Tales from the Field: Search Strategies Applied in Web Searching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soohyung Joo

2010-08-01

Full Text Available In their web search processes users apply multiple types of search strategies, which consist of different search tactics. This paper identifies eight types of information search strategies with associated cases based on sequences of search tactics during the information search process. Thirty-one participants representing the general public were recruited for this study. Search logs and verbal protocols offered rich data for the identification of different types of search strategies. Based on the findings, the authors further discuss how to enhance web-based information retrieval (IR systems to support each type of search strategy.

Performance of Differential-Phase-Shift Keying Protocol Applying 1310 nm Up-Conversion Single-Photon Detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen-Xu, Feng; Rong-Zhen, Jiao; Wen-Han, Zhang

2008-01-01

The performance of the differential-phase-shift keying (DPSK) protocol applying a 1310 nm up-conversion single-photon detector is analysed. The error rate and the communication rate as a function of distance for three quantum key distribution protocols, the Bennett–Brassard 1984, the Bennett–Brassard–Mermin 1992, and the DPSK, are presented. Then we compare the performance of these three protocols using the 1310nm up-conversion detector. We draw the conclusion that the DPSK protocol applying the detector has significant advantage over the other two protocols. Longer transmission distance and lower error rate can be achieved. (general)

Strategies for Supporting Physician-Scientists in Faculty Roles: A Narrative Review With Key Informant Consultations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lingard, Lorelei; Zhang, Peter; Strong, Michael; Steele, Margaret; Yoo, John; Lewis, James

2017-10-01

Physician-scientists are a population in decline globally. Solutions to reverse this decline often have focused on the training pipeline. Less attention has been paid to reducing attrition post training, when physician-scientists take up faculty roles. However, this period is a known time of vulnerability because of the pressures of clinical duties and the long timeline to securing independent research funding. This narrative review explored existing knowledge regarding how best to support physician-scientists for success in their faculty roles. The authors searched the Medline, Embase, ERIC, and Cochrane Library databases for articles published from 2000 to 2016 on this topic and interviewed key informants in 2015 to solicit their input on the review results. The authors reviewed 78 articles and interviewed 16 key informants. From the literature, they developed a framework of organizational (facilitate mentorship, foster community, value the physician-scientist role, minimize financial barriers) and individual (develop professional and research skills) strategies for supporting physician-scientists. They also outlined key knowledge gaps representing topics either rarely or never addressed in the reviewed articles (percent research time, structural hypocrisy, objective assessment, group metrics, professional identity). The key informants confirmed the identified strategies and discussed how the gaps were particularly important and impactful. This framework offers a basis for assessing an organization's existing support strategies, identifying outstanding needs, and developing targeted programming. The identified gaps require attention, as they threaten to undermine the benefits of existing support strategies.

Key Parameters Estimation and Adaptive Warning Strategy for Rear-End Collision of Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Song

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The rear-end collision warning system requires reliable warning decision mechanism to adapt the actual driving situation. To overcome the shortcomings of existing warning methods, an adaptive strategy is proposed to address the practical aspects of the collision warning problem. The proposed strategy is based on the parameter-adaptive and variable-threshold approaches. First, several key parameter estimation algorithms are developed to provide more accurate and reliable information for subsequent warning method. They include a two-stage algorithm which contains a Kalman filter and a Luenberger observer for relative acceleration estimation, a Bayesian theory-based algorithm of estimating the road friction coefficient, and an artificial neural network for estimating the driver’s reaction time. Further, the variable-threshold warning method is designed to achieve the global warning decision. In the method, the safety distance is employed to judge the dangerous state. The calculation method of the safety distance in this paper can be adaptively adjusted according to the different driving conditions of the leading vehicle. Due to the real-time estimation of the key parameters and the adaptive calculation of the warning threshold, the strategy can adapt to various road and driving conditions. Finally, the proposed strategy is evaluated through simulation and field tests. The experimental results validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Key factors of low carbon development strategy for sustainable transport

Science.gov (United States)

Thaveewatanaseth, K.; Limjirakan, S.

2018-02-01

Cities become more vulnerable to climate change impacts causing by urbanization, economic growth, increasing of energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. People who live in the cities have already been affected from the impacts in terms of socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Sustainable transport plays the key role in CO2 mitigation and contributes positive impacts on sustainable development for the cities. Several studies in megacities both in developed and developing countries support that mass transit system is an important transportation mode in CO2 mitigation and sustainable transport development. This paper aims to study key factors of low carbon development strategy for sustainable transport. The Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) located in Bangkok was the study area. Data collection was using semi-structured in-depth interview protocol with thirty respondents consisting of six groups i.e. governmental agencies, the MRT operators, consulting companies, international organizations, non-profit organizations, and experts. The research findings highlighted the major factors and supplemental elements composing of institution and technical capacity, institutional framework, policy setting and process, and plan of implementation that would support more effective strategic process for low carbon development strategy (LCDS) for sustainable transport. The study would highly recommend on readiness of institution and technical capacities, stakeholder mapping, high-level decision- makers participation, and a clear direction of the governmental policies that are strongly needed in achieving the sustainable transport.

An improved AVC strategy applied in distributed wind power system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Y. N.; Liu, Q. H.; Song, S. Y.; Mao, W.

2016-08-01

Traditional AVC strategy is mainly used in wind farm and only concerns about grid connection point, which is not suitable for distributed wind power system. Therefore, this paper comes up with an improved AVC strategy applied in distributed wind power system. The strategy takes all nodes of distribution network into consideration and chooses the node having the most serious voltage deviation as control point to calculate the reactive power reference. In addition, distribution principles can be divided into two conditions: when wind generators access to network on single node, the reactive power reference is distributed according to reactive power capacity; when wind generators access to network on multi-node, the reference is distributed according to sensitivity. Simulation results show the correctness and reliability of the strategy. Compared with traditional control strategy, the strategy described in this paper can make full use of generators reactive power output ability according to the distribution network voltage condition and improve the distribution network voltage level effectively.

Applying Case-Based Reasoning in Supporting Strategy Decisions

OpenAIRE

S. M. Seyedhosseini; A. Makui; M. Ghadami

2011-01-01

Globalization and therefore increasing tight competition among companies, have resulted to increase the importance of making well-timed decision. Devising and employing effective strategies, that are flexible and adaptive to changing market, stand a greater chance of being effective in the long-term. In other side, a clear focus on managing the entire product lifecycle has emerged as critical areas for investment. Therefore, applying wellorganized tools to employ past experience in new case, ...

Tvorba strategie PR

OpenAIRE

Novosadová, Petra

2009-01-01

This diploma thesis deals with the question of Public Relations strategy planning for a company operating in the field of providing travel services. The objective of this thesis is to create such a strategy based on primary and secondary data we have gathered. When doing so we consider the key areas first on theoretical grounds, and then apply them into practice. The outcome of this work is a tailored propsal of Public Relations strategy for a particular business.

Corporate strategy in turbulent environments: Key roles of the corporate level

OpenAIRE

Caldart, Adrian A.; Ricart, Joan E.

2006-01-01

This paper analyzes the evolution during the period 1986-2002 of the corporate strategy of Lujan, a highly successful car components manufacturer headquartered in Spain, as a way to explore how the corporate level influences the successful evolution of a company exposed to a "turbulent" environment over a long period. We find that the corporate level plays three key roles. First, it drives a firm's evolution by developing a cognitive representation of the firm's competitive landscape. Second,...

Identification of Key Issues in Adopting a Web 2.0 E-Portfolio Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

McKenna, Gary F.; Stansfield, Mark H.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the paper is to identify key issues relating to best practice and sustainability in Web 2.0 as an e-Learning strategy for supporting e-portfolios in Higher Education. A practical guidelines framework was developed for best practices, which can be justified by the lack of available frameworks in the e-Learning literature. A…

Study on the Significance of Applying Motivational Strategies in College English Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

#

2017-01-01

#%Most college students are passionate and excited about attending college English as freshman. As time goes by, they become bored and poorly motivated in attending the English class. In this paper, the motivational strategies that can be applied in college English teaching will be discussed from four perspectives. These strategies may provide useful references for college English teachers who want to motivate students to get involved in English study.

Study on the Significance of Applying Motivational Strategies in College English Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

BAO Hong-fang

2017-01-01

Most college students are passionate and excited about attending college English as freshman. As time goes by, they become bored and poorly motivated in attending the English class. In this paper, the motivational strategies that can be applied in college English teaching will be discussed from four perspectives. These strategies may provide useful references for college English teachers who want to motivate students to get involved in English study.

Relationship Between Competitive Strategies and the Success Perception of Polish Born Globals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baranowska-Prokop Ewa

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The key objective of this paper is to describe and evaluate the competitive strategies applied by Polish born global enterprises. To reveal these strategies, two competitive models developed by M.E. Porter are applied to an original data set obtained from 256 small and medium Polish enterprises through a survey employing the CATI technique. The outcomes of these strategies, as perceived by the companies applying them, are also evaluated against two hypotheses. We conclude that Polish firms apply both basic strategies of competition, i.e. cost leadership strategies and differentiation strategies and that a substantial majority of companies perceive themselves to have succeeded on the market.

A dynamic re-partitioning strategy based on the distribution of key in Spark

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tianyu; Lian, Xin

2018-05-01

Spark is a memory-based distributed data processing framework, has the ability of processing massive data and becomes a focus in Big Data. But the performance of Spark Shuffle depends on the distribution of data. The naive Hash partition function of Spark can not guarantee load balancing when data is skewed. The time of job is affected by the node which has more data to process. In order to handle this problem, dynamic sampling is used. In the process of task execution, histogram is used to count the key frequency distribution of each node, and then generate the global key frequency distribution. After analyzing the distribution of key, load balance of data partition is achieved. Results show that the Dynamic Re-Partitioning function is better than the default Hash partition, Fine Partition and the Balanced-Schedule strategy, it can reduce the execution time of the task and improve the efficiency of the whole cluster.

Strategies Applied by Teachers as Classroom Managers to Strengthen Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franco Javier Jáuregui Contreras

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The present research was executed within the quantitative paradigm, under the feasible project modality, with the objective of designing strategies aimed at teachers to strengthen learning in the students of the Arnoldo Gabaldon educational unit, located in Delicias, Rafael Urdaneta municipality State Táchira. The methodology used responds to the characteristics of field descriptive research, not experimental. The study population consisted of 72 teachers. To obtain the information, a 20-item contentive instrument was applied, which measured the factors that influence the application of managerial strategies to strengthen student learning. This instrument was validated and a reliability index of 0.81 was obtained. In the analysis of results, the single and absolute frequencies of each reagent were determined. This resulted in a series of constantly occurring situations that led to the following conclusions: managerial strategies are employed by teachers on average, as well as in organization and planning, there is no commitment in relation to it, although there It was possible to detect that teachers comply with the planned activities on a regular basis. In addition, in the case of management and control, it is denoted how forcefully both processes are fulfilled, even in the majority, and both are assumed as managerial strategies. Therefore, the implementation of strategies is recommended.

Nuclear fuel cycle and reactor strategies: Adjusting to new realities. Key issue papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

The international symposium ''Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Reactor Strategy: Adjusting to new Realities'' was organized to face the new realities in the nuclear fuel cycle and to consider options on how these new realities could be addressed. The Key Issue Papers treat the various subjects from both short and long term perspectives. In so doing, they address the likely development of all aspects concerning the nuclear fuel cycle up to the year 2050

Manet key management via Mobile Ficlke Key protocol (MFK ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Manet key management via Mobile Ficlke Key protocol (MFK) ... Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL ... No Abstract. Keywords: MANET; key management scheme; simulation environment ...

Strategy and implementation of resources control of key equipments in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zha Qing

2014-01-01

The strategic resources of the construction of nuclear power plant, which include the main equipment of nuclear island, heavy forgings, the bottleneck equipment and strategic materials, is one of the key issues in the construction of nuclear power projects. The control of these strategic resources has become the focus of competition in industry and the major nuclear power groups are willing to fight for this huge advantages. The resource control strategies of key equipment of nuclear power projects are analyzed in this paper. This paper put forward specific measures and methods for the strategic resources control. By the application to a plurality of nuclear power engineering construction projects, these specific measures and methods achieved good results and will be with important guidance and reference for the construction of future nuclear power projects in China. (author)

A novel safety assessment strategy applied to non-selective extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Koster, Sander; Leeman, Winfried; Verheij, Elwin; Dutman, Ellen; van Stee, Leo; Nielsen, Lene Munch; Ronsmans, Stefan; Noteborn, Hub; Krul, Lisette

2015-06-01

A main challenge in food safety research is to demonstrate that processing of foodstuffs does not lead to the formation of substances for which the safety upon consumption might be questioned. This is especially so since food is a complex matrix in which the analytical detection of substances, and consequent risk assessment thereof, is difficult to determine. Here, a pragmatic novel safety assessment strategy is applied to the production of non-selective extracts (NSEs), used for different purposes in food such as for colouring purposes, which are complex food mixtures prepared from reference juices. The Complex Mixture Safety Assessment Strategy (CoMSAS) is an exposure driven approach enabling to efficiently assess the safety of the NSE by focussing on newly formed substances or substances that may increase in exposure during the processing of the NSE. CoMSAS enables to distinguish toxicologically relevant from toxicologically less relevant substances, when related to their respective levels of exposure. This will reduce the amount of work needed for identification, characterisation and safety assessment of unknown substances detected at low concentration, without the need for toxicity testing using animal studies. In this paper, the CoMSAS approach has been applied for elderberry and pumpkin NSEs used for food colouring purposes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical risk management in hospitals: strategy, central coordination and dialogue as key enablers.

Science.gov (United States)

Briner, Matthias; Manser, Tanja; Kessler, Oliver

2013-04-01

The study aims to identify key enablers fostering clinical risk management (CRM) in hospitals to guide health care in this vital area of patient safety. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the national level in 324 Swiss hospitals in 2007-2008 to assess the relationship between key elements and systematic CRM. Therefore, a comprehensive monitoring instrument for CRM was used for the first time. Organizational factors (e.g. strategy, coordination, resources) and structural conditions (e.g. hospital size) were tested as key elements. CRM was assessed by evaluating its maturity (i.e. the level of CRM development) by 12 theoretically derived indices joining together essential aspects of CRM at the hospital level and the service level. Chi-square measures were used to analyse the relationships between organizational factors or structural conditions and maturity of CRM. Participation in this voluntary survey was good, with CRM experts of 138 out of 324 hospitals responding (response rate 43%). Three key enablers for CRM were identified: implementing a function for central CRM coordination, assuring dialogue with and between the different hospital services, and developing strategic CRM objectives. This study offers, for the first time, an assessment of the maturity of hospitals' CRM and identifies key enablers related to CRM. This is a feasible first step in guiding hospitals to shape their CRM and presents a basis for future studies, for example, linking CRM to outcome data. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana – Julieta Josan

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to summarize the strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector.The approach of the paper is to identify the most appropriate strategies and techniques that non-profit sector can use to accomplish its objectives, to highlight specific differences between the strategies and techniques of the profit and non-profit sectors and to identify potential communication and public relations actions in order to increase visibility among target audience, create brand awareness and to change into positive brand sentiment the target perception about the non-profit sector.

Key parameters controlling radiology departments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busch, Hans-Peter

2011-01-01

For radiology departments and outstanding practises control and optimization of processes demand an efficient management based on key data. Systems of key data deliver indicators for control of medical quality, service quality and economics. For practices effectiveness (productivity), for hospitals effectiveness and efficiency are in the focus of economical optimization strategies. Task of daily key data is continuous monitoring of activities and workflow, task of weekly/monthly key data is control of data quality, process quality and achievement of objectives, task of yearly key data is determination of long term strategies (marketing) and comparison with competitors (benchmarking). Key parameters have to be defined clearly and have to be available directly. For generation, evaluation and control of key parameters suitable forms of organization and processes are necessary. Strategies for the future will be directed more to the total processes of treatment. To think in total processes and to steer and optimize with suitable parameters is the challenge for participants in the healthcare market of the future. (orig.)

International symposium on nuclear fuel cycle and reactor strategy: Adjusting to new realities. Key issue papers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

The key issue papers review the following issues: global energy outlook; present status and environmental implications of the different fuel cycles; future fuel cycle and reactor strategies; safety, health and environmental implications of the different fuel cycles; non-proliferation and safeguards aspects; international cooperation. Refs, figs, tabs.

International symposium on nuclear fuel cycle and reactor strategy: Adjusting to new realities. Key issue papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-06-01

The key issue papers review the following issues: global energy outlook; present status and environmental implications of the different fuel cycles; future fuel cycle and reactor strategies; safety, health and environmental implications of the different fuel cycles; non-proliferation and safeguards aspects; international cooperation. Refs, figs, tabs

Optimal grazing management strategies: evaluating key concepts ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Finally, overstocking will override key management initiatives, such as effective recovery periods, leading to rangeland degradation. Thus, in variable climates, stocking rate should be set conservatively to allow easier adaptation of animal numbers to rainfall variability from year to year. We suggest several key concepts that ...

Challenges of Modern Childhood: Key Outcomes of the National Strategy on Action for Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rubtsov V.V.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of the monitoring Key Outcomes of the National Strategy on Action for Children for 2012—2017, commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation by the Moscow State Psychological University of Psychology and Education. The main results of the implementation of the six main directions of the implementation of the National Strategy are discussed: “Family Childhood Saving Policy”, “Access to Quality Education and Upbringing, Cultural Development and Information Security for Children”, “Healthcare Friendly to Children and Healthy Lifestyles”, “Equal Opportunities for Children, who need special care of the state”, “Creating a system of protection and ensuring the rights and interests of children and child-friendly justice”,“ Children — participants in the implementation of the National Strategy gii”.The goals and tasks of the Decade of Childhood proclaimed by the President of the Russian Federation are considered.

Parent Perspectives of Applying Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Strategies to Special Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Meghan M; Chan, Neilson; Neece, Cameron L

2017-06-01

Parents of children with (versus without) intellectual and developmental disabilities report greater stress; such stress may be exacerbated by dissatisfaction with school services, poor parent-school partnerships, and the need for parent advocacy. Increasingly, mindfulness interventions have been used to reduce parent stress. However, it is unclear whether parents apply mindfulness strategies during the special education process to reduce school-related stress. To investigate whether mindfulness may reduce school-related stress, interviews were conducted with 26 parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who completed a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention. Participants were asked about their stress during meetings with the school, use of mindfulness strategies in communicating with the school, and the impact of such strategies. The majority of parent participants reported: special education meetings were stressful; they used mindfulness strategies during IEP meetings; and such strategies affected parents' perceptions of improvements in personal well-being, advocacy, family-school relationships, and access to services for their children. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Songbirds and humans apply different strategies in a sound sequence discrimination task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshimasa eSeki

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The abilities of animals and humans to extract rules from sound sequences have previously been compared using observation of spontaneous responses and conditioning techniques. However, the results were inconsistently interpreted across studies possibly due to methodological and/or species differences. Therefore, we examined the strategies for discrimination of sound sequences in Bengalese finches and humans using the same protocol. Birds were trained on a GO/NOGO task to discriminate between two categories of sound stimulus generated based on an AAB or ABB rule. The sound elements used were taken from a variety of male (M and female (F calls, such that the sequences could be represented as MMF and MFF. In test sessions, FFM and FMM sequences, which were never presented in the training sessions but conformed to the rule, were presented as probe stimuli. The results suggested two discriminative strategies were being applied: 1 memorizing sound patterns of either GO or NOGO stimuli and generating the appropriate responses for only those sounds; and 2 using the repeated element as a cue. There was no evidence that the birds successfully extracted the abstract rule (i.e. AAB and ABB; MMF-GO subjects did not produce a GO response for FFM and vice versa. Next we examined whether those strategies were also applicable for human participants on the same task. The results and questionnaires revealed that participants extracted the abstract rule, and most of them employed it to discriminate the sequences. This strategy was never observed in bird subjects, although some participants used strategies similar to the birds when responding to the probe stimuli. Our results showed that the human participants applied the abstract rule in the task even without instruction but Bengalese finches did not, thereby reconfirming that humans have to extract abstract rules from sound sequences that is distinct from non-human animals.

Songbirds and humans apply different strategies in a sound sequence discrimination task.

Science.gov (United States)

Seki, Yoshimasa; Suzuki, Kenta; Osawa, Ayumi M; Okanoya, Kazuo

2013-01-01

The abilities of animals and humans to extract rules from sound sequences have previously been compared using observation of spontaneous responses and conditioning techniques. However, the results were inconsistently interpreted across studies possibly due to methodological and/or species differences. Therefore, we examined the strategies for discrimination of sound sequences in Bengalese finches and humans using the same protocol. Birds were trained on a GO/NOGO task to discriminate between two categories of sound stimulus generated based on an "AAB" or "ABB" rule. The sound elements used were taken from a variety of male (M) and female (F) calls, such that the sequences could be represented as MMF and MFF. In test sessions, FFM and FMM sequences, which were never presented in the training sessions but conformed to the rule, were presented as probe stimuli. The results suggested two discriminative strategies were being applied: (1) memorizing sound patterns of either GO or NOGO stimuli and generating the appropriate responses for only those sounds; and (2) using the repeated element as a cue. There was no evidence that the birds successfully extracted the abstract rule (i.e., AAB and ABB); MMF-GO subjects did not produce a GO response for FFM and vice versa. Next we examined whether those strategies were also applicable for human participants on the same task. The results and questionnaires revealed that participants extracted the abstract rule, and most of them employed it to discriminate the sequences. This strategy was never observed in bird subjects, although some participants used strategies similar to the birds when responding to the probe stimuli. Our results showed that the human participants applied the abstract rule in the task even without instruction but Bengalese finches did not, thereby reconfirming that humans have to extract abstract rules from sound sequences that is distinct from non-human animals.

Applying real options analysis to assess cleaner energy development strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, Ching-Tsung; Lo, Shang-Lien; Lin, Tyrone T.

2011-01-01

The energy industry, accounts for the largest portion of CO 2 emissions, is facing the issue of compliance with the national clean energy policy. The methodology for evaluating the energy mix policy is crucial because of the characteristics of lead time embedded with the power generation facilities investment and the uncertainty of future electricity demand. In this paper, a modified binomial model based on sequential compound options, which may account for the lead time and uncertainty as a whole is established, and a numerical example on evaluating the optional strategies and the strategic value of the cleaner energy policy is also presented. It is found that the optimal decision at some nodes in the binomial tree is path dependent, which is different from the standard sequential compound option model with lead time or time lag concept. The proposed modified binomial sequential compound real options model can be generalized and extensively applied to solve the general decision problems that deal with the long lead time of many government policies as well as capital intensive investments. - Highlights: → Introducing a flexible strategic management approach for government policy making. → Developing a modified binomial real options model based on sequential compound options. → Proposing an innovative model for managing the long term policy with lead time. → Applying to evaluate the options of various scenarios of cleaner energy strategies.

Applying smart growth principles and strategies to resolving land use conflicts around airports.

Science.gov (United States)

2008-09-01

This report presents the findings and conclusions from a research project to explore how the principles and : strategies of smart growth can be applied to resolving land use conflicts around airports. The study entailed a : literature review, intervi...

The VERB campaign: applying a branding strategy in public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Asbury, Lori D; Wong, Faye L; Price, Simani M; Nolin, Mary Jo

2008-06-01

A branding strategy was an integral component of the VERB Youth Media Campaign. Branding has a long history in commercial marketing, and recently it has also been applied to public health campaigns. This article describes the process that the CDC undertook to develop a physical activity brand that would resonate with children aged 9-13 years (tweens), to launch an unknown brand nationally, to build the brand's equity, and to protect and maintain the brand's integrity. Considerations for branding other public health campaigns are also discussed.

A Proposal of Logistic Services Innovation Strategy for a Mining Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felisa Margarita Cordova

2012-03-01

Full Text Available A logistic service innovation strategy for a mining company and their key suppliers is presented, using the win-win concept with the objective of improve its position, policies, strategic objectives and relationships between companies. The strategy allows increasing the business profitability, to diminish the operational costs and the times of negotiation and learning. The chain value of the productive process is analyzed and also the business strategies of each company in order to identify the key factors involved in the strategic alliance. Contracts negotiation between the company and its suppliers is examined by SWOT analysis, Pareto´s ABC tool and expert knowledge of the process. The strategy is applied to a mining company and its key suppliers working in the modality of strategic long term alliances.

Key Factors for the Linkage Strategy between R and D and Commercialization for Gen-ΙV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kyoungmi; Hong, Jung Suk

2013-01-01

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has leaded to enhance the safety and the cost-effectiveness of technology for the future so that advanced countries such as United Sates and France have concerned about a next generation nuclear power plant, Gen-IV(Generation-IV Reactor). Considering various characteristics of nuclear R and D, it is necessary to have more elaborated strategies for the effective development of the next generation of nuclear technology. In this study, we suggest 5 key factors for the successful commercialization of Gen-IV by analyzing the distinct characteristics of nuclear R and D with Gen-IV and CSF(Critical Success Factor)s of several cases in these field and conducting the FGI(Focus Group Interview). Considering these results, we could find and suggest some important points for further strategy for Gen-IV. That is, following five key factors for the linkage improvement between R and D and commercialization of Gen-IV should be considered: the participation of nuclear power plant operators from the beginning, the establishment of consistent and comprehensive plan/roadmap/detailed strategy, the technology development based on global energy issues and international cooperation, the stable and clear funding plans for long-term projects, the cooperation of relative ministries. Gen-IV system is getting a positive response in that it accompanies long-term R and D plans in Korea. We think that the standard of Gen-IV would lead the next generation of nuclear industry if the proper strategy for the cooperation between the private sector and the regulation from the beginning. Moreover, we expect that this study will facilitate its development process from R and D to commercialization

Key Factors for the Linkage Strategy between R and D and Commercialization for Gen-ΙV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Kyoungmi; Hong, Jung Suk [Korean Institute of S and T Evaluation and Planning, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has leaded to enhance the safety and the cost-effectiveness of technology for the future so that advanced countries such as United Sates and France have concerned about a next generation nuclear power plant, Gen-IV(Generation-IV Reactor). Considering various characteristics of nuclear R and D, it is necessary to have more elaborated strategies for the effective development of the next generation of nuclear technology. In this study, we suggest 5 key factors for the successful commercialization of Gen-IV by analyzing the distinct characteristics of nuclear R and D with Gen-IV and CSF(Critical Success Factor)s of several cases in these field and conducting the FGI(Focus Group Interview). Considering these results, we could find and suggest some important points for further strategy for Gen-IV. That is, following five key factors for the linkage improvement between R and D and commercialization of Gen-IV should be considered: the participation of nuclear power plant operators from the beginning, the establishment of consistent and comprehensive plan/roadmap/detailed strategy, the technology development based on global energy issues and international cooperation, the stable and clear funding plans for long-term projects, the cooperation of relative ministries. Gen-IV system is getting a positive response in that it accompanies long-term R and D plans in Korea. We think that the standard of Gen-IV would lead the next generation of nuclear industry if the proper strategy for the cooperation between the private sector and the regulation from the beginning. Moreover, we expect that this study will facilitate its development process from R and D to commercialization.

Shikimic acid production in Escherichia coli: From classical metabolic engineering strategies to omics applied to improve its production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Andrés Martínez

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Shikimic acid (SA is an intermediate of the SA pathway that is present in bacteria and plants. SA has gained great interest because it is a precursor in the synthesis of the drug oseltamivir phosphate (OSF, an efficient inhibitor of the neuraminidase enzyme of diverse seasonal influenza viruses, the avian influenza virus H5N1, and the human influenza virus H1N1. For the purposes of OSF production, SA is extracted from the pods of Chinese star anise plants (Illicium spp., yielding up to 17% of SA (dry basis content. The high demand for OSF necessary to manage a major influenza outbreak is not adequately met by industrial production using SA from plants sources. As the SA pathway is present in the model bacteria Escherichia coli, several intuitive metabolically engineered strains have been applied for its successful overproduction by biotechnological processes, resulting in strains producing up to 71 g/L of SA, with high conversion yields of up to 0.42 (mol SA/mol Glc, in both batch and fed-batch cultures using complex fermentation broths, including glucose as a carbon source and yeast extract. Global transcriptomic analyses have been performed in SA producing strains, resulting in the identification of possible key target genes for the design of a rational strain improvement strategy. Because possible target genes are involved in the transport, catabolism and interconversion of different carbon sources and metabolic intermediates outside the central carbon metabolism and SA pathways, as genes involved in diverse cellular stress responses, the development of rational cellular strain improvement strategies based on omics data constitutes a challenging task to improve SA production in currently overproducing engineered strains. In this review, we discuss the main metabolic engineering strategies that have been applied for the development of efficient SA producing strains, as the perspective of omics analysis has focused on further strain improvement

Forensic steganalysis: determining the stego key in spatial domain steganography

Science.gov (United States)

Fridrich, Jessica; Goljan, Miroslav; Soukal, David; Holotyak, Taras

2005-03-01

This paper is an extension of our work on stego key search for JPEG images published at EI SPIE in 2004. We provide a more general theoretical description of the methodology, apply our approach to the spatial domain, and add a method that determines the stego key from multiple images. We show that in the spatial domain the stego key search can be made significantly more efficient by working with the noise component of the image obtained using a denoising filter. The technique is tested on the LSB embedding paradigm and on a special case of embedding by noise adding (the +/-1 embedding). The stego key search can be performed for a wide class of steganographic techniques even for sizes of secret message well below those detectable using known methods. The proposed strategy may prove useful to forensic analysts and law enforcement.

Constructing a strategy map for banking institutions with key performance indicators of the balanced scorecard.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hung-Yi

2012-08-01

This study presents a structural evaluation methodology to link key performance indicators (KPIs) into a strategy map of the balanced scorecard (BSC) for banking institutions. Corresponding with the four BSC perspectives (finance, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth), the most important evaluation indicators of banking performance are synthesized from the relevant literature and screened by a committee of experts. The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, a multiple criteria analysis tool, is then employed to determine the causal relationships between the KPIs, to identify the critical central and influential factors, and to establish a visualized strategy map with logical links to improve banking performance. An empirical application is provided as an example. According to the expert evaluations, the three most essential KPIs for banking performance are customer satisfaction, sales performance, and customer retention rate. The DEMATEL results demonstrate a clear road map to assist management in prioritizing the performance indicators and in focusing attention on the strategy-related activities of the crucial indicators. According to the constructed strategy map, management could better invest limited resources in the areas that need improvement most. Although these strategy maps of the BSC are not universal, the research results show that the presented approach is an objective and feasible way to construct strategy maps more justifiably. The proposed framework can be applicable to institutions in other industries as well. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Applied to Undergraduate, Graduate and Specialization Students from Civil Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose Carlos Redaelli

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The current demand for civil engineering work requires new skills and knowledge and calls for new and effective learning methods. This paper shows self-regulated learning strategies applied to undergraduate, graduate and specialization students from Civil Engineering in a Brazilian University. A Scale of Evaluation of Learning Strategies was administered with a view to identifying students´ cognitive, metacognitive and dysfunctional learning strategies.

Corporate real estate strategies for future higher education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ronald Beckers; Driessen Jasper

2017-01-01

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the alignment of Corporate Real Estate (CRE) strategies of Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) with the developments in higher education. Methodology/approach – The paper first illustrates the key developments in higher education learning and

A global method for calculating plant CSR ecological strategies applied across biomes world-wide

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pierce, S.; Negreiros, D.; Cerabolini, B.E.L.; Kattge, J.; Díaz, S.; Kleyer, M.; Shipley, B.; Wright, S.J.; Soudzilovskaia, N.A.; Onipchenko, V.G.; van Bodegom, P.M.; Frenette-Dussault, C.; Weiher, E.; Pinho, B.X.; Cornelissen, J.H.C.; Grime, J.P.; Thompson, K.; Hunt, R.; Wilson, P.J.; Buffa, G.; Nyakunga, O.C.; Reich, P.B.; Caccianiga, M.; Mangili, F.; Ceriani, R.M.; Luzzaro, A.; Brusa, G.; Siefert, A.; Barbosa, N.P.U.; Chapin III, F.S.; Cornwell, W.K.; Fang, Jingyun; Wilson Fernandez, G.; Garnier, E.; Le Stradic, S.; Peñuelas, J.; Melo, F.P.L.; Slaviero, A.; Tabarrelli, M.; Tampucci, D.

2017-01-01

Competitor, stress-tolerator, ruderal (CSR) theory is a prominent plant functional strategy scheme previously applied to local floras. Globally, the wide geographic and phylogenetic coverage of available values of leaf area (LA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA)

Improving Students’ Skimming and Scanning in Reading Skill by Applying Metacognitive Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Mariam

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Reading is one of the main four language skills that a learner needs to master in order to ensure success in learning English. To facilitate students in comprehending a text, the effective strategies should be used. One of the strategies is Meta-cognitive strategies. The objectives of the research are to identify students’ responses during learned process by using Meta-cognitive strategies and to investigate how high students’ improvement of skimming and scanning reading skill after learned by using Meta-cognitive strategies in recount text. Meta-cognitive strategies improve students to reflect on thought processes and to plan, monitor, and evaluate aspects of their learning. The participants were third semester of English department students of Islamic Education and Teacher Training Faculty of Walisongo State Islamic University.The reserch design was Classroom Action Research with 1 preliminary cycle and 2 cycles. This research was conducted from March, 2th 2015 until March, 21th 2015. Data collection technique was tests. Observations were done in each cycle. Tests form was given the students, they should answer 20 questions of multiple choice test. Then, the data were analyzed using mean (descriptive statistics to find out the improvements. Meta-cognitive strategies were applied in the teaching learning process by giving plan (giving task for students, monitoring, evaluating, and problem solving to the students. After collecting the data, the result showed the improvements of the students. Students’ average score in pre cycle test was 60. In the first cycle, the average score increased became 70. This score hadn’t met the minimum standard score yet 75. Therefore, second cycle was conducted. Students’ average score increased became 82.16. Students’ engagements also increased since the first cycle. Consequently, the objectives were reached. Based on the result, it could be concluded that Meta-cognitive strategy can improve the

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SKIMMING AND SCANNING IN READING SKILL BY APPLYING METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Mariam

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Reading is one of the main four language skills that a learner needs to master in order to ensure success in learning English. To facilitate students in comprehending a text, the effective strategies should be used. One of the strategies is Meta-cognitive strategies. The objectives of the research are to identify students’ responses during learned process by using Meta-cognitive strategies and to investigate how high students’ improvement of skimming and scanning reading skill after learned by using Meta-cognitive strategies in recount text. Meta-cognitive strategies improve students to reflect on thought processes and to plan, monitor, and evaluate aspects of their learning. The participants were third semester of English department students of Islamic Education and Teacher Training Faculty of Walisongo State Islamic University.The reserch design was Classroom Action Research with 1 preliminary cycle and 2 cycles. This research was conducted from March, 2th 2015 until March, 21th 2015. Data collection technique was tests. Observations were done in each cycle. Tests form was given the students, they should answer 20 questions of multiple choice test. Then, the data were analyzed using mean (descriptive statistics to find out the improvements. Meta-cognitive strategies were applied in the teaching learning process by giving plan (giving task for students, monitoring, evaluating, and problem solving to the students. After collecting the data, the result showed the improvements of the students. Students’ average score in pre cycle test was 60. In the first cycle, the average score increased became 70. This score hadn’t met the minimum standard score yet 75. Therefore, second cycle was conducted. Students’ average score increased became 82.16. Students’ engagements also increased since the first cycle. Consequently, the objectives were reached. Based on the result, it could be concluded that Meta-cognitive strategy can improve the

Applying risk management strategies to strengthen an IDS's investment policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Fine, R P

1998-11-01

The increased financial risk that not-for-profit integrated delivery systems have assumed to function under managed care has required them to become increasingly reliant on income and gains from their investment portfolios. This reliance underscores the need for these organizations to take steps to effectively manage their investment risk. Not-for-profit IDSs should establish a systematic approach to investment risk management that is based on maintaining a sound fiduciary infrastructure and having a clear understanding of risk exposures, the most important of which are policy and market risk. Applying reasonable and common-sense risk management strategies to investment policy will enhance an IDS's overall financial and competitive strength.

Improving quality of care in substance abuse treatment using five key process improvement principles

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Kim A.; Green, Carla A.; Ford, James H.; Wisdom, Jennifer P.; Gustafson, David H.; McCarty, Dennis

2012-01-01

Process and quality improvement techniques have been successfully applied in health care arenas, but efforts to institute these strategies in alcohol and drug treatment are underdeveloped. The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) teaches participating substance abuse treatment agencies to use process improvement strategies to increase client access to, and retention in, treatment. NIATx recommends five principles to promote organizational change: 1) Understand and involve the customer; 2) Fix key problems; 3) Pick a powerful change leader; 4) Get ideas from outside the organization; and 5) Use rapid-cycle testing. Using case studies, supplemented with cross-agency analyses of interview data, this paper profiles participating NIATx treatment agencies that illustrate application of each principle. Results suggest that the most successful organizations integrate and apply most, if not all, of the five principles as they develop and test change strategies. PMID:22282129

Future scientific drilling in the Arctic Ocean: Key objectives, areas, and strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, R.; Coakley, B.; Mikkelsen, N.; O'Regan, M.; Ruppel, C.

2012-04-01

Past, Present and Future Changes in Arctic Terrestrial and Marine Systems" (Kananaskis, Alberta/Canada, February 2012). During these workshops, key areas and key scientific themes as well as drilling and site-survey strategies were discussed. Major scientific themes for future Arctic drilling will include: - The Arctic Ocean during the transition from greenhouse to icehouse conditions and millennial scale climate changes; - Physical and chemical changes of the evolving Polar Ocean and Arctic gateways; - Impact of Pleistocene/Holocene warming and sea-level rise on upper continental slope and shelf gas hydrates and on shelf permafrost; - Land-ocean interactions; - Tectonic evolution and birth of the Arctic Ocean basin: Arctic ridges, sea floor spreading and global lithosphere processes. When thinking about future Arctic drilling, it should be clearly emphasized that for the precise planning of future Arctic Ocean drilling campaigns, including site selection, evaluation of proposed drill sites for safety and environmental protection, etc., comprehensive site survey data are needed first. This means that the development of a detailed site survey strategy is a major challenge for the coming years. Here, an overview of perspectives and plans for future Arctic Ocean drilling will be presented.

questions as engagement strategies in nigerian job portals online

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rotimi

2012-09-13

Sep 13, 2012 ... Key words: questions, engagement strategy, job portal, Nigeria, unemployment .... Job portals offer different services, such as ..... softer disciplines (philosophy, sociology, applied linguistics and marketing) than the .... constructed based on a hypothetical case and used to bring readers into an imaginary.

[Social marketing: applying commercial strategies to the prevention of nosocomial infections].

Science.gov (United States)

Sax, Hugo; Longtin, Yves; Alvarez-Ceyssat, Raymonde; Bonfillon, Chantal; Cavallero, Sabrina; Dayer, Pierre; Ginet, Claude; Herrault, Pascale

2009-04-01

Although a large proportion of healthcare-associated infections are avoidable, healthcare workers do not always practice evidence-based preventive strategies. Marketing technologies might help to improve patient safety. This article presents the basic principles of marketing and its potential use to promote good infection control practices. The marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) should be taken into account to induce behaviour change. By placing the emphasis on the perceived "profits" for healthcare workers the approach might lose its moral aspect and gain in effectiveness. VigiGerme, a non-commercial registered trademark, applies social marketing techniques to infection control and prevention.

Empirical Studies on Legitimation Strategies: A Case for International Business Research Extension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turcan, Romeo V.; Marinova, Svetla Trifonova; Rana, Mohammad Bakhtiar

2012-01-01

The paper focuses on legitimation and legitimation strategies applied by companies. Following the process of systematic review, we analyze empirical studies exploring legitimation and legitimation strategies from different theoretical perspectives. Using the key findings by reconnoitering and com...... and comparing the theoretical background, approaches, methodologies, and findings of these empirical studies, we outline potential directions for research in the legitimation strategies of firms engaged in international business operations....

Characteristics of Key Update Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yuksel, Ender; Nielson, Hanne Riis; Nielson, Flemming

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor networks offer the advantages of simple and low-resource communication. Challenged by this simplicity and low-resources, security is of particular importance in many cases such as transmission of sensitive data or strict requirements of tamper-resistance. Updating the security keys...... is one of the essential points in security, which restrict the amount of data that may be exposed when a key is compromised. In this paper, we investigate key update methods that may be used in wireless sensor networks, and benefiting from stochastic model checking we derive characteristics...

Real Time Strategy Language

OpenAIRE

Hayes, Roy; Beling, Peter; Scherer, William

2014-01-01

Real Time Strategy (RTS) games provide complex domain to test the latest artificial intelligence (AI) research. In much of the literature, AI systems have been limited to playing one game. Although, this specialization has resulted in stronger AI gaming systems it does not address the key concerns of AI researcher. AI researchers seek the development of AI agents that can autonomously interpret learn, and apply new knowledge. To achieve human level performance, current AI systems rely on game...

Metacognitive Online Reading Strategies Applied by EFL Students

OpenAIRE

İnceçay, Görsev

2013-01-01

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study is twofold. It investigated both what metacognitive online reading strategies the Turkish EFL students report using for academic purposes; and how they use the reported strategies in actual reading tasks. Data came from Online Survey of Reading Strategies (Anderson, 2003), think-aloud protocols and post-reading interview. Results of this study revealed that the students who participated in this study reported a wide range of metacognitive strategies wh...

Resilience Analysis of Key Update Strategies for Resource-Constrained Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yuksel, Ender; Nielson, Hanne Riis; Nielson, Flemming

2011-01-01

Severe resource limitations in certain types of networks lead to various open issues in security. Since such networks usually operate in unattended or hostile environments, revoking the cryptographic keys and establishing (also distributing) new keys – which we refer to as key update – is a criti...

Strategi Peningkatan Kompetensi Sumber Daya Manusia Pendidikan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

imam junaris

2017-06-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Educators and education personnel are the key human resources that are key to the success of educational institutions, therefore their competence must be developed continuously according to the demands and changes in the development of education. To have and prepare competent and professional educators and education personnel in their performance, educational institutions are required to apply leadership by implementing good strategies through disciplined coaching, motivation, rewards and perceptions. Guidance and development of competence, profession and career of educators and education personnel can be implemented through various strategies in the form of education and training, among others; In-house training, internship programs, school partnerships, distance learning, tiered training and specialized training, short courses at colleges or other educational institutions, internal coaching by schools, and advanced study education.

Towards Strategic Actorhood? The Execution of Institutional Positioning Strategies at Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Vuori, Johanna

2016-01-01

Given the emerging interest in institutional positioning and to augment the small number of empirical studies in this field, this paper presents discussion about how Finnish universities of applied sciences implement their profiling strategies. The analysis is based on an examination of documents recently submitted by these institutions when…

English as a Foreign Language Learners' Major and Meta-Cognitive Reading Strategy Use at Al-Balqa Applied University

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Snoubar, Tamador Khalaf

2017-01-01

This quantitative study aimed to investigate and compare the use of metacognitive reading Strategies among English as a foreign language students at Al-Balqa Applied University based on their academic field of study. The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Mokhtari & Sheory, 2002) was the instrument employed. This survey divides the…

An empirical study on key factors for purchasing strategy on project based organizations: A case study of gas field development projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aboulfazl Kazazi

2012-08-01

Full Text Available One of the primary concerns in development of oil and gas resources is to find the critical success factors associated with different important projects. Purchasing and procurement plays a key role in these projects. There is no doubt that in history of similar studies, there are not much studies to determine key factors. The proposed study of this paper presents an empirical study to find these factors in one of the most important gas filed in Iran is now South Pars Gas Field. The study distributes a questionnaire consists of various questions associated with purchasing activities. We investigate the feedbacks gathered from decision makers using factor analysis. The results of our survey reveal that there are three categories of organizational strategy, the relative importance of strategy and risk according to factor analysis. Each factor consists of many other factors and the relative importance of all factors are investigated.

Comparative Analysis of Interval, Skipped, and Key-vertebral Pedicle Screw Strategies for Correction in Patients With Lenke Type 1 Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fei; Xu, Xi-Ming; Lu, Yanghu; Wei, Xian-Zhao; Zhu, Xiao-Dong; Li, Ming

2016-03-01

Pedicle screw constructs have become the mainstay for surgical correction in patients with spinal deformities. To reduce or avoid the risk of pedicle screw-based complications and to decrease the costs associated with pedicle screw instrumentation, some authors have introduced interval, skipped, and key-vertebral pedicle screw strategies for correction. However, there have been no comparisons of outcomes among these 3 pedicle screw-placement strategies.The aim of this study was to compare the correlative clinical outcomes of posterior correction and fusion with pedicle screw fixation using these 3 surgical strategies.Fifty-six consecutive patients with Lenke type 1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were included in this study. Twenty patients were treated with the interval pedicle screw strategy (IPSS), 20 with the skipped pedicle screw strategy (SPSS), and 16 with the key-vertebral pedicle screw strategy (KVPSS). Coronal and sagittal radiographs were analyzed before surgery, at 1 week after surgery, and at the last follow-up after surgery.There were no significant differences among the 3 groups regarding preoperative radiographic parameters. No significant difference was found between the IPSS and SPSS groups in correction of the main thoracic curve (70.8% vs 70.0%; P = 0.524). However, there were statistically significant differences between the IPSS and KVPSS groups (70.8% vs 64.9%) and between the SPSS and KVPSS groups (70.0% vs 64.9%) in correction of the main thoracic curve (P SPSS group was significantly higher than those in the IPSS (P SPSS and KVPSS groups (P SPSS, it can achieve a satisfactory clinical outcome and is more cost-effective.

Perceptions of food risk management among key stakeholders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Kleef, Ellen; Frewer, Lynn J.; Chryssochoidis, George M.

2006-01-01

In designing and implementing appropriate food risk management strategies, it is important to examine how key stakeholders perceive both the practice and effectiveness of food risk management.......In designing and implementing appropriate food risk management strategies, it is important to examine how key stakeholders perceive both the practice and effectiveness of food risk management....

Development of commercial hybrid electric vehicle with native key components

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Bakhmutov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The perspectives of development of medium weight cargo vehicles with hybrid powertrain including Russian native key components are considered in this article. Series-parallel scheme of HEV is more relevant owing to limitations of series and parallel schemes. An example of this technology is described. This technical solution has good facilities for variation of HEV and AWD type. The authors have patented it. In addition, another main issue is to choose the types of key components with good correlation for parameters of ICE, electric motors, batteries, and inverter. Using mathematical model of the vehicle a selection and correlation of technical characteristics were carried out to meet ecological and economical requirements. After computing calculation two control strategies were accepted. The first strategy contributes to good fuel consumption, while the other one is aimed at ecology. Researchers use test benches to confirm the results of calculation, and this one was built by the authors applying native components. The result of experiment on the test bench is the growth of fuel consumption of the medium weight cargo vehicle by 25% and compliance with ecological class Euro-4.

