Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huntsville, Alabama Utilities has successfully provided services for over 53 years. However, the quality of service demands from customers are changing every day! Part of this demand is due to updated digital appliances, home and business computers, and automated systems. A quality program was initiated in 1992 as a result of an internal assessment. The Malcolm Baldrige approach was selected which includes seven areas: (1) Leadership; (2) Information and Analysis; (3) Strategic Planning; (4) Human Resource Utilization; (5) Quality Assurance of Products and Services: (6) Quality Results: (7) Customer Satisfaction. Training for and implementation of the Quality program is discussed in detail.

Science.gov (United States)

Recent trends in distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) systems motivate the development of tactical information management capabilities that ensure the right information is delivered to the right place at the right time to satisfy quality of service (QoS) requirements in heterogeneous environments. A promising approach to building and evolving large-scale and long-lived tactical information management systems are standards-based QoS-enabled publish/subscribe (pub/sub) platforms that enable applications to communicate by publishing information they have and subscribing to information they need in a timely manner. Since there is little existing evaluation of how well these platforms meet the performance needs of tactical information management, this paper provides two contributions: (1) it describes three common ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In 1998 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) formed the Committee on Nuclear Risk Management (CNRM) and a Project Team to develop a standard on PRAs for use in risk informed applications. This ASME standard is being developed to help provide an adequate level of quality in PRAs that are being used to support ASME initiatives to risk informed in-service inspection (ISI) and in-service testing (IST) of nuclear power plant components. A related need supported by the industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is to reduce the level of effort that is being expended in pilot applications of risk informed initiatives to address questions about the sufficiency of quality in the supporting PRA models. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the authors' views on some of the technical issues that were encountered in ...

Science.gov (United States)

digital libraries, which was identified as a national challenge in the Information ... The linkages between the many digital libraries and information services are ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Managing service quality is vital to retain customer satisfaction and augment revenues for any business organization. Often it is difficult to assess service quality due to lack of quantifiable measures and limited data. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach based on SERVQUAL and fuzzy TOPSIS for evaluating service quality of urban transportation systems. The proposed approach consists of three steps. The first step involves development of a SERVQUAL based questionnaire to collect data for measuring transportation service quality. The participants provide linguistic assessments to rate the service quality criteria and the alternatives. In step 2, the linguistic ratings are combined through fuzzy TOPSIS to generate an overall performance score for each alternative. The ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recently, under the de-regulation environment, nuclear industry has attempted various approaches to improve the economics of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). One of these efforts is the Risk Informed/Performance-Based Operation (RIPBO). This approach uses the risk and performance information to manage the resources effectively and efficiently that are used in the operation of NPP. In RIPBO, PSA quality is one of the most important things. The nuclear industry and regulatory body of U.S.A have developed a measure to evaluate the quality of PSA. NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) has developed a guidance called 'NEI PRA Peer Review Guidance,' and NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Committee) and ASME have developed the 'PRA Standard.' In Korea, several projects are on going now, such as the extension of AOT/STI of RPS/ESFAS, Risk-Informed ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recently, under the de-regulation environment, nuclear industry has attempted various approaches to improve the economics of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). One of these efforts is the Risk Informed/Performance-Based operation (RIPBO). This approach uses the risk and performance information to manage the resources effectively and efficiently that are used in the operation of NPP. In RIPBO, PSA quality is one of the most important things. The nuclear industry and regulatory body of U.S.A have developed a measure to evaluate the quality of PSA. NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) has developed a guidance called 'NEI PRA Peer Review Guidance,' and NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Committee) and ASME have developed the 'PRA Standard.' In Korea, several projects are on going now, such as the extension of AOT/STI of RPS/ESFAS, Risk-Informed ...

Science.gov (United States)

...2010-10-01 false Standards for health information technology to protect electronic health information...DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS, IMPLEMENTATION...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

(1974). United States Ramsett, LO Wisconsin Public Service Corp., Green

CERN Document Server

Ubiquitous computing based on small mobile devices using wireless communication links is becoming very attractive. The computational power and storage capacities provided allow the execution of sophisticated applications. Due to the fact that sharing of information is a central problem for distributed applications, the development of self organizing middleware services providing high level interfaces for information managing is essential. ADS is a directory service for mobile ad-hoc networks dealing with local and nearby information as well as providing access to distant information. The approach discussed throughout this paper is based upon the concept of information markets.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This volume provides the subject index for the annual input to the Biomass Information Service of the IEA. (DT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Requirements and guidelines are provided for the control of activities to be exercised during procurement of items and services which affect the quality of nuclear facilities. These requirements and guidelines apply to procurement activities for items and services such as designing, purchasing, fabricating, handling, shipping, storing, cleaning, constructing, erecting, installing, inspecting, texting, maintaining and modifying.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

(Nov 1973). United States Keeley, GS Consumer Power Co., Jackson,

CERN Document Server

Web Services and mobile data services are the newest trends in information systems engineering in wired and wireless domains, respectively. Web Services have a broad range of service distributions while mobile phones have large and expanding user base. To address the confluence of Web Services and pervasive mobile devices and communication environments, a basic mobile Web Service provider was developed for smart phones. The performance of this Mobile Host was also analyzed in detail. Further analysis of the Mobile Host to provide proper QoS and to check Mobile Host's feasibility in the P2P networks, identified the necessity of a mediation framework. The paper describes the research conducted with the Mobile Host, identifies the tasks of the mediation framework and then discusses the feasible realization details of such a mobile Web ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine the contribution of distance to hospitals with cardiac interventional services (CIS) to county age-adjusted myocardial infarction...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

As controlled clinical vocabularies assume an increasing role in modern clinical information systems, so the issue of their quality demands greater attention. In order to meet the resulting stringent...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The difficulty in information communication and sharing are major problems for forest fire monitoring and early warning in China. As authors, we applied web service technology to a personal digital assistant (PDA) forest fire monitoring system and propose the framework of a monitoring system based on service-oriented architecture (SOA). At the same time, we describe the composition and function of web services from a server side and a client side. The method for developing a web service invocation engine on the PDA is introduced in detail. Finally, an example of a fire danger rating and fire weather services system are established, based on the Beijing Forest Fire Control System. The results show that the PDA forest fire monitoring system based on web services can effectively take advantag...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

PurposeHealth information technology (HIT) and physician career satisfaction are associated with higher-quality medical care. However, the link between HIT and physician...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

News Jobs Grants/Funding Families Prevention Diseases Regulations Preparedness Mental Health and Traumatic Events Find Local Mental Health Services Information for: Parents and...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

ContextCost advantage has been one of the primary drivers of successful offshoring engagements of Indian software and services companies. However, the emphasis has shifted to the ability of the vendors to provide high quality over cost advantage in delivering software products and services. Meeting high quality requirements of the clients is a challenge due to the very nature of development and delivery of software through offshoring. ObjectiveThe objective of this research paper is to identify and evaluate the key determinants of quality in the case of software projects delivered through offshoring model. MethodA detailed survey was conducted among project managers/project leaders (leads) of a leading midsize Indian IT services company to evaluate the relationship of the determinants on t...

Wastenet

...of stations and a number of components, and meta information on air quality monitoring networks and stations. Access the database Producer Europe Environment Agency Content ...of stations and a number of components, and meta information on air quality monitoring networks and stations. Coverage National (Europe) Number of records...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The quality of the end product from andrology services continues to lack consistency and in some cases fails to meet the needs of the end users (patients or clinicians). Results of external quality assessment (EQA) schemes continue to show unacceptably wide variation for the results of a single specimen. Some laboratories are able to show that the results of semen analyses relate to both natural and assisted pregnancy and are therefore useful in the management of the infertile couple, whereas others claim that their value is limited to the identification of severe male factor infertility. With wide variation in standardisation of methodology, levels of staff training and quality assurance, it is entirely understandable that such discrepancies persist. The following article proposes that Qu...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In the information age, information utilities like libraries are as sensitive to the stresses of change as any other organization. This article is a case study of a small, specialized medical library...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The `Procurement Quality Function` is an element of the Body of Knowledge of Quality Engineering, as defined by the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC). This paper describes the Procurement Quality function which has been installed as an integral part of the Quality Engineering group of the Technical and Management Support Services (T&MSS) contractor to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. Each of the elements of the T&MSS Procurement Quality Engineering (PQE) system is discussed along with the measurements obtained. With the installation and development of the PQE system we have attained more meaningful evaluation of supplier capability, reduction of procurement document review reject ratios from 31% to less than 2% per quarter, more effective measurement and control of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This handbook provides guidance in the application of quality assurance to measurement activities. It is intended to help those persons making measurements in applying quality assurance to their work activities by showing how laboratory practices and quality assurance requirements are integrated to provide control within those activities. The use of the guidance found in this handbook should help provide consistency in the interpretation of quality assurance requirements across all types of measurement laboratories. This handbook also can assist quality assurance personnel in understanding the relationships between laboratory practices and quality assurance requirements. The handbook is composed of three chapters and several appendices. Basic guidance is provided by the three chapters. In Chapter 1, the role of quality assurance in obtaining ...

Science.gov (United States)

A Health Care Establishment (HCE) is an establishment where medical services are rendered. These services are provided by the health care personnel. The infrastructure of a HCE may include Information Technology (IT) equipment that stores and processes HC information. The spread of distributed information technology in HCEs have necessitated the implementation of Network Security in Health Care Information System (HCISs), to assure confidentiality, integrity and availability of HC information being transmitted across HC networks. This paper presents a road map in implementing Network Security guidelines for the provision of Network Security in HCEs, work carried out within the Secure Environment for Information Systems in Medicine (SEISMED) project under the Advanced Informatics in Medicine (AIM) programme. PMID:8591295

CERN Document Server

Integrated femtocell/macrocell networks, comprising a conventional cellular network overlaid with femtocells, offer an economically appealing way to improve coverage, quality of service, and access network capacity. The key element to successful femtocells/macrocell integration lies in its self-organizing capability. Provisioning of quality of service is the main technical challenge of the femtocell/macrocell integrated networks, while the main administrative challenge is the choice of the proper evolutionary path from the existing macrocellular networks to the integrated network. In this article, we introduce three integrated network architectures which, while increasing the access capacity, they also reduce the deployment and operational costs. Then, we discuss a number of technical issues, which are key to making such integration a reality, and we offer possible approaches to their solution. These ...

