01-01

    Research in attribution theory has shown that students' causal thinking profoundly affects their learning and motivational outcomes. Very few studies, however, have explored how students' attribution-related beliefs influence the causal thought process. The present study used the perceived control of the attribution process (PCAP) model to examine…

  4. Educational preparation and attributes of community and migrant health center administrators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, L; Samuels, M E; Glover, S

    1997-01-01

    Based on a 1994 national survey of Community and Migrant Health Center (C/MHC) administrators, this study draws a profile of C/MHC administrators in terms of their personal and work characteristics, as well as their values and beliefs regarding successful C/MHC attributes and important managerial practices. Further, the study compares C/MHC administrators with different educational preparation in terms of their personal and work characteristics, values and beliefs, as well as their perceived deficiencies. The study results indicate that critical factors in C/MHC success, in order of ranked importance, were good organizational leadership, organization's value to community and efficiency. Successful managerial characteristics, in order of ranked importance, were vision for the future of organization, honesty/integrity and open to new possibilities. Administrators with more advanced degrees expressed less deficiencies and those with no college degree showed greatest deficiency on five of eight measures.

  5. Attributional and relational processing in pigeons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis eGarlick

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Six pigeons were trained using a matching-to-sample procedure where sample and rewarded comparisons matched on both attributional (color and relational (horizontal or vertical orientation dimensions. Probes then evaluated the pigeons’ preference to comparisons that varied in these dimensions. A strong preference was found for the attribute of color. The discrimination was not found to transfer to novel colors, however, suggesting that a general color rule had not been learned. Further, when color could not be used to guide responding, some influence of other attributional cues such as shape, but not relational cues, was found. We conclude that pigeons based their performance on attributional properties of but not on relational properties between elements in our matching-to-sample procedure.. Future studies should look at examining other attributes to compare attributional versus relational processing.

  6. Obstacles to the Application of Administrative Process Engineering in Gaza Universities from the Faculty Members’ Perspective

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    Mahmoud A.R. Assaf

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The study aimed to identify the faculty members’ levels of assessment at Palestinian universities of the obstacles to the application of engineering of administrative processes ; and to find out whether there were statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α≤0.05 between the mean scores of assessment attributable to the variables: (college, academic rank, years of service. To achieve this, the researcher followed the descriptive method by using a questionnaire consisting of 36 items distributed into 4 areas: (technical, human, financial, administrative. The sample consisted of (95 faculty members from two universities (Al-Azhar and Islamia. The study revealed that the total degree of the respondents’ assessment of the obstacles to the application of engineering of administrative processes was (73.4%. The order of obstacles was as follows: i financial, ii human, iii administrative and iv technical obstacles. Further, there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α≤0.05 between the mean scores of respondents’ assessment of the obstacles to the application of this method at the Palestinian universities that were attributed to these variables: (college, academic rank, years of service.The study recommended the need for allocating of adequate financial budgets, and the creation of a special unit in each university to be responsible for providing training on the concepts of reengineering administrative processes and linking them to quality and continuous improvement. Keywords: Administrative process engineering, Gaza governorates , Faculty members.

  7. Food and Drug Administration Drug Approval Process: A History and Overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Christopher Ty

    2016-03-01

    In this article, the processing of investigational and new drug applications is described and the standard and expedited review processes are examined. The efforts of the US Food and Drug Administration to ensure greater agency transparency and fiscal responsibility and intensify oversight during the drug development and approval process are reviewed. Often attributed to a decrease in the number of uninsured adults, both the increase in prescription drug sales and the high costs associated with bringing a new drug to market highlight the necessity for a streamlined and cost-effective process to deliver these drugs safely and effectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Effects of attribute framing on cognitive processing and evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Kuvaas, Bård; Selart, Marcus

    2004-01-01

    Whereas there is extensive documentation that attribute framing influences the content of people’s thought, we generally know less about how it affects the processes assumed to precede those thoughts. While existing explanations for attribute framing effects rely completely on valence-based associative processing, the results obtained in the present study are also consistent with the notion that negative framing stimulates more effortful and thorough information processing than positive frami...

  9. Physico-chemical, functional and processing attributes of some ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A study was generated from six commercial potato varieties and studied for their physical, chemical, functional and processing attributes. Lady Rosetta followed by Hermes was the most appreciable varieties concerning their physical attributes. A positive correlation (R = 0.765) existed between tuber firmness and specific ...

  10. Off-Highway Gasoline Consuption Estimation Models Used in the Federal Highway Administration Attribution Process: 2008 Updates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, Ho-Ling [ORNL; Davis, Stacy Cagle [ORNL

    2009-12-01

    This report is designed to document the analysis process and estimation models currently used by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to estimate the off-highway gasoline consumption and public sector fuel consumption. An overview of the entire FHWA attribution process is provided along with specifics related to the latest update (2008) on the Off-Highway Gasoline Use Model and the Public Use of Gasoline Model. The Off-Highway Gasoline Use Model is made up of five individual modules, one for each of the off-highway categories: agricultural, industrial and commercial, construction, aviation, and marine. This 2008 update of the off-highway models was the second major update (the first model update was conducted during 2002-2003) after they were originally developed in mid-1990. The agricultural model methodology, specifically, underwent a significant revision because of changes in data availability since 2003. Some revision to the model was necessary due to removal of certain data elements used in the original estimation method. The revised agricultural model also made use of some newly available information, published by the data source agency in recent years. The other model methodologies were not drastically changed, though many data elements were updated to improve the accuracy of these models. Note that components in the Public Use of Gasoline Model were not updated in 2008. A major challenge in updating estimation methods applied by the public-use model is that they would have to rely on significant new data collection efforts. In addition, due to resource limitation, several components of the models (both off-highway and public-us models) that utilized regression modeling approaches were not recalibrated under the 2008 study. An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency's NONROAD2005 model was also carried out under the 2008 model update. Results generated from the NONROAD2005 model were analyzed, examined, and compared, to the extent that

  11. Impacts of Situational Factors on Process Attribute Uses for Food Purchases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Loebnitz, Natascha; Mueller Loose, Simone; Grunert, Klaus G

    2015-01-01

    Consumer buying decisions for food reflect considerations about food production. However, consumers’ interest in process-related product characteristics does not always translate into buying intentions. The present study investigates how situational factors affect the use of process......-related considerations when consumers select food products. A conjoint study provides estimated part worth utilities for product alternatives that differ on five product attributes (including four process-related factors) across two products (bread and sports drink) that differ on perceived naturalness....... The investigation of the utilities of the process-related attributes features both an internal (priming of environmental values/ value centrality) and an external (time pressure) situational factor. The results indicate that the importance of process-related attributes is product specific and also depends...

  12. Attributional processes in the learned helplessness paradigm: behavioral effects of global attributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikulincer, M

    1986-12-01

    Following the learned helplessness paradigm, I assessed in this study the effects of global and specific attributions for failure on the generalization of performance deficits in a dissimilar situation. Helplessness training consisted of experience with noncontingent failures on four cognitive discrimination problems attributed to either global or specific causes. Experiment 1 found that performance in a dissimilar situation was impaired following exposure to globally attributed failure. Experiment 2 examined the behavioral effects of the interaction between stable and global attributions of failure. Exposure to unsolvable problems resulted in reduced performance in a dissimilar situation only when failure was attributed to global and stable causes. Finally, Experiment 3 found that learned helplessness deficits were a product of the interaction of global and internal attribution. Performance deficits following unsolvable problems were recorded when failure was attributed to global and internal causes. Results were discussed in terms of the reformulated learned helplessness model.

  13. Robustness testing in pharmaceutical freeze-drying: inter-relation of process conditions and product quality attributes studied for a vaccine formulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneid, Stefan C; Stärtzel, Peter M; Lettner, Patrick; Gieseler, Henning

    2011-01-01

    The recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) legislation has introduced the evaluation of the Design Space of critical process parameters in manufacturing processes. In freeze-drying, a "formulation" is expected to be robust when minor deviations of the product temperature do not negatively affect the final product quality attributes. To evaluate "formulation" robustness by investigating the effect of elevated product temperature on product quality using a bacterial vaccine solution. The vaccine solution was characterized by freeze-dry microscopy to determine the critical formulation temperature. A conservative cycle was developed using the SMART™ mode of a Lyostar II freeze dryer. Product temperature was elevated to imitate intermediate and aggressive cycle conditions. The final product was analyzed using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Karl Fischer, and modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC), and the life cell count (LCC) during accelerated stability testing. The cakes processed at intermediate and aggressive conditions displayed larger pores with microcollapse of walls and stronger loss in LCC than the conservatively processed product, especially during stability testing. For all process conditions, a loss of the majority of cells was observed during storage. For freeze-drying of life bacterial vaccine solutions, the product temperature profile during primary drying appeared to be inter-related to product quality attributes.

  14. What is the source of cultural differences? -- Examining the influence of thinking style on the attribution process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jen, Chun-Hui; Lien, Yunn-Wen

    2010-02-01

    The present research is intended to find out whether individuals with analytic or holistic thought have different attribution processes. Cross-cultural research has suggested that East Asians, who tend to have a holistic thought pattern, differ in cognitive process from Westerners, who tend to engage in analytic thought. However, studies that found cultural difference in attribution process may have non-equivalence problems that make it hard to interpret the causal relationship between thinking style and attribution process. The present research extends this by measuring participants' thinking style within a single culture in order to ensure equivalence on potentially confounding variables such as prior knowledge and cognitive capacity. Two experiments demonstrate that both types of thinkers have identical attribution processes and suggest different thinking styles might relate to different tendencies toward situational information, but not to the attribution process itself. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Followers in the organizational leadership process: From attribution to shared leadership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vesna Stojanovic Aleksic

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Despite the fact that most of the theories and models of leadership are solely focused on the leader as the central figure of the leadership process, there is a need to draw attention to the importance of the followers’ role in the organizational leadership process, which is the main subject of this paper. Newer approaches to leadership provide a framework for the study of a reciprocal influence in the leadership process, in which the behavior of the leader appears as both an independent and a dependent variable at the same time. The aim is to draw attention to the necessity of adjusting leadership styles to the characteristics of the followers and encourage the followers’ active role in leadership, as the basic precondition for the effectiveness of the entire leadership process. The paper reviews the evolution of the role of the followers in organizational leadership through various approaches and models of leadership, from the attribution of potential leadership qualities through the process of attribution, through the followers’ influence in the selection of the dominant leadership style, to the equal participation in the leadership process, reflected in the concepts of servant leadership and shared leadership.

  16. Processing companies' preferences for attributes of beef in Switzerland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boesch, Irene

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this work was to assess processing companies' preferences for attributes of Swiss beef. To this end, qualitative interviews were used to derive product attributes that determine the buying decision. Through an adaptive-choice based conjoint analysis survey and latent class analysis of choice data, we compute class preferences. Results show that there are two distinct classes. A smaller class emphasizes traceability back to the birth farm and low producer price, a larger class focuses on environmental effects and origin. Additionally we see that larger companies are more price-sensitive and smaller companies are more sensitive to origin of the animals. The results outlined in this paper may be used to target market segments and to derive differentiation strategies based on product characteristics. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Scope and limitations of due process in administrative proceedings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernardo Carvajal Sánchez

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In order to explain in a better way the scope of Due Process in Administrative Law as a legal norm whose respect is essential to all government agencies, three points of view (formal, structural and material are proposed. Those items seem useful to understand “Administrative Due Process” in all its dimensions: as a constitutional norm developed by the enactment of laws and decrees; as a principle inspiring some conducts and new norms; and as an objective and subjective fundamental right. On the other hand, it is shown that Administrative Due Process is not an absolute rule because in some cases its full application is subject to normative relativism. Two opposite trends can be perceived at this point: in the first place, government agencies usually do not act the same way judges do, so Administrative Due Process should be distinguished from Judicial Due Process; therefore, it could actually have a more restricted scope. In the second place, some administrative authorities are nowadays playing a role more or less similar to what judges do. This means that new procedural guarantees will be claimed. In any case, admitting valid limitations to Administrative Due Process leads to the quest of the limits of these limitations. The application of the rule of Due Process cannot be totally suppressed; its scope cannot be completely reduced. This is the result of its fundamental nature as a legal norm that ensures justice and equity in all administrative procedures, and proscribes random decisions.

  18. Dyadic Processes in Early Marriage: Attributions, Behavior, and Marital Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durtschi, Jared A.; Fincham, Frank D.; Cui, Ming; Lorenz, Frederick O.; Conger, Rand D.

    2011-01-01

    Marital processes in early marriage are important for understanding couples' future marital quality. Spouses' attributions about a partner's behavior have been linked to marital quality, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain largely unknown. When we used couple data from the Family Transitions Project (N = 280 couples) across the…

  19. The eyes have it: Using eye tracking to inform information processing strategies in multi-attributes choices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Mandy; Krucien, Nicolas; Hermens, Frouke

    2018-04-01

    Although choice experiments (CEs) are widely applied in economics to study choice behaviour, understanding of how individuals process attribute information remains limited. We show how eye-tracking methods can provide insight into how decisions are made. Participants completed a CE, while their eye movements were recorded. Results show that although the information presented guided participants' decisions, there were also several processing biases at work. Evidence was found of (a) top-to-bottom, (b) left-to-right, and (c) first-to-last order biases. Experimental factors-whether attributes are defined as "best" or "worst," choice task complexity, and attribute ordering-also influence information processing. How individuals visually process attribute information was shown to be related to their choices. Implications for the design and analysis of CEs and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  20. The “Depressive” Attributional Style Is Not That Depressive for Buddhists

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    Michelle T. Liu

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Numerous studies have shown that depression-prone people are characterized by a chronic style of attributing failures to internal, stable, and global causes, sometimes labeled as the “depressive attributional style.” Much less is known, however, about how social-cultural factors such as religious beliefs might modulate these processes. In the current study, we hypothesized that Buddhism’s view of ultimate internal controllability plays a buffering role against the depressive attributional style and reduces its negative impacts. We administrated measures of attributional styles and psychological adjustments to a sample of Chinese Buddhists as well as a control group recruited in China. Data analyses showed that Buddhists were more likely to attribute bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, but their well-being was less affected by it. Thus, these results indicate that the “depressive” attributional style is not that depressive for Buddhists, after all.

  1. The new Administrative Procedure and Administrative Process Law (Law 1.437 of 2011)

    OpenAIRE

    Expósito Vélez, Juan Carlos

    2011-01-01

    The new Administrative Procedure and Administrative Process Law (Law 1.437 of 2011) require a deep analysis, because it brings a new perception of old models of the Administrative Colombian Law: nullity, nullity and reestablishment of rights and the controversies relative to public contracts. El Nuevo Código de Procedimiento Administrativo y de lo Contencioso Administrativo (Ley 1.437 de 2.011) requiere de un análisis profundo, debido al nuevo alcance que trae a figuras tradicionales del ...

  2. Eye-tracking reveals a slowdown of social context processing during intention attribution in patients with schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roux, Paul; Brunet-Gouet, Eric; Passerieux, Christine; Ramus, Franck

    2016-03-01

    Schizophrenia is associated with poor theory of mind (ToM), particularly in the attribution of intentions to others. It is also associated with abnormal gaze behaviours and contextual processing. This study investigated to what extent impaired ToM in patients with schizophrenia is related to abnormal processing of social context. We evaluated ToM using a nonverbal intention attribution task based on comic strips depicting social/nonsocial and contextual/noncontextual events while eye movements were recorded. Eye-tracking was used to assess processing time dedicated to visual cues contained in regions of interest identified in a pilot study. We measured cognitive contextual control on a separate task. We tested 29 patients with schizophrenia and 29 controls. Compared with controls, patients were slower in intention attribution but not in physical reasoning. They looked longer than controls at contextual cues displayed in the first 2 context pictures of the comic strips, and this difference was greater for intention attribution than for physical reasoning. We found no group difference in time spent looking at noncontextual cues. Patients' impairment in contextual control did not explain their increased reaction time and gaze duration on contextual cues during intention attribution. Difficulty may not have been equivalent between intention attribution and physical reasoning conditions. Overall, schizophrenia was characterized by a delay in intention attribution related to a slowdown of social context processing that was not explained by worse executive contextual control.

  3. A holistic approach towards defined product attributes by Maillard-type food processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidek, Tomas; Illmann, Silke; Rytz, Andreas; Blank, Imre

    2013-07-01

    A fractional factorial experimental design was used to quantify the impact of process and recipe parameters on selected product attributes of extruded products (colour, viscosity, acrylamide, and the flavour marker 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone, HDMF). The study has shown that recipe parameters (lysine, phosphate) can be used to modulate the HDMF level without changing the specific mechanical energy (SME) and consequently the texture of the product, while processing parameters (temperature, moisture) impact both HDMF and SME in parallel. Similarly, several parameters, including phosphate level, temperature and moisture, simultaneously impact both HDMF and acrylamide formation, while pH and addition of lysine showed different trends. Therefore, the latter two options can be used to mitigate acrylamide without a negative impact on flavour. Such a holistic approach has been shown as a powerful tool to optimize various product attributes upon food processing.

  4. Dyadic Event Attribution in Social Networks with Mixtures of Hawkes Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liangda; Zha, Hongyuan

    2013-01-01

    In many applications in social network analysis, it is important to model the interactions and infer the influence between pairs of actors, leading to the problem of dyadic event modeling which has attracted increasing interests recently. In this paper we focus on the problem of dyadic event attribution, an important missing data problem in dyadic event modeling where one needs to infer the missing actor-pairs of a subset of dyadic events based on their observed timestamps. Existing works either use fixed model parameters and heuristic rules for event attribution, or assume the dyadic events across actor-pairs are independent. To address those shortcomings we propose a probabilistic model based on mixtures of Hawkes processes that simultaneously tackles event attribution and network parameter inference, taking into consideration the dependency among dyadic events that share at least one actor. We also investigate using additive models to incorporate regularization to avoid overfitting. Our experiments on both synthetic and real-world data sets on international armed conflicts suggest that the proposed new method is capable of significantly improve accuracy when compared with the state-of-the-art for dyadic event attribution.

  5. 7 CFR 52.38c - Statistical sampling procedures for lot inspection of processed fruits and vegetables by attributes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, PROCESSED PRODUCTS THEREOF, AND CERTAIN OTHER PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS 1... processed fruits and vegetables by attributes. 52.38c Section 52.38c Agriculture Regulations of the... inspection of processed fruits and vegetables by attributes. (a) General. Single sampling plans shall be used...

  6. Attributing Meanings to Representations of Data: The Case of Statistical Process Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyles, Celia; Bakker, Arthur; Kent, Phillip; Noss, Richard

    2007-01-01

    This article is concerned with the meanings that employees in industry attribute to representations of data and the contingencies of these meanings in context. Our primary concern is to more precisely characterize how the context of the industrial process is constitutive of the meaning of graphs of data derived from this process. We draw on data…

  7. A new method for selectively enhancing hemisphere processing: voice frequency amplification influences the strength of attribute framing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCormick, Michael; Seta, John J

    2012-01-01

    An attribute framing effect occurs when positive or negative associations produced by positive or negative frames are mapped onto evaluations resulting in a more favourable evaluation for the positively framed attribute. We used a new voice frequency manipulation to differentially enhance right versus left hemisphere processing. In doing so we found a strong attribute framing effect when a speaker with a low-frequency voice enhanced the contextual processing style of the right hemisphere. However, a framing effect was not obtained when a speaker with a high-frequency voice enhanced the inferential/analytical processing style of the left hemisphere. At the theoretical level our results provide evidence that the contextual processing style of the right hemisphere is especially susceptible to associative implications, such as those found in attribute framing manipulations. At the applied level we provide a simple method for altering the effectiveness of persuasion messages.

  8. Performance Feedback Processing Is Positively Biased As Predicted by Attribution Theory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph W Korn

    incorrect performance alone could not explain the observed positivity bias. Furthermore, participants' behavior in our task was linked to the most widely used measure of attribution style. In sum, our findings suggest that positive and negative performance feedback influences the evaluation of task-related stimuli, as predicted by attribution theory. Therefore, our study points to the relevance of attribution theory for feedback processing in decision-making and provides a novel outlook for decision-making biases.

  9. Performance Feedback Processing Is Positively Biased As Predicted by Attribution Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korn, Christoph W; Rosenblau, Gabriela; Rodriguez Buritica, Julia M; Heekeren, Hauke R

    2016-01-01

    alone could not explain the observed positivity bias. Furthermore, participants' behavior in our task was linked to the most widely used measure of attribution style. In sum, our findings suggest that positive and negative performance feedback influences the evaluation of task-related stimuli, as predicted by attribution theory. Therefore, our study points to the relevance of attribution theory for feedback processing in decision-making and provides a novel outlook for decision-making biases.

  10. Dietary self-control is related to the speed with which attributes of healthfulness and tastiness are processed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Nicolette; Hutcherson, Cendri; Harris, Alison; Rangel, Antonio

    2015-02-01

    We propose that self-control failures, and variation across individuals in self-control abilities, are partly due to differences in the speed with which the decision-making circuitry processes basic attributes, such as tastiness, versus more abstract attributes, such as healthfulness. We tested these hypotheses by combining a dietary-choice task with a novel form of mouse tracking that allowed us to pinpoint when different attributes were being integrated into the choice process with temporal resolution at the millisecond level. We found that, on average, tastiness was processed about 195 ms earlier than healthfulness during the choice process. We also found that 13% to 39% of observed individual differences in self-control ability could be explained by differences in the relative speed with which tastiness and healthfulness were processed. © The Author(s) 2014.

  11. Exploring Options for Standardisation of Processes and Transactions in Land Administration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lemmen, C.H.J.; Unger, E.M.; van Oosterom, P.J.M.; Kalantari, M.

    2018-01-01

    Processes and transactions in Land Administration are outside the scope of the Land Administration Domain Model Edition I published in 2012. Reason is that processes were considered to be country specific. Generic processes would be too difficult to model. This view needs reconsideration – given

  12. 32 CFR 806.29 - Administrative processing of Air Force FOIA requests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... FORCE ADMINISTRATION AIR FORCE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROGRAM § 806.29 Administrative processing of... information systems by processing a simple request/providing a response in the electronic format requested.../service/a nongovernment source (Exemption 4), records are part of the Air Force's decision-making process...

  13. Attribute based selection of thermoplastic resin for vacuum infusion process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Prabhakaran, R.T. Durai; Lystrup, Aage; Løgstrup Andersen, Tom

    2011-01-01

    The composite industry looks toward a new material system (resins) based on thermoplastic polymers for the vacuum infusion process, similar to the infusion process using thermosetting polymers. A large number of thermoplastics are available in the market with a variety of properties suitable...... for different engineering applications, and few of those are available in a not yet polymerised form suitable for resin infusion. The proper selection of a new resin system among these thermoplastic polymers is a concern for manufactures in the current scenario and a special mathematical tool would...... be beneficial. In this paper, the authors introduce a new decision making tool for resin selection based on significant attributes. This article provides a broad overview of suitable thermoplastic material systems for vacuum infusion process available in today’s market. An illustrative example—resin selection...

  14. Fine-Grained Turbidites: Facies, Attributes and Process Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stow, Dorrik; Omoniyi, Bayonle

    2016-04-01

    Within turbidite systems, fine-grained sediments are still the poor relation and sport several contrasting facies models linked to process of deposition. These are volumetrically the dominant facies in deepwater and, from a resource perspective, they form important marginal and tight reservoirs, and have great potential for unconventional shale gas, source rocks and seals. They are also significant hosts of metals and rare earth elements. Based on a large number of studies of modern, ancient and subsurface systems, including 1000s of metres of section logging, we define the principal genetic elements of fine-grained deepwater facies, present a new synthesis of facies models and their sedimentary attributes. The principal architectural elements include: non-channelised slope-aprons, channel-fill, channel levee and overbank, turbidite lobes, mass-transport deposits, contourite drifts, basin sheets and drapes. These comprise a variable intercalation of fine-grained facies - thin-bedded and very thin-bedded turbidites, contourites, hemipelagites and pelagites - and associated coarse-grained facies. Characteristic attributes used to discriminate between these different elements are: facies and facies associations; sand-shale ratio, sand and shale geometry and dimensions, sand connectivity; sediment texture and small-scale sedimentary structures; sediment fabric and microfabric; and small-scale vertical sequences of bed thickness. To some extent, we can relate facies and attribute characteristics to different depositional environments. We identify four distinct facies models: (a) silt-laminated mud turbidites, (b) siliciclastic mud turbidites, (c) carbonate mud turbidites, (d) disorganized silty-mud turbidites, and (e) hemiturbidites. Within the grainsize-velocity matrix turbidite plot, these all fall within the region of mean size < 0.063mm, maximum grainsize (one percentile) <0.2mm, and depositional velocity 0.1-0.5 m/s. Silt-laminated turbidites and many mud

  15. The process of outsourcing applied to public administration - legal approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Magera Conceição

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents an analysis of outsourcing in the Brazilian Public Administration and the way it currently operates, initiating a process of reform, aiming to reduce the size of the administrative apparatus. Several doctrinal and jurisprudential concepts have been demonstrated in order to demonstrate in a concise way the applicability of outsourcing as a mechanism to reduce costs of the public machine, increase its efficiency and decrease its size. Some advantages of the use of outsourcing by the public administration by several jurists are presented, including the gains in competitiveness and ease of supervision by the citizens. The extension of the responsibility of the public administration by the outsourced company and the way in which it operates, in the light of the legislation, jurisprudence and the best doctrine, suggest efficient alternatives in the exercise of the administration, increasing its credibility and efficiency in the attainment of governmental objectives. The methodology used was through deductive. The achieved results demonstrate that the process of outsourcing after quality and a new dynamics in the public service.

  16. Statistical process control charts for attribute data involving very large sample sizes: a review of problems and solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammed, Mohammed A; Panesar, Jagdeep S; Laney, David B; Wilson, Richard

    2013-04-01

    The use of statistical process control (SPC) charts in healthcare is increasing. The primary purpose of SPC is to distinguish between common-cause variation which is attributable to the underlying process, and special-cause variation which is extrinsic to the underlying process. This is important because improvement under common-cause variation requires action on the process, whereas special-cause variation merits an investigation to first find the cause. Nonetheless, when dealing with attribute or count data (eg, number of emergency admissions) involving very large sample sizes, traditional SPC charts often produce tight control limits with most of the data points appearing outside the control limits. This can give a false impression of common and special-cause variation, and potentially misguide the user into taking the wrong actions. Given the growing availability of large datasets from routinely collected databases in healthcare, there is a need to present a review of this problem (which arises because traditional attribute charts only consider within-subgroup variation) and its solutions (which consider within and between-subgroup variation), which involve the use of the well-established measurements chart and the more recently developed attribute charts based on Laney's innovative approach. We close by making some suggestions for practice.

  17. ADMINISTRATION OF THE INFORMATION AND THE PROCESS OF BANK NEGOTIATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Almir Lindemann

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the quality of the administration of information, identifying deficiencies in the information systems, used in the negotiation process for concession of bank credit, to small and mid-sized companies, under the business managers' perspective. The results make the deficiencies evident and confirm the need for change in the systems of administration of information, in order to allow for both an improvement in the negotiation process of bank credit as well as a larger economical efficiency of the available resources.

  18. Determination of the impact of RGB points cloud attribute quality on color-based segmentation process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bartłomiej Kraszewski

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of research on the effect that radiometric quality of point cloud RGB attributes have on color-based segmentation. In the research, a point cloud with a resolution of 5 mm, received from FAROARO Photon 120 scanner, described the fragment of an office’s room and color images were taken by various digital cameras. The images were acquired by SLR Nikon D3X, and SLR Canon D200 integrated with the laser scanner, compact camera Panasonic TZ-30 and a mobile phone digital camera. Color information from images was spatially related to point cloud in FAROARO Scene software. The color-based segmentation of testing data was performed with the use of a developed application named “RGB Segmentation”. The application was based on public Point Cloud Libraries (PCL and allowed to extract subsets of points fulfilling the criteria of segmentation from the source point cloud using region growing method.Using the developed application, the segmentation of four tested point clouds containing different RGB attributes from various images was performed. Evaluation of segmentation process was performed based on comparison of segments acquired using the developed application and extracted manually by an operator. The following items were compared: the number of obtained segments, the number of correctly identified objects and the correctness of segmentation process. The best correctness of segmentation and most identified objects were obtained using the data with RGB attribute from Nikon D3X images. Based on the results it was found that quality of RGB attributes of point cloud had impact only on the number of identified objects. In case of correctness of the segmentation, as well as its error no apparent relationship between the quality of color information and the result of the process was found.[b]Keywords[/b]: terrestrial laser scanning, color-based segmentation, RGB attribute, region growing method, digital images, points cloud

  19. Rework and workarounds in nurse medication administration process: implications for work processes and patient safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halbesleben, Jonathon R B; Savage, Grant T; Wakefield, Douglas S; Wakefield, Bonnie J

    2010-01-01

    Health care organizations have redesigned existing and implemented new work processes intended to improve patient safety. As a consequence of these process changes, there are now intentionally designed "blocks" or barriers that limit how specific work actions, such as ordering and administering medication, are to be carried out. Health care professionals encountering these designed barriers can choose to either follow the new process, engage in workarounds to get past the block, or potentially repeat work (rework). Unfortunately, these workarounds and rework may lead to other safety concerns. The aim of this study was to examine rework and workarounds in hospital medication administration processes. Observations and semistructured interviews were conducted with 58 nurses from four hospital intensive care units focusing on the medication administration process. Using the constant comparative method, we analyzed the observation and interview data to develop themes regarding rework and workarounds. From this analysis, we developed an integrated process map of the medication administration process depicting blocks. A total of 12 blocks were reported by the participants. Based on the analysis, we categorized them as related to information exchange, information entry, and internal supply chain issues. Whereas information exchange and entry blocks tended to lead to rework, internal supply chain issues were more likely to lead to workarounds. A decentralized pharmacist on the unit may reduce work flow blocks (and, thus, workarounds and rework). Work process redesign may further address the problems of workarounds and rework.

  20. Word attributes and lateralization revisited: implications for dual coding and discrete versus continuous processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boles, D B

    1989-01-01

    Three attributes of words are their imageability, concreteness, and familiarity. From a literature review and several experiments, I previously concluded (Boles, 1983a) that only familiarity affects the overall near-threshold recognition of words, and that none of the attributes affects right-visual-field superiority for word recognition. Here these conclusions are modified by two experiments demonstrating a critical mediating influence of intentional versus incidental memory instructions. In Experiment 1, subjects were instructed to remember the words they were shown, for subsequent recall. The results showed effects of both imageability and familiarity on overall recognition, as well as an effect of imageability on lateralization. In Experiment 2, word-memory instructions were deleted and the results essentially reinstated the findings of Boles (1983a). It is concluded that right-hemisphere imagery processes can participate in word recognition under intentional memory instructions. Within the dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971), the results argue that both discrete and continuous processing modes are available, that the modes can be used strategically, and that continuous processing can occur prior to response stages.

  1. The Key Principles of Process Manager Motivation in Production and Administration Processes in an Industrial Enterprise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chromjakova Felicita

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The basic premise of sustainable development is that companies should completely re-evaluate their enterprise work logic and process organization. Most of the necessary changes concern employee stimulation and motivation. If we are truly interested in improving business results and the effectiveness of business processes – there would be no progress otherwise – we have to strive to break down the barriers between company management (leadership and employees in order to establish effective relationships between firms and customers. This paper presents research results of process manager activities in modern industrial enterprises, connected with a methodology proposal for the systematically-oriented process manager motivation of employees in accordance with the increased competitiveness of production and administration processes. It also presents an effective methodology of how to increase the positive effects of welldefined employee motivations from the process manager´s perspective. The core benefit of this methodology lies in the design of a systematic approach to the motivation process from the process manager side, allowing for radical performance improvement via production and administrative processes and the increased competitiveness of enterprise processes.

  2. The art of improvisation: the working process of administrators at a Federal University Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Littike, Denilda; Sodré, Francis

    2015-10-01

    The scope of this article is to analyze the working process of administrators at a Federal University Hospital (HUF). It includes research with a qualitative approach conducted through interviews with twelve administrators. The work process, the work tools and the human activity per se are understood to be under scrutiny. Work is acknowledged as a category that analyzes the management methods used by professional health workers. The HUFs are responsible for two social policies, namely education and health. The aim of the administrators' work is an organizational issue, and the administration tools used are bureaucratic and out-of-date for the current political context of hospital management. The most significant feature of this hospital administration is improvisation, which reduces the potential of the administrators in such a way that, instead of introducing innovative changes into their work process, they prefer to leave their jobs. Improvisation is caused by the production of sequential obstacles in management decision-making at this teaching hospital. In short, the transfer of administration at the HUF, from direct government administration by the University to the Brazilian Company of Hospital Services (EBSERH), was analyzed on the grounds that this would establish a "new" management model.

  3. ERP differences between processing of physical characteristics and personality attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Limited data from behavioral and brain-imaging studies indicate that personality traits and physical characteristics are processed differently by the brain. Additionally, electrophysiological results of studies comparing the processing of positive and negative words have produced mixed results. It is therefore not clear how physical and personality attributes with emotional valence (i.e., positive and negative valence) are processed. Thus, this study aimed to examine the neural activity associated with words describing personality traits and physical characteristics with positive or negative emotional valence using Event Related Potentials (ERPs). Methods A sample of 15 healthy adults (7 men, 8 women) participated in a computerized word categorization task. Participants were asked to categorize visual word stimuli as physical characteristics or personality traits, while ERPs were recorded synchronously. Results Behavioral reaction times to negative physical stimuli were shorter compared to negative personality words, however reaction times did not significantly differ for positive stimuli. Electrophysiological results showed that personality stimuli elicited larger P2 and LPC (Late Positive Component) amplitudes compared to physical stimuli, regardless of negative or positive valence. Moreover, negative as compared with positive stimuli elicited larger P2 and LPC amplitudes. Conclusion Personality and physical stimuli were processed differently regardless of positive or negative valence. These findings suggest that personality traits and physical characteristics are differentially classified and are associated with different motivational significance. PMID:22967478

  4. Interpersonal reactivity and the attribution of emotional reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haas, Brian W; Anderson, Ian W; Filkowski, Megan M

    2015-06-01

    The ability to identify the cause of another person's emotional reaction is an important component associated with improved success of social relationships and survival. Although many studies have investigated the mechanisms involved in emotion recognition, very little is currently known regarding the processes involved during emotion attribution decisions. Research on complementary "emotion understanding" mechanisms, including empathy and theory of mind, has demonstrated that emotion understanding decisions are often made through relatively emotion- or cognitive-based processing streams. The current study was designed to investigate the behavioral and brain mechanisms involved in emotion attribution decisions. We predicted that dual processes, emotional and cognitive, are engaged during emotion attribution decisions. Sixteen healthy adults completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to characterize individual differences in tendency to make emotion- versus cognitive-based interpersonal decisions. Participants then underwent functional MRI while making emotion attribution decisions. We found neuroimaging evidence that emotion attribution decisions engage a similar brain network as other forms of emotion understanding. Further, we found evidence in support of a dual processes model involved during emotion attribution decisions. Higher scores of personal distress were associated with quicker emotion attribution decisions and increased anterior insula activity. Conversely, higher scores in perspective taking were associated with delayed emotion attribution decisions and increased prefrontal cortex and premotor activity. These findings indicate that the making of emotion attribution decisions relies on dissociable emotional and cognitive processing streams within the brain. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Application of Computer Simulation Modeling to Medication Administration Process Redesign

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan Huynh

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The medication administration process (MAP is one of the most high-risk processes in health care. MAP workflow redesign can precipitate both unanticipated and unintended consequences that can lead to new medication safety risks and workflow inefficiencies. Thus, it is necessary to have a tool to evaluate the impact of redesign approaches in advance of their clinical implementation. This paper discusses the development of an agent-based MAP computer simulation model that can be used to assess the impact of MAP workflow redesign on MAP performance. The agent-based approach is adopted in order to capture Registered Nurse medication administration performance. The process of designing, developing, validating, and testing such a model is explained. Work is underway to collect MAP data in a hospital setting to provide more complex MAP observations to extend development of the model to better represent the complexity of MAP.

  6. Attribute Based Selection of Thermoplastic Resin for Vacuum Infusion Process: A Decision Making Methodology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raghavalu Thirumalai, Durai Prabhakaran; Lystrup, Aage; Løgstrup Andersen, Tom

    2012-01-01

    The composite industry looks toward a new material system (resins) based on thermoplastic polymers for the vacuum infusion process, similar to the infusion process using thermosetting polymers. A large number of thermoplastics are available in the market with a variety of properties suitable...... be beneficial. In this paper, the authors introduce a new decision making tool for resin selection based on significant attributes. This article provides a broad overview of suitable thermoplastic material systems for vacuum infusion process available in today’s market. An illustrative example—resin selection...... for vacuum infused of a wind turbine blade—is shown to demonstrate the intricacies involved in the proposed methodology for resin selection....

  7. Social Information Processing, Moral Reasoning, and Emotion Attributions: Relations with Adolescents' Reactive and Proactive Aggression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arsenio, William F.; Adams, Erin; Gold, Jason

    2009-01-01

    Connections between adolescents' social information processing (SIP), moral reasoning, and emotion attributions and their reactive and proactive aggressive tendencies were assessed. One hundred mostly African American and Latino 13- to 18-year-olds from a low-socioeconomic-status (SES) urban community and their high school teachers participated.…

  8. A Quadrupole Dalton-based multi-attribute method for product characterization, process development, and quality control of therapeutic proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Weichen; Jimenez, Rod Brian; Mowery, Rachel; Luo, Haibin; Cao, Mingyan; Agarwal, Nitin; Ramos, Irina; Wang, Xiangyang; Wang, Jihong

    2017-10-01

    During manufacturing and storage process, therapeutic proteins are subject to various post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as isomerization, deamidation, oxidation, disulfide bond modifications and glycosylation. Certain PTMs may affect bioactivity, stability or pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profile and are therefore classified as potential critical quality attributes (pCQAs). Identifying, monitoring and controlling these PTMs are usually key elements of the Quality by Design (QbD) approach. Traditionally, multiple analytical methods are utilized for these purposes, which is time consuming and costly. In recent years, multi-attribute monitoring methods have been developed in the biopharmaceutical industry. However, these methods combine high-end mass spectrometry with complicated data analysis software, which could pose difficulty when implementing in a quality control (QC) environment. Here we report a multi-attribute method (MAM) using a Quadrupole Dalton (QDa) mass detector to selectively monitor and quantitate PTMs in a therapeutic monoclonal antibody. The result output from the QDa-based MAM is straightforward and automatic. Evaluation results indicate this method provides comparable results to the traditional assays. To ensure future application in the QC environment, this method was qualified according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline and applied in the characterization of drug substance and stability samples. The QDa-based MAM is shown to be an extremely useful tool for product and process characterization studies that facilitates facile understanding of process impact on multiple quality attributes, while being QC friendly and cost-effective.

  9. QUALITY ATTRIBUTES IN COST MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING SUBJECTS: THE STUDENTS’ VIEWPOINT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jucelia Appio Tibola

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim in this research is to identify the quality attributes students perceive in cost management and accounting subjects. The subjects were 126 students who took the subjects Cost Applied to Administration, Cost Accounting and Cost Analysis, corresponding to all students in the semester during which the research was undertaken. Thus, a census study was adopted. The research institution is a public university that offers graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs in Accountancy and Business Administration, particularly in the South of Brazil. An exploratory and qualitative research design was used in the first part and a descriptive and quantitative design in the second. Data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire with open questions, applying the Critical Incident Technique. Content Analysis was used to classify and categorize the respondents’ answers into units of meaning. In the second phase, these categories were transformed into categorical variables and analyzed through statistical procedures. The results evidenced that the quality attributes constituted an Axis. In the Cost Analysis subjects, they privileged the lecturer’s quality. In Cost Accounting, the students evidenced the teacher’s commitment and the application of practical examples as a relevant attribute. In Cost Applied to Administration, the results indicated that understanding about the subject, clarification of doubts and the lecturer’s didactics served as quality attributes.

  10. Closing the loop of the medication use process using electronic medication administration registration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenderink, Bertil W; Egberts, Toine C G

    2004-08-01

    Recent reports and studies of errors in the medication process have raised the awareness of the threat to public health. An essential step in this multi-stage process is the actual administration of a medicine to the patient. The closed loop system is thought to be a way of preventing medication errors. Current information technology can facilitate this process. This article describes the way barcode technology is being used to facilitate medication administration registration on several wards in our hospital and nursing home.

  11. E-Government Goes Semantic Web: How Administrations Can Transform Their Information Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klischewski, Ralf; Ukena, Stefan

    E-government applications and services are built mainly on access to, retrieval of, integration of, and delivery of relevant information to citizens, businesses, and administrative users. In order to perform such information processing automatically through the Semantic Web,1 machine-readable2 enhancements of web resources are needed, based on the understanding of the content and context of the information in focus. While these enhancements are far from trivial to produce, administrations in their role of information and service providers so far find little guidance on how to migrate their web resources and enable a new quality of information processing; even research is still seeking best practices. Therefore, the underlying research question of this chapter is: what are the appropriate approaches which guide administrations in transforming their information processes toward the Semantic Web? In search for answers, this chapter analyzes the challenges and possible solutions from the perspective of administrations: (a) the reconstruction of the information processing in the e-government in terms of how semantic technologies must be employed to support information provision and consumption through the Semantic Web; (b) the required contribution to the transformation is compared to the capabilities and expectations of administrations; and (c) available experience with the steps of transformation are reviewed and discussed as to what extent they can be expected to successfully drive the e-government to the Semantic Web. This research builds on studying the case of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where semantic technologies have been used within the frame of the Access-eGov3 project in order to semantically enhance electronic service interfaces with the aim of providing a new way of accessing and combining e-government services.

  12. PROSES PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN KONSUMEN DAN ATRIBUT PRODUK KOPI INSTAN DALAM SACHET [Consumer Decision Making Process and Product Attributes of Instant Coffee

    OpenAIRE

    Wisnu Satyajaya; Azhari Rangga; Fibra Nurainy; Harun Al Rasyid

    2014-01-01

    The objectives of this research were to observe the decision making process and the influence of product attributes in consuming of instant coffee products in sachets. This research used questionnaires to obtain information on the characteristics and consumer behavior of respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and importance attributes.  The results showed that process of buying through the stages in the purchase decision process, namely               a). need recognition: ...

  13. Fundamentals of the administrative decentralization process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela Lupăncescu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Public administration, as an activity carried out by the administrative authorities, can be achieved through several forms of organization. In this sense, centralization, deconcentration and decentralization, together with its corollary, local autonomy, constitute in organizational regimes of an administrative nature, more or less democratic, and with characteristics that vary according to the degree of dependence between the authorities of the public administration institutions at the central level and local public administration authorities.There is no single form of organization that incorporates the characteristics of a particular regime. The complex expectations of modern society have led to the blending of features of different forms of organization in order to create a balance of activity within the public administration, in order to exercise the functions of executive power for the benefit of citizens, not by conferring unlimited autonomy but by considering the fundamental principle of legality.

  14. Assessment of the Nurse Medication Administration Workflow Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan Huynh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents findings of an observational study of the Registered Nurse (RN Medication Administration Process (MAP conducted on two comparable medical units in a large urban tertiary care medical center in Columbia, South Carolina. A total of 305 individual MAP observations were recorded over a 6-week period with an average of 5 MAP observations per RN participant for both clinical units. A key MAP variation was identified in terms of unbundled versus bundled MAP performance. In the unbundled workflow, an RN engages in the MAP by performing only MAP tasks during a care episode. In the bundled workflow, an RN completes medication administration along with other patient care responsibilities during the care episode. Using a discrete-event simulation model, this paper addresses the difference between unbundled and bundled workflow and their effects on simulated redesign interventions.

  15. Analysis of the National Modernizers Network for the Support of the Public Administration Reform Process from Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alina PROFIROIU

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The reform process of the state and implicitly of the public administration was a priority for the past governments of Romania. During 2004- 2009, within the reform process, the main actors involved in the coordination, implementation and monitoring of reform measures were: the Prime Minister, the Superior Council for Public Administration Reform, Public Policy Coordination and Structural Adjustment, the Ministry of Public Finance, the General Secretariat of Government, Ministry of Administration and Interior (renamed for a short time Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform, the Central Unit for Public Administration Reform, National Institute of Administration, the National Agency of Civil Servants, and the National Modernizers Network. For evaluation of aspects related to the reform process it was designed a selective research within the members of the National Modernizers Network, for assessing their perception of the public administration reform undertaken by the institutions presented above. Evaluating their opinion can be an important point in the revitalization of the area of the administration reform process. Also, the research conducted aimed at assessing the degree of modernizers’ involvement in activities related to important aspects of the reform process: strategic planning, formulating and evaluating public policies, financial management, human resources management, decentralization, introduction of new information and communication technologies and administrative simplification.

  16. Belief attribution despite verbal interference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forgeot d'Arc, Baudouin; Ramus, Franck

    2011-05-01

    False-belief (FB) tasks have been widely used to study the ability of individuals to represent the content of their conspecifics' mental states (theory of mind). However, the cognitive processes involved are still poorly understood, and it remains particularly debated whether language and inner speech are necessary for the attribution of beliefs to other agents. We present a completely nonverbal paradigm consisting of silent animated cartoons in five closely related conditions, systematically teasing apart different aspects of scene analysis and allowing the assessment of the attribution of beliefs, goals, and physical causation. In order to test the role of language in belief attribution, we used verbal shadowing as a dual task to inhibit inner speech. Data on 58 healthy adults indicate that verbal interference decreases overall performance, but has no specific effect on belief attribution. Participants remained able to attribute beliefs despite heavy concurrent demands on their verbal abilities. Our results are most consistent with the hypothesis that belief attribution is independent from inner speech.

  17. An evolution of image source camera attribution approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahanirad, Mehdi; Wahab, Ainuddin Wahid Abdul; Anuar, Nor Badrul

    2016-05-01

    Camera attribution plays an important role in digital image forensics by providing the evidence and distinguishing characteristics of the origin of the digital image. It allows the forensic analyser to find the possible source camera which captured the image under investigation. However, in real-world applications, these approaches have faced many challenges due to the large set of multimedia data publicly available through photo sharing and social network sites, captured with uncontrolled conditions and undergone variety of hardware and software post-processing operations. Moreover, the legal system only accepts the forensic analysis of the digital image evidence if the applied camera attribution techniques are unbiased, reliable, nondestructive and widely accepted by the experts in the field. The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolutionary trend of image source camera attribution approaches from fundamental to practice, in particular, with the application of image processing and data mining techniques. Extracting implicit knowledge from images using intrinsic image artifacts for source camera attribution requires a structured image mining process. In this paper, we attempt to provide an introductory tutorial on the image processing pipeline, to determine the general classification of the features corresponding to different components for source camera attribution. The article also reviews techniques of the source camera attribution more comprehensively in the domain of the image forensics in conjunction with the presentation of classifying ongoing developments within the specified area. The classification of the existing source camera attribution approaches is presented based on the specific parameters, such as colour image processing pipeline, hardware- and software-related artifacts and the methods to extract such artifacts. The more recent source camera attribution approaches, which have not yet gained sufficient attention among image forensics

  18. Privacy Protection on Multiple Sensitive Attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhen; Ye, Xiaojun

    In recent years, a privacy model called k-anonymity has gained popularity in the microdata releasing. As the microdata may contain multiple sensitive attributes about an individual, the protection of multiple sensitive attributes has become an important problem. Different from the existing models of single sensitive attribute, extra associations among multiple sensitive attributes should be invested. Two kinds of disclosure scenarios may happen because of logical associations. The Q&S Diversity is checked to prevent the foregoing disclosure risks, with an α Requirement definition used to ensure the diversity requirement. At last, a two-step greedy generalization algorithm is used to carry out the multiple sensitive attributes processing which deal with quasi-identifiers and sensitive attributes respectively. We reduce the overall distortion by the measure of Masking SA.

  19. PROSES PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN KONSUMEN DAN ATRIBUT PRODUK KOPI INSTAN DALAM SACHET [Consumer Decision Making Process and Product Attributes of Instant Coffee

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wisnu Satyajaya

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The objectives of this research were to observe the decision making process and the influence of product attributes in consuming of instant coffee products in sachets. This research used questionnaires to obtain information on the characteristics and consumer behavior of respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and importance attributes.  The results showed that process of buying through the stages in the purchase decision process, namely:             a. need recognition: the main benefits expected was freshness of coffee, highest frequency was  once a day; and the main barrier was product quality; b. searching of information: the main source was promotion; c. alternative evaluation: The main factor in evaluation was taste, the known brand of instant coffee were Torabika, Nescafe, Kopi Luwak, ABC, Top, Good Day; d. The decision to buy: the main reasons to buy was taste; purchase decision depending on the situation, most influential are friends. e. post-purchase evaluation: customers are willing to keep buying previous products.. The highest product attributes importance of instant coffee were the highest sense of 4.34; aroma 4.23; and freshness of 4.11 which is the characteristics specialty[H1] of coffee. Keywords: consumer, instant coffee, product attributes. [H1] Has been changed

  20. Application of Computer Simulation Modeling to Medication Administration Process Redesign

    OpenAIRE

    Huynh, Nathan; Snyder, Rita; Vidal, Jose M.; Tavakoli, Abbas S.; Cai, Bo

    2012-01-01

    The medication administration process (MAP) is one of the most high-risk processes in health care. MAP workflow redesign can precipitate both unanticipated and unintended consequences that can lead to new medication safety risks and workflow inefficiencies. Thus, it is necessary to have a tool to evaluate the impact of redesign approaches in advance of their clinical implementation. This paper discusses the development of an agent-based MAP computer simulation model that can be used to assess...

  1. A Pure Object-Oriented Embedding of Attribute Grammars

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sloane, A.M.; Kats, L.C.L.; Visser, E.

    2010-01-01

    Attribute grammars are a powerful specification paradigm for many language processing tasks, particularly semantic analysis of programming languages. Recent attribute grammar systems use dynamic scheduling algorithms to evaluate attributes by need. In this paper, we show how to remove the need for a

  2. The adoption of domestic solar-power systems: Do consumers assess product attributes in a stepwise process?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faiers, Adam; Neame, Charles; Cook, Matt

    2007-01-01

    The adoption of an innovation is partly dependent on the consumers' perception of the product attributes, starting with the 'relative advantage' a product may have over another existing product, and also include issues of compatibility, complexity, observability and trialability. Using diffusion of innovations theory as a conceptual framework, this paper describes a case study that investigated the innovation adoption process that a group of identified potential adopters of domestic solar thermal systems stated they would follow. Data was generated from the results of a postal survey to a group of 43 defined innovators and a group of 350 assumed 'early majority', pragmatic consumers. The survey results showed that while the pragmatic customers did follow the process as theorised in diffusion theory, the innovators disregarded the observability attributes of the innovation and went ahead with implementation without having seen the products beforehand. The group of innovators was also split in their opinion that 'complexity' may be a limiting factor. There were differences in the pragmatic group between certain demographic sub groups. Conclusions are drawn on how the findings may impact marketing activities

  3. The Role of Green and Traditional Supplier Attributes on Business Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Roberto Mendoza-Fong

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Supplier evaluation and selection are fundamental tasks since they are part of the production process and even initiate the supply chain (SC. Despite their importance in the production system, supplier evaluation and selection may be challenging activities to be performed if companies look at the wide range of available evaluation techniques and methodologies, which now seek to integrate both traditional and green attributes. In addition, companies may refuse to take into account green attributes during the supplier selection process, because they do not know their impact on commercial benefits. To overcome this limitation, this study examines the Mexican manufacturing sector and measures the impact of supplier traditional attributes and green attributes on business performance, namely production process benefits and commercial benefits. As data collection instrument, we administered a survey to 253 supplier evaluators and selectors; then, using the gathered data, we constructed a structural equation model. The model includes four variables to determine the impact of traditional and green attributes on business performance: green attributes, traditional attributes, production process benefits, and commercial benefits. The results indicate that all the latent variables have positive direct effects on one another. For instance, process benefits show the largest effects on commercial benefits, but the most significant effect is caused by traditional attributes on commercial benefits through green attributes and production process benefits.

  4. Toward an Automated Labeling of Event Log Attributes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abbad Andaloussi, Amine; Burattin, Andrea; Weber, Barbara

    2018-01-01

    information systems often do not comply with the required maturity level, since they lack the notion of process instance, also referred in process mining as “case id”. Without a proper identification of the case id attribute in log files, the outcome of process mining algorithms is unpredictable. This paper...... proposes a new approach that aims to overcome this challenge by automatically inferring the case id attribute from log files. The approach has been implemented as a ProM plugin and evaluated with several real-world event logs. The results demonstrate a high accuracy in inferring the case id attribute.......Process mining aims at exploring the data produced by executable business processes to mine the underlying control-flow and dataflow. Most of the process mining algorithms assume the existence of an event log with a certain maturity level. Unfortunately, the logs provided by process unaware...

