WorldWideScience

Sample records for call center analyses

  1. Call Center Capacity Planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Thomas Bang

    in order to relate the results to the service levels used in call centers. Furthermore, the generic nature of the approximation is demonstrated by applying it to a system incorporating a dynamic priority scheme. In the last paper Optimization of overflow policies in call centers, overflows between agent......The main topics of the thesis are theoretical and applied queueing theory within a call center setting. Call centers have in recent years become the main means of communication between customers and companies, and between citizens and public institutions. The extensively computerized infrastructure...... in modern call centers allows for a high level of customization, but also induces complicated operational processes. The size of the industry together with the complex and labor intensive nature of large call centers motivates the research carried out to understand the underlying processes. The customizable...

  2. Call Forecasting for Inbound Call Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Vinje

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In a scenario of inbound call center customer service, the ability to forecast calls is a key element and advantage. By forecasting the correct number of calls a company can predict staffing needs, meet service level requirements, improve customer satisfaction, and benefit from many other optimizations. This project will show how elementary statistics can be used to predict calls for a specific company, forecast the rate at which calls are increasing/decreasing, and determine if the calls may stop at some point.

  3. Blended call center with idling times during the call service

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Legros, Benjamin; Jouini, Oualid; Koole, Ger

    We consider a blended call center with calls arriving over time and an infinitely backlogged amount of outbound jobs. Inbound calls have a non-preemptive priority over outbound jobs. The inbound call service is characterized by three successive stages where the second one is a break; i.e., there is

  4. Perilaku Kreatif Pekerja Call Center: Peran Komunikasi dan Dukungan Training Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nugroho J. Setiadi

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Call center business in Indonesia is growing rapidly worldwide. This condition has had repercussions for a growing number of call center workers needed. They are forced to be more creative in performing their duties. This study aims to determine the role of communication and training center in supporting the creative performance of workers in call centers. The survey was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents (employees of the 3 major companies in the field of telecommunication services in Indonesia. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data to examine the role of communication and training support center on creative performance. The results indicated that communication and training support center significantly influence the creative behavior in call center workers. Communication quality shown in the telecommunication service provider companies, such as the media quality, simplicity of information, dissemination of information, loads of information, and accuracy of messages, has shown good quality. In addition, the training program has shown its support for call center workers in the form of program effectiveness through research and data collection, determining the materials, training methods, choosing a coach, preparing facilities, selecting and implementing the program.

  5. High call volume at poison control centers: identification and implications for communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caravati, E M; Latimer, S; Reblin, M; Bennett, H K W; Cummins, M R; Crouch, B I; Ellington, L

    2012-09-01

    High volume surges in health care are uncommon and unpredictable events. Their impact on health system performance and capacity is difficult to study. To identify time periods that exhibited very busy conditions at a poison control center and to determine whether cases and communication during high volume call periods are different from cases during low volume periods. Call data from a US poison control center over twelve consecutive months was collected via a call logger and an electronic case database (Toxicall®).Variables evaluated for high call volume conditions were: (1) call duration; (2) number of cases; and (3) number of calls per staff member per 30 minute period. Statistical analyses identified peak periods as busier than 99% of all other 30 minute time periods and low volume periods as slower than 70% of all other 30 minute periods. Case and communication characteristics of high volume and low volume calls were compared using logistic regression. A total of 65,364 incoming calls occurred over 12 months. One hundred high call volume and 4885 low call volume 30 minute periods were identified. High volume periods were more common between 1500 and 2300 hours and during the winter months. Coded verbal communication data were evaluated for 42 high volume and 296 low volume calls. The mean (standard deviation) call length of these calls during high volume and low volume periods was 3 minutes 27 seconds (1 minute 46 seconds) and 3 minutes 57 seconds (2 minutes 11 seconds), respectively. Regression analyses revealed a trend for fewer overall verbal statements and fewer staff questions during peak periods, but no other significant differences for staff-caller communication behaviors were found. Peak activity for poison center call volume can be identified by statistical modeling. Calls during high volume periods were similar to low volume calls. Communication was more concise yet staff was able to maintain a good rapport with callers during busy call periods

  6. Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, J E; Tobacyk, J J

    1990-02-01

    The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

  7. Integrating heterogeneous healthcare call centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peschel, K M; Reed, W C; Salter, K

    1998-01-01

    In a relatively short period, OHS has absorbed multiple call centers supporting different LOBs from various acquisitions, functioning with diverse standards, processes, and technologies. However, customer and employee satisfaction is predicated on OHS's ability to thoroughly integrate these heterogeneous call centers. The integration was initiated and has successfully progressed through a balanced program of focused leadership and a defined strategy which includes site consolidation, sound performance management philosophies, and enabling technology. Benefits have already been achieved with even more substantive ones to occur as the integration continues to evolve.

  8. Smart Grid Technology and Consumer Call Center Readiness

    OpenAIRE

    Schamber, Kelsey L.

    2010-01-01

    The following reasearch project deals with utility call center readiness to address customer concerns and questions about the Smart Grid and smart meter technology. Since consumer engagement is important for the benefits of the Smart Grid to be realized, the readiness and ability of utilities to answer consumer questions is an important issue. Assessing the readiness of utility call centers to address pertinant customer concerns was accomplished by calling utility call centers with Smart Grid...

  9. Performance indicators for call centers with impatience

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jouini, O.; Koole, G.M.; Roubos, A.

    2013-01-01

    An important feature of call center modeling is the presence of impatient customers. This article considers single-skill call centers including customer abandonments. A number of different service-level definitions are structured, including all those used in practice, and the explicit computation of

  10. Dynamic call center routing policies using call waiting and agent idle times

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chan, W.; Koole, G.M.; L'Ecuyer, P.

    2014-01-01

    We study call routing policies for call centers with multiple call types and multiple agent groups. We introduce new weight-based routing policies where each pair (call type, agent group) is given a matching priority defined as an affine combination of the longest waiting time for that call type and

  11. Always Be Closing: Experiencing and theorizing time and wage in a UK call center

    OpenAIRE

    Pitts, Frederick

    2015-01-01

    This article reports the author's experience of working in telesales. Through a call center, the case study company sells home improvements. The article describes the everyday organizational life of the telesales unit. Using this autoethnographic experience, the article analyses the organization of work-timein call centers. In particular, the article probes how commission constitutes a form of piece-wage. This piece-wage assists the manipulation of working hours. It does so by masking their e...

  12. TPMG Northern California appointments and advice call center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conolly, Patricia; Levine, Leslie; Amaral, Debra J; Fireman, Bruce H; Driscoll, Tom

    2005-08-01

    Kaiser Permanente (KP) has been developing its use of call centers as a way to provide an expansive set of healthcare services to KP members efficiently and cost effectively. Since 1995, when The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) began to consolidate primary care phone services into three physical call centers, the TPMG Appointments and Advice Call Center (AACC) has become the "front office" for primary care services across approximately 89% of Northern California. The AACC provides primary care phone service for approximately 3 million Kaiser Foundation Health Plan members in Northern California and responds to approximately 1 million calls per month across the three AACC sites. A database records each caller's identity as well as the day, time, and duration of each call; reason for calling; services provided to callers as a result of calls; and clinical outcomes of calls. We here summarize this information for the period 2000 through 2003.

  13. Calls to Florida Poison Control Centers about mercury: Trends over 2003-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gribble, Matthew O; Deshpande, Aniruddha; Stephan, Wendy B; Hunter, Candis M; Weisman, Richard S

    2017-11-01

    The aim of this analysis was to contrast trends in exposure-report calls and informational queries (a measure of public interest) about mercury to the Florida Poison Control Centers over 2003-2013. Poison-control specialists coded calls to Florida Poison Control Centers by substance of concern, caller demographics, and whether the call pertained to an exposure event or was an informational query. For the present study, call records regarding mercury were de-identified and provided along with daily total number of calls for statistical analysis. We fit Poisson models using generalized estimating equations to summarize changes across years in counts of daily calls to Florida Poison Control Centers, adjusting for month. In a second stage of analysis, we further adjusted for the total number of calls each day. We also conducted analyses stratified by age of the exposed. There was an overall decrease over 2003-2013 in the number of total calls about mercury [Ratio per year: 0.89, 95% CI: (0.88, 0.90)], and calls about mercury exposure [Ratio per year: 0.84, 95% CI: (0.83, 0.85)], but the number of informational queries about mercury increased over this time [Ratio per year: 1.15 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.18)]. After adjusting for the number of calls of that type each day (e.g., call volume), the associations remained similar: a ratio of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.87, 0.89) per year for total calls, 0.85 (0.83, 0.86) for exposure-related calls, and 1.17 (1.14, 1.21) for informational queries. Although, the number of exposure-related calls decreased, informational queries increased over 2003-2013. This might suggest an increased public interest in mercury health risks despite a decrease in reported exposures over this time period. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. [A relational database to store Poison Centers calls].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barelli, Alessandro; Biondi, Immacolata; Tafani, Chiara; Pellegrini, Aristide; Soave, Maurizio; Gaspari, Rita; Annetta, Maria Giuseppina

    2006-01-01

    Italian Poison Centers answer to approximately 100,000 calls per year. Potentially, this activity is a huge source of data for toxicovigilance and for syndromic surveillance. During the last decade, surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks have drawn the attention of public health institutions due to the threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks. Poisoning surveillance needs the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of harmonised data about poisonings from all Poison Centers for use in public health action to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve health. The entity-relationship model for a Poison Center relational database is extremely complex and not studied in detail. For this reason, not harmonised data collection happens among Italian Poison Centers. Entities are recognizable concepts, either concrete or abstract, such as patients and poisons, or events which have relevance to the database, such as calls. Connectivity and cardinality of relationships are complex as well. A one-to-many relationship exist between calls and patients: for one instance of entity calls, there are zero, one, or many instances of entity patients. At the same time, a one-to-many relationship exist between patients and poisons: for one instance of entity patients, there are zero, one, or many instances of entity poisons. This paper shows a relational model for a poison center database which allows the harmonised data collection of poison centers calls.

  15. [Work-family conflict in call center].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghislieri, Chiara; Ricotta, Simona; Colombo, Lara

    2012-01-01

    The working environment of call centers, which have seen a significant growth in recent years, has been the subject of several studies aiming at understanding its specific dynamics, with particular attention to the possible causes of stress and discomfort. Despite the fact that the work-family conflict is considered a source of stress responsible for undermining workers' well-being, and as such has been explored in many work environments, there is still very little research specific to call centers. This study had the following aims: to explore work-family conflict perceived by call-center operators taking account of any differences related to respondents'professional and personal characteristics; to understand which demands and resources can have an impact on work-family conflict in this context. The study was carried out on a sample of 898 call center operators in a telecommunications company through the administration of a self-reporting questionnaire. Data analysis included: t-test, one-way analysis of variance, linear correlations and multiple regressions. A higher perception of work-family conflict among workers having a full-time contract was observed compared to those having part-time contracts. Multiple regression analysis identified as sources of influence on work-family conflict: emotional dissonance, uneasiness due customer dissatisfaction, workload, avoidance coping and working hours. Work-family conflict in the context studied is not particularly critical: it is in part influenced by professional and personal characteristics of respondents and primarily caused by work demands. Managerial implications are discussed, especially referred to training activities.

  16. Trends in types of calls managed by U.S. poison centers 2000-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Bruce D; Seung, Hyunuk; Klein-Schwartz, Wendy

    2017-12-05

    The number of cases reported to poison centers has decreased since 2008 but there is evidence that the complexity of calls is increasing. The objectives are to evaluate national poison center data for trends in reason and how these changes effect management site, medical outcomes, and poison center workload. Data regarding reason, age, management site, and medical outcome were extracted from annual reports of the National Poison Data System from 2000 to 2015. The proportion of cases by year were determined for unintentional and intentional exposures. Analysis of data from a single poison center from 2005 to 2015 compared the number of interactions between poison center staff and callers for unintentional versus intentional reasons. Trend analyses found that from 2000 to 2015 the percent of unintentional cases decreased (from 85.9 to 78.4%, p Poison centers are managing more intentional exposures and fewer unintentional exposures. Intentional exposures require more poison center staff expertise and time. Looking only at poison center total call volume may not be an adequate method to gauge productivity.

  17. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... mobile satellite service to end-user customers (part 25, subparts A-D) must provide Emergency Call Center... Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or otherwise redirect the call to an appropriate public safety answering point. Providers of mobile satellite...

  18. Electoronic Performance Monitoring in Call Centers: An Ethical Decision Model

    OpenAIRE

    Perkins, David

    2013-01-01

    Ever since it emerged on a widespread basis in the 1990s, electronic performance monitoring of employees has received significant scrutiny in the literature. Call centers have been the focus of many of these studies. This particular study addresses the issue of electronic performance monitoring in call centers from an ethical perspective. The following ethical dilemma is offered: "Is it ethical for a call center manager to evaluate the performance of a call center employee using electronic pe...

  19. Leveraging Call Center Logs for Customer Behavior Prediction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parvathy, Anju G.; Vasudevan, Bintu G.; Kumar, Abhishek; Balakrishnan, Rajesh

    Most major businesses use business process outsourcing for performing a process or a part of a process including financial services like mortgage processing, loan origination, finance and accounting and transaction processing. Call centers are used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests through outbound and inbound calls to customers on behalf of a business. In this paper we deal specifically with the call centers notes from banks. Banks as financial institutions provide loans to non-financial businesses and individuals. Their call centers act as the nuclei of their client service operations and log the transactions between the customer and the bank. This crucial conversation or information can be exploited for predicting a customer’s behavior which will in turn help these businesses to decide on the next action to be taken. Thus the banks save considerable time and effort in tracking delinquent customers to ensure minimum subsequent defaulters. Majority of the time the call center notes are very concise and brief and often the notes are misspelled and use many domain specific acronyms. In this paper we introduce a novel domain specific spelling correction algorithm which corrects the misspelled words in the call center logs to meaningful ones. We also discuss a procedure that builds the behavioral history sequences for the customers by categorizing the logs into one of the predefined behavioral states. We then describe a pattern based predictive algorithm that uses temporal behavioral patterns mined from these sequences to predict the customer’s next behavioral state.

  20. Sleep Quality of Call Handlers Employed in International Call Centers in National Capital Region of Delhi, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raja, J D; Bhasin, S K

    2016-10-01

    Call center sector in India is a relatively new and fast growing industry driving employment and growth in modern India today. Most international call centers in National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi operate at odd work hours corresponding to a time suitable fortheir international customers. The sleep quality of call handlers employed in these call centers is in jeopardy owing to their altered sleep schedule. To assess the sleep quality and determine its independent predictors among call handlers employed in international call centers in NCR of Delhi. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted on 375 call handlers aged 18-39 years employed in international call centers in NCR of Delhi. Sleep quality was assessed using Athens Insomnia scale along with a pre-tested, structured questionnaire. The mean age of respondents was 24.6 (SD 2.4) years. 78% of participants were male. 83.5% of respondents were unmarried. 44.3% of call handlers were cigarette smokers. Physical ailments were reported by 37% call handlers. 77.6% of call handlers had somesuspicion of insomnia or suspected insomnia; the rest had no sleep problem. Smoking, poor social support, heavy workload, lack of relaxation facility at office, and prolonged travel time to office were independent predictors of sleep quality (pSafeguarding their health becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

  1. Call center performance with direct response advertising

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Kiygi Calli (Meltem); M. Weverbergh (Marcel); Ph.H.B.F. Franses (Philip Hans)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractThis study investigates the manpower planning and the performance of a national call center dealing with car repairs and on the road interventions. We model the impact of advertising on the capacity required. The starting point is a forecasting model for the incoming calls, where we take

  2. Call centers with a postponed callback offer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B. Legros (Benjamin); S. Ding (Sihan); R.D. van der Mei (Rob); O. Jouini (Oualid)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractWe study a call center model with a postponed callback option. A customer at the head of the queue whose elapsed waiting time achieves a given threshold receives a voice message mentioning the option to be called back later. This callback option differs from the traditional ones found in

  3. No Call for Action? Why There Is No Union (Yet in Philippine Call Centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niklas Reese

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This contribution presents findings from a qualitative study which focused on young urban professionals in the Philippines who work(ed in international call centers – workplaces usually characterized by job insecurity and other forms of precarity, factory-like working conditions, and disembeddedness. Nevertheless, trade unions in these centers have not come into existence. Why collective action is not chosen by call center agents as an option to tackle the above mentioned problems – this is what the research project this article is based on tried to understand. After outlining some workrelated problems identified by Filipino call center agents, the article will focus on the strategies the agents employ to counter these problems (mainly accommodation and everyday resistance. By highlighting five objective and five subjective reasons (or reasons by circumstances and reasons by framing, we conclude that it is not repressive regulation policies, but rather the formative power and the internalization of discourses of rule within individual life strategies that are preventing the establishment of unions and other collective action structures.

  4. Staffing to Maximize Profit for Call Centers with Impatient and Repeat-Calling Customers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Gong

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by call center practice, we study the optimal staffing of many-server queues with impatient and repeat-calling customers. A call center is modeled as an M/M/s+M queue, which is developed to a behavioral queuing model in which customers come and go based on their satisfaction with waiting time. We explicitly take into account customer repeat behavior, which implies that satisfied customers might return and have an impact on the arrival rate. Optimality is defined as the number of agents that maximize revenues net of staffing costs, and we account for the characteristic that revenues are a direct function of staffing. Finally, we use numerical experiments to make certain comparisons with traditional models that do not consider customer repeat behavior. Furthermore, we indicate how managers might allocate staffing optimally with various customer behavior mechanisms.

  5. Non-linguistic analysis of call center conversations

    CERN Document Server

    Kopparapu, Sunil Kumar

    2014-01-01

    The book focuses on the part of the audio conversation not related to language such as speaking rate (in terms of number of syllables per unit time) and emotion centric features. This text examines using non-linguistics features to infer information from phone calls to call centers. The author analyzes 'how' the conversation happens and not 'what' the conversation is about by audio signal processing and analysis.

  6. Information systems performance evaluation, introducing a two-level technique: Case study call centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hesham A. Baraka

    2015-03-01

    The objective of this paper was to introduce a new technique that can support decision makers in the call centers industry to evaluate, and analyze the performance of call centers. The technique presented is derived from the research done on measuring the success or failure of information systems. Two models are mainly adopted namely: the Delone and Mclean model first introduced in 1992 and the Design Reality Gap model introduced by Heeks in 2002. Two indices are defined to calculate the performance of the call center; the success index and the Gap Index. An evaluation tool has been developed to allow call centers managers to evaluate the performance of their call centers in a systematic analytical approach; the tool was applied on 4 call centers from different areas, simple applications such as food ordering, marketing, and sales, technical support systems, to more real time services such as the example of emergency control systems. Results showed the importance of using information systems models to evaluate complex systems as call centers. The models used allow identifying the dimensions for the call centers that are facing challenges, together with an identification of the individual indicators in these dimensions that are causing the poor performance of the call center.

  7. Online scheduling policies for multiclass call centers with impatient customers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jouini, O.; Pot, S.A.; Koole, G.M.; Dallery, Y.

    2010-01-01

    We consider a call center with two classes of impatient customers: premium and regular classes. Modeling our call center as a multiclass GI / GI / s + M queue, we focus on developing scheduling policies that satisfy a target ratio constraint on the abandonment probabilities of premium customers to

  8. Staffing a call center with uncertain non-stationary arrival rate and flexibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Liao, S.; van Delft, C.; Jouini, O.; Koole, G.M.

    2012-01-01

    We consider a multi-period staffing problem in a single-shift call center. The call center handles inbound calls, as well as some alternative back-office jobs. The call arrival process is assumed to follow a doubly non-stationary stochastic process with a random mean arrival rate. The inbound calls

  9. Using poison center exposure calls to predict methadone poisoning deaths.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nabarun Dasgupta

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: There are more drug overdose deaths in the Untied States than motor vehicle fatalities. Yet the US vital statistics reporting system is of limited value because the data are delayed by four years. Poison centers report data within an hour of the event, but previous studies suggested a small proportion of poisoning deaths are reported to poison centers (PC. In an era of improved electronic surveillance capabilities, exposure calls to PCs may be an alternate indicator of trends in overdose mortality. METHODS: We used PC call counts for methadone that were reported to the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS® System in 2006 and 2007. US death certificate data were used to identify deaths due to methadone. Linear regression was used to quantify the relationship of deaths and poison center calls. RESULTS: Compared to decedents, poison center callers tended to be younger, more often female, at home and less likely to require medical attention. A strong association was found with PC calls and methadone mortality (b=0.88, se=0.42, t=9.5, df=1, p<0.0001, R(2 =0.77. These findings were robust to large changes in a sensitivity analysis assessing the impact of underreporting of methadone overdose deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that calls to poison centers for methadone are correlated with poisoning mortality as identified on death certificates. Calls received by poison centers may be used for timely surveillance of mortality due to methadone. In the midst of the prescription opioid overdose epidemic, electronic surveillance tools that report in real-time are powerful public health tools.

  10. Optimal scheduling in call centers with a callback option

    OpenAIRE

    Legros , Benjamin; Jouini , Oualid; Koole , Ger

    2016-01-01

    International audience; We consider a call center model with a callback option, which allows to transform an inbound call into an outbound one. A delayed call, with a long anticipated waiting time, receives the option to be called back. We assume a probabilistic customer reaction to the callback offer (option). The objective of the system manager is to characterize the optimal call scheduling that minimizes the expected waiting and abandonment costs. For the single-server case, we prove that ...

  11. Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molino, Monica; Emanuel, Federica; Zito, Margherita; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara; Cortese, Claudio G

    2016-01-01

    Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. RESULTS also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. This study's findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support

  12. Distributed scheduling to support a call center: A cooperative multiagent approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brazier, F.M.T.; Jonker, C.M.; Jüngen, F.J.; Treur, J.

    1999-01-01

    This article describes a multiagent system architecture to increase the value of 24-hour-a day call center service. This system supports call centers in making appointments with clients on the basis ofknowledge ofemployees and their schedules. Relevant activities are scheduled for employees in

  13. Offshoring de serviços de call center: um estudo comparativo entre Brasil, Índia e África do Sul Offshoring de servicios de call center: un estudio comparativo entre Brasil, India y África del Sur Offshoring of call center services: a comparison of brazilian, indian and south african options

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Roberto Gião

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available O setor de call centers tem apresentado grande desenvolvimento em todo o mundo, impulsionado principalmente pelo avanço observado nas telecomunicações e na tecnologia da informação e pela necessidade de oferecer atendimento aos clientes, em muitos casos sob exigência de órgãos reguladores. Uma forte tendência internacional também tem sido observada no setor, referente ao offshoring (migração de serviços de países desenvolvidos para países emergentes. Este artigo discute o offshoring de serviços de call center e apresenta três objetivos. O primeiro é comparar, a partir de variáveis críticas, a indústria de call centers em três países emergentes: Índia, África do Sul e Brasil. O segundo é entender os motivos que levaram a Índia a ocupar papel de destaque mundial no offshoring de serviços de call center. O terceiro objetivo é entender o que distingue os call centers brasileiros dos indianos no que diz respeito às variáveis relevantes para o offshoring. Para isso, foram analisados dados primários de 235 empresas de call center coletados a partir da aplicação de um survey nos três países analisados. Esses dados são oriundos de uma pesquisa internacional intitulada The Global Call Center Industry Project (GCCIP, que está sendo realizada simultaneamente em vinte países de todos os continentes.El sector de call centers ha presentado gran desarrollo en todo el mundo, impulsado principalmente por el avance observado en las telecomunicaciones y tecnología de la información y por la necesidad de ofrecer atención a los clientes, en muchos casos bajo exigencia de órganos reguladores. Una fuerte tendencia internacional también ha sido observada en el sector, referente al offshoring de servicios de países desarrollados para países emergentes. Este artículo discute el offshoring de servicios de call center y presenta tres objetivos. El primero es comparar, a partir de variables críticas, la industria de call

  14. EMS call center models with and without function differentiation: a comparison

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Buuren, M.; Kommer, G.J.; van der Mei, R.D.; Bhulai, Sandjai

    2017-01-01

    In pre-hospital health care the call center plays an important role in the coordination of emergency medical services (EMS). An EMS call center handles inbound requests for EMS and dispatches an ambulance if necessary. The time needed for triage and dispatch is part of the total response time to the

  15. Staff Scheduling for Inbound Call and Customer Contact Centers

    OpenAIRE

    Fukunaga, Alex; Hamilton, Ed; Fama, Jason; Andre, David; Matan, Ofer; Nourbakhsh, Illah

    2002-01-01

    The staff scheduling problem is a critical problem in the call center (or, more generally, customer contact center) industry. This article describes DIRECTOR, a staff scheduling system for contact centers. DIRECTOR is a constraint-based system that uses AI search techniques to generate schedules that satisfy and optimize a wide range of constraints and service-quality metrics. DIRECTOR has successfully been deployed at more than 800 contact centers, with significant measurable benefits, some ...

  16. Optimization of Overflow Policies in Call Centers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koole, G.M.; Nielsen, B.F.; Nielsen, T.B.

    2015-01-01

    . A Markov decision chain is used to determine the optimal policy. This policy outperforms considerably the ones used most often in practice, which use a fixed threshold. The present method can be used also for other call-center models and other situations where performance is based on actual waiting times...

  17. Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands – Resources Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molino, Monica; Emanuel, Federica; Zito, Margherita; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara; Cortese, Claudio G.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify

  18. Prazer e sofrimento entre os trabalhadores de Call Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Scolari

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Os conceitos de Taylor foram fundamentais para o desenvolvimento industrial no século XX. Ainda hoje, seus ensinamentos estão presentes em diversos ramos da economia, inclusive, no setor de call center. Call center é uma estrutura que visa ao atendimento de clientes com a utilização de um terminal de computador e de um aparelho telefônico. Esse setor sofreu grande expansão e, em 2006, foi responsável pela geração de 60 mil empregos diretos, tornando-se uma forma de contato e negócios atrativa para empresas do ramo público e privado. O objetivo deste artigo foi analisar as vivências de prazer e sofrimento no trabalho entre os operadores de call centers. Foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, estratégia de estudo de caso e método de análise dos dados, análise de conteúdo. Como resultados, foram elaboradas algumas categorias finais, entre elas as mediações no trabalho, analisada no presente artigo sob o referencial teórico da psicodinâmica do trabalho.

  19. Role stress in call centers: Its effects on employee performance and satisfaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ruyter, de J.C.; Wetzels, M.G.M.; Feinberg, R.A.

    2001-01-01

    Call centers have become an important customer access channel as well as an important source of customer-related information. Frequently, call center employees experience role stress as a result of the conflicting demands of the company, supervisors, and customers. In this article, antecedents and

  20. Using Semantic Similarity In Automated Call Quality Evaluator For Call Centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ria A. Sagum

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Conversation between the agent and client are being evaluated manually by a quality assurance officer QA. This job is only one of the responsibilities being done by a QA and particularly eat ups a lot of time for them which lead to late evaluation results that may cause untimely response of the company to concerns raised by their clients. This research developed an application software that automates and evaluates the quality assurance in business process outsourcing companies or customer service management implementing sentence similarity. The developed system includes two modules speaker diarization which includes transcription and question and answer extraction and similarity checker which checks the similarity between the extracted answer and the answer of the call center agent to a question. The system was evaluated for Correctness of the extracted answers and accurateness of the evaluation for a particular call. Audio conversations were tested for the accuracy of the transcription module which has an accuracy of 27.96. The Precision Recall and F-measure of the extracted answer was tested as 78.03 96.26 and 86.19 respectively. The Accuracy of the system in evaluating a call is 70.

  1. Outsourcing your medical practice call center: how to choose a vendor to ensure regulatory compliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Bill

    2014-01-01

    Medical practices receive hundreds if not thousands of calls every week from patients, payers, pharmacies, and others. Outsourcing call centers can be a smart move to improve efficiency, lower costs, improve customer care, ensure proper payer management, and ensure regulatory compliance. This article discusses how to know when it's time to move to an outsourced call center, the benefits of making the move, how to choose the right call center, and how to make the transition. It also provides tips on how to manage the call center to ensure the objectives are being met.

  2. Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Deepak

    2012-01-01

    There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital's electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000), with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000) per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305) were from rural areas. Patients' overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to rural areas in an extremely cost-effective manner.

  3. Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deepak Agrawal

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital′s electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. Results: The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000, with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000 per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305 were from rural areas. Patients′ overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. Conclusions: As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to

  4. Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Deepak

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital's electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. Results: The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000), with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000) per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305) were from rural areas. Patients’ overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. Conclusions: As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to rural areas in an

  5. Challenges posed by alien culture diffusion for employees of call centers in Mumbai

    OpenAIRE

    Hegde, Sandeep

    2016-01-01

    Since the last decade, there has been a tremendous growth in the call center businesses in several metropolitan and urban cities in India. Mumbai city is no exception to this sudden boom. The call center businesses employ over 500,000 nascent employees in the age group of 18-28 yrs in Mumbai. The nature of outsourced work along with the odd working hours in this industry leads to high employee attrition in the call centers. Job satisfaction, high levels of stress, health issues, employee safe...

  6. Electronic Cigarette Exposure: Calls to Wisconsin Poison Control Centers, 2010–2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Debora; Tomasallo, Carrie D; Meiman, Jon G; Creswell, Paul D; Melstrom, Paul C; Gummin, David D; Patel, Disa J; Michaud, Nancy T; Sebero, Heather A; Anderson, Henry A

    2016-12-01

    E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine and flavorings by aerosol and have been marketed in the United States since 2007. Because e-cigarettes have increased in popularity, toxicity potential from device misuse and malfunction also has increased. National data indicate that during 2010–2014, exposure calls to US poison control centers increased only 0.3% for conventional cigarette exposures, whereas calls increased 41.7% for e-cigarette exposures. We characterized cigarette and e-cigarette exposure calls to the Wisconsin Poison Center January 1, 2010 through October 10, 2015. We compared cigarette and e-cigarette exposure calls by exposure year, demographic characteristics, caller site, exposure site, exposure route, exposure reason, medical outcome, management site, and level of care at a health care facility. During January 2010 to October 2015, a total of 98 e-cigarette exposure calls were reported, and annual exposure calls increased approximately 17-fold, from 2 to 35. During the same period, 671 single-exposure cigarette calls with stable annual call volumes were reported. E-cigarette exposure calls were associated with children aged ≤5 years (57/98, 58.2%) and adults aged ≥20 years (30/98, 30.6%). Cigarette exposure calls predominated among children aged ≤5 years (643/671, 95.8%). The frequency of e-cigarette exposure calls to the Wisconsin Poison Center has increased and is highest among children aged ≤5 years and adults. Strategies are warranted to prevent future poisonings from these devices, including nicotine warning labels and public advisories to keep e-cigarettes away from children.

  7. Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands – Resources Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica Molino

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support and job autonomy on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service and information service.Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the customer assistance service and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling.Results: Analyses showed that customer assistance service agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the customer assistance service group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort.Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities

  8. Emotional labor and dysmenorrhea in women working in sales and call centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, In-Jung; Kim, Hyunjoo; Lim, Sinye; Oh, Sung-Soo; Park, Sungjin; Kang, Hee-Tae

    2014-01-01

    This study was conducted to investigate the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea among women working in sales and call centers in Seoul, South Korea. Working women in sales jobs and call centers in Seoul were interviewed face-to-face by well-trained interviewers. In total, 975 participants were analyzed in the final model. Emotional labor was measured using a constructed questionnaire with two components: an emotive effort component with three questions and an emotive dissonance component with five questions. To examine the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, chi-squared tests and logistic regression were applied. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea among sales workers and call center workers were 43.0% and 61.1%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in call center workers were 1.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-3.28) and 1.72 (95% CI, 1.13-2.63), respectively. The adjusted OR of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in sales workers were 1.71 (95% CI, 0.92-3.16) and 1.15 (95% CI, 0.67-1.98), respectively. Emotional labor was found to be associated with dysmenorrhea in call center workers. Further studies to investigate other factors, such as management strategies and the relationship between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, are needed to support interventions to prevent dysmenorrhea that will further promote the quality of health and life of working women.

  9. Video calls from lay bystanders to dispatch centers - risk assessment of information security.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolle, Stein R; Hasvold, Per; Henriksen, Eva

    2011-09-30

    Video calls from mobile phones can improve communication during medical emergencies. Lay bystanders can be instructed and supervised by health professionals at Emergency Medical Communication Centers. Before implementation of video mobile calls in emergencies, issues of information security should be addressed. Information security was assessed for risk, based on the information security standard ISO/IEC 27005:2008. A multi-professional team used structured brainstorming to find threats to the information security aspects confidentiality, quality, integrity, and availability. Twenty security threats of different risk levels were identified and analyzed. Solutions were proposed to reduce the risk level. Given proper implementation, we found no risks to information security that would advocate against the use of video calls between lay bystanders and Emergency Medical Communication Centers. The identified threats should be used as input to formal requirements when planning and implementing video calls from mobile phones for these call centers.

  10. Stretching and joint mobilization exercises reduce call-center operators' musculoskeletal discomfort and fatigue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Helena de Castro Lacaze

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available AIM: We sought to evaluate musculoskeletal discomfort and mental and physical fatigue in the call-center workers of an airline company before and after a supervised exercise program compared with rest breaks during the work shift. INTRODUCTION: This was a longitudinal pilot study conducted in a flight-booking call-center for an airline in São Paulo, Brazil. Occupational health activities are recommended to decrease the negative effects of the call-center working conditions. In practice, exercise programs are commonly recommended for computer workers, but their effects have not been studied in call-center operators. METHODS: Sixty-four call-center operators participated in this study. Thirty-two subjects were placed into the experimental group and attended a 10-min daily exercise session for 2 months. Conversely, 32 participants were placed into the control group and took a 10-min daily rest break during the same period. Each subject was evaluated once a week by means of the Corlett-Bishop body map with a visual analog discomfort scale and the Chalder fatigue questionnaire. RESULTS: Musculoskeletal discomfort decreased in both groups, but the reduction was only statistically significant for the spine and buttocks (p=0.04 and the sum of the segments (p=0.01 in the experimental group. In addition, the experimental group showed significant differences in the level of mental fatigue, especially in questions related to memory Rienzo, #181ff and tiredness (p=0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results demonstrate that appropriately designed and supervised exercise programs may be more efficient than rest breaks in decreasing discomfort and fatigue levels in call-center operators.

  11. A note on profit maximization and monotonicity for inbound call centers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koole, G.M.; Pot, S.A.

    2011-01-01

    We consider an inbound call center with a fixed reward per call and communication and agent costs. By controlling the number of lines and the number of agents, we can maximize the profit. Abandonments are included in our performance model. Monotonicity results for the maximization problem are

  12. A Partial Swot Analysis of the Turkish Bank Call Centers: The Actual and the Assumed Weaknesses

    OpenAIRE

    ÖZKAN, Ahmet Hakan

    2014-01-01

    The bank call centers of Turkey are seen as a tool of perceiving the threats and evaluating opportunities in the SWOT analysis. By the way they are evaluated as a factor of strength. However, the weaknesses of the call centers which must be taken into account in a SWOT analysis, are so various that they cannot be ignored. The weaknesses of the call centers are elaborated with this research. The ways the call centers harm the corporations or the ways they might harm are revised.

  13. Analytical Call Center Model with Voice Response Unit and Wrap-Up Time

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Hampl

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The last twenty years of computer integration significantly changed the process of service in a call center service systems. Basic building modules of classical call centers – a switching system and a group of humans agents – was extended with other special modules such as skills-based routing module, automatic call distribution module, interactive voice response module and others to minimize the customer waiting time and wage costs. A calling customer of a modern call center is served in the first stage by the interactive voice response module without any human interaction. If the customer requirements are not satisfied in the first stage, the service continues to the second stage realized by the group of human agents. The service time of second stage – the average handle time – is divided into a conversation time and wrap-up time. During the conversation time, the agent answers customer questions and collects its requirements and during the wrap-up time (administrative time the agent completes the task without any customer interaction. The analytical model presented in this contribution is solved under the condition of statistical equilibrium and takes into account the interactive voice response module service time, the conversation time and the wrap-up time.

  14. Call center. Centrados en el cliente

    OpenAIRE

    Leal-Alonso-de-Castañeda, José Enrique

    2003-01-01

    La empresa actual ha de estar preparada para responder al Cliente tal y como éste espera, porque no se busca un cliente puntual, sino un cliente fiel. La globalización de la economía y del acceso a los mercados exige que la empresa sea capaz de atraer al cliente no sólo con un servicio de calidad, sino además con una atención de calidad. La implantación de un Call Center (Centro de Atención al Cliente, Centro de Atención de Llamadas) constituye por todo ello una estrategia de negocio qu...

  15. Sleep Quality of Call Handlers Employed in International Call Centers in National Capital Region of Delhi, India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JD Raja

    2016-10-01

    suspicion of insomnia or suspected insomnia; the rest had no sleep problem. Smoking, poor social support, heavy workload, lack of relaxation facility at office, and prolonged travel time to office were independent predictors of sleep quality (p<0.05. Conclusion: Call handlers have to compromise upon their sleep owing to the contemporary work settings in call centers. Safeguarding their health becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

  16. Vocal symptoms, voice activity, and participation profile and professional performance of call center operators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piwowarczyk, Tatiana Carvalho; Oliveira, Gisele; Lourenço, Luciana; Behlau, Mara

    2012-03-01

    To analyze the phonatory and laryngopharyngeal symptoms reported by call center operators; and quantify the impact of these symptoms on quality of life, and the association between these issues and professional performance, number of monthly calls, and number of missed workdays. Call center operators (n=157) from a billing call center completed the Vocal Signs and Symptoms Questionnaire and the Brazilian version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP). The company provided data regarding professional performance, average number of monthly calls, and number of missed workdays for each employee. The mean number of current symptoms (6.8) was greater in the operators than data for the general population (1.7). On average, 4.2 symptoms were attributed to occupational factors. The average number of symptoms did not correlate with professional performance (P=0.571). However, fewer symptoms correlated with decreased missed workdays and higher mean monthly call figures. The VAPP scores were relatively low, suggesting little impact of voice difficulties on call center operator's quality of life. However, subjects with elevated VAPP scores also had poorer professional performance. The presence of vocal symptoms does not necessarily relate to decreased professional performance. However, an association between higher vocal activity limitation and participation scores and poorer professional performance was observed. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Erlang C Formula and its Use in the Call Centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik Chromy

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with calculation of important parameters of the Call Center using the Erlang C formula and then results are verified through simulations. Erlang C formula is defined as a function of two variables: the number of agents N and the load A. On the base of their values it is possible to determine the probability PC, that the incoming call will not be served immediately, but it will have to wait in the waiting queue. Simulations satisfy the assumption of Markov models.

  18. Impact of new technologies on stress, attrition and well-being in emergency call centers: the NextGeneration 9-1-1 study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baseman, Janet; Revere, Debra; Painter, Ian; Stangenes, Scott; Lilly, Michelle; Beaton, Randal; Calhoun, Rebecca; Meischke, Hendrika

    2018-05-04

    Our public health emergency response system relies on the "first of the first responders"-the emergency call center workforce that handles the emergency needs of a public in distress. Call centers across the United States have been preparing for the "Next Generation 9-1-1" initiative, which will allow citizens to place 9-1-1 calls using a variety of digital technologies. The impacts of this initiative on a workforce that is already highly stressed is unknown. There is concern that these technology changes will increase stress, reduce job performance, contribute to maladaptive coping strategies, lower employee retention, or change morale in the workplace. Understanding these impacts to inform approaches for mitigating the health and performance risks associated with new technologies is crucial for ensuring the 911 system fulfills its mission of providing optimal emergency response to the public. Our project is an observational, prospective cohort study framed by the first new technology that will be implemented: text-to-911 calling. Emergency center call takers will be recruited nationwide. Data will be collected by online surveys distributed at each center before text-to-911 implementation; within the first month of implementation; and 6 months after implementation. Primary outcome measures are stress as measured by the Calgary Symptoms of Stress Index, use of sick leave, job performance, and job satisfaction. Primary analyses will use mixed effects regression models and mixed effects logistic regression models to estimate the change in outcome variables associated with text-to-911 implementation. Multiple secondary analyses will examine effects of stress on absenteeism; associations between technology attitudes and stress; effects of implementation on attitudes towards technology; and mitigating effects of job demands, job satisfaction, attitudes towards workplace technology and workplace support on change in stress. Our public health dependence on this workforce

  19. Online and call center referral for endocrine surgical pathology within institutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhillon, Vaninder K; Al Khadem, Mai G; Tufano, Ralph P; Russell, Jonathon O

    2017-10-08

    We hypothesized that self-referred patients to academic centers will be equally distributed between general surgery and otolaryngology departments that perform thyroid surgery. We sought to quantify disparities in the assignment of these self-referred patients who may reach an institution through call centers or online pathways. Cross-sectional survey. Key words "thyroid surgery" and "thyroid cancer" were used along with the name of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-listed otolaryngology program in both Google and Bing search engines. The top three search results for departments were reviewed, and a tally was given to general surgery (GS), otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OLHNS), or neither. A multidisciplinary center with both GS and OLHNS was recorded as "equitable." Telephone calls were tallied if they were directed to GS or OLHNS. Out of 400 program tallies, 117 (29.25%) patients were directed to GS and 50 (12.5%) were directed to OLHNS. An additional 181 (45.25%) were directed to neither group ("neither") (P call survey had 62 patients (62%) assigned to a general surgeon, as opposed to 38 (38%) for OLHNS (P < .05). Five institutions offered a multidisciplinary group when searching with Bing, and 11 were found by searching with Google. There is not an equal distribution of self-referred patients with thyroid surgical pathology. It may be important to increase the online presence of OLHNS surgeons who perform thyroid surgery at academic medical institutions. Multidisciplinary centers focused on thyroid and parathyroid surgical disease represents one model of assigning self-referred patients. NA Laryngoscope, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

  20. Creating a vision for your medical call center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, J L; Laufenberg, S; Sieckman, B L

    1998-01-01

    MCC technologies and applications that can have a positive impact on managed care delivery are almost limitless. As you determine your vision, be sure to have in mind the following questions: (1) Do you simply want an efficient front end for receiving calls? (2) Do you want to offer triage services? (3) Is your organization ready for a fully functional "electronic physician's office?" Understand your organization's strategy. Where are you going, not only today but five years from now? That information is essential to determine your vision. Once established, your vision will help determine what you need and whether you should build or outsource. Vendors will assist in cost/benefit analysis of their equipment, but do not lose sight of internal factors such as "prior inclination" costs in the case of a nurse triage program. The technology is available to take your vision to its outer reaches. With the projected increase in utilization of call center services, don't let your organization be left behind!

  1. Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margherita Zito

    Full Text Available Turnover intentions refer to employees' intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand, and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors' support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center.The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects.Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover.This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance.

  2. Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zito, Margherita; Emanuel, Federica; Molino, Monica; Cortese, Claudio Giovanni; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara

    2018-01-01

    Turnover intentions refer to employees' intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand), and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors' support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center. The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects. Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover. This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance.

  3. Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zito, Margherita; Molino, Monica; Cortese, Claudio Giovanni; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara

    2018-01-01

    Background Turnover intentions refer to employees’ intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand), and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors’ support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center. Method The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects. Results Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover. Conclusion This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance. PMID:29401507

  4. Computer Vision Syndrome among Call Center Employees at Telecommunication Company in Bandung

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghea Nursyifa

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: The occurrence of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS at the workplace has increased within decades due to theprolonged use of computers. Knowledge of CVS is necessary in order to develop an awareness of how to prevent and alleviate itsprevalence . The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of CVS among call center employees and to explore the most frequent CVS symptom experienced by the workers. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted during the period of September to November 2014 at Telecommunication Company in Bandung using a questionnaire consisting of 30 questions. Out of the 30 questions/statements, 15 statements were about knowledge of CVS and other 15 questions were about the occurrence of CVS and its symptoms. In this study 125 call center employees participated as respondents using consecutive sampling. The level of knowledge was divided into 3 categories: good (76–100%, fair (75–56% and poor (<56%. The collected data was presented in frequency tabulation. Results: There was 74.4% of the respondents had poor knowledge of CVS. The most symptom experienced by the respondents was asthenopia. Conclusions: The CVS occurs in call center employees with various symptoms and signs. This situation is not supported by good knowledge of the syndrome which can hamper prevention programs.

  5. Exposure Calls to U. S. Poison Centers Involving Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarettes-September 2010-December 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatham-Stephens, Kevin; Law, Royal; Taylor, Ethel; Kieszak, Stephanie; Melstrom, Paul; Bunnell, Rebecca; Wang, Baoguang; Day, Hannah; Apelberg, Benjamin; Cantrell, Lee; Foster, Howell; Schier, Joshua G

    2016-12-01

    E-cigarette use is increasing, and the long-term impact on public health is unclear. We described the acute adverse health effects from e-cigarette exposures reported to U.S. poison centers. We compared monthly counts and demographic, exposure, and health effects data of calls about e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes made to poison centers from September 2010 through December 2014. Monthly e-cigarette calls increased from 1 in September 2010, peaked at 401 in April 2014, and declined to 295 in December 2014. Monthly conventional cigarette calls during the same period ranged from 302 to 514. E-cigarette calls were more likely than conventional cigarette calls to report adverse health effects, including vomiting, eye irritation, and nausea. Five e-cigarette calls reported major health effects, such as respiratory failure, and there were two deaths associated with e-cigarette calls. E-cigarette calls to U.S. poison centers increased over the study period, and were more likely than conventional cigarettes to report adverse health effects. It is important for health care providers and the public to be aware of potential acute health effects from e-cigarettes. Developing strategies to monitor and prevent poisonings from these novel devices is critical.

  6. 78 FR 59426 - Board of Veterans Appeals, Veterans Information Office, Voice of the Veteran Call Center Survey...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-26

    ... Information Office, Voice of the Veteran Call Center Survey; Correction AGENCY: Board of Veterans Appeals... comment on the proposed collection. The department name should read ``Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA... ``Board of Veterans' Appeals, Veterans Information Office, Voice of the Veterans Call Center Survey''. We...

  7. Perceived job stress and health complaints at a bank call center: comparison between inbound and outbound services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yen-Hui; Chen, Chih-Yong; Hong, Wei-Hsien; Lin, Yu-Chao

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated how perceived job stress and health status differ, as well as the relationships to inbound (incoming calls) versus outbound (outgoing calls) calling activities, for call center workers in a bank in Taiwan. The sample bank employed 289 call center workers at the time of the survey, ranging in age from 19 to 54 yr old. Data were obtained on individual factors, health complaints, perceived level job stress, and major job stressors. Overall, 33.5% of outbound operators and 27.1% of inbound operators reported frequently or always experiencing high stress at work, however, the differences between inbound and outbound operators were insignificant. "Having to deal with difficult customers" was the most frequent job stressor for all workers. Musculoskeletal discomfort, eye strain, and hoarse or sore throat were the most prevalent complaints among call center workers. The relationship between perceived job stress and health complaints indicated that workers who perceived higher job stress had significantly increased risk of multiple health problems, including eye strain, tinnitus, hoarse or sore throat, chronic cough with phlegm, chest tightness, irritable stomach or peptic ulcers, and musculoskeletal discomfort (with odds ratios ranging from 2.13 to 8.24). These analytical results suggest that perceived job stress in the call center profoundly affected worker health. This study identified main types of job stressors requiring further investigation.

  8. A study on call/contact centers' inbound and outbound management process in Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Felipe Llanos Reynoso

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available One challenge related to contact center management involves determining which process best serves customers, inbound or outbound. Such decisions impact the number of service agents available for operations, affecting costs. The size of the call centers market worldwide is estimated to reach $337 billion dollars by 2018. This industry employs 670,000 people in Mexico. A series of equations for calculating the difference in the number of service agents required by the two processes is determined using the direct demo method. Developed theorems and corollary may help simplify decision-making processes. The findings demonstrate that the number of agents required for both processes depends on the percentage of customers served at each location and on service agent occupation rates. The study recommends some best practices to the Mexican call center industry in order to improve its profits and quality within the inbound outbound services.

  9. [Work stress, common mental disorders and Work Ability Index among call center workers of an Italian company].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conway, Paul Maurice; Campanini, Paolo; Punzi, Silvia; Fichera, Giuseppe Paolo; Camerino, Donatella; Francioli, Laura; Neri, Luca; Costa, Giovanni

    2013-01-01

    To test three hypotheses in an Italian sample of call center workers: higher levels of perceived work stress are associated with more frequent common mental disorders (GHQ-12) and a lower Work Ability Index; combining the Job Strain (JS) and Effort/Reward Imbalance (ERI) models increases explained variance in health over and above either model when applied separately; compared with outbound operators, inbound call handlers are expected to report a lower health status,which is due to a more intense exposure to task-related work stress factors in the latter. A multi-center cross-sectional study, conducted by means of interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Call handlers working in the Italian branch of a telecommunication multinational company. In all, 1,106 permanent workers were examined (35.9%of the total target population, 98.9% response rate). The majority were women (76.5%);mean age was 33.3 (SD: 3.9) and company seniority 8.0 (SD: 2.1). Nearly 60% worked as inbound call handlers, about one third as outbound operators. Work stress was measured with the well-known JS and ERI models. Three exposure levels (based on tertiles) were identified for each scale. Common mental disorders were measured with the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Subjects with a GHQ-12 score 4 were classified as "cases". The Work Ability Index (WAI) was used to evaluate work ability. Being in the "poor" or "moderate" categories of the WAI indicated a low work ability status. Cronbach's alphas were 0.70 for all scales. Multivariate Poisson regressions showed that both models were linked to more frequent common mental disorders and a lower WAI. Moreover, combined models demonstrated an advantage in terms of explained variance in health. Finally, performing inbound call handling was associated with a lower WAI in comparison with engaging in outbound activities. Mediation analyses showed that such association is explained by the higher levels of psychological job demands and Job Strain experienced

  10. Paradoxos do capitalismo e trabalho em call centers: Brasil, Portugal e Cabo Verde

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinara L. Rosenfield

    Full Text Available O objetivo deste artigo é compreender o contexto do trabalho na chamada sociedade da informação e as diferentes formas de trabalho que nela se desenvolvem, em especial o teletrabalho em call centers. Diante de um novo paradigma tecnológico, característico da era da informação, trata-se de analisar as diferentes configurações do trabalho. O trabalho em call centers parece condensar as ambigüidades de um trabalho informacional com alto controle, o que o colocaria entre as esperanças do pós-taylorismo e os temores do neo-taylorismo. A Teoria Crítica de Axel Honneth permite-nos pensar a experiência do trabalho no seio daquilo que o autor intitula "paradoxos do capitalismo". O significado do trabalho, em sua dimensão social, ganha força ao ser demonstrado que o "novo capitalismo" logra produzir progresso moral, baseado nos legados do Estado Social e do modelo taylorista e fordista de trabalho, e, simultaneamente, produz o seu contrário, ao erodir o alcance emancipador dessas normas e valores. Este estudo analisa o trabalho em call centers em três países de língua portuguesa: Brasil, Portugal e Cabo Verde.

  11. Relating calls to US poison centers for potential exposures to medications to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting of influenza-like illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beauchamp, Gillian A; McKeown, Nathanael J; Rodriguez, Sergio; Spyker, Daniel A

    2016-03-01

    The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) monitors influenza like illness (ILI) and the National Poison Data System (NPDS) warehouses call data uploaded by US poison centers regarding reported exposures to medication. We examined the relationship between calls to poison centers regarding reported exposures to medications commonly used to treat ILI and weekly reports of ILI. The CDC reports ILI, by age group, for each of 10 Health and Human Services (HHS) regions. We examined NPDS summary data from calls reported to poison centers regarding reported exposures to acetaminophen, cough/cold medications, and promethazine, for the same weeks, age groups, and HHS regions for influenza seasons 2000-2013. ILI and NPDS exposures were examined using graphical plots, descriptive statistics, stepwise regression analysis, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). About 5,101,841 influenza-like illness cases were reported to the CDC, and 2,122,940 calls regarding reported exposures to medications commonly used to treat ILI, were reported by poison centers to the NPDS over the 13 flu seasons. Analysis of stepwise models of the linear untransformed data involving 24 NPDS data groups and for 60 ILI measures, over the 13 influenza seasons, demonstrated that reported exposures to medications used to treat ILI correlated with reported cases of ILI with a median R(2 )=( )0.489 (min R(2 )=( )0.248, max R(2 )=( )0.717), with mean ± SD of R(2 )=( )0.494 ± 0.121. Median number of parameters used (degrees of freedom - 1) was 7. NPDS data regarding poison center calls for selected ILI medication exposures were highly correlated with CDC ILI data. Since NPDS data are available in real time, it provides complimentary ILI monitoring. This approach may provide public health value in predicting other illnesses which are not currently as thoroughly monitored.

  12. Using Pill Identification Calls to Poison Centers as a Marker of Drug Abuse at Three Texas Military Bases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Patrick C; Maddry, Joseph K; Sessions, Daniel; Borys, Douglas J; Bebarta, Vikhyat S

    2017-11-01

    Opioid abuse is a growing problem in civilian communities, and it has developed in the military as well. Telephone calls to poison centers requesting pill identification (ID) is a marker of drug abuse. This study identifies the number of pill ID calls made to the poison centers from areas containing and surrounding three Texas military bases during an 8-year period. We performed a retrospective observational study identifying calls to certified poison centers in Texas from 2002 to 2009 that identified hydrocodone tablets and other pain medications. We noted the calls made from ZIP codes containing and surrounding the three largest military bases in Texas. We reviewed 75,537 drug ID calls for any drug from the ZIP codes of interest. Total drug ID calls increased 105% and the number of calls for hydrocodone increased 463%. In our study most of the drug ID calls from military communities in Texas were for hydrocodone. The rate of calls for hydrocodone increased more than the rate of calls for other analgesics from 2002 to 2009. Using drug ID calls as a surrogate of drug abuse, our results suggest that hydrocodone abuse has increased within military communities and that poison center data can be a reliable surrogate for prescription drug abuse near military bases. Future studies are needed to further understand the extent of this problem in military and civilian communities. We can use this information to heighten awareness, influence prescription practices, establish practice guidelines, and develop educational programs to mitigate the increasing rate of prescription analgesic abuse in the United States.

  13. Queueing System with Heterogeneous Customers as a Model of a Call Center with a Call-Back for Lost Customers

    OpenAIRE

    Dudin, Sergey; Kim, Chesoong; Dudina, Olga; Baek, Janghyun

    2013-01-01

    A multiserver queueing system with infinite and finite buffers, two types of customers, and two types of servers as a model of a call center with a call-back for lost customers is investigated. Type 1 customers arrive to the system according to a Markovian arrival process. All rejected type 1 customers become type 2 customers. Type r, r=1,2, servers serve type r customers if there are any in the system and serve type r′, r′=1,2,  r′≠r, customers if there are no type r customers in the system....

  14. Threats to the Sustainability of the Outsourced Call Center Industry in the Philippines: Implications for Language Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friginal, Eric

    2009-01-01

    This study overviews current threats to the sustainability of the outsourced call center industry in the Philippines and discusses implications for macro and micro language policies given the use of English in this cross-cultural interactional context. This study also summarizes the present state of outsourced call centers in the Philippines, and…

  15. Comprometimento organizacional de trabalhadores de call center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kely César Martins Paiva

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available RESUMOO Neste artigo, analisa-se como se apresenta o comprometimento organizacional de trabalhadores de um call center, localizado em Belo (A Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brasil. Após o delineamento conceitual UJ do tema central, são expostos os resultados de um estudo de caso descritivo, realizado com abordagens quantitativa e qualitativa. Os dados de 399 questionários e 22 entrevistas são, respectivamente, tratados estatisticamente e submetidos à análise de conteúdo. A base de comprometimento que predominou entre esses infoproletários foi "obrigação pelo desempenho" e, em menor grau, "afetiva". Foi observado que quanto maior é o seu tempo de experiência nesse tipo de organização, menores são os níveis de comprometimento de modo geral, fatos esclarecidos, parcialmente, por meio das entrevistas.