Science.gov (United States)

A Health Care Establishment (HCE) is an establishment where medical services are rendered. The above services are provided by the health care personnel. The infrastructure of a HCE may include Information Technology (IT) equipment that stores and processes HC information. Previously, IT equipment consisted solely of stand-alone systems, whereas in recent years, the trend has been towards computer networks and distributed systems in HCEs. The spread of distributed information technology in HCEs have necessitated the implementation of Security in HCISs, to assure confidentiality, integrity and availability of HCE information. This paper discusses the issues of Security and Network Security in Health Care Information Systems (HCISs). It also suggests a method in establishing Network Security Guidelines and describes Principles for the provision ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This document defines the services the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility (WSCF) shall provide Effluent Monitoring (EM) throughout the calendar year for analysis. The internal memo contained in Appendix A identifies the samples Em plans to submit for analysis in CY-1995. Analysis of effluent (liquid and air discharges) and environmental (air, liquid, animal, and vegetative) samples is required using standard laboratory procedures, in accordance with regulatory and control requirements. This report describes regulatory reporting requirements and WSCF services and data quality objectives.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The ''Enabling & Information Technology To Increase RAM for Advanced Powerplants'' program, by DOE request, was re-directed, de-scoped to two tasks, shortened to a 2-year period of performance, and refocused to develop, validate and accelerate the commercial use of enabling materials technologies and sensors for coal/IGCC powerplants. The new program was re-titled ''Enabling Technology for Monitoring & Predicting Gas Turbine Health & Performance in IGCC Powerplants''. This final report summarizes the work accomplished from March 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 on the four original tasks, and the work accomplished from April 1, 2004 to July 30, 2005 on the two re-directed tasks. The program Tasks are summarized below: Task 1--IGCC Environmental Impact on high Temperature Materials: The first task was refocused to address IGCC environmental impacts on high temperature materials used in gas ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

As competition in the service industry grows, delivering high-quality service to meet customers' needs and expectations becomes paramount. In order to achieve a thorough understanding of customers, companies are increasingly adopting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives. However, CRM does not have the process vision necessary to cope with complex and cross-functional processes. This problem is better handled by Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives, which, by their turn, struggle to built-in customer intelligence in their systems. Based upon systems theory, we discuss the roles of CRM and BPM in an integrated approach to deliver customer fulfillment. As the evolution of service-oriented approaches requires us to consider both customer interactions and experiences as k...

Science.gov (United States)

This student manual, part of a small-engine repair series on servicing fuel systems, is designed for use by special needs students in Texas. The manual explains in pictures and short sentences, written on a low reading level, the job of servicing two-piece flo-jet carburetors. Along with the steps of this repair job, specific safety and caution information is frequently noted. To reinforce consistency in material presented to the slow learners, the pictures and written words correspond exactly with the pictures and wording on a corresponding audiovisual presentation. A progress chart for rating the students is included in the manual. (KC)

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

One of the requirements for a federated information system is interoperability, the ability of one computer system to access and use the resources of another system. This feature is particularly...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The Clinical Summary is a Web-based application for accessing the clinical database at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The application has been developed to give physicians in our health care community...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundChina has had no effective and systematic information system to provide guidance for strengthening PHC (Primary Health Care) or account to citizens on progress. We report...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

US Army casualty deaths in the Republic of Vietnam were analyzed to provide information on wound ballistics that may be used by interested branches of the services on the subjects of casualty reduction, wounding, mechanisms, and evaluation of hostile weap...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This paper develops a model of nonlinear pricing with competition. The novel element is that each consumer's willingness to pay for quality is private information and is allowed to differ across brands. The consumer's preferences are represented by a multidimensional type containing the marginal value of quality for different products. Buyers with high willingness to pay for quality also display strong preferences for particular brands, and require higher discounts in order to switch away from their favorite product. Therefore, competition is fiercer for buyers with lower tastes for quality, and hence more elastic demands. This is in sharp contrast to earlier models in which competition is fiercer for higher-taste, more valuable buyers. In equilibrium, firms either compete intensively for ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade services designed to assist businesses to effectively operate in global markets, were described. The goal of the Department is to give strategic targeted information that extends beyond export opportunities to include market access, investment, strategic alliances, technology transfer and competitiveness issues. These services constitute the Department`s Trade Commissioner Service, a network of 600 officers, deployed in 128 embassies and consulates worldwide to support Canadian business development initiatives across 16 sectors of the government`s International Trade Business Plan (ITBP). The Trade Commissioner Service programs include the WIN exporters database, a trade inquiries sourcing team, International Financial Institutions (IFI) projects, and the Program for Export Market Development (PEMD). A series of Sectoral Advisory ...

CERN Document Server

Ensuring security of e-government applications and infrastructures is crucial to maintain trust among stakeholders to store, process and exchange information over the e-government systems. Due to dynamic and continuous threats on e-government information security, policy makers need to perform evaluation on existing information security strategy as to deliver trusted e-government services. This paper presents an information security evaluation framework based on new fuzzy multi criteria decision making (MCDM) to help policy makers conduct comprehensive assessment of e-government security strategy.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This document summarizes the degree to which State water quality standards include wetlands in their definitions of State waters. The detailed review of other elements of standards, such as uses, criteria and antidegradation, is beyond the scope of this review. The purpose of this review is to provide a baseline of information for the development of EPA guidance and policies related to water quality standards for wetlands.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Transportation Legislative Database (TLDB) is an on-line information service containing detailed information on legislation and regulations regarding the transportation of radioactive materials in the United States. The system is dedicated to serving the legislative and regulatory information needs of the US Department of Energy and other federal agencies; state, tribal, and local governments; the hazardous materials transportation industry; and interested members of the general public. In addition to the on-line information service, quarterly and annual Legal Developments Reports are produced using information from the TLDB. These reports summarize important changes in federal and state legislation, regulations, administrative agency rulings, and judicial decisions over the reporting period. Information on ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This article examines the interplay between globalising and localising forces occurring in a child welfare reform project in South Korea. Focusing especially on care and education services for children and families provided by the Korean 'Dream Start' programme, which provides comprehensive health, parental involvement and welfare services to low-income children and their families, I discuss its involvement in the process of 'glocalisation'. Drawing on Foucaultian ideas, I conducted a critical discourse analysis of the policy documents of Dream Start. The article concludes by discussing local resistance to the creation of a cosmopolitan child and the dual qualities of inclusion/exclusion inscribed in the Dream Start project.

Wastenet

... Further information For more detailed information on available accommodation, refer to our housing guide At home with us, visit Residential Services, or contact : T +44 (0)1273 678220 E housing@sussex.ac.uk Davidrsquo;s perspective lsquo;When my wife and I decided to study at Sussex, we applied for University accommodation. We were delighted with the lovely self-contained flat on Clifton Road in Brighton that we got via the Housing Office. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Studies continued on organic tracers for use as hydrologic tracers as part of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization project. This subject report for the quarter 01/01/93 through 03/31/93 discusses the following issues: project organization and responsibilities; quality assurance program; design control; procurement document control; instructions, procedures, and drawings; document control; control of purchased items and services; identification and control of items; control of processes; inspection; test control; control of measuring and test equipment; handling, storage, and shipping; inspection, test, and operating status; control of nonconforming items and conditions; corrective action; quality assurance records; audits; software quality assurance; and scientific investigation.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The tremendous growth of wireless technologies has introduced the potential of continuous service adaptation to the users' needs by giving them the ability to be able to select and access the proper network based on different criteria. Moreover, next generation wireless networks have been designed to provide support for multimedia services, with different traffic characteristics and different Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. However, the expansion of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) networks poses new research era in the decision of the access network selection. In this paper, the existing access network selection schemes are classified into three categories: the network-centric, the user-centric and the collaborative sche...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Purpose - The article discusses how care programmes and integrated care pathways can be linked, finding ways to improve healthcare process professional and logistical quality from a supply chain and a network point-of-view. Design/methodology/approach - The authors argue that owing to cost containment goals and increasing healthcare demand, healthcare services systems are challenged to improve service quality, whilst at the same time finding ways to improve delivery processes. It explores if the combination of two instruments, care programmes and integrated care pathways, can meet both goals. This combination is illustrated by an example from the Institute of Mental Health Care Eindhoven en de Kempen. Findings - Analysis suggests that care programmes can be combined with integrated care pa...

Science.gov (United States)

A technical committee reported on: (1) proposed water quality objectives for the San Joaquin River Basin; (2) proposed effluent limitations for agricultural drainage discharges in the basin to achieve these objectives; and (3) a proposal to regulate these discharges. The costs and economic impact of achieving various alternative water quality objectives were also evaluated. The information gathered by the technical committee will be used by the Regional Board along with other information in their review of the San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Control Plan and their actions to regulate agricultural drainage in the San Joaquin Valley. The results of the Technical Committee's efforts as reported in Regulation of Agricultural Drainage to the San Joaquin River, August 1987. Based on the available information, the improvement in water ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract The aim of this paper is to provide an explanation to why the degree of informal employment may vary substantially between different regions within a country. In Brazil, 45% of workers in the urban labor force are employed informally. The degree of informal employment, however, varies substantially across regions, with some cities having 20% and others having 80% or more of their labor force in the informal sector. The hypothesis assessed here is that the quality of local governance-or government effectiveness-affects the decisions of workers and businesses as to whether to participate in the formal or the informal sector. The empirical analysis, based on data from 5500 Brazilian municipalities, shows that informal employment is lower in regions with better governance, higher aver...

CERN Document Server

With the prevalence and development of GNSS technologies, location-based vehicle services (LBVS) have experienced a rapid growth in recent years. However, location is a sensitive and private piece of information, so the design and development of such services just take the clients' privacy concerns into account. In this paper, we propose a new electronic toll pricing system based on group signatures, which provides a strong guarantee for the clients' anonymity within groups. Our system achieves a balance between privacy and the communication overhead imposed upon the users.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

With the advance of science, rise of public interest in environmental matters, and continuing erosion of air quality, Federal and state regulators are demanding an increasing complex array of data concerning emissions produced by burning and detonating energetic materials. The US Department of Defense, one of the world`s largest consumers of energetic materials, now must characterize combustion products resulting from open burning/open detonation disposal operations. The catch-all phrase ``below detection limits`` no longer satisfies the regulators who now want testing to delve into the ppt level for volatile organic compounds and ppt level for semivolatile organic compounds. Regulators are also expanding their scope of interest and may soon be asking for emissions data on training operations such as artillery firing. Providing this type of information is no longer an impossibility. The Army, as the single manager of conventional munitions for ...

CERN Document Server

The Zephyr Messaging Service for the NICE Environment

CERN Multimedia

Software Development Tools Service

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This document defines the quality assurance requirements for the US Department of Energy-Richland Operations Office Environmental Restoration Remedial Action program at the Hanford Site. The Environmental Restoration Remedial Action program implements significant commitments made by the US Department of Energy in the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order entered into with the Washington State Department of Ecology and the US Environmental Protection Agency. This document combines quality assurance requirements from various source documents into one set of requirements for use by the US Department of Energy-Richland Operations Office and other Environmental Restoration Remedial Action program participants. This document will serve as the basis for developing Quality Assurance Program Plans and implementing procedures by the participants. The requirements of this document will be applied to activities affecting ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smart metering is required by the EU and will be implemented in Germany during the next few years, but customers are not much interested in ''intelligent meters''. Displays and information services may ensure higher acceptance and additional use and provide an incentive for saving energy. In a pilot programme in BAvaria, Eon tested the customers' reaction to such a system. Smart metering technology and long-wave services were combined into an overall system that helps customers save energy. (orig.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article describes acoustic methods used in the in-service inspection of the dams and peripheral concrete structures of the Toktogul, Kurpsai, and Bratsk hydroelectric and pumped storage plants. The tests were conducted to assess the compression strength, elasticity, and tensile strength of the concretes. Comparative evaluations against drill core studies proved the acoustic methods to be sufficiently accurate in predicting aging behavior and loss of mechanical and physical integrity in the concretes.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This study presents the results of an 18-year long investigation of pipe deterioration in cyclone slag slurry transport. The goal was to study pipe behaviour in this extremely abrasive service and select an optimum piping material. Comparisons are given for high quality alloy cast steel pipes and pipes lined with cast basalt rings marketed under the name Abresist. Based on the results, thoughts are offered on the broader meanings of certain findings.