  5. Discriminative power of visual attributes in dermatology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giotis, Ioannis; Visser, Margaretha; Jonkman, Marcel; Petkov, Nicolai

    2013-02-01

    Visual characteristics such as color and shape of skin lesions play an important role in the diagnostic process. In this contribution, we quantify the discriminative power of such attributes using an information theoretical approach. We estimate the probability of occurrence of each attribute as a function of the skin diseases. We use the distribution of this probability across the studied diseases and its entropy to define the discriminative power of the attribute. The discriminative power has a maximum value for attributes that occur (or do not occur) for only one disease and a minimum value for those which are equally likely to be observed among all diseases. Verrucous surface, red and brown colors, and the presence of more than 10 lesions are among the most informative attributes. A ranking of attributes is also carried out and used together with a naive Bayesian classifier, yielding results that confirm the soundness of the proposed method. proposed measure is proven to be a reliable way of assessing the discriminative power of dermatological attributes, and it also helps generate a condensed dermatological lexicon. Therefore, it can be of added value to the manual or computer-aided diagnostic process. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  6. The Constitutional Fundaments of Public Administration in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia and Luxembourg

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela V. CĂRĂUŞAN

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of our study is to present the administrative system in some European Union member states. The systemic approach offers us the possibility to achieve a comprehensive overview of the scope and content of public administration. In terms of systemic evaluation, public administration is seen as a social entity specific to certain period of development, characterized by a mode of action, structure and logic. Starting from the systemic approach we will highlight how member states' constitutional regulations tailored the European administrative systems. Public administration, as a system, is understood as an evolutionary process, with objects, attributes and relationships that combine and allow proper operation. Also, public administration system approach provides the basis for a consistent and rigorous approach to an ideal model of government that summarizes all the advantages - goals for any administration, namely: nationality, effectiveness, optimum citizens serving etc.

  7. IMPACT OF THE REFORM PROCESS OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GEORGETA MODIGA

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Romanian society is in a continuous process of change in which all the economic, social, political, civic saw a new dynamic in trying to adapt to specific conditions of the phenomenon of Europeanization (full member of the European Union. The changing of Romanian society requires the public administration reform to be analyzed and disseminated on the following levels: strategic - by which to redefine the role of the state clearly, legally - using larger framework laws, organizational - administrative and fiscal decentralization, cultural - following a change of values and modes of action of public officials, non governmental organizations, the citizen / customer of public service. The term administrative reform is trivial, repetitive and recurrent nets into change, public administration reform is invited to constantly readjust the organization and the action and to clearly state objectives, called sometimes the brakes released, blockages to overcome obstacles of the past which is manifested by the upward trend of the society. Public administration is criticized especially by the public and less by governments in office. Almost general belief is that the administration functions poorly, fulfil its mission in an unsatisfactory manner, but nevertheless has an impact too on community life, economy and society. This paper aims to identify the type of problems that other countries have had to solve and the need hierarchy and management combined in a single system. Understanding the types of problems encountered and they do other countries in this process will shorten the learning cycle for Romania. The objectives of this approach is that the critical analysis of the relationship between public administration reform and administrative capacity based on the literature, outlining the operational model to assess the reform process in our country, the study of democratization (the stage of democratization of public administration modernization strategy

  8. PROSES PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN KONSUMEN DAN ATRIBUT PRODUK KOPI INSTAN DALAM SACHET [Consumer Decision Making Process and Product Attributes of Instant Coffee

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wisnu Satyajaya

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The objectives of this research were to observe the decision making process and the influence of product attributes in consuming of instant coffee products in sachets. This research used questionnaires to obtain information on the characteristics and consumer behavior of respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and importance attributes.  The results showed that process of buying through the stages in the purchase decision process, namely               a. need recognition: the main benefits expected was freshness of coffee, highest frequency was  once a day; and the main barrier was product quality; b. searching of information: the main source was promotion; c. alternative evaluation: The main factor in evaluation was taste, the known brand of instant coffee were Torabika, Nescafe, Kopi Luwak, ABC, Top, Good Day; d. The decision to buy: the main reasons to buy was taste; purchase decision depending on the situation, most influential are friends. e. post-purchase evaluation: customers are willing to keep buying previous products.. The highest product attributes importance of instant coffee were the highest sense of 4.34; aroma 4.23; and freshness of 4.11 which is the characteristics specialty[H1] of coffee. Keywords: consumer, instant coffee, product attributes. [H1] Has been changed

  9. Challenges and prospects of the juvenile justice administration in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Juvenile justice administration in Nigeria is weak and has been given very little priority, despite Nigeria being signatory to the major international instruments relevant to the administration of juvenile justice. This is attributable to the history of the penal system of Nigeria, with laws guiding juvenile justice administration having ...

  10. Interplay between Narrative and Bodily Self in Access to Consciousness: No Difference between Self- and Non-self Attributes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noel, Jean-Paul; Blanke, Olaf; Serino, Andrea; Salomon, Roy

    2017-01-01

    The construct of the "self" is conceived as being fundamental in promoting survival. As such, extensive studies have documented preferential processing of self-relevant stimuli. For example, attributes that relate to the self are better encoded and retrieved, and are more readily consciously perceived. The preferential processing of self-relevant information, however, appears to be especially true for physical (e.g., faces), as opposed to psychological (e.g., traits), conceptions of the self. Here, we test whether semantic attributes that participants judge as self-relevant are further processed unconsciously than attributes that were not judged as self-relevant. In Experiment 1, a continuous flash suppression paradigm was employed with "self" and "non-self" attribute words being presented subliminally, and we asked participants to categorize unseen words as either self-related or not. In a second experiment, we attempted to boost putative preferential self-processing by relation to its physical conception, that is, one's own body. To this aim, we repeated Experiment 1 while administrating acoustic stimuli either close or far from the body, i.e., within or outside peripersonal space. Results of both Experiment 1 and 2 demonstrate no difference in breaking suppression for self and non-self words. Additionally, we found that while participants were able to process the physical location of the unseen words (above or below fixation) they were not able to categorize these as self-relevant or not. Finally, results showed that sounds presented in the extra-personal space elicited a more stringent response criterion for "self" in the process of categorizing unseen visual stimuli. This shift in criterion as a consequence of sound location was restricted to the self, as no such effect was observed in the categorization of attributes occurring above or below fixation. Overall, our findings seem to indicate that subliminally presented stimuli are not semantically processed, at

  11. Prediction of filamentous process performance attributes by CSL quality assessment using mid-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofer, Alexandra; Kamravamanesh, Donya; Bona-Lovasz, Judit; Limbeck, Andreas; Lendl, Bernhard; Herwig, Christoph; Fricke, Jens

    2018-01-10

    Every biopharmaceutical production process aims for control strategies to achieve process robustness in order to ensure consistent product quality. Process variability can origin from process parameters, the biological nature as well as from high lot-to-lot variability of raw materials. In filamentous processes raw materials with very complex matrices, such as corn steep liquor (CSL), are used, which are especially challenging to characterize. In this study, CSL was characterized in detail for its ingredients presenting an overall composition of its matrix of 50 analyzed components (19 amino acids, 5 organic acids, 8 reducing sugars, 7 water-soluble vitamins and 11 trace elements/minerals) in order to facilitate analytical reduction to fingerprinting methods FT-MIR was evaluated as fast and non-destructive spectroscopic fingerprinting method for adequate assessment of CSL quality. Feasibility of this method was shown by the correlation of certain bands in the spectra to substance groups present in CSL, such as the Amide I and II band and amino acids, respectively. Additionally, applicability of FT-MIR could be shown for classification of different CSL lots differing in provider and corn quality as well as for predictability of process performance attributes. The latter was demonstrated on a fed-batch filamentous fungi process for the production of antibiotics. By multivariate data analysis, it could be shown that CSL quality assessment via FT-MIR can be used for the prediction of maximal biomass generated in the process, with a correlation coefficient R 2 of 0.964, as well as for the prediction of an unwanted impurity. The combination of a fast and easy method for CSL quality assessment and correlations of this quality with process performance attributes may facilitate the establishment of a risk-based acceptance criteria for raw material quality release of CSL. As CSL is a frequent used raw material, we believe that this method will also be useful for other

  12. Semantic Modeling of Administrative Procedures from a Spanish Regional Public Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco José Hidalgo López

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Over the past few years, Public Administrations have been providing systems for procedures and files electronic processing to ensure compliance with regulations and provide public services to citizens. Although each administration provides similar services to their citizens, these systems usually differ from the internal information management point of view since they usually come from different products and manufacturers. The common framework that regulations demand, and that Public Administrations must respect when processing electronic files, provides a unique opportunity for the development of intelligent agents in the field of administrative processes. However, for this development to be truly effective and applicable to the public sector, it is necessary to have a common representation model for these administrative processes. Although a lot of work has already been done in the development of public information reuse initiatives and common vocabularies standardization, this has not been carried out at the processes level. In this paper, we propose a semantic representation model of both processes models and processes for Public Administrations: the procedures and administrative files. The goal is to improve public administration open data initiatives and help to develop their sustainability policies, such as improving decision-making procedures and administrative management sustainability. As a case study, we modelled public administrative processes and files in collaboration with a Regional Public Administration in Spain, the Principality of Asturias, which enabled access to its information systems, helping the evaluation of our approach.

  13. Development and Validation of the Poverty Attributions Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Robert M.; Raiz, Lisa; Davis, Tamara S.

    2016-01-01

    This article describes the process of developing and testing the Poverty Attribution Survey (PAS), a measure of poverty attributions. The PAS is theory based and includes original items as well as items from previously tested poverty attribution instruments. The PAS was electronically administered to a sample of state-licensed professional social…

  14. The budget process in schools of nursing: a primer for the novice administrator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starck, P L; Bailes, B

    1996-01-01

    All administrators are expected to be competent in budget and financial management. Novice administrators of schools of nursing are expected to know about the budgetary process, budgeting techniques, and the various types of budgets that can be used, such as the open-ended budget, incremental budget, alternate-level budget, quota budget, formula budget, intramural budget, zero-based budget, and cost center budget. In addition, administrators are expected to know what key questions need to be asked about how the budget is structured and revenue sources and how to manage and evaluate their budgets.

  15. Engineering Flexible and Agile Services : A Reference Architecture for Administrative Processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gong, Y.

    2012-01-01

    To provide up-to-date services towards citizens and businesses, administrative organizations need to make sure their business services and processes and supporting applications are flexible and agile enough to deal with changing situations and ensure legal compliance all the time. The research

  16. Key attributes of expert NRL referees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Gavin; O'Connor, Donna

    2017-05-01

    Experiential knowledge of elite National Rugby League (NRL) referees was investigated to determine the key attributes contributing to expert officiating performance. Fourteen current first-grade NRL referees were asked to identify the key attributes they believed contributed to their expert refereeing performance. The modified Delphi method involved a 3-round process of an initial semi-structured interview followed by 2 questionnaires to reach consensus of opinion. The data revealed 25 attributes that were rated as most important that underpin expert NRL refereeing performance. Results illustrate the significance of the cognitive category, with the top 6 ranked attributes all cognitive skills. Of these, the referees ranked decision-making accuracy as the most important attribute, followed by reading the game, communication, game understanding, game management and knowledge of the rules. Player rapport, positioning and teamwork were the top ranked game skill attributes underpinning performance excellence. Expert referees also highlighted a number of psychological attributes (e.g., concentration, composure and mental toughness) that were significant to performance. There were only 2 physiological attributes (fitness, aerobic endurance) that were identified as significant to elite officiating performance. In summary, expert consensus was attained which successfully provided a hierarchy of the most significant attributes of expert NRL refereeing performance.

  17. An Attribute-Based Access Control with Efficient and Secure Attribute Revocation for Cloud Data Sharing Service

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Nyamsuren Vaanchig; Wei Chen; Zhi-Guang Qin

    2017-01-01

    Nowadays, there is the tendency to outsource data to cloud storage servers for data sharing purposes. In fact, this makes access control for the outsourced data a challenging issue. Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) is a promising cryptographic solution for this challenge. It gives the data owner (DO) direct control on access policy and enforces the access policy cryptographically. However, the practical application of CP-ABE in the data sharing service also has its own inherent challenge with regard to attribute revocation. To address this challenge, we proposed an attribute-revocable CP-ABE scheme by taking advantages of the over-encryption mechanism and CP-ABE scheme and by considering the semi-trusted cloud service provider (CSP) that participates in decryption processes to issue decryption tokens for authorized users. We further presented the security and performance analysis in order to assess the effectiveness of the scheme. As compared with the existing attribute-revocable CP-ABE schemes, our attribute-revocable scheme is reasonably efficient and more secure to enable attribute-based access control over the outsourced data in the cloud data sharing service.

  18. When do national administrations adapt to EU policies?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chatzopoulou, Sevasti

    2015-01-01

    This article joins the Europeanization studies and examines the administrative adaptation to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a highly institutionalized and regulated policy, in two small older member states, Denmark and Greece. The findings demonstrate variation in administrative adaptation....... In Denmark, both formal and informal administrative structures adapt to CAP, while in Greece administrative adaptation is limited to formal structures. This variation is attributed to two dimensions of the domestic institutional and organizational settings, namely “centralization” and “professionalism...

  19. A Scale-up Approach for Film Coating Process Based on Surface Roughness as the Critical Quality Attribute.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshino, Hiroyuki; Hara, Yuko; Dohi, Masafumi; Yamashita, Kazunari; Hakomori, Tadashi; Kimura, Shin-Ichiro; Iwao, Yasunori; Itai, Shigeru

    2018-04-01

    Scale-up approaches for film coating process have been established for each type of film coating equipment from thermodynamic and mechanical analyses for several decades. The objective of the present study was to establish a versatile scale-up approach for film coating process applicable to commercial production that is based on critical quality attribute (CQA) using the Quality by Design (QbD) approach and is independent of the equipment used. Experiments on a pilot scale using the Design of Experiment (DoE) approach were performed to find a suitable CQA from surface roughness, contact angle, color difference, and coating film properties by terahertz spectroscopy. Surface roughness was determined to be a suitable CQA from a quantitative appearance evaluation. When surface roughness was fixed as the CQA, the water content of the film-coated tablets was determined to be the critical material attribute (CMA), a parameter that does not depend on scale or equipment. Finally, to verify the scale-up approach determined from the pilot scale, experiments on a commercial scale were performed. The good correlation between the surface roughness (CQA) and the water content (CMA) identified at the pilot scale was also retained at the commercial scale, indicating that our proposed method should be useful as a scale-up approach for film coating process.

  20. Culture, attribution and automaticity: a social cognitive neuroscience view.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Malia F; Morris, Michael W

    2010-06-01

    A fundamental challenge facing social perceivers is identifying the cause underlying other people's behavior. Evidence indicates that East Asian perceivers are more likely than Western perceivers to reference the social context when attributing a cause to a target person's actions. One outstanding question is whether this reflects a culture's influence on automatic or on controlled components of causal attribution. After reviewing behavioral evidence that culture can shape automatic mental processes as well as controlled reasoning, we discuss the evidence in favor of cultural differences in automatic and controlled components of causal attribution more specifically. We contend that insights emerging from social cognitive neuroscience research can inform this debate. After introducing an attribution framework popular among social neuroscientists, we consider findings relevant to the automaticity of attribution, before speculating how one could use a social neuroscience approach to clarify whether culture affects automatic, controlled or both types of attribution processes.

  1. Flexible goal attribution in early mindreading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, John; Christensen, Wayne

    2016-03-01

    The 2-systems theory developed by Apperly and Butterfill (2009; Butterfill & Apperly, 2013) is an influential approach to explaining the success of infants and young children on implicit false-belief tasks. There is extensive empirical and theoretical work examining many aspects of this theory, but little attention has been paid to the way in which it characterizes goal attribution. We argue here that this aspect of the theory is inadequate. Butterfill and Apperly's characterization of goal attribution is designed to show how goals could be ascribed by infants without representing them as related to other psychological states, and the minimal mindreading system is supposed to operate without employing flexible semantic-executive cognitive processes. But research on infant goal attribution reveals that infants exhibit a high degree of situational awareness that is strongly suggestive of flexible semantic-executive cognitive processing, and infants appear moreover to be sensitive to interrelations between goals, preferences, and beliefs. Further, close attention to the structure of implicit mindreading tasks--for which the theory was specifically designed--indicates that flexible goal attribution is required to succeed. We conclude by suggesting 2 approaches to resolving these problems. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Attribution of ozone changes to dynamical and chemical processes in CCMs and CTMs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Garny

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Chemistry-climate models (CCMs are commonly used to simulate the past and future development of Earth's ozone layer. The fully coupled chemistry schemes calculate the chemical production and destruction of ozone interactively and ozone is transported by the simulated atmospheric flow. Due to the complexity of the processes acting on ozone it is not straightforward to disentangle the influence of individual processes on the temporal development of ozone concentrations. A method is introduced here that quantifies the influence of chemistry and transport on ozone concentration changes and that is easily implemented in CCMs and chemistry-transport models (CTMs. In this method, ozone tendencies (i.e. the time rate of change of ozone are partitioned into a contribution from ozone production and destruction (chemistry and a contribution from transport of ozone (dynamics. The influence of transport on ozone in a specific region is further divided into export of ozone out of that region and import of ozone from elsewhere into that region. For this purpose, a diagnostic is used that disaggregates the ozone mixing ratio field into 9 separate fields according to in which of 9 predefined regions of the atmosphere the ozone originated. With this diagnostic the ozone mass fluxes between these regions are obtained. Furthermore, this method is used here to attribute long-term changes in ozone to chemistry and transport. The relative change in ozone from one period to another that is due to changes in production or destruction rates, or due to changes in import or export of ozone, are quantified. As such, the diagnostics introduced here can be used to attribute changes in ozone on monthly, interannual and long-term time-scales to the responsible mechanisms. Results from a CCM simulation are shown here as examples, with the main focus of the paper being on introducing the method.

  3. Technical attributes, health attribute, consumer attributes and their roles in adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Min; Luo, Meifen; Nie, Rui; Zhang, Yan

    2017-12-01

    This paper aims to explore factors influencing the healthcare wearable technology adoption intention from perspectives of technical attributes (perceived convenience, perceived irreplaceability, perceived credibility and perceived usefulness), health attribute (health belief) and consumer attributes (consumer innovativeness, conspicuous consumption, informational reference group influence and gender difference). By integrating technology acceptance model, health belief model, snob effect and conformity and reference group theory, hypotheses and research model are proposed. The empirical investigation (N=436) collects research data through questionnaire. Results show that the adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology is influenced by technical attributes, health attribute and consumer attributes simultaneously. For technical attributes, perceived convenience and perceived credibility both positively affect perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness influences adoption intention. The relation between perceived irreplaceability and perceived usefulness is only supported by males. For health attribute, health belief affects perceived usefulness for females. For consumer attributes, conspicuous consumption and informational reference group influence can significantly moderate the relation between perceived usefulness and adoption intention and the relation between consumer innovativeness and adoption intention respectively. What's more, consumer innovativeness significantly affects adoption intention for males. This paper aims to discuss technical attributes, health attribute and consumer attributes and their roles in the adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology. Findings may provide enlightenment to differentiate product developing and marketing strategies and provide some implications for clinical medicine. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Toward Deriving Software Architectures from Quality Attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-08-01

    administration of Its orograms on the basis of religion creec ancestry. belief, age veteran status sexuai orientation or rn violation of federal state or Ioca...environments rely on the notion of a "tool bus" or an explicit shared repository [ Wasser - man 89] to allow easy integration of tools. 4.7 Unit...attributed parse tree and symbol table that the compiler cre- ates and annotates during its various phases. This results in a very different software

  5. 20 CFR 655.1220 - Who can appeal the Administrator's findings and what is the process?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES What are the... Administrator's findings and what is the process? (a) Any interested party desiring review of a determination... order affirming the decision. (b) An interested party may request a hearing in the following...

  6. Differential emotion attribution to neutral faces of own and other races.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Chao S; Wang, Qiandong; Han, Tong; Weare, Ethan; Fu, Genyue

    2017-02-01

    Past research has demonstrated differential recognition of emotion on faces of different races. This paper reports the first study to explore differential emotion attribution to neutral faces of different races. Chinese and Caucasian adults viewed a series of Chinese and Caucasian neutral faces and judged their outward facial expression: neutral, positive, or negative. The results showed that both Chinese and Caucasian viewers perceived more Chinese faces than Caucasian faces as neutral. Nevertheless, Chinese viewers attributed positive emotion to Caucasian faces more than to Chinese faces, whereas Caucasian viewers attributed negative emotion to Caucasian faces more than to Chinese faces. Moreover, Chinese viewers attributed negative and neutral emotion to the faces of both races without significant difference in frequency, whereas Caucasian viewers mostly attributed neutral emotion to the faces. These differences between Chinese and Caucasian viewers may be due to differential visual experience, culture, racial stereotype, or expectation of the experiment. We also used eye tracking among the Chinese participants to explore the relationship between face-processing strategy and emotion attribution to neutral faces. The results showed that the interaction between emotion attribution and face race was significant on face-processing strategy, such as fixation proportion on eyes and saccade amplitude. Additionally, pupil size during processing Caucasian faces was larger than during processing Chinese faces.

  7. Supplementary effects of higher levels of various disaccharides on processing yield, quality properties and sensory attributes of Chinese - style pork jerky.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chih-Ming; Lin, Hsien-Tang

    2017-12-01

    This study evaluated the supplementary effect of higher concentrations of various disaccharides on processing yield, major physicochemical properties, and sensory attributes of Chinese-style pork jerky (CSPJ). CSPJ samples were prepared by marinating sliced ham (4 mm) with three dissaccharides, including sucrose, lactose, and maltose, at 0%, 15%, 18%, 21%, and 24%. Subsequently, the CSPJ samples were dried and roasted. The moisture content, water activity, crude protein, moisture-to-protein ratio, pH, processing yield, shear force, color, and sensory attributes of the CSPJ samples were evaluated. The quality characteristics of CSPJ samples prepared with sucrose were more acceptable. By contrast, CSPJ samples prepared with lactose showed the lowest scores. However, the processing yield and moisture content were the highest for CSPJ samples prepared with lactose, which may be associated with improved benefits for cost reduction. Furthermore, sucrose and lactose supplementation resulted in contrasting quality characteristics; for example, CSPJ samples with sucrose and maltose supplementation had higher sensory scores for color than samples with lactose supplementation. Additionally, most quality characteristics of CSPJ samples with sucrose supplementation contrasted with those of the samples with lactose supplementation; for example, the samples with sucrose supplementation had higher scores for sensory attributes than those with lactose supplementation. Sucrose supplementation up to 21% to 24% was associated with the highest overall acceptability scores (5.19 to 5.80), enhanced quality characteristics, increased processing yield, and reduced production cost.

  8. Supplementary effects of higher levels of various disaccharides on processing yield, quality properties and sensory attributes of Chinese - style pork jerky

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Ming Chen

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective This study evaluated the supplementary effect of higher concentrations of various disaccharides on processing yield, major physicochemical properties, and sensory attributes of Chinese-style pork jerky (CSPJ. Methods CSPJ samples were prepared by marinating sliced ham (4 mm with three dissaccharides, including sucrose, lactose, and maltose, at 0%, 15%, 18%, 21%, and 24%. Subsequently, the CSPJ samples were dried and roasted. The moisture content, water activity, crude protein, moisture-to-protein ratio, pH, processing yield, shear force, color, and sensory attributes of the CSPJ samples were evaluated. Results The quality characteristics of CSPJ samples prepared with sucrose were more acceptable. By contrast, CSPJ samples prepared with lactose showed the lowest scores. However, the processing yield and moisture content were the highest for CSPJ samples prepared with lactose, which may be associated with improved benefits for cost reduction. Furthermore, sucrose and lactose supplementation resulted in contrasting quality characteristics; for example, CSPJ samples with sucrose and maltose supplementation had higher sensory scores for color than samples with lactose supplementation. Additionally, most quality characteristics of CSPJ samples with sucrose supplementation contrasted with those of the samples with lactose supplementation; for example, the samples with sucrose supplementation had higher scores for sensory attributes than those with lactose supplementation. Conclusion Sucrose supplementation up to 21% to 24% was associated with the highest overall acceptability scores (5.19 to 5.80, enhanced quality characteristics, increased processing yield, and reduced production cost.

  9. Sensory Attribute Identification Time Cannot Explain the Common Temporal Limit of Binding Different Attributes and Modalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waka Fujisaki

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available An informative performance measure of the brain's integration across different sensory attributes/modalities is the critical temporal rate of feature alternation (between, eg, red and green beyond which observers could not identify the feature value specified by a timing signal from another attribute (eg, a pitch change. Interestingly, this limit, which we called the critical crowding frequency (CCF, is fairly low and nearly constant (∼2.5 Hz regardless of the combination of attributes and modalities (Fujisaki & Nishida, 2010, IMRF. One may consider that the CCF reflects the processing time required for the brain to identify the specified feature value on the fly. According to this idea, the similarity in CCF could be ascribed to the similarity in identification time for the attributes we used (luminance, color, orientation, pitch, vibration. To test this idea, we estimated the identification time of each attribute from [Go/ No-Go choice reaction time – simple reaction time]. In disagreement with the prediction, we found significant differences among attributes (eg, ∼160 ms for orientation, ∼70 ms for pitch. The results are more consistent with our proposal (Fujisaki & Nishida, Proc Roy Soc B that the CCF reflects the common rate limit of specifying what happens when (timing-content binding by a central, presumably postdictive, mechanism.

  10. 75 FR 57233 - 340B Drug Pricing Program Administrative Dispute Resolution Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-20

    ... administrative procedures associated with alternative dispute resolution. Systems must be put in place that... that the alternative dispute resolution process would involve some type of hearing. The hearing could... available to HRSA, such as audits and alternative dispute resolution, the Affordable Care Act provides HRSA...

  11. AcquisitionFootprintAttenuationDrivenbySeismicAttributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cuellar-Urbano Mayra

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Acquisition footprint, one of the major problems that PEMEX faces in seismic imaging, is noise highly correlated to the geometric array of sources and receivers used for onshore and offshore seismic acquisitions. It prevails in spite of measures taken during acquisition and data processing. This pattern, throughout the image, is easily confused with geological features and misguides seismic attribute computation. In this work, we use seismic data from PEMEX Exploración y Producción to show the conditioning process for removing random and coherent noise using linear filters. Geometric attributes used in a workflow were computed for obtaining an acquisition footprint noise model and adaptively subtract it from the seismic data.

  12. Administrator Evaluation--Planning and Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweeney, Jim

    1981-01-01

    Discusses five tasks basic to effective administrator evaluation: development of district philosophy; identification of activities crucial to school success; determination of operational procedures; utilization of forms and records which reflect district philosophy; and examination of the components of the system during a trial period. (JD)

  13. The Impact of MBA Programme Attributes on Post-MBA Salaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, Caroline; Soo, Kwok Tong

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores the impact of various Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme attributes on the average post-MBA salary of graduates, contributing to the literature on the returns to an MBA degree, which to date has instead focused predominantly on the impact of individual student traits. The analysis uses a new panel dataset,…

  14. [A study of relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in school-aged children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakurai, S

    1989-12-01

    This study was conducted to investigate the relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in Japanese school-aged children. In Study 1, the Japanese edition of hopelessness scale for children developed by Kazdin, French, Unis, Esveldt-Dawsan, and Sherick (1983) was constructed. Seventeen original items were translated into Japanese and they were administrated to 405 fifth- and sixth-graders. All of the items could be included to the Japanese edition of hopelessness scale. The reliability and validity was examined. In Study 2, the relation between hopelessness and causal attribution in children were investigated. The causal attribution questionnaire developed by Higuchi, Kambare, and Otsuka (1983) and the hopelessness scale developed by Study 1 were administered to 188 sixth-graders. Children with high scores in hopelessness scale significantly attributed negative events to much more effort factor than children with low scores. It supports neither the reformulated learned helplessness model nor the causal attribution theory of achievement motivation. It was explained mainly from points of self-serving attribution, cultural difference, and social desirability. Some questions were discussed for developing studies on depression and causal attribution in Japan.

  15. Administrative professional's role in the processing, retrieval, dissemination and repackaging of information in the networked enterprise

    OpenAIRE

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to establish the administrative professional's role in the processing, retrieval, dissemination and repackaging of digital information in the networked enterprise, and to determine how the administrative professional can add value to the organisation and enhance its competitive position in industry. The digital economy has changed business practices to such an extent that research of the digital office environment and the administrative professional’s role in ...

  16. Discrepancies between adolescents' attributed relevance and experiences regarding communication are associated with poorer client participation and learning processes in psychosocial care

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jager, Margot; Reijneveld, Sijmen A.; Metselaar, Janneke; Knorth, Erik J.; De Winter, Andrea F.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To examine adolescents' attributed relevance and experiences regarding communication, and whether discrepancies in these are associated with clients' participation and learning processes in psychosocial care. Methods: Adolescents receiving psychosocial care (n = 211) completed measures of

  17. Educational Data Processing Directors' Perceptions of Technological Training Priorities for School Administrators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozeman, W. C.; Spuck, D. W.

    Results of a survey of school district data processing directors' attitudes toward the content of technology curriculum in educational administrator training programs are presented in this paper. Questionnaires sent to 152 large school districts yielded 78 usable returns, a 51 percent response rate. Respondents rated the following topics as most…

  18. Application of multi attribute failure mode analysis of milk production using analytical hierarchy process method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rucitra, A. L.

    2018-03-01

    Pusat Koperasi Induk Susu (PKIS) Sekar Tanjung, East Java is one of the modern dairy industries producing Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk. A problem that often occurs in the production process in PKIS Sekar Tanjung is a mismatch between the production process and the predetermined standard. The purpose of applying Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was to identify the most potential cause of failure in the milk production process. Multi Attribute Failure Mode Analysis (MAFMA) method was used to eliminate or reduce the possibility of failure when viewed from the failure causes. This method integrates the severity, occurrence, detection, and expected cost criteria obtained from depth interview with the head of the production department as an expert. The AHP approach was used to formulate the priority ranking of the cause of failure in the milk production process. At level 1, the severity has the highest weight of 0.41 or 41% compared to other criteria. While at level 2, identifying failure in the UHT milk production process, the most potential cause was the average mixing temperature of more than 70 °C which was higher than the standard temperature (≤70 ° C). This failure cause has a contributes weight of 0.47 or 47% of all criteria Therefore, this study suggested the company to control the mixing temperature to minimise or eliminate the failure in this process.

  19. Administrators in Action--Managing Public Monies and Processing Emotion in School Activities: A Teaching Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenuto, Penny L.; Gardiner, Mary E.; Yamamoto, Julie K.

    2015-01-01

    This teaching case describes school administrators in action performing day-to-day leadership tasks, managing public funds in school activities, and interacting with others appropriately. The case focuses on administrative challenges in handling and managing school activity funds. A method for processing emotion is discussed to assist…

  20. Object attributes combine additively in visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pramod, R T; Arun, S P

    2016-01-01

    We perceive objects as containing a variety of attributes: local features, relations between features, internal details, and global properties. But we know little about how they combine. Here, we report a remarkably simple additive rule that governs how these diverse object attributes combine in vision. The perceived dissimilarity between two objects was accurately explained as a sum of (a) spatially tuned local contour-matching processes modulated by part decomposition; (b) differences in internal details, such as texture; (c) differences in emergent attributes, such as symmetry; and (d) differences in global properties, such as orientation or overall configuration of parts. Our results elucidate an enduring question in object vision by showing that the whole object is not a sum of its parts but a sum of its many attributes.

  1. Statistical modeling methods to analyze the impacts of multiunit process variability on critical quality attributes of Chinese herbal medicine tablets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Fei; Xu, Bing; Zhang, Yi; Dai, Shengyun; Yang, Chan; Cui, Xianglong; Shi, Xinyuan; Qiao, Yanjiang

    2016-01-01

    The quality of Chinese herbal medicine tablets suffers from batch-to-batch variability due to a lack of manufacturing process understanding. In this paper, the Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) immediate release tablet was taken as the research subject. By defining the dissolution of five active pharmaceutical ingredients and the tablet tensile strength as critical quality attributes (CQAs), influences of both the manipulated process parameters introduced by an orthogonal experiment design and the intermediate granules' properties on the CQAs were fully investigated by different chemometric methods, such as the partial least squares, the orthogonal projection to latent structures, and the multiblock partial least squares (MBPLS). By analyzing the loadings plots and variable importance in the projection indexes, the granule particle sizes and the minimal punch tip separation distance in tableting were identified as critical process parameters. Additionally, the MBPLS model suggested that the lubrication time in the final blending was also important in predicting tablet quality attributes. From the calculated block importance in the projection indexes, the tableting unit was confirmed to be the critical process unit of the manufacturing line. The results demonstrated that the combinatorial use of different multivariate modeling methods could help in understanding the complex process relationships as a whole. The output of this study can then be used to define a control strategy to improve the quality of the PNS immediate release tablet.

  2. Statistical modeling methods to analyze the impacts of multiunit process variability on critical quality attributes of Chinese herbal medicine tablets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Fei; Xu, Bing; Zhang, Yi; Dai, Shengyun; Yang, Chan; Cui, Xianglong; Shi, Xinyuan; Qiao, Yanjiang

    2016-01-01

    The quality of Chinese herbal medicine tablets suffers from batch-to-batch variability due to a lack of manufacturing process understanding. In this paper, the Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) immediate release tablet was taken as the research subject. By defining the dissolution of five active pharmaceutical ingredients and the tablet tensile strength as critical quality attributes (CQAs), influences of both the manipulated process parameters introduced by an orthogonal experiment design and the intermediate granules’ properties on the CQAs were fully investigated by different chemometric methods, such as the partial least squares, the orthogonal projection to latent structures, and the multiblock partial least squares (MBPLS). By analyzing the loadings plots and variable importance in the projection indexes, the granule particle sizes and the minimal punch tip separation distance in tableting were identified as critical process parameters. Additionally, the MBPLS model suggested that the lubrication time in the final blending was also important in predicting tablet quality attributes. From the calculated block importance in the projection indexes, the tableting unit was confirmed to be the critical process unit of the manufacturing line. The results demonstrated that the combinatorial use of different multivariate modeling methods could help in understanding the complex process relationships as a whole. The output of this study can then be used to define a control strategy to improve the quality of the PNS immediate release tablet. PMID:27932865

  3. Politics and application guide of urgency measures and administrative sanctions of the CNSNS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Espinosa V, J.M.; Cruz R, L.A.; EsquiveI T, J.L.; Nunez C, A.

    2007-01-01

    In use of their attributions, granted by the Regulation Law of the 27 Constitutional Article in Nuclear Matter, the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards (CNSNS) it has taken charge to the authors the Politics' s elaboration and Guide of Application of Urgency measures and Administrative Sanctions (PGAMASA) with the double objective of discouraging the licensees, contractors and employees of incurring in nonfulfillment or violations to the regulator mark and of encouraging them to be attentive to the prompt identification and the immediate and appropriate correction of the violations and nonfulfillment. The present article presents the legal mark that confers the CNSNS the attributions to implant a PGAMASA and it exposes the more important elements that conform it. The urgency measures and administrative sanctions are defined, the approaches to determine the level of graveness of a violation or nonfulfillment and it is related the application process of urgency measures and administrative sanctions are presented. Like this among the urgency measures they stand out figures like the Notifications of Violation and the Regulatory Orders by their versatility and use potentiality. The PGAMASA has a basically dissuasive character and its last purpose it is to strengthen the actions that the CNSNS carries out in the fulfillment of its functions to maintain the safety standards in the operation of the nuclear facilities. (Author)

  4. Business processes in the RFID-equipped restricted access administrative office

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Waszkowski

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents business processes in the RFID-equipped restricted access administrative office. The presented diagrams are the result of the analytical work performed by the multidisciplinary team of experts. The team was composed of IT specialist, security systems specialists and employees of the secret office. The presented models include the fact that the facilities in the secret office (cabinet, sluice, photocopier, desks are equipped with the RFID reader, which allows to immediately read the documents that are within their reach.

  5. Inferring social attributes from different face regions: evidence for holistic processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Isabel M; Young, Andrew W

    2011-04-01

    Two experiments investigated the role that different face regions play in a variety of social judgements that are commonly made from facial appearance (sex, age, distinctiveness, attractiveness, approachability, trustworthiness, and intelligence). These judgements lie along a continuum from those with a clear physical basis and high consequent accuracy (sex, age) to judgements that can achieve a degree of consensus between observers despite having little known validity (intelligence, trustworthiness). Results from Experiment 1 indicated that the face's internal features (eyes, nose, and mouth) provide information that is more useful for social inferences than the external features (hair, face shape, ears, and chin), especially when judging traits such as approachability and trustworthiness. Experiment 2 investigated how judgement agreement was affected when the upper head, eye, nose, or mouth regions were presented in isolation or when these regions were obscured. A different pattern of results emerged for different characteristics, indicating that different types of facial information are used in the various judgements. Moreover, the informativeness of a particular region/feature depends on whether it is presented alone or in the context of the whole face. These findings provide evidence for the importance of holistic processing in making social attributions from facial appearance.

  6. Object attributes combine additively in visual search

    OpenAIRE

    Pramod, R. T.; Arun, S. P.

    2016-01-01

    We perceive objects as containing a variety of attributes: local features, relations between features, internal details, and global properties. But we know little about how they combine. Here, we report a remarkably simple additive rule that governs how these diverse object attributes combine in vision. The perceived dissimilarity between two objects was accurately explained as a sum of (a) spatially tuned local contour-matching processes modulated by part decomposition; (b) differences in in...

  7. Application of Bayesian Techniques to Model the Burden of Human Salmonellosis Attributable to U.S. Food Commodities at the Point of Processing: Adaptation of a Danish Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guo, Chuanfa; Hoekstra, Robert M.; Schroeder, Carl M.

    2011-01-01

    -of-processing foodborne illness attribution model by adapting the Hald Salmonella Bayesian source attribution model. Key model outputs include estimates of the relative proportions of domestically acquired sporadic human Salmonella infections resulting from contamination of raw meat, poultry, and egg products processed...... in the United States from 1998 through 2003. The current model estimates the relative contribution of chicken (48%), ground beef (28%), turkey (17%), egg products (6%), intact beef (1%), and pork (...

  8. 77 FR 21991 - Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP)-Lender and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-12

    .... This practice would mitigate risk, since MAP lenders and underwriters will now be approved at a tier... Administration (FHA): Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP)--Lender and Underwriter Eligibility Criteria and Credit Watch for MAP Lenders AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing...

  9. A calculus for attribute-based communication

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alrahman, Yehia Abd; De Nicola, Rocco; Loreti, Michele

    2015-01-01

    The notion of attribute-based communication seems promising to model and analyse systems with huge numbers of interacting components that dynamically adjust and combine their behaviour to achieve specific goals. A basic process calculus, named AbC, is introduced that has as primitive construct...... of how well-established process calculi could be encoded into AbC is given by considering the translation into AbC of a proto-typical π-calculus process....

  10. An administrative marketing strategy: a different perspective on the nursing process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaupre, B A

    1988-11-01

    Through the methods of the nursing process, nurse administrators were able to sell nursing to nurses. The use of marketing to link the business world with nursing stimulated professional dedication, skill, and responsibility. The program helped to encourage habits of flexibility, ensure continuous learning, acceptance of change, and the opportunity for individuals and institutions to grow and advance. It promoted autonomous, collaborative, and consultative practice. Nurturing the nurse had become a reality.

  11. Batch Attribute-Based Encryption for Secure Clouds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Yang

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Cloud storage is widely used by organizations due to its advantage of allowing universal access with low cost. Attribute-based encryption (ABE is a kind of public key encryption suitable for cloud storage. The secret key of each user and the ciphertext are associated with an access policy and an attribute set, respectively; in addition to holding a secret key, one can decrypt a ciphertext only if the associated attributes match the predetermined access policy, which allows one to enforce fine-grained access control on outsourced files. One issue in existing ABE schemes is that they are designed for the users of a single organization. When one wants to share the data with the users of different organizations, the owner needs to encrypt the messages to the receivers of one organization and then repeats this process for another organization. This situation is deteriorated with more and more mobile devices using cloud services, as the ABE encryption process is time consuming and may exhaust the power supplies of the mobile devices quickly. In this paper, we propose a batch attribute-based encryption (BABE approach to address this problem in a provably-secure way. With our approach, the data owner can outsource data in batches to the users of different organizations simultaneously. The data owner is allowed to decide the receiving organizations and the attributes required for decryption. Theoretical and experimental analyses show that our approach is more efficient than traditional encryption implementations in computation and communication.

  12. Noncognitive Attributes in Physician Assistant Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenneman, Anthony E; Goldgar, Constance; Hills, Karen J; Snyder, Jennifer H; VanderMeulen, Stephane P; Lane, Steven

    2018-03-01

    Physician assistant (PA) admissions processes have typically given more weight to cognitive attributes than to noncognitive ones, both because a high level of cognitive ability is needed for a career in medicine and because cognitive factors are easier to measure. However, there is a growing consensus across the health professions that noncognitive attributes such as emotional intelligence, empathy, and professionalism are important for success in clinical practice and optimal care of patients. There is also some evidence that a move toward more holistic admissions practices, including evaluation of noncognitive attributes, can have a positive effect on diversity. The need for these noncognitive attributes in clinicians is being reinforced by changes in the US health care system, including shifting patient demographics and a growing emphasis on team-based care and patient satisfaction, and the need for clinicians to help patients interpret complex medical information. The 2016 Physician Assistant Education Association Stakeholder Summit revealed certain behavioral and affective qualities that employers of PAs value and sometimes find lacking in new graduates. Although there are still gaps in the evidence base, some tools and technologies currently exist to more accurately measure noncognitive variables. We propose some possible strategies and tools that PA programs can use to formalize the way they select for noncognitive attributes. Since PA programs have, on average, only 27 months to educate students, programs may need to focus more resources on selecting for these attributes than teaching them.

  13. Attribute amnesia is greatly reduced with novel stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weijia Chen

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Attribute amnesia is the counterintuitive phenomenon where observers are unable to report a salient aspect of a stimulus (e.g., its colour or its identity immediately after the stimulus was presented, despite both attending to and processing the stimulus. Almost all previous attribute amnesia studies used highly familiar stimuli. Our study investigated whether attribute amnesia would also occur for unfamiliar stimuli. We conducted four experiments using stimuli that were highly familiar (colours or repeated animal images or that were unfamiliar to the observers (unique animal images. Our results revealed that attribute amnesia was present for both sets of familiar stimuli, colour (p < .001 and repeated animals (p = .001; but was greatly attenuated, and possibly eliminated, when the stimuli were unique animals (p = .02. Our data shows that attribute amnesia is greatly reduced for novel stimuli.

  14. The impact of material attributes and process parameters on the micronisation of lactose monohydrate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shariare, M H; de Matas, M; York, P; Shao, Q

    2011-04-15

    Dry powder inhalers (DPIs), which are important medicines for drug delivery to the lungs, require drug particles in the respirable size range of 1-6 μm for optimal lung deposition. Drugs administered by the oral route also derive benefit from particles in this size range owing to their large surface area to volume ratio, which provides potential for rapid dissolution. Micronisation used in the production of particles, however often leads to heterogeneous product containing mechanically activated surfaces with amorphous content. This study was therefore carried out to evaluate the effect of particle properties of three grades of lactose monohydrate, with sizes above and below the brittle-ductile transition (dcrit) and their interaction with process variables on the quality of micronised material. Following an experimental design, the impact of three factors (grinding pressure, injector pressure and feed rate) on the particulate attributes of micronised powders produced from the different size grades was assessed. Processing conditions were shown to be important determinants of powder properties only for the coarsest starting material. Ultrafine material was achieved by processing finer grade feed stock below dcrit. However the resultant product was more crystalline and transformed on heating to the anhydrous state with markedly reduced onset temperature with lower energy surfaces than powders produced from larger sized starting material. Thus the propensity for micronisation of lactose monohydrate can be altered through control of starting materials and optimal settings for process variables. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Research on faults data processing and attributes reduction arithmetic based on data mining for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Yongkuo; Xie Chunli; Xia Hong

    2010-01-01

    A distance standardized method is proposed considering the features of fault data of nuclear power plants and based on the knowledge discovery function of the data mining method, to standardize the data under different condition and of different order magnitudes. According to the characteristics of parameters, the parameters are dispersed using the alarm values, as a reference for the choice of the break points of the discrete data.The data are reduced using the concept lattice attribute reduction method, and thus the core attributes, relative necessary attributes and unnecessary attributes for fault diagnosis are obtained. The data in literature are calculated and the attributes are classified accurately. When the formal context is affirmatory, the fault can be diagnosed exactly using the core attributes. (authors)

  16. Evaluation of an attributive measurement system in the automotive industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simion, C.

    2016-08-01

    Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is a critical component for any quality improvement process. MSA is defined as an experimental and mathematical method of determining how much the variation within the measurement process contributes to overall process variability and it falls into two categories: attribute and variable. Most problematic measurement system issues come from measuring attribute data, which are usually the result of human judgment (visual inspection). Because attributive measurement systems are often used in some manufacturing processes, their assessment is important to obtain the confidence in the inspection process, to see where are the problems in order to eliminate them and to guide the process improvement. It was the aim of this paper to address such a issue presenting a case study made in a local company from the Sibiu region supplying products for the automotive industry, specifically the bag (a technical textile component, i.e. the fabric) for the airbag module. Because defects are inherent in every manufacturing process and in the field of airbag systems a minor defect can influence their performance and lives depend on the safety feature, there is a stringent visual inspection required on the defects of the bag material. The purpose of this attribute MSA was: to determine if all inspectors use the same criteria to determine “pass” from “fail” product (i.e. the fabric); to assess company inspection standards against customer's requirements; to determine how well inspectors are conforming to themselves; to identify how inspectors are conforming to a “known master,” which includes: how often operators ship defective product, how often operators dispose of acceptable product; to discover areas where training is required, procedures must be developed and standards are not available. The results were analyzed using MINITAB software with its module called Attribute Agreement Analysis. The conclusion was that the inspection process must

  17. Fuzzy Linguistic Optimization on Multi-Attribute Machining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tian-Syung Lan

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Most existing multi-attribute optimization researches for the modern CNC (computer numerical control turning industry were either accomplished within certain manufacturing circumstances, or achieved through numerous equipment operations. Therefore, a general deduction optimization scheme proposed is deemed to be necessary for the industry. In this paper, four parameters (cutting depth, feed rate, speed, tool nose runoff with three levels (low, medium, high are considered to optimize the multi-attribute (surface roughness, tool wear, and material removal rate finish turning. Through FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process with eighty intervals for each attribute, the weight of each attribute is evaluated from the paired comparison matrix constructed by the expert judgment. Additionally, twenty-seven fuzzy control rules using trapezoid membership function with respective to seventeen linguistic grades for each attribute are constructed. Considering thirty input and eighty output intervals, the defuzzifierion using center of gravity is thus completed. The TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution is moreover utilized to integrate and evaluate the multiple machining attributes for the Taguchi experiment, and thus the optimum general deduction parameters can then be received. The confirmation experiment for optimum general deduction parameters is furthermore performed on an ECOCA-3807 CNC lathe. It is shown that the attributes from the fuzzy linguistic optimization parameters are all significantly advanced comparing to those from benchmark. This paper not only proposes a general deduction optimization scheme using orthogonal array, but also contributes the satisfactory fuzzy linguistic approach for multiple CNC turning attributes with profound insight.

  18. Improving the Accuracy of Attribute Extraction using the Relatedness between Attribute Values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bollegala, Danushka; Tani, Naoki; Ishizuka, Mitsuru

    Extracting attribute-values related to entities from web texts is an important step in numerous web related tasks such as information retrieval, information extraction, and entity disambiguation (namesake disambiguation). For example, for a search query that contains a personal name, we can not only return documents that contain that personal name, but if we have attribute-values such as the organization for which that person works, we can also suggest documents that contain information related to that organization, thereby improving the user's search experience. Despite numerous potential applications of attribute extraction, it remains a challenging task due to the inherent noise in web data -- often a single web page contains multiple entities and attributes. We propose a graph-based approach to select the correct attribute-values from a set of candidate attribute-values extracted for a particular entity. First, we build an undirected weighted graph in which, attribute-values are represented by nodes, and the edge that connects two nodes in the graph represents the degree of relatedness between the corresponding attribute-values. Next, we find the maximum spanning tree of this graph that connects exactly one attribute-value for each attribute-type. The proposed method outperforms previously proposed attribute extraction methods on a dataset that contains 5000 web pages.

  19. Desired Characteristics for MSW Students and Social Work Employees: Cognitive versus Personal Attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seipel, Michael M. O.; Johnson, Jennifer D.; Walton, Elaine

    2011-01-01

    Selecting the best students and hiring the best social workers are important professional responsibilities. Findings from this exploratory study identify personal attributes that are significant in enabling MSW students and social work employees to succeed. Social work educators and agency administrators generally agree that personal attributes…

  20. Homogeneity of Prototypical Attributes in Soccer Teams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Zepp

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Research indicates that the homogeneous perception of prototypical attributes influences several intragroup processes. The aim of the present study was to describe the homogeneous perception of the prototype and to identify specific prototypical subcategories, which are perceived as homogeneous within sport teams. The sample consists of N = 20 soccer teams with a total of N = 278 athletes (age M = 23.5 years, SD = 5.0 years. The results reveal that subcategories describing the cohesiveness of the team and motivational attributes are mentioned homogeneously within sport teams. In addition, gender, identification, team size, and the championship ranking significantly correlate with the homogeneous perception of prototypical attributes. The results are discussed on the basis of theoretical and practical implications.

  1. Main attributes influencing spent nuclear fuel management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andreescu, N.; Ohai, D.

    1997-01-01

    All activities regarding nuclear fuel, following its discharge from the NPP, constitute the spent fuel management and are grouped in two possible back end variants, namely reprocessing (including HLW vitrification and geological disposal) and direct disposal of spent fuel. In order to select the appropriate variant it is necessary to analyse the aggregate fulfillment of the imposed requirements, particularly of the derived attributes, defined as distinguishing characteristics of the factors used in the decision making process. The main identified attributes are the following: - environmental impact, - availability of suitable sites, - non-proliferation degree, -strategy of energy, - technological complexity and technical maturity, -possible further technical improvements, - size of nuclear programme, - total costs, - public acceptance, - peculiarity of CANDU fuel. The significance of the attributes in the Romanian case, taking into consideration the present situation, as a low scenario and a high scenario corresponding to an important development of the nuclear power, after the year 2010, is presented. According to their importance the ranking of attributes is proposed . Subsequently, the ranking could be used for adequate weighing of attributes in order to realize a multi-criteria analysis and a relevant comparison of back end variants. (authors)

  2. Multimedia applications in nursing curriculum: the process of producing streaming videos for medication administration skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sowan, Azizeh K

    2014-07-01

    Streaming videos (SVs) are commonly used multimedia applications in clinical health education. However, there are several negative aspects related to the production and delivery of SVs. Only a few published studies have included sufficient descriptions of the videos and the production process and design innovations. This paper describes the production of innovative SVs for medication administration skills for undergraduate nursing students at a public university in Jordan and focuses on the ethical and cultural issues in producing this type of learning resource. The curriculum development committee approved the modification of educational techniques for medication administration procedures to include SVs within an interactive web-based learning environment. The production process of the videos adhered to established principles for "protecting patients' rights when filming and recording" and included: preproduction, production and postproduction phases. Medication administration skills were videotaped in a skills laboratory where they are usually taught to students and also in a hospital setting with real patients. The lab videos included critical points and Do's and Don'ts and the hospital videos fostered real-world practices. The range of time of the videos was reasonable to eliminate technical difficulty in access. Eight SVs were produced that covered different types of the medication administration skills. The production of SVs required the collaborative efforts of experts in IT, multimedia, nursing and informatics educators, and nursing care providers. Results showed that the videos were well-perceived by students, and the instructors who taught the course. The process of producing the videos in this project can be used as a valuable framework for schools considering utilizing multimedia applications in teaching. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Do Hostile Attribution Biases in Children and Parents Predict Relationally Aggressive Behavior?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, Nicole E.

    2012-01-01

    Relatively little is understood about the role of hostile attributions in children's use of relational aggression with peers, or about the impact of family processes on children's attributions about ambiguous provocations. This cross-sectional study investigated associations among hostile attributions made by children, mothers, and fathers, and…

  4. The influence of lean manufacturing practices in cellular manufacturing qualifying attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuliano Almeida Marodin

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to investigate how of lean production (LP influences to a manufacturing cell (MC performance, based on the theoretical study about the attributes that characterize a MC. It was necessary to develop the concept of MC in a socio-technical system perspective, incorporating a technical attribute, a social attribute and the elements of time, space and information to define a "real cell". The results show that most of LM practices aim to increase time and information. The rapid problem solving process and the use of minimal amount of inventory between the activities of the cell seeks to simultaneously reduces the processing time and increase the degree of information. Although influenced to a lesser degree, the organizational attribute and space element are also positively influenced by the practical application of PE.

  5. General induction at companies - between an administrative process and a sociological phenomenon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Héctor L. Bermúdez Restrepo

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available From the example of the process of general induction into the organization and using certain sociological resources, shows paradox are specialists in human management: is to carefor the motivation and the welfare of workers to achieve its high performance, their fidelity and his tenure at the company; However, current mutations of the social architecture in general and of work in particular –as structure of organized action– force thinking that organizational loyalty tends to be increasingly unlikely and that, conversely, the current personnel administration processes appear made inappropriate notions and appear to contribute directly to the adversities of human beings in organizational settings.