Identifying key factors and strategies for reducing industrial CO2 emissions from a non-Kyoto protocol member's (Taiwan) perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Sue J.; Lu, I.J.; Lewis, Charles

2006-01-01

In this study we use Divisia index approach to identify key factors affecting CO 2 emission changes of industrial sectors in Taiwan. The changes of CO 2 emission are decomposed into emission coefficient, energy intensity, industrial structure and economic growth. Furthermore, comparisons with USA, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and South Korea are made to have a better understanding of emission tendency in these countries and to help formulate our CO 2 reduction strategies for responding to the international calls for CO 2 cuts. The results show that economic growth and high energy intensity were two key factors for the rapid increase of industrial CO 2 emission in Taiwan, while adjustment of industrial structure was the main component for the decrease. Although economic development is important, Taiwan must keep pace with the international trends for CO 2 reduction. Among the most important strategies are continuous efforts to improve energy intensity, fuel mix toward lower carbon, setting targets for industrial CO 2 cuts, and advancing green technology through technology transfer. Also, the clean development mechanism (CDM) is expected to play an important role in the future

Device independent quantum key distribution secure against coherent attacks with memoryless measurement devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKague, Matthew

2009-01-01

Device independent quantum key distribution (QKD) aims to provide a higher degree of security than traditional QKD schemes by reducing the number of assumptions that need to be made about the physical devices used. The previous proof of security by Pironio et al (2009 New J. Phys. 11 045021) applies only to collective attacks where the state is identical and independent and the measurement devices operate identically for each trial in the protocol. We extend this result to a more general class of attacks where the state is arbitrary and the measurement devices have no memory. We accomplish this by a reduction of arbitrary adversary strategies to qubit strategies and a proof of security for qubit strategies based on the previous proof by Pironio et al and techniques adapted from Renner.

Contemporary evolution strategies

CERN Document Server

Bäck, Thomas; Krause, Peter

2013-01-01

Evolution strategies have more than 50 years of history in the field of evolutionary computation. Since the early 1990s, many algorithmic variations of evolution strategies have been developed, characterized by the fact that they use the so-called derandomization concept for strategy parameter adaptation. Most importantly, the covariance matrix adaptation strategy (CMA-ES) and its successors are the key representatives of this group of contemporary evolution strategies. This book provides an overview of the key algorithm developments between 1990 and 2012, including brief descriptions of the a

A price-responsive dispatching strategy for Vehicle-to-Grid: An economic evaluation applied to the case of Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Pelzer, Dominik; Ciechanowicz, David; Aydt, Heiko; Knoll, Alois

2014-06-01

Employing electric vehicles as short-term energy storage could improve power system stability and at the same time create a new income source for vehicle owners. In this paper, the economic viability of this concept referred to as Vehicle-to-Grid is investigated. For this purpose, a price-responsive charging and dispatching strategy built upon temporally resolved electricity market data is presented. This concept allows vehicle owners to maximize returns by restricting market participation to profitable time periods. As a case study, this strategy is then applied using the example of Singapore. It is shown that an annual loss of S 1000 resulting from a non-price-responsive strategy as employed in previous works can be turned into a S 130 profit by applying the price-responsive approach. In addition to this scenario, realistic mobility patterns which restrict the temporal availability of vehicles are considered. In this case, profits in the range of S 21-S 121 are achievable. Returns in this order of magnitude are not expected to make Vehicle-to-Grid a viable business case, sensitivity analyses, however, show that improved technical parameters could increase profitability. It is further assumed that employing the price-responsive strategy to other national markets may yield significantly greater returns.

Particle swarm optimization with random keys applied to the nuclear reactor reload problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meneses, Anderson Alvarenga de Moura [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear; Fundacao Educacional de Macae (FUNEMAC), RJ (Brazil). Faculdade Professor Miguel Angelo da Silva Santos; Machado, Marcelo Dornellas; Medeiros, Jose Antonio Carlos Canedo; Schirru, Roberto [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear]. E-mails: ameneses@con.ufrj.br; marcelo@lmp.ufrj.br; canedo@lmp.ufrj.br; schirru@lmp.ufrj.br

2007-07-01

In 1995, Kennedy and Eberhart presented the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), an Artificial Intelligence metaheuristic technique to optimize non-linear continuous functions. The concept of Swarm Intelligence is based on the socials aspects of intelligence, it means, the ability of individuals to learn with their own experience in a group as well as to take advantage of the performance of other individuals. Some PSO models for discrete search spaces have been developed for combinatorial optimization, although none of them presented satisfactory results to optimize a combinatorial problem as the nuclear reactor fuel reloading problem (NRFRP). In this sense, we developed the Particle Swarm Optimization with Random Keys (PSORK) in previous research to solve Combinatorial Problems. Experiences demonstrated that PSORK performed comparable to or better than other techniques. Thus, PSORK metaheuristic is being applied in optimization studies of the NRFRP for Angra 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Results will be compared with Genetic Algorithms and the manual method provided by a specialist. In this experience, the problem is being modeled for an eight-core symmetry and three-dimensional geometry, aiming at the minimization of the Nuclear Enthalpy Power Peaking Factor as well as the maximization of the cycle length. (author)

Particle swarm optimization with random keys applied to the nuclear reactor reload problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meneses, Anderson Alvarenga de Moura; Fundacao Educacional de Macae; Machado, Marcelo Dornellas; Medeiros, Jose Antonio Carlos Canedo; Schirru, Roberto

2007-01-01

In 1995, Kennedy and Eberhart presented the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), an Artificial Intelligence metaheuristic technique to optimize non-linear continuous functions. The concept of Swarm Intelligence is based on the socials aspects of intelligence, it means, the ability of individuals to learn with their own experience in a group as well as to take advantage of the performance of other individuals. Some PSO models for discrete search spaces have been developed for combinatorial optimization, although none of them presented satisfactory results to optimize a combinatorial problem as the nuclear reactor fuel reloading problem (NRFRP). In this sense, we developed the Particle Swarm Optimization with Random Keys (PSORK) in previous research to solve Combinatorial Problems. Experiences demonstrated that PSORK performed comparable to or better than other techniques. Thus, PSORK metaheuristic is being applied in optimization studies of the NRFRP for Angra 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Results will be compared with Genetic Algorithms and the manual method provided by a specialist. In this experience, the problem is being modeled for an eight-core symmetry and three-dimensional geometry, aiming at the minimization of the Nuclear Enthalpy Power Peaking Factor as well as the maximization of the cycle length. (author)

Stakeholder engagement: a key component of integrating genomic information into electronic health records.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartzler, Andrea; McCarty, Catherine A; Rasmussen, Luke V; Williams, Marc S; Brilliant, Murray; Bowton, Erica A; Clayton, Ellen Wright; Faucett, William A; Ferryman, Kadija; Field, Julie R; Fullerton, Stephanie M; Horowitz, Carol R; Koenig, Barbara A; McCormick, Jennifer B; Ralston, James D; Sanderson, Saskia C; Smith, Maureen E; Trinidad, Susan Brown

2013-10-01

Integrating genomic information into clinical care and the electronic health record can facilitate personalized medicine through genetically guided clinical decision support. Stakeholder involvement is critical to the success of these implementation efforts. Prior work on implementation of clinical information systems provides broad guidance to inform effective engagement strategies. We add to this evidence-based recommendations that are specific to issues at the intersection of genomics and the electronic health record. We describe stakeholder engagement strategies employed by the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics Network, a national consortium of US research institutions funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute to develop, disseminate, and apply approaches that combine genomic and electronic health record data. Through select examples drawn from sites of the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics Network, we illustrate a continuum of engagement strategies to inform genomic integration into commercial and homegrown electronic health records across a range of health-care settings. We frame engagement as activities to consult, involve, and partner with key stakeholder groups throughout specific phases of health information technology implementation. Our aim is to provide insights into engagement strategies to guide genomic integration based on our unique network experiences and lessons learned within the broader context of implementation research in biomedical informatics. On the basis of our collective experience, we describe key stakeholder practices, challenges, and considerations for successful genomic integration to support personalized medicine.

PCARRD's strategies for technology transfer: The agriculture and resources regional technology information system and the regional applied communication program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stuart, T.H.; Mamon, C.R.

1990-05-01

This paper describes the Agriculture and Resources Regional Technology Information System (ARRTIS) and the Regional Applied Communication Outreach Program (RAC) of PCARRD. The ARRTIS and the RACO are the strategies in communicating scientific and technology-based information. The ARRTIS is an information system that provides an information base on the status of technologies at various levels of maturity (generation, adaptation, verification, piloting, dissemination and utilization) and offers technology alternatives based on environmental requirements, costs and returns analysis or feasibility of the technologies. This information base provides the repository of technology information from which the Applied Communication Program draws its information for packaging into various formats, using various strategies/media to cater to various users in the regions most especially the farmers. Meanwhile, as PCARRD executes its mission of developing the national research system, it incorporates a development support communication program through the RACO. The RACO is essentially a working component of a regional research center/consortium in each region coordinated by the Applied Communication Division of PCARRD. It aims at reaching farmers and their families, extensionists, administrators, policy makers and entrepreneurs with research information and technology which use a variety of appropriate communication channels, modern communication technology and strategies so that they may actively participate in research diffusion and utilization. (author). 7 refs

Strategies for improved French-language health services

Science.gov (United States)

Gauthier, Alain P.; Timony, Patrick E.; Serresse, Suzanne; Goodale, Natalie; Prpic, Jason

2015-01-01

Abstract Objective To identify strategies to improve the quality of health services for Francophone patients. Design A series of semistructured key informant interviews. Setting Northeastern Ontario. Participants A total of 18 physicians were interviewed. Ten physicians were interviewed in French, 7 physicians were women, and 10 physicians were located in urban communities. Methods Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were used to conduct a series of semistructured key informant interviews with family physicians practising in communities with a large Francophone population. Principles of grounded theory were applied, guided by a framework for patient-professional communication. Results were inductively derived following an iterative data collection–data analysis process and were analyzed using a detailed thematic approach. Main findings Respondents identified several strategies for providing high-quality French-language health services. Some were unique to non–French-speaking physicians (eg, using appropriate interpreter services), some were unique to French-speaking physicians (eg, using a flexible dialect), and some strategies were common to all physicians serving French populations (eg, hiring bilingual staff or having pamphlets and posters in both French and English). Conclusion Physicians interviewed for this study provided high-quality health care by attributing substantial importance to effective communication. While linguistic patient-to-physician concordance is ideal, it might not always be possible. Thus, conscious efforts to attenuate communication barriers are necessary, and several effective strategies exist. PMID:26505060

Perspectives of key stakeholders and experts in infant feeding on the implementation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy 2010-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Hull, Naomi S; Schubert, Lisa C; Smith, Julie P

2017-03-01

Breastfeeding is widely accepted as an important public health issue for babies and their mothers. Yet, despite this, Australia continues to struggle with reaching global targets for breastfeeding indicators. In 2007, the Best Start Parliamentary Inquiry Report was released and set the stage for the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy [2010-2015), which was announced in November 2009, with the vision to increase Australia's breastfeeding rates of infants at 6 months of age and beyond. The aim of this research project was to explore the perspectives of key stakeholders in the field of infant feeding in Australia on the implementation of the strategy, barriers and enablers to its successful implementation and actions that were still needed. Using qualitative research methods of in-depth, semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, this study identifies main themes of these perceptions about the strategy implementation and some recommendations for future strategies and further research. The main themes identified were initial opinions of the strategy as a blueprint for action, the strategy as a driver for action, lessons learned and recommendations for the future. For success in improving implementation of national breastfeeding strategies, it is recommended that Australia establish an independent breastfeeding/infant feeding committee, increase the political prioritisation of issues surrounding infant feeding and strengthen the regulation of the marketing of breastmilk substitutes.

What Is Green Growth Strategy for Government Link Company?

Science.gov (United States)

Jamilah Asha'ari, Maryam; Daud, Salina; Hassan, Hasmaizan

2016-03-01

Disasters around the world are very extreme because of the global warming and climate change. Malaysia firms have to play their role in handling the challenging of environmental problems in order to sustain. The feature of the new strategy which is green growth strategy has been identified. The study focuses on the features of the green growth strategy which discuss on the keys to sustaining the strategy, marketing emphasis, production emphasis, product line, basis of competitive advantage and strategic target. Business had contributed to the industrialisation era positively or negatively and therefore there is a must for business people to use the best strategy in reducing the environmental risks. By 2020, Malaysia will achieve the target in becoming an advanced economy by applying the right strategy. The objective of this paper is to propose a feature for new strategy known as green growth strategy. Future study is to propose to conduct an empirical analysis to confirm the green growth strategy features.

Applying a gaming approach to IP strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gasnier, Arnaud; Vandamme, Luc

2010-02-01

Adopting an appropriate IP strategy is an important but complex area, particularly in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, in which aspects such as regulatory submissions, high competitive activity, and public health and safety information requirements limit the amount of information that can be protected effectively through secrecy. As a result, and considering the existing time limits for patent protection, decisions on how to approach IP in these sectors must be made with knowledge of the options and consequences of IP positioning. Because of the specialized nature of IP, it is necessary to impart knowledge regarding the options and impact of IP to decision-makers, whether at the level of inventors, marketers or strategic business managers. This feature review provides some insight on IP strategy, with a focus on the use of a new 'gaming' approach for transferring the skills and understanding needed to make informed IP-related decisions; the game Patentopolis is discussed as an example of such an approach. Patentopolis involves interactive activities with IP-related business decisions, including the exploitation and enforcement of IP rights, and can be used to gain knowledge on the impact of adopting different IP strategies.

Bussines strategy or bussines policy management applied in modern firms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enea, C.

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In literature, the term widely used for all action levels of strategic management is that of strategy. For this reason, it is necessary to achieve a differentiation between corporate strategies (typical strategies, business strategies (with policies, operational strategies (business plans and operational strategies (programs and tactics.In the same context, strategies become the basis for the definition and implementation of policies, which differ by time horizon that is lower and their higher intake of detail. The latter are updated permanently, in order to remain set on, realistic, consistent with the changes that occur and detailing in concrete plans and programs as a logical scheme. So, strategic management is that management based on the application of strategies and policies with a view to setting and achieving goals.

Methodical Aspects of Applying Strategy Map in an Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piotr Markiewicz

2013-06-01

Full Text Available One of important aspects of strategic management is the instrumental aspect included in a rich set of methods and techniques used at particular stages of strategic management process. The object of interest in this study is the development of views and the implementation of strategy as an element of strategic management and instruments in the form of methods and techniques. The commonly used method in strategy implementation and measuring progress is Balanced Scorecard (BSC. The method was created as a result of implementing the project “Measuring performance in the Organization of the future” of 1990, completed by a team under the supervision of David Norton (Kaplan, Norton 2002. The developed method was used first of all to evaluate performance by decomposition of a strategy into four perspectives and identification of measures of achievement. In the middle of 1990s the method was improved by enriching it, first of all, with a strategy map, in which the process of transition of intangible assets into tangible financial effects is reflected (Kaplan, Norton 2001. Strategy map enables illustration of cause and effect relationship between processes in all four perspectives and performance indicators at the level of organization. The purpose of the study being prepared is to present methodical conditions of using strategy maps in the strategy implementation process in organizations of different nature.

Epp's energy strategy keys on conversation, efficiency research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

While energy industry players on both sides of the border were busy last week digesting the long-awaited United States National Energy Strategy, Canadian Energy Minister Jake Epp was unveiling his own plans to curb this country's appetite for hydrocarbons

Structure-based feeding strategies: A key component of child nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Maija B; Emley, Elizabeth; Pratt, Mercedes; Musher-Eizenman, Dara R

2017-07-01

This study examined the relationship between structure, autonomy promotion, and control feeding strategies and parent-reported child diet. Participants (N = 497) were parents of children ages 2.5 to 7.5 recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. This sample was a Caucasian (79%), educated sample (61% college graduates) with most reports from mothers (76%). Online survey including measures of parent feeding strategies and child dietary intake. Use of structure-based feeding strategies explained 21% of the variance in child consumption of added sugar, 12% of the variance in child intake of added sugar from sugar-sweetened beverages, and 16% of the variance in child consumption of fruits and vegetables. Higher unhealthy food availability and permissive feeding uniquely predicted higher child added sugar intake and child consumption of added sugar from sugar-sweetened beverages. Greater healthy food availability uniquely predicted higher child fruit and vegetable intake. and Future Directions: In Caucasian educated families, structure-based feeding strategies appear to be a relatively stronger correlate of parent-reported child intake of added sugar and fruits and vegetables as compared to autonomy promotion and control feeding strategies. Longitudinal research may be needed in order to reveal the relationships between autonomy promotion and control feeding strategies with child diet. If future studies have similar findings to this study's results, researchers may want to focus more heavily on investigating the impact of teaching parents stimulus-control techniques and feeding-related assertiveness skills on child dietary intake. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Learning Strategies to Inhibit the Nocebo Effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, Veronica F; Colagiuri, Ben

2018-01-01

Learning is a key mechanism underpinning the development of the nocebo effect. The learning literature has cataloged and explored numerous ways in which the environment can be manipulated to prevent, reduce, or eradicate learning. Knowledge of these processes could be used to both inhibit the development of nocebo effects and reduce already established nocebo learning. This review describes the available evidence on how such learning strategies have, or could be, applied to reduce the nocebo effect in both healthy participants and patients to date. These learning strategies include overshadowing, latent inhibition, extinction, and contingency degradation. These strategies represent important new avenues for investigation and should be used by researchers to design and test interventions to reduce nocebo effects. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Data-Driven Evaluation of the Stop TB Global Partnership Strategy of Targeting Key Populations at Greater Risk for Tuberculosis.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaren, Zoë M; Schnippel, Kathryn; Sharp, Alana

2016-01-01

Identifying those infected with tuberculosis (TB) is an important component of any strategy for reducing TB transmission and population prevalence. The Stop TB Global Partnership recently launched an initiative with a focus on key populations at greater risk for TB infection or poor clinical outcomes, due to housing and working conditions, incarceration, low household income, malnutrition, co-morbidities, exposure to tobacco and silica dust, or barriers to accessing medical care. To achieve operational targets, the global health community needs effective, low cost, and large-scale strategies for identifying key populations. Using South Africa as a test case, we assess the feasibility and effectiveness of targeting active case finding to populations with TB risk factors identified from regularly collected sources of data. Our approach is applicable to all countries with TB testing and census data. It allows countries to tailor their outreach activities to the particular risk factors of greatest significance in their national context. We use a national database of TB test results to estimate municipality-level TB infection prevalence, and link it to Census data to measure population risk factors for TB including rates of urban households, informal settlements, household income, unemployment, and mobile phone ownership. To examine the relationship between TB prevalence and risk factors, we perform linear regression analysis and plot the set of population characteristics against TB prevalence and TB testing rate by municipality. We overlay lines of best fit and smoothed curves of best fit from locally weighted scatter plot smoothing. Higher TB prevalence is statistically significantly associated with more urban municipalities (slope coefficient β1 = 0.129, p informal settlement households (β1 = 0.021, p = 0.136, R2 = 0.014). These analyses reveal that the set of characteristics identified by the Global Plan as defining key populations do not adequately predict

Microorganisms in heavy metal bioremediation: strategies for applying microbial-community engineering to remediate soils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer L. Wood

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The remediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soils is essential as heavy metals persist and do not degrade in the environment. Remediating heavy-metal-contaminated soils requires metals to be mobilized for extraction whilst, at the same time, employing strategies to avoid mobilized metals leaching into ground-water or aquatic systems. Phytoextraction is a bioremediation strategy that extracts heavy metals from soils by sequestration in plant tissues and is currently the predominant bioremediation strategy investigated for remediating heavy-metal-contaminated soils. Although the efficiency of phytoextraction remains a limiting feature of the technology, there are numerous reports that soil microorganisms can improve rates of heavy metal extraction.This review highlights the unique challenges faced when remediating heavy-metal-contaminated soils as compared to static aquatic systems and suggests new strategies for using microorganisms to improve phytoextraction. We compare how microorganisms are used in soil bioremediation (i.e. phytoextraction and water bioremediation processes, discussing how the engineering of microbial communities, used in water remediation, could be applied to phytoextraction. We briefly outline possible approaches for the engineering of soil communities to improve phytoextraction either by mobilizing metals in the rhizosphere of the plant or by promoting plant growth to increase the root-surface area available for uptake of heavy metals. We highlight the technological advances that make this research direction possible and how these technologies could be employed in future research.

Green marketing as a key strategy for sustainable development: A case study of Albanian consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anita Gumeni

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Recently efforts have been made in order to achieve sustainable development, which consists of social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainability in order to reach well-being of present and future generations. In our time the concern for environmental topics and sustainable development has been increasing. Accordingly companies are trying to design new strategies for gaining competitive advantage in the marketplace. Green marketing is one of such strategies used by marketers for reaching sustainable development. Companies need to know consumers' attitude and to adapt new marketing solutions with the focus on determining the expectations and satisfying their needs. In this paper we will attempt to examine the attitude of Albanian consumers toward eco-friendly products. The aim of the survey is to gather information from a consumer standpoint. We will apply various statistical analyses to investigate the demographic variable of consumers who are willing to pay an extra price for eco-friendly products. Findings demonstrate that the profile of consumers with a positive attitude towards eco-friendly products was more likely to be young educated women.

Key indicators for organizational performance measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Firoozeh Haddadi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Each organization for assessing the amount of utility and desirability of their activities, especially in complex and dynamic environments, requires determining and ranking the vital performance indicators. Indicators provide essential links among strategy, execution and ultimate value creation. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework, which identifies and prioritizes Key Performance Indicators (KPIs that a company should focus on them to define and measure progress towards organizational objectives. For this purpose, an applied research was conducted in 2013 in an Iranian telecommunication company. We first determined the objectives of the company with respect to four perspectives of BSC (Balanced Scorecard framework. Next, performance indicators were listed and paired wise comparisons were accomplished by company's high-ranked employees through standard Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP questionnaires. This helped us establish the weight of each indicator and to rank them, accordingly.

Evaluating the value chain model for service organisational strategy: International hotels.

OpenAIRE

Choi, Keetag.

2000-01-01

Strategic models like Porter's (1985) value chain have not been fully evaluated in the strategy literature and applied to all industries. To theoretically redefine the value chain technique, this research evaluates the value chain's use with various strategic issues by applying it to a specific aspect in the service field, namely the hotel industry. The study defines five key questions by which to evaluate a strategic model and the value chain model is examined using them. This research is a ...

PCARRD`s strategies for technology transfer: The agriculture and resources regional technology information system and the regional applied communication program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stuart, T H; Mamon, C R [Philippine Council for Agriculture, Los Banos, Laguna (Philippines). Forestry and Natural Resources

1990-05-01

This paper describes the Agriculture and Resources Regional Technology Information System (ARRTIS) and the Regional Applied Communication Outreach Program (RAC) of PCARRD. The ARRTIS and the RACO are the strategies in communicating scientific and technology-based information. The ARRTIS is an information system that provides an information base on the status of technologies at various levels of maturity (generation, adaptation, verification, piloting, dissemination and utilization) and offers technology alternatives based on environmental requirements, costs and returns analysis or feasibility of the technologies. This information base provides the repository of technology information from which the Applied Communication Program draws its information for packaging into various formats, using various strategies/media to cater to various users in the regions most especially the farmers. Meanwhile, as PCARRD executes its mission of developing the national research system, it incorporates a development support communication program through the RACO. The RACO is essentially a working component of a regional research center/consortium in each region coordinated by the Applied Communication Division of PCARRD. It aims at reaching farmers and their families, extensionists, administrators, policy makers and entrepreneurs with research information and technology which use a variety of appropriate communication channels, modern communication technology and strategies so that they may actively participate in research diffusion and utilization. (author). 7 refs.

WEALTH MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE ERA OF E-COMMERCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Shahedul QUADER

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper looks at the key strategies being applied by wealth management and their competitive position.Each approach has merits, although the multi-channel ‘single brand’ approach seems to be gathering momentum. Ecommercefacilitates differentiation and requires focus, whilst making cost leadership more difficult Choices betweenbeing a traditional or extended wealth manager, or simply a wealth product provider, are increasingly being made.Moreover need for strategic choice in the wealth management market is presented, before looking in more detail at thewealth management strategies commonly adopted. The relative success of each is considered, together with thecompetitive advantages to be gained.

Applying PQ4R Strategy for Teaching Reading

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moh.Rodli

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Despite receiving more attention than other language skills in English classroom, the result of students’ reading comprehension achievement is still far from expectation. To help students comprehend English reading texts and have better achievement in reading skill, PQ4R strategy can be an alternative to offer. The PQ4R (also well known as SQ4R strategy of comprehending reading material is an extension of SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review This method involves previewing the reading material, questioning the reading, reading to answer the questions, reflecting upon the reading, reciting the reading, and reviewing the material. This method is useful for improving students’ reading effectiveness in addition to help students better remember what they read. This paper highlights the PQ4R strategy and its use as an alternative to improve students’ reading comprehension achievement.

APPLYING PQ4R STRATEGY FOR TEACHING READING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moh Rodli

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Despite receiving more attention than other language skills in English classroom, the result of students’ reading comprehension achievement is still far from expectation. To help students comprehend English reading texts and have better achievement in reading skill, PQ4R strategy can be an alternative to offer. The PQ4R (also well known as SQ4R strategy of comprehending reading material is an extension of SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review This method involves previewing the reading material, questioning the reading, reading to answer the questions, reflecting upon the reading, reciting the reading, and reviewing the material. This method is useful for improving students’ reading effectiveness in addition to help students better remember what they read. This paper highlights the PQ4R strategy and its use as an alternative to improve students’ reading comprehension achievement.

Development of Investment Strategy Applying Corporate Social Responsibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jekaterina Kuzmina

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose of the article: Due to globalization processes and technological development, companies are having more influence on global society than ever. Therefore, business misconduct causes enormous harm to stakeholders, whereas ethical behavior is becoming an important issue. The goal of the following study is to verify and measure a positive effect from investments in social activities on financial attractiveness of companies in the form of its stock portfolio value growth. Methodology/methods: In order to achieve the goal of the research, quantitative analysis is used by comparing performance of stock portfolio of companies having long-term investments in social activities with market index increment. The quantitative results are accompanied with the review of corporate social responsibility definition and some practical issues on governmental and corporation level. Scientific aim: The conducted research contributes both to the scientific discussion about development of appropriate investment strategy in companies applying CSR principles as well as to the discussion of related terminology used in the field. Findings: The research has shown that engagement in the CSR activities tends to have strong positive effect on companies’ financial results and investors’ financial performance. The research proves this fact by comparing value increment of CSR-portfolio (+35.99% gained from January 2015 to March 2017 with market index (+22.37% in the same period. Conclusions: Regardless the positive result achieved in the study the authors have determined several gaps in the research, which will be discussed in the further studies on the field.

A strategy study on the technology development for key nuclear structural materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Jun Hwa; Jeong, Youg Hwan; Kim, Tae Kyu

2012-01-01

In order to realize the advanced long-life PWRs and new Generation-IV nuclear systems, it is pre-requisite to establish or ensure the several key materials technology. In this study, we proposed the several key needs and directions for the key materials issues. Each issue is envisioned and described below. 1) Development of innovative nuclear structural materials with extreme environment-resistance for advanced G-IV systems 2) Improvement/development of key reactor materials for advanced and long -life PWRs. 3) Development of technologies against nuclear materials aging degradation

Eight Key Facets of Small Business Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, James Calvert

1980-01-01

Identifies eight key facets of small business management and suggests activities that may be used to assist in their development. The key facets are (1) product or service, (2) competition, (3) marketing strategies, (4) personnel needs, (5) equipment and facility needs, (6) finances, (7) planning, and (8) entrepreneurship. (JOW)

A framework for assessing severe accident management strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kastenberg, W.E.; Apostolakis, G.; Dhir, V.K.; Okrent, D.; Jae, M.; Lim, H.; Milici, T.; Park, H.; Swider, J.; Xing, L.; Yu, D.

1991-01-01

Accident management can be defined as the innovative use of existing and or alternative resources, systems and actions to prevent or mitigate a severe accident. Together with risk management (changes in plant operation and/or addition of equipment) and emergency planning (off-site actions), accident management provides an extension of the defense-in-depth safety philosophy for severe accidents. A significant number of probabilistic safety assessments (PSA) have been completed which yield the principal plant vulnerabilities. For each sequence/threat and each combination of strategy there may be several options available to the operator. Each strategy/option involves phenomenological and operational considerations regarding uncertainty. These considerations include uncertainty in key phenomena, uncertainty in operator behavior, uncertainty in system availability and behavior, and uncertainty in available information (i.e., instrumentation). The objective of this project is to develop a methodology for assessing severe accident management strategies given the key uncertainties mentioned above. Based on Decision Trees and Influence Diagrams, the methodology is currently being applied to two case studies: cavity flooding in a PWR to prevent vessel penetration or failure, and drywell flooding in a BWR to prevent containment failure

TPM- A KEY STRATEGY FOR PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.S. DUREJA

2011-02-01

Full Text Available During high growth era companies are making technical progress in automation and centralization of the plants, which needs large amount of manual work to maintain the automation systems. The strategy of maintaining the equipment of a plant is crucial for the effectiveness of manufacturing. Total productive maintenance (TPM is a maintenance program, which involves concepts for maintaining plant and equipments effectively. In this paper detailed implementation of TPM in the cold rolling plant is discussed. Results achieved are quite encouraging in terms of motivated employees, improvement in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE and reduction in no. of accidents on shop floor.

Balanced scorecard applied to city’s management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolina Elena Leyton Pavez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Transparenting, improving and strengthening city management demands of updated tools to aid key aspects of decision making process in a city’s administration. This study presents a Balanced Scorecard (BSC for Chilean cities government. Cause-effect analysis was applied to draw up a Strategic Map to identify Kaplan and Norton’s BSC management indicators, which were adapted to Barros and Rodriguez’s perspectives on public sector management. It is possible to outstand that the BSC allows to improve strategy structure to achieve both a city’s mission and vision. Chilean municipalities will be able to improve transparency and management with the BSC designed under the new perspectives of the public sector.

Identification of the Key Fields and Their Key Technical Points of Oncology by Patent Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ting; Chen, Juan; Jia, Xiaofeng

2015-01-01

This paper aims to identify the key fields and their key technical points of oncology by patent analysis. Patents of oncology applied from 2006 to 2012 were searched in the Thomson Innovation database. The key fields and their key technical points were determined by analyzing the Derwent Classification (DC) and the International Patent Classification (IPC), respectively. Patent applications in the top ten DC occupied 80% of all the patent applications of oncology, which were the ten fields of oncology to be analyzed. The number of patent applications in these ten fields of oncology was standardized based on patent applications of oncology from 2006 to 2012. For each field, standardization was conducted separately for each of the seven years (2006-2012) and the mean of the seven standardized values was calculated to reflect the relative amount of patent applications in that field; meanwhile, regression analysis using time (year) and the standardized values of patent applications in seven years (2006-2012) was conducted so as to evaluate the trend of patent applications in each field. Two-dimensional quadrant analysis, together with the professional knowledge of oncology, was taken into consideration in determining the key fields of oncology. The fields located in the quadrant with high relative amount or increasing trend of patent applications are identified as key ones. By using the same method, the key technical points in each key field were identified. Altogether 116,820 patents of oncology applied from 2006 to 2012 were retrieved, and four key fields with twenty-nine key technical points were identified, including "natural products and polymers" with nine key technical points, "fermentation industry" with twelve ones, "electrical medical equipment" with four ones, and "diagnosis, surgery" with four ones. The results of this study could provide guidance on the development direction of oncology, and also help researchers broaden innovative ideas and discover new

Cell-Based Strategies for Meniscus Tissue Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Wei; Guo, Weimin; Han, Shufeng; Zhu, Yun; Liu, Shuyun; Guo, Quanyi

2016-01-01

Meniscus injuries remain a significant challenge due to the poor healing potential of the inner avascular zone. Following a series of studies and clinical trials, tissue engineering is considered a promising prospect for meniscus repair and regeneration. As one of the key factors in tissue engineering, cells are believed to be highly beneficial in generating bionic meniscus structures to replace injured ones in patients. Therefore, cell-based strategies for meniscus tissue engineering play a fundamental role in meniscal regeneration. According to current studies, the main cell-based strategies for meniscus tissue engineering are single cell type strategies; cell coculture strategies also were applied to meniscus tissue engineering. Likewise, on the one side, the zonal recapitulation strategies based on mimicking meniscal differing cells and internal architectures have received wide attentions. On the other side, cell self-assembling strategies without any scaffolds may be a better way to build a bionic meniscus. In this review, we primarily discuss cell seeds for meniscus tissue engineering and their application strategies. We also discuss recent advances and achievements in meniscus repair experiments that further improve our understanding of meniscus tissue engineering. PMID:27274735

Managing Key Risks in Post-Merger IS Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alaranta, Mar; Mathiassen, L

2014-01-01

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) require organizations to blend together different information system (IS) configurations. Unfortunately, less than 50 percent of M&A's achieve their goals, with IS integration being a major problem. Here, the authors offer a framework to help managers prepare for......, analyze, and mitigate risks during post-merger IS integration. They identify key risks relating to IS integration content, process, and context, and present five strategies for mitigating those risks. Their framework aims to help managers proactively reduce the impact of adverse events. Adopting...... the framework supported by their templates is straightforward and the time and resources required are minimal. When properly executed, adoption increases the likelihood of successful merger outcomes; the framework is thus a valuable addition to the management tool box and can be applied in collaboration...

Managerial strategies to make incentives meaningful and motivating.

Science.gov (United States)

Korlén, Sara; Essén, Anna; Lindgren, Peter; Amer-Wahlin, Isis; von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica

2017-04-10

Purpose Policy makers are applying market-inspired competition and financial incentives to drive efficiency in healthcare. However, a lack of knowledge exists about the process whereby incentives are filtered through organizations to influence staff motivation, and the key role of managers is often overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies managers use as intermediaries between financial incentives and the individual motivation of staff. The authors use empirical data from a local case in Swedish specialized care. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an exploratory qualitative case study of a patient-choice reform, including financial incentives, in specialized orthopedics in Sweden. In total, 17 interviews were conducted with professionals in managerial positions, representing six healthcare providers. A hypo-deductive, thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Findings The results show that managers applied alignment strategies to make the incentive model motivating for staff. The managers' strategies are characterized by attempts to align external rewards with professional values based on their contextual and practical knowledge. Managers occasionally overruled the financial logic of the model to safeguard patient needs and expressed an interest in having a closer dialogue with policy makers about improvements. Originality/value Externally imposed incentives do not automatically motivate healthcare staff. Managers in healthcare play key roles as intermediaries by aligning external rewards with professional values. Managers' multiple perspectives on healthcare practices and professional culture can also be utilized to improve policy and as a source of knowledge in partnership with policy makers.

Method of assessing severe accident management strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kastenberg, W.E.; Apostolakis, G.; Dhir, V.K.; Okrent, D.; Jae, M.; Lim, H.; Milici, T.; Park, H.; Swider, J.; Xing, L.; Yu, D.

1991-01-01

Accident management can be defined as the innovative use of existing and or alternative resources, systems, and actions to prevent or mitigate a severe accident. A significant number of probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) have been completed that yield the principal plant vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be categorized as (1) dominant sequences with respect to core-melt frequency. (2) dominant sequences with respect to various risk measures. (3) dominant threats that challenge safety functions. (4) dominant threats with respect to failure of safety systems. For each sequence/threat and each combination of strategy, there may be several options available to the operator. Each strategy/option involves phenomenological and operational considerations regarding uncertainty. These considerations include uncertainties in key phenomena, operator behavior, system availability and behavior, and available information. This paper presents a methodology for assessing severe accident management strategies given the key uncertainties delineated at two workshops held at the University of California, Los Angeles. Based on decision trees and influence diagrams, the methodology is currently being applied to two case studies: cavity flooding in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) to prevent vessel penetration or failure, and drywell flooding in a boiling water reactor to prevent vessel and/or containment failure

Establishing Key Performance Indicators : Case company X

OpenAIRE

Singh, Jatinder

2015-01-01

The key performance indicators serve as the navigational tools for a business organization to monitor its performance. They enable the management team to take real time decisions to keep organization’s resources aligned to its business strategy to accomplish its strategic objec-tives. This research was conducted to analyse the process of establishing successful key per-formance indicators for a business organization. The research was conducted to recommend key performance indicators developme...

Integration Strategy Is a Key Step in Network-Based Analysis and Dramatically Affects Network Topological Properties and Inferring Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Nana; Wu, Deng; Gong, Yonghui; Bi, Xiaoman; Jiang, Hong; Li, Kongning; Wang, Qianghu

2014-01-01

An increasing number of experiments have been designed to detect intracellular and intercellular molecular interactions. Based on these molecular interactions (especially protein interactions), molecular networks have been built for using in several typical applications, such as the discovery of new disease genes and the identification of drug targets and molecular complexes. Because the data are incomplete and a considerable number of false-positive interactions exist, protein interactions from different sources are commonly integrated in network analyses to build a stable molecular network. Although various types of integration strategies are being applied in current studies, the topological properties of the networks from these different integration strategies, especially typical applications based on these network integration strategies, have not been rigorously evaluated. In this paper, systematic analyses were performed to evaluate 11 frequently used methods using two types of integration strategies: empirical and machine learning methods. The topological properties of the networks of these different integration strategies were found to significantly differ. Moreover, these networks were found to dramatically affect the outcomes of typical applications, such as disease gene predictions, drug target detections, and molecular complex identifications. The analysis presented in this paper could provide an important basis for future network-based biological researches. PMID:25243127

REFLECTIONS ON BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY: A COMPARISON WITH ANSOFF’S, PORTER’S, AND HAX AND WILDE’S STRATEGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ailton Conde Jussani

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Within the context of the globalized environment, competitiveness has become a critical issue for business. The use of research to inform strategic decisions is thus important for firms on the path to competitiveness, regardless of their market of operation. This paper provides an overview of four strategies—Kim and Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, Ansoff’s Matrix, Porter’s Generic Strategies, and Hax and Wilde’s Delta model—in order to find the similarities and approximations among them. Applying the scientific reading method, we conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on strategy to draw up a comparative matrix among the four strategies analyzed so as to discuss the typologies for strategy formation modes. This matrix is intended to be used in future field studies. The comparison led to the observation that several possible approaches exist, each suited for distinctive businesses and business environments. This article aims to contribute to a better knowledge of administrative techniques that can help firms - and their executives - improve strategic decision making by choosing the strategy that best fits the competitive environment in which their business operates. Key-words: Strategic decisions. Strategic approaches. Comparative matrix. 

Global Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Peter Ping

2013-01-01

Global strategy differs from domestic strategy in terms of content and process as well as context and structure. The content of global strategy can contain five key elements, while the process of global strategy can have six major stages. These are expounded below. Global strategy is influenced...... by rich and complementary local contexts with diverse resource pools and game rules at the national level to form a broad ecosystem at the global level. Further, global strategy dictates the interaction or balance between different entry strategies at the levels of internal and external networks....

[Cost-effectiveness analysis and diet quality index applied to the WHO Global Strategy].

Science.gov (United States)

Machado, Flávia Mori Sarti; Simões, Arlete Naresse

2008-02-01

To test the use of cost-effectiveness analysis as a decision making tool in the production of meals for the inclusion of the recommendations published in the World Health Organization's Global Strategy. Five alternative options for breakfast menu were assessed previously to their adoption in a food service at a university in the state of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, in 2006. Costs of the different options were based on market prices of food items (direct cost). Health benefits were estimated based on adaptation of the Diet Quality Index (DQI). Cost-effectiveness ratios were estimated by dividing benefits by costs and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were estimated as cost differential per unit of additional benefit. The meal choice was based on health benefit units associated to direct production cost as well as incremental effectiveness per unit of differential cost. The analysis showed the most simple option with the addition of a fruit (DQI = 64 / cost = R$ 1.58) as the best alternative. Higher effectiveness was seen in the options with a fruit portion (DQI1=64 / DQI3=58 / DQI5=72) compared to the others (DQI2=48 / DQI4=58). The estimate of cost-effectiveness ratio allowed to identifying the best breakfast option based on cost-effectiveness analysis and Diet Quality Index. These instruments allow easy application easiness and objective evaluation which are key to the process of inclusion of public or private institutions under the Global Strategy directives.

Improving the automated optimization of profile extrusion dies by applying appropriate optimization areas and strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Hopmann, Ch.; Windeck, C.; Kurth, K.; Behr, M.; Siegbert, R.; Elgeti, S.

2014-05-01

The rheological design of profile extrusion dies is one of the most challenging tasks in die design. As no analytical solution is available, the quality and the development time for a new design highly depend on the empirical knowledge of the die manufacturer. Usually, prior to start production several time-consuming, iterative running-in trials need to be performed to check the profile accuracy and the die geometry is reworked. An alternative are numerical flow simulations. These simulations enable to calculate the melt flow through a die so that the quality of the flow distribution can be analyzed. The objective of a current research project is to improve the automated optimization of profile extrusion dies. Special emphasis is put on choosing a convenient starting geometry and parameterization, which enable for possible deformations. In this work, three commonly used design features are examined with regard to their influence on the optimization results. Based on the results, a strategy is derived to select the most relevant areas of the flow channels for the optimization. For these characteristic areas recommendations are given concerning an efficient parameterization setup that still enables adequate deformations of the flow channel geometry. Exemplarily, this approach is applied to a L-shaped profile with different wall thicknesses. The die is optimized automatically and simulation results are qualitatively compared with experimental results. Furthermore, the strategy is applied to a complex extrusion die of a floor skirting profile to prove the universal adaptability.

SCOR based key success factors in cooking oil supply chain buyers perspective in Padang City

Science.gov (United States)

Zahara, Fatimah; Hadiguna, Rika Ampuh

2017-11-01

Supply chain of cooking oil is a network of companies from palm oil as raw material to retailers which work to create the value and deliver products into the end consumers. This paper is aimed to study key success factors based on consumer's perspective as the last stage in the supply chain. Consumers who are examined in this study are restaurants management or owners. Restaurant is the biggest consumption of cooking oil. The factors is studied based on Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) version 10.0. Factors used are formulated based on the third-level metrics of SCOR Model. Factors are analyzed using factors analysis. This study found factors which become key success factors in managing supply chain of cooking oil encompass reliability, responsiveness and agility. Key success factors can be applied by governments as policy making and cooking oil companies as formulation of the distribution strategies.

A review of fault tolerant control strategies applied to proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems

Science.gov (United States)

Dijoux, Etienne; Steiner, Nadia Yousfi; Benne, Michel; Péra, Marie-Cécile; Pérez, Brigitte Grondin

2017-08-01

Fuel cells are powerful systems for power generation. They have a good efficiency and do not generate greenhouse gases. This technology involves a lot of scientific fields, which leads to the appearance of strongly inter-dependent parameters. This makes the system particularly hard to control and increases fault's occurrence frequency. These two issues call for the necessity to maintain the system performance at the expected level, even in faulty operating conditions. It is called "fault tolerant control" (FTC). The present paper aims to give the state of the art of FTC applied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The FTC approach is composed of two parts. First, a diagnosis part allows the identification and the isolation of a fault; it requires a good a priori knowledge of all the possible faults. Then, a control part allows an optimal control strategy to find the best operating point to recover/mitigate the fault; it requires the knowledge of the degradation phenomena and their mitigation strategies.

Key papers in prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodney, Simon; Shah, Taimur Tariq; Patel, Hitendra R H; Arya, Manit

2014-11-01

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and second leading cause of death in men. The evidence base for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer is continually changing. We aim to review and discuss past and contemporary papers on these topics to provoke debate and highlight key dilemmas faced by the urological community. We review key papers on prostate-specific antigen screening, radical prostatectomy versus surveillance strategies, targeted therapies, timing of radiotherapy and alternative anti-androgen therapeutics. Previously, the majority of patients, irrespective of risk, underwent radical open surgical procedures associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Evidence is emerging that not all prostate cancers are alike and that low-grade disease can be safely managed by surveillance strategies and localized treatment to the prostate. The question remains as to how to accurately stage the disease and ultimately choose which treatment pathway to follow.

NATO strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarr, D.W.

1988-01-01

Nuclear weapons are for NATO both the primary instrument for deterring a nuclear attack and the fall-back option if, in the event of a conventional assault, NATO's non-nuclear defence forces cannot hold. The dilemma of depending upon potentially self-destructive nuclear responses if deterrence fails and defence falters has always haunted NATO strategy, but after the Soviets achieved nuclear parity with the United States, this dilemma became more intensely perceived. Now the credibility, viability, acceptability, sensibility and morality of nuclear weapons for deterrence and defence are increasingly at issue. As a result, an increasing variety of non-nuclear (conventional) alternatives are being advanced to replace or supplement nuclear deterrence for the Alliance. The thrust of the author of this paper remarks is to attempt to apply the definitions, requirements, and other key conceptual distinctions of nuclear deterrence found in the body of western strategic literature to three categories of non-nuclear alternatives currently in vogue: strengthened conventional forces; deployment of new, high-technology non-nuclear weapons; and adoption of an offensive manoeuvre strategy. Let me, therefore, begin by listing the basic definitions, concepts and apparent requirements of deterrence which the deterrence theory literature offers

Reading comprehension metacognitive strategies as a means for controlling behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dinorah Aladina Caballero López

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Textual comprehension implies the use of various metacognitive strategies by the students when they have to face a text to be competent readers. That is why the objective of this article is to illustrate the application of metacognitive strategies in order to achieve an efficient textual comprehension, taking into account the self – regulation the student exerts over his own learning process. It is applied as the main method historical-logical studies based on a professional-researching systematic practice; at the same time observation is largely used. The main result is the introduction of metacognitive strategies in reading comprehension, which subsequently favor the self-control of personal behavior. The article is the result of a research project sponsored by the department of Special Education. Key words: reading comprehension, metacognitive strategies, behavior self-control.

Key Strategies for Building Research Capacity of University Faculty Members.

Science.gov (United States)

Huenneke, Laura F; Stearns, Diane M; Martinez, Jesse D; Laurila, Kelly

2017-12-01

Universities are under pressure to increase external research funding, and some federal agencies offer programs to expand research capacity in certain kinds of institutions. However, conflicts within faculty roles and other aspects of university operations influence the effectiveness of particular strategies for increasing research activity. We review conventional approaches to increasing research, focusing on outcomes for individual faculty members and use one federally-funded effort to build cancer-related research capacity at a public university as an example to explore the impact of various strategies on research outcomes. We close with hypotheses that should be tested in future formal studies.

