Biomedical engineering frontier research and converging technologies

CERN Document Server

Jun, Ho-Wook; Shin, Jennifer; Lee, SangHoon

2016-01-01

This book provides readers with an integrative overview of the latest research and developments in the broad field of biomedical engineering. Each of the chapters offers a timely review written by leading biomedical engineers and aims at showing how the convergence of scientific and engineering fields with medicine has created a new basis for practically solving problems concerning human health, wellbeing and disease. While some of the latest frontiers of biomedicine, such as neuroscience and regenerative medicine, are becoming increasingly dependent on new ideas and tools from other disciplines, the paradigm shift caused by technological innovations in the fields of information science, nanotechnology, and robotics is opening new opportunities in healthcare, besides dramatically changing the ways we actually practice science. At the same time, a new generation of engineers, fluent in many different scientific “languages,” is creating entirely new fields of research that approach the “old” questions f...

Metabonomics and its role in amino acid nutrition research.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Qinghua; Yin, Yulong; Zhao, Feng; Kong, Xiangfeng; Wu, Guoyao; Ren, Pingping

2011-06-01

Metabonomics combines metabolic profiling and multivariate data analysis to facilitate the high-throughput analysis of metabolites in biological samples. This technique has been developed as a powerful analytical tool and hence has found successful widespread applications in many areas of bioscience. Metabonomics has also become an important part of systems biology. As a sensitive and powerful method, metabonomics can quantitatively measure subtle dynamic perturbations of metabolic pathways in organisms due to changes in pathophysiological, nutritional, and epigenetic states. Therefore, metabonomics holds great promise to enhance our understanding of the complex relationship between amino acids and metabolism to define the roles for dietary amino acids in maintaining health and the development of disease. Such a technique also aids in the studies of functions, metabolic regulation, safety, and individualized requirements of amino acids. Here, we highlight the common workflow of metabonomics and some of the applications to amino acid nutrition research to illustrate the great potential of this exciting new frontier in bioscience.

Frontier Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Assaf, A. George; Josiassen, Alexander

2016-01-01

This article presents a comprehensive review of frontier studies in the tourism literature. We discuss the main advantages and disadvantages of the various frontier approaches, in particular, the nonparametric and parametric frontier approaches. The study further differentiates between micro...

Frontier research at ANSTO with neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gadd, G.E.

1999-01-01

In the last decade there has been considerable interest in the new form of carbon called fullerenes. Instead of hexagonal rings of carbon atoms arranged in planar sheets in graphite or a 3-D tetrahedral structure in diamond, this new form of carbon consists of closed cages of carbon atoms. The fullerene which has gained the most notoriety has been C 60, 'buckminsterfullerene' or 'buckyballs'. This has the geometry of a soccer ball where the carbon atoms correspond to the vertices of the seams. As well as these cages, long hollow tubes of carbon have also been formed called carbon nanotubes. These new carbon materials are poised to create new technologies in the fields of new materials, superconductors, electronic components, medical drugs, radioisotopes and radiotracers. At ANSTO the strategy of combining frontier research with the use of neutrons has been taken, to try and produce a useful end product related to our core activities. The research has focussed on trying to trap atoms (molecules) inside the centre of fullerene cages and in particular C 60 or in the solid fullerene lattice in the spaces between the closely packed cages. Neutrons from our research nuclear reactor serve a two-fold purpose. Neutron diffraction has been used to elucidate the crystal structure of the new materials followed by neutron irradiation to activate the trapped species for possible uses in radiopharmaceutical and industrial radiotracer applications. (author)

A preliminary assessment of the potential for 'team science' in DOE Energy Innovation Hubs and Energy Frontier Research Centers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boardman, Craig; Ponomariov, Branco

2011-01-01

President Obama has called for the development of new energy technologies to address our national energy needs and restore US economic competitiveness. In response, the Department of Energy has established new R and D modalities for energy research and development designed to facilitate collaboration across disciplinary, institutional, and sectoral boundaries. In this research note, we provide a preliminary assessment of the potential for essential mechanisms for coordinated problem solving among diverse actors within two new modalities at the DOE: Energy Innovation Hubs and Energy Frontier Research Centers. - Highlights: → Energy Frontier Research Centers may lack the basic mechanisms for coordinating diverse actors. → Divergent goals across diverse actors may hinder coordination in Energy Innovation Hubs. → The implementation of these and similar energy policies require further investigation.

Frontier of plasma physics. 'Research network on non-equilibrium and extreme state plasmas'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Sanae-I.; Fujisawa, Akihide; Kodama, Ryosuke; Sato, Motoyasu; Tanaka, Kazuo A.; Hatakeyama, Rikizo; Itoh, Kimitaka

2011-01-01

Plasma physics and fusion science have been applied to a wide variety of plasmas such as nuclear fusion plasmas, high-energy-density plasmas, processing plasmas and nanobio- plasmas. They are pioneering science and technology frontiers such as new energy sources and new functional materials. A large project 'research network on non-equilibrium and extreme state plasmas' is being proposed to reassess individual plasma researches from a common view of the non-equilibrium extreme plasma and to promote collaboration among plasma researchers all over the country. In the present review, recent collaborative works related to this project are being introduced. (T.I.)

NCI Releases Video: Proteogenomics Research - On the Frontier of Precision Medicine | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Science.gov (United States)

The Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, announces the release of an educational video titled “Proteogenomics Research: On the Frontier of Precision Medicine."  Launched at the HUPO2017 Global Leadership Gala Dinner, catalyzed in part by the Cancer Moonshot initiative and featuring as keynote speaker the 47th Vice President of the United States of America Joseph R.

Impossible Frontiers

OpenAIRE

Brennan, Thomas J.; Lo, Andrew W.

2009-01-01

A key result of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is that the market portfolio---the portfolio of all assets in which each asset's weight is proportional to its total market capitalization---lies on the mean-variance efficient frontier, the set of portfolios having mean-variance characteristics that cannot be improved upon. Therefore, the CAPM cannot be consistent with efficient frontiers for which every frontier portfolio has at least one negative weight or short position. We call such ...

Current frontiers and future directions of telecoupling research

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, J.

2016-12-01

The world has been increasingly interconnected over long distances though processes such as international trade, migration, telecommunication, and disease spread. However, previous studies often focused on socioeconomic or environmental issues of distant processes. While these studies have generated useful information for individual disciplines, integrating socioeconomic and environmental information is essential for holistic understanding of complex global challenges and unbiased decision making to address the challenges. To advance integrated research, the framework of telecoupling (socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances) has been developed to explicitly address both socioeconomic and environmental issues simultaneously. Although the framework is relatively new, it has already been applied to tackle a variety of globally important issues, such as food security, water resources, energy sustainability, land use, international trade (e.g., food, forest products, energy, wildlife, industrial products), species invasion, investment, ecosystem services, conservation, information dissemination, and tourism. These applications have identified many important research gaps (e.g. spillover systems) and hidden linkages (e.g. feedbacks) among distant areas of the world with profound implications for sustainable development, ecosystem health, and human well-being. While working with telecoupling presents more challenges than focusing only on disciplinary issues, support from funding agencies has helped accelerate research on telecoupling and more efforts are being aimed at framework quantification and operationalization. The presenter will provide an overview of the current frontiers, discuss future research directions, and highlight emerging opportunities and challenges in telecoupling research and governance.

Energy Frontier Research Centers: Impact Report, January 2017

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2017-01-31

Since its inception in 2009, the U. S. Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program has become an important research modality in the Department’s portfolio, enabling high impact research that addresses key scientific challenges for energy technologies. Funded by the Office of Science’s Basic Energy Sciences program, the EFRCs are located across the United States and are led by universities, national laboratories, and private research institutions. These multi-investigator, multidisciplinary centers bring together world-class teams of researchers, often from multiple institutions, to tackle the toughest scientific challenges preventing advances in energy technologies. The EFRCs’ fundamental scientific advances are having a significant impact that is being translated to industry. In 2009 five-year awards were made to 46 EFRCs, including 16 that were fully funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). An open recompetition of the program in 2014 resulted in fouryear awards to 32 centers, 22 of which are renewals of existing EFRCs and 10 of which are new EFRCs. In 2016, DOE added four new centers to accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to support the Department’s environmental management and nuclear cleanup mission, bringing the total number of active EFRCs to 36. The impact reports in this document describe some of the many scientific accomplishments and greater impacts of the class of 2009 – 2018 EFRCs and early outcomes from a few of the class of 2014 – 2018 EFRCs.

Frontier constellations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eilenberg, Michael

2014-01-01

expansion, population resettlement and securitization, and the confluence of these dynamic processes creates special frontier constellations. Through the case of the Indonesian-Malaysian borderlands, I explore how processes of frontier colonization through agricultural expansion have been a recurrent...

Frontier spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Mattias Borg; Lund, Christian

2018-01-01

The global expansion of markets produces frontiers of contestation over the definition and control of resources. In a frontier context, new patterns of resource exploration, extraction, and commodification create new territories. A recently published collection (Rasmussen and Lund 2018) explores...

A preliminary assessment of the potential for 'team science' in DOE Energy Innovation Hubs and Energy Frontier Research Centers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boardman, Craig, E-mail: boardman.10@osu.edu [John Glenn School of Public Affairs, Ohio State University (United States); Ponomariov, Branco, E-mail: branco.ponomariov@utsa.edu [Department of Public Administration, University of Texas at San Antonio (United States)

2011-06-15

President Obama has called for the development of new energy technologies to address our national energy needs and restore US economic competitiveness. In response, the Department of Energy has established new R and D modalities for energy research and development designed to facilitate collaboration across disciplinary, institutional, and sectoral boundaries. In this research note, we provide a preliminary assessment of the potential for essential mechanisms for coordinated problem solving among diverse actors within two new modalities at the DOE: Energy Innovation Hubs and Energy Frontier Research Centers. - Highlights: > Energy Frontier Research Centers may lack the basic mechanisms for coordinating diverse actors. > Divergent goals across diverse actors may hinder coordination in Energy Innovation Hubs. > The implementation of these and similar energy policies require further investigation.

Frontiers in Time Series and Financial Econometrics

OpenAIRE

Ling, S.; McAleer, M.J.; Tong, H.

2015-01-01

__Abstract__ Two of the fastest growing frontiers in econometrics and quantitative finance are time series and financial econometrics. Significant theoretical contributions to financial econometrics have been made by experts in statistics, econometrics, mathematics, and time series analysis. The purpose of this special issue of the journal on “Frontiers in Time Series and Financial Econometrics” is to highlight several areas of research by leading academics in which novel methods have contrib...

Particle Physics at the Cosmic, Intensity, and Energy Frontiers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Essig, Rouven

2018-04-06

Major efforts at the Intensity, Cosmic, and Energy frontiers of particle physics are rapidly furthering our understanding of the fundamental constituents of Nature and their interactions. The overall objectives of this research project are (1) to interpret and develop the theoretical implications of the data collected at these frontiers and (2) to provide the theoretical motivation, basis, and ideas for new experiments and for new analyses of experimental data. Within the Intensity Frontier, an experimental search for a new force mediated by a GeV-scale gauge boson will be carried out with the $A'$ Experiment (APEX) and the Heavy Photon Search (HPS), both at Jefferson Laboratory. Within the Cosmic Frontier, contributions are planned to the search for dark matter particles with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other instruments. A detailed exploration will also be performed of new direct detection strategies for dark matter particles with sub-GeV masses to facilitate the development of new experiments. In addition, the theoretical implications of existing and future dark matter-related anomalies will be examined. Within the Energy Frontier, the implications of the data from the Large Hadron Collider will be investigated. Novel search strategies will be developed to aid the search for new phenomena not described by the Standard Model of particle physics. By combining insights from all three particle physics frontiers, this research aims to increase our understanding of fundamental particle physics.

The Canadian experience in frontier environmental protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, G.H.

1991-01-01

Early Canadian frontier exploration (from 1955 onshore and from 1966 for offshore drilling) caused insignificant public concern. The 1967-1968 Torrey Canyon Tanker and Santa Barbara disasters roused public opinion and governments. In Canada, 1969-1970 Arctic gas blowouts, a tanker disaster, and damage to the 'Manhattan' exacerbated concerns and resulted in new environmental regulatory constraints. From 1970, the Arctic Petroleum Operations Association learned to operate safely with environmental responsibility. It studied physical environment for design criteria, and the biological and human environment to ameliorate impact. APOA's research projects covered sea-ice, permafrost, sea-bottom, oil-spills, bird and mammal migration, fish habitat, food chains, oceanography, meteorology, hunters'/trappers' harvests, etc. In 1971 Eastcoast Petroleum Operators' Association and Alaska Oil and Gas Association followed APOA's cooperative research model. EPOA stressed icebergs and fisheries. Certain research was handled by the Canadian Offshore Oil Spill Research Association. By the mid-1980s these associations had undertaken $70,000,000 of environmental oriented research, with equivalent additional work by member companies on specific needs and similar sums by Federal agencies often working with industry on complementary research. The frontier associations then merged with the Canadian Petroleum Association, already active environmentally in western Canada. Working with government and informing environmental interest groups, the public, natives, and local groups, most Canadian frontier petroleum operations proceeded with minimal delay and environmental disturbance

Frontiers in Superconducting Materials

CERN Document Server

Narlikar, Anant V

2005-01-01

Frontiers in Superconducting Materials gives a state-of-the-art report of the most important topics of the current research in superconductive materials and related phenomena. It comprises 30 chapters written by renowned international experts in the field. It is of central interest to researchers and specialists in Physics and Materials Science, both in academic and industrial research, as well as advanced students. It also addresses electronic and electrical engineers. Even non-specialists interested in superconductivity might find some useful answers.

Reconfiguring frontier spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Mattias Borg; Lund, Christian

2018-01-01

The expansion of capitalism produces contests over the definition and control of resources. On a global scale, new patterns of resource exploration, extraction, and commodification create new territories. This takes place within a dynamic of frontiers and territorialization. Frontier dynamics...

Modeling stochastic frontier based on vine copulas

Science.gov (United States)

Constantino, Michel; Candido, Osvaldo; Tabak, Benjamin M.; da Costa, Reginaldo Brito

2017-11-01

This article models a production function and analyzes the technical efficiency of listed companies in the United States, Germany and England between 2005 and 2012 based on the vine copula approach. Traditional estimates of the stochastic frontier assume that data is multivariate normally distributed and there is no source of asymmetry. The proposed method based on vine copulas allow us to explore different types of asymmetry and multivariate distribution. Using data on product, capital and labor, we measure the relative efficiency of the vine production function and estimate the coefficient used in the stochastic frontier literature for comparison purposes. This production vine copula predicts the value added by firms with given capital and labor in a probabilistic way. It thereby stands in sharp contrast to the production function, where the output of firms is completely deterministic. The results show that, on average, S&P500 companies are more efficient than companies listed in England and Germany, which presented similar average efficiency coefficients. For comparative purposes, the traditional stochastic frontier was estimated and the results showed discrepancies between the coefficients obtained by the application of the two methods, traditional and frontier-vine, opening new paths of non-linear research.

A Study on Neutrosophic Frontier and Neutrosophic Semi-frontier in Neutrosophic Topological Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Iswarya

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper neutrosophic frontier and neutrosophic semi-frontier in neutrosophic topology are introduced and several of their properties, characterizations and examples are established.

Frontiers in transport phenomena research and education: Energy systems, biological systems, security, information technology and nanotechnology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergman, T.L.; Faghri, A. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3139 (United States); Viskanta, R. [School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2088 (United States)

2008-09-15

A US National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop entitled ''Frontiers in Transport Phenomena Research and Education: Energy Systems, Biological Systems, Security, Information Technology, and Nanotechnology'' was held in May of 2007 at the University of Connecticut. The workshop provided a venue for researchers, educators and policy-makers to identify frontier challenges and associated opportunities in heat and mass transfer. Approximately 300 invited participants from academia, business and government from the US and abroad attended. Based upon the final recommendations on the topical matter of the workshop, several trends become apparent. A strong interest in sustainable energy is evident. A continued need to understand the coupling between broad length (and time) scales persists, but the emerging need to better understand transport phenomena at the macro/mega scale has evolved. The need to develop new metrology techniques to collect and archive reliable property data persists. Societal sustainability received major attention in two of the reports. Matters involving innovation, entrepreneurship, and globalization of the engineering profession have emerged, and the responsibility to improve the technical literacy of the public-at-large is discussed. Integration of research thrusts and education activities is highlighted throughout. Specific recommendations, made by the panelists with input from the international heat transfer community and directed to the National Science Foundation, are included in several reports. (author)

New frontiers of multidisciplinary research in STEAM-H (science, technology, engineering, agriculture, mathematics, and health)

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

This highly multidisciplinary volume contains contributions from leading researchers in STEAM-H disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics and Health). The volume explores new frontiers in multidisciplinary research, including: the mathematics of cardiac arrhythmia; brain research on working memory; penalized ordinal regression to classify melanoma skin samples; forecasting of time series data; dynamics of niche models; analysis of chemical moieties as anticancer agents; study of gene locus control regions; qualitative mathematical modelling; convex quadrics and group circle systems; remanufacturing planning and control; complexity reduction of functional differential equations; computation of viscous interfacial motion; and differentiation in human pluripotent stem cells. An extension of a seminar series at Virginia State University, the collection is intended to foster student interest and participation in interdisciplinary research, and to stimulate new research. The content wi...

Frontiers in Magnetic Materials

CERN Document Server

Narlikar, Anant V

2005-01-01

Frontiers in Magnetic Materials focuses on the current achievements and state-of-the-art advancements in magnetic materials. Several lines of development- High-Tc Superconductivity, Nanotechnology and refined experimental techniques among them – raised knowledge and interest in magnetic materials remarkably. The book comprises 24 chapters on the most relevant topics written by renowned international experts in the field. It is of central interest to researchers and specialists in Physics and Materials Science, both in academic and industrial research, as well as advanced students.

Bioactive glasses: Frontiers and challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larry L. Hench

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Bioactive glasses were discovered in 1969 and provided for the first time an alternative to nearly inert implant materials. Bioglass formed a rapid, strong and stable bond with host tissues. This article examines the frontiers of research crossed to achieve clinical use of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics. In the 1980’s it was discovered that bioactive glasses could be used in particulate form to stimulate osteogenesis, which thereby led to the concept of regeneration of tissues. Later, it was discovered that the dissolution ions from the glasses behaved like growth factors, providing signals to the cells. This article summarizes the frontiers of knowledge crossed during four eras of development of bioactive glasses that have led from concept of bioactivity to widespread clinical and commercial use, with emphasis on the first composition, 45S5 Bioglass®. The four eras are: a discovery; b clinical application; c tissue regeneration; and d innovation. Questions still to be answered for the fourth era are included to stimulate innovation in the field and exploration of new frontiers that can be the basis for a general theory of bioactive stimulation of regeneration of tissues and application to numerous clinical needs.

Nanofluid two-phase flow and thermal physics: a new research frontier of nanotechnology and its challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Lixin; Bandarra Filho, Enio P; Thome, John R

2008-07-01

Nanofluids are a new class of fluids engineered by dispersing nanometer-size solid particles in base fluids. As a new research frontier, nanofluid two-phase flow and thermal physics have the potential to improve heat transfer and energy efficiency in thermal management systems for many applications, such as microelectronics, power electronics, transportation, nuclear engineering, heat pipes, refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump systems. So far, the study of nanofluid two-phase flow and thermal physics is still in its infancy. This field of research provides many opportunities to study new frontiers but also poses great challenges. To summarize the current status of research in this newly developing interdisciplinary field and to identify the future research needs as well, this paper focuses on presenting a comprehensive review of nucleate pool boiling, flow boiling, critical heat flux, condensation and two-phase flow of nanofluids. Even for the limited studies done so far, there are some controversies. Conclusions and contradictions on the available nanofluid studies on physical properties, two-phase flow, heat transfer and critical heat flux (CHF) are presented. Based on a comprehensive analysis, it has been realized that the physical properties of nanofluids such as surface tension, liquid thermal conductivity, viscosity and density have significant effects on the nanofluid two-phase flow and heat transfer characteristics but the lack of the accurate knowledge of these physical properties has greatly limited the study in this interdisciplinary field. Therefore, effort should be made to contribute to the physical property database of nanofluids as a first priority. Secondly, in particular, research on nanofluid two-phase flow and heat transfer in microchannels should be emphasized in the future.

The Relative Efficiencies of Research Universities of Science and Technology in China: Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Chuanyi, Wang; Xiaohong, Lv; Shikui, Zhao

2016-01-01

This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to explore the relative efficiency of China's research universities of science and technology. According to the finding, when talent training is the only output, the efficiency of research universities of science and technology is far lower than that of…

The Hubble Frontier Fields: Engaging Multiple Audiences in Exploring the Cosmic Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Brandon L.; Smith, Denise A.; Summers, Frank; Ryer, Holly; Slivinski, Carolyn; Lotz, Jennifer M.

2017-06-01

The Hubble Frontier Fields is a multi-cycle program of six deep-field observations of strong-lensing galaxy clusters taken in parallel with six deep “blank fields.” The three-year long collaborative program began in late 2013 and is led by observations from NASA’s Great Observatories. The observations, now complete, allow astronomers to look deeper into the universe than ever before, and potentially uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the telescopes can typically observe. The Frontier Fields science program is ideal for informing audiences about scientific advances and topics in STEM. The study of galaxy properties, statistics, optics, and Einstein’s theory of general relativity naturally leverages off of the science returns of the Frontier Fields program. As a result, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach (OPO) has engaged multiple audiences over the past three years to follow the progress of the Frontier Fields.For over two decades, the STScI outreach program has sought to bring the wonders of the universe to the public and engage audiences in the adventure of scientific discovery. In addition, we are leveraging the reach of the new NASA’s Universe of Learning education program to bring the science of the Frontier Fields to informal education audiences. The main underpinnings of the STScI outreach program and the Universe of Learning education program are scientist-educator development teams, partnerships, and an embedded program evaluation component. OPO is leveraging the infrastructure of these education and outreach programs to bring the Frontier Fields science program to the education community and the public in a cost-effective way.This talk will feature highlights over the past three years of the program. We will highlight OPO’s strategies and infrastructure that allows for the quick delivery of groundbreaking science to the education community and public.

Where is the Efficient Frontier

OpenAIRE

Jing Chen

2010-01-01

Tremendous effort has been spent on the construction of reliable efficient frontiers. However, mean-variance efficient portfolios constructed using sample means and covariance often perform poorly out of sample. We prove that, the capital market line is the efficient frontier for the risky assets in a financial market with liquid fixed income trading. This unified understanding of riskless asset as the boundary of risky assets relieves the burden of constructing efficient frontiers in asset a...

AHP 21: Review: China's Last Imperial Frontier and The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Entenmann

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Until recently, historians have not paid much attention to Qing China's Tibetan frontier, but two excellent new studies address this neglect. One is Yingcong Dai's The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing, which examines the Qing conquest of the Khams region up to the end of the eighteenth century and its effect on Sichuan. The other is China's Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan's Tibetan Borderlands by Xiuyu Wang, in which he describes Qing efforts to impose direct administration on the Khams region in the last years of the dynasty. ...

Network frontier as a metaphor and myth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N V Plotichkina

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article considers spatial metaphors of the Internet and the possibility to extrapolate the frontier thesis of F. Turner on the electronic space. The authors believe that information and communication technologies and the digital world have become new spaces for the expansion of states or individuals. That is why there are ongoing scientific debates on the limits and potential of western and electronic frontiers’ metaphors for analytical description of the digital space. The metaphor of the Internet as a western frontier is quite controversial; many authors prefer the electronic frontier analogy as more heuristic and valid for constructing metaphors of the digital reality. The network frontier is defined as a dynamic, elastic and permeable border of social and cultural practices of the network society. The authors estimate the heuristic potential of the concept ‘network frontier’ developed on the basis of integration of the frontier theory and the concept ‘network society’, taking into account the effects of globalization for the study of elastic, permeable and movable border of the network landscape. In the digital world, the spatiality transforms, the geography of the Internet network determines the metamorphosis of the frontier as a contact zone between online and offline spaces, which is dynamic, innovative, encourages mobility, and its permeability depends on the digital competence of citizens. The authors explain the mythology of western and electronic frontier; name the main network frontier myths related to the rhetoric of western frontier myth; describe the main components of the western frontier myth associated with the idea of American exceptionalism; and conclude with the identification of nowadays myths about frontier-men and the online space they master.

Interpreting New Data from the High Energy Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thaler, Jesse [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

2016-09-26

This is the final technical report for DOE grant DE-SC0006389, "Interpreting New Data from the High Energy Frontier", describing research accomplishments by the PI in the field of theoretical high energy physics.

Fitting of full Cobb-Douglas and full VRTS cost frontiers by solving goal programming problem

Science.gov (United States)

Venkateswarlu, B.; Mahaboob, B.; Subbarami Reddy, C.; Madhusudhana Rao, B.

2017-11-01

The present research article first defines two popular production functions viz, Cobb-Douglas and VRTS production frontiers and their dual cost functions and then derives their cost limited maximal outputs. This paper tells us that the cost limited maximal output is cost efficient. Here the one side goal programming problem is proposed by which the full Cobb-Douglas cost frontier, full VRTS frontier can be fitted. This paper includes the framing of goal programming by which stochastic cost frontier and stochastic VRTS frontiers are fitted. Hasan et al. [1] used a parameter approach Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) to examine the technical efficiency of the Malaysian domestic banks listed in the Kuala Lumpur stock Exchange (KLSE) market over the period 2005-2010. AshkanHassani [2] exposed Cobb-Douglas Production Functions application in construction schedule crashing and project risk analysis related to the duration of construction projects. Nan Jiang [3] applied Stochastic Frontier analysis to a panel of New Zealand dairy forms in 1998/99-2006/2007.

Field report: Research along the Yarlung Suture Zone in Southern Tibet, a persistent geological frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew K. Laskowski

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The Yarlung Suture Zone in Southern Tibet marks the boundary between India and Asia–formerly separated by an ocean basin–and is a critical record of the tectonic processes that created the Tibetan Plateau. The Yarlung Suture Zone is also a frontier research area, as difficulty of access has limited research activity, providing ample opportunities for new discoveries. This paper documents field research conducted by the authors along the Yarlung suture zone in eastern Xigaze (Shigatse, Rikaze County, ∼250 km west of the city of Lhasa, in July 2017. The goal of this research was to map the Suture Zone structure in detail, and more specifically to understand the branching relationships between two major fault systems—the Great Counter Thrust and Gangdese Thrust. A summary of early geological exploration is included to provide context for this research.

The Frontier Framework (and its eight Frontier Archetypes): A new conceptual approach to representing staff and patient well-being in health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Baines, Darrin L

2018-05-04

This paper proposes a new conceptual framework for jointly analysing the production of staff and patient welfare in health systems. Research to date has identified a direct link between staff and patient well-being. However, until now, no one has produced a unified framework for analysing them concurrently. In response, this paper introduces the "Frontier Framework". The new conceptual framework is applicable to all health systems regardless of their structure or financing. To demonstrate the benefits of its use, an empirical example of the Frontier Framework is constructed using data from the UK's National Health Service. This paper also introduces eight "Frontier Archetypes", which represent common patterns of welfare generation observable in health organisations involved in programmes of change. These archetypes may be used in planning, monitoring or creating narratives about organisational journeys. Copyright © 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

New frontiers for tomorrow's world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kassler, P.

1994-01-01

The conference paper deals with new frontiers and barricades in the global economic development and their influence on fuel consumption and energy source development. Topics discussed are incremental energy supply - new frontiers, world car population - new frontiers, OPEC crude production capacity vs call on OPEC, incremental world oil demand by region 1992-2000, oil resource cost curve, progress in seismic 1983-1991, Troll picture, cost reduction in renewables, sustained growth scenario, nuclear electricity capacity - France, OECD road transport fuels - barricades, and energy taxation. 18 figs

Report in the Energy and Intensity Frontiers, and Theoretical at Northwestern University

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Velasco, Mayda [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Schmitt, Michael [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); deGouvea, Andre [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Low, Ian [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Petriello, Frank [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Schellman, Heidi [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

2016-03-31

The Northwestern (NU) Particle Physics (PP) group involved in this report is active on all the following priority areas: Energy and Intensity Frontiers. The group is lead by 2 full profs. in experimental physics (Schmitt and Velasco), 3 full profs. in theoretical physics (de Gouvea, Low and Petriello), and Heidi Schellman who is now at Oregon State. Low and Petriello hold joint appointments with the HEP Division at Argonne National Laboratory. The theoretical PP research focuses on different aspects of PP phenomenology. de Gouvea dedicates a large fraction of his research efforts to understanding the origin of neutrino masses, neutrino properties and uncovering other new phenomena, and investigating connections between neutrino physics and other aspects of PP. Low works on Higgs physics as well as new theories beyond the Standard Model. Petriello pursues a research program in precision QCD and its associated collider phenomenology. The main goal of this effort is to improve the Standard Model predictions for important LHC observables in order to enable discoveries of new physics. In recent years, the emphasis on experimental PP at NU has been in collider physics. NU expands its efforts in new directions in both the Intensity and the Cosmic Frontiers (not discussed in this report). In the Intensity Frontier, Schmitt has started a new effort on Mu2e. He was accepted as a collaborator in April 2015 and is identified with important projects. In the Energy Frontier, Hahn, Schmitt and Velasco continue to have a significant impact and expanded their CMS program to include R&D for the real-time L1 tracking trigger and the high granularity calorimeter needed for the high-luminosity LHC. Hahn is supported by an independent DOE Career Award and his work will not be discussed in this document. The NU analysis effort includes searches for rare and forbidden decays of the Higgs bosons, Z boson, top quark, dark matter and other physics beyond the standard model topics. Four

Ghana's cocoa frontier in transition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Michael Helt; Agergaard, Jytte

2015-01-01

Since the first commercial planting of cocoa in Ghana more than a century ago, the production of cocoa has been a key factor in the redistribution of migrants and has played a pivotal role in the development of both sending and receiving communities. This process has been acknowledged...... Region, this article aims to examine how immigration and frontier dynamics in the Western region are contributing to livelihood transitions and small town development, and how this process is gradually becoming delinked from the production of cocoa. The article focuses on how migration dynamics interlink...... in the literature for decades. However, how migration flows have changed in response to changing livelihoods dynamics of the frontier and how this has impacted on the development of the frontier has only attracted limited attention. Based on a study of immigration to Ghana's current cocoa frontier in the Western...

Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 8: Instrumentation Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Demarteau, M; Lipton, R; Nicholson, H; Shipsey, I; Akerib, D; Albayrak-Yetkin, A; Alexander, J; Anderson, J; Artuso, M; Asner, D; Ball, R; Battaglia, M; Bebek, C; Beene, J; Benhammou, Y; Bentefour, E; Bergevin, M; Bernstein, A; Bilki, B; Blucher, E; Bolla, G; Bortoletto, D; Bowden, N; Brooijmans, G; Byrum, K; Cabrera, B; Cancelo, G; Carlstrom, J; Casey, B; Chang, C; Chapman, J; Chen, CH; Childres, I; Christian, D; Convery, M; Corso, WCJ; Cumalat, J; Cushman, P; Via, CD; Dazeley, S; Debbins, P; Deptuch, G; Dhawan, S; Benedetto, VD; DiGiovene, B; Djurcic, Z; Dye, S; Elagin, A; Estrada, J; Evans, H; Etzion, E; Fast, J; Ferretti, C; Fisher, P; Fleming, B; Francis, K; Friedman, P; Frisch, H; Garcia-Sciveres, M; Gatto, C; Geronim, G; Gilchriese, G; Golwala, S; Grant, C; Grillo, A; Grünendahl, E; Gorham, P; Guan, L; Gutierrez, G; Haber, C; Hall, J; Haller, G; Hast, C; Heintz, U; Hemmick, T; Hitlin, DG; Hogan, C; Hohlmann, M; Hoppe, E; Hsu, L; Huffer, M; Irwin, K; Izraelevitch, F; Jennings, G; Johnson, M; Jung, A; Kagan, H; Kenney, C; Kettell, S; Khanna, R; Khristenko, V; Krennrich, F; Kuehn, K; Kutschke, R; Learned, J; Lee, AT; Levin, D; Liu, T; Liu, ATK; Lissauer, D; Love, J; Lynn, D; MacFarlane, D; Magill, S; Majewski, S; Mans, J; Maricic, J; Marleau, P; Mazzacane, A; McKinsey, D; Mehl, J; Mestvirisvilli, A; Meyer, S; Mokhov, N; Moshe, M; Mukherjee, A; Murat, P; Nahn, S; Narain, M; Nadel-Turonski, P; Newcomer, M; Nishimura, K; Nygren, D; Oberla, E; Onel, Y; Oreglia, M; Orrell, J; Paley, J; Para, A; Parker, S; Polychronakos, V; Pordes, S; Privitera, P; Prosser, A; Pyle, M; Raaf, J; Ramberg, E; Rameika, R; Rebel, B; Repond, J; Reyna, D; Ristori, L; Rivera, R; Ronzhin, A; Rusack, R; Russ, J; Ryd, A; Sadrozinski, H; Sahoo, H; Sanchez, MC; Sanzeni, C; Schnetzer, S; Seidel, S; Seiden, A; Schmidt, I; Shenai, A; Shutt, T; Silver, Y; Smith, W; Snowden-Ifft, D; Sonnenschein, A; Southwick, D; Spiegel, L; Stanitzki, M; Striganov, S; Su, D; Sumner, R; Svoboda, R; Sweany, M; Talaga, R; Tayloe, R; Tentindo, S; Terentiev, N; Thom-Levy, J; Thorn, C; Tiffenberg, J; Trischuk, W; Tschirhart, R; Turner, M; Underwood, D; Uplegger, L; Urheim, J; Vagins, M; Bibber, KV; Varner, G; Varner, R; Va' vra, J; Lippe, HVD; Wagner, R; Wagner, S; Weaverdyck, C; Wenzel, H; Weinstein, A; Wetstein, M; White, A; Wigman, R; Wilson, P; Winn, D; Winter, P; Woody, C; Xia, L; Xie, JQ; Ye, Z; Yeh, MF; Yetkin, T; Yoo, JH; Yu, J; Yu, JM; Zeller, S; Zhang, JL; Zhu, JJ; Zhou, B; Zhu, RY; Zitzer, B

2014-01-23

These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 8, on the Instrumentation Frontier, discusses the instrumentation needs of future experiments in the Energy, Intensity, and Cosmic Frontiers, promising new technologies for particle physics research, and issues of gathering resources for long-term research in this area.

Frontier Fields: Engaging Educators, the Youth, and the Public in Exploring the Cosmic Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Brandon L.; Eisenhamer, Bonnie; Smith, Denise A.; Summers, Frank; Darnell, John A.; Ryer, Holly

2015-01-01

The Frontier Fields is a multi-cycle program of six deep-field observations of strong-lensing galaxy clusters that will be taken in parallel with six deep 'blank fields.' The three-year long collaborative program is led by observations from NASA's Great Observatories. The observations allow astronomers to look deeper into the universe than ever before, and potentially uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the telescopes can typically observe. The Frontier Fields science program is ideal for informing audiences about scientific advances and topics in STEM. The study of galaxy properties, statistics, optics, and Einstein's theory of general relativity naturally leverages off of the science returns of the Frontier Fields program. As a result, the Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach (OPO) has initiated an education and public outreach (EPO) project to follow the progress of the Frontier Fields.For over two decades, the Hubble EPO program has sought to bring the wonders of the universe to the education community, the youth, and the public, and engage audiences in the adventure of scientific discovery. Program components include standards-based curriculum-support materials, exhibits and exhibit components, professional development workshops, and direct interactions with scientists. We are also leveraging our new social media strategy to bring the science program to the public in the form of an ongoing blog. The main underpinnings of the program's infrastructure are scientist-educator development teams, partnerships, and an embedded program evaluation component. OPO is leveraging this existing infrastructure to bring the Frontier Fields science program to the education community and the public in a cost-effective way.The Frontier Fields program has just completed its first year. This talk will feature the goals and current status of the Frontier Fields EPO program. We will highlight OPO's strategies and infrastructure

Nutrition Frontiers E-Newsletter | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

The Nutritional Science Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention at NCI issues a quarterly electronic newsletter, Nutrition Frontiers, that highlights emerging evidence linking diet to cancer prevention and showcases recent findings about who will likely benefit most from dietary change. |

The Climate Adaptation Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Preston, Benjamin L [ORNL

2013-01-01

Climate adaptation has emerged as a mainstream risk management strategy for assisting in maintaining socio-ecological systems within the boundaries of a safe operating space. Yet, there are limits to the ability of systems to adapt. Here, we introduce the concept of an adaptation frontier , which is defined as a socio-ecological system s transitional adaptive operating space between safe and unsafe domains. A number of driving forces are responsible for determining the sustainability of systems on the frontier. These include path dependence, adaptation/development deficits, values conflicts and discounting of future loss and damage. The cumulative implications of these driving forces are highly uncertain. Nevertheless, the fact that a broad range of systems already persist at the edge of their frontiers suggests a high likelihood that some limits will eventually be exceeded. The resulting system transformation is likely to manifest as anticipatory modification of management objectives or loss and damage. These outcomes vary significantly with respect to their ethical implications. Successful navigation of the adaptation frontier will necessitate new paradigms of risk governance to elicit knowledge that encourages reflexive reevaluation of societal values that enable or constrain sustainability.

Frontier lands: Oil and gas statistical overview, 1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

Canada's frontier lands consist of offshore and onshore areas outside the provinces which fall under federal authority. These lands cover some 10.2 million km 2 and include the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and areas off the east and west coasts and in the far north. A statistical summary is presented of oil and gas activities in these frontier lands for 1992. Information provided includes activity status and wells drilled on frontier lands, a resource inventory, oil and gas production, land holdings and status, licenses concluded, petroleum-related employment on frontier lands, and petroleum expenditures on frontier lands. Highlights of activities include the first commercial production of crude oil from the Panuke oil field on the Scotian Shelf; a continued decrease in exploration activity on the frontier lands; the introduction of legislation to eliminate restrictions on foreign ownership of production licences on frontier lands; and the resolution to the Canada-France maritime boundary dispute by the International Court of Arbitration. 9 figs., 10 tabs

Parasite-altered feeding behavior in insects: integrating functional and mechanistic research frontiers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardo, Melissa A; Singer, Michael S

2017-08-15

Research on parasite-altered feeding behavior in insects is contributing to an emerging literature that considers possible adaptive consequences of altered feeding behavior for the host or the parasite. Several recent ecoimmunological studies show that insects can adaptively alter their foraging behavior in response to parasitism. Another body of recent work shows that infection by parasites can change the behavior of insect hosts to benefit the parasite; manipulations of host feeding behavior may be part of this phenomenon. Here, we address both the functional and the underlying physiological frontiers of parasite-altered feeding behavior in order to spur research that better integrates the two. Functional categories of parasite-altered behavior that are adaptive for the host include prophylaxis, therapy and compensation, while host manipulation is adaptive for the parasite. To better understand and distinguish prophylaxis, therapy and compensation, further study of physiological feedbacks affecting host sensory systems is especially needed. For host manipulation in particular, research on mechanisms by which parasites control host feedbacks will be important to integrate with functional approaches. We see this integration as critical to advancing the field of parasite-altered feeding behavior, which may be common in insects and consequential for human and environmental health. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Introducing "Frontiers in Zoology"

Science.gov (United States)

Heinze, Jürgen; Tautz, Diethard

2004-09-29

As a biological discipline, zoology has one of the longest histories. Today it occasionally appears as though, due to the rapid expansion of life sciences, zoology has been replaced by more or less independent sub-disciplines amongst which exchange is often sparse. However, the recent advance of molecular methodology into "classical" fields of biology, and the development of theories that can explain phenomena on different levels of organisation, has led to a re-integration of zoological disciplines promoting a broader than usual approach to zoological questions. Zoology has re-emerged as an integrative discipline encompassing the most diverse aspects of animal life, from the level of the gene to the level of the ecosystem.The new journal Frontiers in Zoology is the first Open Access journal focussing on zoology as a whole. It aims to represent and re-unite the various disciplines that look at animal life from different perspectives and at providing the basis for a comprehensive understanding of zoological phenomena on all levels of analysis. Frontiers in Zoology provides a unique opportunity to publish high quality research and reviews on zoological issues that will be internationally accessible to any reader at no cost.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Frontiers in Polymerization Catalysis and Polymer Synthesis

CERN Document Server

Guyot, A

1987-01-01

Due to their specific properties, polymers with well-defined structures have been receiving increasing attention over the last several years. Owing to the wide variability of their properties, these specialty polymers have been used in various areas from biomedical engineering to electronics or energy applications. The synthesis of such polymers necessi­ tates the use of new methods of polymerization which derived from an insight into the mechanism of polymerization reactions. A NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Frontiers in Polymerization Catalysis and Polymer Synthesis" was held in BANDOl (FRANCE) in February 1987. Its aim was to assess the new polymerization methods, as well as the latest advances in the mechanisms of conventional polymerization reactions together with their applications to the synthesis of new macromolecular structures. The financial support from the NATO Scientific Affairs Division which covered the "lecturers' accomodation and travel expenses as well as the organization charges of th...

Conventional - Frontier and east coast supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrell, G.R.

1998-01-01

An assessment of frontier basins in Canada with proven potential for petroleum resources was provided. A prediction of which frontier basin will become a major supplier of conventional light oil was made by examining where companies are investing in frontier exploration today. Frontier land values for five active frontier areas were discussed. These included the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia Offshore, Western Newfoundland, the southern Northwest Territories and the Central Mackenzie Valley. The focus of this presentation was on three of these regions which are actually producing: Newfoundland's Grand Banks, offshore Nova Scotia and the Mackenzie Valley. Activities in each of these areas were reviewed. The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board has listed Hibernia's reserves at 666 million barrels. The Sable Offshore Energy Project on the continental shelf offshore Nova Scotia proposes to develop 5.4 tcf of gas plus 75 million barrels of NGLs over a project life of 14 years. In the Mackenzie Valley there are at least three petroleum systems, including the 235 million barrel pool at Norman Wells. 8 refs., 1 tab., 3 figs

Frontier and Border Regions in Early Modern Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Esser, R.M.; Ellis, Steven G.

2013-01-01

That regional identities are constructed is now something of a truism in academic research. More recently regions have been conceptualized in the framework of Frontier and Border Studies, thus emphasizing their relationship to their neighbours in another state across a boundary line. In early modern

Frontiers in nuclear medicine symposium: Nuclear medicine & molecular biology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-04-01

This document contains the abstracts from the American College of Nuclear Physicians 1993 Fall Meeting entitled, `Frontiers in Nuclear Medicine Symposium: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Biology`. This meeting was sponsored by the US DOE, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Office of Energy Research. The program chairman was Richard C. Reba, M.D.

Frontier search to slow in Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Land, R.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that oil and gas exploration in Indonesia likely will begin refocusing on proven areas after 1993, Arthur Andersen and Co.'s Far East oil analyst predicts. Arthur Andersen's James Sales the disappointing exploration results, outdated production sharing contract (PSC) terms, and low oil prices are discouraging companies from exploring frontier acreage. But Indonesian frontier activity during 1992-93 is likely to remain high because a large number of PSCs awarded in the past 2 years by state owned Pertamina cover high risk frontier areas. PSC contractors have disclosed several discoveries on recently awarded frontier tracts. However, the discoveries have been relatively small and far from pipeline infrastructure. With prevailing low oil prices, Pertamina likely will find it difficult to entice companies to extend PSCs or joint operating agreements beyond minimum exploration commitments

Historic Frontier Processes active in Future Space-Based Mineral Extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, D. M.

2000-01-01

The forces that shaped historic mining frontiers are in many cases not bound by geographic or temporal limits. The forces that helped define historic frontiers are active in today's physical and virtual frontiers, and will be present in future space-based frontiers. While frontiers derived from position and technology are primarily economic in nature, non-economic conditions affect the success or failure of individual frontier endeavors, local "mining camps" and even entire frontiers. Frontiers can be defined as the line of activity that divides the established markets and infrastructure of civilization from the unclaimed resources and potential wealth of a wilderness. At the frontier line, ownership of resources is established. The resource can then be developed using capital, energy and information. In a mining setting, the resource is concentrated for economic shipment to the markets of civilization. Profits from the sale of the resource are then used to fund further development of the resource and/or pay investors. Both positional and technical frontiers develop as a series of generations. The profits from each generation of development provides the capital and/or investment incentive for the next round of development. Without profit, the self-replicating process of frontiers stops.

Shifting frontiers of transcendence in theology, philosophy and science

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Test

2010-06-20

Jun 20, 2010 ... of secularisation and the growing impact of a techno-scientific world view. ... well as new philosophical ideas, have done most to change our ..... Historical Jesus research, too, is just another possible shifting of frontiers based.

New frontiers for tomorrow`s world

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kassler, P [Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd., London (United Kingdom)

1994-12-31

The conference paper deals with new frontiers and barricades in the global economic development and their influence on fuel consumption and energy source development. Topics discussed are incremental energy supply - new frontiers, world car population - new frontiers, OPEC crude production capacity vs call on OPEC, incremental world oil demand by region 1992-2000, oil resource cost curve, progress in seismic 1983-1991, Troll picture, cost reduction in renewables, sustained growth scenario, nuclear electricity capacity - France, OECD road transport fuels - barricades, and energy taxation. 18 figs.

Annual symposium on Frontiers in Science

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Metzger, N.; Fulton, K.R.

1998-12-31

This final report summarizes activities conducted for the National Academy of Sciences' Annual Symposium on Frontiers of Science with support from the US Department of Energy for the period July 1, 1993 through May 31, 1998. During the report period, five Frontiers of Science symposia were held at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. For each Symposium, an organizing committee appointed by the NAS President selected and planned the eight sessions for the Symposium and identified general participants for invitation by the NAS President. These Symposia accomplished their goal of bringing together outstanding younger (age 45 or less) scientists to hear presentations in disciplines outside their own and to discuss exciting advances and opportunities in their fields in a format that encourages, and allows adequate time for, informal one-on-one discussions among participants. Of the 458 younger scientists who participated, over a quarter (124) were women. Participant lists for all symposia (1993--1997) are attached. The scientific participants were leaders in basic research from academic, industrial, and federal laboratories in such disciplines as astronomy, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, genetics, material sciences, mathematics, microbiology, neuroscience, physics, and physiology. For each symposia, the 24 speakers and discussants on the program were urged to focus their presentations on current cutting-edge research in their field for a scientifically sophisticated but non-specialist audience, and to provide a sense of the experimental data--what is actually measured and seen in the various fields. They were also asked to address questions such as: What are the major research problems and unique tools in their field? What are the current limitations on advances as well as the frontiers? Speakers were asked to provide a

The Distribution of the Sample Minimum-Variance Frontier

OpenAIRE

Raymond Kan; Daniel R. Smith

2008-01-01

In this paper, we present a finite sample analysis of the sample minimum-variance frontier under the assumption that the returns are independent and multivariate normally distributed. We show that the sample minimum-variance frontier is a highly biased estimator of the population frontier, and we propose an improved estimator of the population frontier. In addition, we provide the exact distribution of the out-of-sample mean and variance of sample minimum-variance portfolios. This allows us t...

FERMILAB ACCELERATOR R&D PROGRAM TOWARDS INTENSITY FRONTIER ACCELERATORS : STATUS AND PROGRESS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shiltsev, Vladimir [Fermilab

2016-11-15

The 2014 P5 report indicated the accelerator-based neutrino and rare decay physics research as a centrepiece of the US domestic HEP program at Fermilab. Operation, upgrade and development of the accelerators for the near- term and longer-term particle physics program at the Intensity Frontier face formidable challenges. Here we discuss key elements of the accelerator physics and technology R&D program toward future multi-MW proton accelerators and present its status and progress. INTENSITY FRONTIER ACCELERATORS

Frontiers in particle science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goddard, D.T.; Lawson, S.; Williams, R.A.

2002-07-01

The study of particulate materials and interfaces is a dominant discipline within chemical, pharmaceutical, biological, mineral, energy, consumer and healthcare products sectors. The role is set to expand with advances in engineered particulates, nanoscience and innovations in materials science and processing. This book addresses some key issues in these new frontiers for the research and industrial community. Such issues will continue to impact the quality of our everyday lives

Biomembrane Frontiers Nanostructures, Models, and the Design of Life

CERN Document Server

Faller, Roland; Risbud, Subhash H; Jue, Thomas

2009-01-01

HANDBOOK OF MODERN BIOPHYSICS Series Editor Thomas Jue, PhD Handbook of Modern Biophysics brings current biophysics topics into focus, so that biology, medical, engineering, mathematics, and physical-science students or researchers can learn fundamental concepts and the application of new techniques in addressing biomedical challenges. Chapters explicate the conceptual framework of the physics formalism and illustrate the biomedical applications. With the addition of problem sets, guides to further study, and references, the interested reader can continue to explore independently the ideas presented. Volume II: Biomembrane Frontiers: Nanostructures, Models, and the Design of Life Editors: Roland Faller, PhD, Thomas Jue, PhD, Marjorie L. Longo, PhD, and Subhash H. Risbud, PhD In Biomembrane Frontiers: Nanostructures, Models, and the Design of Life, prominent researchers have established a foundation for the study of biophysics related to the following topics: Perspectives: Complexes in Liquids, 1900–2008 Mol...

Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier

CERN Document Server

Hewett, J.L.; Brock, R.; Butler, J.N.; Casey, B.C.K.; Collar, J.; de Gouvea, A.; Essig, R.; Grossman, Y.; Haxton, W.; Jaros, J.A.; Jung, C.K.; Lu, Z.T.; Pitts, K.; Ligeti, Z.; Patterson, J.R.; Ramsey-Musolf, M.; Ritchie, J.L.; Roodman, A.; Scholberg, K.; Wagner, C.E.M.; Zeller, G.P.; Aefsky, S.; Afanasev, A.; Agashe, K.; Albright, C.; Alonso, J.; Ankenbrandt, C.; Aoki, M.; Arguelles, C.A.; Arkani-Hamed, N.; Armendariz, J.R.; Armendariz-Picon, C.; Arrieta Diaz, E.; Asaadi, J.; Asner, D.M.; Babu, K.S.; Bailey, K.; Baker, O.; Balantekin, B.; Baller, B.; Bass, M.; Batell, B.; Beacham, J.; Behr, J.; Berger, N.; Bergevin, M.; Berman, E.; Bernstein, R.; Bevan, A.J.; Bishai, M.; Blanke, M.; Blessing, S.; Blondel, A.; Blum, T.; Bock, G.; Bodek, A.; Bonvicini, G.; Bossi, F.; Boyce, J.; Breedon, R.; Breidenbach, M.; Brice, S.J.; Briere, R.A.; Brodsky, S.; Bromberg, C.; Bross, A.; Browder, T.E.; Bryman, D.A.; Buckley, M.; Burnstein, R.; Caden, E.; Campana, P.; Carlini, R.; Carosi, G.; Castromonte, C.; Cenci, R.; Chakaberia, I.; Chen, Mu-Chun; Cheng, C.H.; Choudhary, B.; Christ, N.H.; Christensen, E.; Christy, M.E.; Chupp, T.E.; Church, E.; Cline, D.B.; Coan, T.E.; Coloma, P.; Comfort, J.; Coney, L.; Cooper, J.; Cooper, R.J.; Cowan, R.; Cowen, D.F.; Cronin-Hennessy, D.; Datta, A.; Davies, G.S.; Demarteau, M.; DeMille, D.P.; Denig, A.; Dermisek, R.; Deshpande, A.; Dewey, M.S.; Dharmapalan, R.; Dhooghe, J.; Dietrich, M.R.; Diwan, M.; Djurcic, Z.; Dobbs, S.; Duraisamy, M.; Dutta, Bhaskar; Duyang, H.; Dwyer, D.A.; Eads, M.; Echenard, B.; Elliott, S.R.; Escobar, C.; Fajans, J.; Farooq, S.; Faroughy, C.; Fast, J.E.; Feinberg, B.; Felde, J.; Feldman, G.; Fierlinger, P.; Fileviez Perez, P.; Filippone, B.; Fisher, P.; Flemming, B.T.; Flood, K.T.; Forty, R.; Frank, M.J.; Freyberger, A.; Friedland, A.; Gandhi, R.; Ganezer, K.S.; Garcia, A.; Garcia, F.G.; Gardner, S.; Garrison, L.; Gasparian, A.; Geer, S.; Gehman, V.M.; Gershon, T.; Gilchriese, M.; Ginsberg, C.; Gogoladze, I.; Gonderinger, M.; Goodman, M.; Gould, H.; Graham, M.; Graham, P.W.; Gran, R.; Grange, J.; Gratta, G.; Green, J.P.; Greenlee, H.; Group, R.C.; Guardincerri, E.; Gudkov, V.; Guenette, R.; Haas, A.; Hahn, A.; Han, T.; Handler, T.; Hardy, J.C.; Harnik, R.; Harris, D.A.; Harris, F.A.; Harris, P.G.; Hartnett, J.; He, B.; Heckel, B.R.; Heeger, K.M.; Henderson, S.; Hertzog, D.; Hill, R.; Hinds, E.A.; Hitlin, D.G.; Holt, R.J.; Holtkamp, N.; Horton-Smith, G.; Huber, P.; Huelsnitz, W.; Imber, J.; Irastorza, I.; Jaeckel, J.; Jaegle, I.; James, C.; Jawahery, A.; Jensen, D.; Jessop, C.P.; Jones, B.; Jostlein, H.; Junk, T.; Kagan, A.L.; Kalita, M.; Kamyshkov, Y.; Kaplan, D.M.; Karagiorgi, G.; Karle, A.; Katori, T.; Kayser, B.; Kephart, R.; Kettell, S.; Kim, Y.K.; Kirby, M.; Kirch, K.; Klein, J.; Kneller, J.; Kobach, A.; Kohl, M.; Kopp, J.; Kordosky, M.; Korsch, W.; Kourbanis, I.; Krisch, A.D.; Krizan, P.; Kronfeld, A.S.; Kulkarni, S.; Kumar, K.S.; Kuno, Y.; Kutter, T.; Lachenmaier, T.; Lamm, M.; Lancaster, J.; Lancaster, M.; Lane, C.; Lang, K.; Langacker, P.; Lazarevic, S.; Le, T.; Lee, K.; Lesko, K.T.; Li, Y.; Lindgren, M.; Lindner, A.; Link, J.; Lissauer, D.; Littenberg, L.S.; Littlejohn, B.; Liu, C.Y.; Loinaz, W.; Lorenzon, W.; Louis, W.C.; Lozier, J.; Ludovici, L.; Lueking, L.; Lunardini, C.; MacFarlane, D.B.; Machado, P.A.N.; Mackenzie, P.B.; Maloney, J.; Marciano, W.J.; Marsh, W.; Marshak, M.; Martin, J.W.; Mauger, C.; McFarland, K.S.; McGrew, C.; McLaughlin, G.; McKeen, D.; McKeown, R.; Meadows, B.T.; Mehdiyev, R.; Melconian, D.; Merkel, H.; Messier, M.; Miller, J.P.; Mills, G.; Minamisono, U.K.; Mishra, S.R.; Mocioiu, I.; Sher, S.Moed; Mohapatra, R.N.; Monreal, B.; Moore, C.D.; Morfin, J.G.; Mousseau, J.; Moustakas, L.A.; Mueller, G.; Mueller, P.; Muether, M.; Mumm, H.P.; Munger, C.; Murayama, H.; Nath, P.; Naviliat-Cuncin, O.; Nelson, J.K.; Neuffer, D.; Nico, J.S.; Norman, A.; Nygren, D.; Obayashi, Y.; O'Connor, T.P.; Okada, Y.; Olsen, J.; Orozco, L.; Orrell, J.L.; Osta, J.; Pahlka, B.; Paley, J.; Papadimitriou, V.; Papucci, M.; Parke, S.; Parker, R.H.; Parsa, Z.; Partyka, K.; Patch, A.; Pati, J.C.; Patterson, R.B.; Pavlovic, Z.; Paz, Gil; Perdue, G.N.; Perevalov, D.; Perez, G.; Petti, R.; Pettus, W.; Piepke, A.; Pivovaroff, M.; Plunkett, R.; Polly, C.C.; Pospelov, M.; Povey, R.; Prakesh, A.; Purohit, M.V.; Raby, S.; Raaf, J.L.; Rajendran, R.; Rajendran, S.; Rameika, G.; Ramsey, R.; Rashed, A.; Ratcliff, B.N.; Rebel, B.; Redondo, J.; Reimer, P.; Reitzner, D.; Ringer, F.; Ringwald, A.; Riordan, S.; Roberts, B.L.; Roberts, D.A.; Robertson, R.; Robicheaux, F.; Rominsky, M.; Roser, R.; Rosner, J.L.; Rott, C.; Rubin, P.; Saito, N.; Sanchez, M.; Sarkar, S.; Schellman, H.; Schmidt, B.; Schmitt, M.; Schmitz, D.W.; Schneps, J.; Schopper, A.; Schuster, P.; Schwartz, A.J.; Schwarz, M.; Seeman, J.; Semertzidis, Y.K.; Seth, K.K.; Shafi, Q.; Shanahan, P.; Sharma, R.; Sharpe, S.R.; Shiozawa, M.; Shiltsev, V.; Sigurdson, K.; Sikivie, P.; Singh, J.; Sivers, D.; Skwarnicki, T.; Smith, N.; Sobczyk, J.; Sobel, H.; Soderberg, M.; Song, Y.H.; Soni, A.; Souder, P.; Sousa, A.; Spitz, J.; Stancari, M.; Stavenga, G.C.; Steffen, J.H.; Stepanyan, S.; Stoeckinger, D.; Stone, S.; Strait, J.; Strassler, M.; Sulai, I.A.; Sundrum, R.; Svoboda, R.; Szczerbinska, B.; Szelc, A.; Takeuchi, T.; Tanedo, P.; Taneja, S.; Tang, J.; Tanner, D.B.; Tayloe, R.; Taylor, I.; Thomas, J.; Thorn, C.; Tian, X.; Tice, B.G.; Tobar, M.; Tolich, N.; Toro, N.; Towner, I.S.; Tsai, Y.; Tschirhart, R.; Tunnell, C.D.; Tzanov, M.; Upadhye, A.; Urheim, J.; Vahsen, S.; Vainshtein, A.; Valencia, E.; Van de Water, R.G.; Van de Water, R.S.; Velasco, M.; Vogel, J.; Vogel, P.; Vogelsang, W.; Wah, Y.W.; Walker, D.; Weiner, N.; Weltman, A.; Wendell, R.; Wester, W.; Wetstein, M.; White, C.; Whitehead, L.; Whitmore, J.; Widmann, E.; Wiedemann, G.; Wilkerson, J.; Wilkinson, G.; Wilson, P.; Wilson, R.J.; Winter, W.; Wise, M.B.; Wodin, J.; Wojcicki, S.; Wojtsekhowski, B.; Wongjirad, T.; Worcester, E.; Wurtele, J.; Xin, T.; Xu, J.; Yamanaka, T.; Yamazaki, Y.; Yavin, I.; Yeck, J.; Yeh, M.; Yokoyama, M.; Yoo, J.; Young, A.; Zimmerman, E.; Zioutas, K.; Zisman, M.; Zupan, J.; Zwaska, R.; Intensity Frontier Workshop

2012-01-01

The Proceedings of the 2011 workshop on Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier. Science opportunities at the intensity frontier are identified and described in the areas of heavy quarks, charged leptons, neutrinos, proton decay, new light weakly-coupled particles, and nucleons, nuclei, and atoms.

Frontiers in Computer Education

CERN Document Server

Zhu, Egui; 2011 International Conference on Frontiers in Computer Education (ICFCE 2011)

2012-01-01

This book is the proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Frontiers in Computer Education (ICFCE 2011) in Sanya, China, December 1-2, 2011. The contributions can be useful for researchers, software engineers, and programmers, all interested in promoting the computer and education development. Topics covered are computing and communication technology, network management, wireless networks, telecommunication, Signal and Image Processing, Machine Learning, educational management, educational psychology, educational system, education engineering, education technology and training.  The emphasis is on methods and calculi for computer science and education technology development, verification and verification tools support, experiences from doing developments, and the associated theoretical problems.

An Arbitrary Benchmark CAPM: One Additional Frontier Portfolio is Sufficient

OpenAIRE

Ekern, Steinar

2008-01-01

First draft: July 16, 2008 This version: October 7, 2008 The benchmark CAPM linearly relates the expected returns on an arbitrary asset, an arbitrary benchmark portfolio, and an arbitrary MV frontier portfolio. The benchmark is not required to be on the frontier and may be non-perfectly correlated with the frontier portfolio. The benchmark CAPM extends and generalizes previous CAPM formulations, including the zero beta, two correlated frontier portfolios, riskless augmented frontier, an...

Research frontiers for improving our understanding of drought‐induced tree and forest mortality

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, Henrik; Moura, Catarina; Anderegg, William R. L.; Ruehr, Nadine; Salmon, Yann; Allen, Craig D.; Arndt, Stefan K.; Breshears, David D.; Davi, Hendrik; Galbraith, David; Ruthrof, Katinka X.; Wunder, Jan; Adams, Henry D.; Bloemen, Jasper; Cailleret, Maxime; Cobb, Richard; Gessler, Arthur; Grams, Thorsten E. E.; Jansen, Steven; Kautz, Markus; Lloret, Francisco; O’Brien, Michael

2018-01-01

Accumulating evidence highlights increased mortality risks for trees during severe drought, particularly under warmer temperatures and increasing vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Resulting forest die‐off events have severe consequences for ecosystem services, biophysical and biogeochemical land–atmosphere processes. Despite advances in monitoring, modelling and experimental studies of the causes and consequences of tree death from individual tree to ecosystem and global scale, a general mechanistic understanding and realistic predictions of drought mortality under future climate conditions are still lacking. We update a global tree mortality map and present a roadmap to a more holistic understanding of forest mortality across scales. We highlight priority research frontiers that promote: (1) new avenues for research on key tree ecophysiological responses to drought; (2) scaling from the tree/plot level to the ecosystem and region; (3) improvements of mortality risk predictions based on both empirical and mechanistic insights; and (4) a global monitoring network of forest mortality. In light of recent and anticipated large forest die‐off events such a research agenda is timely and needed to achieve scientific understanding for realistic predictions of drought‐induced tree mortality. The implementation of a sustainable network will require support by stakeholders and political authorities at the international level.

Nutrition Frontiers - Spring 2018 | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Dear Colleague, The spring issue of Nutrition Frontiers showcases the association of gut microbial communities in premenopausal women, how high-fat, high-calorie-diet-induced obesity may increase pancreatic cancer, and the effects of calorie restriction protocols on pro-inflammatory cytokines. Meet our spotlight investigator, Dr. Purnima Kumar, and her research on black

Nutrition Frontiers - Winter 2018 | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Dear Colleague, The winter issue of Nutrition Frontiers showcases the chemopreventive activity of sulforaphane, how a high fat, high cholesterol diet may impact hepatocellular carcinoma, and p53 activation from benzyl isothiocyanate. Meet our spotlight investigator, Dr. John Groopman, and his research on detoxication of air pollutants with a broccoli supplement. Learn about

Nutrition Frontiers - Winter 2017 | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Volume 8, Issue 1 Dear Colleague, The winter issue of Nutrition Frontiers showcases gut permeability and calcium supplementation, potential chemopreventive effects of dietary DHM for lung tumorigenesis, and the role of the MCP-1 chemokine on adiposity and inflammation. Learn about our spotlight investigator, Dr. Gregory Lesinski, and his research on dietary interventions to

Nutrition Frontiers - Spring 2017 | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Volume 8, Issue 2 Dear Colleague, The spring issue of Nutrition Frontiers showcases the calcium/magnesium intake ratio in colorectal adenoma, the role of PPARγ in metabolism and reproduction, and the effects of time-restricted feeding on metabolic parameters. Meet our spotlight investigator, Dr. Maria Cruz-Correa, and her research on gut bacterial genes, diet, and colorectal

Nutrition Frontiers - Spring 2016 | Division of Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Volume 7, Issue 2 The spring issue of Nutrition Frontiers showcases green tea's effect on human metabolism, fish oil — as a chemopreventive agent in myeloid leukemia and, with pectin, how they affect microRNA expression in the colon. Learn about our spotlight investigator, Dr. Richard Eckert, and his research on skin cancer prevention, upcoming announcements and more. |

Nuclear physics--at the frontiers of knowledge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feshbach, H.

1995-01-01

Nuclear physics has been and will be a major factor in science and technology. The researches in nuclear physics leads to results which can be characterized as universal in that will suitable modifications they apply to small systems generally. It is introduced on the study of nucleon heavy ions and the quark-gluon plasma radioactive nuclei weak interactions and nuclear theory in this paper. The contributions to medicine, industry and other sciences is reviewed. The activity of nuclear physics as frontier research is emphasized. The importance of its applications is pointed out. (Su)

Frontier differences and the global malmquist index

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asmild, Mette

2015-01-01

This chapter reviews different ways of comparing the efficiency frontiers for subgroups within a data set, specifically program efficiency, the metatechnology (or technology gap) ratio and the global frontier difference index. The latter is subsequently used to define a global Malmquist index...

On the critical frontiers of Potts ferromagnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magalhaes, A.C.N. de; Tsallis, C.

1981-01-01

A conjecture concerning the critical frontiers of q- state Potts ferromagnets on d- dimensional lattices (d > 1) which generalize a recent one stated for planar lattices is formulated. The present conjecture is verified within satisfactory accuracy (exactly in some cases) for all the lattices or arrays whose critical points are known. Its use leads to the prediction of: a) a considerable amount of new approximate critical points (26 on non-planar regular lattices, some others on Husimi trees and cacti); b) approximate critical frontiers for some 3- dimensional lattices; c) the possibly asymptotically exact critical point on regular lattices in the limit d→infinite for all q>=1; d) the possibly exact critical frontier for the pure Potts model on fully anisotropic Bethe lattices; e) the possibly exact critical frontier for the general quenched random-bond Potts ferromagnet (any P(J)) on isotropic Bethe lattices. (Author) [pt

The "Frontier" And Frontier Guards in Banat - a Socio- Historical Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SEBASTIAN ŞTEFĂNUCĂ

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The researchers preoccupied with the regional identity potential of Ţara Almăjului and the Eastern area of the Banat mountain region, Romania, cannot avoid the particular historical evolution, in the last three centuries, of these regions. This is true precisely when the starting point is represented by the Wealth Community (Comunitatea de Avere - a form of collective ownership of a large part of the forests in the abovementioned regions and of certain buildings - a direct remnant of the Austrian frontier past, which was abolished during the Communist period. At that time (the second half of the 18th century, this form of collective ownership generated deep and irreversible social, administrative, architectural, legal and economic transformations which are visible to this day. Apart from an elite preoccupied with historical studies, in relation to which we notice the open affirmation of identity valences which we look for, and apart from another elite which is interested in reinstating and managing the Wealth Community, the locals seem detached both from the past and the frontier, as well as from the attempts to reinstate the Wealth Community. The only truly relevant form of ownership is individual ownership. We consider that this attitude is a variant of what Lucian Blaga called a "boycott of history". Therefore, the identity looked for seems to be constituted not so much by opposing, than by ignoring the past and the disinterest towards collective ownership, to which we can add the suspicion with respect to the intentions of people holding positions within the local administration and state authorities generally.

Estimating the NIH efficient frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Bisias, Dimitrios; Lo, Andrew W; Watkins, James F

2012-01-01

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is among the world's largest investors in biomedical research, with a mandate to: "…lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability." Its funding decisions have been criticized as insufficiently focused on disease burden. We hypothesize that modern portfolio theory can create a closer link between basic research and outcome, and offer insight into basic-science related improvements in public health. We propose portfolio theory as a systematic framework for making biomedical funding allocation decisions-one that is directly tied to the risk/reward trade-off of burden-of-disease outcomes. Using data from 1965 to 2007, we provide estimates of the NIH "efficient frontier", the set of funding allocations across 7 groups of disease-oriented NIH institutes that yield the greatest expected return on investment for a given level of risk, where return on investment is measured by subsequent impact on U.S. years of life lost (YLL). The results suggest that NIH may be actively managing its research risk, given that the volatility of its current allocation is 17% less than that of an equal-allocation portfolio with similar expected returns. The estimated efficient frontier suggests that further improvements in expected return (89% to 119% vs. current) or reduction in risk (22% to 35% vs. current) are available holding risk or expected return, respectively, constant, and that 28% to 89% greater decrease in average years-of-life-lost per unit risk may be achievable. However, these results also reflect the imprecision of YLL as a measure of disease burden, the noisy statistical link between basic research and YLL, and other known limitations of portfolio theory itself. Our analysis is intended to serve as a proof-of-concept and starting point for applying quantitative methods to allocating biomedical research funding that are objective, systematic, transparent, repeatable, and expressly designed to reduce the burden of

Distance to the efficiency frontier and foreign direct investment spillovers

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sabirianova Peter, K.; Švejnar, Jan; Terrell, K.

2005-01-01

Roč. 3, 2-3 (2005), s. 576-586 ISSN 1542-4766 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : foreign direct investment * technological frontier Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4D4281930A8929DFF628

Energy Frontier Research Centers: Science for Our Nation's Energy Future, September 2016

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2016-09-01

As world demand for energy rapidly expands, transforming the way energy is collected, stored, and used has become a defining challenge of the 21st century. At its heart, this challenge is a scientific one, inspiring the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) to establish the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program in 2009. The EFRCs represent a unique approach, bringing together creative, multidisciplinary scientific teams to perform energy-relevant basic research with a complexity beyond the scope of single-investigator projects. These centers take full advantage of powerful new tools for characterizing, understanding, modeling, and manipulating matter from atomic to macroscopic length scales. They also train the next-generation scientific workforce by attracting talented students and postdoctoral researchers interested in energy science. The EFRCs have collectively demonstrated the potential to substantially advance the scientific understanding underpinning transformational energy technologies. Both a BES Committee of Visitors and a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Task Force have found the EFRC program to be highly successful in meeting its goals. The scientific output from the EFRCs is impressive, and many centers have reported that their results are already impacting both technology research and industry. This report on the EFRC program includes selected highlights from the initial 46 EFRCs and the current 36 EFRCs.

Fundamental Symmetries of the Early Universe and the Precision Frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramsey-Musolf, Michael J.

2009-01-01

The search for the next Standard Model of fundamental interactions is being carried out at two frontiers: the high energy frontier involving the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider, and the high precision frontier where the focus is largely on low energy experiments. I discuss the unique and powerful window on new physics provided by the precision frontier and its complementarity to the information we hope to gain from present and future colliders.

When Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Meets Organizational Psychology: New Frontiers in Micro-CSR Research, and Fulfilling a Quid Pro Quo through Multilevel Insights.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, David A; Willness, Chelsea R; Glavas, Ante

2017-01-01

Researchers, corporate leaders, and other stakeholders have shown increasing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-a company's discretionary actions and policies that appear to advance societal well-being beyond its immediate financial interests and legal requirements. Spanning decades of research activity, the scholarly literature on CSR has been dominated by meso- and macro-level perspectives, such as studies within corporate strategy that examine relationships between firm-level indicators of social/environmental performance and corporate financial performance. In recent years, however, there has been an explosion of micro-oriented CSR research conducted at the individual level of analysis, especially with respect to studies on how and why job seekers and employees perceive and react to CSR practices. This micro-level focus is reflected in 12 articles published as a Research Topic collection in Frontiers in Psychology (Organizational Psychology Specialty Section) titled "CSR and organizational psychology: Quid pro quo." In the present article, the authors summarize and integrate findings from these Research Topic articles. After describing some of the "new frontiers" these articles explore and create, the authors strive to fulfill a "quid pro quo" with some of the meso- and macro-oriented CSR literatures that paved the way for micro-CSR research. Specifically, the authors draw on insights from the Research Topic articles to inform a multilevel model that offers multiple illustrations of how micro-level processes among individual stakeholders can explain variability in meso (firm)-level relationships between CSR practices and corporate performance. The authors also explore an important implication of these multilevel processes for macro-level societal impact.

Contruction of a smoothed DEA frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mello João Carlos Correia Baptista Soares de

2002-01-01

Full Text Available It is known that the DEA multipliers model does not allow a unique solution for the weights. This is due to the absence of unique derivatives in the extreme-efficient points, which is a consequence of the piecewise linear nature of the frontier. In this paper we propose a method to solve this problem, consisting of changing the original DEA frontier for a new one, smooth (with continuous derivatives at every point and closest to the original frontier. We present the theoretical development for the general case, exemplified with the particular case of the BCC model with one input and one output. The 3-dimensional problem is briefly discussed. Some uses of the model are summarised, and one of them, a new Cross-Evaluation model, is presented.

A Note on the Kinks at the Mean Variance Frontier

OpenAIRE

Vörös, J.; Kriens, J.; Strijbosch, L.W.G.

1997-01-01

In this paper the standard portfolio case with short sales restrictions is analyzed.Dybvig pointed out that if there is a kink at a risky portfolio on the efficient frontier, then the securities in this portfolio have equal expected return and the converse of this statement is false.For the existence of kinks at the efficient frontier the sufficient condition is given here and a new procedure is used to derive the efficient frontier, i.e. the characteristics of the mean variance frontier.

Snowmass Computing Frontier: Computing for the Cosmic Frontier, Astrophysics, and Cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Connolly, A. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Habib, S. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Szalay, A. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States); Borrill, J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Fuller, G. [Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Gnedin, N. [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Heitmann, K. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Jacobs, D. [Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); Lamb, D. [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Mezzacappa, T. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Messer, B. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Myers, S. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM (United States); Nord, B. [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Nugent, P. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); O' Shea, B. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Ricker, P. [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Schneider, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2013-11-12

This document presents (off-line) computing requrements and challenges for Cosmic Frontier science, covering the areas of data management, analysis, and simulations. We invite contributions to extend the range of covered topics and to enhance the current descriptions.

Measuring economy-wide energy efficiency performance: A parametric frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, P.; Ang, B.W.; Zhou, D.Q.

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a parametric frontier approach to estimating economy-wide energy efficiency performance from a production efficiency point of view. It uses the Shephard energy distance function to define an energy efficiency index and adopts the stochastic frontier analysis technique to estimate the index. A case study of measuring the economy-wide energy efficiency performance of a sample of OECD countries using the proposed approach is presented. It is found that the proposed parametric frontier approach has higher discriminating power in energy efficiency performance measurement compared to its nonparametric frontier counterparts.

Frontiers in biomedical engineering and biotechnology.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Feng; Goodarzi, Ali; Wang, Haifeng; Stasiak, Joanna; Sun, Jianbo; Zhou, Yu

2014-01-01

The 2nd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (iCBEB 2013), held in Wuhan on 11–13 October 2013, is an annual conference that aims at providing an opportunity for international and national researchers and practitioners to present the most recent advances and future challenges in the fields of Biomedical Information, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology. The papers published by this issue are selected from this conference, which witnesses the frontier in the field of Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, which particularly has helped improving the level of clinical diagnosis in medical work.

There is plenty of oil at the bottom: Frontier thinking in knowledge economy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gorm Hansen, Birgitte

This paper will neither celebrate nor criticize knowledge economy but simply ask what it can do. What kinds of knowledge claims can be made in a research project where science, industry and government interests are closely intertwined? Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with scientists...... of frontier-thinking which works to create a promissory space for future value creation. When viewed from the nano scale, the North Sea oil fields seem half full rather than half empty. There is plenty of oil at the bottom of the ocean if one knows how to look and future oil recovery might become analogous...... between making frontiers out of nature and out of scientists. The reative recalcitrance of scientists subjected to frontier thinking by the hand th at feeds seem to challenge the conception that science is merely being engulfed by capital and government interest. Successful scientists attempt to use...

Efficient Discovery of De-identification Policies Through a Risk-Utility Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Weiyi; Heatherly, Raymond; Ding, Xiaofeng; Li, Jiuyong; Malin, Bradley

2013-01-01

Modern information technologies enable organizations to capture large quantities of person-specific data while providing routine services. Many organizations hope, or are legally required, to share such data for secondary purposes (e.g., validation of research findings) in a de-identified manner. In previous work, it was shown de-identification policy alternatives could be modeled on a lattice, which could be searched for policies that met a prespecified risk threshold (e.g., likelihood of re-identification). However, the search was limited in several ways. First, its definition of utility was syntactic - based on the level of the lattice - and not semantic - based on the actual changes induced in the resulting data. Second, the threshold may not be known in advance. The goal of this work is to build the optimal set of policies that trade-off between privacy risk (R) and utility (U), which we refer to as a R-U frontier. To model this problem, we introduce a semantic definition of utility, based on information theory, that is compatible with the lattice representation of policies. To solve the problem, we initially build a set of policies that define a frontier. We then use a probability-guided heuristic to search the lattice for policies likely to update the frontier. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we perform an empirical analysis with the Adult dataset of the UCI Machine Learning Repository. We show that our approach can construct a frontier closer to optimal than competitive approaches by searching a smaller number of policies. In addition, we show that a frequently followed de-identification policy (i.e., the Safe Harbor standard of the HIPAA Privacy Rule) is suboptimal in comparison to the frontier discovered by our approach.

Strategic Military Colonisation: The Cape Eastern Frontier 1806–1872

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Cape Eastern Frontier of South Africa offers a fascinating insight into British military strategy as well as colonial development. The Eastern Frontier was for over 100 years a very turbulent frontier. It was the area where the four main population groups (the Dutch, the British, the Xhosa and the Khoikhoi) met, and in many ...

Free-Electron Lasers Push Into New Frontiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, Stephen V.

2003-01-01

From the early days of the development of free-electron lasers (FELs) the promise of high power and short wavelengths has tantalized physicists and other scientists. Recent developments in accelerator technologies and some new discoveries about the physics of FELs have allowed researchers to push the performance of FELs into new frontiers of high power, short wavelength, and ultra-short pulses. Spin-offs from the FELs have also opened up new radiation sources in the THz, X-ray and gamma ray wavelength ranges

Estimating the NIH efficient frontier.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios Bisias

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The National Institutes of Health (NIH is among the world's largest investors in biomedical research, with a mandate to: "…lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability." Its funding decisions have been criticized as insufficiently focused on disease burden. We hypothesize that modern portfolio theory can create a closer link between basic research and outcome, and offer insight into basic-science related improvements in public health. We propose portfolio theory as a systematic framework for making biomedical funding allocation decisions-one that is directly tied to the risk/reward trade-off of burden-of-disease outcomes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Using data from 1965 to 2007, we provide estimates of the NIH "efficient frontier", the set of funding allocations across 7 groups of disease-oriented NIH institutes that yield the greatest expected return on investment for a given level of risk, where return on investment is measured by subsequent impact on U.S. years of life lost (YLL. The results suggest that NIH may be actively managing its research risk, given that the volatility of its current allocation is 17% less than that of an equal-allocation portfolio with similar expected returns. The estimated efficient frontier suggests that further improvements in expected return (89% to 119% vs. current or reduction in risk (22% to 35% vs. current are available holding risk or expected return, respectively, constant, and that 28% to 89% greater decrease in average years-of-life-lost per unit risk may be achievable. However, these results also reflect the imprecision of YLL as a measure of disease burden, the noisy statistical link between basic research and YLL, and other known limitations of portfolio theory itself. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis is intended to serve as a proof-of-concept and starting point for applying quantitative methods to allocating biomedical research funding that are objective, systematic, transparent

Frontiers, territoriality and tensions in bordering spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Eugenia Comerci

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The expansión of the agricultural frontier in the Argentine pampas implied a re-valuation of "bordering" spaces, which were considered "marginal" by capital. This paper aims at interpreting the socio-territorial impact -from both a material and a symbolic level- being caused by the expansión of the productive, business-profile [agricultural and oil] frontier in the center-west of the province of La Pampa. With the interpretative approach provided by qualitative methodologies, we intend to analyze -in a case study- how these frontier expansión processes altered and re-defined the social arena between the years 2000 and 2010, the social construction of the space and the power relations in Chos Malal

Frontiers in Optimization : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Maulik, Ujjwal; Li, Xiang; FOTA 2016; Operations Research and Optimization

2018-01-01

This book discusses recent developments in the vast domain of optimization. Featuring papers presented at the 1st International Conference on Frontiers in Optimization: Theory and Applications (FOTA 2016), held at the Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, on 24–26 December 2016, it opens new avenues of research in all topics related to optimization, such as linear and nonlinear optimization; combinatorial-, stochastic-, dynamic-, fuzzy-, and uncertain optimization; optimal control theory; as well as multi-objective, evolutionary and convex optimization and their applications in intelligent information and technology, systems science, knowledge management, information and communication, supply chain and inventory control, scheduling, networks, transportation and logistics and finance. The book is a valuable resource for researchers, scientists and engineers from both academia and industry.

New Frontiers in Passive and Active Nanoantennas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arslanagic, Samel; Ziolkowski, Richard W.

2017-01-01

The articles included in this special section focus on several recent advances in the field of passive and active nanoantennas that employ not only traditional based realizations but also their new frontiers.......The articles included in this special section focus on several recent advances in the field of passive and active nanoantennas that employ not only traditional based realizations but also their new frontiers....

Energy not the only frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1987-11-15

While the push for big new machines to explore high energy frontiers makes the headlines, other avenues for physics progress are still being actively explored. To reflect these efforts, theorists and experimenters from the experiments committees for CERN's two major existing machines - the PS Proton Synchrotron and the SPS Super Proton Synchrotron – joined forces in study groups to look at long term physics perspectives. As one experimenter put it, 'there are frontiers of high complexity and high precision as well as high energy'. The groups' findings were aired at a special joint open meeting of the two committees at CERN on 31 August and 1 September.

Don't Explain so Much at Once, and Other Lessons From the Young Reviewers of Frontiers for Young Minds

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, A. M.

2015-12-01

Most public communication about cutting-edge science happens through a series of filters - press teams, science journalists, news outlets, or even bloggers. Unfortunately, these filters can sometimes lead to research being presented in a way that demotivates the researchers from wanting to translate their science for a broader audience in the future. Frontiers for Young Minds was developed to bridge this gap by publishing plain-language research articles that are written by scientists about their own research and "peer reviewed" by kids ages 8-15 for their own young peers. Though Frontiers for Young Minds authors know that they are creating a high-quality science resource that will be freely available online, many are surprised by the lessons they stand to learn by having direct access to their target audience for feedback. The young reviewers can be refreshingly blunt, questioning everything from why money was spent on such a project to why researchers would make something that should be exciting "too boring to even finish reading." Frontiers for Young Minds is compiling this feedback to create guides for researchers who want to translate their research for young readers, including: using your structure as part of the communication process, the dangers of explaining too much at once, reading to learn, limitations in vocabulary for different age groups, outreach figures - vs - research figures, defining your communication goals, communicating motivation and context, and sharing your excitement. We are working to share our experiences and create resources that will not only be useful for people participating in Frontiers for Young Minds, but for anyone who wants to become a better science communicator.

The Final Frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baron, Christian

2017-01-01

in living conditions, where neglect or reckless behavior may have fatal consequences. Exploring the consequences of such behavior in Tom Godwin’s short story ‘The Cold Equations’ (1954) as well as Ridley Scott’s film, Alien (1979), it argues that such ‘frontier situations’ warrant a change in the general...

Frontier Scientists' project probes audience science interests with website, social media, TV broadcast, game, and pop-up book

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connell, E. A.

2017-12-01

The Frontier Scientists National Science Foundation project titled Science in Alaska: Using Multimedia to Support Science Education produced research products in several formats: videos short and long, blogs, social media, a computer game, and a pop-up book. These formats reached distinctly different audiences. Internet users, public TV viewers, gamers, schools, and parents & young children were drawn to Frontier Scientists' research in direct and indirect ways. The analytics (our big data) derived from this media broadcast has given us insight into what works, what doesn't, next steps. We have evidence for what is needed to present science as an interesting, vital, and a necessary component for the general public's daily information diet and as an important tool for scientists to publicize research and to thrive in their careers. Collaborations with scientists at several Universities, USGS, Native organizations, tourism organizations, and Alaska Museums promoted accuracy of videos and increased viewing. For example, Erin Marbarger, at Anchorage Museum, edited, and provided Spark!Lab to test parents & child's interest in the pop-up book titled: The Adventures of Apun the Arctic Fox. Without a marketing budget Frontier Scientist's minimum publicity, during the three year project, still drew an audience. Frontier Scientists was awarded Best Website 2016 by the Alaska Press Club, and won a number of awards for short videos and TV programs.

Statement of Problem of Pareto Frontier Management and Its Solution in the Analysis and Synthesis of Optimal Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. K. Romanova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article research concerns the multi-criteria optimization (MCO, which assumes that operation quality criteria of the system are independent and specifies a way to improve values of these criteria. Mutual contradiction of some criteria is a major problem in MCO. One of the most important areas of research is to obtain the so-called Pareto - optimal options.The subject of research is Pareto front, also called the Pareto frontier. The article discusses front classifications by its geometric representation for the case of two-criterion task. It presents a mathematical description of the front characteristics using the gradients and their projections. A review of current domestic and foreign literature has revealed that the aim of works in constructing the Pareto frontier is to conduct research in conditions of uncertainty, in the stochastic statement, with no restrictions. A topology both in two- and in three-dimensional case is under consideration. The targets of modern applications are multi-agent systems and groups of players in differential games. However, all considered works have no task to provide an active management of the front.The objective of this article is to discuss the research problem the Pareto frontier in a new production, namely, with the active co-developers of the systems and (or the decision makers (DM in the management of the Pareto frontier. It notes that such formulation differs from the traditionally accepted approach based on the analysis of already existing solutions.The article discusses three ways to describe a quality of the object management system. The first way is to use the direct quality criteria for the model of a closed system as the vibrational level of the General form. The second one is to study a specific two-loop system of an aircraft control using the angular velocity and normal acceleration loops. The third is the use of the integrated quality criteria. In all three cases, the selected criteria are

Energy Frontier Research Center, Center for Materials Science of Nuclear Fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Todd R. Allen, Director

2011-04-01

The Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, has funded the INL as one of the Energy Frontier Research Centers in the area of material science of nuclear fuels. This document is the required annual report to the Office of Science that outlines the accomplishments for the period of May 2010 through April 2011. The aim of the Center for Material Science of Nuclear Fuels (CMSNF) is to establish the foundation for predictive understanding of the effects of irradiation-induced defects on thermal transport in oxide nuclear fuels. The science driver of the center’s investigation is to understand how complex defect and microstructures affect phonon mediated thermal transport in UO2, and achieve this understanding for the particular case of irradiation-induced defects and microstructures. The center’s research thus includes modeling and measurement of thermal transport in oxide fuels with different levels of impurities, lattice disorder and irradiation-induced microstructure, as well as theoretical and experimental investigation of the evolution of disorder, stoichiometry and microstructure in nuclear fuel under irradiation. With the premise that thermal transport in irradiated UO2 is a phonon-mediated energy transport process in a crystalline material with defects and microstructure, a step-by-step approach will be utilized to understand the effects of types of defects and microstructures on the collective phonon dynamics in irradiated UO2. Our efforts under the thermal transport thrust involved both measurement of diffusive phonon transport (an approach that integrates over the entire phonon spectrum) and spectroscopic measurements of phonon attenuation/lifetime and phonon dispersion. Our distinct experimental efforts dovetail with our modeling effort involving atomistic simulation of phonon transport and prediction of lattice thermal conductivity using the Boltzmann transport framework.

Energy Frontier Research Center, Center for Materials Science of Nuclear Fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, Todd R.

2011-01-01

The Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, has funded the INL as one of the Energy Frontier Research Centers in the area of material science of nuclear fuels. This document is the required annual report to the Office of Science that outlines the accomplishments for the period of May 2010 through April 2011. The aim of the Center for Material Science of Nuclear Fuels (CMSNF) is to establish the foundation for predictive understanding of the effects of irradiation-induced defects on thermal transport in oxide nuclear fuels. The science driver of the center's investigation is to understand how complex defect and microstructures affect phonon mediated thermal transport in UO2, and achieve this understanding for the particular case of irradiation-induced defects and microstructures. The center's research thus includes modeling and measurement of thermal transport in oxide fuels with different levels of impurities, lattice disorder and irradiation-induced microstructure, as well as theoretical and experimental investigation of the evolution of disorder, stoichiometry and microstructure in nuclear fuel under irradiation. With the premise that thermal transport in irradiated UO2 is a phonon-mediated energy transport process in a crystalline material with defects and microstructure, a step-by-step approach will be utilized to understand the effects of types of defects and microstructures on the collective phonon dynamics in irradiated UO2. Our efforts under the thermal transport thrust involved both measurement of diffusive phonon transport (an approach that integrates over the entire phonon spectrum) and spectroscopic measurements of phonon attenuation/lifetime and phonon dispersion. Our distinct experimental efforts dovetail with our modeling effort involving atomistic simulation of phonon transport and prediction of lattice thermal conductivity using the Boltzmann transport framework.

Energy not the only frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1987-01-01

While the push for big new machines to explore high energy frontiers makes the headlines, other avenues for physics progress are still being actively explored. To reflect these efforts, theorists and experimenters from the experiments committees for CERN's two major existing machines - the PS Proton Synchrotron and the SPS Super Proton Synchrotron – joined forces in study groups to look at long term physics perspectives. As one experimenter put it, 'there are frontiers of high complexity and high precision as well as high energy'. The groups' findings were aired at a special joint open meeting of the two committees at CERN on 31 August and 1 September

US Accelerator R&D Program Toward Intensity Frontier Machines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shiltsev, Vladimir [Fermilab

2016-09-15

The 2014 P5 report indicated the accelerator-based neutrino and rare decay physics research as a centerpiece of the US domestic HEP program. Operation, upgrade and development of the accelerators for the near-term and longer-term particle physics program at the Intensity Frontier face formidable challenges. Here we discuss key elements of the accelerator physics and technology R&D program toward future multi-MW proton accelerators.

Commercial sector gas cooling technology frontier and market share analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pine, G.D.; Mac Donald, J.M.; McLain, H.A.

1990-01-01

This paper describes a method, developed for the Gas Research Institute of the United States, that can assist planning for commercial sector natural gas cooling systems R and D. These systems are higher in first cost than conventional electric chillers. Yet, engine-driven chiller designs exist which are currently competitive in U.S. markets typified by high electricity or demand charges. Section II describes a scenario analysis approach used to develop and test the method. Section III defines the technology frontier, a conceptual tool for identifying new designs with sales potential. Section IV describes a discrete choice method for predicting market shares of technologies with sales potential. Section V shows how the method predicts operating parameter, cost, and/or performance goals for technologies without current sales potential (or for enhancing a frontier technology's sales potential). Section VI concludes with an illustrative example for the Chicago office building retrofit market

Frontier commodification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennike, Rune Bolding

2017-01-01

In the contemporary global imagination, Darjeeling typically figures on two accounts: as a unique tourism site replete with colonial heritage and picturesque nature, and as the productive origin for some of the world's most exclusive teas. In this commodified and consumable form, Darjeeling is part...... of material and representational interventions, I uncover the particular assemblage of government and capital that enabled this transformation and highlight its potential resonances with contemporary cases of frontier commodification in South Asia and beyond....

CERN and the high energy frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsesmelis Emmanuel

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the particle physics programme at CERN at the high-energy frontier. Starting from the key open questions in particle physics and the large-scale science facilities existing at CERN, concentrating on the Large Hadron Collider(LHC, this paper goes on to present future possibilities for global projects in high energy physics. The paper presents options for future colliders, all being within the framework of the recently updated European Strategy for Particle Physics, and all of which have a unique value to add to experimental particle physics. The paper concludes by outlining key messages for the way forward for high-energy physics research.

RESEARCH IN PARTICLE PHYSICS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kearns, Edward [Boston Universiy

2013-07-12

This is the final report for the Department of Energy Grant to Principal Investigators in Experimental and Theoretical Particle Physics at Boston University. The research performed was in the Energy Frontier at the LHC, the Intensity Frontier at Super-Kamiokande and T2K, the Cosmic Frontier and detector R&D in dark matter detector development, and in particle theory.

Frontier Scientists use Modern Media

Science.gov (United States)

O'connell, E. A.

2013-12-01

Engaging Americans and the international community in the excitement and value of Alaskan Arctic discovery is the goal of Frontier Scientists. With a changing climate, resources of polar regions are being eyed by many nations. Frontier Scientists brings the stories of field scientists in the Far North to the public. With a website, an app, short videos, and social media channels; FS is a model for making connections between the public and field scientists. FS will demonstrate how academia, web content, online communities, evaluation and marketing are brought together in a 21st century multi-media platform, how scientists can maintain their integrity while engaging in outreach, and how new forms of media such as short videos can entertain as well as inspire.

R-U policy frontiers for health data de-identification

Science.gov (United States)

Heatherly, Raymond; Ding, Xiaofeng; Li, Jiuyong; Malin, Bradley A

2015-01-01

Objective The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule enables healthcare organizations to share de-identified data via two routes. They can either 1) show re-identification risk is small (e.g., via a formal model, such as k-anonymity) with respect to an anticipated recipient or 2) apply a rule-based policy (i.e., Safe Harbor) that enumerates attributes to be altered (e.g., dates to years). The latter is often invoked because it is interpretable, but it fails to tailor protections to the capabilities of the recipient. The paper shows rule-based policies can be mapped to a utility (U) and re-identification risk (R) space, which can be searched for a collection, or frontier, of policies that systematically trade off between these goals. Methods We extend an algorithm to efficiently compose an R-U frontier using a lattice of policy options. Risk is proportional to the number of patients to which a record corresponds, while utility is proportional to similarity of the original and de-identified distribution. We allow our method to search 20 000 rule-based policies (out of 2700) and compare the resulting frontier with k-anonymous solutions and Safe Harbor using the demographics of 10 U.S. states. Results The results demonstrate the rule-based frontier 1) consists, on average, of 5000 policies, 2% of which enable better utility with less risk than Safe Harbor and 2) the policies cover a broader spectrum of utility and risk than k-anonymity frontiers. Conclusions R-U frontiers of de-identification policies can be discovered efficiently, allowing healthcare organizations to tailor protections to anticipated needs and trustworthiness of recipients. PMID:25911674

Greek perceptions of frontier in Magna Graecia: literature and archaeology in dialogue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Airton POLLINI

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with Greek perceptions of frontier in Magna Graecia, from a historical archaeological, contextual standpoint. Considering the complex relationship between literary and archaeological evidence, the paper uses as a case study the frontier in Southern Italy, discussing the subjective frontier perceptions by Greeks and Natives in interaction.

On the Endogeneity of the Mean-Variance Efficient Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Somerville, R. A.; O'Connell, Paul G. J.

2002-01-01

Explains that the endogeneity of the efficient frontier in the mean-variance model of portfolio selection is commonly obscured in portfolio selection literature and in widely used textbooks. Demonstrates endogeneity and discusses the impact of parameter changes on the mean-variance efficient frontier and on the beta coefficients of individual…

Alternative Approaches to Technical Efficiency Estimation in the Stochastic Frontier Model

OpenAIRE

Acquah, H. de-Graft; Onumah, E. E.

2014-01-01

Estimating the stochastic frontier model and calculating technical efficiency of decision making units are of great importance in applied production economic works. This paper estimates technical efficiency from the stochastic frontier model using Jondrow, and Battese and Coelli approaches. In order to compare alternative methods, simulated data with sample sizes of 60 and 200 are generated from stochastic frontier model commonly applied to agricultural firms. Simulated data is employed to co...

Frontiers International Conference on Wastewater Treatment

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This book describes the latest research advances, innovations, and applications in the field of water management and environmental engineering as presented by leading researchers, engineers, life scientists and practitioners from around the world at the Frontiers International Conference on Wastewater Treatment (FICWTM), held in Palermo, Italy in May 2017. The topics covered are highly diverse and include the physical processes of mixing and dispersion, biological developments and mathematical modeling, such as computational fluid dynamics in wastewater, MBBR and hybrid systems, membrane bioreactors, anaerobic digestion, reduction of greenhouse gases from wastewater treatment plants, and energy optimization. The contributions amply demonstrate that the application of cost-effective technologies for waste treatment and control is urgently needed so as to implement appropriate regulatory measures that ensure pollution prevention and remediation, safeguard public health, and preserve the environment. The contrib...

Frontiers of parasitology research in the People's Republic of China: infection, diagnosis, protection and surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Jun-Hu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Control and eventual elimination of human parasitic diseases in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China requires novel approaches, particularly in the areas of diagnostics, mathematical modelling, monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and public health response. A comprehensive effort, involving the collaboration of 188 scientists (>85% from P.R. China from 48 different institutions and universities (80% from P.R. China, covers this collection of 29 articles published in Parasites & Vectors. The research mainly stems from a research project entitled “Surveillance and diagnostic tools for major parasitic diseases in P.R. China” (grant no. 2008ZX10004-011 and highlights the frontiers of research in parasitology. The majority of articles in this thematic series deals with the most important parasitic diseases in P.R. China, emphasizing Schistosoma japonicum, Plasmodium vivax and Clonorchis sinensis plus some parasites of emerging importance such as Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Significant achievements have been made through the collaborative research programme in the following three fields: (i development of strategies for the national control programme; (ii updating the surveillance data of parasitic infections both in human and animals; and (iii improvement of existing, and development of novel, diagnostic tools to detect parasitic infections. The progress is considerable and warrants broad validation efforts. Combined with the development of improved tools for diagnosis and surveillance, integrated and multi-pronged control strategies should now pave the way for elimination of parasitic diseases in P.R. China. Experiences and lessons learned can stimulate control and elimination efforts of parasitic diseases in other parts of the world.

Karakteristik Kurva Efisien Frontier dalam Menentukan Portofolio Optimal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

epha diana supandi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Pada tulisan ini karakteristik kurva efisien frontier pada model portofolio Markowitz diteliti secara matematis. Portofolio optimal diperoleh dengan menggunakan metode Lagrange. Pada penelitian ini juga dikaji karakteristik portofolio optimal pada portofolio minimum variance, portofolio tangency dan portofolio mean-variance serta posisinya pada kurva efisien frontier. Lebih lanjut untuk memberikan gambaran yang lebih konkrit maka diberikan contoh numerik pada beberapa saham yang diperdagangkan di pasar modal Indonesia.

About pioneer frontiers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hervé Théry

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The geographer Pierre Monbeig wrote texts far ahead of his time, who deserve to be read today as they are useful in understanding today's pioneering frontiers. These are nowadays much further north than in his time, in the Amazon, contested between advocates of environmental protection and production of meat and grains, which has appeared on the southern ,lank of Brazilian Amazon, in Mato Grosso.

Frontier Assignment for Sensitivity Analysis of Data Envelopment Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Naito, Akio; Aoki, Shingo; Tsuji, Hiroshi

To extend the sensitivity analysis capability for DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), this paper proposes frontier assignment based DEA (FA-DEA). The basic idea of FA-DEA is to allow a decision maker to decide frontier intentionally while the traditional DEA and Super-DEA decide frontier computationally. The features of FA-DEA are as follows: (1) provides chances to exclude extra-influential DMU (Decision Making Unit) and finds extra-ordinal DMU, and (2) includes the function of the traditional DEA and Super-DEA so that it is able to deal with sensitivity analysis more flexibly. Simple numerical study has shown the effectiveness of the proposed FA-DEA and the difference from the traditional DEA.

The Frontier Fields: Survey Design and Initial Results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lotz, J. M.; Koekemoer, A.; Grogin, N.; Mack, J.; Anderson, J.; Avila, R.; Barker, E. A.; Borncamp, D.; Durbin, M.; Gunning, H.; Hilbert, B.; Jenkner, H.; Khandrika, H.; Levay, Z.; Lucas, R. A.; MacKenty, J.; Ogaz, S. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Coe, D.; Capak, P.; Brammer, G., E-mail: lotz@stsci.edu [European Space Agency/Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 Sam Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); and others

2017-03-01

What are the faintest distant galaxies we can see with the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) now, before the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope ? This is the challenge taken up by the Frontier Fields, a Director’s discretionary time campaign with HST and the Spitzer Space Telescope to see deeper into the universe than ever before. The Frontier Fields combines the power of HST and Spitzer with the natural gravitational telescopes of massive high-magnification clusters of galaxies to produce the deepest observations of clusters and their lensed galaxies ever obtained. Six clusters—Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403, MACSJ0717.5+3745, MACSJ1149.5+2223, Abell S1063, and Abell 370—have been targeted by the HST ACS/WFC and WFC3/IR cameras with coordinated parallel fields for over 840 HST orbits. The parallel fields are the second-deepest observations thus far by HST with 5 σ point-source depths of ∼29th ABmag. Galaxies behind the clusters experience typical magnification factors of a few, with small regions magnified by factors of 10–100. Therefore, the Frontier Field cluster HST images achieve intrinsic depths of ∼30–33 mag over very small volumes. Spitzer has obtained over 1000 hr of Director’s discretionary imaging of the Frontier Field cluster and parallels in IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μ m bands to 5 σ point-source depths of ∼26.5, 26.0 ABmag. We demonstrate the exceptional sensitivity of the HST Frontier Field images to faint high-redshift galaxies, and review the initial results related to the primary science goals.