CERN Document Server

From Products to Services

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mating signals are often directed at numerous senses and provide information about species identity, gender, receptiveness, individual identity and mate quality. Given the diversity of colourful body...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Experience of the Westinghouse Water Reactors Division with indoctrination and training of quality engineers includes training of personnel from Westinghouse divisions in the USA and overseas as well as of customers' personnel. A written plan is prepared for each trainee in order to fit the training to the individual's needs, and to cover the full range of information and activities. The trainee is also given work assignments, working closely with experienced quality engineers. He may prepare inspection plans and audit check lists, assist in the preparation of QA training modules, write procedures, and perform supplier surveillance and data analyses, or make special studies of operating systems. The trainee attends seminars and special courses on work-related technical subjects. Throughout the training period, emphasis is placed on inculcating an attitude of team work in the trainee so that the result of the training is the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The principle of radiodiagnosis consists in the fact the X-ray beam is attenuated at different degrees by distinct tissues. For this reason, the anatomical structures have distinct radiological opacities, that produce the radiographic image. The progresses in radiology are related to the development if new radiographic image formation systems that enable an amplification in the quality, with low dose and/or risk to the patient. The objective of this work is the sensitometric valuation of a screen-film combination, that is still the most used, for the standardization, of radiographic images. Thinking about this, were constructed homogeneous phantoms of the chest, skull and pelvis, for the calibration of X-ray beams, with the purpose of obtaining radiographic images of good quality, basing in the routine of a radiodiagnosis service and in the scientific knowledge. Questions were approached about the choice of the suitable ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A database has been designed for storing, retrieving and analyzing information about samples, experimental conditions and results obtained by neutron activation analysis and gamma-ray spectrometry. It has been created using Microsoft ACCESS 2002 under a Windows operating system. The database has been designed not only for saving information but also for quality assurance and quality control purposes. The structure of the relational design has been discussed and demonstrated with a new graphical feature of ACCESS 2002 called PIVOTCHART. (author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Bavarian Agency for Environmental Protection (LfU) is monitoring the air quality is several bavarian regions. The daily and monthly data of concentration ration of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone and other pollutants are published in yearly reports, most often as diagrams with further statistica information.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report contains the document control information and abstracts for Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) Photovoltaic (PV) Program publications resulting from SERI's subcontracted PV research. The information is presented for reports published or distributed from August 1 through December 31, 1990. In the past, copies of the subcontractor reports were distributed to a broad spectrum of researchers in the field of photovoltaics at a considerable cost to the program. In an attempt to reduce costs and ensure that all researchers receive those current publications that are of specific interest to them, this report will outline these publications, organized by technology, on a regular basis. A list of additional publications and sources is included herein to provide the photovoltaic community with other sources of information. All of the documents represented here are available from the National Technical ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Fifteenmile Basin Habitat Improvement Project is an ongoing multi-agency effort to improve habitat in the Fifteenmile drainage and increase production of the depressed wild, winter steelhead run. Cooperating agencies include the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, USDA Forest Service. USDA Soil Conservation Service and Bonneville Power Administration. in consultation with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is administering project work on state and private lands and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service is administering project work on National Forest land. Project work on the Forest has been sub-divided into four components; (1) Ramsey Creek, (2) Eightmile Creek, (3) Fifteenmile Creek, and (4) Fivemile Creek. Forest Service activities in the Fifteenmile basin during 1988 involved habitat improvement work on Ramsey Creek, continuation of physical and ...

CERN Document Server

An approach to solving the problem of managerial control quality improvement corporate information-calculating networks (CICN) is proposed. The approach is based on the concept of a flexible toolkit. A macro-model, system-science and system-engineering models of an intelligent managerial control system (IMCS) for CICN development are considered as well as its dynamics. The practical opportunity of IMCS implementation is assessed. (5 refs).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper discusses the new quality assurance regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for packaging and transportation of radioactive materials. These regulations became effective on October 18, 1977. Background information concerning these regulations and packaging and transportation history is included. The quality assurance program is described with indications of how it is composed of general (administrative) provisions which must meet the 18 quality assurance criteria and be approved by the NRC; specific provisions which appear in the DOT and NRC regulations and in the individual package design approval; and other specific procedures which are not required by regulations but which are necessary for the proper control of quality. The quality assurance program is to be developed using a graded approach for the application of pertinent criteria ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The WIT telemanagement system simply, reliably and efficient by makes available to us in real time processed, ordered and managed data. Such information has been used to optimise the performance of the drinking water distribution networks on a number of housing estates. This has led to major saving in consumption and on equipment maintenance, thereby improving customer service and obtaining a more rational use of piped water. (Author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This thesaurus contains the vocabulary used to index the Biomass Database maintained by the IEA Biomass Conversion Technical Information Service. The database, which is used to produce Biomass Abstracts, contains indexed and abstracted references to the published literature relating to biomass energy including cultivations, harvesting, materials handling, conversion techniques, environmental aspects and economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Water is one of our most precious resources. However, for many in the United States, having fresh, safe drinking water is taken for granted, and due to this perceived lack of relevance, students may not fully appreciate the luxury of having safe running water--in the home. One approach to resolving water-quality issues in the United States may reside in providing education that presents accurate information in a meaningful way. Accordingly, this article describes a unit designed to emphasize the importance of water-quality testing and purification and to introduce students to local water-quality issues. The engineering-based module of this eighth-grade science activity is particularly important due to the design-build-test component. (Contains 5 figures.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The current Risk-informed Regulation (RIR) framework employs both a Level 1 Core Damage Frequency (CDF) and a Level 2 Large Early Release Frequency (LERF) as two surrogate measures for the plant risk. For their use in making regulatory decisions for the plant risk, it has been required to maintain an appropriate level of quality for the plant risk models. The first step for this purpose is to evaluate the quality of the PSA model in a qualitative or quantitative manner. Recently, a similar type of quality evaluation has been made for the KSNP Level 1 PSA model based on an ASME PRA Standard for the RIR application, but not for the corresponding LERF model. The main objective of this paper is to provide the ASME PRA Standard-based evaluation result for the existing KSNP Level 2 LERF model and the insights obtained from the evaluation process.

CERN Document Server

Declarative data quality has been an active research topic. The fundamental principle behind a declarative approach to data quality is the use of declarative statements to realize data quality primitives on top of any relational data source. A primary advantage of such an approach is the ease of use and integration with existing applications. Several similarity predicates have been proposed in the past for common quality primitives (approximate selections, joins, etc.) and have been fully expressed using declarative SQL statements. In this thesis, new similarity predicates are proposed along with their declarative realization, based on notions of probabilistic information retrieval. Then, full declarative specifications of previously proposed similarity predicates in the literature are presented, grouped into classes according to their primary characteristics. Finally, a thorough ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report provides information to government and industry to enable decision-making and management of local environmental quality conditions. The need for a summary air quality report has arisen in recent years due to growing concerns about air quality. Increased growth in population and the tourism industry is placing additional pressures on environmental quality. The report summarized meteorological and air quality data collected by the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection in the Sea-to-Sky airshed from 1984 to 2001. The airshed is located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. Air quality monitoring was conducted for various periods at 18 different stations and meteorological monitoring was conducted at 4 locations. A list of both provincial and national air quality objectives and ...

Science.gov (United States)

Prepared by volunteers representing a wide range of interests and experience and including students with disabilities, this guide provides basic information about support services available to students with disabilities at public and private postsecondary education institutions in the State of Washington. The guide may also serve as a resource for family members, school counselors and others who assist students in furthering their education. The first section presents general information, discussing students' rights to appropriate education, giving basic rules for managing the transition to college life, charting effects of functional limitations in the academic setting, and providing a planning checklist for new students. Institutional profiles are presented in the second section, covering vocational-technical institutes (5), community colleges (27), and 4-year colleges and universities (16). ...

Science.gov (United States)

In the present political climate, politicians are singling out children's programs and services for budget cuts. The need for teacher education programs to prepare early childhood teachers as children's advocates is becoming ever more evident. For years, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has called for greater involvement of early childhood educators as advocates for programs and services that promote children's health and education. In teacher education programs, however, this call has largely gone unheeded. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of involving teacher candidates in advocacy activities and policy research, the obstacles that teacher educators can face when incorporating advocacy components into their teacher education courses and programs, and resources and strategies they can use. This discussion builds upon a motivation-obstacles-resources framework developed for adoption of ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Studies have suggested that skill-building through hands-on cooking as a nutrition education strategy, is effective to improve overall dietary quality among participants. FamilyCook Productions' ''Diet for a Healthy Planet with Teen Battle Chefs(TM)'' curriculum using this approach, was piloted in 2008 in a Brooklyn public high school resulting in a statistically significant improvements in dietary quality as well as attitudinal improvements and efforts by students to support changes in school food service. Program evaluation used the RE-AIM framework and employed both quantitative and qualitative strategies including pre and post program surveys, focus groups, and weekly electronic teacher feedback. The program has since grown to over 85 high schools in 16 states.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faced with a changing business emphasis, plus the need to reduce operations and maintenance costs in the North Sea, the Forties Field engineering partnership between BP and Brown and Root recognised the need to make radical changes in its organisational structure. An innovative change management programme was planned and executed inside 12 months with the purpose of right-sizing the Forties Operations Engineering team. Not only has the initiative succeeded in cutting costs by 40 per cent; it has also enhanced the quality of engineering support services supplied to the BP Forties platforms. (author)

Science.gov (United States)

We verified and corrected inaccuracies in descriptive profile information on military working dogs (MWDs) that died from 1965 to 1980 and were reported in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Registry of Veterinary Pathology. Using other available military records, we determined which dogs served in Vietnam. Identified were 3,895 MWDs with a unique identity tattoo that served in Vietnam, of which 2,389 served exclusively with U.S. military forces and died in Vietnam. Another 479 Vietnam veteran MWDs completed their service elsewhere. This overall effort resulted in signalment corrections, generally age at death, in 21% of the Registry MWD accessions during the study period. The improved definition and characterization of the Vietnam cohort will lead to greater precision in epidemiologic investigations of the health effects from the Vietnam experience in U.S. military working dogs. PMID:7885593

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Purpose - Mobile phones have provided an opportunity for banking institutions to introduce new services to the public. The latest service, which is now available in Malaysian banking institutions, is the mobile phone credit card. The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary investigation of the factors that determine whether Malaysia's bank customers will use the new mobile phone credit card technology. Design/methodology/approach - This paper extends the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to mobile phone credit cards and includes "perceived credibility (PC)", the "amount of information about mobile phone credit cards (AIMCs)" and "perceived expressiveness (PE)", in addition to "perceived usefulness (PU)" and "perceived ease of use (PEOU)". Findings - The resul...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The primary goal of this study was to assess the association between the full birth weight distribution and prevalence of specific developmental disabilities and related measures of health and special education services utilization in US children. Using data from the 1997?2005 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Sample Child Core, we identified 87,578 children 3?17?years of age with parent-reported information on birth weight. We estimated the prevalences of DDs (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], autism, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, learning disability without mental retardation, mental retardation, seizures, stuttering/stammering, and other developmental delay) and several indicators of health services utilization within a range of birth weight categories. We cal...

Science.gov (United States)

This collection contains 20 papers written by educators, administrators and information scientists who had conducted manpower surveys in the library and information fields: (1) "Background and Evolution of Educational Planning and Forecasting for Information Manpower" (Yves Courrier); (2) "Indicators for the Emerging Information Market" (Nick Moore); (3) "Information Scientists in the English-Speaking Caribbean: Challenges and Responses in the Development Process" (Gloria Greene, Reive Robb); (4) "National Survey on Manpower in Libraries, Information Centres and Archives in Thailand" (Suwakhon Phadungath); (5) "Predicting the Future: Manpower Forecasting for the Library and Information Professions in Southern Africa" (J. R. Neill, D. M. Mbaakanyi); (6) "Problems in Forecasting Manpower Needs" (Monique Jucquois-Delpierre); (7) "Electronic ...