Applied Behavior Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Szapacs, Cindy

2006-01-01

Teaching strategies that work for typically developing children often do not work for those diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. However, teaching strategies that work for children with autism do work for typically developing children. In this article, the author explains how the principles and concepts of Applied Behavior Analysis can be…

Advancing Evidence-Based Assessment in School Mental Health: Key Priorities for an Applied Research Agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Arora, Prerna G; Connors, Elizabeth H; George, Melissa W; Lyon, Aaron R; Wolk, Courtney B; Weist, Mark D

2016-12-01

Evidence-based assessment (EBA) is a critically important aspect of delivering high-quality, school-based mental health care for youth. However, research in this area is limited and additional applied research on how best to support the implementation of EBA in school mental health (SMH) is needed. Accordingly, this manuscript seeks to facilitate the advancement of research on EBA in SMH by reviewing relevant literature on EBA implementation in schools and providing recommendations for key research priorities. Given the limited number of published studies available, findings from child and adolescent mental health and implementation science research are also included to inform a robust and comprehensive research agenda on this topic. Based on this literature review, five priorities for research on EBA in SMH are outlined: (1) effective identification of assessment targets, (2) appropriate selection of assessment measures, (3) investigation of organizational readiness for EBA, (4) study of implementation support for EBA, and (5) promotion of EBA data integration and use. Each priority area includes recommended directions for future research. A comprehensive and robust research agenda is warranted to build the science and practice of implementing EBA in SMH. Specific directions for this agenda are offered.

Methodical Aspects of Applying Strategy Map in an Organization

OpenAIRE

Piotr Markiewicz

2013-01-01

One of important aspects of strategic management is the instrumental aspect included in a rich set of methods and techniques used at particular stages of strategic management process. The object of interest in this study is the development of views and the implementation of strategy as an element of strategic management and instruments in the form of methods and techniques. The commonly used method in strategy implementation and measuring progress is Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The method was c...

Passivation Strategies on Board Airbus ds Leo Pcdus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lapeña Emilio

2017-01-01

This paper deals with the different strategies followed in the Airbus DS LEO PCDUs regarding the implementation of the passivation function in several LEO missions with different architectures (DET and MPPT solar array power conditioning. In the selection of the solution implemented in the frame of every mission, a key driver is the degree of advance in the test performed over flight representative battery modules regarding their safe behavior when deeply depleted after a long period in orbit with the passivation applied over the spacecraft.

New weak keys in simplified IDEA

Science.gov (United States)

Hafman, Sari Agustini; Muhafidzah, Arini

2016-02-01

Simplified IDEA (S-IDEA) is simplified version of International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) and useful teaching tool to help students to understand IDEA. In 2012, Muryanto and Hafman have found a weak key class in the S-IDEA by used differential characteristics in one-round (0, ν, 0, ν) → (0,0, ν, ν) on the first round to produce input difference (0,0, ν, ν) on the fifth round. Because Muryanto and Hafman only use three differential characteristics in one-round, we conducted a research to find new differential characteristics in one-round and used it to produce new weak key classes of S-IDEA. To find new differential characteristics in one-round of S-IDEA, we applied a multiplication mod 216+1 on input difference and combination of active sub key Z1, Z4, Z5, Z6. New classes of weak keys are obtained by combining all of these characteristics and use them to construct two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA with or without the 4th round sub key. In this research, we found six new differential characteristics in one round and combined them to construct two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA. When two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA are used and the 4th round sub key required, we obtain 2 new classes of weak keys, 213 and 28. When two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA are used, yet the 4th round sub key is not required, the weak key class of 213 will be 221 and 28 will be 210. Membership test can not be applied to recover the key bits in those weak key classes. The recovery of those unknown key bits can only be done by using brute force attack. The simulation result indicates that the bit of the key can be recovered by the longest computation time of 0,031 ms.

The social strategy cone: Towards a framework for evaluating social media strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Effing, Robin; Spil, Antonius A.M.

2016-01-01

Social media is growing rapidly. Providing both risks and opportunities for organizations as it does. The social strategy cone is developed for evaluating social media strategies. This framework comprises of seven key elements of social media strategies as based on a systematic literature review and

Teaching Strategies for Strengthening Environmental Values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marilin del Carmen González Castillo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This study aims to apply teaching strategies for strengthening the environmental values in the teachers of School Children's House "Linda Barinas" located in the Carmen parish, municipality Barinas, Barinas state. The nature of the study was inserted into the qualitative paradigm, the kind of research in an action research based on a field study. Key informants were five (05 teachers working in the aforementioned institution. The technique for collecting information through an in-depth interview. The technique and data analysis was performed by means of categorization, triangulation and theorizing. The study led to the conclusion: teachers are unaware of employed teaching strategies, learning strategies in addressing environmental education. In addition, the institution lacks the promotion of educational activities that contribute to improving the environment. Similarly, the absence of a positive attitude towards the environment in which every member of the institution appropriates the existing environmental problems at school. In implementing the action plan training workshops conducted for teachers regarding teaching strategies, environmental values and environmental education, produced a motivation and interest of how to implement that knowledge, when planning, organizing and controlling.

A framework for the assessment of severe accident management strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kastenberg, W.E.; Apostolakis, G.; Dhir, V.K.; Okrent, D.; Jae, M.; Lim, H.; Milici, T.; Park, H.; Swider, J.; Xing, L.; Yu, D.

1992-01-01

Accident management can be defined as the innovative use of existing and or alternative resources, systems and actions to prevent or mitigate a severe accident. Together with risk management (changes in plant operation and/or addition of equipment) and emergency planning (off-site actions), accident management provides an extension of the defense-in-depth safety philosophy for severe accidents. A significant number of probabilistic safety assessments (PSA) have been completed which yield the principal plant vulnerabilities. For each sequence/threat and each combination of strategy there may be several options available to the operator. Each strategy/option involves phenomenological and operational considerations regarding uncertainty. These considerations include uncertainty in key phenomena, uncertainty in operator behavior, uncertainty in system availability and behavior, and uncertainty in available information (i.e., instrumentation). The objective of this project is to develop a methodology for assessing severe accident management strategies given the key uncertainties mentioned above. Based on decision trees and influence diagrams, the methodology is currently being applied to two case studies: cavity flooding in a pressurized water reactor to prevent vessel penetration or failure, and drywell flooding in a boiling water reactor to prevent containment failure

Is retrieval the key? Metamemory judgment and testing as learning strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Akdoğan, Elçin; Izaute, Marie; Danion, Jean-Marie; Vidailhet, Pierre; Bacon, Elisabeth

2016-11-01

Re-reading is the most common learning strategy, albeit not a very efficient one. Testing is highly efficient, but not perceived by students as a learning strategy. Prospective judgment-of-learning (JOL) reflect the learner's impression of subsequently being able to retrieve the ongoing learning in a cued-recall task. Estimating JOL involves attempting to retrieve the information, as in testing. The few studies that have explored the potential mnemonic benefit of JOL have yielded contradictory results. Our aim was to compare JOL and testing with re-study and to examine the impact of these strategies according to the relative difficulty of the material (cue-target association strength) in two experiments. After a first encoding phase, participants re-studied, provided JOL, or took a test. Forty-eight hours later, they participated in a final cued-recall test, during which their confidence level judgments were collected. The main result was that delayed JOL behaved in the same way as testing, and both yielded better performances than re-study when material was of moderate difficulty. The easy or very difficult material revealed no differences between these strategies. JOL is proposed as an alternative to testing when faced with difficult material.

Promoting Healthy Workplaces by Building Cultures of Health and Applying Strategic Communications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Karen; Goetzel, Ron Z; Roemer, Enid C; Prasad, Aishwarya; Freundlich, Naomi

2016-02-01

The aim of the study was to identify key success elements of employer-sponsored health promotion (wellness) programs. We conducted an updated literature review, held discussions with subject matter experts, and visited nine companies with exemplary programs to examine current best and promising practices in workplace health promotion programs. Best practices include establishing a culture of health and using strategic communications. Key elements that contribute to a culture of health are leadership commitment, social and physical environmental support, and employee involvement. Strategic communications are designed to educate, motivate, market offerings, and build trust. They are tailored and targeted, multichanneled, bidirectional, with optimum timing, frequency, and placement. Increased efforts are needed to disseminate lessons learned from employers who have built cultures of health and excellent communications strategies and apply these insights more broadly in workplace settings.

DSC: software tool for simulation-based design of control strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruano, M V; Ribes, J; Seco, A; Ferrer, J

2011-01-01

This paper presents a computer tool called DSC (Simulation based Controllers Design) that enables an easy design of control systems and strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants. Although the control systems are developed and evaluated by simulation, this tool aims to facilitate the direct implementation of the designed control system to the PC of the full-scale WWTP (wastewater treatment plants). The designed control system can be programmed in a dedicated control application and can be connected to either the simulation software or the SCADA of the plant. To this end, the developed DSC incorporates an OPC server (OLE for process control) which facilitates an open-standard communication protocol for different industrial process applications. The potential capabilities of the DSC tool are illustrated through the example of a full-scale application. An aeration control system applied to a nutrient removing WWTP was designed, tuned and evaluated with the DSC tool before its implementation in the full scale plant. The control parameters obtained by simulation were suitable for the full scale plant with only few modifications to improve the control performance. With the DSC tool, the control systems performance can be easily evaluated by simulation. Once developed and tuned by simulation, the control systems can be directly applied to the full-scale WWTP.

Successful Strategies to Engage Research Partners for Translating Evidence into Action in Community Health: A Critical Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jon Salsberg

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. To undertake a critical review describing key strategies supporting development of participatory research (PR teams to engage partners for creation and translation of action-oriented knowledge. Methods. Sources are four leading PR practitioners identified via bibliometric analysis. Authors’ publications were identified in January 1995–October 2009 in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and CAB databases, and books. Works were limited to those with a process description describing a research project and practitioners were first, second, third, or last author. Results. Adapting and applying the “Reliability Tested Guidelines for Assessing Participatory Research Projects” to retained records identified five key strategies: developing advisory committees of researchers and intended research users; developing research agreements; using formal and informal group facilitation techniques; hiring co-researchers/partners from community; and ensuring frequent communication. Other less frequently mentioned strategies were also identified. Conclusion. This review is the first time these guidelines were used to identify key strategies supporting PR projects. They proved effective at identifying and evaluating engagement strategies as reported by completed research projects. Adapting these guidelines identified gaps where the tool was unable to assess fundamental PR elements of power dynamics, equity of resources, and member turnover. Our resulting template serves as a new tool to measure partnerships.

Successful strategies to engage research partners for translating evidence into action in community health: a critical review.

Science.gov (United States)

Salsberg, Jon; Parry, David; Pluye, Pierre; Macridis, Soultana; Herbert, Carol P; Macaulay, Ann C

2015-01-01

To undertake a critical review describing key strategies supporting development of participatory research (PR) teams to engage partners for creation and translation of action-oriented knowledge. Sources are four leading PR practitioners identified via bibliometric analysis. Authors' publications were identified in January 1995-October 2009 in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and CAB databases, and books. Works were limited to those with a process description describing a research project and practitioners were first, second, third, or last author. Adapting and applying the "Reliability Tested Guidelines for Assessing Participatory Research Projects" to retained records identified five key strategies: developing advisory committees of researchers and intended research users; developing research agreements; using formal and informal group facilitation techniques; hiring co-researchers/partners from community; and ensuring frequent communication. Other less frequently mentioned strategies were also identified. This review is the first time these guidelines were used to identify key strategies supporting PR projects. They proved effective at identifying and evaluating engagement strategies as reported by completed research projects. Adapting these guidelines identified gaps where the tool was unable to assess fundamental PR elements of power dynamics, equity of resources, and member turnover. Our resulting template serves as a new tool to measure partnerships.

Food-coping strategy index applied to a community of farm-worker households in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Rozanne; Schönfeldt, Hettie Carina; Owen, Johanna Hendriena

2008-03-01

In South Africa, households living in informal urban settlements, in rural areas, and on commercial farms experience various levels of dietary variety, food intake, and household hunger. Low incomes, poor food production and availability, and low spending power characterize these households. Households employ various food-coping strategies to alleviate food stress or poor food availability. To apply an existing food-coping strategy (FCS) index to assess household hunger and its usefulness in identifying the level of food stress and the patterns of food coping in farm-worker households. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Data were gathered from women (18 to 57 years of age) responsible for food provision in a small farm-worker community in Fouriesburg, South Africa. A structured food-coping questionnaire and a standardized FCS index were used to gather data. The two most common FCS used were relying on cheaper food (chicken feet, diluted soya-mince soup) or less preferred food (meat bones) and employing food-seeking strategies (gathering wild foods), followed by consumption of seed stock (maize) and reduced portion sizes (protein foods and side dishes), resulting in starch-based diets of poor variety. Seasonal strategies varied according to the level of food stress experienced. Patterns of food coping were identified. Negative FCS (limiting food choices, only consuming starchy staples) may cause poor health status. The FCS index was effectively used to assess farm-worker household food-coping behavior (early, clear signals of the level of food distress). These results could be used to allocate appropriate food aid (type of food) and to design nutrition education programs focused on positive FCS (food gathering or bartering) in a particular community to prevent suboptimal nutritional status.

Localization Strategies in WSNs as applied to Landslide Monitoring (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Massa, A.; Robol, F.; Polo, A.; Giarola, E.; Viani, F.

2013-12-01

In the last years, heterogeneous integrated smart systems based on wireless sensor network (WSN) technology have been developed at the ELEDIA Research Center of the University of Trento [1]. One of the key features of WSNs as applied to distributed monitoring is that, while the capabilities of each single sensor node is limited, the implementation of cooperative schemes throughout the whole network enables the solution of even complex tasks, as the landslide monitoring. The capability of localizing targets respect to the position of the sensor nodes turns out to be fundamental in those application fields where relative movements arise. The main properties like the target typology, the movement characteristics, and the required localization resolution are different changing the reference scenario. However, the common key issue is still the localization of moving targets within the area covered by the sensor network. Many experiences were preparatory for the challenging activities in the field of landslide monitoring where the basic idea is mostly that of detecting slight soil movements. Among them, some examples of WSN-based systems experimentally applied to the localization of people [2] and wildlife [3] have been proposed. More recently, the WSN backbone as well as the investigated sensing technologies have been customized for monitoring superficial movements of the soil. The relative positions of wireless sensor nodes deployed where high probability of landslide exists is carefully monitored to forecast dangerous events. Multiple sensors like ultrasound, laser, high precision GPS, for the precise measurement of relative distances between the nodes of the network and the absolute positions respect to reference targets have been integrated in a prototype system. The millimeter accuracy in the position estimation enables the detection of small soil modifications and to infer the superficial evolution profile of the landslide. This information locally acquired also

What Is Applied Linguistics?

Science.gov (United States)

James, Carl

1993-01-01

Ostensive and expository definitions of applied linguistics are assessed. It is suggested that the key to a meaningful definition lies in the dual articulation of applied linguistics: it is an interface between linguistics and practicality. Its role as an "expert system" is suggested. (45 references) (Author/LB)

A Study of Applied Strategies in Translating Idiomatic Expressions in Two Movie Subtitles: Bring It On & Mean Girls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahmood Hashemian

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Idiomatic expressions are considered as a part of everyday language. In other words, they are the essence of each language and one of the most problematic parts to cope with, especially in the process of interlingual translation. Furthermore, there is sometimes no one-to-one equivalent for the idioms of the source language (SL in the target language (TL. This study aimed at investigating the applied strategies in the translation of idiomatic expressions in 2 American subtitled movies, namely Mean Girls (2004 and Bring It On! (2009, through using Baker’s (1992 proposed procedures in translating idiomatic expressions in translation studies. To this aim, the idiomatic expressions were extracted from the original versions of the movies and compared with the subtitled translations in Persian. Analysis of the relevant data indicated that the chi-square results were not significant at χ2 (3, N = 2 = 1.188, p = 0, considering p ˂ 0.05. Therefore, Baker’s (1992 strategies were not distributed equally between these two movies. Moreover, the “omission” strategy with the frequency of 40 was the topmost used strategy in these movies.

Achieving synergy between strategy and innovation: The key to value creation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobni, C.B.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available An innovation perspective provides an unencumbered clean sheet view of the future, as it is only concerned with what opportunities lie ahead. It prompts the organization to consider the question of 'what future state do we want to achieve?' as opposed to the orchestrated approaches of strategic planning that promotes incrementalism. The perspective chosen will often determine whether an organization is a competitive innovator and competitive imitator. In today's economic environment, organizations are required to create differentiable value. To do so requires a certain synergy between strategy and innovation. This article outlines the importance of innovation, but more importantly discusses the relationship between strategy and innovation. It argues that strategic innovation is logical, yet strategy and innovation are quite different, both in terms of definition and function. These differences are identified, and approaches to achieving synergy are outlined.

A Data-Driven Evaluation of the Stop TB Global Partnership Strategy of Targeting Key Populations at Greater Risk for Tuberculosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoë M McLaren

Full Text Available Identifying those infected with tuberculosis (TB is an important component of any strategy for reducing TB transmission and population prevalence. The Stop TB Global Partnership recently launched an initiative with a focus on key populations at greater risk for TB infection or poor clinical outcomes, due to housing and working conditions, incarceration, low household income, malnutrition, co-morbidities, exposure to tobacco and silica dust, or barriers to accessing medical care. To achieve operational targets, the global health community needs effective, low cost, and large-scale strategies for identifying key populations. Using South Africa as a test case, we assess the feasibility and effectiveness of targeting active case finding to populations with TB risk factors identified from regularly collected sources of data. Our approach is applicable to all countries with TB testing and census data. It allows countries to tailor their outreach activities to the particular risk factors of greatest significance in their national context.We use a national database of TB test results to estimate municipality-level TB infection prevalence, and link it to Census data to measure population risk factors for TB including rates of urban households, informal settlements, household income, unemployment, and mobile phone ownership. To examine the relationship between TB prevalence and risk factors, we perform linear regression analysis and plot the set of population characteristics against TB prevalence and TB testing rate by municipality. We overlay lines of best fit and smoothed curves of best fit from locally weighted scatter plot smoothing.Higher TB prevalence is statistically significantly associated with more urban municipalities (slope coefficient β1 = 0.129, p < 0.0001, R2 = 0.133, lower mobile phone access (β1 = -0.053, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.089, lower unemployment rates (β1 = -0.020, p = 0.003, R2 = 0.048, and a lower proportion of low-income households

Developing Writing Skill of Language Students by Applying Innovative Teaching Strategy Model Based on Social and Local Wisdom Contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syarifuddin Achmad

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to build up students’ writing skills through Innovation Teaching Strategy Model (ITSM. This study was conducted in Letters and Culture Faculty of Universitas Negeri Gorontalo (UNG, with the students of English and Indonesian department as the participants. The current study is based on the social culture and local wisdom context utilizing Information Computer Technology (ICT. This model supports the students to have a high level of thinking and performance in writing skills in English and Indonesian language. This study utilized Research and Development (R &D approach using Focus Group Discussion (FGD and Reflection method with the strategy of one group pre-test and post-test design. This study reaches two target achievements; firstly creating the effective innovation teaching strategy model after statistic examining through one group pre-test and post-test design, and secondly improving the students’ competencies and writing skill through learning and teaching process treatment of writing course as an effect of applying Innovation teaching strategy model application.

Resources Management Strategy For Mud Crabs (Scylla spp.) In Pemalang Regency

Science.gov (United States)

Purnama Fitri, Aristi Dian; Boesono, Herry; Sabdono, Agus; Adlina, Nadia

2017-02-01

The aim of this research is to develop resources management strategies of mud crab (Scylla spp.) in Pemalang Regency. The method used is descriptive survey in a case study. This research used primary data and secondary data. Primary data were collected through field observations and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. Secondary data were collected from related publications and documents issued by the competent institutions. SWOT Analysis was used to inventory the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. TOWS matrix was used to develop an alternative of resources management strategies. SWOT analysis was obtained by 6 alternative strategies that can be applied for optimization of fisheries development in Pemalang Regency. The strategies is the control of mud crab fishing gear, restricted size allowable in mud crab, control of mud crab fishing season, catch monitoring of mud crab, needs a management institutions which ensure the implementation of the regulation, and implementation for mud crab aquaculture. Each alternative strategy can be synergized to optimize the resources development in Pemalang Regency.

Introducing the Adherence Strategy Engineering Framework (ASEF)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagner, Stefan Rahr; Toftegaard, Thomas Skjødeberg; Bertelsen, Olav W.

2013-01-01

. Methods: Key concepts related to self-care and adherence were defined, discussed, and implemented as part of the ASEF framework. ASEF was applied to seven self-care case studies, and the perceived usefulness and feasibility of ASEF was evaluated in a questionnaire study by the case study participants...... resulting in reduced data quality and suboptimal treatment. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to introduce the Adherence Strategy Engineering Framework (ASEF) as a method for developing novel technology-based adherence strategies to assess and improve patient adherence levels in the unsupervised setting....... Finally, we reviewed the individual case studies usage of ASEF. Results: A range of central self-care concepts were defined and the ASEF methodological framework was introduced. ASEF was successfully used in seven case studies with a total of 25 participants. Of these, 16 provided answers...

Quality-aware scheduling for key-value data stores

CERN Document Server

Xu, Chen

2015-01-01

This book comprehensively illustrates quality-ware scheduling in key-value stores. In addition, it provides scheduling strategies and a prototype framework of quality-aware scheduler as well as a demonstration of online applications. The book offers a rich blend of theory and practice which is suitable for students, researchers and practitioners interested in distributed systems, NoSQL key-value stores and scheduling.

The Key Drivers behind Novo Nordisk’s Growth in the Diabetes Market in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hind Louiza CHITOUR

2013-12-01

Full Text Available To enter the Chinese Pharmaceutical market, “Big Pharma” has adopted different strategies to tackle the challenges specific to the country in terms of size, demographics, specific sales channels and logistics adjustments. While the majority of Global Pharmaceutical players have opted for an aggressive M&A approach to penetrate the Chinese market and gain local insight; the Danish Novo Nordisk has instead chosen a strategy focusing on innovation and developing its R&D structure to capitalize on the local talent pool. To illustrate Novo Nordisk’s growth strategy in the Mainland, we analyzed its competitiveness in the diabetes market by demonstrating the key drivers behind this success. We applied a various set of tools for this research: Novo Nordisk, Dong Bao Pharmaceutical executives’ interviews and personal observations accounting for the primary data, we also reviewed secondary data to perform a PEST analysis in addition to Porter’s competitive advantage model in order to extract the reasons behind Novo Nordisk’s marching success in the Mainland.

Applied mathematics

CERN Document Server

Logan, J David

2013-01-01

Praise for the Third Edition"Future mathematicians, scientists, and engineers should find the book to be an excellent introductory text for coursework or self-study as well as worth its shelf space for reference." -MAA Reviews Applied Mathematics, Fourth Edition is a thoroughly updated and revised edition on the applications of modeling and analyzing natural, social, and technological processes. The book covers a wide range of key topics in mathematical methods and modeling and highlights the connections between mathematics and the applied and nat

Putting leadership back into strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery, Cynthia A

2008-01-01

In recent decades an infusion of economics has lent the study of strategy much needed theory and empirical evidence. Strategy consultants, armed with frameworks and techniques, have stepped forward to help managers analyze their industries and position their companies for strategic advantage. Strategy has come to be seen as an analytical problem to be solved. But, says Montgomery, the Timken Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the benefits of this rigorous approach have attendant costs: Strategy has become a competitive game plan, separate from the company's larger sense of purpose. The CEO's unique role as arbiter and steward of strategy has been eclipsed. And an overemphasis on sustainable competitive advantage has obscured the importance of making strategy a dynamic tool for guiding the company's development over time. For any company, intelligent guidance requires a clear sense of purpose, of what makes the organization truly distinctive. Purpose, Montgomery says, serves as both a constraint on activity and a guide to behavior. Creativity and insight are key to forging a compelling organizational purpose; analysis alone will never suffice. As the CEO--properly a company's chief strategist--translates purpose into practice, he or she must remain open to the possibility that the purpose itself may need to change. Lou Gerstner did this in the 1990s, when he decided that IBM would evolve to focus on applying technology rather than on inventing it. So did Steve Jobs, when he rescued Apple from a poorly performing strategy and expanded the company into attractive new businesses. Watching over strategy day in and day out is the CEO's greatest opportunity to shape the firm as well as outwit the competition.

Characteristics of couples applying for bibliotherapy via different recruitment strategies: a multivariate comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

van Lankveld, J J; Grotjohann, Y; van Lokven, B M; Everaerd, W

1999-01-01

This study compared characteristics of couples with different sexual dysfunctions who were recruited for participation in a bibliotherapy program via two routes: in response to media advertisements and through their presence on a waiting list for therapist-administered treatment in an outpatient sexology clinic. Data were collected from 492 subjects (246 couples). Male sexology patients were younger than media-recruited males. However, type of sexual dysfunction accounted for a substantially larger proportion of variance in the demographic and psychometric data. An interaction effect of recruitment strategy and sexual dysfunction type was found with respect to female anorgasmia. We conclude from the absence of differences between the two study groups that the Wills and DePaulo (1991) model of help-seeking behavior for mental problems does not apply to couples with sexual dysfunctions joining a bibliotherapy program who either primarily requested professional treatment or who responded to media advertising.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS DISCLOSURES BY THE INTEGRATED REPORTING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BOBITAN ROXANA-IOANA

2016-02-01

Full Text Available We are in a new era of corporate reporting where the corporate reporting landscape was changed. Institutional and small investors, financial analysts and other key stakeholders are demanding more information about long-term strategies and profitability of companies. Also, the increasing complexity of business models, growing awareness of climate change and resource scarcity and communication are expectations of the role of business in the 21st century and which the key of performance indicators (KPIs is. The companies must change the way these KPIs are being incorporated throughout the annual report and how these are linked to the company’s strategy and business model, their risks and risk mitigation, and their incentive schemes. Regarding this, integrated reporting, continue to gain momentum, the spotlight on the depth, breadth and quality of KPIs being reported will only strengthen. The aim of this discussion paper is to describe which are the most important key performance indicators in sprit of integrating reporting. A good and very known example for the integrated reporting is Philips Electronics, the Dutch healthcare and lighting company, a pioneer that embrace this concept, and the paper make an analysis of the most important key performance indicators.

Evaluation of design, leak monitoring, dnd NDEA strategies to assure PBMR Helium pressure boundary reliability - HTR2008-58037

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, K. N.; Smit, K.

2008-01-01

This paper discusses the reliability and integrity management (RIM) strategies that have been applied in the design of the PBMR passive metallic components for the helium pressure boundary (HPB) to meet reliability targets and to evaluate what combination of strategies are needed to meet the targets. The strategies considered include deterministic design strategies to reduce or eliminate the potential for specific damage mechanisms, use of an on-line leak monitoring system and associated design provisions that provide a high degree of leak detection reliability, and periodic nondestructive examinations combined with repair and replacement strategies to reduce the probability that degradation would lead to pipe ruptures. The PBMR RIM program for passive metallic piping components uses a leak-before-break philosophy. A Markov model developed for use in LWR risk-informed in-service inspection evaluations was applied to investigate the impact of alternative RIM strategies and plant age assumptions on the pipe rupture frequencies as a function of rupture size. Some key results of this investigation are presented in this paper. (authors)

A survey on exploring key performance indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Badawy

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Key Performance Indicators (KPIs allows gathering knowledge and exploring the best way to achieve organization goals. Many researchers have provided different ideas for determining KPI's either manually, and semi-automatic, or automatic which is applied in different fields. This work concentrates on providing a survey of different approaches for exploring and predicting key performance indicators (KPIs.

Key factors influencing adoption of an innovation in primary health care: a qualitative study based on implementation theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlfjord Siw

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap in health care is an important issue that has gained interest in recent years. Implementing new methods, guidelines or tools into routine care, however, is a slow and unpredictable process, and the factors that play a role in the change process are not yet fully understood. There is a number of theories concerned with factors predicting successful implementation in various settings, however, this issue is insufficiently studied in primary health care (PHC. The objective of this article was to apply implementation theory to identify key factors influencing the adoption of an innovation being introduced in PHC in Sweden. Methods A qualitative study was carried out with staff at six PHC units in Sweden where a computer-based test for lifestyle intervention had been implemented. Two different implementation strategies, implicit or explicit, were used. Sixteen focus group interviews and two individual interviews were performed. In the analysis a theoretical framework based on studies of implementation in health service organizations, was applied to identify key factors influencing adoption. Results The theoretical framework proved to be relevant for studies in PHC. Adoption was positively influenced by positive expectations at the unit, perceptions of the innovation being compatible with existing routines and perceived advantages. An explicit implementation strategy and positive opinions on change and innovation were also associated with adoption. Organizational changes and staff shortages coinciding with implementation seemed to be obstacles for the adoption process. Conclusion When implementation theory obtained from studies in other areas was applied in PHC it proved to be relevant for this particular setting. Based on our results, factors to be taken into account in the planning of the implementation of a new tool in PHC should include assessment of staff expectations, assessment of the

A comparison of WEC control strategies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilson, David G. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Bacelli, Giorgio [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Coe, Ryan Geoffrey [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Bull, Diana L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Abdelkhalik, Ossama [Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States); Korde, Umesh A. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD (United States); Robinett, Rush D. [Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)

2016-04-01

The operation of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) devices can pose many challenging problems to the Water Power Community. A key research question is how to significantly improve the performance of these WEC devices through improving the control system design. This report summarizes an effort to analyze and improve the performance of WEC through the design and implementation of control systems. Controllers were selected to span the WEC control design space with the aim of building a more comprehensive understanding of different controller capabilities and requirements. To design and evaluate these control strategies, a model scale test-bed WEC was designed for both numerical and experimental testing (see Section 1.1). Seven control strategies have been developed and applied on a numerical model of the selected WEC. This model is capable of performing at a range of levels, spanning from a fully-linear realization to varying levels of nonlinearity. The details of this model and its ongoing development are described in Section 1.2.

Marketingová strategie u vybraného produktu na příkladu společnosti DuPont

OpenAIRE

Wojnar, Michal

2009-01-01

The bachelor thesis "Marketing Strategy of a Chosen Product on The Example of DuPont" is aimed at analyzing the marketing strategy and marketing mix of the Elvaloy material which is used in paving segment. The main applied methodology is called situation analysis through which the author compares individual key markets, reviews internal and external conditions of the company and studies the competition. The main objective of the thesis is also to present diminishing differences between indust...

Student Engagement: Key to Personalized Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ferlazzo, Larry

2017-01-01

Personalized learning has the potential to greatly improve student achievement--but realistic teachers know that any instructional strategy will only be effective if students are willing to do the work. That is why Larry Ferlazzo emphasizes the importance of weaving intrinsic motivation into every personalized learning classroom. Four key elements…

Chaos control applied to heart rhythm dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borem Ferreira, Bianca, E-mail: biaborem@gmail.com [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, COPPE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.O. Box 68.503, 21.941.972 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Souza de Paula, Aline, E-mail: alinedepaula@unb.br [Universidade de Brasi' lia, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 70.910.900 Brasilia, DF (Brazil); Amorim Savi, Marcelo, E-mail: savi@mecanica.ufrj.br [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, COPPE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.O. Box 68.503, 21.941.972 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2011-08-15

Highlights: > A natural cardiac pacemaker is modeled by a modified Van der Pol oscillator. > Responses related to normal and chaotic, pathological functioning of the heart are investigated. > Chaos control methods are applied to avoid pathological behaviors of heart dynamics. > Different approaches are treated: stabilization of unstable periodic orbits and chaos suppression. - Abstract: The dynamics of cardiovascular rhythms have been widely studied due to the key aspects of the heart in the physiology of living beings. Cardiac rhythms can be either periodic or chaotic, being respectively related to normal and pathological physiological functioning. In this regard, chaos control methods may be useful to promote the stabilization of unstable periodic orbits using small perturbations. In this article, the extended time-delayed feedback control method is applied to a natural cardiac pacemaker described by a mathematical model. The model consists of a modified Van der Pol equation that reproduces the behavior of this pacemaker. Results show the ability of the chaos control strategy to control the system response performing either the stabilization of unstable periodic orbits or the suppression of chaotic response, avoiding behaviors associated with critical cardiac pathologies.

The SOBANE strategy for the management of risk, as applied to whole-body or hand-arm vibration.

Science.gov (United States)

Malchaire, J; Piette, A

2006-06-01

The objective was to develop a coherent set of methods to be used effectively in industry to prevent and manage the risks associated with exposure to vibration, by coordinating the progressive intervention of the workers, their management, the occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals and the experts. The methods were developed separately for the exposure to whole-body and hand-arm vibration. The SOBANE strategy of risk prevention includes four levels of intervention: level 1, Screening; level 2, Observation; level 3, Analysis and; level 4, Expertise. The methods making it possible to apply this strategy were developed for 14 types of risk factors. The article presents the methods specific to the prevention of the risks associated with the exposure to vibration. The strategy is similar to those published for the risks associated with exposure to noise, heat and musculoskeletal disorders. It explicitly recognizes the qualifications of the workers and their management with regard to the work situation and shares the principle that measuring the exposure of the workers is not necessarily the first step in order to improve these situations. It attempts to optimize the recourse to the competences of the OHS professionals and the experts, in order to come more rapidly, effectively and economically to practical control measures.

Applying the Creativity in Oder to Generate Innovation Projects: the Practical Case Study of a Didactic Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliana Maria dos Santos Pereira Alves

2015-08-01

Full Text Available A current challenge in teaching practice is to transform classrooms into laboratories to exchange experiences in courses whose goal is to enhance the professional skills in a practical and meaningful way. The search for improvement demonstrates that, increasingly, professionals become aware that organizations coexist in highly competitive environments, seeking to conquer more markets based on sustainable competitive advantages demanding fast responses of its employees. Considering that the process of creativity can be stimulated through the establishment of a suitable environment, this study aims to discuss the application of a didactic strategy developed for this purpose. Using the single case study methodology, it was used the technique of unstructured observation (informal or single to carry out the collection and the recording of events that occurred during the strategy application. It discusses elements such as identifying opportunities, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, seeking their relationships to understand how it is possible to motivate the generation of proposals for innovative projects in educational environments. As a result, it is presented the perceptions of teachers on the didactic strategy applied, emphasizing that a suitable environment for the development of ideas encourages the student to propose solutions for the improbabilities, creating innovative alternatives to the identified needs.

A Key to the Art of Letters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen-Rix, Robert William

2008-01-01

The article examines A. Lane's grammar A Key to the Art of Letters and its contexts. Symbolically published at the threshold to the eighteenth century, Lane presents an unusually bold plan to make English a world language. Although Lane's book holds a key position in the development of English...... that Lane is the first to use English as the basis for writing universal grammar, as part of his strategy to promote English as a universal code for learning and science...

Applying strategies from libertarian paternalism to decision making for prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening.

Science.gov (United States)

Wheeler, David C; Szymanski, Konrad M; Black, Amanda; Nelson, David E

2011-04-21

Despite the recent publication of results from two randomized clinical trials, prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer remains a controversial issue. There is lack of agreement across studies that PSA screening significantly reduces prostate cancer mortality. In spite of these facts, the widespread use of PSA testing in the United States leads to overdetection and overtreatment of clinically indolent prostate cancer, and its associated harms of incontinence and impotence. Given the inconclusive results from clinical trials and incongruent PSA screening guidelines, the decision to screen for prostate cancer with PSA testing is an uncertain one for patients and health care providers. Screening guidelines from some health organizations recommend an informed decision making (IDM) or shared decision making (SDM) approach for deciding on PSA screening. These approaches aim to empower patients to choose among the available options by making them active participants in the decision making process. By increasing involvement of patients in the clinical decision-making process, IDM/SDM places more of the responsibility for a complex decision on the patient. Research suggests, however, that patients are not well-informed of the harms and benefits associated with prostate cancer screening and are also subject to an assortment of biases, emotion, fears, and irrational thought that interferes with making an informed decision. In response, the IDM/SDM approaches can be augmented with strategies from the philosophy of libertarian paternalism (LP) to improve decision making. LP uses the insights of behavioural economics to help people better make better choices. Some of the main strategies of LP applicable to PSA decision making are a default decision rule, framing of decision aids, and timing of the decision. In this paper, we propose that applying strategies from libertarian paternalism can help with PSA screening decision-making. Our proposal to augment IDM

Key handling in wireless sensor networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Y; Newe, T

2007-01-01

With the rapid growth of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), many advanced application areas have received significant attention. However, security will be an important factor for their full adoption. Wireless sensor nodes pose unique challenges and as such traditional security protocols, used in traditional networks cannot be applied directly. Some new protocols have been published recently with the goal of providing both privacy of data and authentication of sensor nodes for WSNs. Such protocols can employ private-key and/or public key cryptographic algorithms. Public key algorithms hold the promise of simplifying the network infrastructure required to provide security services such as: privacy, authentication and non-repudiation, while symmetric algorithms require less processing power on the lower power wireless node. In this paper a selection of key establishment/agreement protocols are reviewed and they are broadly divided into two categories: group key agreement protocols and pair-wise key establishment protocols. A summary of the capabilities and security related services provided by each protocol is provided

Key handling in wireless sensor networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Y; Newe, T [Optical Fibre Sensors Research Centre, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick (Ireland)

2007-07-15

With the rapid growth of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), many advanced application areas have received significant attention. However, security will be an important factor for their full adoption. Wireless sensor nodes pose unique challenges and as such traditional security protocols, used in traditional networks cannot be applied directly. Some new protocols have been published recently with the goal of providing both privacy of data and authentication of sensor nodes for WSNs. Such protocols can employ private-key and/or public key cryptographic algorithms. Public key algorithms hold the promise of simplifying the network infrastructure required to provide security services such as: privacy, authentication and non-repudiation, while symmetric algorithms require less processing power on the lower power wireless node. In this paper a selection of key establishment/agreement protocols are reviewed and they are broadly divided into two categories: group key agreement protocols and pair-wise key establishment protocols. A summary of the capabilities and security related services provided by each protocol is provided.

Facilitating Transfer of Skills and Strategies in Occupational Therapy Practice: Practical Application of Transfer Principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Babulal, Ganesh M; Foster, Erin R; Wolf, Timothy J

2016-01-01

In Occupational Therapy (OT) practice, practitioners assume that the skills and strategies taught to clients during rehabilitation will transfer to performance and participation in everyday life. Despite transfer serving as a practice foundation, outcome studies conclude that this assumption of transfer is not occurring and it often results in decreased efficacy of rehabilitation. This paper investigated key aspects of transfer and found concepts in the psychology literature that can support transfer of skills and strategies in OT. Six key principles proposed from educational psychology can serve as a guide for practitioners to better train for transfer. In this paper, we discuss the six principles and apply concepts from psychology. Each principle is supported with examples of how they may be incorporated OT practice. If occupational therapists understand these principles and implement them in treatment, the efficacy of treatment may improve for many populations.

Key Strategies for Building Research Capacity of University Faculty Members

Science.gov (United States)

Huenneke, Laura F.; Stearns, Diane M.; Martinez, Jesse D.; Laurila, Kelly

2017-01-01

Universities are under pressure to increase external research funding, and some federal agencies offer programs to expand research capacity in certain kinds of institutions. However, conflicts within faculty roles and other aspects of university operations influence the effectiveness of particular strategies for increasing research activity. We…

Manufacturing knowledge management strategy

OpenAIRE

Shaw , Duncan; Edwards , John

2006-01-01

Abstract The study sought to understand the components of knowledge management strategy from the perspective of staff in UK manufacturing organisations. To analyse this topic we took an empirical approach and collaborated with two manufacturing organisations. Our main finding centres on the key components of a knowledge management strategy, and the relationships between it and manufacturing strategy and corporate strategy. Other findings include: the nature of knowledge in manufact...

Key Elements of Strategy in the Telecommunication Industry – Overview of Discussion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ladislav Možný

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to examine current empirical and theoretical approaches to the strategies of companies operating in the telecommunication industry and to identify important strategy elements for the telecommunication industry. These elements are systematically categorized into the overall strategic framework. Strategic elements not covered in current literature are identified as topics for future research. As the first conclusion, the article identifies the most frequent strategic element discussed in connection with the strategy in the telecommunication industry which is Market offering/Value proposition including its more detailed structure. Highly debated elements of Market offering are Price and Product and their features. On the other hand, only limited attention is paid to Resources and no attention at all is paid to Value chain in the selected articles. Thus, there is space for future research regarding strategy in telecommunications mainly in the areas of Value chain and Resources (both tangible and intangible. Even Market offering is highly debated, the strategic element Availability (sales and service channels from the Market offering/Value proposition is covered only marginally and thus it should be a subject for future research.

China's Maritime Strategy Peaceful Rise

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Horrell, Steven L

2008-01-01

.... As a result the global maritime environment will be key to this continental power's continued growth As a subset of maritime strategy China's naval strategy and accompanying People's Liberation Army...

Talent Management: Working lines and key processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alvaro Alonso

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Talent management represents today a challenge for companies, since the contribution of value comes increasingly from the area of intangible capital. The current paradigm of expanding technology and competitive dynamics, makes talent management that companies realize a critical success factor in today's markets. However, there is no generally accepted theoretical framework and empirical studies sufficient to demonstrate the role of talent management in creating competitive advantage. Therefore, the first objective of this paper is to analyze the evolution of talent management, to understand more deeply their fundamental dimensions: people and key positions in the organization. From these dimensions, as a second objective of the research is proposed to classify and characterize the literature about four alternative ways of study, according to the treatment they receive such dimensions and thus improve understanding of the role of talent management in business strategyDesign/methodology: To develop this paper we have selected the major contributions to the field of talent management, with particular emphasis on certain meta-analysis very quoted by the scientific community (Lewis and Heckman, 2006; Mellahi and Collings, 2009; Tarique and Schuler, 2010. In addition we have select additional papers published in high impact journals seen in ABI/Inform, Science Direct, SCOPUS, and EBSCO (Business Source Complete, through the keywords "Gestion del talento", "Plan de Gestion del Talento" and "Modelo de Gestion de Talento" and its English equivalent "Talent Management ", "Talent Management Plans/Systems" and "Talent Management Framework/Model ".Findings: From this review, we extracted the existence of different ways of understanding and talent management apply in organizations and even different understandings of what is talent itself. For this, we describe the basic dimensions of talent management (people and key positions and four alternative

Key Nutritional Strategies to Optimize Performance in Para Athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Scaramella, Jacque; Kirihennedige, Nuwanee; Broad, Elizabeth

2018-05-01

Para athletes are a high-risk population for inadequate dietary intake leading to insufficiencies in nutrients important to athletic performance. This is partly due to minimal support and resources, especially in sport nutrition education, combined with limited prior nutrition knowledge and risks associated with different impairment types. Inadequate energy, carbohydrate, protein, iron, and vitamin D status are of particular concern in Para athletes. Assessment of these key nutrients, along with sport nutrition education, is needed to empower Para athletes with the knowledge to understand their individual nutrition needs and maximize athletic performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Marketing strategy: a key leverage point for dietitians.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, T G; Brooks, B J

1981-09-01

The time is right for planned change in the profession of dietetics. The concept of the nutrition support team offers the clinical dietitian a means of increasing the visibility and effectiveness of dietetic services. Dietitians must take advantage of the renewed interest in nutrition and intervene assertively to improve nutritional care through role expansion. By focusing on a systematic marketing strategy to expand their current role, dietitians can become proactive participants in role change, rather than reactive victims to changes dictated by others. When goals, objectives, and plans are made explicit, definite progress toward desired role changes can be recognized. This case study demonstrates that this change in role is possible within the present state of health case systems and that physicians are willing and even eager to allow dietitians to assume a high degree of responsibility for nutritional care.

Implementation of a reimbursed medication review program: Corporate and pharmacy level strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKeigan, Linda D; Ijaz, Nadine; Bojarski, Elizabeth A; Dolovich, Lisa

In 2006, the Ontario drug plan greatly reduced community pharmacy reimbursement for generic drugs. In exchange, a fee-for-service medication review program was introduced to help patients better understand their medication therapy and ensure that medications were taken as prescribed. A qualitative study of community pharmacy implementation strategies was undertaken to inform a mixed methods evaluation of the program. To describe strategies used by community pharmacies to implement a government-funded medication review service. Key informant interviews were conducted with pharmacy corporate executives and managers, as well as independent pharmacy owners. All pharmacy corporations in the province were approached; owners were purposively sampled from the registry of the pharmacist licensing body to obtain diversity in pharmacy attributes; and pharmacy managers were identified through a mix of snowball and registry sampling. Thematic qualitative coding and analysis were applied to interview transcripts. 42 key informants, including 14 executives, 15 managers/franchisees, and 11 owners, participated. The most common implementation strategy was software adaptation to flag eligible patients and to document the service. Human resource management (task shifting to technicians and increasing the technician complement), staff training, and patient identification and recruitment processes were widely mentioned. Motivational strategies including service targets and financial incentives were less frequent but controversial. Strategies typically unfolded over time, and became multifaceted. Apart from the use of targets in chain pharmacies only, strategies were similar across pharmacy ownership types. Ontario community pharmacies appeared to have done little preplanning of implementation strategies. Strategies focused on service efficiency and quantity, rather than quality. Unlike other jurisdictions, many managers supported the use of targets as motivators, and very few reported

Unconditional security of quantum key distribution and the uncertainty principle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koashi, Masato

2006-01-01

An approach to the unconditional security of quantum key distribution protocols is presented, which is based on the uncertainty principle. The approach applies to every case that has been treated via the argument by Shor and Preskill, but it is not necessary to find quantum error correcting codes. It can also treat the cases with uncharacterized apparatuses. The proof can be applied to cases where the secret key rate is larger than the distillable entanglement

Human Resources Key Performance Indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabčanová Iveta

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The article brings out a proposed strategy map and respective key performance indicators (KPIs in human resources (HR. The article provides an overview of how HR activities are supported in order to reach the partial goals of HR as defined in the strategic map. Overall the aim of the paper is to show the possibilities of using the modern Balanced Scorecard method in human capital.

Five types of organizational strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steensen, Elmer Fly

2014-01-01

Models in the strategy field defining the strategy concept emphasize schools of thought or strategy perspectives, but not how to define the idiosyncratic composition of an organization’s strategy content. Based on a literature review in which meanings have been attached to the concept, this paper...... presents a new model including five types of organizational strategy. The model emphasizes that key influencers may make heterogeneous contributions to an organization’s strategy and also that significant effects may result from interaction between types of strategy....