Energy Frontier Research Centers: A View from Senior EFRC Representatives (2011 EFRC Summit, panel session)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drell, Persis; Armstrong, Neal; Carter, Emily; DePaolo, Don; Gunnoe, Brent

2011-01-01

A distinguished panel of scientists from the EFRC community provide their perspective on the importance of EFRCs for addressing critical energy needs at the 2011 EFRC Summit. Persis Drell, Director at SLAC, served as moderator. Panel members are Neal Armstrong (Director of the Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials, led by the University of Arizona), Emily Carter (Co-Director of the Combustion EFRC, led by Princeton University. She is also Team Leader of the Heterogeneous Functional Materials Center, led by the University of South Carolina), Don DePaolo (Director of the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2, led by LBNL), and Brent Gunnoe (Director of the Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalization, led by the University of Virginia). The 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum brought together the EFRC community and science and policy leaders from universities, national laboratories, industry and government to discuss 'Science for our Nation's Energy Future.' In August 2009, the Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers. The EFRCs are collaborative research efforts intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward fundamental research, the scientific basis for transformative energy technologies of the future. These Centers involve universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit firms, singly or in partnerships, selected by scientific peer review. They are funded at $2 to $5 million per year for a total planned DOE commitment of $777 million over the initial five-year award period, pending Congressional appropriations. These integrated, multi-investigator Centers are conducting fundamental research focusing on one or more of several 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The purpose of the EFRCs is to integrate the talents and expertise of leading scientists in a setting designed to accelerate

Frontiers of torenia research: innovative ornamental traits and study of ecological interaction networks through genetic engineering

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Advances in research in the past few years on the ornamental plant torenia (Torenia spps.) have made it notable as a model plant on the frontier of genetic engineering aimed at studying ornamental characteristics and pest control in horticultural ecosystems. The remarkable advantage of torenia over other ornamental plant species is the availability of an easy and high-efficiency transformation system for it. Unfortunately, most of the current torenia research is still not very widespread, because this species has not become prominent as an alternative to other successful model plants such as Arabidopsis, snapdragon and petunia. However, nowadays, a more global view using not only a few selected models but also several additional species are required for creating innovative ornamental traits and studying horticultural ecosystems. We therefore introduce and discuss recent research on torenia, the family Scrophulariaceae, for secondary metabolite bioengineering, in which global insights into horticulture, agriculture and ecology have been advanced. Floral traits, in torenia particularly floral color, have been extensively studied by manipulating the flavonoid biosynthetic pathways in flower organs. Plant aroma, including volatile terpenoids, has also been genetically modulated in order to understand the complicated nature of multi-trophic interactions that affect the behavior of predators and pollinators in the ecosystem. Torenia would accordingly be of great use for investigating both the variation in ornamental plants and the infochemical-mediated interactions with arthropods. PMID:23803155

Nature's longest threads new frontiers in the mathematics and physics of information in biology

CERN Document Server

Sreekantan, B V

2014-01-01

Organisms endowed with life show a sense of awareness, interacting with and learning from the universe in and around them. Each level of interaction involves transfer of information of various kinds, and at different levels. Each thread of information is interlinked with the other, and woven together, these constitute the universe — both the internal self and the external world — as we perceive it. They are, figuratively speaking, Nature's longest threads. This volume reports inter-disciplinary research and views on information and its transfer at different levels of organization by reputed scientists working on the frontier areas of science. It is a frontier where physics, mathematics and biology merge seamlessly, binding together specialized streams such as quantum mechanics, dynamical systems theory, and mathematics. The topics would interest a broad cross-section of researchers in life sciences, physics, cognition, neuroscience, mathematics and computer science, as well as interested amateurs, familia...

International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Bhateja, Vikrant; Udgata, Siba; Pattnaik, Prasant

2017-01-01

The book is a collection of high-quality peer-reviewed research papers presented at International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing: Theory and applications (FICTA 2016) held at School of Computer Engineering, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India during 16 – 17 September 2016. The book presents theories, methodologies, new ideas, experiences and applications in all areas of intelligent computing and its applications to various engineering disciplines like computer science, electronics, electrical and mechanical engineering.

A Frontier Model for Landscape Ecology: The Tapir in Honduras

OpenAIRE

Kevin Flesher; Eduardo Ley

1995-01-01

We borrow a frontier specification from the econometrics literature to make inferences about the tolerance of the tapir to human settlements. We estimate the width of an invisible band surrounding human settlements which would act as a frontier or exclusion zone to the tapir to be around 290 meters.

Frontier Fields: Bringing the Distant Universe into View

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenhamer, Bonnie; Lawton, Brandon L.; Summers, Frank; Ryer, Holly

2014-06-01

The Frontier Fields is a multi-cycle program of six deep-field observations of strong-lensing galaxy clusters that will be taken in parallel with six deep “blank fields.” The three-year long collaborative program centers on observations from NASA’s Great Observatories, who will team up to look deeper into the universe than ever before, and potentially uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the telescopes can typically see. Because of the unprecedented views of the universe that will be achieved, the Frontier Fields science program is ideal for informing audiences about scientific advances and topics in STEM. For example, the program provides an opportunity to look back on the history of deep field observations and how they changed (and continue to change) astronomy, while exploring the ways astronomers approach big science problems. As a result, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach has initiated an education and public outreach (E/PO) project to follow the progress of the Frontier Fields program - providing a behind-the-scenes perspective of this observing initiative. This poster will highlight the goals of the Frontier Fields E/PO project and the cost-effective approach being used to bring the program’s results to both the public and educational audiences.

Efficient Provision of Employment Service Outputs: A Production Frontier Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavin, Edward S.; Stafford, Frank P.

1985-01-01

This article develops a production frontier model for the Employment Service and assesses the relative efficiency of the 51 State Employment Security Agencies in attaining program outcomes close to that frontier. This approach stands in contrast to such established practices as comparing programs to their own previous performance. (Author/CT)

Electron accelerators for research at the frontiers of nuclear physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grunder, H.A.; Hartline, B.K.; Corneliussen, S.T.

1986-01-01

Electron accelerators for the frontiers of nuclear physics must provide high duty factor (>80%) for coincidence measurements; few-hundred-MeV through few-GeV energy for work in the nucleonic, hadronic, and confinement regimes; energy resolution of ∼10 -4 ; and high current (≥ 100 μA). To fulfill these requirements new machines and upgrades of existing ones are being planned or constructed. Representative microtron-based facilities are the upgrade of MAMI at the University of Mainz (West Germany), the proposed two-stage cascaded microtron at the University of Illinois (USA), and the three-stage Troitsk ''polytron'' (USSR). Representative projects to add pulse stretcher rings to existing linacs are the upgrades at MIT-Bates (USA) and at NIKHEF-K (Netherlands). Recent advances in superconducting rf technology, especially in cavity design and fabrication, have made large superconducting cw linacs become feasible. Recirculating superconducting cw linacs are under construction at the University of Darmstadt (West Germany) and at CEBAF (USA), and a proposal is being developed at Saclay (France). 31 refs

Energy Frontier Research Centers: Helping Win the Energy Innovation Race (2011 EFRC Summit Keynote Address, Secretary of Energy Chu)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chu, Steven

2011-01-01

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu gave the keynote address at the 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum. In his talk, Secretary Chu highlighted the need to 'unleash America's science and research community' to achieve energy breakthroughs. The 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum brought together the EFRC community and science and policy leaders from universities, national laboratories, industry and government to discuss 'Science for our Nation's Energy Future.' In August 2009, the Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers. The EFRCs are collaborative research efforts intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward fundamental research, the scientific basis for transformative energy technologies of the future. These Centers involve universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit firms, singly or in partnerships, selected by scientific peer review. They are funded at $2 to $5 million per year for a total planned DOE commitment of $777 million over the initial five-year award period, pending Congressional appropriations. These integrated, multi-investigator Centers are conducting fundamental research focusing on one or more of several 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The purpose of the EFRCs is to integrate the talents and expertise of leading scientists in a setting designed to accelerate research that transforms the future of energy and the environment.

Scientific Frontiers in the Management of Coral Reefs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shankar eAswani

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Coral reefs are subjected globally to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors that often act synergistically. Today, reversing ongoing and future coral reef degradation presents significant challenges and countering this negative trend will take considerable efforts and investments. Scientific knowledge can inform and guide the requisite decision-making process and offer practical solutions to the problem of protection as the effects of climate change exacerbate. However, implementation of solutions presently lags far behind the pace required to reverse global declines, and there is a need for an urgent and significant step-up in the extent and range of strategies being implemented. In this paper, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science research that can help build stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of interventions. We cover various areas including: (1 enhancing the case for reef conservation and management, (2 dealing with local stressors on reefs, (3 addressing global climate change impacts, (4 and reviewing various approaches to the governance of coral reefs. In sum, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science that will require further attention in coming years as managers’ work towards building stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of local interventions.

THE EVOLUTION OF ROMAN FRONTIER CONCEPT AND POLICY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Cupcea

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The Roman power is, ideologically, infinite in time and space. Nevertheless, the Roman state had experienced a wide variety of territorial limits, evolving in time and space, more or less throughout a millennium. If at first the Roman state, limited to Rome metropolitan area, later to the Italian peninsula, was easily defensible, beginning with the heavy expansion, also came trouble. The Romans, always innovating, find solutions for the fortification of the contact zones with the Barbarians. The Roman frontier concept was fundamentally different from the modern one. If the defence of Roman possessions was obviously priority, the border should remain an open ensemble, allowing for the free circulation of people and goods, some of the fundamental Roman rights. The peak of Roman expansion, 2nd century A.D. brings also the maximum development of the Empire frontier. Dacia overlaps widely chronologically on this trend, this being one of the reasons for one of the most complex frontier system in the Empire.

Power System Extreme Event Detection: The VulnerabilityFrontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lesieutre, Bernard C.; Pinar, Ali; Roy, Sandip

2007-10-17

In this work we apply graph theoretic tools to provide aclose bound on a frontier relating the number of line outages in a gridto the power disrupted by the outages. This frontier describes theboundary of a space relating the possible severity of a disturbance interms of power disruption, from zero to some maximum on the boundary, tothe number line outages involved in the event. We present the usefulnessof this analysis with a complete analysis of a 30 bus system, and presentresults for larger systems.

40 CFR 81.24 - Niagara Frontier Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Region. 81.24 Section 81.24 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Air Quality Control Regions § 81.24 Niagara Frontier Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Niagara Frontier Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (New York) consists of the territorial area...

Re-Emerging Frontiers: Postcolonial Theory and Historical Archaeology of the Borderlands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Naum, Magdalena

2010-01-01

processes in borderlands that were created by colonial empires. They are also an apt way to conceptualize relationships in frontiers that lacked colonial stigma. To illustrate this point, two different historical examples of borderlands are scrutinized in this paper: the medieval frontier region...

Portfolio Evaluation Based on Efficient Frontier Superiority Using Center of Gravity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Samat

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Investing in portfolio of assets is the best way to reduce the investment risk. The most desired portfolio can be obtained when investors chose to invest in the portfolios that lay on the portfolio’s efficient frontier. However, the superiorities of the portfolios are difficult to differentiate especially when the efficient frontier curves are overlapping. This paper proposed the portfolio’s efficient frontier center of gravity (CoG and Euclidean distance to identify its superiority. A sample of 49 stocks of large-cap and small-cap were used to construct two hypothetical portfolios and its efficient frontiers. The Euclidean distance showed that the large-cap portfolio is superior and having wider feasible solutions compared to the small-cap portfolio. The results of new tool introduced are consistent with the conventional methods. Here the theoretical and practical implications are provided in light of the findings.

Migrant decision-making in a frontier landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Salerno, Jonathan

2016-04-01

Across the tropics, rural farmers and livestock keepers use mobility as an adaptive livelihood strategy. Continued migration to and within frontier areas is widely viewed as a driver of environmental decline and biodiversity loss. Recent scholarship advances our understanding of migration decision-making in the context of changing climate and environments, and in doing so it highlights the variation in migration responses to primarily economic and environmental factors. Building on these insights, this letter investigates past and future migration decisions in a frontier landscape of Tanzania, East Africa. Combining field observations and household data within a multilevel modeling framework, the letter analyzes the explicit importance of social factors relative to economic and environmental factors in driving decisions to migrate or remain. Results indeed suggest that local community ties and non-local social networks drive both immobility and anticipated migration, respectively. In addition, positive interactions with local protected natural resource areas promote longer-term residence. Findings shed new light on how frontier areas transition to human dominated landscapes. This highlights critical links between migration behavior and the conservation of biodiversity and management of natural resources, as well as how migrants evolve to become integrated into communities.

Proceedings of the symposium on frontier nuclear physics (FRONP99)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiba, Satoshi

2000-01-01

The symposium on Frontier Nuclear Physics (FRONP99), organized by the Research Group for Hadron Science, Advanced Science Research Center, under close cooperation with the Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, was held at Tokai Research Establishment of JAERI on August 2 to 4, 1999. The symposium was devoted for discussions and presentations of research results in wide variety of fields such as hyper nuclear physics, lepton nuclear physics, quark nuclear physics, unstable nuclear physics, superheavy elements and heavy-ion physics. Three talks on the joint project between JAERI (Neutron Science Research Center) and KEK (JHF) were presented in a public session. Thirty three talks on these topics presented at the symposium aroused lively discussions among approximately 70 participants. This report contains 26 papers submitted from the lecturers. (author)

Shifting frontiers of transcendence in theology, philosophy and science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cornelius W. du Toit

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This article dealt cursorily with developments in theology, philosophy and the sciences that have contributed to what one might call horizontal transcendence. The premise is that humans have evolved into beings that are wired for transcendence. Transcendence is described in terms of the metaphor of frontiers and frontier posts. Although the frontiers of transcendence shift according to the insights, understanding and needs of every epoch and world view, it remains transcendent, even in its immanent mode. Diverse perceptions of that frontier normally coexist in every era and we can only discern a posteriori which was the dominant one. Frontiers are fixed with reference to the epistemologies, notions of the subject and power structures of a given era. From a theological point of view, encounter with the transcendent affords insight, not into the essence of transcendence, but into human self-understanding and understanding of our world. Transcendence enters into the picture when an ordinary human experience acquires a depth and an immediacy that are attributed to an act of God. In philosophy, transcendence evolved from a noumenal metaphysics focused on the object (Plato, via emphasis on the epistemological structure and limits of the knowing subject (Kant and an endeavour to establish a dynamic subject-object dialectics (Hegel, to the assimilation of transcendence into human existence (Heidegger. In the sciences certain developments opened up possibilities for God to act in non-interventionist ways. The limitations of such an approach are considered, as well as promising new departures – and their limitations – in the neurosciences. From all of this I conclude that an immanent-transcendent approach is plausible for our day and age.

Operational Experience with the Frontier System in CMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumenfeld, Barry; Dykstra, Dave; Kreuzer, Peter; Du Ran; Wang Weizhen

2012-01-01

The Frontier framework is used in the CMS experiment at the LHC to deliver conditions data to processing clients worldwide, including calibration, alignment, and configuration information. Each central server at CERN, called a Frontier Launchpad, uses tomcat as a servlet container to establish the communication between clients and the central Oracle database. HTTP-proxy Squid servers, located close to clients, cache the responses to queries in order to provide high performance data access and to reduce the load on the central Oracle database. Each Frontier Launchpad also has its own reverse-proxy Squid for caching. The three central servers have been delivering about 5 million responses every day since the LHC startup, containing about 40 GB data in total, to more than one hundred Squid servers located worldwide, with an average response time on the order of 10 milliseconds. The Squid caches deployed worldwide process many more requests per day, over 700 million, and deliver over 40 TB of data. Several monitoring tools of the tomcat log files, the accesses of the Squids on the central Launchpad servers, and the availability of remote Squids have been developed to guarantee the performance of the service and make the system easily maintainable. Following a brief introduction of the Frontier framework, we describe the performance of this highly reliable and stable system, detail monitoring concerns and their deployment, and discuss the overall operational experience from the first two years of LHC data-taking.

Operational Experience with the Frontier System in CMS

Science.gov (United States)

Blumenfeld, Barry; Dykstra, Dave; Kreuzer, Peter; Du, Ran; Wang, Weizhen

2012-12-01

The Frontier framework is used in the CMS experiment at the LHC to deliver conditions data to processing clients worldwide, including calibration, alignment, and configuration information. Each central server at CERN, called a Frontier Launchpad, uses tomcat as a servlet container to establish the communication between clients and the central Oracle database. HTTP-proxy Squid servers, located close to clients, cache the responses to queries in order to provide high performance data access and to reduce the load on the central Oracle database. Each Frontier Launchpad also has its own reverse-proxy Squid for caching. The three central servers have been delivering about 5 million responses every day since the LHC startup, containing about 40 GB data in total, to more than one hundred Squid servers located worldwide, with an average response time on the order of 10 milliseconds. The Squid caches deployed worldwide process many more requests per day, over 700 million, and deliver over 40 TB of data. Several monitoring tools of the tomcat log files, the accesses of the Squids on the central Launchpad servers, and the availability of remote Squids have been developed to guarantee the performance of the service and make the system easily maintainable. Following a brief introduction of the Frontier framework, we describe the performance of this highly reliable and stable system, detail monitoring concerns and their deployment, and discuss the overall operational experience from the first two years of LHC data-taking.

The genome in three dimensions: a new frontier in human brain research.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Amanda C; Bharadwaj, Rahul; Whittle, Catheryne; Krueger, Winfried; Mirnics, Karoly; Hurd, Yasmin; Rasmussen, Theodore; Akbarian, Schahram

2014-06-15

Less than 1.5% of the human genome encodes protein. However, vast portions of the human genome are subject to transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, and many noncoding regulatory DNA elements are thought to regulate the spatial organization of interphase chromosomes. For example, chromosomal "loopings" are pivotal for the orderly process of gene expression, by enabling distal regulatory enhancer or silencer elements to directly interact with proximal promoter and transcription start sites, potentially bypassing hundreds of kilobases of interspersed sequence on the linear genome. To date, however, epigenetic studies in the human brain are mostly limited to the exploration of DNA methylation and posttranslational modifications of the nucleosome core histones. In contrast, very little is known about the regulation of supranucleosomal structures. Here, we show that chromosome conformation capture, a widely used approach to study higher-order chromatin, is applicable to tissue collected postmortem, thereby informing about genome organization in the human brain. We introduce chromosome conformation capture protocols for brain and compare higher-order chromatin structures at the chromosome 6p22.2-22.1 schizophrenia and bipolar disorder susceptibility locus, and additional neurodevelopmental risk genes, (DPP10, MCPH1) in adult prefrontal cortex and various cell culture systems, including neurons derived from reprogrammed skin cells. We predict that the exploration of three-dimensional genome architectures and function will open up new frontiers in human brain research and psychiatric genetics and provide novel insights into the epigenetic risk architectures of regulatory noncoding DNA. Copyright © 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A mean-variance frontier in discrete and continuous time

OpenAIRE

Bekker, Paul A.

2004-01-01

The paper presents a mean-variance frontier based on dynamic frictionless investment strategies in continuous time. The result applies to a finite number of risky assets whose price process is given by multivariate geometric Brownian motion with deterministically varying coefficients. The derivation is based on the solution for the frontier in discrete time. Using the same multiperiod framework as Li and Ng (2000), I provide an alternative derivation and an alternative formulation of the solu...

FRESNO State joins exploration of new frontiers in physics

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

California State University, Fresno has joined a prestigious collaboration of top physicists, giving the Department of Physics' students, faculty and staff access to the most up-to-date information possible on new frontiers in the science for the next 15 years or longer. The program is the ATLAS (an acronym for A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) Experiment, which makes use of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) under construction at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland. (CERN also gave birth to the World Wide Web.)

12th International Symposium on Frontiers of Fundamental Physics

CERN Document Server

Michelini, Marisa; Santi, Lorenzo; FFP12; Frontiers of fundamental physics and physics education research

2014-01-01

In a knowledge-based society, research into fundamental physics plays a vital role not only in the enhancement of human knowledge but also in the development of new technology that affects everday life.The international symposium series Frontiers of Fundamental Physics (FFP) regularly brings together eminent scholars and researchers working in various areas in physics to exchange expertise, ideas, results, and new research perspectives. The twelfth such symposium, FFP12, took place at the University of Udine, Italy, and covered diverse fields of research: astrophysics, high energy physics and particle physics, theoretical physics, gravitation and cosmology, condensed matter physics, statistical physics, computational physics, and mathematical physics. Importantly, it also devoted a great deal of attention to physics education research, teacher training in modern physics, and popularization of physics. The high scientific level of FFP12 was guaranteed by the careful selection made by scientific coordinators fr...

Leading research report for fiscal 1998. Life landscape performance evaluation technology (Landscape Frontier); 1998 nendo sendo chosa kenkyu hokokusho. Seikatsu keikan seino hyoka gijutsu (land scape frontier)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-03-01

For the formulation of guidelines for the construction of an appropriate landscape in the 21st century for the creation of 'landscape industry' in a sustainable society, researches were conducted for the development of landscape materials to constitute living circumstances equipped with 'life landscape' and of technologies for evaluating them. In the landscape designing system subcommittee, the current states and problems of landscape designing systems were analyzed and problems to solve were clarified, these problems involving systems and institutions, people and collaboration, formation of a consensus, systems for production and distribution, etc. In the landscape materials subcommittee, a 'landscape cell' concept in which a life space is the unit was employed in discussing the needs for landscape materials to meet and in extracting the seeds the industry was able to offer for improvement on landscape. In the landscape evaluation subcommittee, the history and today of landscape were reviewed to define what was to be respected in the development of evaluation techniques, and guidelines were extracted towards landscape materials development and landscape industry promotion. In addition, a Landscape Frontier symposium was held. (NEDO)

Frontiers in Surface Nanophotonics Principles and Applications

CERN Document Server

Andrews, David L

2007-01-01

With the rapid technical advancement of nanoscale fabrication, the science of optics has recently undergone a renaissance with the characterization of new and distinctive kinds of photonic interaction. Beyond the well-known plasmonic processes, many of these effects also arise from intricate local field effects associated with surfaces, where the surface morphology determines the detailed electromagnetic behavior. As such interactions move into practical device applications across the globe, this book presents an overview of some cutting edge developments, contributed by members of several highly renowned research groups. Copiously illustrated and with extensive references to original literature, Frontiers in Surface Nanophotonics will appeal to a wide readership with interests in optics, materials science and nanotechnology.

Materials Frontiers to Empower Quantum Computing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taylor, Antoinette Jane [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Sarrao, John Louis [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Richardson, Christopher [Laboratory for Physical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States)

2015-06-11

This is an exciting time at the nexus of quantum computing and materials research. The materials frontiers described in this report represent a significant advance in electronic materials and our understanding of the interactions between the local material and a manufactured quantum state. Simultaneously, directed efforts to solve materials issues related to quantum computing provide an opportunity to control and probe the fundamental arrangement of matter that will impact all electronic materials. An opportunity exists to extend our understanding of materials functionality from electronic-grade to quantum-grade by achieving a predictive understanding of noise and decoherence in qubits and their origins in materials defects and environmental coupling. Realizing this vision systematically and predictively will be transformative for quantum computing and will represent a qualitative step forward in materials prediction and control.

Efficiently approximating the Pareto frontier: Hydropower dam placement in the Amazon basin

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaojian; Gomes-Selman, Jonathan; Shi, Qinru; Xue, Yexiang; Garcia-Villacorta, Roosevelt; Anderson, Elizabeth; Sethi, Suresh; Steinschneider, Scott; Flecker, Alexander; Gomes, Carla P.

2018-01-01

Real–world problems are often not fully characterized by a single optimal solution, as they frequently involve multiple competing objectives; it is therefore important to identify the so-called Pareto frontier, which captures solution trade-offs. We propose a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme based on Dynamic Programming (DP) for computing a polynomially succinct curve that approximates the Pareto frontier to within an arbitrarily small > 0 on treestructured networks. Given a set of objectives, our approximation scheme runs in time polynomial in the size of the instance and 1/. We also propose a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) scheme to approximate the Pareto frontier. The DP and MIP Pareto frontier approaches have complementary strengths and are surprisingly effective. We provide empirical results showing that our methods outperform other approaches in efficiency and accuracy. Our work is motivated by a problem in computational sustainability concerning the proliferation of hydropower dams throughout the Amazon basin. Our goal is to support decision-makers in evaluating impacted ecosystem services on the full scale of the Amazon basin. Our work is general and can be applied to approximate the Pareto frontier of a variety of multiobjective problems on tree-structured networks.

Pesticide use and biodiversity conservation in the Amazonian agricultural frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiesari, Luis; Waichman, Andrea; Brock, Theo; Adams, Cristina; Grillitsch, Britta

2013-06-05

Agricultural frontiers are dynamic environments characterized by the conversion of native habitats to agriculture. Because they are currently concentrated in diverse tropical habitats, agricultural frontiers are areas where the largest number of species is exposed to hazardous land management practices, including pesticide use. Focusing on the Amazonian frontier, we show that producers have varying access to resources, knowledge, control and reward mechanisms to improve land management practices. With poor education and no technical support, pesticide use by smallholders sharply deviated from agronomical recommendations, tending to overutilization of hazardous compounds. By contrast, with higher levels of technical expertise and resources, and aiming at more restrictive markets, large-scale producers adhered more closely to technical recommendations and even voluntarily replaced more hazardous compounds. However, the ecological footprint increased significantly over time because of increased dosage or because formulations that are less toxic to humans may be more toxic to other biodiversity. Frontier regions appear to be unique in terms of the conflicts between production and conservation, and the necessary pesticide risk management and risk reduction can only be achieved through responsibility-sharing by diverse stakeholders, including governmental and intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, financial institutions, pesticide and agricultural industries, producers, academia and consumers.

Frontiers in sustainable consumption research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reisch, Lucia A.; Cohen, Maurie J.; Thøgersen, John

2016-01-01

While the field of sustainable consumption research is relatively young, it has already attracted scholars from all corners of the social sciences. The time has come to identify a new research agenda as trends in sustainable consumption research seem to suggest the dawning of a new phase. Not only...

CMS conditions data access using FroNTier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumenfeld, Barry; Johns Hopkins U.; Dykstra, David; Lueking, Lee; Wicklund, Eric; Fermilab

2007-01-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC has established an infrastructure using the FroNTier framework to deliver conditions (i.e. calibration, alignment, etc.) data to processing clients worldwide. FroNTier is a simple web service approach providing client HTTP access to a central database service. The system for CMS has been developed to work with POOL which provides object relational mapping between the C++ clients and various database technologies. Because of the read only nature of the data, Squid proxy caching servers are maintained near clients and these caches provide high performance data access. Several features have been developed to make the system meet the needs of CMS including careful attention to cache coherency with the central database, and low latency loading required for the operation of the online High Level Trigger. The ease of deployment, stability of operation, and high performance make the FroNTier approach well suited to the GRID environment being used for CMS offline, as well as for the online environment used by the CMS High Level Trigger (HLT). The use of standard software, such as Squid and various monitoring tools, make the system reliable, highly configurable and easily maintained. We describe the architecture, software, deployment, performance, monitoring and overall operational experience for the system

CMS conditions data access using FroNTier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumenfeld, B; Dykstra, D; Lueking, L; Wicklund, E

2008-01-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC has established an infrastructure using the FroNTier framework to deliver conditions (i.e. calibration, alignment, etc.) data to processing clients worldwide. FroNTier is a simple web service approach providing client HTTP access to a central database service. The system for CMS has been developed to work with POOL which provides object relational mapping between the C++ clients and various database technologies. Because of the read only nature of the data, Squid proxy caching servers are maintained near clients and these caches provide high performance data access. Several features have been developed to make the system meet the needs of CMS including careful attention to cache coherency with the central database, and low latency loading required for the operation of the online High Level Trigger. The ease of deployment, stability of operation, and high performance make the FroNTier approach well suited to the GRID environment being used for CMS offline, as well as for the online environment used by the CMS High Level Trigger. The use of standard software, such as Squid and various monitoring tools, makes the system reliable, highly configurable and easily maintained. We describe the architecture, software, deployment, performance, monitoring and overall operational experience for the system

Nucleon measurements at the precision frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, Carl E. [Physics Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187 (United States)

2013-11-07

We comment on nucleon measurements at the precision frontier. As examples of what can be learned, we concentrate on three topics, which are parity violating scattering experiments, the proton radius puzzle, and the symbiosis between nuclear and atomic physics.

Landscape of Future Accelerators at the Energy and Intensity Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Syphers, M. J. [Northern Illinois U.; Chattopadhyay, S. [Northern Illinois U.

2016-11-21

An overview is provided of the currently envisaged landscape of charged particle accelerators at the energy and intensity frontiers to explore particle physics beyond the standard model via 1-100 TeV-scale lepton and hadron colliders and multi-Megawatt proton accelerators for short- and long- baseline neutrino experiments. The particle beam physics, associated technological challenges and progress to date for these accelerator facilities (LHC, HL-LHC, future 100 TeV p-p colliders, Tev-scale linear and circular electron-positron colliders, high intensity proton accelerator complex PIP-II for DUNE and future upgrade to PIP-III) are outlined. Potential and prospects for advanced “nonlinear dynamic techniques” at the multi-MW level intensity frontier and advanced “plasma- wakefield-based techniques” at the TeV-scale energy frontier and are also described.

International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Udgata, Siba; Biswal, Bhabendra

2013-01-01

The volume contains the papers presented at FICTA 2012: International Conference on Frontiers in Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications held on December 22-23, 2012 in Bhubaneswar engineering College, Bhubaneswar, Odissa, India. It contains 86 papers contributed by authors from the globe. These research papers mainly focused on application of intelligent techniques which includes evolutionary computation techniques like genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization techniques, teaching-learning based optimization etc  for various engineering applications such as data mining, image processing, cloud computing, networking etc.

PARTICLE BEAMS: Frontier course

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1987-01-15

Driven by the quest for higher energies and optimal physics conditions, the behaviour of particle beams in accelerators and storage rings is the subject of increasing attention. Thus the second course organized jointly by the US and CERN Accelerator Schools looked towards the frontiers of particle beam knowledge. The programme held at South Padre Island, Texas, from 23-29 October attracted 125 participants including some 35 from Europe.

PARTICLE BEAMS: Frontier course

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1987-01-01

Driven by the quest for higher energies and optimal physics conditions, the behaviour of particle beams in accelerators and storage rings is the subject of increasing attention. Thus the second course organized jointly by the US and CERN Accelerator Schools looked towards the frontiers of particle beam knowledge. The programme held at South Padre Island, Texas, from 23-29 October attracted 125 participants including some 35 from Europe

Motivation And Working Behavior In Frontier Tourism Business Of Thailand-Laos

OpenAIRE

Thirachaya Maneenetr

2010-01-01

The objectives of this research were to study the motivations and working behavior of the frontier tourism business at the Thailand-Laos border, to compare the working relationship between travel agencies and the hotel business, and to study the relationship between working motivation and working behavior in the tourism business by using a total sampling of 140 persons: 112 persons from the hotel business and 28 persons from travel agencies. Personnel in the tourism business consisted of 42.1...

Security in the CernVM File System and the Frontier Distributed Database Caching System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dykstra, D; Blomer, J

2014-01-01

Both the CernVM File System (CVMFS) and the Frontier Distributed Database Caching System (Frontier) distribute centrally updated data worldwide for LHC experiments using http proxy caches. Neither system provides privacy or access control on reading the data, but both control access to updates of the data and can guarantee the authenticity and integrity of the data transferred to clients over the internet. CVMFS has since its early days required digital signatures and secure hashes on all distributed data, and recently Frontier has added X.509-based authenticity and integrity checking. In this paper we detail and compare the security models of CVMFS and Frontier.

Security in the CernVM File System and the Frontier Distributed Database Caching System

Science.gov (United States)

Dykstra, D.; Blomer, J.

2014-06-01

Both the CernVM File System (CVMFS) and the Frontier Distributed Database Caching System (Frontier) distribute centrally updated data worldwide for LHC experiments using http proxy caches. Neither system provides privacy or access control on reading the data, but both control access to updates of the data and can guarantee the authenticity and integrity of the data transferred to clients over the internet. CVMFS has since its early days required digital signatures and secure hashes on all distributed data, and recently Frontier has added X.509-based authenticity and integrity checking. In this paper we detail and compare the security models of CVMFS and Frontier.

Introduction: New Frontiers of Ecological Knowledge: Co-producing Knowledge and Governance in Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shubhra Gururani

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This essay makes a case for centering the questions of ecological knowledge in order to understand how environmental governance and resource access are being remade in the frontier ecologies of Asia. These frontiers, consisting of the so-called uplands and coastal zones, are increasingly subject to new waves of extractive and conservation activities, prompted in part by rising values attached to these ecologies by new actors and actor coalitions. Drawing on recent writings in science and technology studies, we examine the coproduction (Jasanoff 2004 of ecological knowledge and governance at this conjuncture of neoliberal interventions, land grabs, and climate change. We outline the complex ways through which the involvement of new actors, new technologies, and practices of boundary work, territorialisation, scale-making, and expertise transform the dynamics of the coproduction of knowledge and governance. Drawing on long term field research in Asia, the articles in this special section show that resident peoples are often marginalised from the production and circulation of ecological knowledge, and thus from environmental governance. While attentive to the entry of new actors and to the shifts in relations of authority, control, and decision-making, the papers also present examples of how this marginalisation can be challenged, by highlighting the limits of boundary-work and expertise in such frontier ecologies.

The frontier beneath our feet

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Gordon E.; Dietrich, William E.

2017-04-01

Following the simple question as to where water goes when it rains leads to one of the most exciting frontiers in earth science: the critical zone—Earth's dynamic skin. The critical zone extends from the top of the vegetation canopy through the soil and down to fresh bedrock and the bottom of the groundwater. Only recently recognized as a distinct zone, it is challenging to study because it is hard to observe directly, and varies widely across biogeoclimatic regions. Yet new ideas, instruments, and observations are revealing surprising and sometimes paradoxical insights, underscoring the value of field campaigns and long-term observatories. These insights bear directly on some of the most pressing societal problems today: maintaining healthy forests, sustaining streamflow during droughts, and restoring productive terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The critical zone is critical because it supports all terrestrial life; it is the nexus where water and carbon is cycled, vegetation (hence food) grows, soil develops, landscapes evolve, and we live. No other frontier is so close to home.

Renormalization group critical frontier of the three-dimensional bond-dilute Ising ferromagnet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chao, N.-C.; Schwaccheim, G.; Tsallis, C.

1981-01-01

The critical frontier (as well as the thermal type critical exponents) associated to the quenched bond-dilute spin - 1/2 Ising ferromagnet in the simple cubic lattice is approximately calculated within a real space renormalization group framework in two different versions. Both lead to qualitatively satisfactory critical frontiers, although one of them provides an unphysical fixed point (which seem to be related to the three-dimensionality of the system) besides the expected pure ones; its effects tend to disappear for increasingly large clusters. Through an extrapolation procedure the (unknown) critical frontier is approximately located. (Author) [pt

Using Spline Regression in Semi-Parametric Stochastic Frontier Analysis: An Application to Polish Dairy Farms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Czekaj, Tomasz Gerard; Henningsen, Arne

of specifying an unsuitable functional form and thus, model misspecification and biased parameter estimates. Given these problems of the DEA and the SFA, Fan, Li and Weersink (1996) proposed a semi-parametric stochastic frontier model that estimates the production function (frontier) by non......), Kumbhakar et al. (2007), and Henningsen and Kumbhakar (2009). The aim of this paper and its main contribution to the existing literature is the estimation semi-parametric stochastic frontier models using a different non-parametric estimation technique: spline regression (Ma et al. 2011). We apply...... efficiency of Polish dairy farms contributes to the insight into this dynamic process. Furthermore, we compare and evaluate the results of this spline-based semi-parametric stochastic frontier model with results of other semi-parametric stochastic frontier models and of traditional parametric stochastic...

Frontiers of quantum Monte Carlo workshop: preface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gubernatis, J.E.

1985-01-01

The introductory remarks, table of contents, and list of attendees are presented from the proceedings of the conference, Frontiers of Quantum Monte Carlo, which appeared in the Journal of Statistical Physics

Metaorganisms as the new frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosch, Thomas C G; McFall-Ngai, Margaret J

2011-09-01

Because it appears that almost all organisms are part of an interdependent metaorganism, an understanding of the underlying host-microbe species associations, and of evolution and molecular underpinnings, has become the new frontier in zoology. The availability of novel high-throughput sequencing methods, together with the conceptual understanding that advances mostly originate at the intersection of traditional disciplinary boundaries, enable biologists to dissect the mechanisms that control the interdependent associations of species. In this review article, we outline some of the issues in inter-species interactions, present two case studies illuminating the necessity of interfacial research when addressing complex and fundamental zoological problems, and show that an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to understand co-evolved multi-species relationships will connect genomes, phenotypes, ecosystems and the evolutionary forces that have shaped them. We hope that this article inspires other collaborations of a similar nature on the diverse landscape commonly referred to as "zoology". Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Fronteiras da pesquisa sobre governança corporativa: uma análise epistemológica = The Frontiers of the Research about Corporate Governance: an Epistemological Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josedilton Alves Diniz

2011-09-01

Full Text Available O problema investigado neste artigo é expresso pela seguinte questão: qual a amplitude da exploração das fronteiras de pesquisa sobre Governança Corporativa presentes nas publicações em Congressos e Encontros de Contabilidade no Brasil, no período de 2006 a 2008? Alinhado a esse problema, o objetivo dessa investigação consiste em identificar e analisar as publicações brasileiras sobre governança corporativa dentro do contexto da contabilidade e finanças, evidenciando as fronteiras de pesquisas: estrutura teórica, mecanismos de accountability, metodologia e técnica aplicada, setores e contexto, globalização e horizonte temporal. Para alcançar esse intento, foi feito um levantamento nos artigos publicados em anais de Congressos e Encontros Nacionais de Contabilidade ou que se incluíam na área específica de Contabilidade e que apresentavam qualificação pela CAPES com Conceito A. A coleta de dados foi feita a partir da análise documental dos artigos analisados dentro do período de 2006 a 2008. Os resultados revelaram que as pesquisas brasileiras sobre governança corporativa têm feito uso quase que exclusivo das fronteiras apontadas como tradicionais.The problem investigated in this paper is expressed by the following question: what is the amplitude of the explorations of the research frontiers concerning Corporate Governance present in the publications of Accountancy Congresses and Meetings in Brazil from 2006 to 2008? Aligned to this problem, the aim of this investigation consists of identifying and analyzing the Brazilian publications about corporate governance within the context of accountability and finances, enlightening the research frontiers: theoretical structure, accountability mechanisms, methodology and applied technique, sectors and context, globalization and temporal horizon. To reach this intent, a survey was carried out into the articles published in the annals of the National Congresses and Meetings of

Compendium of Instrumentation Whitepapers on Frontier Physics Needs for Snowmass 2013

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lipton, R. [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

2013-01-01

Contents of collection of whitepapers include: Operation of Collider Experiments at High Luminosity; Level 1 Track Triggers at HL-LHC; Tracking and Vertex Detectors for a Muon Collider; Triggers for hadron colliders at the energy frontier; ATLAS Upgrade Instrumentation; Instrumentation for the Energy Frontier; Particle Flow Calorimetry for CMS; Noble Liquid Calorimeters; Hadronic dual-readout calorimetry for high energy colliders; Another Detector for the International Linear Collider; e+e- Linear Colliders Detector Requirements and Limitations; Electromagnetic Calorimetry in Project X Experiments The Project X Physics Study; Intensity Frontier Instrumentation; Project X Physics Study Calorimetry Report; Project X Physics Study Tracking Report; The LHCb Upgrade; Neutrino Detectors Working Group Summary; Advanced Water Cherenkov R&D for WATCHMAN; Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC); Liquid Scintillator Instrumentation for Physics Frontiers; A readout architecture for 100,000 pixel Microwave Kinetic In- ductance Detector array; Instrumentation for New Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization; Future Atmospheric and Water Cherenkov ?-ray Detectors; Dark Energy; Can Columnar Recombination Provide Directional Sensitivity in WIMP Search?; Instrumentation Needs for Detection of Ultra-high Energy Neu- trinos; Low Background Materials for Direct Detection of Dark Matter; Physics Motivation for WIMP Dark Matter Directional Detection; Solid Xenon R&D at Fermilab; Ultra High Energy Neutrinos; Instrumentation Frontier: Direct Detection of WIMPs; nEXO detector R&D; Large Arrays of Air Cherenkov Detectors; and Applications of Laser Interferometry in Fundamental Physics Experiments.

Frontiers in Gold Chemistry

OpenAIRE

Ahmed A. Mohamed

2015-01-01

Basic chemistry of gold tells us that it can bond to sulfur, phosphorous, nitrogen, and oxygen donor ligands. The Frontiers in Gold Chemistry Special Issue covers gold complexes bonded to the different donors and their fascinating applications. This issue covers both basic chemistry studies of gold complexes and their contemporary applications in medicine, materials chemistry, and optical sensors. There is a strong belief that aurophilicity plays a major role in the unending applications of g...

The 2016 Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry Conference in Bonn.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Christa E; Thimm, Dominik; Baringhaus, Karl-Heinz

2017-01-05

Pushing the frontiers of medicinal chemistry: Christa Müller, Dominik Thimm, and Karl-Heinz Baringhaus look back at the events of the 2016 Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry (FiMC) Conference held in Bonn, Germany. The report highlights the themes & talks in the annual conference hosted by the Joint Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the German Pharmaceutical Society (DPhG) and German Chemical Society (GDCh). It is also an invitation to the 2017 conference in Bern, Switzerland this February 12-15. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Resources for Teaching about the Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Seiter, David

1988-01-01

Highlights materials relating to the U.S. frontier during the 19th century by citing journal articles and documents related to this topic. Indicates the means for obtaining these works which deal with rural schooling, historical demography, Native Americans, music, revivalism, and Black cowboys. (KO)

Mapping scientific frontiers : the quest for knowledge visualization.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boyack, Kevin W.

2003-08-01

Visualization of scientific frontiers is a relatively new field, yet it has a long history and many predecessors. The application of science to science itself has been undertaken for decades with notable early contributions by Derek Price, Thomas Kuhn, Diana Crane, Eugene Garfield, and many others. What is new is the field of information visualization and application of its techniques to help us understand the process of science in the making. In his new book, Chaomei Chen takes us on a journey through this history, touching on predecessors, and then leading us firmly into the new world of Mapping Scientific Frontiers. Building on the foundation of his earlier book, Information Visualization and Virtual Environments, Chen's new offering is much less a tutorial in how to do information visualization, and much more a conceptual exploration of why and how the visualization of science can change the way we do science, amplified by real examples. Chen's stated intents for the book are: (1) to focus on principles of visual thinking that enable the identification of scientific frontiers; (2) to introduce a way to systematize the identification of scientific frontiers (or paradigms) through visualization techniques; and (3) to stimulate interdisciplinary research between information visualization and information science researchers. On all these counts, he succeeds. Chen's book can be broken into two parts which focus on the first two purposes stated above. The first, consisting of the initial four chapters, covers history and predecessors. Kuhn's theory of normal science punctuated by periods of revolution, now commonly known as paradigm shifts, motivates the work. Relevant predecessors outside the traditional field of information science such as cartography (both terrestrial and celestial), mapping the mind, and principles of visual association and communication, are given ample coverage. Chen also describes enabling techniques known to information

Quality frontier of electricity distribution: Supply security, best practices, and underground cabling in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saastamoinen, Antti; Kuosmanen, Timo

2016-01-01

Electricity distribution is a prime example of local monopoly. In most countries, the costs of electricity distribution operators are regulated by the government. However, the cost regulation may create adverse incentives to compromise the quality of service. To avoid this, cost regulation is often amended with quality incentives. This study applies theory and methods of productivity analysis to model the frontier of service quality. A semi-nonparametric estimation method is developed, which does not assume any particular functional form for the quality frontier, but can accommodate stochastic noise and heteroscedasticity. The empirical part of our paper examines how underground cabling and location affect the interruption costs. As expected, higher proportion of underground cabling decreases the level of interruption costs. The effects of cabling and location on the variance of performance are also considered. Especially the location is found to be a significant source of heteroscedasticity in the interruption costs. Finally, the proposed quality frontier benchmark is compared to the current practice of Finnish regulation system. The proposed quality frontier is found to provide more meaningful and stable basis for setting quality targets than the average practice benchmarks currently in use. - Highlights: • Cost regulation may create adverse incentives to lower the service quality. • We model the frontier of service quality using a semi-nonparametric approach. • Our nonparametric frontier accounts for stochastic noise and heteroscedasticity. • We estimate how underground cabling and location affect interruption costs. • We compare our quality frontier with the current quality regulation in Finland.

Risk appetite : reaching for the frontier

NARCIS (Netherlands)

dr. A.F. de Wild

2015-01-01

Deze poster vat de resultaten samen van een onderzoek in spelvorm gehouden onder 56 Nederlandse risicomanagement professionals. Onderzocht werd of zij in staat waren risico’s optimaal te managen. In het spel konden 10 optimale spelstrategieën gespeeld worden die samen een efficient frontier vormden.

An Efficient, Noniterative Method of Identifying the Cost-Effectiveness Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Suen, Sze-chuan; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D

2016-01-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis aims to identify treatments and policies that maximize benefits subject to resource constraints. However, the conventional process of identifying the efficient frontier (i.e., the set of potentially cost-effective options) can be algorithmically inefficient, especially when considering a policy problem with many alternative options or when performing an extensive suite of sensitivity analyses for which the efficient frontier must be found for each. Here, we describe an alternative one-pass algorithm that is conceptually simple, easier to implement, and potentially faster for situations that challenge the conventional approach. Our algorithm accomplishes this by exploiting the relationship between the net monetary benefit and the cost-effectiveness plane. To facilitate further evaluation and use of this approach, we also provide scripts in R and Matlab that implement our method and can be used to identify efficient frontiers for any decision problem. © The Author(s) 2015.

The two frontiers of physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1986-05-15

In March at Garching, near Munich, physicists from different walks of life together took another hard look at the two major frontiers of physics – the very large and the infinitesimally small. Organized jointly by CERN and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Garching 'Symposium on Cosmology, Astronomy and Fundamental Physics' was the second in a series launched at CERN in November 1983.

Financial development and energy consumption in Central and Eastern European frontier economies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadorsky, Perry

2011-01-01

This study examines the impact of financial development on energy consumption in a sample of 9 Central and Eastern European frontier economies. Several different measures of financial development are examined including bank related variables and stock market variables. The empirical results, obtained from dynamic panel demand models, show a positive and statistically significant relationship between financial development and energy consumption when financial development is measured using banking variables like deposit money bank assets to GDP, financial system deposits to GDP, or liquid liabilities to GDP. Of the three stock market variables investigated, only one, stock market turnover, has a positive and statistically significant impact on energy consumption. Both short-run and long-run elasticities are presented. The implications of these results for energy policy are discussed. - Research Highlights: → Financial development affects energy consumption in 9 Central and Eastern European frontier economies. → Bank variables have a larger impact on energy consumption than do stock market variables. → Long run bank elasticities range from 0.117 to 0.276. → These results have implications for energy demand forecasts and greenhouse gas emissions.

Frontiers of biomedical text mining: current progress

Science.gov (United States)

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

2008-01-01

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

Mean-variance portfolio selection and efficient frontier for defined contribution pension schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Højgaard, Bjarne; Vigna, Elena

We solve a mean-variance portfolio selection problem in the accumulation phase of a defined contribution pension scheme. The efficient frontier, which is found for the 2 asset case as well as the n + 1 asset case, gives the member the possibility to decide his own risk/reward profile. The mean...... as a mean-variance optimization problem. It is shown that the corresponding mean and variance of the final fund belong to the efficient frontier and also the opposite, that each point on the efficient frontier corresponds to a target-based optimization problem. Furthermore, numerical results indicate...... that the largely adopted lifestyle strategy seems to be very far from being efficient in the mean-variance setting....

Old Borders and New Bordering Capabilities: Cities as Frontier Zones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saskia Sassen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The global city is a new frontier zone. Deregulation, privatization, and new fiscal and monetary policies create the formal instruments to construct their equivalent of the old military “fort”. The city is also a strategic frontier zone for those who lack power, and allows the making of informal politics. At the same time the border is a mix of regimes, marked by protections and opportunities for corporations and high-level professionals, and implies confinement, capture and detention for migrants. The essay discusses the transformation of the city in a frontier zone and analyses the separation between the capabilities entailed by territoriality and the geographic territory tout court. The analysis focuses on the effects of neoliberal policies that, far from making this a borderless world, have actually multiplied the bordered spaces that allow firms and markets to move across conventional borders. Cities are therefore one of the key sites where new neoliberal norms are made and where new identities emerge.

Prairie, gold and frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chirico, S.

2005-01-01

ThIs work deals with the mining history of the region of Cunapiru, Uruguay. Its process develops inside a rural world, and in this aspect it is not very different to other praires of similar geographic zones.Nevertheless, the fact of being a frontier territory makes it singular, different, and peculiar enough to transform this praire deeply. Memories of prosperity times nurture a centenarian illusion of manfified, inexact dating or significance facts. However, all that memories were essentials to collective identify.

The two frontiers of physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1986-01-01

In March at Garching, near Munich, physicists from different walks of life together took another hard look at the two major frontiers of physics – the very large and the infinitesimally small. Organized jointly by CERN and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Garching 'Symposium on Cosmology, Astronomy and Fundamental Physics' was the second in a series launched at CERN in November 1983

Fifth German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2002-05-01

The agenda book for the Fifth German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium contains abstracts of the 16 presentations as well as information on the program, bios of the speakers, contact information for all attendees, and background on the activity.