  16. Technical center for transportation analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foley, J.T.

    1978-01-01

    A description is presented of an information search/retrieval/research activity of Sandia Laboratories which provides technical environmental information which may be used in transportation risk analyses, environmental impact statements, development of design and test criteria for packaging of energy materials, and transportation mode research studies. General activities described are: (1) history of center development; (2) environmental information storage/retrieval system; (3) information searches; (4) data needs identification; and (5) field data acquisition system and applications

  17. Prevendo a demanda de ligações em um call center por meio de um modelo de Regressão Múltipla Forecasting a call center demand using a Multiple Regression model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Aurélio Carino Bouzada

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho descreve - por meio do estudo de um caso - o problema da previsão de demanda de chamadas para um determinado produto no call center de uma grande empresa brasileira do setor - a Contax - e como ele foi abordado com o uso de Regressão Múltipla com variáveis dummy. Depois de destacar e justificar a importância do tema, o estudo apresenta uma breve revisão de literatura acerca de métodos de previsão de demanda e de sua aplicação em call centers. O caso é descrito, contextualizando, inicialmente, a empresa estudada e descrevendo, a seguir, a forma como ela lida com o problema de previsão de demanda de chamadas para o produto 103 - serviços relacionados à telefonia fixa. Um modelo de Regressão Múltipla com variáveis dummy é, então, desenvolvido para servir como base do processo de previsão de demanda proposto. Este modelo utiliza informações disponíveis capazes de influenciar a demanda, tais como o dia da semana, a ocorrência ou não de feriado e a proximidade da data com eventos críticos, como a chegada da conta à residência do cliente e seu vencimento; e apresentou ganhos de acurácia da ordem de 3 pontos percentuais para o período estudado, quando comparado com a ferramenta anteriormente em uso.This work describes - with the aid of a case study -a demand forecast problem for a specific product reported to the call center of a large Brazilian company in an industry called Contax, and the way it was approached with the use of Multiple Regression using dummy variables. After highlighting and justifying the studied matter relevance, the article presents a small literature review regarding demand forecast methods and their use in the call center industry. The case is described presenting the studied company and the way it deals with the Forecasting Demand for a telephone all center regarding telephone services products. Therefore, a Multiple Regression with dummy variables model was developed to work as the

  18. Calls to Poison Centers for hookah smoking exposures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retzky, Sandra S; Spiller, Henry A; Callahan-Lyon, Priscilla

    2018-06-01

    Over the past decade, smoking behaviors have changed in the US. Hookah or waterpipe smoking is increasing, especially among youth and young adults. Social media sites describe the "hookah high" or "buzz", which may be related to nicotine, carbon monoxide, or other inhalants in hookah smoke. Most important is the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Case reports include a high number of victims presenting with loss of consciousness from either syncope or seizures. Anaphylaxis and a very rare respiratory hypersensitivity reaction, acute eosinophilic pneumonia, have also been reported from hookah smoking in previously healthy young adults. This article provides background information on hookah smoking, describes hookah-induced acute injuries that could precipitate poison center calls, and offers suggestions for exposure characterization.

  19. Gestão do conhecimento de reclamações de clientes em call centers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvio Popadiuk

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Com o objetivo de atender às solicitações de clientes, os call centers são vistos comoferramentas tecnológicas, ampliando seu escopo em relação à interação comeles. Dentre o conjunto de solicitações demandadas pelos clientes, inserem-se oscadastramentos, as sugestões e as críticas. Neste estudo, comparou-se a visão dasgerências com a dos atendentes sobre gestão do conhecimento, com o propósito deidentificar se ela é permeada pela equipe ou apenas uma intenção das gerências.Para delimitar o objeto de avaliação, foi escolhida a atividade relativa à solução dereclamações feitas aos call centers. Para isso, aplicou-se em cinco empresas umquestionário baseado no modelo de avaliação proposto por Bukowitz e Williams(2002. Os resultados revelaram a presença de desconexão entre a visão da gerênciae a do atendente sobre a gestão do conhecimento quanto ao processo de soluçãode reclamações dos clientes que acessam os call centers.

  20. Fluid approximation analysis of a call center model with time-varying arrivals and after-call work

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yosuke Kawai

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Important features to be included in queueing-theoretic models of the call center operation are multiple servers, impatient customers, time-varying arrival process, and operator’s after-call work (ACW. We propose a fluid approximation technique for the queueing model with these features by extending the analysis of a similar model without ACW recently developed by Liu and Whitt (2012. Our model assumes that the service for each quantum of fluid consists of a sequence of two stages, the first stage for the conversation with a customer and the second stage for the ACW. When the duration of each stage has exponential, hyperexponential or hypo-exponential distribution, we derive the time-dependent behavior of the content of fluid in each stage of service as well as that in the waiting room. Numerical examples are shown to illustrate the system performance for the cases in which the input rate and/or the number of servers vary in sinusoidal fashion as well as in adaptive ways and in stationary cases.

  1. Effects of People-oriented Leadership and Subordinate Employability on Call Center Withdrawal Behaviors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Federico R. León

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Call-center employees are prone to lateness, absenteeism, and turnover because their jobs are low-wage, low-skill, and provoke high levels of stress. Thus, considerate supervisors achieve from them better performance and reduced turnover. This study tested in a Peruvian call center (N = 255 various hypotheses concerned with the effects of people-oriented leadership on withdrawal behaviors, their moderation by subordinate perceived employability, and the nature of the relationships between withdrawal behaviors. The evidence revealed independence of uncertified absenteeism from turnover intention, negative effects of people-oriented leadership on subordinate turnover intention regardless of subordinate level of employability, and leadership x employability crossover interactive effects on subordinate uncertified absenteeism. Since people-oriented supervision is associated with increased absenteeism among highly employable subordinates and decreased absenteeism among low-employability workers, the effects cancel each other. Thus, there is a need for understanding the underlying determinants as a pre-condition to deriving practical recommendations.

  2. The effect of resident physician stress, burnout, and empathy on patient-centered communication during the long-call shift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passalacqua, Stacey A; Segrin, Chris

    2012-01-01

    During the long-call shift medical residents experience a number of stressors that could compromise the quality of care they provide to their patients. The aim of this study was to investigate how perceived stress and burnout affect changes in empathy over the long-call shift and how those changes in empathy are associated with patient-centered communication practices. Residents (n=93) completed self-report measures of stress, burnout, and empathy at the start of their long-call shift and then completed measures of empathy and patient-centered communication at the end of the same shift. There was a significant decline in physician empathy from the beginning to the end of the long-call shift. Perceived stress was significantly associated with higher burnout, which was, in turn, significantly associated with declines in empathy from pre- to posttest. Declines in empathy predicted lower self-reported patient-centered communication during the latter half of the shift. This study suggests that residents who perceive high levels of stress are at risk for burnout and deterioration in empathy toward their patients, both of which may compromise the quality of their interactions with patients.

  3. Psychophysiological effects of emotional display rules and the moderating role of trait anger in a simulated call center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohrmann, Sonja; Bechtoldt, Myriam N; Hopp, Henrik; Hodapp, Volker; Zapf, Dieter

    2011-07-01

    In customer interactions, emotional display rules typically prescribe service providers to suppress negative emotions and display positive ones. This study investigated the causal impact of these emotional display rules on physiological indicators of workers' stress and performance. Additionally, the moderating influence of personality was examined by analyzing the impact of trait anger. In a simulated call center, 82 females were confronted with a complaining customer and instructed to react either authentically and show their true emotions or to "serve with a smile" and hide negative emotions. Increases in diastolic blood pressure and heart rates were higher in the smile condition, while verbal fluency was lower. Trait anger moderated the effects on diastolic blood pressure and observer ratings' of participants' professional competence, suggesting more negative effects for high trait anger individuals. Findings imply that emotional display rules may increase call center employees' strain and that considering employees' personality may be crucial for precluding health and performance impairments among call center workers.

  4. STRESSFUL SITUATIONS IN THE WORK OF A MULTIPROFILE PEDIATRIC MEDICAL FACILITY'S CALL CENTER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. M. Spivak

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Stressful situations in the work of a pediatric medical facility's call center are associated with patients' violation of social communication norms and aggressive behavior, as well as the operator's professional/maternal conflict. The following psychological resources facilitate better stress resistance of operators: self-confidence, mature and rational attitude, personal activity, inner satisfaction, optimism, emotional breadth and emotional colleague support. 

  5. Sistema de gestión de continuidad de negocio de Call Center

    OpenAIRE

    Ortega Moreno, Ángel

    2016-01-01

    Sistema de gestió de continuitat de negoci per call centers basat en la Iso 22301 Business continuity is part of the unavailability risk management of critical business processes for an organization. It provides coverage for all assets that support the above business processes, that means, all those assets without which it would be impossible to carry out the tasks and phases through which pass the business processes within the defined scope. Within the management of busi...

  6. Stressful Demands or Helpful Guidance? The Role of Display Rules in Indian Call Centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Little, Laura M.; Nelson, Debra L.; Quade, Matthew J.; Ward, Andrew

    2011-01-01

    This paper utilizes conservation of resources (COR) theory and two of Hofstede's (1980) dimensions of culture (individualism and power distance) to examine the impact of display rules on job satisfaction and performance in an Indian call center sample. Contrary to findings in an American sample (Wilk & Moynihan, 2005), we proposed that due to…

  7. OPERATION OF THE CALL CENTER AT A HIGH-TECHNOLOGY PEDIATRIC MEDICAL INSTITUTION (WITH COMMENTARY BY A.A. MODESTOV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. N. Chernomurov

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction of modern information systems is one of the important objectives of medicine, as it contributes to higher availability of medical services for the population. Public relations of medical organizations involve websites of these organizations, outdoor advertising and other information sources. However, obtainment of competent inquiry answers by telephone remains a problem. People often choose between organizations depending on quality of the obtained information. Apparently, the issue can be resolved by establishing call centers that are not merely communications centers, but are staffed with competent trained personnel, who support the organization’s interaction with patients (or the legal representatives thereof. The article presents the authors’ experience of establishing a call center dedicated to the organization’s public image development, as well as higher demand of the available services and promotion thereof. The fulfilled modernization resulted in a sharp increase in the amount of calls received (1,500‑1,600 within the working hours; 900 – before modernization and reduction in the number of complaints of busy line. 

  8. Evaluation of a National Call Center and a Local Alerts System for Detection of New Cases of Ebola Virus Disease - Guinea, 2014-2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-11

    call centers were established in response to the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia , and Sierra Leone, the sensitivity of those call centers for...Control and Prevention Evaluation of a National Call Center and a Local Alerts System for Detection of New Cases of Ebola Virus Disease — Guinea, 2014...2015 Christopher T. Lee, MD1,2,3; Marc Bulterys, MD, PhD2,4,5; Lise D. Martel, PhD2,6; Benjamin A. Dahl PhD2,5 The epidemic of Ebola virus disease ( Ebola

  9. Ayahuasca Exposure: Descriptive Analysis of Calls to US Poison Control Centers from 2005 to 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heise, C William; Brooks, Daniel E

    2017-09-01

    Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant preparation which usually contains the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the shrub Psychotria viridis. This tea originates from the Amazon Basin where it is used in religious ceremonies. Because interest in these religious groups spreading as well as awareness of use of ayahuasca for therapeutic and recreational purposes, its use is increasing. Banisteriopsis caapi is rich in β-carbolines, especially harmine, tetrahydroharmine and harmaline, which have monoamine oxidase inhibiting (MAOI) activity. Psychotria viridis contains the 5HT2A/2C/1A receptor agonist hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Usual desired effects include hallucination, dissociation, mood alteration and perception change. Undesired findings previously reported are nausea, vomiting, hypertension, and tachycardia. All human exposure calls reported to the American Association of Poison Controls Centers' (AAPCC) National Poison Data System (NPDS) between September 1, 2005 and September 1, 2015 were reviewed. Cases were filtered for specific plant derived ayahuasca-related product codes. Abstracted data included the following: case age and gender, exposure reason, exposure route, clinical manifestations, treatments given, medical outcomes and fatality. Five hundred and thirty-eight exposures to ayahuasca botanical products were reported. The majority of the calls to poison control centers came from healthcare facilities (83%). The most common route of exposure was ingestion. Most cases were men (437, 81%, 95% CI 77.7% - 84.3%). The median age was 21 (IQR 18-29). Most exposures were acute. Three hundred thirty-seven (63%) were reported to have a major or moderate clinical effect. The most common clinical manifestations reported were hallucinations (35%), tachycardia (34%), agitation (34%), hypertension (16%), mydriasis (13%) and vomiting (6%). Benzodiazepines were commonly given (30%). There were 28 cases in the series who required endotracheal intubation (5

  10. Risk factors for computer visual syndrome (CVS) among operators of two call centers in São Paulo, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sa, Eduardo Costa; Ferreira Junior, Mario; Rocha, Lys Esther

    2012-01-01

    The aims of this study were to investigate work conditions, to estimate the prevalence and to describe risk factors associated with Computer Vision Syndrome among two call centers' operators in São Paulo (n = 476). The methods include a quantitative cross-sectional observational study and an ergonomic work analysis, using work observation, interviews and questionnaires. The case definition was the presence of one or more specific ocular symptoms answered as always, often or sometimes. The multiple logistic regression model, were created using the stepwise forward likelihood method and remained the variables with levels below 5% (p vision (43.5%). The prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome was 54.6%. Associations verified were: being female (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.6 to 4.1), lack of recognition at work (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.8), organization of work in call center (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7) and high demand at work (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.3). The organization and psychosocial factors at work should be included in prevention programs of visual syndrome among call centers' operators.

  11. Evaluation of a National Call Center and a Local Alerts System for Detection of New Cases of Ebola Virus Disease - Guinea, 2014-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Christopher T; Bulterys, Marc; Martel, Lise D; Dahl, Benjamin A

    2016-03-11

    The epidemic of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) in West Africa began in Guinea in late 2013 (1), and on August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (2). Guinea was declared Ebola-free on December 29, 2015, and is under a 90 day period of enhanced surveillance, following 3,351 confirmed and 453 probable cases of Ebola and 2,536 deaths (3). Passive surveillance for Ebola in Guinea has been conducted principally through the use of a telephone alert system. Community members and health facilities report deaths and suspected Ebola cases to local alert numbers operated by prefecture health departments or to a national toll-free call center. The national call center additionally functions as a source of public health information by responding to questions from the public about Ebola. To evaluate the sensitivity of the two systems and compare the sensitivity of the national call center with the local alerts system, the CDC country team performed probabilistic record linkage of the combined prefecture alerts database, as well as the national call center database, with the national viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) database; the VHF database contains records of all known confirmed Ebola cases. Among 17,309 alert calls analyzed from the national call center, 71 were linked to 1,838 confirmed Ebola cases in the VHF database, yielding a sensitivity of 3.9%. The sensitivity of the national call center was highest in the capital city of Conakry (11.4%) and lower in other prefectures. In comparison, the local alerts system had a sensitivity of 51.1%. Local public health infrastructure plays an important role in surveillance in an epidemic setting.

  12. Assessing call centers’ success:

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hesham A. Baraka

    2013-07-01

    This paper introduces a model to evaluate the performance of call centers based on the Delone and McLean Information Systems success model. A number of indicators are identified to track the call center’s performance. Mapping of the proposed indicators to the six dimensions of the D&M model is presented. A Weighted Call Center Performance Index is proposed to assess the call center performance; the index is used to analyze the effect of the identified indicators. Policy-Weighted approach was used to assume the weights with an analysis of different weights for each dimension. The analysis of the different weights cases gave priority to the User satisfaction and net Benefits dimension as the two outcomes from the system. For the input dimensions, higher priority was given to the system quality and the service quality dimension. Call centers decision makers can use the tool to tune the different weights in order to reach the objectives set by the organization. Multiple linear regression analysis was used in order to provide a linear formula for the User Satisfaction dimension and the Net Benefits dimension in order to be able to forecast the values for these two dimensions as function of the other dimensions

  13. [Emotional well-being and discomfort at work in call center].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emanuel, Federica; Colombo, Lara; Ghislieri, Chiara

    2014-01-01

    The theme of well-being and discomfort at work has attracted increasing interest in recent years. The present study, according to Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R), inquires the effects of personal (optimism, internal locus of control) and organizational resources (job autonomy, supervisors and colleagues support) and general (work-to-family conflict, workload) and context specific demands (emotional dissonance) on emotional well-being and discomfort at work in call centre employees. This research was conducted through an online questionnaire, composed by measures present in scientific literature, filled out individually by call center agents (N = 507) of the same telecommunication firm. Data analysis (PASW 18) provides: descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple regressions. Personal and organizational resources improve emotional well-being at work, except for colleagues support. Optimism and supervisors support reduce emotional discomfort at work. Among organizational demands, work-family conflict and emotional dissonance increase emotional discomfort at work and, to a lesser extent, reduce the emotional well-being at work. The results, according to theoretical model, highlight the different role of demands and resources on emotional well-being and discomfort at work. The results suggest organizational politics and investments to promote emotional well-being at work, in particular training program to support emotional skills, training for supervisors, increasing job autonomy and support to work-family balance.

  14. A Comparison of the Views of Internal Controllers/Auditors and Branch/Call Center Personnel of the Banks for Operational Risk: A Case for Turkish Banking Sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinemis Zengin

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to compare the views of internal controllers/auditors and branch/call center personnel of the banks with respect to the operational risk. Within this scope, we made two different surveys to the personnel in Turkish banks in order to achieve this objective. The first survey was conducted by 310 branch and call center personnel whereas 151 personnel in internal control and audit departments of the banks carried out the second survey. The major finding in this study is that there is a difference in the views of these two groups regarding the evaluation of operational risk. In general, internal controllers/auditors look at the operational risk more negatively than branch/call center personnel. The personnel who control and audit operations in the bank think that operational risk knowledge level of branch/call center personnel is less sufficient, operational risk levels are higher, the controls to avoid this risk are less efficient than branch/call center personnel consider.

  15. Health issues amongst call center employees, an emerging occupational group in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raja, Jeyapal Dinesh; Bhasin, Sanjiv Kumar

    2014-07-01

    Call center sector in India is a relatively new industry and one of the fastest growing sectors driving employment and growth in modern India today. While employment in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has meant that young adults are reaching their career milestones and financial goals much earlier than before, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that workers in the BPO sector experience high levels of stress and its related disorders, primarily due to its contemporary work settings. Safeguarding the health of youngsters employed in this new, growing economy becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

  16. Health issues amongst call center employees, an emerging occupational group in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeyapal Dinesh Raja

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Call center sector in India is a relatively new industry and one of the fastest growing sectors driving employment and growth in modern India today. While employment in the business process outsourcing (BPO sector has meant that young adults are reaching their career milestones and financial goals much earlier than before, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that workers in the BPO sector experience high levels of stress and its related disorders, primarily due to its contemporary work settings. Safeguarding the health of youngsters employed in this new, growing economy becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

  17. BUSINESS MODELS FOR EXTENDING OF 112 EMERGENCY CALL CENTER CAPABILITIES WITH E-CALL FUNCTION INSERTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pop Dragos Paul

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The present article concerns present status of implementation in Romania and Europe of eCall service and the proposed business models regarding eCall function implementation in Romania. eCall system is used for reliable transmission in case of crush between In Vehicle System and Public Service Answering Point, via the voice channel of cellular and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN. eCall service could be initiated automatically or manual the driver. All data presented in this article are part of researches made by authors in the Sectorial Contract Implementation study regarding eCall system, having as partners ITS Romania and Electronic Solution, with the Romanian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology as beneficiary.

  18. Scaling and comparison of fluid limits of queues applied to call centers with time-varying parameters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jiménez, T.; Koole, G.M.

    2004-01-01

    Temporary overload situations in queues can be approximated by fluid queues. We strengthen earlier results on the comparison of multi-server tandem systems with their fluid limits. At the same time we give conditions under which economies of scale hold. We apply the results to call centers. ©

  19. 77 FR 47671 - TA-W-81,520, T-Mobile USA, Inc., Call Center, Allentown, PA; TA-W-81,520G, T-Mobile USA, Inc...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration TA-W-81,520, T-Mobile USA, Inc., Call Center, Allentown, PA; TA- W-81,520G, T-Mobile USA, Inc., Headquarters Office, Bellevue, WA; Amended... of T-Mobile USA, Inc., Call Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania (TA-W-81,520), Fort Lauderdale, Florida...

  20. The role of rehearsal in a novel call center-type task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nick Perham

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Laboratory research has long demonstrated the disruptive effects of background sound to task performance yet the real-world implications of such effects are less well known. We report two experiments that demonstrate the importance of the role of rehearsal to a novel call center-type task. In Experiment 1, performance of a novel train timetable task-in which participants identified four train journeys following presentation of train journey information-was disrupted by realistic office noise. However, in Experiment 2, when the need for rehearsal was reduced by presenting the information and the timetable at the same time, no disruption occurred . Results are discussed in terms of interference-by-process and interference-by-content approaches to short-term memory.

  1. Scripts de atendimento em call centers: uma visão de documentos eletrônicosScript for call center attendance: a view on electronic documents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Maria Silveira

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available O presente artigo contextualiza o serviço de atendimento aos clientes (SAC no âmbito da Ciência da Informação e busca compreender o fenômeno sob o enfoque da organização e do uso da informação. Analisa-se o processo informacional dos serviços de atendimento aos clientes realizado em call centers, com o foco na organização e no uso das bases de informação, tendo em vista a sistematização de parâmetros para subsidiarem a criação, a manutenção e a validação dos scripts de atendimento. Scripts são documentos eletrônicos que contêm orientação para executar procedimentos relativos a produtos e serviços da instituição e na interação com os consumidores. Por fim, identificaram-se os atributos de qualidade de informação que orientam a construção e a manutenção das bases de informações e sistematizaram-se os parâmetros para elaboração das bases de informações em consonância com os processos de organização e uso da informação no âmbito do SAC.The present article contextualizes the service of attendance to clients (SAC as far as the Information Science is concerned. It also seeks to understand the phenomenon under the focus of organization and the use of information. We analyze the informational process of attendance services to clients performed in call centers, focusing on the organization and the use of information bases. This is done aiming at the systematization of parameters to subside the creation, maintenance and validation of scripts for attendance. Scripts are electronic documents that contain orientation to execute procedures related to products and services of the institution and in the interaction with consumers. At last we identify the attributes of quality of information that guide the construction and maintenance of information bases and systematize the parameters for elaboration of information bases according to organization processes and use of information at SAC.

  2. Development of a 3-dimensional calculation model of the Danish research reactor DR3 to analyse a proposal to a new core design called ring-core

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nonboel, E

    1985-07-01

    A 3-dimensional calculation model of the Danish research reactor DR3 has been developed. Demands of a more effective utilization of the reactor and its facilities has required a more detailed calculation tool than applied so far. A great deal of attention has been devoted to the treatment of the coarse control arms. The model has been tested against measurements with satisfying results. Furthermore the model has been used to analyse a proposal to a new core design called ring-core where 4 central fuel elements are replaced by 4 dummy elements to increase the thermal flux in the center of the reactor. (author)

  3. Job Characteristics and Their Implications on the Satisfaction Levels of Call Center Employees: a study on a large telecommunications company

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Cristina dos Anjos Grilo Pinto de Sá

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Standardization of answers and cost reduction efforts have provided a specific relevance to call centers in the commercial strategy of many service companies. The aim of this research is to analyze to what extent job characteristics, as identified by Hackman and Oldham (1980, are essential determinants for the level of satisfaction of the contact employee in a call center. Indeed, literature clearly suggests that job characteristics have a huge influence on employees´ work performance, their level of satisfaction, and, as a consequence, on the quality of services provided to the customers. In order to answer these questions, we have performed a case study, based on a questionnaire survey. Findings reveal that employees feel that their jobs are highly structured and that they are being closely monitored, what might worsen their performance regarding the contact with the customer, mainly in what concerns customization, flexibility and adequate answer in a single contact. In order to increase frontline employees’ performance, a proposal that enhances job autonomy and values intrinsic satisfaction is made. The research suggests the need to change the way companies view contact employee’s job, in a call center context, not always perceived and designed as strategic or determinant for customers’ satisfaction, which calls for additional institutional investment in the redesign of such job.

  4. Percepcja stylu kierowania przełożonego a zadowolenie z pracy wśród pracowników call center.

    OpenAIRE

    Drzewiecka, Magda

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this article was to find the answer to the question whether gender and leadership style are related to job satisfaction among call center employees. 105 participants (74 women and 31 men) aged 19-52 years filled out Work Description Inventory, Mood at Workplace Questionnaire and Style of Leadership Questionnaire (based on theoretical 3D model by Reddin). Results show that only one leadership style dimension "concern for people" influences call center employees’ cognitive and em...

  5. A multicenter, open-label, pilot study evaluating the functionality of an integrated call center for a digital medicine system to optimize monitoring of adherence to oral aripiprazole in adult patients with serious mental illness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kopelowicz A

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Alex Kopelowicz,1 Ross A Baker,2 Cathy Zhao,2 Claudette Brewer,3 Erica Lawson,3 Timothy Peters-Strickland2 1David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization Inc., Princeton, NJ, 3Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization Inc., Rockville, MD, USA Background: Medication nonadherence is common in the treatment of serious mental illness (SMI and leads to poor outcomes. The digital medicine system (DMS objectively measures adherence with oral aripiprazole in near-real time, allowing recognition of adherence issues. This pilot study evaluated the functionality of an integrated call center in optimizing the use of the DMS. Materials and methods: An 8-week, open-label, single-arm trial at four US sites enrolled adults with bipolar I disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia on stable oral aripiprazole doses and willing to use the DMS (oral aripiprazole + ingestible event marker [IEM], IEM-detecting skin patch, and software application. Integrated call-center functionality was assessed based on numbers and types of calls. Ingestion adherence with prescribed treatment (aripiprazole + IEM during good patch wear and proportion of time with good patch wear (days with ≥80% patch data or detected IEM were also assessed. Results: All enrolled patients (n=49 used the DMS and were included in analyses; disease duration overall approached 10 years. For a duration of 8 weeks, 136 calls were made by patients, and a comparable 160 calls were made to patients, demonstrating interactive communication. The mean (SD number of calls made by patients was 2.8 (3.5. Approximately half of the inbound calls made by patients occurred during the first 2 weeks and were software application- or patch-related. Mean ingestion adherence was 88.6%, and corresponding good patch wear occurred on 80.1% of study days. Conclusion: In this pilot study, the integrated call center

  6. Estrategias de tercerización en Colombia como centro de operaciones enfocado a los Call Centers en Barranquilla

    OpenAIRE

    Cáceres Pinzón, Sergio Andrés; Henao Robayo, María Camila; Quiñones Sánchez, María José

    2013-01-01

    El sector BPO&O es un sector con alto potencial en Colombia que aún se encuentra Incipiente. Dentro de este sector, los Call Centers juegan un papel importante para su desarrollo y Barranquilla posee grandes cualidades para permitir este crecimiento si se plantean las estrategias adecuadas.

  7. Primary Care DirectConnect: How the Marriage of Call Center Technology and the EMR Brought Dramatic Results—A Service Quality Improvement Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowman, Brent; Smith, Scott

    2010-01-01

    Of the key Health Plan patient satisfaction measures used in Kaiser Permanente Colorado, ease of contacting the physician's office with a medical question was consistently rated as the lowest quarterly patient satisfaction measure. Furthermore, medical office staff had become dissatisfied with their inability to contact patients who had previously left messages. In addition to the shear volume of messages, the return calls were often unanswered, leading to subsequent attempts to reach patients, creating additional work for medical office staff. DirectConnect—the project name for a system and set of processes focused on improving patient satisfaction with the ability to contact Primary Care delivery teams by telephone—focuses on isolating medical advice calls from the other types of calls handled by the centralized Call Center. The system identifies the patient using his/her unique electronic medical record number, then automatically routes medical advice calls directly to the appropriate Primary Care Physician (PCP) or staff. The clinician may then evaluate and respond to the patient's need quickly, thus managing more of their panel's requests in real time. How is DirectConnect different from simply having the patient contact their PCP's office directly? The primary difference is “one-number” convenience that allows all patients to dial one number to access their PCP's team. In addition, calls are routed to various staff as available to reduce long telephone queues and wait times. The DirectConnect system has resulted in statistically significant improvement in key service quality measures. Patient satisfaction improved from a pre-implementation nine quarter mean of 55.9% to a post-implementation 12 quarter mean of 70.2%. Fourteen percent to 17% of all Primary Care calls are now handled by the patient's home medical office team, creating a 54% improvement in the centralized Call Center's speed of answering calls in the first quarter post implementation

  8. An ergonomic evaluation of a call center performed by disabled agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Chia-Fen; Lin, Yen-Hui

    2008-08-01

    Potential ergonomic hazards for 27 disabled call center agents engaged in computer-telephone interactive tasks were evaluated for possible associations between the task behaviors and work-related disorders. Data included task description, 300 samples of performance, a questionnaire on workstation design, body-part discomfort rating, perceived stress, potential job stressors, and direct measurement of environmental factors. Analysis indicated agents were frequently exposed to prolonged static sitting and repetitive movements, together with unsupported back and flexed neck, causing musculoskeletal discomforts. Visual fatigue (85.2% of agents), discomfort of ears (66.7%), and musculoskeletal discomforts (59.3%) were the most pronounced and prevalent complaints after prolonged working. 17 of 27 agents described job pressure as high or very high, and dealing with difficult customers and trying to fulfill the customers' needs within the time standard were main stressors. Further work on surrounding noise, earphone use, possible hearing loss of experienced agents, training programs, feasible solutions for visual fatigue, musculoskeletal symptoms, and psychosocial stress should be conducted.

  9. Customer care policy for utilities - demonstrated with the example of a call center; Customer Care fuer EVU - Wirkungszusammenhaenge am Beispiel des Telefon-Service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weisse, D. [Consulting und Services, pdv Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Roesrath (Germany)

    2000-01-10

    Customer care policy, for preventing change to another provider and consolidating customer loyalty, is becoming a strategic (powerful) instrument for a utility in the competitive market. But what does this really imply for the day-to-day process of dealing with client-specific operations and workflows? The article describes the interactions between strategic marketing for ensuring client satisfaction and the resulting requirements to be met by a utility's call center, and also describes the key 'parameters' and requirements for successful day-to-day management of call centers. (orig./CB) [German] Customer Care zur Reduzierung der Wechselbereitschaft bzw. zur Erhoehung der Kundenbindung wird fuer EVU zu einem strategischen Instrument im Kampf um die Kunden. Aber was bedeutet dies fuer die operative Abwicklung der kundenbezogenen Geschaeftsprozesse? Der Verfasser erlaeutert die Zusammenhaenge zwischen dem strategischen Ziel der Kundenzufriedenheit und der operativen Umsetzung des Telefon-Service und beschreibt die 'Stellschrauben', die fuer diesen Zweck bei der Planung aber auch im taeglichen Management eines Call Centers zur Verfuegung stehen. (orig.)

  10. Descriptive Analysis of Recorded Phone Calls to Iran Drug and Poison Information Centers during 2011-2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talat Ghane

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Poisoning is one of the main causes of visits to emergency departments and hospitals in Iran. Drug and Poison Information Centers (DPIC are reliable sources to guide poisoned patients and provide information about pharmaceutical agents. This study was designed to analyze recorded phone calls to Iran DPICs during 2011-2012.Methods: This was a retrospective study on phone calls to DPIC in Tehran between January 2011 and November 2012. Data including demographic features, type of poison (in case of poisoning and intention of poisoning were collected by reviewing the reported phone calls to central division of Iran DPICs in Tehran.Results: It was found that 98.5% of the phone calls were inquiries about pharmaceutical products and only 1.5% of them were associated with poisoning. 49% of poisonings reported from the DPICs in 2011was intentional, while this rate increased to 67% in 2012. Regarding toxic agents responsible for poisonings, pharmaceuticals were the most common consisting of 68.6% and 70.9% of cases in 2011 and 2012, respectively.Conclusion: Pharmaceutical products are the main causes of poisonings in Iran. Public education on safety and storage issues and also strict terms of sale should be implemented. In addition, the majority of poisonings occurred intentionally while the rate showed an increasing trend. Predisposing factors of this high rate should be studied.

  11. The performance and subjective responses of call-center operators with new and used supply air filters at two outdoor air supply rates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wargocki, Pawel; Wyon, David; Fanger, Povl Ole

    2004-01-01

    A 2X2 replicated field intervention experiment was conducted in a call-center providing a telephone directory service: outdoor air supply rate was adjusted to be 8% of the total airflow of 430 l/s (3.5/h)and the supply air filters were either new or had been in place for 6 months. One of these in......A 2X2 replicated field intervention experiment was conducted in a call-center providing a telephone directory service: outdoor air supply rate was adjusted to be 8% of the total airflow of 430 l/s (3.5/h)and the supply air filters were either new or had been in place for 6 months. One...

  12. Analysing the Outbound logistics process enhancements in Nokia-Siemens Networks Global Distribution Center

    OpenAIRE

    Marjeta, Katri

    2011-01-01

    Marjeta, Katri. 2011. Analysing the outbound logistics process enhancements in Nokia-Siemens Networks Global Distribution Center. Master´s thesis. Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences. Business and Culture. Pages 57. Due to confidentiality issues, this work has been modified from its original form. The aim of this Master Thesis work is to describe and analyze the outbound logistics process enhancement projects executed in Nokia-Siemens Networks Global Distribution Center after the N...

  13. Professionals calling in lifelong learning centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Manuel Monteiro Seco

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This study aims to understand how the way people see their work and the authentizotic character of their organizational climate contribute to the building of a Great Place to Work. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents the results of a quantitative investigation that correlate the perceptions of organizational climate and the work orientations of professionals with different occupations on Portuguese lifelong education centers. Findings: The study indicates that all the core elements of an authentizotic organization contribute to explain what people potentially expect from their companies:  adequate  material  conditions  plus  a  meaningful contribution. Practical implications: The study has implications in the future for National Qualification Agency directors, education politicians and human resource managers who are responsible for providing good expectations within a healthy context of talent retention. Originality/value: The novel contribution of this paper is the finding that employee’s work orientations and authentizotic climate are related to each other in a Lifelong learning Center in the public education sector.

  14. A administração clássica: um estudo aplicado a centrais de atendimento (call center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jairo Moran Carvalho Ribeiro

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available As organizações modernas, a exemplo de operações de centrais de atendimento, ou call centers, tem atuado em diversas áreas de negócios, que pode ser do simples atendimento, como os serviços de atendimento a clientes - SAC, a grandes empresas com foco em cobrança, televendas ou operações diversas. Assim, a pesquisa buscou apresentar evidências do emprego das teorias clássicas da administração, através de estudo de casos, em dois Call Centers de empresas do Rio Grande do Sul vinculados à rede varejista de eletroeletrônicos e a distribuidora de energia elétrica. Embora, a natureza de atuação diversa entre as duas centrais analisadas, os princípios clássicos da administração se mostraram evidenciados em ambas as operações, a exemplo da racionalização do trabalho, controle das atividades, supervisão atuante, jornadas definidas, prêmios por produção, dentre outros elementos característicos dos princípios defendidos por Taylor, Fayol, Ford entre outros clássicos da administração.

  15. The Influence of Judgment Calls on Meta-Analytic Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarrahi, Farid; Eisend, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that judgment calls (i.e., methodological choices made in the process of conducting a meta-analysis) have a strong influence on meta-analytic findings and question their robustness. However, prior research applies case study comparison or reanalysis of a few meta-analyses with a focus on a few selected judgment calls. These studies neglect the fact that different judgment calls are related to each other and simultaneously influence the outcomes of a meta-analysis, and that meta-analytic findings can vary due to non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses (e.g., variations of effects over time). The current study analyzes the influence of 13 judgment calls in 176 meta-analyses in marketing research by applying a multivariate, multilevel meta-meta-analysis. The analysis considers simultaneous influences from different judgment calls on meta-analytic effect sizes and controls for alternative explanations based on non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses. The findings suggest that judgment calls have only a minor influence on meta-analytic findings, whereas non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses are more likely to explain differences in meta-analytic findings. The findings support the robustness of meta-analytic results and conclusions.

  16. Notes from the field: calls to poison centers for exposures to electronic cigarettes--United States, September 2010-February 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatham-Stephens, Kevin; Law, Royal; Taylor, Ethel; Melstrom, Paul; Bunnell, Rebecca; Wang, Baoguang; Apelberg, Benjamin; Schier, Joshua G

    2014-04-04

    Electronic nicotine delivery devices such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine, flavorings (e.g., fruit, mint, and chocolate), and other chemicals via an inhaled aerosol. E-cigarettes that are marketed without a therapeutic claim by the product manufacturer are currently not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In many states, there are no restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Although e-cigarette use is increasing among U.S. adolescents and adults, its overall impact on public health remains unclear. One area of concern is the potential of e-cigarettes to cause acute nicotine toxicity. To assess the frequency of exposures to e-cigarettes and characterize the reported adverse health effects associated with e-cigarettes, CDC analyzed data on calls to U.S. poison centers (PCs) about human exposures to e-cigarettes (exposure calls) for the period September 2010 (when new, unique codes were added specifically for capturing e-cigarette calls) through February 2014. To provide a comparison to a conventional product with known toxicity, the number and characteristics of e-cigarette exposure calls were compared with those of conventional tobacco cigarette exposure calls.

  17. Person-Centered Care in the Home Setting for Parkinson’s Disease: Operation House Call Quality of Care Pilot Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nawaz Hack

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. (1 To evaluate the feasibility of implementing and evaluating a home visit program for persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD in a rural setting. (2 To have movement disorders fellows coordinate and manage health care delivery. Background. The University of Florida, Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration established Operation House Call to serve patients with PD who could not otherwise afford to travel to an expert center or to pay for medical care. PD is known to lead to significant disability, frequent hospitalization, early nursing home placement, and morbidity. Methods. This was designed as a quality improvement project. Movement disorders fellows travelled to the home(s of underserved PD patients and coordinated their clinical care. The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease was confirmed using standardized criteria, and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale was performed and best treatment practices were delivered. Results. All seven patients have been followed up longitudinally every 3 to 6 months in the home setting, and they remain functional and independent. None of the patients have been hospitalized for PD related complications. Each patient has a new updatable electronic medical record. All Operation House Call cases are presented during video rounds for the interdisciplinary PD team to make recommendations for care (neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, psychiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and social work. One Operation House Call patient has successfully received deep brain stimulation (DBS. Conclusion. This program is a pilot program that has demonstrated that it is possible to provide person-centered care in the home setting for PD patients. This program could provide a proof of concept for the construction of a larger visiting physician or nurse program.

  18. Telephone calls by individuals with cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flannery, Marie; McAndrews, Leanne; Stein, Karen F

    2013-09-01

    To describe symptom type and reporting patterns found in spontaneously initiated telephone calls placed to an ambulatory cancer center practice. Retrospective, descriptive. Adult hematology oncology cancer center. 563 individuals with a wide range of oncology diagnoses who initiated 1,229 telephone calls to report symptoms. Raw data were extracted from telephone forms using a data collection sheet with 23 variables obtained for each phone call, using pre-established coding criteria. A literature-based, investigator-developed instrument was used for the coding criteria and selection of which variables to extract. Symptom reporting, telephone calls, pain, and symptoms. A total of 2,378 symptoms were reported by telephone during the four months. At least 10% of the sample reported pain (38%), fatigue (16%), nausea (16%), swelling (12%), diarrhea (12%), dyspnea (10%), and anorexia (10%). The modal response was to call only one time and to report only one symptom (55%). Pain emerged as the symptom that most often prompted an individual to pick up the telephone and call. Although variation was seen in symptom reporting, an interesting pattern emerged with an individual reporting on a solitary symptom in a single telephone call. The emergence of pain as the primary symptom reported by telephone prompted educational efforts for both in-person clinic visit management of pain and prioritizing nursing education and protocol management of pain reported by telephone. Report of symptoms by telephone can provide nurses unique insight into patient-centered needs. Although pain has been an important focus of education and research for decades, it remains a priority for individuals with cancer. A wide range in symptom reporting by telephone was evident.

  19. Exercise, character strengths, well-being, and learning climate in the prediction of performance over a 6-month period at a call center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moradi, Saleh; Nima, Ali A; Rapp Ricciardi, Max; Archer, Trevor; Garcia, Danilo

    2014-01-01

    Performance monitoring might have an adverse influence on call center agents' well-being. We investigate how performance, over a 6-month period, is related to agents' perceptions of their learning climate, character strengths, well-being (subjective and psychological), and physical activity. Agents (N = 135) self-reported perception of the learning climate (Learning Climate Questionnaire), character strengths (Values In Action Inventory Short Version), well-being (Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule, Satisfaction With Life Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scales Short Version), and how often/intensively they engaged in physical activity. Performance, "time on the phone," was monitored for 6 consecutive months by the same system handling the calls. Performance was positively related to having opportunities to develop, the character strengths clusters of Wisdom and Knowledge (e.g., curiosity for learning, perspective) and Temperance (e.g., having self-control, being prudent, humble, and modest), and exercise frequency. Performance was negatively related to the sense of autonomy and responsibility, contentedness, the character strengths clusters of Humanity and Love (e.g., helping others, cooperation) and Justice (e.g., affiliation, fairness, leadership), positive affect, life satisfaction and exercise Intensity. Call centers may need to create opportunities to develop to increase agents' performance and focus on individual differences in the recruitment and selection of agents to prevent future shortcomings or worker dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, performance measurement in call centers may need to include other aspects that are more attuned with different character strengths. After all, allowing individuals to put their strengths at work should empower the individual and at the end the organization itself. Finally, physical activity enhancement programs might offer considerable positive work outcomes.

  20. Exercise, Character Strengths, Well-Being and Learning Climate in the Prediction of Performance over a Six-Month Period at a Call Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saleh eMoradi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Performance monitoring might have an adverse influence on call center agents’ well-being. We investigate how performance, over a six-month period, is related to agents’ perceptions of their learning climate, character strengths, well-being (subjective and psychological, and physical activity.Method: Agents (N = 135 self-reported perception of the learning climate (Learning Climate Questionnaire, character strengths (Values In Action Inventory Short Version, well-being (Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule, Satisfaction With Life Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scales Short Version, and how often/intensively they engaged in physical activity. Performance, time on the phone, was monitored for six consecutive months by the same system handling the calls. Results: Performance was positively related to having opportunities to develop, the character strengths clusters of Wisdom and Knowledge (e.g., curiosity for learning, perspective and Temperance (e.g., having self-control, being prudent, humble, and modest, and exercise frequency. Performance was negatively related to the sense of autonomy and responsibility, contentedness, the character strengths clusters of Humanity and Love (e.g., helping others, cooperation and Justice (e.g., affiliation, fairness, leadership, positive affect, life satisfaction and exercise Intensity.Conclusion: Call centers may need to create opportunities to develop to increase agents’ performance and focus on individual differences in the recruitment and selection of agents to prevent future shortcomings or worker dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, performance measurement in call centers may need to include other aspects that are more attuned with different character strengths. After all, allowing individuals to put their strengths at work should empower the individual and at the end the organization itself. Finally, physical activity enhancement programs might offer considerable positive work outcomes.

  1. Impacts of extreme heat on emergency medical service calls in King County, Washington, 2007-2012: relative risk and time series analyses of basic and advanced life support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calkins, Miriam M; Isaksen, Tania Busch; Stubbs, Benjamin A; Yost, Michael G; Fenske, Richard A

    2016-01-28

    Exposure to excessive heat kills more people than any other weather-related phenomenon, aggravates chronic diseases, and causes direct heat illness. Strong associations between extreme heat and health have been identified through increased mortality and hospitalizations and there is growing evidence demonstrating increased emergency department visits and demand for emergency medical services (EMS). The purpose of this study is to build on an existing regional assessment of mortality and hospitalizations by analyzing EMS demand associated with extreme heat, using calls as a health metric, in King County, Washington (WA), for a 6-year period. Relative-risk and time series analyses were used to characterize the association between heat and EMS calls for May 1 through September 30 of each year for 2007-2012. Two EMS categories, basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS), were analyzed for the effects of heat on health outcomes and transportation volume, stratified by age. Extreme heat was model-derived as the 95th (29.7 °C) and 99th (36.7 °C) percentile of average county-wide maximum daily humidex for BLS and ALS calls respectively. Relative-risk analyses revealed an 8 % (95 % CI: 6-9 %) increase in BLS calls, and a 14 % (95 % CI: 9-20 %) increase in ALS calls, on a heat day (29.7 and 36.7 °C humidex, respectively) versus a non-heat day for all ages, all causes. Time series analyses found a 6.6 % increase in BLS calls, and a 3.8 % increase in ALS calls, per unit-humidex increase above the optimum threshold, 40.7 and 39.7 °C humidex respectively. Increases in "no" and "any" transportation were found in both relative risk and time series analyses. Analysis by age category identified significant results for all age groups, with the 15-44 and 45-64 year old age groups showing some of the highest and most frequent increases across health conditions. Multiple specific health conditions were associated with increased risk of an EMS call including abdominal

  2. Display rules versus display autonomy: emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and task performance in a call center simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Lori Sideman; Grandey, Alicia A

    2007-07-01

    "Service with a smile" is satisfying for the customer, but such display rules may be costly to the employee and the organization. Most previous research on such costs has used self-reported and cross-sectional designs. The authors use an experimental approach to test tenets of resource depletion theories; specifically, whether the self-regulation of emotions required by display rules depletes energy and attentional resources during a service encounter. Using a call center simulation with three "customer" interactions, the authors found that participants given positive display rules (e.g., be enthusiastic and hide frustration) reported more postsimulation exhaustion and made more errors on the order form compared to those with display autonomy. Customer hostility during one of the calls also increased exhaustion overall and the number of errors during that specific call, though proposed interactions with display rules were not supported. Surface-level emotion regulation, but not deep-level, was the mechanism for the energy depletion effect of display rules, while display rules had a direct effect on performance decrements. Theoretical and practical implications for display rules as part of job requirements are discussed. Copyright 2007 APA

  3. The difficult medical emergency call

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Thea Palsgaard; Kjærulff, Thora Majlund; Viereck, Søren

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories and the ......BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories...... and the effect of categorization on mortality. METHODS: Register-based study in a 2-year period based on emergency call data from the emergency medical dispatch center in Copenhagen combined with nationwide register data. Logistic regression analysis (N = 78,040 individuals) was used for identification...

  4. SISTEM PENYUSUNAN KEPEGAWAIAN PADA MANAJEMEN CALL CENTER DENGAN MULTI-CLASS PELANGGAN DAN MULTI-POOL SERVER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aidy Ilmy

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Penelitian ini mempertimbangkan suatu model call center dari pengarahan berbasis ketrampilan. Model ini merupakan server yang bersifat homogen dan heterogen dengan sejumlah aliran masuk dan sejumlah kelompok agen, dengan tingkat kedatangan seketika yang diperbolehkan bersifat tergantung dengan waktu (time-dependent dan bersifat stokastik. Pelanggan yang tidak sabar menunggu untuk dilayani agen kemungkinan akan meninggalkan antrian dan terdapat biaya hukuman yang berhubungan dengan penundaan tersebut. Metoda penyusunan kepegawaian yang diajukan mengoptimalkan perimbangan antara biaya personel dan hukuman penundaan dengan melakukan pengembangan dan penjelasan suatu metoda praktis untuk mengukur jumlah kelompok agen. Dengan menggunakan suatu model stokastik fluida, metoda ini mereduksi permasalahan dalam penyusunan kepegawaian ke bentuk newsvendor problem, yang dapat dipecahkan secara numerik melalui suatu kombinasi linear programming dan simulasi Monte Carlo. Hasil penelitian dan analisa yang diperoleh, dimana dalam semua kasus untuk ukuran kelompok yang diperoleh dari hasil simulasi hampir mendekati optimal dengan hasil dari metode pendekatan yang diusulkan, sekitar 2%-3%..   Kata

  5. Call Duration Characteristics based on Customers Location

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Žvinys Karolis

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays a lot of different researches are performed based on call duration distributions (CDD analysis. However, the majority of studies are linked with social relationships between the people. Therefore the scarcity of information, how the call duration is associated with a user's location, is appreciable. The goal of this paper is to reveal the ties between user's voice call duration and the location of call. For this reason we analyzed more than 5 million calls from real mobile network, which were made over the base stations located in rural areas, roads, small towns, business and entertainment centers, residential districts. According to these site types CDD’s and characteristic features for call durations are given and discussed. Submitted analysis presents the users habits and behavior as a group (not an individual. The research showed that CDD’s of customers being them in different locations are not equal. It has been found that users at entertainment, business centers are tend to talk much shortly, than people being at home. Even more CDD can be distorted strongly, when machinery calls are evaluated. Hence to apply a common CDD for a whole network it is not recommended. The study also deals with specific parameters of call duration for distinguished user groups, the influence of network technology for call duration is considered.

  6. Optimal service using Matlab - simulink controlled Queuing system at call centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balaji, N.; Siva, E. P.; Chandrasekaran, A. D.; Tamilazhagan, V.

    2018-04-01

    This paper presents graphical integrated model based academic research on telephone call centres. This paper introduces an important feature of impatient customers and abandonments in the queue system. However the modern call centre is a complex socio-technical system. Queuing theory has now become a suitable application in the telecom industry to provide better online services. Through this Matlab-simulink multi queuing structured models provide better solutions in complex situations at call centres. Service performance measures analyzed at optimal level through Simulink queuing model.

  7. On The Center Sets and Center Numbers of Some Graph Classes

    OpenAIRE

    R, Ram Kumar.; Balakrishnan, Kannan; Changat, Manoj; Sreekumar, A.; Narasimha-Shenoi, Prasanth G.

    2013-01-01

    For a set $S$ of vertices and the vertex $v$ in a connected graph $G$, $\\displaystyle\\max_{x \\in S}d(x,v)$ is called the $S$-eccentricity of $v$ in $G$. The set of vertices with minimum $S$-eccentricity is called the $S$-center of $G$. Any set $A$ of vertices of $G$ such that $A$ is an $S$-center for some set $S$ of vertices of $G$ is called a center set. We identify the center sets of certain classes of graphs namely, Block graphs, $K_{m,n}$, $K_n-e$, wheel graphs, odd cycles and symmetric e...

  8. Outsourcing an Effective Postdischarge Call Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meek, Kevin L.; Williams, Paula; Unterschuetz, Caryn J.

    2018-01-01

    To improve patient satisfaction ratings and decrease readmissions, many organizations utilize internal staff to complete postdischarge calls to recently released patients. Developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining an effective call program can be challenging and have eluded some of the renowned medical centers in the country. Using collaboration with an outsourced vendor to bring state-of-the-art call technology and staffed with specially trained callers, health systems can achieve elevated levels of engagement and satisfaction for their patients postdischarge. PMID:29494453

  9. BUFO PARDALIS (ANURA: BUFONIDAE): MATING CALL AND ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    the calls of one of these species, Bufo pardalis. Hewitt, were not analysed by Tandy & Keith. (1972). Furthennore there is some confusion in the literature regarding the mating call of this species. For these reasons this mating call is here clarified. The mating call of B. pardaiis was first described by Ranger (in Hewitt 1935) as ...

  10. The Link between Internal Marketing and Customer Relationship Management : A Case Study of one Nordea Call Center in Sweden

    OpenAIRE

    Stenbeck, Joakim; Cabander, Robin

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the link between internal marketing and customer relationship management by conducting a case study of one Nordea call center. Background: Keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. Nowadays, up to sixty percent of marketing budgets are being dedicated towards retaining customers. So forth customer relationship manage-ment is slowly beginning to penetrate the banking industry as sustaina-ble rel...

  11. Estudio de factibilidad para la implementación de un call center operado por madres cabeza de familia

    OpenAIRE

    Estrada Ocampo, Carolina Maria; Quintero, Alexander

    2013-01-01

    El "Estudio de factibilidad para la implementación de un Call Center operado por Madres Cabeza de Familia", analiza las oportunidades tecnológicas, legales y económicas que existen actualmente para el desarrollo de este tipo de soluciones, con la característica de proponer una empresa de tipo social (como las propuestas por Muhammad Yunus en Empresas para todos), en la que la operación sea desarrollada por Madres Cabeza de Familia, uno de los grupos más vulnerables en la actual población de P...

  12. Prevalence and Impact of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders on Job Performance of Call Center Operators in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odebiyi, D O; Akanle, O T; Akinbo, S Ra; Balogun, S A

    2016-04-01

    Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) have been documented among various occupational groups in Nigeria. However, there is limited data on the prevalence of WMSDs among call center operators (CCOs). To determine the prevalence of WMSDs among CCOs in Nigeria and to explore the extent to which these discomforts impact the daily work activities of the respondents. 374 respondents who were randomly selected from 4 telecommunication companies in Lagos State, Nigeria, participated in this study. They were asked to complete a pre-tested questionnaire designed to capture the prevalence, impact and associated risk factors of WMSDs among CCOs. 42% and 65.2% of respondents experienced at least one WMSDs in the past 7 days, and 12 months, respectively. Women and CCOs who received calls with hand-held phones rather than headsets reported more discomforts during both 7 days and 12 months periods. Neck, shoulder, upper back, and lower back were the most affected areas during past 7 days and 12 months. Discomforts in the neck, low back, and knees prevented most of the respondents from performing their daily work. WMSDs have a serious impact on the daily job activities of the CCOs in Nigeria.

  13. Implementation and quality assessment of a pharmacy services call center for outpatient pharmacies and specialty pharmacy services in an academic health system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rim, Matthew H; Thomas, Karen C; Chandramouli, Jane; Barrus, Stephanie A; Nickman, Nancy A

    2018-05-15

    The implementation and quality assessment of a pharmacy services call center (PSCC) for outpatient pharmacies and specialty pharmacy services within an academic health system are described. Prolonged wait times in outpatient pharmacies or hold times on the phone affect the ability of pharmacies to capture and retain prescriptions. To support outpatient pharmacy operations and improve quality, a PSCC was developed to centralize handling of all outpatient and specialty pharmacy calls. The purpose of the PSCC was to improve the quality of pharmacy telephone services by (1) decreasing the call abandonment rate, (2) improving the speed of answer, (3) increasing first-call resolution, (4) centralizing all specialty pharmacy and prior authorization calls, (5) increasing labor efficiency and pharmacy capacities, (6) implementing a quality evaluation program, and (7) improving workplace satisfaction and retention of outpatient pharmacy staff. The PSCC centralized pharmacy calls from 9 pharmacy locations, 2 outpatient clinics, and a specialty pharmacy. Since implementation, the PSCC has achieved and maintained program goals, including improved abandonment rate, speed of answer, and first-call resolution. A centralized 24-7 support line for specialty pharmacy patients was also successfully established. A quality calibration program was implemented to ensure service quality and excellent patient experience. Additional ongoing evaluations measure the impact of the PSCC on improving workplace satisfaction and retention of outpatient pharmacy staff. The design and implementation of the PSCC have significantly improved the health system's patient experiences, efficiency, and quality. Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Analysis of Phone Calls Regarding Fluoride Exposure made to New Jersey Poison Control Center from 2010 to 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Sneha; Quek, Samuel; Ruck, Bruce

    2016-02-01

    The American Association of Poison Control Center's annual reports demonstrate that acute fluoride exposure is not an uncommon occurrence. Despite its prevalence, there has been little published research on the topic in the last 10 years. The purpose of this study was to calculate the incidence of acute fluoride toxicity and lethality as it occurs in New Jersey and provide a descriptive epidemiology of acute fluoride exposures. The study design was retrospective in nature. Records of phone calls made by individuals reporting excessive fluoride exposure (in an amount greater than directed/prescribed) to New Jersey's poison control center, known as Poison Information and Education System from the years 2010 through 2012, were extracted from Toxicall® (Computer Automatic Systems, Inc.) database. A total of 2,476 human-only exposure records met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Incidence rates were calculated, and population characteristics, circumstances and medical outcomes of acute fluoride exposure cases were assessed and categorized. A total of 2,476 phone call records met the inclusion criteria. The fluoride exposures reported were from toothpaste with fluoride (49%, n=1,214), mouth rinse with fluoride (21.6%, n=536), multivitamin with fluoride (21.4%, n=530) and pure fluoride (0.08%, n=199). Medically speaking, 94.75% of calls were asymptomatic cases (n=2,346), 4.24% were symptomatic (n=105) and 1.01% were informational inquiries (n=25). Adverse symptoms reported were mostly minor (83.9% of symptomatic cases, n=88) and moderate (16.1% of symptomatic cases, n=17). The age group 18 months to 3 years of age showed the highest incidence of acute fluoride exposure (53.2%, n=1,317). There was a slightly higher incidence of acute fluoride exposures among males (n=1,317) vs. females (n=1,159). Most incidences occurred in the home (93.1% of records, n=2,305) and occurred unintentionally (96.7%, n=2,394). Calls were mainly made by the subject's mother (67.5%, n=1

  15. Neutrality as Obstructionist in Academic Activism: Calling Bullshit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Barbara J.