  6. Searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute revocation in cloud storage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shangping; Zhao, Duqiao; Zhang, Yaling

    2017-01-01

    Attribute based encryption (ABE) is a good way to achieve flexible and secure access control to data, and attribute revocation is the extension of the attribute-based encryption, and the keyword search is an indispensable part for cloud storage. The combination of both has an important application in the cloud storage. In this paper, we construct a searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute revocation in cloud storage, the keyword search in our scheme is attribute based with access control, when the search succeeds, the cloud server returns the corresponding cipher text to user and the user can decrypt the cipher text definitely. Besides, our scheme supports multiple keywords search, which makes the scheme more practical. Under the assumption of decisional bilinear Diffie-Hellman exponent (q-BDHE) and decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) in the selective security model, we prove that our scheme is secure.

  7. Visualized attribute analysis approach for characterization and quantification of rice taste flavor using electronic tongue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lu, Lin; Hu, Xianqiao [Rice Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, Ministry of Agriculture, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 310006 (China); Tian, Shiyi; Deng, Shaoping [College of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310035 (China); Zhu, Zhiwei, E-mail: 615834652@qq.com [Rice Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, Ministry of Agriculture, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 310006 (China)

    2016-05-05

    This paper deals with a novel visualized attributive analysis approach for characterization and quantification of rice taste flavor attributes (softness, stickiness, sweetness and aroma) employing a multifrequency large-amplitude pulse voltammetric electronic tongue. Data preprocessing methods including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) were provided. An attribute characterization graph was represented for visualization of the interactive response in which each attribute responded by specific electrodes and frequencies. The model was trained using signal data from electronic tongue and attribute scores from artificial evaluation. The correlation coefficients for all attributes were over 0.9, resulting in good predictive ability of attributive analysis model preprocessed by FFT. This approach extracted more effective information about linear relationship between electronic tongue and taste flavor attribute. Results indicated that this approach can accurately quantify taste flavor attributes, and can be an efficient tool for data processing in a voltammetric electronic tongue system. - Graphical abstract: Schematic process for visualized attributive analysis approach using multifrequency large-amplitude pulse voltammetric electronic tongue for determination of rice taste flavor attribute. (a) sample; (b) sensors in electronic tongue; (c) excitation voltage program and response current signal from MLAPS; (d) similarity data matrix by data preprocessing and similarity extraction; (e) feature data matrix of attribute; (f) attribute characterization graph; (g) attribute scores predicted by the model. - Highlights: • Multifrequency large-amplitude pulse voltammetric electronic tongue was used. • A visualized attributive analysis approach was created as an efficient tool for data processing. • Rice taste flavor attribute was determined and predicted. • The attribute characterization graph was represented for visualization of the

  8. How Do Politicians Attribute Bureaucratic Responsibility for Performance? Negativity Bias and Interest Group Advocacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Poul A.; Moynihan, Donald P.

    2017-01-01

    Voters reward or punish politicians by deeming them responsible for positive and negative outcomes, but how, in turn, do politicians attribute responsibility to those who actually deliver public services? Inattention to this question renders incomplete current perspectives on democratic processes...... to attribute causal responsibility to bureaucratic leaders, but only in cases of low performance, suggesting a negativity bias in public sector responsibility attribution processes. Additionally, we offer evidence that interest group advocates influence how elected officials use performance information...... to attribute responsibility, but contingent on ideological alignment....

  9. 20 CFR 418.3610 - Is there administrative or judicial review for administrative actions that are not initial...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Administrative Review Process § 418.3610 Is there administrative or judicial review for administrative actions... reviewed by us, but they are not subject to the administrative or judicial review process as provided by... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Is there administrative or judicial review...

  10. Final Report on the Audit of the Administration of the Contract Closeout Process at the Defense Contract Management Region, Dallas

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-09-18

    This is our final report on the Audit of the Administration of the Contract Closeout Process at the Defense Contract Management Region, Dallas (DCMR... audit was made from January to October 1989. The objectives of the audit were to determine the timeliness of the contract closeout process, the validity...As part of the audit , we also evaluated internal controls over the contract closeout process. As of December 31, 1988, the Contract Administration

  11. Implementing a bar-code assisted medication administration system: effects on the dispensing process and user perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samaranayake, N R; Cheung, S T D; Cheng, K; Lai, K; Chui, W C M; Cheung, B M Y

    2014-06-01

    We assessed the effects of a bar-code assisted medication administration system used without the support of computerised prescribing (stand-alone BCMA), on the dispensing process and its users. The stand-alone BCMA system was implemented in one ward of a teaching hospital. The number of dispensing steps, dispensing time and potential dispensing errors (PDEs) were directly observed one month before and eight months after the intervention. Attitudes of pharmacy and nursing staff were assessed using a questionnaire (Likert scale) and interviews. Among 1291 and 471 drug items observed before and after the introduction of the technology respectively, the number of dispensing steps increased from five to eight and time (standard deviation) to dispense one drug item by one staff personnel increased from 0.8 (0.09) to 1.5 (0.12) min. Among 2828 and 471 drug items observed before and after the intervention respectively, the number of PDEs increased significantly (Psystem offered less benefit to the dispensing process (9/16). Nursing staff perceived the system as useful in improving the accuracy of drug administration (7/10). Implementing a stand-alone BCMA system may slow down and complicate the dispensing process. Nursing staff believe the stand-alone BCMA system could improve the drug administration process but pharmacy staff believes the technology would be more helpful if supported by computerised prescribing. However, periodical assessments are needed to identify weaknesses in the process after implementation, and all users should be educated on the benefits of using this technology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Explaining Real-Life Events: How Culture and Domain Shape Attributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Fiona; And Others

    1996-01-01

    Research has shown that attributional styles are affected by the attributor's culture, inferential goals, and level of cognitive processing. This study compares the attributions made in sports articles and editorials of newspapers published in Hong Kong and the United States. Implications for the mixed model of social inference are discussed. (LSR)

  13. Changing US Attributes After CS-US Pairings Changes CS-Attribute-Assessments: Evidence for CS-US Associations in Attribute Conditioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Förderer, Sabine; Unkelbach, Christian

    2016-03-01

    Attribute Conditioning (AC) refers to people's changed assessments of stimuli's (CSs) attributes due to repeated pairing with stimuli (USs) possessing these attributes; for example, when an athletic person (US) is paired with a neutral person (CS), the neutral person is judged to be more athletic after the pairing. We hypothesize that this AC effect is due to CSs' associations with USs rather than direct associations with attributes. Three experiments test this hypothesis by changing US attributes after CS-US pairings. Experiments 1 and 2 conditioned athleticism by pairing neutral men (CSs) with athletic and non-athletic USs. Post-conditioning, USs' athleticism was reversed, which systematically influenced participants' assessment of CS athleticism. Experiment 3 conditioned athleticism and changed USs' musicality after CS-US pairings. This post-conditioning change affected musicality assessments of CSs but did not influence athleticism-assessments. The results indicate that AC effects are based on an associative CS-US-attribute structure. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

  14. Agricultural Tractor Selection: A Hybrid and Multi-Attribute Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge L. García-Alcaraz

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Usually, agricultural tractor investments are assessed using traditional economic techniques that only involve financial attributes, resulting in reductionist evaluations. However, tractors have qualitative and quantitative attributes that must be simultaneously integrated into the evaluation process. This article reports a hybrid and multi-attribute approach to assessing a set of agricultural tractors based on AHP-TOPSIS. To identify the attributes in the model, a survey including eighteen attributes was given to agricultural machinery salesmen and farmers for determining their importance. The list of attributes was presented to a decision group for a case of study, and their importance was estimated using AHP and integrated into the TOPSIS technique. In this case, one tractor was selected from a set of six alternatives, integrating six attributes in the model: initial cost, annual maintenance cost, liters of diesel per hour, safety of the operator, maintainability and after-sale customer service offered by the supplier. Based on the results obtained, the model can be considered easy to apply and to have good acceptance among farmers and salesmen, as there are no special software requirements for the application.

  15. The Human Experience With Ghrelin Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garin, Margaret C.; Burns, Carrie M.; Kaul, Shailja

    2013-01-01

    Context: Ghrelin is an endogenous stimulator of GH and is implicated in a number of physiological processes. Clinical trials have been performed in a variety of patient populations, but there is no comprehensive review of the beneficial and adverse consequences of ghrelin administration to humans. Evidence Acquisition: PubMed was utilized, and the reference list of each article was screened. We included 121 published articles in which ghrelin was administered to humans. Evidence Synthesis: Ghrelin has been administered as an infusion or a bolus in a variety of doses to 1850 study participants, including healthy participants and patients with obesity, prior gastrectomy, cancer, pituitary disease, diabetes mellitus, eating disorders, and other conditions. There is strong evidence that ghrelin stimulates appetite and increases circulating GH, ACTH, cortisol, prolactin, and glucose across varied patient populations. There is a paucity of evidence regarding the effects of ghrelin on LH, FSH, TSH, insulin, lipolysis, body composition, cardiac function, pulmonary function, the vasculature, and sleep. Adverse effects occurred in 20% of participants, with a predominance of flushing and gastric rumbles and a mild degree of severity. The few serious adverse events occurred in patients with advanced illness and were not clearly attributable to ghrelin. Route of administration may affect the pattern of adverse effects. Conclusions: Existing literature supports the short-term safety of ghrelin administration and its efficacy as an appetite stimulant in diverse patient populations. There is some evidence to suggest that ghrelin has wider ranging therapeutic effects, although these areas require further investigation. PMID:23533240

  16. Organizational models of public administration: a study of some aspects of the reality derived from Ceara State reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Lucineide Serpa Gomes

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The new public management is a much-debated issue in Brazil and in many other countries worldwide. Its origin is historically dated in the 80´s, attributed to State economic and fiscal crises that had reached many countries in that decade and was also a response to State Welfare deterioration. The answer given prescribed a set of policies that proclaimed the application of market principles and private sector logic to the Public Administration. The study has as the objective to analyze the relation between the new public model practices and the modernization and efficiency of the State administration. The specific objectives are concentrated on presenting the models of Public Administration; on identifying reforms carried through in Brazilian Public Administration until the current days; on analyzing managerial practices of the new model applied to state administration. This is an exploratory, qualitative and documentary research. Interviews had been carried out, and then, the study made use of the technique of content analysis. To choose the respondents in the field research, the study considered the criterion of linking the interviewee to the process of modernization of the Public Administration. Thus, managers, former-managers of the main state secretariats involved with modernization of public administration, and researchers who had previously taken part in this process were selected. The contribution of this work results in a better evaluation of the modernization of the state Administration and also of its consequences.

  17. Barriers to data quality resulting from the process of coding health information to administrative data: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucyk, Kelsey; Tang, Karen; Quan, Hude

    2017-11-22

    Administrative health data are increasingly used for research and surveillance to inform decision-making because of its large sample sizes, geographic coverage, comprehensivity, and possibility for longitudinal follow-up. Within Canadian provinces, individuals are assigned unique personal health numbers that allow for linkage of administrative health records in that jurisdiction. It is therefore necessary to ensure that these data are of high quality, and that chart information is accurately coded to meet this end. Our objective is to explore the potential barriers that exist for high quality data coding through qualitative inquiry into the roles and responsibilities of medical chart coders. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 medical chart coders from Alberta, Canada. We used thematic analysis and open-coded each transcript to understand the process of administrative health data generation and identify barriers to its quality. The process of generating administrative health data is highly complex and involves a diverse workforce. As such, there are multiple points in this process that introduce challenges for high quality data. For coders, the main barriers to data quality occurred around chart documentation, variability in the interpretation of chart information, and high quota expectations. This study illustrates the complex nature of barriers to high quality coding, in the context of administrative data generation. The findings from this study may be of use to data users, researchers, and decision-makers who wish to better understand the limitations of their data or pursue interventions to improve data quality.

  18. An Experimental Investigation of Peer Influences on Adolescent Hostile Attributions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Kim; Hadwin, Julie A.; Halligan, Sarah L.

    2011-01-01

    Aggression in young people has been associated with a bias toward attributing hostile intent to others. However, little is known about the origin of biased social information processing. The current study explored the potential role of peer contagion in the emergence of hostile attribution in adolescents. One hundred thirty-four adolescents (M age…

  19. Effective environmental protection by the reform of the administrative procedures and administrative legal rights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breuer, R.

    1978-01-01

    The 52nd German Lawyers Meeting will be concerned in its legal department with the question of whether, from the points of view of the guaranteeing of the necessary environmental protection, additional regulations in the administrative procedures and administrative legal rights should be recommended. Here one is concerned, above all, with the problem of whether an administrative legal associations sueing or associations participation in administrative legal procedures is desirable in the interests of environmental protection. A negative answer must be given to this question. Discussion should concentrate on the problematical administrative legal interests, on the strengthening of administrative participation of popular opinion or interests in legal processes, on other improvements in administrative processes and on the legal control by Parliament of environmental protection. (orig.) [de

  20. Regression tools for CO2 inversions: application of a shrinkage estimator to process attribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shaby, Benjamin A.; Field, Christopher B.

    2006-01-01

    In this study we perform an atmospheric inversion based on a shrinkage estimator. This method is used to estimate surface fluxes of CO 2 , first partitioned according to constituent geographic regions, and then according to constituent processes that are responsible for the total flux. Our approach differs from previous approaches in two important ways. The first is that the technique of linear Bayesian inversion is recast as a regression problem. Seen as such, standard regression tools are employed to analyse and reduce errors in the resultant estimates. A shrinkage estimator, which combines standard ridge regression with the linear 'Bayesian inversion' model, is introduced. This method introduces additional bias into the model with the aim of reducing variance such that errors are decreased overall. Compared with standard linear Bayesian inversion, the ridge technique seems to reduce both flux estimation errors and prediction errors. The second divergence from previous studies is that instead of dividing the world into geographically distinct regions and estimating the CO 2 flux in each region, the flux space is divided conceptually into processes that contribute to the total global flux. Formulating the problem in this manner adds to the interpretability of the resultant estimates and attempts to shed light on the problem of attributing sources and sinks to their underlying mechanisms

  1. An exploration of pre-service teachers’ attributions in English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yılmaz Cevdet

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available With the developments in cognitive psychology, language learners’ beliefs have received considerable attention in the domain of language teaching and learning. One area that merits investigation as to what the learner brings to this educational process is learner attributions which are commonly defined as ‘perceived causes of success and failure’. This paper investigated pre-service teachers’ perceptions of student attributions and their performance in English. Attributions are categorized as either internal (for instance ability or external (for instance task difficulty. Motivated by these theoretical concerns, the study investigated the attributions of 122 pre-service teachers majoring in English and the connections between attribution and proficiency and gender. The study concludes with a set of far-reaching pedagogical implications and suggestions for learner training and teacher action in the EFL classroom. The results underscore the need for pre-service students to become aware of their own perceptions with regard to students' success and failure in English.

  2. The Faculty Promotion Process. An Empirical Analysis of the Administration of Large State Universities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luthans, Fred

    One phase of academic management, the faculty promotion process, is systematically described and analyzed. The study encompasses three parts: (l) the justification of the use of management concepts in the analysis of academic administration; (2) a descriptive presentation of promotion policies and practices in 46 large state universities; and (3)…

  3. Supplier Selection by Coupling-Attribute Combinatorial Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinyu Sun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Increasing reliance on outsourcing has made supplier selection a critical success factor for a supply chain/network. In addition to cost, the synergy among product components and supplier selection criteria should be considered holistically during the supplier selection process. This paper shows this synergy using coupled-attribute analysis. The key coupling attributes, including total cost, quality, delivery reliability, and delivery lead time of the final product, are identified and formulated. A max-max model is designed to assist the selection of the optional combination of suppliers. The results are compared with the individual supplier selection. Management insights are also discussed.

  4. Attribute And-Or Grammar for Joint Parsing of Human Pose, Parts and Attributes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Seyoung; Nie, Xiaohan; Zhu, Song-Chun

    2017-07-25

    This paper presents an attribute and-or grammar (A-AOG) model for jointly inferring human body pose and human attributes in a parse graph with attributes augmented to nodes in the hierarchical representation. In contrast to other popular methods in the current literature that train separate classifiers for poses and individual attributes, our method explicitly represents the decomposition and articulation of body parts, and account for the correlations between poses and attributes. The A-AOG model is an amalgamation of three traditional grammar formulations: (i)Phrase structure grammar representing the hierarchical decomposition of the human body from whole to parts; (ii)Dependency grammar modeling the geometric articulation by a kinematic graph of the body pose; and (iii)Attribute grammar accounting for the compatibility relations between different parts in the hierarchy so that their appearances follow a consistent style. The parse graph outputs human detection, pose estimation, and attribute prediction simultaneously, which are intuitive and interpretable. We conduct experiments on two tasks on two datasets, and experimental results demonstrate the advantage of joint modeling in comparison with computing poses and attributes independently. Furthermore, our model obtains better performance over existing methods for both pose estimation and attribute prediction tasks.

  5. Development in children’s attribution of embarrassment and the relationship with theory of mind and shyness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Colonnesi, C.; Engelhard, I.M.; Bögels, S.M.

    2010-01-01

    The present study examined the two-stage developmental theory of the understanding of embarrassment (Modigliani & Blumenfeld, 1979) through the administration of verbal and non-verbal measures. Moreover, the relationship between children’s attributions of embarrassment and their ability to

  6. Discriminative power of visual attributes in dermatology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Giotis, Ioannis; Visser, Margaretha; Jonkman, Marcel; Petkov, Nicolai

    Background/purpose: Visual characteristics such as color and shape of skin lesions play an important role in the diagnostic process. In this contribution, we quantify the discriminative power of such attributes using an information theoretical approach. Methods: We estimate the probability of

  7. Statistical modeling methods to analyze the impacts of multiunit process variability on critical quality attributes of Chinese herbal medicine tablets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sun F

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Fei Sun,1 Bing Xu,1,2 Yi Zhang,1 Shengyun Dai,1 Chan Yang,1 Xianglong Cui,1 Xinyuan Shi,1,2 Yanjiang Qiao1,2 1Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Engineering, School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 2Key Laboratory of Manufacture Process Control and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The quality of Chinese herbal medicine tablets suffers from batch-to-batch variability due to a lack of manufacturing process understanding. In this paper, the Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS immediate release tablet was taken as the research subject. By defining the dissolution of five active pharmaceutical ingredients and the tablet tensile strength as critical quality attributes (CQAs, influences of both the manipulated process parameters introduced by an orthogonal experiment design and the intermediate granules’ properties on the CQAs were fully investigated by different chemometric methods, such as the partial least squares, the orthogonal projection to latent structures, and the multiblock partial least squares (MBPLS. By analyzing the loadings plots and variable importance in the projection indexes, the granule particle sizes and the minimal punch tip separation distance in tableting were identified as critical process parameters. Additionally, the MBPLS model suggested that the lubrication time in the final blending was also important in predicting tablet quality attributes. From the calculated block importance in the projection indexes, the tableting unit was confirmed to be the critical process unit of the manufacturing line. The results demonstrated that the combinatorial use of different multivariate modeling methods could help in understanding the complex process relationships as a whole. The output of this study can then be used to define a control strategy to improve the quality of the PNS immediate release tablet. Keywords: Panax

  8. Qualitative analysis of patient-centered decision attributes associated with initiating hepatitis C treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuchowski, Jessica L; Hamilton, Alison B; Pyne, Jeffrey M; Clark, Jack A; Naik, Aanand D; Smith, Donna L; Kanwal, Fasiha

    2015-10-01

    In this era of a constantly changing landscape of antiviral treatment options for chronic viral hepatitis C (CHC), shared clinical decision-making addresses the need to engage patients in complex treatment decisions. However, little is known about the decision attributes that CHC patients consider when making treatment decisions. We identify key patient-centered decision attributes, and explore relationships among these attributes, to help inform the development of a future CHC shared decision-making aid. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with CHC patients at four Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals, in three comparison groups: contemplating CHC treatment at the time of data collection (Group 1), recently declined CHC treatment (Group 2), or recently started CHC treatment (Group 3). Participant descriptions of decision attributes were analyzed for the entire sample as well as by patient group and by gender. Twenty-nine Veteran patients participated (21 males, eight females): 12 were contemplating treatment, nine had recently declined treatment, and eight had recently started treatment. Patients on average described eight (range 5-13) decision attributes. The attributes most frequently reported overall were: physical side effects (83%); treatment efficacy (79%), new treatment drugs in development (55%); psychological side effects (55%); and condition of the liver (52%), with some variation based on group and gender. Personal life circumstance attributes (such as availability of family support and the burden of financial responsibilities) influencing treatment decisions were also noted by all participants. Multiple decision attributes were interrelated in highly complex ways. Participants considered numerous attributes in their CHC treatment decisions. A better understanding of these attributes that influence patient decision-making is crucial in order to inform patient-centered clinical approaches to care (such as shared decision-making augmented

  9. PDP-11 Meeting School District Administrative Data Processing Challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Technological Horizons in Education, 1983

    1983-01-01

    Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 (Illinois) is currently using a Digital PDP-11/70 computer system and administrative software to handle administrative functions with ease and efficiency. These functions include production of reports and payroll, student scheduling, reporting grades and student progress, and maintaining student…

  10. Perceptual grouping does not affect multi-attribute decision making if no processing costs are involved.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ettlin, Florence; Bröder, Arndt

    2015-05-01

    Adaptive strategy selection implies that a decision strategy is chosen based on its fit to the task and situation. However, other aspects, such as the way information is presented, can determine information search behavior; especially when the application of certain strategies over others is facilitated. But are such display effects on multi-attribute decisions also at work when the manipulation does not entail differential costs for different decision strategies? Three Mouselab experiments with hidden information and one eye tracking experiment with an open information board revealed that decision behavior is unaffected by purely perceptual manipulations of the display based on Gestalt principles; that is, based on manipulations that induce no noteworthy processing costs for different information search patterns. We discuss our results in the context of previous findings on display effects; specifically, how the combination of these findings and our results reveal the crucial role of differential processing costs for different strategies for the emergence of display effects. This finding describes a boundary condition of the commonly acknowledged influence of information displays and is in line with the ideas of adaptive strategy selection and cost-benefit tradeoffs. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. CITIZEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FOTESCU VASILE

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The author reveals, in the article, the importance of transparency in the process of public administration. In the centre of attention is the citizen, who has the right to access information, the right to make his opinion known, and the right to take part in the decisional process. The citizen’s participation supposes the realization of four requirements: transparency of administra­tion, passing on the information, reception of information and the involvement of the citizen in the decisional act. Further is analysed the normative act: «The Law regarding transparency in the decisionalprocess» no 239-XV approved on 13.11.2008. The author suggests ways of improving it. There are revealed some of the recommendations mentioned in « The white Book of Good Governing» elaborated by the European Commission, where are discussed the basic principles, which should be respected by the public authorities, as well as the procedures of public consultation within the European Union. In conclusion the author considers that the Government of the Republic of Moldova has undertaken a series of complex activities regarding institutional transparency, but we cannot yet speak about a productive dialogue between the public autho­rities and citizens.

  12. Constraint-based Attribute and Interval Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonsson, Ari; Frank, Jeremy

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we describe Constraint-based Attribute and Interval Planning (CAIP), a paradigm for representing and reasoning about plans. The paradigm enables the description of planning domains with time, resources, concurrent activities, mutual exclusions among sets of activities, disjunctive preconditions and conditional effects. We provide a theoretical foundation for the paradigm, based on temporal intervals and attributes. We then show how the plans are naturally expressed by networks of constraints, and show that the process of planning maps directly to dynamic constraint reasoning. In addition, we de ne compatibilities, a compact mechanism for describing planning domains. We describe how this framework can incorporate the use of constraint reasoning technology to improve planning. Finally, we describe EUROPA, an implementation of the CAIP framework.

  13. Discrepancies between adolescents' attributed relevance and experiences regarding communication are associated with poorer client participation and learning processes in psychosocial care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jager, Margot; Reijneveld, Sijmen A; Metselaar, Janneke; Knorth, Erik J; De Winter, Andrea F

    2014-12-01

    To examine adolescents' attributed relevance and experiences regarding communication, and whether discrepancies in these are associated with clients' participation and learning processes in psychosocial care. Adolescents receiving psychosocial care (n=211) completed measures of communication in three domains: affective communication, information provision, and shared decision-making. Participation involved clients' attendance and adherence (professional-reported). Learning processes involved clients' improved understanding and improved confidence (client and professional-reported). Important but less often experienced affective communication was associated with low adherence (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 2.8, 1.1-6.8), less improvement in understanding (3.7, 1.5-9.0), and less improvement in confidence (4.5, 1.8-11.6). If information provision or shared decision-making was important but less often experienced, adolescents were more likely to demonstrate less improvement in understanding (3.1, 1.1-8.5; 4.2, 1.7-10.8). The combination "less important but experienced" only had an effect regarding affective communication; these adolescents were more likely to demonstrate less improvement in confidence (6.0, 2.3-15.4). Discrepancies between attributed relevance and experiences frequently occur. These discrepancies negatively affect adolescents' participation and their learning processes, although the pattern differs across communication domains. Care professionals should pay considerable attention to their clients' communication preferences and adapt their communication style when necessary. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Occupational safety management: the role of causal attribution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gyekye, Seth Ayim

    2010-12-01

    The paper addresses the causal attribution theory, an old and well-established theme in social psychology which denotes the everyday, commonsense explanations that people use to explain events and the world around them. The attribution paradigm is considered one of the most appropriate analytical tools for exploratory and descriptive studies in social psychology and organizational literature. It affords the possibility of describing accident processes as objectively as possible and with as much detail as possible. Causal explanations are vital to the formal analysis of workplace hazards and accidents, as they determine how organizations act to prevent accident recurrence. Accordingly, they are regarded as fundamental and prerequisite elements for safety management policies. The paper focuses primarily on the role of causal attributions in occupational and industrial accident analyses and implementation of safety interventions. It thus serves as a review of the contribution of attribution theory to occupational and industrial accidents. It comprises six sections. The first section presents an introduction to the classic attribution theories, and the second an account of the various ways in which the attribution paradigm has been applied in organizational settings. The third and fourth sections review the literature on causal attributions and demographic and organizational variables respectively. The sources of attributional biases in social psychology and how they manifest and are identified in the causal explanations for industrial and occupational accidents are treated in the fifth section. Finally, conclusion and recommendations are presented. The recommendations are particularly important for the reduction of workplace accidents and associated costs. The paper touches on the need for unbiased causal analyses, belief in the preventability of accidents, and the imperative role of management in occupational safety management.

  15. Pharmacy patronage: identifying key factors in the decision making process using the determinant attribute approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franic, Duska M; Haddock, Sarah M; Tucker, Leslie Tootle; Wooten, Nathan

    2008-01-01

    To use the determinant attribute approach, a research method commonly used in marketing to identify the wants of various consumer groups, to evaluate consumer pharmacy choice when having a prescription order filled in different pharmacy settings. Cross sectional. Community independent, grocery store, community chain, and discount store pharmacies in Georgia between April 2005 and April 2006. Convenience sample of adult pharmacy consumers (n = 175). Survey measuring consumer preferences on 26 attributes encompassing general pharmacy site features (16 items), pharmacist characteristics (5 items), and pharmacy staff characteristics (5 items). 26 potential determinant attributes for pharmacy selection. 175 consumers were surveyed at community independent (n = 81), grocery store (n = 44), community chain (n = 27), or discount store (n = 23) pharmacy settings. The attributes of pharmacists and staff at all four pharmacy settings were shown to affect pharmacy patronage motives, although consumers frequenting non-community independent pharmacies were also motivated by secondary convenience factors, e.g., hours of operation, and prescription coverage. Most consumers do not perceive pharmacies as merely prescription-distribution centers that vary only by convenience. Prescriptions are not just another economic good. Pharmacy personnel influence pharmacy selection; therefore, optimal staff selection and training is likely the greatest asset and most important investment for ensuring pharmacy success.

  16. Preferences of processing companies for attributes of Swiss milk: a conjoint analysis in a business-to-business market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boesch, I

    2013-04-01

    This study aimed to determine key attributes of milk that drive a processor's supply decisions and possibilities for differentiation based on these product attributes. Feedback-driven exploration was applied to derive product attributes relevant to the buying decision. Conjoint analysis with hierarchical Bayes estimation methods was used to determine the relative importance of attributes. Results show that the technical aspects of milk, as well as the price and country of origin, dominate the buying decision. Potential for differentiation was found for environmental and societal attributes as well as freedom from genetically modified products. Product and supplier criteria also provide the potential to segment the market if the price premium is held within limits. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Detecting and Attributing Health Burdens to Climate Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebi, Kristie L; Ogden, Nicholas H; Semenza, Jan C; Woodward, Alistair

    2017-08-07

    Detection and attribution of health impacts caused by climate change uses formal methods to determine a ) whether the occurrence of adverse health outcomes has changed, and b ) the extent to which that change could be attributed to climate change. There have been limited efforts to undertake detection and attribution analyses in health. Our goal was to show a range of approaches for conducting detection and attribution analyses. Case studies for heatwaves, Lyme disease in Canada, and Vibrio emergence in northern Europe highlight evidence that climate change is adversely affecting human health. Changes in rates and geographic distribution of adverse health outcomes were detected, and, in each instance, a proportion of the observed changes could, in our judgment, be attributed to changes in weather patterns associated with climate change. The results of detection and attribution studies can inform evidence-based risk management to reduce current, and plan for future, changes in health risks associated with climate change. Gaining a better understanding of the size, timing, and distribution of the climate change burden of disease and injury requires reliable long-term data sets, more knowledge about the factors that confound and modify the effects of climate on health, and refinement of analytic techniques for detection and attribution. At the same time, significant advances are possible in the absence of complete data and statistical certainty: there is a place for well-informed judgments, based on understanding of underlying processes and matching of patterns of health, climate, and other determinants of human well-being. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1509.

  18. Adverse Drug Events caused by Serious Medication Administration Errors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawarkar, Abhivyakti; Keohane, Carol A.; Maviglia, Saverio; Gandhi, Tejal K; Poon, Eric G

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To determine how often serious or life-threatening medication administration errors with the potential to cause patient harm (or potential adverse drug events) result in actual patient harm (or adverse drug events (ADEs)) in the hospital setting. DESIGN Retrospective chart review of clinical events that transpired following observed medication administration errors. BACKGROUND Medication errors are common at the medication administration stage for hospitalized patients. While many of these errors are considered capable of causing patient harm, it is not clear how often patients are actually harmed by these errors. METHODS In a previous study where 14,041 medication administrations in an acute-care hospital were directly observed, investigators discovered 1271 medication administration errors, of which 133 had the potential to cause serious or life-threatening harm to patients and were considered serious or life-threatening potential ADEs. In the current study, clinical reviewers conducted detailed chart reviews of cases where a serious or life-threatening potential ADE occurred to determine if an actual ADE developed following the potential ADE. Reviewers further assessed the severity of the ADE and attribution to the administration error. RESULTS Ten (7.5% [95% C.I. 6.98, 8.01]) actual adverse drug events or ADEs resulted from the 133 serious and life-threatening potential ADEs, of which 6 resulted in significant, three in serious, and one life threatening injury. Therefore 4 (3% [95% C.I. 2.12, 3.6]) serious and life threatening potential ADEs led to serious or life threatening ADEs. Half of the ten actual ADEs were caused by dosage or monitoring errors for anti-hypertensives. The life threatening ADE was caused by an error that was both a transcription and a timing error. CONCLUSION Potential ADEs at the medication administration stage can cause serious patient harm. Given previous estimates of serious or life-threatening potential ADE of 1.33 per 100

  19. Patient and physician preferences for attributes of coronary revascularization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magliano CAS

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Carlos Alberto da Silva Magliano,1 Andrea Liborio Monteiro,2 Bernardo Rangel Tura,1 Claudia Silvia Rocha Oliveira,1 Amanda Rebeca de Oliveira Rebelo,1 Claudia Cristina de Aguiar Pereira3 1HTA Department, National Institute of Cardiology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 2Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 3The National School of Public Health Sergio Arouca ENSP/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Background: Patients with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD may face important decisions regarding treatment options, with the “right choice” depending on the relative weights of risks and benefits. Studies performed as discrete choice experiments are used to estimate these weights, and attribute selection is an essential step in the design of these studies. Attributes not included in the design cannot be analyzed. In this study, we aimed to elicit, rank, and rate attributes that may be considered important to patients and physicians who must choose between angioplasty and surgery for coronary revascularization. Methods: The elicitation process involved performing a systematic review to search for attributes cited in declared preference studies in addition to face-to-face interviews with cardiologists and experts. The interviews were audio-recorded in digital format, and the collected data were transcribed and searched to identify new attributes. The criterion used to finish the data collection process was sampling saturation. Results: A systematic review resulted in the selection of the following 14 attributes: atrial fibrillation, heart failure, incision scar, length of stay, long-term survival, myocardial infarction, periprocedural death, postoperative infection, postprocedural angina, pseudoaneurysm, renal failure, repeat coronary artery bypass grafting, repeat percutaneous coronary intervention, and stroke. The interviews added no new attributes. After

  20. Leadership skills and attributes of women and nurse executives: challenges for the 21st century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Theresa L

    2005-01-01

    This study used a descriptive comparative design in which the skills/attributes identified by women leaders were compared to the skills/attributes identified by the nurse executives (NEs). For the women leaders and NEs, 6 factors were identified through principal components analysis: (1) personal integrity, (2) strategic vision/action orientation, (3) team building/communication skills, (4) management and technical competencies, (5) people skills (eg, empowering others, networking, valuing diversity, working collaboratively), and (6) personal survival skills/attributes (eg, political sensitivity, self-direction, self-reliance, courage, and candor). The items that received the highest level of agreement regarding importance for both groups were contained in the personal integrity factor, which included ethical standards, trustworthiness, and credibility. These factors are discussed and implications for leadership development and nursing administration graduate programs are identified.

  1. A keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shangping; Ye, Jian; Zhang, Yaling

    2018-01-01

    Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme is a new type of data encryption primitive, which is very suitable for data cloud storage for its fine-grained access control. Keyword-based searchable encryption scheme enables users to quickly find interesting data stored in the cloud server without revealing any information of the searched keywords. In this work, we provide a keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage, which is a combination of attribute-based encryption scheme and keyword searchable encryption scheme. The new scheme supports the user's attribute update, especially in our new scheme when a user's attribute need to be updated, only the user's secret key related with the attribute need to be updated, while other user's secret key and the ciphertexts related with this attribute need not to be updated with the help of the cloud server. In addition, we outsource the operation with high computation cost to cloud server to reduce the user's computational burden. Moreover, our scheme is proven to be semantic security against chosen ciphertext-policy and chosen plaintext attack in the general bilinear group model. And our scheme is also proven to be semantic security against chosen keyword attack under bilinear Diffie-Hellman (BDH) assumption.

  2. Improved hybridization of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) algorithm with Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making - Simple Additive Weighting (FMADM-SAW)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaiwani, B. E.; Zarlis, M.; Efendi, S.

    2018-03-01

    In this research, the improvement of hybridization algorithm of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) with Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) in selecting the best bank chief inspector based on several qualitative and quantitative criteria with various priorities. To improve the performance of the above research, FAHP algorithm hybridization with Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making - Simple Additive Weighting (FMADM-SAW) algorithm was adopted, which applied FAHP algorithm to the weighting process and SAW for the ranking process to determine the promotion of employee at a government institution. The result of improvement of the average value of Efficiency Rate (ER) is 85.24%, which means that this research has succeeded in improving the previous research that is equal to 77.82%. Keywords: Ranking and Selection, Fuzzy AHP, Fuzzy TOPSIS, FMADM-SAW.

  3. Teacher Perceptions of Administrator Leadership Styles Regarding Job Satisfaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Zachary Tyler

    2017-01-01

    One of the greatest challenges within education is a growing shortage of teachers (Epps & Foor, 2015). Various factors can be attributed to this phenomenon; however, two major factors that influence teachers to leave the profession are accountability and administrator leadership styles (Weinbaum, Weis, & Beaver, 2012). These two factors…

  4. An Attribute Involved Public Key Cryptosystem Based on P-Sylow Subgroups and Randomization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumalatha GUNNALA

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The Asymmetric Key Cryptosystem (AKC or Public Key Encryption (PKE is a mechanism used to encrypt the messages by using public key and decrypt the enciphered messages by using private key. Of late, the Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE is an expansion of asymmetric key encryption scheme that allows users to encrypt and decrypt the plaintext messages using the key based on the user’s credentials, called attributes, like social security number, PAN (Permanent Account Number, email ids or Aadhar number etc. Most of the existing ABE schemes rely on the multiple attributes from which the access control policies are derived. These policies define the users’ private keys, required for the decryption process and access to the confidential information. In this paper, we proposed a new attribute based asymmetric cryptosystem that uses the features of both the schemes: PKE and ABE. Here, we used a value of an attribute, personal to the user, for the encryption and the decryption process. This scheme assures that the receiver will only be able to access the secret data if recipient is shared with the valid attribute value. The asymmetric nature is this scheme is based on the concept of p-sylow sub-group assumption. In addition, the randomization factor is used in the encipherment process to strengthen the cipher further. The development of this cryptosystem is an embodiment where the merits of randomized asymmetric encryption technique and the attribute based encryption are integrated to achieve the authentication on top of confidentiality to secure the information transmission over the public networks.

  5. Process Performance Measurement for E-Government: A Case Scenario from the German Ministerial Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oliver Thomas

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available During the last years, the realization of the E-Government driven benefits was in the center of interest at various public administrations. The article at hand outlines a process driven approach for the evaluation of technology-based performance impacts. From the German perspective, existing concepts of performance evaluation are concretized for the case scenario of the German Plan Approval Procedures.

  6. Agency attribution: event-related potentials and outcome monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bednark, Jeffery G; Franz, Elizabeth A

    2014-04-01

    Knowledge about the effects of our actions is an underlying feature of voluntary behavior. Given the importance of identifying the outcomes of our actions, it has been proposed that the sensory outcomes of self-made actions are inherently different from those of externally caused outcomes. Thus, the outcomes of self-made actions are likely to be more motivationally significant for an agent. We used event-related potentials to investigate the relationship between the perceived motivational significance of an outcome and the attribution of agency in the presence of others. In our experiment, we assessed agency attribution in the presence of another agent by varying the degree of contiguity between participants' self-made actions and the sensory outcome. Specifically, we assessed the feedback correct-related positivity (fCRP) and the novelty P3 measures of an outcome's motivational significance and unexpectedness, respectively. Results revealed that both the fCRP and participants' agency attributions were significantly influenced by action-outcome contiguity. However, when action-outcome contiguity was ambiguous, novelty P3 amplitude was a reliable indicator of agency attribution. Prior agency attributions were also found to influence attribution in trials with ambiguous and low action-outcome contiguity. Participants' use of multiple cues to determine agency is consistent with the cue integration theory of agency. In addition to these novel findings, this study supports growing evidence suggesting that reinforcement processes play a significant role in the sense of agency.

  7. Maps of the Resettlement Administration and colonization process in Tomsk-Chulym taiga (1905–1918

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artyom V. Vasilyev

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the maps of Resettlements Administration as a valuable source for the history of social infrastructure of Tomsk-Chulym taiga in beginning of 20 century. Due the lack of available areas for colonization, the flow of migrants was forwarded into Siberian taiga spaces. This required a great effort form authorities on the preparation of resettlements: a study of the region, development of communications, construction of social infrastructure, the church building etc. Measures taken by the Resettlement Administration has found its reflection in the map data, attached to the reports of the Administration. Maps of Resettlement Administration are an informative source for the study of colonization of Tomsk-Chulym taiga. More than any other source, they provide a glimpse on the direction of government policies on settling the area, allow to make conclusions about the success of various measures of the authorities and to reconstruct the main stages of the infrastructure and administrative development of the region, as well as the economic activities of migrants. In diachronic aspect they reveal the development of resettlement processes of region; in compression with other sources they allow to analyze the role of those factors, which on a small degree depended on the policy of Resettlement Administration, but affected the colonization of taiga. This is such a strong source as an illegal skit colonization, the influence of which can be traced on the maps. Considering the maps in terms of the audiences for which they were intended, we can also analyze the peasant and official representation of colonial space.

  8. Research on Attribute Reduction in Hoisting Motor State Recognition of Quayside Container Crane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, F.; Tang, G.; Hu, X.

    2017-07-01

    In view of too many attributes in hoisting motor state recognition of quayside container crane. Attribute reduction method based on discernibility matrix is introduced to attribute reduction of lifting motor state information table. A method of attribute reduction based on the combination of rough set and genetic algorithm is proposed to deal with the hoisting motor state decision table. Under the condition that the information system's decision-making ability is unchanged, the redundant attribute is deleted. Which reduces the complexity and computation of the recognition process of the hoisting motor. It is possible to realize the fast state recognition.

  9. The Early Impact of an Administrative Processing Fee on Manuscript Submissions at The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nwachukwu, Benedict U; Schairer, William W; So, Conan; Bernstein, Jaime L; Herndon, James; Dodwell, Emily R

    2016-10-05

    There was a dramatic increase in the volume of manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) between 2009 and 2012. This resulted in increased journal administrative costs. To offset this financial burden, in May 2013, JBJS started charging authors an administrative processing fee at the time of submission. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the administrative fee on the volume and characteristics of manuscripts submitted to JBJS. Our analysis included 866 manuscripts submitted to JBJS between November 2012 and November 2013. We compared manuscripts submitted 6 months prior to fee implementation and prior to the announcement (denoted as the baseline group), in the several months prior to fee implementation but after the fee implementation announcement (denoted as the fee announcement group), and in the 6 months after fee implementation (denoted as the fee implementation group). Manuscripts were reviewed for institutional and author demographic characteristics, as well as for general study characteristics. In the first full calendar year (2014) after the implementation of the fee, the annual volume of submissions to JBJS declined by 33.5% compared with the annual submission volume in 2010 to 2012. In a comparative analysis, the geographical region of origin (p = 0.003), level of evidence (p Reporting of funding information improved significantly between the baseline and fee implementation groups; in the post-fee implementation period, studies were more likely to have declared no external funding source (p = 0.001). The administrative processing fee at JBJS has been associated with a decrease in submission volume, but, overall, there has not been a change in the characteristics of studies submitted. However, decreased overall volume implies a decrease in the absolute number of high-level studies submitted to the journal. Administrative processing fees at high-volume journals may be a financially viable way to offset high

  10. Strictness Analysis for Attribute Grammars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rosendahl, Mads

    1992-01-01

    interpretation of attribute grammars. The framework is used to construct a strictness analysis for attribute grammars. Results of the analysis enable us to transform an attribute grammar such that attributes are evaluated during parsing, if possible. The analysis is proved correct by relating it to a fixpoint...... semantics for attribute grammars. An implementation of the analysis is discussed and some extensions to the analysis are mentioned....

  11. Order no 000003/ME/P/DRH from January 21,2014 provides for the organization and attributions of the Human ResourcesDirection of Ministry of Energy and Oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foumakoye, Gado

    2014-01-01

    This order provides fore the organzation and attributions of the human resouces Direction. So the Direction includs two Divisions: Administrative Division and Personal Division. Administrative Division assures administrative sevice and social service and the personal Division take care of persanal service ,improvement and formation [fr

  12. Measuring diversity in medical reports based on categorized attributes and international classification systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Přečková Petra

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Narrative medical reports do not use standardized terminology and often bring insufficient information for statistical processing and medical decision making. Objectives of the paper are to propose a method for measuring diversity in medical reports written in any language, to compare diversities in narrative and structured medical reports and to map attributes and terms to selected classification systems. Methods A new method based on a general concept of f-diversity is proposed for measuring diversity of medical reports in any language. The method is based on categorized attributes recorded in narrative or structured medical reports and on international classification systems. Values of categories are expressed by terms. Using SNOMED CT and ICD 10 we are mapping attributes and terms to predefined codes. We use f-diversities of Gini-Simpson and Number of Categories types to compare diversities of narrative and structured medical reports. The comparison is based on attributes selected from the Minimal Data Model for Cardiology (MDMC. Results We compared diversities of 110 Czech narrative medical reports and 1119 Czech structured medical reports. Selected categorized attributes of MDMC had mostly different numbers of categories and used different terms in narrative and structured reports. We found more than 60% of MDMC attributes in SNOMED CT. We showed that attributes in narrative medical reports had greater diversity than the same attributes in structured medical reports. Further, we replaced each value of category (term used for attributes in narrative medical reports by the closest term and the category used in MDMC for structured medical reports. We found that relative Gini-Simpson diversities in structured medical reports were significantly smaller than those in narrative medical reports except the "Allergy" attribute. Conclusions Terminology in narrative medical reports is not standardized. Therefore it is nearly

  13. PTSD Symptoms and Sexual Harassment: The Role of Attributions and Perceived Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen, Sadie E.; Fitzgerald, Louise F.

    2011-01-01

    Researchers have compiled significant evidence demonstrating that sexual harassment leads to psychological harm, including the full symptom picture of PTSD, but few have examined the psychological processes involved. Research on attributions among trauma victims would suggest that causal attributions and perceptions of control may be important…

  14. Lean leadership attributes: a systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aij, Kjeld Harald; Teunissen, Maurits

    2017-10-09

    Purpose Emphasis on quality and reducing costs has led many health-care organizations to reconfigure their management, process, and quality control infrastructures. Many are lean, a management philosophy with roots in manufacturing industries that emphasizes elimination of waste. Successful lean implementation requires systemic change and strong leadership. Despite the importance of leadership to successful lean implementation, few researchers have probed the question of ideal leadership attributes to achieve lean thinking in health care. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into applicable attributes for lean leaders in health care. Design/methodology/approach The authors systematically reviewed the literature on principles of leadership and, using Dombrowski and Mielke's (2013) conceptual model of lean leadership, developed a parallel theoretical model for lean leadership in health care. Findings This work contributes to the development of a new framework for describing leadership attributes within lean management of health care. Originality/value The summary of attributes can provide a model for health-care leaders to apply lean in their organizations.

  15. PENERAPAN FUZZY ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS DALAM METODE MULTI ATTRIBUTE FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS UNTUK MENGIDENTIFIKASI PENYEBAB KEGAGALAN POTENSIAL PADA PROSES PRODUKSI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorina Hetharia

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Banyak metode dalam Total Quality Management (TQM yang dapat digunakan untuk melakukan perbaikan kualitas produk dan jasa. Salah satunya adalah Multi Attribute Failure Mode Analysis (MAFMA, yang dapat digunakan untuk mengeliminasi atau mengurangi kemungkinan terjadinya kegagalan bila dilihat dari faktor penyebabnya, sehingga dapat mencegah terulang kembali kegagalan tersebut. MAFMA merupakan pengembangan dari Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA, yang mengintegrasikan atribut severity, occurance, dan detectability dengan aspek ekonomi yakni expected cost. Pada FMEA, penentuan penyebab kegagalan potensial suatu produk dilakukan dengan memberikan nilai (score pada atribut severity, occurance, dan detectability, yang dilanjutkan dengan menghitung nilai Risk Priority Number (RPN tertinggi. Sedangkan pada MAFMA, penentuan penyebab kegagalan potensial dilakukan dengan pemberian bobot pada ke-empat atribut. Pemberian bobot tersebut menggunakan Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP dengan logika fuzy. Atribut severity, occurance, detectability dan expected cost pada MAFMA dimasukkan sebagai level kriteria dalam struktur hirarkhi AHP, sedangkan penyebab-penyebab kegagalan akan menjadi level alternatif pada struktur hirarkhi tersebut. Studi kasus pada PT Pelita Cengkareng Paper & Co. menunjukkan bahwa bobot  kriteria severity sebesar 0.3461, kriteria occurance sebesar 0.0848, kriteria detectability sebesar 0.1741 dan kriteria expected cost sebesar 0.3950.Sedangkan penyebab kegagalan potensial adalah penggumpalan chemical dengan bobot tertinggi sebesar 0.210. Kata kunci: AHP, logika fuzzy, MAFMA     There are several methods of Total Quality Management (TQM that can be used to improve quality of product and service. One of those is Multi Attribute Failure Mode Analysis (MAFMA, which can be used to eliminate or minimize the failure probability based on its causal factor, so we can prevent the same failure in the future. MAFMA is development of Failure Mode

  16. The attribute measurement technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacArthur, Duncan W.; Langner, Diana; Smith, Morag; Thron, Jonathan; Razinkov, Sergey; Livke, Alexander

    2010-01-01

    Any verification measurement performed on potentially classified nuclear material must satisfy two seemingly contradictory constraints. First and foremost, no classified information can be released. At the same time, the monitoring party must have confidence in the veracity of the measurement. An information barrier (IB) is included in the measurement system to protect the potentially classified information while allowing sufficient information transfer to occur for the monitoring party to gain confidence that the material being measured is consistent with the host's declarations, concerning that material. The attribute measurement technique incorporates an IB and addresses both concerns by measuring several attributes of the nuclear material and displaying unclassified results through green (indicating that the material does possess the specified attribute) and red (indicating that the material does not possess the specified attribute) lights. The attribute measurement technique has been implemented in the AVNG, an attribute measuring system described in other presentations at this conference. In this presentation, we will discuss four techniques used in the AVNG: (1) the 1B, (2) the attribute measurement technique, (3) the use of open and secure modes to increase confidence in the displayed results, and (4) the joint design as a method for addressing both host and monitor needs.

  17. Exploring Attribution Theory and Bias

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Jessica A.

    2017-01-01

    Courses: This activity can be used in a wide range of classes, including interpersonal communication, introduction to communication, and small group communication. Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to: (1) define attribution theory, personality attribution, situational attribution, and attribution bias; (2)…

  18. Attributing illness to food

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Batz, M. B.; Doyle, M. P.; Morris, J. G.

    2005-01-01

    source responsible for illness. A wide variety of food attribution approaches and data are used around the world including the analysis of outbreak data, case-control studies, microbial subtyping and source tracking methods, and expert judgment, among others. The Food Safety Research Consortium sponsored......Identification and prioritization of effective food safety interventions require an understanding of the relationship between food and pathogen from farm to consumption. Critical to this cause is food attribution, the capacity to attribute cases of foodborne disease to the food vehicle or other...... the Food Attribution Data Workshop in October 2003 to discuss the virtues and limitations of these approaches and to identify future options for collecting food attribution data in the United States. We summarize workshop discussions and identify challenges that affect progress in this critical component...

  19. Levodopa administration modulates striatal processing of punishment-associated items in healthy participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittmann, Bianca C; D'Esposito, Mark

    2015-01-01

    Appetitive and aversive processes share a number of features such as their relevance for action and learning. On a neural level, reward and its predictors are associated with increased firing of dopaminergic neurons, whereas punishment processing has been linked to the serotonergic system and to decreases in dopamine transmission. Recent data indicate, however, that the dopaminergic system also responds to aversive stimuli and associated actions. In this pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated the contribution of the dopaminergic system to reward and punishment processing in humans. Two groups of participants received either placebo or the dopamine precursor levodopa and were scanned during alternating reward and punishment anticipation blocks. Levodopa administration increased striatal activations for cues presented in punishment blocks. In an interaction with individual personality scores, levodopa also enhanced striatal activation for punishment-predictive compared with neutral cues in participants scoring higher on the novelty-seeking dimension. These data support recent indications that dopamine contributes to punishment processing and suggest that the novelty-seeking trait is a measure of susceptibility to drug effects on motivation. These findings are also consistent with the possibility of an inverted U-shaped response function of dopamine in the striatum, suggesting an optimal level of dopamine release for motivational processing.

  20. Design of experiments-based monitoring of critical quality attributes for the spray-drying process of insulin by NIR spectroscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maltesen, Morten Jonas; van de Weert, Marco; Grohganz, Holger

    2012-01-01

    Moisture content and aerodynamic particle size are critical quality attributes for spray-dried protein formulations. In this study, spray-dried insulin powders intended for pulmonary delivery were produced applying design of experiments methodology. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) in combination...... on the chemical information of the water molecules in the NIR spectrum. Models yielded prediction errors (RMSEP) between 0.39% and 0.48% with thermal gravimetric analysis used as reference method. The PLS models predicting the aerodynamic particle size were based on baseline offset in the NIR spectra and yielded...... less robust models with a Q (2) of 0.69. Based on the results in this study, NIR is a suitable tool for process analysis of the spray-drying process and for control of moisture content and particle size, in particular for smooth and spherical particles....

  1. The influence of teacher perceived administration of self-regulated learning on students' motivation and information-processing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rozendaal, JS; Minnaert, A; Boekaerts, M

    This study investigates the influence of teacher perceived administration of self-regulated learning on students' motivation and information-processing over time. This was done in the context of the Interactive Learning group System (ILS (R)): a large-scale innovation program in Dutch vocational

  2. Consumers’ Preference for Sweet Peppers with different Process Attributes: A Discrete Choice Experiment in Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ching-Hua Yeh

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Based on an online discrete choice experiment (DCE this study investigates the relative importance of food label information (country of origin, production methods, chemical residue testing (CRT and price for Taiwanese consumers’ in their purchase of sweet peppers. Results show that respondents focus mostly on the COO labeling during their sweet-pepper shopping, followed by price. Information concerning CRT results and production methods are of less importance. Our findings also indicate that interaction between attributes matter and that preference for attribute levels differs depending on socioeconomic characteristics.