Evolution of grid-wide access to database resident information in ATLAS using Frontier

CERN Document Server

Barberis, D; The ATLAS collaboration; de Stefano, J; Dewhurst, A L; Dykstra, D; Front, D

2012-01-01

The ATLAS experiment deployed Frontier technology world-wide during the the initial year of LHC collision data taking to enable user analysis jobs running on the World-wide LHC Computing Grid to access database resident data. Since that time, the deployment model has evolved to optimize resources, improve performance, and streamline maintenance of Frontier and related infrastructure. In this presentation we focus on the specific changes in the deployment and improvements undertaken such as the optimization of cache and launchpad location, the use of RPMs for more uniform deployment of underlying Frontier related components, improvements in monitoring, optimization of fail-over, and an increasing use of a centrally managed database containing site specific information (for configuration of services and monitoring). In addition, analysis of Frontier logs has allowed us a deeper understanding of problematic queries and understanding of use cases. Use of the system has grown beyond just user analysis and subsyste...

Nucleic acid aptamers: an emerging frontier in cancer therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Guizhi; Ye, Mao; Donovan, Michael J; Song, Erqun; Zhao, Zilong; Tan, Weihong

2012-11-04

The last two decades have witnessed the development and application of nucleic acid aptamers in a variety of fields, including target analysis, disease therapy, and molecular and cellular engineering. The efficient and widely applicable aptamer selection, reproducible chemical synthesis and modification, generally impressive target binding selectivity and affinity, relatively rapid tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, and rapid systemic clearance make aptamers ideal recognition elements for use as therapeutics or for in vivo delivery of therapeutics. In this feature article, we discuss the development and biomedical application of nucleic acid aptamers, with emphasis on cancer cell aptamer isolation, targeted cancer therapy, oncology biomarker identification and drug discovery.

Applied thermodynamics: A new frontier for biotechnology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mollerup, Jørgen

2006-01-01

The scientific career of one of the most outstanding scientists in molecular thermodynamics, Professor John M. Prausnitz at Berkeley, reflects the change in the agenda of molecular thermodynamics, from hydrocarbon chemistry to biotechnology. To make thermodynamics a frontier for biotechnology...

THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER: THE CURRENT LIMITS OF ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

tions, area-wide or regional development organizations, specialized functional authorities or ... regional or functional development authorities, parastatal organizations, or special project ..... frontiers between urban, peri-urban and rural activity are blurring and merging. .... KOPP, A., 1998. Networking and rural development.

Frontiers in pulse-power-based high energy density plasma physics and its applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horioka, Kazuhiko

2008-03-01

The papers in this volume of report were presented at the Symposium on Frontiers in Pulse-power-based High Energy Density Physics' held by National Institute for Fusion Science. The topics include the present status of high energy density plasma researches, extreme ultraviolet sources, intense radiation sources, high power ion beams, and R and D of related pulse power technologies. The 13 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

A tradeoff frontier for global nitrogen use and cereal production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, Nathaniel D; West, Paul C; Gerber, James S; MacDonald, Graham K; Foley, Jonathan A; Polasky, Stephen

2014-01-01

Nitrogen fertilizer use across the world’s croplands enables high-yielding agricultural production, but does so at considerable environmental cost. Imbalances between nitrogen applied and nitrogen used by crops contributes to excess nitrogen in the environment, with negative consequences for water quality, air quality, and climate change. Here we utilize crop input-yield models to investigate how to minimize nitrogen application while achieving crop production targets. We construct a tradeoff frontier that estimates the minimum nitrogen fertilizer needed to produce a range of maize, wheat, and rice production levels. Additionally, we explore potential environmental consequences by calculating excess nitrogen along the frontier using a soil surface nitrogen balance model. We find considerable opportunity to achieve greater production and decrease both nitrogen application and post-harvest excess nitrogen. Our results suggest that current (circa 2000) levels of cereal production could be achieved with ∼50% less nitrogen application and ∼60% less excess nitrogen. If current global nitrogen application were held constant but spatially redistributed, production could increase ∼30%. If current excess nitrogen were held constant, production could increase ∼40%. Efficient spatial patterns of nitrogen use on the frontier involve substantial reductions in many high-use areas and moderate increases in many low-use areas. Such changes may be difficult to achieve in practice due to infrastructure, economic, or political constraints. Increases in agronomic efficiency would expand the frontier to allow greater production and environmental gains

Inference from concave stochastic frontiers and the covariance of firm efficiency measures across firms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dashti, Imad

2003-01-01

This paper uses a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to obtain confidence intervals on firm efficiency measures of electric utilities rather than the point estimates reported in most previous studies. Results reveal that the stochastic frontier model yields imprecise measures of firm efficiency. However, the application produces much more precise inference on pairwise efficiency comparisons of firms due to a sometimes strong positive covariance of efficiency measures across firms. In addition, we examine the sensitivity to functional form by repeating the analysis for Cobb-Douglas, translog and Fourier frontiers, with and without imposing monotonicity and concavity

EFISIENSI BANK PEMBANGUNAN DAERAH: PENDEKATAN STOCHASTIC FRONTIER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Husein Fadhlullah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to analyze the efficiency rate at Islamic regional banks (BPD in Indonesia, with case of 15 Islamic regional banks from 2008 – 2012. The method that used in this research is stochastic frontier analysis approach (SFA, which uses the input variable (such as human resources cost, administration cost, and other expenses and the output variable is SFA (operational income. The average efficiency rate from 15 Islamic regional banks from 2008 – 2012 with SFA method is 53.21 percent and all of the Islamic regional banks doesn’t achieve the 100 percent efficiency. The most efficient banks is Islamic regional bank of Kalimantan Barat which the efficiency rate achieve 90.42 percent and the most inefficiency banks is Islamic regional bank of Sumatera Barat. The average efficiency rate from 2008-2012 is always increase each year. In 2008 the average efficiency rate only 33.57 percent and in the last of 2012 achieve 71.81 percent.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v4i1.2291

Energy not the only frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1988-01-01

In the major world areas active In high energy physics, proposals have been prepared for new machines to manufacture intense beams of strongly interacting particles (hadrons) to complement the physics coming in from the high energy frontier. An information session on these plans for intense hadron facilities was included in the Third International Conference on the Intersections between Particle and Nuclear Physics, held in Rockport, Maine, in May

Stratigraphy and structural setting of Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation, western Centennial Mountains, southwestern Montana and southeastern Idaho

Science.gov (United States)

Dyman, T.S.; Tysdal, R.G.; Perry, W.J.; Nichols, D.J.; Obradovich, J.D.

2008-01-01

Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and palynologic data were used to correlate the Frontier Formation of the western Centennial Mountains with time-equivalent rocks in the Lima Peaks area and other nearby areas in southwestern Montana. The stratigraphic interval studied is in the middle and upper parts (but not uppermost) of the formation based on a comparison of sandstone petrography, palynologic age data, and our interpretation of the structure using a seismic line along the frontal zone of the Centennial Mountains and the adjacent Centennial Valley. The Frontier Formation is comprised of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, limestone, and silty shale in fluvial and coastal depositional settings. A distinctive characteristic of these strata in the western Centennial Mountains is the absence of conglomerate and conglomeratic sandstone beds. Absence of conglomerate beds may be due to lateral facies changes associated with fluvial systems, a distal fining of grain size, and the absence of both uppermost and lower Frontier rocks in the study area. Palynostratigraphic data indicate a Coniacian age for the Frontier Formation in the western Centennial Mountains. These data are supported by a geochronologic age from the middle part of the Frontier at Lima Peaks indicating a possible late Coniacian-early Santonian age (86.25 ?? 0.38 Ma) for the middle Frontier there. The Frontier Formation in the western Centennial Mountains is comparable in age and thickness to part of the Frontier at Lima Peaks. These rocks represent one of the thickest known sequences of Frontier strata in the Rocky Mountain region. Deposition was from about 95 to 86 Ma (middle Cenomanian to at least early Santonian), during which time, shoreface sandstone of the Telegraph Creek Formation and marine shale of the Cody Shale were deposited to the east in the area now occupied by the Madison Range in southwestern Montana. Frontier strata in the western Centennial Mountains are structurally isolated from other

Microfluidics expanding the frontiers of microbial ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rusconi, Roberto; Garren, Melissa; Stocker, Roman

2014-01-01

Microfluidics has significantly contributed to the expansion of the frontiers of microbial ecology over the past decade by allowing researchers to observe the behaviors of microbes in highly controlled microenvironments, across scales from a single cell to mixed communities. Spatially and temporally varying distributions of organisms and chemical cues that mimic natural microbial habitats can now be established by exploiting physics at the micrometer scale and by incorporating structures with specific geometries and materials. In this article, we review applications of microfluidics that have resulted in insightful discoveries on fundamental aspects of microbial life, ranging from growth and sensing to cell-cell interactions and population dynamics. We anticipate that this flexible multidisciplinary technology will continue to facilitate discoveries regarding the ecology of microorganisms and help uncover strategies to control microbial processes such as biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance.

Frontiers of finance: evolution and efficient markets.

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, J D; Lo, A W

1999-08-31

In this review article, we explore several recent advances in the quantitative modeling of financial markets. We begin with the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and describe how this controversial idea has stimulated a number of new directions of research, some focusing on more elaborate mathematical models that are capable of rationalizing the empirical facts, others taking a completely different tack in rejecting rationality altogether. One of the most promising directions is to view financial markets from a biological perspective and, specifically, within an evolutionary framework in which markets, instruments, institutions, and investors interact and evolve dynamically according to the "law" of economic selection. Under this view, financial agents compete and adapt, but they do not necessarily do so in an optimal fashion. Evolutionary and ecological models of financial markets is truly a new frontier whose exploration has just begun.

An Efficient, Non-iterative Method of Identifying the Cost-Effectiveness Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Suen, Sze-chuan; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D.

2015-01-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis aims to identify treatments and policies that maximize benefits subject to resource constraints. However, the conventional process of identifying the efficient frontier (i.e., the set of potentially cost-effective options) can be algorithmically inefficient, especially when considering a policy problem with many alternative options or when performing an extensive suite of sensitivity analyses for which the efficient frontier must be found for each. Here, we describe an alternative one-pass algorithm that is conceptually simple, easier to implement, and potentially faster for situations that challenge the conventional approach. Our algorithm accomplishes this by exploiting the relationship between the net monetary benefit and the cost-effectiveness plane. To facilitate further evaluation and use of this approach, we additionally provide scripts in R and Matlab that implement our method and can be used to identify efficient frontiers for any decision problem. PMID:25926282

EDITORIAL: Invited papers from the international meeting on 'New Frontiers in Numerical Relativity' (Albert Einstein Institute, Potsdam, Germany, 17 21 July 2006)

Science.gov (United States)

Campanelli, M.; Rezzolla, L.

2007-06-01

Traditionally, frontiers represent a treacherous terrain to venture into, where hidden obstacles are present and uncharted territories lie ahead. At the same time, frontiers are also a place where new perspectives can be appreciated and have often been the cradle of new and thriving developments. With this in mind and inspired by this spirit, the Numerical Relativity Group at the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI) organized a `New Frontiers in Numerical Relativity' meeting on 17 21 July 2006 at the AEI campus in Potsdam, Germany. It is an interesting historical remark that the suggestion of the meeting was first made in the late summer of 2005 and thus at a time that for many reasons has been a turning point in the recent history of numerical relativity. A few months earlier (April 2005) in fact, F Pretorius had announced the first multi-orbit simulations of binary black holes and computed the waveforms from the inspiral, merger and ring-down (`Numerical Relativity', Banff International Research Station, Banff, Canada, 16 21 April 2005). At that time, the work of Pretorius served as an important boost to the research in this field and although no other group has yet adopted the techniques he employed, his results provided the numerical relativity community with clear evidence that the binary black hole problem could be solved. A few months later (November 2005), equally striking results were presented by the NASA Goddard and Texas/Brownsville groups, who also reported, independently, multi-orbit evolutions of binary black holes using numerical techniques and formulations of the Einstein equations which were markedly distinct from those suggested by Pretorius (`Numerical Relativity 2005', Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, MD, USA, 2 4 November 2005). A few months later other groups were able to repeat the same simulations and obtain equivalent results, testifying that the community as a whole had reached comparable levels of maturity in both the numerical

Research Frontiers and Way Forward

Science.gov (United States)

Bahron, H.

2018-02-01

Researchers and academics do research to address the current and future needs of the nation. They have to be alert and sensitive to demands of their surrounding that can be largely be classed into the community, industry and government to complete the quadruple helix that intertwines the three into the fourth segment i.e. the academia. The current buzzwords that ought to catch the attention of academia are Translational Research, Niche Area, Sustainable Development Growth (SDG), Internet of Things (IoT), 4th Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), Big Data, Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) and Bottom 40% (B40). UiTM’s niche areas that have been declared to KPT are (a) Sustainable Technology and Economy, and (b) Social Engineering and Creative Media. These are very much in line with 17 Sustainable Development Goals declared by the United Nation in 2012 with the goal of integrating planetary stability with the target of fighting poverty and securing human wellbeing. Internet of Things that swarms the globe brings about the seamless integration of physical objects with information network through internet connectivity. This flourishing development hails the advent of 4th Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) that is inevitable where industrial automation and data exchange in the manufacturing technology rapidly includes cyber-physical system through IoT, cloud computing and cognitive computing. IR 4.0 should catapult productivity into hyper-drive to meet the needs of global consumers. The tremendous growth of cyber activities that encompass all aspects of life presents the inevitable progression into the dimension of Big Data. It is a new data ecosystem that is very large and complex, rendering the traditional data processing software inadequate and obsolete. A new breed of ICT experts are required to handle the enormousness of the task of capturing, storing, analyzing, searching, sharing, transferring, visualizing, updating and most importantly, information privacy. Closer to

Frontiers in Planar Lightwave Circuit Technology Design, Simulation, and Fabrication

CERN Document Server

Janz, Siegfried; Tanev, Stoyan

2005-01-01

This book is the result of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Frontiers in Planar Lightwave Circuit Technology, which took place in Ottawa, Canada from September 21-25, 2004. Many of the world’s leading experts in integrated photonic design, theory and experiment were invited to give lectures in their fields of expertise, and participate in discussions on current research and applications, as well as the new directions planar lightwave circuit technology is evolving towards. The sum of their contributions to this book constitutes an excellent record of many key issues and scientific problems in planar lightwave circuit research at the time of writing. In this volume the reader will find detailed overviews of experimental and theoretical work in high index contrast waveguide systems, micro-optical resonators, nonlinear optics, and advanced optical simulation methods, as well as articles describing emerging applications of integrated optics for medical and biological applications.

Preface: Special Topic on Frontiers in Molecular Scale Electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Evers, Ferdinand; Venkataraman, Latha

2017-03-01

The electronic, mechanical, and thermoelectric properties of molecular scale devices have fascinated scientists across several disciplines in natural sciences and engineering. The interest is partially technological, driven by the fast miniaturization of integrated circuits that now have reached characteristic features at the nanometer scale. Equally important, a very strong incentive also exists to elucidate the fundamental aspects of structure-function relations for nanoscale devices, which utilize molecular building blocks as functional units. Thus motivated, a rich research field has established itself, broadly termed "Molecular Electronics," that hosts a plethora of activities devoted to this goal in chemistry, physics, and electrical engineering. This Special Topic on Frontiers of Molecular Scale Electronics captures recent theoretical and experimental advances in the field.

Use of wikis as a collaborative ICT tool for extending the frontiers of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

When Web 2.0 technologies are used in the classroom, learners and teachers are given the opportunity to extend the frontiers of knowledge by collaborating and contributing to knowledge. This paper explores the possibility of using Wikis – a Web 2.0 technology – to extend the frontiers of knowledge. It also discusses how ...

FIFE-Jobsub: a grid submission system for intensity frontier experiments at Fermilab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Box, Dennis

2014-01-01

The Fermilab Intensity Frontier Experiments use an integrated submission system known as FIFE-jobsub, part of the FIFE (Fabric for Frontier Experiments) initiative, to submit batch jobs to the Open Science Grid. FIFE-jobsub eases the burden on experimenters by integrating data transfer and site selection details in an easy to use and well-documented format. FIFE-jobsub automates tedious details of maintaining grid proxies for the lifetime of the grid job. Data transfer is handled using the Intensity Frontier Data Handling Client (IFDHC) [1] tool suite, which facilitates selecting the appropriate data transfer method from many possibilities while protecting shared resources from overload. Chaining of job dependencies into Directed Acyclic Graphs (Condor DAGS) is well supported and made easier through the use of input flags and parameters.

Neoclassical versus Frontier Production Models ? Testing for the Skewness of Regression Residuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuosmanen, T; Fosgerau, Mogens

2009-01-01

The empirical literature on production and cost functions is divided into two strands. The neoclassical approach concentrates on model parameters, while the frontier approach decomposes the disturbance term to a symmetric noise term and a positively skewed inefficiency term. We propose a theoreti......The empirical literature on production and cost functions is divided into two strands. The neoclassical approach concentrates on model parameters, while the frontier approach decomposes the disturbance term to a symmetric noise term and a positively skewed inefficiency term. We propose...... a theoretical justification for the skewness of the inefficiency term, arguing that this skewness is the key testable hypothesis of the frontier approach. We propose to test the regression residuals for skewness in order to distinguish the two competing approaches. Our test builds directly upon the asymmetry...

FIFE-Jobsub: a grid submission system for intensity frontier experiments at Fermilab

Science.gov (United States)

Box, Dennis

2014-06-01

The Fermilab Intensity Frontier Experiments use an integrated submission system known as FIFE-jobsub, part of the FIFE (Fabric for Frontier Experiments) initiative, to submit batch jobs to the Open Science Grid. FIFE-jobsub eases the burden on experimenters by integrating data transfer and site selection details in an easy to use and well-documented format. FIFE-jobsub automates tedious details of maintaining grid proxies for the lifetime of the grid job. Data transfer is handled using the Intensity Frontier Data Handling Client (IFDHC) [1] tool suite, which facilitates selecting the appropriate data transfer method from many possibilities while protecting shared resources from overload. Chaining of job dependencies into Directed Acyclic Graphs (Condor DAGS) is well supported and made easier through the use of input flags and parameters.

Measuring energy performance with sectoral heterogeneity: A non-parametric frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, H.; Ang, B.W.; Wang, Q.W.; Zhou, P.

2017-01-01

Evaluating economy-wide energy performance is an integral part of assessing the effectiveness of a country's energy efficiency policy. Non-parametric frontier approach has been widely used by researchers for such a purpose. This paper proposes an extended non-parametric frontier approach to studying economy-wide energy efficiency and productivity performances by accounting for sectoral heterogeneity. Relevant techniques in index number theory are incorporated to quantify the driving forces behind changes in the economy-wide energy productivity index. The proposed approach facilitates flexible modelling of different sectors' production processes, and helps to examine sectors' impact on the aggregate energy performance. A case study of China's economy-wide energy efficiency and productivity performances in its 11th five-year plan period (2006–2010) is presented. It is found that sectoral heterogeneities in terms of energy performance are significant in China. Meanwhile, China's economy-wide energy productivity increased slightly during the study period, mainly driven by the technical efficiency improvement. A number of other findings have also been reported. - Highlights: • We model economy-wide energy performance by considering sectoral heterogeneity. • The proposed approach can identify sectors' impact on the aggregate energy performance. • Obvious sectoral heterogeneities are identified in evaluating China's energy performance.

Stochastic Frontier Production Analysis of Tobacco Growers in District Mardan, Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saddozai, K. N; Nasrullah, M.; Khan, N. P.

2015-01-01

The theme of this research was to analyze the stochastic frontier production of tobacco growers. This parametric approach was encompassed to investigate the technical efficiency of growers. The primary data was gleaned during 2014-15 from sampled population of three villages namely Takkar Kali, Garo Shah and Passand Kali of Takhtbhai Tehsil, Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The multi-stage sampling technique was utilized to obtain the desired sample size of 120 tobacco growers. The major findings of stochastic production frontier analysis indicate that all variables were statistically significant and have portrayed positive contribution to tobacco production except fertilizer which was found significant but has revealed inverse relation with tobacco production. The mean technical efficiency was estimated at 0.85 depicting that tobacco growers can further amplify efficiency by 15% with given level of inputs. The inefficiency model estimates demonstrate that only experience of tobacco growers in study area was significantly decreasing the inefficiency of the growers. The study has concluded that tobacco growers are operating in the second stage of production; therefore, tobacco production can still be enhanced. It is recommended that season long trainings for tobacco growers may be undertaken by the concerned authorities to enhance the crop management skills for rational use of input. (author)

Boronic acid-based chemical sensors for saccharides.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiao-Tai; Liu, Guang-Jian; Ning, Zhang-Wei; Xing, Guo-Wen

2017-11-27

During the past decades, the interaction between boronic acids-functionalized sensors and saccharides is of great interest in the frontier domain of the interdiscipline concerning both biology and chemistry. Various boronic acid-based sensing systems have been developed to detect saccharides and corresponding derivatives in vitro as well as in vivo, which embrace unimolecular sensors, two-component sensing ensembles, functional assemblies, and boronic acid-loaded nanomaterials or surfaces. New sensing strategies emerge in endlessly with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. In this review, several typical sensing systems were introduced and some promising examples were highlighted to enable the deep insight of saccharides sensing on the basis of boronic acids. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy: Phase 1 Topical Report Fallon, NV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blankenship, Douglas A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Akerley, John [Ormat Nevada Inc., Reno, NV (United States); Blake, Kelly [U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office, China Lake, CA (United States); Calvin, Wendy [Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences and Engineering; Faulds, James E. [Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology; Glen, Jonathan [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Hickman, Stephen [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Hinz, Nick [Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology; Kaven, Ole [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lazaro, Mike [U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office, China Lake, CA (United States); Meade, David [U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office, China Lake, CA (United States); Kennedy, Mack [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Phelps, Geoff [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Sabin, Andrew [U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office, China Lake, CA (United States); Schoenball, Martin [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Silar, Drew [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Robertson-Tait, Ann [GeothermEx/Schlumberger, Richmond, CA (United States); Williams, Colin [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)

2016-09-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) is to be a dedicated site where the subsurface scientific and engineering community can develop, test, and improve technologies and techniques for the creation of cost-effective and sustainable enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in a controlled, ideal environment. The establishment of FORGE will facilitate development of an understanding of the key mechanisms controlling a successful EGS. Execution of FORGE is occurring in three phases with five distinct sub-phases (1, 2A, 2B, 2C, and 3). This report focuses on Phase 1 activities. During Phase 1, critical technical and logistical tasks necessary to demonstrate the viability of the Fallon FORGE Project site were completed and the commitment and capability of the Fallon FORGE team to execute FORGE was demonstrated. As part of Phase 1, the Fallon FORGE Team provided an assessment of available relevant data and integrated these geologic and geophysical data to develop a conceptual 3-D geologic model of the proposed test location. Additionally, the team prepared relevant operational plans for full FORGE implementation, provided relevant site data to the science and engineering community, engaged in outreach and communications with interested stakeholders, and performed a review of the environmental and permitting activities needed to allow FORGE to progress through Phase 3. The results of these activities are provided as Appendices to this report. The Fallon FORGE Team is diverse, with deep roots in geothermal science and engineering. The institutions and key personnel that comprise the Fallon FORGE Team provide a breadth of geoscience and geoengineering capabilities, a strong and productive history in geothermal research and applications, and the capability and experience to manage projects with the complexity anticipated for FORGE. Fallon FORGE Team members include the U.S. Navy, Ormat Nevada Inc., Sandia National Laboratories

A TSTT integrated FronTier code and its applications in computational fluid physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fix, Brian; Glimm, James; Li Xiaolin; Li Yuanhua; Liu Xinfeng; Samulyak, Roman; Xu Zhiliang

2005-01-01

We introduce the FronTier-Lite software package and its adaptation to the TSTT geometry and mesh entity data interface. This package is extracted from the original front tracking code for general purpose scientific and engineering applications. The package contains a static interface library and a dynamic front propagation library. It can be used in research of different scientific problems. We demonstrate the application of FronTier in the simulations of fuel injection jet, the fusion pellet injection and fluid mixing problems

New frontiers in the neuroscience of the sense of agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole eDavid

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The sense that I am the author of my own actions, including the ability to distinguish my own from other people’s actions, is a fundamental building block of our sense of self, on the one hand, and successful social interactions, on the other. Using cognitive neuroscience techniques, researchers have attempted to elucidate the functional basis of this intriguing phenomenon, also trying to explain pathological abnormalities of action awareness in certain psychiatric and neurological disturbances. Recent conceptual, technological and methodological advances suggest several interesting and necessary new leads for future research on the neuroscience of agency. Here I will describe new frontiers for the field such as the need for novel and multifactorial paradigms, anatomically plausible network models for the sense of agency, investigations of the temporal dynamics during agentic processing and ecologically valid virtual reality applications.

Frontiers in nuclear chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sood, D.D.; Reddy, A.V.R.; Pujari, P.K.

1996-01-01

This book contains articles on the landmarks in nuclear and radiochemistry which takes through scientific history spanning over five decades from the times of Roentgen to the middle of this century. Articles on nuclear fission and back end of the nuclear fuel cycle give an insight into the current status of this subject. Reviews on frontier areas like lanthanides, actinides, muonium chemistry, accelerator based nuclear chemistry, fast radiochemical separations and nuclear medicine bring out the multidisciplinary nature of nuclear sciences. This book also includes an article on environmental radiochemistry and safety. Chapters relevant to INIS are indexed separately

Productive efficiency of tea industry: A stochastic frontier approach

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

2010-06-21

Jun 21, 2010 ... Key words: Technical efficiency, stochastic frontier, translog ... present low performance of the tea industry in Bangladesh. ... The Technical inefficiency effect .... administrative, technical, clerical, sales and purchase staff.

Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 4: Cosmic Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, J. L. [MIT, LNS; Ritz, S. [UC, Santa Cruz; Beatty, J. J. [Ohio State U.; Buckley, J. [Washington U., Seattle; Cowen, D. F. [Penn State U.; Cushman, P. [Minnesota U.; Dodelson, S. [Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Galbiati, C. [PNPI, CSTD; Honscheid, K. [Ohio State U.; Hooper, D. [Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Kaplinghat, M. [UC, Irvine; Kusenko, A. [Unlisted; Matchev, K. [Florida U.; McKinsey, D. [Yale U.; Nelson, A. E. [Washington U., Seattle; Olinto, A. [Chicago U., EFI; Profumo, S. [UC, Santa Cruz; Robertson, H. [Washington U., Seattle; Rosenberg, L. [Unlisted; Sinnis, G. [Los Alamos; Tait, T. M.P. [UCLA

2014-01-23

These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 4, on the Cosmic Frontier, discusses the program of research relevant to cosmology and the early universe. This area includes the study of dark matter and the search for its particle nature, the study of dark energy and inflation, and cosmic probes of fundamental symmetries.

Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 3: Energy Frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brock, R.; et al.

2014-01-23

These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 3, on the Energy Frontier, discusses the program of research with high-energy colliders. This area includes experiments on the Higgs boson, the electroweak and strong interactions, and the top quark. It also encompasses direct searches for new particles and interactions at high energy.

Technology Transfer Strategies for Creating Growth Opportunities in Frontier Markets of Sub-Saharan Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ulrik B.

In the past decade, Africa has developed from being an extremely impoverished continent with discouraging prospects to a more promising destination and home to some of the fastest growing Frontier Market economies. Approximately 75% of Africans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, making...... to create growth opportunities in Frontier Markets of Sub-Saharan Africa....

4th International Conference on Frontiers in Global Optimization

CERN Document Server

Pardalos, Panos

2004-01-01

Global Optimization has emerged as one of the most exciting new areas of mathematical programming. Global optimization has received a wide attraction from many fields in the past few years, due to the success of new algorithms for addressing previously intractable problems from diverse areas such as computational chemistry and biology, biomedicine, structural optimization, computer sciences, operations research, economics, and engineering design and control. This book contains refereed invited papers submitted at the 4th international confer­ ence on Frontiers in Global Optimization held at Santorini, Greece during June 8-12, 2003. Santorini is one of the few sites of Greece, with wild beauty created by the explosion of a volcano which is in the middle of the gulf of the island. The mystic landscape with its numerous mult-extrema, was an inspiring location particularly for researchers working on global optimization. The three previous conferences on "Recent Advances in Global Opti­ mization", "State-of-the-...

[The Probabilistic Efficiency Frontier: A Value Assessment of Treatment Options in Hepatitis C].

Science.gov (United States)

Mühlbacher, Axel C; Sadler, Andrew

2017-06-19

Background The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) recommends the concept of the efficiency frontier to assess health care interventions. The efficiency frontier supports regulatory decisions on reimbursement prices for the appropriate allocation of health care resources. Until today this cost-benefit assessment framework has only been applied on the basis of individual patient-relevant endpoints. This contradicts the reality of a multi-dimensional patient benefit. Objective The objective of this study was to illustrate the operationalization of multi-dimensional benefit considering the uncertainty in clinical effects and preference data in order to calculate the efficiency of different treatment options for hepatitis C (HCV). This case study shows how methodological challenges could be overcome in order to use the efficiency frontier for economic analysis and health care decision-making. Method The operationalization of patient benefit was carried out on several patient-relevant endpoints. Preference data from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) study and clinical data based on clinical trials, which reflected the patient and the clinical perspective, respectively, were used for the aggregation of an overall benefit score. A probabilistic efficiency frontier was constructed in a Monte Carlo simulation with 10000 random draws. Patient-relevant endpoints were modeled with a beta distribution and preference data with a normal distribution. The assessment of overall benefit and costs provided information about the adequacy of the treatment prices. The parameter uncertainty was illustrated by the price-acceptability-curve and the net monetary benefit. Results Based on the clinical and preference data in Germany, the interferon-free treatment options proved to be efficient for the current price level. The interferon-free therapies of the latest generation achieved a positive net cost-benefit. Within the decision model, these therapies

Scaling HEP to Web size with RESTful protocols: The frontier example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dykstra, Dave

2011-01-01

The World-Wide-Web has scaled to an enormous size. The largest single contributor to its scalability is the HTTP protocol, particularly when used in conformity to REST (REpresentational State Transfer) principles. High Energy Physics (HEP) computing also has to scale to an enormous size, so it makes sense to base much of it on RESTful protocols. Frontier, which reads databases with an HTTP-based RESTful protocol, has successfully scaled to deliver production detector conditions data from both the CMS and ATLAS LHC detectors to hundreds of thousands of computer cores worldwide. Frontier is also able to re-use a large amount of standard software that runs the Web: on the clients, caches, and servers. I discuss the specific ways in which HTTP and REST enable high scalability for Frontier. I also briefly discuss another protocol used in HEP computing that is HTTP-based and RESTful, and another protocol that could benefit from it. My goal is to encourage HEP protocol designers to consider HTTP and REST whenever the same information is needed in many places.

University Interdisciplinary Research Organizations in the Process of Collaborative Innovation: Advantages, Difficulties and Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Bi Ying; Yang, Liansheng

2015-01-01

Under the background of collaborative innovation, interdisciplinary research organizations due to its structural advantages should actively target frontier science and the great needs of national development, key research and strategic issues of solving the country's need, prospective issues in the frontier of science and technology and major…

Biochemical paths in humans and cells: Frontiers of AMS bioanalysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogel, J.S.; Palmblad, N.M.; Ognibene, T.; Kabir, M.M.; Buchholz, B.A.; Bench, G.

2007-01-01

The publication rate of 3 H and 14 C use in biomedical research decreased by a factor of three since 1990 when the first applications of AMS in biomedicine were published. Against this decrease, the high sensitivity of AMS for these isotopes in small isolated samples has made significant contributions. New smaller spectrometers and increased commercial availability of AMS have solved some of the issues surrounding availability and cost, but improved quantitation in non-isotopic methods now compete with some early uses of AMS. We review the strength of AMS for quantifying rare biochemical events and chemical passages through individual people or cells and consider these as the frontiers of quantitation leading to profitable science unavailable to other techniques

New frontiers in biomedical science and engineering during 2014-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Feng; Lee, Dong-Hoon; Lagoa, Ricardo; Kumar, Sandeep

2015-01-01

The International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB) is an international meeting held once a year. This, the fourth International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB2015), will be held in Shanghai, China, during August 18th-21st, 2015. This annual conference intends to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners at home and abroad to present the most recent frontiers and future challenges in the fields of biomedical science, biomedical engineering, biomaterials, bioinformatics and computational biology, biomedical imaging and signal processing, biomechanical engineering and biotechnology, etc. The papers published in this issue are selected from this Conference, which witness the advances in biomedical engineering and biotechnology during 2014-2015.

Frontiers of advanced engineering materials (faem-06)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alam, S.; Mirza, J.A.

2006-01-01

The second international conference on Frontiers of Advanced Engineering Materials was held on 04-06 December 2006 in Lahore, Pakistan. At a time of the rapid expending enormous potential for the wide spread development and usage of Advanced Engineering Materials. About 121 papers were presented by engineers and scientists from 30 organizations, academic institutions and foreign experts from six countries. on the recommendation of a panel after review, only 72 papers were included in this conference proceedings. The main areas of interest which remained under focus during the conference were structure property relationship, surface Modifications, Nano Technology, Super and semi conductors, Magnetic Materials, Materials Proceeding, Glass and Ceramics, Composite Materials. This Conference open a way to help in strengthening the bounds between our foreign guests local and delegates. The participants showed their keen interest in the poster sessions. Fruitful conclusions of these presentations will be helpful to give rise to new topics of research in the fields of advanced engineering Materials. (A.B.)

Vikings and the Western Frontier

OpenAIRE

Wienberg, Jes

2015-01-01

The article investigates how and why the Vikings became world-famous. The point of departure is the World Exposition in Chicago in 1893, where an icon for the Viking, a replica of the Gokstad ship, arrived the very same day as Frederick Jackson Turner presented his frontier thesis. The origin of the word Viking, the romantic revival of the Viking, the creation of the Viking Age and the criticism of the Viking and the Viking Age is discussed. Finally the article argues that the Viking and the ...

New Frontiers of Land Control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee Peluso, Nancy; Lund, Christian

2011-01-01

rights, and territories created, extracted, produced, or protected on land. Primitive and on-going forms of accumulation, frontiers, enclosures, territories, grabs, and racializations have all been associated with mechanisms for land control. Agrarian environments have been transformed by processes of de...... analytic tools that had seemed to have timeless applicability with new frameworks, concepts, and theoretical tools. What difference does land control make? These contributions to the debates demonstrate that the answers have been shaped by conflicts, contexts, histories, and agency, as land has been...

Frontier between medium and large break loss of coolant accidents of pressurized water reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Taewan

2017-10-01

In order to provide the probabilistic safety assessment with more realistic condition to calculate the frequency of the initiating event, a study on the frontier between medium-break and large-break loss-of-coolant-accidents has been performed by using best-estimate thermal hydraulic code, TRACE. A methodology based on the combination of the essential safety features and system parameter has been applied to the Zion nuclear power plant to evaluate the validity of the frontier utilized for the probabilistic safety assessment. The peak cladding temperature has been chosen as a relevant system parameter that represents the system behavior during the transient. The results showed that the frontier should be extended from 6 in. to 10 in. based on the required safety functions and system response.

USEMS & GLASS: investigator-driven frontier research in earthquake physics. Ground-breaking research in Europe enhances outreach to the general public

Science.gov (United States)

Mariano, S.; di Toro, G.; Collettini, C.; Usems Team; Glass Team

2011-12-01

USEMS and GLASS are two projects financed by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the ERC starting grants scheme within the FP7 framework. The rationale behind the funding scheme is to support some of the most promising scientific endeavours in Europe that are being led by young researchers, and to emphasize the excellence of individual ideas rather than specific research areas; in other words, to promote bottom-up frontier research. The general benefits of this rationale are evident in the two ongoing projects that deal with earthquake physics, as these projects are increasingly recognized in their scientific community. We can say that putting excellence at the heart of European Research strongly contributes to the construction of a European knowledge-based society. From a researcher point-of-view one of the most challenging aspects of these projects is to approach and convey the results of the projects to a general public, contributing to the construction of knowledge-based society. Luckily, media interest and the availability of a number of new communication tools facilitate the outreach of scientific achievements. The largest earthquakes during the last ten years (e.g. Sumatra 2004 and Japan 2011) have received widespread attention in the media world (TV, W.W.W., Newspaper and so on) for months, and successful research projects such as those above also become media protagonists, gaining their space in the media bullring. The USEMS principal investigator and his team have participated in several dissemination events in the Mass Media, such as interviews wit Italian and French TV national broadcasts (RAI Due TG2, RAI Uno Unomattina, Rai Tre Geo & Geo, FRANCE 2); interviews in scientific journals: SCIENCE (Sept. 2010), newspapers and web (Corriere della Sera, Il Gazzettino, Il Messagero, La Stampa, Libero, Il Mattino, Yahoo, ANSA, AdnKronos and AGI); radio (RadioRai Uno, RadioRai Tre Scienza); documentary "Die Eroberung der Alpen" produced by Tangram

Frontiere, confini, limiti: e la geografia?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcello Tanca

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The adjective "geographic" does not draw upon what is conceived and opposed to "cultural" elements, but what is resultant of the meeting and exploration of cultural trajectories - boundaries that men establish and realize to contact with the earth's reality, and their societies therein. The historian Lucien Febvre, Paul Vidal de La Blache's student and friend, wrote "in geography no issue is more important than subdivisions one". At the concept of natural frontiers (that until the 700's, indicated a physical element with greater visibility and stability over and above  any man's work, during the eighteenth century,  the problem of subdivision brought with it complications - ergo,  the identification of a criterion to divide the earth surface in parts. Now since the evidence of each geographical representation is actually the product of a self performative mechanism (Dematteis, this should ensure that we contribute, with all our collective practices, to give a meaning and a symbolic function to physical objects,  frontiers, boundaries and limits. In this respect, individual views lose the often fixed aspect of personal opinion, and the connotation of what is "natural", assumes a different cognitive meaning, along with the political and symbolic points of view that mankind often embraces.

Discovery of a Supernova in HST imaging of the MACSJ0717 Frontier Field

Science.gov (United States)

Rodney, Steven A.; Lotz, Jennifer; Strolger, Louis-Gregory

2013-10-01

We report the discovery of a supernova (SN) in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations centered on the galaxy cluster MACSJ0717. It was discovered in the F814W (i) band of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), in observations that were collected as part of the ongoing HST Frontier Fields (HFF) program (PI:J.Lotz, HST PID 13498). The FrontierSN ID for this object is SN HFF13Zar (nicknamed "SN Zara").

Frontiers in Time Series and Financial Econometrics : An overview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. Ling (Shiqing); M.J. McAleer (Michael); H. Tong (Howell)

2015-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Two of the fastest growing frontiers in econometrics and quantitative finance are time series and financial econometrics. Significant theoretical contributions to financial econometrics have been made by experts in statistics, econometrics, mathematics, and time

Frontiers in Time Series and Financial Econometrics: An Overview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. Ling (Shiqing); M.J. McAleer (Michael); H. Tong (Howell)

2015-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Two of the fastest growing frontiers in econometrics and quantitative finance are time series and financial econometrics. Significant theoretical contributions to financial econometrics have been made by experts in statistics, econometrics, mathematics, and time

Institutions and Bank Performance; A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lensink, B.W.; Meesters, A.

2014-01-01

This article investigates the impact of institutions on bank efficiency and technology, using a stochastic frontier analysis of a data set of 7,959 banks across 136 countries over 10 years. The results confirm the importance of well-developed institutions for the efficient operation of commercial

Institutions and bank performance : A stochastic frontier analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lensink, Robert; Meesters, Aljar

This article investigates the impact of institutions on bank efficiency and technology, using a stochastic frontier analysis of a data set of 7,959 banks across 136 countries over 10 years. The results confirm the importance of well-developed institutions for the efficient operation of commercial

Frontier models for evaluating environmental efficiency: an overview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Wall, A.

2014-01-01

Our aim in this paper is to provide a succinct overview of frontier-based models used to evaluate environmental efficiency, with a special emphasis on agricultural activity. We begin by providing a brief, up-to-date review of the main approaches used to measure environmental efficiency, with

Current status of acid fog research. Sanseimu kenkyu no genjo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murano, K. (National Inst. for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba (Japan))

1993-07-10

Acid fog research was behind in comparison with acid rain research. In case of acid fog, it is because the place generating sufficiently thick fog to collect is limited, the generating place is mountainous, its survey needs a lot of works, its collector is not convenient like in acid rain, or its sampling is difficult on its automation. Since the 1980s, an extensive survey on acid fog had been carried out centering the west coast of California, USA, and low pH fog (minimum pH 2.2) was observed. In the course of these researches, string type active fogwater collectors became a major sampling method, and the simulation of acidification of fog droplet in the atmosphere was extensively conducted. In Japan, already in the 1960s, field surveys on acid fog were conducted, in 1984 acid fog survey started on Mt. Akagi under a viewpoint of ecological impact, and there was a report that low pH fog (pH 3 to 4) continued more than 10 hours. It was pointed out that there were plant damage by acid fog in several locations, especially the tree mortality mechanism in Tomakomai was clarified. 50 refs., 10 figs., 6 tabs.

Reports of JAEA's Reimei Research Program. April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagame, Yuichiro

2011-02-01

The Reimei (Dawn) Research Program is conducted based on public application to encourage original and/or unique ideas in the field of new frontier research of atomic energy sciences. The eight research subjects were accepted in the fiscal year 2009 that were carried out in collaboration with Advanced Science Research Center. The summaries of these research subjects are compiled in this report. We hope that new frontier research projects will be developed through the present Reimei Research Program. The 8 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

Efficient Frontier - Comparing Different Volatility Estimators

OpenAIRE

Tea Poklepović; Zdravka Aljinović; Mario Matković

2015-01-01

Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) according to Markowitz states that investors form mean-variance efficient portfolios which maximizes their utility. Markowitz proposed the standard deviation as a simple measure for portfolio risk and the lower semi-variance as the only risk measure of interest to rational investors. This paper uses a third volatility estimator based on intraday data and compares three efficient frontiers on the Croatian Stock Market. The results show that ra...

New frontiers in PDF determination

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2016-01-01

Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) are a crucial input at the LHC, their uncertainty often being the limiting factor in the accuracy of theoretical predictions. At the same time the LHC is delivering a number of precise measurements that have the potential to greatly constrain these functions. I will give an overview on the theory behind and on the state of the art of PDF determination. I will then mention the new theoretical and methodological challenges in modern PDF fits and explore the precision frontiers opened by the accuracy of the LHC data.

Observed and unobserved heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models: An application to the electricity distribution industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria; Svento, Rauli

2011-01-01

In this study we combine different possibilities to model firm level heterogeneity in stochastic frontier analysis. We show that both observed and unobserved heterogeneities cause serious biases in inefficiency results. Modelling observed and unobserved heterogeneities treat individual firms in different ways and even though the expected mean inefficiency scores in both cases diminish the firm level efficiency rank orders turn out to be very different. The best fit with the data is obtained by modelling unobserved heterogeneity through randomizing frontier parameters and at the same time explicitly modelling the observed heterogeneity into the inefficiency distribution. These results are obtained by using data from Finnish electricity distribution utilities and the results are relevant in relation to electricity distribution pricing and regulation. -- Research Highlights: → We show that both observed and unobserved heterogeneities of firms cause biases in inefficiency results. → Different ways of accounting firm level heterogeneity end up with very different rank orders of firms. → The model which combines the characteristics of unobserved and observed heterogeneity fits the data best.

DFT and TD-DFT computation of charge transfer complex between o-phenylenediamine and 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afroz, Ziya; Zulkarnain,; Ahmad, Afaq; Alam, Mohammad Jane; Faizan, Mohd; Ahmad, Shabbir

2016-01-01

DFT and TD-DFT studies of o-phenylenediamine (PDA), 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNSA) and their charge transfer complex have been carried out at B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. Molecular geometry and various other molecular properties like natural atomic charges, ionization potential, electron affinity, band gap, natural bond orbital (NBO) and frontier molecular analysis have been presented at same level of theory. Frontier molecular orbital and natural bond orbital analysis show the charge delocalization from PDA to DNSA.

Analysis about the development of mobile electronic commerce: An application of production possibility frontier model

OpenAIRE

Uesugi, Shiro; Okada, Hitoshi

2012-01-01

This study aims to further develop our previous research on production possibility frontier model (PPFM). An application of model to provide analysis on the mobile commerce survey for which data was collected in Japan und Thailand is presented. PPFM looks into the consumer behaviors as the results form the perception on the relationship between Convenience and Privacy Concerns of certain electronic commerce services. From the data of consumer surveys, PPFM is expected to provide practical sol...

A frontier measure of U.S. banking competition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bolt, Wilko; Humphrey, David

2015-01-01

The three main measures of competition (HHI, Lerner index, and H-statistic) are uncorrelated for U.S. banks. We investigate why this occurs, propose a frontier measure of competition, and apply it to five major bank service lines. Fee-based banking services comprise 35 percent of bank revenues so

New insights into the stochastic ray production frontier

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Henningsen, A.; Bělín, Matěj; Henningsen, G.

2017-01-01

Roč. 156, July (2017), s. 18-21 ISSN 0165-1765 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) SVV260475 Institutional support: Progres-Q24 Keywords : stochastic ray production frontier * distance function * multiple outputs Subject RIV: AH - Economics OBOR OECD: Economic Theory Impact factor: 0.558, year: 2016

Frontier Research in Astrophysics - II

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-01

The purpose of this international workshop is to bring together astrophysicists and physicists who are involved in various topics at the forefront of modern astrophysics and particle physics. The workshop will discuss the most recent experimental and theoretical results in order to advance our understanding of the physics governing our Universe. To accomplish the goals of the workshop, we believe it is necessary to use data from ground-based and space-based experiments and results from theoretical developments: work on the forefront of science which has resulted (or promises to result in) high-impact scientific papers. Hence, the main purpose of the workshop is to discuss in a unique and collaborative setting a broad range of topics in modern astrophysics, from the Big Bang to Planets and Exoplanets. We believe that this can provide a suitable framework for each participant who (while obviously not involved in all the topics discussed), will be able to acquire a general view of the main experimental and theoretical results currently obtained. Such an up-to-date view of the current research on cosmic sources can help guide future research projects by the participants, and will encourage collaborative efforts across various topical areas of research. The proceedings will be published in Proceedings of Science (PoS)- SISSA and will provide a powerful resource for all the scientific community and will be especially helpful for PhD students. The following items will be reviewed: Cosmology: Cosmic Background, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Clusters of Galaxies. Physics of the Diffuse Cosmic Sources. Physics of Cosmic Rays. Physics of Discrete Cosmic Sources. Extragalactic Sources: Active Galaxies, Normal Galaxies, Gamma-Ray Bursts. Galactic Sources: Star Formation, Pre-Main-Sequence and Main- Sequence Stars, the Sun, Cataclysmic Variables and Novae, Supernovae and SNRs, X-Ray Binary Systems, Pulsars, Black Holes, Gamma-Ray Sources, Nucleosynthesis, Asteroseismology

A FRONTIER MARKET CASE: DOES BUCHAREST STOCK EXCHANGE HAVE A LEADING DOMESTIC INDEX?

OpenAIRE

CORNELIA POP; DRAGOS BOZDOG; ADINA CALUGARU

2012-01-01

A frontier market can play a significant role in the diversification of a global portfolio. Equally important are the companies selected in order to fulfill the diversification needs. We focused on Bucharest Stock Exchange, considered a frontier market, and we analyzed its own diversification power based on the presence/ absence of a leading index that influences the price evolution of the other traded companies. This idea was suggested by the strong position of the five listed closed-end fun...

Space and the Frontier Mythos: A Re-Examination

Science.gov (United States)

Cockell, Charles S.; Messier, Douglas; Bormanis, Andre

1997-07-01

Some modern space philosophies emphasize the historical parallels between the conquest of the Martian frontier and the expansion into the American West. These parallels are used as a rationale for planning the exploration and large-scale settlement of Mars. However, many of these historical allegories are in error. Vast differences exist between the geographical realities of Mars and the western frontier. Furthermore, westward expansion took place within a set of political, economic, social, and technological circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated in Martian exploration. The physical conditions and geographical realities of the Martian frontier in exploration and settlement terms are closer to the Antarctic continent. The American West, which had been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, offered a relative degree of comfort to new arrivals. We do not find large numbers of people migrating to the Canadian High Arctic or other polar regions to live. The inhospitable nature of these polar regions are the major limitation to the human desire to live there. The conquest of the American West took place within the context of a complex set of circumstances. Americans believed they had a 'manifest destiny' to extend their civilization across the continent. Many people also went west in search of a better life: for gold, land or other opportunities. The technology also existed at that point to allow large numbers of people to head west on their own at minimal cost. The settlement of Mars will be far different. It is for these reasons that we believe Antarctica is a much better analog for the exploration of Mars. Therefore, Martian exploration and settlement plans should be adjusted accordingly.

Identifying best-fitting inputs in health-economic model calibration: a Pareto frontier approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Enns, Eva A; Cipriano, Lauren E; Simons, Cyrena T; Kong, Chung Yin

2015-02-01

To identify best-fitting input sets using model calibration, individual calibration target fits are often combined into a single goodness-of-fit (GOF) measure using a set of weights. Decisions in the calibration process, such as which weights to use, influence which sets of model inputs are identified as best-fitting, potentially leading to different health economic conclusions. We present an alternative approach to identifying best-fitting input sets based on the concept of Pareto-optimality. A set of model inputs is on the Pareto frontier if no other input set simultaneously fits all calibration targets as well or better. We demonstrate the Pareto frontier approach in the calibration of 2 models: a simple, illustrative Markov model and a previously published cost-effectiveness model of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). For each model, we compare the input sets on the Pareto frontier to an equal number of best-fitting input sets according to 2 possible weighted-sum GOF scoring systems, and we compare the health economic conclusions arising from these different definitions of best-fitting. For the simple model, outcomes evaluated over the best-fitting input sets according to the 2 weighted-sum GOF schemes were virtually nonoverlapping on the cost-effectiveness plane and resulted in very different incremental cost-effectiveness ratios ($79,300 [95% CI 72,500-87,600] v. $139,700 [95% CI 79,900-182,800] per quality-adjusted life-year [QALY] gained). Input sets on the Pareto frontier spanned both regions ($79,000 [95% CI 64,900-156,200] per QALY gained). The TAVR model yielded similar results. Choices in generating a summary GOF score may result in different health economic conclusions. The Pareto frontier approach eliminates the need to make these choices by using an intuitive and transparent notion of optimality as the basis for identifying best-fitting input sets. © The Author(s) 2014.