Control strategy of hydraulic/electric synergy system in heavy hybrid vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun Hui; Yang Lifu; Junqing Jing; Yanling Luo [Jiangsu Xuzhou Construction Machinery Research Institute, Jiangsu (China)

2011-01-15

Energy consumption and exhaust emissions of hybrid vehicles strongly depend on the energy storage source and the applied control strategy. Heavy vehicles have the characteristics of frequent starts/stops and significant amounts of braking energy, which needs to find a more efficient way to store and use the high power flow. A novel parallel hybrid vehicles configuration consisting of hydraulic/electric synergy system is proposed to overcome the existing drawbacks of single energy storage source in heavy hybrid vehicles. A control strategy combining a logic threshold approach and key parameters optimization algorithm is developed to achieve acceptable vehicle performance while simultaneously maximizing engine fuel economy and maintaining the battery state of charge in its rational operation range at all times. The experimental and simulation results illustrate the potential of the proposed control strategy in terms of fuel economy and in keeping the deviations of SOC at high efficiency range. (author)

Control strategy of hydraulic/electric synergy system in heavy hybrid vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Hui; Yang Lifu; Jing Junqing; Luo Yanling

2011-01-01

Energy consumption and exhaust emissions of hybrid vehicles strongly depend on the energy storage source and the applied control strategy. Heavy vehicles have the characteristics of frequent starts/stops and significant amounts of braking energy, which needs to find a more efficient way to store and use the high power flow. A novel parallel hybrid vehicles configuration consisting of hydraulic/electric synergy system is proposed to overcome the existing drawbacks of single energy storage source in heavy hybrid vehicles. A control strategy combining a logic threshold approach and key parameters optimization algorithm is developed to achieve acceptable vehicle performance while simultaneously maximizing engine fuel economy and maintaining the battery state of charge in its rational operation range at all times. The experimental and simulation results illustrate the potential of the proposed control strategy in terms of fuel economy and in keeping the deviations of SOC at high efficiency range.

Six key elements' analysis of FAC effective management in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong Zhaojiang; Chen Hanming

2010-01-01

Corporate Commitment, Analysis, Operating Experience, Inspection, Training and Engineering Judgment, Long-Term Strategy are the six key elements of FAC effective management in nuclear power plant. Corporate commitment is the economy base of FAC management and ensure of management system, Analysis is the method of FAC's optimization and consummation, Operating experience is the reference and complementarity of FAC, Inspection is the base of accumulating FAC data, Training and engineering judgment is the technical complementarity and deepening, Long-term strategy is successful key of FAC management. Six key elements supplement each other, and make up of a full system of FAC effective management. For present FAC management in our national nuclear power plant, six key elements are the core and bring out the best in each other to found the FAC effective management system and prevent great FAC occurrence. (authors)

Limited communication capacity unveils strategies for human interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Miritello, Giovanna; Lara, Rubén; Cebrian, Manuel; Moro, Esteban

2013-06-01

Connectivity is the key process that characterizes the structural and functional properties of social networks. However, the bursty activity of dyadic interactions may hinder the discrimination of inactive ties from large interevent times in active ones. We develop a principled method to detect tie de-activation and apply it to a large longitudinal, cross-sectional communication dataset (~19 months, ~20 million people). Contrary to the perception of ever-growing connectivity, we observe that individuals exhibit a finite communication capacity, which limits the number of ties they can maintain active in time. On average men display higher capacity than women, and this capacity decreases for both genders over their lifespan. Separating communication capacity from activity reveals a diverse range of tie activation strategies, from stable to exploratory. This allows us to draw novel relationships between individual strategies for human interaction and the evolution of social networks at global scale.

Effective Fragmentation and Flyrock Control Strategies at Quarries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sedat Esen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the effective fragmentation and flyrock control strategies that could be applied at quarries to improve the productivity and safety. Fragmentation measurement and modelling as well as a comprehensive drill and blast audit are essential for improving the fragmentation. Face profiling and bore tracking are good tools to manage the ―as-designed‖ and ―as-drilled‖ conditions to get reasonable fragmentation from face burden zone and minimise the flyrock risk. In general, a large scatter in fragmentation data was observed at sites and the causes should be analysed by a detailed root-cause analysis technique. Two case studies were presented in this paper showing some of the effective fragmentation strategies. Finally, a flyrock model was shown to determine the safe blast exclusion zone for the mining equipment and personnel. Some key guidelines were suggested to minimise the occurrence of the flyrock.

Neural Network-Based State Estimation for a Closed-Loop Control Strategy Applied to a Fed-Batch Bioreactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Rómoli

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The lack of online information on some bioprocess variables and the presence of model and parametric uncertainties pose significant challenges to the design of efficient closed-loop control strategies. To address this issue, this work proposes an online state estimator based on a Radial Basis Function (RBF neural network that operates in closed loop together with a control law derived on a linear algebra-based design strategy. The proposed methodology is applied to a class of nonlinear systems with three types of uncertainties: (i time-varying parameters, (ii uncertain nonlinearities, and (iii unmodeled dynamics. To reduce the effect of uncertainties on the bioreactor, some integrators of the tracking error are introduced, which in turn allow the derivation of the proper control actions. This new control scheme guarantees that all signals are uniformly and ultimately bounded, and the tracking error converges to small values. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated on the basis of simulated experiments on a fed-batch bioreactor, and its performance is compared with two controllers available in the literature.

Towards resilient cities. Comparing approaches/strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Colucci

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The term “resilience” is used in many disciplines with different meanings. We will adopt the ecological concept of resilience, which epitomises the capacity of a system to adapt itself in response to the action of a force, achieving a state of equilibrium different from the original (White, 2011. Since the end of the last century, with a significant increase over the last few years, resilience has featured as key concept in many technical, political papers and documents, and appears in many researches. Of all this recent and varied range of literature, our focus is on those texts that combine resilience with strategies, processes and models for resilient cities, communities and regions. Starting from the resilience strategies developed as response for risks mitigation, the paper thus explores other approaches and experiences on cities resilience that have been conducted: the aim is to compare and identify innovation in the planning process towards risks mitigation. In this paper we present a summary of the initial survey stage of our research, with three main aims: understanding the approaches to resilience developed so far and identifying which aspects these approaches share (or not;understanding which strategies are being proposed for resilient regions, cities or social-ecological systems;understanding whether proposed resilience strategies involve innovations in urban and regional development disciplines. The aim is to understand whether the proposed concept of resilience, or rather strategies, constitute progress and contribute to innovation in the areas of urban planning and design in relation to risk mitigation. Three main families of literature have been identified from the recent literature promoting resilience as a key strategy. The first aim of the research is to understand which particular concept and which aspects of resilience are used, which resilience strategies are proposed, how the term ‘city’ is defined and interpreted

Evaluating HIV prevention strategies for populations in key affected groups: The example of Cabo Verde

Science.gov (United States)

Monteiro, João Filipe G.; Galea, Sandro; Flanigan, Timothy; Monteiro, Maria de Lourdes; Friedman, Samuel R.; Marshall, Brandon DL

2015-01-01

Objectives We used an individual-based model to evaluate the effects of hypothetical prevention interventions on HIV incidence trajectories in a concentrated, mixed epidemic setting from 2011 to 2021, and using Cabo Verde as an example. Methods Simulations were conducted to evaluate the extent to which early HIV treatment and optimization of care, HIV testing, condom distribution, and substance abuse treatment could eliminate new infections (i.e., reduce incidence to less than 10 cases per 10,000 person-years) among non-drug users, female sex workers (FSW), and people who use drugs (PWUD). Results Scaling up all four interventions resulted in the largest decreases in HIV, with estimates ranging from 1.4 (95%CI:1.36–1.44) per 10,000 person-years among non-drug users to 8.2 (95%CI:7.8–8.6) per 10,000 person-years among PWUD in 2021. Intervention scenarios targeting FWS and PWUD also resulted in HIV incidence estimates at or below 10 per 10,000 person-years by 2021 for all population sub-groups. Conclusions Our results suggest that scaling up multiple interventions among entire population is necessary to achieve elimination. However, prioritizing key populations with this combination prevention strategy may also result in a substantial decrease in total incidence. PMID:25838121

Evaluating HIV prevention strategies for populations in key affected groups: the example of Cabo Verde.

Science.gov (United States)

Monteiro, João Filipe G; Galea, Sandro; Flanigan, Timothy; Monteiro, Maria de Lourdes; Friedman, Samuel R; Marshall, Brandon D L

2015-05-01

We used an individual-based model to evaluate the effects of hypothetical prevention interventions on HIV incidence trajectories in a concentrated, mixed epidemic setting from 2011 to 2021, and using Cabo Verde as an example. Simulations were conducted to evaluate the extent to which early HIV treatment and optimization of care, HIV testing, condom distribution, and substance abuse treatment could eliminate new infections (i.e., reduce incidence to less than 10 cases per 10,000 person-years) among non-drug users, female sex workers (FSW), and people who use drugs (PWUD). Scaling up all four interventions resulted in the largest decreases in HIV, with estimates ranging from 1.4 (95 % CI 1.36-1.44) per 10,000 person-years among non-drug users to 8.2 (95 % CI 7.8-8.6) per 10,000 person-years among PWUD in 2021. Intervention scenarios prioritizing FWS and PWUD also resulted in HIV incidence estimates at or below 10 per 10,000 person-years by 2021 for all population sub-groups. Our results suggest that scaling up multiple interventions among entire population is necessary to achieve elimination. However, prioritizing key populations with this combination prevention strategy may also result in a substantial decrease in total incidence.

Finite-key analysis for quantum key distribution with weak coherent pulses based on Bernoulli sampling

Science.gov (United States)

Kawakami, Shun; Sasaki, Toshihiko; Koashi, Masato

2017-07-01

An essential step in quantum key distribution is the estimation of parameters related to the leaked amount of information, which is usually done by sampling of the communication data. When the data size is finite, the final key rate depends on how the estimation process handles statistical fluctuations. Many of the present security analyses are based on the method with simple random sampling, where hypergeometric distribution or its known bounds are used for the estimation. Here we propose a concise method based on Bernoulli sampling, which is related to binomial distribution. Our method is suitable for the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) protocol with weak coherent pulses [C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computers, Systems and Signal Processing (IEEE, New York, 1984), Vol. 175], reducing the number of estimated parameters to achieve a higher key generation rate compared to the method with simple random sampling. We also apply the method to prove the security of the differential-quadrature-phase-shift (DQPS) protocol in the finite-key regime. The result indicates that the advantage of the DQPS protocol over the phase-encoding BB84 protocol in terms of the key rate, which was previously confirmed in the asymptotic regime, persists in the finite-key regime.

Cost Control Strategies for Zero Energy Buildings: High-Performance Design and Construction on a Budget (Brochure)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2014-09-01

There is mounting evidence that zero energy can, in many cases, be achieved within typical construction budgets. To ensure that the momentum behind zero energy buildings and other low-energy buildings will continue to grow, this guide assembles recommendations for replicating specific successes of early adopters who have met their energy goals while controlling costs. Contents include: discussion of recommended cost control strategies, which are grouped by project phase (acquisition and delivery, design, and construction) and accompanied by industry examples; recommendations for balancing key decision-making factors; and quick reference tables that can help teams apply strategies to specific projects.

Connectivity strategies for higher-order neural networks applied to pattern recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Reid, Max B.

1990-01-01

Different strategies for non-fully connected HONNs (higher-order neural networks) are discussed, showing that by using such strategies an input field of 128 x 128 pixels can be attained while still achieving in-plane rotation and translation-invariant recognition. These techniques allow HONNs to be used with the larger input scenes required for practical pattern-recognition applications. The number of interconnections that must be stored has been reduced by a factor of approximately 200,000 in a T/C case and about 2000 in a Space Shuttle/F-18 case by using regional connectivity. Third-order networks have been simulated using several connection strategies. The method found to work best is regional connectivity. The main advantages of this strategy are the following: (1) it considers features of various scales within the image and thus gets a better sample of what the image looks like; (2) it is invariant to shape-preserving geometric transformations, such as translation and rotation; (3) the connections are predetermined so that no extra computations are necessary during run time; and (4) it does not require any extra storage for recording which connections were formed.

Introduction: Experimental Green Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peters, Terri

2011-01-01

Defining new ways in which archietcts are responding to the challenge of creating sustainable architecture , Experimental Green Strategies present a state of the art in applied ecological architectural research.......Defining new ways in which archietcts are responding to the challenge of creating sustainable architecture , Experimental Green Strategies present a state of the art in applied ecological architectural research....

Problems in the strategy implementation process in croatian companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomislav Radoš

2011-07-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an analysis of the problems in the strategy implementation process in Croatian companies based on the research conducted in Croatian companies in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. Research results show that problems in the strategy implementation process occur with equal intensity, regardless of the company’s characteristics (size, age and life cycle of the industry. The key problems in the implementation process are: poor communication (information exchange between employees and organizational units responsible for the strategy implementation process, non-adjustment of organizational structure to suit the defined strategy, lack of clear definition of key tasks and activities of all participants in the implementation process, inadequate information system of control over the process of strategy implementation, lack of clearly defined operational plans and directions for strategy implementation, and lack of clearly defined responsibilities and authorities of key employees.

Key Lake human resources and northern business initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dudar, R.; McIntyre, J.; McInnes, B.P.

1994-01-01

The Key Lake Operation is committed to a policy of maximizing Saskatchewan, and particularly northern Saskatchewan, employment and business opportunities. The participation rate of northern people in the Key Lake operation's workforce has risen from 23.8% in 1983, to 42% today. Cameco's objective is to achieve 50% representation of residents of Saskatchewan's north in the Key Lake workforce by 1995. The company also extends this strategic objective to contractors. All contractors are required to maximize employment opportunities for residents of Saskatchewan's north, and report employment levels to the company as a condition of the contract. Today, contractors at the Key Lake site have achieved a northern participation rate of 47%. This paper highlights strategies for increasing northern/aboriginal participation and provides several examples of successes from these initiatives. (author)

Authentication for Bulk Data Dissemination in Sensor Networks Using Symmetric Keys

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wang, Limin; Kulkarni, Sandeep

2007-01-01

.... Our protocol uses the secret instantiation algorithm for distributing the keys. We apply the symmetric key signatures at the segment/group level and use hashed verification at the packet level...

Knowledge translation for nephrologists: strategies for improving the identification of patients with proteinuria.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmelgarn, Brenda R; Manns, Braden J; Straus, Sharon; Naugler, Christopher; Holroyd-Leduc, Jayna; Braun, Ted C; Levin, Adeera; Klarenbach, Scott; Lee, Patrick F; Hafez, Kevin; Schwartz, Daniel; Jindal, Kailash; Ervin, Kathy; Bello, Aminu; Turin, Tanvir Chowdhury; McBrien, Kerry; Elliott, Meghan; Tonelli, Marcello

2012-01-01

For health scientists, knowledge translation refers to the process of facilitating uptake of knowledge into clinical practice or decision making. Since high-quality clinical research that is not applied cannot improve outcomes, knowledge translation is critical for realizing the value and potential for all types of health research. Knowledge translation is particularly relevant for areas within health care where gaps in care are known to exist, which is the case for some areas of management for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), including assessment of proteinuria. Given that proteinuria is a key marker of cardiovascular and renal risk, forthcoming international practice guidelines will recommend including proteinuria within staging systems for CKD. While this revised staging system will facilitate identification of patients at higher risk for progression of CKD and mortality who benefit from intervention, strategies to ensure its appropriate uptake will be particularly important. This article describes key elements of effective knowledge translation strategies based on the knowledge-to-action cycle framework and describes options for effective knowledge translation interventions related to the new CKD guidelines, focusing on recommendations related to assessment for proteinuria specifically. The article also presents findings from a multidisciplinary meeting aimed at developing knowledge translation intervention strategies, with input from key stakeholders (researchers, knowledge users, decision makers and collaborators), to facilitate implementation of this guideline. These considerations are relevant for dissemination and implementation of guidelines on other topics and in other clinical settings.

Implementing acquisition strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montgomery, G. K.

1997-01-01

The objective of this paper is to address some of the strategies necessary to effect a successful asset or corporate acquisition. Understanding the corporate objective, the full potential of the asset, the specific strategies to be employed, the value of time, and most importantly the interaction of all these are crucial, for missed steps are likely to result in missed opportunities. The amount of factual information that can be obtained and utilized in a timely fashion is the largest single hurdle to the capture of value in the asset or corporate acquisition. Fact, familiarity and experience are key in this context. The importance of the due diligence process prior to title or data transfer cannot be overemphasized. Some of the most important assets acquired in a merger may be the people. To maximize effectiveness, it is essential to merge both existing staff and those that came with the new acquisition as soon as possible. By thinking together as a unit, knowledge and experience can be applied to realize the potential of the asset. Hence team building is one of the challenges, doing it quickly is usually the most effective. Developing new directions for the new enlarged company by combining the strengths of the old and the new creates more value, as well as a more efficient operation. Equally important to maximizing the potential of the new acquisition is the maintenance of the momentum generated by the need to grow that gave the impetus to acquiring new assets in the first place. In brief, the right mix of vision, facts and perceptions, quick enactment of the post-close strategies and keeping the momentum alive, are the principal ingredients of a focused strategy

Applying Product Configuration Systems in Engineering Companies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ladeby, Klaes Rohde

This Ph.D. thesis looks into the application of configuration systems in engineering companies, and how configuration systems can be used to support business processes in engineering companies. Often the motivation stated by researchers and practitioners is, that a configuration project...... and sustain competitive advantage” (Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997, pp.509) This question has puzzled academics and preoccupied managers for the last century. Yet, it seems there is still no consensus regarding the meaning of strategy, and how strategy works. Type in the word “strategy” on Amazon.co.uk and 76......,133 books apply. Type it in on Google scholar and 8,580,000 homepages apply3. Obviously, strategy is an important subject. However, the subject also seems to be difficult to perceive. Although this thesis is not about strategy, or strategizing, I would like to pursue the definition of strategy one step...

Reviewing Clinical Effectiveness of Active Training Strategies of Platform-Based Ankle Rehabilitation Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangfeng Zeng

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. This review aims to provide a systematical investigation of clinical effectiveness of active training strategies applied in platform-based ankle robots. Method. English-language studies published from Jan 1980 to Aug 2017 were searched from four databases using key words of “Ankle∗” AND “Robot∗” AND “Effect∗ OR Improv∗ OR Increas∗.” Following an initial screening, three rounds of discrimination were successively conducted based on the title, the abstract, and the full paper. Result. A total of 21 studies were selected with 311 patients involved; of them, 13 studies applied a single group while another eight studies used different groups for comparison to verify the therapeutic effect. Virtual-reality (VR game training was applied in 19 studies, while two studies used proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF training. Conclusion. Active training techniques delivered by platform ankle rehabilitation robots have been demonstrated with great potential for clinical applications. Training strategies are mostly combined with one another by considering rehabilitation schemes and motion ability of ankle joints. VR game environment has been commonly used with active ankle training. Bioelectrical signals integrated with VR game training can implement intelligent identification of movement intention and assessment. These further provide the foundation for advanced interactive training strategies that can lead to enhanced training safety and confidence for patients and better treatment efficacy.

Challenges for strengthening the health workforce in the Lao People's Democratic Republic: perspectives from key stakeholders.

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yi; Yan, Fei; Wang, Wei; Clancy, Shayna; Akkhavong, Kongsap; Vonglokham, Manithong; Outhensackda, Somphou; Østbye, Truls

2016-11-29

The Lao People's Democratic Republic is facing a critical shortage and maldistribution of health workers. Strengthening of the health workforce has been adopted as one of the five priorities of the National Health Sector Strategy (2013-2025). This study aims to identify, explore, and better understand the key challenges for strengthening the Laotian health workforce. This study applied exploratory and descriptive qualitative methods and adapted a working life-span framework. Twenty-three key stakeholders with particular insights into the current situation of the health workforce were purposively recruited for in-depth interviews. Important policy documents were also collected from key informants during the interviews. Thematic analysis was employed for the textual data using MAXQDA 10. The overarching problem is that there is a perceived severe shortage of skilled health workers (doctors, nurses, and midwives) and lab technicians, especially in primary health facilities and rural areas. Key informants also identified five problems: insufficient production of health workers both in quantity and quality, a limited national budget to recruit enough health staff and provide sufficient and equitable salaries and incentives, limited management capacity, poor recruitment for work in rural areas, and lack of well-designed continuing education programs for professional development. These problems are interrelated, both in how the issues arise and in the effect they have on one another. To improve the distribution of health workers in rural areas, strategies for increasing production and strengthening retention should be well integrated for better effectiveness. It is also essential to take the Laotian-specific context into consideration during intervention development and implementation. Furthermore, the government should acknowledge the inadequate health management capacity and invest to improve human resource management capacity at all levels. Finally, assessment of

Architectural Building A Public Key Infrastructure Integrated Information Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vadim Ivanovich Korolev

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The article keeps under consideration the mattersto apply the cryptographic system having a public key to provide information security and to implya digital signature. It performs the analysis of trust models at the formation of certificates and their use. The article describes the relationships between the trust model and the architecture public key infrastructure. It contains conclusions in respect of the options for building the public key infrastructure for integrated informationspace.

The Integration of Corporate Non-Market and Market Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xie, Peihong; Li, Xin; Xie, Xuemei

2014-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to systematically examine the key notion of integration of non-market and market strategies in the increasingly popular study of corporate non-market strategies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a brief literature review of the non-market strategy (NMS...... explore how to seamlessly coordinate non-market and market strategies in order to gain maximal synergies. Originality/value: This paper is the first to examine the key notion of integration in a systematic manner. It is the first to propose a three-question solution to systematic understanding......) research that shows the existing literature does not offer a clear and systematic account of the key notion of integration. It suggests any systematic account of integration should address at least three interrelated questions, i.e. why, what and how to integrate non-market and market strategies? Findings...

Developments in life cycle assessment applied to evaluate the environmental performance of construction and demolition wastes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bovea, M D; Powell, J C

2016-04-01

This paper provides a review of the literature that applies the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to the assessment of the environmental performance of the life cycle of construction and demolition waste (CDW) management systems. This article is focused on generating a general mapping of the literature and on identifying the best practices in compliance with LCA framework and proposing directions for future LCA studies in this field. The temporal evolution of the research in this field and the aim of the studies have grown in parallel with the legal framework related to waste and energy efficiency of buildings. Most studies have been published in Europe, followed by USA. Asia and Australia, being at an incipient application stage to the rest of the world. Topics related to "LCA of buildings, including their EoL" and "LCA of general CDW management strategies" are the most frequently analysed, followed by "LCA of EoL of construction elements" and "LCA of natural material vs recycled material". Regarding the strategies, recycling off-site and incineration, both combined with landfill for the rejected fractions, are the most commonly applied. Re-use or recycling on-site is the strategy least applied. The key aspect when LCA is applied to evaluate CDW management systems is the need to normalise which processes to include in the system boundary and the functional unit, the use of inventory data adapted to the context of the case study and the definition of a common set of appropriate impact assessment categories. Also, it is important to obtain results disaggregated by unit processes. This will allow the comparison between case studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Concise review: bridging the gap: bone regeneration using skeletal stem cell-based strategies-where are we now?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dawson, Jonathan I; Kanczler, Janos; Kassem, Moustapha

2014-01-01

Skeletal stem cells confer to bone its innate capacity for regeneration and repair. Bone regeneration strategies seek to harness and enhance this regenerative capacity for the replacement of tissue damaged or lost through congenital defects, trauma, functional/esthetic problems, and a broad range...... for musculoskeletal regeneration. Stem Cells 2014;32:35-44...... of diseases associated with an increasingly aged population. This review describes the state of the field and current steps to translate and apply skeletal stem cell biology in the clinic and the problems therein. Challenges are described along with key strategies including the isolation and ex vivo expansion...

Improving Students' Science Text Comprehension through Metacognitive Self-Regulation When Applying Learning Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Leopold, Claudia; Leutner, Detlev

2015-01-01

In three experiments, students were trained to use strategies for learning from scientific texts: text highlighting (Experiment 1), knowledge mapping (Experiment 2), and visualizing (Experiment 3). Each experiment compared a control condition, cognitive strategy training, and a combined cognitive strategy plus metacognitive self-regulation…

Scaffolding as a key role for teaching assistants: Perceptions of their pedagogical strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowles, David; Radford, Julie; Bakopoulou, Ioanna

2017-11-19

Inclusive education policies have led to a worldwide increase in the number of teaching assistants (TAs) working in mainstream schools. TAs have a large amount of responsibility for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a role which by default has become instructional in practice, and for which training and preparation are rarely adequate. While there is some research into the nature of TAs' interactions with pupils and the strategies they use which are helpful for children's learning, TAs' perspectives on their own classroom practice have yet to be explored. To explore TAs' perceptions about their use of inclusive pedagogical strategies. The study involved eleven TAs in two mainstream primary schools. The TAs were interviewed face to face to explore their views about inclusive pedagogical strategies. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. TAs were clear about the strategies they use to offer emotional and relational support to children. There were some gaps, however, in their knowledge about how children learn, specifically in terms of transferring responsibility for learning onto children. The study advances understanding of scaffolding from a TA perspective and highlights the importance of training TAs in scaffolding theory. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Applying theories to better understand socio-political challenges in implementing evidence-based work disability prevention strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ståhl, Christian; Costa-Black, Katia; Loisel, Patrick

2018-04-01

This article explores and applies theories for analyzing socio-political aspects of implementation of work disability prevention (WDP) strategies. For the analysis, theories from political science are explained and discussed in relation to case examples from three jurisdictions (Sweden, Brazil and Québec). Implementation of WDP strategies may be studied through a conceptual framework that targets: (1) the institutional system in which policy-makers and other stakeholders reside; (2) the ambiguity and conflicts regarding what to do and how to do it; (3) the bounded rationality, path dependency and social systems of different stakeholders; and (4) coalitions formed by different stakeholders and power relations between them. In the case examples, the design of social insurance systems, the access to and infrastructure of healthcare systems, labor market policies, employers' level of responsibility, the regulatory environment, and the general knowledge of WDP issues among stakeholders played different roles in the implementation of policies based on scientific evidence. Future research may involve participatory approaches focusing on building coalitions and communities of practice with policy-makers and stakeholders, in order to build trust, facilitate cooperation, and to better promote evidence utilization. Implications for Rehabilitation Implementation of work disability prevention policies are subject to contextual influences from the socio-political setting and from relationships between stakeholders Stakeholders involved in implementing strategies are bound to act based on their interests and previous courses of action To promote research uptake on the policy level, stakeholders and researchers need to engage in collaboration and translational activities Political stakeholders at the government and community levels need to be more directly involved as partners in the production and utilization of evidence.

Multi-objective optimization of the control strategy of electric vehicle electro-hydraulic composite braking system with genetic algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Fengjiao

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Optimization of the control strategy plays an important role in improving the performance of electric vehicles. In order to improve the braking stability and recover the braking energy, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is applied to optimize the key parameters in the control strategy of electric vehicle electro-hydraulic composite braking system. Various limitations are considered in the optimization process, and the optimization results are verified by a software simulation platform of electric vehicle regenerative braking system in typical brake conditions. The results show that optimization objectives achieved a good astringency, and the optimized control strategy can increase the brake energy recovery effectively under the condition of ensuring the braking stability.

The Applied Behavior Analysis Research Paradigm and Single-Subject Designs in Adapted Physical Activity Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Haegele, Justin A; Hodge, Samuel Russell

2015-10-01

There are basic philosophical and paradigmatic assumptions that guide scholarly research endeavors, including the methods used and the types of questions asked. Through this article, kinesiology faculty and students with interests in adapted physical activity are encouraged to understand the basic assumptions of applied behavior analysis (ABA) methodology for conducting, analyzing, and presenting research of high quality in this paradigm. The purposes of this viewpoint paper are to present information fundamental to understanding the assumptions undergirding research methodology in ABA, describe key aspects of single-subject research designs, and discuss common research designs and data-analysis strategies used in single-subject studies.

Enhancing chronic disease management: a review of key issues and strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Willison, Kevin D; Williams, Paul; Andrews, Gavin J

2007-11-01

This paper highlights three selected issues and potential strategies towards meeting chronic disease management needs. First, the orientation of the biomedical science model often gives insufficient attention to chronic health care needs. A second issue is that the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may offer for some an opportunity to enhance their chronic disease management efforts. A third issue is that our understanding of this potential is limited, as many who use CAM do not disclose such use. With reference to proposed solutions/strategies, first, an improved focus to respect patient/client values and goals may encourage people to disclose their use of CAM. Second, a community-based participatory approach shows promise in enhancing communication plus helps integrate CAM within new models of chronic disease management. Lastly, those in public health could help facilitate such an approach plus be a monitor of CAM practices. Overall, this review provides a springboard for further research and practice in CAM and the management of chronic diseases.

Applied Physics Modules: Notes, Instructions, Data Sheets, Tests, and Test Answer Keys.

Science.gov (United States)

Southeast Community Coll., Lincoln, NE.

These user instructions and related materials are designed to accompany a series of twenty-three applied physics modules which have been developed for postsecondary students in electrical, electronics, machine tool, metals, manufacturing, automotive, diesel, architecture, and civil drafting occupational programs. The instructions include an…

E-commerce strategy

CERN Document Server

Qin, Zheng; Li, Shundong; Li, Fengxiang

2014-01-01

This book helps deepen understanding of key e-commerce strategies. It brings together theoretical perspectives based on academic research, integrated use of technologies and a large amount of cases, especially those of China.

Exploring the 12-Key Approach: Perceptions and Experiences of Improvising Jazz Vocalists

Science.gov (United States)

Hargreaves, Wendy

2016-01-01

The 12-key approach is considered a foundational practice strategy for jazz instrumentalists. Its relevance to vocalists, however, seems less clear. This article investigates improvising jazz vocalists' perceptions and experiences of using the 12-key approach as distinguished from instrumentalists'. It uses data from a two-phase, mixed methods…

Conceptual framework in creating and selecting the performance measurement system for marketing strategy control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić Bojan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Performance measurement in modern conditions is one of the most important business requirements since enterprises face the need to exhibit returns for stockholders and investors, but also contribution of management to those returns, as well as contribution of certain business units, functional departments and activities within them. Hence, it is particularly important to assess marketing successfulness as a business function according to return on investment in marketing activities, but also according to the set of indicators from following performance groups - marketing effectiveness and marketing efficiency. Core issue is which measures to select and use in the marketing performance measurement system of certain enterprise so that it could be able to assess how effective and efficient its marketing is. In other words, adequate performance measurement system ought to contain performance measures that will be used to monitor effects and marketing strategy implementation process (controlling while implementing, and performance measures that can be applied to overall effect monitoring after the strategy implementation period. Otherwise, creating the marketing performance measurement system is a complex task for marketing managers. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore key principles and develop conceptual framework for creating and selecting performance measurement system for marketing strategy control which is based on characteristics and key success factors of marketing strategy, that is activities and actions for its operationalizing and effective implementing.

A belief-based evolutionarily stable strategy

OpenAIRE

Deng, Xinyang; Wang, Zhen; Liu, Qi; Deng, Yong; Mahadevan, Sankaran

2014-01-01

As an equilibrium refinement of the Nash equilibrium, evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) is a key concept in evolutionary game theory and has attracted growing interest. An ESS can be either a pure strategy or a mixed strategy. Even though the randomness is allowed in mixed strategy, the selection probability of pure strategy in a mixed strategy may fluctuate due to the impact of many factors. The fluctuation can lead to more uncertainty. In this paper, such uncertainty involved in mixed st...

Strategy Instruction in Mathematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldman, Susan R.

1989-01-01

Experiments in strategy instruction for mathematics have been conducted using three models (direct instruction, self-instruction, and guided learning) applied to the tasks of computation and word problem solving. Results have implications for effective strategy instruction for learning disabled students. It is recommended that strategy instruction…

Analysis of health sector gender equality and social inclusion strategy 2009 of Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahara, G B; Dhital, S R

2014-01-01

The policy on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in health sector of Nepal is formulated in 2009 targeting toward poor, vulnerable, marginalized social and ethnic groups. Gender inequality and social discrimination are a social problem that affect on individual health finally. The main objective of this paper is to critically analysis and evaluates the Government's strategy on health sector gender equality and social inclusion in Nepal. We collected published and unpublished information assessing the public health, policy analysis and research needs from different sources. A different policy approaches for the analysis and evaluation of GESI strategies is applied in this paper. Universal education, community participation, individual, group and mass communication approaches, and social capital are the key aspects of effective implementation of policy at target levels.

Developing a Robust Strategy Map in Balanced Scorecard Model Using Scenario Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Jafari

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The key to successful strategy implementation in an organization is for people in the organization to understand it, which requires the establishment of complicated but vital processes whereby the intangible assets are converted into tangible outputs. In this regard, a strategy map is a useful tool that helps execute this difficult task. However, such maps are typically developed based on ambiguous cause-effect relationships that result from the extrapolation of past data and flawed links with possible futures. However, if the strategy map is a mere reflection of the status quo but not future conditions and does not embrace real-world uncertainties, it will endanger the organization since it posits that the current situation will continue. In order to compensate for this deficiency, the environmental scenarios affecting an organization were identified in the present study. Then the strategy map was developed in the form of a scenario-based balanced scorecard. Besides, the effect of environmental changes on the components of the strategy map was investigated using the strategy maps illustrated over time together with the corresponding cash flow vectors. Subsequently, a method was proposed to calculate the degree of robustness of every component of the strategy map for the contingency of every scenario. Finally, the results were applied to a post office.

Video Feedback in Key Word Signing Training for Preservice Direct Support Staff

Science.gov (United States)

Rombouts, Ellen; Meuris, Kristien; Maes, Bea; De Meyer, Anne-Marie; Zink, Inge

2016-01-01

Purpose: Research has demonstrated that formal training is essential for professionals to learn key word signing. Yet, the particular didactic strategies have not been studied. Therefore, this study compared the effectiveness of verbal and video feedback in a key word signing training for future direct support staff. Method: Forty-nine future…

Applied research on glucansucrases

Science.gov (United States)

Although glycansucrases have been known for over 70 years, they remain relatively unknown except to a small group of researchers. Practical, applied research on glycansucrases has been focused on certain key areas. The earliest of these was the development of blood plasma extenders from dextran, d...

Review of Impact Factors on Decommissioning Strategies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, Taesik; Jung, Hyejin; Kim, Younggook [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

This article is prepared to factor out decommissioning strategies mostly appropriate to the decommissioning Kori-1 nuclear power plant. Terms used to delineate the lifetime of an authorized facility and of the associated licensing process consists of six core stages such as siting, design, construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning. The term decommissioning implies the administrative and technical actions taken to allow the removal of some or all of the regulatory controls from a facility except for the part of a disposal facility in which the radioactive waste is emplaced. Whole range of each process of decommissioning should be considered throughout the other five stages. The decommissioning process is typically composed of its planning, conducting actions and terminating the authorization. In order to achieve the successful decommissioning, the impact factor on the strategy should be analyzed and evaluated to optimally apply to Kori-1 project. From my perspective, among eight factor, stakeholder’s consideration and spent fuel management are considered the key elements we have to concentrate on to smoothly go ahead for successful decommissioning of Kori-1.

Mapping key antecedents of employee-driven innovations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Pernille; Ulhøi, John Parm; Kesting, Peter

2012-01-01

Research on employee-driven innovation (EDI) is still in its infancy, and as yet there is no independent body of literature on the topic. The aim of this paper is to review existing insights into the key antecedents of EDI in other research contexts. In particular, we focus on: leader support......, autonomy, collaboration, and organisational norms of exploration. The main contribution of this paper is to discuss how these key antecedents apply to the specific case of EDI and to identify an agenda for new research....

ELIMINATION OF THE DISADVANTAGES OF SCHEDULING-NETWORK PLANNING BY APPLYING THE MATRIX OF KEY PROJECT EVENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morozenko Andrey Aleksandrovich

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the current disadvantages of the scheduling-network planning in the management of the terms of investment-construction project. Problems associated with the construction of the schedule and the definitions of the duration of the construction project are being studied. The problems of project management for the management apparatus are shown, which consists in the absence of mechanisms for prompt response to deviations in the parameters of the scheduling-network diagram. A new approach to planning the implementation of an investment-construction project based on a matrix of key events and a rejection of the current practice of determining the duration based on inauthentic regulatory data. An algorithm for determining the key events of the project is presented. For increase the reliability of the organizational structure, the load factor of the functional block in the process of achieving the key event is proposed. Recommendations for improving the interaction of the participants in the investment-construction project are given.

Diagnosing climate change impacts and identifying adaptation strategies by involving key stakeholder organisations and farmers in Sikkim, India: Challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Azhoni, Adani; Goyal, Manish Kumar

2018-06-01

Narrowing the gap between research, policy making and implementing adaptation remains a challenge in many parts of the world where climate change is likely to severely impact water security. This research aims to narrow this gap by matching the adaptation strategies being framed by policy makers to that of the perspectives of development agencies, researchers and farmers in the Himalayan state of Sikkim in India. Our case study examined the perspectives of various stakeholders for climate change impacts, current adaptation strategies, knowledge gaps and adaptation barriers, particularly in the context of implementing the Sikkim State Action Plan on Climate Change through semi-structured interviews carried out with decision makers in the Sikkim State Government, researchers, consultants, local academia, development agencies and farmers. Using Stakeholders Network Analysis tools, this research unravels the complexities of perceiving climate change impacts, identifying strategies, and implementing adaptation. While farmers are less aware about the global phenomenon of climate change impacts for water security, their knowledge of the local conditions and their close interaction with the State Government Agriculture Department provides them opportunities. Although important steps are being initiated through the Sikkim State Action Plan on Climate Change it is yet to deliver effective means of adaptation implementation and hence, strengthening the networks of close coordination between the various implementing agencies will pay dividends. Knowledge gaps and the need for capacity building identified in this research, based on the understandings of key stakeholders are highly relevant to both the research community and for informing policy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Password-based authenticated key exchange scheme using smart card

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hui; Zhong, Shaojun

2013-03-01

A protocol that allows any two entities to negotiate a shared session key is commonly called a key exchange protocol. If the protocol provides a function to authenticate each other, we call the protocol authenticated key exchange protocol (AKE). Password authentication key exchange (PAKE) is the AKE protocol in which the two entities share a humanmemorable password. Most of current PAKE relies on the existence of a public key infrastructure, which sometime is impossible for a certain environments such as low computational device due to the computation overhead. In this paper, we propose password-based authenticated key exchange using smart card. Compared to previous PAKE, our protocol is more efficient because our protocol is based on ECC. Thereby, the proposed protocol can be well applied to low computation device.

Developing a spinal cord injury research strategy using a structured process of evidence review and stakeholder dialogue. Part II: Background to a research strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bragge, P; Piccenna, L; Middleton, J; Williams, S; Creasey, G; Dunlop, S; Brown, D; Gruen, R

2015-10-01

Literature review/semi-structured interviews. To develop a spinal cord injury (SCI) research strategy for Australia and New Zealand. Australia. The National Trauma Research Institute Forum approach of structured evidence review and stakeholder consultation was employed. This involved gathering from published literature and stakeholder consultation the information necessary to properly consider the challenge, and synthesising this into a briefing document. A research strategy 'roadmap' was developed to define the major steps and key planning questions to consider; next, evidence from published SCI research strategy initiatives was synthesised with information from four one-on-one semi-structured interviews with key SCI research stakeholders to create a research strategy framework, articulating six key themes and associated activities for consideration. These resources, combined with a review of SCI prioritisation literature, were used to generate a list of draft principles for discussion in a structured stakeholder dialogue meeting. The research strategy roadmap and framework informed discussion at a structured stakeholder dialogue meeting of 23 participants representing key SCI research constituencies, results of which are published in a companion paper. These resources could also be of value in other research strategy or planning exercises. This project was funded by the Victorian Transport Accident Commission and the Australian and New Zealand Spinal Cord Injury Network.

Habitat Restoration as a Key Conservation Lever for Woodland Caribou: A review of restoration programs and key learnings from Alberta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Bentham

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou, Boreal Population in Canada (EC, 2012, identifies coordinated actions to reclaim woodland caribou habitat as a key step to meeting current and future caribou population objectives. Actions include restoring industrial landscape features such as roads, seismic lines, pipelines, cut-lines, and cleared areas in an effort to reduce landscape fragmentation and the changes in caribou population dynamics associated with changing predator-prey dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes. Reliance on habitat restoration as a recovery action within the federal recovery strategy is high, considering all Alberta populations have less than 65% undisturbed habitat, which is identified in the recovery strategy as a threshold providing a 60% chance that a local population will be self-sustaining. Alberta’s Provincial Woodland Caribou Policy also identifies habitat restoration as a critical component of long-term caribou habitat management. We review and discuss the history of caribou habitat restoration programs in Alberta and present outcomes and highlights of a caribou habitat restoration workshop attended by over 80 representatives from oil and gas, forestry, provincial and federal regulators, academia and consulting who have worked on restoration programs. Restoration initiatives in Alberta began in 2001 and have generally focused on construction methods, revegetation treatments, access control programs, and limiting plant species favourable to alternate prey. Specific treatments include tree planting initiatives, coarse woody debris management along linear features, and efforts for multi-company and multi-stakeholder coordinated habitat restoration on caribou range. Lessons learned from these programs have been incorporated into large scale habitat restoration projects near Grande Prairie, Cold Lake, and Fort McMurray. A key outcome of our review is the opportunity to provide a

Formulation of price strategies in the software sector: outsourcing of development and maintenance software product case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Cezar Bornia

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this article is to discuss the formulation of price strategies in the software sector. In the intention of reaching the proposed goal, strategies models of prices are introduced along with the procedure to the formulation of price strategies, composed by five stages: external and internal analyses, consolidation, positioning, price strategy formalization and market attendance. As for the methodology, the study is classified as qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, documental, of field and case study, according to the approach of Vergara (1998. In the case study, the model to the formulation of price strategies is applied in a company’s software sector, being analyzed the outsourcing of development and maintenance software product. As main contributions, it is highlighted the price procedure application that emphasizes strategic price logic and prices strategies formulations, with base in the analysis of five main factors: quality, comparison with the competition, company life cycle, product life cycle and characteristics of the segment-objective. Based on the analyzed factors, a possible strategy to be adopted considering the characteristics of the product and the company is the price strategy and superior value. Key-words: Pricing Strategies. Price Formulation. Software Enterprises.

Certificateless Key-Insulated Generalized Signcryption Scheme without Bilinear Pairings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caixue Zhou

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Generalized signcryption (GSC can be applied as an encryption scheme, a signature scheme, or a signcryption scheme with only one algorithm and one key pair. A key-insulated mechanism can resolve the private key exposure problem. To ensure the security of cloud storage, we introduce the key-insulated mechanism into GSC and propose a concrete scheme without bilinear pairings in the certificateless cryptosystem setting. We provide a formal definition and a security model of certificateless key-insulated GSC. Then, we prove that our scheme is confidential under the computational Diffie-Hellman (CDH assumption and unforgeable under the elliptic curve discrete logarithm (EC-DL assumption. Our scheme also supports both random-access key update and secure key update. Finally, we evaluate the efficiency of our scheme and demonstrate that it is highly efficient. Thus, our scheme is more suitable for users who communicate with the cloud using mobile devices.

A Sales Execution Strategy Guide for Technology Startups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian Gilbert

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The majority of startups fail to consider sales execution as part of their overall strategy. This article demonstrates how a sales execution strategy can help a company take a product or service to market more efficiently and effectively by focusing on the customers that are key to generating revenue. Combined with techniques for recruiting effectively and measuring sales outcomes, a sales execution strategy helps technology startups exceed growth aspirations and potentially reduce or even eliminate the requirement for external investment. In this article, we first describe the focus of assistance currently given to startups and the reasons why sales execution strategies are often overlooked. Next, we outline recommendations for developing, implementing, and supporting a sales execution strategy. Finally, we summarize the key points presented in the article.

The key role of extinction learning in anxiety disorders: behavioral strategies to enhance exposure-based treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittig, Andre; van den Berg, Linda; Vervliet, Bram

2016-01-01

Extinction learning is a major mechanism for fear reduction by means of exposure. Current research targets innovative strategies to enhance fear extinction and thereby optimize exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders. This selective review updates novel behavioral strategies that may provide cutting-edge clinical implications. Recent studies provide further support for two types of enhancement strategies. Procedural enhancement strategies implemented during extinction training translate to how exposure exercises may be conducted to optimize fear extinction. These strategies mostly focus on a maximized violation of dysfunctional threat expectancies and on reducing context and stimulus specificity of extinction learning. Flanking enhancement strategies target periods before and after extinction training and inform optimal preparation and post-processing of exposure exercises. These flanking strategies focus on the enhancement of learning in general, memory (re-)consolidation, and memory retrieval. Behavioral strategies to enhance fear extinction may provide powerful clinical applications to further maximize the efficacy of exposure-based interventions. However, future replications, mechanistic examinations, and translational studies are warranted to verify long-term effects and naturalistic utility. Future directions also comprise the interplay of optimized fear extinction with (avoidance) behavior and motivational antecedents of exposure.

Evaluating Executive Strategies (Management Strategies and Teaching-Learning Strategies) of Graduate Curriculum: Case Study in Isfahan University

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmanpour, Muhammad; Ahmadi, Mojtaba; Hatami, Mostafa; Mirzaee, Hamzeh

2017-01-01

The present study seeks to evaluate executive strategies in graduate Curriculum of Isfahan University from the point of view of management and teaching-learning strategies. This study is an applied survey. The population comprised BA students and faculty members of the University of Isfahan. In order to do so, 141 professors and 278 students were…

Developing a stakeholder engagement strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nixon, J.A.

2004-01-01

Shell Canada's social performance plan was outlined in this presentation. Stakeholder engagement is a key strategy in the company's response to the concerns and broader priorities of different groups and individuals affected by their operations. A review of the business and societal values of stakeholder engagement was presented. Key benefits include greater profitability; protection of the environment; effective resource management; community benefits; and the delivery of value to customers. It was suggested that a continuous engagement process helps companies to assess impacts and work on strategies to avoid and mitigate negative impacts. A framework for social performance management was presented. It was noted that accountability and transparency are key components of Shell's progress towards sustainable development, and their direct and indirect contributions to the communities and societies where they operate. The social impact of core business operations is now a focus of the company. Key concerns of the social performance plan include environmental and health impacts; land use and changes in local economies; cultural concerns; and infrastructure impacts. An outline of Shell's Listening and Responding Program was also provided. refs., tabs., figs

KEY LINES TO IMPROVE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL INNOVATIVE BUSINESSES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Yu. Reshetov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The study discusses the importance of small innovative businesses in the modern global economy. The article also deals with the key lines to improve their competitiveness, and the author makes the conclusion how spread and promising the strategies are in Russia.

Restoration of natural capital: a key strategy on the path to sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blignaut, J.N.; Aronson, J.; Groot, de R.S.