CERN Document Server

The LHCb Muon detector system is made of several (1368) Multi Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPCs). Those chambers differ in size, readout and constructing materials and are built in various countries: their assembly takes place in different sites and foresee many steps. To ensure the production quality and keep track of panels/chambers production an on-line database has been set up. This web based tool allows an easy sharing of the information: the database update is made possible trough a web interface. The update is easy and reliable. The interface helps the information sharing in different sites and helps optimizing the production rate by allowing feedback on production needs and quality between sites contributing to the production chain. The planning is made using the information on the material availability. Quality tests and crosschecks are made easier, as ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A procedure and correlations are presented for predicting Charpy-impact energy, tensile flow stress, fracture toughness J-R curve, and J{sub IC} of aged cast stainless steels from known material information. The ``saturation`` impact strength and fracture toughness of a specific cast stainless steel, i.e., the minimum value that would be achieved for the material after long-term service, is estimated from the chemical composition of the steel. Mechanical properties as a function of time and temperature of reactor service are estimated from impact energy and flow stress of the unaged material and the kinetics of embrittlement, which are also determined from chemical composition. The J{sub IC} values are determined from the estimated J-R curve and flow stress. Examples of estimating mechanical properties of cast stainless steel components during reactor service are presented. A common ``lower-bound`` J-R ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Sustainability of irrigated agriculture in arid and semi arid lands depends, mainly on the level of soil salinity and the quality of irrigation water. Remotely sensed data can provide information about the extent of vegetated irrigated areas. Al-Hassa oasis, Saudi Arabia is probably the largest oasis in the world depends mostly on tapped ground water to irrigate mainly date palm groves for its economic survival. This study tried to investigate the extent of soil salinity and the quality of irrigation water and the relationship with vegetation growth, employing NDVI derived from Landsat satellite imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

This article provides an historical look at how programs and practices for students with emotional or behavior disorders (E/BD) have been evaluated since 1964, leading to a codified, although not universally recognized, set of recommendations for evaluating best practices for students with E/BD set out by The Peacock Hill Working Group (1991). The authors contend that, in addition to the programmatic features of best practice, the addition of the quality indicators and standards for research in special education add a critical dimension for examining the quality of the scientific research of identified best practices. Taken together, these set of recommendations and quality indicators represent the state of the art in program evaluation for best practice and programs for students with E/BD. The goal of this article is to outline the current recommendations and apply them to current behavior intervention practices to ...

Science.gov (United States)

This book is designed to provide occupational therapist and occupational therapists and assistant educators with information on the rights of higher education students with disabilities and the rights of the occupational therapy profession to uphold its standards. Chapter 1, "Legal Foundations," provides an overview of federal law, implementing regulations, and student and faculty rights and responsibilities. Chapter 2, "Investigating Existing Institutional Resources and Establishing Linkages," discusses required campus access services, campus support structures, compliance officers, and student advocacy groups. The following chapter, "Technical Standards and Essential Requirements," addresses qualified students, technical standards determination, and essential program requirements. Chapter 4, "Auxiliary Aids, Academic Adjustments, and Reasonable Accommodations," discusses test-taking accommodations, waiving course requirements, tape ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This groundwater quality report (GWQR) contains an evaluation of the groundwater quality data obtained during the 1993 calendar year (CY) at several hazardous and non-hazardous waste management facilities associated with the US DOE Y-12 Plant located on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) southeast of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The groundwater quality data are presented in Part 1 of the GWQR submitted by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in February 1994. Groundwater quality data evaluated in this report were obtained at several hazardous and non-hazardous waste management sites located within the Chestnut Ridge Hydrogeologic Regime (Chestnut Ridge Regime). The Chestnut Ridge Regime encompasses a section of Chestnut Ridge south of the Y-12 Plant and is one of three hydrogeologic regimes defined for the purposes of groundwater ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The paper demonstrates an application of advanced decision support tools within the framework of the environmental information system of the Province of Milan. These tools include environmental simulation models, multi criteria analysis, risk analysis and environmental accounting for marketable emission permits. After describing the general structure of the system, three demonstrational case studies are introduced concerning: groundwater pollution management; atmospheric pollution management; urban environmental quality perception and management. In the conclusion, potential use of tools like the ones implemented by the province of Milan within the framework of Local Agenda 21 processes is recalled.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The subject of this paper is based on necessity to register occurrence in petroleum industry. Specifically we are making reference about Exploration and Production at petroleum industry, using a photography as job instrument. The PETROBRAS - Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., apply the photography resources in almost all service. The Campos basin Exploration and Production, responsible for 70% Brazil's petroleum production, utilizes photographies in many solutions. This paper is based on the following premises: the photography as register way; the information facility; the technical applies; the use of this register in the academic, scientific and operational ways. (author)

CERN Document Server

Information from the CHIS Board and Personnel Division:A new contract to manage our health insurance has been signed with AUSTRIA and it will come into force on 1 January 2000.The changeover to the new contract will not affect those covered by thescheme since there will be no change in the list of services reimbursed or in the reimbursement procedure.However, you are requested (as far as possible) to submit separate claims fortreatment (not bills) received before 1 January 2000 as opposed to treatment received after 1 January 2000. This will help AUSTRIA with its accounting.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The bibliography contains citations concerning the properties, industrial uses and federal regulation of asbestos. The references explore advantages and disadvantages associated with use of industrial robots in areas containing high concentrations of asbestos dust, the use of water as a cutting tool to control the generation of asbestos dust, and governmental policies and attitudes relative to the health and welfare of workers subjected to asbestos. Thermal insulation properties, wear characteristics, high temperature capabilities, use as a reinforcement in composite materials, and asbestos substitutes are included. (Contains a minimum of 69 citations and includes a subject term index and title list.)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) and The Leadership Studio have collaborated to create a one-of-a-kind Executive Coaching Resource Center for nurse leaders and their teams. This resource-designed specifically for AONE members-is a one-stop web-based library developed to assist nurse leaders who want to learn more about utilizing executive coaching services. It focuses on the overall benefits of coaching for nurse leaders-both tangible and intangible-and provides return on investment information for executive coaching based on the most current research.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A system model for transmission of computer user's data with a finite number of regular users in a resource-sharing mode in parallel distributed information-processing systems is considered. The mini/microcomputer included in the system model is considered to be receiving the mixed arrival data of the user from a picture-phone terminal with uniformly-distributed data arrivals and a teletypewriter terminal with Erlang-distributed data arrivals. The large-memory performance of the mini/microcomputer is analysed with the mixed input data, constant service-times, synchronous transmission and single server interruption through a first-order Markov process. A simple and general approach to calculate the data arrivals from picture-phone and teletypewriter terminals and their mixed data arrivals is presented. Expressions for memory content probability and average queueing delay are derived. The application of the model is illustrated by ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary: The KEGG PATHWAY database provides a widely used service for metabolic and nonmetabolic pathways. It contains manually drawn pathway maps with information about the genes, reactions and relations contained therein. To store these pathways, KEGG uses KGML, a proprietary XML-format. Parsers and translators are needed to process the pathway maps for usage in other applications and algorithms. We have developed KEGGtranslator, an easy-to-use stand-alone application that can visualize and convert KGML formatted XML-files into multiple output formats. Unlike other translators, KEGGtranslator supports a plethora of output formats, is able to augment the information in translated documents (e.g. MIRIAM annotations) beyond the scope of the KGML document, and amends missing components to fr...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Full text: Secure, reliable and cost-effective communications are becoming an increasingly important tool for safeguards verification. This trend began with the initiation of remote monitoring implementation, where secure and cost effective data communications were required both to satisfy the confidentiality requirements of Member States and in order to meet the rigorous data authenticity requirements which allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to draw credible and independent conclusions. In addition, the implementation of additional protocols and integrated safeguards increases the importance of information (obtained in the course of an inspection, visit, complementary access or design information verification) being analyzed and corroborated with other information sources stored at IAEA Headquarters or Regional Offices, often while the inspector is still on-site. This requires the capability of enabling ...

Wastenet

... Reduce partner costs, save time, and overcome delays in data transmission. Data Exchanges States are currently submitting data to each other and to the EPA in the exchanges listed below. Data Exchanges are typically referred to by their acronyms, which are listed below. To find out more about EPA data exchanges, please follow the links to EPA Web sites. AQS - Air Quality Sub-system (...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This document deals with energy management in buildings. It presents the conditions for a good implementation of energy management. These conditions include the total involvement of the management and the training of the staff. The structure of this implementation is presented together with the tools for an efficient energy management. Eventually, information on air quality and comfort in buildings is provided, as well as the management of complaints linked to them. (TEC). 1 tab.

Environmental Research Database

DescriptionThe main objective of the project is to develop a range of underpinning plant resources together with information about the level of genetic variability they represent, in a form suitable for use in crop improvement research in vegetable brassicas, lettuce and onion. The proposed research addresses Defra's requirement for a crop improvement programme to underpin research programmes aimed at Pest and Disease Control, Plant Nutrition and Quality in field vegetables at HRI. We will produc [continued...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The new developments in cost engineering revolve around the ability to capture information that in the past could not be automated. The purpose of automation is not to eliminate the expert cost engineer. The goal is to use available technology to have more information available to the professionals in the cost engineering field. In that sense, the demand for expertise increases in order to produce the highest quality estimate and project possible from all levels of cost engineers. We cannot overemphasize the importance of using a good source of expert information in building these types of programs. ''Garbage in, garbage out'' still applies in this form of programming. Expert systems technology will become commonplace in many vertical markets; it is important to undersand what can and cannot be accomplished in our field, and where this technology will lead us in the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A case study is presented where an integrated, ecologically relevant exposure assessment is presented for a polluted lowland river. Using partial least squares regression of latent structures (PLS), an analysis of the impact of two effluents on physico-chemical water quality measures, macroinvertebrate and diatom communities, and in situ bioassay responses with four different test species are combined into an integrative exposure assessment. Bioassays focussed on growth and condition related endpoints, because they are key functional processes of organisms and populations. Integrating these multiple lines of evidence, we were able to discriminate among the impact of both effluents, link changes in physico-chemical water quality with bioassay endpoints and ecological quality of the ecosystem, and address the importance of integrating all information into one exposure assessment framework. The bioassays ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