Potential research money available from the Acid Deposition Program and Alberta Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Primus, C.L.

1992-01-01

It is exceedingly difficult to demonstrate definitive long-term changes in animal health as a result of acid-forming emissions from sour gas wells. A summary is presented of current research in Alberta, followed by the potential for research funding by the Alberta Government/Industry Acid Deposition Program (ADRP). The Alberta Environment research budget consists of four programs in addition to the ADRP: acid deposition effects research in the Athabasca oil sands; western and northern Canada long-range transport of air pollutants; departmental monitoring; and inhalation toxicology and animal health. Animal health research, although a component of the acid deposition issue, is beyond the mandate of Alberta Environment, and the ADRP members committee does not forsee becoming involved in the long-term and complex research required to address the effects of acid-forming emissions on livestock. Funds for additional animal health research must come from other government departments and agencies whose mandate covers this area

Conditions for a Possible Dialogue between Theology and Science from the Perspective of the Concept of Frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saplacan Calin

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Is there a way without conquests and wars to be found in the relationship of theology and science? This relation is analyzed from the perspective of the concept of frontier in order to establish the conditions for a possible dialogue. Paradoxically, the frontier unites and divides at the same time. On the one hand, the frontier marks the differences, on the other hand it appears as a crossing, a passageway. The frontier is an in-between, a huge space in which the two sides are called together to explain each other, and in order to create a passage between the two sides. The methodological framework of analysis is the approach of analytical theology to distinctions in language and significance. As a frame of reference, the possibility conditions for a philosophical dialogue between phenomenology and analytical philosophy have been considered.

All About Audio Equalization: Solutions and Frontiers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesa Välimäki

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Audio equalization is a vast and active research area. The extent of research means that one often cannot identify the preferred technique for a particular problem. This review paper bridges those gaps, systemically providing a deep understanding of the problems and approaches in audio equalization, their relative merits and applications. Digital signal processing techniques for modifying the spectral balance in audio signals and applications of these techniques are reviewed, ranging from classic equalizers to emerging designs based on new advances in signal processing and machine learning. Emphasis is placed on putting the range of approaches within a common mathematical and conceptual framework. The application areas discussed herein are diverse, and include well-defined, solvable problems of filter design subject to constraints, as well as newly emerging challenges that touch on problems in semantics, perception and human computer interaction. Case studies are given in order to illustrate key concepts and how they are applied in practice. We also recommend preferred signal processing approaches for important audio equalization problems. Finally, we discuss current challenges and the uncharted frontiers in this field. The source code for methods discussed in this paper is made available at https://code.soundsoftware.ac.uk/projects/allaboutaudioeq.

4th International Conference on Frontiers in Intelligent Computing : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Pal, Tandra; Kar, Samarjit; Satapathy, Suresh; Mandal, Jyotsna

2016-01-01

The proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Frontiers in Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications 2015 (FICTA 2015) serves as the knowledge centre not only for scientists and researchers in the field of intelligent computing but also for students of post-graduate level in various engineering disciplines. The book covers a comprehensive overview of the theory, methods, applications and tools of Intelligent Computing. Researchers are now working in interdisciplinary areas and the proceedings of FICTA 2015 plays a major role to accumulate those significant works in one arena. The chapters included in the proceedings inculcates both theoretical as well as practical aspects of different areas like Nature Inspired Algorithms, Fuzzy Systems, Data Mining, Signal Processing, Image processing, Text Processing, Wireless Sensor Networks, Network Security and Cellular Automata. .

Fermilab in 2012: Upgrades shift focus to the intensity frontier

CERN Multimedia

Kurt Riesselmann and Amy Dusto, Fermilab Office of Communication

2012-01-01

The upcoming year will be busy at Fermilab, and the largest projects are already beginning. Friday 16 December marks the ground-breaking for the Illinois Accelerator Research Center, a 3,900-square-metre building for accelerator research and development, industrialisation and training of the future generation of accelerator scientists. The centre is expected to open in about two years.   The NOvA project will generate and send a beam of neutrinos to a 15,000-ton detector in Ash River, Minnesota. The neutrinos will complete the 800-kilometre trip in less than three milliseconds. Image source: NoVA Experiment. At the high-energy frontier of particle physics, Fermilab scientists will continue analysing the dataset from the recently retired Tevatron particle accelerator’s two experiments, CDF and DZero, and will continue their strong participation in the CMS experiment at the LHC. Neutrino physics at Fermilab will take a big step forward. In February, crews will begin assembling the ...

Fermilab in 2012: Upgrades shift focus to the intensity frontier

CERN Multimedia

Kurt Riesselmann and Amy Dusto, Fermilab Office of Communication

2011-01-01

The upcoming year will be busy at Fermilab, and the largest projects are already beginning. Friday 16 December marks the ground-breaking for the Illinois Accelerator Research Center, a 3,900-square-metre building for accelerator research and development, industrialisation and training of the future generation of accelerator scientists. The centre is expected to open in about two years.   The NOvA project will generate and send a beam of neutrinos to a 15,000-ton detector in Ash River, Minnesota. The neutrinos will complete the 800-kilometre trip in less than three milliseconds. Image source: NoVA Experiment. At the high-energy frontier of particle physics, Fermilab scientists will continue analysing the dataset from the recently retired Tevatron particle accelerator’s two experiments, CDF and DZero, and will continue their strong participation in the CMS experiment at the LHC. Neutrino physics at Fermilab will take a big step forward. In February, crews will begin assembling the ...

Incubator Baby Shows: A Medical and Social Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Lieberman, Hannah

2001-01-01

America's first hospitals for premature infants were built at the turn of the twentieth century at fairs, amusement parks, and expositions. These hospitals represented both a medical and a social frontier. They had a great impact on American medicine because they demonstrated the success of caring for premature infants using incubators. The…

Volunteering in later life: research frontiers.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow-Howell, Nancy

2010-07-01

This review summarizes the current knowledge about volunteering in later life and suggests 5 research questions at the forefront of knowledge development. Rates of volunteering do not decline significantly until the middle of the 7th decade, and older volunteers commit more hours than younger volunteers. Older adults with more human and social capital tend to volunteer, and there is good evidence of a reciprocal relationship between volunteering and well-being. Program and policy developments in the field are outstripping production of knowledge to support evidence-based practices. Research on the dynamics of volunteering over the life course as well as the patterns of activities that co-occur with volunteering is needed to guide program development. Research methods and findings from transdisciplinary work on the mechanisms through which psychosocial conditions affect health must be extended to the study of the effects of volunteering on older adults. Finally, we need to engage in more applied social science aimed at improving volunteer management, especially recruitment and retention of older volunteers.

Community Services New Frontier: Establishing the Ties That Bind.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, George B.

1984-01-01

Looks at the historical roots of community services in community colleges. Offers suggestions for keeping community colleges on the frontier of the development of these institutions (e.g., bringing the program into the instructional mainstream, emphasizing program planning, encouraging instructional innovation. (DMM)

A mean-variance frontier in discrete and continuous time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bekker, Paul A.

2004-01-01

The paper presents a mean-variance frontier based on dynamic frictionless investment strategies in continuous time. The result applies to a finite number of risky assets whose price process is given by multivariate geometric Brownian motion with deterministically varying coefficients. The derivation

South African Homelands as Frontiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

of frontier zones, the homelands emerge as areas in which the future of the South African postcolony is being renegotiated, contested and remade with hyper-real intensity. This is so because the many fault lines left over from apartheid (its loose ends, so to speak) – between white and black; between...... in these settings that the postcolonial promise of liberation and freedom must face its test. As such, the book offers highly nuanced and richly detailed analyses that go to the heart of the diverse dilemmas of post-apartheid South Africa as a whole, but simultaneously also provides in condensed form an extended...

Legal questions relating to nuclear installations close to national frontiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zieger, G.

1983-01-01

Main emphasis is placed on the criteria to decide whether the construction and operation of a nulcear power plant close to a national frontier is permissible or not. The author discusses the relevant provisions of the international law and those of the Treaty of Rome pertaining to the settlement of conflicts between neighbour states. According to the opinion of the author, nuclear installations close to borders are incompatible with international law only if they do not comply with accepted safety standards. The international agreements do not prohibit the construction of nuclear installations close to frontiers. It would be desirable, however, the author says, to conclude international treaties providing for mutual consultation and information, thus offering a platform for discussing controversial national interests; this idea already being put into practice in customary international law. (WB) [de

Intracluster light at the Frontier - II. The Frontier Fields Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Montes, Mireia; Trujillo, Ignacio

2018-02-01

Multiwavelength deep observations are a key tool to understand the origin of the diffuse light in clusters of galaxies: the intracluster light (ICL). For this reason, we take advantage of the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) survey to investigate the properties of the stellar populations of the ICL of its six massive intermediate redshift (0.3 1015 M⊙) clusters is formed by the stripping of MW-like objects that have been accreted at z < 1, in agreement with current simulations. We do not find any significant increase in the fraction of light of the ICL with cosmic time, although the redshift range explored is narrow to derive any strong conclusion. When exploring the slope of the stellar mass density profile, we found that the ICL of the HFF clusters follows the shape of their underlying dark matter haloes, in agreement with the idea that the ICL is the result of the stripping of galaxies at recent times.

Evaluating Kuala Lumpur stock exchange oriented bank performance with stochastic frontiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baten, M. A.; Maznah, M. K.; Razamin, R.; Jastini, M. J.

2014-01-01

Banks play an essential role in the economic development and banks need to be efficient; otherwise, they may create blockage in the process of development in any country. The efficiency of banks in Malaysia is important and should receive greater attention. This study formulated an appropriate stochastic frontier model to investigate the efficiency of banks which are traded on Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) market during the period 2005–2009. All data were analyzed to obtain the maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters of stochastic production. Unlike the earlier studies which use balance sheet and income statements data, this study used market data as the input and output variables. It was observed that banks listed in KLSE exhibited a commendable overall efficiency level of 96.2% during 2005–2009 hence suggesting minimal input waste of 3.8%. Among the banks, the COMS (Cimb Group Holdings) bank is found to be highly efficient with a score of 0.9715 and BIMB (Bimb Holdings) bank is noted to have the lowest efficiency with a score of 0.9582. The results also show that Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model with truncated normal distributional assumption is preferable than Translog stochastic frontier model

Evaluating Kuala Lumpur stock exchange oriented bank performance with stochastic frontiers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baten, M. A.; Maznah, M. K.; Razamin, R.; Jastini, M. J. [School of Quantitative Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia 06010, Sintok, Kedah (Malaysia)

2014-12-04

Banks play an essential role in the economic development and banks need to be efficient; otherwise, they may create blockage in the process of development in any country. The efficiency of banks in Malaysia is important and should receive greater attention. This study formulated an appropriate stochastic frontier model to investigate the efficiency of banks which are traded on Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) market during the period 2005–2009. All data were analyzed to obtain the maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters of stochastic production. Unlike the earlier studies which use balance sheet and income statements data, this study used market data as the input and output variables. It was observed that banks listed in KLSE exhibited a commendable overall efficiency level of 96.2% during 2005–2009 hence suggesting minimal input waste of 3.8%. Among the banks, the COMS (Cimb Group Holdings) bank is found to be highly efficient with a score of 0.9715 and BIMB (Bimb Holdings) bank is noted to have the lowest efficiency with a score of 0.9582. The results also show that Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model with truncated normal distributional assumption is preferable than Translog stochastic frontier model.

Greatly improved cache update times for conditions data with Frontier/Squid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dykstra, Dave; Lueking, Lee

2009-01-01

The CMS detector project loads copies of conditions data to over 100,000 computer cores worldwide by using a software subsystem called Frontier. This subsystem translates database queries into HTTP, looks up the results in a central database at CERN, and caches the results in an industry-standard HTTP proxy/caching server called Squid. One of the most challenging aspects of any cache system is coherency, that is, ensuring that changes made to the underlying data get propagated out to all clients in a timely manner. Recently, the Frontier system was enhanced to drastically reduce the time for changes to be propagated everywhere without heavily loading servers. The propagation time is now as low as 15 minutes for some kinds of data and no more than 60 minutes for the rest of the data. This was accomplished by taking advantage of an HTTP and Squid feature called If-Modified-Since. In order to use this feature, the Frontier server sends a Last-Modified timestamp, but since modification times are not normally tracked by Oracle databases, a PL/SQL program was developed to track the modification times of database tables. We discuss the details of this caching scheme and the obstacles overcome including database and Squid bugs.

Greatly improved cache update times for conditions data with Frontier/Squid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dykstra, Dave; Lueking, Lee, E-mail: dwd@fnal.go [Computing Division, Fermilab, Batavia, IL (United States)

2010-04-01

The CMS detector project loads copies of conditions data to over 100,000 computer cores worldwide by using a software subsystem called Frontier. This subsystem translates database queries into HTTP, looks up the results in a central database at CERN, and caches the results in an industry-standard HTTP proxy/caching server called Squid. One of the most challenging aspects of any cache system is coherency, that is, ensuring that changes made to the underlying data get propagated out to all clients in a timely manner. Recently, the Frontier system was enhanced to drastically reduce the time for changes to be propagated everywhere without heavily loading servers. The propagation time is now as low as 15 minutes for some kinds of data and no more than 60 minutes for the rest of the data. This was accomplished by taking advantage of an HTTP and Squid feature called If-Modified-Since. In order to use this feature, the Frontier server sends a Last-Modified timestamp, but since modification times are not normally tracked by Oracle databases, a PL/SQL program was developed to track the modification times of database tables. We discuss the details of this caching scheme and the obstacles overcome including database and Squid bugs.

The potential for energy efficiency gains in the Canadian commercial building sector: A stochastic frontier study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buck, J.; Young, D.

2007-01-01

The achievement of energy efficiency in commercial buildings is a function of the activities undertaken, the technology in place, and the extent to which those technologies are used efficiently. We study the factors that affect efficient energy use in the Canadian commercial sector by applying a stochastic frontier approach to a cross-section of Canadian commercial buildings included in the Commercial and Institutional Building Energy Use Survey (CIBEUS). Structural and climate-control features of the buildings as well as climatic conditions are assumed to determine the location of the frontier, while management-related variables including such factors as ownership type and activities govern whether or not the maximally attainable efficiency along the frontier is achieved. Our results indicate that although, on average, buildings appear to be fairly efficient, certain types of operations are more likely than others to exhibit energy efficiencies that are significantly worse than average. These results, along with those related to the effects of physical characteristics on the stochastic efficiency frontier, suggest that there is scope for focused policy initiatives to increase energy efficiency in this sector

NASA Astrophysics Education and Public Outreach: Engaging Educators and Students in Exploring the Cosmic Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Brandon L.; Eisenhamer, Bonnie; Smith, Denise Anne; Jirdeh, Hussein; Summers, Frank; Darnell, John T.; Ryer, Holly

2015-08-01

NASA’s Frontier Fields is an ambitious three-year Great Observatories program that will expand our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the early universe. The program includes six deep-field observations of strong-lensing galaxy clusters that will be taken in parallel with six deep “blank fields.” The observations allow astronomers to look deeper into the universe than ever before, and potentially uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the telescopes can typically observe. The Frontier Fields science program is ideal for informing audiences about scientific advances and topics in STEM. The study of galaxy properties, statistics, optics, and Einstein’s theory of general relativity naturally leverages off of the science returns of the Frontier Fields program. As a result, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach (OPO) has initiated an E/PO project to follow the progress of the Frontier Fields.For over two decades, the Hubble E/PO program has sought to bring the wonders of the universe to the education community, the youth, and the public, and engage audiences in the adventure of scientific discovery. Program components include standards-based curriculum-support materials, exhibits and exhibit components, professional development workshops, and direct interactions with scientists. We are also leveraging our new social media strategy to bring the science program to the public in the form of an ongoing blog. The main underpinnings of the program’s infrastructure are scientist-educator development teams, partnerships, and an embedded program evaluation component. OPO is leveraging this existing infrastructure to bring the Frontier Fields science program to the education community and the public in a cost-effective way.This talk features the goals and current status of the Frontier Fields E/PO program, with a particular emphasis on our education goals and achievements. We also highlight OPO�

Dietary fibre: new frontiers for food and health

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kamp, J. W. van der

2010-01-01

... papers of the Dietary fibre analysis workshop and the HEALTHGRAIN Symposium Cereal grain fibre and health , both held in conjunction with DF09. This book is titled Dietary fibre- new frontiers for food and health . With the adoption - after decades of debate - of almost identical definitions of dietary fibre by Codex Alimentarius and the European Un...

Review article The Frontier of Interculturality. A review of Wim van ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Review article. The Frontier of Interculturality. A review of Wim van Binsbergen\\'s Intercultural Encounters: African and Anthropological Lessons towards a Philosophy of Interculturality (2003). Sanya Osha ...

Research and performance evaluation on an HA integrated acid system for sandstone acidizing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liqiang Zhao

2018-03-01

Full Text Available When the conventional sandstone acidizing technologies are adopted, many slugs are needed in the injection of prepad fluid, treatment fluid and postpad fluid, and consequently the production and operation suffers inconveniences and difficulties. In view of this, a kind of HA integrated acid system which is mainly composed of organic polybasic acids (HA+HCl + HF and an efficient organic solvent was developed in this paper based on the idea of integrated acid replacing ''multiple steps'' and high efficiency and intensification. Via this HA integrated acid system, the complicated blockage in sandstone reservoirs can be removed effectively. Then, experiments were carried out on this system to evaluate its performance in terms of its retardance, organic blockage dissolution, chelating and precipitation inhibition. It is indicated that this new system can not only realize the acidizing of conventional integrated acid, but also present a good retarding performance by controlling H+ multi-stage ionization step by step and by forming silica acid-aluminum phosphonate film on the surface of clay minerals; that via this new HA integrated acid system, the organic blockage can be removed efficiently; and that it is wider in pH solution range than conventional APCs (aminopolycarboxyliates chelants, stronger in chelating capacity of Ca2+, Mg2+ and Fe3+ than conventional chelants (e.g. EDTA, NTA and DTPA, and better in precipitation inhibition on metal fluoride, fluosilicic acid alkali metal, fluoaluminic acid alkali metal and hydroxide than multi-hydrogen acid, fluoboric acid and mud acid systems. These research results provide a technical support for the plugging removal in high-temperature deep oil and gas reservoirs. Keywords: Organic polybasic acid, Integrated acid, Retardance, Chelating, Precipitation, Acidizing, Sandstone, Reservoir

Real Estate Economics, Management and Investments: New Perspectives and Frontiers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Del Giudice

2018-03-01

Full Text Available New perspectives and frontiers were highlighted in a Special Issue on “Real Estate Economics, Finance and Investments”. The twenty-eight papers that were selected and published emanated from scholars from universities all over the world with the aim to represent more recent advances in building management, mass appraisal methods, real estate risk management, economic evaluation of real estate investment projects, real estate market, property, social housing, real estate economics, real estate finance, building transformation and economic effects on environment. These papers helped to determine a unique and valuable opportunity to experiment with multiple approaches to these ever more crucial topics. This note proposes a brief review of the twenty-eight papers, concluding with some reflections about policy, practice and research on real estate issues.

When Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Meets Organizational Psychology: New Frontiers in Micro-CSR Research, and Fulfilling a Quid Pro Quo through Multilevel Insights

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, David A.; Willness, Chelsea R.; Glavas, Ante

2017-01-01

Researchers, corporate leaders, and other stakeholders have shown increasing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)—a company’s discretionary actions and policies that appear to advance societal well-being beyond its immediate financial interests and legal requirements. Spanning decades of research activity, the scholarly literature on CSR has been dominated by meso- and macro-level perspectives, such as studies within corporate strategy that examine relationships between firm-level indicators of social/environmental performance and corporate financial performance. In recent years, however, there has been an explosion of micro-oriented CSR research conducted at the individual level of analysis, especially with respect to studies on how and why job seekers and employees perceive and react to CSR practices. This micro-level focus is reflected in 12 articles published as a Research Topic collection in Frontiers in Psychology (Organizational Psychology Specialty Section) titled “CSR and organizational psychology: Quid pro quo.” In the present article, the authors summarize and integrate findings from these Research Topic articles. After describing some of the “new frontiers” these articles explore and create, the authors strive to fulfill a “quid pro quo” with some of the meso- and macro-oriented CSR literatures that paved the way for micro-CSR research. Specifically, the authors draw on insights from the Research Topic articles to inform a multilevel model that offers multiple illustrations of how micro-level processes among individual stakeholders can explain variability in meso (firm)-level relationships between CSR practices and corporate performance. The authors also explore an important implication of these multilevel processes for macro-level societal impact. PMID:28439247

Estimating the NIH Efficient Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is among the world’s largest investors in biomedical research, with a mandate to: “…lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.” Its funding decisions have been criticized as insufficiently focused on disease burden. We hypothesize that modern portfolio theory can create a closer link between basic research and outcome, and offer insight into basic-science related improvements in public health. We propose portfolio theory as a systematic framework for making biomedical funding allocation decisions–one that is directly tied to the risk/reward trade-off of burden-of-disease outcomes. Methods and Findings Using data from 1965 to 2007, we provide estimates of the NIH “efficient frontier”, the set of funding allocations across 7 groups of disease-oriented NIH institutes that yield the greatest expected return on investment for a given level of risk, where return on investment is measured by subsequent impact on U.S. years of life lost (YLL). The results suggest that NIH may be actively managing its research risk, given that the volatility of its current allocation is 17% less than that of an equal-allocation portfolio with similar expected returns. The estimated efficient frontier suggests that further improvements in expected return (89% to 119% vs. current) or reduction in risk (22% to 35% vs. current) are available holding risk or expected return, respectively, constant, and that 28% to 89% greater decrease in average years-of-life-lost per unit risk may be achievable. However, these results also reflect the imprecision of YLL as a measure of disease burden, the noisy statistical link between basic research and YLL, and other known limitations of portfolio theory itself. Conclusions Our analysis is intended to serve as a proof-of-concept and starting point for applying quantitative methods to allocating biomedical research funding that are objective, systematic, transparent

Frontiers Of Identity: Representations Of Italianità In Contemporary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Frontiers Of Identity: Representations Of Italianità In Contemporary Narrative. R Wilson. Abstract. Il concetto di identità culturale italiana, sempre problematica, è stata complicata ulteriormente da alcuni scrittori, che portano avanti una “politica del locale”, contestando nozioni ricevute e omogenee di territorio, identità e ...

Frontier areas and exploration techniques. Frontier uranium exploration in the South-Central United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, M.D.; Biddle, K.T.

1977-01-01

Selected areas of the South-Central United States outside the known U trends of South Texas have a largely untested potential for the occurrence of significant U mineralization. These areas, underlain by Tertiary and older sediments, include parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The commonly accepted criteria employed in U exploration are applicable to these frontier areas but special consideration must also be given to the atypical geologic aspects of such areas as they may apply to relatively unique types of U mineralization or to the development of special exploration criteria for common types of roll-front and fault-and dome-related uranium mineralization. The procedures used in evaluating frontier areas should be based on comprehensive evaluations involving: (1) location and analysis of potential source rocks (e.g., intrusive igneous rocks, bentonitic sediments, unique complexes, etc.); (2) definition of regional variations in the potential host sediments (e.g. marginal marine to nonmarine environments of deposition); (3) review of all available radiometric data in Tertiary or older rocks; (4) local groundwater sampling; (5) widely spaced reconnaissance (or stratigraphic) drilling, coring and borehole geophysical logging to define favorable sedimentary facies and to establish the specific lithologic character of the sediments; and (6) detailed petrographic evaluation of all available samples to define the environment of deposition and diagenetic history of ''favorable'' sediments. If procedures produce favorable results, an expanded exploration program is justified. Depths up to 3,000 feet should be anticipated if up-dip information is favorable. Selected areas are discussed that have: (1) favorable source and host rocks;(2) favorable age; (3) favorable regional and local structure; and (4) radiometric characteristics favorable for U mineralization of potentially economic grade and reserves in the areas

Relationship between Major Developed Equity Markets and Major Frontier Equity Markets of World

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Mansoor Baig

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The core aim of this study is to compute the long run relationship between frontier equity markets Pakistan (KSE 100 Index, Argentina (MERVAL BUENOS AIRES stock Exchange, NSE.20 (Kenya, MSM 30 (MSI Oman and equity markets of developed world (OMXS30 Sweden, SMI (Switzerland, SSE Composite Index (China and STI index (Singapore by taking weekly values from stock return prices for the period 1st week of January-2000 to last week of January/2014. Descriptive statistic, Correlation, Augmented dickey fuller (ADF, Phillips Perron test, Johanson and Jelseluis test of co-integration, Granger causality test, Variance Decomposition Test and Impulse Response are used to find the relationship among frontier and developed markets. The results of this study reveal that frontier markets have no long run relationship with equity markets of developed world. Furthermore, this study is helpful for investors to enhance the returns by diversifying the unsystematic risk at given level of profit because results of this study confirm that markets are no cointegrated.

Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Maize Farmers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, F.; Wang, Y.; Yu, H.; Zhu, K.; Zhang, Z.; Zou, F. L. J.

2015-01-01

The research study was carried out to analyze the technical efficiency of maize growers through Cobb-Douglas type Stochastic Frontier Analysis in four villages of Muzaffarabad district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. The proportional sampling allocation sampling technique was adopted to collect primary data from 80 sampled respondents in 2013-14. The maximum likelihood estimates of major inputs showed that seed, tractor hours, FYM and labor days have contributed significantly to increase the maize yield. However, the DAP and urea have shown no effect on maize yield. The mean technical efficiency was estimated at 83%, implying that the farmers can still enhance their technical efficiency by 11% within the given inputs and technology. The results have demonstrated that maize crop is lucrative crop in the study area as maize growers have received increasing return to scale i.e., 1.90 (Ep>1), hence economies of scale exists. The variance parameter lambda and gamma both were significant indicating the good fitness of model and inefficiency impact, respectively. The estimated value for gamma was 0.77 underscores that 77% variation in the production frontier was explained by technical inefficiency effect. The inefficiency indices showed that farmers with more schooling years and more number of contacts with extension agents were more efficient. Contrarily, age of the farmer and large farm size have inverse relation to technical efficiency of the farmers. This research study concludes that the use of more labor and application of farm yard manure is contributing significantly. It is recommended that the high input prices may be leveled off by the regulatory authorities so that farmers can apply the required crop inputs such as DAP and urea in study area. (author)

Frontiers of Land and Water Governance in Urban Regions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thomas, Hartmann; Spit, Tejo

2015-01-01

A society that intensifies and expands the use of land and water in urban areas needs to search for solutions to manage the frontiers between these two essential elements for urban living. Sustainable governance of land and water is one of the major challenges of our times. Managing retention areas

Efficiency in the Community College Sector: Stochastic Frontier Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Agasisti, Tommaso; Belfield, Clive

2017-01-01

This paper estimates technical efficiency scores across the community college sector in the United States. Using stochastic frontier analysis and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System for 2003-2010, we estimate efficiency scores for 950 community colleges and perform a series of sensitivity tests to check for robustness. We…

AHP 45: REVIEW: FOUNDING AN EMPIRE ON INDIA'S NORTH-EASTERN FRONTIERS 1790-1840

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilary Howes

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This thoroughly researched and carefully constructed monograph focuses on what is now north-eastern India, an irregularly-shaped region joined only by a narrow neck of land to the remainder of the Indian subcontinent and jostled (or nestled, depending on one's point of view between Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Tibet. Crucially, author Gunnel Cederlöf argues, this representation of northeast India on modern maps - an island in constant danger of drifting away from mainland India, held in place only by the "Chicken's Neck" or Siliguri Corridor - bears no relation to the way in which this region was imagined by the British East India Company (EIC in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Having obtained revenuefarming rights and judicial duties over the North-Eastern Frontier, as it was then known, through a 1765 diwani grant from the Great Mughal in Delhi, the EIC aspired first and foremost to revive the administration of revenue in the region, adding a monopoly in territory to their existing monopolies in the eastern trade. Given these primarily commercial interests, it should come as no surprise that the EIC's map-makers, their eyes fixed on the web of lucrative trade routes crisscrossing the region, homed in on the North-Eastern Frontier as the central point in "a synoptic vision that connected Bengal to China" (72. ...

Virtual Focus Groups: New Frontiers in Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lyn Turney

2005-06-01

Full Text Available New information and communication technologies in the form of learning management systems provide unique and inventive opportunities for qualitative researchers. Their intrinsic ability to record discursive data in text format accurately and to provide safe, secure, and anonymous environments for participants makes them amenable for use as advanced research tools. In this article, the authors report on a collaborative project that tested the potential of online discussion boards for use in virtual focus groups. What the researchers found was that not only was the method theoretically sound, it actually enhanced their ability to connect with difficult-to-access populations that were disparately spread.

Stochastic Frontier Estimation of Efficient Learning in Video Games

Science.gov (United States)

Hamlen, Karla R.

2012-01-01

Stochastic Frontier Regression Analysis was used to investigate strategies and skills that are associated with the minimization of time required to achieve proficiency in video games among students in grades four and five. Students self-reported their video game play habits, including strategies and skills used to become good at the video games…

Plasma accelerators at the energy frontier and on tabletops

CERN Document Server

Joshi, Chandrashekhar

2003-01-01

New approaches to charged-particle acceleration by collective fields in plasma were discussed. These approaches show considerable promise for realizing plasma accelerators at the energy frontier as well as table-top electron and ion accelerators. Charged particles surfing on electron density waves in plasmas can experience enormous accelerating gradients. (Edited abstract) 45 Refs.

Classroom Research: GC Studies of Linoleic and Linolenic Fatty Acids Found in French Fries

Science.gov (United States)

Crowley, Janice P.; Deboise, Kristen L.; Marshall, Megan R.; Shaffer, Hannah M.; Zafar, Sara; Jones, Kevin A.; Palko, Nick R.; Mitsch, Stephen M.; Sutton, Lindsay A.; Chang, Margaret; Fromer, Ilana; Kraft, Jake; Meister, Jessica; Shah, Amar; Tan, Priscilla; Whitchurch, James

2002-07-01

A study of fatty-acid ratios in French fries has proved to be an excellent choice for an entry-level research class. This research develops reasoning skills and involves the subject of breast cancer, a major concern of American society. Analysis of tumor samples removed from women with breast cancer revealed high ratios of linoleic to linolenic acid, suggesting a link between the accelerated growth of breast tumors and the combination of these two fatty acids. When the ratio of linoleic to linolenic acid was approximately 9 to 1, accelerated growth was observed. Since these fatty acids are found in cooking oils, Wichita Collegiate students, under the guidance of their chemistry teacher, decided that an investigation of the ratios of these two fatty acids should be conducted. A research class was structured using a gas chromatograph for the analysis. Separation of linoleic from linolenic acid was successfully accomplished. The students experienced inductive experimental research chemistry as it applies to everyday life. The structure of this research class can serve as a model for high school and undergraduate college research curricula.

On the Computation of the Efficient Frontier of the Portfolio Selection Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Calvo

2012-01-01

Full Text Available An easy-to-use procedure is presented for improving the ε-constraint method for computing the efficient frontier of the portfolio selection problem endowed with additional cardinality and semicontinuous variable constraints. The proposed method provides not only a numerical plotting of the frontier but also an analytical description of it, including the explicit equations of the arcs of parabola it comprises and the change points between them. This information is useful for performing a sensitivity analysis as well as for providing additional criteria to the investor in order to select an efficient portfolio. Computational results are provided to test the efficiency of the algorithm and to illustrate its applications. The procedure has been implemented in Mathematica.

Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis to Analyze Adjustment Costs and Investment Utilization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Jakob Vesterlund; Henningsen, Arne

of additional inputs and an initially incomplete investment utilization results in an output level that is temporarily not at its maximum. We estimate an output distance function as a stochastic "Efficiency Effects Frontier" model (Battese & Coelli 1995), where the estimated technical inefficiencies...... are explained with current and lagged investments, farm size, age of the farmer, and interaction terms between these variables. Furthermore, we derive the formula for calculating the marginal effects on technical efficiency for "Efficiency Effects Frontier" models so that we can calculate the (marginal) effect...... of current and past investments on technical efficiency, which we interpret as adjustment costs and temporary incomplete investment utilization. We apply this methodology to a large panel data set of Danish pig producers with 9,281 observations between 1996 and 2008. The results show that investments have...

New frontiers in pediatric Allo-SCT.

Science.gov (United States)

Talano, J M; Pulsipher, M A; Symons, H J; Militano, O; Shereck, E B; Giller, R H; Hancock, L; Morris, E; Cairo, M S

2014-09-01

The inaugural meeting of 'New Frontiers in Pediatric Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation' organized by the Pediatric Blood and Transplant Consortium (PBMTC) was held at the American Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Annual Meeting. This meeting provided an international platform for physicians and investigators active in the research and utilization of pediatric Allo-SCT in children and adolescents with malignant and non-malignant disease (NMD), to share information and develop future collaborative strategies. The primary objectives of the conference included: (1) to present advances in Allo-SCT in pediatric ALL and novel pre and post-transplant immunotherapy; (2) to highlight new strategies in alternative allogeneic stem cell donor sources for children and adolescents with non-malignant hematological disorders; (3) to discuss timing of immune reconstitution after Allo-SCT and methods of facilitating more rapid recovery of immunity; (4) to identify strategies of utilizing Allo-SCT in pediatric myeloproliferative disorders; (5) to develop diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to hematological complications post pediatric Allo-SCT; (6) to enhance the understanding of new novel cellular therapeutic approaches to pediatric malignant and non-malignant hematological disorders; and (7) to discuss optimizing drug therapy in pediatric recipients of Allo-SCT. This paper will provide a brief overview of the conference.

Digital Frontier Job & Opportunity Finder. Tomorrow's Opportunities Today.

Science.gov (United States)

Altman, Don

This book describes the newest jobs for which people should train and prepare, as well as exploring where the United States is going as a country, a society, and a people. It is designed to help new job seekers as well as veteran workers find a place in the new wave of work, the "digital frontier." The book is organized in two sections. Section I…

Reports on JAEA's Reimei Research Program. April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagame, Yuichiro

2012-10-01

The Reimei (Dawn) Research Program is conducted based on public application to encourage original and/or unique ideas in the field of new frontier research on atomic energy sciences. Canditates for the offering have been extended beyond the country since the fiscal year of 2010. The five research subjects including three ongoing ones were accepted in the fiscal year 2011 that were carried out in collaboration with Advanced Science Research Center. The three successive projects, in particular, have achieved substantial progress through the effective international collaboration. The summaries of these research subjects are compiled in this report. We hope that new frontier research projects will be developed through the present Reimei Research Program. (author)

Proceedings of the 8. International Symposium on Microbial Ecology : microbial biosystems : new frontiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, C.R.; Brylinsky, M.; Johnson-Green, P.

2000-01-01

A wide range of disciplines were presented at this conference which reflected the importance of microbial ecology and provided an understanding of the factors that determine the growth and activities of microorganisms. The conference attracted 1444 delegates from 54 countries. The research emerging from the rapidly expanding frontier of microbial ecosystems was presented in 62 oral presentation and 817 poster presentations. The two volumes of these proceedings presented a total of 27 areas in microbial ecology, some of which included terrestrial biosystems, aquatic, estuarine, surface and subsurface microbial ecology. Other topics included bioremediation, microbial ecology in industry and microbial ecology of oil fields. Some of the papers highlighted the research that is underway to determine the feasibility of using microorganisms for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Research has shown that microbial EOR can increase production at lower costs than conventional oil recovery. The use of bacteria has also proven to be a feasible treatment method in the biodegradation of hydrocarbons associated with oil spills. refs., tabs., figs

Mythic Evolution of "The New Frontier" in Mass Mediated Rhetoric.

Science.gov (United States)

Rushing, Janice Hocker

1986-01-01

Combines "rhetorical narration" with K. Burke's dramatistic pentad to argue that definitional cultural myths are rhetorically meaningful in relation to social consciousness if both evolved teleologically. Delineates two phases in America's frontier myth associated with recent space fiction films' representation of a pentadic term's…

Scientists feature their work in Arctic-focused short videos by FrontierScientists

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, L.; O'Connell, E.

2013-12-01

Whether they're guiding an unmanned aerial vehicle into a volcanic plume to sample aerosols, or documenting core drilling at a frozen lake in Siberia formed 3.6 million years ago by a massive meteorite impact, Arctic scientists are using video to enhance and expand their science and science outreach. FrontierScientists (FS), a forum for showcasing scientific work, produces and promotes radically different video blogs featuring Arctic scientists. Three- to seven- minute multimedia vlogs help deconstruct researcher's efforts and disseminate stories, communicating scientific discoveries to our increasingly connected world. The videos cover a wide range of current field work being performed in the Arctic. All videos are freely available to view or download from the FrontierScientists.com website, accessible via any internet browser or via the FrontierScientists app. FS' filming process fosters a close collaboration between the scientist and the media maker. Film creation helps scientists reach out to the public, communicate the relevance of their scientific findings, and craft a discussion. Videos keep audience tuned in; combining field footage, pictures, audio, and graphics with a verbal explanation helps illustrate ideas, allowing one video to reach people with different learning strategies. The scientists' stories are highlighted through social media platforms online. Vlogs grant scientists a voice, letting them illustrate their own work while ensuring accuracy. Each scientific topic on FS has its own project page where easy-to-navigate videos are featured prominently. Video sets focus on different aspects of a researcher's work or follow one of their projects into the field. We help the scientist slip the answers to their five most-asked questions into the casual script in layman's terms in order to free the viewers' minds to focus on new concepts. Videos are accompanied by written blogs intended to systematically demystify related facts so the scientists can focus

Colonel John Graham of Fintry and the Fourth Cape Eastern Frontier ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Graham's grand strategy to clear the eastern frontier of Xhosa invaders was carefully planned. He warned Major ..... This created a market for local ... interests surpassed the 'luxury' of military and security needs, regulated from Cape Town and.

Coping with the gypsy moth on new frontiers of infestation

Science.gov (United States)

David A. Gansner; Owen W. Herrick; Garland N. Mason; Kurt W. Gottschalk

1987-01-01

Forest managers on new frontiers of infestation are searching for better ways to cope with the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). Presented herea are information and guidelines for remedial action to minimize future losses. Methods for assessing potential stand defoliation (susceptibility) and mortality (vulnerability), monitoring insect populations, and...

From "Frontiers of Astronomy" to Astrobiology

Science.gov (United States)

Kwok, Sun

2011-10-01

In his book Frontiers of Astronomy, Fred Hoyle outlined a number of ideas on the stellar synthesis of solid-state materials and their ejection into the interstellar medium. He also considered the possibility of interstellar organics being integrated into the early Earth during the accretion phase of planetary formation. These organics may have played a role in the origin of life and the creation of fossil fuels. In this paper, we assess these ideas with modern observational evidence, in particular on the evidence of stellar synthesis of complex organics and their delivery to the early Solar System.

Research Frontiers of Agricultural Economics and Management

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yang L.X.

2004-01-01

@@ Introduction The focus of research on Agricultural Economics and Management (AEM) has been switching from developed countries to developing countries. In important international journals on AEM such as "American Journal of Agricultural Economics" and "Agricultural Economics", the research objectives mainly focus on AEM problems in developing countries, e.g. the effects of globalization and liberalization on agricultural production in developing countries, and problems in agricultural resources and environmental protections in developing countries.

Urban water - a new frontier in isotope hydrology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehleringer, James R; Barnette, Janet E; Jameel, Yusuf; Tipple, Brett J; Bowen, Gabriel J

2016-01-01

Isotope hydrology has focused largely on landscapes away from densely inhabited regions. In coming decades, it will become increasingly more important to focus on water supplies and dynamics within urban systems. Stable isotope analyses provide important information to water managers within large cities, particularly in arid regions where evaporative histories of water sources, vulnerabilities, and reliabilities of the water supplies can be major issues. Here the spatial and vertical understanding of water supporting urban systems that comes from stable isotope analyses can serve as a useful management tool. We explore this research frontier using the coupled natural-human landscape of the Salt Lake Valley, USA, with its greater than one million inhabitants. We first provide data on the stable isotope ratios of the hydrologic system's primary components: precipitation, incoming surface waters, and terminus waters in this closed basin. We then explore the spatial and temporal patterns of drinking waters within the urban landscape and the new opportunities to better link isotope ratio data with short- and long-term management interests of water managers.

The Frontiers of Nuclear Science: A Long-Range Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2007-12-01

In a letter dated July 17, 2006, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science for Nuclear Physics and the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate charged the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) to “conduct a study of the opportunities and priorities for U.S. nuclear physics research and recommend a long range plan that will provide a framework for coordinated advancement of the nation’s nuclear science research programs over the next decade.” This request set in motion a bottom-up review and forward look by the nuclear science community. With input from this community-wide process, a 59 member working group, which included the present NSAC members, gathered at the beginning of May, 2007, to develop guidance on how to optimize the future research directions for the field based on the projected resources outlined in the charge letter from DOE and NSF. A new long range plan—The Frontiers of Nuclear Science—grew out of this meeting. For the last decade, the top priority for nuclear science has been to utilize the flagship facilities that were built with investments by the nation in the 1980s and 1990s. Research with these facilities has led to many significant new discoveries that have changed our understanding of the world in which we live. But new discoveries demand new facilities, and the successes cannot continue indefinitely without new investment.

Explaining African Growth Performance: A Production-Frontier Approach

OpenAIRE

Romain Houssa; Oleg Badunenko; Daniel J. Henderson

2010-01-01

This paper employs a production frontier approach that allows distinguishing technologic progress from efficiency development. Data on 35 African countries in 1970-2007 show that efficiency losses have constrained growth in Africa while technology progress has played a marginal growth enhancing role in the region. Moreover, physical and human capital accumulation are the main factors that drive productivity growth at the country level. Examining the outcomes of successful countries suggests t...

Stochastic semi-nonparametric frontier estimation of electricity distribution networks: Application of the StoNED method in the Finnish regulatory model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuosmanen, Timo

2012-01-01

Electricity distribution network is a prime example of a natural local monopoly. In many countries, electricity distribution is regulated by the government. Many regulators apply frontier estimation techniques such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) or stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) as an integral part of their regulatory framework. While more advanced methods that combine nonparametric frontier with stochastic error term are known in the literature, in practice, regulators continue to apply simplistic methods. This paper reports the main results of the project commissioned by the Finnish regulator for further development of the cost frontier estimation in their regulatory framework. The key objectives of the project were to integrate a stochastic SFA-style noise term to the nonparametric, axiomatic DEA-style cost frontier, and to take the heterogeneity of firms and their operating environments better into account. To achieve these objectives, a new method called stochastic nonparametric envelopment of data (StoNED) was examined. Based on the insights and experiences gained in the empirical analysis using the real data of the regulated networks, the Finnish regulator adopted the StoNED method in use from 2012 onwards.

European regional efficiency and geographical externalities: a spatial nonparametric frontier analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ramajo, Julián; Cordero, José Manuel; Márquez, Miguel Ángel

2017-10-01

This paper analyses region-level technical efficiency in nine European countries over the 1995-2007 period. We propose the application of a nonparametric conditional frontier approach to account for the presence of heterogeneous conditions in the form of geographical externalities. Such environmental factors are beyond the control of regional authorities, but may affect the production function. Therefore, they need to be considered in the frontier estimation. Specifically, a spatial autoregressive term is included as an external conditioning factor in a robust order- m model. Thus we can test the hypothesis of non-separability (the external factor impacts both the input-output space and the distribution of efficiencies), demonstrating the existence of significant global interregional spillovers into the production process. Our findings show that geographical externalities affect both the frontier level and the probability of being more or less efficient. Specifically, the results support the fact that the spatial lag variable has an inverted U-shaped non-linear impact on the performance of regions. This finding can be interpreted as a differential effect of interregional spillovers depending on the size of the neighboring economies: positive externalities for small values, possibly related to agglomeration economies, and negative externalities for high values, indicating the possibility of production congestion. Additionally, evidence of the existence of a strong geographic pattern of European regional efficiency is reported and the levels of technical efficiency are acknowledged to have converged during the period under analysis.

The frontiers of empirical science: A Thomist-inspired critique of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The frontiers of empirical science: A Thomist-inspired critique of scientism. Callum Scott. Abstract. Scientistic conceptualisations hold to the positivistic positions that science is limitless in its potential representations of material phenomena and that it is the only sure path to knowledge. In recent popular scientific literature, ...

Reports on JAEA's Reimei Research Program. April 1, 2013 - March 31, 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagame, Yuichiro

2016-03-01

The Reimei (Dawn) Research Program is conducted based on public application to encourage original and/or unique ideas in the field of new frontier research on atomic energy sciences. Candidates for the offering have been extended beyond the country since the fiscal year of 2010. The seven research subjects were accepted in the fiscal year of 2013, and six of them were carried out in the fiscal year of 2014, too. They have achieved substantial progress through the effective international collaboration. The summaries of these research subjects are compiled in this report. We hope that new frontier research projects will be developed through the present Reimei Research Program. (author)

Lactic Acid Bacteria : embarking on 30 more years of research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, Jan; Johansen, Eric; Kleerebezem, Michiel; Teusink, Bas

2014-01-01

The 11th International Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria Lactic Acid Bacteria play important roles in the pro- duction of food and feed and are increasingly used as health-promoting probiotics. The incessant scientific interest in these microorganisms by academic research groups as well as by

Production possibility frontier analysis of biodiesel from waste cooking oil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kagawa, Shigemi; Takezono, Kanako; Suh, Sangwon; Kudoh, Yuki

2013-01-01

This paper presents an assessment of the productive efficiency of an advanced biodiesel plant in Japan using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical analysis uses monthly input data (waste cooking oil, methanol, potassium hydroxide, power consumption, and the truck diesel fuel used for the procurement of waste cooking oil) and output data (biodiesel) of a biodiesel fuel plant for August 2008–July 2010. The results of this study show that the production activity with the lowest cost on the biodiesel production possibility frontier occurred in March 2010 (production activity used 1.41 kL of waste cooking oil, 0.18 kL of MeOH, 16.33 kg of KOH, and 5.45 kW h of power), and the unit production cost in that month was 18,517 yen/kL. Comparing this efficient production cost to the mean unit production cost on the production possibility frontier at 19,712 yen/kL, revealed that the cost of producing 1 kL of biodiesel could be reduced by as much as 1195 yen. We also find that the efficiency improvement will contribute to decreasing the cost ratio (cost per sale) of the biodiesel production by approximately 1% during the study period (24 months) between August 2008 and July 2010. - Highlights: ► This paper analyzes the productive efficiency of an advanced biodiesel plant using DEA. ► We examine the optimal production activities of biodiesel from waste cooking oil. ► Considering the production frontier, the unit cost of biodiesel could be reduced by 1195 yen. ► The efficiency improvement contributes to decreasing the cost ratio of the biodiesel by 1%

Research in Elementary Particle Physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, Andrew Paul [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States); De, Kaushik [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States); Brandt, Andrew [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States); Yu, Jaehoon [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States); Farbin, Amir [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)

2015-02-02

This report details the accomplishments and research results for the High Energy Physics Group at the University of Texas at Arlington at the Energy and Intensity Frontiers. For the Energy Frontier we have made fundamental contributions in the search for supersymmetric particles, proposed to explain the stabilization of the mass of the Higgs Boson – the agent giving mass to all known particles. We have also made major contributions to the search for additional Higgs Bosons and to the planning for future searches. This work has been carried out in the context of the ATLAS Experiment at CERN (European Nuclear Research Laboratory) and for which we have made major contributions to computing and data distribution and processing, and have worked to calibrate the detector and prepare upgraded electronics for the future. Our other contribution to the Energy Frontier has been to the International Linear Collider (ILC) project, potentially hosted by Japan, and to the Silicon Detector Concept (SiD) in particular. We have lead the development of the SiD Concept and have worked on a new form of precise energy measurement for particles from the high energy collisions of electrons and positrons at the ILC. For the Intensity Frontier, we have worked to develop the concept of Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment(s) (LBNE) at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Our contributions to detector development, neutrino beam studies, particle identification, software development will facilitate future studies of the oscillation of one type of neutrino into other type(s), establish the order of the neutrino masses, and, through an innovative new idea, allow us to create a beam of dark matter particles.

Heroines on Horseback: The Frontier Nursing Service of Appalachia

Science.gov (United States)

Sheffield, Caroline C.

2014-01-01

The men of the Breckinridge family have a long history of service to the nation, including many politicians, soldiers, and even a vice president of the United States. But it was a woman in the family, Mary, who had, arguably, the most direct and long-lived impact on those she served. As the founder of the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) of Eastern…

Tile forts of the Liesbeeck Frontier | Sleigh | Scientia Militaria: South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 27 (1997) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. Tile forts of the Liesbeeck Frontier.

A Note on the Kinks at the Mean Variance Frontier

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vörös, J.; Kriens, J.; Strijbosch, L.W.G.

1997-01-01

In this paper the standard portfolio case with short sales restrictions is analyzed.Dybvig pointed out that if there is a kink at a risky portfolio on the efficient frontier, then the securities in this portfolio have equal expected return and the converse of this statement is false.For the

Measurement of productive efficiency with frontier methods. A case study for wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iglesias, Guillermo; Castellanos, Pablo; Seijas, Amparo

2010-01-01

In this paper, we measure the productive efficiency of a group of wind farms during the period 2001-2004 using the frontier methods Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Taking an extensive definition of the productive process of wind electricity as our starting point, we obtain results which allow us to identify, on the one hand, an essentially ex ante efficiency measure and, on the other hand, aspects of relevance for wind farm development companies (developers), technology suppliers and operators in terms of their economic impact. These results may also be of interest for regulators and other stakeholders in the sector. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of the simultaneous use of DEA and SFA methodologies. (author)

THE ROMAN FRONTIER IN BISTRIȚA – NĂSĂUD COUNTY. PART I. THE REPERTORY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu Iustinian Zăgreanu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to reopen the issues regarding the northern section of the frontiers of Dacia Porolissensis, most of the segment, located on the modern territory of Bistrița – Năsăud County. After almost 40 years, this study is returns to the questions about the watchtowers of the Roman frontier, their locations, their state of preservation and their functionality. The paper is largely an updated repertory of the military structures, with a series of observations regarding their role in the military system of Limes Romanus.