2014-01-01

Three intertwining braids or strategies to enable transition towards sustainability can be identified, namely: (i) appropriate sustainable technologies, (ii) revising behaviour including reproduction and consumption patterns, and (iii) investment in the restoration of natural capital (RNC). Less

Enhancing Reading Comprehension via Metacognitive Strategy Training: Gender and Discipline Variation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zohreh Seifoori

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of a metacognitive training program on university freshmen’s reading comprehension skill in a three-credit General English (GE Course. The participants included eight groups of freshmen, in four disciplines: Management, Psychology, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering. They were randomly assigned as four experimental and four control groups, each including approximately 30 participants. The same materials were taught to all groups after their initial homogeneity in English was assessed via Analysis of Variance of the pre-test scores obtained from a Key English Test (KET. In the experimental groups, one whole session was devoted to explicitly teaching three sets of metacognitive strategies and five reading strategies: skimming, scanning, previewing, using context clues, and making inferences. These groups also received metacognitive awareness-raising while applying the strategies in each reading lesson for six sessions. The analyses of the research data revealed that metacognitive strategy training promoted the participants’ learning when integrated with a reading-focused GE course regardless of their gender and a small effect from discipline. The findings have implications for teachers, materials developers, and teacher trainers.

Development of a Canadian certification strategy for distributed generation products and interconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toth, J.; Alfano, S. [Canadian Standards Association, Toronto, ON (Canada)

2005-04-01

A coordinated Canadian strategy for distributed generation and interconnection certification and testing was presented. An evaluation of the current situation regarding the deregulation of electric utilities in Canada was conducted and a needs analysis was performed in order to identify gaps as perceived by key stakeholders. The intent of the strategy is to ultimately develop a common set of criteria for certification and testing. The report presents the status of current federal programs, provincial programs, electrical inspection programs, and certification and test programs. It presents the methodology for identification of key stakeholders for the study as well as the identification of key issues. These include key issues for electric utilities, regulators, project owners and agents, federal government, provincial government, manufacturers, test laboratories, certifiers, standard development organizations, trade associations, and consultants, insurance and investors. An evaluation of the issues was presented along with a preliminary draft of the coordinated Canadian strategy. This includes the rationale supporting the strategy and feedback from key stakeholders. Last, the report presents recommendations for key stakeholders. 205 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs., 6 appendices.

Evaluating economic costs and benefits of climate resilient livelihood strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A major challenge for international development is to assist the poorest regions to achieve development targets while taking climate change into account. Such ‘climate resilient development’ (CRD must identify and implement adaptation strategies for improving livelihoods while also being cost-effective. While the idea that climate resilience and development goals should be compatible is often discussed, empirical evaluations of the economic impacts of actual CRD investments are practically non-existent. This paper outlines a framework to evaluate economic returns to CRD and applies it in two adaptation strategies trialed in Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, eastern Indonesia. The evaluation framework is composed of three models: a household benefit cost model, a diffusion model, and a regional benefit cost model. The models draw upon the impact evaluation, technology diffusion, and risk assessment literatures, respectively. The analyzes are based on expert opinion and locally-derived information, and hence can be applied in data-poor situations typical of developing countries. Our results explore economic costs and benefits at the household and regional scale, and we identify key input variables that greatly influence the economic returns of the strategies. These variables should therefore be a focus of ongoing investment. We also discuss how the framework is more generally applicable, its limitations including challenges in accounting for less tangible social and ecosystem service benefits, potentially leading to the underestimation of impacts, and how the approach should be complemented by qualitative methods.

Do r/K reproductive strategies apply to human differences?

Science.gov (United States)

Rushton, J P

1988-01-01

This article discusses the r/K theory of Social Biology and how it relates to humans. The symbols r and K originate in the mathematics of population biology and refer to 2 ends of a continuum in which a compensatory exchange occurs between gamete production (the r-strategy) and longevity (the K-strategy). Both across and within species, r and K strategists differ in a suite of correlated characteristics. Humans are the most K of all. K's supposedly have a longer gestation period, a higher birthweight, a more delayed sexual maturation, a lower sex drive, and a longer life. Studies providing evidence for the expected covariation among K attributes are presented. Additional evidence for r/K theory comes from the comparison of human population known to differ in gamete production. The pattern of racial differences observed to occur in sexual behavior has also been found to exist on numerous other indices of K. For instance, there are racial differences in brain size, intelligence, and maturation rate, among others. The findings suggest that, on the average, Mongoloids are more K than Caucasoids, who in turn, are more K than Negroids. Recently conducted studies have extended the data in favor of r/K theory, and further research is currently underway, including whether r/K attributes underlie individual and social class differences in health and longevity.

Strategi Pengelolaan Unit Penunjang Universitas Perpustakaan Universitas Gadjah Mada 'Yogyakarta (Strategy of Management of Gadjah Mada University Libraries Yogyakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wahyu Supriyanto

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Gadjah Mada University Libraries are expected to provide a better fast, easy and efficient service. In the past few years, there were some changes at the Gadjah Mada University Libraries; moreover Gadjah Mada University is stated to be a research university so that the library service quality must be improved. To identify the strategy of management of Gadjah Mada University Libraries with the current changes of the library environment. This is a qualitative research based on the collaboration between the research and subject of the research using 12 people to be purposive sampling consisting of some librarians and stakeholders. The Research instruments are interview and analysis of the second data. Due to of the change of the Organizational structure of Gadjah Mada University Libraries as stated in Rector's decree no. 259/P/SK/HT/2004 which stated that Gadjah Mada University Libraries are under Rector directly and the Libraries had to adapt their mission with the mission and the strategy of the university management. The most expected value of the strategy of management is the commitment of the Rector so that the facility will increase the role of the libraries as the information resources of can be optimum. The applied strategy is a growing strategy to develop the integrated and digital service and to the support university as a research university. Some changes are happening and the perceptions of the stakeholders showed that the strategy of the libraries management must be changed to improve the service quality of Gadjah Mada University libraries. The Commitment is to develop library with the change of the external and internal environment; to increase the quality of the human resources and to decrease the weakness as minimum as possible. Key Words: Strategy of Management, Environmental Changing

Key performance indicators for government and non profit agencies: implementing winning KPIs

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Parmenter, David

2012-01-01

"Winning techniques and strategies for nonprofits and government agencies in creating successful and critical key performance indicatorsBy exploring measures that have transformed businesses, David...

Coordinated Control Strategies of VSC-HVDC-Based Wind Power Systems for Low Voltage Ride Through

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinyin Zhang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Voltage Source Converter-HVDC (VSC-HVDC system applied to wind power generation can solve large scale wind farm grid-connection and long distance transmission problems. However, the low voltage ride through (LVRT of the VSC-HVDC connected wind farm is a key technology issue that must be solved, and it is currently lacking an economic and effective solution. In this paper, a LVRT coordinated control strategy is proposed for the VSC-HVDC-based wind power system. In this strategy, the operation and control of VSC-HVDC and wind farm during the grid fault period is improved. The VSC-HVDC system not only provides reactive power support to the grid, but also effectively maintains the power balance and DC voltage stability by reducing wind-farm power output, without increasing the equipment investment. Correspondingly, to eliminate the influence on permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG-based wind turbine (WT systems, a hierarchical control strategy is designed. The speed and validity of the proposed LVRT coordinated control strategy and hierarchical control strategy were verified by MATLAB/Simulink simulations.

Measurement errors in voice-key naming latency for Hiragana.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamada, Jun; Tamaoka, Katsuo

2003-12-01

This study makes explicit the limitations and possibilities of voice-key naming latency research on single hiragana symbols (a Japanese syllabic script) by examining three sets of voice-key naming data against Sakuma, Fushimi, and Tatsumi's 1997 speech-analyzer voice-waveform data. Analysis showed that voice-key measurement errors can be substantial in standard procedures as they may conceal the true effects of significant variables involved in hiragana-naming behavior. While one can avoid voice-key measurement errors to some extent by applying Sakuma, et al.'s deltas and by excluding initial phonemes which induce measurement errors, such errors may be ignored when test items are words and other higher-level linguistic materials.

Anonymity-Preserving Public-Key Encryption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kohlweiss, Markulf; Maurer, Ueli; Onete, Cristina

2013-01-01

security properties have been proposed. We investigate constructions as well as limitations for preserving receiver anonymity when using public-key encryption (PKE). We use the constructive cryptography approach by Maurer and Renner and interpret cryptographic schemes as constructions of a certain ideal...... literature (IND-CCA, key-privacy, weak robustness). We also show that a desirable stronger variant, preventing the adversary from selective ”trial-deliveries” of messages, is unfortunately unachievable by any PKE scheme, no matter how strong. The constructive approach makes the guarantees achieved...... by applying a cryptographic scheme explicit in the constructed (ideal) resource; this specifies the exact requirements for the applicability of a cryptographic scheme in a given context. It also allows to decide which of the existing security properties of such a cryptographic scheme are adequate...

Multi-Objective Thermo-Economic Optimization Strategy for ORCs Applied to Subcritical and Transcritical Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Lecompte

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Organic Rankine cycles (ORCs are an established technology to convert waste heat to electricity. Although several commercial implementations exist, there is still considerable potential for thermo-economic optimization. As such, a novel framework for designing optimized ORC systems is proposed based on a multi-objective optimization scheme in combination with financial appraisal in a post-processing step. The suggested methodology provides the flexibility to quickly assess several economic scenarios and this without the need of knowing the complex design procedure. This novel way of optimizing and interpreting results is applied to a waste heat recovery case. Both the transcritical ORC and subcritical ORC are investigated and compared using the suggested optimization strategy.

Molecular Mechanisms of Survival Strategies in Extreme Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federica Migliardo

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Today, one of the major challenges in biophysics is to disclose the molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes. In such a frame, the understanding of the survival strategies in extreme conditions received a lot of attention both from the scientific and applicative points of view. Since nature provides precious suggestions to be applied for improving the quality of life, extremophiles are considered as useful model-systems. The main goal of this review is to present an overview of some systems, with a particular emphasis on trehalose playing a key role in several extremophile organisms. The attention is focused on the relation among the structural and dynamic properties of biomolecules and bioprotective mechanisms, as investigated by complementary spectroscopic techniques at low- and high-temperature values.

Profiles of Psychological Well-being and Coping Strategies among University Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Freire

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In the transactional model of stress, coping responses are the key to preventing the stress response. In this study, the possible role of psychological well-being as a personal determinant of coping strategies in the academic context was analyzed. Specifically, the study has two objectives: (a to identify different profiles of students according to their level of psychological well-being; and (b to analyze the differences between these profiles in the use of three coping strategies (positive reappraisal, support-seeking, and planning. Age, gender, and degree were estimated as covariables. A total of 1,072 university students participated in the study. Latent profile analysis was applied to four indices of psychological well-being: self-acceptance, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. An optimal four-profile solution, reflecting significant incremental shifts from low to very high psychological well-being, was obtained. As predicted, the profile membership distinguished between participants in positive reappraisal, support-seeking, and planning. Importantly, the higher the profile of psychological well-being was, the higher the use of the three coping strategies. Gender differences in coping strategies were observed, but no interaction effects with psychological well-being were found. Age and degree were not relevant in explaining the use of coping strategies. These results suggest that psychological well-being stands as an important personal resource to favor adaptive coping strategies for academic stress.

Development of in situ product removal strategies in biocatalysis applying scaled-down unit operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Heintz, Søren; Börner, Tim; Ringborg, Rolf H; Rehn, Gustav; Grey, Carl; Nordblad, Mathias; Krühne, Ulrich; Gernaey, Krist V; Adlercreutz, Patrick; Woodley, John M

2017-03-01

An experimental platform based on scaled-down unit operations combined in a plug-and-play manner enables easy and highly flexible testing of advanced biocatalytic process options such as in situ product removal (ISPR) process strategies. In such a platform, it is possible to compartmentalize different process steps while operating it as a combined system, giving the possibility to test and characterize the performance of novel process concepts and biocatalysts with minimal influence of inhibitory products. Here the capabilities of performing process development by applying scaled-down unit operations are highlighted through a case study investigating the asymmetric synthesis of 1-methyl-3-phenylpropylamine (MPPA) using ω-transaminase, an enzyme in the sub-family of amino transferases (ATAs). An on-line HPLC system was applied to avoid manual sample handling and to semi-automatically characterize ω-transaminases in a scaled-down packed-bed reactor (PBR) module, showing MPPA as a strong inhibitor. To overcome the inhibition, a two-step liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) ISPR concept was tested using scaled-down unit operations combined in a plug-and-play manner. Through the tested ISPR concept, it was possible to continuously feed the main substrate benzylacetone (BA) and extract the main product MPPA throughout the reaction, thereby overcoming the challenges of low substrate solubility and product inhibition. The tested ISPR concept achieved a product concentration of 26.5 g MPPA  · L -1 , a purity up to 70% g MPPA  · g tot -1 and a recovery in the range of 80% mol · mol -1 of MPPA in 20 h, with the possibility to increase the concentration, purity, and recovery further. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 600-609. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A new stoichiometric miniaturization strategy for screening of industrial microbial strains: application to cellulase hyper-producing Trichoderma reesei strains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jourdier Etienne

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background During bioprocess development, secondary screening is a key step at the boundary between laboratory and industrial conditions. To ensure an effective high-throughput screening, miniaturized laboratory conditions must mimic industrial conditions, especially for oxygen transfer, feeding capacity and pH stabilization. Results A feeding strategy has been applied to develop a simple screening procedure, in which a stoichiometric study is combined with a standard miniaturization procedure. Actually, the knowledge of all nutriments and base or acid requirements leads to a great simplification of pH stabilization issue of miniaturized fed-batch cultures. Applied to cellulase production by Trichoderma reesei, this strategy resulted in a stoichiometric mixed feed of carbon and nitrogen sources. While keeping the pH between shake flask and stirred bioreactor comparable, the developed shake flask protocol reproduced the strain behaviour under stirred bioreactor conditions. Compared to a an already existing miniaturized shake flasks protocol, the cellulase concentration was increased 5-fold, reaching about 10 g L-1. Applied to the secondary screening of several clones, the newly developed protocol succeeded in selecting a clone with a high industrial potential. Conclusions The understanding of a bioprocess stoichiometry contributed to define a simpler and more effective miniaturization. The suggested strategy can potentially be applied to other fed-batch processes, for the screening of either strain collections or experimental conditions.

Perspective on Eco-Hydrology Developing Strategy in China

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, J.

2017-12-01

China is one of developing countries with higher eco-environmental press in the world due to large population and its socio-economic development. In China, water is not only the sources for life, but also the key for production, and the foundation for eco-system. Thus, Eco-hydrology becomes a fundamental also an applied sciences related to describe the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecologic patterns and processes. This paper addresses the issue of Eco-hydrology Developing Strategy in China, supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Major contents include four aspects, namely: (1) Demands and frontier of eco-hydrology in the world; (2) Major theories and approaches of Eco-hydrology; (3) Perspective of future development on Eco-hydrology; (4) Enacting and proposal for China development strategy on Eco-hydrology. Application fields involves urban, rural area, wetland, river & lake, forest and special regions in China, such as the arid and semi-arid region and so on. The goal is to promote the disciplinary development of eco-hydrology, and serve for national demands on ecological civilization construction in China.

Assessing the potential of different charging strategies for electric vehicle fleets in closed transport systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, Johannes; Eisel, Matthias; Kolbe, Lutz M.

2014-01-01

A key reason for the low sales volumes of electric vehicles is their significantly higher purchasing price in comparison to conventional vehicles. However, various charging strategies can be applied to make these vehicles more profitable. In this paper, controlled charging concepts are transferred to commercial fleets operating in closed transport systems, as we found this field of application particularly well suited for the implementation of charging strategies. We analyzed data gathered in a field experiment conducted in a European port using electric vehicles in combination with a battery-swapping station to calculate the economic potentials of three charging scenarios: (1) optimizing energy procurement (2) trading load-shifting potential on control markets, and (3) a combination of the two. The findings indicate that all approaches are appropriate for reducing economic disadvantages of electric transport vehicles. Furthermore, we find that adjusting charging processes to avoid price peaks is more profitable than offering control reserve. Finally, focusing on the combination of both strategies seems to be most promising from an economic perspective. In this context, operational cost savings of more than 65% can be achieved compared to a similar dieselpowered vehicle when applying this strategy. - Highlights: • We model various charging strategies for electric transport vehicles. • The economic assessment is based on a field experiment with a port operator. • We consider the special market design of spot and ancillary service markets. • All charging strategies presented provide substantial cost-saving potentials. • Optimizing energy procurement is more profitable than offering control reserve

Radial oil injection applied to main engine bearings: evaluation of injection control rules

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Estupiñan, EA; Santos, Ilmar

2012-01-01

, the dynamic behaviour of the main bearing of a medium-size engine is theoretically analysed when the engine operates with controllable radial oil injection and four different injection control rules. The theoretical investigation is based on a single-cylinder combustion engine model. The performance......The performance of main bearings in a combustion engine affects key functions such as durability, noise and vibration. Thus, with the aim of reducing friction losses and vibrations between the crankshaft and the bearings, the work reported here evaluates different strategies for applying...... controllable radial oil injection to main crankshaft journal bearings. In an actively lubricated bearing, conventional hydrodynamic lubrication is combined with controllable hydrostatic lubrication, where the oil injection pressures can be modified depending on the operational conditions. In this study...

A case study detailing key considerations for implementing a telehealth approach to office ergonomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ritchie, Catherine L W; Miller, Linda L; Antle, David M

2017-01-01

Telehealth approaches to delivering ergonomics assessment hold great potential to improve service delivery in rural and remote settings. This case study describes a telehealth-based ergonomics service delivery process, and compares in-person and telehealth-based ergonomics approaches at an Alberta-based non-profit advocacy group. This project demonstrates that telehealth approaches to ergonomics do not lead to significantly different scoring outcomes for assessment of ergonomics issues, when compared to in-person assessments. This project also outlines the importance of live real-time video conferencing to improving communication, attaining key assessment information, and demonstrating ergonomic adjustments. However, some key considerations of bandwidth and hardware capabilities need to be taken into account. Key communication strategies are outlined to improve rapport, maintain employee confidentiality, and reduce client anxiety around telehealth ergonomics assessments. This project provides further support for telehealth approaches to office ergonomics, and outlines some key implementation strategies and barriers that should be considered.

Applying principles of health system strengthening to eye care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karl Blanchet

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Understanding Health systems have now become the priority focus of researchers and policy makers, who have progressively moved away from a project-centred perspectives. The new tendency is to facilitate a convergence between health system developers and disease-specific programme managers in terms of both thinking and action, and to reconcile both approaches: one focusing on integrated health systems and improving the health status of the population and the other aiming at improving access to health care. Eye care interventions particularly in developing countries have generally been vertically implemented (e.g. trachoma, cataract surgeries often with parallel organizational structures or specialised disease specific services. With the emergence of health system strengthening in health strategies and in the service delivery of interventions there is a need to clarify and examine inputs in terms governance, financing and management. This present paper aims to clarify key concepts in health system strengthening and describe the various components of the framework as applied in eye care interventions.

Development of high-immersive simulation system for designing maintenance strategy and its application to CLEAR-I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Zihui; He, Tao; Shang, Leiming; Long, Pengcheng; Hu, Liqin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A system was self-developed to simulate and verify the maintenance strategy. • Large-scale 3D radiation scene can be rapidly built and rendered in real-time. • A high efficiency simulation way was provided by tracking 6-DOF body motion. • It has been applied to CLEAR-I and proved maintenance strategy was feasible. - Abstract: The maintenance strategy is imperative and important to be considered in the design process of advanced nuclear reactor as early as possible. The design and validation of the maintenance strategy are key challenges which remain to be resolved due to the complex mechanical structure, the expensive physical mockup, and the potential risk of radiation hazards. In this paper, a high-immersive interactive simulation system has been developed to simulate and verify maintenance strategy by using virtual reality. Main features include: (1) rapid modeling and real-time rendering of the large-scale three-dimensional radiation scene, (2) real-time interactive roaming by tracking the 6-DOF body motion, (3) the interactive disassembly simulation of the mechanism structure were controlled by the hand gestures. The system can provide designers with an intuitive experience environment, an efficient and flexible interactive way as well as the whole process simulation of maintenance strategy. It has been applied to simulate and verify the maintenance strategy of the spallation target proton beam window for China LEAd-based research Reactor (CLEAR-I). The simulation result proved the maintenance strategy of proton beam window was reasonable and feasible. The system was useful to verify maintenance strategy, optimize maintenance operation, reduce intervention time and exposure dose of workers. It provided a high efficiency and low cost way for simulating maintenance strategy to meet the requirements of ALARA rules and can be extended to other nuclear facilities

Learning and innovative elements of strategy adoption rules expand cooperative network topologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shijun; Szalay, Máté S; Zhang, Changshui; Csermely, Peter

2008-04-09

Cooperation plays a key role in the evolution of complex systems. However, the level of cooperation extensively varies with the topology of agent networks in the widely used models of repeated games. Here we show that cooperation remains rather stable by applying the reinforcement learning strategy adoption rule, Q-learning on a variety of random, regular, small-word, scale-free and modular network models in repeated, multi-agent Prisoner's Dilemma and Hawk-Dove games. Furthermore, we found that using the above model systems other long-term learning strategy adoption rules also promote cooperation, while introducing a low level of noise (as a model of innovation) to the strategy adoption rules makes the level of cooperation less dependent on the actual network topology. Our results demonstrate that long-term learning and random elements in the strategy adoption rules, when acting together, extend the range of network topologies enabling the development of cooperation at a wider range of costs and temptations. These results suggest that a balanced duo of learning and innovation may help to preserve cooperation during the re-organization of real-world networks, and may play a prominent role in the evolution of self-organizing, complex systems.

Developing a stakeholder engagement strategy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nixon, J.A. [Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2004-07-01

Shell Canada's social performance plan was outlined in this presentation. Stakeholder engagement is a key strategy in the company's response to the concerns and broader priorities of different groups and individuals affected by their operations. A review of the business and societal values of stakeholder engagement was presented. Key benefits include greater profitability; protection of the environment; effective resource management; community benefits; and the delivery of value to customers. It was suggested that a continuous engagement process helps companies to assess impacts and work on strategies to avoid and mitigate negative impacts. A framework for social performance management was presented. It was noted that accountability and transparency are key components of Shell's progress towards sustainable development, and their direct and indirect contributions to the communities and societies where they operate. The social impact of core business operations is now a focus of the company. Key concerns of the social performance plan include environmental and health impacts; land use and changes in local economies; cultural concerns; and infrastructure impacts. An outline of Shell's Listening and Responding Program was also provided. refs., tabs., figs.

Frequency of Applying Different Teaching Strategies and Social Teaching Methods in Primary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Ivic, Sonja

2016-01-01

The question that every modern teacher raises in their daily work is the reflection on selecting teaching strategies and social forms of teaching. Unlike traditional teaching strategies in which knowledge transfer is mainly done by the teacher while the students are passive listeners and recipients of such knowledge, modern teaching strategies…

Device-independent secret-key-rate analysis for quantum repeaters

Science.gov (United States)

Holz, Timo; Kampermann, Hermann; Bruß, Dagmar

2018-01-01

The device-independent approach to quantum key distribution (QKD) aims to establish a secret key between two or more parties with untrusted devices, potentially under full control of a quantum adversary. The performance of a QKD protocol can be quantified by the secret key rate, which can be lower bounded via the violation of an appropriate Bell inequality in a setup with untrusted devices. We study secret key rates in the device-independent scenario for different quantum repeater setups and compare them to their device-dependent analogon. The quantum repeater setups under consideration are the original protocol by Briegel et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5932 (1998), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5932] and the hybrid quantum repeater protocol by van Loock et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 240501 (2006), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.240501]. For a given repeater scheme and a given QKD protocol, the secret key rate depends on a variety of parameters, such as the gate quality or the detector efficiency. We systematically analyze the impact of these parameters and suggest optimized strategies.

Global energy outlook. Key issue paper no. 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

The objectives of this key issue paper are to outline the expected trends in energy and electricity demand and supply that will impact the future of nuclear power and to highlight new realities that are likely to affect the assessment and implementation of alternative reactor and fuel cycle strategies in the next five to six decades. 14 refs, figs, tabs.

3 keys to defeating unconscious bias watch, think, act

CERN Document Server

Thiederman, Sondra

2015-01-01

Have you ever had a biased thought? If the answer is “yes,” join the club. Everybody has biases and, although that doesn’t make us bad people, it does mean we compromise our ability to get along with people who are different from us. The good news is, there’s a lot we can do to defeat bias. Calling on Dr. Sondra Thiederman’s twenty-five years of experience in the diversity/inclusion field, the book lays out an innovative WATCH, THINK, ACT strategy that each of us can immediately apply to the task. Easy-to-read and filled with anecdotes and activities, 3 Keys shows the reader: • How to WATCH their thoughts, experiences, and actions to identify unconscious biases and target them for extinction. • How to THINK in such a way as to weaken and control our biases. • How to ACT to defeat our biases and cultivate the kind of common ground that we know to be inhospitable to the survival of bias. Designed to motivate real change, the answer to defeating our biases is in these pages. The rest is up to you...

The advertising strategies

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YAKOUBI Mohamed Lamine

2013-01-01

We will try to demonstrate, through the display of the various advertising creation strategies and their evolution, how the advertising communication passed from of a vision or a strategy focused on the product, to a vision focused on the brand. The first advertising strategy that was applied by advertising agencies is the＂Unique Selling Proposition＂;it focused only on the product advantages and its philosophy dominated the advertising world, throughout its various evolutions, till the nineties but this is without counting the introduction of the new advertising strategies that brought a more brand oriented philosophy to the ground.

A New Key-lock Method for User Authentication and Access Control

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JI Dongyao; ZHANG Futai; WANG Yumin

2001-01-01

We propose a new key-lock methodfor user authentication and access control based onChinese remainder theorem, the concepts of the ac-cess control matrix, key-lock-pair, time stamp, and the NS public key protocol. Our method is dynamicand needs a minimum amount of computation in thesense that it only updates at most one key/lock foreach access request. We also demonstrate how an au-thentication protocol can be integrated into the ac-cess control method. By applying a time stamp, themethod can not only withstand replay attack, butalso strengthen the authenticating mechanism, whichcould not be achieved simultaneously in previous key-lock methods.

A MOORA based fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach for supply chain strategy selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bijan Sarkar

2012-08-01

Full Text Available To acquire the competitive advantages in order to survive in the global business scenario, modern companies are now facing the problems of selecting key supply chain strategies. Strategy selection becomes difficult as the number of alternatives and conflicting criteria increases. Multi criteria decision making (MCDM methodologies help the supply chain managers take a lead in a complex industrial set-up. The present investigation applies fuzzy MCDM technique entailing multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA in selection of alternatives in a supply chain. The MOORA method is utilized to three suitable numerical examples for the selection of supply chain strategies (warehouse location selection and vendor/supplier selection. The results obtained by using current approach almost match with those of previous research works published in various open journals. The empirical study has demonstrated the simplicity and applicability of this method as a strategic decision making tool in a supply chain.

Control Strategy for Small Molecule Impurities in Antibody-Drug Conjugates.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Hai H; Ihle, Nathan; Jones, Michael T; Kelly, Kathleen; Kott, Laila; Raglione, Thomas; Whitlock, Scott; Zhang, Qunying; Zheng, Jie

2018-04-01

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are an emerging class of biopharmaceuticals. As such, there are no specific guidelines addressing impurity limits and qualification requirements. The current ICH guidelines on impurities, Q3A (Impurities in New Drug Substances), Q3B (Impurities in New Drug Products), and Q6B (Specifications: Test Procedures and Acceptance Criteria for Biotechnological/Biological Products) do not adequately address how to assess small molecule impurities in ADCs. The International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development (IQ) formed an impurities working group (IWG) to discuss this issue. This white paper presents a strategy for evaluating the impact of small molecule impurities in ADCs. This strategy suggests a science-based approach that can be applied to the design of control systems for ADC therapeutics. The key principles that form the basis for this strategy include the significant difference in molecular weights between small molecule impurities and the ADC, the conjugation potential of the small molecule impurities, and the typical dosing concentrations and dosing schedule. The result is that exposure to small impurities in ADCs is so low as to often pose little or no significant safety risk.

Managing Water in the Rural-Urban Interface : the Key to Climate ...

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

Managing Water in the Rural-Urban Interface : the Key to Climate Change Resilient Cities ... cities - one in East and the other in West Africa - through better management ... Sustaining water use : stakeholders' strategies under different climate ...

[Elucidation of key genes in sex determination in genetics teaching].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Meng; He, Zhumei

2014-06-01

Sex is an important and complex feature of organisms, which is controlled by the genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors, i.e., genes, are vital in sex determination. However, not all the related genes play the same roles, and some key genes play a vital role in the sex determination and differentiation. With the development of the modern genetics, a great progress on the key genes has been made in sex determination. In this review, we summarize the mechanism of sex determination and the strategy of how to study the key genes in sex determination. It will help us to understand the mechanism of sex determination better in the teaching of genetics.

Strategies in Managing Rapport in Classroom Discussion

OpenAIRE

Reski Reski

2018-01-01

This paper aims to find out the strategies, applied by students in classroom interaction particularly in discussion, to maintain their interpersonal rapport as well as to enhance their rapport management with their fellow students. There are five strategies based on Spencer-Oatey (2008) that the interactants apply in social interactions. The strategies are request, compliments, apologies, gratitude and disagreement. The research is done to see whether the students realize the management of ra...

Caldwell University's Department of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeve, Kenneth F; Reeve, Sharon A

2016-05-01

Since 2004, faculty members at Caldwell University have developed three successful graduate programs in Applied Behavior Analysis (i.e., PhD, MA, non-degree programs), increased program faculty from two to six members, developed and operated an on-campus autism center, and begun a stand-alone Applied Behavior Analysis Department. This paper outlines a number of strategies used to advance these initiatives, including those associated with an extensive public relations campaign. We also outline challenges that have limited our programs' growth. These strategies, along with a consideration of potential challenges, might prove useful in guiding academicians who are interested in starting their own programs in behavior analysis.

The strategy for the development of information society in Serbia by 2020: Information security and critical infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danijela D. Protić

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The development of technology has changed the world economy and induced new political trends. The European Union (EU and many non-EU member states apply the strategies of information society development that raise the level of information security (IS. The Serbian Government (Government has adopted the Strategy for Information Society in Serbia by 2020 (Strategy, and pointed to the challenges for the development of a modern Serbian information society. This paper presents an overview of the open-ended questions about IS, critical infrastructures and protection of critical infrastructures. Based on publicly available data, some critical national infrastructures are listed. As a possible solution to the problem of IS, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI-based Information security integrated information system (ISIIS is presented. The ISIIS provides modularity and interoperability of critical infrastructures both in Serbia and neighboring countries.

Applying the min-projection strategy to improve the transient performance of the three-phase grid-connected inverter.

Science.gov (United States)

Baygi, Mahdi Oloumi; Ghazi, Reza; Monfared, Mohammad

2014-07-01

Applying the min-projection strategy (MPS) to a three-phase grid-connected inverter to improve its transient performance is the main objective of this paper. For this purpose, the inverter is first modeled as a switched linear system. Then, the feasibility of the MPS technique is investigated and the stability criterion is derived. Hereafter, the fundamental equations of the MPS for the control of the inverter are obtained. The proposed scheme is simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC environment. The validity of the MPS approach is confirmed by comparing the obtained results with those of VOC method. The results demonstrate that the proposed method despite its simplicity provides an excellent transient performance, fully decoupled control of active and reactive powers, acceptable THD level and a reasonable switching frequency. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fostering Transfer of Study Strategies: A Spiral Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Denise M.; Clery, Carolsue

1994-01-01

Describes the design and implementation of a Spiral Model for the introduction and repeated practice of study strategies, based on Taba's model for social studies. In a college reading and studies strategies course, key strategies were introduced early and used through several sets of humanities and social and physical sciences readings. (Contains…

EPA'S strategy to reduce risk of radon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Page, S.

1993-01-01

The Indoor Radon Abatement Act of 1988 (IRAA) directed EPA to undertake a variety of activities to address the growing public concern over dangers posed by exposure to indoor radon. Among other requirements, the law directed the Agency to study radon levels, evaluate mitigation methods, establish proficiency programs, assist states with program development, develop training centers, and provide public information. EPA has developed and implemented programs to address each of the key provisions of this statute. This paper presents EPA's broad national strategy to reduce radon risks. It combines and reinforces EPA's basic foundation, including its guiding policies and cooperative partnerships, with an overall management approach and focus for the future. The paper starts with an overview that introduces the strategy's four key elements: underlying policies and scientific principles, a decentralized system of states and other partners for targeting the public, multiple strategies for achieving radon risk reduction, and a strong focus on five key program priorities. This paper then discusses each of these elements in more detail and describes how they interact to guide future efforts and directions of the Agency

An Effective Risk Minimization Strategy Applied to an Outdoor Music Festival: A Multi-Agency Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Luther, Matt; Gardiner, Fergus; Lenson, Shane; Caldicott, David; Harris, Ryan; Sabet, Ryan; Malloy, Mark; Perkins, Jo

2018-04-01

Specific Event Identifiers a. Event type: Outdoor music festival. b. Event onset date: December 3, 2016. c. Location of event: Regatta Point, Commonwealth Park. d. Geographical coordinates: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia (-35.289002, 149.131957, 600m). e. Dates and times of observation in latitude, longitude, and elevation: December 3, 2016, 11:00-23:00. f. Response type: Event medical support. Abstract Introduction Young adult patrons are vulnerable to risk-taking behavior, including drug taking, at outdoor music festivals. Therefore, the aim of this field report is to discuss the on-site medical response during a music festival, and subsequently highlight observed strategies aimed at minimizing substance abuse harm. The observed outdoor music festival was held in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory [ACT], Australia) during the early summer of 2016, with an attendance of 23,008 patrons. First aid and on-site medical treatment data were gained from the relevant treatment area and service. The integrated first aid service provided support to 292 patients. Final analysis consisted of 286 patients' records, with 119 (41.6%) males and 167 (58.4%) females. Results from this report indicated that drug intoxication was an observed event issue, with 15 (5.1%) treated on site and 13 emergency department (ED) presentations, primarily related to trauma or medical conditions requiring further diagnostics. This report details an important public health need, which could be met by providing a coordinated approach, including a robust on-site medical service, accepting intrinsic risk-taking behavior. This may include on-site drug-checking, providing reliable information on drug content with associated education. Luther M , Gardiner F , Lenson S , Caldicott D , Harris R , Sabet R , Malloy M , Perkins J . An effective risk minimization strategy applied to an outdoor music festival: a multi-agency approach. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(2):220-224.

ICT for AQA applied as single award

CERN Document Server

Wilson, Barbara

2007-01-01

This book has been written specifically for teachers and students following AQA's Applied AS ICT specification and covers the key elements of the units of the course, including the coursework requirements.

Impact of metal ions in porphyrin-based applied materials for visible-light photocatalysis: Key information from ultrafast electronic spectroscopy

KAUST Repository

Kar, Prasenjit; Sardar, Samim; Alarousu, Erkki; Sun, Jingya; Seddigi, Zaki Shakir Abdullah; Ahmed, Saleh Abdel Mgeed; Danish, Ekram Yousif; Mohammed, Omar F.; Pal, Samir Kumar

2014-01-01

ProtoporphyrinIX-zinc oxide (PP-ZnO) nanohybrids have been synthesized for applications in photocatalytic devices. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and steady-state infrared, absorption, and emission spectroscopies have been used to analyze the structural details and optical properties of these nanohybrids. Time-resolved fluorescence and transient absorption techniques have been applied to study the ultrafast dynamic events that are key to photocatalytic activities. The photocatalytic efficiency under visible-light irradiation in the presence of naturally abundant iron(III) and copper(II) ions has been found to be significantly retarded in the former case, but enhanced in the latter case. More importantly, femtosecond (fs) transient absorption data have clearly demonstrated that the residence of photoexcited electrons from the sensitizer PP in the centrally located iron moiety hinders ground-state bleach recovery of the sensitizer, affecting the overall photocatalytic rate of the nanohybrid. The presence of copper(II) ions, on the other hand, offers additional stability against photobleaching and eventually enhances the efficiency of photocatalysis. In addition, we have also explored the role of UV light in the efficiency of photocatalysis and have rationalized our observations from femtosecond- to picosecond-resolved studies. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Impact of metal ions in porphyrin-based applied materials for visible-light photocatalysis: Key information from ultrafast electronic spectroscopy

KAUST Repository

Kar, Prasenjit

2014-07-10

ProtoporphyrinIX-zinc oxide (PP-ZnO) nanohybrids have been synthesized for applications in photocatalytic devices. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and steady-state infrared, absorption, and emission spectroscopies have been used to analyze the structural details and optical properties of these nanohybrids. Time-resolved fluorescence and transient absorption techniques have been applied to study the ultrafast dynamic events that are key to photocatalytic activities. The photocatalytic efficiency under visible-light irradiation in the presence of naturally abundant iron(III) and copper(II) ions has been found to be significantly retarded in the former case, but enhanced in the latter case. More importantly, femtosecond (fs) transient absorption data have clearly demonstrated that the residence of photoexcited electrons from the sensitizer PP in the centrally located iron moiety hinders ground-state bleach recovery of the sensitizer, affecting the overall photocatalytic rate of the nanohybrid. The presence of copper(II) ions, on the other hand, offers additional stability against photobleaching and eventually enhances the efficiency of photocatalysis. In addition, we have also explored the role of UV light in the efficiency of photocatalysis and have rationalized our observations from femtosecond- to picosecond-resolved studies. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ecosystem-scale plant hydraulic strategies inferred from remotely-sensed soil moisture

Science.gov (United States)

Bassiouni, M.; Good, S. P.; Higgins, C. W.

2017-12-01

Characterizing plant hydraulic strategies at the ecosystem scale is important to improve estimates of evapotranspiration and to understand ecosystem productivity and resilience. However, quantifying plant hydraulic traits beyond the species level is a challenge. The probability density function of soil moisture observations provides key information about the soil moisture states at which evapotranspiration is reduced by water stress. Here, an inverse Bayesian approach is applied to a standard bucket model of soil column hydrology forced with stochastic precipitation inputs. Through this approach, we are able to determine the soil moisture thresholds at which stomata are open or closed that are most consistent with observed soil moisture probability density functions. This research utilizes remotely-sensed soil moisture data to explore global patterns of ecosystem-scale plant hydraulic strategies. Results are complementary to literature values of measured hydraulic traits of various species in different climates and previous estimates of ecosystem-scale plant isohydricity. The presented approach provides a novel relation between plant physiological behavior and soil-water dynamics.

Applying Statistical and Complex Network Methods to Explore the Key Signaling Molecules of Acupuncture Regulating Neuroendocrine-Immune Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuo Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The mechanisms of acupuncture are still unclear. In order to reveal the regulatory effect of manual acupuncture (MA on the neuroendocrine-immune (NEI network and identify the key signaling molecules during MA modulating NEI network, we used a rat complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA model to observe the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of MA, and, what is more, we used statistical and complex network methods to analyze the data about the expression of 55 common signaling molecules of NEI network in ST36 (Zusanli acupoint, and serum and hind foot pad tissue. The results indicate that MA had significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory effects on CFA rats; the key signaling molecules may play a key role during MA regulating NEI network, but further research is needed.

Cryptographic Key Management and Critical Risk Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abercrombie, Robert K [ORNL

2014-05-01

The Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (DOE-OE) CyberSecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (CSEDS) industry led program (DE-FOA-0000359) entitled "Innovation for Increasing CyberSecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (12CSEDS)," awarded a contract to Sypris Electronics LLC to develop a Cryptographic Key Management System for the smart grid (Scalable Key Management Solutions for Critical Infrastructure Protection). Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Sypris Electronics, LLC as a result of that award entered into a CRADA (NFE-11-03562) between ORNL and Sypris Electronics, LLC. ORNL provided its Cyber Security Econometrics System (CSES) as a tool to be modified and used as a metric to address risks and vulnerabilities in the management of cryptographic keys within the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) domain of the electric sector. ORNL concentrated our analysis on the AMI domain of which the National Electric Sector Cyber security Organization Resource (NESCOR) Working Group 1 (WG1) has documented 29 failure scenarios. The computational infrastructure of this metric involves system stakeholders, security requirements, system components and security threats. To compute this metric, we estimated the stakes that each stakeholder associates with each security requirement, as well as stochastic matrices that represent the probability of a threat to cause a component failure and the probability of a component failure to cause a security requirement violation. We applied this model to estimate the security of the AMI, by leveraging the recently established National Institute of Standards and Technology Interagency Report (NISTIR) 7628 guidelines for smart grid security and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 63351, Part 9 to identify the life cycle for cryptographic key management, resulting in a vector that assigned to each stakeholder an estimate of their average loss in terms of dollars per day of system

The Key Success and Strategic Role of Accrual Based Accounting Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surepno Surepno

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Central Government policy to adopt accrual-based accounting system providing consequences for local governments to apply accrual accounting in the financial statements. Empirical evidence shows that the readiness of the local government in Indonesia in the process of implementation of accrual accounting is still relatively low. This study aimed to analyze the success of Semarang Government in implementing accrual accounting. This study also analyzes the offender's response to the implementation of the strategic role of accrual accounting in transparency and accountability. Furthermore, the method used in this study is a qualitative approach to perform a case study at the Department of Finance and Asset Management Area (DPKAD Semarang by means of interviewing the key actors of implementation. The results showed that the successful implementation of accrual accounting Semarang government is supported by four main strategies, namely management commitment, regulatory development, information systems development and human resource development. Furthermore, based on the conclusions of the implementers shows that accrual accounting has a strategic role in increasing transparency and accountability through financial reporting.

Key indicators for tracking 2030 strategies towards decarbonization in the EU: which indicators, why and what process for using them?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sartor, Oliver

2016-09-01

set and track trajectories to 2030 targets can create blind spots about other sub-objectives that need to be achieved to enable 2050 goals to be reached. For instance, the issue of electrification of energy demand for heating and transport is largely ignored in current policy debates, despite the fact that 2050 decarbonization scenarios for various EU Member States show it to be a crucial driver of achieving <2 deg. C-consistent decarbonization. Key indicators should therefore be selected based on a systematic breakdown of the energy system and other emissions sources into the key drivers of long-term transformation. Reality is complex. There will be extraneous factors that will influence the results given by key indicators. Some indicators may also have more relevance for some Member States' 2030 strategies than for others. These things can potentially lead to erroneous conclusions being drawn from the indicators if not taken into account. The process of interpreting indicators for the EU governance process could perhaps be accompanied by a shadow group of country-level and sector experts. Auxiliary indicators that help interpretation must also be chosen carefully. In addition, a focus on recent (say 2-3 year) trends rather than one-year data should be privileged. Quality control of reported data is also important

A belief-based evolutionarily stable strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Xinyang; Wang, Zhen; Liu, Qi; Deng, Yong; Mahadevan, Sankaran

2014-11-21

As an equilibrium refinement of the Nash equilibrium, evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) is a key concept in evolutionary game theory and has attracted growing interest. An ESS can be either a pure strategy or a mixed strategy. Even though the randomness is allowed in mixed strategy, the selection probability of pure strategy in a mixed strategy may fluctuate due to the impact of many factors. The fluctuation can lead to more uncertainty. In this paper, such uncertainty involved in mixed strategy has been further taken into consideration: a belief strategy is proposed in terms of Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. Furthermore, based on the proposed belief strategy, a belief-based ESS has been developed. The belief strategy and belief-based ESS can reduce to the mixed strategy and mixed ESS, which provide more realistic and powerful tools to describe interactions among agents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying open innovation in business strategies : Evidence from Finnish software firms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harison, Elad; Koski, Heli

Our study aims at shedding light on the innovative business strategies in the software sector and understanding better the economics that underlies the supply of Open Source Software (OSS). We use survey data collected from 170 Finnish software companies to investigate how different properties of

Motivational Strategies and Possible Influence on Secondary School ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... and administered to the 360 teachers. The data collected were subjected to statistical analyses using ANOVA. The test yielded significant influence of motivational strategies on teachers' work performance. Based on the findings, recommendations were made. KEY WORDS: Motivational Strategies, Teaching Performance.

Perencanaan Strategis dengan Pendekatan Balance Scorecard pada Perusahaan Properti (Studi Kasus : Elang Group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ratih Wulandari

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The objectives of this study were to determine the strategic factors of the internal and external environments, analyze alternative strategies, to develop strategic targets and strategic maps, set key performance indicator (KPI, and determine the weight of each balanced scorecard perspective (BSC, and weight of each KPI. The research methods used were SWOT and BSC analysis. The business environment identification conducted at Elang Group resulted in eight internal factors and five external factors that influence the company's strategy to survive and to become more competitive. Following this, the process of SWOT analysis was carried out. There are four alternative strategies that can be implemented by Elang Group in improving its performance. The result of SWOT analysis was then translated into 15 strategic targets that form a causal relationship. The design of key performance indicators (KPI determined 25 KPI divided into four Balanced Scorecard perspectives. In the financial perspective, the highest average KPI weight for return on investment (ROI is 41,4 percent.Keywords: balance scorecard, SWOT, key performance indicators, property, Elang groupABSTRAKTujuan dari penelitian ini adalah menetapkan faktor–faktor strategis dari lingkungan internal dan eksternal; menganalisis alternatif strategi; menyusun sasaran strategis dan peta strategis; menetapkan key performance indicator (KPI; dan menetapkan bobot dari masing-masing perspektif balanced Scorecard (BSC, dan bobot dari masing-masing KPI. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah analisis SWOT dan BSC. Hasil identifikasi lingkungan bisnis yang dilakukan di Elang Group terdapat delapan faktor internal di perusahaan, dan lima faktor external perusahaan yang berpengaruh terhadap strategi perusahaan untuk dapat bertahan dan semakin kompetitif. Dari hasil identifikasi kemudian dilakukan proses analisis SWOT. Terdapat empat alternatif strategi yang dapat dilakukan oleh Elang Group dalam meningkatkan

Expectations as a key to understanding actor strategies in the field of fuel cell and hydrogen vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Budde, Björn; Alkemade, Floortje; Weber, K Matthias

2012-07-01

Due to its environmental impact, the mobility system is increasingly under pressure. The challenges to cope with climate change, air quality, depleting fossil resources imply the need for a transition of the current mobility system towards a more sustainable one. Expectations and visions have been identified as crucial in the guidance of such transitions, and more specifically of actor strategies. Still, it remained unclear why the actors involved in transition activities appear to change their strategies frequently and suddenly. The empirical analysis of the expectations and strategies of three actors in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technology indicates that changing actor strategies can be explained by rather volatile expectations related to different levels. Our case studies of the strategies of two large car manufacturers and the German government demonstrate that the car manufacturers refer strongly to expectations about the future regime, while expectations related to the socio-technical landscape level appear to be crucial for the strategy of the German government.