  3. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (SAMMEC) - Smoking-Attributable Expenditures (SAE)

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — 2005-2009. SAMMEC - Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs. Smoking-attributable expenditures (SAEs) are excess health care expenditures...

  4. Systematic literature review of hospital medication administration errors in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ameer A

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Ahmed Ameer,1 Soraya Dhillon,1 Mark J Peters,2 Maisoon Ghaleb11Department of Pharmacy, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK; 2Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK Objective: Medication administration is the last step in the medication process. It can act as a safety net to prevent unintended harm to patients if detected. However, medication administration errors (MAEs during this process have been documented and thought to be preventable. In pediatric medicine, doses are usually administered based on the child's weight or body surface area. This in turn increases the risk of drug miscalculations and therefore MAEs. The aim of this review is to report MAEs occurring in pediatric inpatients. Methods: Twelve bibliographic databases were searched for studies published between January 2000 and February 2015 using “medication administration errors”, “hospital”, and “children” related terminologies. Handsearching of relevant publications was also carried out. A second reviewer screened articles for eligibility and quality in accordance with the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Key findings: A total of 44 studies were systematically reviewed. MAEs were generally defined as a deviation of dose given from that prescribed; this included omitted doses and administration at the wrong time. Hospital MAEs in children accounted for a mean of 50% of all reported medication error reports (n=12,588. It was also identified in a mean of 29% of doses observed (n=8,894. The most prevalent type of MAEs related to preparation, infusion rate, dose, and time. This review has identified five types of interventions to reduce hospital MAEs in children: barcode medicine administration, electronic prescribing, education, use of smart pumps, and standard concentration. Conclusion: This review has identified a wide variation in the prevalence of hospital MAEs in children. This is attributed to

  5. Exploring the Contribution of Attribution Retraining to Student Perceptions and the Learning Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chodkiewicz, Alicia R.; Boyle, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    This paper looks at current research into how thinking influences learning. How people explain to themselves "why" they fail and succeed inevitably impacts on how well they learn new skills. Researchers have been developing attribution retraining programmes targeted at improving student academic achievement and learning experience…

  6. Balanced Sourcing As An Important Attribute Of Operations Strategy ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Balanced Sourcing As An Important Attribute Of Operations Strategy: Reality Or ... the questions “who should perform an activity or process in the value chain? ... Operations Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Sustainable Competitive Advantage, ...

  7. Efficient binning for bitmap indices on high-cardinality attributes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rotem, Doron; Stockinger, Kurt; Wu, Kesheng

    2004-11-17

    Bitmap indexing is a common technique for indexing high-dimensional data in data warehouses and scientific applications. Though efficient for low-cardinality attributes, query processing can be rather costly for high-cardinality attributes due to the large storage requirements for the bitmap indices. Binning is a common technique for reducing storage costs of bitmap indices. This technique partitions the attribute values into a number of ranges, called bins, and uses bitmap vectors to represent bins (attribute ranges) rather than distinct values. Although binning may reduce storage costs, it may increase the access costs of queries that do not fall on exact bin boundaries (edge bins). For this kind of queries the original data values associated with edge bins must be accessed, in order to check them against the query constraints.In this paper we study the problem of finding optimal locations for the bin boundaries in order to minimize these access costs subject to storage constraints. We propose a dynamic programming algorithm for optimal partitioning of attribute values into bins that takes into account query access patterns as well as data distribution statistics. Mathematical analysis and experiments on real life data sets show that the optimal partitioning achieved by this algorithm can lead to a significant improvement in the access costs of bitmap indexing systems for high-cardinality attributes.

  8. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (SAMMEC) - Smoking-Attributable Mortality (SAM)

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — 2005-2009. SAMMEC - Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs. Smoking-attributable mortality (SAM) is the number of deaths caused by cigarette...

  9. Attending to the reasons for attribute non-attendance in choice experiments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alemu, Mohammed Hussen; Mørkbak, Morten Raun; Olsen, Søren Bøye

    2013-01-01

    This paper focuses on behavioural reasons underlying stated attribute non-attendance in choice experiments. In order to identify and incorporate procedures for dealing with heterogeneous attribute processing strategies, we ask respondents follow-up questions regarding their reasons for ignoring...... not affect their utility. Excluding these genuine zero preferences, as the standard approach essentially does, might bias results. Other respondents claim to have ignored attributes to simplify choices. However, we find that these respondents have actually not completely ignored attributes. We argue along...... the rationally adaptive behavioural model that valid preference information may indeed be elicited in these cases, and we illustrate how recoding of non-attendance statements conditional on stated reasons may be a more appropriate solution than the current standard way of taking stated non...

  10. Identifying critical thinking indicators and critical thinker attributes in nursing practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Shu-Yuan; Liu, Hsing-Yuan; Wu, Ming-Chang; Clark, Mary Jo; Tan, Jung-Ying

    2013-09-01

    Critical thinking is an essential skill in the nursing process. Although several studies have evaluated the critical thinking skills of nurses, there is limited information related to the indicators of critical thinking or evaluation of critical thinking in the context of the nursing process. This study investigated the potential indicators of critical thinking and the attributes of critical thinkers in clinical nursing practice. Knowledge of these indicators can aid the development of tools to assess nursing students' critical thinking skills. The study was conducted between September 2009 and August 2010. In phase 1, a literature review and four focus groups were conducted to identify the indicators of critical thinking in the context of nursing and the attributes of critical thinkers. In phase 2, 30 nursing professionals participated in a modified Delphi research survey to establish consensus and the appropriateness of each indicator and attribute identified in phase 1. We identified 37 indicators of critical thinking and 10 attributes of critical thinkers. The indicators were categorized into five subscales within the context of the nursing process toreflect nursing clinical practice: assessment, 16 indicators of ability to apply professional knowledge and skills to analyze and interpret patient problems; diagnosis, five indicators of ability to propose preliminary suppositions; planning, five indicators of ability to develop problem-solving strategies; implementation, five indicators of ability to implement planning; and evaluation, six indicators of ability to self-assess and reflect. The study operationalized critical thinking into a practical indicator suitable for nursing contexts in which critical thinking is required for clinical problem solving. Identified indicators and attributes can assist clinical instructors to evaluate student critical thought skills and development-related teaching strategies.

  11. A New Attribute Control Chart using Multiple Dependent State Repetitive Sampling

    KAUST Repository

    Aldosari, Mansour Sattam; Aslam, Muhammad; Jun, Chi-Hyuck

    2017-01-01

    In this manuscript, a new attribute control chart using multiple dependent state repetitive sampling is designed. The operational procedure and structure of the proposed control chart is given. The required measures to determine the average run length (ARL) for in-control and out-of-control processes are given. Tables of ARLs are reported for various control chart parameters. The proposed control chart is more sensitive in detecting a small shift in the process as compared to the existing attribute control charts. The simulation study shows the efficiency of the proposed chart over the existing charts. An example is given for the illustration purpose.

  12. A New Attribute Control Chart using Multiple Dependent State Repetitive Sampling

    KAUST Repository

    Aldosari, Mansour Sattam

    2017-03-25

    In this manuscript, a new attribute control chart using multiple dependent state repetitive sampling is designed. The operational procedure and structure of the proposed control chart is given. The required measures to determine the average run length (ARL) for in-control and out-of-control processes are given. Tables of ARLs are reported for various control chart parameters. The proposed control chart is more sensitive in detecting a small shift in the process as compared to the existing attribute control charts. The simulation study shows the efficiency of the proposed chart over the existing charts. An example is given for the illustration purpose.

  13. The Europeanization of Public Administration through the General Principles of Good Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasilica NEGRUŢ

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The general objective of the paper is based on an extremely present theme of real interest. Using the content analysis, through a descriptive documentary research, the present study aims at identifying the dimensions of the general principles of good administration, in the context of changes at European an implicitly at national level. To this purpose, an analisys of the specific objectives will be made: the concept of good administration, the national dimensions of the right to be heard, the right to access personal files as well as the motivation of administrative acts and the general principles regulated by the European Code of Good Administration will be underlined, in the context of institutional change determined by the Lisbon Treaty. Good administration defines the way in which institutions function, this being possible by ensuring the right to access information, a more efficient protection of fundamental rights as well as the right to defense, publication of acts and their motivation. Good administration is strongly connected to good government, the relation being in our opinion, from part to whole. The final purpose of good government and implicitly of good administration aims at accomplishing the general interest. The two concepts need a higher degree of transparency and responsibility in the public process. If governing represents the modality of exerting power, good government entails the imperative of the consensus of those governed regarding the objectives and methods of government, the responsibility of those governing, the efficiency of governing and the citizens’ right to be informed regarding the use and the distribution of the financial resources in the governing process. This new concept takes into account the implication of the citizens in the decision - making process, allowing a more efficient use of material, human, and financial resources. We assert thus that by applying the general principles of good administration

  14. Determinant attributes in the purchase decision: a study on street food establishments

    OpenAIRE

    Loriato, Hannah Nicchio; Pelissari, Anderson Soncini

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The importance of the attributes of a product can vary greatly according to the different consumers, thus we start from the idea that there are different degrees of importance in relation to the attributes and that this importance influences the buying decision. The purpose of this study is to identify which attributes are key in the buying decision-making process for consumers in making buying decisions in establishments that sell street food. It is a study of both qualitative and q...

  15. Investigating reliability attributes of silicon photovoltaic cells - An overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Royal, E. L.

    1982-01-01

    Reliability attributes are being developed on a wide variety of advanced single-crystal silicon solar cells. Two separate investigations: cell-contact integrity (metal-to-silicon adherence), and cracked cells identified with fracture-strength-reducing flaws are discussed. In the cell-contact-integrity investigation, analysis of contact pull-strength data shows that cell types made with different metallization technologies, i.e., vacuum, plated, screen-printed and soldered, have appreciably different reliability attributes. In the second investigation, fracture strength was measured using Czochralski wafers and cells taken at various stages of processing and differences were noted. Fracture strength, which is believed to be governed by flaws introduced during wafer sawing, was observed to improve (increase) after chemical polishing and other process steps that tend to remove surface and edge flaws.

  16. Some attributes of snow occurrence and snowmelt/sublimation rates ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Some attributes of snow occurrence and snowmelt/sublimation rates in the Lesotho ... and trimmed MODIS SNOMAP image using the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst tool. ... and hydrology, earth surface processes, and rural livelihoods in the Lesotho ...

  17. Postdetonation nuclear debris for attribution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fahey, A J; Zeissler, C J; Newbury, D E; Davis, J; Lindstrom, R M

    2010-11-23

    On the morning of July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was exploded in New Mexico on the White Sands Proving Ground. The device was a plutonium implosion device similar to the device that destroyed Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9 of that same year. Recently, with the enactment of US public law 111-140, the "Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act," scientists in the government and academia have been able, in earnest, to consider what type of forensic-style information may be obtained after a nuclear detonation. To conduct a robust attribution process for an exploded device placed by a nonstate actor, forensic analysis must yield information about not only the nuclear material in the device but about other materials that went into its construction. We have performed an investigation of glassed ground debris from the first nuclear test showing correlations among multiple analytical techniques. Surprisingly, there is strong evidence, obtainable only through microanalysis, that secondary materials used in the device can be identified and positively associated with the nuclear material.

  18. Quality Attribute Techniques Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiam, Yin Kia; Zhu, Liming; Staples, Mark

    The quality of software is achieved during its development. Development teams use various techniques to investigate, evaluate and control potential quality problems in their systems. These “Quality Attribute Techniques” target specific product qualities such as safety or security. This paper proposes a framework to capture important characteristics of these techniques. The framework is intended to support process tailoring, by facilitating the selection of techniques for inclusion into process models that target specific product qualities. We use risk management as a theory to accommodate techniques for many product qualities and lifecycle phases. Safety techniques have motivated the framework, and safety and performance techniques have been used to evaluate the framework. The evaluation demonstrates the ability of quality risk management to cover the development lifecycle and to accommodate two different product qualities. We identify advantages and limitations of the framework, and discuss future research on the framework.

  19. [The nurse's administrative point of view in the hospitalar macro system: a reflexive study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza, Fábia Maria; Soares, Enedina

    2006-01-01

    The study aimed at investigating the nurses' administration points of view concerning managing activities in the hospital macro-system, based on the Administration Contingent Theory A group of 9 nurses responsible for the administration of nursing services at 6 reference hospitals in Fortaleza/Ceara, participated of the study. Data were assessed by means of free interview techniques, from August to December 2001. The results suggest that the administrative approach focused the development of Leadership and Control activities. The interview outcomes reveal that nursing administration in a Hospital Macro-system was not perceived as an easy task, but feasible nevertheless. The greatest difficulty seemed to be due to a poor reflexive practice about the nurse's administrative attributions.

  20. Attribute based encryption for secure sharing of E-health data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charanya, R.; Nithya, S.; Manikandan, N.

    2017-11-01

    Distributed computing is one of the developing innovations in IT part and information security assumes a real part. It includes sending gathering of remote server and programming that permit the unified information and online access to PC administrations. Distributed computing depends on offering of asset among different clients are additionally progressively reallocated on interest. Cloud computing is a revolutionary computing paradigm which enables flexible, on-demand and low-cost usage of computing resources. The reasons for security and protection issues, which rise on the grounds that the health information possessed by distinctive clients are put away in some cloud servers rather than under their own particular control”z. To deal with security problems, various schemes based on the Attribute-Based Encryption have been proposed. In this paper, in order to make ehealth data’s more secure we use multi party in cloud computing system. Where the health data is encrypted using attributes and key policy. And the user with a particular attribute and key policy alone will be able to decrypt the health data after it is verified by “key distribution centre” and the “secure data distributor”. This technique can be used in medical field for secure storage of patient details and limiting to particular doctor access. To make data’s scalable secure we need to encrypt the health data before outsourcing.

  1. Attribution style, theory and empirical findings

    OpenAIRE

    Krohn, Charlotte

    2017-01-01

    Master i læring i komplekse systemer Attribution theory is a long-standing and widely discussed theory that addresses individuals’ explanation of causes of events. People attribute events of success and failure individually. Previous studies indicate that performance in sporting events may be improved by changing individuals’ attribution style. Article one describes attribution and attribution theory as state of the art. The article addresses the most important findings within attribution ...

  2. Hostile attribution biases for relationally provocative situations and event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godleski, Stephanie A; Ostrov, Jamie M; Houston, Rebecca J; Schlienz, Nicolas J

    2010-04-01

    This exploratory study investigates how hostile attribution biases for relationally provocative situations may be related to neurocognitive processing using the P300 event-related potential. Participants were 112 (45 women) emerging adults enrolled in a large, public university in upstate New York. Participants completed self-report measures on relational aggression and hostile attribution biases and performed an auditory perseveration task to elicit the P300. It was found that hostile attribution biases for relational provocation situations was associated with a larger P300 amplitude above and beyond the role of hostile attribution biases for instrumental situations, relational aggression, and gender. Larger P300 amplitude is interpreted to reflect greater allocation of cognitive resources or enhanced "attending" to salient stimuli. Implications for methodological approaches to studying aggression and hostile attribution biases and for theory are discussed, as well as implications for the fields of developmental psychology and psychopathology. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Quality-by-design III: application of near-infrared spectroscopy to monitor roller compaction in-process and product quality attributes of immediate release tablets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kona, Ravikanth; Fahmy, Raafat M; Claycamp, Gregg; Polli, James E; Martinez, Marilyn; Hoag, Stephen W

    2015-02-01

    The objective of this study is to use near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) coupled with multivariate chemometric models to monitor granule and tablet quality attributes in the formulation development and manufacturing of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CIP) immediate release tablets. Critical roller compaction process parameters, compression force (CFt), and formulation variables identified from our earlier studies were evaluated in more detail. Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square (PLS) models were developed during the development stage and used as a control tool to predict the quality of granules and tablets. Validated models were used to monitor and control batches manufactured at different sites to assess their robustness to change. The results showed that roll pressure (RP) and CFt played a critical role in the quality of the granules and the finished product within the range tested. Replacing binder source did not statistically influence the quality attributes of the granules and tablets. However, lubricant type has significantly impacted the granule size. Blend uniformity, crushing force, disintegration time during the manufacturing was predicted using validated PLS regression models with acceptable standard error of prediction (SEP) values, whereas the models resulted in higher SEP for batches obtained from different manufacturing site. From this study, we were able to identify critical factors which could impact the quality attributes of the CIP IR tablets. In summary, we demonstrated the ability of near-infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics as a powerful tool to monitor critical quality attributes (CQA) identified during formulation development.

  4. Gender Inequality in University Administration and Services

    OpenAIRE

    Estelles Miguel, Sofia; NAVARRO GARCÍA, ANTONIO; Palmer Gato, Marta Elena; Albarracín Guillem, José Miguel

    2014-01-01

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This article addresses inequalities between men and women at work. Inequalities in job access and career progression are addressed. The article reviews literature on equal opportunities at work. A case study of administrative and services staff at a public university in Valencia (Spain) is then presented. The case study assesses the current reality of gender inequality in Spanish public institutions. Spanish public uni...

  5. Monitoring the Long-Term Effectiveness of Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) Implementation Through Use of a Performance Dashboard Process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinney, Michael D.; Barrick, William D.

    2008-01-01

    This session will examine a method developed by Federal and Contractor personnel at the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) to examine long-term maintenance of DOE Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) criteria, including safety culture attributes, as well as identification of process improvement opportunities. This process was initially developed in the summer of 2000 and has since been expanded to recognize the importance of safety culture attributes, and associated safety culture elements, as defined in DOE M 450.4-1, 'Integrated Safety Management System Manual'. This process has proven to significantly enhance collective awareness of the importance of long-term ISMS implementation as well as support commitments by NNSA/NSO personnel to examine the continued effectiveness of ISMS processes

  6. Improvement attributes in healthcare: implications for integrated care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harnett, Patrick John

    2018-04-16

    Purpose Healthcare quality improvement is a key concern for policy makers, regulators, carers and service users. Despite a contemporary consensus among policy makers that integrated care represents a means to substantially improve service outcomes, progress has been slow. Difficulties achieving sustained improvement at scale imply that methods employed are not sufficient and that healthcare improvement attributes may be different when compared to prior reference domains. The purpose of this paper is to examine and synthesise key improvement attributes relevant to a complex healthcare change process, specifically integrated care. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on an integrative literature review on systemic improvement in healthcare. Findings A central theme emerging from the literature review indicates that implementing systemic change needs to address the relationship between vision, methods and participant social dynamics. Practical implications Accommodating personal and professional network dynamics is required for systemic improvement, especially among high autonomy individuals. This reinforces the need to recognise the change process as taking place in a complex adaptive system where personal/professional purpose/meaning is central to the process. Originality/value Shared personal/professional narratives are insufficiently recognised as a powerful change force, under-represented in linear and rational empirical improvement approaches.

  7. Relations among Autonomy, Attribution Style, and Happiness in College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donnell, Susan L.; Chang, Kelly B.; Miller, Kristen S.

    2013-01-01

    Research suggests that a personal sense of autonomy supports individuals' success in a variety of domains, but information regarding these processes remains unclear. This paper attempts to establish a link between personal autonomy and cognitive processes, in the form of attributions for success and failure, in establishing a sense of subjective…

  8. A system identification approach for developing model predictive controllers of antibody quality attributes in cell culture processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downey, Brandon; Schmitt, John; Beller, Justin; Russell, Brian; Quach, Anthony; Hermann, Elizabeth; Lyon, David; Breit, Jeffrey

    2017-11-01

    As the biopharmaceutical industry evolves to include more diverse protein formats and processes, more robust control of Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) is needed to maintain processing flexibility without compromising quality. Active control of CQAs has been demonstrated using model predictive control techniques, which allow development of processes which are robust against disturbances associated with raw material variability and other potentially flexible operating conditions. Wide adoption of model predictive control in biopharmaceutical cell culture processes has been hampered, however, in part due to the large amount of data and expertise required to make a predictive model of controlled CQAs, a requirement for model predictive control. Here we developed a highly automated, perfusion apparatus to systematically and efficiently generate predictive models using application of system identification approaches. We successfully created a predictive model of %galactosylation using data obtained by manipulating galactose concentration in the perfusion apparatus in serialized step change experiments. We then demonstrated the use of the model in a model predictive controller in a simulated control scenario to successfully achieve a %galactosylation set point in a simulated fed-batch culture. The automated model identification approach demonstrated here can potentially be generalized to many CQAs, and could be a more efficient, faster, and highly automated alternative to batch experiments for developing predictive models in cell culture processes, and allow the wider adoption of model predictive control in biopharmaceutical processes. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1647-1661, 2017. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

  9. GENERAL CHANGES AS A CONDITION OF INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION - THE CASE OF THE TAX ADMINISTRATION

    OpenAIRE

    Hak, Mario; Budić, Hrvoje; Pišmiš, Vjekoslav

    2016-01-01

    Efficiency has long played a central role in the contested terrain of public administration values. This paper analyzes the existing business processes and explores how to determine the optimal model of business processes in the Tax Administration. The goal of this model of bussines is to increase business efficiency and reflecting on all users of the Tax Administration.

  10. 78 FR 36786 - Linking Marketplace Heparin Product Attributes and Manufacturing Processes to Bioactivity and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-19

    ... application to: Gladys Melendez at the Food and Drug Administration, Grants Management (HFA-500), 5630 Fishers... Gladys Melendez, Office of Acquisition Support and Grant Services, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-7175, email: Gladys[email protected] . For more information...

  11. Case-based reasoning diagnostic technique based on multi-attribute similarity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makoto, Takahashi [Tohoku University, Miyagi (Japan); Akio, Gofuku [Okayama University, Okayamaa (Japan)

    2014-08-15

    Case-based diagnostic technique has been developed based on the multi-attribute similarity. Specific feature of the developed system is to use multiple attributes of process signals for similarity evaluation to retrieve a similar case stored in a case base. The present technique has been applied to the measurement data from Monju with some simulated anomalies. The results of numerical experiments showed that the present technique can be utilizes as one of the methods for a hybrid-type diagnosis system.

  12. STUDENTS’ ATTRIBUTIONS ON THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING ENHANCEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yustinus Mali

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Attribution refers to explanations and reasons that people provide for progress, achievement, and even failure towards something they have experienced, particularly in their language learning. This study aimed to investigate the attributions that students had for their English-speaking enhancement. The participants of the study were eighteen students at Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Ambarukmo Yogyakarta (STIPRAM. Open-ended questionnaire and interview were used as the instruments to collect the data. On the questionnaire, the participants were specifically asked to provide written responses to three statements, while in the interview process, the researcher involved three participants to provide further clarification toward their written responses on the questionnaire. The data analysis revealed that a clear purpose of doing particular English speaking activities, strategy, and the positive motivation/encouragement from friends as well as from the teacher became the major students’ attributions on their English-speaking enhancement. Besides, this study would seem to indicate that a teacher took an essential role in the enhancement of the students’ English speaking skill. Eventually, this study proposed some pedagogical implications for the development of teaching and learning in English speaking classes specifically in Indonesian context.

  13. The Communication in Public Administration in Urban Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorina Ţicu

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to underline the role of communication in the public institutions byidentifying the characteristics and peculiarities of the process of public administration, starting from thecharacteristics of administrative process and from those of organizational behavior in urban areas identifiableat the level of each public institution. The study of the dimensions such as the actors and the stakeholdersinvolved in the administrative process, the goals and the objectives of the administrative evaluation, thecriteria and the techniques of communication and all interpersonal hierarchies established, all of these can beconsidered variables that can offer distinction to the communication process in public administration, whetherwe speak about inter-institutional communication or intra-institution alone or about that one from the publicadministration to citizens. This article aims to underlie the characteristics of the communication process inpublic administration based on a quantitative study which appeals to the variables previously set and that canbecome models or labels for subsequent specialized studies.

  14. Evaluating a Serious Gaming Electronic Medication Administration Record System Among Nursing Students: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Booth, Richard; Sinclair, Barbara; McMurray, Josephine; Strudwick, Gillian; Watson, Gavan; Ladak, Hanif; Zwarenstein, Merrick; McBride, Susan; Chan, Ryan; Brennan, Laura

    2018-05-28

    Although electronic medication administration record systems have been implemented in settings where nurses work, nursing students commonly lack robust learning opportunities to practice the skills and workflow of digitalized medication administration during their formative education. As a result, nursing students' performance in administering medication facilitated by technology is often poor. Serious gaming has been recommended as a possible intervention to improve nursing students' performance with electronic medication administration in nursing education. The objectives of this study are to examine whether the use of a gamified electronic medication administration simulator (1) improves nursing students' attention to medication administration safety within simulated practice, (2) increases student self-efficacy and knowledge of the medication administration process, and (3) improves motivational and cognitive processing attributes related to student learning in a technology-enabled environment. This study comprised the development of a gamified electronic medication administration record simulator and its evaluation in 2 phases. Phase 1 consists of a prospective, pragmatic randomized controlled trial with second-year baccalaureate nursing students at a Canadian university. Phase 2 consists of qualitative focus group interviews with a cross-section of nursing student participants. The gamified medication administration simulator has been developed, and data collection is currently under way. If the gamified electronic medication administration simulator is found to be effective, it could be used to support other health professional simulated education and scaled more widely in nursing education programs. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219151; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03219151 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6yjBROoDt). RR1-10.2196/9601. ©Richard Booth, Barbara Sinclair, Josephine McMurray, Gillian Strudwick, Gavan Watson, Hanif Ladak

  15. 10 CFR 725.24 - Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Administration. 725.24 Section 725.24 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PERMITS FOR ACCESS TO RESTRICTED DATA Permits § 725.24 Administration. With respect to each permit... designate a DOE or National Nuclear Security Administration office which will: (a) Process all personnel...

  16. Cluster Based Vector Attribute Filtering

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kiwanuka, Fred N.; Wilkinson, Michael H.F.

    2016-01-01

    Morphological attribute filters operate on images based on properties or attributes of connected components. Until recently, attribute filtering was based on a single global threshold on a scalar property to remove or retain objects. A single threshold struggles in case no single property or

  17. Personal Responsibility versus God's Will: Religious and Non-religious Attributions for the Death of a Friend.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Crystal L.; Cohen, Lawrence H.

    Attributions, attempts to link an event with its causes, enable people to understand and react to their surroundings. Because attributions are directly related to understanding events, and because this understanding influences how individuals then deal with events, attributions play a vital role in the coping process. To explore the nature of…

  18. Growth attributes – closing the GAP in Family-SMEs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brink, Tove; Neville, Mette

    -sized Enterprises (SMEs)” to enhance the growth opportunities present in the EU SMEs. Most initiatives focus on creating better framework conditions for SMEs. However, research shows that growth is hampered by a number of internal factors. Many SMEs often lack the important internal attributes for growth pointed...... out in theory and empirical studies, which means that there is a gap between theory and practice when it comes to growth attributes in SMEs. This paper provides an enhanced understanding of whether gap-filling between theory and practice in family-SMEs is possible and whether gap-filling will actually...... stimulate growth. The findings are based on a large-scale research project involving 24 Danish family-SMEs, which completed a learning and development process over a period of three years. The aim of the project was to examine whether such a process which focused on a combination of some of the most...

  19. Evolutionary Influences on Attribution and Affect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennie Brown

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Evolutionary theory was applied to Reeder and Brewer's schematic theory and Trafimow's affect theory to extend this area of research with five new predictions involving affect and ability attributions, comparing morality and ability attributions, gender differences, and reaction times for affect and attribution ratings. The design included a 2 (Trait Dimension Type: HR, PR × 2 (Behavior Type: morality, ability × 2 (Valence: positive, negative × 2 (Replication: original, replication × 2 (Sex: female or male actor × 2 (Gender: female or male participant × 2 (Order: attribution portion first, affect portion first mixed design. All factors were within participants except the order and participant gender. Participants were presented with 32 different scenarios in which an actor engaged in a concrete behavior after which they made attributions and rated their affect in response to the behavior. Reaction times were measured during attribution and affect ratings. In general, the findings from the experiment supported the new predictions. Affect was related to attributions for both morality and ability related behaviors. Morality related behaviors received more extreme attribution and affect ratings than ability related behaviors. Female actors received stronger attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic morality behaviors compared to male actors. Male and female actors received similar attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic ability behaviors. Diagnostic behaviors were associated with lower reaction times than non-diagnostic behaviors. These findings demonstrate the utility of evolutionary theory in creating new hypotheses and empirical findings in the domain of attribution.

  20. College & University Business Administration. Third Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Association of College and University Business Officers, Washington, DC.

    This text presents indepth coverage of five areas of college and university business administration, including administrative management, business management, fiscal management, and financial accounting and reporting. The section on administrative management encompasses institutional planning, management information systems and data processing,…

  1. Erythropoietin improves mood and modulates the cognitive and neural processing of emotion 3 days post administration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miskowiak, Kamilla; Inkster, Becky; Selvaraj, Sudhakar

    2008-01-01

    the reliability of the rapid mood improvement and its neuropsychological basis. Neuronal responses during the processing of happy and fearful faces were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); facial expression recognition performance was assessed after the fMRI scan. Daily ratings...... of mood were obtained for 3 days after Epo/saline administration. During faces processing Epo enhanced activation in the left amygdala and right precuneus to happy and fearful expressions. This was paired with improved recognition of all facial expressions, in particular of low intensity happiness...

  2. Co-evolution of social networks and continuous actor attributes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Niezink, Nynke M.D.; Snijders, Tom A.B.

    2017-01-01

    Social networks and the attributes of the actors in these networks are not static; they may develop interdependently over time. The stochastic actor-oriented model allows for statistical inference on the mechanisms driving this co-evolution process. In earlier versions of this model, dynamic actor

  3. 5-D interpolation with wave-front attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yujiang; Gajewski, Dirk

    2017-11-01

    Most 5-D interpolation and regularization techniques reconstruct the missing data in the frequency domain by using mathematical transforms. An alternative type of interpolation methods uses wave-front attributes, that is, quantities with a specific physical meaning like the angle of emergence and wave-front curvatures. In these attributes structural information of subsurface features like dip and strike of a reflector are included. These wave-front attributes work on 5-D data space (e.g. common-midpoint coordinates in x and y, offset, azimuth and time), leading to a 5-D interpolation technique. Since the process is based on stacking next to the interpolation a pre-stack data enhancement is achieved, improving the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of interpolated and recorded traces. The wave-front attributes are determined in a data-driven fashion, for example, with the Common Reflection Surface (CRS method). As one of the wave-front-attribute-based interpolation techniques, the 3-D partial CRS method was proposed to enhance the quality of 3-D pre-stack data with low S/N. In the past work on 3-D partial stacks, two potential problems were still unsolved. For high-quality wave-front attributes, we suggest a global optimization strategy instead of the so far used pragmatic search approach. In previous works, the interpolation of 3-D data was performed along a specific azimuth which is acceptable for narrow azimuth acquisition but does not exploit the potential of wide-, rich- or full-azimuth acquisitions. The conventional 3-D partial CRS method is improved in this work and we call it as a wave-front-attribute-based 5-D interpolation (5-D WABI) as the two problems mentioned above are addressed. Data examples demonstrate the improved performance by the 5-D WABI method when compared with the conventional 3-D partial CRS approach. A comparison of the rank-reduction-based 5-D seismic interpolation technique with the proposed 5-D WABI method is given. The comparison reveals that

  4. Accounts Payable Administrator | IDRC - International Development ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Job Summary An Accounts Payable Administrator is responsible for the processing of supplier invoices and grant payment requests (from the Grant Administration Division and regional offices for institutional recipients, participants, scholars, fellows and other awardees). Each Administrator looks after internal cost centers, ...

  5. Accounting for Attribute-Level Non-Attendance in a Health Choice Experiment: Does it Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erdem, Seda; Campbell, Danny; Hole, Arne Risa

    2015-07-01

    An extensive literature has established that it is common for respondents to ignore attributes of the alternatives within choice experiments. In most of the studies on attribute non-attendance, it is assumed that respondents consciously (or unconsciously) ignore one or more attributes of the alternatives, regardless of their levels. In this paper, we present a new line of enquiry and approach for modelling non-attendance in the context of investigating preferences for health service innovations. This approach recognises that non-attendance may not just be associated with attributes but may also apply to the attribute's levels. Our results show that respondents process each level of an attribute differently: while attending to the attribute, they ignore a subset of the attribute's levels. In such cases, the usual approach of assuming that respondents either attend to the attribute or not, irrespective of its levels, is erroneous and could lead to misguided policy recommendations. Our results indicate that allowing for attribute-level non-attendance leads to substantial improvements in the model fit and has an impact on estimated marginal willingness to pay and choice predictions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Main Quality Attributes of Monoclonal Antibodies and Effect of Cell Culture Components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torkashvand, Fatemeh; Vaziri, Behrouz

    2017-05-01

    The culture media optimization is an inevitable part of upstream process development in therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) production. The quality by design (QbD) approach defines the assured quality of the final product through the development stage. An important step in QbD is determination of the main quality attributes. During the media optimization, some of the main quality attributes such as glycosylation pattern, charge variants, aggregates, and low-molecular-weight species, could be significantly altered. Here, we provide an overview of how cell culture medium components affects the main quality attributes of the mAbs. Knowing the relationship between the culture media components and the main quality attributes could be successfully utilized for a rational optimization of mammalian cell culture media for industrial mAbs production.

  7. The Link between HR Attributions and Employees’ Turnover Intentions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Caesaria Tandung

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Human Resources Management (HRM is part of the organizational functions that contribute to the effectiveness of a firm’s performance, and brings an organization a competitive advantage through the implementation of its Human Resources (HR practices. HR practices adopted by management are perceived or attributed subjectively by individual employees, and can in turn affect the employees’ attitudes and behavior (e.g. Job satisfaction and turnover intention. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the process-based approach by investigating the effect of HR attributions on turnover intentions, with job satisfaction playing a mediating role. The analysis is on the individual level, with 454 respondents from various organizations within the Netherlands. The results show that HR attributions can affect the turnover intention, through the presence of job satisfaction. Thus, it can be said that it is important to always consider the employees’ attitudes and behavior when examining their perception of HR practices, and in predicting their intention to leave.

  8. Professional performance attributes according to accounting entrepreneurs from greater São Paulo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivam Ricardo Peleias

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Accounting has a broad activity universe, which requires skilled professionals who are prepared to practice the profession. One possibility is to be an accounting entrepreneur, whose profile requires specific attributes and attitudes. The results reported on in this paper derive from a research developed using the oral history technique, concerning the identification and analysis of attributes valued in the performance of the profession by accounting entrepreneurs from greater São Paulo. A field research was developed, involving face-to-face interviews with a group of seven accounting entrepreneurs of outstanding professional reputation, seeking evidence on the administration of the accounting organization and on the interviewees’ entrepreneurial profile. The theoretical framework was focused on the accounting organizations and the entrepreneurial behavior. The data revealed common attributes and profiles needed to perform the profession among the interviewees and the accounting organizations they manage, such as: they started the organizations in a simple manner, in a family environment; the organizations are structured in a departmentalized manner, delegating powers; they declared having achieved an outstanding position in the accounting segment with great work, dedication and persistence; they execute their activities based on ethics, honesty and seriousness; they look for new challenges and enterprises and target the valuation of the accounting profession.

  9. Assessing health status and quality-of-life instruments: attributes and review criteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaronson, Neil; Alonso, Jordi; Burnam, Audrey; Lohr, Kathleen N; Patrick, Donald L; Perrin, Edward; Stein, Ruth E

    2002-05-01

    The field of health status and quality of life (QoL) measurement - as a formal discipline with a cohesive theoretical framework, accepted methods, and diverse applications--has been evolving for the better part of 30 years. To identify health status and QoL instruments and review them against rigorous criteria as a precursor to creating an instrument library for later dissemination, the Medical Outcomes Trust in 1994 created an independently functioning Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). In the mid-1990s, the SAC defined a set of attributes and criteria to carry out instrument assessments; 5 years later, it updated and revised these materials to take account of the expanding theories and technologies upon which such instruments were being developed. This paper offers the SAC's current conceptualization of eight key attributes of health status and QoL instruments (i.e., conceptual and measurement model; reliability; validity; responsiveness; interpretability; respondent and administrative burden; alternate forms; and cultural and language adaptations) and the criteria by which instruments would be reviewed on each of those attributes. These are suggested guidelines for the field to consider and debate; as measurement techniques become both more familiar and more sophisticated, we expect that experts will wish to update and refine these criteria accordingly.

  10. Job satisfaction among mental healthcare professionals: The respective contributions of professional characteristics, team attributes, team processes, and team emergent states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Marie-Josée; Grenier, Guy; Bamvita, Jean-Marie

    2017-01-01

    Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the respective contribution of professional characteristics, team attributes, team processes, and team emergent states on the job satisfaction of 315 mental health professionals from Quebec (Canada). Methods: Job satisfaction was measured with the Job Satisfaction Survey. Independent variables were organized into four categories according to a conceptual framework inspired from the Input-Mediator-Outcomes-Input Model. The contribution of each category of variables was assessed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results: Variations in job satisfaction were mostly explained by team processes, with minimal contribution from the other three categories. Among the six variables significantly associated with job satisfaction in the final model, four were team processes: stronger team support, less team conflict, deeper involvement in the decision-making process, and more team collaboration. Job satisfaction was also associated with nursing and, marginally, male gender (professional characteristics) as well as with a stronger affective commitment toward the team (team emergent states). Discussion and Conclusion: Results confirm the importance for health managers of offering adequate support to mental health professionals, and creating an environment favorable to collaboration and decision-sharing, and likely to reduce conflicts between team members. PMID:29276591

  11. Job satisfaction among mental healthcare professionals: The respective contributions of professional characteristics, team attributes, team processes, and team emergent states.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Marie-Josée; Grenier, Guy; Bamvita, Jean-Marie

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the respective contribution of professional characteristics, team attributes, team processes, and team emergent states on the job satisfaction of 315 mental health professionals from Quebec (Canada). Job satisfaction was measured with the Job Satisfaction Survey. Independent variables were organized into four categories according to a conceptual framework inspired from the Input-Mediator-Outcomes-Input Model. The contribution of each category of variables was assessed using hierarchical regression analysis. Variations in job satisfaction were mostly explained by team processes, with minimal contribution from the other three categories. Among the six variables significantly associated with job satisfaction in the final model, four were team processes: stronger team support, less team conflict, deeper involvement in the decision-making process, and more team collaboration. Job satisfaction was also associated with nursing and, marginally, male gender (professional characteristics) as well as with a stronger affective commitment toward the team (team emergent states). Results confirm the importance for health managers of offering adequate support to mental health professionals, and creating an environment favorable to collaboration and decision-sharing, and likely to reduce conflicts between team members.

  12. Customers' attributional judgments towards complaint handling in airline service: a confirmatory study based on attribution theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiou, Wen-Bin

    2007-06-01

    Besides flight safety, complaint handling plays a crucial role in airline service. Based upon Kelley's attribution theory, in the present study customers' attributions were examined under different conditions of complaint handling by the airlines. There were 531 passengers (216 women; ages 21 to 63 years, M = 41.5, SD = 11.1) with experiences of customer complaints who were recruited while awaiting boarding. Participants received one hypothetical scenario of three attributional conditions about complaint handling and then reported their attributional judgments. The findings indicated that the passengers were most likely to attribute the company's complaint handling to unconditional compliance when the airline company reacted to customer complaints under low distinctiveness, high consistency, and when consensus among the airlines was low. On the other hand, most passengers attributed the company's complaint handling to conditional compliance under the conditions in which distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus were all high. The results provide further insights into how different policies of complaint management affect customers' attributions. Future directions and managerial implications are also discussed.

  13. The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues

    OpenAIRE

    Danna, Carey L.; Shepard, Paul D.; Elmer, Greg I.

    2013-01-01

    The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb), a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral...

  14. Real-time determination of critical quality attributes using near-infrared spectroscopy: a contribution for Process Analytical Technology (PAT).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosas, Juan G; Blanco, Marcel; González, Josep M; Alcalà, Manel

    2012-08-15

    Process Analytical Technology (PAT) is playing a central role in current regulations on pharmaceutical production processes. Proper understanding of all operations and variables connecting the raw materials to end products is one of the keys to ensuring quality of the products and continuous improvement in their production. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been successfully used to develop faster and non-invasive quantitative methods for real-time predicting critical quality attributes (CQA) of pharmaceutical granulates (API content, pH, moisture, flowability, angle of repose and particle size). NIR spectra have been acquired from the bin blender after granulation process in a non-classified area without the need of sample withdrawal. The methodology used for data acquisition, calibration modelling and method application in this context is relatively inexpensive and can be easily implemented by most pharmaceutical laboratories. For this purpose, Partial Least-Squares (PLS) algorithm was used to calculate multivariate calibration models, that provided acceptable Root Mean Square Error of Predictions (RMSEP) values (RMSEP(API)=1.0 mg/g; RMSEP(pH)=0.1; RMSEP(Moisture)=0.1%; RMSEP(Flowability)=0.6 g/s; RMSEP(Angle of repose)=1.7° and RMSEP(Particle size)=2.5%) that allowed the application for routine analyses of production batches. The proposed method affords quality assessment of end products and the determination of important parameters with a view to understanding production processes used by the pharmaceutical industry. As shown here, the NIRS technique is a highly suitable tool for Process Analytical Technologies. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The role of various actors in achieving the administrative decentralization process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana CASTRAŞAN

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Under the current conditions, when all attention is paid to primary tasks of rule of law, cultural and economic development, strengthening of rule of law in society, role of public administration prevail as the main task of the state. The public administrations system it is inseparably linked to the implementation of state policy through the activities they perform. In particular, it emphasizes the role of local authorities as a basic factor of the localities development and achieving a set of objectives, which implies a special responsibility submitted to elected officials and civil servants. As an activity, local administration have the aim to obtain some certain political values expressed by law. And the most important is to satisfy the general interest of a local community. Thereby, the phenomenon of administrative decentralization reaches the maximum attention , because the essence of a local government is that it is closer to the citizen and it serves him. The need of local authorities appear when exist a local community with common interests. That’s why, it is an analyze why this problem of decentralization it is permanently a current topic. Local autonomy and decentralization are the corner stones of organization and functioning of local public administration authorities.

  16. Analytic Hierarchy Process & Multi Attribute Utility Theory Based Approach for the Selection of Lighting Systems in Residential Buildings: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Othman Alshamrani

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an approach developed for selecting lighting systems in residential buildings using an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP and the Multi Criteria Decision Making Technique (MCDMT. The developed approach considers four selection criteria of lighting systems: life-cycle cost, illumination, environmental performance, and life-span. The criteria of selection, along with the most widely used lighting systems in residential buildings, were determined through questionnaire surveys with suppliers, maintenance managers, and lighting experts. The Analytic Hierarchy Process and Multi Attribute Utility Theory were utilized to assess the significant influence of the identified main and sub-criteria on the selection process, from the design point of view. The developed approach was tested on a real case project in selecting the lighting system for aresidential building in Saudi Arabia. The obtained results show that the life-cycle cost and illumination proprieties, followed by the service life were found to be the most influential measures in the selection process. The results also show that Light-Emitting Diode(LED lighting systems prove to bear the highest initial cost while sustaining the best overall performance.

  17. Attribute importance segmentation of Norwegian seafood consumers: The inclusion of salient packaging attributes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Svein Ottar; Tuu, Ho Huu; Grunert, Klaus G

    2017-10-01

    The main purpose of this study is to identify consumer segments based on the importance of product attributes when buying seafood for homemade meals on weekdays. There is a particular focus on the relative importance of the packaging attributes of fresh seafood. The results are based on a representative survey of 840 Norwegian consumers between 18 and 80 years of age. This study found that taste, freshness, nutritional value and naturalness are the most important attributes for the home consumption of seafood. Except for the high importance of information about expiration date, most other packaging attributes have only medium importance. Three consumer segments are identified based on the importance of 33 attributes associated with seafood: Perfectionists, Quality Conscious and Careless Consumers. The Quality Conscious consumers feel more self-confident in their evaluation of quality, and are less concerned with packaging, branding, convenience and emotional benefits compared to the Perfectionists. Careless Consumers are important as regular consumers of convenient and pre-packed seafood products and value recipe information on the packaging. The seafood industry may use the results provided in this study to strengthen their positioning of seafood across three different consumer segments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Reviewing the Role of Media Attributes in Mobilizing Protest Participation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Broek, Tijs Adriaan; Ehrenhard, Michel Léon

    2014-01-01

    Activist groups increasingly use computer-mediated communication (CMC) channels to mobilize large groups of consumers to persuade incumbent firms to change their contested strategies or practices. The attributes of CMC channels change the effectiveness of persuasion processes in organizations.

  19. ANALISIS PERSEPSI AUDITOR MENGENAI FAKTOR PENENTU AUDIT FEE BERDASARKAN CLIENT ATTRIBUTES, AUDITOR ATTRIBUTES, DAN ENGAGEMENT ATRTRIBUTES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aman Faturachman

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available This research purposes to know how perception auditors about determining factors of audit fee based on Client Attributes, Auditor Attributes, and Engagement Attributes at The Public Accountant Firm residing in Bandung. In this research, the indicator that is used to characterize the Client Attributes are size, complexity, inherent risk, profitability, leverage and liquidity, and industry. While the indicator to characterize the Auditor Attributes are auditor’s specialization, audit tenure, and location. And the indicators to characterize the Engagement Attributes are audit problems, audit report lag, busy season, and number of reports. The Method that is used in this research is a descriptive method. The population in this research is a public accountant in Bandung. Based on sampling techniques that saturated and qualified then it take about 11 offices of public accountant. SmartPLS ver 2.0 M3 are used as a Statistical analysis. The result of this research with count the loading factor and bootstrapping method are, the first one that the perception of the auditor based on client attributes of audit fee determinants from which is very important to not important is size, complexity, profitability, inherent risk,  industry, and leverage & liquidty, the second states that perception based on auditor attributes audit fee determinants from which is very important to not important is audit tenure, location, and specialization. And the third states that the perception of auditor engagement attributes based determinants of audit fee which is very important to not important audit report lag, busy season, audit problems and number of reports.

  20. Comparison of Vehicle Efficiency Technology Attributes and Synergy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Duleep, G. [ICF Incorporated, LLC., Fairfax, VA (United States)

    2011-02-01

    Analyzing the future fuel economy of light-duty vehicles (LDVs) requires detailed knowledge of the vehicle technologies available to improve LDV fuel economy. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been relying on technology data from a 2001 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study (NAS 2001) on corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards, but the technology parameters were updated in the new proposed rulemaking (EPA and NHTSA 2009) to set CAFE and greenhouse gas standards for the 2011 to 2016 period. The update is based largely on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis of technology attributes augmented by NHTSA data and contractor staff assessments. These technology cost and performance data were documented in the Draft Joint Technical Support Document (TSD) issued by EPA and NHTSA in September 2009 (EPA/NHTSA 2009). For these tasks, the Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA) division of ICF International (ICF) examined each technology and technology package in the Draft TSD and assessed their costs and performance potential based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program assessments. ICF also assessed the technologies, other relevant attributes based on data from actual production vehicles, and recently published technical articles in engineering journals. ICF examined technology synergy issues through an ICF in-house model that uses a discrete parameter approach.

  1. Comparison of Vehicle Efficiency Technology Attributes and Synergy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Duleep, G.

    2011-02-01

    Analyzing the future fuel economy of light-duty vehicles (LDVs) requires detailed knowledge of the vehicle technologies available to improve LDV fuel economy. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been relying on technology data from a 2001 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study (NAS 2001) on corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards, but the technology parameters were updated in the new proposed rulemaking (EPA and NHTSA 2009) to set CAFE and greenhouse gas standards for the 2011 to 2016 period. The update is based largely on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis of technology attributes augmented by NHTSA data and contractor staff assessments. These technology cost and performance data were documented in the Draft Joint Technical Support Document (TSD) issued by EPA and NHTSA in September 2009 (EPA/NHTSA 2009). For these tasks, the Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA) division of ICF International (ICF) examined each technology and technology package in the Draft TSD and assessed their costs and performance potential based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program assessments. ICF also assessed the technologies? other relevant attributes based on data from actual production vehicles and from recently published technical articles in engineering journals. ICF examined technology synergy issues through an ICF in-house model that uses a discrete parameter approach.

  2. Labeled experimental choice design for estimating attribute and availability cross effects with N attributes and specific brand attribute levels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nguyen, Thong Tien

    2011-01-01

    Experimental designs are required in widely used techniques in marketing research, especially for preference-based conjoint analysis and discrete-choice studies. Ideally, marketing researchers prefer orthogonal designs because this technique could give uncorrelated parameter estimates. However, o...... for implementing designs that is efficient enough to estimate model with N brands, each brand have K attributes, and brand attribute has specific levels. The paper also illustrates an example in food consumption study.......Experimental designs are required in widely used techniques in marketing research, especially for preference-based conjoint analysis and discrete-choice studies. Ideally, marketing researchers prefer orthogonal designs because this technique could give uncorrelated parameter estimates. However......, orthogonal design is not available for every situation. Instead, efficient design based on computerized design algorithm is always available. This paper presents the method of efficient design for estimating brand models having attribute and availability cross effects. The paper gives a framework...

  3. Semantic attributes based texture generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Huifang; Gan, Yanhai; Qi, Lin; Dong, Junyu; Madessa, Amanuel Hirpa

    2018-04-01

    Semantic attributes are commonly used for texture description. They can be used to describe the information of a texture, such as patterns, textons, distributions, brightness, and so on. Generally speaking, semantic attributes are more concrete descriptors than perceptual features. Therefore, it is practical to generate texture images from semantic attributes. In this paper, we propose to generate high-quality texture images from semantic attributes. Over the last two decades, several works have been done on texture synthesis and generation. Most of them focusing on example-based texture synthesis and procedural texture generation. Semantic attributes based texture generation still deserves more devotion. Gan et al. proposed a useful joint model for perception driven texture generation. However, perceptual features are nonobjective spatial statistics used by humans to distinguish different textures in pre-attentive situations. To give more describing information about texture appearance, semantic attributes which are more in line with human description habits are desired. In this paper, we use sigmoid cross entropy loss in an auxiliary model to provide enough information for a generator. Consequently, the discriminator is released from the relatively intractable mission of figuring out the joint distribution of condition vectors and samples. To demonstrate the validity of our method, we compare our method to Gan et al.'s method on generating textures by designing experiments on PTD and DTD. All experimental results show that our model can generate textures from semantic attributes.

  4. Attribute Weighting Based K-Nearest Neighbor Using Gain Ratio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nababan, A. A.; Sitompul, O. S.; Tulus

    2018-04-01

    K- Nearest Neighbor (KNN) is a good classifier, but from several studies, the result performance accuracy of KNN still lower than other methods. One of the causes of the low accuracy produced, because each attribute has the same effect on the classification process, while some less relevant characteristics lead to miss-classification of the class assignment for new data. In this research, we proposed Attribute Weighting Based K-Nearest Neighbor Using Gain Ratio as a parameter to see the correlation between each attribute in the data and the Gain Ratio also will be used as the basis for weighting each attribute of the dataset. The accuracy of results is compared to the accuracy acquired from the original KNN method using 10-fold Cross-Validation with several datasets from the UCI Machine Learning repository and KEEL-Dataset Repository, such as abalone, glass identification, haberman, hayes-roth and water quality status. Based on the result of the test, the proposed method was able to increase the classification accuracy of KNN, where the highest difference of accuracy obtained hayes-roth dataset is worth 12.73%, and the lowest difference of accuracy obtained in the abalone dataset of 0.07%. The average result of the accuracy of all dataset increases the accuracy by 5.33%.