Reports on JAEA's Reimei Research Program. April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagame, Yuichiro

2014-03-01

The Reimei (Dawn) Research Program is conducted based on public application to encourage original and/or unique ideas in the field of new frontier research on atomic energy sciences. Candidates for the offering have been extended beyond the country since the fiscal year of 2010. The seven research subjects including two ongoing ones were accepted in the fiscal year 2012 that were carried out in collaboration with Advanced Science Research Center. The three successive projects, in particular, have achieved substantial progress through the effective international collaboration. The summaries of these research subjects are compiled in this report. We hope that new frontier research projects will be developed through the present Reimei Research Program. (author)

Study of carbonate concretions using imaging spectroscopy in the Frontier Formation, Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

de Linaje, Virginia Alonso; Khan, Shuhab D.; Bhattacharya, Janok

2018-04-01

Imaging spectroscopy is applied to study diagenetic processes of the Wall Creek Member of the Cretaceous Frontier Formation, Wyoming. Visible Near-Infrared and Shortwave-Infrared hyperspectral cameras were used to scan near vertical and well-exposed outcrop walls to analyze lateral and vertical geochemical variations. Reflectance spectra were analyzed and compared with high-resolution laboratory spectral and hyperspectral imaging data. Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Mixture Tuned Matched Filtering (MTMF) classification algorithms were applied to quantify facies and mineral abundances in the Frontier Formation. MTMF is the most effective and reliable technique when studying spectrally similar materials. Classification results show that calcite cement in concretions associated with the channel facies is homogeneously distributed, whereas the bar facies was shown to be interbedded with layers of non-calcite-cemented sandstone.

MUSE integral-field spectroscopy towards the Frontier Fields Cluster Abell S1063

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karman, W.; Caputi, K. I.; Grillo, C.

2015-01-01

We present the first observations of the Frontier Fields Cluster Abell S1063 taken with the newly commissioned Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) integral field spectrograph. Because of the relatively large field of view (1 arcmin^2), MUSE is ideal to simultaneously target multiple galaxies...... the cluster, we find 17 galaxies at higher redshift, including three previously unknown Lyman-alpha emitters at z>3, and five multiply-lensed galaxies. We report the detection of a new z=4.113 multiply lensed galaxy, with images that are consistent with lensing model predictions derived for the Frontier...... of scientific topics that can be addressed with a single MUSE pointing. We conclude that MUSE is a very efficient instrument to observe galaxy clusters, enabling their mass modelling, and to perform a blind search for high-redshift galaxies....

Papers presented at the “National Conference on Frontiers in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

The papers appearing in this issue of the Bulletin of Materials Science were presented at the “National Conference on Frontiers in Materials Science and. Technology (FMST 02)” organized by the Materials Science Centre, IIT. Kharagpur, during 22–23 February 2002, as part of the Golden Jubilee. Celebrations of IIT ...

Energy technology sources, systems and frontier conversion

CERN Document Server

Ohta, Tokio

1994-01-01

This book provides a concise and technical overview of energy technology: the sources of energy, energy systems and frontier conversion. As well as serving as a basic reference book for professional scientists and students of energy, it is intended for scientists and policy makers in other disciplines (including practising engineers, biologists, physicists, economists and managers in energy related industries) who need an up-to-date and authoritative guide to the field of energy technology.Energy systems and their elemental technologies are introduced and evaluated from the view point

Urban frontiers in the global struggle for capital gains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Mörtenböck

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This article examines different ways in which finance models have become the ruling mode of spatializing relationships, arguing that the ongoing convergence of economic and spatial investment has transformed our environments into heavily contested ‘financescapes’. First, it reflects upon architecture’s capacity to give both material and symbolic form to these processes and considers the impacts this has on the emergence of novel kinds of urban investment frontiers, including luxury brand real estate, free zones, private cities, and urban innovation hubs. Focusing on speculative urban developments in Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, the article then highlights the performative dimension of such building programs: how architectural capital is put to work by actively performing the frontiers of future development. Physically staking out future financial gains, this mode of operation is today becoming increasingly manifested in urban crowdfunding schemes. We argue that, far from promoting new models of civic participation, such schemes are functioning as a testbed for speculation around new patterns of spatial production in which architecture acts less as the flagstaff of capital than as a capital system in itself.

Determination of Pareto frontier in multi-objective maintenance optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Certa, Antonella; Galante, Giacomo; Lupo, Toni; Passannanti, Gianfranco

2011-01-01

The objective of a maintenance policy generally is the global maintenance cost minimization that involves not only the direct costs for both the maintenance actions and the spare parts, but also those ones due to the system stop for preventive maintenance and the downtime for failure. For some operating systems, the failure event can be dangerous so that they are asked to operate assuring a very high reliability level between two consecutive fixed stops. The present paper attempts to individuate the set of elements on which performing maintenance actions so that the system can assure the required reliability level until the next fixed stop for maintenance, minimizing both the global maintenance cost and the total maintenance time. In order to solve the previous constrained multi-objective optimization problem, an effective approach is proposed to obtain the best solutions (that is the Pareto optimal frontier) among which the decision maker will choose the more suitable one. As well known, describing the whole Pareto optimal frontier generally is a troublesome task. The paper proposes an algorithm able to rapidly overcome this problem and its effectiveness is shown by an application to a case study regarding a complex series-parallel system.

New frontiers and conceptual frameworks for energy justice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sovacool, Benjamin K.; Burke, Matthew; Baker, Lucy; Kotikalapudi, Chaitanya Kumar; Wlokas, Holle

2017-01-01

This article explores how concepts from justice and ethics can inform energy decision-making and highlight the moral and equity dimensions of energy production and use. It defines “energy justice” as a global energy system that fairly distributes both the benefits and burdens of energy services, and one that contributes to more representative and inclusive energy decision-making. The primary contribution of the article is its focus on six new frontiers of future energy justice research. First is making the case for the involvement of non-Western justice theorists. Second is expanding beyond humans to look at the Rights of Nature or non-anthropocentric notions of justice. Third is focusing on cross-scalar issues of justice such as embodied emissions. Fourth is identifying business models and the co-benefits of justice. Fifth is better understanding the tradeoffs within energy justice principles. Sixth is exposing unjust discourses. In doing so, the article presents an agenda constituted by 30 research questions as well as an amended conceptual framework consisting of ten principles. The article argues in favor of “justice-aware” energy planning and policymaking, and it hopes that its (reconsidered) energy justice conceptual framework offers a critical tool to inform decision-making. - Highlights: • We need “justice-aware” energy policy. • A revised energy justice conceptual framework offers a critical tool to inform decision making. • New fields of inquiry for energy justice research and practice exist. • Tradeoffs and weighing competing justice claims occur in practice.

Growing energies and scaling frontiers in nuclear physics- past, present and future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kailas, S.; Shrivastava, A.

2009-01-01

A simultaneous growth in accelerators, instrumentation, detectors and data acquisition has paved the way for the rapid progress in scaling the frontiers in nuclear physics in India. In the early years, the investigation of Isobaric Analogue resonances was the central theme for many researchers. Some of the other programmes were: The determination of proton optical model at sub-Coulomb energies, investigation of shape changes through nuclear spectroscopy of low lying bound states and keV - MeV neutron induced fission and measurement of energy and the mass distribution to understand the fission dynamics. The 5.5 MV Van de Graaff and the 1 MV Cascade generator at Mumbai were the facilities used for these programmes. At the Kolkata cyclotron facility, the research included: reaction mechanism for high energy gammas, a - nucleus optical model potential, a and p induced fission, high spin nuclear spectroscopy, quasi molecular resonances. In the last decade, tremendous progress has been achieved in heavy ion based nuclear physics research using the pelletron at Mumbai and Delhi: Fusion and fission at energies near the Coulomb barrier to understand the role of entrance channel and nuclear structure of interacting species, experimental determination of level density parameter from proton spectra, observation of linear chain configurations in nuclei through heavy ion resonance and decay studies, high excitation - high spin spectroscopy and observation of new symmetries, role of breakup in interactions involving weakly bound projectiles. With the availability of higher energy beams and associated sophisticated detector setup at Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, it will be possible to extend the investigations to Fermi energies to look for multifragmentation/equation of state/isospin dynamics and evolution of symmetry energy as a function of temperature and density/liquid gas phase transition, studies related to high spin spectroscopy of transuranic nuclei and pre

THE IMPACT OF COMPETITIVENESS ON TRADE EFFICIENCY: THE ASIAN EXPERIENCE BY USING THE STOCHASTIC FRONTIER GRAVITY MODEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Memduh Alper Demir

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine the bilateral machinery and transport equipment trade efficiency of selected fourteen Asian countries by applying stochastic frontier gravity model. These selected countries have the top machinery and transport equipment trade (both export and import volumes in Asia. The model we use includes variables such as income, market size of trading partners, distance, common culture, common border, common language and global economic crisis similar to earlier studies using the stochastic frontier gravity models. Our work, however, includes an extra variable called normalized revealed comparative advantage (NRCA index additionally. The NRCA index is comparable across commodity, country and time. Thus, the NRCA index is calculated and then included in our stochastic frontier gravity model to see the impact of competitiveness (here measured by the NRCA index on the efficiency of trade.

Frontiers in research on biodiversity and disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Pieter T J; Ostfeld, Richard S; Keesing, Felicia

2015-10-01

Global losses of biodiversity have galvanised efforts to understand how changes to communities affect ecological processes, including transmission of infectious pathogens. Here, we review recent research on diversity-disease relationships and identify future priorities. Growing evidence from experimental, observational and modelling studies indicates that biodiversity changes alter infection for a range of pathogens and through diverse mechanisms. Drawing upon lessons from the community ecology of free-living organisms, we illustrate how recent advances from biodiversity research generally can provide necessary theoretical foundations, inform experimental designs, and guide future research at the interface between infectious disease risk and changing ecological communities. Dilution effects are expected when ecological communities are nested and interactions between the pathogen and the most competent host group(s) persist or increase as biodiversity declines. To move beyond polarising debates about the generality of diversity effects and develop a predictive framework, we emphasise the need to identify how the effects of diversity vary with temporal and spatial scale, to explore how realistic patterns of community assembly affect transmission, and to use experimental studies to consider mechanisms beyond simple changes in host richness, including shifts in trophic structure, functional diversity and symbiont composition. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Some frontiers of research in basic ruminant nutrition

African Journals Online (AJOL)

research on energy metabolism covers mechanisms of energy generation in anaerobes ..... by the action of ionophores would be at distinct disadvantage unless they could couple ...... industrial utilization of renewable resources. New research ...

Evolution of Land Use in the Brazilian Amazon: From Frontier Expansion to Market Chain Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana S. Soler

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Agricultural census data and fieldwork observations are used to analyze changes in land cover/use intensity across Rondônia and Mato Grosso states along the agricultural frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. Results show that the development of land use is strongly related to land distribution structure. While large farms have increased their share of annual and perennial crops, small and medium size farms have strongly contributed to the development of beef and milk market chains in both Rondônia and Mato Grosso. Land use intensification has occurred in the form of increased use of machinery, labor in agriculture and stocking rates of cattle herds. Regional and national demands have improved infrastructure and productivity. The data presented show that the distinct pathways of land use development are related to accessibility to markets and processing industry as well as to the agricultural colonization history of the region. The data analyzed do not provide any indication of frontier stagnation, i.e., the slowdown of agricultural expansion, in the Brazilian Amazon. Instead of frontier stagnation, the data analyzed indicate that intensification processes in consolidated areas as well as recent agricultural expansion into forest areas are able to explain the cycle of expansion and retraction of the agricultural frontier into the Amazon region. The evolution of land use is useful for scenario analysis of both land cover change and land use intensification and provides insights into the role of market development and policies on land use.

Frontiers in Chemical Physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bowlan, Pamela Renee [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-05-02

These are slides dealing with frontiers in chemical physics. The following topics are covered: Time resolving chemistry with ultrashort pulses in the 0.1-40 THz spectral range; Example: Mid-infrared absorption spectrum of the intermediate state CH₂OO; Tracking reaction dynamics through changes in the spectra; Single-shot measurement of the mid-IR absorption dynamics; Applying 2D coherent mid-IR spectroscopy to learn more about transition states; Time resolving chemical reactions at a catalysis using mid-IR and THz pulses; Studying topological insulators requires a surface sensitive probe; Nonlinear phonon dynamics in Bi₂Se₃; THz-pump, SHG-probe as a surface sensitive coherent 2D spectroscopy; Nanometer and femtosecond spatiotemporal resolution mid-IR spectroscopy; Coherent two-dimensional THz/mid-IR spectroscopy with 10nm spatial resolution; Pervoskite oxides as catalysts; Functionalized graphene for catalysis; Single-shot spatiotemporal measurements; Spatiotemporal pulse measurement; Intense, broad-band THz/mid-IR generation with organic crystals.

The determinants of cost efficiency of hydroelectric generating plants: A random frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barros, Carlos P.; Peypoch, Nicolas

2007-01-01

This paper analyses the technical efficiency in the hydroelectric generating plants of a main Portuguese electricity enterprise EDP (Electricity of Portugal) between 1994 and 2004, investigating the role played by increase in competition and regulation. A random cost frontier method is adopted. A translog frontier model is used and the maximum likelihood estimation technique is employed to estimate the empirical model. We estimate the efficiency scores and decompose the exogenous variables into homogeneous and heterogeneous. It is concluded that production and capacity are heterogeneous, signifying that the hydroelectric generating plants are very distinct and therefore any energy policy should take into account this heterogeneity. It is also concluded that competition, rather than regulation, plays the key role in increasing hydroelectric plant efficiency

Exploring gravitational lensing model variations in the Frontier Fields galaxy clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Harris James, Nicholas John; Raney, Catie; Brennan, Sean; Keeton, Charles

2018-01-01

Multiple groups have been working on modeling the mass distributions of the six lensing galaxy clusters in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields data set. The magnification maps produced from these mass models will be important for the future study of the lensed background galaxies, but there exists significant variation in the different groups’ models and magnification maps. We explore the use of two-dimensional histograms as a tool for visualizing these magnification map variations. Using a number of simple, one- or two-halo singular isothermal sphere models, we explore the features that are produced in 2D histogram model comparisons when parameters such as halo mass, ellipticity, and location are allowed to vary. Our analysis demonstrates the potential of 2D histograms as a means of observing the full range of differences between the Frontier Fields groups’ models.This work has been supported by funding from National Science Foundation grants PHY-1560077 and AST-1211385, and from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

A Schoolmarm All My Life: Personal Narratives from Frontier Utah.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinkead, Joyce, Ed.

This book presents edited versions of the personal narratives of 24 Mormon women who taught school in frontier Utah. Drawn primarily from the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the accounts detail the women's lives as Mormons, as pioneers, and as teachers and have been edited to focus on the education of women,…

strategic military colonisation: the cape eastern frontier 1806 – 1872

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Linda

for over 100 years a very turbulent frontier. It was the area where .... reality, these expeditions were capturing people for service on settler farms. Official .... distances from the coast of 2 500 yards (2 286 m) and 6 000 yards (5 486 m). It ..... Corps pensioner assumed command and with augmented forces led an attack on Fort.

Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry 2017 in Bern, Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Probst, Daniel; Heitz, Marc; Poirier, Marion; Gan, Bee Ha; Delalande, Clémence; Reymond, Jean-Louis

2017-10-09

Sharing capital ideas: The 2017 Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry (FiMC) conference, organized jointly by the German Chemical Society, the German Pharmaceutical Society, and the Swiss Chemical Society, was held at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Bern in February 2017. Herein we summarize the many conference highlights, and look forward to the next FiMC meeting, to be held in Jena (Germany) in March 2018. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

New insights into the stochastic ray production frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Arne; Bělín, Matěj; Henningsen, Géraldine

The stochastic ray production frontier was developed as an alternative to the traditional output distance function to model production processes with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Its main advantage over the traditional approach is that it can be used when some output quantities of some o...... important than the existing criticisms: taking logarithms of the polar coordinate angles, non-invariance to units of measurement, and ordering of the outputs. We also give some practical advice on how to address the newly raised issues....

New insights into the stochastic ray production frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Arne; Bělín, Matěj; Henningsen, Geraldine

2017-01-01

The stochastic ray production frontier was developed as an alternative to the traditional output distance function to model production processes with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Its main advantage over the traditional approach is that it can be used when some output quantities of some o...... important than the existing criticisms: taking logarithms of the polar coordinate angles, non-invariance to units of measurement, and ordering of the outputs. We also give some practical advice on how to address the newly raised issues....

Evolution of grid-wide access to database resident information in ATLAS using Frontier

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2012-01-01

In addition, analysis of Frontier logs has allowed us a deeper understanding of problematic queries and understanding of use cases. Use of the system has grown beyond just user analysis and subsyst...

Food Environment and Weight Outcomes: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

OpenAIRE

Li, Xun; Lopez, Rigoberto A.

2013-01-01

Food environment includes the presence of supermarkets, restaurants, warehouse clubs and supercenters, and other food outlets. This paper evaluates weight outcomes from a food environment using a stochastic production frontier and an equation for the determinants of efficiency, where the explanatory variables of the efficiency term include food environment indicators. Using individual consumer data and food environment data from New England counties, empirical results indicate that fruit and ...

Cosmic physics: the high energy frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stecker, F W

2003-01-01

Cosmic rays have been observed up to energies 10 8 times larger than those of the best particle accelerators. Studies of astrophysical particles (hadrons, neutrinos and photons) at their highest observed energies have implications for fundamental physics as well as astrophysics. Thus, the cosmic high energy frontier is the nexus to new particle physics. This overview discusses recent advances being made in the physics and astrophysics of cosmic rays and cosmic γ-rays at the highest observed energies as well as the related physics and astrophysics of very high energy cosmic neutrinos. These topics touch on questions of grand unification, violations of Lorentz invariance as well as Planck scale physics and quantum gravity. (topical review)

Theory of Covalent Adsorbate Frontier Orbital Energies on Functionalized Light-Absorbing Semiconductor Surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Min; Doak, Peter; Tamblyn, Isaac; Neaton, Jeffrey B

2013-05-16

Functional hybrid interfaces between organic molecules and semiconductors are central to many emerging information and solar energy conversion technologies. Here we demonstrate a general, empirical parameter-free approach for computing and understanding frontier orbital energies - or redox levels - of a broad class of covalently bonded organic-semiconductor surfaces. We develop this framework in the context of specific density functional theory (DFT) and many-body perturbation theory calculations, within the GW approximation, of an exemplar interface, thiophene-functionalized silicon (111). Through detailed calculations taking into account structural and binding energetics of mixed-monolayers consisting of both covalently attached thiophene and hydrogen, chlorine, methyl, and other passivating groups, we quantify the impact of coverage, nonlocal polarization, and interface dipole effects on the alignment of the thiophene frontier orbital energies with the silicon band edges. For thiophene adsorbate frontier orbital energies, we observe significant corrections to standard DFT (∼1 eV), including large nonlocal electrostatic polarization effects (∼1.6 eV). Importantly, both results can be rationalized from knowledge of the electronic structure of the isolated thiophene molecule and silicon substrate systems. Silicon band edge energies are predicted to vary by more than 2.5 eV, while molecular orbital energies stay similar, with the different functional groups studied, suggesting the prospect of tuning energy alignment over a wide range for photoelectrochemistry and other applications.

Combustion energy frontier research center (CEFRC) final report (August 1, 2009 – July 31, 2016)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Law, Chung [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

2017-05-05

The Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC) was established to tackle the single overarching grand challenge of energy sustainability, energy security and global warming: to develop a “validated, predictive, multi-scale, combustion modeling capability to optimize the design and operation of evolving fuels in advanced engines for transportation applications,” as identified in the DOE report on “Basic Energy Needs for Clean and Efficient Combustion of 21st Century Transportation Fuels”. The challenge is particularly daunting since energy conversion efficiencies and exhaust emissions are governed by coupled chemical and transport processes at multiple length scales ranging from electron excitation to molecular rearrangements to nanoscale particulate formation to turbulent fuel/air mixing. To tackle this challenge, the CEFRC assembled a world-class team of 15 principal investigators, with the objectives to: 1) develop and test theoretical models to predict elementary reaction rates, molecule thermalization rates, chemical bond dissociation energies, and nonequilibrium transport properties using quantum chemistry calculations that account for strong electron correlation and multiple electronic potential energy surfaces; 2) develop automated kinetic mechanism generation, reduction, and error control methods for predicting alternative fuel including biofuel oxidation, fuel droplet decomposition, and NOx and particulate formation; 3) validate and improve the predictions of these models by measuring ignition delay times, species profiles, flame structures, burning limits, turbulence-kinetic coupling, and NOx and soot emissions at high-pressures and near-limit conditions, by using advanced experimental diagnostic techniques including multiple laser techniques, molecular beam sampling and synchrotron photoionization, and by conducting the measurements in high-pressure shock tubes, jet-stirred and flow reactors, flame bombs, counterflow flames, and advanced

Frontiers in chemical engineering: research needs and opportunities

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

National Research Council Staff; Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; National Research Council

1988-01-01

...: Research Needs and Opportunities Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1988 i Copyrighttrue Please breaks inserted. are Page files. accidentally typesetting been have may original from the errors not typographic original ret...

Frontiers in ICT towards web 3.0

CERN Document Server

Levnajic, Zoran

2014-01-01

Life without the World Wide Web has become unthinkable, much like life without electricity or water supply. We rely on the web to check public transport schedules, buy a ticket for a concert or exchange photos with friends. However, many everyday tasks cannot be accomplished by the computer itself, since the websites are designed to be read by people, not machines. In addition, the online information is often unstructured and poorly organized, leaving the user with tedious work of searching and filtering. This book takes us to the frontiers of the emerging Web 3.0 or Semantic Web - a new gener

[Brazilian colonization in the Paraguayan agricultural frontier].

Science.gov (United States)

Neupert, R F

1991-04-01

This work briefly describes Brazilian colonization of the Paraguayan agricultural frontier, analyzes factors responsible for expelling population from Brazil and for attracting Brazilians to Paraguay, and assesses the economic and social consequences of immigration to the area. Paraguay's vast and sparsely populated agricultural frontier in areas outside the Central subregion underwent a process of intense colonization from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s. The Paraguayan government initiated an ambitious colonization program in 1963 to increase production, relieve population pressure and subdivision of small parcels in the Central subregion, encourage agricultural modernization, and produce a more diversified agriculture. Paraguayan agriculture in the early 1960s suffered from excessive concentration of land in a few hands and resulting exclusion of around 3/4 of workers from ownership and from any possibility of obtaining credit to fund technological improvements. Results of studies 2 decades after implementation of the colonization plan suggest that it has failed in significant areas. Although a considerable population redistribution alleviated pressure in the Central subregion, it apparently resulted more from spontaneous movement of peasants outside the colonization areas than from the official program. Concentration of lands is now occurring in the colonization area. Assistance for agricultural modernization and diversification of production in the peasant sector has been minimal. On the other hand, production of soy, wheat, and cotton for export increased substantially, because of an entrepreneurial agriculture capitalized by foreign as well as national interests The unmet goals of the colonization program would have required structural reforms rather than simple spatial redistribution of the population. Many of the colonists in the 1970s were Brazilian families displaced by mechanized agriculture in the southern states of Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio

Achievement report for fiscal 1999 on New Sunshine Program. Frontier research and development of basic superconductive AC power generation equipment; 1999 nendo koryu chodendo denryoku kiki kiban sendo kenkyu kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

As part of the New Sunshine Program of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, a 2-year survey and research is conducted beginning in 1998 on the effect of the introduction of superconductive power equipment for the facilitation of the progress of research and development of basic power equipment which utilizes AC (alternating current) superconductivity. Frontier research and development has been started of basic AC superconductive power equipment for clarifying the tasks to solve in the development effort and for preparing an efficient research and development plan. This fiscal year's endeavor covers the survey of the effect of the introduction of superconductive power equipment in addition to the preparation of a basic plan for the research and development of basic AC superconductive power equipment for fiscal 2000 and afterward, continued survey of research and development trends in and outside Japan for the review of the result achieved in the preceding fiscal year, development of AC equipment element technologies utilizing conduit type semiconductors as a basic study for the embodiment of AC superconductive equipment, and a study for elucidating the mechanism of resistance generated in a superconductive current limiter. Furthermore, papers on the superconduction technology released so far are investigated, and technology development trends and efficient research techniques are put together into a technological information database. (NEDO)

Achievement report for fiscal 1999 on New Sunshine Program. Frontier research and development of basic superconductive AC power generation equipment; 1999 nendo koryu chodendo denryoku kiki kiban sendo kenkyu kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

As part of the New Sunshine Program of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, a 2-year survey and research is conducted beginning in 1998 on the effect of the introduction of superconductive power equipment for the facilitation of the progress of research and development of basic power equipment which utilizes AC (alternating current) superconductivity. Frontier research and development has been started of basic AC superconductive power equipment for clarifying the tasks to solve in the development effort and for preparing an efficient research and development plan. This fiscal year's endeavor covers the survey of the effect of the introduction of superconductive power equipment in addition to the preparation of a basic plan for the research and development of basic AC superconductive power equipment for fiscal 2000 and afterward, continued survey of research and development trends in and outside Japan for the review of the result achieved in the preceding fiscal year, development of AC equipment element technologies utilizing conduit type semiconductors as a basic study for the embodiment of AC superconductive equipment, and a study for elucidating the mechanism of resistance generated in a superconductive current limiter. Furthermore, papers on the superconduction technology released so far are investigated, and technology development trends and efficient research techniques are put together into a technological information database. (NEDO)

Special issue on "Frontiers in Materials Science: Condensed matters"

Science.gov (United States)

Hoang, Nam-Nhat; Yamamoto, Tomoyuki; Pham, Duc-Thang

2018-03-01

This special issue includes the editor-invited and selected papers from 3rd International Symposium on Frontiers in Materials Science (FMS2016), held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from the 28th to 30th of September 2016, which coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Faculty of Physics, Hanoi University of Education. The FMS2016 is a continuation of a series of meetings starting from 2010. A first event was a bilateral Vietnamese-German meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2010, and the second one was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2011. The idea at that time was to initiate interactions between scientists from both countries and to further develop the field of materials science in Southeast Asia. After these successful bilateral meetings, a next step was taken by advancing the format of the symposium into an international event. In 2013, the 1st International Symposium on Frontiers in Materials Science (FMS2013) was successfully organized in Hanoi, which followed 2nd symposium, FMS2015, in Tokyo, in 2015. The FMS2016 continues this idea of providing an international forum for physicists, material scientists and chemists for discussing their latest results and the recent developments in the important field of materials science.

Colonel John Graham of Fintry and the Fourth Cape Eastern Frontier ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In July 1795, commanding a company of this regiment, he served on the Isle .... Graham's grand strategy to clear the eastern frontier of Xhosa invaders was carefully ..... greatest ability and good management, and has expressed himself in the .... interests surpassed the 'luxury' of military and security needs, regulated from ...

A panel data parametric frontier technique for measuring total-factor energy efficiency: An application to Japanese regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Honma, Satoshi; Hu, Jin-Li

2014-01-01

Using the stochastic frontier analysis model, we estimate TFEE (total-factor energy efficiency) scores for 47 regions across Japan during the years 1996–2008. We extend the cross-sectional stochastic frontier model proposed by Zhou et al. (2012) to panel data models and add environmental variables. The results provide not only the TFEE scores, in which statistical noise is taken into account, but also the determinants of inefficiency. The three stochastic TFEE scores are compared with a TFEE score derived using data envelopment analysis. The four TFEE scores are highly correlated with one another. For the inefficiency estimates, higher manufacturing industry shares and wholesale and retail trade shares correspond to lower TFEE scores. - Highlights: • This study estimates total-factor energy efficiency of Japanese regions using the stochastic frontier analysis model. • Determinants of inefficiency are also estimated. • The higher the manufacturing share and wholesale and retail trade share, the lower the energy efficiency

Measuring Efficiency of Health Systems of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamidi, Samer; Akinci, Fevzi

2016-06-01

The main purpose of this study is to measure the technical efficiency of twenty health systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to inform evidence-based health policy decisions. In addition, the effects of alternative stochastic frontier model specification on the empirical results are examined. We conducted a stochastic frontier analysis to estimate the country-level technical efficiencies using secondary panel data for 20 MENA countries for the period of 1995-2012 from the World Bank database. We also tested the effect of alternative frontier model specification using three random-effects approaches: a time-invariant model where efficiency effects are assumed to be static with regard to time, and a time-varying efficiency model where efficiency effects have temporal variation, and one model to account for heterogeneity. The average estimated technical inefficiency of health systems in the MENA region was 6.9 % with a range of 5.7-7.9 % across the three models. Among the top performers, Lebanon, Qatar, and Morocco are ranked consistently high according to the three different inefficiency model specifications. On the opposite side, Sudan, Yemen and Djibouti ranked among the worst performers. On average, the two most technically efficient countries were Qatar and Lebanon. We found that the estimated technical efficiency scores vary substantially across alternative parametric models. Based on the findings reported in this study, most MENA countries appear to be operating, on average, with a reasonably high degree of technical efficiency compared with other countries in the region. However, there is evidence to suggest that there are considerable efficiency gains yet to be made by some MENA countries. Additional empirical research is needed to inform future health policies aimed at improving both the efficiency and sustainability of the health systems in the MENA region.

A Bayesian stochastic frontier analysis of Chinese fossil-fuel electricity generation companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zhongfei; Barros, Carlos Pestana; Borges, Maria Rosa

2015-01-01

This paper analyses the technical efficiency of Chinese fossil-fuel electricity generation companies from 1999 to 2011, using a Bayesian stochastic frontier model. The results reveal that efficiency varies among the fossil-fuel electricity generation companies that were analysed. We also focus on the factors of size, location, government ownership and mixed sources of electricity generation for the fossil-fuel electricity generation companies, and also examine their effects on the efficiency of these companies. Policy implications are derived. - Highlights: • We analyze the efficiency of 27 quoted Chinese fossil-fuel electricity generation companies during 1999–2011. • We adopt a Bayesian stochastic frontier model taking into consideration the identified heterogeneity. • With reform background in Chinese energy industry, we propose four hypotheses and check their influence on efficiency. • Big size, coastal location, government control and hydro energy sources all have increased costs

A new multicriteria risk mapping approach based on a multiattribute frontier concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Yemshanov, Denys; Koch, Frank H; Ben-Haim, Yakov; Downing, Marla; Sapio, Frank; Siltanen, Marty

2013-09-01

Invasive species risk maps provide broad guidance on where to allocate resources for pest monitoring and regulation, but they often present individual risk components (such as climatic suitability, host abundance, or introduction potential) as independent entities. These independent risk components are integrated using various multicriteria analysis techniques that typically require prior knowledge of the risk components' importance. Such information is often nonexistent for many invasive pests. This study proposes a new approach for building integrated risk maps using the principle of a multiattribute efficient frontier and analyzing the partial order of elements of a risk map as distributed in multidimensional criteria space. The integrated risks are estimated as subsequent multiattribute frontiers in dimensions of individual risk criteria. We demonstrate the approach with the example of Agrilus biguttatus Fabricius, a high-risk pest that may threaten North American oak forests in the near future. Drawing on U.S. and Canadian data, we compare the performance of the multiattribute ranking against a multicriteria linear weighted averaging technique in the presence of uncertainties, using the concept of robustness from info-gap decision theory. The results show major geographic hotspots where the consideration of tradeoffs between multiple risk components changes integrated risk rankings. Both methods delineate similar geographical regions of high and low risks. Overall, aggregation based on a delineation of multiattribute efficient frontiers can be a useful tool to prioritize risks for anticipated invasive pests, which usually have an extremely poor prior knowledge base. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

[Research progress and trend on grassland agroecology].

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Jizhou; Li, Xianglin; Hou, Fujiang

2002-08-01

The connotation, progress, research frontiers and developmental trend of grassland agroecology are discussed in this paper. The interface theory, structure and function, coupling and discordance, and health assessment of grassland agroecosystems were recognized as the four research frontiers of the discipline. There exist three primary interfaces in a grassland agroecosystem, i.e., vegetation-site, grassland-animal and production-management. Research into a series of the ecological processes that occurred at these interfaces is the key to revealing the features of the system behavior. There are four sections in a grassland agroecosystem, i.e., pre-plant, plant, animal and post-biotic sections. System coupling and discordance are the two important concepts to describe interactions among the production sections. System coupling among the sections can lead to system improvement by exerting the potential of system capacity. Health of an ecosystem is a reflection of its structure and function, and health assessment is a measurement of its orderliness and service value.

RESEARCH OF THE ADSORPTION OF ORGANIC ACIDS IN SUGARCANE BAGASSE ASH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julio Omar Prieto García

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this research a study of the adsorption of acetic, benzoic, butanoic, fumaric, maleic and succinic acids on sugarcane baggase ash is made. The adsorber material is characterized through physical criteria such as apparent and pictometric density, compressibility, porosity, superficial area and tortuosity. The sample has been examined by X-rays Diffraction, thermal analysis, IR-quality analysis. The isotherm for the sorption process is determined, where it is shown that the Freundlich model is adjusted to benzoic acid, the Langmuir and Toth model to acetic acid, Bunauer- Emmett- Teller (BET model to succinic acid and the butiric, maleic and fumaric acids are adjusted to Langmoir model. It is established that the first-order model is adjusted to the adsorption kinetics of the acetic and benzoic acids; while the rest of the acids are adjusted to a second-order model, in the case of the butanoic, succinic and maleic acids it is possible the occurrence of chemisorption processes.

Incorporating metacognition into morbidity and mortality rounds: The next frontier in quality improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Katz, David; Detsky, Allan S

2016-02-01

This Perspective proposes the introduction of metacognition (thinking about thinking) into the existing format of hospital-based morbidity and mortality rounds. It is placed in the context of historical movements to advance quality improvement by expanding the spectrum of the causes of medical error from systems-based issues to flawed human decision-making capabilities. We suggest that the current approach that focuses on systems-based issues can be improved by exploiting the opportunities to educate physicians about predictable errors committed by reliance on cognitive heuristics. In addition, because the field of educating clinicians about cognitive heuristics has shown mixed results, this proposal represents fertile ground for further research. Educating clinicians about cognitive heuristics may improve metacognition and perhaps be the next frontier in quality improvement. © 2015 Society of Hospital Medicine.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Frontiers of High-Pressure Research

CERN Document Server

Etters, Richard

1991-01-01

The role of high pressure experiments in the discovery of supercon­ ducting materials with a T. above liquid nitrogen temperature has demon­ strated the importance of such experiments. The same role holds true in the tailoring of materials for optoelectronic devices. In addition, much progress has been made recently in the search for metallic hydro­ gen, and the application of high pressure in polymer research has brought forth interesting results. These facts together with the suc­ cess of previous small size meetings (such as the "First International Conference on the Physics of Solids at High Pressure", held in 1965 in Tucson, Arizona, U. S. A. ; "High Pressure and Low Temperature Physics", held in 1977 in Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. ; and "Physics of Solids Under High Pressure", held in 1981 in bad Honnef, Germany), motivated us to organize a workshop with emphasis on the newest results and trends in these fields of high pressure research. Furthermore, it was intended to mix experienced and young scien�...

Artificial intelligence and deep learning - Radiology's next frontier?

Science.gov (United States)

Mayo, Ray Cody; Leung, Jessica

Tracing the use of computers in the radiology department from administrative functions through image acquisition, storage, and reporting, to early attempts at improved diagnosis, we begin to imagine possible new frontiers for their use in exam interpretation. Given their initially slow but ultimately substantial progress in the noninterpretive areas, we are left desiring and even expecting more in the interpretation realm. New technological advances may provide the next wave of progress and radiologists should be early adopters. Several potential applications are discussed and hopefully will serve to inspire future progress. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A meta-frontier approach for causal inference in productivity analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Arne; Mpeta, Daniel F.; Adem, Anwar S.

(2012) and create a meta-frontier in order to estimate the effects of participation on the farms’ meta-technology ratio, their group technical efficiency, and their meta-technology technical efficiency. The empirical analysis uses a cross-sectional data set from sunflower farmers in Tanzania, where some...... by the contractor’s provision of (additional) extension service and seeds of high-yielding varieties to the contract farmers....

On unlimited frontiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graham, J.

1985-01-01

The political system in the United States in unique because our forefathers planned it that way. Unfortunately, this uniqueness does not always serve the interest of those who advocate large nuclear-power facilities and fuel-cycle activities involving reprocessing and breeder reactors. The influence of various political systems on the viability of the nuclear-power option is discussed. As it faces the future, the U.S. nuclear community is divided over its most appropriate courses of action. The current administration is supportive in words if not in deeds, but it is ideologically opposed to advocating the conditions needed for a thriving nuclear industry based on large light water reactors. Will the U.S. enter the new century with ''unlimited frontiers'' in many new nuclear plant designs, or will some major shift in public opinion bring back political conditions that are more compatible with large LWR facilities. This is the $64,000 question confronting the nuclear industry, which must be prepared for any eventuality. The best chance for the U.S. to regain worldwide superiority in nuclear power-technology may lie in our ability to make rapid adjustments and to offer new and advanced machines that best fit utility needs and the political conditions of their own time

Annual report of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, for fiscal 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

This annual report are constructed by two volumes: Research subjects of laboratories and research groups and Frontier research program. In the former, research actions of 44 laboratories on Wako Campus, 1 project office of research groups, 6 laboratories of Tsukuba life science center, 1 center and 4 laboratories of RIKEN Harima institute, and scientific and technical services were described. And, actions on 6 kinds of basic science research, 1 research of protein folds research, 4 kinds of research concerning the peaceful use of atomic energy, 1 international collaboration, 2 kinds of development of fundamental technology, 3 kinds of development of computational science and technology, 5 kinds of basic science research on life science, 1 research on synchrotron radiation science, 1 research on synchrotron program and others, 1 research on synchrotron radiation instrumentation, 3 kinds of strategic research program and others, and 1 special contract research were also described in basic science research and others. In the latter, in frontier research program, research actions on 5 laboratories of bio-homeostasis research, 3 laboratories of frontier materials research, 10 laboratories of brain science research, 4 laboratories of photodynamics research, and 4 laboratories of bio-mimetic control research were described. And, actions on 4 laboratories of neuronal function research group, 3 laboratories of neuronal circuit mechanisms research group, 2 laboratories of cognitive brain science group, 2 laboratories of developmental brain science group, 3 laboratories of molecular neuropathology group, 2 laboratories of brainway group, 3 laboratories of brain-style information systems research group, and 3 laboratories of advanced technology development center were described in brain science institute, RIKEN. (G.K.)

US residential energy demand and energy efficiency: A stochastic demand frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, Massimo; Hunt, Lester C.

2012-01-01

This paper estimates a US frontier residential aggregate energy demand function using panel data for 48 ‘states’ over the period 1995 to 2007 using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Utilizing an econometric energy demand model, the (in)efficiency of each state is modeled and it is argued that this represents a measure of the inefficient use of residential energy in each state (i.e. ‘waste energy’). This underlying efficiency for the US is therefore observed for each state as well as the relative efficiency across the states. Moreover, the analysis suggests that energy intensity is not necessarily a good indicator of energy efficiency, whereas by controlling for a range of economic and other factors, the measure of energy efficiency obtained via this approach is. This is a novel approach to model residential energy demand and efficiency and it is arguably particularly relevant given current US energy policy discussions related to energy efficiency.

Exploring the Cosmic Frontier Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century

CERN Document Server

Lobanov, Andrei P; Cesarsky, Catherine; Diamond, Phillip J

2007-01-01

In the coming decades, astrophysical science will benefit enormously from the construction and operation of several major international ground- and space based facilities, such as ALMA, Herschel/Planck, and SKA in the far infrared to radio band, Extremely Large Telescopes, JWST and GAIA in the optical to near infrared regime, XEUS and Constellation-X in the X-ray, and GLAST in the Gamma-ray regime. These and other new instruments will have a major impact in a wide range of scientific topics including the cosmological epoch of reionization, galactic dynamics and nuclear activity, stellar astronomy, extra-solar planets, gamma-ray bursts, X-ray binaries, and many others. On May 18-21, 2004, the Max-Planck-Society’s Harnack-Haus in Dahlem, Berlin hosted the international symposium "Exploring the Cosmic Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century". The symposium in Berlin was dedicated to exploring the complementarity and synergies between different branches of astrophysical research, by presenting ...

Optimization and industry new frontiers

CERN Document Server

Korotkikh, Victor

2003-01-01

Optimization from Human Genes to Cutting Edge Technologies The challenges faced by industry today are so complex that they can only be solved through the help and participation of optimization ex­ perts. For example, many industries in e-commerce, finance, medicine, and engineering, face several computational challenges due to the mas­ sive data sets that arise in their applications. Some of the challenges include, extended memory algorithms and data structures, new program­ ming environments, software systems, cryptographic protocols, storage devices, data compression, mathematical and statistical methods for knowledge mining, and information visualization. With advances in computer and information systems technologies, and many interdisci­ plinary efforts, many of the "data avalanche challenges" are beginning to be addressed. Optimization is the most crucial component in these efforts. Nowadays, the main task of optimization is to investigate the cutting edge frontiers of these technologies and systems ...

AECL research programs in chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crocker, I.H.; Eastwood, T.A.; Smith, D.R.; Stewart, R.B.; Tomlinson, M.; Torgerson, D.F.

1980-09-01

Fundamental or underlying research in chemistry is being done in AECL laboratories to further the understanding of processes involved in current nuclear energy systems and maintain an awareness of progress at the frontiers of chemical research so that new advances can be turned to advantage in future AECL endeavours. The report introduces the current research topics and describes them briefly under the following headings: radiation chemistry, isotope separation, high temperature solution chemistry, fuel reprocessing chemistry, and analytical chemistry. (auth)

70 Years of Aeropropulsion Research at NASA Glenn Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, Dhanireddy R.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a brief overview of air-breathing propulsion research conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) over the past 70 years. It includes a historical perspective of the center and its various stages of propulsion research in response to the countrys different periods of crises and growth opportunities. GRCs research and technology development covered a broad spectrum, from a short-term focus on improving the energy efficiency of aircraft engines to advancing the frontier technologies of high-speed aviation in the supersonic and hypersonic speed regimes. This paper highlights major research programs, showing their impact on industry and aircraft propulsion, and briefly discusses current research programs and future aeropropulsion technology trends in related areas

ACCOUNTING FOR COSMIC VARIANCE IN STUDIES OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELD CLUSTERS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robertson, Brant E.; Stark, Dan P. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Ellis, Richard S. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, MS 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; McLeod, Derek, E-mail: brant@email.arizona.edu [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)

2014-12-01

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ∼35% at redshift z ∼ 7 to ≳ 65% at z ∼ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.

ACCOUNTING FOR COSMIC VARIANCE IN STUDIES OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELD CLUSTERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robertson, Brant E.; Stark, Dan P.; Ellis, Richard S.; Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; McLeod, Derek

2014-01-01

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ∼35% at redshift z ∼ 7 to ≳ 65% at z ∼ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program

Accounting for Cosmic Variance in Studies of Gravitationally Lensed High-redshift Galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Field Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Brant E.; Ellis, Richard S.; Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; Stark, Dan P.; McLeod, Derek

2014-12-01

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ~35% at redshift z ~ 7 to >~ 65% at z ~ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.

STATE ACID RAIN RESEARCH AND SCREENING SYSTEM - VERSION 1.0 USER'S MANUAL

Science.gov (United States)

The report is a user's manual that describes Version 1.0 of EPA's STate Acid Rain Research and Screening System (STARRSS), developed to assist utility regulatory commissions in reviewing utility acid rain compliance plans. It is a screening tool that is based on scenario analysis...

Optical Molecular Imaging Frontiers in Oncology: The Pursuit of Accuracy and Sensitivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun Wang

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Cutting-edge technologies in optical molecular imaging have ushered in new frontiers in cancer research, clinical translation, and medical practice, as evidenced by recent advances in optical multimodality imaging, Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI, and optical image-guided surgeries. New abilities allow in vivo cancer imaging with sensitivity and accuracy that are unprecedented in conventional imaging approaches. The visualization of cellular and molecular behaviors and events within tumors in living subjects is improving our deeper understanding of tumors at a systems level. These advances are being rapidly used to acquire tumor-to-tumor molecular heterogeneity, both dynamically and quantitatively, as well as to achieve more effective therapeutic interventions with the assistance of real-time imaging. In the era of molecular imaging, optical technologies hold great promise to facilitate the development of highly sensitive cancer diagnoses as well as personalized patient treatment—one of the ultimate goals of precision medicine.

Trends, drivers and impacts of changes in swidden cultivation in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Vliet, Nathalie; Mertz, Ole; Heinimann, Andreas

2012-01-01

ultifunctionality of land uses has been preserved as a strategy to adapt to current ecological, economic and political circumstances. In some areas swidden remains important simply because intensification is not a viable choice, for example when population densities and/or food market demands are low......This meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10–15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including...... biofuels. Conservation policies and practices also accelerate changes in swidden by restricting forest clearing and encouraging commercial agriculture. However, swidden remains important in many frontier areas where farmers have unequal or insecure access to investment and market opportunities, or where...

ASYMMETRY OF MARKET RETURNS AND THE MEAN VARIANCE FRONTIER

OpenAIRE

SENGUPTA, Jati K.; PARK, Hyung S.

1994-01-01

The hypothesis that the skewness and asymmetry have no significant impact on the mean variance frontier is found to be strongly violated by monthly U.S. data over the period January 1965 through December 1974. This result raises serious doubts whether the common market portifolios such as SP 500, value weighted and equal weighted returns can serve as suitable proxies for meanvariance efficient portfolios in the CAPM framework. A new test for assessing the impact of skewness on the variance fr...

Evaluation of different frontier-based multi-robot exploration strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benkrid Abdenour

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we focus on the problem of exploring an unknown environment by a team of mobile robots. The main objective is to compare four different coordination strategies based on frontier concept (boundaries between unexplored and explored open areas and analyze their performance in term of assignment quality, overall exploration time and computational complexity. In order to provide a suitable qualitative study we used three optimization criteria. Each strategy has been implemented and tested extensively in computerized simulation.

No Sign Until the Burst of Fire. Understanding the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

2008-01-01

unmanned crossings in the north and 229 such crossing areas in the south.6 Unaccounted for in this typology of bor- der crossings are hundreds of...Frontier Province, the Punjab, and the Sind. In the Swat District, once an international tourist haven known as the “Switzerland of Asia,” the

Illustrating Environmental Issues by Using the Production-Possibility Frontier: A Classroom Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Carson, Nancy; Tsigaris, Panagiotis

2011-01-01

The authors develop a new classroom experimental game to illustrate environmental issues by using the production-possibility frontier in an introductory economics course. Waste evolves as a byproduct of the production of widgets. Environmental cleanup is produced by reallocating scarce resources away from the production of the dirty good. In…

Africa: the new family planning frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, John C; Caldwell, Pat

2002-03-01

Sub-Saharan Africa will be the family planning frontier of the twenty-first century. Fertility levels and population growth rates are still high, and family planning programs suited to the region are still being developed. Nevertheless, by the end of the twentieth century, fertility transition was under way in Southern Africa and a few countries elsewhere. Successful regional family planning in the twenty-first century will depend upon stronger political leadership, the development of family planning programs that meet the needs of all segments of society and not only currently married women, assistance to the market, and a recognition of the central importance of hormonal methods, especially injectables. Problems include stagnation in economic growth and in child mortality decline, as well as the persistence of the AIDS epidemic.

Frontiers in Reproduction (FIR): An Assessment of Success1

Science.gov (United States)

Ascoli, Mario; Mebane, Dorianne; Fazleabas, Asgerally T.

2016-01-01

The Frontiers in Reproduction (FIR) course has been held annually since 1998 at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, MA. The primary purpose of the course is to train young reproductive biologists in cutting-edge techniques that would strengthen their career opportunities. An initial evaluation of the FIR course was conducted by surveying the participants who took the course between 1998 and 2002. The findings of this survey were published in Biology of Reproduction in 2006, which highlighted the overall positive impact the course had on the training and upward career trajectory of the participants during the first 5 yr. The current study was designed to access the continued impact of FIR at the 10-yr mark by evaluating the participants who took the course between 1998 and 2008 using two different survey mechanisms. Based on these evaluations and feedback from the participants, it was evident that 1) FIR continues to have a significant positive impact on the careers of the participants, 2) the majority of the participants continue to be involved in research or administration related to the reproductive sciences, 3) nearly 90% of the attendees have been successful in obtaining funding for their research, and 4) most alumni have published at least five manuscripts in higher impact journals since they took the course. Therefore, it is evident that FIR participants are highly successful and continue to significantly impact the advances in the reproductive sciences worldwide. PMID:27335071

Spin-off produced by the fusion research and development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koizumi, Koichi; Konishi, T.; Tsuji, Hiroshi

2001-03-01

Nuclear fusion devices are constructed by the integration of many frontier technologies and fusion science based on a wide area of science such as physics, electromagnetics, thermodynamics, mechanics, electrical engineering, electronics, material engineering, heat transfer and heat flow, thermal engineering, neutronics, cryogenics, chemical engineering, control engineering, instrumentation engineering, vacuum engineering. For this, the research and development of elementary technology for fusion devices contributes to advance the technology level of each basic field. In addition, the mutual stimulus among various research fields contributes to increase the potential level of whole 'science and technology'. The spin-offs produced by the fusion technology development give much contribution not only to the general industrial technologies such as semiconductor technology, precision machining of large component, but also contribute to the progress of the accelerator technology, application technology of superconductivity, instrumentation and diagnostics, plasma application technology, heat-resistant and heavy radiation-resistant material technology, vacuum technology, and computer simulation technology. The spin-off produced by the fusion technology development expedite the development of frontier technology of other field and give much contribution to the progress of basic science on physics, space science, material science, medical science, communication, and environment. This report describes the current status of the spin-off effects of fusion research and development by focusing on the contribution of technology development for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) to industrial technology. The possibilities of future application in the future are also included in this report from the view point of researchers working for nuclear fusion development. Although the nuclear fusion research has a characteristic to integrate the frontier technologies of

The impact of a sustainability constraint on the mean-tracking error efficient frontier

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boudt, K.M.R.; Cornelissen, J.; Croux, C.

2013-01-01

Most socially responsible investment funds combine a sustainability objective with a tracking error constraint. We characterize the impact of a sustainability constraint on the mean-tracking error efficient frontier and illustrate this on a universe of US stocks for the period 2003-2010. © 2013

Anorexia nervosa and uric acid beyond gout: An idea worth researching.