Sustainability Assessment of Plant Protection Strategies in Swiss Winter Wheat and Potato Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrik Mouron

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Production of arable crops in Switzerland is subsidized for services performed within the Proof of Ecological Performance (PEP program, the crop protection part of which is based on IPM principles. Within PEP, chemical insect control must rely on those approved insecticides that are deemed harmless for beneficial arthropods. Approved insecticides potentially impacting beneficial arthropods may also be applied, but only if unavoidable and with an official permit. In order to assess the ecological and economic sustainability of this PEP program, a reference insecticide strategy illustrating the current PEP requirements was compared with other strategies. For this purpose, a sustainability assessment taking account of ecotoxicological risks and economic viability in addition to the preservation of beneficial arthropods was performed according to the SustainOS methodology. The results show that the one-off use of Audienz (spinosad to control cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus—a key pest in winter wheat—would significantly improve sustainability vis-à-vis the reference (Nomolt (teflubenzuron plus Biscaya (thiacloprid. However, in the case of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata, in potato crops, where Audienz is considered the reference, no alternative would exhibit better sustainability. Moreover, the study shows that strategies using Novodor (Bacillus thuringiensis protect beneficial species well but have the drawbacks of increased yield risk and higher costs. The conclusions drawn from these analyses allow recommendations for modifications of the PEP requirements for these two pest insects. The SustainOS methodology, a multi-step process combining expert knowledge with quantitative assessments including a sensitivity analysis of key target parameters and a rule-based aggregation of assessment results, yielded valuable insights into the sustainability of different crop protection strategies.

Combustion strategy : United Kingdom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Greenhalgh, D. [Heriot-Watt Univ., Edingburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Engineering and Physical Sciences

2009-07-01

The United Kingdom's combustion strategy was briefly presented. Government funding sources for universities were listed. The United Kingdom Research Councils that were listed included the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); the Economic and Social Research Council; the Medical Research Council; the Natural Environment Research Council; and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The EPSRC supported 65 grants worth 30.5 million pounds. The combustion industry was noted to be dominated by three main players of which one was by far the largest. The 3 key players were Rolls-Royce; Jaguar Land Rover; and Doosan Babcock. Industry and government involvement was also discussed for the BIS Technology Strategy Board, strategy technology areas, and strategy application areas.

24 CFR 954.103 - Housing strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Housing strategy. 954.103 Section... INDIAN HOME PROGRAM Applying for Assistance § 954.103 Housing strategy. Grantees are not required to submit a housing strategy to receive HOME funds. However, the application must demonstrate how the...

Key-value store with internal key-value storage interface

Science.gov (United States)

Bent, John M.; Faibish, Sorin; Ting, Dennis P. J.; Tzelnic, Percy; Gupta, Uday; Grider, Gary; Bonnie, David J.

2018-01-16

A key-value store is provided having one or more key-value storage interfaces. A key-value store on at least one compute node comprises a memory for storing a plurality of key-value pairs; and an abstract storage interface comprising a software interface module that communicates with at least one persistent storage device providing a key-value interface for persistent storage of one or more of the plurality of key-value pairs, wherein the software interface module provides the one or more key-value pairs to the at least one persistent storage device in a key-value format. The abstract storage interface optionally processes one or more batch operations on the plurality of key-value pairs. A distributed embodiment for a partitioned key-value store is also provided.

New hematological key for bovine leukemia virus-infected Japanese Black cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Mekata, Hirohisa; Yamamoto, Mari; Kirino, Yumi; Sekiguchi, Satoshi; Konnai, Satoru; Horii, Yoichiro; Norimine, Junzo

2018-02-20

The European Community's (EC) Key, which is also called Bendixen's Key, is a well-established bovine leukemia virus (BLV) diagnostic method that classifies cattle according to the absolute lymphocyte count and age. The EC Key was originally designed for dairy cattle and is not necessarily suitable for Japanese Black (JB) beef cattle. This study revealed the lymphocyte counts in the BLV-free and -infected JB cattle were significantly lower than those in the Holstein cattle. Therefore, applying the EC Key to JB cattle could result in a large number of undetected BLV-infected cattle. Our proposed hematological key, which was designed for JB cattle, improves the detection of BLV-infected cattle by approximately 20%. We believe that this study could help promote BLV control.

Renewable: A key component of our global energy future

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hartley, D.

1995-12-31

Inclusion of renewable energy sources in national and international energy strategies is a key component of a viable global energy future. The global energy balance is going to shift radically in the near future brought about by significant increases in population in China and India, and increases in the energy intensity of developing countries. To better understand the consequences of such global shifts in energy requirements and to develop appropriate energy strategies to respond to these shifts, we need to look at the factors driving choices among supply options by geopolitical consumers and the impact these factors can have on the future energy mix.

Strategy-driven talent management a leadership imperative

CERN Document Server

Silzer, Rob

2009-01-01

A Publication of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Praise for Strategy-Driven Talent Management ""Silzer and Dowell''s Strategy-Driven Talent Management provides a comprehensive overview of the different elements of the best talent management processes used in organizations today. This is a valuable resource for leaders and managers, HR practitioners and anyone involved in developing leadership talent.""-Ed Lawler, Professor, School of Business, University of Southern California ""Talent is the key to successful execution of a winning business strategy. Strategy-Driven T

Small private key MQPKS on an embedded microprocessor.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Hwajeong; Kim, Jihyun; Choi, Jongseok; Park, Taehwan; Liu, Zhe; Kim, Howon

2014-03-19

Multivariate quadratic (MQ) cryptography requires the use of long public and private keys to ensure a sufficient security level, but this is not favorable to embedded systems, which have limited system resources. Recently, various approaches to MQ cryptography using reduced public keys have been studied. As a result of this, at CHES2011 (Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2011), a small public key MQ scheme, was proposed, and its feasible implementation on an embedded microprocessor was reported at CHES2012. However, the implementation of a small private key MQ scheme was not reported. For efficient implementation, random number generators can contribute to reduce the key size, but the cost of using a random number generator is much more complex than computing MQ on modern microprocessors. Therefore, no feasible results have been reported on embedded microprocessors. In this paper, we propose a feasible implementation on embedded microprocessors for a small private key MQ scheme using a pseudo-random number generator and hash function based on a block-cipher exploiting a hardware Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) accelerator. To speed up the performance, we apply various implementation methods, including parallel computation, on-the-fly computation, optimized logarithm representation, vinegar monomials and assembly programming. The proposed method reduces the private key size by about 99.9% and boosts signature generation and verification by 5.78% and 12.19% than previous results in CHES2012.

Small Private Key PKS on an Embedded Microprocessor

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Hwajeong; Kim, Jihyun; Choi, Jongseok; Park, Taehwan; Liu, Zhe; Kim, Howon

2014-01-01

Multivariate quadratic ( ) cryptography requires the use of long public and private keys to ensure a sufficient security level, but this is not favorable to embedded systems, which have limited system resources. Recently, various approaches to cryptography using reduced public keys have been studied. As a result of this, at CHES2011 (Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2011), a small public key scheme, was proposed, and its feasible implementation on an embedded microprocessor was reported at CHES2012. However, the implementation of a small private key scheme was not reported. For efficient implementation, random number generators can contribute to reduce the key size, but the cost of using a random number generator is much more complex than computing on modern microprocessors. Therefore, no feasible results have been reported on embedded microprocessors. In this paper, we propose a feasible implementation on embedded microprocessors for a small private key scheme using a pseudo-random number generator and hash function based on a block-cipher exploiting a hardware Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) accelerator. To speed up the performance, we apply various implementation methods, including parallel computation, on-the-fly computation, optimized logarithm representation, vinegar monomials and assembly programming. The proposed method reduces the private key size by about 99.9% and boosts signature generation and verification by 5.78% and 12.19% than previous results in CHES2012. PMID:24651722

Equity and child-survival strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mulholland, Ek; Smith, L; Carneiro, I; Becher, H; Lehmann, D

2008-05-01

Recent advances in child survival have often been at the expense of increasing inequity. Successive interventions are applied to the same population sectors, while the same children in other sectors consistently miss out, leading to a trend towards increasing inequity in child survival. This is particularly important in the case of pneumonia, the leading cause of child death, which is closely linked to poverty and malnutrition, and for which effective community-based case management is more difficult to achieve than for other causes of child death. The key strategies for the prevention of childhood pneumonia are case management, mainly through Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), and immunization, particularly the newer vaccines against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcus. There is a tendency to introduce both interventions into communities that already have access to basic health care and preventive services, thereby increasing the relative disadvantage experienced by those children without such access. Both strategies can be implemented in such a way as to decrease rather than increase inequity. It is important to monitor equity when introducing child-survival interventions. Economic poverty, as measured by analyses based on wealth quintiles, is an important determinant of inequity in health outcomes but in some settings other factors may be of greater importance. Geography and ethnicity can both lead to failed access to health care, and therefore inequity in child survival. Poorly functioning health facilities are also of major importance. Countries need to be aware of the main determinants of inequity in their communities so that measures can be taken to ensure that IMCI, new vaccine implementation and other child-survival strategies are introduced in an equitable manner.

Standardizing the Term "Strategy" in Retail and Business Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Song, So Young

2017-01-01

Strategy is a key concept in retail and business education. Yet, this important term has evolved to include many definitions, which can create confusion in the classroom environment. This paper proposes a standardized use of the term "strategy" in retail and business classrooms. It suggests a focused definition of strategy as "the…

Finite key analysis in quantum cryptography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, T.

2007-01-01

In view of experimental realization of quantum key distribution schemes, the study of their efficiency becomes as important as the proof of their security. The latter is the subject of most of the theoretical work about quantum key distribution, and many important results such as the proof of unconditional security have been obtained. The efficiency and also the robustness of quantum key distribution protocols against noise can be measured by figures of merit such as the secret key rate (the fraction of input signals that make it into the key) and the threshold quantum bit error rate (the maximal error rate such that one can still create a secret key). It is important to determine these quantities because they tell us whether a certain quantum key distribution scheme can be used at all in a given situation and if so, how many secret key bits it can generate in a given time. However, these figures of merit are usually derived under the ''infinite key limit'' assumption, that is, one assumes that an infinite number of quantum states are send and that all sub-protocols of the scheme (in particular privacy amplification) are carried out on these infinitely large blocks. Such an assumption usually eases the analysis, but also leads to (potentially) too optimistic values for the quantities in question. In this thesis, we are explicitly avoiding the infinite key limit for the analysis of the privacy amplification step, which plays the most important role in a quantum key distribution scheme. We still assume that an optimal error correction code is applied and we do not take into account any statistical errors that might occur in the parameter estimation step. Renner and coworkers derived an explicit formula for the obtainable key rate in terms of Renyi entropies of the quantum states describing Alice's, Bob's, and Eve's systems. This results serves as a starting point for our analysis, and we derive an algorithm that efficiently computes the obtainable key rate for any

Finite key analysis in quantum cryptography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meyer, T.

2007-10-31

In view of experimental realization of quantum key distribution schemes, the study of their efficiency becomes as important as the proof of their security. The latter is the subject of most of the theoretical work about quantum key distribution, and many important results such as the proof of unconditional security have been obtained. The efficiency and also the robustness of quantum key distribution protocols against noise can be measured by figures of merit such as the secret key rate (the fraction of input signals that make it into the key) and the threshold quantum bit error rate (the maximal error rate such that one can still create a secret key). It is important to determine these quantities because they tell us whether a certain quantum key distribution scheme can be used at all in a given situation and if so, how many secret key bits it can generate in a given time. However, these figures of merit are usually derived under the ''infinite key limit'' assumption, that is, one assumes that an infinite number of quantum states are send and that all sub-protocols of the scheme (in particular privacy amplification) are carried out on these infinitely large blocks. Such an assumption usually eases the analysis, but also leads to (potentially) too optimistic values for the quantities in question. In this thesis, we are explicitly avoiding the infinite key limit for the analysis of the privacy amplification step, which plays the most important role in a quantum key distribution scheme. We still assume that an optimal error correction code is applied and we do not take into account any statistical errors that might occur in the parameter estimation step. Renner and coworkers derived an explicit formula for the obtainable key rate in terms of Renyi entropies of the quantum states describing Alice's, Bob's, and Eve's systems. This results serves as a starting point for our analysis, and we derive an algorithm that efficiently computes

Strategy 2020 and the European Social Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu Razvan Popescu

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Flexicurity is an integrated concept, resulted from the combination of two fundamental elements flexibility and security. The strategy was recognized as one of the key objectives for European Labour markets in the context of the European Employment Strategy and Lisbon Strategy. The implementation of flexicurity can only be specific, taking account of national and regional characteristics in spite of the fact that all labour markets in Europe are faced with similar challenges.

ANALISIS PROSPEKTIF STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN DAYA SAING PERUSAHAAN DAERAH PERKEBUNAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuli Wibowo

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper describes application the prospective analysis to formulate the development strategy of competitiveness on the agricultural corporation owned by local government (ACLG. This strategy is developed based on possible scenarios in the future considering key factors of competitiveness and key performance as an entry points of competitiveness. Based on prospective analysis result, the selected scenario for developing ACLG is the optimistic scenario to be a professional corporation. This scenario will take place if all key factors of competitiveness including government policy, human resources ability, financial capital,operational and productive management ability, and financial management ability, develop positively. Meanwhile, operational recommendation of the selected scenario is the local government need decide a conducive policy to develop ACLG becomes a professional corporation. Additionally, the local government need operationally monitor and evaluate the key performance of ACLG that can improve its competitiveness.

NEW PROTEIN FEEDS AND STRATEGIES FOR FUTURE ANIF,IAL ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

(Key words: Prorein leeds, Animal production strategies) ... It has been suggested that the energy crisis of the seven- ... listic new protein strategy appears to be urgently re. quired. ..... N supervenes (Orskov, Fraser, Mc Donald & Smart, te74).

Discussion and group work design in O2O teaching of applied optics: questions, strategies and extending

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaotong; Cen, Zhaofeng; Liu, Xiangdong; Zheng, Zhenrong

2017-08-01

Applied optics course in Zhejiang University is a National Excellent Resource Sharing Course in China, and the online to offline teaching strategies have been implemented and shared with dozens of universities and colleges in China. Discussion is an important activity in teaching. In this paper our main consideration is designing the discussion questions and group works so as to develop the students' critical thinking, cooperative and sharing spirits, and communication abilities in the cosmopolitan era. Typical questions that connect different chapters and help the students to understand the relationship between each sub-system in both field of view and aperture are given for discussion. We inspire the students to complete group works such as ray trace programming by cooperation and then make presentations. All of these create a circumstance for sharing thoughts and developing intelligence and knowledge. A poll shows that the students pay more attention to optical design than before and have made progress in conversation and cooperation.

A Scheme for Evaluating Feral Horse Management Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. L. Eberhardt

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Context. Feral horses are an increasing problem in many countries and are popular with the public, making management difficult. Aims. To develop a scheme useful in planning management strategies. Methods. A model is developed and applied to four different feral horse herds, three of which have been quite accurately counted over the years. Key Results. The selected model has been tested on a variety of data sets, with emphasis on the four sets of feral horse data. An alternative, nonparametric model is used to check the selected parametric approach. Conclusions. A density-dependent response was observed in all 4 herds, even though only 8 observations were available in each case. Consistency in the model fits suggests that small starting herds can be used to test various management techniques. Implications. Management methods can be tested on actual, confined populations.

Marketingová strategie spol. Lidl v ČR

OpenAIRE

Seidlová, Barbara

2017-01-01

The objective of the thesis is evalution marketing and communication strategy of Lidl in the Czech republic, identify key factors of success of this company and propose improvement of marketing strategy. In the first part, I explain the theory of marketing, marketing strategy and communication strategy. In the second part, I focused on current situation in the retail market and especifically on the marketing strategy of Lidl company. Based on facts, I propose the possibilities of improving th...

Compositional Advantage and Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Xin

advantage is redefined as the attractiveness of the composition of the producer’s offering in terms of scope and perceived value/price ratio. I identify five ways or basic compositional strategies to improve the value/price ratio. A firm may have an overall compositional strategy that is composed of some......In this paper, I first critique the composition-based view of Yadong Luo and John Child for understanding how resource-poor firms survive and thrive. To remedy the deficiencies in their perspective, I then propose a dynamic theory of compositional advantage and strategy. Here, the compositional...... or all of the five basic compositional strategies. I argue there are three indispensable key success factors for a composition-based competition, i.e., aspiration (ambition-position asymmetry), attitude (being ALERT), and action (turning asymmetry into advantage). I also discuss the particular relevance...

Use of games as a learner-centered strategy in gerontology, geriatrics, and aging-related courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmall, Vicki; Grabinski, C Joanne; Bowman, Sally

2008-01-01

Based on their experience as designers and/or users of games as a learner-centered strategy in gerontology, geriatric, and aging-related courses and training programs, the authors note multiple advantages of using games as a learning tool, list six relevant games (including order information), and suggest a variety of ways games can be used. They offer guidelines to apply in selecting appropriate games and discuss key aspects of the instructor or facilitator's role in preparing learners for game playing, monitoring game play, and debriefing students once game play has ended. Outcomes for learners and course instructors are shared.

Evaluating nest supplementation as a recovery strategy for the endangered rodents of the Florida Keys

Science.gov (United States)

Cove, Michael V.; Simons, Theodore R.; Gardner, Beth; Maurer, Andrew S.; O'Connell, Allan F.

2017-01-01

The Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) and Key Largo cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola) are federally endangered subspecies endemic to the tropical hardwood hammocks of Key Largo, Florida. Woodrats are considered generalists in habitat and diet, yet a steady decline in natural stick nests and capture rates over the past several decades suggests that they are limited by the availability of nesting habitat due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The more specialized Key Largo cotton mouse appears to rely on old growth hammock, a habitat type that is rare following past land clearing. In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started building supplemental nest structures to restore habitat quality and connectivity for these endangered rodents, but nest use requires evaluation. We used camera traps and occupancy models to evaluate the factors influencing woodrat and cotton mouse use of the supplemental nests. We detected woodrats at 65 and cotton mice at 175 of 284 sampled nest structures, with co-occurrence at 38 nests. Woodrat nest use followed a gradient from low nest use in the north to high nest use in the south, which might relate to the proximity of free-ranging domestic cat (Felis catus) colonies in residential developments. Cotton mouse nest use, however, was related positively to mature hammock and related negatively to disturbed areas (e.g. scarified lands). The two species occurred independently of each other. Stick-stacking behavior was observed at supplemental nests and, although it was correlated with detection of woodrats, it was not a strong predictor of their occurrence. We suggest that nest supplementation can be an important tool for species recovery as habitat quality continues to improve with succession.

Going with the Grain of Cognition: Applying insights from psychology to build support for childhood vaccination.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel Rossen

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Childhood vaccination is widely considered to be one of the most successful public health interventions. Yet, the effective delivery of vaccination depends upon public willingness to vaccinate. Recently, many countries have faced problems with vaccine hesitancy, where a growing number of parents perceive vaccination to be unsafe or unnecessary, leading some to delay or refuse vaccines for their children. Effective intervention strategies for countering this problem are currently sorely lacking, however. Here, we propose that this may be because existing strategies are grounded more in intuition than insights from psychology. Consequently, such strategies are sometimes at variance with basic psychological principles and assumptions. By going against the grain of cognition, such strategies potentially run the risk of undermining persuasive efforts to reduce vaccine hesitancy. We demonstrate this by drawing on key insights from cognitive and social psychology to show how various known features of human psychology can lead many intuitively appealing intervention strategies to backfire, yielding unintended and undesirable repercussions. We conclude with a summary of potential avenues of investigation that may be more effective in addressing vaccine hesitancy. Our key message is that intervention strategies must be crafted that go with the grain of cognition by incorporating key insights from the psychological sciences.

Not the last word: dissemination strategies for patient-centred research in nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagan, Teresa L; Schmidt, Karen; Ackison, Guyanna R; Murphy, Megan; Jones, Jennifer R

2017-08-01

Research results hold value for many stakeholders including researchers, patient populations, advocacy organizations, and community groups. The aim of this study is to describe our research team's systematic process to designing a dissemination strategy for a completed research study. We organized a dissemination event to feed the results of our study to participants and stakeholders and collect feedback regarding our study. We applied the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's dissemination framework to guide the development of the event and collected participant feedback during the event. We describe our dissemination strategy along with attendees' feedback and suggestions for our research as an example of a way to design a patient- and community-focused dissemination. We explain the details of our dissemination strategy including (a) our process of reporting a large research study into a stakeholder event, (b) stakeholder feedback collected at the event, and (c) the translation of feedback into our research team's research. We also describe challenges encountered during the dissemination process and ways to handle issues such as logistics, funding, and staff. This analysis provides key insights and practical advice for researchers looking for innovative ways to disseminate their findings within the lay and scientific communities.

Uncertainties in key low carbon power generation technologies - Implication for UK decarbonisation targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kannan, R.

2009-01-01

The UK government's economy-wide 60% carbon dioxide reduction target by 2050 requires a paradigm shift in the whole energy system. Numerous analytical studies have concluded that the power sector is a critical contributor to a low carbon energy system, and electricity generation has dominated the policy discussion on UK decarbonisation scenarios. However, range of technical, social and market challenges, combined with alternate market investment strategies mean that large scale deployment of key classes of low carbon electricity technologies is fraught with uncertainty. The UK MARKAL energy systems model has been used to investigate these long-term uncertainties in key electricity generation options. A range of power sector specific parametric sensitivities have been performed under a 'what-if' framework to provide a systematic exploration of least-cost energy system configurations under a broad, integrated set of input assumptions. In this paper results of six sensitivities, via restricted investments in key low carbon technologies to reflect their technical and political uncertainties, and an alternate investment strategies from perceived risk and other barriers, have been presented. (author)

STRATEGI PENINGKATAN KINERJA SUMBER DAYA MANUSIA PADA PERUSAHAAN KONSTRUKSI PT. JAYA KUSUMA SARANA BALI MELALUI PENDEKATAN BUDAYA ORGANISASI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ni Made Sintya Rani

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract : One of the key success factors of a contractor company in achieving their vision and mission is good quality of human resources (HR. Based on ISO 9001 evaluation, the quality of HR at PT. Jaya Kusuma Sarana Bali (PT.JKS Bali that measured by indicators of objectives and targets from each division concluded that the quality of HR still need to be improved. By knowing the profile of the current and preferred organizational culture, it can be identified the strategy required to achieve the vision and mission of the organization. This study aimed to analyze the culture profile of PT. JKS Bali based on their employees perception, in order to identify strategies  for improving their  HR performance. The method used is an OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument analysis method and a survey using the OCAI questionnaire. The analysis involved identification of the culture profiles that measured in 6 key dimensions (i.e.: Dominant Characteristics, Organizational Leadership, Management of Employees, Organization Glue, Strategic Emphases and Criteria of Success which can represent the four culture types of an organization (i.e.: Clan, Adhocracy, Market dan Hierarchy. The result suggests that the profile of the current and preferred organizational culture at PT.JKS Bali does not require significant changes. The strategies that need to be implemented derived from six key dimensions, Applying more flexible organizational leadership but also against the rules, Managing the employees who prioritize teamwork, Reducing formalities working procedures, focusing on the company's internal, emphasizing human resource development and employment commitments.

Applying Bayesian Belief Networks in Sun Tzu's Art of War

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ang, Kwang

2004-01-01

.... However, when conflict situations arise in a highly stressful environment coupled with the pressure of time, decision makers may not be able to consider all the key concepts when forming their decisions or strategies...

Using passive cooling strategies to improve thermal performance and reduce energy consumption of residential buildings in U.A.E. buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanan M. Taleb

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Passive design responds to local climate and site conditions in order to maximise the comfort and health of building users while minimising energy use. The key to designing a passive building is to take best advantage of the local climate. Passive cooling refers to any technologies or design features adopted to reduce the temperature of buildings without the need for power consumption. Consequently, the aim of this study is to test the usefulness of applying selected passive cooling strategies to improve thermal performance and to reduce energy consumption of residential buildings in hot arid climate settings, namely Dubai, United Arab Emirates. One case building was selected and eight passive cooling strategies were applied. Energy simulation software – namely IES – was used to assess the performance of the building. Solar shading performance was also assessed using Sun Cast Analysis, as a part of the IES software. Energy reduction was achieved due to both the harnessing of natural ventilation and the minimising of heat gain in line with applying good shading devices alongside the use of double glazing. Additionally, green roofing proved its potential by acting as an effective roof insulation. The study revealed several significant findings including that the total annual energy consumption of a residential building in Dubai may be reduced by up to 23.6% when a building uses passive cooling strategies.

41 CFR Appendix A to Subpart C of... - 3-Key Points and Principles

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Principles A Appendix A to Subpart C of Part 102 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property... 102-3—Key Points and Principles This appendix provides additional guidance in the form of answers to frequently asked questions and identifies key points and principles that may be applied to situations not...

BARI+: a biometric based distributed key management approach for wireless body area networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Muhammad, Khaliq-ur-Rahman Raazi Syed; Lee, Heejo; Lee, Sungyoung; Lee, Young-Koo

2010-01-01

Wireless body area networks (WBAN) consist of resource constrained sensing devices just like other wireless sensor networks (WSN). However, they differ from WSN in topology, scale and security requirements. Due to these differences, key management schemes designed for WSN are inefficient and unnecessarily complex when applied to WBAN. Considering the key management issue, WBAN are also different from WPAN because WBAN can use random biometric measurements as keys. We highlight the differences between WSN and WBAN and propose an efficient key management scheme, which makes use of biometrics and is specifically designed for WBAN domain.

Key Distribution and Changing Key Cryptosystem Based on Phase Retrieval Algorithm and RSA Public-Key Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tieyu Zhao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The optical image encryption has attracted more and more researchers’ attention, and the various encryption schemes have been proposed. In existing optical cryptosystem, the phase functions or images are usually used as the encryption keys, and it is difficult that the traditional public-key algorithm (such as RSA, ECC, etc. is used to complete large numerical key transfer. In this paper, we propose a key distribution scheme based on the phase retrieval algorithm and the RSA public-key algorithm, which solves the problem for the key distribution in optical image encryption system. Furthermore, we also propose a novel image encryption system based on the key distribution principle. In the system, the different keys can be used in every encryption process, which greatly improves the security of the system.

Market Structure in the Context of Developing Competitive Strategy

OpenAIRE

Algirdas Krivka; Romualdas Ginevičius

2011-01-01

The abstract deals with the application of positioning strategies under the conditions of classical market structures. It is discovered that the assumptions of pure competition leave no space for M. Porter’s generic cost leadership and differentiation strategies to be applied. The enterprise’s actions, influencing five competitive forces and implementing generic strategies, are reasonable under the conditions of imperfect competition market structures. The game theory models, applied to oligo...

Psycholinguistics in Applied Linguistics: Trends and Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

de Bot, Kees

2000-01-01

Discusses the relationship between the terms psycholinguistics and applied linguistics, and in the process explores key issues in multilingual processing, such as the structure of the bilingual lexicon, language choice in production and perception, and the language mode. (Author/VWL)

Small Private Key MQPKS on an Embedded Microprocessor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hwajeong Seo

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Multivariate quadratic (MQ cryptography requires the use of long public and private keys to ensure a sufficient security level, but this is not favorable to embedded systems, which have limited system resources. Recently, various approaches to MQ cryptography using reduced public keys have been studied. As a result of this, at CHES2011 (Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, 2011, a small public key MQ scheme, was proposed, and its feasible implementation on an embedded microprocessor was reported at CHES2012. However, the implementation of a small private key MQ scheme was not reported. For efficient implementation, random number generators can contribute to reduce the key size, but the cost of using a random number generator is much more complex than computing MQ on modern microprocessors. Therefore, no feasible results have been reported on embedded microprocessors. In this paper, we propose a feasible implementation on embedded microprocessors for a small private key MQ scheme using a pseudo-random number generator and hash function based on a block-cipher exploiting a hardware Advanced Encryption Standard (AES accelerator. To speed up the performance, we apply various implementation methods, including parallel computation, on-the-fly computation, optimized logarithm representation, vinegar monomials and assembly programming. The proposed method reduces the private key size by about 99.9% and boosts signature generation and verification by 5.78% and 12.19% than previous results in CHES2012.

Post-translational modifications are key players of the Legionella pneumophila infection strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Michard, Céline; Doublet, Patricia

2015-01-01

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are widely used by eukaryotes to control the enzymatic activity, localization or stability of their proteins. Traditionally, it was believed that the broad biochemical diversity of the PTMs is restricted to eukaryotic cells, which exploit it in extensive networks to fine-tune various and complex cellular functions. During the last decade, the advanced detection methods of PTMs and functional studies of the host–pathogen relationships highlight that bacteria have also developed a large arsenal of PTMs, particularly to subvert host cell pathways to their benefit. Legionella pneumophila, the etiological agent of the severe pneumonia legionellosis, is the paradigm of highly adapted intravacuolar pathogens that have set up sophisticated biochemical strategies. Among them, L. pneumophila has evolved eukaryotic-like and rare/novel PTMs to hijack host cell processes. Here, we review recent progress about the diversity of PTMs catalyzed by Legionella: ubiquitination, prenylation, phosphorylation, glycosylation, methylation, AMPylation, and de-AMPylation, phosphocholination, and de-phosphocholination. We focus on the host cell pathways targeted by the bacteria catalyzed PTMs and we stress the importance of the PTMs in the Legionella infection strategy. Finally, we highlight that the discovery of these PTMs undoubtedly made significant breakthroughs on the molecular basis of Legionella pathogenesis but also lead the way in improving our knowledge of the eukaryotic PTMs and complex cellular processes that are associated to. PMID:25713573

Strategy update in a design and consulting company

OpenAIRE

Kiviniemi, Juha

2017-01-01

The target company of the present thesis is a small engineering company specialising in electrical design. The company’s current development stage and changes in its operating environment call for a strategy up-date. The objective of this study was to formulate key conclusions based on an analysis of the company’s current strategy and its operating environment which will later act as an input to the company’s strategy process. The strategy process itself is left outside the scope of this...

Zero-leakage multiple key-binding scenarios for SRAM-PUF systems based on the XOR-method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kusters, C.J.; Ignatenko, T.; Willems, F.M.J.

2016-01-01

We show that the XOR-method based on linear error-correcting codes can be applied to achieve the secret-key capacity of binary-symmetric SRAM-PUFs. Then we focus on multiple key-bindings. We prove that no information is leaked by all the helper data about a single secret key both in the case where

Zero-leakage multiple key-binding scenarios for SRAM-PUF systems based on the XOR-Method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kusters, C.J.; Ignatenko, T.; Willems, F.M.J.

2016-01-01

We show that the XOR-method based on linear error-correcting codes can be applied to achieve the secret-key capacity of binary-symmetric SRAM-PUFs. Then we focus on multiple key-bindings. We prove that no information is leaked by all the helper data about a single secret key both in the case where

Discovering New Variable Stars at Key Stage 3

Science.gov (United States)

Chubb, Katy; Hood, Rosie; Wilson, Thomas; Holdship, Jonathan; Hutton, Sarah

2017-01-01

Details of the London pilot of the "Discovery Project" are presented, where university-based astronomers were given the chance to pass on some real and applied knowledge of astronomy to a group of selected secondary school pupils. It was aimed at students in Key Stage 3 of their education, allowing them to be involved in real…

KDiamend: a package for detecting key drivers in a molecular ecological network of disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Mengxuan; Chen, Jiaxing; Jiang, Yiqi; Dong, Wei; Fang, Zhou; Li, Shuaicheng

2018-04-11

Microbial abundance profiles are applied widely to understand diseases from the aspect of microbial communities. By investigating the abundance associations of species or genes, we can construct molecular ecological networks (MENs). The MENs are often constructed by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) between genes. In this work, we also applied multimodal mutual information (MMI) to construct MENs. The members which drive the concerned MENs are referred to as key drivers. We proposed a novel method to detect the key drivers. First, we partitioned the MEN into subnetworks. Then we identified the most pertinent subnetworks to the disease by measuring the correlation between the abundance pattern and the delegated phenotype-the variable representing the disease phenotypes. Last, for each identified subnetwork, we detected the key driver by PageRank. We developed a package named KDiamend and applied it to the gut and oral microbial data to detect key drivers for Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). We detected six T2D-relevant subnetworks and three key drivers of them are related to the carbohydrate metabolic process. In addition, we detected nine subnetworks related to RA, a disease caused by compromised immune systems. The extracted subnetworks include InterPro matches (IPRs) concerned with immunoglobulin, Sporulation, biofilm, Flaviviruses, bacteriophage, etc., while the development of biofilms is regarded as one of the drivers of persistent infections. KDiamend is feasible to detect key drivers and offers insights to uncover the development of diseases. The package is freely available at http://www.deepomics.org/pipelines/3DCD6955FEF2E64A/ .

Republic of Lithuania national energy strategy. Vol. 2: Background material for strategy development. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-12-01

Volume II presents supplementary Background Material collected and analysed during the course of the project. Volume II consists of two parts: PART A (Sources and Methods) and PART B (Special Sub sector Issues). PART A contains seven chapters. The subject of Chapter 1 is to integrate the material of this volume into the analytical approach as a whole and to give an outline of the tools applied in the Strategy development. Reference data provided in Chapter 2 summarizes the information as to the past energy consumption and the future economic development. Chapter 3 compiles basic parameters and assumptions with regard to energy forms, costs, the economic development as laid down for use in the project. Chapter 4 discusses in detail the projection of energy demand. Chapter 5 draws up the Projects under consideration. Chapter 6 presents key results of energy scenario computations, and Chapter 7 provides energy scenario indicators and assessment information. PART B of this Volume II contains full reports regarding topics, which have only briefly been addressed in Volume I. (author).[Data

Republic of Lithuania national energy strategy. Vol. 2: Background material for strategy development. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

IC Consult-ERM Energy Limited-COWI Consult-EC-PHARE Programme Collaboration

1993-12-01

Volume II presents supplementary Background Material collected and analysed during the course of the project. Volume II consists of two parts: PART A (Sources and Methods) and PART B (Special Sub sector Issues). PART A contains seven chapters. The subject of Chapter 1 is to integrate the material of this volume into the analytical approach as a whole and to give an outline of the tools applied in the Strategy development. Reference data provided in Chapter 2 summarizes the information as to the past energy consumption and the future economic development. Chapter 3 compiles basic parameters and assumptions with regard to energy forms, costs, the economic development as laid down for use in the project. Chapter 4 discusses in detail the projection of energy demand. Chapter 5 draws up the Projects under consideration. Chapter 6 presents key results of energy scenario computations, and Chapter 7 provides energy scenario indicators and assessment information. PART B of this Volume II contains full reports regarding topics, which have only briefly been addressed in Volume I. (author).[Data].

Teachers and Learners’ Perceptions of Applying Translation as a Method, Strategy, or Technique in an Iranian EFL Setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Mollaei

2017-04-01

Full Text Available It has been found that translation is an efficient means to teach/learn grammar, syntax, and lexis of a foreign language. Meanwhile, translation is good for beginners who do not still enjoy the critical level of proficiency in their target language for expression.  This study was conducted to examine the teachers and learners’ perceptions of employing translation in the foreign language classroom; i.e., the effects, merits, demerits, limitations, as well as its use as a method, strategy or technique. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect and analyze the data from graduate and undergraduate learners (n=56 and teachers (n=44, male and female, who responded to two questionnaires. Additionally, only the teachers were interviewed to gain richer insight into their perceptions and attitudes. According to the results of independent samples t-test, there was no significant difference between teachers and learners’ attitude to applying translation as a method, strategy, or technique in learning a foreign language.  Based on the interview results, some teachers believed that employing translation in the foreign language context was helpful but not constantly. They claimed that translation was only effective in teaching vocabulary and grammar apart from leaners’ proficiency level as it can clarify meaning. But some other teachers noted that mother tongue would interfere with learning foreign language; they considered translation as a time-consuming activity through which students cannot capture the exact meaning.

Underachievers' Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies--Self-Handicapping at School.

Science.gov (United States)

Nurmi, Jari-Erik; And Others

1995-01-01

Two studies with a total of 153 junior and senior high-school students and vocational students in Finland investigated whether underachievers applied a self-handicapping or learned-helplessness strategy in achievement contexts. Underachievers seemed to apply a self-handicapping strategy rather than a learned-helplessness approach. (SLD)

Immunization strategy for epidemic spreading on multilayer networks

Science.gov (United States)

Buono, C.; Braunstein, L. A.

2015-01-01

In many real-world complex systems, individuals have many kinds of interactions among them, suggesting that it is necessary to consider a layered-structure framework to model systems such as social interactions. This structure can be captured by multilayer networks and can have major effects on the spreading of process that occurs over them, such as epidemics. In this letter we study a targeted immunization strategy for epidemic spreading over a multilayer network. We apply the strategy in one of the layers and study its effect in all layers of the network disregarding degree-degree correlation among layers. We found that the targeted strategy is not as efficient as in isolated networks, due to the fact that in order to stop the spreading of the disease it is necessary to immunize more than 80% of the individuals. However, the size of the epidemic is drastically reduced in the layer where the immunization strategy is applied compared to the case with no mitigation strategy. Thus, the immunization strategy has a major effect on the layer were it is applied, but does not efficiently protect the individuals of other layers.

41 CFR Appendix A to Subpart D of... - 3-Key Points and Principles

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Principles A Appendix A to Subpart D of Part 102 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property... Subpart D of Part 102-3—Key Points and Principles This appendix provides additional guidance in the form of answers to frequently asked questions and identifies key points and principles that may be applied...

Some Key Principles for Developing Grammar Skills

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张威

2008-01-01

Grammar is sometimes defined aft"the way words are put together to make correct sentences"(Ur,2004,P.75).The aim of teaching grammar is to raise the rates of the correctness of language use and help the students transfer the isolated language points to apply language.In this essay，the author introduces two kinds of Conlnlon methods in English grammar class. And there are some key principles in grammar teaching.

Infrastructure Analysis of Sazeh Gostar Saipa Outsourcing Company to Select Knowledge Management Strategy: Qualitative Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

hossein Khanifar

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In today's turbulent business environment, organizations have to make changes in their structure such as outsourcing. This change that is a requirement to provide for the needs of that organization and for competitive advantage can be considered as a new trouble for that organization as well. Because of such changes, an organization may lose the workers' (employee knowledge that is the most important element of the competitive advantage. Thus, the organizations are required to use the most effective knowledge management strategy that is proposed according to the analysis of the key aspects of those organizations. This study examines Sazeh Gostar, the most important suppliers of spare parts for Saipa Automobile Company. At first, the two coding and personalization strategies were applied provided that they were reviewed in the literature. The influential factors were then classified according to McKenzie 7S model. Then, the data were obtained using snowball and targeted sampling from interviews with 9 experts, and through reviewing the company documents. Current status of the company was identified using Theme Analysis. Finally, comparing the influential factors on the company's knowledge management strategy, the appropriate coding strategy was selected.

Going Global: Key Insights from Two Mexican Companies

OpenAIRE

Martha RIVERA; Silvia CACHO-ELIZONDO

2015-01-01

This paper explores how Mexican companies in different industries have achieved international expansion, while at the same time preserving local elements in executing their strategies. For this initial stage of research, the analysis focuses on two companies: a) Grupo Bimbo, the number one company in the bakery industry worldwide and b) KidZania, one of the world’s top indoor family entertainment centers. The research methodology is based on in-depth interviews with CEOs and key executives fr...

77 FR 76034 - National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-26

... Strategy: Response to Climate Change AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of... Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change'' (2012 Strategy). The Strategy describes a set of long-term visions and goals for the management of water resources in light of climate change and charts key...

A key design to prolong lifetime of wireless sensor network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu, Bo; Chen, XiQiu; Wu, Qi

2016-01-01

In order to solve the contradiction between the connectivity of the wireless sensor network and the key storage consumption, under the premise of reducing network storage consumption, the key pre-distribution management scheme with higher connectivity rate is proposed using the hexagonal network deployment information, which adopts the idea of the matrix space for the square deployment information strategy to reduce the burden of the network storage. Ability against the capture attack is improved obviously. The results show that contradiction between the network connectivity rate and the energy consumption has a better solution, and the proposed algorithm is suitable for the wireless sensor networks of energy limited.

Robust shot-noise measurement for continuous-variable quantum key distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Kunz-Jacques, Sébastien; Jouguet, Paul

2015-02-01

We study a practical method to measure the shot noise in real time in continuous-variable quantum key distribution systems. The amount of secret key that can be extracted from the raw statistics depends strongly on this quantity since it affects in particular the computation of the excess noise (i.e., noise in excess of the shot noise) added by an eavesdropper on the quantum channel. Some powerful quantum hacking attacks relying on faking the estimated value of the shot noise to hide an intercept and resend strategy were proposed. Here, we provide experimental evidence that our method can defeat the saturation attack and the wavelength attack.

Institutional Data Management in Higher Education. ECAR Key Findings

Science.gov (United States)

Yanosky, Ronald

2009-01-01

This document presents the key findings from the 2009 ECAR (EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research) study of institutional data management, which examines the policies and practices by which higher education institutions effectively collect, protect, and use digital information assets to meet academic and business needs. Importantly, it also…

¬Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fate: Applying Biomaterials for Control of Stem Cell Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilary Jane Anderson

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fate: Applying Biomaterials for Control of Stem Cell BehaviourHilary J Anderson1, Jugal Kishore Sahoo2, Rein V Ulijn2,3, Matthew J Dalby1*1 Centre for Cell Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.2 Technology and Innovation centre, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. 3 Advanced Science Research Centre (ASRC and Hunter College, City University of New York, NY 10031, NY, USA. Correspondence:*Hilary Andersonh.anderson.1@research.gla.ac.ukKeywords: mesenchymal stem cells, bioengineering, materials synthesis, nanotopography, stimuli responsive material□AbstractThe materials pipeline for biomaterials and tissue engineering applications is under continuous development. Specifically, there is great interest in the use of designed materials in the stem cell arena as materials can be used to manipulate the cells providing control of behaviour. This is important as the ability to ‘engineer’ complexity and subsequent in vitro growth of tissues and organs is a key objective for tissue engineers. This review will describe the nature of the materials strategies, both static and dynamic, and their influence specifically on mesenchymal stem cell fate.

Applying principles from the game theory to acute stroke care: Learning from the prisoner's dilemma, stag-hunt, and other strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Saposnik, Gustavo; Johnston, S Claiborne

2016-04-01

Acute stroke care represents a challenge for decision makers. Decisions based on erroneous assessments may generate false expectations of patients and their family members, and potentially inappropriate medical advice. Game theory is the analysis of interactions between individuals to study how conflict and cooperation affect our decisions. We reviewed principles of game theory that could be applied to medical decisions under uncertainty. Medical decisions in acute stroke care are usually made under constrains: short period of time, with imperfect clinical information, limit understanding about patients and families' values and beliefs. Game theory brings some strategies to help us manage complex medical situations under uncertainty. For example, it offers a different perspective by encouraging the consideration of different alternatives through the understanding of patients' preferences and the careful evaluation of cognitive distortions when applying 'real-world' data. The stag-hunt game teaches us the importance of trust to strength cooperation for a successful patient-physician interaction that is beyond a good or poor clinical outcome. The application of game theory to stroke care may improve our understanding of complex medical situations and help clinicians make practical decisions under uncertainty. © 2016 World Stroke Organization.

Value oriented marketing strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Ljiljana

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The complexity of business environment imposes the need for continuous change and reexamination of business marketing strategies of enterprises. Theory and practice of strategic management and marketing show that the activities of marketing, which are closely connected to corporate strategy, are the key drivers of growth. There is a positive correlation between competition intensity, marketing strategy and business performance of companies. Even though, managers of many companies don't see a clear connection between marketing strategy and business performance, numerous empirical research show that the companies which possess and efficiently use marketing resources and capabilities are more successful. In knowledge-based economics, the development of value oriented marketing strategies for all participants in the chain is a supposition of the survival, growth and development of companies. Competitive advantage is the essence of any strategy. Acquisition and maintenance of competitive advantage is more successful if the potentials for value creation are used efficiently. The paper examines the critical factors that influence alignment and transformation of marketing strategies in accordance with changes in value estimation. Superior value, is created in different network classes. Theory and practice researches create a reliable basis for the development of new concepts, marketing strategy business models that will contribute to competitive advantage of enterprises and the economy.

From art to applied science.

Science.gov (United States)

Schatzberg, Eric

2012-09-01

Before "applied science" and "technology" became keywords, the concept of art was central to discourse about material culture and its connections to natural knowledge. By the late nineteenth century, a new discourse of applied science had replaced the older discourse of art. This older discourse of art, especially as presented in Enlightenment encyclopedias, addressed the relationship between art and science in depth. But during the nineteenth century the concept of fine art gradually displaced the broader meanings of "art," thus undermining the utility of the term for discourse on the relationship between knowledge and practice. This narrowed meaning of "art" obscured key aspects of the industrial world. In effect, middle-class agents of industrialism, including "men of science," used the rhetoric of "applied science" and, later, "technology" to cement the exclusion of artisanal knowledge from the discourse of industrial modernity.

Marketing strategies: Study in travel agencies and tourism sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aléssio Bessa Sarquis

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The tourism sector has an important economic and social role and marketing strategies can help improve the market performance of service organizations. Thus, the study analyzed the marketing strategies applied in the travel agency services sector in the state of Santa Catarina and, therefore, a quantitative, descriptive inconclusive and in the form of field survey (survey was applied with self-administered questionnaires available in the Google Docs platform for a sample of 109 emissive agencies of small and medium. Statistical analyzes were performed by means, frequency, stand-ard deviation and hypothesis testing as the measurement scales applied. The results show that the vast majority of the surveyed agencies use internal marketing strategies, external, interactive and relationship management with clients and midsize agencies use more often most measured marketing strategies.

The ultimate security bounds of quantum key distribution protocols

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolopoulos, G.M.; Alber, G.

2005-01-01

Full text: Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols exploit quantum correlations in order to establish a secure key between two legitimate users. Recent work on QKD has revealed a remarkable link between quantum and secret correlations. In this talk we report on recent results concerning the ultimate upper security bounds of various QKD schemes (i.e., the maximal disturbance up to which the two legitimate users share quantum correlations) under the assumption of general coherent attacks. In particular, we derive an analytic expression for the ultimate upper security bound of QKD schemes that use two mutually unbiased bases. As long as the two legitimate users focus on the sifted key and treat each pair of data independently during the post processing, our results are valid for arbitrary dimensions of the information carriers. The bound we have derived is well below the predictions of optimal cloning machines. The possibility of extraction of a secret key beyond entanglement distillation is also discussed. In the case of qutrits we argue that any eavesdropping strategy is equivalent to a symmetric one. For higher dimensions, however, such equivalence is generally no longer valid. (author)

Motivational Strategies in Medical English Classroom

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

TIAN Jun-ying

2014-01-01

Objective:To explore strategies to motivate students in the classroom of Medical English. Methods:The motivational strategies applied in medical English classroom including defining course goals early in the semester, appropriate teacher behavior, creating real context and giving helpful and frequent Feedback were recommended. Results & Conclusion: The motivational strategies make a positive impact on students’motivation in medical English classroom.

41 CFR Appendix A to Subpart B of... - 3-Key Points and Principles

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Principles A Appendix A to Subpart B of Part 102 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property.... B, App. A Appendix A to Subpart B of Part 102-3—Key Points and Principles This appendix provides... principles that may be applied to situations not covered elsewhere in this subpart. The guidance follows: Key...