    2018-01-01

    In this essay, the author uses experiences as a teacher educator and learning from a historically significant activism movement to (a) compare values in activism-centered and education-centered organizations, (b) posit ways that the concept of neutrality weakens academic activism, and (c) call for teacher education curricula and practices that…

  16. Effort-reward imbalance and one-year change in neck-shoulder and upper extremity pain among call center computer operators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause, Niklas; Burgel, Barbara; Rempel, David

    2010-01-01

    The literature on psychosocial job factors and musculoskeletal pain is inconclusive in part due to insufficient control for confounding by biomechanical factors. The aim of this study was to investigate prospectively the independent effects of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) at work on regional musculoskeletal pain of the neck and upper extremities of call center operators after controlling for (i) duration of computer use both at work and at home, (ii) ergonomic workstation design, (iii) physical activities during leisure time, and (iv) other individual worker characteristics. This was a one-year prospective study among 165 call center operators who participated in a randomized ergonomic intervention trial that has been described previously. Over an approximate four-week period, we measured ERI and 28 potential confounders via a questionnaire at baseline. Regional upper-body pain and computer use was measured by weekly surveys for up to 12 months following the implementation of ergonomic interventions. Regional pain change scores were calculated as the difference between average weekly pain scores pre- and post intervention. A significant relationship was found between high average ERI ratios and one-year increases in right upper-extremity pain after adjustment for pre-intervention regional mean pain score, current and past physical workload, ergonomic workstation design, and anthropometric, sociodemographic, and behavioral risk factors. No significant associations were found with change in neck-shoulder or left upper-extremity pain. This study suggests that ERI predicts regional upper-extremity pain in -computer operators working >or=20 hours per week. Control for physical workload and ergonomic workstation design was essential for identifying ERI as a risk factor.

  17. Well Being and Job Satisfaction Among Call Centre Agents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiegman, Inger Marie; Mathiesen, Karen; Møller, Niels

    2004-01-01

    A survey among 774 agents in four large Danish companies in house call centres shows that working in a call center is stressfull. Lack of control and autonomy, lack of potentiality and challenges, conflict between qualitative and quantitative demands and monitoring all have an adverse effect on job...

  18. Outsourcing, Globalizing Economics, and Shifting Language Policies: Issues in Managing Indian Call Centres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Brian; Ramanathan, Vaidehi

    2009-01-01

    This paper offers a dialogic discussion about several issues concerning call centers, including globalizing surges, modernity tropes and educational practices. Based on a critical discourse analysis of a document offering to train west-based entrepreneurs to assume managerial positions in call centers in India, the paper explores ways in which…

  19. Carbon Monoxide Information Center

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Education Safety Education Centers Carbon Monoxide Information Center Carbon Monoxide Information Center En Español The Invisible Killer Carbon monoxide, also known as CO, is called the " ...

  20. Relationship Between Healthy Life Style and Work-Related Factors Among Call Center Workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loreta Gustainienė

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Health-related issues are becoming very popular both in the broad spheres of the society and in organizations. Taking care of employee health helps the employer with maintaining and improving organizational effectiveness. The aim of the study was to identify and assess the relationship between the Five-Factor Wellness Model and work-related factors such as interpersonal conflicts, organizational constraints, workload, work-family conflict, decision latitude, transformational leadership, psychological job characteristics and perceived organizational support. The subjects of the study were 177 employees of a call center. Healthy lifestyle was measured applying a Five-Factor Wellness questionnaire (Myers, Sweeney 2005b. Physical symptoms, interpersonal conflicts, organizational constraints and workload were measured using respective scales designed by Spector and Jex (2007. Decision latitude was measured employing Karasek (1985 questionnaire. Work-family conflict was measured referring to a subscale of negative work-home interaction (Geurts et al. 2005. A transformational leadership style was measured using General Scale of transformational leadership (Carless et al. 2000. Perceived organizational support was measured using a short version of Perceived Organizational Support scale (Eisenberger et al. 1986. Research findings show that healthy lifestyle as measured by the Five-Factor Wellness Model was predicted by lower work-family conflict, whereas physical symptoms - by marked work-family conflict, decision latitude and gender (female.

  1. Effect of bystander CPR initiation prior to the emergency call on ROSC and 30day survival-An evaluation of 548 emergency calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viereck, Søren; Palsgaard Møller, Thea; Kjær Ersbøll, Annette; Folke, Fredrik; Lippert, Freddy

    2017-02-01

    This study aimed at evaluating if time for initiation of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) - prior to the emergency call (CPR prior ) versus during the emergency call following dispatcher-assisted CPR (CPR during ) - was associated with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and 30-day survival. The secondary aim was to identify predictors of CPR prior . This observational study evaluated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occurring in the Capital Region of Denmark from 01.01.2013 to 31.12.2013. OHCAs were linked to emergency medical dispatch centre records and corresponding emergency calls were evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to evaluate the association between time for initiation of bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival. Univariable logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of CPR prior . The study included 548 emergency calls for OHCA patients receiving bystander CPR, 34.9% (n=191) in the CPR prior group and 65.1% (n=357) in the CPR during group. Multivariable analyses showed no difference in ROSC (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.56-1.38) or 30-day survival (OR=1.14, 95% CI: 0.68-1.92) between CPR prior and CPR during . Predictors positively associated with CPR prior included witnessed OHCA and healthcare professional bystanders. Predictors negatively associated with CPR prior included residential location, solitary bystanders, and bystanders related to the patient. The majority of bystander CPR (65%) was initiated during the emergency call, following dispatcher-assisted CPR instructions. Whether bystander CPR was initiated prior to emergency call versus during the emergency call following dispatcher-assisted CPR was not associated with ROSC or 30-day survival. Dispatcher-assisted CPR was especially beneficial for the initiation of bystander CPR in residential areas. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. Call cultures in orang-utans?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serge A Wich

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Several studies suggested great ape cultures, arguing that human cumulative culture presumably evolved from such a foundation. These focused on conspicuous behaviours, and showed rich geographic variation, which could not be attributed to known ecological or genetic differences. Although geographic variation within call types (accents has previously been reported for orang-utans and other primate species, we examine geographic variation in the presence/absence of discrete call types (dialects. Because orang-utans have been shown to have geographic variation that is not completely explicable by genetic or ecological factors we hypothesized that this will be similar in the call domain and predict that discrete call type variation between populations will be found. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined long-term behavioural data from five orang-utan populations and collected fecal samples for genetic analyses. We show that there is geographic variation in the presence of discrete types of calls. In exactly the same behavioural context (nest building and infant retrieval, individuals in different wild populations customarily emit either qualitatively different calls or calls in some but not in others. By comparing patterns in call-type and genetic similarity, we suggest that the observed variation is not likely to be explained by genetic or ecological differences. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are consistent with the potential presence of 'call cultures' and suggest that wild orang-utans possess the ability to invent arbitrary calls, which spread through social learning. These findings differ substantially from those that have been reported for primates before. First, the results reported here are on dialect and not on accent. Second, this study presents cases of production learning whereas most primate studies on vocal learning were cases of contextual learning. We conclude with speculating on how these findings might

  3. Mis-Match Limit Load Analyses and Fracture Mechanics Assessment for Welded Pipe with Circumferential Crack at the Center of Weldment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, Tae Kwang; Jeon, Jun Young; Shim, Kwang Bo; Kim, Yun Jae [Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jong Sung [Sunchon University, Suncheon (Korea, Republic of); Jin, Tae Eun [Korea Power Engineering Company, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-01-15

    In this paper, limit load analyses and fracture mechanics analyses were conducted via finite element analyses for the welded pipe with circumferential crack at the center of the weldment. Systematic changes for strength mismatch ratio, width of weldment, crack shape and thickness ratio of the pipe were considered to provide strength mismatch limit load. And J-integral calculations based on reference stress method were conducted for two materials, stainless steel and ferritic steel. Reference stress defined by provided strength mis-match limit load gives much more accurate J-integral.

  4. Training Opportunities and Employee Exhaustion in Call Centres: Mediation by Psychological Contract Fulfilment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambel, Maria Jose; Castanheira, Filipa

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study is to analyse psychological contract fulfilment as a mechanism through which training affects stress in call centres. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 412 call centre operators, using structural equation modelling to analyse their survey responses. Our results demonstrated that training is negatively related to…

  5. Valores Organizacionais e Valores do Trabalho: um estudo com operadores de call center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kely César Martins de Paiva

    Full Text Available Resumo Este estudo analisa como estão configurados os valores organizacionais e os valores do trabalho de operadores de um call center, situado em Belo Horizonte (MG. A análise em tal ambiente laboral, permeado por idiossincrasias, foi realizada por meio de pesquisa de campo, descritiva, com abordagens quantitativa e qualitativa, caracterizando uma triangulação metodológica. Os dados de 399 questionários foram tratados estatisticamente e os oriundos de 22 entrevistas foram submetidos à técnica de análise de conteúdo. Quanto aos valores organizacionais, percebeu-se uma predominância do valor “conformidade”, fato compreensível porque tal tipo de organização ser reconhecida pelo respeito às regras, posturas e modelos de comportamentos predefinidos. Em relação aos valores do trabalho, destacam-se os resultados relacionados a “estabilidade” e a “realização no trabalho”, pois são valores envolvidos na busca por segurança, adquirida por meio do trabalho, e por prazer e realização pessoal e profissional, respectivamente. O estudo tratou de dois construtos que ainda não haviam sido pesquisados conjuntamente e também contribuiu para a compreensão de particularidades do tipo de empresa abordada. Além disso, a triangulação possibilitou observar disparidades entre dados coletados por meio das técnicas diferenciadas, o que incita a continuidade e a expansão da pesquisa, tanto no que tange aos temas focalizados como aos contextos a ser investigados.

  6. The Association between Work-Related Stress and Autonomic Imbalance among Call Center Employees in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enoki, Mamiko; Maeda, Eri; Iwata, Toyoto; Murata, Katsuyuki

    2017-12-01

    There is little epidemiological evidence linking subjective stress to objective etiologic indicators. To clarify an association between work-related stress and autonomic nervous function, we examined call center employees (167 males and 371 females) undergoing electrocardiography (ECG) at the time of annual health checkups. The questionnaire was composed of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire based on the demand-control-support model and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale including detailed contents of home stress. The Bazett's corrected QT (QTc) interval, QT index, and heart rate were obtained from the ECG data. The male employees showed significantly higher scores of job demand, job control, and supervisor support than the female ones. In the male employees, QT index indicating the extent of autonomic imbalance and heart rate were associated with high score of supervisor support and low score of coworker support (P stress. By contrast, the female employees showed no significant links between any autonomic indicators and either work-related stress or home stress. These data suggest that work-related stress affected QT index in male employees suffering specific occupational stressors such as emotional abuse from unsatisfied customers. Specifically, supports from supervisors and coworkers were paradoxically associated with QT index, implying that supervisors may have failed to effectively support such male employees. Also, autonomic nervous function in male employees appears to be more vulnerable to work-related stress than that in female ones.

  7. Estrategias de un Call Center de telecomunicaciones para la mejora continua de la calidad con enfoque en la satisfacción del cliente.

    OpenAIRE

    Nolivos Balarezo, Jaime Danilo

    2012-01-01

    198 hojas : ilustraciones, 29 x 21 cm + CD-ROM 4168 El objetivo de esta tesis es definir las estrategias a seguir para el mejoramiento continuo de la calidad con enfoque en la satisfacción del cliente, que al aplicar en el Centro de Soporte de Datos de Movistar mejore los niveles de desempeño del personal y la imagen de la empresa frente a sus clientes. Capítulo 1. Introducción al Call Center, funcionamiento y factores críticos de éxito. Aspectos importantes de la empresa y descripción de ...

  8. A new stratification of mourning dove call-count routes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blankenship, L.H.; Humphrey, A.B.; MacDonald, D.

    1971-01-01

    The mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura) call-count survey is a nationwide audio-census of breeding mourning doves. Recent analyses of the call-count routes have utilized a stratification based upon physiographic regions of the United States. An analysis of 5 years of call-count data, based upon stratification using potential natural vegetation, has demonstrated that this uew stratification results in strata with greater homogeneity than the physiographic strata, provides lower error variance, and hence generates greatet precision in the analysis without an increase in call-count routes. Error variance was reduced approximately 30 percent for the contiguous United States. This indicates that future analysis based upon the new stratification will result in an increased ability to detect significant year-to-year changes.

  9. Institutional dynamic of the call center industry in Denmark and France

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Ole H.; Beraud, Mathieu; Colin, Thierry

    2005-01-01

    The call centre development is substantially increasing in the most part of industrialized countries. Coming to the fore and seeking for staff, this sector is still looking for benchmarks, especially in terms of employment. Currently it can be said that the sector is under construction since its ...... to the specific micro and meso dynamic of this emerging industry. We base on a part of the first results obtained in a research on low wage initiated by the Russell Rage Foundation. More precisely we use the results from sectoral survey....

  10. Leveraging management information in improving call centre productivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manthisana Mosese

    2016-04-01

    Objectives: This research explored the use of management information and its impact on two fundamental functions namely, improving productivity without compromising the quality of service, in the call centre of a well-known South African fashion retailer, Edcon. Following the implementation of the call centre technology project the research set out to determine how Edcon can transform their call centre to improve productivity and customer service through effective utilisation of their management information. Method: Internal documents and reports were analysed to provide the basis of evaluation between the measures of productivity prior to and post the implementation of a technology project at Edcon’s call centre. Semi-structured in-depth and group interviews were conducted to establish the importance and use of management information in improving productivity and customer service. Results: The results indicated that the availability of management information has indeed contributed to improved efficiency at the Edcon call centre. Although literature claims that there is a correlation between a call centre technology upgrade and improvement in performance, evident in the return on investment being realised within a year or two of implementation, it fell beyond the scope of this study to investigate the return on investment for Edcon’s call centre. Conclusion: Although Edcon has begun realising benefits in improved productivity in their call centre from their available management information, information will continue to play a crucial role in supporting management with informed decisions that will improve the call centre operations. [pdf to follow

  11. On-call work and physicians' turnover intention: the moderating effect of job strain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heponiemi, Tarja; Presseau, Justin; Elovainio, Marko

    2016-01-01

    Physician shortage and turnover are major problems worldwide. On-call duties may be among the risk factors of high turnover rates among physicians. We investigated whether having on-call duties is associated with physicians' turnover intention and whether job strain variables moderate this association. The present study was a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 3324 (61.6% women) Finnish physicians. The analyses were conducted using analyses of covariance adjusted for age, gender, response format, specialization status and employment sector. The results showed that job strain moderated the association between being on-call and turnover intention. The highest levels of turnover intention were among those who had on-call duties and high level of job strain characterized by high demands and low control opportunities. The lowest levels of turnover intention were among those who were not on-call and who had low strain involving low demands and high control. Also, job demands moderated the association between being on-call and turnover intention; turnover intention levels were higher among those with on-call duties and high demands than those being on-call and low demands. To conclude, working on-call was related to physicians' turnover intention particularly in those with high job strain. Health care organizations should focus more attention on working arrangements and scheduling of on-call work, provide a suitable working pace and implement means to increase physicians' participation and control over their job.

  12. The Collaborative Production of Responses and Dispatching on the Radio: Video Analysis in a Medical Emergency Call Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giolo Fele

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available What happens when someone rings an emergency hotline for help? How is the emergency handled? How does the emergency service swing into action? Prompt and competent intervention and assessment of the gravity of the situation in a few crucial seconds: these are the quality standards that regulate the organization of emergency operations centers. For a number of years various groups of social science researchers have carried forward a program for the systematic study of work using ethnographic and naturalistic methods of analysis. An interest in work is certainly nothing new in the social sciences, and in sociology in particular. What is new, though, is the particular analytical viewpoint from which such research is now conducted. This program has dispensed with large-scale theorization and has concentrated on the empirical study of activities and practices, achieving an unprecedented level of detail and analytical fineness. Indeed, only by proceeding at this fine level of detail—made possible by the use of videorecordings—has it been possible to document the extraordinary and subtle collaborative production of work, and to do so at a level which extends well beyond the conscious awareness of people in their everyday routine. This aspect concerns in particular the capacity of the latest generation of studies of work to document the tacit procedures and forms of common-sense reasoning involved in the performance of tasks in concrete work settings. This paper focuses on the ways in which the dispatch is done in a medical emergency operation center. Although we know a great deal about the interaction between caller and call-taker from previous research, we know much less about the social organization that makes the dispatch possible. The data analyzed in this paper derive from a research project in which I have been engaged for a number of years on operation centers for the 118 emergency telephone number in Italy. Contrasting the data obtained

  13. Effect of bystander CPR initiation prior to the emergency call on ROSC and 30day survival

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Viereck, Søren; Palsgaard Møller, Thea; Kjær Ersbøll, Annette

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: This study aimed at evaluating if time for initiation of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) - prior to the emergency call (CPRprior) versus during the emergency call following dispatcher-assisted CPR (CPRduring) - was associated with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC...... and corresponding emergency calls were evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to evaluate the association between time for initiation of bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival. Univariable logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of CPRprior. RESULTS: The study...... included 548 emergency calls for OHCA patients receiving bystander CPR, 34.9% (n=191) in the CPRpriorgroup and 65.1% (n=357) in the CPRduringgroup. Multivariable analyses showed no difference in ROSC (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.56-1.38) or 30-day survival (OR=1.14, 95% CI: 0.68-1.92) between CPRpriorand CPRduring...

  14. SNP calling using genotype model selection on high-throughput sequencing data

    KAUST Repository

    You, Na

    2012-01-16

    Motivation: A review of the available single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) calling procedures for Illumina high-throughput sequencing (HTS) platform data reveals that most rely mainly on base-calling and mapping qualities as sources of error when calling SNPs. Thus, errors not involved in base-calling or alignment, such as those in genomic sample preparation, are not accounted for.Results: A novel method of consensus and SNP calling, Genotype Model Selection (GeMS), is given which accounts for the errors that occur during the preparation of the genomic sample. Simulations and real data analyses indicate that GeMS has the best performance balance of sensitivity and positive predictive value among the tested SNP callers. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  15. Heart rate variability changes in physicians working on night call.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malmberg, Birgitta; Persson, Roger; Flisberg, Per; Ørbaek, Palle

    2011-03-01

    Adverse effects by night-call duty have become an important occupational health issue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the heart rate variability (HRV) differed during recovery from day work and night-call duty between distinct physician specialities. We studied the impact of a 16-h night-call duty on autonomic balance, measured by HRV, among two physician groups differing with respect to having to deal with life-threatening conditions while on call. Nineteen anaesthesiologists (ANEST) and 16 paediatricians and ear, nose and throat surgeons (PENT) were monitored by ambulatory digital Holter electrocardiogram (ECG). Heart rate variability was analysed between 21:00 and 22:00 after an ordinary workday, on night call and in the evening post-call. Absolute and normalized high-frequency power (HF, HFnu) were the main outcome variables, expressing parasympathetic influence on the heart. ANEST had lower HF power than PENT while on night call and post-daytime work (p work compared with post-night-call duty (p balance and did not differ between specialities. However, the less dynamic HRV after daytime work and during night-call duty in the ANEST group may indicate a higher physiological stress level. These results may contribute to the improvement of night-call schedules within the health care sector.

  16. Hospital emergency on-call coverage: is there a doctor in the house?

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Malley, Ann S; Draper, Debra A; Felland, Laurie E

    2007-11-01

    The nation's community hospitals face increasing problems obtaining emergency on-call coverage from specialist physicians, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2007 site visits to 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities. The diminished willingness of specialist physicians to provide on-call coverage is occurring as hospital emergency departments confront an ever-increasing demand for services. Factors influencing physician reluctance to provide on-call coverage include decreased dependence on hospital admitting privileges as more services shift to non-hospital settings; payment for emergency care, especially for uninsured patients; and medical liability concerns. Hospital strategies to secure on-call coverage include enforcing hospital medical staff bylaws that require physicians to take call, contracting with physicians to provide coverage, paying physicians stipends, and employing physicians. Nonetheless, many hospitals continue to struggle with inadequate on-call coverage, which threatens patients' timely access to high-quality emergency care and may raise health care costs.

  17. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) US daily temperature analyses

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The U.S. daily temperature analyses are maps depicting various temperature quantities utilizing daily maximum and minimum temperature data across the US. Maps are...

  18. An Environment for Analyzing Space Optimizations in Call-by-Need Functional Languages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Dallmeyer

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We present an implementation of an interpreter LRPi for the call-by-need calculus LRP, based on a variant of Sestoft's abstract machine Mark 1, extended with an eager garbage collector. It is used as a tool for exact space usage analyses as a support for our investigations into space improvements of call-by-need calculi.

  19. Las fábricas de la charla en Chile: apuntes preliminares sobre la materialidad y la subjetividad del trabajo en los call centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Areli Escobar Salazar

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo expone los resultados preliminares de la investigación doctoral en Antropología, orientada a conocer la materialidad y la subjetividad del trabajo de los call centers en Chile. Un salario definido por metas inalcanzables, el maltrato, el cansancio de nuevo tipo, la doble extracción del valor productivo y reproductivo de las mujeres trabajadoras y su entorno familiar, la explotación de las capacidades subjetivas, entre otros aspectos, dan cuenta de las nuevas formas que asume la precarización del trabajo. Las fábricas de la charla en Chile son un claro ejemplo de las formas que asume la organización del trabajo en el escenario laboral contemporáneo.

  20. Voice over IP phone calls from your smartphone

    CERN Multimedia

    2014-01-01

    All CERN users do have a Lync account (see here) and can use Instant Messaging, presence and other features. In addition, if your number is activated on Lync IP Phone(1) system then you can make standard phone calls from your computer (Windows/Mac).   Recently, we upgraded the infrastructure to Lync 2013. One of the major features is the possibility to make Voice over IP phone calls from a smartphone using your CERN standard phone number (not mobile!). Install Lync 2013 on iPhone/iPad, Android or Windows Phone, connect to WiFi network and make phone calls as if you were in your office. There will be no roaming charges because you will be using WiFi to connect to CERN phone system(2). Register here to the presentation on Tuesday 29 April at 11 a.m. in the Technical Training Center and see the most exciting features of Lync 2013.   Looking forward to seeing you! The Lync team (1) How to register on Lync IP Phone system: http://information-technology.web.cern.ch/book/lync-ip-phone-serv...

  1. Variation in chick-a-dee calls of tufted titmice, Baeolophus bicolor: note type and individual distinctiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owens, Jessica L; Freeberg, Todd M

    2007-08-01

    The chick-a-dee call of chickadee species (genus Poecile) has been the focus of much research. A great deal is known about the structural complexity and the meaning of variation in notes making up calls in these species. However, little is known about the likely homologous "chick-a-dee" call of the closely related tufted titmouse, Baeolophus bicolor. Tufted titmice are a prime candidate for comparative analyses of the call, because their vocal and social systems share many characteristics with those of chickadees. To address the paucity of data on the structure of chick-a-dee calls of tufted titmice, we recorded birds in field and aviary settings. Four main note types were identified in the call: Z, A, D(h), and D notes. Several acoustic parameters of each note type were measured, and statistical analyses revealed that the note types are acoustically distinct from one another. Furthermore, note types vary in the extent of individual distinctiveness reflected in their acoustic parameters. This first step towards understanding the chick-a-dee call of tufted titmice indicates that the call is comparable in structure and complexity to the calls of chickadees.

  2. Recognising out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during emergency calls increases bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and survival

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Viereck, Søren; Møller, Thea Palsgaard; Ersbøll, Annette Kjær

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Initiation of early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) depends on bystanders' or medical dispatchers' recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The primary aim of our study was to investigate if OHCA recognition during the emergency call was associated...... with bystander CPR, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 30-day survival. Our secondary aim was to identify patient-, setting-, and dispatcher-related predictors of OHCA recognition. METHODS: We performed an observational study of all OHCA patients' emergency calls in the Capital Region of Denmark from...... the association between OHCA recognition and bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival. Univariable logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of OHCA recognition. RESULTS: We included 779 emergency calls in the analyses. During the emergency calls, 70.1% (n=534) of OHCAs were recognised...

  3. When seconds count: A study of communication variables in the opening segment of emergency calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penn, Claire; Koole, Tom; Nattrass, Rhona

    2017-09-01

    The opening sequence of an emergency call influences the efficiency of the ambulance dispatch time. The greeting sequences in 105 calls to a South African emergency service were analysed. Initial results suggested the advantage of a specific two-part opening sequence. An on-site experiment aimed at improving call efficiency was conducted during one shift (1100 calls). Results indicated reduced conversational repairs and a significant reduction of 4 seconds in mean call length. Implications for systems and training are derived.

  4. Internal and external quasicrystal inflation center and their scaling factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masakova, Z.; Patera, J.; Pelantova, E.

    1998-01-01

    The properties of quasicrystals of the cut and project type - namely, self-similarities or so-called inflation properties - are studied. A complete description is given for centers of the scaling symmetry of a quasicrystal, and the relevant scaling factors are determined for each 'inflation center'. If the center is a quasicrystal point, it is called an 'internal inflation center'; otherwise, it is an 'external' one. It turns out that, for any quasicrystal point u, the set of appropriate scaling factors is a u-dependent one-dimensional quasicrystal. There are infinitely many scaling factors common to all internal inflation centers. The description of external inflation centers, which are plentiful in any quasicrystal, is a slight modification of a similar description for the interval ones

  5. Effects of international football matches on ambulance call profiles and volumes during the 2006 World Cup.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deakin, Charles D; Thompson, Fizz; Gibson, Caroline; Green, Mark

    2007-06-01

    Prompt ambulance attendance is aimed at improving patient care. With finite resources struggling to meet performance targets, unforeseen demand precludes the ability to tailor resources to cope with increased call volumes, and can have a marked detrimental effect on performance and hence patient care. The effects of the 2006 World Cup football matches on call volumes and profiles were analysed to understand how public events can influence demands on the ambulance service. All emergency calls to the Hampshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (currently the Hampshire Division of South Central Ambulance Service, Winchester, UK) during the first weekend of the 2006 World Cup football matches were analysed by call volume and classification of call (call type). On the day of the first football match, call volume was over 50% higher than that on a typical Saturday, with distinct peaks before and after the inaugural match. Call profile analysis showed increases in alcohol-related emergencies, including collapse, unconsciousness, assault and road traffic accidents. The increase in assaults was particularly marked at the end of each match and increased again into the late evening. A detailed mapping of call volumes and profiles during the World Cup football shows a significant increase in overall emergency calls, mostly alcohol related. Mapping of limited resources to these patterns will allow improved responses to emergency calls.

  6. Recognising out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during emergency calls increases bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and survival.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viereck, Søren; Møller, Thea Palsgaard; Ersbøll, Annette Kjær; Bækgaard, Josefine Stokholm; Claesson, Andreas; Hollenberg, Jacob; Folke, Fredrik; Lippert, Freddy K

    2017-06-01

    Initiation of early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) depends on bystanders' or medical dispatchers' recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The primary aim of our study was to investigate if OHCA recognition during the emergency call was associated with bystander CPR, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 30-day survival. Our secondary aim was to identify patient-, setting-, and dispatcher-related predictors of OHCA recognition. We performed an observational study of all OHCA patients' emergency calls in the Capital Region of Denmark from 01/01/2013-31/12/2013. OHCAs were collected from the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry and the Mobile Critical Care Unit database. Emergency call recordings were identified and evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to all OHCAs and witnessed OHCAs only to analyse the association between OHCA recognition and bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival. Univariable logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of OHCA recognition. We included 779 emergency calls in the analyses. During the emergency calls, 70.1% (n=534) of OHCAs were recognised; OHCA recognition was positively associated with bystander CPR (odds ratio [OR]=7.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.10-12.05) in all OHCAs; and ROSC (OR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.13-3.06) and 30-day survival (OR=2.80, 95% CI: 1.58-4.96) in witnessed OHCA. Predictors of OHCA recognition were addressing breathing (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.17-2.66) and callers located by the patient's side (OR=2.16, 95% CI: 1.46-3.19). Recognition of OHCA during emergency calls was positively associated with the provision of bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival in witnessed OHCA. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Are there high-risk groups among physicians that are more vulnerable to on-call work?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heponiemi, Tarja; Aalto, Anna-Mari; Pekkarinen, Laura; Siuvatti, Eeva; Elovainio, Marko

    2015-05-01

    Work done in the emergency departments is one stressful aspect of physicians' work. Numerous previous studies have highlighted the stressfulness of on-call work and especially of night on call. In addition, previous studies suggest that there may be individual differences in adjusting to changes in circadian rhythms and on-call work. The objective of this study was to examine whether physicians' on-call work is associated with perceived work-related stress factors and job resources and whether there are groups that are more vulnerable to on-call work according to sex, age, and specialization status. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 3230 Finnish physicians (61.5% women). The analyses were conducted using analyses of covariance adjusted for sex, age, specialization status, and employment sector. Physicians with on-call duties had more time pressure and stress related to team work and patient information systems compared with those who did not have on-call duties. In addition, they had less job control opportunities and experienced organization as less fair and team climate as worse. Older physicians and specialists seemed to be especially vulnerable to on-call work regarding stress factors, whereas younger and specialist trainees seemed vulnerable to on-call work regarding job resources. Focusing on team issues and resources is important for younger physicians and trainees having on-call duties, whereas for older and specialists, attention should be focused on actual work load and time pressure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Insights into N-calls of mitochondrial DNA sequencing using MitoChip v2.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blakely Emma L

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Developments in DNA resequencing microarrays include mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA sequencing and mutation detection. Failure by the microarray to identify a base, compared to the reference sequence, is designated an 'N-call.' This study re-examined the N-call distribution of mtDNA samples sequenced by the Affymetrix MitoChip v.2.0, based on the hypothesis that N-calls may represent insertions or deletions (indels in mtDNA. Findings We analysed 16 patient mtDNA samples using MitoChip. N-calls by the proprietary GSEQ software were significantly reduced when either of the freeware on-line algorithms ResqMi or sPROFILER was utilized. With sPROFILER, this decrease in N-calls had no effect on the homoplasmic or heteroplasmic mutation levels compared to GSEQ software, but ResqMi produced a significant change in mutation load, as well as producing longer N-cell stretches. For these reasons, further analysis using ResqMi was not attempted. Conventional DNA sequencing of the longer N-calls stretches from sPROFILER revealed 7 insertions and 12 point mutations. Moreover, analysis of single-base N-calls of one mtDNA sample found 3 other point mutations. Conclusions Our study is the first to analyse N-calls produced from GSEQ software for the MitoChipv2.0. By narrowing the focus to longer stretches of N-calls revealed by sPROFILER, conventional sequencing was able to identify unique insertions and point mutations. Shorter N-calls also harboured point mutations, but the absence of deletions among N-calls suggests that probe confirmation affects binding and thus N-calling. This study supports the contention that the GSEQ is more capable of assigning bases when used in conjunction with sPROFILER.

  9. Barriers and opportunities in assessing calls to emergency medical communication centre--a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindström, Veronica; Heikkilä, Kristiina; Bohm, Katarina; Castrèn, Maaret; Falk, Ann-Charlotte

    2014-11-11

    Previous studies have described the difficulties and the complexity of assessing an emergency call, and assessment protocols intended to support the emergency medical dispatcher's (EMD) assessment have been developed and evaluated in recent years. At present, the EMD identifies about 50-70 % of patients suffering from cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction or stroke. The previous research has primarily been focused on specific conditions, and it is still unclear whether there are any overall factors that may influence the assessment of the call to the emergency medical communication centre (EMCC). The aim of the study was to identify overall factors influencing the registered nurses' (RNs) assessment of calls to the EMCC. A qualitative study design was used; a purposeful selection of calls to the EMCC was analysed by content analysis. One hundred calls to the EMCC were analysed. Barriers and opportunities related to the RN or the caller were identified as the main factors influencing the RN's assessment of calls to the EMCC. The opportunities appeared in the callers' symptom description and the communication strategies used by the RN. The barriers appeared in callers' descriptions of unclear symptoms, paradoxes and the RN's lack of communication strategies during the call. Barriers in assessing the call to the EMCC were associated with contradictory information, the absence of a primary problem, or the structure of the call. Opportunities were associated with a clear symptom description that was also repeated, and the RN's use of different communication strategies such as closed loop communication.

  10. What Do Monkey Calls Mean?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlenker, Philippe; Chemla, Emmanuel; Zuberbühler, Klaus

    2016-12-01

    A field of primate linguistics is gradually emerging. It combines general questions and tools from theoretical linguistics with rich data gathered in experimental primatology. Analyses of several monkey systems have uncovered very simple morphological and syntactic rules and have led to the development of a primate semantics that asks new questions about the division of semantic labor between the literal meaning of monkey calls, additional mechanisms of pragmatic enrichment, and the environmental context. We show that comparative studies across species may validate this program and may in some cases help in reconstructing the evolution of monkey communication over millions of years. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  11. CoVaCS: a consensus variant calling system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiara, Matteo; Gioiosa, Silvia; Chillemi, Giovanni; D'Antonio, Mattia; Flati, Tiziano; Picardi, Ernesto; Zambelli, Federico; Horner, David Stephen; Pesole, Graziano; Castrignanò, Tiziana

    2018-02-05

    The advent and ongoing development of next generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has led to a rapid increase in the rate of human genome re-sequencing data, paving the way for personalized genomics and precision medicine. The body of genome resequencing data is progressively increasing underlining the need for accurate and time-effective bioinformatics systems for genotyping - a crucial prerequisite for identification of candidate causal mutations in diagnostic screens. Here we present CoVaCS, a fully automated, highly accurate system with a web based graphical interface for genotyping and variant annotation. Extensive tests on a gold standard benchmark data-set -the NA12878 Illumina platinum genome- confirm that call-sets based on our consensus strategy are completely in line with those attained by similar command line based approaches, and far more accurate than call-sets from any individual tool. Importantly our system exhibits better sensitivity and higher specificity than equivalent commercial software. CoVaCS offers optimized pipelines integrating state of the art tools for variant calling and annotation for whole genome sequencing (WGS), whole-exome sequencing (WES) and target-gene sequencing (TGS) data. The system is currently hosted at Cineca, and offers the speed of a HPC computing facility, a crucial consideration when large numbers of samples must be analysed. Importantly, all the analyses are performed automatically allowing high reproducibility of the results. As such, we believe that CoVaCS can be a valuable tool for the analysis of human genome resequencing studies. CoVaCS is available at: https://bioinformatics.cineca.it/covacs .

  12. Paediatric medical emergency calls to a Danish Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Kasper; Mikkelsen, Søren; Jørgensen, Gitte

    2018-01-01

    with a supporting physician-manned mobile emergency care unit (56.4%). The classification of medical issues and the dispatched pre-hospital units varied with patient age. DISCUSSION: We believe our results might help focus the paediatric training received by emergency medical dispatch staff on commonly encountered......BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding paediatric medical emergency calls to Danish Emergency Medical Dispatch Centres (EMDC). This study aimed to investigate these calls, specifically the medical issues leading to them and the pre-hospital units dispatched to the paediatric emergencies. METHODS: We...... records to establish how the medical issues leading to these calls were classified and which pre-hospital units were dispatched to the paediatric emergencies. We analysed the data using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of a total of 7052 emergency calls in February 2016, 485 (6.9%) concerned patients ≤ 15...

  13. The contribution which committed lay persons are called to give in public life.

    OpenAIRE

    Franco, Fernando; Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice; Pastoral Formation Institute

    2009-01-01

    A talk organised by the Jesuit Center for Faith and Justice in collaboration with the Pastoral Formation Institute entitled: The contribution which committed lay persons are called to give in public life. This talk is delivered by Fr Fermando Franco.

  14. Determinants of U.S. poison center utilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litovitz, Toby; Benson, Blaine E; Youniss, Jessica; Metz, Edward

    2010-06-01

    High poison center utilization has been associated with decreased emergency department usage and hospitalization rates. However, utilization requires awareness of the poison center. Penetrance, defined as the number of human poison exposures reported to a poison center per 1,000 population, has been used as a marker of poison center awareness. To identify factors that influence poison center penetrance to optimize the life- and cost-saving benefits of poison control centers. Human poison exposures that were reported to the National Poison Data System in 2001 were analyzed to identify and rank factors affecting poison center penetrance. Overall penetrance correlated with pediatric penetrance (R(2) = 0.75, p poison center that were already in or en route to a healthcare facility at the time of the call to the poison center (R(2) = 0.41, p poison center service populations were associated with lower penetrance (R(2) = 0.23, p poison center (multiple regression). Positive predictors included the percentage of the population younger than 5 years, the percentage of the adult population with a bachelor's degree, poison center certification, poison center educator FTEs (full time equivalents), Asian population percentage, and population density. The inverse correlation between pediatric penetrance and healthcare facility utilization supports prior observations of excessive healthcare utilization when a poison center is not called. Since race, language and distance are barriers to poison center utilization, and since healthcare utilization increases when poison center penetrance declines, low penetrance suggests a lack of awareness of the poison center rather than a low incidence of poisonings. Strategies to raise penetrance should be informed by an understanding of the barriers to utilization - language, Black/African American race, distance from the poison center, poverty, and lower education levels.

  15. Responses of squirrel monkeys to their experimentally modified mobbing calls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fichtel, Claudia; Hammerschmidt, Kurt

    2003-05-01

    Previous acoustic analyses suggested emotion-correlated changes in the acoustic structure of squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) vocalizations. Specifically, calls given in aversive contexts were characterized by an upward shift in frequencies, often accompanied by an increase in amplitude. In order to test whether changes in frequencies or amplitude are indeed relevant for conspecific listeners, playback experiments were conducted in which either frequencies or amplitude of mobbing calls were modified. Latency and first orienting response were measured in playback experiments with six adult squirrel monkeys. After broadcasting yaps with increased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a longer orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding control stimuli. Furthermore, after broadcasting yaps with decreased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a shorter orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding manipulated calls with higher frequencies or amplitude. These results suggest that changes in frequencies or amplitude were perceived by squirrel monkeys, indicating that the relationship between call structure and the underlying affective state of the caller agreed with the listener's assessment of the calls. However, a simultaneous increase in frequencies and amplitude did not lead to an enhanced response, compared to each single parameter. Thus, from the receiver's perspective, both call parameters may mutually replace each other.

  16. When seconds count : A study of communication variables in the opening segment of emergency calls

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Penn, Claire; Koole, Tom; Natrass, Rhona

    2017-01-01

    The opening sequence of an emergency call influences the efficiency of the ambulance dispatch time. The greeting sequences in 105 calls to a South African emergency service were analysed. Initial results suggested the advantage of a specific two-part opening sequence. An on-site experiment aimed at

  17. Universal centers in the cubic trigonometric Abel equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaume Giné

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available We study the center problem for the trigonometric Abel equation $d \\rho/ d \\theta= a_1 (\\theta \\rho^2 + a_2(\\theta \\rho^3,$ where $a_1(\\theta$ and $a_2(\\theta$ are cubic trigonometric polynomials in $\\theta$. This problem is closely connected with the classical Poincaré center problem for planar polynomial vector fields. A particular class of centers, the so-called universal centers or composition centers, is taken into account. An example of non-universal center and a characterization of all the universal centers for such equation are provided.

  18. On-call work and physicians' well-being: testing the potential mediators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heponiemi, T; Puttonen, S; Elovainio, M

    2014-07-01

    On-call duties have been rated to be among the most stressful aspects of physicians' work. On-call work has been associated, for example, with medical errors, injuries and lower well-being. Thus, because it is not possible to remove on-call duties, measures to decrease the negative ramifications of on-call work are needed. To examine whether working on-call would predict psychological distress, job satisfaction and work ability in a 4-year follow-up and whether sleeping problems or work interference with family (WIF) would act as mechanisms in these associations. Questionnaires in 2006 and 2010 among physicians in Finland. The mediation analyses were conducted using methods suggested by Preacher and Hayes to examine direct and indirect effects with multiple mediators. There were 1541 respondents (60% women) of whom 52% had on-call duties. Sleeping problems and WIF acted as mechanisms in the association of existence of on-call duties with high distress, low job satisfaction and low work ability. On-call work was associated with higher levels of sleeping problems and WIF, and the number of active on-call hours was associated with higher levels of WIF, but not with sleeping problems. According to our results, one way to attenuate on-call work's negative ramifications is to make it easier for on-call physicians to connect work and family lives and develop work arrangements to promote better sleep and protected sleep time. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... programming in the mobile unit that determines the handling of a non-911 call and permit the call to be... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

  20. Poison control center - emergency number

    Science.gov (United States)

    For a POISON EMERGENCY call: 1-800-222-1222 ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES This national hotline number will let you ... is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the United States use this ...

  1. Paediatric medical emergency calls to a Danish Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre: a retrospective, observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Kasper; Mikkelsen, Søren; Jørgensen, Gitte; Zwisler, Stine Thorhauge

    2018-01-05

    Little is known regarding paediatric medical emergency calls to Danish Emergency Medical Dispatch Centres (EMDC). This study aimed to investigate these calls, specifically the medical issues leading to them and the pre-hospital units dispatched to the paediatric emergencies. We performed a retrospective, observational study on paediatric medical emergency calls managed by the EMDC in the Region of Southern Denmark in February 2016. We reviewed audio recordings of emergency calls and ambulance records to identify calls concerning patients ≤ 15 years. We examined EMDC dispatch records to establish how the medical issues leading to these calls were classified and which pre-hospital units were dispatched to the paediatric emergencies. We analysed the data using descriptive statistics. Of a total of 7052 emergency calls in February 2016, 485 (6.9%) concerned patients ≤ 15 years. We excluded 19 and analysed the remaining 466. The reported medical issues were commonly classified as: "seizures" (22.1%), "sick child" (18.9%) and "unclear problem" (12.9%). The overall most common pre-hospital response was immediate dispatch of an ambulance with sirens and lights with a supporting physician-manned mobile emergency care unit (56.4%). The classification of medical issues and the dispatched pre-hospital units varied with patient age. We believe our results might help focus the paediatric training received by emergency medical dispatch staff on commonly encountered medical issues, such as the symptoms and conditions pertaining to the symptom categories "seizures" and "sick child". Furthermore, the results could prove useful in hypothesis generation for future studies examining paediatric medical emergency calls. Almost 7% of all calls concerned patients ≤ 15 years. Medical issues pertaining to the symptom categories "seizures", "sick child" and "unclear problem" were common and the calls commonly resulted in urgent pre-hospital responses.

  2. Annual Report of Recorded Phone Calls to Iran's Drug and Poison Information Centers (2014-2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talat Ghane

    2015-09-01

    Conclusion: Iranian people seems to have numerous unmet drug information needs. This may especially be the case for antibiotics, nutrients and anti-depressants. Pharmaceutical products are the main subjects of poisoning-related calls to DPICs in Iran. Public education on usage, safety and storage of drugs as well as strict terms of sale should be implemented.

  3. Performance of 2000CA/LL and 2260XL liquid scintillation spectrometers for low-level tritium and carbon-14 analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rozanski, K.; Stichler, W.; Schwarz, P.

    1991-01-01

    The performance of two commercially available liquid scintillation spectrometers for low-level counting of 3 H and 14 C has been investigated. Two models of new technology Tri-Carb spectrometers from the Packard Instrument Company were tested: the 2000CA/LL and 2260XL. The measurements revealed a superior 3 H performance of the 2000CA/LL equipment owing to its substantially higher counting efficiency. Results for 14 C are less conclusive and depend on the configuration of the counting parameters selected. A comparison of three commercially available scintillation cocktails for tritium assay in water samples revealed a superior performance for PicoFluor LLT. (Author)

  4. Investigação e análise dos processos de gestão da informação em uma empresa do setor de call centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Augusto Andrade

    Full Text Available Este trabalho investiga e analisa as práticas e os processos de gestão estratégica informacional implementados em um call center, embasando-se em quatro categorias analíticas: determinação de exigências informacionais, obtenção, disseminação e uso de informações. Múltiplas fontes de evidências foram utilizadas, como quatorze entrevistas semi-estruturadas, pesquisa documental e observação direta. Os resultados apontaram para a inexistência de uma estrutura legítima de gestão estratégica da informação, e evidenciaram a distância entre o discurso e a prática vigente.

  5. 76 FR 9354 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-17

    ...: Center for Scientific Review Special Emphasis Panel; Member Conflict: Cancer Biology and Therapy. Date... (Telephone Conference Call). Contact Person: Fouad A. El-Zaatari, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Center for...

  6. Multidisciplinary Geo-scientific Hazard Analyses: Istanbul Microzonation Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kara, Sema; Baş, Mahmut; Kılıç, Osman; Tarih, Ahmet; Yahya Menteşe, Emin; Duran, Kemal

    2017-04-01

    Istanbul (Turkey) is located on the west edge of North Anatolia Fault and hence is an earthquake prone city with a population that exceeds 15 million people. In addition, the city is still growing as center of commerce, tourism and culture that increases the exposure more and more. During the last decade, although Istanbul grew faster than ever in its history, precautions against a possible earthquake have also increased steadily. The two big earthquakes (in Kocaeli and Duzce Provinces) occurred in 1999 alongside Istanbul and these events became the trigger events that accelerated the disaster risk reduction activities in Istanbul. Following a loss estimation study carried out by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2001 and Istanbul Earthquake Master Plan prepared by four major universities' researchers in 2003; it was evaluated that understanding and analyzing the geological structure in Istanbul was the main concern. Thereafter Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Directorate of Earthquake and Ground Research (DEGRE) carried out two major geo-scientific studies called "microzonation studies" covering 650 km2 of Istanbul's urbanized areas between 2006 and 2009. The studies were called "microzonation" because the analysis resolution was as dense as 250m grids and included various assessments on hazards such as ground shaking, liquefaction, karstification, landslide, flooding, and surface faulting. After the evaluation of geological, geotechnical and geophysical measurements; Earthquake and Tsunami Hazard Maps for all Istanbul, slope, engineering geology, ground water level, faulting, ground shaking, inundation, shear wave velocity and soil classification maps for the project areas were obtained. In the end "Land Suitability Maps" are derived from the combination of inputs using multi-hazard approach. As a result, microzonation is tool for risk oriented urban planning; consisting of interdisciplinary multi-hazard risk analyses. The outputs of

  7. [Bioacoustic of the advertisement call of Ceratophrys cranwelli (Anura: Ceratophryidae)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valetti, Julián Alonso; Salas, Nancy Edith; Martino, Adolfo Ludovico

    2013-03-01

    The advertisement call plays an important role in the life history of anuran amphibians, mainly during the breeding season. Call features represent an important character to discriminate species, and sound emissions are very effective to assure or reinforce genetic incompatibility, especially in the case of sibling species. Since frogs are ectotherms, acoustic properties of their calls will vary with temperature. In this study, we described the advertisement call of C. cranwelli, quantifying the temperature effect on its components. The acoustic emissions were recorded during 2007 using a DAT record Sony TCD-100 with stereo microphone ECM-MS907 Sony and tape TDK DAT-RGX 60. As males emit their calls floating in temporary ponds, water temperatures were registered after recording the advertisement calls with a digital thermometer TES 1300+/-0.1 degreeC. Altogether, 54 calls from 18 males were analyzed. The temporal variables of each advertisement call were measured using oscillograms and sonograms and the analyses of dominant frequency were performed using a spectrogram. Multiple correlation analysis was used to identify the temperature-dependent acoustic variables and the temperature effect on these variables was quantified using linear regression models. The advertisement call of C. cranwelli consists of a single pulse group. Call duration, Pulse duration and Pulse interval decreased with the temperature, whereas the Pulse rate increased with temperature. The temperature-dependent variables were standardized at 25 degreeC according to the linear regression model obtained. The acoustic variables that were correlated with the temperature are the variables which emissions depend on laryngeal muscles and the temperature constraints the contractile properties of muscles. Our results indicated that temperature explains an important fraction of the variability in some acoustic variables (79% in the Pulse rate), and demonstrated the importance of considering the effect of

  8. Spatial analyses identify the geographic source of patients at a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Shu-Chih; Kanarek, Norma; Fox, Michael G; Guseynova, Alla; Crow, Shirley; Piantadosi, Steven

    2010-02-01

    We examined the geographic distribution of patients to better understand the service area of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, a designated National Cancer Institute (NCI) comprehensive cancer center located in an urban center. Like most NCI cancer centers, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center serves a population beyond city limits. Urban cancer centers are expected to serve their immediate neighborhoods and to address disparities in access to specialty care. Our purpose was to learn the extent and nature of the cancer center service area. Statistical clustering of patient residence in the continental United States was assessed for all patients and by gender, cancer site, and race using SaTScan. Primary clusters detected for all cases and demographically and tumor-defined subpopulations were centered at Baltimore City and consisted of adjacent counties in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey and New York, and the District of Columbia. Primary clusters varied in size by race, gender, and cancer site. Spatial analysis can provide insights into the populations served by urban cancer centers, assess centers' performance relative to their communities, and aid in developing a cancer center business plan that recognizes strengths, regional utility, and referral patterns. Today, 62 NCI cancer centers serve a quarter of the U.S. population in their immediate communities. From the Baltimore experience, we might project that the population served by these centers is actually more extensive and varies by patient characteristics, cancer site, and probably cancer center services offered.

  9. 77 FR 64314 - National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-19

    ...-01] National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and... of interest in collaborating with NIST/ITL on an ongoing basis in the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) through partnerships called ``National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnerships...

  10. Perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction: testing a moderated, multiple mediator model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Ryan D; Bott, Elizabeth M; Allan, Blake A; Torrey, Carrie L; Dik, Bryan J

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated the relations of perceiving a calling with career commitment and work meaning, such that these relations were more robust for those with a stronger sense they were living their calling. Additionally, a moderated, multiple mediator model was run to examine the mediating role of career commitment and work meaning in the relation of perceiving a calling and job satisfaction, while accounting for the moderating role of living a calling. Results indicated that work meaning and career commitment fully mediated the relation between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. However, the indirect effects of work meaning and career commitment were only significant for individuals with high levels of living a calling, indicating the importance of living a calling in the link between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  11. Poison control center - Emergency number (image)

    Science.gov (United States)

    For a poison emergency call 1-800-222-1222 anywhere in the United States. This national hotline number will let you ... is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the U.S. use this national ...