  5. Family caregivers' attributions about care-recipient behaviour: does caregiver relationship satisfaction mediate the attribution-distress relationship?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hui, Siu-Kuen Azor; Elliott, Timothy R; Martin, Roy; Uswatte, Gitendra

    2011-09-01

    The relations of caregiver attributions about care-recipient's problem behaviour to caregiving relationship satisfaction and caregiver distress were examined. This is a cross sectional study. Seventy-five family caregivers of individuals diagnosed with various disabling health conditions were recruited and interviewed. Caregiver attributions (internality, intentionality, responsibility, and controllability), caregiving relationship satisfaction, and caregiver distress variables were measured. Structural equation techniques tested an a priori model of the latent constructs of caregiver attributions and caregiver relationship satisfaction to caregiver distress. Maladaptive caregiver attributions (i.e., more trait, higher intentionality, higher responsibility, and higher controllability) about care-recipients' problem behaviours predicted lower caregiving relationship satisfaction, which in turn was predictive of higher caregiver distress. Unexpectedly, caregiver attributions were not directly related to caregiver distress. However, attributions had an indirect effect on distress through relationship satisfaction. Younger caregivers experienced higher caregiver distress. Caregivers' explanations about care-recipient's problem behaviour are indicative of their satisfaction in the relationship with the care recipient, and poor caregiving relationship satisfaction is predictive of caregiver distress. Caregiver attributions and relationship quality may be considered in interventions with family caregivers. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

  6. Expectations and outcome skills of a generalist health care administrator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, V B; Taylor, L C

    1990-01-01

    The question of the degree of technical versus managerial competence to be found in future graduates from health administration programs is not easily resolved. In the HIMSS 1988 survey of CIOs the attributes needed for success are listed in descending rank order as follows: leadership ability, vision/imagination, knowledge of hospital systems, business acumen, decisiveness, and technical competence. CIOs ranked technical competence as less important than other attributes associated with general management success. The expectations for attitudes, knowledge, and skills presented in this article support the greater importance of management abilities relative to pure technical competence. However, it is vital that an appropriate level of technical knowledge and skill be maintained to enable future alumni of health administration programs to function effectively as administrators. Depending on their role in a health care organization, greater or lesser technical knowledge may be needed. Those pursuing a career path toward CIO must, of necessity, have greater technical knowledge and skill. We have discussed necessary and expected attitudes, knowledge, and skills that will be needed by the generalist health administration graduate in the future. It will be important to develop and maintain an attitude that MIS is a strategic tool, that health care technology is a corporate asset, and that information is power. Graduates must recognize the necessity of maintaining and enhancing their knowledge and skills through continuing education. The knowledge base of MIS education should focus on determining information needs to support strategic goals, understanding of general systems theory, principles of systems analysis, design, implementation and maintenance, awareness and exposure to standard application software, and an awareness of external sources of data.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  7. Authentic Attributes with Fine-Grained Anonymity Protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    registrations and ecommerce trans- Preprint - 2 Stuart G. Stubblebine, and Paul F. Syverson. Authentic Attributes with Fine-Grained Anonymity Protection...driver’s license and birth certi cate. When the registration process is complete, certi cates could be on a smart card that the customer is carrying. The...proof. At least initially, it might not be electronic, e.g., possession of a passport, of a driver’s license and birth certi cate, etc. Anonymous

  8. A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Britta L Timpane-Padgham

    Full Text Available Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9, population- (6, community- (7, ecosystem- (7, or process-level attributes (16. Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1 including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2 considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3 certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to

  9. A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timpane-Padgham, Britta L; Beechie, Tim; Klinger, Terrie

    2017-01-01

    Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9), population- (6), community- (7), ecosystem- (7), or process-level attributes (16). Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1) including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2) considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3) certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to confer

  10. The Disclosure-Intimacy Link in Computer-Mediated Communication: An Attributional Extension of the Hyperpersonal Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, L. Crystal; Bazarova, Natalie N.; Hancock, Jeffrey T.

    2011-01-01

    The present research investigated whether the attribution process through which people explain self-disclosures differs in text-based computer-mediated interactions versus face to face, and whether differences in causal attributions account for the increased intimacy frequently observed in mediated communication. In the experiment participants…

  11. Modeling Business Processes in Public Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Repa, Vaclav

    During more than 10 years of its existence business process modeling became a regular part of organization management practice. It is mostly regarded. as a part of information system development or even as a way to implement some supporting technology (for instance workflow system). Although I do not agree with such reduction of the real meaning of a business process, it is necessary to admit that information technologies play an essential role in business processes (see [1] for more information), Consequently, an information system is inseparable from a business process itself because it is a cornerstone of the general basic infrastructure of a business. This fact impacts on all dimensions of business process management. One of these dimensions is the methodology that postulates that the information systems development provide the business process management with exact methods and tools for modeling business processes. Also the methodology underlying the approach presented in this paper has its roots in the information systems development methodology.

  12. 7 CFR 1580.501 - Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Administration. 1580.501 Section 1580.501 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FARMERS § 1580.501 Administration. (a) The application process...

  13. Risk-adjusted impact of administrative costs on the distribution of terminal wealth for long-term investment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guillén, Montserrat; Jarner, Søren Fiig; Nielsen, Jens Perch; Pérez-Marín, Ana M

    2014-01-01

    The impact of administrative costs on the distribution of terminal wealth is approximated using a simple formula applicable to many investment situations. We show that the reduction in median returns attributable to administrative fees is usually at least twice the amount of the administrative costs charged for most investment funds, when considering a risk-adjustment correction over a reasonably long-term time horizon. The example we present covers a number of standard cases and can be applied to passive investments, mutual funds, and hedge funds. Our results show investors the potential losses they face in performance due to administrative costs.

  14. Constitutional Provisions And Administrative Disciplinary Powers ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Constitutional Provisions And Administrative Disciplinary Powers: The Medical ... and Dental Practitioners Act. This process of administrative adjudication is ... the rights guaranteed to the professionals when they appear before the Tribunal.

  15. Development of the promoting teacher attribution model for promoting science teachers' moral and ethical characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chanprathak, Anusorn; Worakham, Paisan; Suikraduang, Arun

    2018-01-01

    The promotion science teacher attribution model to develop the moral and ethical characteristics was to analyze, synthesis, and develop the guidelines of the scoping study into concepts, theories and research related about the moral and ethics of characteristically teachers from the resources, including research papers, research articles related research, and interviews with luminaries of 9 members. Using interviews and document analysis, data analysis, content analysis, and present an essay was built. The promoting attributes a teacher, moral principles, concepts and theories involved and guidance of a qualified were developed. The Multiple-Attribute Consensus Reaching (MACR) from 12 educational experts were checked the suitability and feasibility of the model, the possibility of the manual with the research instruments consisted of the promotion model attributes the moral and ethics teacher's characteristics were evaluated, to guide the promotion attributes' model forms were assessed, the first edition of the manual data analysis, information obtained from the evaluation of the suitability and feasibility analysis model and guide for the average were administered. The results have found that; the promoting moral teacher attribute data to their moral and ethical characteristics was divided into two groups, priests and scholars. In both groups, the promotion attributes, focusing on teacher's groups is moral in nature to modify the idea to a change of attitude within the organism. Students got down to real experience; an analysis and synthesis face learning environments that cause cognitive skills to act as a self-realization possibly. The promotion model, moral principles, including the importance of the activities, objectives and evaluation methods were attributed. These core concepts learning theory and social cognitive theory, and integrated learning experience were comprised in five stages and four processes, namely; the intended, memory storage process, the

  16. On the benefits of multi-attribute risk analysis in nuclear emergency management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haemaelaeinen, R.P.; Lindstedt, M.

    1999-01-01

    The radiation protection authorities have seen a need to apply multi-attribute risk analysis in the nuclear emergency management and planning processes to deal with the conflicting objectives, different parties involved and uncertainties. This type of an approach is expected to help in at least the following three areas; to ensure that all the relevant attributes are considered in the decision making, to enhance communication between concerned parties including the population, and to provide a method for including risk analysis explicitly in the process. A MAUT analysis was used to select a strategy for protecting the population after a simulated nuclear accident. A value-focused approach and the use of a neutral facilitator were seen as very useful

  17. On the benefits of multi-attribute risk analysis in nuclear emergency management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haemaelaeinen, R.P.; Lindstedt, M. [Helsinki Univ. of Technology (Finland). Systems Analysis Lab.; Sinkko, K. [The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland)

    1999-12-01

    The radiation protection authorities have seen a need to apply multi-attribute risk analysis in the nuclear emergency management and planning processes to deal with the conflicting objectives, different parties involved and uncertainties. This type of an approach is expected to help in at least the following three areas; to ensure that all the relevant attributes are considered in the decision making, to enhance communication between concerned parties including the population, and to provide a method for including risk analysis explicitly in the process. A MAUT analysis was used to select a strategy for protecting the population after a simulated nuclear accident. A value-focused approach and the use of a neutral facilitator were seen as very useful.

  18. Is the extra virgin olive oil market facing a process of differentiation? A hedonic approach to disentangle the effect of quality attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cabrera, E. R.

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The differentiation process by quality attributes continues to be an ongoing issue in the Spanish olive oil market. In addition, there is a significant percentage of uninformed consumers with erroneous and confusing ideas concerning this product of daily use. By estimating a hedonic price function using multiple regression analysis, this paper examines the price structure of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO as well as the contribution of its attributes to the consumers’ utility function in comparison with other olive oils. The price and attributes have been collected from the labelling of the products at the main supermarkets in two olive oil-producing cities of southern Spain. The results show that the EVOO price is higher in products whose labels clearly indicate either the acidity or the olive variety, and bear the “Certified Quality” of the Andalusian logo. Nonetheless, several key attributes for a differentiation of quality were no significant such as flavor and PDO. The evaluation of these attributes implies the emergence of an incipient differentiation process. Furthermore, brands have an impact on the price of EVOO but it depends on whether they are private or manufacturer’s brands. This study provides insight into the Andalusian EVOO market as well as guidance for marketing strategies.La diferenciación entre calidades de aceite de oliva es una tarea aún pendiente del sector oleícola, que se enfrenta a una gran cantidad de consumidores desinformados, que tienen ideas confusas y erróneas sobre un alimento de uso cotidiano. A través de la estimación de la función de precios hedónicos, este trabajo analiza la estructura del precio del aceite de oliva virgen extra (AOVE así como los atributos que le añaden o le restan valor, con el objetivo de identificar en qué medida el mercado está poniendo en valor determinados atributos que diferencian al AOVE de otros aceites de oliva. La información necesaria sobre precios y atributos

  19. Gluon attributes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiler, T.

    1981-01-01

    An overview is presented of the attributes of gluons, deducible from experimental data. Particular attention is given to the photon-gluon fusion model of charm leptoproduction. The agreement with QCD and theoretical prejudice is qualitatively good

  20. Spanning Tree Based Attribute Clustering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zeng, Yifeng; Jorge, Cordero Hernandez

    2009-01-01

    Attribute clustering has been previously employed to detect statistical dependence between subsets of variables. We propose a novel attribute clustering algorithm motivated by research of complex networks, called the Star Discovery algorithm. The algorithm partitions and indirectly discards...... inconsistent edges from a maximum spanning tree by starting appropriate initial modes, therefore generating stable clusters. It discovers sound clusters through simple graph operations and achieves significant computational savings. We compare the Star Discovery algorithm against earlier attribute clustering...

  1. Attribution Theory and Crisis Intervention Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skilbeck, William M.

    It was proposed that existing therapeutic procedures may influence attributions about emotional states. Therefore an attributional analysis of crisis intervention, a model of community-based, short-term consultation, was presented. This analysis suggested that crisis intervention provides attributionally-relevant information about both the source…

  2. Situation and person attributions under spontaneous and intentional instructions: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kestemont, Jenny; Vandekerckhove, Marie; Ma, Ning; Van Hoeck, Nicole; Van Overwalle, Frank

    2013-06-01

    This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research explores how observers make causal beliefs about an event in terms of the person or situation. Thirty-four participants read various short descriptions of social events that implied either the person or the situation as the cause. Half of them were explicitly instructed to judge whether the event was caused by something about the person or the situation (intentional inferences), whereas the other half was instructed simply to read the material carefully (spontaneous inferences). The results showed common activation in areas related to mentalizing, across all types of causes or instructions (posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporo-parietal junction, precuneus). However, the medial prefrontal cortex was activated only under spontaneous instructions, but not under intentional instruction. This suggests a bias toward person attributions (e.g. fundamental attribution bias). Complementary to this, intentional situation attributions activated a stronger and more extended network compared to intentional person attributions, suggesting that situation attributions require more controlled, extended and broader processing of the information.

  3. 32 CFR 631.10 - Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Administration. 631.10 Section 631.10 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL... Disciplinary Control Boards § 631.10 Administration. (a) Commanders are authorized to acquire, report, process...

  4. Attributing Authorship in the Noisy Digitized Correspondence of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greta Franzini

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the results of a multidisciplinary project aimed at better understanding the impact of different digitization strategies in computational text analysis. More specifically, it describes an effort to automatically discern the authorship of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in a body of uncorrected correspondence processed by HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition and OCR (Optical Character Recognition, reporting on the effect this noise has on the analyses necessary to computationally identify the different writing style of the two brothers. In summary, our findings show that OCR digitization serves as a reliable proxy for the more painstaking process of manual digitization, at least when it comes to authorship attribution. Our results suggest that attribution is viable even when using training and test sets from different digitization pipelines. With regards to HTR, this research demonstrates that even though automated transcription significantly increases the risk of text misclassification when compared to OCR, a cleanliness above ≈ 20% is already sufficient to achieve a higher-than-chance probability of correct binary attribution.

  5. Technology, attributions, and emotions in post-secondary education: An application of Weiner's attribution theory to academic computing problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maymon, Rebecca; Hall, Nathan C; Goetz, Thomas; Chiarella, Andrew; Rahimi, Sonia

    2018-01-01

    As technology becomes increasingly integrated with education, research on the relationships between students' computing-related emotions and motivation following technological difficulties is critical to improving learning experiences. Following from Weiner's (2010) attribution theory of achievement motivation, the present research examined relationships between causal attributions and emotions concerning academic computing difficulties in two studies. Study samples consisted of North American university students enrolled in both traditional and online universities (total N = 559) who responded to either hypothetical scenarios or experimental manipulations involving technological challenges experienced in academic settings. Findings from Study 1 showed stable and external attributions to be emotionally maladaptive (more helplessness, boredom, guilt), particularly in response to unexpected computing problems. Additionally, Study 2 found stable attributions for unexpected problems to predict more anxiety for traditional students, with both external and personally controllable attributions for minor problems proving emotionally beneficial for students in online degree programs (more hope, less anxiety). Overall, hypothesized negative effects of stable attributions were observed across both studies, with mixed results for personally controllable attributions and unanticipated emotional benefits of external attributions for academic computing problems warranting further study.

  6. Abstract Interpretation and Attribute Gramars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rosendahl, Mads

    The objective of this thesis is to explore the connections between abstract interpretation and attribute grammars as frameworks in program analysis. Abstract interpretation is a semantics-based program analysis method. A large class of data flow analysis problems can be expressed as non-standard ...... is presented in the thesis. Methods from abstract interpretation can also be used in correctness proofs of attribute grammars. This proof technique introduces a new class of attribute grammars based on domain theory. This method is illustrated with examples....

  7. Attribute Learning for SAR Image Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chu He

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a classification approach based on attribute learning for high spatial resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR images. To explore the representative and discriminative attributes of SAR images, first, an iterative unsupervised algorithm is designed to cluster in the low-level feature space, where the maximum edge response and the ratio of mean-to-variance are included; a cross-validation step is applied to prevent overfitting. Second, the most discriminative clustering centers are sorted out to construct an attribute dictionary. By resorting to the attribute dictionary, a representation vector describing certain categories in the SAR image can be generated, which in turn is used to perform the classifying task. The experiments conducted on TerraSAR-X images indicate that those learned attributes have strong visual semantics, which are characterized by bright and dark spots, stripes, or their combinations. The classification method based on these learned attributes achieves better results.

  8. Chemical and biological attributes of a lowland soil affected by land leveling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Maria Barbat Parfitt

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between soil chemical and biological attributes and the magnitude of cuts and fills after the land leveling process of a lowland soil. Soil samples were collected from the 0 - 0.20 m layer, before and after leveling, on a 100 point grid established in the experimental area, to evaluate chemical attributes and soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC. Leveling operations altered the magnitude of soil chemical and biological attributes. Values of Ca, Mg, S, cation exchange capacity, Mn, P, Zn, and soil organic matter (SOM decreased in the soil profile, whereas Al, K, and MBC increased after leveling. Land leveling decreased in 20% SOM average content in the 0 - 0.20 m layer. The great majority of the chemical attributes did not show relations between their values and the magnitude of cuts and fills. The relation was quadratic for SOM, P, and total N, and was linear for K, showing a positive slope and indicating increase in the magnitude of these attributes in cut areas and stability in fill areas. The relationships between these chemical attributes and the magnitude of cuts and fills indicate that the land leveling map may be a useful tool for degraded soil recuperation through amendments and organic fertilizers.

  9. The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danna, Carey L.; Shepard, Paul D.; Elmer, Greg I.

    2013-01-01

    The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb), a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral cue predicting a food reward. The Pavlovian autoshaping paradigm was used in the rat as an investigative tool to dissociate Pavlovian learning processes imparting strictly predictive value from learning that attributes incentive motivational value. Electrolytic lesions of the fasciculus retroflexus (fr), the sole pathway through which descending Hb efferents are conveyed, significantly increased incentive salience as measured by conditioned approaches to a cue light predictive of reward. Conversely, generation of a fictive Hb signal via fr stimulation during CS+ presentation significantly decreased the incentive salience of the predictive cue. Neither manipulation altered the reward predictive value of the cue as measured by conditioned approach to the food. Our results provide new evidence supporting a significant role for the Hb in governing the attribution of incentive motivational salience to reward predictive cues and further imply that pathological changes in Hb activity could contribute to the aberrant pursuit of debilitating goals or avolition and depression-like symptoms. PMID:24368898

  10. The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carey L. Danna

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb, a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral cue predicting a food reward. The Pavlovian autoshaping paradigm was used in the rat as an investigative tool to dissociate Pavlovian learning processes imparting strictly predictive value from learning that attributes incentive motivational value. Electrolytic lesions of the fasciculus retroflexus (fr, the sole pathway through which descending Hb efferents are conveyed, significantly increased incentive salience as measured by conditioned approaches to a cue light predictive of reward. Conversely, generation of a fictive Hb signal via fr stimulation during CS+ presentation significantly decreased the incentive salience of the predictive cue. Neither manipulation altered the reward predictive value of the cue as measured by conditioned approach to the food. Our results provide new evidence supporting a significant role for the Hb in governing the attribution of incentive motivational salience to reward predictive cues and further imply that pathological changes in Hb activity could contribute to the aberrant pursuit of debilitating goals or avolition and depression-like symptoms.

  11. Physicians and administrators can work together.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuller, G W; Beaupre, E M

    1979-10-01

    This article describes the working relationship between the administration and medical staff of the Mid-Maine Medical Center which is comprised of two separate modern hospitals. The authors advocate the philosophy that "a hospital which harnesses the medical staff's considerable talent and expertise through sound organizational input will be a stronger institution." They explain that patient care is becoming increasingly complex and that management decisions impact heavily on the care provided. In 1973, the Medical Center changed from its traditional organizational form of having a full-time medical director and an administrator report to the board of directors, to a modified corporate model designed to increase physician involvement. In the new organization, the vice president of finance and a part-time chief of staff (acting as vice president for medical affairs) report to the president (former medical director) who, in turn, is responsible to the board of trustees. The authors attribute the success of the reorganization to the CEO's willingness to delegate and share authority, not to the CEO's physician background. Planning at the institution involves a committee of six physicians, four administrators, and one full-time planner. A budgeting committee of three physicians and three administrators is responsible for the review of the budget as well as for making recommendations for the executive board for the expected volume of services. It is concluded that there is no perfect way to run a hospital, but the involvement of doctors in hospital decisions is necessary.

  12. An approach to multi-attribute utility analysis under parametric uncertainty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelly, M.; Thorne, M.C.

    2001-01-01

    The techniques of cost-benefit analysis and multi-attribute analysis provide a useful basis for informing decisions in situations where a number of potentially conflicting opinions or interests need to be considered, and where there are a number of possible decisions that could be adopted. When the input data to such decision-making processes are uniquely specified, cost-benefit analysis and multi-attribute utility analysis provide unambiguous guidance on the preferred decision option. However, when the data are not uniquely specified, application and interpretation of these techniques is more complex. Herein, an approach to multi-attribute utility analysis (and hence, as a special case, cost-benefit analysis) when input data are subject to parametric uncertainty is presented. The approach is based on the use of a Monte Carlo technique, and has recently been applied to options for the remediation of former uranium mining liabilities in a number of Central and Eastern European States

  13. Gender Attributions of Science and Academic Attributes: AN Examination of Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, and Technology Majors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, W. Jay

    Questionnaire data (n = 297) examined the relationship between gender attributions of science and academic attributes for undergraduate science, mathematics, and technology majors from the perspective of gender schema theory. Female and male respondents perceived that (a) the role of scientist was sex typed as masculine, (b) their majors were more valuable for members of their gender than for those of the opposite gender, (c) their majors were more valuable for themselves than for members of their gender in general. Androgynous attributions of scientists and the value of one's major for women predicted value for oneself, major confidence, and career confidence, and masculine attributions of scientists predicted class participation for female respondents. Feminine attributions of scientists predicted graduate school intent; value for women predicted major confidence and subjective achievement, and value for men predicted value for oneself, course confidence, and career confidence for male respondents.

  14. Multiple attribute decision making model and application to food safety risk evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Lihua; Chen, Hong; Yan, Huizhe; Yang, Lifeng; Wu, Lifeng

    2017-01-01

    Decision making for supermarket food purchase decisions are characterized by network relationships. This paper analyzed factors that influence supermarket food selection and proposes a supplier evaluation index system based on the whole process of food production. The author established the intuitive interval value fuzzy set evaluation model based on characteristics of the network relationship among decision makers, and validated for a multiple attribute decision making case study. Thus, the proposed model provides a reliable, accurate method for multiple attribute decision making.

  15. Emotional attribution of 6th grade students in Physical Education and Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Nicolás Mujica Johnson

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to determine the causal attribution of emotions in sixth grade primary school children in a process of development of physical condition in the classes of Physical Education and Health. The study is qualitative, descriptive and with a design of action research. The participants are thirty students in the age range between eleven to thirteen years old. The results indicate that students attribute their positive emotions to the fatigue overcoming, to the achievement of goals, to body benefits and to the entertainment with session activities. As for the negative emotions, these are attributed to expectations, pessimistic thinking, ridicule, envy, and health problems, physical inactivity, the academic consequences and lack of achievement of goals in the overcoming of the physical condition. In conclusion, the identified emotional attributions must be understood from the teaching work, to encourage the creation of learning strategies that promote subjective well-being and development of active lifestyle habits from a psychosocial perspective.

  16. Discrete-choice modelling of patient preferences for modes of drug administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tetteh, Ebenezer Kwabena; Morris, Steve; Titcheneker-Hooker, Nigel

    2017-12-01

    The administration of (biologically-derived) drugs for various disease conditions involves consumption of resources that constitutes a direct monetary cost to healthcare payers and providers. An often ignored cost relates to a mismatch between patients' preferences and the mode of drug administration. The "intangible" benefits of giving patients what they want in terms of the mode of drug delivery is seldom considered. This study aims to evaluate, in monetary terms, end-user preferences for the non-monetary attributes of different modes of drug administration using a discrete-choice experiment. It provides empirical support to the notion that there are significant benefits from developing patient-friendly approaches to drug delivery. The gross benefits per patient per unit administration is in the same order of magnitude as the savings in resource costs of administering drugs. The study argues that, as long as the underlying manufacturing science is capable, a patient-centred approach to producing drug delivery systems should be encouraged and pursued.

  17. Paranormal belief and attributional style.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudley, R T; Whisnand, E A

    2000-06-01

    52 college students completed Tobacyk's 1988 Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and Peterson, Semmel, von Baeyer, Abramson, Metalsky, and Seligman's 1982 Attributional Style Questionnaire. Analysis showed significantly higher depressive attributional styles among high scorers on paranormal phenomena than low scorers.

  18. Administrative IT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grayson, Katherine, Ed.

    2006-01-01

    When it comes to Administrative IT solutions and processes, best practices range across the spectrum. Enterprise resource planning (ERP), student information systems (SIS), and tech support are prominent and continuing areas of focus. But widespread change can also be accomplished via the implementation of campuswide document imaging and sharing,…

  19. Attributes of Successful Actions to Restore Lakes and ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    As more success is achieved restoring lakes and estuaries from nutrient pollution, there is increased opportunity to evaluate the scientific, social, and policy factors associated with achieving restoration goals. We examined case studies where deliberate actions to reduce nutrient pollution resulted in ecological recovery. Cases were identified from scientific literature meeting the following: (1) scientific evidence of nutrient pollution; (2) restoration actions taken to mitigate nutrient pollution; and (3) documented ecological improvement. We identified 9 estuaries and 7 lakes spanning countries, climatic regions, physical types, depths, and watershed areas. Among these 8 achieved improvements short of stated restoration goals, 8 were successful initially, but then condition declined and 3 achieved their goals fully. We examined each case to identify both common attributes of nutrient management, grouped into ‘themes’, and the variations on those attributes, which were coded into categorical variables and examined using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). MCA results suggested that the attributes most associated with achieving restoration goals include: (1) leadership by a dedicated watershed management agency; (2) governance through a bottom-up collaborative process; (3) a strategy that set numeric targets based on a specific ecological goal; and (4) actions to reduce nutrient loads from all sources. While our study did not provide a compreh

  20. A distributed query execution engine of big attributed graphs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batarfi, Omar; Elshawi, Radwa; Fayoumi, Ayman; Barnawi, Ahmed; Sakr, Sherif

    2016-01-01

    A graph is a popular data model that has become pervasively used for modeling structural relationships between objects. In practice, in many real-world graphs, the graph vertices and edges need to be associated with descriptive attributes. Such type of graphs are referred to as attributed graphs. G-SPARQL has been proposed as an expressive language, with a centralized execution engine, for querying attributed graphs. G-SPARQL supports various types of graph querying operations including reachability, pattern matching and shortest path where any G-SPARQL query may include value-based predicates on the descriptive information (attributes) of the graph edges/vertices in addition to the structural predicates. In general, a main limitation of centralized systems is that their vertical scalability is always restricted by the physical limits of computer systems. This article describes the design, implementation in addition to the performance evaluation of DG-SPARQL, a distributed, hybrid and adaptive parallel execution engine of G-SPARQL queries. In this engine, the topology of the graph is distributed over the main memory of the underlying nodes while the graph data are maintained in a relational store which is replicated on the disk of each of the underlying nodes. DG-SPARQL evaluates parts of the query plan via SQL queries which are pushed to the underlying relational stores while other parts of the query plan, as necessary, are evaluated via indexless memory-based graph traversal algorithms. Our experimental evaluation shows the efficiency and the scalability of DG-SPARQL on querying massive attributed graph datasets in addition to its ability to outperform the performance of Apache Giraph, a popular distributed graph processing system, by orders of magnitudes.

  1. Stable personal attributes and a resilient approach to work and career

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jill Flint-Taylor

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: Recent research has suggested that personal resilience should be viewed in terms of process and outcome. This has implications for the study of resilience in the work context. Research purpose: The main research aim was to explore, at a detailed level, relationships between enduring personal characteristics and a resilient approach to work and career. Motivation for the study: Moving away from the idea of resilience as a specific trait or set of traits raises the question of how general personality and ability constructs influence a resilient approach. Research approach, design and method: This was an exploratory, quantitative study involving predictor (ability and personality and criterion (satisfaction and involvement data for 168 senior managers in five businesses within a retail and distribution group. Main findings: Evidence was found for differential relationships between personal attributes and a resilient approach (measured in terms of positive vs. negative perspectives on work and career. For example, the personality factor of Openness to Experience was negatively related to Organisation and Career Satisfaction, but positively related to Career and Job Involvement. Practical/managerial implications: In designing selection, development and employee survey procedures, organisations need to be aware of the differential nature of the relationships between attributes and a resilient approach to work and career. Contribution/value-add: The study brings together recent research on resilience, personal attributes and work outcomes, and supports the potential of general attribute models for studying and improving the process of developing and exercising a resilient approach in the work context.

  2. Maturation of social attribution skills in typically developing children: an investigation using the social attribution task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Zhouyi; Chan, Raymond C K; McAlonan, Grainne M

    2010-02-03

    The assessment of social attribution skills in children can potentially identify and quantify developmental difficulties related to autism spectrum disorders and related conditions. However, relatively little is known about how these skills develop in typically developing children. Therefore the present study aimed to map the trajectory of social attribution skill acquisition in typically developing children from a young age. In the conventional social attribution task (SAT) participants ascribe feelings to moving shapes and describe their interaction in social terms. However, this format requires that participants understand both, that an inanimate shape is symbolic, and that its action is social in nature. This may be challenging for young children, and may be a potential confounder in studies of children with developmental disorders. Therefore we developed a modified SAT (mSAT) using animate figures (e.g. animals) to simplify the task. We used the SAT and mSAT to examine social attribution skill development in 154 healthy children (76 boys, 78 girls), ranging in age from 6 to 13 years and investigated the relationship between social attribution ability and executive function. The mSAT revealed a steady improvement in social attribution skills from the age of 6 years, and a significant advantage for girls compared to boys. In contrast, children under the age of 9 years performed at baseline on the conventional format and there were no gender differences apparent. Performance on neither task correlated with executive function after controlling for age and verbal IQ, suggesting that social attribution ability is independent of cognitive functioning. The present findings indicate that the mSAT is a sensitive measure of social attribution skills from a young age. This should be carefully considered when choosing assessments for young children and those with developmental disorders.

  3. Maturation of social attribution skills in typically developing children: an investigation using the social attribution task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chan Raymond CK

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The assessment of social attribution skills in children can potentially identify and quantify developmental difficulties related to autism spectrum disorders and related conditions. However, relatively little is known about how these skills develop in typically developing children. Therefore the present study aimed to map the trajectory of social attribution skill acquisition in typically developing children from a young age. Methods In the conventional social attribution task (SAT participants ascribe feelings to moving shapes and describe their interaction in social terms. However, this format requires that participants understand both, that an inanimate shape is symbolic, and that its action is social in nature. This may be challenging for young children, and may be a potential confounder in studies of children with developmental disorders. Therefore we developed a modified SAT (mSAT using animate figures (e.g. animals to simplify the task. We used the SAT and mSAT to examine social attribution skill development in 154 healthy children (76 boys, 78 girls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years and investigated the relationship between social attribution ability and executive function. Results The mSAT revealed a steady improvement in social attribution skills from the age of 6 years, and a significant advantage for girls compared to boys. In contrast, children under the age of 9 years performed at baseline on the conventional format and there were no gender differences apparent. Performance on neither task correlated with executive function after controlling for age and verbal IQ, suggesting that social attribution ability is independent of cognitive functioning. The present findings indicate that the mSAT is a sensitive measure of social attribution skills from a young age. This should be carefully considered when choosing assessments for young children and those with developmental disorders.

  4. Nations need national land administration infrastructures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bennett, Rohan; Rajabifard, Abbas; Williamson, Ian; Wallace, Jude

    2012-01-01

    Many nations lack a coherent national approach to land administration. Instead, land information and processes are frequently disaggregated across states, provinces, cantons, counties, and municipalities. This is particularly the case in federated countries. The growing body of land administration

  5. Parental Health Attributions of Childhood Health and Illness: Development of the Pediatric Cultural Health Attributions Questionnaire (Pedi-CHAQ).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaughn, Lisa M; McLinden, Daniel J; Shellmer, Diana; Baker, Raymond C

    2011-01-01

    The causes attributed to childhood health and illness across cultures (cultural health attributions) are key factors that are now more frequently identified as affecting the health outcomes of children. Research suggests that the causes attributed to an event such as illness are thought to affect subsequent motivation, emotional response, decision making, and behavior. To date, there is no measure of health attributions appropriate for use with parents of pediatric patients. Using the Many-Facets approach to Rasch analysis, this study assesses the psychometrics of a newly developed instrument, the Pediatric Health Attributions Questionnaire (Pedi-CHAQ), a measure designed to assess the cultural health attributions of parents in diverse communities. Results suggest acceptable Rasch model statistics of fit and reliability for the Pedi-CHAQ. A shortened version of the questionnaire was developed as a result of this study and next steps are discussed.

  6. Multiple attribute decision making model and application to food safety risk evaluation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lihua Ma

    Full Text Available Decision making for supermarket food purchase decisions are characterized by network relationships. This paper analyzed factors that influence supermarket food selection and proposes a supplier evaluation index system based on the whole process of food production. The author established the intuitive interval value fuzzy set evaluation model based on characteristics of the network relationship among decision makers, and validated for a multiple attribute decision making case study. Thus, the proposed model provides a reliable, accurate method for multiple attribute decision making.

  7. Efficiently Multi-User Searchable Encryption Scheme with Attribute Revocation and Grant for Cloud Storage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shangping; Zhang, Xiaoxue; Zhang, Yaling

    2016-01-01

    Cipher-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) focus on the problem of access control, and keyword-based searchable encryption scheme focus on the problem of finding the files that the user interested in the cloud storage quickly. To design a searchable and attribute-based encryption scheme is a new challenge. In this paper, we propose an efficiently multi-user searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute revocation and grant for cloud storage. In the new scheme the attribute revocation and grant processes of users are delegated to proxy server. Our scheme supports multi attribute are revoked and granted simultaneously. Moreover, the keyword searchable function is achieved in our proposed scheme. The security of our proposed scheme is reduced to the bilinear Diffie-Hellman (BDH) assumption. Furthermore, the scheme is proven to be secure under the security model of indistinguishability against selective ciphertext-policy and chosen plaintext attack (IND-sCP-CPA). And our scheme is also of semantic security under indistinguishability against chosen keyword attack (IND-CKA) in the random oracle model.

  8. Situation and person attributions under spontaneous and intentional instructions: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kestemont, Jenny; Vandekerckhove, Marie; Ma, Ning; Van Hoeck, Nicole

    2013-01-01

    This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research explores how observers make causal beliefs about an event in terms of the person or situation. Thirty-four participants read various short descriptions of social events that implied either the person or the situation as the cause. Half of them were explicitly instructed to judge whether the event was caused by something about the person or the situation (intentional inferences), whereas the other half was instructed simply to read the material carefully (spontaneous inferences). The results showed common activation in areas related to mentalizing, across all types of causes or instructions (posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporo-parietal junction, precuneus). However, the medial prefrontal cortex was activated only under spontaneous instructions, but not under intentional instruction. This suggests a bias toward person attributions (e.g. fundamental attribution bias). Complementary to this, intentional situation attributions activated a stronger and more extended network compared to intentional person attributions, suggesting that situation attributions require more controlled, extended and broader processing of the information. PMID:22345370

  9. Leading People, Managing Processes: School Business Administrators in the 21st Century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiBella, Cecilia M.

    1999-01-01

    School business administrators must be both business managers and educators. As the school district's chief financial officer, the school business administrator must have strong communication and interpersonal skills. Spheres of involvement include working with school staff, parents, the district office, town officials and committees, vendors, and…

  10. Attributional Style and Depression in Multiple Sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnett, Peter A.

    2013-01-01

    Several etiologic theories have been proposed to explain depression in the general population. Studying these models and modifying them for use in the multiple sclerosis (MS) population may allow us to better understand depression in MS. According to the reformulated learned helplessness (LH) theory, individuals who attribute negative events to internal, stable, and global causes are more vulnerable to depression. This study differentiated attributional style that was or was not related to MS in 52 patients with MS to test the LH theory in this population and to determine possible differences between illness-related and non-illness-related attributions. Patients were administered measures of attributional style, daily stressors, disability, and depressive symptoms. Participants were more likely to list non-MS-related than MS-related causes of negative events on the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and more-disabled participants listed significantly more MS-related causes than did less-disabled individuals. Non-MS-related attributional style correlated with stress and depressive symptoms, but MS-related attributional style did not correlate with disability or depressive symptoms. Stress mediated the effect of non-MS-related attributional style on depressive symptoms. These results suggest that, although attributional style appears to be an important construct in MS, it does not seem to be related directly to depressive symptoms; rather, it is related to more perceived stress, which in turn is related to increased depressive symptoms. PMID:24453767

  11. Attribute-Based Digital Signature System

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ibraimi, L.; Asim, Muhammad; Petkovic, M.

    2011-01-01

    An attribute-based digital signature system comprises a signature generation unit (1) for signing a message (m) by generating a signature (s) based on a user secret key (SK) associated with a set of user attributes, wherein the signature generation unit (1) is arranged for combining the user secret

  12. Technology, attributions, and emotions in post-secondary education: An application of Weiner’s attribution theory to academic computing problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Nathan C.; Goetz, Thomas; Chiarella, Andrew; Rahimi, Sonia

    2018-01-01

    As technology becomes increasingly integrated with education, research on the relationships between students’ computing-related emotions and motivation following technological difficulties is critical to improving learning experiences. Following from Weiner’s (2010) attribution theory of achievement motivation, the present research examined relationships between causal attributions and emotions concerning academic computing difficulties in two studies. Study samples consisted of North American university students enrolled in both traditional and online universities (total N = 559) who responded to either hypothetical scenarios or experimental manipulations involving technological challenges experienced in academic settings. Findings from Study 1 showed stable and external attributions to be emotionally maladaptive (more helplessness, boredom, guilt), particularly in response to unexpected computing problems. Additionally, Study 2 found stable attributions for unexpected problems to predict more anxiety for traditional students, with both external and personally controllable attributions for minor problems proving emotionally beneficial for students in online degree programs (more hope, less anxiety). Overall, hypothesized negative effects of stable attributions were observed across both studies, with mixed results for personally controllable attributions and unanticipated emotional benefits of external attributions for academic computing problems warranting further study. PMID:29529039

  13. Relationship Between Remotely-sensed Vegetation Indices, Canopy Attributes and Plant Physiological Processes: What Vegetation Indices Can and Cannot Tell Us About the Landscape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen G. Nelson

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Vegetation indices (VIs are among the oldest tools in remote sensing studies. Although many variations exist, most of them ratio the reflection of light in the red and NIR sections of the spectrum to separate the landscape into water, soil, and vegetation. Theoretical analyses and field studies have shown that VIs are near-linearly related to photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by a plant canopy, and therefore to light-dependent physiological processes, such as photosynthesis, occurring in the upper canopy. Practical studies have used time-series VIs to measure primary production and evapotranspiration, but these are limited in accuracy to that of the data used in ground truthing or calibrating the models used. VIs are also used to estimate a wide variety of other canopy attributes that are used in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT, Surface Energy Balance (SEB, and Global Climate Models (GCM. These attributes include fractional vegetation cover, leaf area index, roughness lengths for turbulent transfer, emissivity and albedo. However, VIs often exhibit only moderate, non-linear relationships to these canopy attributes, compromising the accuracy of the models. We use case studies to illustrate the use and misuse of VIs, and argue for using VIs most simply as a measurement of canopy light absorption rather than as a surrogate for detailed features of canopy architecture. Used this way, VIs are compatible with "Big Leaf" SVAT and GCMs that assume that canopy carbon and moisture fluxes have the same relative response to the environment as any single leaf, simplifying the task of modeling complex landscapes.

  14. Relationship Between Remotely-sensed Vegetation Indices, Canopy Attributes and Plant Physiological Processes: What Vegetation Indices Can and Cannot Tell Us About the Landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn, Edward P.; Huete, Alfredo R.; Nagler, Pamela L.; Nelson, Stephen G.

    2008-01-01

    Vegetation indices (VIs) are among the oldest tools in remote sensing studies. Although many variations exist, most of them ratio the reflection of light in the red and NIR sections of the spectrum to separate the landscape into water, soil, and vegetation. Theoretical analyses and field studies have shown that VIs are near-linearly related to photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by a plant canopy, and therefore to light-dependent physiological processes, such as photosynthesis, occurring in the upper canopy. Practical studies have used time-series VIs to measure primary production and evapotranspiration, but these are limited in accuracy to that of the data used in ground truthing or calibrating the models used. VIs are also used to estimate a wide variety of other canopy attributes that are used in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT), Surface Energy Balance (SEB), and Global Climate Models (GCM). These attributes include fractional vegetation cover, leaf area index, roughness lengths for turbulent transfer, emissivity and albedo. However, VIs often exhibit only moderate, non-linear relationships to these canopy attributes, compromising the accuracy of the models. We use case studies to illustrate the use and misuse of VIs, and argue for using VIs most simply as a measurement of canopy light absorption rather than as a surrogate for detailed features of canopy architecture. Used this way, VIs are compatible with “Big Leaf” SVAT and GCMs that assume that canopy carbon and moisture fluxes have the same relative response to the environment as any single leaf, simplifying the task of modeling complex landscapes. PMID:27879814

  15. Modeling Psychological Attributes in Psychology – An Epistemological Discussion: Network Analysis vs. Latent Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guyon, Hervé; Falissard, Bruno; Kop, Jean-Luc

    2017-01-01

    Network Analysis is considered as a new method that challenges Latent Variable models in inferring psychological attributes. With Network Analysis, psychological attributes are derived from a complex system of components without the need to call on any latent variables. But the ontological status of psychological attributes is not adequately defined with Network Analysis, because a psychological attribute is both a complex system and a property emerging from this complex system. The aim of this article is to reappraise the legitimacy of latent variable models by engaging in an ontological and epistemological discussion on psychological attributes. Psychological attributes relate to the mental equilibrium of individuals embedded in their social interactions, as robust attractors within complex dynamic processes with emergent properties, distinct from physical entities located in precise areas of the brain. Latent variables thus possess legitimacy, because the emergent properties can be conceptualized and analyzed on the sole basis of their manifestations, without exploring the upstream complex system. However, in opposition with the usual Latent Variable models, this article is in favor of the integration of a dynamic system of manifestations. Latent Variables models and Network Analysis thus appear as complementary approaches. New approaches combining Latent Network Models and Network Residuals are certainly a promising new way to infer psychological attributes, placing psychological attributes in an inter-subjective dynamic approach. Pragmatism-realism appears as the epistemological framework required if we are to use latent variables as representations of psychological attributes. PMID:28572780

  16. Nurses' reported thinking during medication administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenhauer, Laurel A; Hurley, Ann C; Dolan, Nancy

    2007-01-01

    To document nurses' reported thinking processes during medication administration before and after implementation of point-of-care technology. Semistructured interviews and real-time tape recordings were used to document the thinking processes of 40 nurses practicing in inpatient care units in a large tertiary care teaching hospital in the northeastern US. Content analysis resulted in identification of 10 descriptive categories of nurses' thinking: communication, dose-time, checking, assessment, evaluation, teaching, side effects, work arounds, anticipating problem solving, and drug administration. Situations requiring judgment in dosage, timing, or selection of specific medications (e.g., pain management, titration of antihypertensives) provided the most explicit data about nurses' use of critical thinking and clinical judgment. A key element was nurses' constant professional vigilance to ensure that patients received their appropriate medications. Nurses' thinking processes extended beyond rules and procedures and were based on patient data and interdisciplinary professional knowledge to provide safe and effective care. Identification of thinking processes can help nurses to explain the professional expertise inherent in medication administration beyond the technical application of the "5 rights."

  17. Organizational Attributes, Market Growth, and Product Innovation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Song, Michael; Chen, Yan

    2014-01-01

    Extensive research has shown that organizational attributes affect product innovation. Extending this literature, this article delimits two general categories of organizational attributes and relates them to product innovation. Organizational attributes can be either control oriented or flexibility

  18. Distributed Administrative Management Information System (DAMIS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juckiewicz, Robert; Kroculick, Joseph

    Columbia University's major program to distribute its central administrative data processing to its various schools and departments is described. The Distributed Administrative Management Information System (DAMIS) will link every department and school within the university via micrcomputers, terminals, and/or minicomputers to the central…

  19. Influence of raw material properties upon critical quality attributes of continuously produced granules and tablets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fonteyne, Margot; Wickström, Henrika; Peeters, Elisabeth

    2014-01-01

    over a range of raw material attributes, manufacturing process options and process parameters. This fits further into the Process Analytical Technology (PAT) and Quality by Design (QbD) framework. The present study evaluates the effect of variation in critical raw material properties on the critical......-Lactose-PVP (30-67.5-2.5%) was used as model formulation. Seven different grades of theophylline were granulated. Afterward, the obtained granules were tableted. Both the characteristics of granules and tablets were determined. The results show that differences in raw material properties both affect...... quality attributes of granules and tablets, produced by a continuous from-powder-to-tablet wet granulation line. The granulation process parameters were kept constant to examine the differences in the end product quality caused by the variability of the raw materials properties only. Theophylline...

  20. Using qualitative methods for attribute development for discrete choice experiments: issues and recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coast, Joanna; Al-Janabi, Hareth; Sutton, Eileen J; Horrocks, Susan A; Vosper, A Jane; Swancutt, Dawn R; Flynn, Terry N

    2012-06-01

    Attribute generation for discrete choice experiments (DCEs) is often poorly reported, and it is unclear whether this element of research is conducted rigorously. This paper explores issues associated with developing attributes for DCEs and contrasts different qualitative approaches. The paper draws on eight studies, four developed attributes for measures, and four developed attributes for more ad hoc policy questions. Issues that have become apparent through these studies include the following: the theoretical framework for random utility theory and the need for attributes that are neither too close to the latent construct nor too intrinsic to people's personality; the need to think about attribute development as a two-stage process involving conceptual development followed by refinement of language to convey the intended meaning; and the difficulty in resolving tensions inherent in the reductiveness of condensing complex and nuanced qualitative findings into precise terms. The comparison of alternative qualitative approaches suggests that the nature of data collection will depend both on the characteristics of the question (its sensitivity, for example) and the availability of existing qualitative information. An iterative, constant comparative approach to analysis is recommended. Finally, the paper provides a series of recommendations for improving the reporting of this element of DCE studies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  1. Constitutional Due Process and Educational Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uerling, Donald F.

    1985-01-01

    Discusses substantive and procedural due process as required by the United States Constitution and interpreted by the Supreme Court, with particular reference to situations arising in educational environments. Covers interests protected by due process requirements, the procedures required, and some special considerations that may apply. (PGD)

  2. Utilising identifier error variation in linkage of large administrative data sources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katie Harron

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Linkage of administrative data sources often relies on probabilistic methods using a set of common identifiers (e.g. sex, date of birth, postcode. Variation in data quality on an individual or organisational level (e.g. by hospital can result in clustering of identifier errors, violating the assumption of independence between identifiers required for traditional probabilistic match weight estimation. This potentially introduces selection bias to the resulting linked dataset. We aimed to measure variation in identifier error rates in a large English administrative data source (Hospital Episode Statistics; HES and to incorporate this information into match weight calculation. Methods We used 30,000 randomly selected HES hospital admissions records of patients aged 0–1, 5–6 and 18–19 years, for 2011/2012, linked via NHS number with data from the Personal Demographic Service (PDS; our gold-standard. We calculated identifier error rates for sex, date of birth and postcode and used multi-level logistic regression to investigate associations with individual-level attributes (age, ethnicity, and gender and organisational variation. We then derived: i weights incorporating dependence between identifiers; ii attribute-specific weights (varying by age, ethnicity and gender; and iii organisation-specific weights (by hospital. Results were compared with traditional match weights using a simulation study. Results Identifier errors (where values disagreed in linked HES-PDS records or missing values were found in 0.11% of records for sex and date of birth and in 53% of records for postcode. Identifier error rates differed significantly by age, ethnicity and sex (p < 0.0005. Errors were less frequent in males, in 5–6 year olds and 18–19 year olds compared with infants, and were lowest for the Asian ethic group. A simulation study demonstrated that substantial bias was introduced into estimated readmission rates in the presence

  3. Fundamental(ist) attribution error: Protestants are dispositionally focused.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yexin Jessica; Johnson, Kathryn A; Cohen, Adam B; Williams, Melissa J; Knowles, Eric D; Chen, Zhansheng

    2012-02-01

    Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics. This effect survived controlling for Protestant work ethic, need for structure, and intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Study 2 showed that the Protestant-Catholic difference in internal attributions was significantly mediated by Protestants' greater belief in a soul. In Study 3, priming religion increased belief in a soul for Protestants but not for Catholics. Finally, Study 4 found that experimentally strengthening belief in a soul increased dispositional attributions among Protestants but did not change situational attributions. These studies expand the understanding of cultural differences in attributions by demonstrating a distinct effect of religion on dispositional attributions.

  4. Televised relational and physical aggression and children's hostile intent attributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martins, Nicole

    2013-12-01

    An experiment was conducted with 150 children (mean age=10.1years) in third to fifth grades to test whether exposure to different forms of aggression in the media affected hostile attributional biases in response to different forms of provocation scenarios. Children were randomly assigned to watch a clip containing physical aggression, relational aggression, or no aggression. After exposure, children were asked to respond to a series of written provocation scenarios where a character caused some form of harm (instrumental or relational) to a target person, but the intent of the provocateur was ambiguous. Results revealed that exposure to relationally aggressive portrayals resulted in a hostile attributional bias in response to relational scenarios, whereas exposure to portrayals of physical aggression was associated with a hostile attributional bias in response to instrumental scenarios. Moreover, these biases were shown to be specific to the exposure condition (physical or relational) and not simply associated with exposure to aggression in general. The findings are discussed in terms of the general aggression model and children's social information processing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. An Extended TOPSIS Method for the Multiple Attribute Decision Making Problems Based on Interval Neutrosophic Set

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pingping Chi

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The interval neutrosophic set (INS can be easier to express the incomplete, indeterminate and inconsistent information, and TOPSIS is one of the most commonly used and effective method for multiple attribute decision making, however, in general, it can only process the attribute values with crisp numbers. In this paper, we have extended TOPSIS to INS, and with respect to the multiple attribute decision making problems in which the attribute weights are unknown and the attribute values take the form of INSs, we proposed an expanded TOPSIS method. Firstly, the definition of INS and the operational laws are given, and distance between INSs is defined. Then, the attribute weights are determined based on the Maximizing deviation method and an extended TOPSIS method is developed to rank the alternatives. Finally, an illustrative example is given to verify the developed approach and to demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness.

  6. Soil quality attributes induced by land use changes in the Fincha'a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Soil quality attributes induced by land use changes in the Fincha'a ... from the upstream to the downstream irrigated land by water soil erosion. ... The main degradation process overcome the study area was waterlogging and soil compaction.

  7. Attributes identification of nuclear material by non-destructive radiation measurement methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gan Lin

    2002-01-01

    Full text: The nuclear materials should be controlled under the regulation of National Safeguard System. The non-destructive analysis method, which is simple and quick, provide a effective process in determining the nuclear materials, nuclear scraps and wastes. The method play a very important role in the fields of nuclear material control and physical protection against the illegal removal and smuggling of nuclear material. The application of non-destructive analysis in attributes identification of nuclear material is briefly described in this paper. The attributes determined by radioactive detection technique are useful tolls to identify the characterization of special nuclear material (isotopic composition, enrichment etc.). (author)

  8. Attributes and descriptors for building performance evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Gopikrishnan

    2017-12-01

    In order to obtain the right feedback in levels of satisfaction with respect to these attributes, there is a need to have appropriate descriptors for incorporation in a survey instrument. This paper identifies attributes that indicate building performance and provides simple description of these attributes based on which items can be generated for a questionnaire. Such items can enable any user/occupant to easily understand the characteristics of these attributes and offer an objective feedback during questionnaire survey.

  9. Politics and application guide of urgency measures and administrative sanctions of the CNSNS; Politica y guia de aplicacion de medidas de apremio y sanciones administrativas de la CNSNS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Espinosa V, J.M.; Cruz R, L.A.; EsquiveI T, J.L.; Nunez C, A. [CNSNS, 03020 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)]. e-mail: jmespinosa@cnsns.gob.mx

    2007-07-01

    In use of their attributions, granted by the Regulation Law of the 27 Constitutional Article in Nuclear Matter, the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards (CNSNS) it has taken charge to the authors the Politics' s elaboration and Guide of Application of Urgency measures and Administrative Sanctions (PGAMASA) with the double objective of discouraging the licensees, contractors and employees of incurring in nonfulfillment or violations to the regulator mark and of encouraging them to be attentive to the prompt identification and the immediate and appropriate correction of the violations and nonfulfillment. The present article presents the legal mark that confers the CNSNS the attributions to implant a PGAMASA and it exposes the more important elements that conform it. The urgency measures and administrative sanctions are defined, the approaches to determine the level of graveness of a violation or nonfulfillment and it is related the application process of urgency measures and administrative sanctions are presented. Like this among the urgency measures they stand out figures like the Notifications of Violation and the Regulatory Orders by their versatility and use potentiality. The PGAMASA has a basically dissuasive character and its last purpose it is to strengthen the actions that the CNSNS carries out in the fulfillment of its functions to maintain the safety standards in the operation of the nuclear facilities. (Author)

  10. From Facial Emotional Recognition Abilities to Emotional Attribution: A Study in Down Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hippolyte, Loyse; Barisnikov, Koviljka; Van der Linden, Martial; Detraux, Jean-Jacques

    2009-01-01

    Facial expression processing and the attribution of facial emotions to a context were investigated in adults with Down syndrome (DS) in two experiments. Their performances were compared with those of a child control group matched for receptive vocabulary. The ability to process faces without emotional content was controlled for, and no differences…

  11. Use of Commericially Available Software in an Attribute Measurement System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacArthur, Duncan W.; Bracken, David S.; Carrillo, Louis A.; Elmont, Timothy H.; Frame, Katherine C.; Hirsch, Karen L.

    2005-01-01

    A major issue in international safeguards of nuclear materials is the ability to verify that processes and materials in nuclear facilities are consistent with declaration without revealing sensitive information. An attribute measurement system (AMS) is a non-destructive assay (NDA) system that utilizes an information barrier to protect potentially sensitive information about the measurement item. A key component is the software utilized for operator interface, data collection, analysis, and attribute determination, as well as the operating system under which they are implemented. Historically, custom software has been used almost exclusively in transparency applications, and it is unavoidable that some amount of custom software is needed. The focus of this paper is to explore the extent to which commercially available software may be used and the relative merits.