One of the most loaded parts of a steam generator of VVER 440 MW type are the bolts and thread holes of the primary collector cover sealing set. The strength calculations and tensometric measurings performed during operation proved the high degree of a load on the bolts. The conditions of the stress limitation are not met in some cases according to the pertinent standards. The untightnesses at nickel rings occurred during putting the units of Jaslovske Bohunice and Dukovany nuclear power stations into operation. With regard to improve the reliability, the producer has taken measures to improve the quality of the rings and users have introduced more strict regulations for bolts tightening. Due to these measures the high reliability of the set has been obtained from point of view of the tightness, but substantial reduction of bolts and holes threads loading have not been obtained. Several years operation experience proved relatively low service ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of the study was to optimise the technique employed for AP shoulder and lateral cervical spine examinations following an investigation into image quality, based on clinical assessment, and effective dose, calculated from patient entrance surface dose measurements. A study was therefore conducted in an attempt to determine whether the increased radiation dose to the patient following the introduction of an anti-scatter grid was justified by the level of improvement in image quality. The study, involving 100 patients, was able to demonstrate that the increase in radiation dose to the patient when using an anti-scatter grid for AP shoulder examinations is not justified by the improved image quality. A poor level of inter-rater reliability between the consultants scoring the lateral cervical spine images prevented a firm conclusion from being reached. The fact that all images were of diagnostic ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Canadian Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstration (SIREQ TD) soldier modernization research and development program has conducted experiments to help determine the types and amount of information needed to support wayfinding across a range of terrain environments, the most effective display modality for providing the information (visual, auditory or tactile) that will minimize conflict with other infantry tasks, and to optimize interface design. In this study, seven different visual helmet-mounted display (HMD) designs were developed based on soldier feedback from previous studies. The displays and an in-service compass condition were contrasted to investigate how the visual HMD interfaces influenced navigation performance. Displays varied with respect to their information content, frame of reference, point of view, and display features. Twelve male infantry ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The Humane metropolis is a rubric to summarize and promote environmental and social quality in contemporary urban mosaics. Because cities, suburbs, and exurbs, as spatially extensive and connected socio-ecological systems, exhibit many negative features, the humane metropolis identifies a strategy to combat the ills and instill more positive and sustainable features and processes in urban systems. Because the humane metropolis as a program has arisen primarily from social motivations, there is the opportunity to articulate more explicitly the role that science can play in addressing the humane metropolis program and evaluating its success. A humane metropolis can be summarized as one that 1) protects and restores ecological services in cities and suburbs, 2) promotes physical and mental he...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The national energy research programme LVIS-2000: Future Building Services is concerned with the control of energy use and indoor climate in buildings of the future. The projects were presented at a one day seminar arranged by the Laboratory of Heating and Ventilation of the Technical Research Centre in Finland which is coordinating the programme. The presentations at the seminar were: Impurity emission from materials, Building materials and indoor air quality, analysis of organic compounds in indoor air, effect of the return air, effect of the return air on health and comfort, electric heating as an indoor climate factor, calculations of air flows in ventilated rooms, effect of energy saving measures on hospital hygiene, application of modern aerosol measurement technique on indoor climate research.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article describes the chemical preparation of petroleum additives of the MASK type from samples of concentrated alkylsalicylic acids. The obtained additives contain high contents of calcium alkylsalicylate and respective total alkalinities of 156, 131, and 130 mg KOH/g. Sodium alkylsalicylate concentrates, obtained in the form of an aqueous acetone solution, were converted to alkylsalicylic acids by interaction with hydrochloric acid. The solvent was removed from the upper and lower layers by distillation, and the resulting products were analyzed by liquid chromatography. Service tests were performed on a model formulation of the additive in M-11 oil in a Petter AV-1 test stand unit in comparison with commercial MASK additive. The results indicate that the model additive formulation gives approximately the same corrected piston fouling ratings as the commercial additive.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The introduction of automation technology into the analytical laboratory holds the promise of higher efficiency, improved productivity, and lower costs. However, the conventional ''laboratory robot'' widely used today may not offer the work envelope or reliability required in a high workload laboratory performing quality control or environmental analytical services. To address this need, a demonstration workcell was assembled utilizing an industrial-class robotics system to automate a standard EPA acid digestion protocol. With further development of graphical user interfaces and error recovery software, the technology will significantly enhance the ability of laboratories to meet increasingly complex environmental demands. 7 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

To ensure safe and reliable power production nuclear power plants must be operated at high level. Non destructive in-service inspections are inseparable part of the effort. Non destructive in-service inspections are essential on the ground of degradation mechanisms existence in nuclear power components. Degradation processes are constituent of operation of each industrial installation including nuclear power plants. Mission of non-destructive testing is degradation detection, closer characterization of its parameters (dimensions) and to supply as much information as possible to nuclear power plant operator. Eddy current testing method can be assigned to surface - volumetric methods. Method enables inspection of electrically conductive materials. It is particularly suitable for inspection of non-ferromagnetic materials like austenitic stainless steel and brass. The method is used for detection of stress corrosion cracking, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This book constitutes a portion of the primary documentation for the 1992 Pacific Northwest Residential Energy Survey, Phase I. The complete 33-volume set of primary documentation provides information needed by energy analysts and interpreters with respect to planning, execution, data collection, and data management of the PNWRES92-I process. Thirty of these volumes are devoted to different ``views`` of the data themselves, with each view having a special purpose or interest as its focus. Analyses and interpretations of these data will be the subjects of forthcoming publications. Conducted during the late summer and fall months of 1992, PNWRES92-I had the over-arching goal of satisfying basic requirements for a variety of information about the stock of residential units in Bonneville`s service region. Surveys with a similar goal were conducted in 1979 and 1983. This volume contains a follow-up study of non-respondents to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Since fuel oil meeting the requirements of current petroleum products can be produced by SASOL F-T synthetic process, the manufacturing process of hydrocarbon fuel oil from the coal-derived synthesis gas, downstream processes are being successively investigated. Mobile M-gasoline, MTG, process which produces gasoline from the natural gas-derived synthesis gas through methanol went into commercial operation in New Zealand in 1986. Although the gasoline suffices the quality of commercial gasoline by both fixed bed and fluidized bed systems, the price and service life of catalyst and control of by-product durene must be improved. Any STG processes have not been completed yet and the yield and quality of gasoline are inferior to those of gasoline produced by the MTG process. Applying two-stage process, the STG process will be more economically effective.(21 refs, 4 figs, 10 tabs)

CERN Document Server

Heterogeneous base stations (e.g. picocells, microcells, femtocells and distributed antennas) will become increasingly essential for cellular network capacity and coverage. Up until now, little basic research has been done on the fundamentals of managing so much infrastructure -- much of it unplanned -- together with the carefully planned macro-cellular network. Inter-cell coordination is in principle an effective way of ensuring different infrastructure components behave in a way that increases, rather than decreases, the key quality of service (QoS) metrics. The success of such coordination depends heavily on how the overhead is shared, and the rate and delay of the overhead sharing. We develop a novel framework to quantify overhead signaling for inter-cell coordination, which is usually ignored in traditional 1-tier networks, and assumes even more importance in multi-tier heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs). We derive the overhead ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

There are many factors contributing to the changes taking place within the electric utility industry. The environmental pressures on the industry are substantial and include the global warming issue, hazardous and nuclear waste challenges, air toxicities, and the electromagnetic field controversy. An issue of special concern is deregulation of the industry, which brought with it retail wheeling, wholesale wheeling, transmission access, and market-based pricing, all of which have greatly shaken the industry. The changes are expected to happen quickly. This is quite different from the 31 years it took to deregulate the telecommunications industry, the 15 to 20 years for railroads, the 9 years for the natural gas industry, and the 2 years for the airline industry. Historically there has been a general willingness among the utilites to share information through collaborative research. Research and development is viewed as a cost and not an investment in the electric ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

New York City data indicate that seasonal and annual variations in dispersion-normalized air pollutant concentrations appear to accurately reflect changes in source emission patterns. The normalized concentrations make it possible to observe the impact of regulatory changes on ambient air quality without these impacts being obscured by meteorological fluctuations. It is found that numerical modeling techniques and regression analysis can be powerful tools for extracting information from large sets of air quality data. The use of differential, as opposed to absolute, pollutant concentration values will reduce artifact correlations caused by seasonal, weekly, or daily meteorological fluctuations and will permit more accurate estimation of the regression coefficients. This technique was successfully applied to a set of daily pollution measurements whose absolute concentrations were found not to yield a statistically ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Unlike the conventional automotive, modem railway trains are designed with non-openable windows; and a mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) system is installed in each train compartment for better indoor air quality as well as to provide a thermally comfortable environment. The ventilation rate is no doubt a critical element in the design of a MVAC system, especially in Hong Kong where the daily passenger load is extremely heavy. Earlier studies illustrated that carbon dioxide can be controlled at 1000 ppm by increasing the ventilation rate to 25.2 m{sup 3} h{sup -1}; however, it will also lead to an increase in energy consumption. In this paper, the electrical energy consumption at various ventilation rates was studied, and the cost of maintaining a low carbon dioxide level was estimated These provide solid information for the local railway companies to improve the air quality inside the train compartments. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Coal and Electric Data and Renewables Division; Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels, Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy prepares the EPM. This publication provides monthly statistics at the State, Census division, and U.S. levels for net generation, fossil fuel consumption and stocks, quantity and quality of fossil fuels, cost of fossil fuels, electricity sales, revenue, and average revenue per kilowatthour of electricity sold. Data on net generation, fuel consumption, fuel stocks, quantity and cost of fossil fuels are also displayed for the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) regions. The EIA publishes statistics in the EPM on net generation by energy source; consumption, stocks, quantity, quality, and cost of fossil fuels; and capability of new generating units by company and plant.

Science.gov (United States)

PMID:21901085

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An IAEA databank lists a number of reported cases of illicitly trafficked nuclear or other radioactive materials. Apart from the traditional concern with nuclear proliferation, the post September 11th public is now wary of a possible attack by terrorists with a nuclear or radiation dispersion device (RDD). Until now, the seized quantities have not been sufficient to manufacture a nuclear explosive device, but they might be enough to construct an RDD. Recognizing the latent global challenge to public health and safety, the G8 States (Japan, USA, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Canada, and Russia) have called for 'joint international efforts to identify and suppress illicit supply' of, and demand for, nuclear material and to deter potential traffickers. One measure gaining in significance is to identify seized material and trace it back to its origin the objective of an emerging science known as nuclear forensics. Repeatedly nuclear or other radioactive material of unknown origin are ...

Science.gov (United States)

In August 1995, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a policy statement proposing improved regulatory decisionmaking by increasing the use of PRA [probabilistic risk assessment] in all regulatory matters to the extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods and data. A key aspect in using PRA in risk-informed regulatory activities is establishing the appropriate scope and attributes of the PRA. In this regard, ASME decided to develop a consensus PRA Standard. The objective is to develop a PRA Standard such that the technical quality of nuclear plant PRAs will be sufficient to support risk-informed regulatory applications. This paper presents examples recommendations for the systems analysis element of a PRA for incorporation into the ASME PRA Standard.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this study was to provide a framework for land use and resource allocation decisions in the Northeast Coal Block of British Columbia. The area was divided into a number of sites, and information gathered in two main areas, 1) status of the resource base, and 2) resource management/planning/development. A map and physical description of each site is provided as well as such information as - air quality, soils, vegetation, water resources, petroleum and natural gas resources, coal resources, and gravel resources, agricultural resources, timber resources, fisheries and wildlife resources, recreatational and aesthetic (visual) resources. The appendix volume provides a summary of the institutional management framework and approval procedures for all significant resource sectors. Provincial legislation and government acts are identified.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Background. Every year, millions of people travel to countries where rabies is enzootic. However, the quality of rabies-specific information provided by travel health advisors and the extent of their knowledge about pre- and postexposure prophylaxis have not been examined on a large-scale basis up to now. Methods. 5,780 German physicians and pharmacists, who identified themselves as active travel health advisors, were chosen from a database. The selected providers were asked to complete an Internet-based questionnaire. The form requested both demographic information and the assessment of different concrete scenarios, each of which featured individuals seeking pretravel advice on rabies or appropriate postexposure treatment after returning from abroad. Results. Overall, 496 physicians and p...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Slurry characteristics have a significant impact on centrifugal pump performance. For instance, as particle size increases or the percent solids concentration increases, pump head and efficiency decrease. Therefore, before a slurry pump is selected, it is important to define the slurry characteristics as accurately as possible. The effect of the slurry characteristics on the head and efficiency of the centrifugal pump will be emphasized (the effect on flowrate is less significant). The effect of slurry characteristics is more predominant in smaller pumps (with smaller diameter impellers) than in larger pumps. The data and relationship between the various slurry parameters have been developed from correlations and nomographs published by pump vendors from their field data and test results. The information helps to avoid specifying an undersized pump/motor assembly for slurry service.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Overall architecture of a local computer network, STAR, is described. The objective is to accomplish a cost-effective system which provides multiple users a real-time service of manipulating very large volume imagery information and data. STAR consists of a reconfigurable communication subnet (starnet), heterogeneous resource units, and distributed-control software entities. Architectural aspects of a fault-tolerant communication subnet, distributed database management, and a distributed scheduling strategy for configuring desirable computation topology are exploited. A model for comparing cost-effectiveness among starnet, crossbar, and multiple buses is included. It is concluded that starnet outperforms the other two when the number of units to be connected is larger than 64. This project serves as a research tool for using current and projected technology to innovate better schemes for parallel image processing. 30 references.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