  12. Scalable Open Science Approach for Mutation Calling of Tumor Exomes Using Multiple Genomic Pipelines

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ellrott, Kyle; Bailey, Matthew H.; Saksena, Gordon; Covington, Kyle R.; Kandoth, Cyriac; Stewart, Chip; Hess, Julian; Ma, Singer; Chiotti, Kami E.; McLellan, Michael; Sofia, Heidi J.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Getz, Gad; Wheeler, David A.; Ding, Li; Caesar-Johnson, Samantha J.; Demchok, John A.; Felau, Ina; Kasapi, Melpomeni; Ferguson, Martin L.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Sofia, Heidi J.; Tarnuzzer, Roy; Wang, Zhining; Yang, Liming; Zenklusen, Jean C.; Zhang, Jiashan (Julia); Chudamani, Sudha; Liu, Jia; Lolla, Laxmi; Naresh, Rashi; Pihl, Todd; Sun, Qiang; Wan, Yunhu; Wu, Ye; Cho, Juok; DeFreitas, Timothy; Frazer, Scott; Gehlenborg, Nils; Getz, Gad; Heiman, David I.; Kim, Jaegil; Lawrence, Michael S.; Lin, Pei; Meier, Sam; Noble, Michael S.; Saksena, Gordon; Voet, Doug; Zhang, Hailei; Bernard, Brady; Chambwe, Nyasha; Dhankani, Varsha; Knijnenburg, Theo; Kramer, Roger; Leinonen, Kalle; Liu, Yuexin; Miller, Michael; Reynolds, Sheila; Shmulevich, Ilya; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Zhang, Wei; Akbani, Rehan; Broom, Bradley M.; Hegde, Apurva M.; Ju, Zhenlin; Kanchi, Rupa S.; Korkut, Anil; Li, Jun; Liang, Han; Ling, Shiyun; Liu, Wenbin; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon B.; Ng, Kwok Shing; Rao, Arvind; Ryan, Michael; Wang, Jing; Weinstein, John N.; Zhang, Jiexin; Abeshouse, Adam; Armenia, Joshua; Chakravarty, Debyani; Chatila, Walid K.; de Bruijn, Ino; Gao, Jianjiong; Gross, Benjamin E.; Heins, Zachary J.; Kundra, Ritika; La, Konnor; Ladanyi, Marc; Luna, Augustin; Nissan, Moriah G.; Ochoa, Angelica; Phillips, Sarah M.; Reznik, Ed; Sanchez-Vega, Francisco; Sander, Chris; Schultz, Nikolaus; Sheridan, Robert; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Taylor, Barry S.; Wang, Jioajiao; Zhang, Hongxin; Anur, Pavana; Peto, Myron; Spellman, Paul; Benz, Christopher; Stuart, Joshua M.; Wong, Christopher K.; Yau, Christina; Hayes, D. Neil; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Ally, Adrian; Balasundaram, Miruna; Bowlby, Reanne; Brooks, Denise; Carlsen, Rebecca; Chuah, Eric; Dhalla, Noreen; Holt, Robert; Jones, Steven J.M.; Kasaian, Katayoon; Lee, Darlene; Ma, Yussanne; Marra, Marco A.; Mayo, Michael; Moore, Richard A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Mungall, Karen; Robertson, A. Gordon; Sadeghi, Sara; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Sipahimalani, Payal; Tam, Angela; Thiessen, Nina; Tse, Kane; Wong, Tina; Berger, Ashton C.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Cibulskis, Carrie; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Gao, Galen F.; Ha, Gavin; Meyerson, Matthew; Schumacher, Steven E.; Shih, Juliann; Kucherlapati, Melanie H.; Kucherlapati, Raju S.; Baylin, Stephen; Cope, Leslie; Danilova, Ludmila; Bootwalla, Moiz S.; Lai, Phillip H.; Maglinte, Dennis T.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Weisenberger, Daniel J.; Auman, J. Todd; Balu, Saianand; Bodenheimer, Tom; Fan, Cheng; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Hoyle, Alan P.; Jefferys, Stuart R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Meng, Shaowu; Mieczkowski, Piotr A.; Mose, Lisle E.; Perou, Amy H.; Perou, Charles M.; Roach, Jeffrey; Shi, Yan; Simons, Janae V.; Skelly, Tara; Soloway, Matthew G.; Tan, Donghui; Veluvolu, Umadevi; Fan, Huihui; Hinoue, Toshinori; Laird, Peter W.; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Wanding; Bellair, Michelle; Chang, Kyle; Covington, Kyle; Creighton, Chad J.; Dinh, Huyen; Doddapaneni, Harsha Vardhan; Donehower, Lawrence A.; Drummond, Jennifer; Gibbs, Richard A.; Glenn, Robert; Hale, Walker; Han, Yi; Hu, Jianhong; Korchina, Viktoriya; Lee, Sandra; Lewis, Lora; Li, Wei; Liu, Xiuping; Morgan, Margaret; Morton, Donna; Muzny, Donna; Santibanez, Jireh; Sheth, Margi; Shinbrot, Eve; Wang, Linghua; Wang, Min; Wheeler, David A.; Xi, Liu; Zhao, Fengmei; Hess, Julian; Appelbaum, Elizabeth L.; Bailey, Matthew; Cordes, Matthew G.; Ding, Li; Fronick, Catrina C.; Fulton, Lucinda A.; Fulton, Robert S.; Kandoth, Cyriac; Mardis, Elaine R.; McLellan, Michael D.; Miller, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Heather K.; Wilson, Richard K.; Crain, Daniel; Curley, Erin; Gardner, Johanna; Lau, Kevin; Mallery, David; Morris, Scott; Paulauskis, Joseph; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Candace; Shelton, Troy; Sherman, Mark; Thompson, Eric; Yena, Peggy; Bowen, Jay; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Gerken, Mark; Leraas, Kristen M.; Lichtenberg, Tara M.; Ramirez, Nilsa C.; Wise, Lisa; Zmuda, Erik; Corcoran, Niall; Costello, Tony; Hovens, Christopher; Carvalho, Andre L.; de Carvalho, Ana C.; Fregnani, José H.; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Reis, Rui M.; Scapulatempo-Neto, Cristovam; Silveira, Henrique C.S.; Vidal, Daniel O.; Burnette, Andrew; Eschbacher, Jennifer; Hermes, Beth; Noss, Ardene; Singh, Rosy; Anderson, Matthew L.; Castro, Patricia D.; Ittmann, Michael; Huntsman, David; Kohl, Bernard; Le, Xuan; Thorp, Richard; Andry, Chris; Duffy, Elizabeth R.; Lyadov, Vladimir; Paklina, Oxana; Setdikova, Galiya; Shabunin, Alexey; Tavobilov, Mikhail; McPherson, Christopher; Warnick, Ronald; Berkowitz, Ross; Cramer, Daniel; Feltmate, Colleen; Horowitz, Neil; Kibel, Adam; Muto, Michael; Raut, Chandrajit P.; Malykh, Andrei; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S.; Barrett, Wendi; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Ostrom, Quinn T.; Shimmel, Kristen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Sloan, Andrew E.; De Rose, Agostino; Giuliante, Felice; Goodman, Marc; Karlan, Beth Y.; Hagedorn, Curt H.; Eckman, John; Harr, Jodi; Myers, Jerome; Tucker, Kelinda; Zach, Leigh Anne; Deyarmin, Brenda; Hu, Hai; Kvecher, Leonid; Larson, Caroline; Mural, Richard J.; Somiari, Stella; Vicha, Ales; Zelinka, Tomas; Bennett, Joseph; Iacocca, Mary; Rabeno, Brenda; Swanson, Patricia; Latour, Mathieu; Lacombe, Louis; Têtu, Bernard; Bergeron, Alain; McGraw, Mary; Staugaitis, Susan M.; Chabot, John; Hibshoosh, Hanina; Sepulveda, Antonia; Su, Tao; Wang, Timothy; Potapova, Olga; Voronina, Olga; Desjardins, Laurence; Mariani, Odette; Roman-Roman, Sergio; Sastre, Xavier; Stern, Marc Henri; Cheng, Feixiong; Signoretti, Sabina; Berchuck, Andrew; Bigner, Darell; Lipp, Eric; Marks, Jeffrey; McCall, Shannon; McLendon, Roger; Secord, Angeles; Sharp, Alexis; Behera, Madhusmita; Brat, Daniel J.; Chen, Amy; Delman, Keith; Force, Seth; Khuri, Fadlo; Magliocca, Kelly; Maithel, Shishir; Olson, Jeffrey J.; Owonikoko, Taofeek; Pickens, Alan; Ramalingam, Suresh; Shin, Dong M.; Sica, Gabriel; Van Meir, Erwin G.; Zhang, Hongzheng; Eijckenboom, Wil; Gillis, Ad; Korpershoek, Esther; Looijenga, Leendert; Oosterhuis, Wolter; Stoop, Hans; van Kessel, Kim E.; Zwarthoff, Ellen C.; Calatozzolo, Chiara; Cuppini, Lucia; Cuzzubbo, Stefania; DiMeco, Francesco; Finocchiaro, Gaetano; Mattei, Luca; Perin, Alessandro; Pollo, Bianca; Chen, Chu; Houck, John; Lohavanichbutr, Pawadee; Hartmann, Arndt; Stoehr, Christine; Stoehr, Robert; Taubert, Helge; Wach, Sven; Wullich, Bernd; Kycler, Witold; Murawa, Dawid; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Chung, Ki; Edenfield, W. Jeffrey; Martin, Julie; Baudin, Eric; Bubley, Glenn; Bueno, Raphael; De Rienzo, Assunta; Richards, William G.; Kalkanis, Steven; Mikkelsen, Tom; Noushmehr, Houtan; Scarpace, Lisa; Girard, Nicolas; Aymerich, Marta; Campo, Elias; Giné, Eva; Guillermo, Armando López; Van Bang, Nguyen; Hanh, Phan Thi; Phu, Bui Duc; Tang, Yufang; Colman, Howard; Evason, Kimberley; Dottino, Peter R.; Martignetti, John A.; Gabra, Hani; Juhl, Hartmut; Akeredolu, Teniola; Stepa, Serghei; Hoon, Dave; Ahn, Keunsoo; Kang, Koo Jeong; Beuschlein, Felix; Breggia, Anne; Birrer, Michael; Bell, Debra; Borad, Mitesh; Bryce, Alan H.; Castle, Erik; Chandan, Vishal; Cheville, John; Copland, John A.; Farnell, Michael; Flotte, Thomas; Giama, Nasra; Ho, Thai; Kendrick, Michael; Kocher, Jean Pierre; Kopp, Karla; Moser, Catherine; Nagorney, David; O'Brien, Daniel; O'Neill, Brian Patrick; Patel, Tushar; Petersen, Gloria; Que, Florencia; Rivera, Michael; Roberts, Lewis; Smallridge, Robert; Smyrk, Thomas; Stanton, Melissa; Thompson, R. Houston; Torbenson, Michael; Yang, Ju Dong; Zhang, Lizhi; Brimo, Fadi; Ajani, Jaffer A.; Angulo Gonzalez, Ana Maria; Behrens, Carmen; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Broaddus, Russell; Czerniak, Bogdan; Esmaeli, Bita; Fujimoto, Junya; Gershenwald, Jeffrey; Guo, Charles; Lazar, Alexander J.; Logothetis, Christopher; Meric-Bernstam, Funda; Moran, Cesar; Ramondetta, Lois; Rice, David; Sood, Anil; Tamboli, Pheroze; Thompson, Timothy; Troncoso, Patricia; Tsao, Anne; Wistuba, Ignacio; Carter, Candace; Haydu, Lauren; Hersey, Peter; Jakrot, Valerie; Kakavand, Hojabr; Kefford, Richard; Lee, Kenneth; Long, Georgina; Mann, Graham; Quinn, Michael; Saw, Robyn; Scolyer, Richard; Shannon, Kerwin; Spillane, Andrew; Stretch, Jonathan; Synott, Maria; Thompson, John; Wilmott, James; Al-Ahmadie, Hikmat; Chan, Timothy A.; Ghossein, Ronald; Gopalan, Anuradha; Levine, Douglas A.; Reuter, Victor; Singer, Samuel; Singh, Bhuvanesh; Tien, Nguyen Viet; Broudy, Thomas; Mirsaidi, Cyrus; Nair, Praveen; Drwiega, Paul; Miller, Judy; Smith, Jennifer; Zaren, Howard; Park, Joong Won; Hung, Nguyen Phi; Kebebew, Electron; Linehan, W. Marston; Metwalli, Adam R.; Pacak, Karel; Pinto, Peter A.; Schiffman, Mark; Schmidt, Laura S.; Vocke, Cathy D.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Worrell, Robert; Yang, Hannah; Moncrieff, Marc; Goparaju, Chandra; Melamed, Jonathan; Pass, Harvey; Botnariuc, Natalia; Caraman, Irina; Cernat, Mircea; Chemencedji, Inga; Clipca, Adrian; Doruc, Serghei; Gorincioi, Ghenadie; Mura, Sergiu; Pirtac, Maria; Stancul, Irina; Tcaciuc, Diana; Albert, Monique; Alexopoulou, Iakovina; Arnaout, Angel; Bartlett, John; Engel, Jay; Gilbert, Sebastien; Parfitt, Jeremy; Sekhon, Harman; Thomas, George; Rassl, Doris M.; Rintoul, Robert C.; Bifulco, Carlo; Tamakawa, Raina; Urba, Walter; Hayward, Nicholas; Timmers, Henri; Antenucci, Anna; Facciolo, Francesco; Grazi, Gianluca; Marino, Mirella; Merola, Roberta; de Krijger, Ronald; Gimenez-Roqueplo, Anne Paule; Piché, Alain; Chevalier, Simone; McKercher, Ginette; Birsoy, Kivanc; Barnett, Gene; Brewer, Cathy; Farver, Carol; Naska, Theresa; Pennell, Nathan A.; Raymond, Daniel; Schilero, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; Williams, Felicia; Morrison, Carl; Borgia, Jeffrey A.; Liptay, Michael J.; Pool, Mark; Seder, Christopher W.; Junker, Kerstin; Omberg, Larsson; Dinkin, Mikhail; Manikhas, George; Alvaro, Domenico; Bragazzi, Maria Consiglia; Cardinale, Vincenzo; Carpino, Guido; Gaudio, Eugenio; Chesla, David; Cottingham, Sandra; Dubina, Michael; Moiseenko, Fedor; Dhanasekaran, Renumathy; Becker, Karl Friedrich; Janssen, Klaus Peter; Slotta-Huspenina, Julia; Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed H.; Aziz, Dina; Bell, Sue; Cebulla, Colleen M.; Davis, Amy; Duell, Rebecca; Elder, J. Bradley; Hilty, Joe; Kumar, Bahavna; Lang, James; Lehman, Norman L.; Mandt, Randy; Nguyen, Phuong; Pilarski, Robert; Rai, Karan; Schoenfield, Lynn; Senecal, Kelly; Wakely, Paul; Hansen, Paul; Lechan, Ronald; Powers, James; Tischler, Arthur; Grizzle, William E.; Sexton, Katherine C.; Kastl, Alison; Henderson, Joel; Porten, Sima; Waldmann, Jens; Fassnacht, Martin; Asa, Sylvia L.; Schadendorf, Dirk; Couce, Marta; Graefen, Markus; Huland, Hartwig; Sauter, Guido; Schlomm, Thorsten; Simon, Ronald; Tennstedt, Pierre; Olabode, Oluwole; Nelson, Mark; Bathe, Oliver; Carroll, Peter R.; Chan, June M.; Disaia, Philip; Glenn, Pat; Kelley, Robin K.; Landen, Charles N.; Phillips, Joanna; Prados, Michael; Simko, Jeffry; Smith-McCune, Karen; VandenBerg, Scott; Roggin, Kevin; Fehrenbach, Ashley; Kendler, Ady; Sifri, Suzanne; Steele, Ruth; Jimeno, Antonio; Carey, Francis; Forgie, Ian; Mannelli, Massimo; Carney, Michael; Hernandez, Brenda; Campos, Benito; Herold-Mende, Christel; Jungk, Christin; Unterberg, Andreas; von Deimling, Andreas; Bossler, Aaron; Galbraith, Joseph; Jacobus, Laura; Knudson, Michael; Knutson, Tina; Ma, Deqin; Milhem, Mohammed; Sigmund, Rita; Godwin, Andrew K.; Madan, Rashna; Rosenthal, Howard G.; Adebamowo, Clement; Adebamowo, Sally N.; Boussioutas, Alex; Beer, David; Giordano, Thomas; Mes-Masson, Anne Marie; Saad, Fred; Bocklage, Therese; Landrum, Lisa; Mannel, Robert; Moore, Kathleen; Moxley, Katherine; Postier, Russel; Walker, Joan; Zuna, Rosemary; Feldman, Michael; Valdivieso, Federico; Dhir, Rajiv; Luketich, James; Mora Pinero, Edna M.; Quintero-Aguilo, Mario; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Dos Santos, Jose Sebastião; Kemp, Rafael; Sankarankuty, Ajith; Tirapelli, Daniela; Catto, James; Agnew, Kathy; Swisher, Elizabeth; Creaney, Jenette; Robinson, Bruce; Shelley, Carl Simon; Godwin, Eryn M.; Kendall, Sara; Shipman, Cassaundra; Bradford, Carol; Carey, Thomas; Haddad, Andrea; Moyer, Jeffey; Peterson, Lisa; Prince, Mark; Rozek, Laura; Wolf, Gregory; Bowman, Rayleen; Fong, Kwun M.; Yang, Ian; Korst, Robert; Rathmell, W. Kimryn; Fantacone-Campbell, J. Leigh; Hooke, Jeffrey A.; Kovatich, Albert J.; Shriver, Craig D.; DiPersio, John; Drake, Bettina; Govindan, Ramaswamy; Heath, Sharon; Ley, Timothy; Van Tine, Brian; Westervelt, Peter; Rubin, Mark A.; Lee, Jung Il; Aredes, Natália D.; Mariamidze, Armaz

    2018-01-01

    The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cancer genomics dataset includes over 10,000 tumor-normal exome pairs across 33 different cancer types, in total >400 TB of raw data files requiring analysis. Here we describe the Multi-Center Mutation Calling in Multiple Cancers project, our effort to generate a

  13. Contact calls of the northern and southern white rhinoceros allow for individual and species identification.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivana Cinková

    Full Text Available Inter-individual relationships particularly in socially living mammals often require a well-developed communication system. Vocal and olfactory signals are the most important for the communication of rhinos, however, their vocal communication has been investigated to a very limited extent so far. White rhinos have the most developed social system out of all the rhinoceros species and vocal signals might therefore play an important role in their social interactions. We recorded repetitive contact pant calls from six captive northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium cottoni and 14 captive and free-ranging southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum and examined if they transmit information about individual identity, species, social context and age class. Discriminant analyses revealed that a high percentage of the pant calls of both species could be classified to a correct individual. We calculated signature information capacity of pant calls recorded from adult animals in isolation at 3.19 bits for the northern white rhinos and at 3.15 bits for the southern white rhinos, which can potentially allow for a vocal discrimination of nine individuals of both species. We found that pant calls varied by species. Northern white rhinos had longer calls and also differed from the southern white rhinos in several frequency parameters of their calls. We also analysed the pant calls of southern white rhinos for the differences between the age classes and between social contexts in which they were recorded. Our results show that pant calls carry information about individual, species, age class and context. The ability to recognize this information would allow rhinos, in addition to olfactory cues, to communicate with highly increased accuracy. A better understanding of communication of white rhinos has potential practical use in their management and conservation particularly because of the low breeding success of white rhinos in captivity.

  14. Building Brains, Forging Futures: A Call to Action for the Family-Centered Medical Home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraft, Colleen

    2013-01-01

    The family-centered medical home describes an approach to providing comprehensive primary care. Research advances in developmental neuroscience, genetics, and epigenetics offer a framework for understanding the dynamic process of brain development. It is this process that sets the life-course trajectory for an individual; in turn, a child's…

  15. Characteristics of service requests and service processes of fire and rescue service dispatch centers: analysis of real world data and the underlying probability distributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krueger, Ute; Schimmelpfeng, Katja

    2013-03-01

    A sufficient staffing level in fire and rescue dispatch centers is crucial for saving lives. Therefore, it is important to estimate the expected workload properly. For this purpose, we analyzed whether a dispatch center can be considered as a call center. Current call center publications very often model call arrivals as a non-homogeneous Poisson process. This bases on the underlying assumption of the caller's independent decision to call or not to call. In case of an emergency, however, there are often calls from more than one person reporting the same incident and thus, these calls are not independent. Therefore, this paper focuses on the dependency of calls in a fire and rescue dispatch center. We analyzed and evaluated several distributions in this setting. Results are illustrated using real-world data collected from a typical German dispatch center in Cottbus ("Leitstelle Lausitz"). We identified the Pólya distribution as being superior to the Poisson distribution in describing the call arrival rate and the Weibull distribution to be more suitable than the exponential distribution for interarrival times and service times. However, the commonly used distributions offer acceptable approximations. This is important for estimating a sufficient staffing level in practice using, e.g., the Erlang-C model.

  16. Calle Blanco

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Cerda Brintrup

    1988-06-01

    Full Text Available Importante arteria, que comunica el sector del puerto con la plaza. Las más imponentes construcciones se sucedían de un modo continuo, encaramándose a ambos lados de la empinada calle. Antes del gran incendio de 1936 grandes casonas de madera destacaban en calle Irarrázabal y en la esquina de ésta con calle Blanco, la más hermosa construcción pertenecía a don Alberto Oyarzún y la casa vecina hacia Blanco era de don Mateo Miserda, limitada por arriba con la casa de don Augusto Van Der Steldt y ésta era seguida de la casa de don David Barrientos provista de cuatro cúpulas en las esquinas y de un amplio corredor en el frontis. Todas estas construcciones de madera fueron destruidas en el gran incendio de 1936.

  17. Pan-cancer analysis reveals technical artifacts in TCGA germline variant calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Alexandra R; Standish, Kristopher A; Bhutani, Kunal; Ideker, Trey; Lasken, Roger S; Carter, Hannah; Harismendy, Olivier; Schork, Nicholas J

    2017-06-12

    Cancer research to date has largely focused on somatically acquired genetic aberrations. In contrast, the degree to which germline, or inherited, variation contributes to tumorigenesis remains unclear, possibly due to a lack of accessible germline variant data. Here we called germline variants on 9618 cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database representing 31 cancer types. We identified batch effects affecting loss of function (LOF) variant calls that can be traced back to differences in the way the sequence data were generated both within and across cancer types. Overall, LOF indel calls were more sensitive to technical artifacts than LOF Single Nucleotide Variant (SNV) calls. In particular, whole genome amplification of DNA prior to sequencing led to an artificially increased burden of LOF indel calls, which confounded association analyses relating germline variants to tumor type despite stringent indel filtering strategies. The samples affected by these technical artifacts include all acute myeloid leukemia and practically all ovarian cancer samples. We demonstrate how technical artifacts induced by whole genome amplification of DNA can lead to false positive germline-tumor type associations and suggest TCGA whole genome amplified samples be used with caution. This study draws attention to the need to be sensitive to problems associated with a lack of uniformity in data generation in TCGA data.

  18. The Relationship of On-Call Work with Fatigue, Work-Home Interference, and Perceived Performance Difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziebertz, Carla M; van Hooff, Madelon L M; Beckers, Debby G J; Hooftman, Wendela E; Kompier, Michiel A J; Geurts, Sabine A E

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between on-call duty exposure (active and total on-call hours a month, number of calls per duty) and employees' experiences of being on-call (stress due to unpredictability, ability to relax during inactive on-call periods, restrictions during on-call duties, on-call work demands, and satisfaction with compensation for on-call duties) on the one hand and fatigue, strain-based and time-based work-home interference (WHI), and perceived on-call performance difficulties (PPD) on the other hand. Cross-sectional survey data were collected among a large heterogeneous sample of Dutch employees (N = 5437). The final sample consisted of 157 on-call workers (23-69 years, 71% males). Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for age and job characteristics). Differences in on-call work exposure were not systematically related to fatigue, WHI, and PPD (all p's >0.50). The experience of being on-call explained a medium proportion of the variation in fatigue and strain-based WHI and a medium to large proportion of the variation in time-based WHI and PPD over and above the control variables. Our results suggest that it is employees' experience of being on-call, especially the experience of stress due to the unpredictability, rather than the amount of exposure, that is related to fatigue, WHI, and perceived on-call performance difficulties.

  19. Influences on call outcomes among Veteran callers to the National Veterans Crisis Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Britton, Peter C.; Bossarte, Robert M.; Thompson, Caitlin; Kemp, Janet; Conner, Kenneth R.

    2016-01-01

    This evaluation examined the association of caller and call characteristics with proximal outcomes of Veterans Crisis Line calls. From October 1-7, 2010, 665 Veterans with recent suicidal ideation or a history of attempted suicide called the Veterans Crisis Line, 646 had complete data and were included in the analyses. A multivariable multinomial logistic regression was conducted to identify correlates of a favorable outcome, either a resolution or a referral, when compared to an unfavorable outcome, no resolution or referral. A multivariable logistic regression was used to identify correlates of responder-rated caller risk in a subset of calls. Approximately 84% of calls ended with a favorable outcome, 25% with a resolution and 59% with a referral to a local health care provider. Calls from high-risk callers had greater odds of ending with a referral than without a resolution or referral, as did weekday calls (6:00 am to 5:59 pm EST, Monday through Friday). Responders used caller intent to die and the absence of future plans to determine caller risk. Findings suggest that the Veterans Crisis Line is a useful mechanism for generating referrals for high-risk Veteran callers. Responders appeared to use known risk and protective factors to determine caller risk. PMID:23611446

  20. Thorough analysis of unorthodox ABO deletions called by the 1000 Genomes project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Möller, M; Hellberg, Å; Olsson, M L

    2018-02-01

    ABO remains the clinically most important blood group system, but despite earlier extensive research, significant findings are still being made. The vast majority of catalogued ABO null alleles are based on the c.261delG polymorphism. Apart from c.802G>A, other mechanisms for O alleles are rare. While analysing the data set from the 1000 Genomes (1000G) project, we encountered two previously uncharacterized deletions, which needed further exploration. The Erythrogene database, complemented with bioinformatics software, was used to analyse ABO in 2504 individuals from 1000G. DNA samples from selected 1000G donors and African blood donors were examined by allele-specific PCR and Sanger sequencing to characterize predicted deletions. A 5821-bp deletion encompassing exons 5-7 was called in twenty 1000G individuals, predominantly Africans. This allele was confirmed and its exact deletion point defined by bioinformatic analyses and in vitro experiments. A PCR assay was developed, and screening of African samples revealed three donors heterozygous for this deletion, which was thereby phenotypically established as an O allele. Analysis of upstream genetic markers indicated an ancestral origin from ABO*O.01.02. We estimate this deletion as the 3rd most common mechanism behind O alleles. A 24-bp deletion was called in nine individuals and showed greater diversity regarding ethnic distribution and allelic background. It could neither be confirmed by in silico nor in vitro experiments. A previously uncharacterized ABO deletion among Africans was comprehensively mapped and a genotyping strategy devised. The false prediction of another deletion emphasizes the need for cautious interpretation of NGS data and calls for strict validation routines. © 2017 International Society of Blood Transfusion.

  1. Perceiving a Calling, Living a Calling, and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated, Multiple Mediator Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Ryan D.; Bott, Elizabeth M.; Allan, Blake A.; Torrey, Carrie L.; Dik, Bryan J.

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated…

  2. Behavioral Preferences for Individual Securities : The Case for Call Warrants and Call Options

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ter Horst, J.R.; Veld, C.H.

    2002-01-01

    Since 1998, large investment banks have flooded the European capital markets with issues of call warrants.This has led to a unique situation in the Netherlands, where now call warrants, traded on the stock exchange, and long-term call options, traded on the options exchange, exist.Both entitle their

  3. Fundraising for Your Center: An Opportunity to Build Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsakoyias-Mendes, Vicky

    2010-01-01

    Last summer, the Chabot College Children's Center Evening Program came close to being shut down due to lack of funding. In order to break the typical mold of annual fundraising ideas (e.g., t-shirts, flower pots, and cookie sales) which give low returns, the Center hosted its first fundraising venture called "International Arts Performance…

  4. The SPICE Center at Bluefield State College. Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, David Harrill

    The writing center at Bluefield State College (West Virginia) is called the SPICE Center, SPICE being an acronym for Self Paced Instruction for Competency in English. In addition to emphasizing skill acquisition and flexibility, it stresses face-to-face evaluation of written work, and places heavy emphasis on writing as process instead of writing…

  5. The Relationship of On-Call Work with Fatigue, Work-Home Interference, and Perceived Performance Difficulties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla M. Ziebertz

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. This study examined the relationship between on-call duty exposure (active and total on-call hours a month, number of calls per duty and employees’ experiences of being on-call (stress due to unpredictability, ability to relax during inactive on-call periods, restrictions during on-call duties, on-call work demands, and satisfaction with compensation for on-call duties on the one hand and fatigue, strain-based and time-based work-home interference (WHI, and perceived on-call performance difficulties (PPD on the other hand. Methods. Cross-sectional survey data were collected among a large heterogeneous sample of Dutch employees (N=5437. The final sample consisted of 157 on-call workers (23–69 years, 71% males. Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for age and job characteristics. Results. Differences in on-call work exposure were not systematically related to fatigue, WHI, and PPD (all p’s >0.50. The experience of being on-call explained a medium proportion of the variation in fatigue and strain-based WHI and a medium to large proportion of the variation in time-based WHI and PPD over and above the control variables. Conclusions. Our results suggest that it is employees’ experience of being on-call, especially the experience of stress due to the unpredictability, rather than the amount of exposure, that is related to fatigue, WHI, and perceived on-call performance difficulties.

  6. Summary of Electric Distribution System Analyses with a focus on DERs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tang, Yingying [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Homer, Juliet S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); McDermott, Thomas E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Coddington, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sigrin, Benjamin [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Mather, Barry [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2017-04-28

    The purpose of this document is to summarize types of electric distribution system analyses along with their application and relative maturity. Particular emphasis is placed on analyses associated with distributed energy resources (DERs). Analyses are separated into the categories of power flow, power quality, fault analysis, dynamic analysis and market analysis. Studies associated with DERs are called out in a separate section.

  7. Quality assurance in road traffic analyses in Switzerland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briellmann, Thomas A; Sigrist, Thomas; Augsburger, Marc; Favrat, Bernard; Oestreich, Andrea; Deom, André

    2010-05-20

    Swiss laboratories performing toxicological road traffic analyses have been authorized for many years by the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO). In 2003 FEDRO signed a contract with the Swiss Society of Legal Medicine (SSLM) to organize the complete quality management concerning road traffic analyses. For this purpose a multidisciplinary working group was established under the name of "road traffic commission (RTC)". RTC has to organize external quality control, to interpret the results of these controls, to perform audits in the laboratories and to report all results to FEDRO. Furthermore the working group can be mandated for special tasks by FEDRO. As an independent organization the Swiss Center for Quality Control (CSCQ) in Geneva manages the external quality controls in the laboratory over the past years. All tested drugs and psychoactive substances are listed in a federal instruction. The so-called 'zero tolerance substances' (THC, morphine, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and MDEA) and their metabolites have to be tested once a year, all other substances (benzodiazepines, zolpidem, phenobarbital, etc.) periodically. Results over the last years show that all laboratories are generally within the confidence interval of +/-30% of the mean value. In cases of non-conformities measures have to be taken immediately and reported to the working group. External audits are performed triennially but accredited laboratories can combine this audit with the approval of the Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS). During the audits a special checklist filled in by the laboratory director is assessed. Non-conformities have to be corrected. During the process of establishing a new legislation, RTC had an opportunity of advising FEDRO. In collaboration with FEDRO, RTC and hence SSLM can work actively on improving of quality assurance in road traffic toxicological analyses, and has an opportunity to bring its professional requests to the federal authorities.

  8. Získávání pracovníků do Call centra RWE

    OpenAIRE

    Popovičová, Jasmína

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the bachelors thesis is to analyse the recruitment process at Call centre RWE, explore untapped labour market, identify strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment process and make suggestions to improve current labour situation. Thesis is divided into two sections - theoretical and practical. Theoretical section describes terms and theory of recruitment. Practical section consists of the description of the company, current situation in recruitment at the Call centre RWE, results o...

  9. Radiation Emergency Preparedness Tools: Virtual Community Reception Center

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2011-02-28

    This podcast is an overview of resources from the Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) Call: Practical Tools for Radiation Emergency Preparedness. A specialist working with CDC's Radiation Studies Branch describes a web-based training tool known as a Virtual Community Reception Center (vCRC).  Created: 2/28/2011 by National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) Radiation Studies Branch and Emergency Risk Communication Branch (ERCB)/Joint Information Center (JIC); Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR).   Date Released: 2/28/2011.

  10. 77 FR 65570 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-29

    ... Conference Call). Contact Person: Carol Hamelink, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific...--Convention Center, 900 10th Street NW., Washington, DC 20001. Contact Person: Mark P Rubert, Ph.D... for Scientific Review Special Emphasis Panel; Fellowships: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics...

  11. A Retrospective Study of Clinical Effects of Powdered Caffeine Exposures Reported to Three US Poison Control Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beauchamp, Gillian A; Johnson, Amberly R; Crouch, Barbara I; Valento, Matthew; Horowitz, B Zane; Hendrickson, Robert G

    2016-09-01

    Anhydrous caffeine, often sold on the Internet as a powdered caffeine product, is sold as "pure caffeine" to be used as an additive to beverages and has also been used as an ingredient in energy supplement products. This is a retrospective multiple-poison center chart review of calls regarding powdered caffeine to poison centers covering Oregon, Alaska, Guam, Washington, and Utah between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2015. There were 40 calls to three poison centers over 30 months for powdered caffeine exposure. The majority of patients were over age 19 (52.5 %; 21/40) and male (70 %; 28/40). Sixty percent (24/40) of the patients were symptomatic but only 10 % (4/40) required admission; 52.5 % (21/40) of the patient calls were for inadvertent overdose of powdered caffeine; one patient overdosed in a self-harm attempt. Powdered caffeine calls to three poison centers during a 30-month study period were rare, and severe caffeine toxicity due to exposure was found in few patients. The majority of symptoms were reported after an inadvertent powdered caffeine overdose. An analysis of calls to three poison centers for powdered caffeine found that exposures were uncommon, but did result in toxicity, and highlighted that the lack of clear dosing instructions on product packaging may place patients at risk of inadvertent overdose.

  12. Pilot project for a commercial buildings Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center (EADC) program. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Capehart, B.L.

    1996-02-01

    Commercial energy use costs businesses around $70 billion annually. Many of these businesses are small and medium sized organizations that do not have the resources to help themselves, or to pay for professional engineering services to help reduce their energy costs and improve their economic competitiveness. Energy cost reduction actions with payback times of around two years could save the commercial sector 15--20%, or $10--$15 billion per year. This project was initially intended to evaluate the feasibility of performing commercial energy audits as an adjunct to the industrial audit program run by the US Department of Energy Industrial Office. This program is housed in 30 universities throughout the United States. Formerly known as Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Centers (EADC`s), the university programs are now called Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC`s) to reflect their expansion from energy use analyses to include waste and productivity analyses. The success of the EADC/IAC program in helping the manufacturing sector provides an excellent model for a similar program in the commercial buildings sector. This project has investigated using the EADC/IAC approach to performing energy audits for the commercial sector, and has determined that such an approach is feasible and cost effective.

  13. Environmental Analysis of the Groningen City Center

    OpenAIRE

    GÓMEZ BUGEDA, RICARDO SANTIAGO

    2017-01-01

    This final thesis project is part of the research that is carrying out by the Gemeente Groningen in order to make the city center more sustainable and livable. The municipality of Groningen has recently published a conceptual development plan for improving the inner-city of Groningen, this report is called Bestemming Binnenstad 01/2016 . The main focus of this report is convert the city center to an environmental friendly downtown, reducing pollution, reroute public and private transpo...

  14. Patient-Provider Communication: Does Electronic Messaging Reduce Incoming Telephone Calls?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dexter, Eve N; Fields, Scott; Rdesinski, Rebecca E; Sachdeva, Bhavaya; Yamashita, Daisuke; Marino, Miguel

    2016-01-01

    Internet-based patient portals are increasingly being implemented throughout health care organizations to enhance health and optimize communication between patients and health professionals. The decision to adopt a patient portal requires careful examination of the advantages and disadvantages of implementation. This study aims to investigate 1 proposed advantage of implementation: alleviating some of the clinical workload faced by employees. A retrospective time-series analysis of the correlation between the rate of electronic patient-to-provider messages-a common attribute of Internet-based patient portals-and incoming telephone calls. The rate of electronic messages and incoming telephone calls were monitored from February 2009 to June 2014 at 4 economically diverse clinics (a federally qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a community-based clinic, and a university-based clinic) related to 1 university hospital. All 4 clinics showed an increase in the rate of portal use as measured by electronic patient-to-provider messaging during the study period. Electronic patient-to-provider messaging was significantly positively correlated with incoming telephone calls at 2 of the clinics (r = 0.546, P electronic patient-to-provider messaging was associated with increased use of telephone calls in 2 of the study clinics. While practices are increasingly making the decision of whether to implement a patient portal as part of their system of care, it is important that the motivation behind such a change not be based on the idea that it will alleviate clinical workload. © Copyright 2016 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  15. The mediating effect of calling on the relationship between medical school students' academic burnout and empathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chae, Su Jin; Jeong, So Mi; Chung, Yoon-Sok

    2017-09-01

    This study is aimed at identifying the relationships between medical school students' academic burnout, empathy, and calling, and determining whether their calling has a mediating effect on the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. A mixed method study was conducted. One hundred twenty-seven medical students completed a survey. Scales measuring academic burnout, medical students' empathy, and calling were utilized. For statistical analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. For qualitative approach, eight medical students participated in a focus group interview. The study found that empathy has a statistically significant, negative correlation with academic burnout, while having a significant, positive correlation with calling. Sense of calling proved to be an effective mediator of the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. This result demonstrates that calling is a key variable that mediates the relationship between medical students' academic burnout and empathy. As such, this study provides baseline data for an education that could improve medical students' empathy skills.

  16. Study on effective methods to call attention in power plant sites. Towards sharing know-how

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukada, Tetsuya; Nakamura, Hajime

    1999-01-01

    Methods to call attention during field work in nuclear power plants have not obtained the desired results due to redundancy and poor theoretical support. From the points of view of psychology and human engineering, we theoretically examined the validity of each of the following methods for calling attention: methods deployed in power plants, methods obtained through case studies in other industries, and newly developed methods, and then systematized these methods. Using five typical operations with different operating characteristics as models, we also determined methods deployed for each situation in the operation process. Then we determined and categorized the ways of utilizing methods to call attention according to each operating characteristic. With the aim of utilizing these results in many power plants and promoting the sharing of know-how concerning calling attention, we put together an easy-to-understand 'instruction manual', which contains know-how concerning methods to call attention and an introduction to the newly developed methods. Moreover, we established a 'database' (with a registration function) of methods to call attention, which contains organized methods and patterns of utilizing such methods in each operating characteristic. The present study is thus a report that aims at sharing the know-how, centered on this database. (author)

  17. Call Centre- Computer Telephone Integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dražen Kovačević

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Call centre largely came into being as a result of consumerneeds converging with enabling technology- and by the companiesrecognising the revenue opportunities generated by meetingthose needs thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Regardlessof the specific application or activity of a Call centre, customersatisfaction with the interaction is critical to the revenuegenerated or protected by the Call centre. Physical(v, Call centreset up is a place that includes computer, telephone and supervisorstation. Call centre can be available 24 hours a day - whenthe customer wants to make a purchase, needs information, orsimply wishes to register a complaint.

  18. Aye-aye population genomic analyses highlight an important center of endemism in northern Madagascar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, George H; Louis, Edward E; Ratan, Aakrosh; Bedoya-Reina, Oscar C; Burhans, Richard C; Lei, Runhua; Johnson, Steig E; Schuster, Stephan C; Miller, Webb

    2013-04-09

    We performed a population genomics study of the aye-aye, a highly specialized nocturnal lemur from Madagascar. Aye-ayes have low population densities and extensive range requirements that could make this flagship species particularly susceptible to extinction. Therefore, knowledge of genetic diversity and differentiation among aye-aye populations is critical for conservation planning. Such information may also advance our general understanding of Malagasy biogeography, as aye-ayes have the largest species distribution of any lemur. We generated and analyzed whole-genome sequence data for 12 aye-ayes from three regions of Madagascar (North, West, and East). We found that the North population is genetically distinct, with strong differentiation from other aye-ayes over relatively short geographic distances. For comparison, the average FST value between the North and East aye-aye populations--separated by only 248 km--is over 2.1-times greater than that observed between human Africans and Europeans. This finding is consistent with prior watershed- and climate-based hypotheses of a center of endemism in northern Madagascar. Taken together, these results suggest a strong and long-term biogeographical barrier to gene flow. Thus, the specific attention that should be directed toward preserving large, contiguous aye-aye habitats in northern Madagascar may also benefit the conservation of other distinct taxonomic units. To help facilitate future ecological- and conservation-motivated population genomic analyses by noncomputational biologists, the analytical toolkit used in this study is available on the Galaxy Web site.

  19. Study protocol of the YOU CALL - WE CALL TRIAL: impact of a multimodal support intervention after a "mild" stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bravo Gina

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background More than 60% of new strokes each year are "mild" in severity and this proportion is expected to rise in the years to come. Within our current health care system those with "mild" stroke are typically discharged home within days, without further referral to health or rehabilitation services other than advice to see their family physician. Those with mild stroke often have limited access to support from health professionals with stroke-specific knowledge who would typically provide critical information on topics such as secondary stroke prevention, community reintegration, medication counselling and problem solving with regard to specific concerns that arise. Isolation and lack of knowledge may lead to a worsening of health problems including stroke recurrence and unnecessary and costly health care utilization. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness, for individuals who experience a first "mild" stroke, of a sustainable, low cost, multimodal support intervention (comprising information, education and telephone support - "WE CALL" compared to a passive intervention (providing the name and phone number of a resource person available if they feel the need to - "YOU CALL", on two primary outcomes: unplanned-use of health services for negative events and quality of life. Method/Design We will recruit 384 adults who meet inclusion criteria for a first mild stroke across six Canadian sites. Baseline measures will be taken within the first month after stroke onset. Participants will be stratified according to comorbidity level and randomised to one of two groups: YOU CALL or WE CALL. Both interventions will be offered over a six months period. Primary outcomes include unplanned use of heath services for negative event (frequency calendar and quality of life (EQ-5D and Quality of Life Index. Secondary outcomes include participation level (LIFE-H, depression (Beck Depression Inventory II and use of health services for

  20. VIPER: a web application for rapid expert review of variant calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wöste, Marius; Dugas, Martin

    2018-01-15

    With the rapid development in next-generation sequencing, cost and time requirements for genomic sequencing are decreasing, enabling applications in many areas such as cancer research. Many tools have been developed to analyze genomic variation ranging from single nucleotide variants to whole chromosomal aberrations. As sequencing throughput increases, the number of variants called by such tools also grows. Often employed manual inspection of such calls is thus becoming a time-consuming procedure. We developed the Variant InsPector and Expert Rating tool (VIPER) to speed up this process by integrating the Integrative Genomics Viewer into a web application. Analysts can then quickly iterate through variants, apply filters and make decisions based on the generated images and variant metadata. VIPER was successfully employed in analyses with manual inspection of more than 10,000 calls. VIPER is implemented in Java and Javascript and is freely available at https://github.com/MarWoes/viper. Marius.Woeste@uni-muenster.de. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2018). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  1. DEVELOPMENT OF SIMULATION CENTER AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES IN IVANO-FRANKIVSK PERINATAL CENTER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoryana Kocherga

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Current system of medical education in Ukraine needs improvement and reforms in order to enhance the proficiency of doctors and paramedics. Training of practical/technical skills, communication, as well as teamwork skills is considerably important.The use of simulation techniques and methods in medical education is called simulation training in medicine. Medical skills are acquired through cognitive (knowledge and psychomotor (practice skills. The first medical simulation centers appeared in Ukraine in 2006 according to the order of the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine.On June 20, 2013, a new simulation training center was opened in Ivano-Frankivsk on the base of Regional Perinatal Center. Similar medical simulation centers were opened in the second half of 2013 in Volyn and Vinnytsia regions under the Ukrainian-Swiss Mother and Child Health Programme, which started in the area of perinatology. Their goal is to improve the teamwork of all specialists involved in the process of delivery and neonatal intensive care,as well as to engage internship doctors and senior medical students in clinical skills training programmes.The use of simulation techniques and training programs offers a powerful platform to study and practice clinical reasoning behaviors and patterns.

  2. Calcine Waste Storage at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    M. D. Staiger

    1999-06-01

    A potential option in the program for long-term management of high-level wastes at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, calls for retrieving calcine waste and converting it to a more stable and less dispersible form. An inventory of calcine produced during the period December 1963 to May 1999 has been prepared based on calciner run, solids storage facilities operating, and miscellaneous operational information, which gives the range of chemical compositions of calcine waste stored at INTEC. Information researched includes calciner startup data, waste solution analyses and volumes calcined, calciner operating schedules, solids storage bin capacities, calcine storage bin distributor systems, and solids storage bin design and temperature monitoring records. Unique information on calcine solids storage facilities design of potential interest to remote retrieval operators is given.

  3. Routine High-Resolution Forecasts/Analyses for the Pacific Disaster Center: User Manual

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roads, John; Han, J.; Chen, S.; Burgan, R.; Fujioka, F.; Stevens, D.; Funayama, D.; Chambers, C.; Bingaman, B.; McCord, C.; hide

    2001-01-01

    Enclosed herein is our HWCMO user manual. This manual constitutes the final report for our NASA/PDC grant, NASA NAG5-8730, "Routine High Resolution Forecasts/Analysis for the Pacific Disaster Center". Since the beginning of the grant, we have routinely provided experimental high resolution forecasts from the RSM/MSM for the Hawaii Islands, while working to upgrade the system to include: (1) a more robust input of NCEP analyses directly from NCEP; (2) higher vertical resolution, with increased forecast accuracy; (3) faster delivery of forecast products and extension of initial 1-day forecasts to 2 days; (4) augmentation of our basic meteorological and simplified fireweather forecasts to firedanger and drought forecasts; (5) additional meteorological forecasts with an alternate mesoscale model (MM5); and (6) the feasibility of using our modeling system to work in higher-resolution domains and other regions. In this user manual, we provide a general overview of the operational system and the mesoscale models as well as more detailed descriptions of the models. A detailed description of daily operations and a cost analysis is also provided. Evaluations of the models are included although it should be noted that model evaluation is a continuing process and as potential problems are identified, these can be used as the basis for making model improvements. Finally, we include our previously submitted answers to particular PDC questions (Appendix V). All of our initially proposed objectives have basically been met. In fact, a number of useful applications (VOG, air pollution transport) are already utilizing our experimental output and we believe there are a number of other applications that could make use of our routine forecast/analysis products. Still, work still remains to be done to further develop this experimental weather, climate, fire danger and drought prediction system. In short, we would like to be a part of a future PDC team, if at all possible, to further

  4. 76 FR 44942 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-27

    ...: Sensation and Perception. Date: August 17-18, 2011. Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Agenda: To review and evaluate... (Virtual Meeting). Contact Person: John Bishop, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific..., MD 20892 (Telephone Conference Call) Contact Person: Samuel C. Edwards, PhD, Chief, Center for...

  5. The vocal repertoire of the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus): structure and function of calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Favaro, Livio; Ozella, Laura; Pessani, Daniela

    2014-01-01

    The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is a highly social and vocal seabird. However, currently available descriptions of the vocal repertoire of African Penguin are mostly limited to basic descriptions of calls. Here we provide, for the first time, a detailed description of the vocal behaviour of this species by collecting audio and video recordings from a large captive colony. We combine visual examinations of spectrograms with spectral and temporal acoustic analyses to determine vocal categories. Moreover, we used a principal component analysis, followed by signal classification with a discriminant function analysis, for statistical validation of the vocalisation types. In addition, we identified the behavioural contexts in which calls were uttered. The results show that four basic vocalisations can be found in the vocal repertoire of adult African Penguin, namely a contact call emitted by isolated birds, an agonistic call used in aggressive interactions, an ecstatic display song uttered by single birds, and a mutual display song vocalised by pairs, at their nests. Moreover, we identified two distinct vocalisations interpreted as begging calls by nesting chicks (begging peep) and unweaned juveniles (begging moan). Finally, we discussed the importance of specific acoustic parameters in classifying calls and the possible use of the source-filter theory of vocal production to study penguin vocalisations.

  6. The Influence of Peers During Adolescence: Does Homophobic Name Calling by Peers Change Gender Identity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeLay, Dawn; Lynn Martin, Carol; Cook, Rachel E; Hanish, Laura D

    2018-03-01

    Adolescents actively evaluate their identities during adolescence, and one of the most salient and central identities for youth concerns their gender identity. Experiences with peers may inform gender identity. Unfortunately, many youth experience homophobic name calling, a form of peer victimization, and it is unknown whether youth internalize these peer messages and how these messages might influence gender identity. The goal of the present study was to assess the role of homophobic name calling on changes over the course of an academic year in adolescents' gender identity. Specifically, this study extends the literature using a new conceptualization and measure of gender identity that involves assessing how similar adolescents feel to both their own- and other-gender peers and, by employing longitudinal social network analyses, provides a rigorous analytic assessment of the impact of homophobic name calling on changes in these two dimensions of gender identity. Symbolic interaction perspectives-the "looking glass self"-suggest that peer feedback is incorporated into the self-concept. The current study tests this hypothesis by determining if adolescents respond to homophobic name calling by revising their self-view, specifically, how the self is viewed in relation to both gender groups. Participants were 299 6th grade students (53% female). Participants reported peer relationships, experiences of homophobic name calling, and gender identity (i.e., similarity to own- and other-gender peers). Longitudinal social network analyses revealed that homophobic name calling early in the school year predicted changes in gender identity over time. The results support the "looking glass self" hypothesis: experiencing homophobic name calling predicted identifying significantly less with own-gender peers and marginally more with other-gender peers over the course of an academic year. The effects held after controlling for participant characteristics (e.g., gender), social

  7. 78 FR 18594 - Notice of Cancelation for Call of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Notice of Cancelation for Call of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Notice of Cancelation: This notice was published in...: March 21, 2013. Ben O'Dell, Associate Director for Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships...

  8. Occupational voice demands and their impact on the call-centre industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duffy OM

    2009-04-01

    analysed using SPSS version 15. Ethical approval is granted for this study from the School of Communication, University of Ulster. Discussion The results from this study will provide the missing element of voice-based evidence, by appraising the interactional dimensions of vocal health and communicative performance. This information will be used to inform training for call-agents and to contribute to health policies within the workplace, in order to enhance vocal health.

  9. Sectorial Group for Incident Analyses (GSAI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galles, Q.; Gamo, J. M.; Jorda, M.; Sanchez-Garrido, P.; Lopez, F.; Asensio, L.; Reig, J.

    2013-01-01

    In 2008, the UNESA Nuclear Energy Committee (CEN) proposed the creation of a working group formed by experts from all Spanish NPPs with the purpose of jointly analyze relevant incidents occurred in each one of the plants. This initiative was a response to a historical situation in which the exchange of information on incidents between the Spanish NPP's was below the desired level. In june 2009, UNESA's Guide CEN-29 established the performance criteria for the so called Sectorial Group for Incident Analyses (GSAI), whose activity would be coordinated by the UNESA's Group for Incident Analyses (GSAI), whose activity would be coordinated by the UNESA's Group of Operating Experience, under the Operations Commission (COP). (Author)

  10. The mediating effect of calling on the relationship between medical school students’ academic burnout and empathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Su Jin Chae

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose This study is aimed at identifying the relationships between medical school students’ academic burnout, empathy, and calling, and determining whether their calling has a mediating effect on the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. Methods A mixed method study was conducted. One hundred twenty-seven medical students completed a survey. Scales measuring academic burnout, medical students’ empathy, and calling were utilized. For statistical analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. For qualitative approach, eight medical students participated in a focus group interview. Results The study found that empathy has a statistically significant, negative correlation with academic burnout, while having a significant, positive correlation with calling. Sense of calling proved to be an effective mediator of the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. Conclusion This result demonstrates that calling is a key variable that mediates the relationship between medical students’ academic burnout and empathy. As such, this study provides baseline data for an education that could improve medical students’ empathy skills.

  11. Impaired laparoscopic performance of novice surgeons due to phone call distraction: a single-centre, prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Cui; Heinze, Julia; Helmert, Jens; Weitz, Juergen; Reissfelder, Christoph; Mees, Soeren Torge

    2017-12-01

    Distractions such as phone calls during laparoscopic surgery play an important role in many operating rooms. The aim of this single-centre, prospective study was to assess if laparoscopic performance is impaired by intraoperative phone calls in novice surgeons. From October 2015 to June 2016, 30 novice surgeons (medical students) underwent a laparoscopic surgery training curriculum including two validated tasks (peg transfer, precision cutting) until achieving a defined level of proficiency. For testing, participants were required to perform these tasks under three conditions: no distraction (control) and two standardised distractions in terms of phone calls requiring response (mild and strong distraction). Task performance was evaluated by analysing time and accuracy of the tasks and response of the phone call. In peg transfer (easy task), mild distraction did not worsen the performance significantly, while strong distraction was linked to error and inefficiency with significantly deteriorated performance (P phone call distractions result in impaired laparoscopic performance under certain circumstances. To ensure patient safety, phone calls should be avoided as far as possible in operating rooms.

  12. Climate Resilient Analysis of the Groningen City Center

    OpenAIRE

    MORALES LLAMAS, MÓNICA

    2017-01-01

    This final thesis project is part of the research that is carrying out by the Gemeente Groningen in order to make the city center more sustainable and livable. The municipality of Groningen has recently published a conceptual development plan for improving the inner-city of Groningen, this report is called Bestemming Binnenstad 01/2016 . The main focus of this report is convert the city center to an environmental friendly downtown, reducing pollution, reroute public and private transpo...

  13. 78 FR 76218 - Rural Call Completion

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-17

    ... calls to rural areas, and enforce restrictions against blocking, choking, reducing, or restricting calls... to alert the Commission of systemic problems receiving calls from a particular originating long... associated with completing calls to rural areas. These rules will also enhance our ability to enforce...

  14. Long-distance calls in Neotropical primates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oliveira Dilmar A.G.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Long-distance calls are widespread among primates. Several studies concentrate on such calls in just one or in few species, while few studies have treated more general trends within the order. The common features that usually characterize these vocalizations are related to long-distance propagation of sounds. The proposed functions of primate long-distance calls can be divided into extragroup and intragroup ones. Extragroup functions relate to mate defense, mate attraction or resource defense, while intragroup functions involve group coordination or alarm. Among Neotropical primates, several species perform long-distance calls that seem more related to intragroup coordination, markedly in atelines. Callitrichids present long-distance calls that are employed both in intragroup coordination and intergroup contests or spacing. Examples of extragroup directed long-distance calls are the duets of titi monkeys and the roars and barks of howler monkeys. Considerable complexity and gradation exist in the long-distance call repertoires of some Neotropical primates, and female long-distance calls are probably more important in non-duetting species than usually thought. Future research must focus on larger trends in the evolution of primate long-distance calls, including the phylogeny of calling repertoires and the relationships between form and function in these signals.

  15. Speech-like rhythm in a voiced and voiceless orangutan call.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriano R Lameira

    Full Text Available The evolutionary origins of speech remain obscure. Recently, it was proposed that speech derived from monkey facial signals which exhibit a speech-like rhythm of ∼5 open-close lip cycles per second. In monkeys, these signals may also be vocalized, offering a plausible evolutionary stepping stone towards speech. Three essential predictions remain, however, to be tested to assess this hypothesis' validity; (i Great apes, our closest relatives, should likewise produce 5Hz-rhythm signals, (ii speech-like rhythm should involve calls articulatorily similar to consonants and vowels given that speech rhythm is the direct product of stringing together these two basic elements, and (iii speech-like rhythm should be experience-based. Via cinematic analyses we demonstrate that an ex-entertainment orangutan produces two calls at a speech-like rhythm, coined "clicks" and "faux-speech." Like voiceless consonants, clicks required no vocal fold action, but did involve independent manoeuvring over lips and tongue. In parallel to vowels, faux-speech showed harmonic and formant modulations, implying vocal fold and supralaryngeal action. This rhythm was several times faster than orangutan chewing rates, as observed in monkeys and humans. Critically, this rhythm was seven-fold faster, and contextually distinct, than any other known rhythmic calls described to date in the largest database of the orangutan repertoire ever assembled. The first two predictions advanced by this study are validated and, based on parsimony and exclusion of potential alternative explanations, initial support is given to the third prediction. Irrespectively of the putative origins of these calls and underlying mechanisms, our findings demonstrate irrevocably that great apes are not respiratorily, articulatorilly, or neurologically constrained for the production of consonant- and vowel-like calls at speech rhythm. Orangutan clicks and faux-speech confirm the importance of rhythmic speech

  16. The Edison Environmental Center Permeable Pavement Site - slides

    Science.gov (United States)

    This is a presentation for a second Community Outreach Event called "Chemistry Works!" at West Windsor Public Library on Saturday, November 5th. It will review the permeable pavement research project at the Edison Environmental center. Besides slide persentation, two demo units w...

  17. Physician Burnout and the Calling to Care for the Dying: A National Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, John D; Hunt, Natalie B; Ravella, Krishna C; Jun, Christine S; Curlin, Farr A

    2017-12-01

    Physician burnout raises concerns over what sustains physicians' career motivations. We assess whether physicians in end-of-life specialties had higher rates of burnout and/or calling to care for the dying. We also examined whether the patient centeredness of the clinical environment was associated with burnout. In 2010 to 2011, we conducted a national survey of US physicians from multiple specialties. Primary outcomes were a validated single-item measure of burnout or sense of calling to end-of-life care. Primary predictors of burnout (or calling) included clinical specialty, frequency of encounters with dying patients, and patient centeredness of the clinical environments ("My clinical environment prioritizes the need of the patient over maximizing revenue"). Adjusted response rate among eligible respondents was 62% (1156 of 1878). Nearly a quarter of physicians (23%) experienced burnout, and rates were similar across all specialties. Half of the responding physicians (52%) agreed that they felt called to take care of patients who are dying. Burned-out physicians were more likely to report working in profit-centered clinical environments (multivariate odds ratio [OR] of 1.9; confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-2.8) or experiencing emotional exhaustion when caring for the dying (multivariate OR of 2.1; CI: 1.4-3.0). Physicians who identified their work as a calling were more likely to work in end-of-life specialties, to feel emotionally energized when caring for the dying, and to be religious. Physicians from end-of-life specialties not only did not have increased rates of burnout but they were also more likely to report a sense of calling in caring for the dying.