  12. The tools for evaluating logistics processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michał Adamczak

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: The growing importance of business process approach and dynamic management is triggered by market expectations for lead time reductions and the pressure for cost cuts. An efficient process management requires measurement and assessment skills. This article is intended to present the tools used in evaluating processes and the way in which they work together under simulated conditions. Methods: The project's Authors believe that a process can be assessed by measuring its attributes: cost, time and quality. An assessment tool has been developed for each of those attributes. For costs - it could be activity based costing, for time - value stream mapping; for quality - statistical process control. Each tool allows for evaluating one of the attributes, any element in the process hierarchy. The methods presented in the paper have been supplemented with process modelling and simulation. Results: In order to show how process assessment tools are combined with process simulation the Authors show a sample process in three versions (serial, parallel and mixed. A variant simulation (using iGrafx software allows for determining the values of attributes in the entire process based on the data set for its components (activities. In the example under investigation the process variant has no impact on its quality. Process cost and time are affected. Conclusions: The tools for identifying attribute values, in combination with process modelling and simulation, can prove very beneficial when applied in business practice. In the first place they allow for evaluating a process based on the value of the attributes pertaining to its particular activities, which, on the other hand, raises the possibility of process configuration at the design stage. The solution presented in the paper can be developed further with a view to process standardization and best variant recommendation.  

  13. SOA: A Quality Attribute Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-23

    in software engineering from CMU. 6June 2011 Twitter #seiwebinar © 2011 Carnegie Mellon University Agenda Service -Oriented Architecture and... Software Architecture: Review Service -Orientation and Quality Attributes Summary and Future Challenges 7June 2011 Twitter #seiwebinar © 2011...Architecture and Software Architecture: Review Service -Orientation and Quality Attributes Summary and Future Challenges Review 10June 2011 Twitter

  14. Medication administration errors in an intensive care unit in Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agalu Asrat

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Medication administration errors in patient care have been shown to be frequent and serious. Such errors are particularly prevalent in highly technical specialties such as the intensive care unit (ICU. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of medication administration errors in the ICU is not studied. Objective To assess medication administration errors in the intensive care unit of Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH, Southwest Ethiopia. Methods Prospective observation based cross-sectional study was conducted in the ICU of JUSH from February 7 to March 24, 2011. All medication interventions administered by the nurses to all patients admitted to the ICU during the study period were included in the study. Data were collected by directly observing drug administration by the nurses supplemented with review of medication charts. Data was edited, coded and entered in to SPSS for windows version 16.0. Descriptive statistics was used to measure the magnitude and type of the problem under study. Results Prevalence of medication administration errors in the ICU of JUSH was 621 (51.8%. Common administration errors were attributed to wrong timing (30.3%, omission due to unavailability (29.0% and missed doses (18.3% among others. Errors associated with antibiotics took the lion's share in medication administration errors (36.7%. Conclusion Medication errors at the administration phase were highly prevalent in the ICU of Jimma University Specialized Hospital. Supervision to the nurses administering medications by more experienced ICU nurses or other relevant professionals in regular intervals is helpful in ensuring that medication errors don’t occur as frequently as observed in this study.

  15. Combining product attributes with recommendation and shopping location attributes to assess consumer preferences for insect-based food products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alemu, Mohammed Hussen; Olsen, Søren Bøye; Vedel, Suzanne Elizabeth

    2017-01-01

    into consumers' preferences for termite-based food products (TBFPs) using data from a choice experiment survey in Kenya. A novel feature of this paper is that it investigates the combined effects of product-related and contextual attributes, as well as consumer attitudes on preferences for TBFPs. In addition......, the paper focuses on the extent to which preferences may be affected depending on the meal formats, i.e. whether the termites are introduced either as whole insects or as a processed component in a typical daily meal. The results suggest that consumers prefer TBFPs with high nutritional value and especially...... when they are recommended by officials. Results further indicate that affirmative recommendations are particularly important for the processed TBFP, and consumers prefer to buy this type of product in kiosks or supermarkets than at local marketplaces. Despite a considerable degree of preference...

  16. Importance assessment of decision attributes: A qualitative study comparing experts and laypersons

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heerkens, Johannes M.G.; Norde, Christiaan; van der Heijden, Beatrice

    2011-01-01

    Purpose – This paper aims to investigate differences between experts and laypersons concerning the way they assess the importance of each of the various decision attributes (cost, risk, feasibility) taken into consideration during decision processes in an organizational setting.

  17. Health state utilities associated with attributes of weekly injection devices for treatment of type 2 diabetes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louis S. Matza

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1 receptor agonists are often recommended as part of combination therapy for type 2 diabetes when oral medication does not result in sufficient glycemic control. Several GLP-1 receptor agonists are available as weekly injections. These medications vary in their injection delivery systems, and these differences could impact quality of life and treatment preference. The purpose of this study was to estimate utilities associated with attributes of injection delivery systems for weekly GLP-1 therapies. Methods Participants with type 2 diabetes in the UK valued health states in time trade-off interviews. The health states (drafted based on literature, device instructions for use, and clinician interviews had identical descriptions of type 2 diabetes, but differed in description of the treatment process. One health state described oral treatment, while six others described oral treatment plus a weekly injection. The injection health states varied in three aspects of the treatment administration process: requirements for reconstituting the medication (i.e., mixing the medication prior to the injection, waiting during medication preparation, and needle handling. Every participant valued all seven health states. Results A total of 209 participants completed interviews (57.4% male; mean age = 60.4y. The mean utility of the oral treatment health state was 0.89. All injection health states had significantly (p < 0.01 lower utilities ranging from 0.86 to 0.88. Differences among health state utilities suggest that each administration requirement had a small but measureable disutility: -0.004 (reconstitution, -0.004 (needle handling, -0.010 (reconstitution, needle handling, and -0.020 (reconstitution, waiting, needle handling. Conclusions Findings suggest it is feasible to use the TTO method to quantify preferences among injection treatment processes. It may be useful to incorporate these utility differences

  18. Physico-chemical, functional and processing attributes of some ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ajl yemi

    2011-12-26

    Dec 26, 2011 ... commercial processing and marketing chain is generally inevitable and ... was measured by a digital caliper (0 to 150 mm, China) with an accuracy of .... Spectrophotometer (GBC-932 Australlia), whereas Na and .... era ls (m g. /1. 0. 0 g. ) Figure 4. Correlation between ash (%) and total minerals (mg/100 g).

  19. Attribution of UK Winter Floods to Anthropogenic Forcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaller, N.; Alison, K.; Sparrow, S. N.; Otto, F. E. L.; Massey, N.; Vautard, R.; Yiou, P.; van Oldenborgh, G. J.; van Haren, R.; Lamb, R.; Huntingford, C.; Crooks, S.; Legg, T.; Weisheimer, A.; Bowery, A.; Miller, J.; Jones, R.; Stott, P.; Allen, M. R.

    2014-12-01

    Many regions of southern UK experienced severe flooding during the 2013/2014 winter. Simultaneously, large areas in the USA and Canada were struck by prolonged cold weather. At the time, the media and public asked whether the general rainy conditions over northern Europe and the cold weather over North America were caused by climate change. Providing an answer to this question is not trivial, but recent studies show that probabilistic event attribution is feasible. Using the citizen science project weather@home, we ran over 40'000 perturbed initial condition simulations of the 2013/2014 winter. These simulations fall into two categories: one set aims at simulating the world with climate change using observed sea surface temperatures while the second set is run with sea surface temperatures corresponding to a world that might have been without climate change. The relevant modelled variables are then downscaled by a hydrological model to obtain river flows. First results show that anthropogenic climate change led to a small but significant increase in the fractional attributable risk for 30-days peak flows for the river Thames. A single number can summarize the final result from probabilistic attribution studies indicating, for example, an increase, decrease or no change to the risk of the event occurring. However, communicating this to the public, media and other scientists remains challenging. The assumptions made in the chain of models used need to be explained. In addition, extreme events, like the UK floods of the 2013/2014 winter, are usually caused by a range of factors. While heavy precipitation events can be caused by dynamic and/or thermodynamic processes, floods occur only partly as a response to heavy precipitation. Depending on the catchment, they can be largely due to soil properties and conditions of the previous months. Probabilistic attribution studies are multidisciplinary and therefore all aspects need to be communicated properly.

  20. Administrative Aspects of the Criticality Controls Used in Programmes for Basic Criticality Research, Reactor Development and Materials Processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wood, D. P.; Giessing, D. F. [Operational Safety Division, USAEC Albuquerque Operations Office, NM (United States)

    1966-05-15

    This paper describes the administrative and procedural aspects of criticality controls used by a field office of the United States Atomic Energy Commission in programmes that include reactor criticals, research and materials testing reactors, and power reactor development. Situations encountered include handling, storing, and processing large quantities of uranium-235 and plutonium-239 of various configurations and compositions in laboratories and operations which gather basic criticality data, processing of fissile material, and varied reactor research and development, programmes including fuel materials. Similar situations exist for uranium-233 and plutonium-238 on a smaller laboratory scale. The administrative controls and interactions of the USAEC field office and the operating contractors, who operate these installations for the USAEC, are outlined. Also, the purpose and scope of the direct examination by USAEC personnel of these contractor facilities are analysed. The programme has been in effect for three years and is believed to be successful in maintaining efficient operations and an acceptable low level of risk of inadvertent criticality. Success of this programme is in good measure due to the close working relationship between the staffs of the USAEC field office and the operating contractors. (author)

  1. Chronic vitamin C administration induces thermal hyperalgesia in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Against a backdrop of neurological effects, the effects of acute and chronic administration of vitamin C (600mg/kg) on pain processing were investigated in male rats. Chronic administration of vitamin C induced significant thermal hyperalgesia while acute administration had no effect. In addition, the intraperitoneal ...

  2. Superfund TIO videos. Set B. Basics of administrative law, and prp search process: PRP search, information exchange and access. Part 3. Audio-Visual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1990-01-01

    The videotape is divided into two sections. Section 1 identifies the various types of administrative hearings, including quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial, and hybrid types. Section 2 provides an overview of the PRP search process; explains how and when to issue Section 104(e) letters and administrative subpoenas; outlines the enforcement authorities available in cases of non-compliance; and describes the types of information that can be released to PRPs

  3. Assessing brand image through communalities and asymmetries in brand-to-attribute and attribute-to-brand associations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Torres, Anna; Bijmolt, Tarnmo H. A.

    2009-01-01

    Brand image is a key component of customer-based brand equity, and refers to the associations a consumer holds in memory. Such associations are often directional; one should distinguish between brand-to-attribute and attribute-to-brand associations, Information on these associations arise from two

  4. Parameter uncertainty in simulations of extreme precipitation and attribution studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timmermans, B.; Collins, W. D.; O'Brien, T. A.; Risser, M. D.

    2017-12-01

    The attribution of extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall, to anthropogenic influence involves the analysis of their probability in simulations of climate. The climate models used however, such as the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), employ approximate physics that gives rise to "parameter uncertainty"—uncertainty about the most accurate or optimal values of numerical parameters within the model. In particular, approximate parameterisations for convective processes are well known to be influential in the simulation of precipitation extremes. Towards examining the impact of this source of uncertainty on attribution studies, we investigate the importance of components—through their associated tuning parameters—of parameterisations relating to deep and shallow convection, and cloud and aerosol microphysics in CAM. We hypothesise that as numerical resolution is increased the change in proportion of variance induced by perturbed parameters associated with the respective components is consistent with the decreasing applicability of the underlying hydrostatic assumptions. For example, that the relative influence of deep convection should diminish as resolution approaches that where convection can be resolved numerically ( 10 km). We quantify the relationship between the relative proportion of variance induced and numerical resolution by conducting computer experiments that examine precipitation extremes over the contiguous U.S. In order to mitigate the enormous computational burden of running ensembles of long climate simulations, we use variable-resolution CAM and employ both extreme value theory and surrogate modelling techniques ("emulators"). We discuss the implications of the relationship between parameterised convective processes and resolution both in the context of attribution studies and progression towards models that fully resolve convection.

  5. 77 FR 58989 - Proposed CERCLA Administrative Cost Recovery Settlement for the Buckbee-Mears Co. Superfund Site...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-25

    ... paid $150,000 attributable to the costs of marketing and selling the Properties; (b) The Bank will pay... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9720-7] Proposed CERCLA Administrative Cost Recovery... costs concerning the Buckbee-Mears Co. Superfund Site located in Cortland, Cortland County, New York...

  6. Processed beetroot (Beta vulgaris L. as a natural antioxidant in mayonnaise: Effects on physical stability, texture and sensory attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vassilios Raikos

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The oxidative and physical stability of the reformulated mayonnaise with processed beetroot was investigated and compared with a control (mayonnaise without beetroot and a commercially available product. Processing of beetroot had an impact on the structural integrity of the antioxidants present. Microwaving (960 W for 7 min was advantageous for preserving the betalain and polyphenol content of beetroot compared to roasting (180 °C for 90 min and boiling (100 °C for 30 min. The oxidative stability of mayonnaise samples was determined by Rancimat and the thiobarbituric (TBA assay. The addition of microwaved beetroot significantly enhanced the oxidative stability of mayonnaise at the end of a storage period of 4 weeks (4 °C. Although no significant differences (P > 0.05 were detected between the mayonnaise samples containing beetroot and the commercial control, the latter was less susceptible to oxidation during storage. The turbiscan stability index (TSI revealed that the commercial mayonnaise was less prone to destabilization phenomena. All the textural parameters increased with the incorporation of beetroot. The sensory evaluation revealed that, with the exception of graininess and uniformity, most of the sensory attributes are preserved if not improved with the addition of beetroot.

  7. Human factoring administrative procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grider, D.A.; Sturdivant, M.H.

    1991-01-01

    In nonnuclear business, administrative procedures bring to mind such mundane topics as filing correspondence and scheduling vacation time. In the nuclear industry, on the other hand, administrative procedures play a vital role in assuring the safe operation of a facility. For some time now, industry focus has been on improving technical procedures. Significant efforts are under way to produce technical procedure requires that a validated technical, regulatory, and administrative basis be developed and that the technical process be established for each procedure. Producing usable technical procedures requires that procedure presentation be engineered to the same human factors principles used in control room design. The vital safety role of administrative procedures requires that they be just as sound, just a rigorously formulated, and documented as technical procedures. Procedure programs at the Tennessee Valley Authority and at Boston Edison's Pilgrim Station demonstrate that human factors engineering techniques can be applied effectively to technical procedures. With a few modifications, those same techniques can be used to produce more effective administrative procedures. Efforts are under way at the US Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Complex and at some utilities (Boston Edison, for instance) to apply human factors engineering to administrative procedures: The techniques being adapted include the following

  8. The Attribute for Hydrocarbon Prediction Based on Attenuation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hermana, Maman; Harith, Z Z T; Sum, C W; Ghosh, D P

    2014-01-01

    Hydrocarbon prediction is a crucial issue in the oil and gas industry. Currently, the prediction of pore fluid and lithology are based on amplitude interpretation which has the potential to produce pitfalls in certain conditions of reservoir. Motivated by this fact, this work is directed to find out other attributes that can be used to reduce the pitfalls in the amplitude interpretation. Some seismic attributes were examined and studies showed that the attenuation attribute is a better attribute for hydrocarbon prediction. Theoretically, the attenuation mechanism of wave propagation is associated with the movement of fluid in the pore; hence the existence of hydrocarbon in the pore will be represented by attenuation attribute directly. In this paper we evaluated the feasibility of the quality factor ratio of P-wave and S-wave (Qp/Qs) as hydrocarbon indicator using well data and also we developed a new attribute based on attenuation for hydrocarbon prediction -- Normalized Energy Reduction Stack (NERS). To achieve these goals, this work was divided into 3 main parts; estimating the Qp/Qs on well log data, testing the new attribute in the synthetic data and applying the new attribute on real data in Malay Basin data. The result show that the Qp/Qs is better than Poisson's ratio and Lamda over Mu as hydrocarbon indicator. The curve, trend analysis and contrast of Qp/Qs is more powerful at distinguishing pore fluid than Poisson ratio and Lamda over Mu. The NERS attribute was successful in distinguishing the hydrocarbon from brine on synthetic data. Applying this attribute on real data on Malay basin, the NERS attribute is qualitatively conformable with the structure and location where the gas is predicted. The quantitative interpretation of this attribute for hydrocarbon prediction needs to be investigated further

  9. Supply chain performance attributes for the fast moving consumer goods industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madhu Bala

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available This research paper identifies the supply chain performance attributes that are relevant to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG industry. The FMCG supply chains are analysed from the perspective of processes, components and typology. The typical issues faced by the FMCG supply chains are also explored. Three supply chain operational models are compared and identify SCOR as the one best suited for the FMCG industry. The survey, conducted with the respondents from four research cases across two product categories, demonstrates the acceptance and the usage of the performance attributes for the FMCG supply chains. The results also include the analysis of the typology of the research cases across two product categories.

  10. Making judgments about other people: impression formation and attributional processing in older adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abby Heckman Coats

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Older adults face changing relationships with family members and friends with aging. Social cognition researchers investigate how individuals think about these social situations. The results of this research suggest that older adults are effective at accurately judging social partners when they are motivated to do so and can apply their accumulated knowledge to the situation. However, when cognitive resources are required in social situations, older adults may not perform as well as young adults. We review evidence supporting the importance of cognition, motivation, and knowledge for older adults’ impression formation and attributional reasoning. This research is important because it can lead to interventions to help older adults avoid scams and improve their interpersonal relationships.

  11. State-level Medicaid expenditures attributable to smoking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, Brian S; Finkelstein, Eric A; Fiebelkorn, Ian C

    2009-07-01

    Medicaid recipients are disproportionately affected by tobacco-related disease because their smoking prevalence is approximately 53% greater than that of the overall US adult population. This study estimates state-level smoking-attributable Medicaid expenditures. We used state-level and national data and a 4-part econometric model to estimate the fraction of each state's Medicaid expenditures attributable to smoking. These fractions were multiplied by state-level Medicaid expenditure estimates obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to estimate smoking-attributable expenditures. The smoking-attributable fraction for all states was 11.0% (95% confidence interval, 0.4%-17.0%). Medicaid smoking-attributable expenditures ranged from $40 million (Wyoming) to $3.3 billion (New York) in 2004 and totaled $22 billion nationwide. Cigarette smoking accounts for a sizeable share of annual state Medicaid expenditures. To reduce smoking prevalence among recipients and the growth rate in smoking-attributable Medicaid expenditures, state health departments and state health plans such as Medicaid are encouraged to provide free or low-cost access to smoking cessation counseling and medication.

  12. Attribution bias and social anxiety in schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amelie M. Achim

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Studies on attribution biases in schizophrenia have produced mixed results, whereas such biases have been more consistently reported in people with anxiety disorders. Anxiety comorbidities are frequent in schizophrenia, in particular social anxiety disorder, which could influence their patterns of attribution biases. The objective of the present study was thus to determine if individuals with schizophrenia and a comorbid social anxiety disorder (SZ+ show distinct attribution biases as compared with individuals with schizophrenia without social anxiety (SZ− and healthy controls. Attribution biases were assessed with the Internal, Personal, and Situational Attributions Questionnaire in 41 individual with schizophrenia and 41 healthy controls. Results revealed the lack of the normal externalizing bias in SZ+, whereas SZ− did not significantly differ from healthy controls on this dimension. The personalizing bias was not influenced by social anxiety but was in contrast linked with delusions, with a greater personalizing bias in individuals with current delusions. Future studies on attribution biases in schizophrenia should carefully document symptom presentation, including social anxiety.

  13. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL PRINCIPLES OF TAX ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION IN EUROPE AND UKRAINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonid Mogilevskyi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the article is a comparative analysis of the administrative and legal regulation of tax administration in European countries and in Ukraine and the definition of ways to improve domestic legislation in this field on this basis. The subject of the study is the administrative and legal principles of tax administration in the conditions of decentralization of state power. Methodology. The study is based on a comparison of the foreign experience of legal regulation and collection of local taxes by using the example of European states with the current state of the process of introducing tax decentralization in Ukraine. Due to the use of this amount of general scientific and specialscientific methods and methods of scientific knowledge, the content of the administrative and legal foundations of tax administration, as well as legal phenomena such as tax decentralization, were characterized and defined. The conclusions that we made helped us to determine the specifics of their administrative-legal regulation in some countries of Europe and in Ukraine. The results of the conducted comparative legal study made it possible to prove the direct impact of tax decentralization on the mechanism of tax administration and the systematic organization of tax authorities. These processes have a predominantly positive impact on macroeconomic processes, they broaden the rights and opportunities of local authorities regarding the use of funds by local governments, forecasting and approving regional budgets, and managing taxes and fees. Practical impact. The administration of taxes in the conditions of decentralization in Europe can be characterized by a high level of efficiency and functionality of the work of the territorial tax-control bodies. This experience is really necessary for Ukraine, where the activities of local self-government in some areas are limited by the central apparatus. Value/originality. A comparative legal study of world experience in

  14. A Chance for Attributable Agency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briegel, Hans J; Müller, Thomas

    Can we sensibly attribute some of the happenings in our world to the agency of some of the things around us? We do this all the time, but there are conceptual challenges purporting to show that attributable agency, and specifically one of its most important subspecies, human free agency, is incoherent. We address these challenges in a novel way: rather than merely rebutting specific arguments, we discuss a concrete model that we claim positively illustrates attributable agency in an indeterministic setting. The model, recently introduced by one of the authors in the context of artificial intelligence, shows that an agent with a sufficiently complex memory organization can employ indeterministic happenings in a meaningful way. We claim that these considerations successfully counter arguments against the coherence of libertarian (indeterminism-based) free will.

  15. Design of an Interface for Page Rank Calculation using Web Link Attributes Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeyalatha SIVARAMAKRISHNAN

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the Web Structure Mining and the different Structure Mining Algorithms like Page Rank, HITS, Trust Rank and Sel-HITS. The functioning of these algorithms are discussed. An incremental algorithm for calculation of PageRank using an interface has been formulated. This algorithm makes use of Web Link Attributes Information as key parameters and has been implemented using Visibility and Position of a Link. The application of Web Structure Mining Algorithm in an Academic Search Application has been discussed. The present work can be a useful input to Web Users, Faculty, Students and Web Administrators in a University Environment.

  16. Estimating preferences for modes of drug administration: The case of US healthcare professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tetteh, Ebenezer K; Morris, Steve; Titchener-Hooker, Nigel

    2018-01-01

    There are hidden drug administration costs that arise from a mismatch between end-user preferences and how manufacturers choose to formulate their drug products for delivery to patients. The corollary of this is: there are "intangible benefits" from considering end-user preferences in manufacturing patient-friendly medicines. It is important then to have some idea of what pharmaceutical manufacturers should consider in making patient-friendly medicines and of the magnitude of the indirect benefits from doing so. This study aimed to evaluate preferences of healthcare professionals in the US for the non-monetary attributes of different modes of drug administration. It uses these preference orderings to compute a monetary valuation of the indirect benefits from making patient-friendly medicines. A survey collected choice preferences of a sample of 210 healthcare professionals in the US for two unlabelled drug options. These drugs were identical except in the levels of attributes of drug administration. Using the choice data collected, statistical models were estimated to compute gross welfare benefits, measured by the expected compensating variation, from making drugs in a more patient-friendly manner. The monetary value of end-user benefits from developing patient-friendly drug delivery systems is: (1) as large as the annual acquisition costs per full treatment episode for some biologic drugs; and (2) likely to fall in the "high end" of the distribution of the direct monetary costs of drug administration. An examination of end-user preferences should help manufacturers make more effective and efficient use of limited resources for innovations in drug delivery system, or manufacturing research in general. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Nominal group technique to select attributes for discrete choice experiments: an example for drug treatment choice in osteoporosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiligsmann M

    2013-02-01

    effectiveness, side effects, and frequency and mode of administration. Some (15% of the patients did not correctly rank from 1 to 12, and the order of attributes did play a role in the ranking.Conclusion: The NGT is feasible for selecting attributes for DCEs. Although in the context of this study, the NGT session had little impact on prioritizing attributes, this approach is rigorous, transparent, and improves the face validity of DCEs. Additional research in other contexts (different decisional problems or different diseases is needed to determine the added value of the NGT session, to assess the optimal ranking/rating method with control of ordering effects, and to compare the attributes selected with the different approaches.Keywords: discrete choice experiment, nominal group technique, patient preference, medication attributes, osteoporosis

  18. Mental state attribution and the temporoparietal junction: an fMRI study comparing belief, emotion, and perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaitchik, Deborah; Walker, Caren; Miller, Saul; LaViolette, Pete; Feczko, Eric; Dickerson, Bradford C

    2010-07-01

    By age 2, children attribute referential mental states such as perceptions and emotions to themselves and others, yet it is not until age 4 that they attribute representational mental states such as beliefs. This raises an interesting question: is attribution of beliefs different from attribution of perceptions and emotions in terms of its neural substrate? To address this question with a high degree of anatomic specificity, we partitioned the TPJ, a broad area often found to be recruited in theory of mind tasks, into 2 neuroanatomically specific regions of interest: Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS) and Inferior Parietal Lobule (IPL). To maximize behavioral specificity, we designed a tightly controlled verbal task comprised of sets of single sentences--sentences identical except for the type of mental state specified in the verb (belief, emotion, perception, syntax control). Results indicated that attribution of beliefs more strongly recruited both regions of interest than did emotions or perceptions. This is especially surprising with respect to STS, since it is widely reported in the literature to mediate the detection of referential states--among them emotions and perceptions--rather than the inference of beliefs. An explanation is offered that focuses on the differences between verbal stimuli and visual stimuli, and between a process of sentence comprehension and a process of visual detection. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Anonymous Credential Schemes with Encrypted Attributes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guajardo Merchan, J.; Mennink, B.; Schoenmakers, B.

    2011-01-01

    In anonymous credential schemes, users obtain credentials on certain attributes from an issuer, and later show these credentials to a relying party anonymously and without fully disclosing the attributes. In this paper, we introduce the notion of (anonymous) credential schemes with encrypted

  20. Application of the non lineal dynamics to the design of processes in the administration of quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Domech More, Jesus

    1999-01-01

    The design of processes is a fundamental pillar inside a System of Total Administration of Quality. The great majority of the problems that you/they happen in an organization - 85% - they are caused by the processes, not for the employees. When the processes are not well designed the problems arise: errors, waste, losses of time, delays, duplication take place of the work, flaws of teams and in the worst cases, the client's dissatisfaction. This influences negatively in the Costs of Non conformity. In the work he/she thinks about the possibility to apply the techniques from the non lineal dynamics to the one design of processes like a complex but realer tool that the statistical techniques. As study object the process of production of lead containers is used (means of shielding) that are used to carry radioisotopes in the System of Health of Cuba. He/she intends a model of non lineal dynamics of the process that allows to evaluate what so predictable it is the chosen system (entrance Control to the matter prevails) and which the one will be behavior average of the same one based in the complex interactions that arise in the relationships client-supplier, operative-machine, supplier-supplier, operative-environment and operative-method. Each one of these interactions constitutes a source of uncertainty in the one. I process and he/she has a weight on the temporary dynamics of the characteristic of real quality (homogeneity of the shielding) in the process

  1. Hospital nurse administrators in Japan: a feminist dimensional analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandi, C L; Naito, A

    2006-03-01

    Nursing administration research is scarce in Japan during a time when health care is rapidly reforming and baccalaureate and graduate nursing programmes are rapidly developing. Additionally, nursing administration content relies heavily on Western and non-nursing theories, some of which have been criticized for male bias. The purpose of this article is to present key findings from a qualitative study that explored the perspectives or viewpoints of 16 Japanese senior female nurse administrators in hospitals in order to learn what was happening in their working situations and how they were managing. This feminist study used dimensional analysis strategies for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured, tape-recorded interviews were conducted by both researchers in Japanese, transcribed into Japanese, and translated into English. The resulting explanatory matrix portrayed a story of 16 nurse administrators, most of whom were able successfully to enact a management role in a context of role ambiguity that was congruent with their relational values and beliefs. Important conditions influencing value-based role enactment included organization mission and purpose, organization structure, nurse-doctor relationships, participant-supervisor relationships, and personal attributes. Many participants were able to overcome barriers in these categories using strategies of tempered radicalism and consequently made positive organizational changes. Advanced formal education, better organizational support, and a raised consciousness among nurses that views nurses and midwives as equal partners with other professionals will enable Japanese nurse administrators to help advance patient-centred care and nursing development and empowerment.

  2. The location but not the attributes of visual cues are automatically encoded into working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hui; Wyble, Brad

    2015-02-01

    Although it has been well known that visual cues affect the perception of subsequent visual stimuli, relatively little is known about how the cues themselves are processed. The present study attempted to characterize the processing of a visual cue by investigating what information about the cue is stored in terms of both location ("where" is the cue) and attributes ("what" are the attributes of the cue). In 11 experiments subjects performed several trials of reporting a target letter and then answered an unexpected question about the cue (e.g., the location, color, or identity of the cue). This surprise question revealed that participants could report the location of the cue even when the cue never indicated the target location and they were explicitly told to ignore it. Furthermore, the memory trace of this location information endured during encoding of the subsequent target. In contrast to location, attributes of the cue (e.g., color) were poorly reported, even for attributes that were used by subjects to perform the task. These results shed new light on the mechanisms underlying cueing effects and suggest also that the visual system may create empty object files in response to visual cues. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Real-time product attribute control to manufacture antibodies with defined N-linked glycan levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zupke, Craig; Brady, Lowell J; Slade, Peter G; Clark, Philip; Caspary, R Guy; Livingston, Brittney; Taylor, Lisa; Bigham, Kyle; Morris, Arvia E; Bailey, Robert W

    2015-01-01

    Pressures for cost-effective new therapies and an increased emphasis on emerging markets require technological advancements and a flexible future manufacturing network for the production of biologic medicines. The safety and efficacy of a product is crucial, and consistent product quality is an essential feature of any therapeutic manufacturing process. The active control of product quality in a typical biologic process is challenging because of measurement lags and nonlinearities present in the system. The current study uses nonlinear model predictive control to maintain a critical product quality attribute at a predetermined value during pilot scale manufacturing operations. This approach to product quality control ensures a more consistent product for patients, enables greater manufacturing efficiency, and eliminates the need for extensive process characterization by providing direct measures of critical product quality attributes for real time release of drug product. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

  4. The circle of life: A cross-cultural comparison of children's attribution of life-cycle traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burdett, Emily R R; Barrett, Justin L

    2016-06-01

    Do children attribute mortality and other life-cycle traits to all minded beings? The present study examined whether culture influences young children's ability to conceptualize and differentiate human beings from supernatural beings (such as God) in terms of life-cycle traits. Three-to-5-year-old Israeli and British children were questioned whether their mother, a friend, and God would be subject to various life-cycle processes: Birth, death, ageing, existence/longevity, and parentage. Children did not anthropomorphize but differentiated among human and supernatural beings, attributing life-cycle traits to humans, but not to God. Although 3-year-olds differentiated significantly among agents, 5-year-olds attributed correct life-cycle traits more consistently than younger children. The results also indicated some cross-cultural variation in these attributions. Implications for biological conceptual development are discussed. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  5. Development and Validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Junhan; Kogan, Steven M

    2017-07-01

    The present study describes the development and validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire (MAQ). The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded measure of masculine attributes for sexual health research with African American young men. Consistent with Whitehead's theory, the MAQ items were hypothesized to comprise two components representing reputation-based and respect-based attributes. The sample included 505 African American men aged 19 to 22 years ( M = 20.29, SD = 1.10) living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Convergent and discriminant validity of the MAQ were assessed by examining the associations of masculinity attributes with psychosocial factors. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the extent to which the MAQ subscales predicted sexual risk behavior outcomes. Consistent with study hypotheses, the MAQ was composed of (a) reputation-based attributes oriented toward sexual prowess, toughness, and authority-defying behavior and (b) respect-based attributes oriented toward economic independence, socially approved levels of hard work and education, and committed romantic relationships. Reputation-based attributes were associated positively with street code and negatively related to academic orientation, vocational engagement, and self-regulation, whereas respect-based attributes were associated positively with academic and vocational orientations and self-regulation. Finally, reputation-based attributes predicted sexual risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, marijuana use, and incarceration, net of the influence of respect-based attributes. The development of the MAQ provides a new measure that permits systematic quantitative investigation of the associations between African American men's masculinity ideology and sexual risk behavior.

  6. Income inequality and alcohol attributable harm in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chikritzhs Tanya N

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There is little research on the relationship between key socioeconomic variables and alcohol related harms in Australia. The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between income inequality and the rates of alcohol-attributable hospitalisation and death at a local-area level in Australia. Method We conducted a cross sectional ecological analysis at a Local Government Area (LGA level of associations between data on alcohol caused harms and income inequality data after adjusting for socioeconomic disadvantage and remoteness of LGAs. The main outcome measures used were matched rate ratios for four measures of alcohol caused harm; acute (primarily related to the short term consequences of drinking and chronic (primarily related to the long term consequences of drinking alcohol-attributable hospitalisation and acute and chronic alcohol-attributable death. Matching was undertaken using control conditions (non-alcohol-attributable at an LGA level. Results A total of 885 alcohol-attributable deaths and 19467 alcohol-attributable hospitalisations across all LGAs were available for analysis. After weighting by the total number of cases in each LGA, the matched rate ratios of acute and chronic alcohol-attributable hospitalisation and chronic alcohol-attributable death were associated with the squared centred Gini coefficients of LGAs. This relationship was evident after adjusting for socioeconomic disadvantage and remoteness of LGAs. For both measures of hospitalisation the relationship was curvilinear; increases in income inequality were initially associated with declining rates of hospitalisation followed by large increases as the Gini coefficient increased beyond 0.15. The pattern for chronic alcohol-attributable death was similar, but without the initial decrease. There was no association between income inequality and acute alcohol-attributable death, probably due to the relatively small number of these types of death

  7. Selection of key terrain attributes for SOC model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greve, Mogens Humlekrog; Adhikari, Kabindra; Chellasamy, Menaka

    As an important component of the global carbon pool, soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. SOC pool is the basic information to carry out global warming research, and needs to sustainable use of land resources. Digital terrain attributes are often use...... was selected, total 2,514,820 data mining models were constructed by 71 differences grid from 12m to 2304m and 22 attributes, 21 attributes derived by DTM and the original elevation. Relative importance and usage of each attributes in every model were calculated. Comprehensive impact rates of each attribute...

  8. Administrative Candidacy: A Process of New-Role Learning--Part I

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenfield, William D., Jr.

    1977-01-01

    Reports the initial results of a longitudinal study of the organizational socialization of educational administrators. Part I claims that socialization through the life-cycle may be conceived as a series of learned interpersonal relationships through which individuals build up a repertoire of interpersonal responses that condition new…

  9. Zirconium-barrier cladding attributes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosenbaum, H.S.; Rand, R.A.; Tucker, R.P.; Cheng, B.; Adamson, R.B.; Davies, J.H.; Armijo, J.S.; Wisner, S.B.

    1987-01-01

    This metallurgical study of Zr-barrier fuel cladding evaluates the importance of three salient attributes: (1) metallurgical bond between the zirconium liner and the Zircaloy substrate, (2) liner thickness (roughly 10% of the total cladding wall), and (3) softness (purity). The effect that each of these attributes has on the pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) resistance of the Zr-barrier fuel was studied by a combination of analytical model calculations and laboratory experiments using an expanding mandrel technique. Each of the attributes is shown to contribute to PCI resistance. The effect of the zirconium liner on fuel behavior during off-normal events in which steam comes in contact with the zirconium surface was studied experimentally. Simulations of loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) showed that the behavior of Zr-barrier cladding is virtually indistinguishable from that of conventional Zircaloy cladding. If steam contacts the zirconium liner surface through a cladding perforation and the fuel rod is operated under normal power conditions, the zirconium liner is oxidized more rapidly than is Zircaloy, but the oxidation rate returns to the rate of Zircaloy oxidation when the oxide phase reaches the zirconium-Zircaloy metallurgical bond

  10. Children’s moral emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task: the role of response format

    OpenAIRE

    Gummerum, Michaela; López Pérez, Belén; Ambrona, Tamara; Rodríguez-Cano, Sonia; Dellaria, Giulia; Smith, Gary; Wilson, Ellie

    2016-01-01

    This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in The Journal of Genetic Psychology on 2016 available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00221325.2015.1103694 Previous research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested t...

  11. Risk as an attribute in discrete choice experiments: a systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Mark; Rigby, Dan; Vass, Caroline; Flynn, Terry; Louviere, Jordan; Payne, Katherine

    2014-01-01

    communication. The primary limitation of this review was that the methods underlying presentation, format and analysis of risk attributes could only be appraised to the extent that they were reported. Improvements in reporting and transparency of risk presentation from conception to the analysis of DCEs are needed. To define best practice, further research is needed to test how the process of communicating risk affects the way in which people value risk attributes in DCEs.

  12. Quality attributes for mobile applications

    OpenAIRE

    Fernandes, João M.; Ferreira, André Leite

    2016-01-01

    A mobile application is a type of software application developed to run on a mobile device. The chapter discusses the main characteristics of mobile devices, since they have a great impact on mobile applications. It also presents the classification of mobile applications according to two main types: native and web-based applications. Finally, this chapter identifies the most relevant types of quality attributes for mobile applications. It shows that the relevant quality attributes for mobile ...

  13. Detection and attribution of observed impacts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cramer, W.; Yohe, G.W.; Auffhammer, M.; Huggel, C.; Molau, U.; Dias, M.A.F.S.; Leemans, R.

    2014-01-01

    This chapter synthesizes the scientific literature on the detection and attribution of observed changes in natural and human systems in response to observed recent climate change. For policy makers and the public, detection and attribution of observed impacts will be a key element to determine the

  14. A novel selection method of seismic attributes based on gray relational degree and support vector machine.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaping Huang

    Full Text Available The selection of seismic attributes is a key process in reservoir prediction because the prediction accuracy relies on the reliability and credibility of the seismic attributes. However, effective selection method for useful seismic attributes is still a challenge. This paper presents a novel selection method of seismic attributes for reservoir prediction based on the gray relational degree (GRD and support vector machine (SVM. The proposed method has a two-hierarchical structure. In the first hierarchy, the primary selection of seismic attributes is achieved by calculating the GRD between seismic attributes and reservoir parameters, and the GRD between the seismic attributes. The principle of the primary selection is that these seismic attributes with higher GRD to the reservoir parameters will have smaller GRD between themselves as compared to those with lower GRD to the reservoir parameters. Then the SVM is employed in the second hierarchy to perform an interactive error verification using training samples for the purpose of determining the final seismic attributes. A real-world case study was conducted to evaluate the proposed GRD-SVM method. Reliable seismic attributes were selected to predict the coalbed methane (CBM content in southern Qinshui basin, China. In the analysis, the instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous bandwidth, instantaneous frequency, and minimum negative curvature were selected, and the predicted CBM content was fundamentally consistent with the measured CBM content. This real-world case study demonstrates that the proposed method is able to effectively select seismic attributes, and improve the prediction accuracy. Thus, the proposed GRD-SVM method can be used for the selection of seismic attributes in practice.

  15. Attribution theories in Human Resource Management research : A review and research agenda

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R.L. Hewett (Rebecca); A. Shantz (Amanda); J. Mundy (Julia); K. Alfes (Kerstin)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractThere is no doubt that attribution theories have made their mark in social psychology and other related disciplines, but their application and extension to the field of HR is in its infancy. Indeed, HR scholars have recently realized that understanding the process by which individuals

  16. 32 CFR 636.4 - Administrative due process for suspensions and revocations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... (CONTINUED) LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC SUPERVISION (SPECIFIC...) Individuals who desire an administrative hearing to review a decision to impose immediate suspension, or to...

  17. Clinical evaluation of automated processing of electrocardiograms by the Veterans Administration program (AVA 3.4).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brohet, C R; Richman, H G

    1979-06-01

    Automated processing of electrocardiograms by the Veterans Administration program was evaluated for both agreement with physician interpretation and interpretative accuracy as assessed with nonelectrocardiographic criteria. One thousand unselected electrocardiograms were analyzed by two reviewer groups, one familiar and the other unfamiliar with the computer program. A significant number of measurement errors involving repolarization changes and left axis deviation occurred; however, interpretative disagreements related to statistical decision were largely language-related. Use of a printout with a more traditional format resulted in agreement with physician interpretation by both reviewer groups in more than 80 percent of cases. Overall sensitivity based on agreement with nonelectrocardiographic criteria was significantly greater with use of the computer program than with use of the conventional criteria utilized by the reviewers. This difference was particularly evident in the subgroup analysis of myocardial infarction and left ventricular hypertrophy. The degree of overdiagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy and posteroinferior infarction was initially unacceptable, but this difficulty was corrected by adjustment of probabilities. Clinical acceptability of the Veterans Administration program appears to require greater physician education than that needed for other computer programs of electrocardiographic analysis; the flexibility of interpretation by statistical decision offers the potential for better diagnostic accuracy.

  18. MEB 2013, Regulation for Administrator Assignment and Relocation Based On the Opinions of Administrators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soner DOĞAN

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available In this study; it is aimed to determine the opinions of the institution managers concerning the Regulation for Administrator Assignment and Relocation dated February 28, 2013, the scoring criteria in the regulation and the disturbances experienced in the application process of the regulation. The study is carried out in accordance with the phenomenological pattern through qualitative research methods. The participants were determined with the criterion sampling method which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. The study group of the research is composed of the eight managers serving in a province. In the study, a semi-structured interview form was used as data collection tool. In the interpretation process of the interviews, the inductive descriptive analysis, the content analysis and the constant comparison technique were used. Three main themes have come out regarding the result of the data analysis process of assigning the administrators, the combining of the different types of institutions and the application of the forced relocation.

  19. Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gummerum, Michaela; López-Pérez, Belén; Ambrona, Tamara; Rodríguez-Cano, Sonia; Dellaria, Giulia; Smith, Gary; Wilson, Ellie

    2016-01-01

    Previous research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested to underlie this developmental shift. The current research investigated whether making the happy victimizer task less cognitively demanding by providing children with alternative response formats would increase their attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation. In Study 1, 93 British children aged 4-7 years old responded to the happy victimizer questions either in a normal condition (where they spontaneously pointed with a finger), a wait condition (where they had to wait before giving their answers), or an arrow condition (where they had to point with a paper arrow). In Study 2, 40 Spanish children aged 4 years old responded to the happy victimizer task either in a normal or a wait condition. In both studies, participants' attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation was significantly higher in the conditions with alternative response formats (wait, arrow) than in the normal condition. The role of cognitive abilities for emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task is discussed.

  20. Development of the Attributed Dignity Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacelon, Cynthia S; Dixon, Jane; Knafl, Kathleen A

    2009-07-01

    A sequential, multi-method approach to instrument development beginning with concept analysis, followed by (a) item generation from qualitative data, (b) review of items by expert and lay person panels, (c) cognitive appraisal interviews, (d) pilot testing, and (e) evaluating construct validity was used to develop a measure of attributed dignity in older adults. The resulting positively scored, 23-item scale has three dimensions: Self-Value, Behavioral Respect-Self, and Behavioral Respect-Others. Item-total correlations in the pilot study ranged from 0.39 to 0.85. Correlations between the Attributed Dignity Scale (ADS) and both Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (0.17) and Crowne and Marlowe's Social Desirability Scale (0.36) were modest and in the expected direction, indicating attributed dignity is a related but independent concept. Next steps include testing the ADS with a larger sample to complete factor analysis, test-retest stability, and further study of the relationships between attributed dignity and other concepts.

  1. Stable personal attributes and a resilient approach to work and career

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jill Flint-Taylor

    2014-08-01

    Research purpose: The main research aim was to explore, at a detailed level, relationships between enduring personal characteristics and a resilient approach to work and career. Motivation for the study: Moving away from the idea of resilience as a specific trait or set of traits raises the question of how general personality and ability constructs influence a resilient approach. Research approach, design and method: This was an exploratory, quantitative study involving predictor (ability and personality and criterion (satisfaction and involvement data for 168 senior managers in five businesses within a retail and distribution group. Main findings: Evidence was found for differential relationships between personal attributes and a resilient approach (measured in terms of positive vs. negative perspectives on work and career. For example, the personality factor of Openness to Experience was negatively related to Organisation and Career Satisfaction, but positively related to Career and Job Involvement. Practical/managerial implications: In designing selection, development and employee survey procedures, organisations need to be aware of the differential nature of the relationships between attributes and a resilient approach to work and career. Contribution/value-add: The study brings together recent research on resilience, personal attributes and work outcomes, and supports the potential of general attribute models for studying and improving the process of developing and exercising a resilient approach in the work context.

  2. TRANSFERABILITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS: NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AS AN EXAMPLE

    OpenAIRE

    Kapucu, Naim; Kösecik, Muhammet

    2002-01-01

    This article begins with the examination of models of analyzing the process of policy transfer, lesson drawing and policy streams with regard to initiating and directing factors and dynamics of the process. The paper continues with the assessment of administrative reform transferring by evaluating the necessity, major themes and transferability of administrative reform. Strategies for successful administrative reform transferring are emphasized. Special reference is given to New Public Manage...

  3. Socio-Statistical Research on the Internalization of European Administrative Space Principles in the Romanian Public Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana-Camelia Iancu

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The authors propose an analysis of the public administration reform in Romania by assessing whether the Romanian civil servants perform their duties according to the regulations of the European Administrative Space. The paper offers a socio-statistic perspective on the internalization of the European Administrative Space principles, namely, the rule of law, openness towards citizens, and public administration responsibility in a Romanian context, after the European Union accession. Designed within the framework of modern theories of organizational sociology that see internalization as a process of organizational learning and change, and using a relevant sample of Romanian civil servants, the paper offers important and useful results for the future Romanian policies and strategies in an integrated European arena.

  4. Parenting Attributions and Attitudes in Cross-Cultural Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bornstein, Marc H.; Putnick, Diane L.; Lansford, Jennifer E.

    2011-01-01

    SYNOPSIS Objective This article used the Parenting Across Cultures Project to evaluate similarities and differences in mean levels and relative agreement between mothers’ and fathers’ attributions and attitudes in parenting in 9 countries. Design Mothers and fathers reported their perceptions of causes of successes and failures in caregiving and their progressive versus authoritarian childrearing attitudes. Gender and cultural similarities and differences in parents’ attributions and attitudes in 9 countries were analyzed: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, or the United States. Results Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any attribution, mothers reported more progressive parenting attitudes and modernity of childrearing attitudes than did fathers, and fathers reported more authoritarian attitudes than did mothers. Country differences also emerged in all attributions and attitudes that were examined. Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions and their attitudes were moderately correlated, but parenting attitudes were more highly correlated in parents than were attributions. Conclusions We draw connections among the findings across the 9 countries and outline implications for understanding similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting attributions and attitudes. PMID:21927591

  5. Food and Drug Administration process validation activities to support 99Mo production at Sandia National Laboratories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, M.J.; Bourcier, S.C.; Talley, D.G.

    1997-01-01

    Prior to 1989 99 Mo was produced in the US by a single supplier, Cintichem Inc., Tuxedo, NY. Because of problems associated with operating its facility, in 1989 Cintichem elected to decommission the facility rather than incur the costs for repair. The demise of the 99 Mo capability at Cintichem left the US totally reliant upon a single foreign source, Nordion International, located in Ottawa Canada. In 1992 the DOE purchased the Cintichem 99 Mo Production Process and Drug Master File (DMF). In 1994 the DOE funded Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to produce 99 Mo. Although Cintichem produced 99 Mo and 99m Tc generators for many years, there was no requirement for process validation which is now required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition to the validation requirement, the requirements for current Good manufacturing Practices were codified into law. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process validation being conducted at SNL for the qualification of SNL as a supplier of 99 Mo to US pharmaceutical companies

  6. Irreducible descriptive sets of attributes for information systems

    KAUST Repository

    Moshkov, Mikhail

    2010-01-01

    The maximal consistent extension Ext(S) of a given information system S consists of all objects corresponding to attribute values from S which are consistent with all true and realizable rules extracted from the original information system S. An irreducible descriptive set for the considered information system S is a minimal (relative to the inclusion) set B of attributes which defines exactly the set Ext(S) by means of true and realizable rules constructed over attributes from the considered set B. We show that there exists only one irreducible descriptive set of attributes. We present a polynomial algorithm for this set construction. We also study relationships between the cardinality of irreducible descriptive set of attributes and the number of attributes in S. The obtained results will be useful for the design of concurrent data models from experimental data. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

  7. Improved Conflict Detection for Graph Transformation with Attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Géza Kulcsár

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In graph transformation, a conflict describes a situation where two alternative transformations cannot be arbitrarily serialized. When enriching graphs with attributes, existing conflict detection techniques typically report a conflict whenever at least one of two transformations manipulates a shared attribute. In this paper, we propose an improved, less conservative condition for static conflict detection of graph transformation with attributes by explicitly taking the semantics of the attribute operations into account. The proposed technique is based on symbolic graphs, which extend the traditional notion of graphs by logic formulas used for attribute handling. The approach is proven complete, i.e., any potential conflict is guaranteed to be detected.

  8. Automatic first-break picking using the instantaneous traveltime attribute

    KAUST Repository

    Saragiotis, Christos

    2012-01-01

    Picking the first breaks is an important step in seismic processing. The large volume of the seismic data calls for automatic and objective picking. We introduce a new automatic first-break picker, which uses specifically designed time windows and an iterative procedure based on the instantaneous traveltime attribute. The method is fast as it only uses a few FFT\\'s per trace. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this automatic method by applying it on real test data.

  9. Attribution and social cognitive neuroscience: a new approach for the "online-assessment" of causality ascriptions and their emotional consequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terbeck, Sylvia; Chesterman, Paul; Fischmeister, Florian Ph S; Leodolter, Ulrich; Bauer, Herbert

    2008-08-15

    Attribution theory plays a central role in understanding cognitive processes that have emotional consequences; however, there has been very limited attention to its neural basis. After reviewing classical studies in social psychology in which attribution has been experimentally manipulated we developed a new approach that allows the investigation of state attributions and emotional consequences using neuroscience methodologies. Participants responded to the Erikson Flanker Task, but, in order to maintain the participant's beliefs about the nature of the task and to produce a significant number of error responses, an adaptive algorithm tuned the available time to respond such that, dependent on the subject's current performance, the negative feedback rate was held at chance level. In order to initiate variation in attribution participants were informed that one and the same task was either easy or difficult. As a result of these two different instructions the two groups differed significantly in error attribution only on the locus of causality dimension. Additionally, attributions were found to be stable over a large number of trials, while accuracy and reaction time remained the same. Thus, the new paradigm is particularly suitable for cognitive neuroscience research that evaluates brain behaviour relationships of higher order processes in 'simulated achievement settings'.

  10. Place-based attributes predict community membership in a mobile phone communication network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T Trevor Caughlin

    Full Text Available Social networks can be organized into communities of closely connected nodes, a property known as modularity. Because diseases, information, and behaviors spread faster within communities than between communities, understanding modularity has broad implications for public policy, epidemiology and the social sciences. Explanations for community formation in social networks often incorporate the attributes of individual people, such as gender, ethnicity or shared activities. High modularity is also a property of large-scale social networks, where each node represents a population of individuals at a location, such as call flow between mobile phone towers. However, whether or not place-based attributes, including land cover and economic activity, can predict community membership for network nodes in large-scale networks remains unknown. We describe the pattern of modularity in a mobile phone communication network in the Dominican Republic, and use a linear discriminant analysis (LDA to determine whether geographic context can explain community membership. Our results demonstrate that place-based attributes, including sugar cane production, urbanization, distance to the nearest airport, and wealth, correctly predicted community membership for over 70% of mobile phone towers. We observed a strongly positive correlation (r = 0.97 between the modularity score and the predictive ability of the LDA, suggesting that place-based attributes can accurately represent the processes driving modularity. In the absence of social network data, the methods we present can be used to predict community membership over large scales using solely place-based attributes.

  11. Place-based attributes predict community membership in a mobile phone communication network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caughlin, T Trevor; Ruktanonchai, Nick; Acevedo, Miguel A; Lopiano, Kenneth K; Prosper, Olivia; Eagle, Nathan; Tatem, Andrew J

    2013-01-01

    Social networks can be organized into communities of closely connected nodes, a property known as modularity. Because diseases, information, and behaviors spread faster within communities than between communities, understanding modularity has broad implications for public policy, epidemiology and the social sciences. Explanations for community formation in social networks often incorporate the attributes of individual people, such as gender, ethnicity or shared activities. High modularity is also a property of large-scale social networks, where each node represents a population of individuals at a location, such as call flow between mobile phone towers. However, whether or not place-based attributes, including land cover and economic activity, can predict community membership for network nodes in large-scale networks remains unknown. We describe the pattern of modularity in a mobile phone communication network in the Dominican Republic, and use a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to determine whether geographic context can explain community membership. Our results demonstrate that place-based attributes, including sugar cane production, urbanization, distance to the nearest airport, and wealth, correctly predicted community membership for over 70% of mobile phone towers. We observed a strongly positive correlation (r = 0.97) between the modularity score and the predictive ability of the LDA, suggesting that place-based attributes can accurately represent the processes driving modularity. In the absence of social network data, the methods we present can be used to predict community membership over large scales using solely place-based attributes.