A prerequisite for a sensible estimate of moisture induced stresses in timber members is an accurate prediction of the members' moisture states during their service life. There are, however, an infinite number of possible moisture states for an arbitrary timber member in a natural varying climate. The naturally varying humidity is possible to describe as harmonic cycles, with different periods, superimposed. This work presents realizations of envelop curves over the possible moisture states in a timber member for some carefully chosen harmonic humidity variations. The calculations, on which the realizations were made, are based on a fully coupled transport model including a model for the influential sorption hysteresis of wood. A format containing required information suitable for assessin...

Science.gov (United States)

A new protocol technology is just starting to emerge from the laboratory environment. Its stated purpose is to provide an additional means in which networks, and the services that reside on them, can be protected from adversarial compromise. This report has a two-fold objective. First is to provide the reader with an overview of this emerging Dynamic Defenses technology using Dynamic Network Address Translation (Dynat). This ''structure overview'' is concentrated in the body of the report, and describes the important attributes of the technology. The second objective is to provide a framework that can be used to help in the classification and assessment of the different types of dynamic defense technologies along with some related capabilities and limitations. This information is primarily contained in the appendices.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Information technology allows national and local governments to satisfy the needs of citizens in a cost effective way. Unfortunately, citizens still tend to prefer traditional, more costly channels, such as the front desk, phone and mail. Through pilot projects government agencies attempt to influence this behavior of citizens, directing them towards the online channel. With this paper we provide insight into the possibility to influence citizens' behavior in the complex landscape of multi-channel service provision. The paper systematically compares five pilot projects using a framework that is based on organizational and marketing literature. The results show that socio-psychological factors are crucial in multi-channel management, much more than the technology itself. We conclude that ci...

CERN Document Server

Google's Android is a comprehensive software framework for mobile communication devices (i.e., smartphones, PDAs). The Android framework includes an operating system, middleware and a set of key applications. The incorporation of integrated access services to the Internet on such mobile devices, however, increases their exposure to damages inflicted by various types of malware. This paper provides a comprehensive security assessment of the Android framework and the security mechanisms incorporated into it. A methodological qualitative risk analysis that we conducted identifies the high-risk threats to the framework and any potential danger to information or to the system resulting from vulnerabilities that have been uncovered and exploited. Our review of current academic and commercial solutions in the area of smartphone security yields a list of applied and recommended defense mechanisms for hardening mobile devices in general and the Android ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The published literature is reviewed and supplemented by current information from the author's laboratory, to show the influence of various compositional, heat treatment and thermomechanical factors on the structural characteristics of Alloy 800. The features discussed include carbon, aluminium, titanium and boron, solution treatment, ageing treatments with and without applied strain, and cold working. Examples of the aspects reviewed include the effect of heat treatment and service or testing temperature on the austenite grain size, and the relative importance of M_2_3C_6 and TiC, the influence of carbon level on gamma prime, the effect of residual or steady stress combined with time at temperature on changes in carbide or gamma prime morphology, and on the appearance of sigma or other intermetallic phases. The questions posed by these features are discussed generally, in terms of their effect on the mechanical properties at ambient and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this project is to eliminate three closely inter-related barriers to oil production in Alaska through the use of a geographic information system (GIS) and other information technology strategies. These barriers involve identification of oil development potential from existing wells, planning projects to efficiently avoid conflicts with other interests, and gaining state approvals for exploration and development projects. Each barrier is the result of either current labor-intensive methods or poorly accessible information. This project brings together three parts of the oil exploration, development, and permitting process to form the foundation for a more fully integrated information technology infrastructure for the State of Alaska. This web-based system will enable the public and other review participants to track permit status, submit and view comments, and obtain important project ...

Science.gov (United States)

As part of its long-term control plan for combined sewer overflow (CSO) abatement, the city of Buffalo, New York, maintained a network of Hydrolab Datasondes (Hydrolab-Hach Company, Loveland, Colorado) to assess receiving water-quality effects by continuously logging dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, conductivity, and turbidity. Although the effect of individual CSOs could be visualized, turbidity levels entering the Buffalo River from the upper watershed often were greater than from CSO discharges. Turbidity data showed that the Buffalo River was a net-sediment sink. Low dissolved oxygen levels were observed in the summer during dry weather, baseflow, and watershed-wide storms and CSO events. Some CSOs did not produce dissolved oxygen sags in the receiving waters, but others did. This information, together with the sampling done for organic and inorganic contaminants, can aid the decisionmaking process when prioritizing outfalls for abatement ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Current information on the use of ionizing radiation for improving the storage of subtropical fruits like citrus, grapes, and avocados is reviewed. The feasibility of applying radiation either alone or in combination with other physical or chemical treatments for the control of postharvest fungal diseases is considered. Irradiation effects on the physiology of the fruits as related to respiration, ethylene evolution, changes in major chemical constituents, and quality are discussed. The recent trends in the possible use of irradiation as an alternative treatment to chemical fumigants for disinfestation of citrus and avocados and the prospects for the future application of irradiation for preservation of some of these fruits are outlined. 128 references.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This is the second technical report, covering the period from April 1, 2003 through September 30, 2003. This project brings together three parts of the oil exploration, development, and permitting process to form the foundation for a more fully integrated information technology infrastructure for the State of Alaska. The geo-technical component is a shared effort between the State Department of Administration and the US Department of Energy. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is rapidly converting high volumes of paper documents and geo-technical information to formats suitable for search and retrieval over the Internet. The permitting component is under the lead of the DNR Office of Project Management and Permitting. A web-based system will enable the public and other review participants to track permit status, submit and view comments, and obtain important project information on-line. By automating several ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) prepares quarterly, short-term energy supply, demand, and price projections for publication in February, May, August, and November in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (Outlook). An annual supplement analyzes the performance of previous forecasts, compares recent cases with those of other forecasting services, and discusses current topics related to the short-term energy markets. (See Short-Term Energy Outlook Annual Supplement, DOE/EIA-0202.) The forecast period for this issue of the Outlook extends from the third quarter of 1993 through the fourth quarter of 1994. Values for the second quarter of 1993, however, are preliminary EIA estimates (for example, some monthly values for petroleum supply and disposition are derived in part from weekly data reported in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report) or are calculated from model simulations using the latest exogenous information available ...

CERN Document Server

Web mining is the nontrivial process to discover valid, novel, potentially useful knowledge from web data using the data mining techniques or methods. It may give information that is useful for improving the services offered by web portals and information access and retrieval tools. With the rapid development of biclustering, more researchers have applied the biclustering technique to different fields in recent years. When biclustering approach is applied to the web usage data it automatically captures the hidden browsing patterns from it in the form of biclusters. In this work, swarm intelligent technique is combined with biclustering approach to propose an algorithm called Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) based Biclustering for Web Usage Data. The main objective of this algorithm is to retrieve the global optimal bicluster from the web usage data. These biclusters contain relationships between web users and web ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recently, US energy service companies (ESCOs) have begun to actively explore markets outside the US. Despite the needs of many countries for ESCO involvement, ESCOs face many challenges (i.e., marketing, financial, institutional, political and cultural barriers). Consequently, most of these firms pursue international project opportunities very selectively due to the costs and risks associated with project development. Despite these barriers, some ESCOs view international work as a strategic expansion of their business, assuming that there will be adequate business in the future to repay them for their initial investment. In this paper, the authors present the findings from a recently completed study on the proposed development of an ESCO industry in Japan. The study was based on four sources of information: (1) a review of the published and unpublished literature on ESCOs; (2) interviews with 26 ESCOs in the US, the US Department of Energy, and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The quality of fuel oils is discussed. The problems that the fuel oil marketer must deal with that relate to the quality of the fuel oil are described.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Due to the large number of chemicals in commerce without adequate toxicity characterization data, coupled with an ineffective federal policy for chemical management in the United States, many states are grappling with the challenge to identify toxic chemicals that may pose a risk to human health and the environment. Specific populations (e.g., children, elderly) are particularly sensitive to these toxic chemicals. In 2008, the Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) was passed in Washington State. The CSPA included specific requirements to identify High Priority Chemicals (HPCs) and Chemicals of High Concern to Children (CHCCs). To implement this legislation, a methodology was developed to identify HPCs from authoritative scientific and regulatory sources on the basis of toxicity criteria. Another set of chemicals of concern was then identified from authoritative sources, based on their potential exposure to children. Exposure potential was evaluated by identifying chemicals detected in ...

CERN Document Server

The entrepreneur's guide to managing information technology

CERN Document Server

Handbook on information technology in finance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is an emerging technology with features that are potentially attractive in electric utility applications. This study evaluates the potential for SMES technology in the generation, transmission, distribution, and use of electric energy; the time frame of the assessment is through the year 2030. Comparisons are made with other technology options, including both commercially available and advanced systems such as various peaking generation technologies, transmission stability improvement technologies, and power quality enhancement devices. The methodology used for this study focused on the needs of the market place, the capabilities of S and the characteristics of the competing technologies. There is widespread interest within utilities for the development of SMES technology, but there is no general consensus regarding the most attractive size. Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the eventual costs and benefits of ...