41 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of... - 3-Key Points and Principles

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Principles A Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 102 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property..., Subpt. A, App. A Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 102-3—Key Points and Principles This appendix provides... principles that may be applied to situations not covered elsewhere in this subpart. The guidance follows: Key...

Key principles of rural tourism households development strategy: Case study of Vojvodina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Košić Kristina

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of the paper is the analysis of the condition and perspectives of the development of rural tourism in households of Vojvodina. Vojvodina with its natural and social resources qualifies for a position within the developed rural tourism regions. However, rural tourism product in Vojvodina has not been holding an appropriate position at the market. For the aim of determining principles and factors for successful rural tourism, questionnaire has been formed, which has been conducted among 70 country households involved in tourism. In order to achieve the best possible position at the international market, Vojvodina needs to apply the model of development that would ensure competitive advantage regarding similar destinations. Essential activities for improving service quality in rural tourism are: to improve the quality of accommodation facilities, to educate population with the aim of achieving higher service quality, to establish and apply criteria for standardization and service quality in rural tourism in Vojvodina and to intensify promotion at domestic and international market.

STRATEGI BERSAING BIRO PERJALANAN WISATA ALINDO DEWATA TOURS BALI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelsye Natalina Lintong

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Alindo Dewata Tours Bali as an inbound tours companydeals with the competitors by applying competitive strategy.Nevertheless the competitive strategy applied is not maximumyet. It is apparently seen at the average growth of touristsnumber handled since 2004-2013 by the company only 5,97 %.Therefore, this study has the objective to know what internalexternal factors that give influences and competitive strategy tobe applied in the company. This research using analysis toolsof Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE matrix, External FactorEvaluation (EFE matrix for general strategy, Internal External(IE matrix, Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat (SWOTmatrix for alternative strategy and Quantitative StrategicPlanning Matrix (QSPM for priority strategy. The result of IFEmatrix indicates bundle pricing policy as the prime strengthand the application of the management information system notmaximum as the prime weakness. EFE matrix indicates qualitystrategy contributes the service as prime opportunity and thedependency on the foreign travel agencies as prime threat.Based on IE matrix, the company’s position is at five (V levelfor resistance and endurance strategy. SWOT matrix indicateseight competitive strategic alternatives. Suggested first priorityby QSPM is to develop market segment, both overseas anddomestic market.

Linking collaborative R&D strategies with the research and innovation performance of SMEs in peripheral regions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mitze, Timo; Alecke, Björn; Reinkowski, Janina

2015-01-01

We examine the empirical link between collaborative R&D strategies and the research and innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises in peripheral locations. Using a survey of German firms combined with time series information on patent applications obtained from the European...... Patent Office, we apply a comparison-group approach and estimate different “treatment effect” models to assess the notion of causality underlying this relationship. Besides accounting for observed and unobserved firm-specific heterogeneity, we thereby also control for the likely endogeneity of R......&D collaboration as a strategic choice in the course of research and innovation activities. Our results for the period 2001–2007 indicate that engaging in R&D collaboration vis-á-vis a non-collaborative research strategy is related to higher outcome levels for a firm’s key research and innovation indicators...

Optimization strategies based on sequential quadratic programming applied for a fermentation process for butanol production.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinto Mariano, Adriano; Bastos Borba Costa, Caliane; de Franceschi de Angelis, Dejanira; Maugeri Filho, Francisco; Pires Atala, Daniel Ibraim; Wolf Maciel, Maria Regina; Maciel Filho, Rubens

2009-11-01

In this work, the mathematical optimization of a continuous flash fermentation process for the production of biobutanol was studied. The process consists of three interconnected units, as follows: fermentor, cell-retention system (tangential microfiltration), and vacuum flash vessel (responsible for the continuous recovery of butanol from the broth). The objective of the optimization was to maximize butanol productivity for a desired substrate conversion. Two strategies were compared for the optimization of the process. In one of them, the process was represented by a deterministic model with kinetic parameters determined experimentally and, in the other, by a statistical model obtained using the factorial design technique combined with simulation. For both strategies, the problem was written as a nonlinear programming problem and was solved with the sequential quadratic programming technique. The results showed that despite the very similar solutions obtained with both strategies, the problems found with the strategy using the deterministic model, such as lack of convergence and high computational time, make the use of the optimization strategy with the statistical model, which showed to be robust and fast, more suitable for the flash fermentation process, being recommended for real-time applications coupling optimization and control.

Applying Instructional Design Strategies and Behavior Theory to Household Disaster Preparedness Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Tracy N; Sobelson, Robyn K; Wigington, Corinne J; Davis, Alyson L; Harp, Victoria H; Leander-Griffith, Michelle; Cioffi, Joan P

Interventions and media campaigns promoting household disaster preparedness have produced mixed results in affecting behaviors. In large part, this is due to the limited application of instructional design strategies and behavior theory, such as the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). This study describes the development and evaluation of Ready CDC, an intervention designed to increase household disaster preparedness among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) workforce. (1) Describe the instructional design strategies employed in the development of Ready CDC and (2) evaluate the intervention's impact on behavior change and factors influencing stage progression for household disaster preparedness behavior. Ready CDC was adapted from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Ready campaign. Offered to CDC staff September 2013-November 2015, it consisted of a preassessment of preparedness attitudes and behaviors, an in-person training, behavioral reinforcement communications, and a 3-month follow-up postassessment. Ready CDC employed well-accepted design strategies, including presenting stimulus material and enhancing transfer of desired behavior. Excluding those in the TTM "maintenance" stage at baseline, this study determined 44% of 208 participants progressed at least 1 stage for developing a written disaster plan. Moreover, assessment of progression by stage found among participants in the "precontemplation" (n = 16), "contemplation" (n = 15), and "preparation" (n = 125) stages at baseline for assembling an emergency kit, 25%, 27%, and 43% moved beyond the "preparation" stage, respectively. Factors influencing stage movement included knowledge, attitudes, and community resiliency but varied depending on baseline stage of change. Employing instructional strategies and behavioral theories in preparedness interventions optimizes the potential for individuals to adopt preparedness behaviors. Study findings suggest that stage movement toward

[Strategy of comprehensive control for schistosomiasis and its effect in key areas of Jiangsu Province].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Le-Ping; Tian, Zeng-Xi; Yang, Kun; Hong, Qing-Biao; Gao, Yang; Gao, Yuan; Zhang, Lian-Heng; Yang, Guo-Jing; Min, Jie; Ge, Jun; Wu, Hong-Hui; Huang, Yi-Xin; Liang, You-Sheng

2011-12-01

To evaluate the effect of comprehensive control for schistosomiasis in key areas of Jiangsu Province. The basic data and the data of implementation of comprehensive control measures were collected from the key areas of Jiangsu Province, including 30 townships, 87 marshlands and 78 anchor points. A field survey was carried out to investigate the Oncomelania snail status by using the systematic sampling method and schistosomiasis morbidity in humans and animals in the 12 key counties (districts). The changes of snail status and morbidity of humans and animals were statistically analyzed in key counties (districts) where comprehensive control measures was implemented, and the effects of schistosomiasis control before and after the implementation of the comprehensive control were compared. From 2008 to 2010, a total of 84 100 harmless latrines were constructed, 339 600 persons were examined, 2.6938 million people received health education, 112 000 protective creams and 798 000 publicity materials were allocated, 9 085 domestic animals were reared in pens, 11 800 domestic animals were examined, 130 high-risk cattle were eliminated in 30 key townships of 12 countries (districts), Jiangsu Province. A total of 19 640.78 hm2 were controlled with molluscicides, 798 warning tablets were placed, 116.07 hm2 of farmlands were ploughed up and planted, 306.80 hm2 were dug for fish culture, and 506.74 hm2 were planted with trees for snail control in 87 high-risk marshlands. A total of 118.83 million Yuan were invested into the water resources development projects, 39.82 km-long rivers were dredged, 70.04 km-long bank were concreted, 30 culvert gates were re-constructed, and 22 snail sedimentation tanks were built. In the 78 anchor points, 95 harmless public toilets were built, 3 192 stool container were allocated, 28 700 boatmen were examined, 71 600 protective creams and 53 200 publicity materials were allocated, and 46 600 persons received health education. Following the

Simple Web-based interactive key development software (WEBiKEY) and an example key for Kuruna (Poaceae: Bambusoideae).

Science.gov (United States)

Attigala, Lakshmi; De Silva, Nuwan I; Clark, Lynn G

2016-04-01

Programs that are user-friendly and freely available for developing Web-based interactive keys are scarce and most of the well-structured applications are relatively expensive. WEBiKEY was developed to enable researchers to easily develop their own Web-based interactive keys with fewer resources. A Web-based multiaccess identification tool (WEBiKEY) was developed that uses freely available Microsoft ASP.NET technologies and an SQL Server database for Windows-based hosting environments. WEBiKEY was tested for its usability with a sample data set, the temperate woody bamboo genus Kuruna (Poaceae). WEBiKEY is freely available to the public and can be used to develop Web-based interactive keys for any group of species. The interactive key we developed for Kuruna using WEBiKEY enables users to visually inspect characteristics of Kuruna and identify an unknown specimen as one of seven possible species in the genus.

Optimal Sizing and Control Strategy Design for Heavy Hybrid Electric Truck

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Zou

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the complexity of the hybrid powertrain, the control is highly involved to improve the collaborations of the different components. For the specific powertrain, the components' sizing just gives the possibility to propel the vehicle and the control will realize the function of the propulsion. Definitely the components' sizing also gives the constraints to the control design, which cause a close coupling between the sizing and control strategy design. This paper presents a parametric study focused on sizing of the powertrain components and optimization of the power split between the engine and electric motor for minimizing the fuel consumption. A framework is put forward to accomplish the optimal sizing and control design for a heavy parallel pre-AMT hybrid truck under the natural driving schedule. The iterative plant-controller combined optimization methodology is adopted to optimize the key parameters of the plant and control strategy simultaneously. A scalable powertrain model based on a bilevel optimization framework is built. Dynamic programming is applied to find the optimal control in the inner loop with a prescribed cycle. The parameters are optimized in the outer loop. The results are analysed and the optimal sizing and control strategy are achieved simultaneously.

Development of methods of key performance indicators formation for corporate planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chebotarev, A.N.

2011-01-01

A theoretical proposition, a model of enterprise performance management and a concept of balanced key performance indicators as a method to control the enterprise strategy have been systematized and presented. An algorithm that increases the efficiency of action plans' formation has been developed and implemented. In particular, a set of criteria for the selection of events and parameters necessary for the formation of an action plan has been created. A method of control of the business processes, allowing the experts to establish the relationship between the business processes performance indicators and the enterprise's key indicators has been developed [ru

Nature-Inspired Design : Strategies for Sustainable Product Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Pauw, I.C.

2015-01-01

Product designers can apply different strategies, methods, and tools for sustainable product development. Nature-Inspired Design Strategies (NIDS) offer designers a distinct class of strategies that use ‘nature’ as a guiding source of knowledge and inspiration for addressing sustainability.

Analysis of Economic and Organizational Management Strategies Applied in Anti-Crisis

OpenAIRE

Nelu Mocanu; Mihai-Silviu Pocora

2011-01-01

Industrial enterprise instability situation in crisis conditions emphasizes the need to process longterm forecasts on the development and decision-making activity to stabilize the situation. This leads to anticrisis strategies and mechanisms that allow organizations to ensure balance in crisis. In carrying out anti-crisis program of industrial enterprises it is necessary to act according to a previously established plan, based on scientific research and theoretical studies of practical applic...

Cloud computing strategies

CERN Document Server

Chorafas, Dimitris N

2011-01-01

A guide to managing cloud projects, Cloud Computing Strategies provides the understanding required to evaluate the technology and determine how it can be best applied to improve business and enhance your overall corporate strategy. Based on extensive research, it examines the opportunities and challenges that loom in the cloud. It explains exactly what cloud computing is, what it has to offer, and calls attention to the important issues management needs to consider before passing the point of no return regarding financial commitments.

BARI+: A Biometric Based Distributed Key Management Approach for Wireless Body Area Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Muhammad Khaliq-ur-Rahman Raazi

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Wireless body area networks (WBAN consist of resource constrained sensing devices just like other wireless sensor networks (WSN. However, they differ from WSN in topology, scale and security requirements. Due to these differences, key management schemes designed for WSN are inefficient and unnecessarily complex when applied to WBAN. Considering the key management issue, WBAN are also different from WPAN because WBAN can use random biometric measurements as keys. We highlight the differences between WSN and WBAN and propose an efficient key management scheme, which makes use of biometrics and is specifically designed for WBAN domain.

DNA based random key generation and management for OTP encryption.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yunpeng; Liu, Xin; Sun, Manhui

2017-09-01

One-time pad (OTP) is a principle of key generation applied to the stream ciphering method which offers total privacy. The OTP encryption scheme has proved to be unbreakable in theory, but difficult to realize in practical applications. Because OTP encryption specially requires the absolute randomness of the key, its development has suffered from dense constraints. DNA cryptography is a new and promising technology in the field of information security. DNA chromosomes storing capabilities can be used as one-time pad structures with pseudo-random number generation and indexing in order to encrypt the plaintext messages. In this paper, we present a feasible solution to the OTP symmetric key generation and transmission problem with DNA at the molecular level. Through recombinant DNA technology, by using only sender-receiver known restriction enzymes to combine the secure key represented by DNA sequence and the T vector, we generate the DNA bio-hiding secure key and then place the recombinant plasmid in implanted bacteria for secure key transmission. The designed bio experiments and simulation results show that the security of the transmission of the key is further improved and the environmental requirements of key transmission are reduced. Analysis has demonstrated that the proposed DNA-based random key generation and management solutions are marked by high security and usability. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Teaching strategies applied to teaching computer networks in Engineering in Telecommunications and Electronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elio Manuel Castañeda-González

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Because of the large impact that today computer networks, their study in related fields such as Telecommunications Engineering and Electronics is presented to the student with great appeal. However, by digging in content, lacking a strong practical component, you can make this interest decreases considerably. This paper proposes the use of teaching strategies and analogies, media and interactive applications that enhance the teaching of discipline networks and encourage their study. It is part of an analysis of how the teaching of the discipline process is performed and then a description of each of these strategies is done with their respective contribution to student learning.

Nutritional strategies in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Nichola; Forbes, Bernice; Wylie-Rosett, Judith

2009-06-01

Weight loss is a key goal in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. There are conflicting weight-loss strategies, including low-carbohydrate diets, low glycemic-index diets, low-fat vegan diets, conventional low-fat diets, and high-protein and high-monounsaturated fat diets. There is no evidence to suggest that 1 nutritional strategy is clearly the best. The most successful strategy is one that the patient can adopt and follow in the long term. (c) 2009 Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Uncertainty contributions due to different measurement strategies applied to optomechanical hole plate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morace, Renate Erica; Hansen, Hans Nørgaard; De Chiffre, Leonardo

2003-01-01

The work described in this paper deals with influence parameters in optical measurements, with particular respect to the choice of measurement strategy, which strongly affects the results of measurement. In this investigation, an optomechanical hole plate developed by DTU was measured with an opt...

Verification and Performance Evaluation of Timed Game Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

David, Alexandre; Fang, Huixing; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand

2014-01-01

Control synthesis techniques, based on timed games, derive strategies to ensure a given control objective, e.g., time-bounded reachability. Model checking verifies correctness properties of systems. Statistical model checking can be used to analyse performance aspects of systems, e.g., energy...... consumption. In this work, we propose to combine these three techniques. In particular, given a strategy synthesized for a timed game and a given control objective, we want to make a deeper examination of the consequences of adopting this strategy. Firstly, we want to apply model checking to the timed game...... under the synthesized strategy in order to verify additional correctness properties. Secondly, we want to apply statistical model checking to evaluate various performance aspects of the synthesized strategy. For this, the underlying timed game is extended with relevant price and stochastic information...

Market Structure in the Context of Developing Competitive Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Algirdas Krivka

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The abstract deals with the application of positioning strategies under the conditions of classical market structures. It is discovered that the assumptions of pure competition leave no space for M. Porter’s generic cost leadership and differentiation strategies to be applied. The enterprise’s actions, influencing five competitive forces and implementing generic strategies, are reasonable under the conditions of imperfect competition market structures. The game theory models, applied to oligopoly, indicate the close interaction of enterprises and interdependence of their strategic decisions: cost reduction and differentiation strategies not only increase the profit of the enterprise, implementing the strategy, but by affecting market price and residual demand decrease the competitor’s profit.Article in Lithuanian

Komunikační strategie Mercedes-Benz Prague Fashion Weekendu v letech 2013-2014

OpenAIRE

Pavlík, Mikuláš

2015-01-01

The bachelor thesis "The Communication Strategy of Mercedes-Benz Prague Fashion Weekend in 2013-2014" analyses the overall functioning and transformation of the communication strategy of this key social and business event that promotes the Czech fashion industry. The observed period of two years focuses on the change of leadership and the entrance of the key sponsor and also the titular partner - Mercedes-Benz, which as part of its strategy supports fashion weeks on an international level. In...

Security of differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution against individual attacks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waks, Edo; Takesue, Hiroki; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

2006-01-01

We derive a proof of security for the differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution protocol under the assumption that Eve is restricted to individual attacks. The security proof is derived by bounding the average collision probability, which leads directly to a bound on Eve's mutual information on the final key. The security proof applies to realistic sources based on pulsed coherent light. We then compare individual attacks to sequential attacks and show that individual attacks are more powerful

Microorganisms in heavy metal bioremediation: strategies for applying microbial-community engineering to remediate soils

OpenAIRE

Jennifer L. Wood; Caixian Tang; Ashley E. Franks; Wuxing Liu

2016-01-01

The remediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soils is essential as heavy metals persist and do not degrade in the environment. Remediating heavy-metal-contaminated soils requires metals to be mobilized for extraction whilst, at the same time, employing strategies to avoid mobilized metals leaching into ground-water or aquatic systems. Phytoextraction is a bioremediation strategy that extracts heavy metals from soils by sequestration in plant tissues and is currently the predominant bioremediat...

Coping Strategies and Psychological Well-Being among Teacher Education Students

Science.gov (United States)

Gustems-Carnicer, Josep; Calderón, Caterina

2013-01-01

The coping strategies used by students play a key role in their psychological well-being. This study examines the relationship between coping strategies and psychological well-being in a sample of 98 undergraduates aged between 19 and 42 years. Coping strategies were evaluated by means of the CRI-A (Moos, 1993), while psychological well-being was…

Assessment of strategy formulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Acur, Nuran; Englyst, Linda

2006-01-01

of the success criteria through face-to-face interviews with 46 managers, workshops involving 40 managers, and two in-depth case studies. The success criteria have been slightly modified due to the empirical results, to yield the assessment tool. Findings – The resulting assessment tool integrates three generic...... approaches to strategy assessment, namely the goal-centred, comparative and improvement approaches, as found in the literature. Furthermore, it encompasses three phases of strategy formulation processes: strategic thinking, strategic planning and embedding of strategy. The tool reflects that the different......, but cases and managerial perceptions indicate that the need for accurate and detailed plans might be overrated in the literature, as implementation relies heavily on continuous improvement and empowerment. Concerning embedding, key aspects relate both to the goal-centred and improvement approaches, while...

STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN PARIWISATA BERBASIS MASYARAKAT DI PULAU SAMALONA, MAKASSAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurdin Nurdin

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Samalona Island is one of the tourist destinations in Makassar. Therefore it needs an effective strategy for the tourism development by empowering local communities.The research aims were identifying and analyzing potency and tourist attraction, community participation and formulate development strategies.This research applied theory of tourism area life cycle, theory of planning and theory of participation. The data were collected by documentation studies, observation and in–depth interviews.Data were analyzed by descriptive qualitative method and matrix SWOT.The results suggested that Samalona Island is very feasible to be developing as a community-based tourism destination with the natural and socio-cultural potencies.The development of those obstacles are by applied strategies are as follows; strategy of strength–opportunity (S–O with development strategy of tourism destination and development strategy of tourism attraction, strategy of strength–threat (S–T with improvement strategy of environmental quality, development strategy of sustainable tourism, strategy of weakness–opportunity (W–O with promotion strategy of tourism destination, whereas strategy of weakness–threat (W–T with development strategy of human resources and development strategy of institutional and management of destination.

Improv(ing) the Academy: Applied Improvisation as a Strategy for Educational Development

Science.gov (United States)

Rossing, Jonathan P.; Hoffmann-Longtin, Krista

2016-01-01

Improvisational theater training (or "improv") is a strategy employed by many business leaders and educators to cultivate creativity and collaboration amid change. Drawing on improv principles such as "Yes, And…" and "Make your scene partners look good," we explore the ways in which educational developers might apply…

Hybrid Droop Control Strategy Applied to Grid-Supporting Converters in DC Microgrids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Renke; Meng, Lexuan; Guerrero, Josep M.

2017-01-01

The paper proposes a hybrid droop control strategy to enhance the stability and increase maximum constant power loads (CPLs) capability of DC microgrids in a realistic scenario. By capturing the detailed model of inner control loops and hybrid droop control and general dc MG topology, a thorough...

Applying principles from safety science to improve child protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Cull, Michael J; Rzepnicki, Tina L; O'Day, Kathryn; Epstein, Richard A

2013-01-01

Child Protective Services Agencies (CPSAs) share many characteristics with other organizations operating in high-risk, high-profile industries. Over the past 50 years, industries as diverse as aviation, nuclear power, and healthcare have applied principles from safety science to improve practice. The current paper describes the rationale, characteristics, and challenges of applying concepts from the safety culture literature to CPSAs. Preliminary efforts to apply key principles aimed at improving child safety and well-being in two states are also presented.

Virtual-optical information security system based on public key infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Xiang; Zhang, Peng; Cai, Lilong; Niu, Hanben

2005-01-01

A virtual-optical based encryption model with the aid of public key infrastructure (PKI) is presented in this paper. The proposed model employs a hybrid architecture in which our previously published encryption method based on virtual-optics scheme (VOS) can be used to encipher and decipher data while an asymmetric algorithm, for example RSA, is applied for enciphering and deciphering the session key(s). The whole information security model is run under the framework of international standard ITU-T X.509 PKI, which is on basis of public-key cryptography and digital signatures. This PKI-based VOS security approach has additional features like confidentiality, authentication, and integrity for the purpose of data encryption under the environment of network. Numerical experiments prove the effectiveness of the method. The security of proposed model is briefly analyzed by examining some possible attacks from the viewpoint of a cryptanalysis.

Applying Real Options Thinking to Information Security in Networked Organizations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Daneva, Maia

2006-01-01

An information security strategy of an organization participating in a networked business sets out the plans for designing a variety of actions that ensure confidentiality, availability, and integrity of company’s key information assets. The actions are concerned with authentication and

Applying quality by design (QbD) concept for fabrication of chitosan coated nanoliposomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandey, Abhijeet P; Karande, Kiran P; Sonawane, Raju O; Deshmukh, Prashant K

2014-03-01

In the present investigation, a quality by design (QbD) strategy was successfully applied to the fabrication of chitosan-coated nanoliposomes (CH-NLPs) encapsulating a hydrophilic drug. The effects of the processing variables on the particle size, encapsulation efficiency (%EE) and coating efficiency (%CE) of CH-NLPs (prepared using a modified ethanol injection method) were investigated. The concentrations of lipid, cholesterol, drug and chitosan; stirring speed, sonication time; organic:aqueous phase ratio; and temperature were identified as the key factors after risk analysis for conducting a screening design study. A separate study was designed to investigate the robustness of the predicted design space. The particle size, %EE and %CE of the optimized CH-NLPs were 111.3 nm, 33.4% and 35.2%, respectively. The observed responses were in accordance with the predicted response, which confirms the suitability and robustness of the design space for CH-NLP formulation. In conclusion, optimization of the selected key variables will help minimize the problems related to size, %EE and %CE that are generally encountered when scaling up processes for NLP formulations. The robustness of the design space will help minimize both intra-batch and inter-batch variations, which are quite common in the pharmaceutical industry.

A Way to More Effective Marketing Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carola Grebitus

2011-09-01

Full Text Available To create successful marketing strategies, it is essential to be familiar with consumers’ cognitive structures. In this article, the qualitative method of concept mapping is applied in a consumer survey (N = 132 to elicit cognitive structures and dimensionality of cognitive structures. The authors present methods to analyze dimensionality of cognitive structures descriptively and microeconometrically. An indicator for measuring cognitive structure dimensionality including weighted links is applied. To test the methodology, effects of sociodemographics on dimensionality are analyzed regarding a chosen food product. Results show that consumers’ age and education determine whether cognitive structures are more or less complex, whereas gender has no effect on the dimensionality of cognitive structures. To offer tailored marketing strategies based on dimensionality, emotional marketing strategies should be applied to reach customers with less complex cognitive structures. For consumers with more complex cognitive structures, marketers might focus on providing more detailed, information-based promotion.

Randomness determines practical security of BB84 quantum key distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong-Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Shuang; Qian, Yong-Jun; Chen, Wei; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu

2015-11-01

Unconditional security of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol has been proved by exploiting the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, but the practical quantum key distribution system maybe hacked by considering the imperfect state preparation and measurement respectively. Until now, different attacking schemes have been proposed by utilizing imperfect devices, but the general security analysis model against all of the practical attacking schemes has not been proposed. Here, we demonstrate that the general practical attacking schemes can be divided into the Trojan horse attack, strong randomness attack and weak randomness attack respectively. We prove security of BB84 protocol under randomness attacking models, and these results can be applied to guarantee the security of the practical quantum key distribution system.

Contextualising change through a common strategy: Lecturers' perceptions and key role in supporting academic reform

Science.gov (United States)

Kindelan, Paz; Martin, Ana

2014-05-01

European universities are currently going through a process of change in order to meet the common goals set for higher education by the European Commission. They are revising their educational models to adjust them to the guidelines of the "Bologna Process" and are devising an institutional strategy for its implementation. In practical terms, this means aligning former national degrees and diplomas to standard European Bachelor and Masters degrees and PhD doctorates, by creating acknowledged professional qualification benchmarks that also include adjusted course lengths and contents. This process, in the end, mostly affects academic staff members who have a fundamental role to play in carrying out the pedagogical reforms on the teaching front. Besides presenting a commentary on the institutional approach of one particular technical university in Spain, the purpose of this paper is to propose, from the authors' point of view as lecturers, a strategy which has the potential to create a favourable atmosphere for carrying out such a reform. The article's main objective is to highlight a series of action points which may serve to reinforce and advance the main institutional strategy by relying on the powerful influence of its academic staff members.

Key Drivers for Cooperation toward Sustainable Development and the Management of CO2 Emissions: Comparative Analysis of Six Northeast Asian Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Chapman

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes the key drivers of the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions in six Northeast Asian countries (China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and Russia from 1991 to 2015. We apply a decomposition analysis approach using Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index to identify the main contributing factors toward CO2 emission changes. To discuss the decomposition results in more in detail, we explain the energy portfolio change in each country to understand the energy and resource utilization strategy. From the results, we find that the key driving factors of CO2 emissions change and energy portfolio trends are different among Northeast Asian countries, driven by economic growth in China and Korea, reduced by energy efficiency improvements in Russia and the DPRK, while being relatively benign in Japan and Mongolia due to a combination of these factors. This result implies that we can better understand the regional cooperation policy for improving each driving factor to achieve sustainable development and management of CO2 emissions considering the characteristics of each country.

Parenting styles and adolescents' achievement strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Aunola, K; Stattin, H; Nurmi, J E

2000-04-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the extent to which adolescents' achievement strategies are associated with the parenting styles they experience in their families. Three hundred and fifty-four 14-year-old adolescents completed a Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire and a family parenting style inventory. Analogous questionnaires were also completed by the adolescents' parents. Based on adolescents' report of the parenting styles, four types of families were identified: those with Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive, and Neglectful parenting styles. The results further showed that adolescents from authoritative families applied most adaptive achievement strategies characterized by low levels of failure expectations, task-irrelevant behaviour and passivity, and the use of self-enhancing attributions. Adolescents from neglectful families, in turn, applied maladaptive strategies characterized by high levels of task-irrelevant behaviour, passivity and a lack of self-enhancing attributions. The results provide a basis for understanding some of the processes by which parenting styles may influence adolescents' academic achievement and performance.

Inbound marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Witold Świeczak

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The essential premise of this publication is to define the benefits brought to modern enterprises by introduction of multi-channel marketing strategy, or inbound marketing, to their business.This article defines the factors and processes that influence the effective course of actions undertaken in the framework of inbound marketing.In addition, it is demonstrated how the importance of an organization changes, how its value and importance realistically increases as a result of applying the instruments provided by inbound marketing. The purpose of the article is to present how the concept of inbound marketing is changing the perspective of looking at the modern marketing instruments and how their field of impact changes as a result of their application.It also illustrates how the choice of appropriate mechanisms influences consumer decisions and demonstrates that the key to understanding the processes embedded in the strategy is to reflect on the relationship between the enterprise and potential customers and communication with the customers.

When in doubt follow your nose – a wayfinding strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias eMeilinger

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Route selection is governed by various strategies which often allow minimizing the required memory capacity. Previous research showed that navigators primarily remember information at route decision points and at route turns, rather than at intersections which required straight walking. However, when actually navigating the route or indicating directional decisions, navigators make fewer errors when they are required to walk straight. This tradeoff between location memory and route decisions accuracy was interpreted as a when in doubt follow your nose strategy which allows navigators to only memorize turns and walk straight by default, thus considerably reducing the number of intersections to memorize. These findings were based on newly learned routes. In the present study we show that such an asymmetry in route memory also prevails for planning routes within highly familiar environments. Participants planned route sequences between locations in their city of residency by pressing arrow keys on a keyboard. They tended to ignore straight walking intersections, but they ignored turns much less so. However, for reported intersections participants were quicker at indicating straight walking than turning. Together with results described in the literature, these findings suggest that a when in doubt follow your nose strategy is applied also within highly familiar spaces and might originate from limited working memory capacity during planning a route.

Emotion regulation strategies in Patients with schizophrenia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meer, Lisette; van't Wout, Mascha; Aleman, Andre

2009-01-01

Schizophrenia patients might experience difficulties in applying two widely used emotion regulation strategies, reappraisal and suppression. We investigated the relationships among emotion regulation strategies, alexithymia (i.e. inability to identify and verbalize feelings) and the role of

Human capital strategy: talent management.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagra, Michael

2011-01-01

Large organizations, including the US Army Medical Department and the Army Nurse Corps, are people-based organizations. Consequently, effective and efficient management of the human capital within these organizations is a strategic goal for the leadership. Over time, the Department of Defense has used many different systems and strategies to manage people throughout their service life-cycle. The current system in use is called Human Capital Management. In the near future, the Army's human capital will be managed based on skills, knowledge, and behaviors through various measurement tools. This article elaborates the human capital management strategy within the Army Nurse Corps, which identifies, develops, and implements key talent management strategies under the umbrella of the Corps' human capital goals. The talent management strategy solutions are aligned under the Nurse Corps business strategy captured by the 2008 Army Nurse Corps Campaign Plan, and are implemented within the context of the culture and core values of the organization.

Spatial strategies for managing visitor impacts in National Parks

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Y.-F.; Marion, J.L.

1999-01-01

Resource and social impacts caused by recreationists and tourists have become a management concern in national parks and equivalent protected areas. The need to contain visitor impacts within acceptable limits has prompted park and protected area managers to implement a wide variety of strategies and actions, many of which are spatial in nature. This paper classifies and illustrates the basic spatial strategies for managing visitor impacts in parks and protected areas. A typology of four spatial strategies was proposed based on the recreation and park management literature. Spatial segregation is a common strategy for shielding sensitive resources from visitor impacts or for separating potentially conflicting types of use. Two forms of spatial segregation are zoning and closure. A spatial containment strategy is intended to minimize the aggregate extent of visitor impacts by confining use to limited designated or established Iocations. In contrast, a spatial dispersal strategy seeks to spread visitor use, reducing the frequency of use to levels that avoid or minimize permanent resource impacts or visitor crowding and conflict. Finally, a spatial configuration strategy minimizes impacting visitor behavior though the judicious spatial arrangement of facilities. These four spatial strategics can be implemented separately or in combination at varying spatial scales within a single park. A survey of national park managers provides an empirical example of the diversity of implemented spatial strategies in managing visitor impacts. Spatial segregation is frequently applied in the form of camping restrictions or closures to protect sensitive natural or cultural resources and to separate incompatible visitor activities. Spatial containment is the most widely applied strategy for minimizing the areal extent of resource impacts. Spatial dispersal is commonly applied to reduce visitor crowding or conflicts in popular destination areas but is less frequently applied or

Unconstrained Capacities of Quantum Key Distribution and Entanglement Distillation for Pure-Loss Bosonic Broadcast Channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeoka, Masahiro; Seshadreesan, Kaushik P; Wilde, Mark M

2017-10-13

We consider quantum key distribution (QKD) and entanglement distribution using a single-sender multiple-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel. We determine the unconstrained capacity region for the distillation of bipartite entanglement and secret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. A practical implication of our result is that the capacity region demonstrated drastically improves upon rates achievable using a naive time-sharing strategy, which has been employed in previously demonstrated network QKD systems. We show a simple example of a broadcast QKD protocol overcoming the limit of the point-to-point strategy. Our result is thus an important step toward opening a new framework of network channel-based quantum communication technology.

Unconstrained Capacities of Quantum Key Distribution and Entanglement Distillation for Pure-Loss Bosonic Broadcast Channels

Science.gov (United States)

Takeoka, Masahiro; Seshadreesan, Kaushik P.; Wilde, Mark M.

2017-10-01

We consider quantum key distribution (QKD) and entanglement distribution using a single-sender multiple-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel. We determine the unconstrained capacity region for the distillation of bipartite entanglement and secret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. A practical implication of our result is that the capacity region demonstrated drastically improves upon rates achievable using a naive time-sharing strategy, which has been employed in previously demonstrated network QKD systems. We show a simple example of a broadcast QKD protocol overcoming the limit of the point-to-point strategy. Our result is thus an important step toward opening a new framework of network channel-based quantum communication technology.

Device calibration impacts security of quantum key distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Nitin; Wittmann, Christoffer; Lydersen, Lars; Wiechers, Carlos; Elser, Dominique; Marquardt, Christoph; Makarov, Vadim; Leuchs, Gerd

2011-09-09

Characterizing the physical channel and calibrating the cryptosystem hardware are prerequisites for establishing a quantum channel for quantum key distribution (QKD). Moreover, an inappropriately implemented calibration routine can open a fatal security loophole. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to induce a large temporal detector efficiency mismatch in a commercial QKD system by deceiving a channel length calibration routine. We then devise an optimal and realistic strategy using faked states to break the security of the cryptosystem. A fix for this loophole is also suggested.

PERANCANGAN BALANCED SCORECARD UNTUK PENGEMBANGAN STRATEGI DI SEAMEO BIOTROP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewi Suryani

2014-09-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACTThe objectives of the research were 1 Outlining the vision, mission, and strategy of SEAMEO into strategic objectives in four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard, 2 Determining KPIs, targets, strategic initiatives, and strategy map which can be implemented by Seameo Biotrop , 3 Designing a causal relationship of the strategic objectives through strategic map, and 4 Formulating managerial implications for Seameo Biotrop. The result showed that in the financial perspective four key indicators were identified, in the customer perspective five key indicators were identified, and both in the internal business process and the learning and growth perspective three key indicators were identified. In the financial perspective, amount of funding received from the Government shows the highest contribution to the institution's performance, meanwhile in the customer perspective, number of regular/new research/program conducted in collaboration with academia, research and development organizations, and other related industries shows the highest contribution to institution's performance. In the internal business process perspective, number of MOU signed and implemented shows the highest contribution to the institution’s performance, and in the growth and learning perspective, ratio of labor productivity shows the highest contribution to the institution's performance. Keywords: seameo biotrop, balanced scorecard, KPIABSTRAKTujuan dari penelitian ini adalah 1 menguraikan visi, misi, dan strategi Seameo menjadi tujuan strategis dalam empat perspektif Balanced Scorecard, 2 menentukan KPI, target, inisiatif strategis, dan peta strategi yang dapat diterapkan oleh Seameo Biotrop, 3 merancang hubungan sebab akibat dari tujuan strategis melalui peta strategis, dan 4 merumuskan implikasi manajerial untuk Seameo Biotrop. Metode analisis data yang digunakan adalah Balanced Scorecard dan Key Performance Indicator. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam

[Key microbial processes in nitrous oxide emissions of agricultural soil and mitigation strategies].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yong-Guan; Wang, Xiao-Hui; Yang, Xiao-Ru; Xu, Hui-Juan; Jia, Yan

2014-02-01

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful atmospheric greenhouse gas, which does not only have a strong influence on the global climate change but also depletes the ozone layer and induces the enhancement of ultraviolet radiation to ground surface, so numerous researches have been focused on global climate change and ecological environmental change. Soil is the foremost source of N2O emissions to the atmosphere, and approximately two-thirds of these emissions are generally attributed to microbiological processes including bacterial and fungal denitrification and nitrification processes, largely as a result of the application of nitrogenous fertilizers. Here the available knowledge concerning the research progress in N2O production in agricultural soils was reviewed, including denitrification, nitrification, nitrifier denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium, and the abiotic (including soil pH, organic and inorganic nitrogen, organic matter, soil humidity and temperature) and biotic factors that have direct and indirect effects on N2O fluxes from agricultural soils were also summarized. In addition, the strategies for mitigating N2O emissions and the future research direction were proposed. Therefore, these studies are expected to provide valuable and scientific evidence for the study on mitigation strategies for the emission of greenhouse gases, adjustment of nitrogen transformation processes and enhancement of nitrogen use efficiency.

Microalgal bioengineering for sustainable energy development: Recent transgenesis and metabolic engineering strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Chiranjib; Singh, Puneet Kumar; Shukla, Pratyoosh

2016-03-01

Exploring the efficiency of algae to produce remarkable products can be directly benefitted by studying its mechanism at systems level. Recent advents in biotechnology like flux balance analysis (FBA), genomics and in silico proteomics minimize the wet lab exertion. It is understood that FBA predicts the metabolic products, metabolic pathways and alternative pathway to maximize the desired product, and these are key components for microalgae bio-engineering. This review encompasses recent transgenesis techniques and metabolic engineering strategies applied to different microalgae for improving different traits. Further it also throws light on RNAi and riboswitch engineering based methods which may be advantageous for high throughput microalgal research. A valid and optimally designed microalga can be developed where every engineering strategies meet each other successfully and will definitely fulfill the market needs. It is also to be noted that Omics (viz. genetic and metabolic manipulation with bioinformatics) should be integrated to develop a strain which could prove to be a futuristic solution for sustainable development for energy. Copyright © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Quantum key distribution with entangled photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Xiongfeng; Fung, Chi-Hang Fred; Lo, H.-K.

2007-01-01

A parametric down-conversion (PDC) source can be used as either a triggered single-photon source or an entangled-photon source in quantum key distribution (QKD). The triggering PDC QKD has already been studied in the literature. On the other hand, a model and a post-processing protocol for the entanglement PDC QKD are still missing. We fill in this important gap by proposing such a model and a post-processing protocol for the entanglement PDC QKD. Although the PDC model is proposed to study the entanglement-based QKD, we emphasize that our generic model may also be useful for other non-QKD experiments involving a PDC source. Since an entangled PDC source is a basis-independent source, we apply Koashi and Preskill's security analysis to the entanglement PDC QKD. We also investigate the entanglement PDC QKD with two-way classical communications. We find that the recurrence scheme increases the key rate and the Gottesman-Lo protocol helps tolerate higher channel losses. By simulating a recent 144-km open-air PDC experiment, we compare three implementations: entanglement PDC QKD, triggering PDC QKD, and coherent-state QKD. The simulation result suggests that the entanglement PDC QKD can tolerate higher channel losses than the coherent-state QKD. The coherent-state QKD with decoy states is able to achieve highest key rate in the low- and medium-loss regions. By applying the Gottesman-Lo two-way post-processing protocol, the entanglement PDC QKD can tolerate up to 70 dB combined channel losses (35 dB for each channel) provided that the PDC source is placed in between Alice and Bob. After considering statistical fluctuations, the PDC setup can tolerate up to 53 dB channel losses

Food Security Strategy Based on Computer Innovation

OpenAIRE

Ruihui Mu

2015-01-01

Case analysis to identify innovative strategies for food security occurred in the Oriental Hotel, voluntarily implement food safety control. Food security strategy investigation and the reasons for their use of multiple data sources, including accommodation and catering industry to implement and document interviews with key decision makers in the hotel performed to observe the business environment were examined. This finding suggests that addressing food security, not only is the food control...

Influence of Information Technology on Organization Strategy

OpenAIRE

Sibanda Mabutho; Ramrathan Durrel

2017-01-01

The exponential development of information technology has presented many opportunities to organizations; however, it has also presented several challenges. A key challenge is how do organizations effectively use information technology and incorporate it into their strategies to make full use of its capabilities as an enabler. The fast-changing nature of information technology has resulted in little empirical evidence on how it influences organization strategy. The Strategic Alignment Model wa...

A New Distribution Strategy : The Omnichannel Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela Gabriela Belu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In an increasingly globalized world, dependent on information technology, distribution companies are searching for new marketing models meant to enrich the consumer’s experience. Therefore, the evolution of new technologies, the changes in the consumer’s behaviour are the main factors that determine changes in the business model in the distribution field. The following article presents different forms of distribution, focusing on the omnichannel strategy. In the last part of the paper, the authors analyse the Romanian retail market, namely, the evolution of the market, its key competitors and the new distribution models adopted by retaileres in our country.

Forces in strategy formation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steensen, Elmer Fly; Sanchez, Ron

2008-01-01

This chapter proposes that organizational strategy formation should be characterized theoretically as a process that is subject to several interacting forces, rather than represented by separate discrete decisionmodels or theoretic perspectives, as is commonly done in the strategic management...... literature. Based on an extensive review of relevant theory and empirical work in strategic decision-making, organizational change theory, cognitive and social psychology, and strategy processes, seven kinds of ''forces'' - rational, imposed, teleological, learning, political, heuristic, and social...... - are identified as interacting in and having significant influence on the strategy formation process. It is further argued that by applying a holistic ''forces-view'' of the significant and interacting influences on strategy formation, we can better understand the dynamics and challenges in managing the process...

STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN PEGAWAI DI DINAS PENDIDIKAN KABUPATEN BANTUL DAN DINAS PENDIDIKAN KABUPATEN SLEMAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fifit Firmadani

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan proses need assessment dalam pengembangan pegawai dan strategi pengembangan pegawai yang dilakukan di Dinas Pendidikan Kabupaten Bantul dan Dinas Pendidikan, Pemuda, dan Olahraga Kabupaten Sleman. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan jenis penelitian fenomenologi. Informan utama dalam penelitian ini adalah kepala dinas, kepala sub bagian kepegawaian, dan staf. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan teknik wawancara dan analisis dokumentasi. Teknik analisis data menggunakan model interaktif Miles & Huberman, yang meliputi pengumpulan data, reduksi data, penyajian data, dan penarikan kesimpulan.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengembangan pegawai baik di Dinas Pendidikan Kabupaten Bantul dan Dinas Pendidikan Pemuda, dan Olahraga Kabupaten Sleman tidak terlepas dari peran Badan Kepegawaian Daerah (BKD: (1 proses need assessment dilakukan secara top down dan bottom up, dengan menggunakan tiga analisis yaitu analisis organisasi, analisis tugas, dan analisis individu dan (2 strategi pengembangan pegawai yang dilakukan baik di Dinas Pendidikan Kabupaten Bantul dan Dinas Pendidikan Pemuda, dan Olahraga Kabupaten Sleman meliputi pendidikan dan pelatihan yang dapat berupa bimbingan teknis, workshop, tugas belajar, dan izin belajar; promosi atau kenaikan pangkat; mutasi atau perpindahan jabatan; dan pembinaan. Kata kunci: need assessment, strategi pengembangan pegawai THE EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF BANTUL DISTRICT AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SLEMAN DISTRICT Abstract This study aims to know the process of need assessment in the employee development and the employee development strategy which was applied in Education Department of Bantul District and Education, Youth, and Sport Department of Sleman District. The study carried out through a qualitative phenomenological approach. The key informants of this study were the head of department, the head of the sub

The Models of Applying Online Privacy Literacy Strategies: A Case Study of Instagram Girl Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdollah Bicharanlou

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Social networks affect remarkably in the lives of virtual space users. These networks like most human relations involve compromising between self-disclosure and privacy protection. A process which is realized through improving privacy and empowering the user at the personal level. This study aimed to assess strategies based on online privacy literacy. In particular, strategies that Instagram young girls users should employ to achieve the optimum level of privacy. For this purpose, firstly the paradox of privacy, benefits and risks of self-disclosure are explained, then according to online privacy literacy, some social and technological strategies are introduced by which users can solve the “paradox of privacy.” In the result section, after describing the main benefits and risks of self-disclosure by girl users, the current models of using these social and technological strategies to solve the mentioned paradox are discussed. The research method is ethnography based on non-collaborative observation of Instagram pages and semi-structured interviews with 20 girl users of social networks.

National brownfield redevelopment strategy: Executive summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-02-01

Brownfields refer to contaminated land which lies unused and unproductive. The potential for rejuvenation of such lands exist, which would bring health and economic benefits to local communities, as numerous sites are located in urban areas. The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) agreed, upon request from the government of Canada. to develop a redevelopment strategy designed specifically for brownfields. It is estimated that there are some 30,000 brownfield sites in Canada, such as former railway yards, decommissioned refineries, old waterfronts and riverbanks, crumbling warehouses, abandoned gas stations, former dry cleaners and other commercial properties where toxic substances were either used or stored. The rejuvenation of such sites results in economic, social, and environmental benefits through the creation of numerous jobs, millions of dollars in additional property taxes, as well as thousands of new housing units. There are several challenges in cleaning up those sites: lack of access to capital, regulatory liability risk, civil liability risk, limited access to insurance protection, regulatory delays, stigma and risk perception, and lack or awareness among many key public and private sector groups. This document presents the national strategy developed to address those issues. Three strategic directions have been identified for action: (1) applying strategic public investments to address up front costs, (2) establishing an effective public policy regime for environmental liability and risk management, and (3) building capacity for and community awareness of brownfield redevelopment. Recommendations and the rationale were presented under each proposal.

Benchmarking Organisational Capability using The 20 Keys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dino Petrarolo

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Organisations have over the years implemented many improvement initiatives, many of which were applied individually with no real, lasting improvement. Approaches such as quality control, team activities, setup reduction and many more seldom changed the fundamental constitution or capability of an organisation. Leading companies in the world have come to realise that an integrated approach is required which focuses on improving more than one factor at the same time - by recognising the importance of synergy between different improvement efforts and the need for commitment at all levels of the company to achieve total system-wide improvement.