  12. Administrative process evaluation of three selected Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Quito city

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katia Gissel Paspuel Guevara

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The administrative management of the cooperative involves the active participation and joint of its members in the Government and management of the organization. The objective of the research was to assess the administrative management of three cooperative selected of saving and credit of the canton “Quito”. The scientific methods used were: theoretical methods such as: the historical method, logical method through the dialectic method, systemic method; and methods empirical where was applied the technique of the survey and methods of measurement, they reflected that the cooperative studied, have a moderate performance with regard to its administrative management and a low level of participation of members as managers of the organization. The applied survey results show the importance of an efficient administrative management in cooperatives, where it is very necessary the application of cooperative principles to achieve a harmonious environment, in social and economic aspects as well as in the need for the participation of the partners as managers and decision makers, to generate the development of social activities.

  13. Effect of hierarchy legitimacy on low status group members' attributions for ingroup and outgroup failures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beatson, Ruth M; Halloran, Michael J

    2015-04-01

    Previous research has shown that people have a tendency to explain successes and failures in ways that favor their ingroups relative to outgroups. However, there has been a dearth of research examining whether social-contextual factors such as group status and hierarchy legitimacy moderate such intergroup attributions. Participants in this study were assigned to a low status group, and perceived hierarchy legitimacy was then experimentally manipulated; the extent to which ingroup versus outgroup failures were attributed to several causes was measured. When low status was considered illegitimate, ingroup failure was attributed to external causes (task difficulty, bad luck) more so than outgroup failure. Implications and directions for future research examining consequences and mediating processes are discussed.

  14. An Exploration of EFL Teachers' Attributions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghonsooly, Behzad; Ghanizadeh, Afsaneh; Ghazanfari, Mohammad; Ghabanchi, Zargham

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' attributions of success and failure. It also set out to investigate whether these attributions vary by teachers' age, teaching experience, gender and educational level. To do so, 200 EFL teachers were selected according to convenience sampling among EFL teachers teaching…

  15. Crisis Workers' Attributions for Domestic Violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madden, Margaret E.

    Attributions affect coping with victimization. Battered women who blame their husbands' moods are less likely to leave than are women who blame their husbands' permanent characteristics for the violence. Abused women often have repeated contacts with crisis intervention workers and the attitudes of those workers may affect the attributions made by…

  16. Research on remote sensing image pixel attribute data acquisition method in AutoCAD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xiaoyang; Sun, Guangtong; Liu, Jun; Liu, Hui

    2013-07-01

    The remote sensing image has been widely used in AutoCAD, but AutoCAD lack of the function of remote sensing image processing. In the paper, ObjectARX was used for the secondary development tool, combined with the Image Engine SDK to realize remote sensing image pixel attribute data acquisition in AutoCAD, which provides critical technical support for AutoCAD environment remote sensing image processing algorithms.

  17. Computer-Based Simulation Games in Public Administration Education

    OpenAIRE

    Kutergina Evgeniia

    2017-01-01

    Computer simulation, an active learning technique, is now one of the advanced pedagogical technologies. Th e use of simulation games in the educational process allows students to gain a firsthand understanding of the processes of real life. Public- administration, public-policy and political-science courses increasingly adopt simulation games in universities worldwide. Besides person-to-person simulation games, there are computer-based simulations in public-administration education. Currently...

  18. A Treatise on Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Thomas R.

    1988-01-01

    Expands Henri Fayol's definition of the administrative process to include a humanistic approach involving planning, organizing, implementing, controlling, evaluating, and satisfying functions. This empirical definition differs from some theoretical approaches by looking beyond resource consumption to consider ecological effects on the environment…

  19. Understanding the Reading Attributes and Their Cognitive Relationships on a High-Stakes Biology Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawlusyk, Kevin James

    .922). The results conclude that the Biology 30 Diploma Exam requires examinee to understand specific reading attributes to answer test items successfully. Knowing the specific reading attributes associated with the Biology 30 Diploma Exam allows for teachers and test developers to better assess learners and to be aware that there are other cognitive processes that influence test results other than the examinees science knowledge.

  20. Long-term changes of information environments and computer anxiety of nurse administrators in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majima, Yukie; Izumi, Takako

    2013-01-01

    In Japan, medical information systems, including electronic medical records, are being introduced increasingly at medical and nursing fields. Nurse administrators, who are involved in the introduction of medical information systems and who must make proper judgment, are particularly required to have at least minimal knowledge of computers and networks and the ability to think about easy-to-use medical information systems. However, few of the current generation of nurse administrators studied information science subjects in their basic education curriculum. It can be said that information education for nurse administrators has become a pressing issue. Consequently, in this study, we conducted a survey of participants taking the first level program of the education course for Japanese certified nurse administrators to ascertain the actual conditions, such as the information environments that nurse administrators are in, their anxiety attitude to computers. Comparisons over the seven years since 2004 revealed that although introduction of electronic medical records in hospitals was progressing, little change in attributes of participants taking the course was observed, such as computer anxiety.

  1. Attributional style and theory of mind in people with Alzheimer disease and persecutory delusions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowse, Georgina; McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Knowles, Rebecca; Corcoran, Rhiannon; Bentall, Richard P

    2013-09-01

    Between 7% and 40% of people with Alzheimer disease (AD) experience persecutory delusions (PDs) during the course of their dementia. Although attributional style and theory of mind processes have been linked with PDs in people with psychosis, they have not yet been examined in those with AD and PDs. The objective of this study was, hence, to explore the role of these cognitive processes in groups of participants with AD with and without PDs, as well as a nonclinical comparison group. Measures of attributional style and theory of mind were administered to three groups: people with AD and PDs (n = 22), people with AD without PDs (n = 22), and a nonclinical group (n = 23). Although no clear differences in attributional style between the three groups were found, the group with AD and PDs were found to perform worse on the first-order (but not second-order) theory of mind task than the other two groups. Interventions designed to enhance theory of mind skills might be beneficial for individuals with AD and PDs. Copyright © 2013 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. The Flushtration Count Illusion: Attribute substitution tricks our interpretation of a simple visual event sequence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Cyril; Didierjean, André; Kuhn, Gustav

    2018-04-17

    When faced with a difficult question, people sometimes work out an answer to a related, easier question without realizing that a substitution has taken place (e.g., Kahneman, 2011, Thinking, fast and slow. New York, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux). In two experiments, we investigated whether this attribute substitution effect can also affect the interpretation of a simple visual event sequence. We used a magic trick called the 'Flushtration Count Illusion', which involves a technique used by magicians to give the illusion of having seen multiple cards with identical backs, when in fact only the back of one card (the bottom card) is repeatedly shown. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that most participants are susceptible to the illusion, even if they have the visual and analytical reasoning capacity to correctly process the sequence. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that participants construct a biased and simplified representation of the Flushtration Count by substituting some attributes of the event sequence. We discussed of the psychological processes underlying this attribute substitution effect. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

  3. Case and Administrative Support Tools

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Case and Administrative Support Tools (CAST) is the secure portion of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) Dashboard business process automation tool used to help...

  4. An Attributional Analysis of Reactions to Negative Emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karasawa, Kaori

    1995-01-01

    Three studies examined observers' attributions and reactions to negative emotional displays, as well as expressers' expectations about others' reactions. Analysis revealed that people attribute others' negative emotions equally to situational factors and dispositions, whereas their own emotions are attributed to the situation more than to…

  5. Verification of classified fissile material using unclassified attributes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicholas, N.J.; Fearey, B.L.; Puckett, J.M.; Tape, J.W.

    1998-01-01

    This paper reports on the most recent efforts of US technical experts to explore verification by IAEA of unclassified attributes of classified excess fissile material. Two propositions are discussed: (1) that multiple unclassified attributes could be declared by the host nation and then verified (and reverified) by the IAEA in order to provide confidence in that declaration of a classified (or unclassified) inventory while protecting classified or sensitive information; and (2) that attributes could be measured, remeasured, or monitored to provide continuity of knowledge in a nonintrusive and unclassified manner. They believe attributes should relate to characteristics of excess weapons materials and should be verifiable and authenticatable with methods usable by IAEA inspectors. Further, attributes (along with the methods to measure them) must not reveal any classified information. The approach that the authors have taken is as follows: (1) assume certain attributes of classified excess material, (2) identify passive signatures, (3) determine range of applicable measurement physics, (4) develop a set of criteria to assess and select measurement technologies, (5) select existing instrumentation for proof-of-principle measurements and demonstration, and (6) develop and design information barriers to protect classified information. While the attribute verification concepts and measurements discussed in this paper appear promising, neither the attribute verification approach nor the measurement technologies have been fully developed, tested, and evaluated

  6. A case study: application of statistical process control tool for determining process capability and sigma level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chopra, Vikram; Bairagi, Mukesh; Trivedi, P; Nagar, Mona

    2012-01-01

    Statistical process control is the application of statistical methods to the measurement and analysis of variation process. Various regulatory authorities such as Validation Guidance for Industry (2011), International Conference on Harmonisation ICH Q10 (2009), the Health Canada guidelines (2009), Health Science Authority, Singapore: Guidance for Product Quality Review (2008), and International Organization for Standardization ISO-9000:2005 provide regulatory support for the application of statistical process control for better process control and understanding. In this study risk assessments, normal probability distributions, control charts, and capability charts are employed for selection of critical quality attributes, determination of normal probability distribution, statistical stability, and capability of production processes, respectively. The objective of this study is to determine tablet production process quality in the form of sigma process capability. By interpreting data and graph trends, forecasting of critical quality attributes, sigma process capability, and stability of process were studied. The overall study contributes to an assessment of process at the sigma level with respect to out-of-specification attributes produced. Finally, the study will point to an area where the application of quality improvement and quality risk assessment principles for achievement of six sigma-capable processes is possible. Statistical process control is the most advantageous tool for determination of the quality of any production process. This tool is new for the pharmaceutical tablet production process. In the case of pharmaceutical tablet production processes, the quality control parameters act as quality assessment parameters. Application of risk assessment provides selection of critical quality attributes among quality control parameters. Sequential application of normality distributions, control charts, and capability analyses provides a valid statistical

  7. Variable precision rough set for multiple decision attribute analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Lai; Kin; Keung

    2008-01-01

    A variable precision rough set (VPRS) model is used to solve the multi-attribute decision analysis (MADA) problem with multiple conflicting decision attributes and multiple condition attributes. By introducing confidence measures and a β-reduct, the VPRS model can rationally solve the conflicting decision analysis problem with multiple decision attributes and multiple condition attributes. For illustration, a medical diagnosis example is utilized to show the feasibility of the VPRS model in solving the MADA...

  8. Simple Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption for Short Messages

    OpenAIRE

    Viktoria I. Villanyi

    2016-01-01

    Central authority free multi-authority attribute based encryption scheme for short messages will be presented. Several multi-authority attribute based encryption schemes were recently proposed. We can divide these schemes into two groups, one of them are the ciphertext-policy attribute based encryption schemes (CP-ABE), the another one are the key-policy attribute based encryption schemes (KP-ABE). In our new multi-authority attribute based encryption scheme we combine them: the access struct...

  9. Attributes of God: Conceptual Foundations of a Foundational Belief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shtulman, Andrew; Lindeman, Marjaana

    2016-04-01

    Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human properties to nonhuman entities, is often posited as an explanation for the origin and nature of God concepts, but it remains unclear which human properties we tend to attribute to God and under what conditions. In three studies, participants decided whether two types of human properties-psychological (mind-dependent) properties and physiological (body-dependent) properties-could or could not be attributed to God. In Study 1 (n = 1,525), participants made significantly more psychological attributions than physiological attributions, and the frequency of those attributions was correlated both with participants' religiosity and with their attribution of abstract, theological properties. In Study 2 (n = 99) and Study 3 (n = 138), participants not only showed the same preference for psychological properties but were also significantly faster, more consistent, and more confident when attributing psychological properties to God than when attributing physiological properties. And when denying properties to God, they showed the reverse pattern-that is, they were slower, less consistent, and less confident when denying psychological properties than when denying physiological properties. These patterns were observed both in a predominantly Christian population (Study 2) and a predominantly Hindu population (Study 3). Overall, we argue that God is conceptualized not as a person in general but as an agent in particular, attributed a mind by default but attributed a body only upon further consideration. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  10. A Multi-Session Attribution Modification Program for Children with Aggressive Behaviour: Changes in Attributions, Emotional Reaction Estimates, and Self-Reported Aggression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassilopoulos, Stephanos P; Brouzos, Andreas; Andreou, Eleni

    2015-09-01

    Research suggests that aggressive children are prone to over-attribute hostile intentions to peers. The current study investigated whether this attributional style can be altered using a Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I) procedure. A sample of 10-12-year-olds selected for displaying aggressive behaviours was trained over three sessions to endorse benign rather than hostile attributions in response to ambiguous social scenarios. Compared to a test-retest control group (n = 18), children receiving CBM-I (n = 16) were less likely to endorse hostile attributions and more likely to endorse benign attributions in response to a new set of ambiguous social situations. Furthermore, aggressive behaviour scores reduced more in the trained group than in the untrained controls. Children who received attribution training also reported less perceived anger and showed a trend to report more self-control than those in the control group. Implications of these findings are discussed.

  11. Linearly Ordered Attribute Grammar Scheduling Using SAT-Solving

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bransen, Jeroen; van Binsbergen, L.Thomas; Claessen, Koen; Dijkstra, Atze

    2015-01-01

    Many computations over trees can be specified using attribute grammars. Compilers for attribute grammars need to find an evaluation order (or schedule) in order to generate efficient code. For the class of linearly ordered attribute grammars such a schedule can be found statically, but this problem

  12. Morphosemantic Attributes of Meetei Proverbs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lourembam Surjit Singh

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This study proposes to investigate the functions of morphosemantic in Meetei proverbs, particularly the attribution of different meanings of the lexical items in Meetei Proverbial verbs. Meetei society has been using proverbs in the all ages, stages of development, social changes, and cultural diversifications to mark their wisdom of social expertise. Meetei used proverbs as an important aspect of verbal discourses within the socio-cultural and ethno-civilization contexts in which skills, knowledge, ideas, emotion, and experiences are communicating. The language used in proverbs reflects the Meetei’s status of life, food habits, belief systems, philosophy, cultural and social orientations. At the same time, various meanings attribute in Meetei proverbs in the forms of figurative, witty, pithy, didactic etc. The construction of these forms are grammatically insightful thereby creating spaces for a whole range of possibilities for investigating the features, functions and structure of verbal inflectional markers occurred in Meetei proverbial sentences. Keywords: Proverbs, morphosemantics, features of lexical items, attributes of meanings and language

  13. An fMRI study on the comparison of different types of false belief reasoning: False belief-based emotion and behavior attribution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Döhnel, Katrin; Schuwerk, Tobias; Sodian, Beate; Hajak, Göran; Rupprecht, Rainer; Sommer, Monika

    2017-12-01

    False belief (FB) reasoning is a key Theory of Mind (ToM) competence. By 4 years of age, children understand that a person's behavior can be based on a FB about reality. Children cannot understand that a person's emotion can also be based on a FB before the age of six. In order to generate hypothesis on basic processes distinguishing these two types of belief reasoning, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study in adults directly compares functional activity associated with these two FB tasks. Both tasks were associated with activity in the ToM network including the medial prefrontal cortex and the left temporo-parietal junction. Differential activity was observed in the anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for FB-based emotion relative to behavior attribution. Contrary to FB behavior attribution, FB-based emotion attribution requires the processing of two different mental states: a belief and an emotion and their relation to each other. The activity pattern may reflect the differential demands on cognitive processes associated with the two different belief-based attribution processes. These results shed new light on the still ongoing debate about the nature of the developmental lag between the two FB tasks.

  14. The legal regime of the relations between the center and the administrative-territorial units within the contemporary administrative systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia GORIUC

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The decentralization of public administration refers to the process of increasing the autonomy of local communities by transferring new decision-making responsibilities, as well as financial and patrimonial resources, respecting the principle of subsidiarity, reducing current spending and increasing transparency in relation to citizens and increasing the quality and access to public services, or in other words, is a process of transferring authority and administrative responsibilities from central to local government in the areas of planning, decision-making, legal accountability and public service management.

  15. Measuring online interpretations and attributions of social situations: Links with adolescent social anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haller, Simone P W; Raeder, Sophie M; Scerif, Gaia; Cohen Kadosh, Kathrin; Lau, Jennifer Y F

    2016-03-01

    We evaluated the utility of a novel, picture-based tool to measure how adolescents interpret and attribute cause to social exchanges and whether biases in these processes relate to social anxiety. Briefly presented ambiguous visual social scenes, each containing a photograph of the adolescent as the protagonist, were followed by three possible interpretations (positive, negative, neutral/unrelated) and two possible causal attributions (internal, external) to which participants responded. Ninety-five adolescents aged 14 to 17 recruited from mainstream schools, with varying levels of social anxiety rated the likelihood of positive, negative and unrelated interpretations before selecting the single interpretation they deemed as most likely. This was followed by a question prompting them to decide between an internal or external causal attribution for the interpreted event. Across scenarios, adolescents with higher levels of social anxiety rated negative interpretations as more likely and positive interpretations as less likely compared to lower socially anxious adolescents. Higher socially anxious adolescents were also more likely to select internal attributions to negative and less likely to select internal attributions for positive events than adolescents with lower levels of social anxiety. Adolescents with higher social anxiety display cognitive biases in interpretation and attribution. This tool is suitable for measuring cognitive biases of complex visual-social cues in youth populations with social anxiety and simulates the demands of daily social experiences more closely. As we did not measure depressive symptoms, we cannot be sure that biases linked to social anxiety are not due to concurrent low mood. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  16. Effect of process variables on the quality attributes of briquettes from wheat, oat, canola and barley

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaya Shankar Tumuluru

    2011-08-01

    Effect of process variables on the quality attributes of briquettes from wheat, oat, canola and barley straw Jaya Shankar Tumuluru*, L. G. Tabil, Y. Song, K. L. Iroba and V. Meda Biomass is a renewable energy source and environmentally friendly substitute for fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum products. Major limitation of biomass for successful energy application is its low bulk density, which makes it very difficult and costly to transport and handle. To overcome this limitation, biomass has to be densified. The commonly used technologies for densification of biomass are pelletization and briquetting. Briquetting offers many advantages at it can densify larger particles sizes of biomass at higher moisture contents. Briquetting is influenced by a number of feedstock and process variables such as moisture content, particle size distribution, and some operating variables such as temperature and densification pressure. In the present study, experiments were designed and conducted based on Box-Behnken design to produce briquettes using barley, wheat, canola and barley straws. A laboratory scale hydraulic briquette press was used for the present study. The experimental process variables and their levels used in the present study were pressure levels (7.5, 10, 12.5 MPa), three levels of temperature (90, 110, 130 C), at three moisture content levels (9, 12, 15% w.b.), and three levels of particle size (19.1, 25.04, 31.75 mm). The quality variables studied includes moisture content, initial density and final briquette density after two weeks of storage, size distribution index and durability. The raw biomass was initially chopped and size reduced using a hammer mill. The ground biomass was conditioned at different moisture contents and was further densified using laboratory hydraulic press. For each treatment combination, ten briquettes were manufactured at a residence time of about 30 s after compression pressure setpoint was achieved. After compression, the initial

  17. Attributing Hacks

    OpenAIRE

    Liu, Ziqi; Smola, Alexander J.; Soska, Kyle; Wang, Yu-Xiang; Zheng, Qinghua; Zhou, Jun

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we describe an algorithm for estimating the provenance of hacks on websites. That is, given properties of sites and the temporal occurrence of attacks, we are able to attribute individual attacks to joint causes and vulnerabilities, as well as estimating the evolution of these vulnerabilities over time. Specifically, we use hazard regression with a time-varying additive hazard function parameterized in a generalized linear form. The activation coefficients on each feature are co...

  18. A trace-driven analysis of name and attribute caching in a distributed system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirriff, Ken W.; Ousterhout, John K.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents the results of simulating file name and attribute caching on client machines in a distributed file system. The simulation used trace data gathered on a network of about 40 workstations. Caching was found to be advantageous: a cache on each client containing just 10 directories had a 91 percent hit rate on name look ups. Entry-based name caches (holding individual directory entries) had poorer performance for several reasons, resulting in a maximum hit rate of about 83 percent. File attribute caching obtained a 90 percent hit rate with a cache on each machine of the attributes for 30 files. The simulations show that maintaining cache consistency between machines is not a significant problem; only 1 in 400 name component look ups required invalidation of a remotely cached entry. Process migration to remote machines had little effect on caching. Caching was less successful in heavily shared and modified directories such as /tmp, but there weren't enough references to /tmp overall to affect the results significantly. We estimate that adding name and attribute caching to the Sprite operating system could reduce server load by 36 percent and the number of network packets by 30 percent.

  19. Mediated Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption and Its Application

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ibraimi, L.; Petkovic, M.; Nikova, S.I.; Hartel, Pieter H.; Jonker, Willem; Youm, Heung Youl; Yung, Moti

    2009-01-01

    In Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE), a user secret key is associated with a set of attributes, and the ciphertext is associated with an access policy over attributes. The user can decrypt the ciphertext if and only if the attribute set of his secret key satisfies the access

  20. Use of seismic attributes for sediment classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Radomille Santana

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available A study to understand the relationships between seismic attributes extracted from 2D high-resolution seismic data and the seafloor's sediments of the surveyed area. As seismic attributes are features highly influenced by the medium through which the seismic waves are propagated, the authors can assume that it would be possible to characterise the geological nature of the seafloor by using these attributes. Herein, a survey was performed on the continental margin of the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica, where both 2D high-resolution seismic data and sediment gravity cores samples were simultaneously acquired. A computational script was written to extract the seismic attributes from the data, which have been statistically analysed with clustering analyses, such as principal components analysis, dendrograms and k-means classification. The extracted seismic attributes are the amplitude, the instantaneous phase, the instantaneous frequency, the envelope, the time derivative of the envelope, the second derivative of the envelope and the acceleration of phase. Statistical evaluation showed that geological classification of the seafloor's sediments is possible by associating these attributes according to their coherence. The methodologies here developed seem to be appropriate for glacio-marine environment and coarse-to-medium silt sediment found in the study area and may be applied to other regions in the same geological conditions.

  1. Quality Attribute Design Primitives

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bass, Len

    2000-01-01

    This report focuses on the quality attribute aspects of mechanisms. An architectural mechanism is a 'structure whereby objects collaborate to provide some behavior that satisfies a requirement of the problem...

  2. Microstructural Correlates of Emotional Attribution Impairment in Non-Demented Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crespi, Chiara; Cerami, Chiara; Dodich, Alessandra; Canessa, Nicola; Iannaccone, Sandro; Corbo, Massimo; Lunetta, Christian; Falini, Andrea; Cappa, Stefano F

    2016-01-01

    Impairments in the ability to recognize and attribute emotional states to others have been described in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and linked to the dysfunction of key nodes of the emotional empathy network. Microstructural correlates of such disorders are still unexplored. We investigated the white-matter substrates of emotional attribution deficits in a sample of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients without cognitive decline. Thirteen individuals with either probable or definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 14 healthy controls were enrolled in a Diffusion Tensor Imaging study and administered the Story-based Empathy Task, assessing the ability to attribute mental states to others (i.e., Intention and Emotion attribution conditions). As already reported, a significant global reduction of empathic skills, mainly driven by a failure in Emotion Attribution condition, was found in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients compared to healthy subjects. The severity of this deficit was significantly correlated with fractional anisotropy along the forceps minor, genu of corpus callosum, right uncinate and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi. The involvement of frontal commissural fiber tracts and right ventral associative fronto-limbic pathways is the microstructural hallmark of the impairment of high-order processing of socio-emotional stimuli in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These results support the notion of the neurofunctional and neuroanatomical continuum between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.

  3. Treasury Administrator | IDRC - International Development ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    The Administrator records all banking transactions in the financial system and ... Ensures that key payment information, i.e. beneficiary bank information has not ... This position monitors and maintains all accounting business processes for ...

  4. Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustics Technology Evaluation and Selection Using a Multi-Attribute Decision Making Process and Non-Deterministic Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burg, Cecile M.; Hill, Geoffrey A.; Brown, Sherilyn A.; Geiselhart, Karl A.

    2004-01-01

    The Systems Analysis Branch at NASA Langley Research Center has investigated revolutionary Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustics (PAA) technologies and configurations for a Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) type aircraft as part of its research for NASA s Quiet Aircraft Technology (QAT) Project. Within the context of the long-term NASA goal of reducing the perceived aircraft noise level by a factor of 4 relative to 1997 state of the art, major configuration changes in the propulsion airframe integration system were explored with noise as a primary design consideration. An initial down-select and assessment of candidate PAA technologies for the BWB was performed using a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) process consisting of organized brainstorming and decision-making tools. The assessments focused on what effect the PAA technologies had on both the overall noise level of the BWB and what effect they had on other major design considerations such as weight, performance and cost. A probabilistic systems analysis of the PAA configurations that presented the best noise reductions with the least negative impact on the system was then performed. Detailed results from the MADM study and the probabilistic systems analysis will be published in the near future.

  5. Safety significance of ATR passive safety response attributes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atkinson, S.A.

    1990-01-01

    The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory was designed with some passive safety response attributes which contribute to the safety of the facility. The three passive safety attributes being evaluated in the paper are: 1) In-core and in-vessel natural convection cooling, 2) a passive heat sink capability of the ATR primary coolant system (PCS) for the transfer of decay power from the uninsulated piping to the confinement, and 3) gravity feed of emergency coolant makeup. The safety significance of the ATR passive safety response attributes is that the reactor can passively respond to most transients, given a reactor scram, to provide adequate decay power removal and a significant time for operator action should the normal active heat removal systems and their backup systems both fail. The ATR Interim Level 1 Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) models and results were used to evaluate the significance to ATR fuel damage frequency (or probability) of the above three passive response attributes. The results of the evaluation indicate that the first attribute is a major safety characteristic of the ATR. The second attribute has a noticeable but only minor safety significance. The third attribute has no significant influence on the ATR firewater injection system (emergency coolant system)

  6. Attributes of ethical employees in Malaysian public sector ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study aims to explore the attributes of ethical employees in public sector and to pattern match the attributes with human behavior, social and ethics theories. A qualitative research is used by focusing on first-order attributes (through interviews) and second-order concepts (using theories to explain the facts). This study ...

  7. Administrative Decision Making and Resource Allocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sardy, Susan; Sardy, Hyman

    This paper considers selected aspects of the systems analysis of administrative decisionmaking regarding resource allocations in an educational system. A model of the instructional materials purchase system is presented. The major components of this model are: environment, input, decision process, conversion structure, conversion process, output,…

  8. Case and Administrative Support Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case and Administrative Support Tools (CAST) is the secure portion of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) Dashboard business process automation tool used to help reduce office administrative labor costs while increasing employee effectiveness. CAST supports business functions which rely on and store Privacy Act sensitive data (PII). Specific business processes included in CAST (and respective PII) are: -Civil Rights Cast Tracking (name, partial medical history, summary of case, and case correspondance). -Employment Law Case Tracking (name, summary of case). -Federal Tort Claims Act Incident Tracking (name, summary of incidents). -Ethics Program Support Tools and Tracking (name, partial financial history). -Summer Honors Application Tracking (name, home address, telephone number, employment history). -Workforce Flexibility Initiative Support Tools (name, alternative workplace phone number). -Resource and Personnel Management Support Tools (name, partial employment and financial history).

  9. Cardiopulmonary Mortalities and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Attributed to Ozone Air Pollution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gholamreza Goudarzi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Background & Aims of the Study: Ozone is a summer pollutant which can cause respiratory complications, eye burning sensation and failure of immune defense against infectious diseases. Ahvaz city (southwestern Iran is one of the seven polluted Iranian metropolises. In this study we examined the health impacts of ozone pollution in Ahvaz city during years 2010 and 2011. Materials & Methods: The health effects of ozone pollution in Ahvaz estimated by determining mortality and morbidity, and incidence of diseases attributed to the ozone, i.e., cardiopulmonary mortalities and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD using Air Quality Model. Ozone data were taken from Ahvaz Department of Environment (ADoE. Conversion between volumetric and gravimetric units (correction of temperature and pressure, coding, processing (averaging and filtering were implemented. Results: Sum of accumulative cases of mortalities attributed to ozone was 358 cases in 2010 and 276 cases in 2011. Cardiovascular and respiratory mortality attributed to ozone were 118 and 31 persons, respectively; which revealed a considerable reduction compared to those values in 2010. Number of cases for hospital admissions due to COPD was 35 in 2011, while it was 45 cases in 2010. The concentration of ozone in 2011 was lower than that of 2010 and this is why both mortalities and morbidities of 2011 attributed to ozone pollutant had decreased when compared to those values of 2010. Conclusions: Mortality and morbidity attributed to ozone concentrations in 2011 were lower than those of 2010. The most important reason was less concentration in ground level ozone of 2011 than that of 2010 in Ahvaz city air.

  10. ATLAS TDAQ System Administration:

    CERN Document Server

    Lee, Christopher Jon; The ATLAS collaboration; Bogdanchikov, Alexander; Ballestrero, Sergio; Contescu, Alexandru Cristian; Dubrov, Sergei; Fazio, Daniel; Korol, Aleksandr; Scannicchio, Diana; Twomey, Matthew Shaun; Voronkov, Artem

    2015-01-01

    The ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) system is responsible for the online processing of live data, streaming from the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The online farm is composed of ̃3000 servers, processing the data readout from ̃100 million detector channels through multiple trigger levels. During the two years of the first Long Shutdown (LS1) there has been a tremendous amount of work done by the ATLAS TDAQ System Administrators, implementing numerous new software applications, upgrading the OS and the hardware, changing some design philosophies and exploiting the High Level Trigger farm with different purposes. During the data taking only critical security updates are applied and broken hardware is replaced to ensure a stable operational environment. The LS1 provided an excellent opportunity to look into new technologies and applications that would help to improve and streamline the daily tasks of not only the System Administrators, but also of the scientists who wil...

  11. Quality Attributes of Fresh-Cut Coconut after Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Pasteurization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanna Ferrentino

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The impact of supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2 process on the quality attributes of fresh-cut coconut has been investigated to establish the acceptability of SC-CO2 treated products by the consumers. Two process conditions, previously identified as optimal to reduce the microbial content of the product, were studied: 12 MPa, 40°C, 30 min and 12 MPa, 45°C, 15 min. The results highlighted that both conditions induced some effects on product attributes. After 30 min of treatment at 12 MPa and 40°C a decrease of lightness (8%, pH (13%, fat content (24%, total phenol content (29%, flavonoid compounds (49%, antioxidant capacity (30% and an increase of dry matter (11% and titratable acidity (51.1% were observed while polyphenol oxidase (PPO exhibited 35% and 98.5% inactivation. Peroxidase enzyme activity increased by 77.8% and 30.4% at 12 MPa, 40°C, 30 min and 12 MPa, 45°C, 15 min, respectively. Sensory evaluations revealed no significant differences in appearance, texture, taste, and aroma of treated fresh-cut coconut compared to the untreated. The study confirms the feasibility of SC-CO2 process for the pasteurization of fresh fruits with a firm structure and opens the door to the possibility of exploiting such a technology at industrial level.

  12. BRAZILIAN ADMINISTRATION, ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM AND THE NEW STATE: THE ROLE OF ADMINISTRATIVE APPARATUS IN VARGAS ADMINISTRATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emerson Moura

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The role played by the administrative apparatus through the Department of Administrative Services in the Government policy Vargas is the object put in debate. Analyzes the theme from the the investigation of patrimonial, authoritarian and inefficient context which marks the formation and development of administrative bureaucracy, the tenders of professionalization and efficiency brought by the administrative reforms of the 1930s and 1940s with the contrast of the limitations of the import of the Weberian model in the Brazilian context and analysis of the establishment of the New State DASP and their assignments. Search the work demonstrate the control position he held directly and through the State Departments in the Brazilian Public Administration ensuring centralized and developmental policy of the government. For this is adopted as the research method of approach structuralism in order to identify the deconstruction of the phenomenon - of administrative reforms - in the superficial perception - the proposed impersonality and efficiency as the best way of achieving the public interest - its invariant structure - the search for the adequacy of the administrative apparatus and bureaucracy for pursuit of political ends pursued by the Government.

  13. Energy policy formulation and energy administration in South Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Du Plessis, S.J.P.

    1983-01-01

    The evolvement of the governmental energy administrative mechanisms is discussed. Energy policy formulation and the role of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs in this regard are outlined. The energy administrative process, with reference to various energy carriers and specific spheres of the South African energy economy is discussed. It is indicated that close co-operation between the public and private energy sectors should result in mutual understanding of each others' practical problems and objectives, and should contribute towards the process of judicious energy policy formulation and administration in the interests of the national well-being

  14. 20 CFR 405.365 - Consolidated hearing before an administrative law judge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... before us. (2) If the administrative law judge consolidates the claims, he or she will decide both claims... law judge. 405.365 Section 405.365 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW PROCESS FOR ADJUDICATING INITIAL DISABILITY CLAIMS Administrative Law Judge Hearing § 405.365...

  15. Topographic attributes as a guide for automated detection or highlighting of geological features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viseur, Sophie; Le Men, Thibaud; Guglielmi, Yves

    2015-04-01

    Photogrammetry or LIDAR technology combined with photography allow geoscientists to obtain 3D high-resolution numerical representations of outcrops, generally termed as Digital Outcrop Models (DOM). For over a decade, these 3D numerical outcrops serve as support for precise and accurate interpretations of geological features such as fracture traces or plans, strata, facies mapping, etc. These interpretations have the benefit to be directly georeferenced and embedded into the 3D space. They are then easily integrated into GIS or geomodeler softwares for modelling in 3D the subsurface geological structures. However, numerical outcrops generally represent huge data sets that are heavy to manipulate and hence to interpret. This may be particularly tedious as soon as several scales of geological features must be investigated or as geological features are very dense and imbricated. Automated tools for interpreting geological features from DOMs would be then a significant help to process these kinds of data. Such technologies are commonly used for interpreting seismic or medical data. However, it may be noticed that even if many efforts have been devoted to easily and accurately acquire 3D topographic point clouds and photos and to visualize accurate 3D textured DOMs, few attentions have been paid to the development of algorithms for automated detection of the geological structures from DOMs. The automatic detection of objects on numerical data generally assumes that signals or attributes computed from this data allows the recognition of the targeted object boundaries. The first step consists then in defining attributes that highlight the objects or their boundaries. For DOM interpretations, some authors proposed to use differential operators computed on the surface such as normal or curvatures. These methods generally extract polylines corresponding to fracture traces or bed limits. Other approaches rely on the PCA technology to segregate different topographic plans

  16. Potential or problem? An investigation of secondary school teachers' attributions of the educational outcomes of students with specific learning difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodcock, Stuart; Hitches, Elizabeth

    2017-10-01

    Despite strong support for inclusive education in principle, many teachers and administrators still demonstrate mixed responses to the inclusion of certain students in their classrooms. Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) form a large group of students in inclusive classrooms yet some provincial, state and national jurisdictions fail to acknowledge the existence of these students. Not acknowledging and understanding these students can deny them the recognition and resources necessary for their genuine participation in education and, in turn, society. The aim of this study was to examine British in-service secondary teachers' attributional responses to students with and without specific learning difficulties. The participants included 122 British secondary school teachers who were surveyed in response to vignettes of hypothetical male students who had failed a class test. The study found that while teachers attributed more positive causes towards students without SpLD, they exhibited more negative causes towards students with SpLD. Teachers' causal attributional outcomes of students' level of achievement can impact upon the students' own attributions, with teachers' responses for students with SpLD having the potential to, unintentionally, influence students' own sense of self-efficacy and motivation. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of the research and recommendations for practice.

  17. Process and equipment design optimising product properties and attributes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bongers, P.M.M.; Thullie, J.

    2009-01-01

    Classically, when products have been developed at the bench, process engineers will search for equipment to manufacture the product at large scale. More than often, this search is constraint to the existing equipment base, or a catalog search for standard equipment. It is then not surprising, that

  18. Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change Attribution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Katherine [National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)

    2016-03-31

    A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concludes it is now possible to estimate the influence of climate change on some types of extreme events. The science of extreme event attribution has advanced rapidly in recent years, giving new insight to the ways that human-caused climate change can influence the magnitude or frequency of some extreme weather events. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities. Confidence is strongest in attributing types of extreme events that are influenced by climate change through a well-understood physical mechanism, such as, the more frequent heat waves that are closely connected to human-caused global temperature increases, the report finds. Confidence is lower for other types of events, such as hurricanes, whose relationship to climate change is more complex and less understood at present. For any extreme event, the results of attribution studies hinge on how questions about the event's causes are posed, and on the data, modeling approaches, and statistical tools chosen for the analysis.

  19. Disputable issues in the application of the Administrative Procedure Act

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrijević Predrag

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The reform of administrative procedure and the applicable General Administrative Procedure Act (GAPA calls for determining the 'open' and 'disputable' issues in the application of this Act. The process of reforming the administrative legislation does not only imply taking into account the EU standards but also considering the complex, abundant and diverse national administrative practice and case law. The Serbian administrative practice points to some 'open' questions in the application of the current GAPA which should be the cornerstones in the reform of administrative legislation. In that course, it is crucial to start from the current administrative legislation and administrative practice. It is worth noting that the GAPA is already subject to permanent reform through the process of amending the subject-specific substantive provisions governing special administrative proceedings. Such practice should be upheld because the area of special administrative procedure is a dynamic environment where the APA is actually being modeled by amending the special administrative proceedings but in full compliance with the fundamental GAPA principles. Thus, the GAPA should be subject to minimal reform, primarily in the regulation of those procedural matters which have already passed the application test in both national and comparative practice; these 'safe points of reference' significantly improve the process in line with the basic administrative principles and largely contribute to its efficiency, as opposed to other alternative proposals on procedural solutions. The basic presumption for a successful APA reform is the functional analysis of the Draft GAPA. Some of the disputable issues include the subject matter of the GAPA, the enactment of administrative acts and concluding administrative agreements. In case of expanding the scope of the GAPA subject matter, the legislator is obliged to expressly regulate the administrative proceeding for concluding

  20. A Study on Relative Importance and Priority Regarding Airport Selection Attributes Utilizing AHP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung-Oun Oh

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate relative importance and priority regarding airport selection attributes using Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport, the two main gateway airports to Seoul, Korea, as the target. For the purpose, a survey was carried out with aviation experts as target utilizing five factors which consist of 15 airport selection attributes. The analysis has been conducted on the relative importance and priority of the airport selection factors by expert group using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP. As a result of the analysis, the relative importance of airport selection attributes turned out to be different depending on the expert group. Aviation experts working in government agencies and aviation experts working in educational institutions and research institutes regarded accessibility as the most important airport selection factor, and aviation experts working for airlines and companies related to air travel regarded operation as the most important selection factor.

  1. The administrative contract asimilated to administrative acts in administrative litigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia GORIUC

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available An administrative contract is the will between a public authority either a person empowe¬red by it, and one or more natural or legal persons, whether private or public, pursuing the realization of a public interest and to which a special scheme of administrative law applies. The typology of administrative contracts is very varied, depending on the evolution of the society’s needs. Thus, they are currently included in the category of administrative contracts: concession contracts and public procurement contracts, contracts for the use of public goods, public management contracts, public-private partnership contracts, public lending contracts and constitutive documents of the associative structures of public authorities.

  2. Uncertain multi-attribute decision making methods and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Xu, Zeshui

    2015-01-01

    This book introduces methods for uncertain multi-attribute decision making including uncertain multi-attribute group decision making and their applications to supply chain management, investment decision making, personnel assessment, redesigning products, maintenance services, military system efficiency evaluation. Multi-attribute decision making, also known as multi-objective decision making with finite alternatives, is an important component of modern decision science. The theory and methods of multi-attribute decision making have been extensively applied in engineering, economics, management and military contexts, such as venture capital project evaluation, facility location, bidding, development ranking of industrial sectors and so on. Over the last few decades, great attention has been paid to research on multi-attribute decision making in uncertain settings, due to the increasing complexity and uncertainty of supposedly objective aspects and the fuzziness of human thought. This book can be used as a ref...

  3. Analysis of the effect of corporate governance attributes on risk management practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raef Gouiaa

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Despite recent increased risk research attention being focussed on the Canadian and international scene, there are few research studies that specifically address the relation between corporate governance systems and risk management practices. This paper examines the relation between corporate governance systems and enterprise risk management. More specifically, we analyze how corporate governance attributes and particularly board characteristics can affect risk management practices in the context of Canadian listed companies. Using a content analysis approach, the level of exposure to risk in terms of likelihood, the consequences of such risk and the strategies for managing that risk were identified for each type of risk. The results reveal that corporate governance attributes related to board’s structure, directors’ characteristics and the board's operating process play a significant and important role in establishing an integrative risk management approach. The results show that directors’ characteristics and the board's process significantly determine the quality of risk management through the level of risk-taking in decisions, especially in terms of financial risks.

  4. Heterogeneous Face Attribute Estimation: A Deep Multi-Task Learning Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Hu; K Jain, Anil; Shan, Shiguang; Chen, Xilin

    2017-08-10

    Face attribute estimation has many potential applications in video surveillance, face retrieval, and social media. While a number of methods have been proposed for face attribute estimation, most of them did not explicitly consider the attribute correlation and heterogeneity (e.g., ordinal vs. nominal and holistic vs. local) during feature representation learning. In this paper, we present a Deep Multi-Task Learning (DMTL) approach to jointly estimate multiple heterogeneous attributes from a single face image. In DMTL, we tackle attribute correlation and heterogeneity with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) consisting of shared feature learning for all the attributes, and category-specific feature learning for heterogeneous attributes. We also introduce an unconstrained face database (LFW+), an extension of public-domain LFW, with heterogeneous demographic attributes (age, gender, and race) obtained via crowdsourcing. Experimental results on benchmarks with multiple face attributes (MORPH II, LFW+, CelebA, LFWA, and FotW) show that the proposed approach has superior performance compared to state of the art. Finally, evaluations on a public-domain face database (LAP) with a single attribute show that the proposed approach has excellent generalization ability.

  5. Real-time hostile attribution measurement and aggression in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaros, Anna; Lochman, John E; Rosenbaum, Jill; Jimenez-Camargo, Luis Alberto

    2014-01-01

    Hostile attributions are an important predictor of aggression in children, but few studies have measured hostile attributions as they occur in real-time. The current study uses an interactive video racing game to measure hostile attributions while children played against a presumed peer. A sample of 75 children, ages 10-13, used nonverbal and verbal procedures to respond to ambiguous provocation by their opponent. Hostile attributions were significantly positively related to parent-rated reactive aggression, when controlling for proactive aggression. Hostile attributions using a nonverbal response procedure were negatively related to proactive aggression, when controlling for reactive aggression. Results suggest hostile attributions in real-time occur quickly and simultaneously with social interaction, which differs from the deliberative, controlled appraisals measured with vignette-based instruments. The relation between real-time hostile attributions and reactive aggression could be accounted for by the impulsive response style that is characteristic of reactive aggression, whereas children exhibiting proactive aggression may be more deliberate and intentional in their responding, resulting in a negative relation with real-time hostile attributions. These findings can be used both to identify children at risk for aggression and to enhance preventive interventions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Social attribution in anorexia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oldershaw, Anna; DeJong, Hannah; Hambrook, David; Schmidt, Ulrike

    2018-05-01

    People with anorexia nervosa (AN) report socioemotional difficulties; however, measurement has been criticised for lacking ecological validity and the state or trait nature of difficulties remains unclear. Participants (n = 122) were recruited across 3 groups: people who are currently ill with AN (n = 40); people who recovered (RecAN, n = 18); healthy-control participants (n = 64). Participants completed clinical questionnaires and the Social Attribution Task. The Social Attribution Task involves describing an animation of moving shapes, scored for number of propositions offered, accuracy, and social relevance. Groups were compared cross-sectionally. Those with current AN were assessed prepsychological and postpsychological treatments. People with AN provided fewer propositions than other groups and fewer salient social attributions than healthy-control participants. Those who recovered scored intermediately and not significantly different from either group. Following treatment, people with AN demonstrated (nonsignificant) improvements, and no significance between group differences were observed. Findings suggest difficulties for people with AN in providing spontaneous social narrative and in identifying social salience. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

  7. Attribution of climate extreme events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.; Shepherd, Theodore G.

    2015-08-01

    There is a tremendous desire to attribute causes to weather and climate events that is often challenging from a physical standpoint. Headlines attributing an event solely to either human-induced climate change or natural variability can be misleading when both are invariably in play. The conventional attribution framework struggles with dynamically driven extremes because of the small signal-to-noise ratios and often uncertain nature of the forced changes. Here, we suggest that a different framing is desirable, which asks why such extremes unfold the way they do. Specifically, we suggest that it is more useful to regard the extreme circulation regime or weather event as being largely unaffected by climate change, and question whether known changes in the climate system's thermodynamic state affected the impact of the particular event. Some examples briefly illustrated include 'snowmaggedon' in February 2010, superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and supertyphoon Haiyan in November 2013, and, in more detail, the Boulder floods of September 2013, all of which were influenced by high sea surface temperatures that had a discernible human component.

  8. Modeling veterans healthcare administration disclosure processes :

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beyeler, Walter E; DeMenno, Mercy B.; Finley, Patrick D.

    2013-09-01

    As with other large healthcare organizations, medical adverse events at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities can expose patients to unforeseen negative risks. VHA leadership recognizes that properly handled disclosure of adverse events can minimize potential harm to patients and negative consequences for the effective functioning of the organization. The work documented here seeks to help improve the disclosure process by situating it within the broader theoretical framework of issues management, and to identify opportunities for process improvement through modeling disclosure and reactions to disclosure. The computational model will allow a variety of disclosure actions to be tested across a range of incident scenarios. Our conceptual model will be refined in collaboration with domain experts, especially by continuing to draw on insights from VA Study of the Communication of Adverse Large-Scale Events (SCALE) project researchers.

  9. Enhancing Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) Level-0 Physical Process Security Using Field Device Distinct Native Attribute Features

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez, Juan [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Liefer, Nathan C. [Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH (United States); Busho, Colin R. [Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH (United States); Temple, Michael A. [Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH (United States)

    2017-12-04

    Here, the need for improved Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource (CIKR) security is unquestioned and there has been minimal emphasis on Level-0 (PHY Process) improvements. Wired Signal Distinct Native Attribute (WS-DNA) Fingerprinting is investigated here as a non-intrusive PHY-based security augmentation to support an envisioned layered security strategy. Results are based on experimental response collections from Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) Differential Pressure Transmitter (DPT) devices from three manufacturers (Yokogawa, Honeywell, Endress+Hauer) installed in an automated process control system. Device discrimination is assessed using Time Domain (TD) and Slope-Based FSK (SB-FSK) fingerprints input to Multiple Discriminant Analysis, Maximum Likelihood (MDA/ML) and Random Forest (RndF) classifiers. For 12 different classes (two devices per manufacturer at two distinct set points), both classifiers performed reliably and achieved an arbitrary performance benchmark of average cross-class percent correct of %C > 90%. The least challenging cross-manufacturer results included near-perfect %C ≈ 100%, while the more challenging like-model (serial number) discrimination results included 90%< %C < 100%, with TD Fingerprinting marginally outperforming SB-FSK Fingerprinting; SB-FSK benefits from having less stringent response alignment and registration requirements. The RndF classifier was most beneficial and enabled reliable selection of dimensionally reduced fingerprint subsets that minimize data storage and computational requirements. The RndF selected feature sets contained 15% of the full-dimensional feature sets and only suffered a worst case %CΔ = 3% to 4% performance degradation.

  10. Administrative Appeals and ADR in Danish Administrative Law

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conradsen, Inger Marie; Gøtze, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Administrative Appeals, review, administrative tribunals, ombudsman, alternative dispute resolution......Administrative Appeals, review, administrative tribunals, ombudsman, alternative dispute resolution...

  11. Process Analytical Technology for Advanced Process Control in Biologics Manufacturing with the Aid of Macroscopic Kinetic Modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Kornecki

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Productivity improvements of mammalian cell culture in the production of recombinant proteins have been made by optimizing cell lines, media, and process operation. This led to enhanced titers and process robustness without increasing the cost of the upstream processing (USP; however, a downstream bottleneck remains. In terms of process control improvement, the process analytical technology (PAT initiative, initiated by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA, aims to measure, analyze, monitor, and ultimately control all important attributes of a bioprocess. Especially, spectroscopic methods such as Raman or near-infrared spectroscopy enable one to meet these analytical requirements, preferably in-situ. In combination with chemometric techniques like partial least square (PLS or principal component analysis (PCA, it is possible to generate soft sensors, which estimate process variables based on process and measurement models for the enhanced control of bioprocesses. Macroscopic kinetic models can be used to simulate cell metabolism. These models are able to enhance the process understanding by predicting the dynamic of cells during cultivation. In this article, in-situ turbidity (transmission, 880 nm and ex-situ Raman spectroscopy (785 nm measurements are combined with an offline macroscopic Monod kinetic model in order to predict substrate concentrations. Experimental data of Chinese hamster ovary cultivations in bioreactors show a sufficiently linear correlation (R2 ≥ 0.97 between turbidity and total cell concentration. PLS regression of Raman spectra generates a prediction model, which was validated via offline viable cell concentration measurement (RMSE ≤ 13.82, R2 ≥ 0.92. Based on these measurements, the macroscopic Monod model can be used to determine different process attributes, e.g., glucose concentration. In consequence, it is possible to approximately calculate (R2 ≥ 0.96 glucose concentration based on online cell

  12. Process Analytical Technology for Advanced Process Control in Biologics Manufacturing with the Aid of Macroscopic Kinetic Modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kornecki, Martin; Strube, Jochen

    2018-03-16

    Productivity improvements of mammalian cell culture in the production of recombinant proteins have been made by optimizing cell lines, media, and process operation. This led to enhanced titers and process robustness without increasing the cost of the upstream processing (USP); however, a downstream bottleneck remains. In terms of process control improvement, the process analytical technology (PAT) initiative, initiated by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA), aims to measure, analyze, monitor, and ultimately control all important attributes of a bioprocess. Especially, spectroscopic methods such as Raman or near-infrared spectroscopy enable one to meet these analytical requirements, preferably in-situ. In combination with chemometric techniques like partial least square (PLS) or principal component analysis (PCA), it is possible to generate soft sensors, which estimate process variables based on process and measurement models for the enhanced control of bioprocesses. Macroscopic kinetic models can be used to simulate cell metabolism. These models are able to enhance the process understanding by predicting the dynamic of cells during cultivation. In this article, in-situ turbidity (transmission, 880 nm) and ex-situ Raman spectroscopy (785 nm) measurements are combined with an offline macroscopic Monod kinetic model in order to predict substrate concentrations. Experimental data of Chinese hamster ovary cultivations in bioreactors show a sufficiently linear correlation (R² ≥ 0.97) between turbidity and total cell concentration. PLS regression of Raman spectra generates a prediction model, which was validated via offline viable cell concentration measurement (RMSE ≤ 13.82, R² ≥ 0.92). Based on these measurements, the macroscopic Monod model can be used to determine different process attributes, e.g., glucose concentration. In consequence, it is possible to approximately calculate (R² ≥ 0.96) glucose concentration based on online cell

  13. Packaging design as communicator of product attributes: Effects on consumers’ attribute inferences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Ooijen, I.

    2016-01-01

    This dissertation will focus on two types of attribute inferences that result from packaging design cues. First, the effects of product packaging design on quality related inferences are investigated. Second, the effects of product packaging design on healthiness related inferences are examined (See

  14. Persistent variations in neuronal DNA methylation following cocaine self-administration and protracted abstinence in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker-Andresen, Danay; Zhao, Qiongyi; Li, Xiang; Jupp, Bianca; Chesworth, Rose; Lawrence, Andrew J; Bredy, Timothy

    2015-10-01

    Continued vulnerability to relapse during abstinence is characteristic of cocaine addiction and suggests that drug-induced neuroadaptations persist during abstinence. However, the precise cellular and molecular attributes of these adaptations remain equivocal. One possibility is that cocaine self-administration leads to enduring changes in DNA methylation. To address this possibility, we isolated neurons from medial prefrontal cortex and performed high throughput DNA sequencing to examine changes in DNA methylation following cocaine self-administration. Twenty-nine genomic regions became persistently differentially methylated during cocaine self-administration, and an additional 28 regions became selectively differentially methylated during abstinence. Altered DNA methylation was associated with isoform-specific changes in the expression of co-localizing genes. These results provide the first neuron-specific, genome-wide profile of changes in DNA methylation induced by cocaine self-administration and protracted abstinence. Moreover, our findings suggest that altered DNA methylation facilitates long-term behavioral adaptation in a manner that extends beyond the perpetuation of altered transcriptional states.

  15. Persistent variations in neuronal DNA methylation following cocaine self-administration and protracted abstinence in mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danay Baker-Andresen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Continued vulnerability to relapse during abstinence is a characteristic of cocaine addiction and suggests that drug-induced neuroadaptations persist during abstinence. However, the precise cellular and molecular attributes of these adaptations remain equivocal. One possibility is that cocaine self-administration leads to enduring changes in DNA methylation. To address this possibility, we isolated neurons from medial prefrontal cortex and performed high throughput DNA sequencing to examine changes in DNA methylation following cocaine self-administration. Twenty-nine genomic regions became persistently differentially methylated during cocaine self-administration, and an additional 28 regions became selectively differentially methylated during abstinence. Altered DNA methylation was associated with isoform-specific changes in the expression of co-localizing genes. These results provide the first neuron-specific, genome-wide profile of changes in DNA methylation induced by cocaine self-administration and protracted abstinence. Moreover, our findings suggest that altered DNA methylation facilitates long-term behavioral adaptation in a manner that extends beyond the perpetuation of altered transcriptional states.