  18. Callings and Organizational Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elangovan, A. R.; Pinder, Craig C.; McLean, Murdith

    2010-01-01

    Current literature on careers, social identity and meaning in work tends to understate the multiplicity, historical significance, and nuances of the concept of calling(s). In this article, we trace the evolution of the concept from its religious roots into secular realms and develop a typology of interpretations using occupation and religious…

  19. Uncertain call likelihood negatively affects sleep and next-day cognitive performance while on-call in a laboratory environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sprajcer, Madeline; Jay, Sarah M; Vincent, Grace E; Vakulin, Andrew; Lack, Leon; Ferguson, Sally A

    2018-05-11

    On-call working arrangements are employed in a number of industries to manage unpredictable events, and often involve tasks that are safety- or time-critical. This study investigated the effects of call likelihood during an overnight on-call shift on self-reported pre-bed anxiety, sleep and next-day cognitive performance. A four-night laboratory-based protocol was employed, with an adaptation, a control and two counterbalanced on-call nights. On one on-call night, participants were instructed that they would definitely be called during the night, while on the other on-call night they were told they may be called. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form x-1 was used to investigate pre-bed anxiety, and sleep was assessed using polysomnography and power spectral analysis of the sleep electroencephalographic analysis. Cognitive performance was assessed four times daily using a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task. Participants felt more anxious before bed when they were definitely going to be called, compared with the control and maybe conditions. Conversely, participants experienced significantly less non-rapid eye movement and stage two sleep and poorer cognitive performance when told they may be called. Further, participants had significantly more rapid eye movement sleep in the maybe condition, which may be an adaptive response to the stress associated with this on-call condition. It appears that self-reported anxiety may not be linked with sleep outcomes while on-call. However, this research indicates that it is important to take call likelihood into consideration when constructing rosters and risk-management systems for on-call workers.

  20. Sex differences in the representation of call stimuli in a songbird secondary auditory area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giret, Nicolas; Menardy, Fabien; Del Negro, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    Understanding how communication sounds are encoded in the central auditory system is critical to deciphering the neural bases of acoustic communication. Songbirds use learned or unlearned vocalizations in a variety of social interactions. They have telencephalic auditory areas specialized for processing natural sounds and considered as playing a critical role in the discrimination of behaviorally relevant vocal sounds. The zebra finch, a highly social songbird species, forms lifelong pair bonds. Only male zebra finches sing. However, both sexes produce the distance call when placed in visual isolation. This call is sexually dimorphic, is learned only in males and provides support for individual recognition in both sexes. Here, we assessed whether auditory processing of distance calls differs between paired males and females by recording spiking activity in a secondary auditory area, the caudolateral mesopallium (CLM), while presenting the distance calls of a variety of individuals, including the bird itself, the mate, familiar and unfamiliar males and females. In males, the CLM is potentially involved in auditory feedback processing important for vocal learning. Based on both the analyses of spike rates and temporal aspects of discharges, our results clearly indicate that call-evoked responses of CLM neurons are sexually dimorphic, being stronger, lasting longer, and conveying more information about calls in males than in females. In addition, how auditory responses vary among call types differ between sexes. In females, response strength differs between familiar male and female calls. In males, temporal features of responses reveal a sensitivity to the bird's own call. These findings provide evidence that sexual dimorphism occurs in higher-order processing areas within the auditory system. They suggest a sexual dimorphism in the function of the CLM, contributing to transmit information about the self-generated calls in males and to storage of information about the

  1. Sex differences in the representation of call stimuli in a songbird secondary auditory area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas eGiret

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Understanding how communication sounds are encoded in the central auditory system is critical to deciphering the neural bases of acoustic communication. Songbirds use learned or unlearned vocalizations in a variety of social interactions. They have telencephalic auditory areas specialized for processing natural sounds and considered as playing a critical role in the discrimination of behaviorally relevant vocal sounds. The zebra finch, a highly social songbird species, forms lifelong pair bonds. Only male zebra finches sing. However, both sexes produce the distance call when placed in visual isolation. This call is sexually dimorphic, is learned only in males and provides support for individual recognition in both sexes. Here, we assessed whether auditory processing of distance calls differs between paired males and females by recording spiking activity in a secondary auditory area, the caudolateral mesopallium (CLM, while presenting the distance calls of a variety of individuals, including the bird itself, the mate, familiar and unfamiliar males and females. In males, the CLM is potentially involved in auditory feedback processing important for vocal learning. Based on both the analyses of spike rates and temporal aspects of discharges, our results clearly indicate that call-evoked responses of CLM neurons are sexually dimorphic, being stronger, lasting longer and conveying more information about calls in males than in females. In addition, how auditory responses vary among call types differ between sexes. In females, response strength differs between familiar male and female calls. In males, temporal features of responses reveal a sensitivity to the bird’s own call. These findings provide evidence that sexual dimorphism occurs in higher-order processing areas within the auditory system. They suggest a sexual dimorphism in the function of the CLM, contributing to transmit information about the self-generated calls in males and to storage of

  2. Design and Realization of Call Center Module of Tele-Screening System for Diabetic Retinopathy%糖尿病性视网膜病变筛查系统呼叫中心模块设计与实现

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    谢慧; 余轮; 郑绍华; 陈健

    2014-01-01

    糖尿病性视网膜病变是导致眼病患者致盲的重要因素之一,定期的视网膜病变筛查对及时发现病变并治疗有很大的帮助,糖尿病性视网膜病变远程筛查是提高患者筛查依从性的一种有效方法,已经得到广泛认可。本文将对远程糖尿病性视网膜病变筛查系统进行分析,并且提出呼叫中心模块的系统设计方案。该模块由语音卡搭建,文中介绍了系统硬件架构,以及软件的实现。通过测试,本方案所构建的糖尿病性视网膜病变远程筛查呼叫中心模块能够很好地满足整个系统的功能要求,并且结构较为简单,通用性良好。%Diabetic retinopathy is one of main diseases which can lead to blindness. Regular screening for diabetic retinopathy is an effective way for the timely detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Tele-screening for diabetic retinopathy will help patients to improve their screening compliance. Based on the analysis of the tele-screening system for diabetic retinopathy, this paper puts forward a design scheme of call center module which is established with phonic card for the system. This paper introduces the hardware architecture and software implementation of the call center module. The testing results showed that the call center module with simple structures and good generality can meet the functional requirements of the tele-screening system for diabetic retinopathy.

  3. The job demands-resources model of work engagement in South African call centres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yolandi Janse van Rensburg

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: A ‘sacrificial human resource strategy’ is practised in call centres, resulting in poor employee occupational health. Consequently, questions are posed in terms of the consequences of call centre work and which salient antecedent variables impact the engagement and wellbeing of call centre representatives. Research purpose: Firstly, to gauge the level of employee engagement amongst a sample of call centre representatives in South Africa and, secondly, to track the paths through which salient personal and job resources affect this engagement. More specifically, the relationships between sense of coherence, leadership effectiveness, team effectiveness and engagement were investigated, thus testing the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement. Motivation for the study: To present an application of the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement in a call centre environment in order to diagnose current ills and consequently propose remedies. Research design: A cross-sectional survey design was used and a non-probability convenient sample of 217 call centre representatives was selected. The measuring instruments comprise the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to measure engagement, the Team Diagnostic Survey to measure team effectiveness, the leadership practices inventory to gauge leadership effectiveness, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire to measure sense of coherence. A series of structural equation modelling analyses were performed. Main findings: Contrary to the ‘electronic sweatshop’ image attached to call centre jobs depicted in the literature, results show a high level of employee engagement for call centre representatives in the sample. Also, personal resources such as sense of coherence and job resources such as team effectiveness related significantly to engagement. A non-significant relationship exists between leadership effectiveness and engagement. Practical/managerial implications: Both the content and

  4. The job demands-resources model of work engagement in South African call centres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yolandi Janse van Rensburg

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: A ‘sacrificial human resource strategy’ is practised in call centres, resulting in poor employee occupational health. Consequently, questions are posed in terms of the consequences of call centre work and which salient antecedent variables impact the engagement and wellbeing of call centre representatives.Research purpose: Firstly, to gauge the level of employee engagement amongst a sample of call centre representatives in South Africa and, secondly, to track the paths through which salient personal and job resources affect this engagement. More specifically, the relationships between sense of coherence, leadership effectiveness, team effectiveness and engagement were investigated, thus testing the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement.Motivation for the study: To present an application of the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement in a call centre environment in order to diagnose current ills and consequently propose remedies.Research design: A cross-sectional survey design was used and a non-probability convenient sample of 217 call centre representatives was selected. The measuring instruments comprise the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to measure engagement, the Team Diagnostic Survey to measure team effectiveness, the leadership practices inventory to gauge leadership effectiveness, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire to measure sense of coherence. A series of structural equation modelling analyses were performed.Main findings: Contrary to the ‘electronic sweatshop’ image attached to call centre jobs depicted in the literature, results show a high level of employee engagement for call centre representatives in the sample. Also, personal resources such as sense of coherence and job resources such as team effectiveness related significantly to engagement. A non-significant relationship exists between leadership effectiveness and engagement.Practical/managerial implications: Both the content and

  5. Radiation Emergency Preparedness Tools: Virtual Community Reception Center

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    This podcast is an overview of resources from the Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) Call: Practical Tools for Radiation Emergency Preparedness. A specialist working with CDC's Radiation Studies Branch describes a web-based training tool known as a Virtual Community Reception Center (vCRC).

  6. Using On-scene EMS Responders' Assessment and Electronic Patient Care Records to Evaluate the Suitability of EMD-triaged, Low-acuity Calls for Secondary Nurse Triage in 911 Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Greg; Clawson, Jeff; Fivaz, Mark C; McQueen, Jennie; Gardett, Marie I; Schultz, Bryon; Youngquist, Scott; Olola, Christopher H O

    2016-02-01

    Using the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) - a systematic 911 triage process - to identify a large subset of low-acuity patients for secondary nurse triage in the 911 center is a largely unstudied practice in North America. This study examines the ALPHA-level subset of low-acuity patients in the MPDS to determine the suitability of these patients for secondary triage by evaluating vital signs and necessity of lights-and-siren transport, as determined by attending Emergency Medical Services (EMS) ambulance crews. The primary objective of this study was to determine the clinical status of MPDS ALPHA-level (low-acuity) patients, as determined by on-scene EMS crews' patient care records, in two US agencies. A secondary objective was to determine which ALPHA-level codes are suitable candidates for secondary triage by a trained Emergency Communication Nurse (ECN). In this retrospective study, one full year (2013) of both dispatch data and EMS patient records data, associated with all calls coded at the ALPHA-level (low-acuity) in the dispatch protocol, were collected. The primary outcome measure was the number and percentage of ALPHA-level codes categorized as low-acuity, moderate-acuity, high-acuity, and critical using four common vital signs to assign these categories: systolic blood pressure (SBP), pulse rate (PR), oxygen saturation (SpO2), and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS). Vital sign data were obtained from ambulance crew electronic patient care records (ePCRs). The secondary endpoint was the number and percentage of ALPHA-level codes that received a "hot" (lights-and-siren) transport. Out of 19,300 cases, 16,763 (86.9%) were included in the final analysis, after excluding cases from health care providers and those with missing data. Of those, 89% of all cases did not have even one vital sign indicator of unstable patient status (high or critical vital sign). Of all cases, only 1.1% were transported lights-and-siren. With the exception of the low-acuity, ALPHA

  7. 75 FR 3912 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-25

    ... (Telephone Conference Call). Contact Person: Lawrence Baizer, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Center for... Health, HHS) Dated: January 15, 2010. Jennifer Spaeth, Director, Office of Federal Advisory Committee...

  8. Care and calls

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paasch, Bettina Sletten

    -centred care through the use of tactile resources and embodied orientations while they attend to the phone call. Experienced nurses Thus perform multiactivity by distributing attention towards both the patient and the phone, and the analysis shows that their concrete ways of doing so depend on the complex...... they are telephoned during interactions with patients are not universal. Indeed different strategies have evolved in other hospital departments. Not only does this thesis contribute insights into the way nurses manage phone calls during interactions with patients, but by subscribing to a growing body of embodied...... of human interaction....

  9. Estate of Behringer v. Medical Center at Princeton.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-04-25

    Dr. William Behringer, a staff member at the Medical Center at Princeton, was diagnosed with AIDS. Afterwards, Behringer received numerous phone calls from various people expressing awareness of his illness, and his surgical privileges at the Center were suspended. He sued the Medical Center, alleging a breach of confidentiality and discrimination. The Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County, held that the Medical Center had breached its duty of confidentiality when it failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent Behringer's AIDS diagnosis from becoming public knowledge. Nevertheless, although New Jersey's anti-discrimination statutes protected Dr. Behringer from having his surgical privileges revoked, the Medical Center demonstrated a reasonable risk to patients that justified suspending Dr. Behringer's privileges, or alternatively, requiring his patients' informed consent before operating. The court found that the risk included not only actual HIV transmission, but also the possibility of surgical accidents.

  10. Population density, call-response interval, and survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ogawa Toshio

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about the effects of geographic variation on outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA. The present study investigated the relationship between population density, time between emergency call and ambulance arrival, and survival of OHCA, using the All-Japan Utstein-style registry database, coupled with geographic information system (GIS data. Methods We examined data from 101,287 bystander-witnessed OHCA patients who received emergency medical services (EMS through 4,729 ambulatory centers in Japan between 2005 and 2007. Latitudes and longitudes of each center were determined with address-match geocoding, and linked with the Population Census data using GIS. The endpoints were 1-month survival and neurologically favorable 1-month survival defined as Glasgow-Pittsburgh cerebral performance categories 1 or 2. Results Overall 1-month survival was 7.8%. Neurologically favorable 1-month survival was 3.6%. In very low-density (2 and very high-density (≥10,000/km2 areas, the mean call-response intervals were 9.3 and 6.2 minutes, 1-month survival rates were 5.4% and 9.1%, and neurologically favorable 1-month survival rates were 2.7% and 4.3%, respectively. After adjustment for age, sex, cause of arrest, first aid by bystander and the proportion of neighborhood elderly people ≥65 yrs, patients in very high-density areas had a significantly higher survival rate (odds ratio (OR, 1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI, 1.44 - 1.87; p Conclusion Living in a low-density area was associated with an independent risk of delay in ambulance response, and a low survival rate in cases of OHCA. Distribution of EMS centers according to population size may lead to inequality in health outcomes between urban and rural areas.

  11. How to call the Fire Brigade

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    The telephone numbers for the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from "wired" telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

  12. The Beneficial Auxiliary Role of Poison Information Centers: Stewardly Use of Rabies Post-Exposure Prophylaxis in a Time of Shortage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel Gorodetsky

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: During the one-year period from May 2008 to May 2009, a nationwide shortage developed which rabies vaccine was not being produced by the manufacturers. In order to manage existing supply, a protocol was established wherein an authorization was required from the regional poison center before vaccine could be administered to a patient. Methods: The Georgia Poison Center internal database was accessed for information pertaining to rabies exposure calls for the time of the restriction, as well as the years before and after. Results were examined for the total number of human rabies exposure calls received by the poison center, as well as the number of cases in which PEP was recommended.  Results: During the restriction period, the number of rabies-related calls increased, while the percentage of cases in which PEP was recommended, remained consistent. The year following the restriction, the number of rabies related calls remained elevated. Conclusion: Our Regional Poison Center was able to make a positive impact by reducing unnecessary use of PEP in a time of shortage and thereby ensuring that all patients who needed the vaccine were able to receive it. This further shows the potential capacity of the poison information centers to optimize healthcare services.  

  13. How are the temporary workers? Quality of life and burn-out in a call center temporary employment in Italy: a pilot observational study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice Mannocci

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES. The aim of this study was to quantify the level of health related quality of life and burnout in a call centers sample of precarious workers. METHODS. An observational study was carried out in Italy. A self-reported anonymous questionnaire was administered to temporary workers in order to estimate burn-out and quality of life levels. RESULTS. 227 questionnaires were collected. 78% of the sample was female and the mean age was 35.48 years (SD = 9.91. Among the participants, 40% were smokers, 42% regularly drinkers, 65% changed the body weight (more than 5 kg, in 1 year. The mental component score (MCS was significantly better in subject that have a regularly life style, for example in those no change their body weight (p = 0.001, sleep more than 7 hours (p = 0.018 and followed a diet (p = 0.035. The DP (depersonalization is significant higher in former smokers (p = 0.031, in underweight subjects (p = 0.025 and in the group that have a precarious employment of over 2 years (p = 0.013. CONCLUSIONS. This investigation shows that in this particular category of atypical workers depressive symptoms and quality of life were lower than the general population. It is important to underline that the interpretation of the results is limited partly by the observational character of the study.

  14. Transportation Technical Environmental Information Center index

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Davidson, C. A.; Foley, J. T.

    1980-10-01

    In an effort to determine the environmental intensities to which energy materials in transit may be exposed, a Data Center of technical environmental information has been established by Sandia National Laboratories, Division 5523, for the DOE Office of Transportation Fuel Storage. This document is an index which can be used to request data of interest. Access to the information held is not limited to Sandia personnel. The purpose of the Transportation Technical Environmental Information Center is to collect, analyze, store, and make available descriptions of the environment of transportation expressed in engineering terms. The data stored in the Center are expected to be useful in a variety of transportation related analyses. Formulations of environmental criteria for shipment of cargo, risk assessments, and detailed structural analyses of shipping containers are examples where these data have been applied. For purposes of indexing and data retrieval, the data are catalogued under two major headings: Normal and Abnormal Environments.

  15. Transportation Technical Environmental Information Center index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davidson, C.A.; Foley, J.T.

    1980-10-01

    In an effort to determine the environmental intensities to which energy materials in transit may be exposed, a Data Center of technical environmental information has been established by Sandia National Laboratories, Division 5523, for the DOE Office of Transportation Fuel Storage. This document is an index which can be used to request data of interest. Access to the information held is not limited to Sandia personnel. The purpose of the Transportation Technical Environmental Information Center is to collect, analyze, store, and make available descriptions of the environment of transportation expressed in engineering terms. The data stored in the Center are expected to be useful in a variety of transportation related analyses. Formulations of environmental criteria for shipment of cargo, risk assessments, and detailed structural analyses of shipping containers are examples where these data have been applied. For purposes of indexing and data retrieval, the data are catalogued under two major headings: Normal and Abnormal Environments

  16. Person-centered methods configural frequency analysis (CFA) and other methods for the analysis of contingency tables

    CERN Document Server

    Stemmler, Mark

    2014-01-01

    This book takes an easy-to-understand look at the statistical approach called the person-centered method. Instead of analyzing means, variances and covariances of scale scores as in the common variable-centered approach, the person-centered approach analyzes persons or objects grouped according to their characteristic patterns or configurations in contingency tables. The main focus of the book will be on Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA; Lienert and Krauth, 1975) which is a statistical method that looks for over and under-frequented cells or patterns. Over frequented means that the observations in this cell or configuration are observed more often than expected, under-frequented means that this cell or configuration is observed less often than expected. In CFA a pattern or configuration that contains more observed cases than expected is called a type; similarly, a pattern or configuration that is less observed than expected are called an antitype. CFA is similar to log-linear modeling. In log-linear modelin...

  17. Calling in Work: Secular or Sacred?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steger, Michael F.; Pickering, N. K.; Shin, J. Y.; Dik, B. J.

    2010-01-01

    Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment…

  18. What Are the Costs of Trauma Center Readiness? Defining and Standardizing Readiness Costs for Trauma Centers Statewide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashley, Dennis W; Mullins, Robert F; Dente, Christopher J; Garlow, Laura; Medeiros, Regina S; Atkins, Elizabeth V; Solomon, Gina; Abston, Dena; Ferdinand, Colville H

    2017-09-01

    Trauma center readiness costs are incurred to maintain essential infrastructure and capacity to provide emergent services on a 24/7 basis. These costs are not captured by traditional hospital cost accounting, and no national consensus exists on appropriate definitions for each cost. Therefore, in 2010, stakeholders from all Level I and II trauma centers developed a survey tool standardizing and defining trauma center readiness costs. The survey tool underwent minor revisions to provide further clarity, and the survey was repeated in 2013. The purpose of this study was to provide a follow-up analysis of readiness costs for Georgia's Level I and Level II trauma centers. Using the American College of Surgeons Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient guidelines, four readiness cost categories were identified: Administrative, Clinical Medical Staff, Operating Room, and Education/Outreach. Through conference calls, webinars and face-to-face meetings with financial officers, trauma medical directors, and program managers from all trauma centers, standardized definitions for reporting readiness costs within each category were developed. This resulted in a survey tool for centers to report their individual readiness costs for one year. The total readiness cost for all Level I trauma centers was $34,105,318 (avg $6,821,064) and all Level II trauma centers was $20,998,019 (avg $2,333,113). Methodology to standardize and define readiness costs for all trauma centers within the state was developed. Average costs for Level I and Level II trauma centers were identified. This model may be used to help other states define and standardize their trauma readiness costs.

  19. The effectiveness of television advertising campaigns on generating calls to a national Quitline by Māori.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, N; Grigg, M; Graham, L; Cameron, G

    2005-08-01

    To examine the effectiveness of four mass media campaigns on calls to a national Quitline by Māori (the indigenous people of New Zealand). Monthly Quitline call data and calls within one hour of a television commercial (TVC) being shown were analysed for the 2002-2003 period. Data on target audience rating points (TARPs) and expenditure on TVCs were also used (n = 2319 TVC placements). Māori were found to register with the Quitline at higher rates during the most intense six campaign months (15% more registrations compared to less intense months). The most effective campaign generated 115 calls per 100 TARPs by Māori callers within one hour of TVC airing (the "Every cigarette" campaign). A more Māori orientated campaign with both health and cultural themes generated 91 calls per 100 TARPs from Māori callers. For these two campaigns combined, the advertising cost per new registration with the Quitline by a Māori caller was NZD 30-48. Two second hand smoke campaigns that did not show the Quitline number were much less effective at 25 and 45 calls per 100 TARPs. These television advertising campaigns were effective and cost effective in generating calls to a national Quitline by Māori. Health authorities should continue to explore the use of both "threat appeal" style media campaigns and culturally appropriate campaigns to support Quitline use by indigenous peoples.

  20. Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rainey, Hugo J.; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Slater, Peter J. B.

    2004-01-01

    Some mammals distinguish between and respond appropriately to the alarm calls of other mammal and bird species. However, the ability of birds to distinguish between mammal alarm calls has not been investigated. Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce different alarm calls to two predators: crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Yellow-casqued hornbills (Ceratogymna elata) are vulnerable to predation by crowned eagles but are not preyed on by leopards and might therefore be expected to respond to the Diana monkey eagle alarm call but not to the leopard alarm call. We compared responses of hornbills to playback of eagle shrieks, leopard growls, Diana monkey eagle alarm calls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls and found that they distinguished appropriately between the two predator vocalizations as well as between the two Diana monkey alarm calls. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to these responses. PMID:15209110

  1. Comparative Analysis of Upper Ocean Heat Content Variability from Ensemble Operational Ocean Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Yan; Balmaseda, Magdalena A.; Boyer, Tim; Ferry, Nicolas; Good, Simon; Ishikawa, Ichiro; Rienecker, Michele; Rosati, Tony; Yin, Yonghong; Kumar, Arun

    2012-01-01

    Upper ocean heat content (HC) is one of the key indicators of climate variability on many time-scales extending from seasonal to interannual to long-term climate trends. For example, HC in the tropical Pacific provides information on thermocline anomalies that is critical for the longlead forecast skill of ENSO. Since HC variability is also associated with SST variability, a better understanding and monitoring of HC variability can help us understand and forecast SST variability associated with ENSO and other modes such as Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). An accurate ocean initialization of HC anomalies in coupled climate models could also contribute to skill in decadal climate prediction. Errors, and/or uncertainties, in the estimation of HC variability can be affected by many factors including uncertainties in surface forcings, ocean model biases, and deficiencies in data assimilation schemes. Changes in observing systems can also leave an imprint on the estimated variability. The availability of multiple operational ocean analyses (ORA) that are routinely produced by operational and research centers around the world provides an opportunity to assess uncertainties in HC analyses, to help identify gaps in observing systems as they impact the quality of ORAs and therefore climate model forecasts. A comparison of ORAs also gives an opportunity to identify deficiencies in data assimilation schemes, and can be used as a basis for development of real-time multi-model ensemble HC monitoring products. The OceanObs09 Conference called for an intercomparison of ORAs and use of ORAs for global ocean monitoring. As a follow up, we intercompared HC variations from ten ORAs -- two objective analyses based on in-situ data only and eight model analyses based on ocean data assimilation systems. The mean, annual cycle, interannual variability and longterm trend of HC have

  2. Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryant, Amy G; Levi, Erika E

    2012-12-01

    This study assessed the accuracy of medical information provided by crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina. We performed a secondary data analysis of a "secret shopper survey" performed by a nonprofit organization. Reports from phone calls and visits to crisis pregnancy centers were analyzed for quality and content of medical information provided. Web sites of crisis pregnancy centers in the state were also reviewed. Thirty-two crisis pregnancy centers were contacted. Nineteen of these were visited. Fourteen centers (44%) offered that they "provide counseling on abortion and its risks." Inaccurate information provided included a link between abortion and breast cancer (16%), infertility (26%) and mental health problems (26%). Of the 36 Web sites identified, 31 (86%) provided false or misleading information, including 26 sites (72%) linking abortion to "post-abortion stress." Many crisis pregnancy centers give inaccurate medical information regarding the risks of abortion. Overstating risks stigmatizes abortion, seeks to intimidate women and is unethical. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. From nestling calls to fledgling silence: adaptive timing of change in response to aerial alarm calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magrath, Robert D; Platzen, Dirk; Kondo, Junko

    2006-09-22

    Young birds and mammals are extremely vulnerable to predators and so should benefit from responding to parental alarm calls warning of danger. However, young often respond differently from adults. This difference may reflect: (i) an imperfect stage in the gradual development of adult behaviour or (ii) an adaptation to different vulnerability. Altricial birds provide an excellent model to test for adaptive changes with age in response to alarm calls, because fledglings are vulnerable to a different range of predators than nestlings. For example, a flying hawk is irrelevant to a nestling in a enclosed nest, but is dangerous to that individual once it has left the nest, so we predict that young develop a response to aerial alarm calls to coincide with fledging. Supporting our prediction, recently fledged white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, fell silent immediately after playback of their parents' aerial alarm call, whereas nestlings continued to calling despite hearing the playback. Young scrubwrens are therefore exquisitely adapted to the changing risks faced during development.

  4. Johns Hopkins Particulate Matter Research Center

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Johns Hopkins Particulate Matter Research Center will map health risks of PM across the US based on analyses of national databases on air pollution, mortality,...

  5. Peafowl antipredator calls encode information about signalers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yorzinski, Jessica L

    2014-02-01

    Animals emit vocalizations that convey information about external events. Many of these vocalizations, including those emitted in response to predators, also encode information about the individual that produced the call. The relationship between acoustic features of antipredator calls and information relating to signalers (including sex, identity, body size, and social rank) were examined in peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The "bu-girk" antipredator calls of male and female peafowl were recorded and 20 acoustic parameters were automatically extracted from each call. Both the bu and girk elements of the antipredator call were individually distinctive and calls were classified to the correct signaler with over 90% and 70% accuracy in females and males, respectively. Females produced calls with a higher fundamental frequency (F0) than males. In both females and males, body size was negatively correlated with F0. In addition, peahen rank was related to the duration, end mean frequency, and start harmonicity of the bu element. Peafowl antipredator calls contain detailed information about the signaler and can potentially be used by receivers to respond to dangerous situations.

  6. Impact of mobility on call block, call drops and optimal cell size in small cell networks

    OpenAIRE

    Ramanath , Sreenath; Voleti , Veeraruna Kavitha; Altman , Eitan

    2011-01-01

    We consider small cell networks and study the impact of user mobility. Assuming Poisson call arrivals at random positions with random velocities, we discuss the characterization of handovers at the boundaries. We derive explicit expressions for call block and call drop probabilities using tools from spatial queuing theory. We also derive expressions for the average virtual server held up time. These expressions are used to derive optimal cell sizes for various profile of velocities in small c...

  7. 77 FR 51033 - Center For Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-23

    ...: Biochemistry. Date: August 27, 2012. Time: 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Agenda: To review and evaluate grant... Conference Call). Contact Person: Nuria E. Assa-Munt, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific...

  8. External GSM phone calls now made simpler

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    On 2 July, the IT/CS Telecom Service introduced a new service making external calls from CERN GSM phones easier. A specific prefix is no longer needed for calls outside CERN. External calls from CERN GSM phones are to be simplified. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix to call an external number from the CERN GSM network.The Telecom Section of the IT/CS Group is introducing a new system that will make life easier for GSM users. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix (333) to call an external number from the CERN GSM network. Simply dial the number directly like any other Swiss GSM customer. CERN currently has its own private GSM network with the Swiss mobile operator, Sunrise, covering the whole of Switzerland. This network was initially intended exclusively for calls between CERN numbers (replacing the old beeper system). A special system was later introduced for external calls, allowing them to pass thr...

  9. Identification of the iron-sulfur center of spinach ferredoxin-nitrite reductase as a tetranuclear center, and preliminary EPR studies of mechanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lancaster, J R; Vega, J M; Kamin, H; Orme-Johnson, N R; Orme-Johnson, W H; Krueger, R J; Siegel, L M

    1979-02-25

    EPR spectroscopic and chemical analyses of spinach nitrite reductase show that the enzyme contains one reducible iron-sulfur center, and one site for binding either cyanide or nitrite, per siroheme. The heme is nearly all in the high spin ferric state in the enzyme as isolated. The extinction coefficient of the enzyme has been revised to E386 = 7.6 X 10(4) cm-1 (M heme)-1. The iron-sulfur center is reduced with difficulty by agents such as reduced methyl viologen (equilibrated with 1 atm of H2 at pH 7.7 in the presence of hydrogenase) or dithionite. Complexation of the enzyme with CO (a known ligand for nitrite reductase heme) markedly increases the reducibility of the iron-sulfur center. New chemical analyses and reinterpretation of previous data show that the enzyme contains 6 mol of iron and 4 mol of acid-labile S2-/mol of siroheme. The EPR spectrum of reduced nitrite reductase in 80% dimethyl sulfoxide establishes clearly that the enzyme contains a tetranuclear iron-sulfur (Fe4S4) center. The ferriheme and Fe4S4 centers are reduced at similar rates (k = 3 to 4 s-1) by dithionite. The dithionite-reduced Fe4S4 center is rapidly (k = 100 s-1) reoxidized by nitrite. These results indicate a role for the Fe4S4 center in catalysis.

  10. Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew; Gautier, Laurent; Willis, Scooter; Fields, Christopher; Katayama, Toshiaki

    2012-01-01

    Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy, and languages sharing the Java Virtual Machine stack. This functionality provides strategies for sharing of software between Bio* projects, which can be exploited more often. Here, we present cross-language examples for sequence translation, and measure throughput of the different options. We compare calling into R through native R, RSOAP, Rserve, and RPy interfaces, with the performance of native BioPerl, Biopython, BioJava, and BioRuby implementations, and with call stack bindings to BioJava and the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. In general, call stack approaches outperform native Bio* implementations and these, in turn, outperform RPC-based approaches. To test and compare strategies, we provide a downloadable BioNode image with all examples, tools, and libraries included. The BioNode image can be run on VirtualBox-supported operating systems, including Windows, OSX, and Linux.

  11. [The development of market centers for gas transactions] The center of attention

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoddard, B.

    1994-01-01

    When Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 636 placed new competitive demands on the buyers, sellers and traders of natural gas, the industry realized it needed to find new faster ways of making transactions. It has, and they are called hubs. With Order 636 and the advent of greater open-market trading, new hubs--so-called market centers--began sprouting throughout the nation's market and end-use regions, as well as in the supply regions. Local distribution companies (LDCs) began to see a market for selling such services as wheeling and balancing--often performed as part of a pipeline's tariff in the capacity-rich producing regions--to customers in end-use areas, where capacity is at more of a premium. Developing a marketing hub could also be considered a defensive move: Despite today's competitive market, LDCs must still serve their ratepayers at a reasonable cost, and a successful market hub can help keep rates low. The paper discusses the development of hubs in various regions of the US, the types of services being offered, and the start-up problems that they are overcoming

  12. ToTem: a tool for variant calling pipeline optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tom, Nikola; Tom, Ondrej; Malcikova, Jitka; Pavlova, Sarka; Kubesova, Blanka; Rausch, Tobias; Kolarik, Miroslav; Benes, Vladimir; Bystry, Vojtech; Pospisilova, Sarka

    2018-06-26

    High-throughput bioinformatics analyses of next generation sequencing (NGS) data often require challenging pipeline optimization. The key problem is choosing appropriate tools and selecting the best parameters for optimal precision and recall. Here we introduce ToTem, a tool for automated pipeline optimization. ToTem is a stand-alone web application with a comprehensive graphical user interface (GUI). ToTem is written in Java and PHP with an underlying connection to a MySQL database. Its primary role is to automatically generate, execute and benchmark different variant calling pipeline settings. Our tool allows an analysis to be started from any level of the process and with the possibility of plugging almost any tool or code. To prevent an over-fitting of pipeline parameters, ToTem ensures the reproducibility of these by using cross validation techniques that penalize the final precision, recall and F-measure. The results are interpreted as interactive graphs and tables allowing an optimal pipeline to be selected, based on the user's priorities. Using ToTem, we were able to optimize somatic variant calling from ultra-deep targeted gene sequencing (TGS) data and germline variant detection in whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. ToTem is a tool for automated pipeline optimization which is freely available as a web application at  https://totem.software .

  13. Creating 21st-Century Laboratories and Classrooms for Improving Population Health: A Call to Action for Academic Medical Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeVoe, Jennifer E; Likumahuwa-Ackman, Sonja; Shannon, Jackilen; Steiner Hayward, Elizabeth

    2017-04-01

    Academic medical centers (AMCs) in the United States built world-class infrastructure to successfully combat disease in the 20th century, which is inadequate for the complexity of sustaining and improving population health. AMCs must now build first-rate 21st-century infrastructure to connect combating disease and promoting health. This infrastructure must acknowledge the bio-psycho-social-environmental factors impacting health and will need to reach far beyond the AMC walls to foster community "laboratories" that support the "science of health," complementary to those supporting the "science of medicine"; cultivate community "classrooms" to stimulate learning and discovery in the places where people live, work, and play; and strengthen bridges between academic centers and these community laboratories and classrooms to facilitate bidirectional teaching, learning, innovation, and discovery.Private and public entities made deep financial investments that contributed to the AMC disease-centered approach to clinical care, education, and research in the 20th century. Many of these same funders now recognize the need to transform U.S. health care into a system that is accountable for population health and the need for a medical workforce equipped with the skills to measure and improve health. Innovative ideas about communities as centers of learning, the importance of social factors as major determinants of health, and the need for multidisciplinary perspectives to solve complex problems are not new; many are 20th-century ideas still waiting to be fully implemented. The window of opportunity is now. The authors articulate how AMCs must take bigger and bolder steps to become leaders in population health.

  14. High-Resolution Global and Basin-Scale Ocean Analyses and Forecasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-09-01

    PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Research Laboratory,Oceanographic Division,Stennis Space Center,MS,39529-5004 8. PERFORMING... ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT...six weeks, here circling near the center of an anti- cyclonic eddy seen in both analyses. A third drifter is moving southward past Coffs Harbour

  15. Analyse af IPCC delrapport 2 - Effekter, klimatilpasning og sårbarhed

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Jens Hesselbjerg; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten; Grindsted, Aslak

    . Med afsæt i denne delrapport er der udarbejdet en dansk analyse, der nærmere beskriver effekterne af et ændret klima i Danmark suppleret med den seneste danske forskning udført af det danske Center for Regional Changes in the Earth System (CRES). ”Analyse af IPCC delrapport 2 – Effekter...

  16. NASA Airline Operations Research Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogford, Richard H.

    2016-01-01

    This is a PowerPoint presentation NASA airline operations center (AOC) research. It includes information on using IBM Watson in the AOC. It also reviews a dispatcher decision support tool call the Flight Awareness Collaboration Tool (FACT). FACT gathers information about winter weather onto one screen and includes predictive abilities. It should prove to be useful for airline dispatchers and airport personnel when they manage winter storms and their effect on air traffic. This material is very similar to other previously approved presentations with the same title.

  17. Call for information on coastal energy facility siting: an analysis of responses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1977-01-01

    The Call for Information issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in December 1975 consisted of an eight page questionnaire which was sent to industries, government agencies, and private organizations. Its objective was to seek the help of these groups in plans for the siting of energy facilities in the coastal zone. Potential development of oil and gas from the Baltimore Canyon region adjacent to New Jersey has made planning for energy facilities a priority issue both at the state and federal level. The Call for Information invited government and the energy industry to submit (a) suggested criteria for locating energy and energy-related facilities within the New Jersey coastal zone, (b) analyses by governmental and private agencies or groups of the need to locate energy facilities in specific sites within New Jersey's coastal zone, or in generalized portions thereof, and (c) identification of the land-use parameters, appropriate to the various types of facilities which may be proposed, now or later, for coastal siting. The findings obtained from the draft call and the final call issued seven months later are presented. The results of the industries' responses show that the electric and gas utilities gave some useful information while this was true of only a few of the oil companies. The reluctance to give informatign was perhaps aggravated by lack of clear state and federal policies. The appendices illustrate specific information on manpower, cost and facility requirements to develop oil refineries, establish a gas processing plant as well as information from the US Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency. There is also a listing of the companies that bid in the August 1976 lease sale indicating which bids were accepted, a map of the offshore tracts, and a list of which companies responded to the Call for Information

  18. The advertisement calls of Quasipaa shini (Ahl, 1930) (Anura: Dicroglossidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Shen Shen; Zheng, Rong Quan; Zhang, Qi Peng

    2016-12-04

    The genus Quasipaa (Family Dicroglossidae) is currently composed of 11 species distributed in China and Southeast Asia: Quasipaa acanthophora (Dubois & Ohler 2009), Q. boulengeri (Günther 1889), Q. courtoisi (Angel 1922), Q. delacouri (Angel 1928), Q. exilispinosa (Liu & Hu, 1975), Q. fasciculispina (Inger 1970), Q. jiulongensis (Huang & Liu, 1985), Q. shini (Ahl 1930), Q. spinosa (David 1875), Q. verrucospinosa (Bourret 1937), Q. yei (Chen, Qu & Jiang 2002) (Frost 2016). These species are morphologically similar, and their taxonomy is subject to controversy (Che et al. 2009). Analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial genes suggest the genus likely encompass additional cryptic species (Ye et al. 2013). Bioacoustics has contributed to studies on the taxonomy of the genus (Ye et al. 2013; Shen et al. 2015), however, to date, only the advertisement calls of Q. spinosa are known (Yu & Zheng 2009; Chen et al. 2012; Shen et al. 2015). Here, we describe the advertisement calls of Q. shini, which inhabits streams in the southern part of central China(Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi and Jiangxi) and is characterized by the presence of keratinized skin spines on the lateral surfaces of the body.

  19. Care and Calls

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paasch, Bettina Sletten

    on the enactment of care but also on patient safety. Nurses working in various hospital departments have developed different strategies for handling mobile phone calls when with a patient. Additional research into the ways nurses successfully or unsuccessfully enact care and ensure patient safety when they answer......In Danish hospitals, nurses have been equipped with a mobile work phone to improve their availability and efficiency. On the phones nurses receive internal and external phone conversations, patient calls, and alarms from electronic surveillance equipment. For safety reasons the phones cannot...... be switched off or silenced; they consequently ring during all activities and also during interactions with patients. A possible tension thus arises when nurses have to be both caring and sensitive towards the patient and simultaneously be efficient and available and answer their phone. The present paper...

  20. Calling under pressure: short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jensen, Frants H; Perez, Jacobo Marrero; Johnson, Mark; Soto, Natacha Aguilar; Madsen, Peter T

    2011-10-22

    Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows that the energy content of calls is lower at depths where lungs are collapsed and where the air volume available for sound generation is limited by ambient pressure. Frequency content was unaffected, providing a possible cue for group or species identification of diving whales. Social calls may be important to maintain social ties for foraging animals, but may be impacted adversely by vessel noise.

  1. Study of a conceptual nuclear energy center at Green River, Utah. Power demand, load center assessment and transmission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, D.R.; Thaik, A.; Pingel, P.

    1982-02-01

    This document constitutes a segment of a feasibility study investigating the ramification of constructing a nuclear energy center in an arid western region. In this phase of the study. The projected power demands and load center locations were reviewed and assessed. Alternative transmission systems were analysed and a conceptual transmission for bulk power transportation is proposed with potential line routes. Environmental impacts of the proposed transmission were also identified.

  2. Study of a conceptual nuclear energy center at Green River, Utah. Power demand, load center assessment and transmission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.R.; Thaik, A.; Pingel, P.

    1982-02-01

    This document constitutes a segment of a feasibility study investigating the ramification of constructing a nuclear energy center in an arid western region. In this phase of the study. The projected power demands and load center locations were reviewed and assessed. Alternative transmission systems were analysed and a conceptual transmission for bulk power transportation is proposed with potential line routes. Environmental impacts of the proposed transmission were also identified

  3. Do market participants learn from conference calls?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roelofsen, E.; Verbeeten, F.; Mertens, G.

    2014-01-01

    We examine whether market participants learn from the information that is disseminated during the Q-and-A section of conference calls. Specifically, we investigate whether stock prices react to information on intangible assets provided during conference calls, and whether conference calls

  4. Should We All be Scientists? Re-thinking Laboratory Research as a Calling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezuidenhout, Louise; Warne, Nathaniel A

    2017-07-19

    In recent years there have been major shifts in how the role of science-and scientists-are understood. The critical examination of scientific expertise within the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) are increasingly eroding notions of the "otherness" of scientists. It would seem to suggest that anyone can be a scientist-when provided with the appropriate training and access to data. In contrast, however, ethnographic evidence from the scientific community tells a different story. Scientists are quick to recognize that not everyone can-or should-be a scientist. Appealing to notions such as "good hands" or "gut feelings", scientists narrate a distinction between good and bad scientists that cannot be reduced to education, access, or opportunity. The key to good science requires scientists to express an intuitive feeling for their discipline, but also that individuals derive considerable personal satisfaction from their work. Discussing this personal joy in-and "fittingness" of-scientific occupations using the fields of STS, ethics and science policy is highly problematic. In this paper we turn to theology discourse to analyze the notion of "callings" as a means of understanding this issue. Callings highlight the identification and examination of individual talents to determine fit occupations for specific persons. Framing science as a calling represents a novel view of research that places the talents and dispositions of individuals and their relationship to the community at the center of flourishing practices.

  5. HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.  

  6. HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

  7. HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

  8. HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note: the number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

  9. Human Centered Hardware Modeling and Collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stambolian Damon; Lawrence, Brad; Stelges, Katrine; Henderson, Gena

    2013-01-01

    In order to collaborate engineering designs among NASA Centers and customers, to in clude hardware and human activities from multiple remote locations, live human-centered modeling and collaboration across several sites has been successfully facilitated by Kennedy Space Center. The focus of this paper includes innovative a pproaches to engineering design analyses and training, along with research being conducted to apply new technologies for tracking, immersing, and evaluating humans as well as rocket, vehic le, component, or faci lity hardware utilizing high resolution cameras, motion tracking, ergonomic analysis, biomedical monitoring, wor k instruction integration, head-mounted displays, and other innovative human-system integration modeling, simulation, and collaboration applications.

  10. Calling to Nursing: Concept Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emerson, Christie

    The aims of this article are (a) to analyze the concept of a calling as it relates nursing and (b) to develop a definition of calling to nursing with the detail and clarity needed to guide reliable and valid research. The classic steps described by Walker and Avant are used for the analysis. Literature from several disciplines is reviewed including vocational psychology, Christian career counseling, sociology, organizational management, and nursing. The analysis provides an operational definition of a calling to nursing and establishes 3 defining attributes of the concept: (a) a passionate intrinsic motivation or desire (perhaps with a religious component), (b) an aspiration to engage in nursing practice, as a means of fulfilling one's purpose in life, and (c) the desire to help others as one's purpose in life. Antecedents to the concept are personal introspection and cognitive awareness. Positive consequences to the concept are improved work meaningfulness, work engagement, career commitment, personal well-being, and satisfaction. Negative consequences of having a calling might include willingness to sacrifice well-being for work and problems with work-life balance. Following the concept analysis, philosophical assumptions, contextual factors, interdisciplinary work, research opportunities, and practice implications are discussed.

  11. EMERGENCY CALLS

    CERN Multimedia

    Medical Service

    2001-01-01

    IN URGENT NEED OF A DOCTOR GENEVA EMERGENCY SERVICES GENEVA AND VAUD 144 FIRE BRIGADE 118 POLICE 117 CERN FIREMEN 767-44-44 ANTI-POISONS CENTRE Open 24h/24h 01-251-51-51 Patient not fit to be moved, call family doctor, or: GP AT HOME, open 24h/24h 748-49-50 Association Of Geneva Doctors Emergency Doctors at home 07h-23h 322 20 20 Patient fit to be moved: HOPITAL CANTONAL CENTRAL 24 Micheli-du-Crest 372-33-11 ou 382-33-11 EMERGENCIES 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 6 rue Willy-Donzé 372-33-11 MATERNITY 32 bvd.de la Cluse 382-68-16 ou 382-33-11 OPHTHALMOLOGY 22 Alcide Jentzer 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 MEDICAL CENTRE CORNAVIN 1-3 rue du Jura 345 45 50 HOPITAL DE LA TOUR Meyrin EMERGENCIES 719-61-11 URGENCES PEDIATRIQUES 719-61-00 LA TOUR MEDICAL CENTRE 719-74-00 European Emergency Call 112 FRANCE EMERGENCY SERVICES 15 FIRE BRIGADE 18 POLICE 17 CERN FIREMEN AT HOME 00-41-22-767-44-44 ANTI-POISONS CENTRE Open 24h/24h 04-72-11-69-11 All doctors ...

  12. Genomic analyses of modern dog breeds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Heidi G

    2012-02-01

    A rose may be a rose by any other name, but when you call a dog a poodle it becomes a very different animal than if you call it a bulldog. Both the poodle and the bulldog are examples of dog breeds of which there are >400 recognized worldwide. Breed creation has played a significant role in shaping the modern dog from the length of his leg to the cadence of his bark. The selection and line-breeding required to maintain a breed has also reshaped the genome of the dog, resulting in a unique genetic pattern for each breed. The breed-based population structure combined with extensive morphologic variation and shared human environments have made the dog a popular model for mapping both simple and complex traits and diseases. In order to obtain the most benefit from the dog as a genetic system, it is necessary to understand the effect structured breeding has had on the genome of the species. That is best achieved by looking at genomic analyses of the breeds, their histories, and their relationships to each other.

  13. Evolution of advertisement calls in African clawed frogs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobias, Martha L.; Evans, Ben J.; Kelley, Darcy B.

    2014-01-01

    Summary For most frogs, advertisement calls are essential for reproductive success, conveying information on species identity, male quality, sexual state and location. While the evolutionary divergence of call characters has been examined in a number of species, the relative impacts of genetic drift or natural and sexual selection remain unclear. Insights into the evolutionary trajectory of vocal signals can be gained by examining how advertisement calls vary in a phylogenetic context. Evolution by genetic drift would be supported if more closely related species express more similar songs. Conversely, a poor correlation between evolutionary history and song expression would suggest evolution shaped by natural or sexual selection. Here, we measure seven song characters in 20 described and two undescribed species of African clawed frogs (genera Xenopus and Silurana) and four populations of X. laevis. We identify three call types — click, burst and trill — that can be distinguished by click number, call rate and intensity modulation. A fourth type is biphasic, consisting of two of the above. Call types vary in complexity from the simplest, a click, to the most complex, a biphasic call. Maximum parsimony analysis of variation in call type suggests that the ancestral type was of intermediate complexity. Each call type evolved independently more than once and call type is typically not shared by closely related species. These results indicate that call type is homoplasious and has low phylogenetic signal. We conclude that the evolution of call type is not due to genetic drift, but is under selective pressure. PMID:24723737

  14. Bayesian uncertainty analyses of probabilistic risk models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pulkkinen, U.

    1989-01-01

    Applications of Bayesian principles to the uncertainty analyses are discussed in the paper. A short review of the most important uncertainties and their causes is provided. An application of the principle of maximum entropy to the determination of Bayesian prior distributions is described. An approach based on so called probabilistic structures is presented in order to develop a method of quantitative evaluation of modelling uncertainties. The method is applied to a small example case. Ideas for application areas for the proposed method are discussed

  15. Sense of coherence, career adaptability and burnout of early-career Black staff in the call centre environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nisha Harry

    2013-11-01

    Research purpose: This study explored whether call centre agents’ sense of coherence significantly influences their career adaptability and whether their burnout levels significantly moderate the sense of coherence–career adaptability relationship. The research also investigated whether age, gender and years of service (as control variables, along with sense of coherence, predicted career adaptability. Motivation for the study: The positive psychological construct of career adaptability and its association with call centre agents’ sense of coherence, burnout, age, gender and years of service have not yet been investigated in the call centre environment. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used. The Orientation to Life, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory General Scale were administered to a non-probability purposive sample of 409 early-career Black staff employed in three of the largest outsourced financial call centres in Africa. Main findings: Multiple regression analyses revealed that age, gender and meaningfulness significantly predicted call centre agents’ career adaptability, but that their burnout levels do not significantly moderate the sense of coherence–career adaptability relationship. Practical/managerial implications: Enhancing call centre agents’ sense of meaningfulness will increase their levels of career adaptability and career wellbeing. Contribution/value-add: This research is the first to investigate the construct of career adaptability in the call centre environment and adds new knowledge and insights to the existing wellness and positive psychology literature.

  16. Easing the strain of unnecessary antibiotic requests. Physicians called on to change patient expectations about antibiotic use; experts say it's about communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hertz, Beth Thomas

    2014-01-10

    Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's major public health challenges, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While medical providers are heeding the call, patient pressure about receiving antibiotic prescriptions remains a significant influencer, says the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

  17. Advanced toroidal facility vaccuum vessel stress analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammonds, C.J.; Mayhall, J.A.

    1987-01-01

    The complex geometry of the Advance Toroidal Facility (ATF) vacuum vessel required special analysis techniques in investigating the structural behavior of the design. The response of a large-scale finite element model was found for transportation and operational loading. Several computer codes and systems, including the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center Cray machines, were implemented in accomplishing these analyses. The work combined complex methods that taxed the limits of both the codes and the computer systems involved. Using MSC/NASTRAN cyclic-symmetry solutions permitted using only 1/12 of the vessel geometry to mathematically analyze the entire vessel. This allowed the greater detail and accuracy demanded by the complex geometry of the vessel. Critical buckling-pressure analyses were performed with the same model. The development, results, and problems encountered in performing these analyses are described. 5 refs., 3 figs

  18. Climate Prediction Center (CPC)Monthly Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC) Spatial Resolution of 2.5 degree

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This global monthly precipitation analysis is called the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC). This analysis consists of two...

  19. Climate Prediction Center (CPC)Monthly Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC) at Spatial Resolution of 1 degree.

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This global monthly precipitation analysis is called the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC). This analysis consists of two...

  20. The hidden secrets of the E-center in Si and Ge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Larsen, Arne Nylandsted; Mesli, Abdelmadjid

    2007-01-01

    The group- V vacancy pair, the so-called E-center, has recently been demonstrated to have, both in Si and Ge, more complicated energy-level schemes in the energy gap than were previously assumed. The E-center in silicon has, in addition to its well-established single-acceptor level in the upper half of the band gap, also a donor level in the lower half of the band gap; this donor level has lain hidden for more than 40 years. The E-center in Ge has an even more complicated level scheme as it induces, in addition to two levels analogous to those found in Si, also a double-acceptor level in the upper half of the band gap. Thus the E-center in Si can exist in three charge states and the E-center in Ge in four

  1. Dielectric response in guiding center plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krommes, J.A.; Similon, P.

    1979-12-01

    The dielectric function for guiding center plasma is derived from the direct-interaction approximation. For the special case of thermal equilibrium, the reslt agrees with, although is more detailed than, an earlier calculation of Taylor. An explicit formula for the collision operator Σ' is given. The calculation illustrates several important features of renormalized turbulence theory: cancellation between the so-called diffusion and polarization parts of Σ', and the role of the renormalization in providing the proper description of adiabatic response

  2. New environmental metabarcodes for analysing soil DNA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Epp, Laura S.; Boessenkool, Sanne; Bellemain, Eva P.

    2012-01-01

    was systematically evaluated by (i) in silico PCRs using all standard sequences in the EMBL public database as templates, (ii) in vitro PCRs of DNA extracts from surface soil samples from a site in Varanger, northern Norway and (iii) in vitro PCRs of DNA extracts from permanently frozen sediment samples of late......Metabarcoding approaches use total and typically degraded DNA from environmental samples to analyse biotic assemblages and can potentially be carried out for any kinds of organisms in an ecosystem. These analyses rely on specific markers, here called metabarcodes, which should be optimized...... for taxonomic resolution, minimal bias in amplification of the target organism group and short sequence length. Using bioinformatic tools, we developed metabarcodes for several groups of organisms: fungi, bryophytes, enchytraeids, beetles and birds. The ability of these metabarcodes to amplify the target groups...

  3. 29 CFR 785.17 - On-call time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... On-call time. An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close... employee who is not required to remain on the employer's premises but is merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he may be reached is not working while on call. (Armour & Co...

  4. Understanding Return on Investment for Data Center Consolidation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Channel over Ethernet FDCCI Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative GAO Government Accountability Office GDA Government Directed Actions GIG ...to judge how each stakeholder group will benefit from it. Such measures as lower risk, greater control, better economies of scale, better utilization...NMS product by Kratos Networks called Neural Star to manage the Global Information Grid ( GIG ) (Kratos, 2013). DISA uses Neural Star as the primary

  5. Dysfunkcje w procesach rekrutacji i selekcji do contact center

    OpenAIRE

    Bera, Agnieszka

    2013-01-01

    The article demonstrates possible alternatives of the progress in the recruitment and selection process in the contact center branch. The following publication also provides a critical view on the solutions applied. Additionally, it comprises a summary analysing types of dysfunctions possibly anticipating during the recruitment and selection process in the contact center branch.

  6. CALLING AQUARIUM LOVERS...

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    CERN's anemones will soon be orphans. We are looking for someone willing to look after the aquarium in the main building, for one year. If you are interested, or if you would like more information, please call 73830. (The anemones living in the aquarium thank you in anticipation.)

  7. Calling 911! What role does the pediatrician play?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grossman, Devin; Kunkov, Sergey; Kaplan, Carl; Crain, Ellen F

    2013-06-01

    The objective of this study was to compare admission rates and medical interventions among children whose caregivers called their child's primary care provider (PCP) before taking an ambulance to the pediatric emergency department (PED) versus those who did not. This was a prospective cohort study of patients brought to an urban, public hospital PED via emergency medical system (EMS). Children were included if the caregiver called 911 to have them transported via EMS and was present in the PED. The main variable was whether the child's PCP was called before EMS utilization. Study outcomes were medical interventions, such as intravenous line insertion or laboratory tests, and hospital admission. χ Test and logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship of the main variable to the study outcomes. Six hundred fourteen patients met inclusion criteria and were enrolled. Five hundred eighty-five patients (95.3%) were reported to have a PCP. Seventy-four caregivers (12.1%) called their child's PCP before calling EMS. Two hundred seventy-seven patients (45.1%) had medical interventions performed; of these, 42 (15.2%) called their PCP (P = 0.03). Forty-two patients (6.8%) were admitted; among these, 14 (33.3%) called their PCP (P < 0.01). Adjusting for triage level, patients whose caregiver called the PCP before calling EMS were 3.2 times (95% confidence interval, 1.9-5.2 times) more likely to be admitted and 1.7 times (95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.9 times) more likely to have a medical intervention compared with patients whose caregivers did not call their child's PCP. Children were more likely to be admitted or require a medical intervention if their caregiver called their PCP before calling EMS. The availability of a PCP for telephone triage may help to optimize EMS utilization.