Science.gov (United States)

Simeunovic Ostojic, Mladena; Maas, Joyce

2018-02-01

Uric acid is best known for its role in gout-the most prevalent inflammatory arthritis in humans-that is also described as an unusual complication of anorexia nervosa (AN). However, beyond gout, uric acid could also be involved in the pathophysiology and psychopathology of AN, as it has many biological functions serving as a pro- and antioxidant, neuroprotector, neurostimulant, and activator of the immune response. Further, recent research suggests that uric acid could be a biomarker of mood dysfunction, personality traits, and behavioral patterns. This article discusses the hypothesis that uric acid in AN may not be a mere innocent bystander determined solely by AN behavior and its medical complications. In contrast, the relation between uric acid and AN may have evolutionary origin and may be reciprocal, where uric acid regulates some features and pathophysiological processes of AN, including weight and metabolism regulation, oxidative stress, immunity, mood, cognition, and (hyper)activity. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Regime shifts in mean-variance efficient frontiers: some international evidence

OpenAIRE

Massimo Guidolin; Federica Ria

2010-01-01

Regime switching models have been assuming a central role in financial applications because of their well-known ability to capture the presence of rich non-linear patterns in the joint distribution of asset returns. This paper examines how the presence of regimes in means, variances, and correlations of asset returns translates into explicit dynamics of the Markowitz mean-variance frontier. In particular, the paper shows both theoretically and through an application to international equity po...

Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

images brought into existence by the amalgamation of crusading and missionary ideology and the frontier experience. This is followed by studies on 'Practices,' which examines the chronicle's reflections of the diplomatic, religious, and military practices of the christianisation and colonisation...... chronicle, James A. Brundage; Part I Representations: Henry of Livonia and the ideology of crusading, Christopher Tyerman; Sacred history, profane history: uses of the Bible in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Jaan Undusk; Henricus the ethnographer: reflections on ethnicity in the Chronicle of Livonia...

Exploring the cosmic frontier. Astrophysical instruments for the 21st century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lobanov, A.P.; Zensus, J.A.; Cesarsky, C.; Diamond, P.

2007-01-01

In the coming decades, astrophysical science will benefit enormously from the construction and operation of several major international ground- and space based facilities, such as ALMA, Herschel/Planck, and SKA in the far infrared to radio band, Extremely Large Telescopes, JWST and GAIA in the optical to near infrared regime, XEUS and Constellation-X in the X-ray, and GLAST in the Gamma-ray regime. These and other new instruments will have a major impact in a wide range of scientific topics including the cosmological epoch of reionization, galactic dynamics and nuclear activity, stellar astronomy, extra-solar planets, gamma-ray bursts, X-ray binaries, and many others. On May 18-21, 2004, the Max-Planck-Society's Harnack-Haus in Dahlem, Berlin hosted the international symposium ''Exploring the Cosmic Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century''. The symposium in Berlin was dedicated to exploring the complementarity and synergies between different branches of astrophysical research, by presenting and discussing the fundamental scientific problems that will be addressed by major future astrophysical facilities in the next few decades. This book contains 70 papers from the meeting and is intended to give a lasting account of a snapshot of an evolving scientific discourse and interaction throughout our field of research. (orig.)

The intersection of gender and ethnicity in HIV risk, interventions, and prevention: new frontiers for psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Wyatt, Gail E; Gómez, Cynthia A; Hamilton, Alison B; Valencia-Garcia, Dellanira; Gant, Larry M; Graham, Charles E

2013-01-01

This article articulates a contextualized understanding of gender and ethnicity as interacting social determinants of HIV risk and acquisition, with special focus on African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos--2 ethnic groups currently at most risk for HIV/AIDS acquisition in the United States. First, sex and gender are defined. Second, a conceptual model of gender, ethnicity, and HIV risk and resilience is presented. Third, a historical backdrop of gender and ethnic disparities is provided, with attention to key moments in history when notions of the intersections between gender, ethnicity, and HIV have taken important shifts. Finally, new frontiers in psychology are presented, with recommendations as to how psychology as a discipline can better incorporate considerations of gender and ethnicity as not only HIV risk factors but also as potential avenues of resilience in ethnic families and communities. Throughout the article, we promulgate the notion of a syndemic intersectional approach, which provides a critical framework for understanding and building the conditions that create and sustain overall community health by locating gendered lived experiences and expectations within the layered conceptual model ranging from the biological self to broader societal structures that define and constrain personal decisions, behaviors, actions, resources, and consequences. For ethnic individuals and populations, health disparities, stress and depression, substance abuse, and violence and trauma are of considerable concern, especially with regard to HIV risk, infection, and treatment. The conceptual model poses new frontiers for psychology in HIV policy, research, interventions, and training.

The efficiency frontier approach to economic evaluation of health-care interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Caro, J Jaime; Nord, Erik; Siebert, Uwe; McGuire, Alistair; McGregor, Maurice; Henry, David; de Pouvourville, Gérard; Atella, Vincenzo; Kolominsky-Rabas, Peter

2010-10-01

IQWiG commissioned an international panel of experts to develop methods for the assessment of the relation of benefits to costs in the German statutory health-care system. The panel recommended that IQWiG inform German decision makers of the net costs and value of additional benefits of an intervention in the context of relevant other interventions in that indication. To facilitate guidance regarding maximum reimbursement, this information is presented in an efficiency plot with costs on the horizontal axis and value of benefits on the vertical. The efficiency frontier links the interventions that are not dominated and provides guidance. A technology that places on the frontier or to the left is reasonably efficient, while one falling to the right requires further justification for reimbursement at that price. This information does not automatically give the maximum reimbursement, as other considerations may be relevant. Given that the estimates are for a specific indication, they do not address priority setting across the health-care system. This approach informs decision makers about efficiency of interventions, conforms to the mandate and is consistent with basic economic principles. Empirical testing of its feasibility and usefulness is required.

Relationships of efficiency to reproductive disorders in Danish milk production: a stochastic frontier analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, L G; Bruun, J; Coelli, T; Agger, J F; Lund, M

2004-01-01

Relationships of various reproductive disorders and milk production performance of Danish dairy farms were investigated. A stochastic frontier production function was estimated using data collected in 1998 from 514 Danish dairy farms. Measures of farm-level milk production efficiency relative to this production frontier were obtained, and relationships between milk production efficiency and the incidence risk of reproductive disorders were examined. There were moderate positive relationships between milk production efficiency and retained placenta, induction of estrus, uterine infections, ovarian cysts, and induction of birth. Inclusion of reproductive management variables showed that these moderate relationships disappeared, but directions of coefficients for almost all those variables remained the same. Dystocia showed a weak negative correlation with milk production efficiency. Farms that were mainly managed by young farmers had the highest average efficiency scores. The estimated milk losses due to inefficiency averaged 1142, 488, and 256 kg of energy-corrected milk per cow, respectively, for low-, medium-, and high-efficiency herds. It is concluded that the availability of younger cows, which enabled farmers to replace cows with reproductive disorders, contributed to high cow productivity in efficient farms. Thus, a high replacement rate more than compensates for the possible negative effect of reproductive disorders. The use of frontier production and efficiency/inefficiency functions to analyze herd data may enable dairy advisors to identify inefficient herds and to simulate the effect of alternative management procedures on the individual herd's efficiency.

Exploring energy efficiency in China's iron and steel industry: A stochastic frontier approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Boqiang; Wang, Xiaolei

2014-01-01

The iron and steel industry is one of the major energy-consuming industries in China. Given the limited research on effective energy conservation in China's industrial sectors, this paper analyzes the total factor energy efficiency and the corresponding energy conservation potential of China's iron and steel industry using the excessive energy-input stochastic frontier model. The results show that there was an increasing trend in energy efficiency between 2005 and 2011 with an average energy efficiency of 0.699 and a cumulative energy conservation potential of 723.44 million tons of coal equivalent (Mtce). We further analyze the regional differences in energy efficiency and find that energy efficiency of Northeastern China is high while that of Central and Western China is low. Therefore, there is a concentration of energy conservation potential for the iron and steel industry in the Central and Western areas. In addition, we discover that inefficient factors are important for improving energy conservation. We find that the structural defect in the economic system is an important impediment to energy efficiency and economic restructuring is the key to improving energy efficiency. - Highlights: • A stochastic frontier model is adopted to analyze energy efficiency. • Industry concentration and ownership structure are main factors affecting the non-efficiency. • Energy efficiency of China's iron and steel industry shows a fluctuating increase. • Regional differences of energy efficiency are further analyzed. • Future policy for energy conservation in China's iron and steel sector is suggested

Mapping Process to Pattern in the Landscape Change of the Amazonian Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Robert

2003-01-01

Changes in land use and land cover are dynamic processes reflecting a sequence of decisions made by individual land managers. In developing economies, these decisions may be embedded in the evolution of individual households, as is often the case in indigenous areas and agricultural frontiers. One goal of the present article is to address the land use and land-cover decisions of colonist farmers in the Amazon Basin as a function, in part, of household characteristics. Another goal is to generalize the issue of tropical deforestation into a broader discussion on forest dynamics. The extent of secondary forest in tropical areas has been well documented in South America and Africa. Agricultural-plot abandonment often occurs in tandem with primary forest clearance and as part of the same decision-making calculus. Consequently, tropical deforestation and forest succession are not independent processes in the landscape. This article presents a framework that integrates them into a model of forest dynamics at household level, and in so doing provides an account of the spatial pattern of deforestation that has been observed in the Amazon's colonization frontiers.

Extractive industries and political frontiers in the Amazon during the elastic rubber boom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarate G, Carlos G

2008-01-01

The article analyzes the relationship between the extractive activity of elastic rubber, during the period between the fourth part of 19th century and the first decades of the 20 Th century, in the Amazonian frontier between Brazil, Peru and Colombia, and the process of configuration and definition of the boundaries between these countries. The central aspect of the analysis and the discussion is the questioning of the deterministic and simplistic interpretations that associate, in a mechanical way, the relationship between the kind of rubber species exploited and their production organization, the effects on the indigenous societies, and even the politic organization and delimitation of the bordering territories. It is also expected to show how these interpretations have been wrongly or instrumentally used even in the ideological field, to justify and explain the results of the bordering agreements of these countries, which conduced to establish the current Political frontiers in the Amazon

International School of Physics Enrico Fermi : Course 190 : Frontiers in Modern Optics

CERN Document Server

Dudley, J; Clerici, M

2016-01-01

The year 2015 was designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, and also marks the anniversaries of a number of significant historical events related to light. In 1015, Ibn Al-Haytham published his book of optics; in 1815, Fresnel first proposed the notion that light is actually a wave; James Clerk Maxwell then firmly established this concept with his electromagnetic theory of light propagation; and Einstein announced his discovery of the photoelectric effect, demonstrating that light is made of photons in 1905, followed in 1915 by his general theory of relativity, in which light plays a central role. This book presents lectures from the International School of Physics Enrico Fermi summer school: Frontiers in Modern Optics, held in Varenna, Italy, in June and July 2014. The school attempted to give a broad and modern overview of the field of optics in a series of lectures addressing ongoing topics of research. Subject areas include: nonlinear optics; lig...

Frontiers in Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sumners, Colin; Horiuchi, Masatsugu; Widdop, Robert E

2013-01-01

In recent years it has been firmly established that apart from the classical renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) comprising angiotensin II (Ang II), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) - being responsible for Ang II generation - and the angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R), there also exist protective a...

the customer at the final frontier of mass customization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svensson, Carsten; Jensen, Thomas

2002-01-01

, some of the factors influencing the use of this business paradigm are discussed and it is argued that the customer is the major limiting factor at the final frontier of mass customisation. Until recently mass customisation have mainly been turned towards the structural design of products, whereas...... this paper argues that there might be a need for an increased focus on the fulfilment of customer needs. As a result of this manufactures will have to hone the balance of trade-offs, as the paradigm of mass customisation becomes a commodity....

Frontiers in Education at Japanese Institutes of Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Akiyama, Hidenori; Teramoto, Akemi; Shimomura, Naoyuki

Education has become more and more important in Japanese institutes of higher education. Under such circumstances, societies of the study of frontiers in education have been held since the first society at September 20, 2002. The valuable 158 presentations have been carried out during 11 societies till March, 2006. These presentations are classified according to the topics of subjects. The topics are the improvement of education methods, IT aided education, cooperation with elementary school, junior high school, high school and companies, hands-on training (manufacturing), JABEE and others. Some distinct presentations are summarized.

A Monte Carlo study on multiple output stochastic frontiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Geraldine; Henningsen, Arne; Jensen, Uwe

2015-01-01

, dividing all other output quantities by the selected outputquantity, and using these ratios as regressors (OD). Another approach is the stochasticray production frontier (SR), which transforms the output quantities into their Euclideandistance as the dependent variable and their polar coordinates...... of the approaches is clearly superior. However, considerable differences are found between the estimates at single replications. Taking average efficiencies from both approaches gives clearly better efficiency estimates than taking just the OD or the SR. In the case of zero values in the output quantities, the SR...

Mental Healthcare Delivery in London-Middlesex Ontario - The Next Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Velji, Karima; Links, Paul

2016-01-01

The next frontier for mental healthcare delivery will be focused on three facets of innovation, namely structure, process and outcome. The structure innovation will seek to develop new models of care delivery between the two hospitals and with the community. The process innovation will focus on embedding strategies to adopt a recovery and rehabilitation approach to care delivery. Lastly, the outcome innovation will use system wide quality improvement methods to drive breakthrough performance in mental healthcare.

Markov switching mean-variance frontier dynamics: theory and international evidence

OpenAIRE

M. Guidolin; F. Ria

2010-01-01

It is well-known that regime switching models are able to capture the presence of rich non-linear patterns in the joint distribution of asset returns. After reviewing key concepts and technical issues related to specifying, estimating, and using multivariate Markov switching models in financial applications, in this paper we map the presence of regimes in means, variances, and covariances of asset returns into explicit dynamics of the Markowitz mean-variance frontier. In particular, we show b...

Scientific American Frontiers Teaching Guides for Shows 901-905, October 1998-April 1999.

Science.gov (United States)

Connecticut Public Television, Hartford.

These teaching guides are intended to supplement the shows of the ninth season (1998-99) of the PBS Television Series "Scientific American Frontiers." Episode 901 is entitled "Science in Paradise: Another Side of the Caribbean." The teaching guide contains information and activities on hawksbill turtles, volcanic eruptions,…

A telecommunications intervention for frontier patients with diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagnild, Gail; MacCart, John G; Mitchell, Scot; Tyabah, Kiran; Leenknecht, Cindy; Meszaros, Jane Fitch

2008-10-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a telecommunications diabetes self-management (DSM) intervention would improve health-related outcomes among frontier participants with diabetes. A one-group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design with two groups of participants was used. Differences between pre and post-test periods on measures of physical and emotional health, knowledge of diabetes, and self-care behaviors were measured. Overall, participants did better along measures of blood pressure, HbA(1c), self-efficacy, knowledge of diabetes, understanding of DSM, monitoring behaviors, and reported less personal and social disruption from diabetes. Six-month follow-up results showed continued positive outcomes.

Frontier Fields: A Cost-Effective Approach to Bringing Authentic Science to the Education Community

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenhamer, B.; Lawton, B.; Summers, F.; Ryer, H.

2015-11-01

For more than two decades, the Hubble EPO program has sought to bring the wonders of the universe to the education community and the public, and to engage audiences in the adventure of scientific discovery. Program components include standards-based, curriculum-support materials, exhibits and exhibit components, and professional development workshops. The main underpinnings of the program's infrastructure are scientist-educator development teams, partnerships, and an embedded program evaluation component. The Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach is leveraging this existing infrastructure to bring the Frontier Fields science program to the education community in a cost-effective way. Frontier Fields observations and results have been, and will continue to be, embedded into existing product lines and professional development offerings. We also are leveraging our new social media strategy to bring the science program to the public in the form of an ongoing blog.

Symbolic bones and interethnic violence in a frontier zone, northwest Mexico, ca. 500-900 C.E.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Ben A; Martin, Debra L

2015-07-28

Although extensive deposits of disarticulated, commingled human bones are common in the prehispanic Northern Frontier of Mesoamerica, detailed bioarchaeological analyses of them are not. To our knowledge, this article provides the first such analysis of bone from a full residential-ceremonial complex and evaluates multiple hypotheses about its significance, concluding that the bones actively represented interethnic violence as well as other relationships among persons living and dead. Description of these practices is important to the discussion of multiethnic societies because the frontier was a context where urbanism and complexity were emerging and groups with the potential to form multiethnic societies were interacting, possibly in the same ways that groups did before the formation of larger multiethnic city-states in the core of Mesoamerica.

A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Output Level and Growth in Poland and Western Economies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Osiewalski, J.; Koop, G.; Steel, M.F.J.

1997-01-01

This paper uses Bayesian stochastic frontier methods to measure the productivity gap between Poland and Western countries that existed before the beginning of the main Polish economic reform. Using data for 20 Western economies, Poland and Yugoslavia (1980-1990) we estimate a translog stochastic

Astronomy from the Moon: A New Frontier for 21st Century Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Durst, Steve

2018-06-01

The International Lunar Observatory Association of Hawai'i USA continues into its second decade with research and development of South Pole instruments for astronomy, observation and communication from the Moon. Since the pioneering first astronomy observations from the Moon by Apollo 16 Commander John Young (an ILOA founding-emeritus director until his recent passing), with China Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope LUT operations and current American and European considerations for far-side radio telescopes, today's climate is most promising for a diversity of lunar-based astronomy locations, instruments and technologies. ILOA is aiming to advance this frontier through its Galaxy First Light Imaging program, being developed through contracts with Moon Express and Canadensys Aerospace Corp.A wide variety of extreme and unique lunar conditions enable many astronomy activities and installations, on the Moon's near-side, far-side, north pole, and south pole: The extremely thin lunar exosphere favors observations in millimeter / submillimeter to optical, UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths; the highly stable platform that is the Moon provides for long-duration observations; ultra cold, shaded areas for cryogenic infrared instruments; far-side radio-quiet environment for radio telescopes and VLF astronomy; 1/6-Earth gravity for production and utilization of new, very lightweight materials and instruments, including large refractors, 100-m class liquid mirror telescopes, and possibly 1,000-m class radio telescopes and interferometer antenna arrays vastly larger than Atacama LMA; North and especially South Pole sites, with high peaks and long solar power windows, offer perhaps the widest variety of lunar conditions and opportunities for astronomical innovation on the Moon: a veritable "condominium of observatories".21st century astrophysics seems likely to find Luna a very busy and productive new frontier, as American Astronomical Society and IAU members will validate, with

EXPANDING FRONTIERS OF CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TO SUSTAIN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Chernetska

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Business reality, as well as IT literature, is indicating the shift towards data-driven societies. However, business research is lacking the conceptualizations and explanations in this regard. The common denominator of these perspectives is the key role of customer integration. This can be ensured by efficient managing of customer knowledge. At the same time, online activity of companies provides a possibility to generate customer behavioral data, which potential can be unveiled using specific techniques and tools, such as predictive analytics. Given the peculiarity of such knowledge assets, generated via analytics, it has to be specifically addressed within customer knowledge management. Using resource-based view as a theoretical lens, this study first deduces research propositions which then analyses against the empirical findings from case studies. Findings indicated specific nature of analytics-generated customer knowledge that challenges the frontiers of customer knowledge management towards integration with data management and information management.

Contemporary Trends in Research and Development of Lead-Acid Batteries

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Micka, Karel

2004-01-01

Roč. 8, - (2004), s. 932-933 ISSN 1432-8488 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA102/02/0794 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z4040901 Keywords : lead-acid batteries * electrical system * trends Subject RIV: CG - Electrochemistry Impact factor: 0.984, year: 2004

Measuring the Efficiency of a Hospital based on the Econometric Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaei, Satar; Zandian, Hamed; Baniasadi, Akram; Moghadam, Telma Zahirian; Delavari, Somayeh; Delavari, Sajad

2016-02-01

Hospitals are the most expensive health services provider in the world. Therefore, the evaluation of their performance can be used to reduce costs. The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency of the hospitals at the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). This was a cross-sectional and retrospective study that assessed the performance of Kurdistan teaching hospitals (n = 12) between 2007 and 2013. The Stochastic Frontier Analysis method was used to achieve this aim. The numbers of active beds, nurses, physicians, and other staff members were considered as input variables, while the inpatient admission was considered as the output. The data were analyzed using Frontier 4.1 software. The mean technical efficiency of the hospitals we studied was 0.67. The results of the Cobb-Douglas production function showed that the maximum elasticity was related to the active beds and the elasticity of nurses was negative. Also, the return to scale was increasing. The results of this study indicated that the performances of the hospitals were not appropriate in terms of technical efficiency. In addition, there was a capacity enhancement of the output of the hospitals, compared with the most efficient hospitals studied, of about33%. It is suggested that the effect of various factors, such as the quality of health care and the patients' satisfaction, be considered in the future studies to assess hospitals' performances.

Generation cost frontier analysis, dynamic market adjustment, and strategic gaming: Integrated tools for benchmarking, competitive market analysis, and strategy formulation under conditions of uncertainty in the transition to a competitive electricity market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corio, M.R.; Bellucci, J.W.; Boyd, G.A.; Perl, K.E.

1998-07-01

The authors describe a three dimensional frontier consisting of: spending, availability/reliability, and utilization/heat rate. To determine optimal behavior in a future deregulated market, one must also find the optimal adjustment path from present to long-run frontier operation, and the optimal strategic action/response as determined by game theory. One can also perform more limited optimizations along either the two dimensional spending/reliability or spending/utilization frontiers. Although the authors mainly discuss optimizing existing domestic plants, frontier analysis could easily be applied to an electric producer's plants or acquisition targets internationally. Efficient operation saves money even in countries where electric markets are still regulated and can also confer indirect environmental benefits. AER is also applying these frontier analysis and game theory techniques to environmental decision-making, specifically to environmental retrofit decisions.

Generation cost frontier analysis, dynamic market adjustment, and strategic gaming: Integrated tools for benchmarking, competitive market analysis, and strategy formulation under conditions of uncertainty in the transition to a competitive electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corio, M.R.; Bellucci, J.W.; Boyd, G.A.; Perl, K.E.

1998-01-01

The authors describe a three dimensional frontier consisting of: spending, availability/reliability, and utilization/heat rate. To determine optimal behavior in a future deregulated market, one must also find the optimal adjustment path from present to long-run frontier operation, and the optimal strategic action/response as determined by game theory. One can also perform more limited optimizations along either the two dimensional spending/reliability or spending/utilization frontiers. Although the authors mainly discuss optimizing existing domestic plants, frontier analysis could easily be applied to an electric producer's plants or acquisition targets internationally. Efficient operation saves money even in countries where electric markets are still regulated and can also confer indirect environmental benefits. AER is also applying these frontier analysis and game theory techniques to environmental decision-making, specifically to environmental retrofit decisions

Prediction of A CRS Frontier Function and A Transformation Function for A CCR DEA Using EMBEDED PCA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subhadip Sarkar

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Data Envelopment Analysis is a nonparametric tool for measuring the performance of a number of homogenous Decision Making Units. In this paper, Principal Component Analysis is used as an alternative tool to estimate the frontier in a Data Envelopment Analysis under the assumption of Constant Return to Scale. Apart from this, in the context of a multiple inputs and single output, a transformation function, is developed here using the Most Productive Scale Size condition stated by Starrett. This function complies with all postulates of a frontier function and is very similar to the formula given by Aigner and Chu. Moreover, it is capable of defining the threshold value for any resource.

Using the Efficient Frontier to Obtain the Best Solution for the Storage Location Assignment Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcele Elisa Fontana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The main variables that influence the efficiency of a warehouse are the use of space and the order picking distance. In the literature, there are proposals to add the costs with space and order picking in order to evaluate each alternative for storage location assignment. However, there were problems with the adoption of this methodology, including difficulties in determining the costs and tradeoffs between them. These difficulties can result in solutions that are suboptimal. Based on these facts, this paper proposes a class-based storage process and storage location assignment by a cube-per-order index (COI that analyzes the space required and the total order picking distance by Pareto-optimal calculations. The efficient frontier possibilities allow the reduction of the set of alternatives, and the DM can analyze only the alternatives on efficient frontier.

An overview of a 5-year research program on acid deposition in China

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, T.; He, K.; Xu, X.; Zhang, P.; Bai, Y.; Wang, Z.; Zhang, X.; Duan, L.; Li, W.; Chai, F.

2011-12-01

Despite concerted research and regulative control of sulfur dioxide in China, acid rain remained a serious environmental issue, due to a sharp increase in the combustion of fossil fuel in the 2000s. In 2005, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China funded a five-year comprehensive research program on acid deposition. This talk will give an overview of the activities and the key findings from this study, covering emission, atmospheric processes, and deposition, effects on soil and stream waters, and impact on typical trees/plants in China. The main results include (1) China still experiences acidic rainfalls in southern and eastern regions, although the situation has stabilized after 2006 due to stringent control of SO2 by the Chinese Government; (2) Sulfate is the dominant acidic compound, but the contribution of nitrate has increased; (3) cloud-water composition in eastern China is strongly influenced by anthropogenic emissions; (4) the persistent fall of acid rain in the 30 years has lead to acidification of some streams/rivers and soils in southern China; (5) the studied plants have shown varying response to acid rain; (6) some new insights have been obtained on atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric transport, soil chemistry, and ecological impacts, some of which will be discussed in this talk. Compared to the situation in North America and Europe, China's acid deposition is still serious, and continued control of sulfur and nitrogen emission is required. There is an urgent need to establish a long-term observation network/program to monitor the impact of acid deposition on soil, streams/rivers/lakes, and forests.

The Proposition: Imagining Race, Family and Violence on the Nineteenth-Century Australian Frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catriona Elder

2016-06-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n2p165 This article analyses John Hillcoat’s 2005 film The Proposition in relation to a spate of Australian films about violence and the (postcolonial encounter released in the early twenty-first century. Extending on  Felicity Collins and Therese Davis argument that these films can be read in terms of the ways they capture or refract aspects of contemporary race relations in Australia in a post-Mabo, this article analyses how The Proposition reconstructs the trauma of the Australian frontier; how from the perspective of the twenty-first century it worries over the meaning of violence on the Australian frontier. It also explores what has become speakable (and remains unspeakable in the public sphere about the history of the frontier encounter, especially in terms of family and race.  The article argues that The Proposition and other early twenty-first century race relations films can be understood as post-reconciliation films, emerging in a period when Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians were rethinking ideas of belonging through a prism of post-enmity and forgiveness. Drawing on the theme of violence and intimate relations in the film, this article argues that the challenges to the everyday formulation of Australian history proffered in The Proposition reveal painful and powerful differences amongst Australian citizens’ understanding of who belongs and how they came to belong to the nation. I suggest that by focusing on violence in terms of intimacy, relationships, family and kin, it is possible to see this film presented an opportunity to begin to refigure ideas of belonging.

The new frontiers of electron scattering at intermediate energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frois, B.

1984-08-01

Recent advances in experimental techniques have produced a new generation of electron scattering data. This paper explores the frontiers of this field and shows how our prospects for the future may be modified. Nuclear structure has been determined with an unprecedented accuracy defining clearly the limits of the most advanced theoretical descriptions. Large meson exchange currents are measured quantitatively with precision. Recent data on the electrodisintegration of deuterium at threshold and on the magnetic form factor of 3 He and tritium show that the pionic exchange current is well understood. There is no satisfactory theoretical description of shorter range processes

At the frontier of astrophysics and philosophy | Public conference by Hubert Reeves | 16 July

CERN Multimedia

2014-01-01

"At the frontier of astrophysics and philosophy: between infinitely large and infinitely small" Public conference by Hubert Reeves Globe of Science and Innovation Wednesday 16 July 2014 - 7.00 p.m. Please note that this conference will be in French only. "The Universe is changing.  We are not strangers in the Universe: recent discoveries in astrophysics prove our intimate bond with everything shining in the sky." Save the date! On Wednesday 16 July 2014, Hubert Reeves, astrophysicist, philosopher and engaging communicator, is back at the Globe of Science and Innovation to talk about the frontiers of physics, astronomy and philosophy, two years after the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. If you ever wondered how this discovery has changed our knowledge of the Universe and strengthened the bond between the infinitely large world of astrophysics and the infinitely small world of quantum physics, this event is for you. The conference is part of POPSCIENCE, a p...

Where is the research frontier for hand-arm vibration?

Science.gov (United States)

Gemne, G

1994-01-01

A central question for current hand-arm vibration research is how to combine diagnostics with exposure evaluation so that reliable risk assessments can be made for different tools and work processes. The scientific foundation of the model, in annex of A of ISO 5349, for white finger (WF) risk prediction has been shown to be insufficient. Prospective epidemiologic studies are needed to establish exposure-response relationships addressing the specific etiologic factors. Another important research field concerns WF pathogenesis, which is likely to be a vessel wall lesion causing vasodilatory deficiency. Epidemiologic research, in combination with human and animal experimentation, on endothelium-dependent mechanisms is desirable, among other things, because a therapy may be within reach. A model is presented for the manifestation of cold-triggered WF in persons with exposure to vibration and other environmental stressors as a result of lowered symptom threshold and a raised level of sympathetic activity.

3rd International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Biswal, Bhabendra; Udgata, Siba; Mandal, JK

2015-01-01

Volume 1 contains 95 papers presented at FICTA 2014: Third International Conference on Frontiers in Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications. The conference was held during 14-15, November, 2014 at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.  This volume contains papers mainly focused on Data Warehousing and Mining, Machine Learning, Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, AI, E-commerce & Distributed Computing and Soft Computing, Evolutionary Computing, Bio-inspired Computing and its Applications.

The Rhetoric of Rationalism versus the Rhetoric of Emotionalism on the American Frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Hensley, Carl Wayne

As the United States entered the nineteenth century, it did so under the influence of the Second Great Awakening. This was the second wave of revivalism to sweep the nation, and it originated in the frontier as the Great Western Revival. One pertinent characteristic of the revival was its rhetoric, a rhetoric that was a prime expression of a…

Frontiers of higher order fuzzy sets

CERN Document Server

Tahayori, Hooman

2015-01-01

Frontiers of Higher Order Fuzzy Sets, strives to improve the theoretical aspects of general and Interval Type-2 fuzzy sets and provides a unified representation theorem for higher order fuzzy sets. Moreover, the book elaborates on the concept of gradual elements and their integration with the higher order fuzzy sets. This book also introduces new frameworks for information granulation based on general T2FSs, IT2FSs, Gradual elements, Shadowed sets and rough sets. In particular, the properties and characteristics of the new proposed frameworks are studied. Such new frameworks are shown to be more capable to be exploited in real applications. Higher order fuzzy sets that are the result of the integration of general T2FSs, IT2FSs, gradual elements, shadowed sets and rough sets will be shown to be suitable to be applied in the fields of bioinformatics, business, management, ambient intelligence, medicine, cloud computing and smart grids. Presents new variations of fuzzy set frameworks and new areas of applicabili...

Geneva University: New frontiers on photodetection

CERN Multimedia

Université de Genève

2012-01-01

GENEVA UNIVERSITY Ecole de physique Département de physique nucléaire et corspusculaire 24, quai Ernest-Ansermet 1211 Genève 4 Tél.: (022) 379 62 73 Fax: (022) 379 69 92   Vendredi 17 février 2012 SEMINAIRE DE PHYSIQUE CORPUSCULAIRE 14h00 - Auditoire Stückelberg New frontiers on photodetection Dr Carla Aramo / INFN, Sezione di Napoli In the last years the use of new materials and new technologies opened the door to new kind of devices based on the coupling of well known properties of silicon with properties of other materials. In particular carbon material, in the form of carbon nanotubes, has been used to create heterojunction with interesting photoconductivity characteristics. The new photodetectors obtained show to have peculiar and interesting characteristics with quantum efficiency ranging from >35% to >15% in the investigated wavelength interval from near infrared to near ultraviolet region. The device character...

Passing It On: Fighting the Pushtun on Afghanistan’s Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan are not just the ‘lunar landscape’ portrayed on the evening news. The area has irrigated ‘ green zones’ in the...London: Kegan -Paul, 2000). Caroe was the Governor of the North West Frontier Province of India in 1946–47, the period of the India-Pakistan...It was originally published by the India Intelligence Branch, London, 1899. Also see Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans: 550 BC - A 957 (London: Kegan

Symbolic bones and interethnic violence in a frontier zone, northwest Mexico, ca. 500–900 C.E.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Ben A.; Martin, Debra L.

2015-01-01

Although extensive deposits of disarticulated, commingled human bones are common in the prehispanic Northern Frontier of Mesoamerica, detailed bioarchaeological analyses of them are not. To our knowledge, this article provides the first such analysis of bone from a full residential-ceremonial complex and evaluates multiple hypotheses about its significance, concluding that the bones actively represented interethnic violence as well as other relationships among persons living and dead. Description of these practices is important to the discussion of multiethnic societies because the frontier was a context where urbanism and complexity were emerging and groups with the potential to form multiethnic societies were interacting, possibly in the same ways that groups did before the formation of larger multiethnic city-states in the core of Mesoamerica. PMID:25941398

Ames Research Center Research and Technology 2000

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

This report highlights the challenging work accomplished during fiscal year 2000 by Ames research scientists,engineers, and technologists. It discusses research and technologies that enable the Information Age, that expand the frontiers of knowledge for aeronautics and space, and that help to maintain U.S. leadership in aeronautics and space research and technology development. The accomplishments are grouped into four categories based on four of NASA's Strategic Enterprises: Aerospace Technology, Space Science, Biological and Physical Research, and Earth Science. The primary purpose of this report is to communicate knowledge-to inform our stakeholders, customer, and partners, and the people of the United States about the scope and diversity of Ames' mission,the nature of Ames' research and technolog) activities,and the stimulating challenges ahead. The accomplishments cited illustrate the contributions that Ames is willing to improve the quality of life for our citizens and the economic position of the United States in the world marketplace.

International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing : Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Udgata, Siba; Biswal, Bhabendra

2014-01-01

This volume contains the papers presented at the Second International Conference on Frontiers in Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications (FICTA-2013) held during 14-16 November 2013 organized by Bhubaneswar Engineering College (BEC), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. It contains 63 papers focusing on application of intelligent techniques which includes evolutionary computation techniques like genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization techniques, teaching-learning based optimization etc  for various engineering applications such as data mining, Fuzzy systems, Machine Intelligence and ANN, Web technologies and Multimedia applications and Intelligent computing and Networking etc.

Acid-deposition research program. Volume 2. Effects of acid-forming emissions on soil microorganisms and microbially-mediated processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Visser, S.; Danielson, R.M.; Parr, J.F.

1987-02-01

The interactions of soil physical, chemical, and biological processes are ultimately expressed in a soil's fertility and its capacity for plant production. Consequently, much of the research conducted to date regarding the impact of acid-forming pollutants on soil properties has been geared towards possible effects on plant productivity. This trend continues in this paper where the effects of acidic deposition on microbial communities are reviewed in relation to potential impact on plant growth. The objectives of the review are to discuss: (1) The effects of acid-forming emissions (primarily S-containing pollutants) on microbial community structure with emphasis on qualitative and quantitative aspects; (2) The effects of acidic deposition on microbially mediated processes (i.e., community functions); (3) Acidification effects of pollutants on symbiotic and disease-causing microorganisms. The symbionts discussed include ectomycorrhizal fungi, vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and N/sub 2/-fixing bacteria, particularly Rhizobium, while the disease-causing microorganisms will include those responsible for foliage, stem, and root diseases.

Current research in Radiation Biology and Biochemistry Division

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarachand, U.; Singh, B.B.

1995-01-01

The Radiation Biology and Biochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay has been engaged in research in the frontier areas of (i) radiation biology related to tumour therapy and injury caused by free radicals; (ii) molecular basis of diseases of physiological origin; (iii) molecular aspects of chemical carcinogenesis and (iv) structure of genome and genome related functions. The gist of research and development activities carried out in the Division during the last two years are documented

Current research in Radiation Biology and Biochemistry Division

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarachand, U; Singh, B B [eds.; Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay (India). Radiation Biology and Biochemistry Div.

1996-12-31

The Radiation Biology and Biochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay has been engaged in research in the frontier areas of (i) radiation biology related to tumour therapy and injury caused by free radicals; (ii) molecular basis of diseases of physiological origin; (iii) molecular aspects of chemical carcinogenesis and (iv) structure of genome and genome related functions. The gist of research and development activities carried out in the Division during the last two years are documented.

Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The behavior/structure methodological dichotomy as locus of scientific inquiry is closely related to the issue of modeling and theory change in scientific explanation. Given that the traditional tension between structure and behavior in scientific modeling is likely here to stay, considering the relevant precedents in the history of ideas could help us better understand this theoretical struggle. This better understanding might open up unforeseen possibilities and new instantiations, particularly in what concerns the proposed technological modification of the human condition. The sequential structure of this paper is twofold. The contribution of three philosophers better known in the humanities than in the study of science proper are laid out. The key theoretical notions interweaving the whole narrative are those of mechanization, constructability and simulation. They shall provide the conceptual bridge between these classical thinkers and the following section. Here, a panoramic view of three significant experimental approaches in contemporary scientific research is displayed, suggesting that their undisclosed ontological premises have deep roots in the Western tradition of the humanities. This ontological lock between core humanist ideals and late research in biology and nanoscience is ultimately suggested as responsible for pervasively altering what is canonically understood as “human”.

Grappling with Emerging Adulthoods : Youth narratives of coming of age in a frontier town, Zimbabwe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R. Mate (Rekopantswe)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ This study is about subjectivities of young people and about coming of age in a frontier town, Beitbridge, in southern Zimbabwe. The study is motivated by the growing attention to African youth as a social-demographic group and a social phenomenon since the

Measuring energy efficiency under heterogeneous technologies using a latent class stochastic frontier approach: An application to Chinese energy economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Boqiang; Du, Kerui

2014-01-01

The importance of technology heterogeneity in estimating economy-wide energy efficiency has been emphasized by recent literature. Some studies use the metafrontier analysis approach to estimate energy efficiency. However, for such studies, some reliable priori information is needed to divide the sample observations properly, which causes a difficulty in unbiased estimation of energy efficiency. Moreover, separately estimating group-specific frontiers might lose some common information across different groups. In order to overcome these weaknesses, this paper introduces a latent class stochastic frontier approach to measure energy efficiency under heterogeneous technologies. An application of the proposed model to Chinese energy economy is presented. Results show that the overall energy efficiency of China's provinces is not high, with an average score of 0.632 during the period from 1997 to 2010. - Highlights: • We introduce a latent class stochastic frontier approach to measure energy efficiency. • Ignoring technological heterogeneity would cause biased estimates of energy efficiency. • An application of the proposed model to Chinese energy economy is presented. • There is still a long way for China to develop an energy efficient regime

Basic Solar Energy Research in Japan (2011 EFRC Forum)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domen, Kazunari

2011-01-01

Kazunari Domen, Chemical System Engineering Professor at the University of Tokyo, was the second speaker in the May 26, 2011 EFRC Forum session, 'Global Perspectives on Frontiers in Energy Research.' In his presentation, Professor Domen talked about basic solar energy research in Japan. The 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum brought together the EFRC community and science and policy leaders from universities, national laboratories, industry and government to discuss 'Science for our Nation's Energy Future.' In August 2009, the Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers. The EFRCs are collaborative research efforts intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward fundamental research, the scientific basis for transformative energy technologies of the future. These Centers involve universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit firms, singly or in partnerships, selected by scientific peer review. They are funded at $2 to $5 million per year for a total planned DOE commitment of $777 million over the initial five-year award period, pending Congressional appropriations. These integrated, multi-investigator Centers are conducting fundamental research focusing on one or more of several 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The purpose of the EFRCs is to integrate the talents and expertise of leading scientists in a setting designed to accelerate research that transforms the future of energy and the environment.

The Very Large Hadron Collider: The farthest energy frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barletta, William A.

2001-01-01

The Very Large Hadron Collider (or Eloisatron) represents what may well be the final step on the energy frontier of accelerator-based high energy physics. While an extremely high luminosity proton collider at 100-200 TeV center of mass energy can probably be built in one step with LHC technology, that machine would cost more than what is presently politically acceptable. This talk summarizes the strategies of collider design including staged deployment, comparison with electron-positron colliders, opportunities for major innovation, and the technical challenges of reducing costs to manageable proportions. It also presents the priorities for relevant R and D for the next few years

Frontier nurse-midwives and antepartum emergencies, 1925 to 1939.

Science.gov (United States)

Schminkey, Donna L; Keeling, Arlene W

2015-01-01

This article examines how the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) utilized nurse-midwives to respond to antepartum emergencies such as preterm birth, eclampsia, malpresentation, and hemorrhage in the women of Appalachia in the years 1925 to 1939. Particular attention is given to the preparation that nurse-midwives received during their midwifery education to prevent and respond to emergencies. Using traditional historical research methods and primary source material from the FNS papers in the Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky, this article describes the nurse-midwives' experiences and how they implemented skills they had learned during their training in Great Britain. Working in the isolated mountainous area of Leslie County, Kentucky-for the most part without direct assistance from physicians-FNS nurse-midwives decreased maternal and neonatal mortality rates. During their first 2000 births, they had only 2 maternal deaths, whereas the national average maternal mortality rate was approximately 7 deaths per 1000 births. The nurse-midwives performed external cephalic versions on a routine basis. For pregnancy and birth emergencies, they administered sedation, gave general anesthesia, and performed invasive lifesaving techniques in order to protect the lives of the women in their care. During these 14 years, their cross-cultural engagement, assessment skills, clinical judgment, and timely interventions improved maternal and child health throughout the region. © 2015 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Shades of green and REDD: Local and global contestations over the value of forest versus plantation development on the Indonesian forest frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eilenberg, Michael

2015-01-01

In a time of increasing land enclosures sparked by large-scale environmental initiatives and agricultural expansion, this paper examines local and global contestations over the value of forest on an Indonesian forest frontier. Engaging with recent debates on carbon forestry, the paper problematis...... for the future successes of REDD+. The Kalimantan case highlights some of the dilemmas of carbon mitigation initiatives experienced in frontier regions throughout Southeast Asia, places that have become prime battlefronts of large-scale climate change initiatives and agrarian expansion....

Stochastic frontier model approach for measuring stock market efficiency with different distributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Md Zobaer; Kamil, Anton Abdulbasah; Mustafa, Adli; Baten, Md Azizul

2012-01-01

The stock market is considered essential for economic growth and expected to contribute to improved productivity. An efficient pricing mechanism of the stock market can be a driving force for channeling savings into profitable investments and thus facilitating optimal allocation of capital. This study investigated the technical efficiency of selected groups of companies of Bangladesh Stock Market that is the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) market, using the stochastic frontier production function approach. For this, the authors considered the Cobb-Douglas Stochastic frontier in which the technical inefficiency effects are defined by a model with two distributional assumptions. Truncated normal and half-normal distributions were used in the model and both time-variant and time-invariant inefficiency effects were estimated. The results reveal that technical efficiency decreased gradually over the reference period and that truncated normal distribution is preferable to half-normal distribution for technical inefficiency effects. The value of technical efficiency was high for the investment group and low for the bank group, as compared with other groups in the DSE market for both distributions in time-varying environment whereas it was high for the investment group but low for the ceramic group as compared with other groups in the DSE market for both distributions in time-invariant situation.

Stochastic frontier model approach for measuring stock market efficiency with different distributions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md Zobaer Hasan

Full Text Available The stock market is considered essential for economic growth and expected to contribute to improved productivity. An efficient pricing mechanism of the stock market can be a driving force for channeling savings into profitable investments and thus facilitating optimal allocation of capital. This study investigated the technical efficiency of selected groups of companies of Bangladesh Stock Market that is the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE market, using the stochastic frontier production function approach. For this, the authors considered the Cobb-Douglas Stochastic frontier in which the technical inefficiency effects are defined by a model with two distributional assumptions. Truncated normal and half-normal distributions were used in the model and both time-variant and time-invariant inefficiency effects were estimated. The results reveal that technical efficiency decreased gradually over the reference period and that truncated normal distribution is preferable to half-normal distribution for technical inefficiency effects. The value of technical efficiency was high for the investment group and low for the bank group, as compared with other groups in the DSE market for both distributions in time-varying environment whereas it was high for the investment group but low for the ceramic group as compared with other groups in the DSE market for both distributions in time-invariant situation.

Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ozolins, Vidvuds [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Materials Science and Engineering Dept.

2016-09-28

Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials (MEEM) was established as an interdisciplinary cutting-edge UCLA-based research center uniquely equipped to attack the challenge of rationally designing, synthesizing and testing revolutionary new energy materials. Our mission was to achieve transformational improvements in the performance of materials via controlling the nano-and mesoscale structure using selectively designed, earth-abundant, inexpensive molecular building blocks. MEEM has focused on materials that are inherently abundant, can be easily assembled from intelligently designed building blocks (molecules, nanoparticles), and have the potential to deliver transformative economic benefits in comparison with the current crystalline-and polycrystalline-based energy technologies. MEEM addressed basic science issues related to the fundamental mechanisms of carrier generation, energy conversion, as well as transport and storage of charge and mass in tunable, architectonically complex materials. Fundamental understanding of these processes will enable rational design, efficient synthesis and effective deployment of novel three-dimensional material architectures for energy applications. Three interrelated research directions were initially identified where these novel architectures hold great promise for high-reward research: solar energy generation, electrochemical energy storage, and materials for CO₂ capture. Of these, the first two remained throughout the project performance period, while carbon capture was been phased out in consultation and with approval from BES program manager.

Theoretical research at the high energy frontier. Cosmology and Beyond

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krauss, Lawrence M.; Vachaspati, Tanmay

2015-01-01

The research projects described in our original proposal are continuing, with completion of several of the envisaged projects, and several new related projects underway. Research of each of the Investigators and the postdocs supported by the grant are summarized in attached report.

Fundamental physics at the intensity frontier: Report of the workshop held December 2011 in Rockville, MD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewett, J.L.; Weerts, H.; Brock, R.; Butler, J.N.; Casey, B.C.K.; Lu, Z.T.; Wagner, C.E.M.; Dietrich, M.R.; Djurcic, Z.; Goodman, M.; Green, J.P.; Holt, R.J.; Mueller, P.; Paley, J.; Reimer, P.; Singh, J.; Upadhye, A.

2012-01-01

new sources of CP violation? Is there CP violation in the leptonic sector? Are neutrinos their own antiparticles? Do the forces unify? Is there a weakly coupled hidden sector that is related to dark matter? Do new symmetries exist at very high energy scales? To identify the most compelling science opportunities in this area, the workshop Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier was held in December 2011, sponsored by the Office of High Energy Physics in the US Department of Energy Office of Science. Participants investigated the most promising experiments to exploit these opportunities and described the knowledge that can be gained from such a program. The workshop generated much interest in the community, as witnessed by the large and energetic participation by a broad spectrum of scientists. This document chronicles the activities of the workshop, with contributions by more than 450 authors. The workshop organized the intensity frontier science program along six topics that formed the basis for working groups: experiments that probe (i) heavy quarks, (ii) charged leptons, (iii) neutrinos, (iv) proton decay, (v) light, weakly interacting particles, and (vi) nucleons, nuclei, and atoms. The conveners for each working group included an experimenter and a theorist working in the field and an observer from the community at large. The working groups began their efforts well in advance of the workshop, holding regular meetings and soliciting written contributions. Specific avenues of exploration were identified by each working group. Experiments that study rare strange, charm, and bottom meson decays provide a broad program of measurements that are sensitive to new interactions. Charged leptons, particularly muons and taus, provide a precise probe for new physics because the Standard Model predictions for their properties are very accurate. Research at the intensity frontier can reveal CP violation in the lepton sector, and elucidate whether neutrinos are their own

Fundamental physics at the intensity frontier. Report of the workshop held December 2011 in Rockville, MD.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hewett, J.L.; Weerts, H.; Brock, R.; Butler, J.N.; Casey, B.C.K.; Lu, Z.T.; Wagner, C.E.M.; Dietrich, M.R.; Djurcic, Z.; Goodman, M.; Green, J.P.; Holt, R.J.; Mueller, P.; Paley, J.; Reimer, P.; Singh, J.; Upadhye, A. (High Energy Physics); ( PHY); (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center); (Univ. of Michigan); (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

2012-06-05

new sources of CP violation? Is there CP violation in the leptonic sector? Are neutrinos their own antiparticles? Do the forces unify? Is there a weakly coupled hidden sector that is related to dark matter? Do new symmetries exist at very high energy scales? To identify the most compelling science opportunities in this area, the workshop Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier was held in December 2011, sponsored by the Office of High Energy Physics in the US Department of Energy Office of Science. Participants investigated the most promising experiments to exploit these opportunities and described the knowledge that can be gained from such a program. The workshop generated much interest in the community, as witnessed by the large and energetic participation by a broad spectrum of scientists. This document chronicles the activities of the workshop, with contributions by more than 450 authors. The workshop organized the intensity frontier science program along six topics that formed the basis for working groups: experiments that probe (i) heavy quarks, (ii) charged leptons, (iii) neutrinos, (iv) proton decay, (v) light, weakly interacting particles, and (vi) nucleons, nuclei, and atoms. The conveners for each working group included an experimenter and a theorist working in the field and an observer from the community at large. The working groups began their efforts well in advance of the workshop, holding regular meetings and soliciting written contributions. Specific avenues of exploration were identified by each working group. Experiments that study rare strange, charm, and bottom meson decays provide a broad program of measurements that are sensitive to new interactions. Charged leptons, particularly muons and taus, provide a precise probe for new physics because the Standard Model predictions for their properties are very accurate. Research at the intensity frontier can reveal CP violation in the lepton sector, and elucidate whether neutrinos are their own

The low-energy frontier of particle physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaeckel, Joerg

2010-02-01

Most embeddings of the Standard Model into a more unified theory, in particular the ones based on supergravity or superstrings, predict the existence of a hidden sector of particles which have only very weak interactions with the visible sector Standard Model particles. Some of these exotic particle candidates (such as e.g. ''axions'', ''axion-like particles'' and ''hidden U(1) gauge bosons'') may be very light, with masses in the sub-eV range, and have very weak interactions with photons. Correspondingly, these very weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) may lead to observable effects in experiments (as well as in astrophysical and cosmological observations) searching for light shining through a wall, for changes in laser polarisation, for non-linear processes in large electromagnetic fields and for deviations from Coulomb's law. We present the physics case and a status report of this emerging low-energy frontier of fundamental physics. (orig.)

Experimental Facilities at the High Energy Frontier

CERN Document Server

Jenni, P.