CERN Document Server

One of the most challenging problems in Opportunistic Spectrum Access (OSA) is to design channel sensing-based protocol in multi secondary users (SUs) network. Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for SUs have significant implications on this protocol design. In this paper, we propose a new method to find joint policies for SUs which not only guarantees QoS requirements but also maximizes network throughput. We use Decentralized Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (Dec-POMDP) to formulate interactions between SUs. Meanwhile, a tractable approach for Dec-POMDP is utilized to extract sub-optimum joint policies for large horizons. Among these policies, the joint policy which guarantees QoS requirements is selected as the joint sensing strategy for SUs. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, we consider two SUs trying to access two-channel primary users (PUs) network modeled by discrete Markov chains. Simulations demonstrate three ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) now under construction at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use the 25-MV tandem accelerator for the acceleration of radioactive ion beams to energies appropriate for research in nuclear physics; negative ion beams are, therefore, required for injection into the tandem accelerator. Because charge exchange is an efficient means for converting initially positive ion beams to negative ion beams, both positive and negative ion sources are viable options for use at the facility; the choice of the type of ion source will depend on the overall efficiency for generating the radioactive species of interest. A high-temperature version of the CERN-ISOLDE positive ion source has been selected and a modified version of the source designed and fabricated for initial use at the HRIBF because of its low emittance, relatively high ionization efficiencies and species versatility, and because it has been engineered for remote installation, removal ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In October last year the first intercomparison of measurements of the soil radon concentrations between various laboratories in Slovakia was realised. The organisation of this intercomparison was conducted by the Slovak Legal Metrology in Banska Bystrica together with the Slovak National Accreditation Service in Bratislava (SNAS). The scientific guarantee of the exercise was the State metrological Centre for radon quantities, which is working at the Research base of Slovak Medical University in Bratislava. The main objective of the intercomparison was to verify the correctness of the methods for the soil radon measurements of the authorised laboratories for radon volume activities in soil air. The intercomparison (signed as SLM ILC 3/03) was performed as a 'circular' metrology comparison, in accordance with a methodical directive MSA 0117-98, published by SNAS. Six laboratories were participating on the intercomparison and there have been two stages of the work one ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Without stable hardware any program will fail. The frustration and expense of supporting bad hardware can drain an organization, delay progress, and frustrate everyone involved. At Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), we have created a testing method that helps our group, SLAC Computer Services (SCS), weed out potentially bad hardware and purchase the best hardware at the best possible cost. Commodity hardware changes often, so new evaluations happen periodically each time we purchase systems and minor re-evaluations happen for revised systems for our clusters, about twice a year. This general framework helps SCS perform correct, efficient evaluations. This article outlines SCS's computer testing methods and our system acceptance criteria. We expanded the basic ideas to other evaluations such as storage, and we think the methods outlined in this article has helped us choose hardware that is much more stable and supportable than our previous ...

CERN Document Server

Studies on the large scale peer-to-peer (P2P) network like Gnutella have shown the presence of large number of free riders. Moreover, the open and decentralized nature of P2P network is exploited by malicious users who distribute unauthentic or harmful contents. Despite the existence of a number of trust management schemes in the literature for combating against free riding and distribution of malicious files, these mechanisms are not scalable due to their high computational, communication and storage overhead. These schemes also do not consider effect of trust management on quality-of-service (QoS) of the search. This paper presents a trust management scheme for P2P networks that minimizes distribution of spurious files by a novel technique called topology adaptation. It also reduces search time since most of the queries are resolved within the community of trustworthy peers. Simulation results indicate that the trust management overhead due to the pr oposed ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundMany interventions found to be effective in health services research studies fail to translate into meaningful patient care outcomes across multiple contexts. Health services...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

42 Public Health 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Health benefits plan: Supplemental health services. 417.102 Section 417.102 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

As part of our ongoing research to provide quality improvements to heating oil, Mobil Oil together with Santa Fuel, Inc., conducted a field trial to investigate the performance of a new premium heating oil. This premium heating oil contains an additive system designed to minimize sludge related problems in the fuel delivery system of residential home heating systems. The additive used was similar to others reported at this and earlier BNL conferences, but was further developed to enhance its performance in oil heat systems. The premium heating oil was bulk additized and delivered to a subset of the customer base. Fuel related, unscheduled service calls were monitored in this test area, as well as in a similar baseline area that did not receive the premium heating oil. Overall, the premium fuel provided a 45% reduction in the occurrence of fuel related, unscheduled service calls as compared to the baseline area. Within this ...

Science.gov (United States)

Orchestration Layer. Service Delivery . Datacenter. Infrastructure. Systems call API. E2E automated. Automate service-levels. Analyze & ...

Science.gov (United States)

... WHS- Washington Headquarters Service. ... ie, Army, Navy, Air Force) service publications ... The Case of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force. ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Currently many service providers offer their services on a private and proprietary hard- and software infrastructure. These infrastructures often share many similarities. Hence we believe a generic service management architecture, that allows service providers to offer a large array of different services on a single infrastructure or multiple providers to offer their services cooperatively, would provide many advantages over current silo-based approaches. Additionally, by allowing the distributed service management components to cooperate in a peer-to-peer overlay network, scalability and resilience of the system could be greatly improved. In this paper we propose an optimal algorithm, based on an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation, and several heuristics to support such a generi...

Science.gov (United States)

... Joint Meritorious Award to DLA," Dimnsions Vol. ... recently the Defense Finance Accounting Services (DFAS ... gmbAt Service SUoDort Field Manual. ...

Science.gov (United States)

May 25, 2007 ... This form will generate a bibliography of cost estimating references. The form will search the NASA Technical Report Service (NTRS) database ...

Science.gov (United States)

18 months service for FERS; 60 months service for CSRS employees. the period covered by your accrued, donated, and advanced sick leave & accrued and ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Service life limits are established by NAVAIRINST 13130.1a. The TH-57C is nearing its service life limit and without it, the ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Aims: This study performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on glycemic control and pregnancy outcomes in women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) treated with lispro (LP) versus regular insulin (RI) since before pregnancy. Methods: We performed a MEDLINE and EMBASE search. Abstracts (and full articles when appropriate) were reviewed by two independent researchers. Inclusion criteria were patients with T1DM, data on women treated with RI and LP since before pregnancy until delivery in the same article, at least five pregnancies in each group, and information on at least one pregnancy outcome. Quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle?Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for cohort studies. Results: Outcome data were summarized with Revman version 5.0 (ims.cochrane.org...

Science.gov (United States)

Citizens Gas and Coke Utility operates three coke oven batteries, producing both foundry coke and blast furnace coke, under the trade name Indianapolis Coke. Active participation in the regulation negotiation process by the Vice President of Indianapolis Coke allowed the company to accurately anticipate the environmental regulations, long before they were set in law. Several improvements were put into motion that helps them meet the new environmental regulations. Better trained operators with new job positions dedicated solely to environmental compliance, an extensive environmental training program, and two innovations, a portable oven door milling and cleaning machine and three new computer applications are the result of team efforts. The focus of this paper is development of the computer applications designed to enhance three areas of environmental compliance. The three areas addressed by the applications are documentation and information deployment, problem ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this work tests of quality control in beams of X rays have been carried out, at diagnostic level, of two radiological services equipments of Brazilian hospitals (Aracaju, SE). We obtained the air kerma and kerma rate values, the beams efficiency, the coherence between the luminous fields and the referring fields of irradiation and half-value layer to each equipment and set of parameters. The measures of direct form have been obtained using two ionization chambers, one cylindrical and another one with parallel plates. An optional method for accomplishment some of the tests were carried out with CaSO{sub 4}:Dy + Teflon thermoluminescent dosimeters. The values of air kerma were evaluated for three tube voltage, 40, 60 and 81 kV at 1.0 m from the focus of the equipments. For each one of the voltages three distinct current values were chosen besides a fixed value of exposition time. The results showed that the values of air kerma varied between ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Case studies of natural wetlands for treating mine drainage are described. Most of the sites are in northern Canada. The natural wetlands examined suggest that constructed wetlands are a viable option for the passive treatment of mine drainage. Natural wetlands retain many metals, and many species of plants are represented in them. Processes for metal removal include sorption onto organic matter, hydrolysis, and reduction. The results show that wetlands need not be based on cattails to be effective, and that passive mine drainage treatment is feasible in northern regions. Few examples are available of constructed wetlands for treating metal mine drainage. It is concluded that the limitations of constructed wetlands are found not in the wetlands, but in information about them. 37 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Low Power and Shutdown (LPSD) PRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment) Standard (ANS-58.22) is currently being drafted by a Writing Group under the auspices of the Risk Informed Standards Committee of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). The Writing Group includes representatives from nuclear utilities, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), national laboratories, universities, and consultants with substantial experience producing LPSD PRAs. This draft standard is scheduled to be released for public comment in the second quarter of 2004, with publication by the end of 2004. The LPSD PRA Standard is based on a mature technology that shares many requirements with full power PRAs. It will provide specific methods and criteria whereby PRAs of appropriate quality and scope can be used in the conduct of plant decision-making and other activities, including addressing NRC requirements. This paper presents the current status of this standard.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ways of reducing energy consumption in plastics processing are examined. Examples are given which illustrate how the awareness of everyone in the company to energy saving is essential with particular reference to switching arrangements to ensure such things as lights, machinery, compressed air systems are switched off when not needed or run at a lower level where appropriate. An understanding of the various elements of the electricity bill can inform a company`s planning of its operations to take advantage of lower tariffs. Machinery selection both with regard to efficiency of processing, quality of engineering and appropriate size can achieve significant savings and attention to maintenance is important. Fundamental to all aspects of energy saving is the monitoring of energy usage to identify where savings can be made and to evaluate the effectiveness of any measures taken. (UK)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ground-water monitoring near the Raft River site was initiated in 1974 by the IDWR. This effort consisted of semiannual chemical sampling of 22 irrigation wells near the Raft River geothermal development area. This program yielded useful baseline chemical data; however, several problems were inherent. For example, access to water pumped from the wells is limited to the irrigation season (April through September). All the wells are not continuously pumped; thus, some wells that are sampled one season cannot be sampled the next. In addition, information on well construction, completion, and production is often unreliable or not available. These data are to be supplemented by establishing a series of monitor wells in the proposed geothermal withdrawal and injection area. These wells were to be located and designed to provide data necessary for evaluating and predicting the impact of geothermal development on the Shallow Aquifer system.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Fetal exposure to phthalates may be associated with adverse reproductive effects, including cryptorchidism and decreased semen quality. Information about human placental transfer is needed to qualify the hypotheses. A dual recirculating placenta perfusion system to monitor concentrations of eight phthalate monoesters in fetal and maternal perfusates was established. In addition to perfusate background measures of phthalate monoesters, the concentrations in umbilical cord plasma and placenta tissue were measured. Monomethyl phthalate (mMP), monoethyl phthalate (mEP), monobutyl phthalate (mBP), and mono (2-ethyl-hexyl) phthalate (mEHP) were detected in both maternal and fetal perfusate, demonstrating a release of compounds from tissue or blood to perfusates. The distribution of compounds bet...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this paper is to communicate how new and established management techniques are applied to environmental restoration projects at the Savannah River Site. Specifically, the paper discusses application of four (4) management approaches: Total Quality Principles; Task Team Structure; Cost Time Management; SAFER (Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration). The objective is to share Savannah River Site experience and document case studies where certain approaches have enhanced projects at hand. Each management approach is demonstrated by its project application and impact on performance. The visibility given the project is discussed to emphasize communications as avenues for public information, technical exchange, and employee motivation.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Detailed, complete, timely and reliable statistics are essential to monitor the energy situation at a country level as well as at an international level. Energy statistics on supply, trade, stocks, transformation and demand are indeed the basis for any sound energy policy decision. For instance, the market of oil -- which is the largest traded commodity worldwide -- needs to be closely monitored in order for all market players to know at any time what is produced, traded, stocked and consumed and by whom. In view of the role and importance of energy in world development, one would expect that basic energy information to be readily available and reliable. This is not always the case and one can even observe a decline in the quality, coverage and timeliness of energy statistics over the last few years.