  8. Uncertainty Analyses and Strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kevin Coppersmith

    2001-01-01

    The DOE identified a variety of uncertainties, arising from different sources, during its assessment of the performance of a potential geologic repository at the Yucca Mountain site. In general, the number and detail of process models developed for the Yucca Mountain site, and the complex coupling among those models, make the direct incorporation of all uncertainties difficult. The DOE has addressed these issues in a number of ways using an approach to uncertainties that is focused on producing a defensible evaluation of the performance of a potential repository. The treatment of uncertainties oriented toward defensible assessments has led to analyses and models with so-called ''conservative'' assumptions and parameter bounds, where conservative implies lower performance than might be demonstrated with a more realistic representation. The varying maturity of the analyses and models, and uneven level of data availability, result in total system level analyses with a mix of realistic and conservative estimates (for both probabilistic representations and single values). That is, some inputs have realistically represented uncertainties, and others are conservatively estimated or bounded. However, this approach is consistent with the ''reasonable assurance'' approach to compliance demonstration, which was called for in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) proposed 10 CFR Part 63 regulation (64 FR 8640 [DIRS 101680]). A risk analysis that includes conservatism in the inputs will result in conservative risk estimates. Therefore, the approach taken for the Total System Performance Assessment for the Site Recommendation (TSPA-SR) provides a reasonable representation of processes and conservatism for purposes of site recommendation. However, mixing unknown degrees of conservatism in models and parameter representations reduces the transparency of the analysis and makes the development of coherent and consistent probability statements about projected repository

  9. The role of CFD computer analyses in hydrogen safety management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komen, E.M.J; Visser, D.C; Roelofs, F.; Te Lintelo, J.G.T

    2014-01-01

    The risks of hydrogen release and combustion during a severe accident in a light water reactor have attracted considerable attention after the Fukushima accident in Japan. Reliable computer analyses are needed for the optimal design of hydrogen mitigation systems, like e.g. passive autocatalytic recombiners (PARs), and for the assessment of the associated residual risk of hydrogen combustion. Traditionally, so-called Lumped Parameter (LP) computer codes are being used for these purposes. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in the development, validation, and application of more detailed, three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for hydrogen safety analyses. The objective of the current paper is to address the following questions: - When are CFD computer analyses needed complementary to the traditional LP code analyses for hydrogen safety management? - What is the validation status of the CFD computer code for hydrogen distribution, mitigation, and combustion analyses? - Can CFD computer analyses nowadays be executed in practical and reliable way for full scale containments? The validation status and reliability of CFD code simulations will be illustrated by validation analyses performed for experiments executed in the PANDA, THAI, and ENACCEF facilities. (authors)

  10. Present status of the Nuclear Maintenance Training Center

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kotani, Fumio

    1995-01-01

    The education and training to keep and improve the knowledge and skills of the maintenance personnel and to hand down the skills undoubtedly play important roles in safe operation and increased reliability to a nuclear power station. The Nuclear Maintenance Training Center (hereafter called the Center) provides a variety of education and training curriculums based on the levels and abilities of the trainees. The Center aims to enhance the personnel's maintenance technique by offering the curriculums on maintenance basic education for operators and supporting education and training for the personnel of contractors. The Center has two main features: first, it has the actual components or the equipment similar to the actual components which will enable the practical training; second, we regard the past troubles as valuable experiences and, therefore, focuses on the education to prevent recurrence of troubles by teaching the trainees the meaning and necessity of the training they take. For eleven years since the establishment of the Center, it has been utilized by the total number of about 60,000 people. As for the tasks in the future, the Center is expected to vitalize itself to give attractive education and training and become more actively involved in development of the maintenance personnel with the adequate knowledge and skills. (author)

  11. Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew

    2012-01-01

    Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times...... for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote...... procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy...

  12. Indico CONFERENCE: Define the Call for Abstracts

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Ferreira, Pedro

    2017-01-01

    In this tutorial, you will learn how to define and open a call for abstracts. When defining a call for abstracts, you will be able to define settings related to the type of questions asked during a review of an abstract, select the users who will review the abstracts, decide when to open the call for abstracts, and more.

  13. Call for Research

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

    Marie-Isabelle Beyer

    2014-10-03

    Oct 3, 2014 ... 5.Submission process. 6.Eligibility criteria. 7.Selection Process. 8. Format and requirements. 9.Evaluation criteria. 10.Country clearance requirements. 11. .... It is envisaged that through this call a single consortium will undertake 6-8 projects within a total budget of up to ... principle qualify for IDRC's support.

  14. The function of migratory bird calls

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reichl, Thomas; Andersen, Bent Bach; Larsen, Ole Næsbye

    The function of migratory bird calls: do they influence orientation and navigation?   Thomas Reichl1, Bent Bach Andersen2, Ole Naesbye Larsen2, Henrik Mouritsen1   1Institute of Biology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany 2Institute of Biology, University of Southern...... migration and to stimulate migratory restlessness in conspecifics. We wished to test if conspecific flight calls influence the flight direction of a nocturnal migrant, the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), i.e. if flight calls help migrants keeping course. Wild caught birds showing migratory restlessness...... the experimental bird could be activated successively to simulate a migrating Robin cruising E-W, W-E, S-N or N-S at a chosen height (mostly about 40 m), at 10 m/s and emitting Robin flight calls of 80 dB(A) at 1 m. The simulated flight of a "ding" sound served as a control. During an experiment the bird was first...

  15. 911 Call Center (PSAP) Service Areas, Master coverage of "atom" features used as a source to generate several derivative layers for the Sheriff RMS and E-911 map rolls. Cover is painstakingly maintained interactively by GIS staff. All atom boundaries are snapped to the road centerline cover, Published in 2008, 1:1200 (1in=100ft) scale, Sedgwick County Government.

    Data.gov (United States)

    NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — 911 Call Center (PSAP) Service Areas dataset current as of 2008. Master coverage of "atom" features used as a source to generate several derivative layers for the...

  16. An empirical analysis of the corporate call decision

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, M.D.

    1998-01-01

    An economic study of the the behaviour of financial managers of utility companies was presented. The study examined whether or not an option pricing based model of the call decision does a better job of explaining callable preferred share prices and call decisions compared to other models. In this study, the Rust (1987) empirical technique was extended to include the use of information from preferred share prices in addition to the call decisions. Reasonable estimates were obtained from data of shares of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGE) for the transaction costs associated with a call. It was concluded that the managers of the PGE clearly take into account the value of the option to delay the call when making their call decisions

  17. Perceived Calling and Work Engagement Among Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziedelis, Arunas

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of perceived calling and work engagement in nursing over and above major work environment factors. In all, 351 nurses from various health care institutions completed the survey. Data were collected about the most demanding aspects of nursing, major job resources, the degree to which nursing is perceived as a meaningful calling, work engagement, and main demographic information. Hierarchical linear regression was applied to assess the relation between perceived calling and work engagement, while controlling for demographic and work environment factors, and perceived calling was significantly related to two out of three components of nurses' work engagement. The highest association was found with dedication component, and vigor component was related insignificantly. Results have shown that perceived calling might motivate nurses to engage in their work even in burdensome environment, although possible implications for the occupational well-being of nurses themselves remains unclear.

  18. On-call work and health: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Botterill Jackie S

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Many professions in the fields of engineering, aviation and medicine employ this form of scheduling. However, on-call work has received significantly less research attention than other work patterns such as shift work and overtime hours. This paper reviews the current body of peer-reviewed, published research conducted on the health effects of on-call work The health effects studies done in the area of on-call work are limited to mental health, job stress, sleep disturbances and personal safety. The reviewed research suggests that on-call work scheduling can pose a risk to health, although there are critical gaps in the literature.

  19. Analyses of Hubble Space Telescope Aluminized-Teflon Multilayer Insulation Blankets Retrieved After 19 Years of Space Exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Groh, Kim K.; Perry, Bruce A.; Mohammed, Jelila S.; Banks, Bruce

    2015-01-01

    Since its launch in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made many important observations from its vantage point in low Earth orbit (LEO). However, as seen during five servicing missions, the outer layer of multilayer insulation (MLI) has become increasingly embrittled and has cracked in many areas. In May 2009, during the 5th servicing mission (called SM4), two MLI blankets were replaced with new insulation and the space-exposed MLI blankets were retrieved for degradation analyses by teams at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The retrieved MLI blankets were from Equipment Bay 8, which received direct sunlight, and Equipment Bay 5, which received grazing sunlight. Each blanket was divided into several regions based on environmental exposure and/or physical appearance. The aluminized-Teflon (DuPont, Wilmington, DE) fluorinated ethylene propylene (Al-FEP) outer layers of the retrieved MLI blankets have been analyzed for changes in optical, physical, and mechanical properties, along with chemical and morphological changes. Pristine and as-retrieved samples (materials) were heat treated to help understand degradation mechanisms. When compared to pristine material, the analyses have shown how the Al-FEP was severely affected by the space environment. Most notably, the Al-FEP was highly embrittled, fracturing like glass at strains of 1 to 8 percent. Across all measured properties, more significant degradation was observed for Bay 8 material as compared to Bay 5 material. This paper reviews the tensile and bend-test properties, density, thickness, solar absorptance, thermal emittance, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) elemental composition measurements, surface and crack morphologies, and atomic oxygen erosion yields of the Al-FEP outer layer of the retrieved HST blankets after 19 years of space exposure.

  20. Experts warn against cutting NOAA Space Weather Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Showstack, Randy

    A well-timed congressional hearing, coming in the midst of fierce geomagnetic storms, could help to restore funding to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center (SEC).The center, which is the nation's official source of space weather alerts and warnings, currently is funded at $5.24 million for fiscal year 2003. That amount is $2 million less than it received the previous year. The Bush Administration has requested $8.02 million in funding. The appropriations bill, for the departments of Commerce, Justice, and State for fiscal year 2004, passed on 23 July by the House of Representatives, calls for funding the SEC at the $5.29 million level.

  1. Systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a service representative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Scott H.; Johnson, Joel A.; Neiswanger, Jeffery R.; Twitchell, Kevin E.

    2004-03-09

    The present invention includes systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a customer service representative. In one embodiment of the invention, a system configured to distribute a telephone call within a network includes a distributor adapted to connect with a telephone system, the distributor being configured to connect a telephone call using the telephone system and output the telephone call and associated data of the telephone call; and a plurality of customer service representative terminals connected with the distributor and a selected customer service representative terminal being configured to receive the telephone call and the associated data, the distributor and the selected customer service representative terminal being configured to synchronize, application of the telephone call and associated data from the distributor to the selected customer service representative terminal.

  2. Epidemiological trends in electronic cigarette exposures reported to U.S. Poison Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vakkalanka, J P; Hardison, L S; Holstege, C P

    2014-06-01

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported an increase in electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use in both adults and adolescents. Poison Center calls provide data on exposures pertaining to e-cigarette devices and components (including nicotine-refill cartridges), potentially identifying epidemiological trends in reported exposures over time. To characterize the trends in e-cigarette exposures reported to United States (U.S.) Poison Centers between 01 June 2010 and 30 September 2013. We obtained data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) for all exposures involving e-cigarettes reported to the National Poison Data System (NPDS) by U.S. Poison Centers and described trends in exposures over time, demographics, geographical characteristics, clinical effects and outcomes, management site, and exposure route. A total of 1,700 exposures were reported to Poison Centers during this time. The most frequent age groups were children 5 years or below with 717 (42.2%) exposures and adults ages 20-39 years with 466 (27.4%) exposures. Temporal trends showed an increase of 1.36 exposures per month [95% CI: 1.16-1.56] from June 2010 through December 2012, after which exposures increased by 9.60 per month [95% CI: 8.64-10.55] from January through September 2013. The majority of patients who were followed reported that they had only minor effects. The majority of exposures to e-cigarette devices and components occurred in children of 5 years or below due to accidental exposure. Based on the available data, the reported exposures have resulted in minimal toxicity. Calls to Poison Centers regarding these products have rapidly increased since 2010, and continued surveillance may show changes in the epidemiological trends surrounding e-cigarette exposures.

  3. Analyses of compensation related defects in II-VI compounds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castaldini, A.; Cavallini, A.; Fraboni, B.; Fernandez, P.; Piqueras, J.

    1998-01-01

    The deep levels present in semiconducting CdTe and semi-insulating (SI) CdTe:Cl and Cd 0.8 Zn 0.2 Te have been investigated by means of cathodoluminescence (CL), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), photo-DLTS (PDLTS) and photo induced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS). PICTS and PDLTS can be applied to SI materials and allowed to determine whether the observed deep levels are hole or electron traps. Among the observed deep centers, the authors have focused their attention on those involved in the compensation process such as the so called center A and the deep traps located near midgap. They have identified a deep acceptor, labelled H, and a deep donor, labelled E, the latter is peculiar to CdTe:Cl and can be a good candidate for the deep donor level needed to explain the compensation process in SI CdTe:Cl

  4. Reducing juvenile delinquency with automated cell phone calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burraston, Bert O; Bahr, Stephen J; Cherrington, David J

    2014-05-01

    Using a sample of 70 juvenile probationers (39 treatment and 31 controls), we evaluated the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program that combined cognitive-behavioral training and automated phone calls. The cognitive-behavioral training contained six 90-min sessions, one per week, and the phone calls occurred twice per day for the year following treatment. Recidivism was measured by whether they were rearrested and the total number of rearrests during the 1st year. To test the impact of the phone calls, those who received phone calls were divided into high and low groups depending on whether they answered more or less than half of their phone calls. Those who completed the class and answered at least half of their phone calls were less likely to have been arrested and had fewer total arrests.

  5. Temporal analyses of coral snakebite severity published in the American Association of Poison Control Centers' Annual Reports from 1983 through 2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Frank G; Stolz, Uwe; Shirazi, Farshad; McNally, Jude

    2010-01-01

    The only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved coral snake antivenom was officially discontinued in 2007, causing ever-diminishing supplies. This study describes the severity of U.S. coral snakebites during the last 25 years to determine trends in annual rates of these bites' medical outcomes. This study retrospectively analyzed all human coral snakebites voluntarily reported by the public and/or health care professionals to poison centers that were subsequently published in the Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) from 1983 through 2007. Annual rates of medical outcomes from coral snakebites were calculated by dividing the annual number of people bitten by coral snakes who developed fatal, major, moderate, minor, or no effect outcomes by the total annual number of people bitten by coral snakes. Negative binomial regression was used to examine trends in annual rates. From 1983 through 2007, the incidence rate of coral snakebites producing no effects significantly decreased by 4.7% per year [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.953; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.920-0.987]. From 1985 through 2007, the incidence rates of minor and major outcomes did not significantly change; however, moderate outcomes significantly increased by 3.4% per year (IRR = 1.034; 95% CI = 1.004-1.064). No fatalities were reported from 1983 through 2007. Annual rates of coral snakebites producing no effects significantly decreased and those producing moderate outcomes significantly increased in our analyses of data from the last 25 years of published AAPCC Annual Reports. This study has important limitations that must be considered when interpreting these conclusions.

  6. Mobile Gaming and Student Interactions in a Science Center: The Future of Gaming in Science Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwood-Blaine, Dana; Huffman, Douglas

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the impact of an augmented reality iPad-based mobile game, called The Great STEM Caper, on students' interaction at a science center. An open-source, location-based game platform called ARIS (i.e. Augmented Reality and Interactive Storytelling) was used to create an iPad-based mobile game. The game used QR scan codes and a…

  7. Chapin Hall Center for Children Projects and Publications, 2001-2002.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Univ., IL. Chapin Hall Center for Children.

    This guide chronicles the ongoing work and writings of the Chapin Hall Center for children at the University of Chicago, a policy research center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analyses, innovative ideas, and an independent, multidisciplinary perspective to bear on policies and programs affecting children. The guide, organized…

  8. Chapin Hall Center for Children Projects and Publications, 2000-2001.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Univ., IL. Chapin Hall Center for Children.

    This guide chronicles the ongoing work and writings of the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, a policy research center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analyses, innovative ideas, and an independent, multidisciplinary perspective to bear on policies and programs affecting children. This guide, organized…

  9. Climate Prediction Center(CPC) Monthly Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC)at Spatial Resolution of 0.5 degree.

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This global monthly precipitation analysis is called the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC). This analysis consists of two...

  10. Effectiveness of the Call in Beach Volleyball Attacking Play

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Künzell Stefan

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In beach volleyball the setter has the opportunity to give her or his hitter a “call”. The call intends that the setter suggests to her or his partner where to place the attack in the opponent’s court. The effectiveness of a call is still unknown. We investigated the women’s and men’s Swiss National Beach Volleyball Championships in 2011 and analyzed 2185 attacks. We found large differences between female and male players. While men called in only 38.4% of attacks, women used calls in 85.5% of attacks. If the male players followed a given call, 63% of the attacks were successful. The success rate of attacks without any call was 55.8% and 47.6% when the call was ignored. These differences were not significant (χ2(2 = 4.55, p = 0.103. In women’s beach volleyball, the rate of successful attacks was 61.5% when a call was followed, 35% for attacks without a call, and 42.6% when a call was ignored. The differences were highly significant (χ2(2 = 23.42, p < 0.0005. Taking into account the findings of the present study, we suggested that the call was effective in women’s beach volleyball, while its effect in men’s game was unclear. Considering the quality of calls we indicate that there is a significant potential to increase the effectiveness of a call.

  11. Call for volunteers

    CERN Document Server

    2008-01-01

    CERN is calling for volunteers from all members of the Laboratory for organizing the two exceptional Open days.CERN is calling for volunteers from all members of the Laboratory’s personnel to help with the organisation of these two exceptional Open Days, for the visits of CERN personnel and their families on the Saturday and above all for the major public Open Day on the Sunday. As for the 50th anniversary in 2004, the success of the Open Days will depend on a large number of volunteers. All those working for CERN as well as retired members of the personnel can contribute to making this event a success. Many guides will be needed at the LHC points, for the activities at the surface and to man the reception and information points. The aim of these major Open Days is to give the local populations the opportunity to discover the fruits of almost 20 years of work carried out at CERN. We are hoping for some 2000 volunteers for the two Open Days, on the Saturday from 9 a.m. to ...

  12. 78 FR 46358 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-31

    ..., (Telephone Conference Call). Contact Person: Careen K Tang-Toth, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Center for... Emphasis Panel; Member Conflict: Cognition and Perception. Date: August 28-29, 2013. Time: 8:00 a.m. to 6... Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, (Virtual Meeting). Contact Person: Mark Lindner, Ph.D., Scientific...

  13. 75 FR 55592 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-13

    ... Conference Call). Contact Person: Tomas Drgon, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, HDM IRG, Center for Scientific..., [email protected] . Name of Committee: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences Integrated Review Group...: Risk Prevention and Health Behavior. Date: October 21-22, 2010. Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Agenda: To...

  14. 77 FR 26300 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-03

    ..., (Telephone Conference Call). Contact Person: Patricia Greenwel, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Center for..., (301) 806-0009, [email protected] . Name of Committee: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences...: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control. Date: June 5, 2012. Time: 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Agenda...

  15. Variation between seated and standing/walking postures among male and female call centre operators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toomingas Allan

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The dose and time-pattern of sitting has been suggested in public health research to be an important determinant of risk for developing a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disorders and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to assess the time-pattern of seated and standing/walking postures amongst male and female call centre operators, on the basis of whole-shift posture recordings, analysed and described by a number of novel variables describing posture variation. Methods Seated vs. standing/walking was recorded using dichotomous inclinometers throughout an entire work shift for 43 male and 97 female call centre operators at 16 call centres. Data were analysed using an extensive set of variables describing occurrence of and switches between seated and standing/walking, posture similarity across the day, and compliance with standard recommendations for computer work. Results The majority of the operators, both male and female, spent more than 80% of the shift in a seated posture with an average of 10.4 switches/hour between seated and standing/walking or vice versa. Females spent, on average, 11% of the day in periods of sustained sitting longer than 1 hour; males 4.6% (p = 0.013. Only 38% and 11% of the operators complied with standard recommendations of getting an uninterrupted break from seated posture of at least 5 or 10 minutes, respectively, within each hour of work. Two thirds of all investigated variables showed coefficients of variation between subjects above 0.5. Since work tasks and contractual break schedules were observed to be essentially similar across operators and across days, this indicates that sedentary behaviours differed substantially between individuals. Conclusions The extensive occurrence of uninterrupted seated work indicates that efforts should be made at call centres - and probably in other settings in the office sector - to introduce more physical variation in terms of standing

  16. Utilization of Large Scale Surface Models for Detailed Visibility Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caha, J.; Kačmařík, M.

    2017-11-01

    This article demonstrates utilization of large scale surface models with small spatial resolution and high accuracy, acquired from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle scanning, for visibility analyses. The importance of large scale data for visibility analyses on the local scale, where the detail of the surface model is the most defining factor, is described. The focus is not only the classic Boolean visibility, that is usually determined within GIS, but also on so called extended viewsheds that aims to provide more information about visibility. The case study with examples of visibility analyses was performed on river Opava, near the Ostrava city (Czech Republic). The multiple Boolean viewshed analysis and global horizon viewshed were calculated to determine most prominent features and visibility barriers of the surface. Besides that, the extended viewshed showing angle difference above the local horizon, which describes angular height of the target area above the barrier, is shown. The case study proved that large scale models are appropriate data source for visibility analyses on local level. The discussion summarizes possible future applications and further development directions of visibility analyses.

  17. Nuclear safety analyses and core design calculations to convert the Texas A & M University Nuclear Science Center reactor to low enrichment uranium fuel. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parish, T.A.

    1995-03-02

    This project involved performing the nuclear design and safety analyses needed to modify the license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow operation of the Texas A& M University Nuclear Science Center Reactor (NSCR) with a core containing low enrichment uranium (LEU) fuel. The specific type of LEU fuel to be considered was the TRIGA 20-20 fuel produced by General Atomic. Computer codes for the neutronic analyses were provided by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the assistance of William Woodruff of ANL in helping the NSCR staff to learn the proper use of the codes is gratefully acknowledged. The codes applied in the LEU analyses were WIMSd4/m, DIF3D, NCTRIGA and PARET. These codes allowed full three dimensional, temperature and burnup dependent calculations modelling the NSCR core to be performed for the first time. In addition, temperature coefficients of reactivity and pulsing calculations were carried out in-house, whereas in the past this modelling had been performed at General Atomic. In order to benchmark the newly acquired codes, modelling of the current NSCR core with highly enriched uranium fuel was also carried out. Calculated results were compared to both earlier licensing calculations and experimental data and the new methods were found to achieve excellent agreement with both. Therefore, even if an LEU core is never loaded at the NSCR, this project has resulted in a significant improvement in the nuclear safety analysis capabilities established and maintained at the NSCR.

  18. Perpetual Cancellable American Call Option

    OpenAIRE

    Emmerling, Thomas J.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the valuation of a generalized American-style option known as a Game-style call option in an infinite time horizon setting. The specifications of this contract allow the writer to terminate the call option at any point in time for a fixed penalty amount paid directly to the holder. Valuation of a perpetual Game-style put option was addressed by Kyprianou (2004) in a Black-Scholes setting on a non-dividend paying asset. Here, we undertake a similar analysis for the perpetua...

  19. Climate Prediction Center - Expert Assessments Index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weather Service NWS logo - Click to go to the NWS home page Climate Prediction Center Home Site Map News Web resources and services. HOME > Monitoring and Data > Global Climate Data & Maps > ; Global Regional Climate Maps Regional Climate Maps Banner The Monthly regional analyses products are

  20. Care Management Medical Home Center Model: Preliminary Results of a Patient-Centered Approach to Improving Care Quality for Diabetic Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Page, Timothy F; Amofah, St Anthony; McCann, Shelia; Rivo, Julie; Varghese, Asha; James, Terisa; Rivo, Marc; Williams, Mark L

    2015-07-01

    This article presents preliminary findings of the impact of an innovative care management model for diabetic patients. The model was implemented by seven Federally Qualified Health Centers serving 10,000 diabetic patients in Miami-Dade County. A primary intervention of this model is a centralized care management team that makes previsit phone calls to diabetic patients who have scheduled appointments. These previsit phone calls optimize patient knowledge and self-management goals, and provide patient care coordinators with relevant clinical information to optimize the office visit and help to ensure completion of recommended diabetic preventive and chronic care services. Data suggest that following the implementation of this care management model, more diabetic patients are receiving regular care, and compliance with recommended tests and screenings has improved. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

  1. 1-800-CALL-H.E.P. -- Experiences on a voice-over-IP test bed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, W.

    2000-01-01

    Highly interactive Internet applications such as Voice-over-IP are extremely sensitive to network performance. Even on high performance research networks, many cases will require the use of differentiated services to achieve high (toll) quality conversations. In this talk the authors will describe a test bed over the Energy Sciences network (ESnet) between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Sandia National Laboratory (Sandia). In particular the characteristics of Voice-over-IP calls between LBNL and SLAC will be reviewed and the effect of low, moderate and high congestion on the link will be quantified. The use of Per Hop Behavior (PHB) in IP headers with Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) in routers and the benefit they provide will be explained. A model of flows and performance will be presented and new techniques to predict the quality of calls are under development and will be reviewed. Comparisons with telephone reliability will be discussed and the feasibility of wide spread deployment of VoIP in HEP will be considered

  2. Mobile telephones: a comparison of radiated power between 3G VoIP calls and 3G VoCS calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jovanovic, Dragan; Bragard, Guillaume; Picard, Dominique; Chauvin, Sébastien

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to assess the mean RF power radiated by mobile telephones during voice calls in 3G VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using an application well known to mobile Internet users, and to compare it with the mean power radiated during voice calls in 3G VoCS (Voice over Circuit Switch) on a traditional network. Knowing that the specific absorption rate (SAR) is proportional to the mean radiated power, the user's exposure could be clearly identified at the same time. Three 3G (High Speed Packet Access) smartphones from three different manufacturers, all dual-band for GSM (900 MHz, 1800 MHz) and dual-band for UMTS (900 MHz, 1950 MHz), were used between 28 July and 04 August 2011 in Paris (France) to make 220 two-minute calls on a mobile telephone network with national coverage. The places where the calls were made were selected in such a way as to describe the whole range of usage situations of the mobile telephone. The measuring equipment, called "SYRPOM", recorded the radiation power levels and the frequency bands used during the calls with a sampling rate of 20,000 per second. In the framework of this study, the mean normalised power radiated by a telephone in 3G VoIP calls was evaluated at 0.75% maximum power of the smartphone, compared with 0.22% in 3G VoCS calls. The very low average power levels associated with use of 3G devices with VoIP or VoCS support the view that RF exposure resulting from their use is far from exceeding the basic restrictions of current exposure limits in terms of SAR.

  3. Center-vortex baryonic area law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cornwall, John M.

    2004-01-01

    We correct an unfortunate error in an earlier work of the author, and show that in the center-vortex picture of QCD [gauge group SU(3)] the asymptotic quenched baryonic area law is the so-called Y law, described by a minimal area with three surfaces spanning the three quark world lines and meeting at a central Steiner line joining the two common meeting points of the world lines. (The earlier claim was that this area law was a so-called Δ law, involving three extremal areas spanning the three pairs of quark world lines.) By asymptotic we mean the Y law holds at asymptotically large quark separations from each other; at separations of the order of the gauge-theory scale length, there may be Δ-like contributions. We give a preliminary discussion of the extension of these results to SU(N),N>3. These results are based on the (correct) baryonic Stokes' theorem given in the earlier work claiming a Δ law. The Y-form area law for SU(3) is in agreement with the most recent lattice calculations

  4. Biomimetic Membranes for Multi-Redox Center Proteins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renate L. C. Naumann

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available His-tag technology was applied for biosensing purposes involving multi-redox center proteins (MRPs. An overview is presented on various surfaces ranging from flat to spherical and modified with linker molecules with nitrile-tri-acetic acid (NTA terminal groups to bind his-tagged proteins in a strict orientation. The bound proteins are submitted to in situ dialysis in the presence of lipid micelles to form a so-called protein-tethered bilayer lipid membrane (ptBLM. MRPs, such as the cytochrome c oxidase (CcO from R. sphaeroides and P. denitrificans, as well as photosynthetic reactions centers (RCs from R. sphaeroides, were thus investigated. Electrochemical and surface-sensitive optical techniques, such as surface plasmon resonance, surface plasmon-enhanced fluorescence, surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS and surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS, were employed in the case of the ptBLM structure on flat surfaces. Spherical particles ranging from µm size agarose gel beads to nm size nanoparticles modified in a similar fashion were called proteo-lipobeads (PLBs. The particles were investigated by laser-scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy (LSM and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Electron and proton transfer through the proteins were demonstrated to take place, which was strongly affected by the membrane potential. MRPs can thus be used for biosensing purposes under quasi-physiological conditions.

  5. The Wireless Nursing Call System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Casper Bruun

    2006-01-01

    This paper discusses a research project in which social scientists were involved both as analysts and supporters during a pilot with a new wireless nursing call system. The case thus exemplifies an attempt to participate in developing dependable health care systems and offers insight into the cha......This paper discusses a research project in which social scientists were involved both as analysts and supporters during a pilot with a new wireless nursing call system. The case thus exemplifies an attempt to participate in developing dependable health care systems and offers insight...

  6. FreeCall, a system for emergency-call-handling support

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Post, W.M.; Koster, W.; Šrámek, M.; Schreiber, G.; Zocca, V.; Vries, B. de

    1996-01-01

    This article describes a system for the optimization of the prehospital assessment of emergency, in cases involving thoraco-abdominal complaints and consciousness problems. This assessment is performed by nurses on the basis of a telephone interview at ambulance dispatch centers. The system has a

  7. Calling phenology of a diverse amphibian assemblage in response to meteorological conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plenderleith, T. Lynette; Stratford, Danial; Lollback, Gregory W.; Chapple, David G.; Reina, Richard D.; Hero, Jean-Marc

    2017-12-01

    The strong association between amphibian activity, breeding and recruitment with local environmental conditions raises concerns regarding how changes in climate may affect the persistence of species populations into the future. Additionally, in a highly diverse assemblage of anurans, competition for breeding sites affects the time and duration of activity, as species compete for limited resources such as water. Meteorological conditions are strong drivers of amphibian activity, so we assessed whether temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure and humidity were associated with the calling phenology of an assemblage of anurans in South East Queensland, Australia. We performed calling surveys and collected digital recordings at 45 ponds in an area known for high anuran diversity. We performed detection analyses to investigate the influence of 10 meteorological variables in detection of calling activity in 19 amphibian species. Our results suggest four breeding strategies in the assemblage: explosive summer breeders, prolonged breeders, opportunistic breeders and a winter breeder. Classifying these species into associations provides a framework for understanding how species respond to environmental conditions. Explosive breeders (i.e. species demonstrating short and highly synchronised breeding periods) were particularly responsive to temperature. Our findings help elucidate the breeding phenology of frogs and provide valuable information on their mating systems in native Australian forests. This study highlights the difficulties of surveying even common anurans. We highlight the importance of predictability and stability in climate and the vulnerability of species for which reproduction appears to require highly specific environmental cues.

  8. Calling phenology of a diverse amphibian assemblage in response to meteorological conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plenderleith, T. Lynette; Stratford, Danial; Lollback, Gregory W.; Chapple, David G.; Reina, Richard D.; Hero, Jean-Marc

    2018-05-01

    The strong association between amphibian activity, breeding and recruitment with local environmental conditions raises concerns regarding how changes in climate may affect the persistence of species populations into the future. Additionally, in a highly diverse assemblage of anurans, competition for breeding sites affects the time and duration of activity, as species compete for limited resources such as water. Meteorological conditions are strong drivers of amphibian activity, so we assessed whether temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure and humidity were associated with the calling phenology of an assemblage of anurans in South East Queensland, Australia. We performed calling surveys and collected digital recordings at 45 ponds in an area known for high anuran diversity. We performed detection analyses to investigate the influence of 10 meteorological variables in detection of calling activity in 19 amphibian species. Our results suggest four breeding strategies in the assemblage: explosive summer breeders, prolonged breeders, opportunistic breeders and a winter breeder. Classifying these species into associations provides a framework for understanding how species respond to environmental conditions. Explosive breeders (i.e. species demonstrating short and highly synchronised breeding periods) were particularly responsive to temperature. Our findings help elucidate the breeding phenology of frogs and provide valuable information on their mating systems in native Australian forests. This study highlights the difficulties of surveying even common anurans. We highlight the importance of predictability and stability in climate and the vulnerability of species for which reproduction appears to require highly specific environmental cues.

  9. The renewal of hydroelectric concessions in competitive call

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    This document discusses various issues associated with the planned competitive call on the French hydraulic power plants. The principles of this competitive call for hydroelectric concessions are first addressed: administrative regime of concessions, competitive call process, criteria of selection of the concession holder, case of 'concession of valleys', potential competitors. It outlines and discusses the difficulties of this competitive call: France is the single country to implement this procedure; it concerns a national asset; it questions the guarantee of a future use of equipment at best for the energy benefits of French consumers; the competitive call is a nice idea indeed but extremely complex. A note discusses the profitability aspects of Plants for Transfer of Energy by Pumping

  10. Empowerment Foster Children Youth Education Centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karina Szafrańska

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Youth Educational Centers (YEC are open social rehabilitation institutions for socially maladjusted adolescents who are placed in such centres by court order. The wards who become self-dependent and return to their usual destructive upbringing environments give cause for concern. There is a risk that various social rehabilitation and educational measures taken in the center will be undone. If a person is to function well, they need to be provided with necessary assistance during the so-called self-empowerment process that will prepare them to function in society. This article is to draw attention to the impact of the YEC aiming at the self-empowerment of wards, exampled by the “Trampolina” project by the Orionist Farthers (YEC, Barska Street in Warsaw and the project of forming and running the “Damy radę” (We will manage empowerment group at the YEC in Radzionków.

  11. Aligning business strategy of incubator center and tenants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasetyawan, Yudha; Agustiani, Elly; Jumayla, Sari

    2017-06-01

    Incubator center is developed to help a particular group of small business players to achieve the expected business growth. In this center, business players often called as tenants will get assistances in pertaining with space, professional network, marketing, investment or funding, and training to improve their business capability. There are three types of incubator center, namely universities that help their alumni or business people in their surrounded area, company that supports small business as the corporate social responsibility, and independent organizations that have specialties in the business development. Some might success in increasing the capacity of the tenants, while other can have difficulties to increase the simplest business capability, e.g., to define the production cost to measure the profit. This study was intended to propose a model to align the business strategy between incubator center and its tenants. The sales and profit growth are the main priorities for the tenants together with their business capability and sustainability. The proposed alignment model provides measurement tools that link the motivation of tenants for joining the incubation process with the mission of incubator center. The linkage covered the key performance indicators (KPI), steps to achieve the target and evaluation tools to improve the current handicaps. An experiment on 4 (four) diverse business fields of the tenants of an incubator center was performed to test the model. As a result, the increase of KPI of incubator center will simultaneously yield a higher value of the tenants' sales.

  12. Linking Calling Orientations to Organizational Attachment via Organizational Instrumentality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardador, M. Teresa; Dane, Erik; Pratt, Michael G.

    2011-01-01

    Despite an emerging interest in callings, researchers know little about whether calling orientations matter in the workplace. We explore the under-examined relationship between a calling orientation and employees' attachment to their organizations. Although some theory suggests that callings may be negatively related to organizational attachment,…

  13. New Emergency control center of Slovenske Elektrarne Bohunice NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pecko, E.

    2012-01-01

    Emergency preparedness of nuclear power plant and operation assurance in case of a possible emergency calls to have devices for emergency response with equipment for rapid detection and continuous evaluation of anticipated events. Chief executive body designated to manage a nuclear power plant during major events is the emergency committee (EC). Emergency Committee is a part of the Emergency Response Organization (ERO). The following centers are on alert to ensure the activities of the ERO - Emergency Response office: - control room (CR) and emergency control room (ECR); - emergency management center (EMC); - Monitoring Centre (MC); - emergency backup control center (EBCC); - congregations of civil protection (CP) and CP shelters; - communications with warning and notification system (VARVYR). From a historical and practical point of view in the vicinity of Jaslovske Bohunice has been set up a joint emergency control center. The center was located on the territory of the former already inoperative V1 NPP. V1 NPP is currently integrated into the organizational structure of JAVYS. Operating Bohunice V2 NPP plant is a designated part of the Slovenske Elektrarne, a. s., whose majority owner is an Italian operator ENEL. In terms of various relevant factors, it was decided to build a new emergency management center on the territory of operating V2 NPP, meet the current standards.

  14. Monte Carlo parameter studies and uncertainty analyses with MCNP5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, F. B.; Sweezy, J. E.; Hayes, R.

    2004-01-01

    A software tool called mcnp p study has been developed to automate the setup, execution, and collection of results from a series of MCNP5 Monte Carlo calculations. This tool provides a convenient means of performing parameter studies, total uncertainty analyses, parallel job execution on clusters, stochastic geometry modeling, and other types of calculations where a series of MCNP5 jobs must be performed with varying problem input specifications. (authors)

  15. Sandia Transportation Technical Environmental Information Center and its application to transportation risk analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foley, J.T.; Davidson, C.A.; McClure, J.D.

    1978-01-01

    Purpose of this paper is to describe an applied research activity which is fundamental to the conduct of transportation analyses: the collection, analysis, storage, and retrieval of information on the intensities of technical environments. This paper describes the collection system which provides such a service to official researchers in transportation analysis and the applications of this information in the area of risk analysis

  16. Emergency electroencephalogram: Usefulness in the diagnosis of nonconvulsive status epilepticus by the on-call neurologist.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Máñez Miró, J U; Díaz de Terán, F J; Alonso Singer, P; Aguilar-Amat Prior, M J

    2018-03-01

    We aim to describe the use of emergency electroencephalogram (EmEEG) by the on-call neurologist when nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is suspected, and in other indications, in a tertiary hospital. Observational retrospective cohort study of emergency EEG (EmEEG) recordings with 8-channel systems performed and analysed by the on-call neurologist in the emergency department and in-hospital wards between July 2013 and May 2015. Variables recorded were sex, age, symptoms, first diagnosis, previous seizure and cause, previous stroke, cancer, brain computed tomography, diagnosis after EEG, treatment, patient progress, routine control EEG (rEEG), and final diagnosis. We analysed frequency data, sensitivity, and specificity in the diagnosis of NCSE. The study included 135 EEG recordings performed in 129 patients; 51.4% were men and their median age was 69 years. In 112 cases (83%), doctors ruled out suspected NCSE because of altered level of consciousness in 42 (37.5%), behavioural abnormalities in 38 (33.9%), and aphasia in 32 (28.5%). The EmEEG diagnosis was NCSE in 37 patients (33%), and this was confirmed in 35 (94.6%) as the final diagnosis. In 3 other cases, NCSE was the diagnosis on discharge as confirmed by rEEG although the EmEEG missed this condition at first. EmEEG performed to rule out NCSE showed 92.1% sensitivity, 97.2% specificity, a positive predictive value of 94.6%, and a negative predictive value of 96%. Our experience finds that, in an appropriate clinical context, EmEEG performed by the on-call neurologist is a sensitive and specific tool for diagnosing NCSE. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  17. Flight calls and orientation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Andersen, Bent Bach; Kropp, Wibke

    2008-01-01

    flight calls was simulated by sequential computer controlled activation of five loudspeakers placed in a linear array perpendicular to the bird's migration course. The bird responded to this stimulation by changing its migratory course in the direction of that of the ‘flying conspecifics' but after about......  In a pilot experiment a European Robin, Erithacus rubecula, expressing migratory restlessness with a stable orientation, was video filmed in the dark with an infrared camera and its directional migratory activity was recorded. The flight overhead of migrating conspecifics uttering nocturnal...... 30 minutes it drifted back to its original migration course. The results suggest that songbirds migrating alone at night can use the flight calls from conspecifics as additional cues for orientation and that they may compare this information with other cues to decide what course to keep....

  18. Energy efficient thermal management of data centers

    CERN Document Server

    Kumar, Pramod

    2012-01-01

    Energy Efficient Thermal Management of Data Centers examines energy flow in today's data centers. Particular focus is given to the state-of-the-art thermal management and thermal design approaches now being implemented across the multiple length scales involved. The impact of future trends in information technology hardware, and emerging software paradigms such as cloud computing and virtualization, on thermal management are also addressed. The book explores computational and experimental characterization approaches for determining temperature and air flow patterns within data centers. Thermodynamic analyses using the second law to improve energy efficiency are introduced and used in proposing improvements in cooling methodologies. Reduced-order modeling and robust multi-objective design of next generation data centers are discussed. This book also: Provides in-depth treatment of energy efficiency ideas based on  fundamental heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, controls, and computer science Focus...

  19. Journey to the center of the galaxy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaisson, E.

    1980-01-01

    The solar system is a member of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, far from the center of the Galaxy. This article takes the reader on a hypothetical journey from the solar system to the center of the Galaxy. Results from radio and infrared studies are used to suggest what such a journey might reveal. Traveling from the solar system toward the center, one crosses the Cygnus Arm, then the Sagittarius Arm, and then the so-called Three-kiloparsec Arm. The Arms contain a mixture of young stars as well as lots of gas and dust. Radio studies show that the Three-kiloparsec Arm is more like a ring than an arm. Inside this ring, is another ring composed of giant molecular clouds. Radio and infrared astronomers have discovered that the heart of the Galaxy is composed of matter in most perplexing states. There are three regions known within this innermost thousand light-years. First, there is a large zone of thin, hot ionized gas. Within this, there is a whirlpool of dense, warm matter. And further embedded, there seems to be a small supermassive object at the center. Possibly this object could be a blackhole. Researchers are continuing to examine, monitor, and model this mysterious region, the galactic nuclei

  20. Transmission Characteristics of Primate Vocalizations: Implications for Acoustic Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maciej, Peter; Fischer, Julia; Hammerschmidt, Kurt

    2011-01-01

    Acoustic analyses have become a staple method in field studies of animal vocal communication, with nearly all investigations using computer-based approaches to extract specific features from sounds. Various algorithms can be used to extract acoustic variables that may then be related to variables such as individual identity, context or reproductive state. Habitat structure and recording conditions, however, have strong effects on the acoustic structure of sound signals. The purpose of this study was to identify which acoustic parameters reliably describe features of propagated sounds. We conducted broadcast experiments and examined the influence of habitat type, transmission height, and re-recording distance on the validity (deviation from the original sound) and reliability (variation within identical recording conditions) of acoustic features of different primate call types. Validity and reliability varied independently of each other in relation to habitat, transmission height, and re-recording distance, and depended strongly on the call type. The smallest deviations from the original sounds were obtained by a visually-controlled calculation of the fundamental frequency. Start- and end parameters of a sound were most susceptible to degradation in the environment. Because the recording conditions can have appreciable effects on acoustic parameters, it is advisable to validate the extraction method of acoustic variables from recordings over longer distances before using them in acoustic analyses. PMID:21829682

  1. Correlates of Gay-Related Name-Calling in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slaatten, Hilde; Hetland, Jørn; Anderssen, Norman

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine whether attitudes about gay-related name-calling, social norms concerning gay-related name-calling among co-students, teacher intervention, and school-related support would predict whether secondary school pupils had called another pupil a gay-related name during the last month. A total of 921 ninth-grade…

  2. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... remains on for a period in excess of three minutes. The automatic cutoff system must be designed so the... Public Safety Pool for highway call box systems subject to the following requirements: (1) Call box... effective radiated power (ERP). (3) The height of a call box antenna may not exceed 6.1 meters (20 feet...

  3. Coaching "Callings" throughout the Adult Life Cycle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Frederic M.

    2001-01-01

    The process of "callings" continues throughout life. Coaching can connect the present to the future in a meaningful way. Callings represent a value shift requiring revision of the nature and scope of one's central purpose in life and meaningful activities. (JOW)

  4. The uses of mental health telephone counselling services for Chinese speaking people in New Zealand: demographics, presenting problems, outcome and evaluation of the calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang Dong, Christine

    2016-09-09

    This study aimed to investigate the call profiles of a Chinese-speaking mental health counselling helpline service in New Zealand (Chinese Lifeline provided by Lifeline Aotearoa) and to evaluate the calls and explore the possible factors influencing the outcome of the calls. A random sample of 151 answered calls was involved. Descriptive analysis with appropriate statistical tests was used to analyse the client profile and outcome data. The majority of the calls were made by female callers, aged between 21-60 both single and married. Top three presenting problems were: 1) mental health issues (82.1%); 2) family/partner relationship issues (47.0%) and 3) communication and related difficulties (45.0%). The majority of the calls (65%) ended after a clear decision in overcoming the issues made by the caller, with the help from the counsellor. Discussing mental health issues, grief and loss issues, and communication and related difficulties were shown to have influenced length of calls (p<0.05). Caller's age, frequency of calls, discussing relationship problems with family/partner, and physical problems were shown to have influenced the helpline counsellors' satisfaction of the helpfulness of the calls (p<0.05). The service receives calls from callers with a wide range of demographics and a large variety of presenting issues. This study identified several important factors which influenced counsellors' satisfaction of the calls and the length of the calls.

  5. Midwest Clean Energy Application Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cuttica, John; Haefke, Cliff

    2013-12-31

    The Midwest Clean Energy Application Center (CEAC) was one of eight regional centers that promoted and assisted in transforming the market for combined heat and power (CHP), waste heat to power (WHP), and district energy (DE) technologies and concepts throughout the United States between October 1, 2009 and December 31, 2013. The key services the CEACs provided included: Market Opportunity Analyses – Supporting analyses of CHP market opportunities in diverse markets including industrial, federal, institutional, and commercial sectors. Education and Outreach – Providing information on the energy and non-energy benefits and applications of CHP to state and local policy makers, regulators, energy end-users, trade associations and others. Information was shared on the Midwest CEAC website: www.midwestcleanergy.org. Technical Assistance – Providing technical assistance to end-users and stakeholders to help them consider CHP, waste heat to power, and/or district energy with CHP in their facility and to help them through the project development process from initial CHP screening to installation. The Midwest CEAC provided services to the Midwest Region that included the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

  6. Characterization of edible marijuana product exposures reported to United States poison centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Dazhe; Srisuma, Sahaphume; Bronstein, Alvin C; Hoyte, Christopher O

    2016-11-01

    Edible marijuana products are sold as brownies, cookies, and candies, which may be indistinguishable from counterparts without marijuana and are palatable to children and adults. The consumption of an entire product containing multiple dose-units may result in overdose. To characterize edible marijuana exposures reported to US poison centers with subgroup analysis by age. We analyzed single substance, human exposure calls coded to marijuana brownies, candies, cookies, beverages, or other foods reported to the National Poison Data System from January 2013 to December 2015. Calls were analyzed by state, age, gender, exposure route, clinical effect, therapies, and level of healthcare facility utilization. Four-hundred and thirty calls were reported: Colorado (N = 166, 1.05/100,000 population/year) and Washington (96, 0.46) yielded the highest number of exposures. Three hundred and eighty-one (91%) calls occurred in states with decriminalized medical/recreational marijuana. The number of calls increased every year of the study. The most common age groups were: ≤5 years (N = 109, 0.15/100,000 population/year) and 13-19 (78, 0.09). The most frequent clinical effects were drowsiness/lethargy (N = 118, percentage = 43%), tachycardia (84, 31%), agitated/irritable (37, 14%), and confusion (37, 14%). Children ≤5 years have more drowsiness/lethargy, ataxia, and red eye/conjunctivitis. No deaths were reported. The most common therapies administered were intravenous fluids (85, 20%), dilute/irrigate/wash (48, 11 %), and benzodiazepines (47, 11%). Three patients (ages 4, 10, and 57 years) received intubation. 97 (23%), 217 (50%), and 12 (3%) calls were managed at home, treated/released, admitted to a critical care unit, respectively. Although most clinical effects are minor, ventilatory support may be necessary for children and adults. We speculate the increasing exposures may be related to a combination of delayed absorption kinetics of Δ9

  7. Measurement of the potential geographic accessibility from call to definitive care for patient with acute stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freyssenge, J; Renard, F; Schott, A M; Derex, L; Nighoghossian, N; Tazarourte, K; El Khoury, C

    2018-01-12

    The World Health Organization refers to stroke, the second most frequent cause of death in the world, in terms of pandemic. Present treatments are only effective within precise time windows. Only 10% of thrombolysis patients are eligible. Late assessment of the patient resulting from admission and lack of knowledge of the symptoms is the main explanation of lack of eligibility. The aim is the measurement of the time of access to treatment facilities for stroke victims, using ambulances (firemen ambulances or EMS ambulances) and private car. The method proposed analyses the potential geographic accessibility of stroke care infrastructure in different scenarios. The study allows better considering of the issues inherent to an area: difficult weather conditions, traffic congestion and failure to respect the distance limits of emergency transport. Depending on the scenario, access times vary considerably within the same commune. For example, between the first and the second scenario for cities in the north of Rhône county, there is a 10 min difference to the nearest Primary Stroke Center (PSC). For the first scenario, 90% of the population is 20 min away of the PSC and 96% for the second scenario. Likewise, depending on the modal vector (fire brigade or emergency medical service), overall accessibility from the emergency call to admission to a Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) can vary by as much as 15 min. The setting up of the various scenarios and modal comparison based on the calculation of overall accessibility makes this a new method for calculating potential access to care facilities. It is important to take into account the specific pathological features and the availability of care facilities for modelling. This method is innovative and recommendable for measuring accessibility in the field of health care. This study makes possible to highlight the patients' extension of care delays. Thus, this can impact the improvement of patient care and rethink the

  8. Calling, is there anything special about it?

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-07-15

    Jul 15, 2016 ... when a pastor is installed or a new candidate is ordained, 'The one who calls you is faithful .... extension to secular work of the dignity of a calling' (Fowler ... For Luther, therefore, the private life of devotion exercised in the.

  9. Ultrasound call detection in capybara

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Selene S.C. Nogueira

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The vocal repertoire of some animal species has been considered a non-invasive tool to predict distress reactivity. In rats ultrasound emissions were reported as distress indicator. Capybaras[ vocal repertoire was reported recently and seems to have ultrasound calls, but this has not yet been confirmed. Thus, in order to check if a poor state of welfare was linked to ultrasound calls in the capybara vocal repertoire, the aim of this study was to track the presence of ultrasound emissions in 11 animals under three conditions: 1 unrestrained; 2 intermediately restrained, and 3 highly restrained. The ultrasound track identified frequencies in the range of 31.8±3.5 kHz in adults and 33.2±8.5 kHz in juveniles. These ultrasound frequencies occurred only when animals were highly restrained, physically restrained or injured during handling. We concluded that these calls with ultrasound components are related to pain and restraint because they did not occur when animals were free of restraint. Thus we suggest that this vocalization may be used as an additional tool to assess capybaras[ welfare.

  10. Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling of the Influences of Family-Centered Care on Parent and Child Psychological Health

    OpenAIRE

    Dunst, Carl J.; Trivette, Carol M.

    2009-01-01

    Background. Family-centered care is now practiced throughout the world by physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals. The call for adoption of family-centered care is based on the contention that the physical and psychological health of a child is influenced by parents' psychological health where family-centered care enhances parent well-being which in turn influences child well-being. We empirically assessed whether these relationships are supported by available evidence. M...

  11. Relabeling the Medications We Call Antidepressants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Antonuccio

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper raises the question about whether the data on the medications we call antidepressants justify the label of antidepressant. The authors argue that a true antidepressant should be clearly superior to placebo, should offer a risk/benefit balance that exceeds that of alternative treatments, should not increase suicidality, should not increase anxiety and agitation, should not interfere with sexual functioning, and should not increase depression chronicity. Unfortunately, these medications appear to fall short on all of these dimensions. Many of the “side effects” of these medications have larger effect sizes than the antidepressant effect size. To call these medications antidepressants may make sense from a marketing standpoint but may be misleading from a scientific perspective. Consumers deserve a label that more accurately reflects the data on the largest effects and helps them understand the range of effects from these medications. In other words, it may make just as much sense to call these medications antiaphrodisiacs as antidepressants because the negative effects on libido and sexual functioning are so common. It can be argued that a misleading label may interfere with our commitment to informed consent. Therefore, it may be time to stop calling these medications antidepressants.

  12. Occupational chemical exposures: a collaboration between the Georgia Poison Center and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tustin, Aaron W; Jones, Alison; Lopez, Gaylord P; Ketcham, Glenn R; Hodgson, Michael J

    2018-01-01

    In the United States, regional poison centers frequently receive calls about toxic workplace exposures. Most poison centers do not share call details routinely with governmental regulatory agencies. Worker health and safety could be enhanced if regulators such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had the ability to investigate these events and prevent similar incidents. With this goal in mind, the Georgia Poison Center (GPC) began referring occupational exposures to OSHA in July 2014. GPC began collecting additional employer details when handling occupational exposure calls. When workers granted permission, GPC forwarded call details to the OSHA Regional Office in Atlanta. These referrals enabled OSHA to initiate several investigations. We also analyzed all occupational exposures reported to GPC during the study period to characterize the events, detect violations of OSHA reporting requirements, and identify hazardous scenarios that could form the basis for future OSHA rulemaking or guidance. GPC was informed about 953 occupational exposures between 1 July, 2014 and 7 January, 2016. Workers were exposed to 217 unique substances, and 70.3% of victims received treatment in a healthcare facility. Hydrogen sulfide was responsible for the largest number of severe clinical effects. GPC obtained permission to refer 89 (9.3%) calls to OSHA. As a result of these referrals, OSHA conducted 39 investigations and cited 15 employers for "serious" violations. OSHA forwarded several other referrals to other regulatory agencies when OSHA did not have jurisdiction. At least one employer failed to comply with OSHA's new rule that mandates reporting of all work-related hospitalizations. This collaboration increased OSHA's awareness of dangerous job tasks including hydrofluoric acid exposure among auto detailers and carbon monoxide poisoning with indoor use of gasoline-powered tools. Collaboration with the GPC generated a useful source of referrals to OSHA. OSHA

  13. A qualitative study of sign-out processes between primary and on-call residents: relationships in information exchange, responsibility and accountability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Soo-Hoon; Fisher, Dale A; Mah, Heidi; Goh, Wei-Ping; Phan, Phillip H

    2017-10-01

    To review a quality improvement event on the process of sign-outs between the primary and on-call residents. A retrospective qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. A tertiary academic medical center in Singapore with 283 inpatient Medicine beds served by 28 consultants, 29 registrars, 45 residents and 30 interns during the day but 5 residents and 3 interns at night. Residents, registrars and consultants. Quality improvement event on sign-out. Effectiveness of sign-out comprises exchange of patient information, professional responsibility and task accountability. The following process of sign-outs was noted. Primary teams were accountable to the on-call resident by selecting at-risk patients and preparing contingency plans for sign-out. Structured information exchanged included patient history, active problems and plans of care. On-call residents took ownership of at-risk patients by actively asking questions during sign-out and reporting back the agreed care plan. On-call residents were accountable to the primary team by reporting back at-risk patients the next day. A structured information exchange at sign-out increased the on-call resident's ability to care for at-risk patients when it was supported by two-way transfers of responsibility and accountability. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  14. Vocal communication in a complex multi-level society: constrained acoustic structure and flexible call usage in Guinea baboons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maciej, Peter; Ndao, Ibrahima; Hammerschmidt, Kurt; Fischer, Julia

    2013-09-23

    To understand the evolution of acoustic communication in animals, it is important to distinguish between the structure and the usage of vocal signals, since both aspects are subject to different constraints. In terrestrial mammals, the structure of calls is largely innate, while individuals have a greater ability to actively initiate or withhold calls. In closely related taxa, one would therefore predict a higher flexibility in call usage compared to call structure. In the present study, we investigated the vocal repertoire of free living Guinea baboons (Papio papio) and examined the structure and usage of the animals' vocal signals. Guinea baboons live in a complex multi-level social organization and exhibit a largely tolerant and affiliative social style, contrary to most other baboon taxa. To classify the vocal repertoire of male and female Guinea baboons, cluster analyses were used and focal observations were conducted to assess the usage of vocal signals in the particular contexts. In general, the vocal repertoire of Guinea baboons largely corresponded to the vocal repertoire other baboon taxa. The usage of calls, however, differed considerably from other baboon taxa and corresponded with the specific characteristics of the Guinea baboons' social behaviour. While Guinea baboons showed a diminished usage of contest and display vocalizations (a common pattern observed in chacma baboons), they frequently used vocal signals during affiliative and greeting interactions. Our study shows that the call structure of primates is largely unaffected by the species' social system (including grouping patterns and social interactions), while the usage of calls can be more flexibly adjusted, reflecting the quality of social interactions of the individuals. Our results support the view that the primary function of social signals is to regulate social interactions, and therefore the degree of competition and cooperation may be more important to explain variation in call usage

  15. Spectroscopic and x-ray diffraction analyses of asbestos in the World Trade Center dust:

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swayze, Gregg A.; Clark, Roger N.; Sutley, Stephen J.; Hoefen, Todd M.; Plumlee, Geoffrey S.; Meeker, Gregory P.; Brownfield, Isabelle; Livo, Keith E.; Morath, Laurie C.