The 20 Keys approach offers a way to look at the strenqth of organisations and to systemically improve it, one step at a time by focusing on 20 different but interrelated aspects. One feature of the approach is the benchmarking system which forms the main focus of this paper. The benchmarking system is introduced as an important part of the 20 Keys philosophy in measuring organisational strength. Benchmarking results from selected South African companies are provided, as well as one company's results achieved through the adoption of the 20 Keys philosophy.

The Confusion of Content Marketing : a study to clarify the key dimensions of content marketing

OpenAIRE

Claesson, Amanda; Jonsson, Albin

2017-01-01

Content marketing is a popular marketing strategy, which has increased significantly during the last years. The term content marketing is new but companies have been working with parts of the strategy for decades. The new digital era changed the communication from a one-way to a two-way communica- tion. Customers now have a demand for relevant content that is valuable for them. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an understanding of this marketing strategy, and clarify the key dime...

Clinical guideline implementation strategies for common mental health disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Eliana María; Moriana, Juan Antonio

2016-01-01

There has been a considerable proliferation of clinical guidelines recently, but their practical application is low, and organisations do not always implement their own ones. The aim of this study is to analyse and describe key elements of strategies and resources designed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the implementation of guidelines for common mental health disorders in adults, which are some of the most prevalent worldwide. A systematic review was performed following PRISMA model. Resources, tools and implementation materials where included and categorised considering type, objectives, target and scope. A total of 212 elements were analysed, of which 33.5 and 24.5% are related to the implementation of generalized anxiety and depression guidelines, respectively. Applied tools designed to estimate costs and assess the feasibility of the setting up at local level are the most frequent type of resource. The study highlights the important variety of available materials, classified into 3 main strategies: tools targeting the professionals (30.6%), structural (26.4%), and organizational (24%). Developing guidelines is not enough; it is also necessary to promote their implementation in order to encourage their application. The resources and strategies described in this study may be potentially applicable to other contexts, and helpful to public health managers and professionals in the design of programmes and in the process of informed decision making to help increase access to efficient treatments. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier España.

Teaching Benchmark Strategy for Fifth-Graders in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Der-Ching; Lai, M. L.

2013-01-01

The key purpose of this study was how we taught the use of benchmark strategy when comparing fraction for fifth-graders in Taiwan. 26 fifth graders from a public elementary in south Taiwan were selected to join this study. Results of this case study showed that students had a much progress on the use of benchmark strategy when comparing fraction…

Time–energy high-dimensional one-side device-independent quantum key distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bao Hai-Ze; Bao Wan-Su; Wang Yang; Chen Rui-Ke; Ma Hong-Xin; Zhou Chun; Li Hong-Wei

2017-01-01

Compared with full device-independent quantum key distribution (DI-QKD), one-side device-independent QKD (1sDI-QKD) needs fewer requirements, which is much easier to meet. In this paper, by applying recently developed novel time–energy entropic uncertainty relations, we present a time–energy high-dimensional one-side device-independent quantum key distribution (HD-QKD) and provide the security proof against coherent attacks. Besides, we connect the security with the quantum steering. By numerical simulation, we obtain the secret key rate for Alice’s different detection efficiencies. The results show that our protocol can performance much better than the original 1sDI-QKD. Furthermore, we clarify the relation among the secret key rate, Alice’s detection efficiency, and the dispersion coefficient. Finally, we simply analyze its performance in the optical fiber channel. (paper)

Securing quantum key distribution systems using fewer states

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Nurul T.; Lim, Charles Ci Wen; Cahall, Clinton; Kim, Jungsang; Gauthier, Daniel J.

2018-04-01

Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two remote users to establish a secret key in the presence of an eavesdropper. The users share quantum states prepared in two mutually unbiased bases: one to generate the key while the other monitors the presence of the eavesdropper. Here, we show that a general d -dimension QKD system can be secured by transmitting only a subset of the monitoring states. In particular, we find that there is no loss in the secure key rate when dropping one of the monitoring states. Furthermore, it is possible to use only a single monitoring state if the quantum bit error rates are low enough. We apply our formalism to an experimental d =4 time-phase QKD system, where only one monitoring state is transmitted, and obtain a secret key rate of 17.4 ±2.8 Mbits/s at a 4 dB channel loss and with a quantum bit error rate of 0.045 ±0.001 and 0.037 ±0.001 in time and phase bases, respectively, which is 58.4% of the secret key rate that can be achieved with the full setup. This ratio can be increased, potentially up to 100%, if the error rates in time and phase basis are reduced. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to substantially simplify the design of high-dimensional QKD systems, including those that use the spatial or temporal degrees of freedom of the photon, and still outperform qubit-based (d =2 ) protocols.

Identification of key nitrous oxide production pathways in aerobic partial nitrifying granules.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishii, Satoshi; Song, Yanjun; Rathnayake, Lashitha; Tumendelger, Azzaya; Satoh, Hisashi; Toyoda, Sakae; Yoshida, Naohiro; Okabe, Satoshi

2014-10-01

The identification of the key nitrous oxide (N2O) production pathways is important to establish a strategy to mitigate N2O emission. In this study, we combined real-time gas-monitoring analysis, (15)N stable isotope analysis, denitrification functional gene transcriptome analysis and microscale N2O concentration measurements to identify the main N2O producers in a partial nitrification (PN) aerobic granule reactor, which was fed with ammonium and acetate. Our results suggest that heterotrophic denitrification was the main contributor to N2O production in our PN aerobic granule reactor. The heterotrophic denitrifiers were probably related to Rhodocyclales bacteria, although different types of bacteria were active in the initial and latter stages of the PN reaction cycles, most likely in response to the presence of acetate. Hydroxylamine oxidation and nitrifier denitrification occurred, but their contribution to N2O emission was relatively small (20-30%) compared with heterotrophic denitrification. Our approach can be useful to quantitatively examine the relative contributions of the three pathways (hydroxylamine oxidation, nitrifier denitrification and heterotrophic denitrification) to N2O emission in mixed microbial populations. © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Information security system based on virtual-optics imaging methodology and public key infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Xiang; Zhang, Peng; Cai, Lilong

In this paper, we present a virtual-optical based information security system model with the aid of public-key-infrastructure (PKI) techniques. The proposed model employs a hybrid architecture in which our previously published encryption algorithm based on virtual-optics imaging methodology (VOIM) can be used to encipher and decipher data while an asymmetric algorithm, for example RSA, is applied for enciphering and deciphering the session key(s). For an asymmetric system, given an encryption key, it is computationally infeasible to determine the decryption key and vice versa. The whole information security model is run under the framework of PKI, which is on basis of public-key cryptography and digital signatures. This PKI-based VOIM security approach has additional features like confidentiality, authentication, and integrity for the purpose of data encryption under the environment of network.

Quantum key management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hughes, Richard John; Thrasher, James Thomas; Nordholt, Jane Elizabeth

2016-11-29

Innovations for quantum key management harness quantum communications to form a cryptography system within a public key infrastructure framework. In example implementations, the quantum key management innovations combine quantum key distribution and a quantum identification protocol with a Merkle signature scheme (using Winternitz one-time digital signatures or other one-time digital signatures, and Merkle hash trees) to constitute a cryptography system. More generally, the quantum key management innovations combine quantum key distribution and a quantum identification protocol with a hash-based signature scheme. This provides a secure way to identify, authenticate, verify, and exchange secret cryptographic keys. Features of the quantum key management innovations further include secure enrollment of users with a registration authority, as well as credential checking and revocation with a certificate authority, where the registration authority and/or certificate authority can be part of the same system as a trusted authority for quantum key distribution.

Active lubrication applied to internal combustion engines - evaluation of control strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Estupinan, Edgar Alberto; Santos, Ilmar

2009-01-01

surface. The behaviour of a main bearing of a medium size combustion engine, operating with radial oil injection and with four different control strategies is analyzed, giving some insights into the minimum fluid film thickness, maximum fluid film pressure, friction losses and maximum vibration levels...... of reducing friction losses and vibrations between the crankshaft and the bearings. The conventional hydrodynamic lubrication is combined with hydrostatic lubrication which is actively modified by radially injecting oil at controllable pressures, through orifices circumferentially located around the bearing...

ADMINISTRATIVE INSTRUMENTS IN IMPLEMENTING FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES COMPETITIVENESS MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iryna Stankovska

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article explores the use of  аdministrative instruments in implementing functional strategies competitiveness management. Due to providing strategic financial management competitiveness the use of administrative levers of control in the formulation and implementation of financial strategies were investigated. System of financial policies forming by individual policies of  general financial strategy, which is an administrative levers of influence on implementation strategies, was proposed. Structure strategic alternatives of financial and investment strategy implementation based on the decomposition and decision tree was formed. To select strategic alternatives, to identify strategic gaps and evaluate deviations from specified target markers in the implementation of financial policies using GAP-analysis that is a tool of management analysis was proposed. Key words: functional strategy, financial strategy, competitiveness management, financial policy, administrative instruments, GAP-analysis.

Survey and Explain the role of Sensemaking in Successful Strategy Implementation in Iran’s Automotive Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Farhad Hosseini

2016-09-01

Full Text Available There is not a dominant model that could explain key factors of sensemaking of strategy implementation and interactions between them. The purpose of this study is designing and explaining the role of sensemaking in successful strategy implementation along with a combination of factors which influence implementation sensemaking. This study surveyed the factors influencing sensemaking of successful strategy implementation in top Iran’s automotive companies. This is a qualitative research that uses grounded theory to obtain insight about the role of sensemaking in successful implementation through in-depth interviews with 22 individuals (Managers, Assistant Directors and Academic Professors and used gathered data to design a model of sensemaking in successful strategy implementation. Based on open and axial coding, 21 effective variables were conceptualized and classified in seven major categories then final model was designed. This theory explains factors that affect the sensemaking of successful strategy implementation and how these factors interact with each other. Sensemaking in Successful implementation of strategies depends on Sensemaking Context, Key Executers, Discourse Context, Intervening Conditions and Collective Sensemaking. Sensemaking Context cause sensemaking and sensegiving of key executers and key executers itself along with Discourse Context and Intervening Conditions lead to collective sensemaking. The consequence of model is sensemaking of successful strategy implementation that consists of maintaining and recording the meaning and its strengthening, collective effort, continuous strategy implementation and operational excellence of the organization.

Key aspects congenital infection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Lobzin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The key questions to solve the problem of congenital infection in the Russian Federation are: using in national practice over world accepted terminology adapted to the recommendations of the World Health Organization; representation of the modern concepts of an infectious process in the classification of congenital infections; scientific development and introducing in clinical practice the «standard case definitions», applied to different congenital infections; optimization of protocols and clinical guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of congenital infections; improvement a knowledge in the infectious disease for all  pecialists involved in the risk assessment of congenital infections, manage pregnancy and children. Based on our experience and analysis of publications, the authors suggest possible solutions.

Protected Areas and Local Communities: an Inevitable Partnership toward Successful Conservation Strategies?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gustavo S. M. Andrade

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Many protected areas (PAs have followed the conventional and exclusionary approach applied at Yellowstone in 1872. As such, many parks have failed to fully integrate other important factors, such as social, cultural, and political issues. In some cases, this has triggered adverse social impacts on local communities, disrupting their traditional ways of living and limiting their control of and access to natural resources. Such an outcome can undermine protection policies through conflicts between park managers and local communities. The success of conservation strategies through protected areas may lie in the ability of managers to reconcile biodiversity conservation goals with social and economic issues and to promote greater compliance of local communities with PA conservation strategies. However, there are very few quantitative studies identifying what the key factors are that lead to better compliance with PA conservation policies. To address this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis of 55 published case studies from developing countries to determine whether the level of compliance of local communities with PA regulations was related to: (1 PA age, (2 PA area, (3 the existence of a buffer zone, (4 the level of protection as defined by IUCN categories, (5 gross domestic product per capita, (6 population density in the vicinity of PAs, and (7 the level of local community participation in PA management. We found that local community participation in the PA decision-making process was the only variable that was significantly related to the level of compliance with PA polices. In general, the higher the level of participation, the higher the level of compliance. This has important implications for PA management and suggests that greater inclusion of local communities in management should be a key strategy for ensuring the integrity of PAs.

Simultaneous detection of landmarks and key-frame in cardiac perfusion MRI using a joint spatial-temporal context model

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Xiaoguang; Xue, Hui; Jolly, Marie-Pierre; Guetter, Christoph; Kellman, Peter; Hsu, Li-Yueh; Arai, Andrew; Zuehlsdorff, Sven; Littmann, Arne; Georgescu, Bogdan; Guehring, Jens

2011-03-01

Cardiac perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven clinical significance in diagnosis of heart diseases. However, analysis of perfusion data is time-consuming, where automatic detection of anatomic landmarks and key-frames from perfusion MR sequences is helpful for anchoring structures and functional analysis of the heart, leading toward fully automated perfusion analysis. Learning-based object detection methods have demonstrated their capabilities to handle large variations of the object by exploring a local region, i.e., context. Conventional 2D approaches take into account spatial context only. Temporal signals in perfusion data present a strong cue for anchoring. We propose a joint context model to encode both spatial and temporal evidence. In addition, our spatial context is constructed not only based on the landmark of interest, but also the landmarks that are correlated in the neighboring anatomies. A discriminative model is learned through a probabilistic boosting tree. A marginal space learning strategy is applied to efficiently learn and search in a high dimensional parameter space. A fully automatic system is developed to simultaneously detect anatomic landmarks and key frames in both RV and LV from perfusion sequences. The proposed approach was evaluated on a database of 373 cardiac perfusion MRI sequences from 77 patients. Experimental results of a 4-fold cross validation show superior landmark detection accuracies of the proposed joint spatial-temporal approach to the 2D approach that is based on spatial context only. The key-frame identification results are promising.

Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change by Food Crop Farmers in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... constraints to farmers adaptation strategies. Inputs supply to the local farmers should also come with government subsidy. This will go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the farmers, as regards inadequate supply and delivery of agricultural inputs. Key words: Adaptation, Strategies, Climate, Change, Food, Crop,

Trade Unions as Organisations: Key Issues and Problems of Internal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper critically examines and evaluates inter alia Trade Unions as. Organisations and the key issues and problems of Internal Democracy within them. It transcends this analysis to assert that these core issues apply equally well to Political Organisations. Thus, from an ideological standpoint, Trade Unions play a great ...

Metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates.

Science.gov (United States)

McCabe, Jennifer

2011-04-01

Two studies examined undergraduates' metacognitive awareness of six empirically-supported learning strategies. Study 1 results overall suggested an inability to predict the learning outcomes of educational scenarios describing the strategies of dual-coding, static-media presentations, low-interest extraneous details, testing, and spacing; there was, however, weak endorsement of the strategy of generating one's own study materials. In addition, an independent measure of metacognitive self-regulation was correlated with scenario performance. Study 2 demonstrated higher prediction accuracy for students who had received targeted instruction on applied memory topics in their psychology courses, and the best performance for those students directly exposed to the original empirical studies from which the scenarios were derived. In sum, this research suggests that undergraduates are largely unaware of several specific strategies that could benefit memory for course information; further, training in applied learning and memory topics has the potential to improve metacognitive judgments in these domains.

J-PAKE: Authenticated Key Exchange without PKI

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Feng; Ryan, Peter

Password Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) is one of the important topics in cryptography. It aims to address a practical security problem: how to establish secure communication between two parties solely based on a shared password without requiring a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). After more than a decade of extensive research in this field, there have been several PAKE protocols available. The EKE and SPEKE schemes are perhaps the two most notable examples. Both techniques are however patented. In this paper, we review these techniques in detail and summarize various theoretical and practical weaknesses. In addition, we present a new PAKE solution called J-PAKE. Our strategy is to depend on well-established primitives such as the Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP). So far, almost all of the past solutions have avoided using ZKP for the concern on efficiency. We demonstrate how to effectively integrate the ZKP into the protocol design and meanwhile achieve good efficiency. Our protocol has comparable computational efficiency to the EKE and SPEKE schemes with clear advantages on security.

Interactional Strategies Used by Low Level Learners in Public Speaking Class

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuli Astutik

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This research article described the interactional strategies used by low learners in public speaking class. A qualitative study on whether or not low learners used the aspects of interactional strategies was the main focus. This paper also aimed to know what aspects mostly used and the factors that cause this problem. Observing and interviewing to six subjects regarding on the use of interactional strategies: exemplification, confirmation checks, comprehension checks, repetition, clarification requests, repetition requests, exemplification requests, and assistance appeal were carried out. Finding indicated that from six low learners, only two who did not apply interactional strategies in all situations. Four students have applied 3 – 4 interactional strategies in the case they were as the speaker. In another side, when they were the listeners, they did not apply the interactional strategies. The result showed that repetition was the interactional strategy mostly used by low learners. Nevertheless, the reason of using it was not proper reason. The further finding indicated some factors cause low learners did not use four interactional strategies such as fluency, grammar, lack of vocabulary and pronunciation in addition to the English practice merely in the formal situation.

The sales strategies of electric power and natural gas in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heddebaut, D.

2005-01-01

This study presents a whole panorama of the commercial strategies developed by the electric power and natural gas suppliers. Based on interviews, this study provides data keys and development strategies of 13 operators of the energy french market. (A.L.B.)

Applying social marketing in health care: communicating evidence to change consumer behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, W Douglas; McCormack, Lauren

2008-01-01

Social marketing uses commercial marketing strategies to change individual and organizational behavior and policies. It has been effective on a population level across a wide range of public health and health care domains. There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of social marketing in changing health care consumer behavior through its impact on patient-provider interaction or provider behavior. Social marketers need to identify translatable strategies (e.g., competition analysis, branding, and tailored messages) that can be applied to health care provider and consumer behavior. Three case studies from social marketing illustrate potential strategies to change provider and consumer behavior. Countermarketing is a rapidly growing social marketing strategy that has been effective in tobacco control and may be effective in countering pharmaceutical marketing using specific message strategies. Informed decision making is a useful strategy when there is medical uncertainty, such as in prostate cancer screening and treatment. Pharmaceutical industry marketing practices offer valuable lessons for developing competing messages to reach providers and consumers. Social marketing is an effective population-based behavior change strategy that can be applied in individual clinical settings and as a complement to reinforce messages communicated on a population level. There is a need for more research on message strategies that work in health care and population-level effectiveness studies.

[STRATEGY OF USE AND MAINTENANCE OF CLINICAL HOSPITAL CENTER RIJEKA IN ACCORDANCE WITH KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR STRATEGIC HEALTHCARE FACILITIES MAINTENANCE].

Science.gov (United States)

Sjekavica, Mariela; Haller, Herman; Cerić, Anita

2015-01-01

Building usage is the phase in the building life cycle that is most time-consuming, most functional, most significant due to building purpose and often systematically ignored. Maintenance is the set of activities that ensure the planned duration of facility exploitation phase in accordance with the requirements for quality maintenance of a large number of important building features as well as other elements immanent to the nature of facilities' life. The aim of the study is to show the analysis of the current state of organized, planned and comprehensive managerial approach in hospital utilization and maintenance in the Republic of Croatia, given on the case study of Clinical hospital center in Rijeka. The methodology used consists of relevant literature section of theory of facility utilization, maintenance and management in general, hospital buildings especially, display of practice on case study, and comparison of key performance indicators values obtained through interview with those that author Igal M. Shohet defined in his study by field surveys and statistical analyses. Despite many positive indicators of Clinical hospital center Rijeka maintenance, an additional research is needed in order to define a more complete national hospital maintenance strategy.

ENHANCING STUDENTS‟ MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN LEARNING GRAMMAR THROUGH CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH RELATING, EXPERIENCING, APPLYING, COOPERATING AND TRANSFERRING (REACT STRATEGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mashlihatul Umami Umami

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This research addresses the issue of whether Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL through REACT (Relating, Experiencing, Applying, Cooperating and Transferring strategy is able to enhance motivation and achievement of English Department students‘ in learning grammar. The researcher uses a classroom action research in which it was held for about two cycles. The instruments of collecting the data are observation, rubric, questionaire and test. The researcher analyzes the data using three steps, i.e. students‘ motivation to learn are analyzed by the sheet of observation, each of individuals is also analyzed by fulfilling the questionnaire of self assessment, the progress of students‘ motivation and achievement are all monitored by rubric assessment tool, seven components of REACT strategy in learning is also recorded by the sheets of observation and the statistical analysis using t-test measures the improvement occurred. In addition, the researcher prepares field note and questionnaire to monitor the process of learning. Based on the results of qualitative-quantitative analysis, it can be found that the use of CTL approach especially using project based and cooperative learning improves the students‘ motivation and achievement in learning grammar.

Interactive simulations for quantum key distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Kohnle, Antje; Rizzoli, Aluna

2017-05-01

Secure communication protocols are becoming increasingly important, e.g. for internet-based communication. Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two parties, commonly called Alice and Bob, to generate a secret sequence of 0s and 1s called a key that is only known to themselves. Classically, Alice and Bob could never be certain that their communication was not compromised by a malicious eavesdropper. Quantum mechanics however makes secure communication possible. The fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that taking a measurement perturbs the system (unless the measurement is compatible with the quantum state) also applies to an eavesdropper. Using appropriate protocols to create the key, Alice and Bob can detect the presence of an eavesdropper by errors in their measurements. As part of the QuVis Quantum Mechanics Visualisation Project, we have developed a suite of four interactive simulations that demonstrate the basic principles of three different QKD protocols. The simulations use either polarised photons or spin 1/2 particles as physical realisations. The simulations and accompanying activities are freely available for use online or download, and run on a wide range of devices including tablets and PCs. Evaluation with students over three years was used to refine the simulations and activities. Preliminary studies show that the refined simulations and activities help students learn the basic principles of QKD at both the introductory and advanced undergraduate levels.

Interactive simulations for quantum key distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kohnle, Antje; Rizzoli, Aluna

2017-01-01

Secure communication protocols are becoming increasingly important, e.g. for internet-based communication. Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two parties, commonly called Alice and Bob, to generate a secret sequence of 0s and 1s called a key that is only known to themselves. Classically, Alice and Bob could never be certain that their communication was not compromised by a malicious eavesdropper. Quantum mechanics however makes secure communication possible. The fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that taking a measurement perturbs the system (unless the measurement is compatible with the quantum state) also applies to an eavesdropper. Using appropriate protocols to create the key, Alice and Bob can detect the presence of an eavesdropper by errors in their measurements. As part of the QuVis Quantum Mechanics Visualisation Project, we have developed a suite of four interactive simulations that demonstrate the basic principles of three different QKD protocols. The simulations use either polarised photons or spin 1/2 particles as physical realisations. The simulations and accompanying activities are freely available for use online or download, and run on a wide range of devices including tablets and PCs. Evaluation with students over three years was used to refine the simulations and activities. Preliminary studies show that the refined simulations and activities help students learn the basic principles of QKD at both the introductory and advanced undergraduate levels. (paper)

China's transboundary waters: new paradigms for water and ecological security through applied ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Daming; Wu, Ruidong; Feng, Yan; Li, Yungang; Ding, Chengzhi; Wang, Wenling; Yu, Douglas W

2014-10-01

China is Asia's most important upstream riparian country, sharing 110 rivers and lakes with 18 downstream countries. Consequently, China's management of transboundary water resources must consider both environmental and geopolitical risks.The major threats to and conflicts over international rivers in China revolve around biotic homogenisation due to the installation of transport links, water allocation, water pollution, alteration of natural flow patterns and disruption of fisheries due to the installation of hydropower dams, and droughts and floods exacerbated by climate change. Because these problems have an international component, they fall under China's Peaceful Rise strategy, mandating that transboundary conflicts be resolved amicably as part of the overarching goal of increasing regional economic growth with as little conflict as possible.Science-backed policy is more likely to result in long term, mutually agreeable solutions; the results of applied ecological research have already resulted in a number of mitigation measures, including setting operational thresholds to reduce the downstream impact of dams, designating protected areas along key river stretches where dams cannot be installed (one dam in a critical location has been cancelled), and the installation of terrestrial protected-area networks. Synthesis and applications . Applied ecology will continue to play an important role in the diagnosis and resolution of environmental threats to China's transboundary waters. More importantly, applied ecology can inform the development of a transboundary environmental compensation mechanism and regional consultative mechanisms that support informed, cooperative decision-making for China and its riparian neighbours.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGY MATERIAL RESOURCES BY METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Endang Susantini

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The Development of Biology Material Resources by Metacognitive Strategy The study was aimed at finding out the suitability of Biology Materials using the metacognitive strategy. The materials were textbooks, self-understanding Evaluation Sheet and the key, lesson plan, and tests including the answer key. The criteria of appropriateness included the relevance of the resources with the content validity, face va­lidity and the language. This research and development study was carried out employing a 3D model, namely define, design and develop. At the define stage, three topics were selected for analysis, they were virus, Endocrine System, and Genetic material. During the design phase, the physical appearance of the materials was suited with the Metacognitive Strategy. At the develop phase, the material resources were examined and validated by two Biology experts and senior teachers of Biology. The results showed that the Biology material Resources using Metacognitive Strategy developed in the study has fell into the category of very good ( score > 3.31 and was therefore considered suitable.

Evaluating risk management strategies in resource planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, C.J.

1995-01-01

This paper discusses the evaluation of risk management strategies as a part of integrated resource planning. Value- and scope-related uncertainties can be addressed during the process of planning, but uncertainties in the operating environment require technical analysis within planning models. Flexibility and robustness are two key classes of strategies for managing the risk posed by these uncertainties. This paper reviews standard capacity expansion planning models and shows that they are poorly equipped to compare risk management strategies. Those that acknowledge uncertainty are better at evaluating robustness than flexibility, which implies a bias against flexible options. Techniques are available to overcome this bias

Leadership training, leadership strategies and organizational performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ladegaard, Louise; Andersen, Lotte Bøgh; Bøllingtoft, Anne

Leadership is fundamentally important for improving public sector performance, but the existing literature has severe endogeneity problems. Using a field experiment with 720 Danish leaders and 23.000 employees, the LEAP (Leadership and Performance) project will try to overcome these problems. We...... use a field experiment to study the effects of leadership training and leadership strategies on organizational performance. The research question is how leadership training affect leadership strategies, and how these strategies affect performance? This paper takes three steps towards answering...... this question. First, we discuss the conceptualization of leadership strategies. Second, we present our research design and clarify how we expect the leadership training to affect leadership strategies. Third, we discuss briefly how we measure the key concepts: Leadership and performance. Our aim is to develop...

Applying Coaching Strategies to Support Youth- and Family-Focused Extension Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Jonathan R.; Hawkey, Kyle R.; Smith, Burgess; Perkins, Daniel F.; Borden, Lynne M.

2016-01-01

In this article, we describe how a peer-coaching model has been applied to support community-based Extension programming through the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) initiative. We describe the general approaches to coaching that have been used to help with CYFAR program implementation, evaluation, and sustainability efforts; we…

Experimental Investigation on Adaptive Robust Controller Designs Applied to Constrained Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco H. Terra

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, two interlaced studies are presented. The first is directed to the design and construction of a dynamic 3D force/moment sensor. The device is applied to provide a feedback signal of forces and moments exerted by the robotic end-effector. This development has become an alternative solution to the existing multi-axis load cell based on static force and moment sensors. The second one shows an experimental investigation on the performance of four different adaptive nonlinear H∞ control methods applied to a constrained manipulator subject to uncertainties in the model and external disturbances. Coordinated position and force control is evaluated. Adaptive procedures are based on neural networks and fuzzy systems applied in two different modeling strategies. The first modeling strategy requires a well-known nominal model for the robot, so that the intelligent systems are applied only to estimate the effects of uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances. The second strategy considers that the robot model is completely unknown and, therefore, intelligent systems are used to estimate these dynamics. A comparative study is conducted based on experimental implementations performed with an actual planar manipulator and with the dynamic force sensor developed for this purpose.

Use of social media in health promotion: purposes, key performance indicators, and evaluation metrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Neiger, Brad L; Thackeray, Rosemary; Van Wagenen, Sarah A; Hanson, Carl L; West, Joshua H; Barnes, Michael D; Fagen, Michael C

2012-03-01

Despite the expanding use of social media, little has been published about its appropriate role in health promotion, and even less has been written about evaluation. The purpose of this article is threefold: (a) outline purposes for social media in health promotion, (b) identify potential key performance indicators associated with these purposes, and (c) propose evaluation metrics for social media related to the key performance indicators. Process evaluation is presented in this article as an overarching evaluation strategy for social media.

Modern applied U-statistics

CERN Document Server

Kowalski, Jeanne

2008-01-01

A timely and applied approach to the newly discovered methods and applications of U-statisticsBuilt on years of collaborative research and academic experience, Modern Applied U-Statistics successfully presents a thorough introduction to the theory of U-statistics using in-depth examples and applications that address contemporary areas of study including biomedical and psychosocial research. Utilizing a "learn by example" approach, this book provides an accessible, yet in-depth, treatment of U-statistics, as well as addresses key concepts in asymptotic theory by integrating translational and cross-disciplinary research.The authors begin with an introduction of the essential and theoretical foundations of U-statistics such as the notion of convergence in probability and distribution, basic convergence results, stochastic Os, inference theory, generalized estimating equations, as well as the definition and asymptotic properties of U-statistics. With an emphasis on nonparametric applications when and where applic...

Regional Economic Development Strategy Based Agro-Industries in Key Region Kandangan South of Kalimantan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewi Siska

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Agroindustry has become the main pillar in South Kalimantan development, it can be found in RPJPD 2005-2025. Kandangan mainstay region as one of three leading regions in South Kalimantan which potentially improved to push economy growth through agriculture based industry activity (agroindustry. The concept of agroindustry a side is expected to drive economic growth as well as to realize the equitable distribution of income. This research aims to: (1 identify to economic development of the region in Kandangan mainstay regions, (2 identify the main commodity, (3 identify means of supporting agroindustry, and (4 formulating development strategies based agroindustry region. Entropy analysis shows the development of the economy sufficiently developed in Kandangan mainstay region dominated by the agricultural sector, namely food crops subsector. LQ an SSA analysis shows corn and rice crops become competitive commodities. There are only few of supporting infrastructure agroindustry activities. Strategy formulation in the research is the improvement of infrastructure or infrastructure that can facilitate inter regional connectivity in the region mainstay Kandangan and the government as the leading actor agroindustry development.

Selection of appropriates E-learning personalization strategies from ontological perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fathi Essalmi

2010-10-01

Full Text Available When there are several personalization strategies of E-learning, authors of courses need to be supported for deciding which strategy will be applied for personalizing each course. In fact, the time, the efforts and the learning objects needed for preparing personalized learning scenarios depend on the personalization strategy to be applied. This paper presents an approach for selecting personalization strategies according to the feasibility of generating personalized learning scenarios with minimal intervention of the author. Several metrics are proposed for putting in order and selecting useful personalization strategies. The calculus of these metrics is automated based on the analyses of the LOM (Learning Object Metadata standard according to the semantic relations between data elements and learners’ characteristics represented in the Ontology for Selection of Personalization Strategies (OSPS.

Drivability Improvement Control for Vehicle Start-Up Applied to an Automated Manual Transmission

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danna Jiang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Drivability is the key factor for the automated manual transmission. It includes fast response to the driver’s demand and the driving comfort. This paper deals with a control methodology applied to an automated manual transmission vehicle for drivability enhancement during vehicle start-up phase. Based on a piecewise model of powertrain, a multiple-model predictive controller (mMPC is designed with the engine speed, clutch disc speed, and wheel speed as the measurable input variables and the engine torque reference and clutch friction torque reference as the controller’s output variables. The model not only includes the clutch dynamic, the flexible shaft dynamic, but also includes the actuators’ delay character. Considering the driver’s intention, a slipping speed trajectory is generated based on the acceleration pedal dynamically. The designed control strategy is verified on a complete powertrain and longitudinal vehicle dynamic model with different driver’s torque demands.

Equity portfolio optimization: A DEA based methodology applied to the Zagreb Stock Exchange

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margareta Gardijan

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Most strategies for selection portfolios focus on utilizing solely market data and implicitly assume that stock markets communicate all relevant information to all market stakeholders, and that these markets cannot be influenced by investor activities. However convenient, this is a limited approach, especially when applied to small and illiquid markets such as the Croatian market, where such assumptions are hardly realistic. Thus, there is a demand for including other sources of data, such as financial reports. Research poses the question of whether financial ratios as criteria for stock selection are of any use to Croatian investors. Financial and market data from selected publicly companies listed on the Croatian capital market are used. A two-stage portfolio selection strategy is applied, where the first stage involves selecting stocks based on the respective Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA efficiency scores. DEA models are becoming popular in stock portfolio selection given that the methodology includes numerous models that provide a great flexibility in selecting inputs and outputs, which in turn are considered as criteria for portfolio selection. Accordingly, there is much room for improvement of the current proposed strategies for selecting portfolios. In the second stage, two portfolio-weighting strategies are applied using equal proportions and score-weighting. To show whether these strategies create outstanding out–of–sample portfolios in time, time-dependent DEA Window Analysis is applied using a reference time of one year, and portfolio returns are compared with the market portfolio for each period. It is found that the financial data are a significant indicator of the future performance of a stock and a DEA-based portfolio strategy outperforms market return.

Projekt marketingové strategie pro produkt adrenalinové sporty

OpenAIRE

Brabencová, Kateřina

2006-01-01

Title: Pian of marketing strategies for (product) extreme sports Work goals: To propose marketing strategies that can increase spectator attendance on extreme sport mountain bike downhill races Methods: Marketing research- questioning, SWOT analysis, describing analysis Results: Conclusion and advices for increasing spectator attendance on mountain bike downhill races Key words: Marketing, Marketing research, questioning, SWOT analysis

Designing key-dependent chaotic S-box with larger key space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin Ruming; Yuan Jian; Wang Jian; Shan Xiuming; Wang Xiqin

2009-01-01

The construction of cryptographically strong substitution boxes (S-boxes) is an important concern in designing secure cryptosystems. The key-dependent S-boxes designed using chaotic maps have received increasing attention in recent years. However, the key space of such S-boxes does not seem to be sufficiently large due to the limited parameter range of discretized chaotic maps. In this paper, we propose a new key-dependent S-box based on the iteration of continuous chaotic maps. We explore the continuous-valued state space of chaotic systems, and devise the discrete mapping between the input and the output of the S-box. A key-dependent S-box is constructed with the logistic map in this paper. We show that its key space could be much larger than the current key-dependent chaotic S-boxes.

Security bound of two-basis quantum-key-distribution protocols using qudits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolopoulos, Georgios M.; Alber, Gernot

2005-01-01

We investigate the security bounds of quantum-cryptographic protocols using d-level systems. In particular, we focus on schemes that use two mutually unbiased bases, thus extending the Bennett-Brassard 1984 quantum-key-distribution scheme to higher dimensions. Under the assumption of general coherent attacks, we derive an analytic expression for the ultimate upper security bound of such quantum-cryptography schemes. This bound is well below the predictions of optimal cloning machines. The possibility of extraction of a secret key beyond entanglement distillation is discussed. In the case of qutrits we argue that any eavesdropping strategy is equivalent to a symmetric one. For higher dimensions such an equivalence is generally no longer valid

Perceptions of food risk management among key stakeholders: Results from a cross-European study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleef, van E.; Frewer, L.J.; Chryssochoidis, G.M.; Houghton, J.R.; Korzen-Bohr, S.; Krystallis, T.; Lassen, J.; Pfenning, U.; Rowe, G.

2006-01-01

In designing and implementing appropriate food risk management strategies, it is important to examine how key stakeholders perceive both the practice and effectiveness of food risk management. The objective of this study is to identify similarities and differences in perceptions of, and attitudes

Practical round-robin differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Zhen; Yuan, Xiao; Cao, Zhu; Ma, Xiongfeng

2017-01-01

The security of quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, with which legitimate users are able to estimate information leakage by monitoring the disturbance of the transmitted quantum signals. Normally, the disturbance is reflected as bit flip errors in the sifted key; thus, privacy amplification, which removes any leaked information from the key, generally depends on the bit error rate. Recently, a round-robin differential-phase-shift QKD protocol for which privacy amplification does not rely on the bit error rate (Sasaki et al 2014 Nature 509 475) was proposed. The amount of leaked information can be bounded by the sender during the state-preparation stage and hence, is independent of the behavior of the unreliable quantum channel. In our work, we apply the tagging technique to the protocol and present a tight bound on the key rate and employ a decoy-state method. The effects of background noise and misalignment are taken into account under practical conditions. Our simulation results show that the protocol can tolerate channel error rates close to 50% within a typical experiment setting. That is, there is a negligible restriction on the error rate in practice. (paper)

Sensemaking and strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Renate

of these processes my focus will be on how sensemaking processes are transformed into strategy and policies to be applied in daily routines. This way, I believe, we can learn more about how organisations develop and use this knowledge to gain further competitiveness. I will look at these processes on various...

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES DURING ECONOMIC CRISIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SINTEA(ANGHEL LUCICA

2014-05-01

Full Text Available During the financial and economic crisis, the management of an entity must establish a plan and apply strategies needed to mitigate the negative effects due to the action of disturbing factors. Management must have a vision of business evolution, of costumer and supplier perspective, of how to develop the technological equipment in order to increase profitability and product quality. The manager must give utmost importance to all economic information he receives, to analyze it, to group it into categories depending on the effects they can produce, to establish the extent to which it influences the activity. The strategies a manager applies are also based on his flair, culture, knowledge or the human and material resources at its disposal

Research of the key technology in satellite communication networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Yuan

2018-02-01

According to the prediction, in the next 10 years the wireless data traffic will be increased by 500-1000 times. Not only the wireless data traffic will be increased exponentially, and the demand for diversified traffic will be increased. Higher requirements for future mobile wireless communication system had brought huge market space for satellite communication system. At the same time, the space information networks had been greatly developed with the depth of human exploration of space activities, the development of space application, the expansion of military and civilian application. The core of spatial information networks is the satellite communication. The dissertation presented the communication system architecture, the communication protocol, the routing strategy, switch scheduling algorithm and the handoff strategy based on the satellite communication system. We built the simulation platform of the LEO satellites networks and simulated the key technology using OPNET.

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY (BOS SEBAGAI PARADIGMA BARU MANAJEMEN PENDIDIKAN ISLAM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikhwan Fuad

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The focus of this article is to describe the Blue Ocean Strategy as a new paradigm of Islamic education management. the author seeks to elaborate on how the adoption of the Blue Ocean strategy of the business world to the world of education and answered the principles of what is accepted and rejected away from the theory. Adoption of blue ocean strategy is done by applying the universal principles are : among others reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture rather than numbers, reach beyond existing demand, perform a series of strategies with appropriate, efforts to overcome organizational constraints and integrate execution into strategy. The principles of Blue Ocean Strategy Indicators that can be absorbed is an indicator that focuses gave excellent service and were not absorbed is a strong indicator of economic motivation. Generally, Blue Ocean Strategy quite well applied as a management paradigm of Islamic education.

Group key management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunigan, T.; Cao, C.

1997-08-01

This report describes an architecture and implementation for doing group key management over a data communications network. The architecture describes a protocol for establishing a shared encryption key among an authenticated and authorized collection of network entities. Group access requires one or more authorization certificates. The implementation includes a simple public key and certificate infrastructure. Multicast is used for some of the key management messages. An application programming interface multiplexes key management and user application messages. An implementation using the new IP security protocols is postulated. The architecture is compared with other group key management proposals, and the performance and the limitations of the implementation are described.

Strategy as simple rules.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenhardt, K M; Sull, D N

2001-01-01

The success of Yahoo!, eBay, Enron, and other companies that have become adept at morphing to meet the demands of changing markets can't be explained using traditional thinking about competitive strategy. These companies have succeeded by pursuing constantly evolving strategies in market spaces that were considered unattractive according to traditional measures. In this article--the third in an HBR series by Kathleen Eisenhardt and Donald Sull on strategy in the new economy--the authors ask, what are the sources of competitive advantage in high-velocity markets? The secret, they say, is strategy as simple rules. The companies know that the greatest opportunities for competitive advantage lie in market confusion, but they recognize the need for a few crucial strategic processes and a few simple rules. In traditional strategy, advantage comes from exploiting resources or stable market positions. In strategy as simple rules, advantage comes from successfully seizing fleeting opportunities. Key strategic processes, such as product innovation, partnering, or spinout creation, place the company where the flow of opportunities is greatest. Simple rules then provide the guidelines within which managers can pursue such opportunities. Simple rules, which grow out of experience, fall into five broad categories: how- to rules, boundary conditions, priority rules, timing rules, and exit rules. Companies with simple-rules strategies must follow the rules religiously and avoid the temptation to change them too frequently. A consistent strategy helps managers sort through opportunities and gain short-term advantage by exploiting the attractive ones. In stable markets, managers rely on complicated strategies built on detailed predictions of the future. But when business is complicated, strategy should be simple.

Strategy: A Philosophy of Doctrine.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-06-01

Strategy is a complex subject. It has no answers; only- informed opinion and judgment, based on a study of history. In an era of positivism ...materialism, and quantitative analy- sis, such indeterminacy is discomforting. Yet, because of the uncertain environment of strategy, planners and decision...has been applied. One such fault is the ability to "lie" with statistics, which largely defeats the purpose of rigorous quantitative analysis

Ubi-RKE: A Rhythm Key Based Encryption Scheme for Ubiquitous Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Dong Lee

2014-01-01

Full Text Available As intelligent ubiquitous devices become more popular, security threats targeting them are increasing; security is seen as one of the major challenges of the ubiquitous computing. Now a days, applying ubiquitous computing in number of fields for human safety and convenience was immensely increased in recent years. The popularity of the technology is rising day by day, and hence the security is becoming the main focused point with the advent and rising popularity of the applications. In particular, the number of wireless networks based on ubiquitous devices has increased rapidly; these devices support transmission for many types of data traffic. The convenient portability of ubiquitous devices makes them vulnerable to security threats, such as loss, theft, data modification, and wiretapping. Developers and users should seriously consider employing data encryption to protect data from such vulnerabilities. In this paper, we propose a Rhythm Key based Encryption scheme for ubiquitous devices (Ubi-RKE. The concept of Rhythm Key based Encryption has been applied to numerous real world applications in different domains. It provides key memorability and secure encryption through user touching rhythm on ubiquitous devices. Our proposed scheme is more efficient for users than existing schemes, by providing a strong cipher.

Future fuel cycle and reactor strategies. Key issue paper no. 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

The scope of this paper includes those issues that are expected to remain or become important in the time period from 2015 to 2050. Events in this time frame are difficult to predict with any certainty, so the framework of this paper is necessarily somewhat speculative. The paper includes consideration of all facets of nuclear energy utilization, from ore extraction to final disposal of waste products. The paper first addresses the factors influencing the choice of reactor and fuel cycle. It then goes on to address the quantitatively largest category of reactor types expected to be important during the period; that is, thermal reactors burning uranium and plutonium fuel in various forms. The fast reactor type is then discussed both as stand-alone technology and as technology used in combination with thermal reactors. Thorium fuel use is discussed briefly. This paper is concentrated on the ``medium variant`` energy growth scenario identified in Key Issue Paper No. 1. The effects of either higher or lower growth could, of course, profoundly change the future development of the nuclear power industry. 31 refs, 5 figs, 4 tabs.

Strategy Guideline: Mitigation of Retrofit Risk Factors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berman, M.; Smith, P.; Porse, E.

2012-12-01

The Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI) is currently developing strategies designed to promote and achieve increased energy savings and promote upgrades in the residential retrofit sector. These strategies are targeted to retrofit program managers, retrofit contractors, policy makers, academic researchers, and non-governmental organizations. This report focuses on four key areas to promote home energy upgrades: fostering accurate energy savings projections; understanding consumer perceptions for energy savings; measuring energy savings, and ensuring quality control for retrofit installations.

Nature-based strategies for improving urban health and safety

Science.gov (United States)

Michelle C. Kondo; Eugenia C. South; Charles C. Branas

2015-01-01

Place-based programs are being noticed as key opportunities to prevent disease and promote public health and safety for populations at-large. As one key type of place-based intervention, nature-based and green space strategies can play an especially large role in improving health and safety for dwellers in urban environments such as US legacy cities that lack nature...

Going Global: Key Insights from Two Mexican Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martha RIVERA

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper explores how Mexican companies in different industries have achieved international expansion, while at the same time preserving local elements in executing their strategies. For this initial stage of research, the analysis focuses on two companies: a Grupo Bimbo, the number one company in the bakery industry worldwide and b KidZania, one of the world’s top indoor family entertainment centers. The research methodology is based on in-depth interviews with CEOs and key executives from the two companies done over a period of more than ten years. We have also used secondary data such as press releases and case studies. By contrasting their strategies and comparing them with those of other multinationals like Ford Motor Company and Santander Bank, we identified major issues that we condensed into 10 key insights. Understanding how these companies have struggled and succeeded in gaining international markets can help other companies tailor their own strategies. Our argument is that the typical simplified international expansion process is insufficient when companies need to compete in the global arena. Becoming an MNC implies handling an entire ecosystem: building local presence, establishing joint ventures or alliances with local companies, recruiting local talent, developing new business models, reshaping the value proposition, developing new brands or introducing traditional ones with a local flavor, and understanding the supply chain and routes to market. Therefore, a number of aspects have to be taken into consideration beyond just simply selecting a market. For certain companies in emerging markets, making the decision to grow internationally was not initially in their strategic vision, but economic liberalization in their home country and the threat of being purchased by an MNC from a developed country triggered the decision. There is a learning process in international expansion, and trial and error is common and useful. The

The Models of Applying Online Privacy Literacy Strategies: A Case Study of Instagram Girl Users

OpenAIRE

Abdollah Bicharanlou; Seyedeh farzaneh Siasi rad

2017-01-01

Social networks affect remarkably in the lives of virtual space users. These networks like most human relations involve compromising between self-disclosure and privacy protection. A process which is realized through improving privacy and empowering the user at the personal level. This study aimed to assess strategies based on online privacy literacy. In particular, strategies that Instagram young girls users should employ to achieve the optimum level of privacy. For this purpose, firstly the...

Robust Public Key Cryptography — A New Cryptosystem Surviving Private Key Compromise

Science.gov (United States)

Shaik, Cheman

A weakness of the present-day public key cryptosystems is that these cryptosystems do not survive private-key compromise attacks resulting from an internal breach of trust. In a competitive business environment, private key compromise is a common incident that voids the strength of public key cryptosystems such as RSA and ECC. Bribing corporate employees to disclose their secret keys and inadvertently disclosing secret information are among a plethora of practical attacks that occur at the implementation level. Once a breach of trust takes place and subsequently the private key is revealed, any public key cryptosystem fails to secure electronic data in Internet communications. The revealed key may be used by an attacker to decipher the intercepted data at an intermediary router. This weakness of public key cryptography calls for an additional security measure that enables encryptions to survive private key compromise attacks.