Science.gov (United States)

;Table of Contents: Legal authority; Summary of proposed regulations; Industry definition and waste streams; Industry description; Data and information gathering; Selection of pollutant parameters; Drilling wastes-characterization, control, and treatment technologies; Produced water-characterization, control, and treatment technologies; Miscellaneous waste-characterization, control, and treatment technologies; Cost and pollutant loading determination of drilling fluids and drill cuttings; Compliance cost and pollutant load determination of produced water; Compliance cost and pollutant load determination of well treatment, workover, and completion fluids; Cost and pollutant loading determination of deck drainage; Options selection-rationale and total costs; Pretreatment standards; Non-water quality environmental impacts and other factors; Best Management Practices; and Appendices.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A three-component seismic line acquired over the Zamora gas field, northern Sacramento Valley, California, displays conventional (P-P) and converted-wave (P-SV) seismic anomalies. Well log and seismic modeling results indicate that bright-spot reflection strengths are related to variations in fluid saturation and lithology. The P-SV reflection strengths and interval velocities provide valuable information that complements more conventional strategies such as amplitude with offset and polarity analysis. This integrated strategy can improve risk evaluation and well-site selection in areas where rapid changes in reservoir quality impact resource evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

We propose a combined migration velocity analysis and imaging method based on Kirchhoff integral migration and reverse time migration, using the residual curvature analysis and layer stripping strategy to build the velocity model. This method improves the image resolution of Kirchhoff integral migration and reduces the computations of the reverse time migration. It combines the advantages of efficiency and accuracy of the two migration methods. Its application in tunnel seismic prediction shows good results. Numerical experiments show that the imaging results of reverse time migration are better than the imaging results of Kirchhoff integral migration in many aspects of tunnel prediction. Field data show that this method has efficient computations and can establish a reasonable velocity model and a high quality imaging section. Combination with geological information can make an accurate prediction of the front of the tunnel geological ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has been proposed as a way of operationalising sustainable development (SD). However, until now, in view of the difficulties in conceptualising SC, emphasis has been placed mainly on a pragmatic approach. In an a-conceptual and pragmatic account of SC, many problems remain unaddressed, such as the danger of the notion becoming empty and lack of integration between the different dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, we propose that the informational space provided by the capability approach (CA) offers a conceptual framework to elaborate SC. The CA is employed here (i) to discuss the philosophical underpinnings of SC as part of a strategy for enhancing quality-of-life and (ii) to investigate the links between the different dimensions of SC....

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In the safety assessment of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal system, it is required to estimate radiological impacts on future human beings arising from potential radionuclide releases from a deep repository into the surface environment. In order to estimated the impacts, a biosphere model is developed by reasonably assuming radionuclide migration processes in the surface environment and relevant human lifestyles. It is important to modify the present biosphere models or to develop alternative biosphere models applying the biosphere models according to quality and quantify of the information acquired through the siting process for constructing the repository. In this study, alternative biosphere models were developed taking geosphere-biosphere interface of marine environment into account. Moreover, the flux to dose conversion factors calculated by these alternative biosphere models was compared with those by the present basic ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The objective of the present investigation was to develop a Bayesian framework for updating and integrating covariate information into key parameters of metabolizable energy (ME) systems for dairy cows. The study addressed specifically the effects of genetic improvements and feed quality on key parameters in current ME systems. These are net and metabolizable energy for maintenance (NEM and MEM, respectively), efficiency of utilization of ME for milk production (kL) and growth (kG), and efficiency of utilization of body stores for milk production (kT). Data were collated from 38 studies, yielding 701 individual cow observations on milk energy, ME intake, and tissue gain and loss. A function based on a linear relationship between milk energy and ME intake and correcting for tissue energy lo...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The IPIRG-2 program was an international group program managed by the US NRC and funded by organizations from 15 nations. The emphasis of the IPIRG-2 program was the development of data to verify fracture analyses for cracked pipes and fittings subjected to dynamic/cyclic load histories typical of seismic events. The scope included: (1) the study of more complex dynamic/cyclic load histories, i.e., multi-frequency, variable amplitude, simulated seismic excitations, than those considered in the IPIRG-1 program, (2) crack sizes more typical of those considered in Leak-Before-Break (LBB) and in-service flaw evaluations, (3) through-wall-cracked pipe experiments which can be used to validate LBB-type fracture analyses, (4) cracks in and around pipe fittings, such as elbows, and (5) laboratory specimen and separate effect pipe experiments to provide better insight into the effects of dynamic and cyclic load histories. Also undertaken were an uncertainty analysis to ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Presently, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing Telecom markets in the world. The country's teledensity increased from a mere 0.4 in 1999 to 10 in 2005 following the liberalization of the Telecom sector in 2001. More than 25 million new digital mobile lines have been connected by June 2006. Large quantities of mobile phones and accessories including secondhand and remanufactured products are being imported to meet the pent-up demand. This improvement in mobile telecom services resulted in the preference of mobile telecom services to fixed lines. Consequently, the contribution of fixed lines decreased from about 95% in year 2000 to less than 10% in March 2005. This phenomenal progress in information technology has resulted in the generation of large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) in the country. Abandoned fixed line telephone sets estimated at 120,000 units are either disposed or stockpiled. Increasing quantities ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The need for noninvasive sensitive techniques for the diagnosis and follow-up of metabolic bone disease in dialysis patients has stimulated the author's interest in the efficacy of more detailed quantitative bone scintigraphy. Using hemodialysis to reduce elevated soft-tissue activity at scintigraphy, an attempt was made to assess the diagnostic sensitivity of quantitative bone scintigraphy as compared to qualitative bone scintigraphic, biochemical, radiographic and bone histologic studies. The second aim of these studies was to determine if one of the two major components of renal osteodystrophy is a major determinant for skeletal radiotracer uptake. The clinical observations on the efficacy and possible specificity of quantitative bone scintigraphy in the diagnosis and follow-up during treatment of renal osteodystrophy are presented briefly in this chapter. Thus, the use of scintigraphy for the routine detection and follow-up of renal osteodystrophy in dialysis patients may reduce ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Discussions were given on the current status of research systems and problems that occur in structuring the systems. The purpose is to improve efficiency and quality of the research flows, that is to better arrange the research infrastructures. Among the researches, the developmental researches of products and production techniques constitute the important factor of an integrated production system. Input information and output information must be determined in each developmental process, and the ways of internal processing must be arranged and structured. The basic proposition for structuring an aid system is to clarify what material development this system can bring about, what scenario can be drawn for the material development as its result, and what element technology is required for that scenario in what form and at what level. Discussions are required on the kinds of data base, the models of interface, and the scopes ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Since the late nineties, an energy control standardisation steering body was set up at the AFNOR, prompted by the French administration and ADEME which is chairing it. That body, which became a forum in 2006 brings together stakeholders in various areas concerned by that issue (industries, construction, transport, environment, services,...) as well as the representatives of main companies, professional organisations and standardisation operators acting in the area / of energy in France. Its purpose is to help exchange information and express needs in terms of standardisation in the area of energy and energy efficiency. On its initiative, the European standardisation committees CEN and CENELEC set up in 2002 an equivalent body responsible for the strategic coordination of their energy management programmes and entrusted the steering to our country (ADEME chairing, AFNOR secretariat). In order to better serve the interests of its members, the ...

Science.gov (United States)

Prepared to make housing project managers, maintenance engineering staff, and designers and architects of HUD - assisted and HUD - insured housing projects and mobile home parks aware of their responsibilities under the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, this handbook provides technical guidance for the reduction of gas leaks and the handling of gas leak incidents in residential areas. The hazards of natural gas, concern over gas safety in residential areas, applicable codes and standards, and sources of information and help are reviewed, along with maintenance and engineering considerations relating to gas pipe failures, the detection of gas leaks, appliance servicing, and pipe installation, repair, and replacement. Housing management considerations are also examined, with attention to recordkeeping and reporting, emergency contingency planning, tenant education, staff qualifications and training, and the development and use of a maintenance and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

First, attention is paid to the development and use of new construction techniques, including the use of new building materials, e.g. synthetic materials and the so-called steel frame method. Next, the reduction of the energy consumption during the service life of a house is discussed. The reduction can be realized by means of passive methods, e.g. improved windows, thermal insulation and design, or by means of active methods, e.g. electric load monitoring. The information in this article mainly concerns the housing construction in the USA and Canada. The purpose of this article to contribute to the discussion in the Netherlands on innovation in the building technology, e.g. formulated in the report `Bouwvisie 2010` (Vision on Buildings for the year 2010) of the Dutch Advisory Board Technology Policy for the Building Industry (ARTB, abbreviated in Dutch) and the building technology policy of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ). 4 figs., ...

Science.gov (United States)

Appendices to this summary consist of twelve individual status reports that will be available through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) in the United States and of course limited copies will be available through NATO. The twelve report titles which are appendices to the summary are: (A) Status Report on the Limestone/Sludge Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (B) Status Report on the Lime/Sludge Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (C) Status Report on the Double Alkali/Sludge Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (D) Status Report on the Sea Water Scrubbing Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (E) Status Report on the Limestone/Gypsum Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (F) Status Report on the Lime/Gypsum Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (G) Status Report on the Double Alkali/Gypsum Flue Gas Desulfurization Process; (H) Status Report on Flue Gas Desulfurization by Scrubbing with Dilute Sulfuric Acid; (I) Status Report on the Magnesium ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Development of renewable energy systems for remote communities is gaining interest among government, utilities, NGOs and the communities themselves as a means of improving lifestyles of community members and showcasing renewable energy systems. The Huu-ay-aht First Nation, whose traditional territory is located on the west side of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, is a community which has energy related problems and energy related opportunities. The objective of this study is to assess possible energy options for the Huu-ay-aht First Nation traditional territory. Current and future energy services within the territory were used as the starting point for developing energy system options. Extensive consultation with community members was instrumental in clearly defining the objectives of the study and understanding the territory's energy demand. The energy demand assessment included an estimation of the electric, heating and transportation loads in the community, ...

CERN Document Server

Mobile entities with wireless links are able to form a mobile ad-hoc network. Such an infrastructureless network does not have to be administrated. However, self-organizing principles have to be applied to deal with upcoming problems, e.g. information dissemination. These kinds of problems are not easy to tackle, requiring complex algorithms. Moreover, the usefulness of pure ad-hoc networks is arguably limited. Hence, enthusiasm for mobile ad-hoc networks, which could eliminate the need for any fixed infrastructure, has been damped. The goal is to overcome the limitations of pure ad-hoc networks by augmenting them with instant Internet access, e.g. via integration of UMTS respectively GSM links. However, this raises multiple questions at the technical as well as the organizational level. Motivated by characteristics of small-world networks that describe an efficient network even without central or organized design, this paper proposes to combine mobile ad-hoc ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, using the ASME PRA Standard, evaluated the PSA model of the Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP) and identified the items to be improved to enhance its quality. The new risk monitor PSA model for the KSNP of which quality was enhanced is called as PRiME-U3i. The evaluation results of human reliability analysis (HRA) of the post-accident human errors in the PSA model of the KSNP showed that 10 items among 19 items of supporting requirements for those in the ASME PRA Standard were identified as them to be improved. Thus, we newly carried out a HRA for post-accident human errors for the KSNP PSA model as the target of grading its quality above ASME PRA Standard Category I+. Following tasks were additionally major tasks performed in the HRA of post-accident human errors of PRiME-U3i compared with the previous PSA model of the KSNP: interviews with operators in the collection and ...

KoreaScience (Korea)

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Abstract We provide the first firm-level evidence of the impact of the trade in producer services (-offshoring-) on the labour market. Using a new data set from the UK that measures trade in services at the firm level, we find no evidence that importing intermediate services is associated with job losses or greater worker turnover. Using regression to control for observable differences between firms that import service inputs and those that do not, we show that firms that start importing intermediate services experience faster employment growth than equivalent firms that do not. This seems likely to be the result of positive demand shocks, which cause a simultaneous increase in employment, output, and use of imported service inputs.