    2009-01-01

    On September 17 and 18, 2001, samples of settled dust and airfall debris were collected from 34 sites within a 1-km radius of the WTC collapse site, including a sample from an indoor location unaffected by rainfall, and samples of insulation from two steel beams at Ground Zero. Laboratory spectral and x-ray diffraction analyses of the field samples detected trace levels of serpentine minerals, including chrysotile asbestos, in about two-thirds of the dust samples at concentrations at or below ~1 wt%. One sample of a beam coating material contained up to 20 wt% chrysotile asbestos. Analyses indicate that trace levels of chrysotile were distributed with the dust radially to distances greater than 0.75 km from Ground Zero. The chrysotile content of the dust is variable and may indicate that chrysotile asbestos was not distributed uniformly during the three collapse events.

  16. College student bereavement, scholarship, and the university: a call for university engagement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balk, D E

    2001-01-01

    The prevalence of bereavement among traditional-aged college students should impel universities to assist bereaved students on their campuses. Dealing with bereavement can not only challenge a college student's completing the developmental tasks that our society sets for the later adolescent years, but also imperil the student's remaining in school and graduating. It is in the best interests of the university to develop and implement a variety of effective interventions to assist bereaved students. The author argues that universities are communities devoted to scholarly endeavors and should explicitly incorporate the dimension of compassion and caring. An abbreviated case study is used to illustrate the situations in which one grieving student found herself when she returned to school following the death of her father. A call is made for greater university engagement by forming a university-based bereavement center to coordinate and conduct coherent inquiry that fulfills the scholarly functions of discovery, application, and instruction. Four specific actions for a bereavement center are to train nonbereaved students to provide peer support, to provide structured interventions for college students at risk of bereavement complications, to raise consciousness about bereavement on the university campus, and to conduct research into various bereavement populations and bereavement topics.

  17. Calcined Waste Storage at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    M. D. Staiger

    2007-06-01

    This report provides a quantitative inventory and composition (chemical and radioactivity) of calcined waste stored at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. From December 1963 through May 2000, liquid radioactive wastes generated by spent nuclear fuel reprocessing were converted into a solid, granular form called calcine. This report also contains a description of the calcine storage bins.

  18. 75 FR 51082 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-18

    ... U.S.C. App.), notice is hereby given of the following meetings. The meetings will be closed to the public in accordance with the provisions set forth in sections 552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C... Conference Call). Contact Person: Yi-Hsin Liu, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific Review...

  19. Between morphology and function: How syntactic centers of the Beijing city are defined

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Yang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The application of big data provides a new angle of view on investigating whether, and if so, how to define the urban center through analyzing urban spatial morphology intrinsically interacts with its functions. This article, using empirical research of the Beijing city, first seeking to explore spatial configuration-the complex relation between any pair of individual spaces regarding other contextual spaces – of urban network collected from Baidu. And then, focusing on conducting a statistical correlation between the configurational patterns of urban network and the aggregation patterns of functions. Based on the different patterns of aggregation or dispersion of those functions we discussed, as well as the multi-scale syntactic location choice underlying those patterns, it then can be identified four types of centers in the Beijing city, which may be called active center, ordinary center, brand centers and specified center, as well as the extent to which spatial layout influences functional distribution.

  20. Diagnostic Comparison of Meteorological Analyses during the 2002 Antarctic Winter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manney, Gloria L.; Allen, Douglas R.; Kruger, Kirstin; Naujokat, Barbara; Santee, Michelle L.; Sabutis, Joseph L.; Pawson, Steven; Swinbank, Richard; Randall, Cora E.; Simmons, Adrian J.; hide

    2005-01-01

    Several meteorological datasets, including U.K. Met Office (MetO), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and NASA's Goddard Earth Observation System (GEOS-4) analyses, are being used in studies of the 2002 Southern Hemisphere (SH) stratospheric winter and Antarctic major warming. Diagnostics are compared to assess how these studies may be affected by the meteorological data used. While the overall structure and evolution of temperatures, winds, and wave diagnostics in the different analyses provide a consistent picture of the large-scale dynamics of the SH 2002 winter, several significant differences may affect detailed studies. The NCEP-NCAR reanalysis (REAN) and NCEP-Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis-2 (REAN-2) datasets are not recommended for detailed studies, especially those related to polar processing, because of lower-stratospheric temperature biases that result in underestimates of polar processing potential, and because their winds and wave diagnostics show increasing differences from other analyses between similar to 30 and 10 hPa (their top level). Southern Hemisphere polar stratospheric temperatures in the ECMWF 40-Yr Re-analysis (ERA-40) show unrealistic vertical structure, so this long-term reanalysis is also unsuited for quantitative studies. The NCEP/Climate Prediction Center (CPC) objective analyses give an inferior representation of the upper-stratospheric vortex. Polar vortex transport barriers are similar in all analyses, but there is large variation in the amount, patterns, and timing of mixing, even among the operational assimilated datasets (ECMWF, MetO, and GEOS-4). The higher-resolution GEOS-4 and ECMWF assimilations provide significantly better representation of filamentation and small-scale structure than the other analyses, even when fields gridded at reduced resolution are studied. The choice of which analysis to use is most critical for detailed transport

  1. The Barbados Emergency Ambulance Service: High Frequency of Nontransported Calls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sherwin E. Phillips

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. There are no published studies on the Barbados Emergency Ambulance Service and no assessment of the calls that end in nontransported individuals. We describe reasons for the nontransport of potential clients. Methods. We used the Emergency Medical Dispatch (Medical Priority Dispatch System instrument, augmented with five local call types, to collect information on types of calls. The calls were categorised under 7 headings. Correlations between call types and response time were calculated. Results. Most calls were from the category medical (54%. Nineteen (19% percent of calls were in the non-transported category. Calls from call type Cancelled accounted for most of these and this was related to response time, while Refused service was inversely related (. Conclusions. The Barbados Ambulance Service is mostly used by people with a known illness and for trauma cases. One-fifth of calls fall into a category where the ambulance is not used often due to cancellation which is related to response time. Other factors such as the use of alternative transport are also important. Further study to identify factors that contribute to the non-transported category of calls is necessary if improvements in service quality are to be made.

  2. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Monthly Precipitation Reconstruction of Ocean(PRECO)at Spatial Resolution of 2.5 degree.

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This global monthly precipitation analysis is called the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Precipitation Reconstruction (PREC). This analysis consists of two...

  3. Make a 21st century phone call

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony

    2014-01-01

    Want to avoid roaming charges? Click to call anyone at CERN? How about merging your CERN landline with your existing smartphone? That's all easily done with Lync, CERN's new opt-in service that can take your calls to the next level.   The Lync application on Windows (left) and iPhone (right). Lync unites CERN's traditional telephone service with the digital sphere. "Lync gives you the gift of mobility, by letting you access your CERN landline on the go," explains Pawel Grzywaczewski, service manager of the Lync system. "Once you've registered your CERN telephone with the service, you can run the Lync application and make calls from a range of supported devices. No matter where you are in the world - be it simply out to lunch or off at an international conference - you can make a CERN call as though you were in the office. All you need is an Internet connection!" Following a recent upgrade, CERN's Lync service now has...

  4. Consumer Experiences Calling Toll-Free Corporate Hotlines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Charles L.; Smart, Denise T.

    1994-01-01

    Finds that dimensions that contribute to caller satisfaction (of toll-free corporate hotlines) included operator characteristics such as knowledge, courtesy, and interest; specific behaviors such as apologizing for a problem, thanking the consumer for calling, and encouraging them to call again; and reducing time placed on "hold." (SR)

  5. American Heart Association's Call to Action for Payment and Delivery System Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bufalino, Vincent J; Berkowitz, Scott A; Gardner, Timothy J; Piña, Ileana L; Konig, Madeleine

    2017-08-15

    The healthcare system is undergoing a transition from paying for volume to paying for value. Clinicians, as well as public and private payers, are beginning to implement alternative delivery and payment models, such as the patient-centered medical home, accountable care organizations, and bundled payment arrangements. Implementation of these new models will necessitate delivery system transformation and will actively involve all fields of medical care, in particular medicine and surgery. This call to action, on behalf of the American Heart Association's Expert Panel on Payment and Delivery System Reform, serves to offer support and direction for further involvement by the American Heart Association. In doing so, it (1) provides baseline review and definition of the present models and some of the early results of these delivery models, including outcomes; (2) initiates a conversation within the American Heart Association on the impact of payment and delivery system reform, as well as how the American Heart Association should engage in the interest of patients; (3) issues a call to action to our organization and to cardiovascular and stroke health professionals across the country to become educated about these models so to as to understand their impact on patient care; and (4) asks the government and other funding agencies, including the American Heart Association, to begin supporting and prioritizing meaningful research endeavors to further evaluate these models. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  6. Anatomy of a Security Operations Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, John

    2010-01-01

    Many agencies and corporations are either contemplating or in the process of building a cyber Security Operations Center (SOC). Those Agencies that have established SOCs are most likely working on major revisions or enhancements to existing capabilities. As principle developers of the NASA SOC; this Presenters' goals are to provide the GFIRST community with examples of some of the key building blocks of an Agency scale cyber Security Operations Center. This presentation viII include the inputs and outputs, the facilities or shell, as well as the internal components and the processes necessary to maintain the SOC's subsistence - in other words, the anatomy of a SOC. Details to be presented include the SOC architecture and its key components: Tier 1 Call Center, data entry, and incident triage; Tier 2 monitoring, incident handling and tracking; Tier 3 computer forensics, malware analysis, and reverse engineering; Incident Management System; Threat Management System; SOC Portal; Log Aggregation and Security Incident Management (SIM) systems; flow monitoring; IDS; etc. Specific processes and methodologies discussed include Incident States and associated Work Elements; the Incident Management Workflow Process; Cyber Threat Risk Assessment methodology; and Incident Taxonomy. The Evolution of the Cyber Security Operations Center viII be discussed; starting from reactive, to proactive, and finally to proactive. Finally, the resources necessary to establish an Agency scale SOC as well as the lessons learned in the process of standing up a SOC viII be presented.

  7. Advertisement call of Scinax camposseabrai (Bokermann, 1968) (Anura: Hylidae), with comments on the call of three species of the Scinax ruber clade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novaes, Gabriel; Zina, Juliana

    2016-02-25

    Scinax camposseabrai was allocated into the Scinax ruber clade by Caramaschi & Cardoso (2006) by overall similarities as snout not pointed, breeding in open areas, and an advertisement calls with multipulsed notes. This assumption about the call was based solely on an onomatopoeia provided by Bokermann (1968). Herein we provide a formal description of the advertisement call of S. camposseabrai and compare it with described calls of other S. ruber clade species. Additionally, we provide descriptions of the advertisement calls of three sympatric species of the S. ruber clade: S. eurydice (Bokermann), S. pachycrus (Miranda-Ribeiro) and S. cf. x-signatus.

  8. Environmental constraints and call evolution in torrent-dwelling frogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goutte, Sandra; Dubois, Alain; Howard, Samuel D; Marquez, Rafael; Rowley, Jodi J L; Dehling, J Maximilian; Grandcolas, Philippe; Rongchuan, Xiong; Legendre, Frédéric

    2016-04-01

    Although acoustic signals are important for communication in many taxa, signal propagation is affected by environmental properties. Strong environmental constraints should drive call evolution, favoring signals with greater transmission distance and content integrity in a given calling habitat. Yet, few empirical studies have verified this prediction, possibly due to a shortcoming in habitat characterization, which is often too broad. Here we assess the potential impact of environmental constraints on the evolution of advertisement call in four groups of torrent-dwelling frogs in the family Ranidae. We reconstruct the evolution of calling site preferences, both broadly categorized and at a finer scale, onto a phylogenetic tree for 148 species with five markers (∼3600 bp). We test models of evolution for six call traits for 79 species with regard to the reconstructed history of calling site preferences and estimate their ancestral states. We find that in spite of existing morphological constraints, vocalizations of torrent-dwelling species are most probably constrained by the acoustic specificities of torrent habitats and particularly their high level of ambient noise. We also show that a fine-scale characterization of calling sites allows a better perception of the impact of environmental constraints on call evolution. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  9. Attitude of Farmers towards Kisan Call Centres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shely Mary Koshy

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The present study was conducted to measure the attitude of farmers in Kerala, India towards Kisan Call Centre (KCC. Kisan Call Centre provides free agricultural advisory services to every citizen involved in agriculture through a toll free number. One hundred and fifty farmers who have utilized the Kisan Call Centre service were selected from the database of KCC. The results showed that the respondents had moderately favourable attitude towards KCC followed by highly favourable attitude. The variables digital divide, temporal awareness on KCC, satisfaction towards KCC and utilization of KCC were found to have a positive correlation with the attitude of respondents towards KCC.

  10. Partitioning a call graph

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bisseling, R.H.; Byrka, J.; Cerav-Erbas, S.; Gvozdenovic, N.; Lorenz, M.; Pendavingh, R.A.; Reeves, C.; Röger, M.; Verhoeven, A.; Berg, van den J.B.; Bhulai, S.; Hulshof, J.; Koole, G.; Quant, C.; Williams, J.F.

    2006-01-01

    Splitting a large software system into smaller and more manageable units has become an important problem for many organizations. The basic structure of a software system is given by a directed graph with vertices representing the programs of the system and arcs representing calls from one program to

  11. Too close to call

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter

    2012-01-01

    a number of other frequent explanations and is found to be quite robust. When augmented with approval ratings for incumbent presidents, the explanatory power increases to 83 pct. and only incorrectly calls one of the last 15 US presidential elections. Applied to the 2012 election as a forecasting model...

  12. A call for surveys

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bernstein, Philip A.; Jensen, Christian S.; Tan, Kian-Lee

    2012-01-01

    The database field is experiencing an increasing need for survey papers. We call on more researchers to set aside time for this important writing activity. The database field is growing in population, scope of topics covered, and the number of papers published. Each year, thousands of new papers ...

  13. The Role of Analyst Conference Calls in Capital Markets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E.M. Roelofsen (Erik)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractMany firms conduct a conference call with analysts shortly after the quarterly earnings announcement. In these calls, management discusses the completed quarter, and analysts can ask questions. Due to SEC requirements, conference calls in the United States are virtually always live

  14. Individual and contextual variation in Thomas langur male loud calls

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wich, S.A.; Koski, S.; Vries, Han de; Schaik, Carel P. van

    2003-01-01

    Individual and contextual differences in male loud calls of wild Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi) were studied in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Loud calls were given in the following contexts: morning calls, vocal responses to other groups, between-group encounter calls and alarmcalls. Loud

  15. Help Options in CALL: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardenas-Claros, Monica S.; Gruba, Paul A.

    2009-01-01

    This paper is a systematic review of research investigating help options in the different language skills in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). In this review, emerging themes along with is-sues affecting help option research are identified and discussed. We argue that help options in CALL are application resources that do not only seem…

  16. The Call to Teach and Teacher Hopefulness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullough, Robert V., Jr.; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher motivation and well-being. Our analysis focuses on two central concepts, the notion of a "calling to teach" and of teacher "hopefulness." Data from 205 preservice and inservice teachers were collected to determine teachers' sense of calling and level of hope. Results indicate that overwhelmingly,…

  17. Examining calling as a double-edged sword for employability

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lysova, Evgenia I.; Jansen, Paul G.W.; Khapova, Svetlana N.; Plomp, Judith; Tims, Maria

    2018-01-01

    Using a two-study design (total N = 1232), this paper examines the relationship between calling and employability. We suggest that, on the one hand, calling can positively relate to employability due to individuals’ engagement in proactive professional development (PPD). On the other hand, calling

  18. High intensity proton accelerator and its application (Proton Engineering Center)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Shun-ichi

    1995-01-01

    A plan called PROTON ENGINEERING CENTER has been proposed in JAERI. The center is a complex composed of research facilities and a beam shape and storage ring based on a proton linac with an energy of 1.5 GeV and an average current of 10 mA. The research facilities planned are OMEGA·Nuclear Energy Development Facility, Neutron Facility for Material Irradiation, Nuclear Data Experiment Facility, Neutron Factory, Meson Factory, Spallation Radioisotope Beam Facility, and Medium Energy Experiment Facility, where high intensity proton beam and secondary particle beams such as neutrons, π-mesons, muons, and unstable isotopes originated from the protons are available for promoting the innovative research of nuclear energy and basic science and technology. (author)

  19. The effect of work shift configurations on emergency medical dispatch center response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montassier, Emmanuel; Labady, Julien; Andre, Antoine; Potel, Gilles; Berthier, Frederic; Jenvrin, Joel; Penverne, Yann

    2015-01-01

    It has been proved that emergency medical dispatch centers (EMDC) save lives by promoting an appropriate allocation of emergency medical service resources. Indeed, optimal dispatcher call duration is pivotal to reduce the time gap between the time a call is placed and the delivery of medical care. However, little is known about the impact of work shift configurations (i.e., work shift duration and work shift rotation throughout the day) and dispatcher call duration. Thus, the objective of our study was to assess the effect of work shift configurations on dispatcher call duration. During a 1-year study period, we analyzed the dispatcher call durations for medical and trauma calls during the 4 different work shift rotations (day, morning, evening, and night) and during the 10-hour work shift of each dispatcher in the EMDC of Nantes. We extracted dispatcher call durations from our advanced telephone system, configured with CC Pulse + (Genesys, Alcatel Lucent), and collected them in a custom designed database (Excel, Microsoft). Afterward, we analyzed these data using linear mixed effects models. During the study period, our EMDC received 408,077 calls. Globally, the mean dispatcher call duration was 107 ± 45 seconds. Based on multivariate linear mixed effects models, the dispatcher call duration was affected by night work shift and work shift duration greater than 8 hours, increasing it by about 10 ± 1 seconds and 4 ± 1 seconds, respectively (both p work shift rotation and duration, with longer durations seen over night shifts and shifts over 8 hours. While these differences are small and may not have clinical significance, they may have implications for EMDC efficiency.

  20. Identification of sympatric bat species by the echolocation calls

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    One hundred and thirty-eight echolocation calls of 63 free-flying individuals of five bat species (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum,Myotis formosus,Myotis ikonnikovi,Myotis daubentoni and Murina leucogaster)were recorded (by ultrasonic bat detector (D980)) in Zhi'an village of Jilin Province,China.According to the frequency-time spectra,these calls were categorized into two types:FM/CF (constant frequency) / FM (R.ferrumequinum) and FM (frequency modulated)(M.formosus,M.ikonnikovi,M.daubentoni and M.leucogaster).Sonograms of the calls of R.ferrumequinum could easily be distinguished from those of the other four species.For the calls of the remaining four species,six echolocation call parameters,including starting frequency,ending frequency,peak frequency duration,longest inter-pulse interval and shortest inter-pulse interval,were examined by stepwise discriminant analysis.The results show that 84.1% of calls were correctly classified,which indicates that these parameters of echolocation calls play an important role in identifying bat species.These parameters can be used to test the accuracy of general predictions based on bats' morphology in the same forest and can provide essential information for assessing patterns of bat habitat use.

  1. La tecnología y las monjitas: constellations of authoritative knowledge at a religious birthing center in south Texas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleuriet, K Jill

    2009-09-01

    In this article, I contrast conceptualizations of authoritative knowledge in pregnancy and birth between U.S. midwives and their Mexican immigrant clients at a religious birthing center in south Texas. Although the two groups share certain orientations to pregnancy management, essential differences in prenatal care and birth epistemologies underscore distinct social and economic positions. I use narrative data to document and explain these differences, which throw into relief the hierarchies of identity and need that structure immigrant women's reproductive experiences. Unveiling the different epistemologies can also help to explain sometimes radically divergent ideas that have impacted the very survivability of the birthing center. By focusing on Mexican immigrant women's reproductive decision making in an alternative birthing center, this analysis responds to feminists' call to look to the margins to understand the diversity of women's responses to what Rapp and Ginsburg have called "stratified reproduction".

  2. Federal Research: Opportunities Exist to Improve the Management and Oversight of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Woods, William; Mittal, Anu; Neumann, John; Williams, Cheryl; Candon, Sharron; Sterling, Suzanne; Wade, Jacqueline; Zwanzig, Peter

    2008-01-01

    .... FFRDCs -- including laboratories, studies and analyses centers, and systems engineering centers -- conduct research in military space programs, nanotechnology, microelectronics, nuclear warfare...

  3. Calling under pressure: Short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Frants Havmand; Marrero Perez, Jacobo; Johnson, Mark

    2011-01-01

    Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species...... among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic...... DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows...

  4. Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar: A wake up call

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lateef Fatimah

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In early May 2008, Cyclone Nargis (CN tore across the southern coastal regions of Myanmar, pushing a tidal surge through villages and rice paddies. The almost 12 foot wall of water and wind speed of over 200 km/hr killed tens of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless and vulnerable to injury and disease. Out of the 7.35 million living in the affected townships of Labutta, Bogale, Pyinsalu, Yangon, and many more, approximately 2.4 million were affected. Overall, more than 50 townships were affected by this most devastating cyclone in Asia since 1991. The Delta region, Myanmar′s Rice Bowl, was severely damaged. The low-lying villages were submerged. There was widespread destruction of homes, critical infrastructure of the villages, roads, ferries, water, fuel, and electricity supplies. Our team from Singapore (called Team Singapore reached out to at least 10 different villages during the time we were there. We ran mobile clinics daily at several locations and these operated from warehouses, temples, schools or any make shift buildings. The journey to the remote villages may take between 1 and 2 hours by road or by boat. We also ran mobile clinics at the township hospital, the rural healthcare centers, and an orphanage.

  5. Familiarity perception call elicited under restricted sensory cues in peer-social interactions of the domestic chick.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mamiko Koshiba

    Full Text Available Social cognitive mechanisms are central to understanding developmental abnormalities, such as autistic spectrum disorder. Peer relations besides parent-infant or pair-bonding interactions are pivotal social relationships that are especially well developed in humans. Cognition of familiarity forms the basis of peer socialization. Domestic chick (Gallus gallus studies have contributed to our understanding of the developmental process in sensory-motor cognition but many processes remain unknown. In this report, we used chicks, as they are precocial birds, and we could therefore focus on peer interaction without having to consider parenting. The subject chick behavior towards familiar and unfamiliar reference peers was video-recorded, where the subject and the reference were separated by either an opaque or transparent wall. Spectrogram and behavior correlation analyses based on principal component analysis, revealed that chicks elicited an intermediate contact call and a morphologically different distress call, more frequently towards familiar versus unfamiliar chicks in acoustic only conditions. When both visual and acoustic cues were present, subject chicks exhibited approaching and floor pecking behavior, while eliciting joyful (pleasant calls, irrespective of whether reference peers were familiar or unfamiliar. Our result showed that chicks recognized familiarity using acoustic cues and expressed cognition through modified distress calls. These finding suggests that peer affiliation may be established by acoustic recognition, independent of visual face recognition, and that eventually, both forms of recognition are integrated, with modulation of acoustic recognition.

  6. The effects of anticipating a high-stress task on sleep and performance during simulated on-call work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sprajcer, Madeline; Jay, Sarah M; Vincent, Grace E; Vakulin, Andrew; Lack, Leon; Ferguson, Sally A

    2018-04-22

    On-call work is used to manage around the clock working requirements in a variety of industries. Often, tasks that must be performed while on-call are highly important, difficult and/or stressful by nature and, as such, may impact the level of anxiety that is experienced by on-call workers. Heightened anxiety is associated with poor sleep, which affects next-day cognitive performance. Twenty-four male participants (20-35 years old) spent an adaptation, a control and two counterbalanced on-call nights in a time-isolated sleep laboratory. On one of the on-call nights they were told that they would be required to do a speech upon waking (high-stress condition), whereas on the other night they were instructed that they would be required to read to themselves (low-stress condition). Pre-bed anxiety was measured by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory form x-1, and polysomnography and quantitative electroencephalogram analyses were used to investigate sleep. Performance was assessed across each day using the 10-min psychomotor vigilance task (09:30 hours, 12:00 hours, 14:30 hours, 17:00 hours). The results indicated that participants experienced no significant changes in pre-bed anxiety or sleep between conditions. However, performance on the psychomotor vigilance task was best in the high-stress condition, possibly as a result of heightened physiological arousal caused by performing the stressful task that morning. This suggests that performing a high-stress task may be protective of cognitive performance to some degree when sleep is not disrupted. © 2018 European Sleep Research Society.

  7. Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirsten M. Parris

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Male frogs call to attract females for mating and to defend territories from rival males. Female frogs of some species prefer lower-pitched calls, which indicate larger, more experienced males. Acoustic interference occurs when background noise reduces the active distance or the distance over which an acoustic signal can be detected. Birds are known to call at a higher pitch or frequency in urban noise, decreasing acoustic interference from low-frequency noise. Using Bayesian linear regression, we investigated the effect of traffic noise on the pitch of advertisement calls in two species of frogs, the southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii and the common eastern froglet (Crinia signifera. We found evidence that L. ewingii calls at a higher pitch in traffic noise, with an average increase in dominant frequency of 4.1 Hz/dB of traffic noise, and a total effect size of 123 Hz. This frequency shift is smaller than that observed in birds, but is still large enough to be detected by conspecific frogs and confer a significant benefit to the caller. Mathematical modelling predicted a 24% increase in the active distance of a L. ewingii call in traffic noise with a frequency shift of this size. Crinia signifera may also call at a higher pitch in traffic noise, but more data are required to be confident of this effect. Because frog calls are innate rather than learned, the frequency shift demonstrated by L. ewingii may represent an evolutionary adaptation to noisy conditions. The phenomenon of frogs calling at a higher pitch in traffic noise could therefore constitute an intriguing trade-off between audibility and attractiveness to potential mates.

  8. Accurate recapture identification for genetic mark–recapture studies with error-tolerant likelihood-based match calling and sample clustering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sethi, Suresh; Linden, Daniel; Wenburg, John; Lewis, Cara; Lemons, Patrick R.; Fuller, Angela K.; Hare, Matthew P.

    2016-01-01

    Error-tolerant likelihood-based match calling presents a promising technique to accurately identify recapture events in genetic mark–recapture studies by combining probabilities of latent genotypes and probabilities of observed genotypes, which may contain genotyping errors. Combined with clustering algorithms to group samples into sets of recaptures based upon pairwise match calls, these tools can be used to reconstruct accurate capture histories for mark–recapture modelling. Here, we assess the performance of a recently introduced error-tolerant likelihood-based match-calling model and sample clustering algorithm for genetic mark–recapture studies. We assessed both biallelic (i.e. single nucleotide polymorphisms; SNP) and multiallelic (i.e. microsatellite; MSAT) markers using a combination of simulation analyses and case study data on Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and fishers (Pekania pennanti). A novel two-stage clustering approach is demonstrated for genetic mark–recapture applications. First, repeat captures within a sampling occasion are identified. Subsequently, recaptures across sampling occasions are identified. The likelihood-based matching protocol performed well in simulation trials, demonstrating utility for use in a wide range of genetic mark–recapture studies. Moderately sized SNP (64+) and MSAT (10–15) panels produced accurate match calls for recaptures and accurate non-match calls for samples from closely related individuals in the face of low to moderate genotyping error. Furthermore, matching performance remained stable or increased as the number of genetic markers increased, genotyping error notwithstanding.

  9. New degradation call admission control for increasing WCDMA system capacity

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Liu Ningqing; Lu Zhi; Gu Xuemai

    2006-01-01

    Propose a new degradation call admission control(DCAC)scheme, which can be used in wideband code division multiple access communication system. So-called degradation is that non-real time call has the characteristic of variable bit rate, so decreasing its bit rate can reduce the load of the system, consequently the system can admit new call which should be blocked when the system is close to full load, therefore new call's access probability increases. This paper brings forward design project and does system simulation, simulation proves that DCAC can effectively decrease calls' blocking probability and increase the total number of the on-line users.

  10. Service employee adaptiveness : exploring the impact of role-stress and managerial control approaches

    OpenAIRE

    Sahadev, S; Purani, K; Panda, T

    2017-01-01

    The research aims to explore the relationships between managerial control strategies, role stress and employee adaptiveness among call center employees.\\ud Based on a conceptual model, a questionnaire based survey methodology is adopted. Data was collected from call center employees in India and the data was analysed through PLS methodology.\\ud The study finds that Outcome control and activity control increase role stress while capability control does not have a significant impact. The intera...

  11. Introduction of the ASP3D Computer Program for Unsteady Aerodynamic and Aeroelastic Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batina, John T.

    2005-01-01

    A new computer program has been developed called ASP3D (Advanced Small Perturbation 3D), which solves the small perturbation potential flow equation in an advanced form including mass-consistent surface and trailing wake boundary conditions, and entropy, vorticity, and viscous effects. The purpose of the program is for unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic analyses, especially in the nonlinear transonic flight regime. The program exploits the simplicity of stationary Cartesian meshes with the movement or deformation of the configuration under consideration incorporated into the solution algorithm through a planar surface boundary condition. The new ASP3D code is the result of a decade of developmental work on improvements to the small perturbation formulation, performed while the author was employed as a Senior Research Scientist in the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center. The ASP3D code is a significant improvement to the state-of-the-art for transonic aeroelastic analyses over the CAP-TSD code (Computational Aeroelasticity Program Transonic Small Disturbance), which was developed principally by the author in the mid-1980s. The author is in a unique position as the developer of both computer programs to compare, contrast, and ultimately make conclusions regarding the underlying formulations and utility of each code. The paper describes the salient features of the ASP3D code including the rationale for improvements in comparison with CAP-TSD. Numerous results are presented to demonstrate the ASP3D capability. The general conclusion is that the new ASP3D capability is superior to the older CAP-TSD code because of the myriad improvements developed and incorporated.

  12. The Role of Calling in Military Engagement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    depression , hopelessness, emotional and behavior problems , and have lower levels of neuroticism (Oladipo et al., 2013; Suldo & Huebner, 2004; Gilman...retention? Data from surveys of Naval Postgraduate School students reveal many work-related correlations with calling and calling’s positive effects. My...retention? Data from surveys of Naval Postgraduate School students reveal many work-related correlations with calling and calling’s positive effects

  13. Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Megan T.WYMAN; Pearl R.RIVERS; Coline MULLER; Pauline TONI; Marta B.MANSER

    2017-01-01

    In animals,signaling behavior is often context-dependent,with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages.Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity,presence of audiences,or noise masking the signal,all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production.In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta,group members emit soft contact calls,termed as "close calls",while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion.Here,we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups,that produce continuous,noisy begging calls as they follow older group members.Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present.We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls,which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion.There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages,that is,as the philopatric sex,females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups.Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity,while subordinates showed no sex-based differences.The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults.The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another,here contact calls versus begging calls,within the same species.

  14. Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyman, Megan T; Rivers, Pearl R; Muller, Coline; Toni, Pauline; Manser, Marta B

    2017-06-01

    In animals, signaling behavior is often context-dependent, with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages. Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity, presence of audiences, or noise masking the signal, all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production. In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta , group members emit soft contact calls, termed as "close calls", while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion. Here, we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups, that produce continuous, noisy begging calls as they follow older group members. Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present. We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls, which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion. There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages, that is, as the philopatric sex, females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups. Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity, while subordinates showed no sex-based differences. The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults. The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another, here contact calls versus begging calls, within the same species.

  15. PALSfit3: A software package for analysing positron lifetime spectra

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Peter; Olsen, Jens V.; Eldrup, Morten Mostgaard

    The present report describes a Windows based computer program called PALSfit3. The purpose of the program is to carry out analyses of spectra that have been measured by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). PALSfit3 is based on the well tested PATFIT and PALS fit programs, which hav...... in a text window. PALSfit3 is verified on Windows XP and Windows 7, 8 and 10. The PALSfit3 software can be acquired from the Technical University of Denmark (http://PALSfit.dk)...

  16. Middle Tier Services Accessing the Chandra X-Ray Center Data Archive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patz, A.; Harbo, P.; Moran, J.; van Stone, D.; Zografou, P.

    The Chandra Data Archive team at the Chandra X-ray Center has developed middle tier services that are used by both our search and retrieval applications to uniformly access our data repository. Accessible through an HTTP URL interface, these services can be called by our J2EE web application (WebChaser) and our Java Swing application (Chaser), as well as any other HTTP client. Programs can call the services to retrieve observation data such as a single FITS file, a proposal abstract or a detailed report of observation parameters. Having a central interface to the archive, shared by client applications, facilitates code reusability and easier maintenance. These middle tier services have been written in Java and packaged into a single J2EE application called the Search and Retrieval (SR) Services. The package consists of a web application front-end and an Enterprise Java Beans back-end. This paper describes the design and use of the SR Services.

  17. Acoustic model optimisation for a call routing system

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kleynhans, N

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Secretary system and provides background on some application-specific ASR issues. Section III details the ASR development effort as well as corpus selection and design. Our experiments are described Fig. 1. High level AutoSecretary call flow. in Section IV... and results and a discussion are presented in Section V. Lastly, the conclusion and possible future work appear in Section VI. II. BACKGROUND A. AutoSecretary IVR System Figure 1 shows the high level call flow of the AutoSecretary call routing system...

  18. Modelación y simulación de comportamientos humanos en situaciones de emergencia en un call center: una revisión crítica de literatura

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald Akerman Ortiz García

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available En este trabajo se presenta una revisión de literatura de la modelación y simulación de comportamientos humanos en situaciones de emergencia en un call center. Para la búsqueda se consultaron bases de datos bibliográficas como Scopus, Sciencedirect, y Emerald entre otras, en las que, tras realizar un proceso estructurado de revisión bibliográfica, se encontraron más de 50 artículos. La clasificación de los artículos encontrados se hizo en cuatro categorías: (1 tipo de análisis, (2 tipo de emergencia, (3 tipo de entorno y (4 tipo de comportamiento. En los tipos de análisis de los artículos se encontró que la mayoría se enfocan en estudios estadísticos y heurísticos; los entornos analizados se enfocan principalmente en edificios de oficinas y de otros tipos como vivienda, y locales comerciales; el evento más analizado es el incendio; y en cuanto al tipo de comportamiento se encuentra que son diversas las formas en las cuales las personas reaccionan ante eventos de emergencia. Se encuentra en la literatura consultada la caracterización de los posibles comportamientos de las personas que pueden tener en un evento de emergencia, esto con el fin de tener una aproximación de tales comportamientos dentro de la simulación de eventos de emergencia.

  19. Evidence That Calls-Based and Mobility Networks Are Isomorphic.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Coscia

    Full Text Available Social relations involve both face-to-face interaction as well as telecommunications. We can observe the geography of phone calls and of the mobility of cell phones in space. These two phenomena can be described as networks of connections between different points in space. We use a dataset that includes billions of phone calls made in Colombia during a six-month period. We draw the two networks and find that the call-based network resembles a higher order aggregation of the mobility network and that both are isomorphic except for a higher spatial decay coefficient of the mobility network relative to the call-based network: when we discount distance effects on the call connections with the same decay observed for mobility connections, the two networks are virtually indistinguishable.

  20. Calle y Saberes en Movimiento

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Daniela Aguirre Aguilar

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available En México el rezago, el ausentismo, la deserción escolar, el trabajo a temprana edad y el inicio de una vida en la calle, en repetidas ocasiones son consecuencia de un núcleo familiar desarticulado o de una débil relación intrafamiliar, así como de una condición socioeconómica en desventaja. Ante esta problemática, la Secretaría de Educación Pública, instancia gubernamental encargada de garantizar una educación de calidad para la población, trabaja coordinadamente con organizaciones de la sociedad civil e instancias públicas, para la reintegración a los espacios educativos de los niños, niñas y jóvenes en situación de calle.

  1. Inhibitors of calling behavior of Plodia interpunctella.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirashima, Akinori; Shigeta, Yoko; Eiraku, Tomohiko; Kuwano, Eiichi

    2003-01-01

    Some octopamine agonists were found to suppress the calling behavior of the stored product Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Compounds were screened using a calling behavior bioassay using female P. interpunctella. Four active derivatives, with inhibitory activity at the nanomolar range, were identified in order of decreasing activity: 2-(1-phenylethylamino)-2-oxazoline > 2-(2-ethyl,6-methylanilino)oxazolidine > 2-(2-methyl benzylamino)-2-thiazoline > 2-(2,6-diethylanilino)thiazolidine. Three-dimensional pharmacophore hypotheses were built from a set of 15 compounds. Among the ten common-featured models generated by the program Catalyst/HipHop, a hypothesis including a hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, a hydrophobic aromatic and two hydrophobic aliphatic features was considered to be essential for inhibitory activity in the calling behavior. Active compounds mapped well onto all the hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, hydrophobic aromatic and hydrophobic aliphatic features of the hypothesis. On the other hand, less active compounds were shown not to achieve the energetically favorable conformation that is found in the active molecules in order to fit the 3D common-feature pharmacophore models. The present studies demonstrate that inhibition of calling behavior is via an octopamine receptor.

  2. Inhibitors of calling behavior of Plodia interpunctella

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akinori Hirashima

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Some octopamine agonists were found to suppress the calling behavior of the stored product Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Compounds were screened using a calling behavior bioassay using female P. interpunctella. Four active derivatives, with inhibitory activity at the nanomolar range, were identified in order of decreasing activity: 2-(1-phenylethylamino-2-oxazoline > 2-(2-ethyl,6-methylanilinooxazolidine > 2-(2-methyl benzylamino-2-thiazoline > 2-(2,6-diethylanilinothiazolidine. Three-dimensional pharmacophore hypotheses were built from a set of 15 compounds. Among the ten common-featured models generated by the program Catalyst/HipHop, a hypothesis including a hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, a hydrophobic aromatic and two hydrophobic aliphatic features was considered to be essential for inhibitory activity in the calling behavior. Active compounds mapped well onto all the hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, hydrophobic aromatic and hydrophobic aliphatic features of the hypothesis. On the other hand, less active compounds were shown not to achieve the energetically favorable conformation that is found in the active molecules in order to fit the 3D common-feature pharmacophore models. The present studies demonstrate that inhibition of calling behavior is via an octopamine receptor.

  3. From the Margins to the Center: Recommendations for Current and Aspiring Educational Leaders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Tina R.

    2009-01-01

    Tina Nolan presents a call to action for current and future leaders to assume a new role as change leaders for the museum education profession. This article puts forth a series of recommendations and strategies for repositioning museum educators from the margins of their institutions to the center. Included among these recommendations are…

  4. CFD analyses in regulatory practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bloemeling, F.; Pandazis, P.; Schaffrath, A.

    2012-01-01

    Numerical software is used in nuclear regulatory procedures for many problems in the fields of neutron physics, structural mechanics, thermal hydraulics etc. Among other things, the software is employed in dimensioning and designing systems and components and in simulating transients and accidents. In nuclear technology, analyses of this kind must meet strict requirements. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes were developed for computing multidimensional flow processes of the type occurring in reactor cooling systems or in containments. Extensive experience has been accumulated by now in selected single-phase flow phenomena. At the present time, there is a need for development and validation with respect to the simulation of multi-phase and multi-component flows. As insufficient input by the user can lead to faulty results, the validity of the results and an assessment of uncertainties are guaranteed only through consistent application of so-called Best Practice Guidelines. The authors present the possibilities now available to CFD analyses in nuclear regulatory practice. This includes a discussion of the fundamental requirements to be met by numerical software, especially the demands upon computational analysis made by nuclear rules and regulations. In conclusion, 2 examples are presented of applications of CFD analysis to nuclear problems: Determining deboration in the condenser reflux mode of operation, and protection of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) against brittle failure. (orig.)

  5. House Calls in Private Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittington, Ronaele

    1985-01-01

    Relates the experiences of a social worker in private practice who offered house calls as an ongoing setting for counseling and psychotherapy to individuals and families. Describes advantages and disadvantages, liability, and target populations. (JAC)

  6. National Center for Analysis of Energy Systems: program summaries for 1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1979-12-01

    This Center, founded in January 1976, is one of four areas comprising the Department of Energy and Environment at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The major ongoing activities of the Center concern integrated, quantitative analyses of technological, economic, and environmental aspects of energy at the regional, national, and international levels. The objectives, activities, and sources of support of each of the programs are described and the major accomplishments during the year are outlined. Some of the planned future activities of the Center are indicated, and recent publications are listed.

  7. Comparison of semi-automated center-dot and fully automated endothelial cell analyses from specular microscopy images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maruoka, Sachiko; Nakakura, Shunsuke; Matsuo, Naoko; Yoshitomi, Kayo; Katakami, Chikako; Tabuchi, Hitoshi; Chikama, Taiichiro; Kiuchi, Yoshiaki

    2017-10-30

    To evaluate two specular microscopy analysis methods across different endothelial cell densities (ECDs). Endothelial images of one eye from each of 45 patients were taken by using three different specular microscopes (three replicates each). To determine the consistency of the center-dot method, we compared SP-6000 and SP-2000P images. CME-530 and SP-6000 images were compared to assess the consistency of the fully automated method. The SP-6000 images from the two methods were compared. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for the three measurements were calculated, and parametric multiple comparisons tests and Bland-Altman analysis were performed. The ECD mean value was 2425 ± 883 (range 516-3707) cells/mm 2 . ICC values were > 0.9 for all three microscopes for ECD, but the coefficients of variation (CVs) were 0.3-0.6. For ECD measurements, Bland-Altman analysis revealed that the mean difference was 42 cells/mm 2 between the SP-2000P and SP-6000 for the center-dot method; 57 cells/mm 2 between the SP-6000 measurements from both methods; and -5 cells/mm 2 between the SP-6000 and CME-530 for the fully automated method (95% limits of agreement: - 201 to 284 cell/mm 2 , - 410 to 522 cells/mm 2 , and - 327 to 318 cells/mm 2 , respectively). For CV measurements, the mean differences were - 3, - 12, and 13% (95% limits of agreement - 18 to 11, - 26 to 2, and - 5 to 32%, respectively). Despite using three replicate measurements, the precision of the center-dot method with the SP-2000P and SP-6000 software was only ± 10% for ECD data and was even worse for the fully automated method. Japan Clinical Trials Register ( http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm9 ) number UMIN 000015236.

  8. Paramagnetic centers in AlQ3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grecu, M. N.; Mirea, A.; Schwoerer, M.; Grecu, V. V.

    2004-01-01

    Since the discovery in 1987 of its electroluminescent properties, Alq 3 (tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum(III)) has become one of the most used material in OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes). Many researches have been carried out for improving its quantum efficiency of light emission. In spite of these, rather many fundamental questions concerning its properties, their dependence on thermal and annealing treatments and crystalline structure remained unanswered. Recently, a significant blue shift of luminescent spectrum of a specially treated fraction (so called δ-phase) has been reported, increasing even more the interest in such a material. In this contribution we shall report on the existence of paramagnetic centers in different Alq 3 fractions formed by using the train sublimation method, as well as in those which have undergone various thermal treatments. Several centers have been observed by cw X- and Q-band EPR spectroscopy, corresponding to spin 1/2 and even spin 3/2. The spin Hamiltonian parameters are given, the temperature dependencies are reported and proposals for model structures are made. (author)

  9. The Significant Incidents and Close Calls in Human Space Flight Chart: Lessons Learned Gone Viral

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Bill; Pate, Dennis; Thelen, David

    2010-01-01

    This presentation will explore the surprising history and events that transformed a mundane spreadsheet of historical spaceflight incidents into a popular and widely distributed visual compendium of lessons learned. The Significant Incidents and Close Calls in Human Space Flight Chart (a.k.a. The Significant Incidents Chart) is a popular and visually captivating reference product that has arisen from the work of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Flight Safety Office (FSO). It began as an internal tool intended to increase our team s awareness of historical and modern space flight incidents. Today, the chart is widely recognized across the agency as a reference tool. It appears in several training and education programs. It is used in familiarization training in the JSC Building 9 Mockup Facility and is seen by hundreds of center visitors each week. The chart visually summarizes injuries, fatalities, and close calls sustained during the continuing development of human space flight. The poster-sized chart displays over 100 total events that have direct connections to human space flight endeavors. The chart is updated periodically. The update process itself has become a collaborative effort. Many people, spanning multiple NASA organizations, have provided suggestions for additional entries. The FSO maintains a growing list of subscribers who have requested to receive updates. The presenters will discuss the origins and motivations behind the significant incidents chart. A review of the inclusion criteria used to select events will be offered. We will address how the chart is used today by S&MA and offer a vision of how it might be used by other organizations now and in the future. Particular emphasis will be placed on features of the chart that have met with broad acceptance and have helped spread awareness of the most important lessons in human spaceflight.

  10. Media appeals by pediatric patients for living donors and the impact on a transplant center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verghese, Priya S; Garvey, Catherine A; Mauer, Michael S; Matas, Arthur J

    2011-03-27

    Little is published regarding the effect of advertising for kidney donors on transplant centers. At our center, families of nine children used media appeals. Per candidate, there were 8 to 260 potential donor calls, 92 (11.6%) were medically ineligible, 326 (41.1%) voluntarily did not proceed or an alternate donor had been approved, 38 (4.8%) were ABO incompatible, and 327 (41.1%) had positive crossmatch or unsuitable human leukocyte antigens. Media appeals resulted in four living donor transplants and five nondirected donors to other candidates, and we made directed changes in our center. The ethical debate of advertising for organ donors continues.

  11. The mean and the individual: Integrating variable-centered and person-centered analyses of cognitive recovery in patients with substance use disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marsha E. Bates

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Neuropsychological and cognitive deficits are observed in the majority of persons with alcohol and drug use disorders and may interfere with treatment processes and outcomes. Although, on average, the brain and cognition improve with abstinence or markedly reduced substance use, better understanding of the heterogeneity in the time-course and extent of cognitive recovery at the individual level is useful to promote bench-to-bedside translation and inform clinical decision making. This study integrated a variable-centered and a person-centered approach to characterize diversity in cognitive recovery in 197 patients in treatment for a substance use disorder. We assessed executive function, verbal ability, memory, and complex information processing speed at treatment entry, and then 6, 26, and 52 weeks later. Structural equation modeling was used to define underlying ability constructs and determine the mean level of cognitive changes in the sample while minimizing measurement error and practice effects on specific tests. Individual-level empirical growth plots of latent factor scores were used to explore prototypical trajectories of cognitive change. At the level of the mean, small to medium effect size gains in cognitive abilities were observed over one year. At the level of the individual, the mean trajectory of change was also the modal individual recovery trajectory shown by about half the sample. Other prototypical cognitive change trajectories observed in all four cognitive domains included Delayed Gain, Loss of Gain, and Continuous Gain. Together these trajectories encompassed between 86% and 94% of individual growth plots across the four latent abilities. Further research is needed to replicate and predict trajectory membership. Replication of the present findings would have useful implications for targeted treatment planning and the new cognitive interventions being developed to enhance treatment outcomes.

  12. Investigating CALL in the Classroom: Situational Variables to Consider

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darlene Liutkus

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A new paradigm in second language pedagogy has Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL playing a significant role. Much of the literature to-date claims that CALL can have a positive impact on students’ second language acquisition (SLA. Mixed method of research produces data to investigate if CALL positively affects student language proficiency, motivation and autonomy. Classroom observation of participants in their natural environment is a qualitative technique used but has situational variables that could skew results if not structured. A questionnaire is a quantitative tool that can offer insight regarding participants’ perception of performance but can contradict what the researcher has observed. This paper will take an in-depth look at variables such as: instructor’s pedagogical application; blending CALL into the curriculum; types of CALL implemented; feedback received and their implications for design of the data collection tools

  13. Is function-based control room design human-centered?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norros, L.; Savioja, P.

    2006-01-01

    Function-based approaches to system interface design appears an appealing possibility in helping designers and operators to cope with the vast amount of information needed to control complex processes. In this paper we provide evidence of operator performance analyses showing that outcome-centered performance measures may not be sufficiently informative for design. We need analyses indicating habitual patterns of using information, operator practices. We argue that practices that portray functional orienting to the task support mastery of the process. They also create potential to make use of function-based information presentation. We see that functional design is not an absolute value. Instead, such design should support communication of the functional significance of the process information to the operators in variable situations. Hence, it should facilitate development of practices that focus to interpreting this message. Successful function-based design facilitates putting operations into their contexts and is human-centered in an extended sense: It aids making sense in the complex, dynamic and uncertain environment. (authors)

  14. dDocent: a RADseq, variant-calling pipeline designed for population genomics of non-model organisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puritz, Jonathan B; Hollenbeck, Christopher M; Gold, John R

    2014-01-01

    Restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) has become a powerful and useful approach for population genomics. Currently, no software exists that utilizes both paired-end reads from RADseq data to efficiently produce population-informative variant calls, especially for non-model organisms with large effective population sizes and high levels of genetic polymorphism. dDocent is an analysis pipeline with a user-friendly, command-line interface designed to process individually barcoded RADseq data (with double cut sites) into informative SNPs/Indels for population-level analyses. The pipeline, written in BASH, uses data reduction techniques and other stand-alone software packages to perform quality trimming and adapter removal, de novo assembly of RAD loci, read mapping, SNP and Indel calling, and baseline data filtering. Double-digest RAD data from population pairings of three different marine fishes were used to compare dDocent with Stacks, the first generally available, widely used pipeline for analysis of RADseq data. dDocent consistently identified more SNPs shared across greater numbers of individuals and with higher levels of coverage. This is due to the fact that dDocent quality trims instead of filtering, incorporates both forward and reverse reads (including reads with INDEL polymorphisms) in assembly, mapping, and SNP calling. The pipeline and a comprehensive user guide can be found at http://dDocent.wordpress.com.

  15. On-Call Communication in Orthopaedic Trauma: "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words"--A Survey of OTA Members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molina, Cesar S; Callan, Alexandra K; Burgos, Eduardo J; Mir, Hassan R

    2015-05-01

    To quantify the effects of varying clinical communication styles (verbal and pictorial) on the ability of orthopaedic trauma surgeons in understanding an injury and formulate an initial management plan. A Research Electronic Data Capture survey was e-mailed to all OTA members. Respondents quantified (5-point Likert scale) how confident they felt understanding an injury and establishing an initial management plan based on the information provided for 5 common orthopaedic trauma scenarios. Three verbal descriptions were created for each scenario and categorized as limited, moderate, or detailed. The questions were repeated with the addition of a radiographic image and then repeated a third time including a clinical photograph. Statistical evaluation consisted of descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis analyses using STATA (version 12.0). Of the 221 respondents, there were a total of 95 who completed the entire survey. Nearly all were currently taking call (92/95 = 96.8%) and the majority were fellowship trained (79/95 = 83.2%). Most practice at a level I trauma center (58/95 = 61.1%) and work with orthopaedic residents (62/95 = 65.3%). There was a significant increase in confidence scores between a limited, moderate, and detailed description in all clinical scenarios for understanding the injury and establishing an initial management plan (P 0.05). The addition of images in the form of radiographs and/or clinical photographs greatly improves the confidence of orthopaedic trauma surgeons in understanding injuries and establishing initial management plans with limited verbal information (P communicating providers.

  16. PENGARUH PERMAINAN CALL CARDS TERHADAP HASIL BELAJAR DAN AKTIVITAS PEMBELAJARAN BIOLOGI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Machin

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Tujuan penelitian untuk mengetahui pengaruh permainan call cards terhadap hasil belajar dan aktivitas pembelajaran. Aktivitas pembelajaran yang diukur meliputi aktivitas individual siswa dan kinerja guru. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian eksperimental. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa media permainan call cards berkontribusi sebesar 46% terhadap hasil belajar siswa. Hasil belajar siswa yang diberi media permainan call cards lebih baik daripada hasil belajar siswa yang tidak diberi mediapermainan call cards. Dengan demikian, media permainan call cards dapat menjadi alternatif dalam pencapaian hasil belajar biologi yang lebih baik.   Research purposes to determine the effect of call cards game against learning outcomes and learning activities. Learning activities that were measured included the activity of individual student and teacher performance. This research was experimental. The results showed that the media play call cards account for 46% of the student learning outcomes. Learning outcomes of students who were given media cards call the game better than the learning outcomes of students who were not given mediapermainan call cards. Thus, the media play call cards can be an alternative in achieving the learning outcomes of biology better.

  17. HR Shared Service Centers: From Brand Management Towards Success

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Balen, Mitchell; Bondarouk, Tatiana; Ruel, Hubertus Johannes Maria; Guiderdoni-Jourdain, Karine; Oiry, Ewan

    2009-01-01

    In this chapter the authors consider articles in professional literature regarding Human Resource Centers, with the goal to explore issues raised by practice: motivation, risk analysis, structure and implementation. Using Grounded Theory approach, they analysed 34 articles, and through open and

  18. Penentuan Nilai Opsi Call Eropa Dengan Pembayaran Dividen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana Purwandari

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Fluktuasi harga saham menyebabkan perdagangan saham memiliki resiko. Opsi merupakan alternatif untuk mengurangi resiko dalam perdagangan saham. Opsi Eropa adalah suatu kontrak keuangan yang memberikan hak, bukan kewajiban, kepada holder, untuk membeli atau menjual aset pokok dari writer pada saat jatuh tempo dengan harga yang sudah ditentukan. Model penilaian harga opsi yang banyak diterima dalam bidang finansial adalah model Black-Scholes. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengetahui pengaruh pembagian dividen terhadap harga saham dan menentukan nilai opsi call Eropa dengan pembayaran dividen pada waktu yang telah ditentukan. Nilai opsi call Eropa dengan pembayaran dividen pada waktu yang telah ditentukan diperoleh menggunakan integrasi numerik dengan metode Simpson sebesar 12,6388.Kata kunci: opsi call Eropa, model Black-Scholes, dividen, metode Simpson.ABSTRACT Fluctuations in stock prices lead stock trading risk. An alternative options to reduce the risk in stock trading. European option is a financial contract that gives the right, but not the obligation, to the holder, to buy or sell the underlying asset of the writer at the maturity date at a price specified. Option price valuation models are widely accepted in the field of finance is the Black-Scholes model. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of dividend distribution to the stock price and determine the value of the European call option with dividend payments at a predetermined time. Value of the European call option with dividend payments at a predetermined time obtained using numerical integration with Simpson method of 12,6388.Key words: European call options, Black-Scholes model, dividend, Simpson method.