  16. Attribution-based motivation treatment efficacy in an online learning environment for students who differ in cognitive elaboration

    OpenAIRE

    Hamm, Jeremy M.; Perry, Raymond P.; Chipperfield, Judith G.; Murayama, Kou; Weiner, Bernard

    2017-01-01

    Attribution-based motivation treatments can boost performance in competitive achievement settings (Perry and Hamm 2017), yet their efficacy relative to mediating processes and affect-based treatments remains largely unexamined. In a two-semester, pre-post, randomized treatment study (n = 806), attributional retraining (AR) and stress-reduction (SR) treatments were administered in an online learning environment to first-year college students who differed in cognitive elaboration (low, high). L...

  17. Administration, Administration of the knowledge and methodological work in the Complex Educational Disciplines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Alina Mena-Silva

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Today the educational disciplines have evolved to a superior and more complex stadium that has been materialized in that converge in a discipline and relate diverse study modalities, professors' type and teaching matters, that makes more complex the work of the professor when having to prepare metodológicamente the subject in more than an occasion, it is materialized this way the Complex Educational Discipline. The administration and the administration of the knowledge are constituted in essential elements for the realization of the methodological work with the community of professors, starting from a process of methodological preparation centered in the professor.

  18. [Physical projects atelier: strategy for physical resources administration learning on nursing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Draganov, Patricia Bover; Sanna, Maria Cristina

    2011-09-01

    The success of learning involves adequate strategies. Those inspired on andragogy, which is the science of teaching adults, seem to be ideal for the nursing undergraduate subject "projects", with a focus on the administration of physical resources for nursing. This study reports teaching strategies that try to estimulate the acquisition of competences that make the nurse capable of a dialogue on projects with a multiprofessional team. The strategy involved a workshop composed by four stages: reading of projects, health assistance institute (HAI) attributions, notions on physical scaling strategies and development of a glossary. The strategy, proposed by a graduate student in the subject "Strategies to the teaching of Administration", was tested through practical application, evaluated and approved by graduate students and teachers. The conditions for its implementation are working with few students, availability of proper classrooms and equipment, and partnership with HAIs.

  19. More Than Just Accuracy: A Novel Method to Incorporate Multiple Test Attributes in Evaluating Diagnostic Tests Including Point of Care Tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Matthew; Weigl, Bernhard; Fitzpatrick, Annette; Ide, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Current frameworks for evaluating diagnostic tests are constrained by a focus on diagnostic accuracy, and assume that all aspects of the testing process and test attributes are discrete and equally important. Determining the balance between the benefits and harms associated with new or existing tests has been overlooked. Yet, this is critically important information for stakeholders involved in developing, testing, and implementing tests. This is particularly important for point of care tests (POCTs) where tradeoffs exist between numerous aspects of the testing process and test attributes. We developed a new model that multiple stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, patients, researchers, test developers, industry, regulators, and health care funders) can use to visualize the multiple attributes of tests, the interactions that occur between these attributes, and their impacts on health outcomes. We use multiple examples to illustrate interactions between test attributes (test availability, test experience, and test results) and outcomes, including several POCTs. The model could be used to prioritize research and development efforts, and inform regulatory submissions for new diagnostics. It could potentially provide a way to incorporate the relative weights that various subgroups or clinical settings might place on different test attributes. Our model provides a novel way that multiple stakeholders can use to visualize test attributes, their interactions, and impacts on individual and population outcomes. We anticipate that this will facilitate more informed decision making around diagnostic tests.

  20. Relational vs. attributive interpretation of nominal compounds differentially engages angular gyrus and anterior temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boylan, Christine; Trueswell, John C; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L

    2017-06-01

    The angular gyrus (AG) and anterior temporal lobe (ATL) have been found to respond to a number of tasks involving combinatorial processing. In this study, we investigate the conceptual combination of nominal compounds, and ask whether ATL/AG activity is modulated by the type of combinatorial operation applied to a nominal compound. We compare relational and attributive interpretations of nominal compounds and find that ATL and AG both discriminate these two types, but in distinct ways. While right AG demonstrated greater positive task-responsive activity for relational compounds, there was a greater negative deflection in the BOLD response in left AG for relational compounds. In left ATL, we found an earlier peak in subjects' BOLD response curves for attributive interpretations. In other words, we observed dissociations in both AG and ATL between relational and attributive nominal compounds, with regard to magnitude in the former and to timing in the latter. These findings expand on prior studies that posit roles for both AG and ATL in conceptual processing generally, and in conceptual combination specifically, by indicating possible functional specializations of these two regions within a larger conceptual knowledge network. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The self-attribution bias and paranormal beliefs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Elk, M.

    The present study investigated the relation between paranormal beliefs, illusory control and the self-attribution bias, i.e., the motivated tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself while negative outcomes are externalized. Visitors of a psychic fair played a card guessing game and

  2. PLANE: A Platform for Negotiation of Multi-attribute Multimedia Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rharon M. Guedes

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This work proposes the definition of a system to negotiate products in an e-commerce scenario. This negotiation system is defined as PLANE – Platform to Assist Negotiation – and it is carried in a semi-automatic way, using multi-attributes functions, based on attributes of the negotiated content. It also presents an architecture to interconnect the participant through an inter-network in the television broadcasters context. Each participant of the inter-network applies policies for its own contents, and all of them must comply these policies. If a participant needs a content not covered by the policies, it is possible to start a negotiation process for this specific content. Experiments present a simulation scenario where PLANE assists the negotiation between three sellers and one buyer with predefined negotiation profiles. Results demonstrated the success of the system in approximate the negotiator after some few interactions, reducing time and cost.

  3. Neuroimaging Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution in Human Drug Addiction: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zilverstand, Anna; Huang, Anna S; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Goldstein, Rita Z

    2018-06-06

    The impaired response inhibition and salience attribution (iRISA) model proposes that impaired response inhibition and salience attribution underlie drug seeking and taking. To update this model, we systematically reviewed 105 task-related neuroimaging studies (n > 15/group) published since 2010. Results demonstrate specific impairments within six large-scale brain networks (reward, habit, salience, executive, memory, and self-directed networks) during drug cue exposure, decision making, inhibitory control, and social-emotional processing. Addicted individuals demonstrated increased recruitment of these networks during drug-related processing but a blunted response during non-drug-related processing, with the same networks also being implicated during resting state. Associations with real-life drug use, relapse, therapeutic interventions, and the relevance to initiation of drug use during adolescence support the clinical relevance of the results. Whereas the salience and executive networks showed impairments throughout the addiction cycle, the reward network was dysregulated at later stages of abuse. Effects were similar in alcohol, cannabis, and stimulant addiction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Recreational preferences of urban teenagers: the influence of cultural and environmental attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    George L. Peterson

    1977-01-01

    The study tests the hypothesis that the recreational preferences of urban teenagers differ with age, sex, ethnicity, and measurable attributes of activity and environment. Photos of activities are used to measure preferences, and the photos are scaled for content by a detailed appraisal. The results show that sex and ethnicity modify the preference process, and that...

  5. 20 CFR 405.320 - Administrative law judge hearing procedures-general.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...) Conduct of the hearing. The administrative law judge will decide the order in which the evidence will be... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Administrative law judge hearing procedures... PROCESS FOR ADJUDICATING INITIAL DISABILITY CLAIMS Administrative Law Judge Hearing § 405.320...

  6. Qualitative analysis of MTEM response using instantaneous attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fayemi, Olalekan; Di, Qingyun

    2017-11-01

    This paper introduces new technique for qualitative analysis of multi-transient electromagnetic (MTEM) earth impulse response over complex geological structures. Instantaneous phase and frequency attributes were used in place of the conventional common offset section for improved qualitative interpretation of MTEM data by obtaining more detailed information from the earth impulse response. The instantaneous attributes were used to describe the lateral variation in subsurface resistivity and the visible geological structure with respect to given offsets. Instantaneous phase attribute was obtained by converting the impulse response into a complex form using the Hilbert transform. Conversely, the polynomial phase difference (PPD) estimator was favored over the center finite difference (CFD) approximation method in calculating the instantaneous frequency attribute because it is computationally efficient and has the ability to give a smooth variation of the instantaneous frequency over a common offset section. The observed results from the instantaneous attributes were in good agreement with both the subsurface model used and the apparent resistivity section obtained from the MTEM earth impulse response. Hence, this study confirms the capability of both instantaneous phase and frequency attributes as highly effective tools for MTEM qualitative analysis.

  7. Choice attributes in restaurant services: An exploratory study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derli Luís Angnes

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available There are about one million of bars and restaurants that generate around six millions of jobs in Brazil. Among the most important reasons to choose a restaurant are the service attributes. Attributes are judgments the client makes about the performance and quality of the service provided. The identification of restaurant choice attributes is important in order to propose a higher value to services and to make marketing strategies. This article aims to identify the choice attributes of service quality in restaurants. The methodology employed was a qualitative exploratory study based on interviews made using the critical incident technique. It was used a sample of 72 restaurant customers. The content analysis technique was used to treat and analyze the critical incidents obtained in the interviews. The result obtained was a relation of 615 critical incidents, which after being analyzed generated a list of 27 attributes that influence customer’s choice and customer’s evaluation of service quality provided in restaurants. The identified attributes can subsidize and contribute to improvement of future research and studies in the academic environment, besides contributing for the management of restaurants business.

  8. A plan for administrative computing at ANL FY1991 through FY1993

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caruthers, L.E. (ed.); O' Brien, D.E.; Bretscher, M.E.; Hischier, R.C.; Moore, N.J.; Slade, R.G.

    1990-10-01

    In July of 1988, Argonne National Laboratory management approved the restructuring of Computing Services into the Computing and Telecommunications Division, part of the Physical Research area of the Laboratory. One major area of the Computing and Telecommunications Division is Management Information Systems (MIS). A significant aspect of Management Information Systems' work is the development of proposals for new and enhanced administrative computing systems based on an analysis of informational needs. This document represent the outcome of the planning process for FY1991 through FY1993. The introduction of the FY1991 through FY1993 Long-Range Plan assesses the state of administrative computing at ANL and the implications of FY1991 funding recommendations. It includes a history of MIS planning for administrative data processing. This document discusses the strategy and goals which are an important part of administrative data processing plans for the Laboratory. It also describes the management guidelines established by the Administrative Data Processing Oversight Committee for the proposal and implementation of administrative computing systems. Summaries of the proposals for new or enhanced administrative computing systems presented by individual divisions or departments with assistance of Management Information Systems, to the Administrative Data Processing Oversight Committee are given. The detailed tables in this paper give information on how much the resources to develop and implement a given systems will cost its users. The tables include development costs, computing/operations costs, software and hardware costs, and efforts costs. They include both systems funded by Laboratory General Expense and systems funded by the users themselves.

  9. Payroll Administrator | IDRC - International Development Research ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    The incumbent provides invaluable operational and administrative support to ... queries, escalates more complex issues to Compensation Services Advisors; ... information after annual salary review process;; Performs forms management ...

  10. Attributional Models of Depression and Marital Distress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horneffer, Karen J.; Fincham, Frank D.

    1996-01-01

    Compares attributional models presented in depression and marital literatures by examining simultaneously their prediction of depressive symptoms and marital distress with 150 married couples. Findings show that a model including paths from depressogenic and distress-maintaining marital attributions to both depressive symptoms and marital distress…

  11. Using attribute amnesia to test the limits of hyper-binding and associative deficits in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCormick-Huhn, John M; Chen, Hui; Wyble, Bradley P; Dennis, Nancy A

    2018-02-01

    Previous work has shown mixed evidence regarding age-related deficits for binding in working memory. The current study used the newly developed attribute amnesia effect (H. Chen & Wyble, 2015a) to test the associative-deficit hypothesis during working memory and to probe whether hyper-binding extends to include binding of de-selected information. In studies of attribute amnesia, participants use target attributes (e.g., identity, color) to demonstrate near ceiling levels of reporting of a second target attribute (e.g., location) across a series of trials (H. Chen & Wyble, 2015a, 2016). Yet, despite having just processed the target-defining attribute, they have difficulty reporting it on a surprise trial. This effect provides several predictions for associative binding in aging. The associative-deficit hypothesis predicts age-related decline on the surprise trial, whereas an extension of hyper-binding predicts age-related increase in performance in older adults. In Experiment 1, when working memory load was low, older adults demonstrated attribute amnesia equal to that found in younger adults. When load increased in Experiment 2, older adults again demonstrated attribute amnesia as well as an age deficit for reporting target attributes. In lieu of spontaneous binding, results suggest that expectancy plays a critical role in older adults' propensity to encode and bind target attributes in working memory. Results further suggest that expectancy alone is not enough for older adults to form bound representations when task demands are high. Taken together results revealed a boundary condition of hyper-binding and further provided conditional support for the associative-deficit hypothesis in working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Considerations of critical quality attributes in the analytical comparability assessment of biosimilar products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Ohseok; Joung, Jeewon; Park, Younjoo; Kim, Chan Wha; Hong, Seung Hwa

    2017-07-01

    Based on experience in clinical trial approvals and marketing authorizations for biosimilar products in Korea, we suggest principles for the analytical comparability assessment of biosimilar products with respect to regulatory considerations. The composition and manufacturing processes of biosimilar products can differ from those of the reference product depending on the information available for the reference product and the time of product development; however, the analytical characteristics of biosimilar products should be highly similar to those of the reference product. Although manufacturing an identical product in terms of the quality profile is nearly impossible due to the high molecular weight and complex structure of biological products, the developer of the biosimilar product should attempt to establish a quality level as similar to that of the reference product as possible. When comparing the similarity of quality attributes, the criticality of the quality attributes and the characteristics of orthogonal quality attributes need to be considered carefully. Based on the results from the analytical comparability assessment, the comparability results of non-clinical and clinical studies should be evaluated before claiming biosimilarity to the reference product. In this review, we focus on quality attribute evaluation based on our regulatory experience. Copyright © 2017 International Alliance for Biological Standardization. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Causal Attributions for Poverty in Developing Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Juan Vázquez

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes attributional differences about causes of poverty in the less developed countries, among Nicaraguan ("actors" and Spanish ("observers" undergraduates. A self–applied questionnaire was used. It included socio–demographic questions and an adaptation of the "Causes of Third World Poverty Questionnaire" (CTWPQ. Results show agreement between Spanish and Nicaraguan in attributions about the main causes of poverty in the less developed countries, although there are differences about the perception of the incidence of the different causes in that situation. Nicaraguan students consider, as causes of poverty, more dispositional attributes about the population in those countries.

  14. Joint Attributes and Event Analysis for Multimedia Event Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Zhigang; Chang, Xiaojun; Xu, Zhongwen; Sebe, Nicu; Hauptmann, Alexander G

    2017-06-15

    Semantic attributes have been increasingly used the past few years for multimedia event detection (MED) with promising results. The motivation is that multimedia events generally consist of lower level components such as objects, scenes, and actions. By characterizing multimedia event videos with semantic attributes, one could exploit more informative cues for improved detection results. Much existing work obtains semantic attributes from images, which may be suboptimal for video analysis since these image-inferred attributes do not carry dynamic information that is essential for videos. To address this issue, we propose to learn semantic attributes from external videos using their semantic labels. We name them video attributes in this paper. In contrast with multimedia event videos, these external videos depict lower level contents such as objects, scenes, and actions. To harness video attributes, we propose an algorithm established on a correlation vector that correlates them to a target event. Consequently, we could incorporate video attributes latently as extra information into the event detector learnt from multimedia event videos in a joint framework. To validate our method, we perform experiments on the real-world large-scale TRECVID MED 2013 and 2014 data sets and compare our method with several state-of-the-art algorithms. The experiments show that our method is advantageous for MED.

  15. Oral processing characteristics of solid savoury meal components, and relationship with food composition, sensory attributes and expected satiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forde, C G; van Kuijk, N; Thaler, T; de Graaf, C; Martin, N

    2013-01-01

    /s. Differences in oral processing were not correlated with any macronutrients specifically. Expected satiation was positively related to protein and the sensory attributes chewiness and saltiness. Foods that consumed in smaller bites, were chewed more and for longer and expected to impart a higher satiation. This study shows a large and reliable variation in oral exposure time, number of required chews before swallowing and expected satiation across a wide variety of foods. We conclude that bite size and oral-sensory exposure time could contribute to higher satiation within a meal for equal calories. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Attributions for sexual orientation vs. stereotypes : How beliefs about value violations account for attribution effects on anti-gay discrimination

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reyna, Christine; Wetherell, Geoffrey; Yantis, Caitlyn; Brandt, Mark J.

    Attributions for sexual orientation strongly predict opposition to gay rights policies; however, we propose that beliefs that gays and lesbians violate important values drive gay rights opposition and account for the relationship between attributions and anti-gay discrimination. In two studies, we

  17. Microstructural Correlates of Emotional Attribution Impairment in Non-Demented Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara Crespi

    Full Text Available Impairments in the ability to recognize and attribute emotional states to others have been described in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and linked to the dysfunction of key nodes of the emotional empathy network. Microstructural correlates of such disorders are still unexplored. We investigated the white-matter substrates of emotional attribution deficits in a sample of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients without cognitive decline. Thirteen individuals with either probable or definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 14 healthy controls were enrolled in a Diffusion Tensor Imaging study and administered the Story-based Empathy Task, assessing the ability to attribute mental states to others (i.e., Intention and Emotion attribution conditions. As already reported, a significant global reduction of empathic skills, mainly driven by a failure in Emotion Attribution condition, was found in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients compared to healthy subjects. The severity of this deficit was significantly correlated with fractional anisotropy along the forceps minor, genu of corpus callosum, right uncinate and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi. The involvement of frontal commissural fiber tracts and right ventral associative fronto-limbic pathways is the microstructural hallmark of the impairment of high-order processing of socio-emotional stimuli in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These results support the notion of the neurofunctional and neuroanatomical continuum between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.

  18. Kombucha brewing under the Food and Drug Administration model Food Code: risk analysis and processing guidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nummer, Brian A

    2013-11-01

    Kombucha is a fermented beverage made from brewed tea and sugar. The taste is slightly sweet and acidic and it may have residual carbon dioxide. Kombucha is consumed in many countries as a health beverage and it is gaining in popularity in the U.S. Consequently, many retailers and food service operators are seeking to brew this beverage on site. As a fermented beverage, kombucha would be categorized in the Food and Drug Administration model Food Code as a specialized process and would require a variance with submission of a food safety plan. This special report was created to assist both operators and regulators in preparing or reviewing a kombucha food safety plan.

  19. Soil biological attributes in arsenic-contaminated gold mining sites after revegetation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dos Santos, Jessé Valentim; de Melo Rangel, Wesley; Azarias Guimarães, Amanda; Duque Jaramillo, Paula Marcela; Rufini, Márcia; Marra, Leandro Marciano; Varón López, Maryeimy; Pereira da Silva, Michele Aparecida; Fonsêca Sousa Soares, Cláudio Roberto; de Souza Moreira, Fatima Maria

    2013-12-01

    Recovery of arsenic contaminated areas is a challenge society faces throughout the world. Revegetation associated with microbial activity can play an essential role in this process. This work investigated biological attributes in a gold mining area with different arsenic contents at different sites under two types of extant revegetation associated with cover layers of the soil: BS, Brachiaria sp. and Stizolobium sp., and LEGS, Acacia crassicarpa, A. holosericea, A. mangium, Sesbania virgata, Albizia lebbeck and Pseudosamanea guachapele. References were also evaluated, comprising the following three sites: B1, weathered sulfide substrate without revegetation; BM, barren material after gold extraction and PRNH (private reserve of natural heritage), an uncontaminated forest site near the mining area. The organic and microbial biomass carbon contents and substrate-induced respiration rates for these sites from highest to lowest were: PRNH > LEGS > BS > B1 and BM. These attributes were negatively correlated with soluble and total arsenic concentration in the soil. The sites that have undergone revegetation (LEGS and BS) had higher densities of bacteria, fungi, phosphate solubilizers and ammonium oxidizers than the sites without vegetation. Principal component analysis showed that the LEGS site grouped with PRNH, indicating that the use of leguminous species associated with an uncontaminated soil cover layer contributed to the improvement of the biological attributes. With the exception of acid phosphatase, all the biological attributes were indicators of soil recovery, particularly the following: microbial carbon, substrate-induced respiration, density of culturable bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria, phosphate solubilizers and metabolic quotient.

  20. Constitutional framework of the process of decentralization and public administration reform in Serbia and Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Čiplić Svetozar M.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The work is devoted to the comparative analyze of the processes of the decentralization reorganization and reform of the public administration at the level of the horizontal governance organization in Serbia and Croatia. At the first part of the work the authors analyze the decentralization and devolution as well as their demarcation in the sense of their related but not similar meanings. The second part is devoted to the historical experiences and genesis foundations of the common state where Serbia and Croatia were joined. The particular historical developments of Serbia and Croatia influenced the present attitude of their political elites toward decentralization. The third, final part/conclusion, is dedicated to a comparative analyses of the constitutional solutions in Serbia and Croatia which are related to the vertical organization. .

  1. Accounting Students' Perceptions of Effective Faculty Attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfraih, Mishari M.; Alanezi, Faisal S.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study aims to explore the attributes of an effective accounting faculty from the student perspective. It also examines similarities and differences in the perceived importance of these attributes between bachelor's and associate's accounting degree students in two public higher education institutions in Kuwait, namely, Kuwait…

  2. Instruments for the Administration of the Responsibility Social Cooperative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yamira Mirabal González

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In the context of our national economy and their process of bring up to date starting from the implementation of the Economic and Social Politics's Limits, the cooperative companies, like form of non state administration they constitute a component more than the Economic Pattern - Cuban of high contribution to the sostenibilidad of the economic and social development of the nation; starting from economic and social, efficient and effective administration processes. On the other hand, the cooperative companies, for derived reasons of their nature and essence, they will design and to implement tools and technical that guarantee the effective execution of their economic and social objectives. However, in a particular way, the administration in these entities, it has been guided, mainly, to the attainment of goals and programs that you/they respond to the economic interest - financial in their development, relegating their social end to spontaneous processes that emanate of the will of their directive ones and they are not part or they are integrated to the socioeconomic administration of the cooperatives. In correspondence with him previously planned, the objective of the present work is directed to endow to the Cuban cooperative companies (or not of a technological package for the administration of the Responsibility Social Cooperative that considers also, a System of Social Accounting and a methodology for the Audit of Administration Social Cooperative; that it pays to the execution of their social objectives and the consolidation of their identity.

  3. Alcoholics' and nonalcoholics' attributions of control of future life events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, M H; Obitz, F W

    1984-03-01

    Alcoholic and nonalcoholic subjects rated the degree of control that they and others possess over future life events. Alcoholics attributed less personal control over events to themselves than nonalcoholics did. Alcoholics also attributed less control to themselves than to others, whereas nonalcoholics attributed more control to themselves than to others. These differences prevailed despite the similar socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, recent life experiences and beliefs concerning the general controllability of events of both alcoholics and nonalcoholics. The attributions of alcoholics were consistent with others' notions of self-handicapping. The attributions of nonalcoholics were consistent with control motivation. Alcoholics who attributed less control to themselves than to others more frequently failed to complete treatment than did alcoholics who attributed more control to themselves.

  4. Consumer perception of sustainability attributes in organic and local food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annunziata, Azzurra; Angela, Mariani

    2017-12-14

    Although sustainable food consumption is gaining growing importance on the international agenda, research on this subject is still quite fragmented and most studies analyse single aspects of sustainable food consumption with particular reference to environmental sustainability. In addition, the literature highlights the need to take account of the strong heterogeneity of consumers in studying sustainable behaviour. Identifying consumer segments with common profiles, needs and values is essential for developing effective communication strategies to promote sustainability in food consumption. Consumer segmentation based on the perception of the sustainability attributes of organic and local products was realized using descriptive data collected through a consumer online survey in southern Italy (Campania). K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify different consumer segments based on consumer perception of sustainable attributes in organic and local food. Results confirm the support of consumers for organic and local food as sustainable alternative in food choices even if occasional buying behaviour of these products still predominates. In addition, our results show that an egoistic approach prevails among consumers, who seem to attach more value to attributes related to quality and health than to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Segmentation proves the existence of three consumer segments that differ significantly in terms of perception of sustainability attributes: a large segment of individuals who seem more egocentric oriented, an environmental sustainability oriented segment and a small segment that includes sustainability oriented consumers. The existence of different levels of sensitivity to sustainability attributes in organic and local food among the identified segments could be duly considered by policy makers and other institutions in promoting sustainable consumption patterns. Consumers in the first cluster could be educated

  5. Sensory and semantic activations evoked by action attributes of manipulable objects: Evidence from ERPs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chia-lin; Huang, Hsu-Wen; Federmeier, Kara D.; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

    2018-01-01

    “Two route” theories of object-related action processing posit different temporal activation profiles of grasp-to-move actions (rapidly evoked based on object structure) versus skilled use actions (more slowly activated based on semantic knowledge). We capitalized on the exquisite temporal resolution and multidimensionality of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to directly test this hypothesis. Participants viewed manipulable objects (e.g., calculator) preceded by objects sharing either “grasp”, “use”, or no action attributes (e.g., bar of soap, keyboard, earring, respectively), as well as by action-unrelated but taxonomically-related objects (e.g., abacus); participants judged whether the two objects were related. The results showed more positive responses to “grasp-to-move” primed objects than “skilled use” primed objects or unprimed objects starting in the P1 (0–150 ms) time window and continuing onto the subsequent N1 and P2 components (150–300 ms), suggesting that only “grasp-to-move”, but not “skilled use”, actions may facilitate visual attention to object attributes. Furthermore, reliably reduced N400s (300–500 ms), an index of semantic processing, were observed to taxonomically primed and “skilled use” primed objects relative to unprimed objects, suggesting that “skilled use” action attributes are a component of distributed, multimodal semantic representations of objects. Together, our findings provide evidence supporting two-route theories by demonstrating that “grasp-to-move” and “skilled use” actions impact different aspects of object processing and highlight the relationship of “skilled use” information to other aspects of semantic memory. PMID:29183777

  6. Multi-Attribute Vickrey Auctions when Utility Functions are Unknown

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Máhr, T.; De Weerdt, M.M.

    2006-01-01

    Multi-attribute auctions allow negotiations over multiple attributes besides price. For example in task allocation, service providers can define their service by means of multiple attributes, such as quality of service, deadlines, or delay penalties. Auction mechanisms assume that the players have

  7. Enhancing marketing recruitment strategies: administrator tenure and nursing expenditures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunby, Norris White

    2005-01-01

    When recruiting nurses, long-term care facilities require an ability to identify salient organizational characteristics that are attractive to potential nursing services candidates vis-à-vis their competitors. The findings of this study suggest that information on administrative tenure can be utilized to attract applicants by appealing to criteria within their high-involvement job search activities. High-involvement applicants proactively seek recruitment content that provides essential job attributes that match their needs and skills and are more apt to be a higher quality candidate. Based upon the study's findings, managers are offered marketing strategy recommendations for tailoring recruiting messages that appeal to high-involvement job seekers.

  8. Patient preferences for important attributes of bipolar depression treatments: a discrete choice experiment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ng-Mak D

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Daisy Ng-Mak,1 Jiat-Ling Poon,2 Laurie Roberts,2 Leah Kleinman,2 Dennis A Revicki,2 Krithika Rajagopalan1 1Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Marlborough, MA, 2Patient-Centered Research, Evidera, Bethesda, MD, USA Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess patient preferences regarding pharmacological treatment attributes for bipolar depression using a discrete choice experiment (DCE.Methods: Adult members of an Internet survey panel with a self-reported diagnosis of bipolar depression were invited via e-mail to participate in a web-based DCE survey. Participants were asked to choose between hypothetical medication alternatives defined by attributes and levels that were varied systematically. The six treatment attributes included in the DCE were time to improvement, risk of becoming manic, weight gain, risk of sedation, increased blood sugar, and increased cholesterol. Attributes were supported by literature review, expert input, and results of focus groups with patients. Sawtooth CBC System for Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis was used to estimate the part-worth utilities for the DCE analyses.Results: The analytical sample included 185 participants (50.8% females from a total of 200 participants. The DCE analyses found weight gain to be the most important treatment attribute (relative importance =49.6%, followed by risk of sedation (20.2%, risk of mania (13.0%, increased blood sugar (8.3%, increased cholesterol (5.2%, and time to improvement (3.7%.Conclusion: Results from this DCE suggest that adults with bipolar depression considered risks of weight gain and sedation associated with pharmacotherapy as the most important attributes for the treatment of bipolar depression. Incorporating patient preferences in the treatment decision-making process may potentially have an impact on treatment adherence and satisfaction and, ultimately, patient outcomes. Keywords: bipolar depression, treatment

  9. Quality-Attribute-Based Economic Valuation of Architectural Patterns

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ozkaya, Ipek; Kazman, Rick; Klein, Mark

    2007-01-01

    .... Architectural patterns can be used to achieve quality attribute requirements. Consequently, architectural patterns generate value based on the present and future utility of the quality attributes they achieve...

  10. The Role of Empathy in Mental Attribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brunsteins, Patricia

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This work examines in what extent a notion of empathy may clarify mindreading’s debate. Taking into account an interdisciplinary and integrative notion of empathy, compatibility with mental attribution strategies both mental simulation and theory-theory, in non pure versions, is evaluated. Firstly, new empirical research is supposed to contribute strengthening an integrative empathy instead of theory-theory or mental simulation `s points of view. Secondly, new empirical research will bring better tools to distinguish between empathy and simulation. Consequently, the relationship between empathy and mental attribution theories may be better delimited and a full mental attribution theory may possibly be proposed.

  11. AVal: an Extensible Attribute-Oriented Programming Validator for Java

    OpenAIRE

    Noguera , Carlos; Pawlak , Renaud

    2007-01-01

    International audience; Attribute Oriented Programming (@OP ) permits programmers to extend the semantics of a base program by annotating it with attributes that are related to a set of concerns. Examples of this are applications that rely on XDoclet (such as Hibernate) or, with the release of Java5's annotations, EJB3. The set of attributes that implements a concern defines a Domain Specific Language, and as such, imposes syntactic and semantic rules on the way that attributes are included i...

  12. Implicational Schemata and the Attribution of Morality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeder, Glenn D.; Spores, John M.

    Attribution of a disposition or trait to a person asserts information about the pattern of that person's behavior. Past research has suggested that a moral disposition implies only moral behavior, while an immoral disposition implies both moral and immoral behavior. The effect of these implicational schemata on attributions of morality was…

  13. Identity and attribution as lenses to understand the relationship ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Irrespective of social class, those who attributed academic performance to factors outside their control performed less well. Conclusion. The study suggests that interventions are required that help all students to control their academic performance. Attributional retraining (AR) has the potential to assist students who attribute ...

  14. Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malti, Tina; Gasser, Luciano; Buchmann, Marlis

    2009-01-01

    Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning were investigated. Participants were 235 kindergarten children (M=6.2 years) and 136 elementary-school children (M=7.6 years) who were selected as aggressive or prosocial based on (kindergarten) teacher ratings. The children were asked to evaluate hypothetical rule violations, attribute emotions they would feel in the role of the victimizer, and justify their responses. Compared with younger prosocial children, younger aggressive children attributed fewer negative emotions and were more likely to provide sanction-oriented justifications when evaluating rule violations negatively. Furthermore, age-, gender- and context-effects in moral development occurred. The context-effects included both effects of transgression type (i.e., prosocial morality vs. fairness) on emotion attributions and moral reasoning and the effects of the context of moral evaluation and emotion attribution on moral reasoning. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of emotion attributions and moral reasoning as antecedents of children's aggressive and prosocial behavior. Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  15. 7 CFR 400.56 - Administrative appeal exhaustion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... contained in 7 CFR part 400, subpart J. Administrative remedies through the appeal process must be exhausted prior to any action for judicial review. The approved APH yield determined as a result of the appeal process will be the yield applicable to the crop year. ...

  16. 40 CFR 725.25 - General administrative requirements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND REVIEW PROCESSES FOR MICROORGANISMS Administrative...: The company named in this submission intends to manufacture, import, or process for a commercial... e-PMN software must be used to print the biotechnology notice submission to be sent to EPA. Paper...

  17. Spontaneously emerging cortical representations of visual attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenet, Tal; Bibitchkov, Dmitri; Tsodyks, Misha; Grinvald, Amiram; Arieli, Amos

    2003-10-01

    Spontaneous cortical activity-ongoing activity in the absence of intentional sensory input-has been studied extensively, using methods ranging from EEG (electroencephalography), through voltage sensitive dye imaging, down to recordings from single neurons. Ongoing cortical activity has been shown to play a critical role in development, and must also be essential for processing sensory perception, because it modulates stimulus-evoked activity, and is correlated with behaviour. Yet its role in the processing of external information and its relationship to internal representations of sensory attributes remains unknown. Using voltage sensitive dye imaging, we previously established a close link between ongoing activity in the visual cortex of anaesthetized cats and the spontaneous firing of a single neuron. Here we report that such activity encompasses a set of dynamically switching cortical states, many of which correspond closely to orientation maps. When such an orientation state emerged spontaneously, it spanned several hypercolumns and was often followed by a state corresponding to a proximal orientation. We suggest that dynamically switching cortical states could represent the brain's internal context, and therefore reflect or influence memory, perception and behaviour.

  18. Filling the gap – how do sensory and marketing attributes interact in consumers' wine choice?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mueller, Simone; Osidacz, P.; Francis, L.

    2011-01-01

    When viticulturists and oenologists produced flavours and aromas that are positively perceived by consumers in blind tastings, the question remains how much they actually influence consumers’ wine liking, choice and repurchase intent in the presence of marketing attributes such as brand, packaging......, region and price. While traditional consumer sensory research mainly focuses on blind sensory evaluation, in reality most consumers drink and evaluate wine in an informed condition, being aware of the price and label information. What is the relative impact of sensory and marketing attributes when...... consumers drink wine in realistic settings and which are the sensory attributes that cut through the marketing clutter? To provide first answers to these questions we report results from a two-stage experiment for Australian Shiraz wines, simulating the process of a consumer choosing a wine from the shelf...

  19. Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Lei; Chen, Bin-Bin; Ji, Lin Qin

    2011-07-01

    OBJECTIVE: The present study examined mothers' and fathers' attributions and attitudes related to parenting in China. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with 241 pairs of parents to obtain maternal and paternal reports of attributions regarding successes and failures in parent-child interactions and on progressive versus authoritarian attitudes about parenting. RESULTS: Mothers' mean levels of attributions and attitudes did not differ significantly from fathers' mean levels of attributions and attitudes. Significant correlations were found between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding uncontrollable success, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Supporting the cultural evolutionary view that drastic social changes bring about non-conforming and individualistic behavioral tendencies, these findings rectify and expand the existing literature portraying Chinese parenting as uniformly Confucian and traditional.

  20. Attributional "Tunnel Vision" in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schilling, Lisa; Moritz, Steffen; Schneider, Brooke; Bierbrodt, Julia; Nagel, Matthias

    2015-12-01

    We aimed to examine the profile of interpersonal attributions in BPD. We hypothesized that patients show more mono-causal and internal attributions than healthy controls. A revised version of the Internal, Personal, Situational and Attributions Questionnaire was assessed in 30 BPD patients and 30 healthy controls. BPD patients and controls differed significantly in their attributional pattern. Patients displayed more mono-causal inferences, that is, they had difficulties considering alternative explanatory factors. For negative events, patients made more internal attributions compared to healthy controls. We concluded that mono-causal "trapped" thinking might contribute to (interpersonal) problems in BPD patients by fostering impulsive consequential behaviors, for example, harming one's self or others. A self-blaming tendency likely promotes depressive symptoms and low self-esteem.

  1. MELA: Modelling in Ecology with Location Attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ludovica Luisa Vissat

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Ecology studies the interactions between individuals, species and the environment. The ability to predict the dynamics of ecological systems would support the design and monitoring of control strategies and would help to address pressing global environmental issues. It is also important to plan for efficient use of natural resources and maintenance of critical ecosystem services. The mathematical modelling of ecological systems often includes nontrivial specifications of processes that influence the birth, death, development and movement of individuals in the environment, that take into account both biotic and abiotic interactions. To assist in the specification of such models, we introduce MELA, a process algebra for Modelling in Ecology with Location Attributes. Process algebras allow the modeller to describe concurrent systems in a high-level language. A key feature of concurrent systems is that they are composed of agents that can progress simultaneously but also interact - a good match to ecological systems. MELA aims to provide ecologists with a straightforward yet flexible tool for modelling ecological systems, with particular emphasis on the description of space and the environment. Here we present four example MELA models, illustrating the different spatial arrangements which can be accommodated and demonstrating the use of MELA in epidemiological and predator-prey scenarios.

  2. Network structure exploration in networks with node attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yi; Wang, Xiaolong; Bu, Junzhao; Tang, Buzhou; Xiang, Xin

    2016-05-01

    Complex networks provide a powerful way to represent complex systems and have been widely studied during the past several years. One of the most important tasks of network analysis is to detect structures (also called structural regularities) embedded in networks by determining group number and group partition. Most of network structure exploration models only consider network links. However, in real world networks, nodes may have attributes that are useful for network structure exploration. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian nonparametric (BNP) model to explore structural regularities in networks with node attributes, called Bayesian nonparametric attribute (BNPA) model. This model does not only take full advantage of both links between nodes and node attributes for group partition via shared hidden variables, but also determine group number automatically via the Bayesian nonparametric theory. Experiments conducted on a number of real and synthetic networks show that our BNPA model is able to automatically explore structural regularities in networks with node attributes and is competitive with other state-of-the-art models.

  3. Root cause analysis with enriched process logs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Suriadi, S.; Ouyang, C.; Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Hofstede, ter A.H.M.; La Rosa, M.; Soffer, P.

    2013-01-01

    n the field of process mining, the use of event logs for the purpose of root cause analysis is increasingly studied. In such an analysis, the availability of attributes/features that may explain the root cause of some phenomena is crucial. Currently, the process of obtaining these attributes from

  4. Administrative Leadership in Organised Anarchies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enderud, Harald

    1980-01-01

    An alternative conceptual framework to the traditional hierarchical bureaucratic picture of organizations is the "organized anarchy." How collective decisions are made, what university administrators can do to influence the input, process, and outcome of anarchic decision making, and points of leverage are discussed. (Author/MLW)

  5. Phenomenology and Meaning Attribution

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    John Paley. (2017). Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution. ... basic philosophical nature of phenomenological meaning and inquiry, and that he not ... In keeping with the title of my book, Researching. Lived Experience ...... a quantitative social science that can make generalizing.

  6. The Consistency of Performance Management System Based on Attributes of the Performance Indicator: An Empirical Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Zavadsky

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The performance management system (PMS is a metasystem over all business processes at the strategic and operational level. Effectiveness of the various management systems depends on many factors. One of them is the consistent definition of each system elements. The main purpose of this study is to explore if the performance management systems of the sample companies is consistent and how companies can create such a system. The consistency in this case is based on the homogenous definition of attributes relating to the performance indicator as a basic element of PMS.Methodology: At the beginning, we used an affinity diagram that helped us to clarify and to group various attributes of performance indicators. The main research results we achieved are through empirical study. The empirical study was carried out in a sample of Slovak companies. The criterion for selection was the existence of the certified management systems according to the ISO 9001. Representativeness of the sample companies was confirmed by application of Pearson´s chi-squared test (χ2 - test due to above standards. Findings: Coming from the review of various literature, we defined four groups of attributes relating to the performance indicator: formal attributes, attributes of target value, informational attributes and attributes of evaluation. The whole set contains 21 attributes. The consistency of PMS is based not on maximum or minimum number of attributes, but on the same type of attributes for each performance indicator used in PMS at both the operational and strategic level. The main findings are: companies use various financial and non-financial indicators at strategic or operational level; companies determine various attributes of performance indicator, but most of the performance indicators are otherwise determined; we identified the common attributes for the whole sample of companies. Practical implications: The research results have got an implication for

  7. Source attribution of human campylobacteriosis in Denmark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boysen, L; Rosenquist, H; Larsson, J T; Nielsen, E M; Sørensen, G; Nordentoft, S; Hald, T

    2014-08-01

    SUMMARY This study assesses the contribution of different sources of human campylobacteriosis in Denmark using two different source-attribution approaches. In total, 794 non-human isolates and 406 isolates from human cases (domestic, travel related, and cases with unknown travel history) were collected. Isolates were characterized by multilocus sequence typing, flaA typing and susceptibility to antibiotics. Both models used indicate that the major burden of human campylobacteriosis in Denmark originates from the domestic broiler chicken reservoir. The second most important reservoir was found to be cattle. The Asymmetric Island model attributed 52% [95% credibility interval (CrI) 37-67] to Danish chicken, 17% (95% CrI 3-33) to imported chicken, and 17% (95% CrI 7-28) to cattle. Similarly, the Campylobacter source-attribution model apportioned 38% (95% CrI 28-47) to Danish chicken, 14% (95% CrI 10-18) to imported chicken, and 16% (95% CrI 7-25) to cattle. The addition of flaA type as an extra discriminatory typing parameter did not change the attribution of cases markedly.

  8. Attribution of extreme weather and climate-related events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stott, Peter A; Christidis, Nikolaos; Otto, Friederike E L; Sun, Ying; Vanderlinden, Jean-Paul; van Oldenborgh, Geert Jan; Vautard, Robert; von Storch, Hans; Walton, Peter; Yiou, Pascal; Zwiers, Francis W

    2016-01-01

    Extreme weather and climate-related events occur in a particular place, by definition, infrequently. It is therefore challenging to detect systematic changes in their occurrence given the relative shortness of observational records. However, there is a clear interest from outside the climate science community in the extent to which recent damaging extreme events can be linked to human-induced climate change or natural climate variability. Event attribution studies seek to determine to what extent anthropogenic climate change has altered the probability or magnitude of particular events. They have shown clear evidence for human influence having increased the probability of many extremely warm seasonal temperatures and reduced the probability of extremely cold seasonal temperatures in many parts of the world. The evidence for human influence on the probability of extreme precipitation events, droughts, and storms is more mixed. Although the science of event attribution has developed rapidly in recent years, geographical coverage of events remains patchy and based on the interests and capabilities of individual research groups. The development of operational event attribution would allow a more timely and methodical production of attribution assessments than currently obtained on an ad hoc basis. For event attribution assessments to be most useful, remaining scientific uncertainties need to be robustly assessed and the results clearly communicated. This requires the continuing development of methodologies to assess the reliability of event attribution results and further work to understand the potential utility of event attribution for stakeholder groups and decision makers. WIREs Clim Change 2016, 7:23-41. doi: 10.1002/wcc.380 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

  9. Optimizing the electronic health record to standardize administration and documentation of nutritional supplements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Citty, Sandra W; Kamel, Amir; Garvan, Cynthia; Marlowe, Lee; Westhoff, Lynn

    2017-01-01

    Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is a major cause for hospital re-admission, pressure ulcers and increased hospital costs. Methods to improve the administration and documentation of nutritional supplements for hospitalized patients are needed to improve patient care, outcomes and resource utilization. Staff at a medium-sized academic health science center hospital in the southeastern United States noted that nutritional supplements ordered for patients at high risk for malnutrition were not offered or administered to patients in a standardized manner and/or not documented clearly in the electronic health record as per prescription. This paper reports on a process improvement project that redesigned the ordering, administration and documentation process of oral nutritional supplements in the electronic health record. By adding nutritional products to the medication order sets and adding an electronic nutrition administration record (ENAR) tab, the multidisciplinary team sought to standardize nutritional supplement ordering, documentation and administration at prescribed intervals. This process improvement project used a triangulated approach to evaluating pre- and post-process change including: medical record reviews, patient interviews, and nutrition formula room log reports. Staff education and training was carried out prior to initiation of the system changes. This process change resulted in an average decrease in the return of unused nutritional formula from 76% returned at baseline to 54% post-process change. The process change resulted in 100% of nutritional supplement orders having documentation about nutritional medication administration and/or reason for non-administration. Documentation in the ENAR showed that 41% of ONS orders were given and 59% were not given. Significantly more patients reported being offered the ONS product (p=0.0001) after process redesign and more patients (5% before ENAR and 86% after ENAR reported being offered the correct

  10. Which Personality Attributes Are Most Important in the Workplace?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sackett, Paul R; Walmsley, Philip T

    2014-09-01

    Employees face a variety of work demands that place a premium on personal attributes, such as the degree to which they can be depended on to work independently, deal with stress, and interact positively with coworkers and customers. We examine evidence for the importance of these personality attributes using research strategies intended to answer three fundamental questions, including (a) how well does employees' standing on these attributes predict job performance?, (b) what types of attributes do employers seek to evaluate in interviews when considering applicants?, and (c) what types of attributes are rated as important for performance in a broad sampling of occupations across the U.S. economy? We summarize and integrate results from these three strategies using the Big Five personality dimensions as our organizing framework. Our findings indicate that personal attributes related to Conscientiousness and Agreeableness are important for success across many jobs, spanning across low to high levels of job complexity, training, and experience necessary to qualify for employment. The strategies lead to differing conclusions about the relative importance of Emotional Stability and Extraversion. We note implications for job seekers, for interventions aimed at changing standing on these attributes, and for employers. © The Author(s) 2014.

  11. Attribute-based classification for zero-shot visual object categorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lampert, Christoph H; Nickisch, Hannes; Harmeling, Stefan

    2014-03-01

    We study the problem of object recognition for categories for which we have no training examples, a task also called zero--data or zero-shot learning. This situation has hardly been studied in computer vision research, even though it occurs frequently; the world contains tens of thousands of different object classes, and image collections have been formed and suitably annotated for only a few of them. To tackle the problem, we introduce attribute-based classification: Objects are identified based on a high-level description that is phrased in terms of semantic attributes, such as the object's color or shape. Because the identification of each such property transcends the specific learning task at hand, the attribute classifiers can be prelearned independently, for example, from existing image data sets unrelated to the current task. Afterward, new classes can be detected based on their attribute representation, without the need for a new training phase. In this paper, we also introduce a new data set, Animals with Attributes, of over 30,000 images of 50 animal classes, annotated with 85 semantic attributes. Extensive experiments on this and two more data sets show that attribute-based classification indeed is able to categorize images without access to any training images of the target classes.

  12. Automated attribution of remotely-sensed ecological disturbances using spatial and temporal characteristics of common disturbance classes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, L. A.; Ballantyne, A.

    2017-12-01

    Forest disturbances are critical components of ecosystems. Knowledge of their prevalence and impacts is necessary to accurately describe forest health and ecosystem services through time. While there are currently several methods available to identify and describe forest disturbances, especially those which occur in North America, the process remains inefficient and inaccessible in many parts of the world. Here, we introduce a preliminary approach to streamline and automate both the detection and attribution of forest disturbances. We use a combination of the Breaks for Additive Season and Trend (BFAST) detection algorithm to detect disturbances in combination with supervised and unsupervised classification algorithms to attribute the detections to disturbance classes. Both spatial and temporal disturbance characteristics are derived and utilized for the goal of automating the disturbance attribution process. The resulting preliminary algorithm is applied to up-scaled (100m) Landsat data for several different ecosystems in North America, with varying success. Our results indicate that supervised classification is more reliable than unsupervised classification, but that limited training data are required for a region. Future work will improve the algorithm through refining and validating at sites within North America before applying this approach globally.

  13. Interactive Education in Public Administration (2): Strategies for Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, Jonathan; Alford, John

    2015-01-01

    The previous article ("Interactive education in public administration (1): The role of teaching 'objects'") described the benefits of "moving from behind the lectern" to engage in interactive teaching in public policy and administration, and the central role of "objects" in that process. But teaching…

  14. Transforming Higher educational institution administration through ICT

    OpenAIRE

    J. Meenakumari; Dr. R. Krishnaveni

    2011-01-01

    The rapid development in Indian higher education sector has increased the focus on reforms in higher educational institution administration. Efficiency and accountability have become important elements, and the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the educational administration process has become a necessity. The objective of this study is to know the current extent of ICT integration in Indian higher education institutions. The factors contributing to the succes...

  15. Controlling attribute effect in linear regression

    KAUST Repository

    Calders, Toon; Karim, Asim A.; Kamiran, Faisal; Ali, Wasif Mohammad; Zhang, Xiangliang

    2013-01-01

    In data mining we often have to learn from biased data, because, for instance, data comes from different batches or there was a gender or racial bias in the collection of social data. In some applications it may be necessary to explicitly control this bias in the models we learn from the data. This paper is the first to study learning linear regression models under constraints that control the biasing effect of a given attribute such as gender or batch number. We show how propensity modeling can be used for factoring out the part of the bias that can be justified by externally provided explanatory attributes. Then we analytically derive linear models that minimize squared error while controlling the bias by imposing constraints on the mean outcome or residuals of the models. Experiments with discrimination-aware crime prediction and batch effect normalization tasks show that the proposed techniques are successful in controlling attribute effects in linear regression models. © 2013 IEEE.

  16. Controlling attribute effect in linear regression

    KAUST Repository

    Calders, Toon

    2013-12-01

    In data mining we often have to learn from biased data, because, for instance, data comes from different batches or there was a gender or racial bias in the collection of social data. In some applications it may be necessary to explicitly control this bias in the models we learn from the data. This paper is the first to study learning linear regression models under constraints that control the biasing effect of a given attribute such as gender or batch number. We show how propensity modeling can be used for factoring out the part of the bias that can be justified by externally provided explanatory attributes. Then we analytically derive linear models that minimize squared error while controlling the bias by imposing constraints on the mean outcome or residuals of the models. Experiments with discrimination-aware crime prediction and batch effect normalization tasks show that the proposed techniques are successful in controlling attribute effects in linear regression models. © 2013 IEEE.

  17. Attributes Heeded When Representing an Osmosis Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerman, June Trop

    Eighteen high school science students were involved in a study to determine what attributes in the problem statement they need when representing a typical osmosis problem. In order to realize this goal students were asked to solve problems aloud and to explain their answers. Included as a part of the results are the attributes that the students…

  18. Financial Strategies for the Romanian Local Public Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Attila GYÖRGY

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Public administration reform at all governmental levels constitutes an important component of the transformation process from a centralized system to democratic governance. This process involved important legislative and institutional changes in order to fulfill the principles of a market economy and the European Union standards based on transparency, predictability, accountability, adaptability and effectiveness. Therefore, in a continuing extension of the citizens’ needs, Romanian public administration reform, especially at local level, is concentrated on quality of public services based on citizens’ needs and increased performances in the context of a necessary decrease of budget expenditure, taking into consideration the actual financial constraint. In this context, it is useful to investigate the financial strategies of the local public administration based on the Romanian experiences that consisted in important public resources decline because of the financial crisis.

  19. Administrative Costs Associated With Physician Billing and Insurance-Related Activities at an Academic Health Care System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Phillip; Kaplan, Robert S; Richman, Barak D; Shah, Mahek A; Schulman, Kevin A

    2018-02-20

    Administrative costs in the US health care system are an important component of total health care spending, and a substantial proportion of these costs are attributable to billing and insurance-related activities. To examine and estimate the administrative costs associated with physician billing activities in a large academic health care system with a certified electronic health record system. This study used time-driven activity-based costing. Interviews were conducted with 27 health system administrators and 34 physicians in 2016 and 2017 to construct a process map charting the path of an insurance claim through the revenue cycle management process. These data were used to calculate the cost for each major billing and insurance-related activity and were aggregated to estimate the health system's total cost of processing an insurance claim. Estimated time required to perform billing and insurance-related activities, based on interviews with management personnel and physicians. Estimated billing and insurance-related costs for 5 types of patient encounters: primary care visits, discharged emergency department visits, general medicine inpatient stays, ambulatory surgical procedures, and inpatient surgical procedures. Estimated processing time and total costs for billing and insurance-related activities were 13 minutes and $20.49 for a primary care visit, 32 minutes and $61.54 for a discharged emergency department visit, 73 minutes and $124.26 for a general inpatient stay, 75 minutes and $170.40 for an ambulatory surgical procedure, and 100 minutes and $215.10 for an inpatient surgical procedure. Of these totals, time and costs for activities carried out by physicians were estimated at a median of 3 minutes or $6.36 for a primary care visit, 3 minutes or $10.97 for an emergency department visit, 5 minutes or $13.29 for a general inpatient stay, 15 minutes or $51.20 for an ambulatory surgical procedure, and 15 minutes or $51.20 for an inpatient surgical procedure. Of

  20. On Hospital Design – Identifying Building Attributes of Hospital Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holst, Malene Kirstine; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Christoffersen, Lars D.

    The present paper surveys the input parameters in hospital design and describes them formally as building attributes in preparation for facilitating planning and designing of hospitals with the aim of a more optimal design process. The overview of the hospital functionalities, bonds, logistics...... and needs is based on an approach of understanding the complexity of the hospital functionalities based on capacities, qualities and times beforehand specific department or units are described. This approach attempts to create an overview of the hospital functionalities respecting capacities, qualities...