2016-01-01

The main theme of the lectures covered the experimental work at hadron colliders, with a clear focus on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and on the roadmap that led finally to the discovery of the Higgs boson. The lectures were not a systematic course on machine and detector technologies, but rather tried to give a physics-motivated overview of many experimental aspects that were all relevant for making the discovery. The actual lectures covered a much broader scope than what is documented here in this write- up. The successful concepts for the experiments at the LHC have benefitted from the experience gained with previous generations of detectors at lower- energy machines. The lectures included also an outlook to the future experimental programme at the LHC, with its machine and experiments upgrades, as well as a short discussion of possible facilities at the high energy frontier beyond LHC.

Customs control over the transportation of radiation sources and radioactive materials through the frontier of the Republic of Belarus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derevyashko, A.

1998-01-01

1. As it is shown in the name the main purpose of this Paper is to describe system of customs control over transportation of radiation sources and radioactive materials through the frontier of the Republic of Belarus, clarifying herewith influence of global situation on the creation of this system and noting technical needs of Customs Administration of Belarus in its activities aimed at strengthening the control system. 2. The Republic of Belarus has not the enterprises of atomic-industrial complex and does not produce radioactive and nuclear materials, so, control over them is largely connected with their transit through frontiers of Belarus and its territory. It is necessary to note, that the frontier of Belarus with the Ukraine, Poland and Baltic States is an external frontier of a Custom Union between Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kirghizia. On the territory of the last three states are concentrated extraction and production of radioactive and nuclear materials, part of which can be transported by the shortest way to the European countries through the territory and frontiers of the Republic of Belarus. 3. The significant part of the republic territory suffered from Chernobyl catastrophe. In a number of the polluted regions of Belarus there were created the zones of >, the residing on them is prohibited by legislation. On those territories there were created numerous burial grounds for the conditionally radioactive and low radioactive wastes. In this connection, there is also a danger of illegal importation of various radioactive wastes from contiguous countries to these zones and burial them there. On the other hand, there are known the numerous cases of exportation of various materials, subjects, food from the polluted zones even out of Belarus. 4. Taking into account the aforesaid the Customs Administration of the Republic of Belarus as well as other public authorities, clearly recognizes the necessity of organization of an effective radiation control on

Are Ultra-faint Galaxies at z = 6-8 Responsible for Cosmic Reionization? Combined Constraints from the Hubble Frontier Fields Clusters and Parallels

Science.gov (United States)

Atek, Hakim; Richard, Johan; Jauzac, Mathilde; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Limousin, Marceau; Schaerer, Daniel; Jullo, Eric; Ebeling, Harald; Egami, Eiichi; Clement, Benjamin

2015-11-01

the epoch of reionization, paving the way to more ambitious programs using cosmic telescopes with the next generation of large aperture telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programs 13495, 11386, 13389, and 11689. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. The Hubble Frontier Fields data and the lens models were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). This work utilizes gravitational lensing models produced by PIs Ebeling, Merten, and Zitrin, funded as part of the HST Frontier Fields program conducted by STScI.

Quali-quantitative analysis (QQA): why it could open new frontiers for holistic health practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Erica

2006-12-15

Holistic health practice is often described as being about understanding the larger contexts of patients, their health services, and their communities. Yet do traditional quantitative and qualitative health research methods produce the best possible evidence for the holistic practices of doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals? This paper argues "no", and examines the potential of a cutting-edge, social science research method--Quali-Quantitative Research (QQA)--for providing better evidence for holistic practice, particularly in small-N populations, such as rural and remote communities. It does so with reference to the international literature on holistic medicine, as well as three holistic health projects conducted in Tasmania: about prevention of falls in older people, adolescent substance abuse, and interventions for children aged 0-5 exposed to domestic violence. The findings suggest that much health research fails to capture rigorously the contextual complexity of holistic health challenges: the multiple different needs of individual patients, and the interprofessional approaches needed to deliver multidisciplinary and multiservice health interventions tailored to meet those needs in particular community contexts. QQA offers a "configurational", case-based, diversity-oriented approach to analysing data that combines qualitative and quantitative techniques to overcome the limitations of both research traditions. The author concludes that QQA could open new frontiers for holistic health by helping doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals answer a fundamental question presented by complex health challenges: "Given this set of whole-of-patient needs, what elements of which interventions in what services would work best in this particular community?"

NATO Advanced Study Institute on Frontiers of Optical Spectroscopy

CERN Document Server

Bartolo, Baldassare

2005-01-01

Advanced spectroscopic techniques allow the probing of very small systems and very fast phenomena, conditions that can be considered "extreme" at the present status of our experimentation and knowledge. Quantum dots, nanocrystals and single molecules are examples of the former and events on the femtosecond scale examples of the latter. The purpose of this book is to examine the realm of phenomena of such extreme type and the techniques that permit their investigations. Each author has developed a coherent section of the program starting at a somewhat fundamental level and ultimately reaching the frontier of knowledge in the field in a systematic and didactic fashion. The formal lectures are complemented by additional seminars.

Technical Efficiency in the Chilean Agribusiness Sector - a Stochastic Meta-Frontier Approach

OpenAIRE

Larkner, Sebastian; Brenes Muñoz, Thelma; Aedo, Edinson Rivera; Brümmer, Bernhard

2013-01-01

The Chilean economy is strongly export-oriented, which is also true for the Chilean agribusiness industry. This paper investigates the technical efficiency of the Chilean food processing industry between 2001 and 2007. We use a dataset from the 2,471 of firms in food processing industry. The observations are from the ‘Annual National Industrial Survey’. A stochastic meta-frontier approach is used in order to analyse the drivers of technical efficiency. We include variables capturing the effec...

The joint center for energy storage research: A new paradigm for battery research and development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crabtree, George

2015-01-01

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) seeks transformational change in transportation and the electricity grid driven by next generation high performance, low cost electricity storage. To pursue this transformative vision JCESR introduces a new paradigm for battery research: integrating discovery science, battery design, research prototyping and manufacturing collaboration in a single highly interactive organization. This new paradigm will accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation and reduce the time from conceptualization to commercialization. JCESR applies its new paradigm exclusively to beyond-lithium-ion batteries, a vast, rich and largely unexplored frontier. This review presents JCESR's motivation, vision, mission, intended outcomes or legacies and first year accomplishments

The joint center for energy storage research: A new paradigm for battery research and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crabtree, George [Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA and University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60607 (United States)

2015-03-30

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) seeks transformational change in transportation and the electricity grid driven by next generation high performance, low cost electricity storage. To pursue this transformative vision JCESR introduces a new paradigm for battery research: integrating discovery science, battery design, research prototyping and manufacturing collaboration in a single highly interactive organization. This new paradigm will accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation and reduce the time from conceptualization to commercialization. JCESR applies its new paradigm exclusively to beyond-lithium-ion batteries, a vast, rich and largely unexplored frontier. This review presents JCESR's motivation, vision, mission, intended outcomes or legacies and first year accomplishments.

Quantitative Structure–Property Relationship (QSPR Models for a Local Quantum Descriptor: Investigation of the 4- and 3-Substituted-Cinnamic Acid Esterification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cláudio E. Rodrigues-Santos

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this work, the theoretical description of the 4- and 3-substituted-cinnamic acid esterification with different electron donating and electron withdrawing groups was performed at the B3LYP and M06-2X levels, as a two-step process: the O-protonation and the nucleophile attack by ethanol. In parallel, an experimental work devoted to the synthesis and characterization of the substituted-cinnamate esters has also been performed. In order to quantify the substituents effects, quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR models based on the atomic charges, Fukui functions and the Frontier Effective-for-Reaction Molecular Orbitals (FERMO energies were investigated. In fact, the Fukui functions, ƒ+C and ƒ−O, indicated poor correlations for each individual step, and in contrast with the general literature, the O-protonation step is affected both by the FERMO energies and the O-charges of the carbonyl group. Since the process was shown to not be totally described by either charge- or frontier-orbitals, it is proposed to be frontier-charge-miscere controlled. Moreover, the observed trend for the experimental reaction yields suggests that the electron withdrawing groups favor the reaction and the same was observed for Step 2, which can thus be pointed out as the determining step.

Probing the z > 6 Universe with the First Hubble Frontier Fields Cluster A2744

Science.gov (United States)

Atek, Hakim; Richard, Johan; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Clement, Benjamin; Egami, Eiichi; Ebeling, Harald; Jauzac, Mathilde; Jullo, Eric; Laporte, Nicolas; Limousin, Marceau; Natarajan, Priyamvada

2014-05-01

The Hubble Frontier Fields program combines the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with the gravitational lensing of massive galaxy clusters to probe the distant universe to an unprecedented depth. Here, we present the results of the first combined HST and Spitzer observations of the cluster A-2744. We combine the full near-infrared data with ancillary optical images to search for gravitationally lensed high-redshift (z >~ 6) galaxies. We report the detection of 15 I 814 dropout candidates at z ~ 6-7 and one Y 105 dropout at z ~ 8 in a total survey area of 1.43 arcmin2 in the source plane. The predictions of our lens model also allow us to identify five multiply imaged systems lying at redshifts between z ~ 6 and z ~ 8. Thanks to constraints from the mass distribution in the cluster, we were able to estimate the effective survey volume corrected for completeness and magnification effects. This was in turn used to estimate the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function (LF) at z ~ 6-8. Our LF results are generally in agreement with the most recent blank field estimates, confirming the feasibility of surveys through lensing clusters. Although based on a shallower observations than what will be achieved in the final data set including the full Advanced Camera for Survey observations, the LF presented here goes down to M UV ~-18.5, corresponding to 0.2L sstarf at z ~ 7 with one identified object at M UV ~-15 thanks to the highly magnified survey areas. This early study forecasts the power of using massive galaxy clusters as cosmic telescopes and its complementarity to blank fields. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programs 13495 and 11689. Based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The low-energy frontier of particle physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jaeckel, Joerg [Durham Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. for Particle Physics Phenomenology; Ringwald, Andreas [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

2010-02-15

Most embeddings of the Standard Model into a more unified theory, in particular the ones based on supergravity or superstrings, predict the existence of a hidden sector of particles which have only very weak interactions with the visible sector Standard Model particles. Some of these exotic particle candidates (such as e.g. ''axions'', ''axion-like particles'' and ''hidden U(1) gauge bosons'') may be very light, with masses in the sub-eV range, and have very weak interactions with photons. Correspondingly, these very weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) may lead to observable effects in experiments (as well as in astrophysical and cosmological observations) searching for light shining through a wall, for changes in laser polarisation, for non-linear processes in large electromagnetic fields and for deviations from Coulomb's law. We present the physics case and a status report of this emerging low-energy frontier of fundamental physics. (orig.)

Are the lights going out on British science? Researchers are in uproar after a recently established

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

Scientists involved in physics and space research - and I'm one of them - are fortunate people. Their work is stimulating; it's the basis for most of the technologies that modern life depends on; and its research frontiers - from atoms to the cosmos - interest a wide public.

NREL-Led Research Effort Creates New Alloys, Phase Diagram | News | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

the next-generation semiconductors. A multi-institutional team led by NREL discovered a way to create to right) Stephan Lany, Aaron Holder, Paul Ndione, and Andriy Zakutayev. A multi-institutional team the breakthrough and took the idea from theory to reality. An Energy Frontier Research Center, which

Mean-variance portfolio selection and efficient frontier for defined contribution pension schemes

OpenAIRE

Hoejgaard, B.; Vigna, E.

2007-01-01

We solve a mean-variance portfolio selection problem in the accumulation phase of a defined contribution pension scheme. The efficient frontier, which is found for the 2 asset case as well as the n + 1 asset case, gives the member the possibility to decide his own risk/reward profile. The mean-variance approach is then compared to other investment strategies adopted in DC pension schemes, namely the target-based approach and the lifestyle strategy. The comparison is done both in a theoretical...

The 'Golden' cLFV channels {mu} {yields} e{gamma} and {mu} {yields} eee - the high-intensity frontier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kettle, Peter-Raymond, E-mail: peter-raymond.kettle@psi.ch [Paul Scherrer Institut PSI, Laboratory for Particle Physics (Switzerland)

2013-03-15

The muon as a laboratory for studying charged lepton-flavour violation (cLFV) has proven to be one of the most sensitive areas to probe for 'New Physics', due to the muon's copious production rate and relatively long lifetime. The search at the intensity frontier with precision-type experiments is complementary to the search for new particles at the high-energy frontier of TeV colliders. Of the three 'golden' muon channels: {mu} {yields} e{gamma}, {mu} {yields} 3e and {mu} {yields} econversion, an overview of the status of the coincidence experiments MEG, together with the latest results, which constitute the most stringent limit to date on this decay and the recently initiated Mu3e experiment, will be given.

A Resurgence of United Kingdom Nuclear Power Research (2011 EFRC Forum)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimes, Robin W.

2011-01-01

Robin W. Grimes, Professor at Imperial College, London, was the third speaker in the May 26, 2011 EFRC Forum session, 'Global Perspectives on Frontiers in Energy Research.' In his presentation, Professor Grimes discussed recent research endeavors in advanced nuclear energy systems being pursued in the UK. The 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum brought together the EFRC community and science and policy leaders from universities, national laboratories, industry and government to discuss 'Science for our Nation's Energy Future.' In August 2009, the Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers. The EFRCs are collaborative research efforts intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward fundamental research, the scientific basis for transformative energy technologies of the future. These Centers involve universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit firms, singly or in partnerships, selected by scientific peer review. They are funded at $2 to $5 million per year for a total planned DOE commitment of $777 million over the initial five-year award period, pending Congressional appropriations. These integrated, multi-investigator Centers are conducting fundamental research focusing on one or more of several 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The purpose of the EFRCs is to integrate the talents and expertise of leading scientists in a setting designed to accelerate research that transforms the future of energy and the environment.

The improving efficiency frontier of religious not-for-profit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Jeffrey P; Sexton, Christopher

2006-01-01

By using data-envelopment analysis (DEA), this study evaluates the efficiency of religious not-for-profit hospitals. Hospital executives, healthcare policy makers, taxpayers, and other stakeholders benefit from studies that improve hospital efficiency. Results indicate that overall efficiency in religious hospitals improved from 72% in 1998 to 74% in 2001. What is more important is that the number of religious hospitals operating on the efficiency frontier increased from 40 in 1998 to 47 in 2001. This clearly documents that religious hospitals are becoming more efficient in the management of resources. From a policy perspective, this study highlights the economic importance of encouraging increased efficiency throughout the healthcare industry.

Single cell analysis: the new frontier in 'Omics'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Daojing; Bodovitz, Steven

2010-01-14

Cellular heterogeneity arising from stochastic expression of genes, proteins, and metabolites is a fundamental principle of cell biology, but single cell analysis has been beyond the capabilities of 'Omics' technologies. This is rapidly changing with the recent examples of single cell genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. The rate of change is expected to accelerate owing to emerging technologies that range from micro/nanofluidics to microfabricated interfaces for mass spectrometry to third- and fourth-generation automated DNA sequencers. As described in this review, single cell analysis is the new frontier in Omics, and single cell Omics has the potential to transform systems biology through new discoveries derived from cellular heterogeneity.

Getting to the Edge: Protein dynamical networks as a new frontier in plant-microbe interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cassandra C Garbutt

2014-06-01

Full Text Available A systems perspective on diverse phenotypes, mechanisms of infection, and responses to environmental stresses can lead to considerable advances in agriculture and medicine. A significant promise of systems biology within plants is the development of disease-resistant crop varieties, which would maximize yield output for food, clothing, building materials and biofuel production. A systems or -omics perspective frames the next frontier in the search for enhanced knowledge of plant network biology. The functional understanding of network structure and dynamics s is vital to expanding our knowledge of how the intercellular communication processes are executed. . This review article will systematically discuss various levels of organization of systems biology beginning with the building blocks termed –omes and ending with complex transcriptional and protein-protein interaction networks. We will also highlight the prevailing computational modeling approaches of biological regulatory network dynamics. The latest developments in the -omics approach will be reviewed and discussed to underline and highlight novel technologies and research directions in plant network biology.

The last of NASA's original pilot astronauts expanding the space frontier in the late sixties

CERN Document Server

Shayler, David J

2017-01-01

Resulting from the authors’ deep research into these two pre-Shuttle astronaut groups, many intriguing and untold stories behind the selection process are revealed in the book. The often extraordinary backgrounds and personal ambitions of these skilled pilots, chosen to continue NASA’s exploration and knowledge of the space frontier, are also examined. In April 1966 NASA selected 19 pilot astronauts whose training was specifically targeted to the Apollo lunar landing missions and the Earth-orbiting Skylab space station. Three years later, following the sudden cancellation of the USAF’s highly classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project, seven military astronauts were also co-opted into NASA’s space program. This book represents the final chapter by the authors in the story of American astronaut selections prior to the era of the Space Shuttle. Through personal interviews and original NASA documentation, readers will also gain a true insight into a remarkable age of space travel as it unfolded ...

Soil protists: a fertile frontier in soil biology research.

Science.gov (United States)

Geisen, Stefan; Mitchell, Edward A D; Adl, Sina; Bonkowski, Michael; Dunthorn, Micah; Ekelund, Flemming; Fernández, Leonardo D; Jousset, Alexandre; Krashevska, Valentyna; Singer, David; Spiegel, Frederick W; Walochnik, Julia; Lara, Enrique

2018-05-01

Protists include all eukaryotes except plants, fungi and animals. They are an essential, yet often forgotten, component of the soil microbiome. Method developments have now furthered our understanding of the real taxonomic and functional diversity of soil protists. They occupy key roles in microbial foodwebs as consumers of bacteria, fungi and other small eukaryotes. As parasites of plants, animals and even of larger protists, they regulate populations and shape communities. Pathogenic forms play a major role in public health issues as human parasites, or act as agricultural pests. Predatory soil protists release nutrients enhancing plant growth. Soil protists are of key importance for our understanding of eukaryotic evolution and microbial biogeography. Soil protists are also useful in applied research as bioindicators of soil quality, as models in ecotoxicology and as potential biofertilizers and biocontrol agents. In this review, we provide an overview of the enormous morphological, taxonomical and functional diversity of soil protists, and discuss current challenges and opportunities in soil protistology. Research in soil biology would clearly benefit from incorporating more protistology alongside the study of bacteria, fungi and animals.

A divide and conquer approach to determine the Pareto frontier for optimization of protein engineering experiments

Science.gov (United States)

He, Lu; Friedman, Alan M.; Bailey-Kellogg, Chris

2016-01-01

In developing improved protein variants by site-directed mutagenesis or recombination, there are often competing objectives that must be considered in designing an experiment (selecting mutations or breakpoints): stability vs. novelty, affinity vs. specificity, activity vs. immunogenicity, and so forth. Pareto optimal experimental designs make the best trade-offs between competing objectives. Such designs are not “dominated”; i.e., no other design is better than a Pareto optimal design for one objective without being worse for another objective. Our goal is to produce all the Pareto optimal designs (the Pareto frontier), in order to characterize the trade-offs and suggest designs most worth considering, but to avoid explicitly considering the large number of dominated designs. To do so, we develop a divide-and-conquer algorithm, PEPFR (Protein Engineering Pareto FRontier), that hierarchically subdivides the objective space, employing appropriate dynamic programming or integer programming methods to optimize designs in different regions. This divide-and-conquer approach is efficient in that the number of divisions (and thus calls to the optimizer) is directly proportional to the number of Pareto optimal designs. We demonstrate PEPFR with three protein engineering case studies: site-directed recombination for stability and diversity via dynamic programming, site-directed mutagenesis of interacting proteins for affinity and specificity via integer programming, and site-directed mutagenesis of a therapeutic protein for activity and immunogenicity via integer programming. We show that PEPFR is able to effectively produce all the Pareto optimal designs, discovering many more designs than previous methods. The characterization of the Pareto frontier provides additional insights into the local stability of design choices as well as global trends leading to trade-offs between competing criteria. PMID:22180081

A divide-and-conquer approach to determine the Pareto frontier for optimization of protein engineering experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Lu; Friedman, Alan M; Bailey-Kellogg, Chris

2012-03-01

In developing improved protein variants by site-directed mutagenesis or recombination, there are often competing objectives that must be considered in designing an experiment (selecting mutations or breakpoints): stability versus novelty, affinity versus specificity, activity versus immunogenicity, and so forth. Pareto optimal experimental designs make the best trade-offs between competing objectives. Such designs are not "dominated"; that is, no other design is better than a Pareto optimal design for one objective without being worse for another objective. Our goal is to produce all the Pareto optimal designs (the Pareto frontier), to characterize the trade-offs and suggest designs most worth considering, but to avoid explicitly considering the large number of dominated designs. To do so, we develop a divide-and-conquer algorithm, Protein Engineering Pareto FRontier (PEPFR), that hierarchically subdivides the objective space, using appropriate dynamic programming or integer programming methods to optimize designs in different regions. This divide-and-conquer approach is efficient in that the number of divisions (and thus calls to the optimizer) is directly proportional to the number of Pareto optimal designs. We demonstrate PEPFR with three protein engineering case studies: site-directed recombination for stability and diversity via dynamic programming, site-directed mutagenesis of interacting proteins for affinity and specificity via integer programming, and site-directed mutagenesis of a therapeutic protein for activity and immunogenicity via integer programming. We show that PEPFR is able to effectively produce all the Pareto optimal designs, discovering many more designs than previous methods. The characterization of the Pareto frontier provides additional insights into the local stability of design choices as well as global trends leading to trade-offs between competing criteria. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Frontiers of Alzheimer research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ishii, Tsuyoshi [Psychiatric Research Institute of Tokyo (Japan). Department of Ultrastructure; Allsop, David [The Queen' s University of Belfast, Medical Biology Centre (Northern Ireland). School of Biology and Biochemistry, Division of Biochemistry; Selkoe, D J [Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Boston (USA). Center for Neurologic Diseases; eds.

1991-01-01

This volume contains one article which presents the results of a dynamic SPECT study of regional cerebral blood flow in primary degenerative dementia, and therefore is in INIS scope. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs.

Frontiers of particle beam and high energy density plasma science using pulse power technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masugata, Katsumi

2011-04-01

The papers presented at the symposium on “Frontiers of Particle Beam and High Energy Density Plasma Science using Pulse Power Technology” held in November 20-21, 2009 at National Institute for Fusion Science are collected. The papers reflect the present status and resent progress in the experiment and theoretical works on high power particle beams and high energy density plasmas produced by pulsed power technology. (author)

Crossing the Green Line: Frontier, environment and the role of bandeirantes in the conquering of Brazilian territory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sterling Evans

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article’s objective is to present, via bibliographic research, the territorial makeup of colonial Brazil (1500-1822 and the Brazilian historical approach at the beginning of the twentieth century that sought to relate questions and concepts of frontier, territoriality, and nature in the historic role of the bandeirante movement. The goal here is to address territorial and geographic questions, but also environmental ones, based on historical geography, and to present arguments that fall in the nexus between history and nature in the debate on Brazilian territorial expansion. The text is grounded in classical works, and works by renown authors on this topic, but we also include discussion of less well known sources. The intent is to identify how the theme of bandeirantes and Brazilian westward expansion can be analyzed differently in the pertinent specialized historical literature.

ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY OF R&D ACTIVITIES AMONG COUNTRIES WITH DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES INCLUDING REPUBLIC OF BELARUS WITH STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. V. Zhukovski

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study evaluates efficiency of R&D activities based on the stochastic frontier analysis across 69 counties with developed and developing economies. Gross domestic expenditures on R&D in purchasing power parity, researchers per million inhabitants, technicians per million inhabitants are treated as inputs while patents granted to residents and scientific and technical journal articles are considered as outputs. According to the analysis results Costa Rica, Israel and Singapore are the most efficient in terms of transformation of available resources into the R&D results. What concerns Belarus it is necessary that additional investments in R&D go together with increasing efficiency of available resources’ usage. 

Beyond Frontiers: Comparing the Efficiency of Higher Education Decision-Making Units across More than One Country

Science.gov (United States)

Agasisti, Tommaso; Johnes, Geraint

2009-01-01

We employ Data Envelopment Analysis to compute the technical efficiency of Italian and English higher education institutions. Our results show that, in relation to the country-specific frontier, institutions in both countries are typically very efficient. However, institutions in England are more efficient than those in Italy when we compare…

Academic Performance and Burnout: An Efficient Frontier Analysis of Resource Use Efficiency among Employed University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Galbraith, Craig S.; Merrill, Gregory B.

2015-01-01

We examine the impact of university student burnout on academic achievement. With a longitudinal sample of working undergraduate university business and economics students, we use a two-step analytical process to estimate the efficient frontiers of student productivity given inputs of labour and capital and then analyse the potential determinants…

Lateral movements in Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities due to frontiers. Experimental study

Science.gov (United States)

Binda, L.; Fernández, D.; El Hasi, C.; Zalts, A.; D'Onofrio, A.

2018-01-01

Lateral movements of the fingers in Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities at the interface between two fluids are studied. We show that transverse movements appear when a physical boundary is present; these phenomena have not been explained until now. The boundary prevents one of the fluids from crossing it. Such frontiers can be buoyancy driven as, for example, the frontier to the passage of a less dense solution through a denser solution or when different aggregation states coexist (liquid and gaseous phases). An experimental study of the lateral movement velocity of the fingers was performed for different Rayleigh numbers (Ra), and when oscillations were detected, their amplitudes were studied. Liquid-liquid (L-L) and gas-liquid (G-L) systems were analysed. Aqueous HCl and Bromocresol Green (sodium salt, NaBCG) solutions were used in L-L experiments, and CO2 (gas) and aqueous NaOH, NaHCO3, and CaCl2 solutions were employed for the G-L studies. We observed that the lateral movement of the fingers and finger collapses near the interface are more notorious when Ra increases. The consequences of this, for each experience, are a decrease in the number of fingers and an increase in the velocity of the lateral finger movement close to the interface as time evolves. We found that the amplitude of the oscillations did not vary significantly within the considered Ra range. These results have an important implication when determining the wave number of instabilities in an evolving system. The wave number could be strongly diminished if there is a boundary.

基督教与近代以来的川康研究%Christianity and Research in the Regions of Sichuan- Xikang since China＇s Modern Times

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

邓杰

2012-01-01

The research of the frontier areas got more and more attention since China＇s modern times. Eth-nology and the establishment and development of its status as an independent subject, greatly promoted the re-search interests of experts on the frontier ethnology. A large number of scholars and academic organizations mi-grated westward since the west - movement of China＇s central government followed by the full - scale invasion of Japan. The research of frontier areas became a fashion as it met the government＇s demand of the construc-tion of rear areas. Keeping up with this trend, the General Union of the Church of Christ in China launched the Frontier Service Campaign in the late 1930s. It not only provided various services for the frontier people, but also carried out a wide range of ＂frontier research＂ activities including investigations and studies in many aspects such as religion and folk customs, medical treatment and public health, agriculture and livelihood. The researches played a great role in promoting many works in the regions of Sichuan - Xikang besides its aca-demic value.%近代以降，“民族学”作为独立学科地位的确立和发展，极大地促进了学人对边疆民族学的研究兴趣。随着日本侵华战争全面爆发、国府西迁，加之国民政府对后方建设的需要，为建设边疆而研究边疆成为一时之风气。中华基督教会全国总会顺应形势，于20世纪30年代末发起了边疆服务运动，在为川11康边胞提供各种服务的同时，也开展了包括宗教与民俗领域、医疗卫生、农业生计诸多方面的“边疆研究”活动。

A frontier research on the theory of spiritual leadership in foreign counties%国外精神型领导研究前沿探析

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

冯承俊

2012-01-01

精神型领导理论是目前国内外学术界领导研究领域的一个前沿主题。它反映了在当前企业组织结构加速变革的情境下,组织寻求通过内在激励员工使其获得体验和发挥自我以实现个体、群体或组织绩效方面的不断提升。本文分别从概念界定、维度结构以及模型分析三个方面对国外精神型领导的相关文献进行了归纳总结,并对目前该领域研究的局限进行了分析,明确了未来研究的方向。%Spiritual leadership is a frontier topic in leadership studies at home and abroad. It reflects that under the circumstances of organization structure reform, the organizations sought to promote performance on individual, team, and organizational levels by motivating employees internally. This thesis summarized the relevant research findings on foreign spiritual leadership theory from the definition, dimension structure, and causal model analysis, finally,analyzed the limitations and future studies on the spiritual leadership theory.

Research program of the Neutrino Research Group. Year 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

For the last two decades, neutrino physics has been producing major discoveries including neutrino oscillations. These results gave clear confirmation that active neutrinos oscillate and therefore have mass with three different mass states. This is a very important result showing that the Minimal Standard Model is incomplete and requires an extension which is not yet known. The neutrino research field is very broad and active, at the frontier of today's particle physics. The creation of a Neutrino Research Group (GDR) was proposed in 2004 with the aim of gathering CEA and CNRS research teams working on Neutrino Physics on experimental or theoretical level. This document presents the Research program of the Neutrino Research Group which is divided into 5 working groups with the following activities: 1 - Determination of neutrino parameters; 2 - Physics beyond the standard model; 3 - Neutrinos in the universe; 4 - Accelerators, detection means, R and D and valorisation; 5 - Common tools to all working groups. The research group participating laboratories and teams are listed at the end of the document

Some effectos on the efficient frontier of the investment strategy: a preliminary approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Méndez-Rodríguez, Paz

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In this work an indicator of the social responsibility degree of mutual funds is proposed based on the mutual fund’s screening policy and on the quality of the information provided by the fund manager. Once this indicator is obtained it is included as a constraint in the mean-variance classical optimization model. An exploratory numerical experiment is presented in order to check the possible effect on the efficient frontier of different SRI strategies.

Global CO2 efficiency: Country-wise estimates using a stochastic cost frontier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrala, Risto; Goel, Rajeev K.

2012-01-01

This paper examines global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) efficiency by employing a stochastic cost frontier analysis of about 170 countries in 1997 and 2007. The main contribution lies in providing a new approach to environmental efficiency estimation, in which the efficiency estimates quantify the distance from the policy objective of minimum emissions. We are able to examine a very large pool of nations and provide country-wise efficiency estimates. We estimate three econometric models, corresponding with alternative interpretations of the Cancun vision (Conference of the Parties 2011). The models reveal progress in global environmental efficiency during a preceding decade. The estimates indicate vast differences in efficiency levels, and efficiency changes across countries. The highest efficiency levels are observed in Africa and Europe, while the lowest are clustered around China. The largest efficiency gains were observed in central and eastern Europe. CO 2 efficiency also improved in the US and China, the two largest emitters, but their ranking in terms of CO 2 efficiency deteriorated. Policy implications are discussed. - Highlights: ► We estimate global environmental efficiency in line with the Cancun vision, using a stochastic cost frontier. ► The study covers 170 countries during a 10 year period, ending in 2007. ► The biggest improvements occurred in Europe, and efficiency falls in South America. ► The efficiency ranking of US and China, the largest emitters, deteriorated. ► In 2007, highest efficiency was observed in Africa and Europe, and the lowest around China.

On the redistribution of existing inputs using the spherical frontier dea model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Virgilio Guedes de Avellar

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The Spherical Frontier DEA Model (SFM (Avellar et al., 2007 was developed to be used when one wants to fairly distribute a new and fixed input to a group of Decision Making Units (DMU's. SFM's basic idea is to distribute this new and fixed input in such a way that every DMU will be placed on an efficiency frontier with a spherical shape. We use SFM to analyze the problems that appear when one wants to redistribute an already existing input to a group of DMU's such that the total sum of this input will remain constant. We also analyze the case in which this total sum may vary.O Modelo de Fronteira Esférica (MFE (Avellar et al., 2007 foi desenvolvido para ser usado quando se deseja distribuir de maneira justa um novo insumo a um conjunto de unidades tomadoras de decisão (DMU's, da sigla em inglês, Decision Making Units. A ideia básica do MFE é a de distribuir esse novo insumo de maneira que todas as DMU's sejam colocadas numa fronteira de eficiência com um formato esférico. Neste artigo, usamos MFE para analisar o problema que surge quando se deseja redistribuir um insumo já existente para um grupo de DMU's de tal forma que a soma desse insumo para todas as DMU's se mantenha constante. Também analisamos o caso em que essa soma possa variar.

Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Moses, Robert W.; Bushnell, Dennis M.

2016-01-01

The currently known resources on Mars are massive, including extensive quantities of water and carbon dioxide and therefore carbon, hydrogen and oxygen for life support, fuels and plastics and much else. The regolith is replete with all manner of minerals. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) applicable frontier technologies include robotics, machine intelligence, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, 3-D printing/additive manufacturing and autonomy. These technologies combined with the vast natural resources should enable serious, pre- and post-human arrival ISRU to greatly increase reliability and safety and reduce cost for human colonization of Mars. Various system-level transportation concepts employing Mars produced fuel would enable Mars resources to evolve into a primary center of trade for the inner solar system for eventually nearly everything required for space faring and colonization. Mars resources and their exploitation via extensive ISRU are the key to a viable, safe and affordable, human presence beyond Earth. The purpose of this paper is four-fold: 1) to highlight the latest discoveries of water, minerals, and other materials on Mars that reshape our thinking about the value and capabilities of Mars ISRU; 2) to summarize the previous literature on Mars ISRU processes, equipment, and approaches; 3) to point to frontier ISRU technologies and approaches that can lead to safe and affordable human missions to Mars; and 4) to suggest an implementation strategy whereby the ISRU elements are phased into the mission campaign over time to enable a sustainable and increasing human presence on Mars.

Aviation Frontiers: On-Demand Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Mark D.

2010-01-01

Throughout the 20th Century, NASA has defined the forefront of aeronautical technology, and the aviation industry owes much of its prosperity to this knowledge and technology. In recent decades, centralized aeronautics has become a mature discipline, which raises questions concerning the future aviation innovation frontiers. Three transformational aviation capabilities, bounded together by the development of a Free Flight airspace management system, have the potential to transform 21st Century society as profoundly as civil aviation transformed the 20th Century. These mobility breakthroughs will re-establish environmental sustainable centralized aviation, while opening up latent markets for civil distributed sensing and on-demand rural and regional transportation. Of these three transformations, on-demand aviation has the potential to have the largest market and productivity improvement to society. The information system revolution over the past 20 years shows that vehicles lead, and the interconnecting infrastructure to make them more effective follows; that is, unless on-demand aircraft are pioneered, a distributed Air Traffic Control system will likely never be established. There is no single technology long-pole that will enable on-demand vehicle solutions. However, fully digital aircraft that include electric propulsion has the potential to be a multi-disciplinary initiator of solid state technologies that can provide order of magnitude improvements in the ease of use, safety/reliability, community and environmental friendliness, and affordability.

Civil Engineering Works Status of the Proton Accelerator Research Center in PEFP - Site and Access Road Earthwork

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nam, Jung Min; Jeon, G. P.; Min, Y. S.; Park, S. S.; Cho, J. S.; Mun, K. J.; Kim, J. Y.

2010-01-01

PEFP(Proton Engineering Frontier Project) was Launched in 2002 as one of the 21st Century Frontier R and D Programs of MOST(Ministry of Science and Technology). Gyeongju city was selected as the project host site in March, 2006, where 'Proton Accelerator Research Center' was going to be constructed. Since 2005, the Architectural and Civil design work has been performing. The Earthwork of the site was started in June, 2009. In this paper, we describe the status of the civil engineering works for the PEFP, focusing on the earthwork of the site and access road

[Advances on enzymes and enzyme inhibitors research based on microfluidic devices].

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Feng-Hua; Ye, Jian-Qing; Chen, Zuan-Guang; Cheng, Zhi-Yi

2010-06-01

With the continuous development in microfluidic fabrication technology, microfluidic analysis has evolved from a concept to one of research frontiers in last twenty years. The research of enzymes and enzyme inhibitors based on microfluidic devices has also made great progress. Microfluidic technology improved greatly the analytical performance of the research of enzymes and enzyme inhibitors by reducing the consumption of reagents, decreasing the analysis time, and developing automation. This review focuses on the development and classification of enzymes and enzyme inhibitors research based on microfluidic devices.

Keeping up Appearances on the Romano-British Frontier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Birley

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Roman Vindolanda lies on the Stanegate Road to the south of Hadrian's Wall, on the northern frontier of the Romano-British province. It has complex stratigraphy with at least ten layers of occupation dating from around AD 85 to its abandonment in the 5th century, but it is the first five levels from AD 85 to AD 130-139 that have produced some of the most significant organic objects from the Empire, including the Vindolanda writing tablets (Birley 2009. One of the distinctive aspects of the Vindolanda collection is the large number of wooden hair combs found in these levels. Over 160 boxwood hair combs have been unearthed from the site. Resembling modern nit combs, these small objects had the primary function of cleaning and detangling hair, but further examination of the collection allows for the exploration of different aspects of style and function.

Final Report for Research in High Energy Physics (University of Hawaii)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Browder, Thomas E.

2013-08-31

Here we present a final report for the DOE award for the University of Hawaii High Energy Physics Group (UHHEPG) for the period from December 1, 2009 to May 31, 2013 (including a period of no-cost extension). The high energy physics (HEP) group at the University of Hawaii (UH) has been engaged in experiments at the intensity frontier studying flavor physics (Task A: Belle, Belle-II and Task B: BES) and neutrinos (Task C: SuperK, LBNE, Double Chooz, DarkSide, and neutrino R\\&D). On the energy frontier, new types of pixel detectors were developed for upgrades of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC (Task D). On the cosmic frontier, there were investigations of ultra high-energy neutrino astrophysics and the highest energy cosmic rays using special radio detection techniques (Task E: AMBER, ANITA R\\&D) and results of the analysis of ANITA data. In addition, we have developed new types of sophisticated and cutting edge instrumentation based on novel ``oscilloscope on a chip'' electronics (Task F). Theoretical physics research (Task G) is phenomenologically oriented and has studied experimental consequences of existing and proposed new theories relevant to the energy, cosmic and intensity frontiers. The senior investigators for proposal were T. E. Browder (Task A), F. A. Harris (Task B), P. Gorham (Task E), J. Kumar (Task G), J. Maricic (Task C), J. G. Learned (Task C), S. Pakvasa (Task G), S. Parker (Task D), S. Matsuno (Task C), X. Tata (Task G) and G. S. Varner (Tasks F, A, E).

[Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier: A Companion to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia] / Michael Amundsen

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Amundsen, Michael

2012-01-01

Arvustus: Crusading and chronicle writing on the medieval Baltic frontier : a companion to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia / edited by Marek Tamm, Linda Kaljundi, Carsten Selch Jensen. Farnham : Ashgate, 2011

The role of community health centers in assessing the social determinants of health for planning and policy: the example of frontier New Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruna, Sean; Stone, Lisa Cacari; Wilger, Susan; Cantor, Jeremy; Guzman, Carolina

2014-01-01

This article examines the experience of a frontier-based community health center when it utilized the Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE) for assessing social determinants of health with a local health consortium. Community members (N = 357) rated safety, jobs, housing, and education among the top health issues. Community leaders integrated these health priorities in a countywide strategic planning process. This example of a frontier county in New Mexico demonstrates the critical role that community health centers play when engaging with local residents to assess community health needs for strategic planning and policy development.

A Monte Carlo Study on Multiple Output Stochastic Frontiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Géraldine; Henningsen, Arne; Jensen, Uwe

, dividing all other output quantities by the selected output quantity, and using these ratios as regressors (OD). Another approach is the stochastic ray production frontier (SR) which transforms the output quantities into their Euclidean distance as the dependent variable and their polar coordinates......In the estimation of multiple output technologies in a primal approach, the main question is how to handle the multiple outputs. Often an output distance function is used, where the classical approach is to exploit its homogeneity property by selecting one output quantity as the dependent variable...... of both specifications for the case of a Translog output distance function with respect to different common statistical problems as well as problems arising as a consequence of zero values in the output quantities. Although, our results partly show clear reactions to statistical misspecifications...

Theoretical Frontiers in Black Holes and Cosmology School

CERN Document Server

Orazi, Emanuele

2016-01-01

These lecture notes are dedicated to the most recent theoretical applications of Black Hole solutions in high-energy physics. The main motivation of this volume is to present the latest black hole backgrounds that are relevant for gauge/gravity correspondence. Leading scientists in the field explain effective techniques for finding singular and cosmological solutions embedded in gauged supergravity, shedding light on underlying properties and symmetries. Starting from a basic level, the mathematical structures underlying black holes and cosmologies are revealed, helping the reader grasp the connection between theoretical approaches and physical observations with insights into possible future developments from both a theoretical and experimental point of view. The topics covered in this volume are based on lectures delivered during the “Theoretical Frontiers in Black Holes and Cosmology” school, held in Natal in June 2015.

Common Frontiers of the Exact Sciences and the Humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Hiebert, Erwin N.

The physicist Franz Serafin Exner (1849-1926) was a prominent Austrian spokesman for the new developments that were coupled with turn-of-the-century experiments and theories related to entropy thermodynamics, the internally structured atom, quantum theory, and relativity. The Exner circle found its inspiration in the intellectual world of Ludwig Boltzmann and his teachers, colleagues, and students. Cross-discipline discussions on common and divergent frontiers of the exact sciences and the humanities meaningfully converged on the significance, comparison, and transfer of concepts such as the laws of nature, causality, probability, and chance. Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West, with its pessimistic, subjectivistic, and negative science-directed messages provided Exner with the opportunity to sharpen his support for the new scientific trends in physics - thus to champion the search for objective truth.

At the frontier between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis : hydrogenation of olefins and alkynes with soluble iron nanoparticles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rangheard, Claudine; Julián Fernández, César de; Phua, Pim-Huat; Hoorn, Johan; Lefort, Laurent; Vries, Johannes G. de

2010-01-01

The use of non-supported Fe nanoparticles in the hydrogenation of unsaturated C–C bonds is a green catalytic concept at the frontier between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Iron nanoparticles can be obtained by reducing Fe salts with strong reductants in various solvents. FeCl3 reduced by 3

Differences in neurocognitive functioning associated with alcohol consumption in a multiethnic rural cohort: A Project FRONTIER study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Matthew Edward

2016-01-01

The current study assessed if a neuroprotective effect on cognition from mild alcohol consumption occurs in multiethnic rural communities and if effect differences occur due to gender or ethnicity. Participants were drawn from Project FRONTIER (Facing Rural Obstacles to healthcare Now Through Intervention, Education & Research), a community-based participatory research study assessing aging in a rural, West Texas, multiethnic cohort of participants aged 40 years and older. Alcohol consumption patterns were determined from Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test responses. Cognitive measures included the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Because few participants had greater than a mild alcohol consumption pattern, only abstinent participants and those with mild consumption were compared (N = 1,004 1st observation; N = 256 2nd observation). Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed main effects for alcohol consumption pattern, gender, and ethnicity. Attention was most affected by alcohol consumption pattern followed by verbal memory. Mild alcohol consumption was associated with better performance in these areas. Gender and ethnicity had broad effects on cognitive abilities but inconsistent attention effects. Overall, mild alcohol consumption was associated with better attentional and other abilities compared with abstinence in a rural multiethnic sample. These findings are consistent with previous research and suggest ethnicity and gender are uninvolved in any alcohol neuroprotective effects.

Evaluating energy efficiency for airlines: An application of Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui, Qiang; Li, Ye; Yu, Chen-lu; Wei, Yi-Ming

2016-01-01

The fast growing Revenue Passenger Kilometers and the relatively lagged energy supply of aviation industry impels the airlines to improve energy efficiency. In this paper, we focus on evaluating and analyzing influencing factors for airline energy efficiency. Number of employees and aviation kerosene are chosen as the inputs. Revenue Ton Kilometers, Revenue Passenger Kilometers and total business income are the outputs. Capital stock is selected as the dynamic factor. A new model, Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure, is proposed to calculate the energy efficiencies of 21 airlines from 2008 to 2012. We verify two important properties to manifest the advantages of the new model. Then a regression is run to analyze the influencing factors of airline energy efficiency. The main findings are: 1. The overall energy efficiency of Malaysia Airlines is the highest during 2008–2012.2. Per capita Gross Domestic Product, the average service age of fleet size and average haul distance have significant impacts on the efficiency score. 3. The difference between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers has no significant effects on airline energy efficiency. - Highlights: • A Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure is developed. • 21 airlines' energy efficiencies are evaluated. • Malaysia Airlines has the highest overall energy efficiency. • Three explanatory variables have significant impacts.

Global Regulatory T-Cell Research from 2000 to 2015: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yin Zongyi

Full Text Available We aimed to analyze the global scientific output of regulatory T-cell (Treg research and built a model to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate publications from 2000 to 2015. Data were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC of Thomson Reuters on January 1, 2016. The bibliometric method and Citespace III were used to analyze authors, journals, publication outputs, institutions, countries, research areas, research hotspots, and trends. In total, we identified 35,741 publications on Treg research from 2000 to 2015, and observed that the annual publication rate increased with time. The Journal of Immunology published the highest number of articles, the leading country was the USA, and the leading institute was Harvard University. Sakaguchi, Hori, Fontenot, and Wang were the top authors in Treg research. Immunology accounted for the highest number of publications, followed by oncology, experimental medicine, cell biology, and hematology. Keyword analysis indicated that autoimmunity, inflammation, cytokine, gene expression, foxp3, and immunotherapy were the research hotspots, whereas autoimmune inflammation, gene therapy, granzyme B, RORγt, and th17 were the frontiers of Treg research. This bibliometric analysis revealed that Treg-related studies are still research hotspots, and that Treg-related clinical therapies are the research frontiers; however, further study and collaborations are needed worldwide. Overall, our findings provide valuable information for the editors of immunology journals to identify new perspectives and shape future research directions.

Some Frontier Issues of Study on Corporate Strategic Management Theories%企业战略管理理论研究的若干前沿问题

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

宋波; 徐飞; 伍青生

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes and categorizes the frontier issues of strategic management theory research and introduce eight frontier issues of strategic management: Virtual Operation Strategy, Dynamic Capability Theory, Strategic Risk Management, Knowledge Management Strategy, Strategic Network, Strategic Change (include Strategic Inflection Point and Competing on the Edge), Non-Market Strategy and Strategic Ecology Theory(include Enterprise Evolution Theory and Business Ecosystems). Then connected with analysis on the characteristics of management subject frontier, we emphasize and point out that how enterprise strategy answer to the complicated and variational uncertain environment which is labeled with dynamic and unlimited competition becomes the critical driven factor in the development of strategic management theory.%本文梳理了战略管理八大前沿理论：虚拟经营战略、动态能力理论、战略风险管理、知识管理战略、战略网络理论、战略变革理论(包括“战略转折点”理论和边缘竞争理论)、非市场战略以及战略生态理论(包括企业DNA进化理论和商业生态系统理论)，并通过结合管理学科前沿特征的分析强调指出，在动态和高度竞争为特征的不确定性环境里，企业战略如何应对关系复杂、急剧变化的外部不确定环境，是企业战略管理理论发展的关键驱动因素。

Future atomic physics researches at HIRFL-CSR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Xiaohong; Xia Jiawen; Zhan Wenlong

1999-01-01

A new storage ring system, HIRFL-CSR, is now in construction in the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Research Facility of Lanzhou, China. The new facility consists of a main ring (CSRm) and an experimental ring (CSRe). With the flexibility of the production and the investigation of highly charged ions and radioactive ion beams the new HIRFL-CSR facility will make many frontier atomic physics researches possible in near future. The future physics researches at the HIRFL-CSR are now under consideration. In this paper an overview of the HIRFL-CSR project is given, and the main atomic physics programs to be carried at the HIRFL-CSR are presented. (orig.)

Pushing Human Frontiers

Science.gov (United States)

Zubrin, Robert

2005-01-01

With human colonization of Mars, I think you will see a higher standard of civilization, just as America set a higher standard of civilization which then promulgated back into Europe. I think that if you want to maximize human potential, you need a higher standard of civilization, and that becomes an example that benefits everyone. Without an open frontier, closed world ideologies, such as the Malthus Theory, tend to come to the forefront. It is that there are limited resources; therefore, we are all in deadly competition with each other for the limited pot. The result is tyrannical and potentially genocidal regimes, and we've already seen this in the twentieth century. There s no truth in the Malthus Theory, because human beings are the creators of their resources. With every mouth comes a pair of hands and a brain. But if it seems to be true, you have a vector in this direction, and it is extremely unfortunate. It is only in a universe of infinite resources that all humans can be brothers and sisters. The fundamental question which affects humanity s sense of itself is whether the world is changeable or fixed. Are we the makers of our world or just its inhabitants? Some people have a view that they re living at the end of history within a world that s already defined, and there is no fundamental purpose to human life because there is nothing humans can do that matters. On the other hand, if humans understand their own role as the creators of their world, that s a much more healthy point of view. It raises the dignity of humans. Indeed, if we do establish a new branch of human civilization on Mars that grows in time and potency to the point where it cannot really settle Mars, but transforms Mars, and brings life to Mars, we will prove to everyone and for all time the precious and positive nature of the human species and every member of it.

Synthesis and properties of amino acid functionalized water-soluble perylene diimides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Yongshan; Li, Xuemei; Wei, Xiaofeng; Jiang, Tianyi; Wu, Junsen; Ren, Huixue [Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan (China)

2015-07-15

We prepared amino acid functionalized water-soluble perylene diimides: N,N'-bi(L-glutamic acid)-perylene-3,4;9,10-dicarboxylic diimide (1), N,N'-bi(L-phenylalanine acid)-perylene-3,4;9,10-dicarboxylic diimide (2), N,N'-bi(Lglutamic amine)-perylene-3,4;9,10-dicarboxylic diimide (3) and N,N'-bi(L-phenylalanine amine)-perylene-3,4;9,10-dicarboxylic diimide (4). The structures of 3 and 4 were confirmed by {sup 1}H NMR, FT-IR and MS. The maximal absorption bands of compound 1 and 2 in concentrated sulfuric acid were red-shifted for about 48 and 74 nm, respectively, compared with that of Perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (PTCDA). Nearly no fluorescence was observed for compounds 1 and 2 in water, while compounds 3 and 4 were significantly water-soluble and had very high fluorescent quantum. The mechanism of the optical properties change was discussed, and the π-π stacking caused by H{sup +} led to the changes of fluorescence spectrum and absorption spectrum. The calculated molecular orbital energies and the frontier molecular orbital maps of compounds 1-2 based on density function theory (DFT) calculations were reported. Owing to the high water-soluble, the perylene derivatives 3 and 4 were successfully applied as high-performance fluorochromes for living hela cells imaging.