  19. On-call emergency workload of a general surgical team.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jawaid, Masood; Raza, Syed Muhammad; Alam, Shams Nadeem; Manzar, S

    2009-01-01

    To examine the on-call emergency workload of a general surgical team at a tertiary care teaching hospital to guide planning and provision of better surgical services. During six months period from August to January 2007; all emergency calls attended by general surgical team of Surgical Unit II in Accident and Emergency department (A and E) and in other units of Civil, Hospital Karachi, Pakistan were prospectively recorded. Data recorded includes timing of call, diagnosis, operation performed and outcome apart from demography. Total 456 patients (326 males and 130 females) were attended by on-call general surgery team during 30 emergency days. Most of the calls, 191 (41.9%) were received from 8 am to 5 pm. 224 (49.1%) calls were of abdominal pain, with acute appendicitis being the most common specific pathology in 41 (9.0%) patients. Total 73 (16.0%) calls were received for trauma. Total 131 (28.7%) patients were admitted in the surgical unit for urgent operation or observation while 212 (46.5%) patients were discharged from A and E. 92 (20.1%) patients were referred to other units with medical referral accounts for 45 (9.8%) patients. Total 104 (22.8%) emergency surgeries were done and the most common procedure performed was appendicectomy in 34 (32.7%) patients. Major workload of on-call surgical emergency team is dealing with the acute conditions of abdomen. However, significant proportion of patients are suffering from other conditions including trauma that require a holistic approach to care and a wide range of skills and experience. These results have important implications in future healthcare planning and for the better training of general surgical residents.

  20. Annual report of nuclear technology and education center. April 1, 2002 - March 31, 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-10-01

    This report summarizes the activities of Nuclear Technology and Education Center (NuTEC) in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in FY 2002. It includes the domestic educational activities in Tokyo Education Center in Komagome Tokyo for RI and radiation engineers and Tokai Education Center in Tokai for nuclear engineers, and the international training activities for Asia-Pacific region which were planned and administrated by International Technology Transfer Division. The new course so called 'Introductory Course for the Use and the Experiment of Neutron' was started with good appreciation by the participants. All scheduled course plan in Tokyo Education Center and Tokai Education Center was accomplished and the total number of the trainee of both Center was 1,297. The courses for RI and radiation engineers implemented in Tokyo Education Center were closed in this FY and transferred to Tokai Establishment in next FY where the course will be integrated with the ones at Tokai Education Center. The land of Tokyo Education Center will be returned to land-owner by the end of FY 2003 after dismantlement of the facilities. The equipments and instruments used in Tokyo Education Center were transferred to Tokai Education Center after finishing all courses in Tokyo in this FY. The improvement and re-arrangement of the facilities in Tokyo Education Center were proceeded to prepare the courses from Tokyo Education Center. (author)

  1. [Toxicological consultation data management system based on experience of Pomeranian Center of Toxicology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabata, Piotr Maciej; Waldman, Wojciech; Sein Anand, Jacek

    2015-01-01

    In this paper the structure of poisonings is described, based on the material collected from tele-toxicology consults by the Pomeranian Center of Toxicology in Gdańsk and harvested from its Electronic Poison Information Management System. In addition, we analyzed conclusions drawn from a 27-month operation of the system. Data were harvested from the Electronic Poison Information Management System developed in 2012 and used by the Pomeranian Center of Toxicology since then. The research was based on 2550 tele-toxicology consults between January 1 and December 31, 2014. Subsequently the data were electronically cleaned and presented using R programming language. The Pomeranian voivodeship was the prevalent localisation of calls (N = 1879; 73.7%). Most of the calls came from emergency rooms (N = 1495; 58.63%). In the case of 1396 (54.7%) patients the time-lag between intoxication and the consult was less than 6 h. There were no differences in the age distribution between genders. Mean age was 26.3 years. Young people predominated among intoxicated individuals. The majority of intoxications were incidental (N = 888; 34.8%) or suicidal (N = 814; 31.9%) and the most of them took place in the patient's home. Information about Poison Control Center consultations access should be better spread among medical service providers. The extent of poison information collected by Polish Poison Control Centers should be limited and unified. This should contribute to the increased percentage of properly documented consultations. Additional duties stemming from the need of digital archiving of consults provided, require the involvement of additional staff, leading to the increased operation costs incurred by Poison Control Centers. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

  2. MEDICAL SERVICE - URGENT CALLS

    CERN Multimedia

    Service Médical

    2000-01-01

    IN URGENT NEED OF A DOCTOR GENEVA: EMERGENCY SERVICES GENEVA AND VAUD 144 FIRE BRIGADE 118 POLICE 117 CERN FIREMEN 767-44-44 ANTI-POISONS CENTRE Open 24h/24h 01-251-51-51 Patient not fit to be moved, call family doctor, or: GP AT HOME: Open 24h/24h 748-49-50 AMG- Association Of Geneva Doctors: Emergency Doctors at home 07h-23h 322 20 20 Patient fit to be moved: HOPITAL CANTONAL CENTRAL 24 Micheli-du-Crest 372-33-11 ou 382-33-11 EMERGENCIES 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 6 rue Willy-Donzé 372-33-11 MATERNITY 32 bvd.de la Cluse 382-68-16 ou 382-33-11 OPHTHALMOLOGY 22 Alcide Jentzer 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 MEDICAL CENTRE CORNAVIN 1-3 rue du Jura 345 45 50 HOPITAL DE LA TOUR Meyrin 719-61-11 EMERGENCIES 719-61-11 CHILDREN'S EMERGENCIES 719-61-00 LA TOUR MEDICAL CENTRE 719-74-00 European Emergency Call 112   FRANCE: EMERGENCY SERVICES 15 FIRE BRIGADE 18 POLICE 17 CERN FIREMEN AT HOME 00-41-22-767-44-44 ...

  3. Analysis of jitter due to call-level fluctuations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.R.H. Mandjes (Michel)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractIn communication networks used by constant bit rate applications, call-level dynamics (i.e., entering and leaving calls) lead to fluctuations in the load, and therefore also fluctuations in the delay (jitter). By intentionally delaying the packets at the destination, one can transform

  4. Development of XML Schema for Broadband Digital Seismograms and Data Center Portal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, N.; Tsuboi, S.; Ishihara, Y.; Nagao, H.; Yamagishi, Y.; Watanabe, T.; Yanaka, H.; Yamaji, H.

    2008-12-01

    There are a number of data centers around the globe, where the digital broadband seismograms are opened to researchers. Those centers use their own user interfaces and there are no standard to access and retrieve seismograms from different data centers using unified interface. One of the emergent technologies to realize unified user interface for different data centers is the concept of WebService and WebService portal. Here we have developed a prototype of data center portal for digital broadband seismograms. This WebService portal uses WSDL (Web Services Description Language) to accommodate differences among the different data centers. By using the WSDL, alteration and addition of data center user interfaces can be easily managed. This portal, called NINJA Portal, assumes three WebServices: (1) database Query service, (2) Seismic event data request service, and (3) Seismic continuous data request service. Current system supports both station search of database Query service and seismic continuous data request service. Data centers supported by this NINJA portal will be OHP data center in ERI and Pacific21 data center in IFREE/JAMSTEC in the beginning. We have developed metadata standard for seismological data based on QuakeML for parametric data, which has been developed by ETH Zurich, and XML-SEED for waveform data, which was developed by IFREE/JAMSTEC. The prototype of NINJA portal is now released through IFREE web page (http://www.jamstec.go.jp/pacific21/).

  5. Video-calls to reduce loneliness and social isolation within care environments for older people: an implementation study using collaborative action research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamir, Sonam; Hennessy, Catherine Hagan; Taylor, Adrian H; Jones, Ray B

    2018-03-02

    Older people in care may be lonely with insufficient contact if families are unable to visit. Face-to-face contact through video-calls may help reduce loneliness, but little is known about the processes of engaging people in care environments in using video-calls. We aimed to identify the barriers to and facilitators of implementing video-calls for older people in care environments. A collaborative action research (CAR) approach was taken to implement a video-call intervention in care environments. We undertook five steps of recruitment, planning, implementation, reflection and re-evaluation, in seven care homes and one hospital in the UK. The video-call intervention 'Skype on Wheels' (SoW) comprised a wheeled device that could hold an iPad and handset, and used Skype to provide a free video-call service. Care staff were collaborators who implemented the intervention within the care-setting by agreeing the intervention, recruiting older people and their family, and setting up video-calls. Field notes and reflective diaries on observations and conversations with staff, older people and family were maintained over 15 months, and analysed using thematic analysis. Four care homes implemented the intervention. Eight older people with their respective social contacts made use of video-calls. Older people were able to use SoW with assistance from staff, and enjoyed the use of video-calls to stay better connected with family. However five barriers towards implementation included staff turnover, risk averseness, the SoW design, lack of family commitment and staff attitudes regarding technology. The SoW intervention, or something similar, could aid older people to stay better connected with their families in care environments, but if implemented as part of a rigorous evaluation, then co-production of the intervention at each recruitment site may be needed to overcome barriers and maximise engagement.

  6. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in a Control Center Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pirani, Joseph; Calvelage, Steven

    2010-01-01

    The technology of transmitting voice over data networks has been available for over 10 years. Mass market VoIP services for consumers to make and receive standard telephone calls over broadband Internet networks have grown in the last 5 years. While operational costs are less with VoIP implementations as opposed to time division multiplexing (TDM) based voice switches, is it still advantageous to convert a mission control center s voice system to this newer technology? Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) has converted its mission voice services to a commercial product that utilizes VoIP technology. Results from this testing, design, and installation have shown unique considerations that must be addressed before user operations. There are many factors to consider for a control center voice design. Technology advantages and disadvantages were investigated as they refer to cost. There were integration concerns which could lead to complex failure scenarios but simpler integration for the mission infrastructure. MSFC HOSC will benefit from this voice conversion with less product replacement cost, less operations cost and a more integrated mission services environment.

  7. A Power Load Distribution Algorithm to Optimize Data Center Electrical Flow

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Maciel

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Energy consumption is a matter of common concern in the world today. Research demonstrates that as a consequence of the constantly evolving and expanding field of information technology, data centers are now major consumers of electrical energy. Such high electrical energy consumption emphasizes the issues of sustainability and cost. Against this background, the present paper proposes a power load distribution algorithm (PLDA to optimize energy distribution of data center power infrastructures. The PLDA, which is based on the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm, is supported by an environment called ASTRO, capable of performing the integrated evaluation of dependability, cost and sustainability. More specifically, the PLDA optimizes the flow distribution of the energy flow model (EFM. EFMs are responsible for estimating sustainability and cost issues of data center infrastructures without crossing the restrictions of the power capacity that each device can provide (power system or extract (cooling system. Additionally, a case study is presented that analyzed seven data center power architectures. Significant results were observed, achieving a reduction in power consumption of up to 15.5%.

  8. Producing and Branding Gender in Comics: My So-Called Secret Identity and the Ambivalence of an Alternative Address

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Bethan

    2017-01-01

    Abstract As media consumption grows increasingly niche and distribution extends further away from old network and print models, media producers continue to hone their marketing toward ever more specific audiences. Yet, while fan-centred franchises and crowdfunding projects have garnered some scholarly attention, there has been less discussion of the ways that gender, race, and sexuality intersect with media production and marketing. This paper analyses the crowdfunded comic My So-Called Secre...

  9. Evaluation of Static JavaScript Call Graph Algorithms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.-J. Dijkstra (Jorryt-Jan)

    2014-01-01

    htmlabstractThis thesis consists of a replication study in which two algorithms to compute JavaScript call graphs have been implemented and evaluated. Existing IDE support for JavaScript is hampered due to the dynamic nature of the language. Previous studies partially solve call graph computation

  10. Ultrastructure and composition of Call-Exner bodies in bovine follicles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Wezel, I L; Irving-Rodgers, H F; Sado, Y; Ninomiya, Y; Rodgers, R J

    1999-05-01

    Call-Exner bodies are present in ovarian follicles of a range of species including human and rabbit, and in a range of human ovarian tumors. We have also found structures resembling Call-Exner bodies in bovine preantral and small antral follicles. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of single sections of bovine ovaries has shown that 30% of preantral follicles with more than one layer of granulosa cells and 45% of small (less than 650 microns) antral follicles have at least one Call-Exner body composed of a spherical eosinophilic region surrounded by a rosette of granulosa cells. Alcian blue stains the spherical eosinophilic region of the Call-Exner bodies. Electron microscopy has demonstrated that some Call-Exner bodies contain large aggregates of convoluted basal lamina, whereas others also contain regions of unassembled basal-lamina-like material. Individual chains of the basal lamina components type IV collagen (alpha 1 to alpha 5) and laminin (alpha 1, beta 2 and delta 1) have been immunolocalized to Call-Exner bodies in sections of fresh-frozen ovaries. Bovine Call-Exner bodies are presumably analogous to Call-Exner bodies in other species but are predominantly found in preantral and small antral follicles, rather than large antral follicles. With follicular development, the basal laminae of Call-Exner bodies change in their apparent ratio of type IV collagen to laminin, similar to changes observed in the follicular basal lamina, suggesting that these structures have a common cellular origin.

  11. On-call work: To sleep or not to sleep? It depends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Sally A; Paterson, Jessica L; Hall, Sarah J; Jay, Sarah M; Aisbett, Brad

    On-call working time arrangements are increasingly common, involve work only in the event of an unpredictable incident and exist primarily outside of standard hours. Like other non-standard working time arrangements, on-call work disrupts sleep and can therefore have negative effects on health, safety and performance. Unlike other non-standard working time arrangements, on-call work often allows sleep opportunities between calls. Any sleep obtained during on-call periods will be beneficial for waking performance. However, there is evidence that sleep while on call may be of substantially reduced restorative value because of the expectation of receiving the call and apprehension about missing the call. In turn, waking from sleep to respond to a call may be associated with temporary increases in performance impairment. This is dependent on characteristics of both the preceding sleep, the tasks required upon waking and the availability and utility of any countermeasures to support the transition from sleep to wake. In this paper, we critically evaluate the evidence both for and against sleeping during on-call periods and conclude that some sleep, even if it is of reduced quality and broken by repeated calls, is a good strategy. We also note, however, that organisations utilising on-call working time arrangements need to systematically manage the likelihood that on-call sleep can be associated with temporary performance impairments upon waking. Given that the majority of work in this area has been laboratory-based, there is a significant need for field-based investigations of the magnitude of sleep inertia, in addition to the utility of sleep inertia countermeasures. Field studies should include working with subject matter experts to identify the real-world impacts of changes in performance associated with sleeping, or not sleeping, whilst on call.

  12. Spectral summation and facilitation in on- and off-responses for optimized representation of communication calls in mouse inferior colliculus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akimov, Alexander G; Egorova, Marina A; Ehret, Günter

    2017-02-01

    Selectivity for processing of species-specific vocalizations and communication sounds has often been associated with the auditory cortex. The midbrain inferior colliculus, however, is the first center in the auditory pathways of mammals integrating acoustic information processed in separate nuclei and channels in the brainstem and, therefore, could significantly contribute to enhance the perception of species' communication sounds. Here, we used natural wriggling calls of mouse pups, which communicate need for maternal care to adult females, and further 15 synthesized sounds to test the hypothesis that neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of adult females optimize their response rates for reproduction of the three main harmonics (formants) of wriggling calls. The results confirmed the hypothesis showing that average response rates, as recorded extracellularly from single units, were highest and spectral facilitation most effective for both onset and offset responses to the call and call models with three resolved frequencies according to critical bands in perception. In addition, the general on- and/or off-response enhancement in almost half the investigated 122 neurons favors not only perception of single calls but also of vocalization rhythm. In summary, our study provides strong evidence that critical-band resolved frequency components within a communication sound increase the probability of its perception by boosting the signal-to-noise ratio of neural response rates within the inferior colliculus for at least 20% (our criterion for facilitation). These mechanisms, including enhancement of rhythm coding, are generally favorable to processing of other animal and human vocalizations, including formants of speech sounds. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. TADtool: visual parameter identification for TAD-calling algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruse, Kai; Hug, Clemens B; Hernández-Rodríguez, Benjamín; Vaquerizas, Juan M

    2016-10-15

    Eukaryotic genomes are hierarchically organized into topologically associating domains (TADs). The computational identification of these domains and their associated properties critically depends on the choice of suitable parameters of TAD-calling algorithms. To reduce the element of trial-and-error in parameter selection, we have developed TADtool: an interactive plot to find robust TAD-calling parameters with immediate visual feedback. TADtool allows the direct export of TADs called with a chosen set of parameters for two of the most common TAD calling algorithms: directionality and insulation index. It can be used as an intuitive, standalone application or as a Python package for maximum flexibility. TADtool is available as a Python package from GitHub (https://github.com/vaquerizaslab/tadtool) or can be installed directly via PyPI, the Python package index (tadtool). kai.kruse@mpi-muenster.mpg.de, jmv@mpi-muenster.mpg.deSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  14. Calling behavior of mass-reared and wild Anastrepha serpentina (Diptera: Tephritidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castrejón-Gómez, Victor R; Lascares, Shaila; Malo, Edi A; Toledo, Jorge; Rojas, Julio C

    2007-08-01

    The calling behavior of mass-reared and wild males of Anastrepha serpentina (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was studied both in the laboratory and in field cage tests. In the laboratory, density (1, 5, and 10 males per container), age, and hour of day significantly affected calling behavior. Mass-reared males called independently of density, whereas wild males only called at densities of 5 and 10 individuals. Males of both strains started calling when they were 5-7 d old. The daily pattern of male calling was similar in both strains, starting at 0730 hours, and reaching a peak at 1330-1630 hours. Field cage tests showed that mass-reared males started calling when they were 5d old; the period of peak calling was when males were 8-9 d old. In contrast, wild males began calling when they were 10 d old, reaching peaks when males were 13, 15, and 18 d old. Wild males tended to form leks to call during each day of the experiment, whereas mass-reared males only formed leks during 2 d, both strains displaying very low levels. During field cage tests, males, independently of strain, displayed two calling peaks, one peak in the morning and one peak in the afternoon, whereas males observed in the laboratory only showed a single calling peak. The results are discussed in view of the effects of mass rearing A. serpentina males in relation to potential use of the sterile insect technique.

  15. A quantitative method to analyse an open answer questionnaire: A case study about the Boltzmann Factor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battaglia, Onofrio Rosario; Di Paola, Benedetto

    2015-01-01

    This paper describes a quantitative method to analyse an openended questionnaire. Student responses to a specially designed written questionnaire are quantitatively analysed by not hierarchical clustering called k-means method. Through this we can characterise behaviour students with respect their expertise to formulate explanations for phenomena or processes and/or use a given model in the different context. The physics topic is about the Boltzmann Factor, which allows the students to have a unifying view of different phenomena in different contexts.

  16. Addressee Errors in ATC Communications: The Call Sign Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monan, W. P.

    1983-01-01

    Communication errors involving aircraft call signs were portrayed in reports of 462 hazardous incidents voluntarily submitted to the ASRS during an approximate four-year period. These errors resulted in confusion, disorder, and uncoordinated traffic conditions and produced the following types of operational anomalies: altitude deviations, wrong-way headings, aborted takeoffs, go arounds, runway incursions, missed crossing altitude restrictions, descents toward high terrain, and traffic conflicts in flight and on the ground. Analysis of the report set resulted in identification of five categories of errors involving call signs: (1) faulty radio usage techniques, (2) call sign loss or smearing due to frequency congestion, (3) confusion resulting from similar sounding call signs, (4) airmen misses of call signs leading to failures to acknowledge or readback, and (5) controller failures regarding confirmation of acknowledgements or readbacks. These error categories are described in detail and several associated hazard mitigating measures that might be aken are considered.

  17. CALL CENTER SUPPORT AND TODAY’S WARFIGHTER

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-02-01

    DPSO1 decided that product delivery was important to overall customer satisfaction. In response, QA initiated two forms, pictured in figures 5 and...coupled with process improvement initiatives by the TFSC, has increased overall customer service. Figure 6. TFSC CSR Quality Monitoring Form and... CSR Quality Monitoring Form and Service Delivery Increase………...15 Figure 7: Effects of Balanced Metrics…………………………………………………....17 v

  18. Call-Center Based Disease Management of Pediatric Asthmatics

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Quinn, James M

    2005-01-01

    .... This intervention will be compared to a control population of pediatric asthma patients receiving printed education materials and usual care at three DoD military treatment facilities in a similar geographic region...

  19. On-call emergency workload of a general surgical team

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jawaid Masood

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: To examine the on-call emergency workload of a general surgical team at a tertiary care teaching hospital to guide planning and provision of better surgical services. Patients and Methods: During six months period from August to January 2007; all emergency calls attended by general surgical team of Surgical Unit II in Accident and Emergency department (A and E and in other units of Civil, Hospital Karachi, Pakistan were prospectively recorded. Data recorded includes timing of call, diagnosis, operation performed and outcome apart from demography. Results: Total 456 patients (326 males and 130 females were attended by on-call general surgery team during 30 emergency days. Most of the calls, 191 (41.9% were received from 8 am to 5 pm. 224 (49.1% calls were of abdominal pain, with acute appendicitis being the most common specific pathology in 41 (9.0% patients. Total 73 (16.0% calls were received for trauma. Total 131 (28.7% patients were admitted in the surgical unit for urgent operation or observation while 212 (46.5% patients were discharged from A and E. 92 (20.1% patients were referred to other units with medical referral accounts for 45 (9.8% patients. Total 104 (22.8% emergency surgeries were done and the most common procedure performed was appendicectomy in 34 (32.7% patients. Conclusion: Major workload of on-call surgical emergency team is dealing with the acute conditions of abdomen. However, significant proportion of patients are suffering from other conditions including trauma that require a holistic approach to care and a wide range of skills and experience. These results have important implications in future healthcare planning and for the better training of general surgical residents.

  20. Impact of Protected Sleep Period for Internal Medicine Interns on Overnight Call on Depression, Burnout, and Empathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shea, Judy A.; Bellini, Lisa M.; Dinges, David F.; Curtis, Meredith L.; Tao, Yuanyuan; Zhu, Jingsan; Small, Dylan S.; Basner, Mathias; Norton, Laurie; Novak, Cristina; Dine, C. Jessica; Rosen, Ilene M.; Volpp, Kevin G.

    2014-01-01

    Background Patient safety and sleep experts advocate a protected sleep period for residents. Objective We examined whether interns scheduled for a protected sleep period during overnight call would have better end-of-rotation assessments of burnout, depression, and empathy scores compared with interns without protected sleep periods and whether the amount of sleep obtained during on call predicted end-of-rotation assessments. Methods We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with internal medicine interns at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC) and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in academic year 2009–2010. Four-week blocks were randomly assigned to either overnight call permitted under the 2003 duty hour standards or a protected sleep period from 12:30 am to 5:30 am. Participants wore wrist actigraphs. At the beginning and end of the rotations, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS), and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Results A total of 106 interns participated. There were no significant differences between groups in end-of-rotation BDI-II, MBI-HSS, or IRI scores at either location (P > .05). Amount of sleep while on call significantly predicted lower MBI-Emotional Exhaustion (P < .003), MBI-Depersonalization (P < .003), and IRI-Personal Distress (P < .006) at PVAMC, and higher IRI-Perspective Taking (P < .008) at HUP. Conclusions A protected sleep period produced few consistent improvements in depression, burnout, or empathy, although depression was already low at baseline. Possibly the amount of protected time was too small to affect these emotional states or sleep may not be directly related to these scores. PMID:24949128

  1. Exposure to advertisement calls of reproductive competitors activates vocal-acoustic and catecholaminergic neurons in the plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Christopher L; Timothy, Miky; Kim, D Spencer; Bhandiwad, Ashwin A; Mohr, Robert A; Sisneros, Joseph A; Forlano, Paul M

    2013-01-01

    While the neural circuitry and physiology of the auditory system is well studied among vertebrates, far less is known about how the auditory system interacts with other neural substrates to mediate behavioral responses to social acoustic signals. One species that has been the subject of intensive neuroethological investigation with regard to the production and perception of social acoustic signals is the plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus, in part because acoustic communication is essential to their reproductive behavior. Nesting male midshipman vocally court females by producing a long duration advertisement call. Females localize males by their advertisement call, spawn and deposit all their eggs in their mate's nest. As multiple courting males establish nests in close proximity to one another, the perception of another male's call may modulate individual calling behavior in competition for females. We tested the hypothesis that nesting males exposed to advertisement calls of other males would show elevated neural activity in auditory and vocal-acoustic brain centers as well as differential activation of catecholaminergic neurons compared to males exposed only to ambient noise. Experimental brains were then double labeled by immunofluorescence (-ir) for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), an enzyme necessary for catecholamine synthesis, and cFos, an immediate-early gene product used as a marker for neural activation. Males exposed to other advertisement calls showed a significantly greater percentage of TH-ir cells colocalized with cFos-ir in the noradrenergic locus coeruleus and the dopaminergic periventricular posterior tuberculum, as well as increased numbers of cFos-ir neurons in several levels of the auditory and vocal-acoustic pathway. Increased activation of catecholaminergic neurons may serve to coordinate appropriate behavioral responses to male competitors. Additionally, these results implicate a role for specific catecholaminergic neuronal groups in

  2. Calls to Teen Line: Representative Concerns of Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boehm, Kathryn E.; Schondel, Connie K.; Ivoska, William J.; Marlowe, Alison L.; Manke-Mitchell, Laurie

    1998-01-01

    Study examines whether the concerns of teenagers calling a peer listening service are representative of the concerns of teenagers in the area served. Results indicate that students' biggest concerns involve family problems, peer relationships, self-esteem, and school problems. Concludes that calls to the teen line are representative. (Author/GCP)

  3. Call Admission Scheme for Multidimensional Traffic Assuming Finite Handoff User

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md. Baitul Al Sadi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Usually, the number of users within a cell in a mobile cellular network is considered infinite; hence, M/M/n/k model is appropriate for new originated traffic, but the number of ongoing calls around a cell is always finite. Hence, the traffic model of handoff call will be M/M/n/k/N. In this paper, a K-dimensional traffic model of a mobile cellular network is proposed using the combination of limited and unlimited users case. A new call admission scheme (CAS is proposed based on both thinning scheme and fading condition. The fading condition of the wireless channel access to a handoff call is prioritized compared to newly originated calls.

  4. Data center virtualization and its economic implications for the companies

    OpenAIRE

    Logica Banica; Mariana Jurian; Cristian Stefan

    2009-01-01

    In the current situation of the economic crisis, when companies target budgetcuttings in a context of an explosive data growth, the IT community must evaluate potentialtechnology developments not only on their technical advantages, but on their economiceffects as well. More then ever, the old cliché “doing more things with fewer resources” istrue today. Many IT companies started building very large facilities, called data centers(DCs) or Internet DC (IDCs), which provide businesses a wide ran...

  5. Turchin's Relation for Call-by-Name Computations: A Formal Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Antonina Nepeivoda

    2016-01-01

    Supercompilation is a program transformation technique that was first described by V. F. Turchin in the 1970s. In supercompilation, Turchin's relation as a similarity relation on call-stack configurations is used both for call-by-value and call-by-name semantics to terminate unfolding of the program being transformed. In this paper, we give a formal grammar model of call-by-name stack behaviour. We classify the model in terms of the Chomsky hierarchy and then formally prove that Turchin's rel...

  6. Bats aloft: Variation in echolocation call structure at high altitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bats alter their echolocation calls in response to changes in ecological and behavioral conditions, but little is known about how they adjust their call structure in response to changes in altitude. This study examines altitudinal variation in the echolocation calls of Brazilian free-tailed bats, T...

  7. Analyses and simulations in income frame regulation model for the network sector from 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Askeland, Thomas Haave; Fjellstad, Bjoern

    2007-01-01

    Analyses of the income frame regulation model for the network sector in Norway, introduced 1.st of January 2007. The model's treatment of the norm cost is evaluated, especially the effect analyses carried out by a so called Data Envelopment Analysis model. It is argued that there may exist an age lopsidedness in the data set, and that this should and can be corrected in the effect analyses. The adjustment is proposed corrected for by introducing an age parameter in the data set. Analyses of how the calibration effects in the regulation model affect the business' total income frame, as well as each network company's income frame have been made. It is argued that the calibration, the way it is presented, is not working according to its intention, and should be adjusted in order to provide the sector with the rate of reference in return (ml)

  8. Sustainability in CALL Learning Environments: A Systemic Functional Grammar Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter McDonald

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to define a sustainable resource in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL. In order for a CALL resource to be sustainable it must work within existing educational curricula. This feature is a necessary prerequisite of sustainability because, despite the potential for educational change that digitalization has offered since the nineteen nineties, curricula in traditional educational institutions have not fundamentally changed, even as we move from a pre-digital society towards a digital society. Curricula have failed to incorporate CALL resources because no agreed-upon pedagogical language enables teachers to discuss CALL classroom practices. Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG can help to provide this language and bridge the gap between the needs of the curriculum and the potentiality of CALL-based resources. This paper will outline how SFG principles can be used to create a pedagogical language for CALL and it will give practical examples of how this language can be used to create sustainable resources in classroom contexts.

  9. Wings: A New Paradigm in Human-Centered Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schutte, Paul C.

    1997-01-01

    Many aircraft accidents/incidents investigations cite crew error as a causal factor (Boeing Commercial Airplane Group 1996). Human factors experts suggest that crew error has many underlying causes and should be the start of an accident investigation and not the end. One of those causes, the flight deck design, is correctable. If a flight deck design does not accommodate the human's unique abilities and deficits, crew error may simply be the manifestation of this mismatch. Pilots repeatedly report that they are "behind the aircraft" , i.e., they do not know what the automated aircraft is doing or how the aircraft is doing it until after the fact. Billings (1991) promotes the concept of "human-centered automation"; calling on designers to allocate appropriate control and information to the human. However, there is much ambiguity regarding what it mean's to be human-centered. What often are labeled as "human-centered designs" are actually designs where a human factors expert has been involved in the design process or designs where tests have shown that humans can operate them. While such designs may be excellent, they do not represent designs that are systematically produced according to some set of prescribed methods and procedures. This paper describes a design concept, called Wings, that offers a clearer definition for human-centered design. This new design concept is radically different from current design processes in that the design begins with the human and uses the human body as a metaphor for designing the aircraft. This is not because the human is the most important part of the aircraft (certainly the aircraft would be useless without lift and thrust), but because he is the least understood, the least programmable, and one of the more critical elements. The Wings design concept has three properties: a reversal in the design process, from aerodynamics-, structures-, and propulsion-centered to truly human-centered; a design metaphor that guides function

  10. Eight Leadership Emergency Codes Worth Calling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freed, David H

    Hospitals have a contemporary opportunity to change themselves before attempting to transform the larger US health care system. However, actually implementing change is much more easily described than accomplished in practice. This article calls out 8 dysfunctional behaviors that compromise professional standards at the ground level of the hospital. The construct of calling a code when one witnesses such behaviors is intended to make it safe for leaders to "See something, say something" and confront them in real time. The coordinated continuum of services that health care reform seeks to attain will not emerge until individual hospital organizations prepare themselves to operate better in their own spaces and the ones that immediately surround them.

  11. SACA: Software Assisted Call Analysis--an interactive tool supporting content exploration, online guidance and quality improvement of counseling dialogues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trinkaus, Hans L; Gaisser, Andrea E

    2010-09-01

    Nearly 30,000 individual inquiries are answered annually by the telephone cancer information service (CIS, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The aim was to develop a tool for evaluating these calls, and to support the complete counseling process interactively. A novel software tool is introduced, based on a structure similar to a music score. Treating the interaction as a "duet", guided by the CIS counselor, the essential contents of the dialogue are extracted automatically. For this, "trained speech recognition" is applied to the (known) counselor's part, and "keyword spotting" is used on the (unknown) client's part to pick out specific items from the "word streams". The outcomes fill an abstract score representing the dialogue. Pilot tests performed on a prototype of SACA (Software Assisted Call Analysis) resulted in a basic proof of concept: Demographic data as well as information regarding the situation of the caller could be identified. The study encourages following up on the vision of an integrated SACA tool for supporting calls online and performing statistics on its knowledge database offline. Further research perspectives are to check SACA's potential in comparison with established interaction analysis systems like RIAS. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Calle San Martín

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Cerda Brintrup

    1988-06-01

    Full Text Available En la década del 30 era un barrizal transitado por carretas, caballos y peatones, flanqueada por unas veredas algo más altas que la calle, limitadas por gruesos tablones que la Municipalidad reparaba de año en año.

  13. Referential calls coordinate multi-species mobbing in a forest bird community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Toshitaka N

    2016-01-01

    Japanese great tits ( Parus minor ) use a sophisticated system of anti-predator communication when defending their offspring: they produce different mobbing calls for different nest predators (snake versus non-snake predators) and thereby convey this information to conspecifics (i.e. functionally referential call system). The present playback experiments revealed that these calls also serve to coordinate multi-species mobbing at nests; snake-specific mobbing calls attracted heterospecific individuals close to the sound source and elicited snake-searching behaviour, whereas non-snake mobbing calls attracted these birds at a distance. This study demonstrates for the first time that referential mobbing calls trigger different formations of multi-species mobbing parties.

  14. Gotta Go, Mom’s Calling: Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus Mothers Use Individually Distinctive Acoustic Signals To Call Their Calves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stan A. Kuczaj II

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Dolphin calves often wander away from their mothers, which can compromise their safety and survival. Mothers can retrieve their calves by actively pursuing them or by signaling their wandering calves to return. However, little is known about the retrieval techniques employed by mothers in specific calf recall contexts. We experimentally investigated maternal calf retrieval methods by assessing behavioral and acoustic strategies employed by three Atlantic bottlenose dolphin mothers to elicit their calf’s return in a controlled, non-threatening setting. Three mothers were asked to retrieve their calves on cue in this setting, and could do so however they chose. Mothers were much more likely to use energetically less costly acoustic signals than physical retrievals. Each mother produced individually distinctive calls that incorporated the mother’s signature whistle but often also involved additional whistles and clicks. The dolphin mothers’ use of individually distinctive calls to request a calf’s return is consistent with the notion that other dolphins can distinguish such calls and provides additional support for the notion that dolphin communication is flexible rather than fixed.

  15. Advertisement call and tadpole morphology of the clutch-guarding ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Advertisement call and tadpole morphology of the clutch-guarding frog Mantidactylus argenteus from eastern ... We provide the first descriptions of the tadpole and advertisement call of Mantidactylus argenteus. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  16. Circadian long call distribution in wild orangutans Distribution circadienne des cris longs (long calls chez l’orang-outan en milieu naturel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Geissmann

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available We present first data on circadian long call distribution of wild orangutans in Northwest Borneo. Data were collected during two months in Batang Ai National Park. A total of 151 male long calls were heard, exhibiting a bimodal distribution pattern with peaks at 05:00-06:00 hours and 18:00-19:00 hours. An earlier study found pronounced differences between the calling rates of Bornean orangutans, which showed an almost unimodal call distribution with its peak at mid-morning, and those of Sumatran orangutans, which showed a bimodal call distribution with a distinct calling peak at predawn and a more moderate peak near dusk (MacKinnon 1974. Our findings from Batang Ai resemble more closely the pattern reported for Sumatra than those reported for other Bornean localities and, therefore, contradict earlier reports suggesting a Sumatra-Borneo dichotomy in orangutan call distribution. In addition, orangutans in Batang Ai were heard to regularly emit long calls throughout the night. This behaviour is unusual for a diurnal species.Nous présentons les premières données sur la distribution circadienne des cris longs (long calls chez les mâles orangs-outans vivant en milieu naturel au nord-ouest de Bornéo. Les données ont été récoltées lors d’une étude de terrain de deux mois au Parc National de Batang Ai. Les 151 cris longs entendus montraient une distribution bimodale, caractérisée par des pics à 05:00-06:00 et 18:00-19:00 heures. Une étude précédente avait révélé des différences profondes entre les taux de cris longs des orangs-outans de Bornéo et de Sumatra. Alors que la distribution des cris longs à Bornéo était presque unimodale et montrait un pic en milieu d’avant-midi, la distribution à Sumatra était bimodale et montrait un pic distinct avant l’aube et un second pic plus modéré au crépuscule (MacKinnon 1974. Nos résultats à Batang Ai ressemblent davantage au schéma rapporté précédemment à Sumatra qu

  17. Gene calling and bacterial genome annotation with BG7.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobes, Raquel; Pareja-Tobes, Pablo; Manrique, Marina; Pareja-Tobes, Eduardo; Kovach, Evdokim; Alekhin, Alexey; Pareja, Eduardo

    2015-01-01

    New massive sequencing technologies are providing many bacterial genome sequences from diverse taxa but a refined annotation of these genomes is crucial for obtaining scientific findings and new knowledge. Thus, bacterial genome annotation has emerged as a key point to investigate in bacteria. Any efficient tool designed specifically to annotate bacterial genomes sequenced with massively parallel technologies has to consider the specific features of bacterial genomes (absence of introns and scarcity of nonprotein-coding sequence) and of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies (presence of errors and not perfectly assembled genomes). These features make it convenient to focus on coding regions and, hence, on protein sequences that are the elements directly related with biological functions. In this chapter we describe how to annotate bacterial genomes with BG7, an open-source tool based on a protein-centered gene calling/annotation paradigm. BG7 is specifically designed for the annotation of bacterial genomes sequenced with NGS. This tool is sequence error tolerant maintaining their capabilities for the annotation of highly fragmented genomes or for annotating mixed sequences coming from several genomes (as those obtained through metagenomics samples). BG7 has been designed with scalability as a requirement, with a computing infrastructure completely based on cloud computing (Amazon Web Services).

  18. ICT and the location of call centres: regional and local patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruinsma, Frank; Rietveld, Piet; Beekman, Michiel

    2004-01-01

    One of the sectors that gained most of the boost in ICT developments is the call centres sector. The focus in this paper is on spatial diffusion patterns of call centres in the Netherlands. The number of call centres has increased rapidly in the last decade and it seems that impacts of call

  19. Dietary supplement adverse events: report of a one-year poison center surveillance project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haller, Christine; Kearney, Tom; Bent, Stephen; Ko, Richard; Benowitz, Neal; Olson, Kent

    2008-06-01

    The safety and efficacy of dietary supplements is of growing concern to regulators, health-care providers and consumers. Few scientific data exist on clinical effects and potential toxicities of marketed products. Harmful supplements may not be identified for months or years with existing adverse event monitoring mechanisms. Retrospective review of poison center statistics to capture supplement-associated toxicity also has limitations. We collaborated with the FDA Center for Food Safety and Nutrition (CFSAN) to conduct a 1-year prospective surveillance study of dietary supplement-related poison control center calls in 2006. Prompt follow-up of symptomatic cases, laboratory analysis of implicated dietary supplements, and causality assessment by a case review expert panel were performed. Of 275 dietary supplements calls, 41% involved symptomatic exposures; and two-thirds were rated as probably or possibly related to supplement use. Eight adverse events required hospital admission. Sympathomimetic toxicity was most common, with caffeine products accounting for 47%, and yohimbe products accounting for 18% of supplement-related symptomatic cases. Suspected drug-herb interactions occurred in 6 cases, including yohimbe co-ingested with buproprion (1) and methamphetamine (3), and additive anticoagulant/antiplatelet effects of NSAIDs taken with fish oils (1) and ginkgo (1). Laboratory analysis identified a pharmacologically active substance in 4 cases; supplement toxicity was ruled unlikely when analytical testing was negative in 5 cases. Most supplement-related adverse events were minor. Clinically significant toxic effects were most frequently reported with caffeine and yohimbe-containing products. Active surveillance of poison control center reports of dietary supplement adverse events enables rapid detection of potentially harmful products, which may facilitate regulatory oversight.

  20. An Evaluation Framework for CALL

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMurry, Benjamin L.; Williams, David Dwayne; Rich, Peter J.; Hartshorn, K. James

    2016-01-01

    Searching prestigious Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) journals for references to key publications and authors in the field of evaluation yields a short list. The "American Journal of Evaluation"--the flagship journal of the American Evaluation Association--is only cited once in both the "CALICO Journal and Language…

  1. On the Relationality of Centers, Peripheries and Interactional Regimes: Translanguaging in a Community Interpreting Event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baynham, Mike; Hanušová, Jolana

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we discuss a multilingual interactional event that involves both interpreting and literacy work, part of a large scale study on translanguaging in superdiverse urban settings. In the first part of the interaction, the center/periphery dynamic is played out in what might be called "contested translanguaging" between Standard…

  2. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  3. Turchin's Relation for Call-by-Name Computations: A Formal Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonina Nepeivoda

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Supercompilation is a program transformation technique that was first described by V. F. Turchin in the 1970s. In supercompilation, Turchin's relation as a similarity relation on call-stack configurations is used both for call-by-value and call-by-name semantics to terminate unfolding of the program being transformed. In this paper, we give a formal grammar model of call-by-name stack behaviour. We classify the model in terms of the Chomsky hierarchy and then formally prove that Turchin's relation can terminate all computations generated by the model.

  4. bc-GenExMiner 3.0: new mining module computes breast cancer gene expression correlation analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jézéquel, Pascal; Frénel, Jean-Sébastien; Campion, Loïc; Guérin-Charbonnel, Catherine; Gouraud, Wilfried; Ricolleau, Gabriel; Campone, Mario

    2013-01-01

    We recently developed a user-friendly web-based application called bc-GenExMiner (http://bcgenex.centregauducheau.fr), which offered the possibility to evaluate prognostic informativity of genes in breast cancer by means of a 'prognostic module'. In this study, we develop a new module called 'correlation module', which includes three kinds of gene expression correlation analyses. The first one computes correlation coefficient between 2 or more (up to 10) chosen genes. The second one produces two lists of genes that are most correlated (positively and negatively) to a 'tested' gene. A gene ontology (GO) mining function is also proposed to explore GO 'biological process', 'molecular function' and 'cellular component' terms enrichment for the output lists of most correlated genes. The third one explores gene expression correlation between the 15 telomeric and 15 centromeric genes surrounding a 'tested' gene. These correlation analyses can be performed in different groups of patients: all patients (without any subtyping), in molecular subtypes (basal-like, HER2+, luminal A and luminal B) and according to oestrogen receptor status. Validation tests based on published data showed that these automatized analyses lead to results consistent with studies' conclusions. In brief, this new module has been developed to help basic researchers explore molecular mechanisms of breast cancer. DATABASE URL: http://bcgenex.centregauducheau.fr

  5. FBR Plant Engineering Center annual report 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-12-01

    This annual report shows the last year's R and D activities of currently-reorganized FBR Plant Engineering Center, which was established on April 1, 2009. FBR Safety Technology Center was founded on April 1, 2013 by the consolidation of both the activities of 'former FBR Plant Engineering Center' and a portion of 'FBR Safety Evaluation Unit, Advanced Nuclear System Research and Development Directorate', especially concentrating on safety evaluations and analyses for severe accidents. As for FBR safety technology, it is necessary to continuously make an effort for compliance with new safety regulations in preparation for 'Monju' to restart, for safety enhancement evaluation and for safety technology upgrading. In this context, the new organization was founded in order to reinforce the safety evaluation capability, which will surely and steadily promote FBR safety-technology related activities. As a result, FBR Plant Engineering Center was abolished. This report summarizes the R and D activities at the former FBR Plant Engineering Center, aiming at contributing to the commercialization by using operation experiences and technology development results derived from the actual reactor 'Monju'. The activities are divided into five areas of operation-and-maintenance engineering, sodium engineering, reactor-core-and-fuel engineering, plant engineering, and safety engineering. This annual report is intended for a report of the activities of individual researcher in the center rather than that of the progress of the center as a whole. This will clarify the individual themes, progresses and problems of each researcher, which will, hopefully, facilitate communication with the outside researchers. (author)

  6. Primitive entertainment prank calls in the work of counseling psychologist on Children helpline

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I.A. Geronimus

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available We explore the challenges faced by counseling psychologist when working at the Children's Helpline in cases of prank calls. The category of prank calls include such calls, when the caller asks the psychologist to discuss the imaginary situation, or do not formulate a query at all. On the basis of empirical data, we revealed the main varieties of such calls: call jokes, fantasy calls, intrusive calls, insulting calls, prank calls, calls of a sexual nature, dating calls. We explore the possible motivations of children and adolescents, entertaining by phone calls: experimentation with new social roles, expression of negative emotions, cognitive motivation, etc. We show the principles and strategies of counselors of Children's helpline working with this type of calls: they are based on cultural-historical psychology ideas and V. Satir communicative styles model.

  7. Applications of MIDAS regression in analysing trends in water quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penev, Spiridon; Leonte, Daniela; Lazarov, Zdravetz; Mann, Rob A.

    2014-04-01

    We discuss novel statistical methods in analysing trends in water quality. Such analysis uses complex data sets of different classes of variables, including water quality, hydrological and meteorological. We analyse the effect of rainfall and flow on trends in water quality utilising a flexible model called Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS). This model arises because of the mixed frequency in the data collection. Typically, water quality variables are sampled fortnightly, whereas the rain data is sampled daily. The advantage of using MIDAS regression is in the flexible and parsimonious modelling of the influence of the rain and flow on trends in water quality variables. We discuss the model and its implementation on a data set from the Shoalhaven Supply System and Catchments in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Information criteria indicate that MIDAS modelling improves upon simplistic approaches that do not utilise the mixed data sampling nature of the data.

  8. Calling and Career Preparation: Investigating Developmental Patterns and Temporal Precedence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirschi, Andreas; Herrmann, Anne

    2013-01-01

    The presence of a calling and career development are assumed to be closely related. However, the nature of and reason for this relationship have not been thoroughly investigated. We hypothesized the existence of reciprocal effects between calling and three dimensions of career preparation and assessed the change of the presence of a calling,…

  9. Psychometric analyses to improve the Dutch ICF Activity Inventory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruijning, Janna E; van Rens, Ger; Knol, Dirk; van Nispen, Ruth

    2013-08-01

    In the past, rehabilitation centers for the visually impaired used unstructured or semistructured methods to assess rehabilitation needs of their patients. Recently, an extensive instrument, the Dutch ICF Activity Inventory (D-AI), was developed to systematically investigate rehabilitation needs of visually impaired adults and to evaluate rehabilitation outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the underlying factor structure and other psychometric properties to shorten and improve the D-AI. The D-AI was administered to 241 visually impaired persons who recently enrolled in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation center. The D-AI uses graded scores to assess the importance and difficulty of 65 rehabilitation goals. For high-priority goals (e.g., daily meal preparation), the difficulty of underlying tasks (e.g., read recipes, cut vegetables) was assessed. To reduce underlying task items (>950), descriptive statistics were investigated and factor analyses were performed for several goals. The internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability of the D-AI were investigated by calculating Cronbach α and Cohen (weighted) κ. Finally, consensus-based discussions were used to shorten and improve the D-AI. Except for one goal, factor analysis model parameters were at least reasonable. Internal consistency reliability was satisfactory (range, 0.74 to 0.93). In total, 60% of the 65 goal importance items and 84.4% of the goal difficulty items showed moderate to almost perfect κ values (≥0.40). After consensus-based discussions, a new D-AI was produced, containing 48 goals and less than 500 tasks. The analyses were an important step in the validation process of the D-AI and to develop a more feasible assessment tool to investigate rehabilitation needs of visually impaired persons in a systematic way. The D-AI is currently implemented in all Dutch rehabilitation centers serving all visually impaired adults with various rehabilitation needs.

  10. Comparison of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Transport Types and Delays on Patient Outcomes at Two Level I Trauma Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Brodie; Tien, Homer; Sawadsky, Bruce; Rizoli, Sandro; McFarlan, Amanda; Phillips, Andrea; Ackery, Alun

    2017-01-01

    Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) have become an engrained component of trauma systems. In Ontario, transportation for trauma patients is through one of three ways: scene call, modified scene call, or interfacility transfer. We hypothesize that differences exist between these types of transports in both patient demographics and patient outcomes. This study compares the characteristics of patients transported by each of these methods to two level 1 trauma centers and assesses for any impact on morbidity or mortality. As a secondary outcome reasons for delay were identified. A local trauma registry was used to identify and abstract data for all patients transported to two trauma centers by HEMS over a 36-month period. Further chart abstraction using the HEMS patient care reports was done to identify causes of delay during HEMS transport. During the study period HEMS transferred a total of 911 patients of which 139 were scene calls, 333 were modified scene calls and 439 were interfacility transfers. Scene calls had more patients with an ISS of less than 15 and had more patients discharged home from the ED. Modified scene calls had more patients with an ISS greater than 25. The most common delays that were considered modifiable included the sending physician doing a procedure, waiting to meet a land EMS crew, delays for diagnostic imaging and confirming disposition or destination. Differences exist between the types of transports done by HEMS for trauma patients. Many identified reasons for delay to HEMS transport are modifiable and have practical solutions. Future research should focus on solutions to identified delays to HEMS transport. Key words: helicopter emergency medical services; trauma; prehospital care; delays.

  11. 29 CFR 778.221 - “Call-back” pay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false âCall-backâ pay. 778.221 Section 778.221 Labor Regulations...Regular Rateâ Payments Not for Hours Worked § 778.221 “Call-back” pay. (a) General. In the interest of... payments consist of a specified number of hours' pay at the applicable straight time or overtime rates...

  12. A library of IUE white dwarf spectra for stellar population analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bica, E.; Bonatto, C.; Giovannini, O.

    1996-10-01

    We present high Signal to Noise ratio IUE spectra of different classes of white dwarfs, to be used as templates for stellar population analyses in the ultraviolet region. We present average stellar parameters associated to each group. The library contains 6 groups for DA's, 2 for DO's and 5 for DB's. We also present equivalent widths of spectral features, and continuum measurements. We call attention to the spectral characteristics which are promising indicators of the presence of white dwarfs in the spectra of composite stellar populations.

  13. The Effects of the CALL Model on College English Reading Teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Zhang

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL is an important concept in English teaching method reform. College students’ English reading ability is an important indicator in the evaluation on the college students’ English proficiency. Therefore, this paper applies the CALL model in English reading teaching. Firstly, it introduces the application and development prospect of the CALL model, and analyzes its advantages and disadvantages; secondly, it analyzes the present situation of college English teaching and its influencing factors and then designs an application example to integrate the CALL model with different aspect of English reading. Finally, it analyzes the teaching results of college English reading under the CALL model. Therefore, in both theory and practice, this paper proves the effectiveness and innovativeness of the CALL model.

  14. Call for concept notes: Research on Myanmar's decentralization and ...

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

    ... are launching this research call under a new initiative called Knowledge for ... Over the decades of military rule, information sharing, research, and freedom of ... Research outputs would take the form of working papers for peer-review and ...

  15. Response surface use in safety analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prosek, A.

    1999-01-01

    When thousands of complex computer code runs related to nuclear safety are needed for statistical analysis, the response surface is used to replace the computer code. The main purpose of the study was to develop and demonstrate a tool called optimal statistical estimator (OSE) intended for response surface generation of complex and non-linear phenomena. The performance of optimal statistical estimator was tested by the results of 59 different RELAP5/MOD3.2 code calculations of the small-break loss-of-coolant accident in a two loop pressurized water reactor. The results showed that OSE adequately predicted the response surface for the peak cladding temperature. Some good characteristic of the OSE like monotonic function between two neighbor points and independence on the number of output parameters suggest that OSE can be used for response surface generation of any safety or system parameter in the thermal-hydraulic safety analyses.(author)

  16. Standards, Firewalls, and General Classroom Mayhem: Implementing Student-Centered Technology Projects in the Elementary Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofer, Mark; Swan, Kathleen Owings

    2006-01-01

    Educators are simultaneously bombarded with both calls to integrate technology in meaningful ways into their teaching and to promote more student-centered activities which combine both content learning and higher-order thinking. This is no small task given the range of student abilities and interests, the increasing emphasis on state standards and…

  17. Don't Call It School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robb, Daniel

    2006-01-01

    "Homeschooling," "deschooling," and "unschooling" are commonly used terms in the alternative-education world, but each lacks specificity. In this article, the author describes what he discovered during several visits to North Star. Known officially as North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, it is not as structured as a so-called "free"…

  18. Resident Reactions to Person-Centered Communication by Long-Term Care Staff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savundranayagam, Marie Y; Sibalija, Jovana; Scotchmer, Emma

    2016-09-01

    Long-term care staff caregivers who are person centered incorporate the life history, preferences, and feelings of residents with dementia during care interactions. Communication is essential for person-centered care. However, little is known about residents' verbal reactions when staff use person-centered communication. Accordingly, this study investigated the impact of person-centered communication and missed opportunities for such communication by staff on resident reactions. Conversations (N = 46) between staff-resident dyads were audio-recorded during routine care tasks over 12 weeks. Staff utterances were coded for person-centered communication and missed opportunities. Resident utterances were coded for positive reactions, such as cooperation, and negative reactions, such as distress. Linear regression analyses revealed that the more staff used person-centered communication, the more likely that residents reacted positively. Additionally, the more missed opportunities in a conversation, the more likely that the residents reacted negatively. Conversation illustrations elaborate on the quantitative findings and implications for staff training are discussed. © The Author(s) 2016.

  19. Perspectives of staff nurses of the reasons for and the nature of patient-initiated call lights: an exploratory survey study in four USA hospitals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tzeng Huey-Ming

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Little research has been done on patient call light use and staff response time, which were found to be associated with inpatient falls and satisfaction. Nurses' perspectives may moderate or mediate the aforementioned relationships. This exploratory study intended to understand staff's perspectives about call lights, staff responsiveness, and the reasons for and the nature of call light use. It also explored differences among hospitals and identified significant predictors of the nature of call light use. Methods This cross-sectional, multihospital survey study was conducted from September 2008 to January 2009 in four hospitals located in the Midwestern region of the United States. A brief survey was used. All 2309 licensed and unlicensed nursing staff members who provide direct patient care in 27 adult care units were invited to participate. A total of 808 completed surveys were retrieved for an overall response rate of 35%. The SPSS 16.0 Window version was used. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results The primary reasons for patient-initiated calls were for toileting assistance, pain medication, and intravenous problems. Toileting assistance was the leading reason. Each staff responded to 6 to 7 calls per hour and a call was answered within 4 minutes (estimated. 49% of staff perceived that patient-initiated calls mattered to patient safety. 77% agreed that that these calls were meaningful. 52% thought that these calls required the attention of nursing staff. 53% thought that answering calls prevented them from doing the critical aspects of their role. Staff's perceptions about the nature of calls varied across hospitals. Junior staff tended to overlook the importance of answering calls. A nurse participant tended to perceive calls as more likely requiring nursing staff's attention than a nurse aide participant. Conclusions If answering calls was a high priority among nursing tasks, staff

  20. Conduits to care: call lights and patients’ perceptions of communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montie, Mary; Shuman, Clayton; Galinato, Jose; Patak, Lance; Anderson, Christine A; Titler, Marita G

    2017-01-01

    Background Call light systems remain the primary means of hospitalized patients to initiate communication with their health care providers. Although there is vast amounts of literature discussing patient communication with their health care providers, few studies have explored patients’ perceptions concerning call light use and communication. The specific aim of this study was to solicit patients’ perceptions regarding their call light use and communication with nursing staff. Methods Patients invited to this study met the following inclusion criteria: proficient in English, been hospitalized for at least 24 hours, aged ≥21 years, and able to communicate verbally (eg, not intubated). Thirty participants provided written informed consent, were enrolled in the study, and completed interviews. Results Using qualitative descriptive methods, five major themes emerged from patients’ perceptions (namely; establishing connectivity, participant safety concerns, no separation: health care and the call light device, issues with the current call light, and participants’ perceptions of “nurse work”). Multiple minor themes supported these major themes. Data analysis utilized the constant comparative methods of Glaser and Strauss. Discussion Findings from this study extend the knowledge of patients’ understanding of not only why inconsistencies occur between the call light and their nurses, but also why the call light is more than merely a device to initiate communication; rather, it is a direct conduit to their health care and its delivery. PMID:29075125